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Created
Tue, 14/03/2023 - 09:30
Republican politics in a nutshell I’ve written this in various forms over the years, but I think JV Last distills it perfectly: Last week Amanda Carpenter made the point to me (on TNL) that Republican voters have simply decided that they like DeSantis. Period. And once voters decide they like a candidate, then all of the logic flows from there. In politics, Amanda argued, voters make their decisions first and then rationalize backwards. And that theory was on full display in The Focus Group podcast this weekend (listen to the show here) where Sarah talked with groups of evangelical Christians who voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020. If you go by the numbers, then for these voters, Mike Pence should be The Guy. But to a man, they were all anti-Pence. Why? Their rationalizations were ridiculous: At the risk of playing armchair psychologist, there are only two possible explanations for such statements: -These people are dumb as a bag of hammers; or -After January 6th they decided that they no longer liked Pence. So they have now invented reasons to be against him. Option (2) seems more likely to me. Your mileage may vary.
Created
Tue, 14/03/2023 - 08:15

INET Research on Financial Sector Weakness and Too Big to Fail

After 2008 the financial system was supposed to be fixed thanks to Dodd-Frank, stress tests, higher capital requirements, and all that. Suddenly we now wake up to discover that the collapse of a single bank may mortally threaten large segments of the banking system and that authorities are reinstating the financial equivalent of Medicare for All (for financiers only). And this amid news reports that SVB leaders lobbied against regulatory restraints and higher FDIC fees and even paid out bonuses just before the takeover.

INET was founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to help rethink the role finance plays in economic theory. Since then, it has broadened its mission, but this concern remains central to our purpose. INET has supported many of the best critical discussions of financial reform -- too many to list easily here. Naturally, we continue to commission and publish work in this area.

Created
Tue, 14/03/2023 - 06:57

“Navalny” is a slick production full of highly dubious claims, misinformation, and enough new Cold War propaganda impact to win an Oscar for best documentary. A version of this piece was originally published at The Komisar Scoop. Editor’s note: The Grayzone has amended this article, removing two claims that were not properly sourced in the article originally published by The Komisar Scoop, and replacing one regarding Navalny’s health condition with articles sourced to Intellinews and the Western-backed Russian opposition outlet, […]

The post Oscar-winning ‘Navalny’ documentary is packed with misinformation appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Tue, 14/03/2023 - 06:30
Inept Labour right-winger contradicts Starmer contradicting himself Woeful Labour right-winger Jonathan Ashworth made a mug of himself on national television over the Gary Lineker affair this morning. Ashworth appears not to have got the memo after his party’s embarrassing u-turn from attacking Lineker for criticising the UK’s fascist-adjacent government for using fascist language about desperate […]
Created
Tue, 14/03/2023 - 06:18

According to The Washington Post's reconstruction of the raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli military fired repeatedly into a group of civilians taking shelter between a mosque and a clinic, killing two and wounding three others.

The post 3D Analysis Shows How Israeli Troops Fired Into Group of Civilians appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Created
Tue, 14/03/2023 - 06:00

In their efforts to industrialise, African states are looking beyond the traditional path of transition from agrarian to industrial economies by seeking to leverage on their natural resources, both in/on land and ocean, to power industrialisation. In this blog post, drawing from a new article in Journal of Agrarian Change, that agrarian political economy theories of industrialisation need to be advanced to cover the ocean and offshore petroleum production in Ghana.

The post Beyond Agrarian Transitions in Africa appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Created
Tue, 14/03/2023 - 06:00
It’s happening A man is suing a woman’s friends for helping her obtain abortion pills: A Texas man is suing three women under the wrongful death statute, alleging that they assisted his ex-wife in terminating her pregnancy, the first such case brought since the state’s near-total ban on abortion last summer. Marcus Silva is represented by Jonathan Mitchell, the former Texas solicitor general and architect of the state’s prohibition on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park. The lawsuit is filed in state court in Galveston County, where Silva lives. Silva alleges that his now ex-wife learned she was pregnant in July 2022, the month after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and conspired with two friends to illegally obtain abortion-inducing medication and terminate the pregnancy. The friends texted with the woman, sending her information about Aid Access, an international group that provides abortion-inducing medication through the mail, the lawsuit alleges. Text messages filed as part of the complaint seem to show they instead found a way to acquire the medication in Houston, where the two women lived.
Created
Tue, 14/03/2023 - 04:58
With the re-opening of China and with the ending of Covid restrictions, a new confidence seems to be surging through the country. While the next two years are seen to be a particularly dangerous time, with the real prospect of armed conflict with the US, beyond that it is felt that China’s time will have Continue reading »