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“The official curriculum for the [AP African-American Studies] course, released Wednesday by the College Board, downplays some components that had drawn criticism from DeSantis and other conservatives. Topics including Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations, and queer life are not part of the exam.” — Associated Press, 02/01/23

The College Board is thrilled to introduce our new AP course in African-American Studies, filling a crucial gap in our course offerings. After incorporating feedback from various stakeholders like the Florida Department of Education, we are pleased to report that the AP African-American Studies curriculum will cover Black history from January 1996 all the way to December 1996.

There is universal assent that we are in a period of geopolitical tension and flux. In a rough chronology, 1815-1914 was the era of British hegemony, the not-so-peaceful Pax Britannica. What followed between 1914 and 1945 was a disastrous period of two world wars and the Great Depression. The end of World War II marked Continue reading »

There is in the American psyche, the Hollywood psyche, the false notion that any other major power will be just like America. The view can be terrible but wrong. Dostoevsky (if I may be excused for mentioning a Russian) wrote of how people only see a mirror when they converse. Sir Harold Nicholson, spouse of Continue reading »

The only place in our media landscape where I can get a well argued and penetrating alternative view to our overwhelmingly conservative mainstream media. The first thing I do in the morning is reach for my smartphone and open “Pearls and Irritations”, the only place in our media landscape where I can get a well Continue reading »

Treasurer Chalmers has the radical idea that economics is about human well-being; NSW Labor moves to the right of Coalition; and in spite of fires and floods, Australians have poor knowledge of climate change. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues Continue reading »

According to Australian news sources, 40,000 Chinese students are being forced to rush back to Australia incurring many thousands of dollars in costs, face difficult times finding accommodation and it’s all China’s fault. The reality is very different. From Australia’s perspective, if 40,000 Chinese students are going to suddenly arrive there, it would certainly boost Continue reading »

So we have just had our first presentation of Australian Honours under the new Labor government. Under the Morrison government, there was little recognition of artists in the national honours awards, any more than there was in arts policy (non-existent except by implication from in/action) and funding (in continuing decline). Artists even had to fight Continue reading »

There was a time when leaders fell on their sword when they were defeated in battle or lost their core beliefs, nowadays most do not even resign their privileged positions to resist the existential danger posed to advanced life, including human civilisation. It is long past time to declare a global climate and nuclear emergency. Continue reading »

Robert Hockett proposes essentially the same solution that I have recently — ignore the debt ceiling it is invalid legally.

Trump claims tears were streaming down DeSantis’ face Lol: I believe it. This is the desperate ad DeSantis ran and it garnered him just enough votes to win in 2018:

It’s not a stretch to say that examining the changing skyline of Manchester is something of a perverse obsession. The 2020 docuseries Manctopia cemented what many communities have felt for a long time now: Manchester is a deeply unequal city, and it increasingly feels alienating to those who once celebrated it as a beacon of […]

A representative from America’s Frontier Fund said that a “kinetic event” in the Pacific would be very good for its bottom line.

The post White House-Linked Venture Capital Fund Boasts China War Would Be Great for Business appeared first on The Intercept.

Anti-arms trade campaigners say UK-made weapons are contributing to thousands of civilian deaths in the devastating Middle Eastern war

Private equity returns are finally going pear-shaped, but for the most part, investors are re-upping their bets.

Almost six years after we unearthed that the British authorities at the Crown Prosecution Service destroyed key emails on the WikiLeaks founder, we can now report that the Swedish Prosecution Authority also destroyed a large part of the documentation. As Assange's life hangs in the balance, will Britain and Sweden finally open an investigation into the destruction of documents?

The post Revealed: Sweden Destroyed a Substantial Part of Its Documents on Julian Assange appeared first on scheerpost.com.

An unannounced inspection of a women's prison raises new concerns about safety across the female estate. Sian Norris reports

“Astonishing labor market growth” Headlines at the New York Times and Washington Post trumpet 25 straight months of job growth. Unexpected jobs numbers Friday show the unemplyment rate falling to 3.4 percent, a rate not seen since 1969. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the economy added 517,000 jobs last month. The labor force participation rate remained stable at 62.4 percent but below pre-pandemic levels. But wage growth is slowing with inflation. Despite claims that employers cannot find workers because “nobody wants to work these days,” restaurants cannot find workers because many have found better jobs with “increased flexibility, stability and often better pay” (Washington Post): Nearly three years since the coronavirus pandemic upended the labor market, restaurants, bars, hotels and casinos remain short-staffed, with nearly 2 million unfilled openings. The leisure and hospitality industry, which before the pandemic accounted for much of the country’s job growth, is still short roughly 500,000 employees from 2020 levels, even as many other sectors have recovered.

Nicaragua ranks first among countries whose citizens feel at peace. Despite this, US media demonizes its Sandinista government, has sponsored violent coup attempts and has hit the country with crippling sanctions.

The post We’re Trying To Crush The Happiest Country On Earth – Lee Camp on Nicaragua appeared first on MintPress News.

On this episode of The Watchdog, Alan Macleod exposes Elon Musk's ties to intelligence agencies and special interest groups, highlighting SpaceX's ties to the CIA and the use of Starlink in advancing US foreign policy.

The post Elon Musk’s Cozy Ties With The Military Industrial Complex, With Alan MacLeod appeared first on MintPress News.

Celebrate Black History Month: Explore conversations with prominent economists and discover community development insights.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

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Dave Luebke once asked me why all the victims in my comic are Daves and now I'm starting to wonder if I have a problem.

Today's News:

It is nearly 20 years since I blew the whistle on British Government complicity in torture and the extraordinary rendition programme, under which thousands of people were deliberately tortured as a systematic act of government policy. Many of them were killed. I had, and I leaked, substantial documentary evidence to back my claims, of which […]

The post Propaganda and Belief appeared first on Craig Murray.