A new internet star is born: Tupi the baby capybara! I co-sign this:
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Jeffrey Alexander, a prominent sociologist and social theorist: Inside the culture and structure of modernity, good and evil are tensely intertwined. We should not be naïve about the evils of modernity. Modernity’s contradictions cannot be resolved in some magisterial new synthesis. It is a dangerous delusion to think modernity can eliminate evil; new kinds of […]
To all of you internet addicts like me, I hereby gift you with this marvelous piece by Chris Hayes in the NY Times. He talks about The Attention Economy”, which is the subject of his new book. An excerpt: In the wake of Donald Trump’s second electoral victory, a viral tweet from October 2016 once again started circulating: “i feel bad for our country. But this is tremendous content.” That probably seemed funnier before child separation and Covid. (Indeed, in 2020 Darren Rovell, who wrote it, posted, “Four years later. There is nothing tremendous about this content. I’m just sad.”) But for many millions of Americans, perhaps including the crucial slice of swing voters who moved their votes to the Republican nominee in 2024, Mr. Trump is the consummate content machine. Love him or hate him, he sure does keep things interesting. I’ve even wondered if, at some level, this was the special trick he used to eke out his narrow victory: Did Americans elect him again because they were just kind of bored with the status quo? I have no doubt about it!
Ohio has become the latest state to allow police to charge high fees for access to footage.
The post Ohio Puts Police Bodycam Footage Behind a Paywall appeared first on The Intercept.
Issue 59 of the Nautilus print edition is our Kinship Issue. It includes contributions from philosopher Helen de Cruz, author Philip Ball, anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse, science writer Veronique Greenwood, and more. This issue also features new illustrations by Aad Goudappel. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now .
The post Print Edition 59: The Kinship Issue appeared first on Nautilus.
John Larison’s new novel The Ancients suggests some societies are built for cataclysm
The post Breaking a Cycle of Apocalypse appeared first on Nautilus.
How the desert taught me to smell
The post Scent Makes a Place appeared first on Nautilus.
Raffi Berg, now at the center of a media scandal over the BBC’s Israel coverage, once worked for a known CIA front and collaborated with Mossad officials.
The post Raffi Berg: BBC Middle East Editor Exposed as CIA, Mossad Collaborator appeared first on MintPress News.
California sober: No alcohol or drugs except marijuana
New York sober: No alcohol or drugs except cocaine
Kentucky sober: No alcohol or drugs except a cool, tall mint julep on a sweltering July afternoon
Oregon sober: No alcohol if it’s not an IPA
Texas sober: No alcohol except empty beer cans to shoot
Maine sober: No addictive drugs except lobster rolls
Maryland sober: No addictive drugs except crab cakes
Georgia sober: No addictive drugs except whatever Marjorie Taylor Greene is on
Oklahoma sober: No drugs, but I suspect we’d grow amazing pot
Arkansas sober: No alcohol except moonshine
Massachusetts sober: No alcohol, but I still act like an asshole
Illinois sober: Liquor? Ya got it all wrong, copper. This here’s an honest Chicago church hall, see?
Kansas sober: I just eat BBQ until I feel drunk
Those currently celebrating the US and Israel’s decisive military victories against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria and possibly the defeat of Ansar Allah in Yemen may soon discover the pyrrhic nature of “reshaping the Middle East” in the interests of Western civilization. Military actions enabled Continue reading »
China scholar Mark Wang still remembers a time in the 2000s when Australia’s China studies was vibrant and in a leading position in the world. “At that time, the student interest, government policy and funding for China studies in Australia were really strong,” said Professor Wang, the director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Continue reading »
George Beebe, long-time head of Russia analysis at the CIA, a 27-year veteran of the agency and now the current head of Grand Strategy at the Quincy Institute in Washington, is just the kind of American the world needs right now. Understated, immensely knowledgeable and decent, he understands the Russo-Ukraine war in its widest sense Continue reading »
Aeschylus (525-456BC) was, as current circumstances in the Middle East and in Ukraine amply demonstrate, entirely accurate when he observed that “In war, truth is the first casualty.” Continue reading »
Angry, frustrated, insulted – these are some of the expressions Barton locals have used to describe this sham National Executive ‘preselection’ process, imposing the Prime Minister’s pick. After months and months of indecision by the NSW Labor branch and much rank-and-file frustration, a bogus preselection process was staged for public consumption. A process that ignored Continue reading »
Australia’s historical commitment to nuclear disarmament is facing new challenges, as critics say the nation’s alliance with the United States is leading to a conflicted stance on nuclear non-proliferation. While Australia has actively participated in global nuclear arms control initiatives, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), it simultaneously Continue reading »
The late centenarian, Jimmy Carter, occupied a difficult position in the line of imperial magistrates we know as US presidents. Coming to power in the aftermath of murderous US adventurism in Indochina and the debauching of the presidency by Richard Nixon (“when the president does it, it means that it is not illegal”), he took Continue reading »
During a lifetime of extraordinary journalism on both paper and the screen, John Pilger, who died one year ago on Monday, showed the world the suffering caused by US-led aggression in mostly poor nations that had the temerity to hinder Washington’s path to global dominance. In his many extraordinary films, books and articles, Pilger filled Continue reading »
While no one was looking, the Pakistani public took matters into their own hands, adding 17 gigawatts of solar power this year. These installations are mostly in the form of Chinese panels for rooftop or ground level solar in towns and villages. Pakistan has abruptly become the world’s sixth-largest consumer of solar panels. Here’s the Continue reading »