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The opening weeks of the second Trump administration have produced daily headlines that read — no, this is not hyperbole! — like science fiction. The spectacle of a South African tech billionaire and his cronies staging a twenty-first-century cybercoup with the acquiescence of an aging lunatic of a president beggars belief. Elon Musk has given vast powers to young, even teenaged plenipotentiaries like Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, 19, who had earlier been employed by Musk’s brain-chip project Neuralink and has now been made a special adviser to the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Technology and the Department of Homeland Security. The Trumpian lists of forbidden words and concepts have reminded some observers of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. High Technology... Read more

Source: Cyberpunk Nation appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

This week, ordinary Brazilians have been jubilant at the weekend’s news that I’m Still Here pocketed an Oscar — the first ever Brazilian film to do so. Walter Salles’ work, which stars Fernanda Torres and Selton Mello, is a powerful exposition of the human cost paid by those who opposed Brazil’s military dictatorship, with its […]

The Intercept is publishing Elon Musk’s government email address to aid those seeking information on DOGE in the public interest.

The post We Found Elon Musk’s DOGE Email Address and We’re Fighting to Reveal His Messages appeared first on The Intercept.

Next stop, Hell A couple of lines rattle around behind my eyes this morning. “The Last Days of Pompeii” is one. Another is “Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.” “The Trump people are living in a bubble and it’s affecting their ability to understand the world around them,” Digby wrote yesterday, reacting in part to this passage from Anne Applebaum: Europeans can also see that this alternative reality is directly and profoundly shaped by Russian propaganda. I don’t know whether the American president absorbs Russian narratives online, from proxies, or from Putin himself. Either way, he has thoroughly adopted the Russian view of the world, as has Vance. They’ve gone down a rabbit hole and mean to take the country and the world with it. The Russians are certainly playing Trump and his circle, but there’s more to it. Republicans as a party have habituated themselves to lying and to living inside the bubble of lies they tell. This tendency predates the rise of Trumpism.

Look, I don’t want to tell you how to do your job. I know you’re making a sincere effort to learn about my background. You’re here to assess my strengths and weaknesses. You’re trained to evaluate how I might fit into your fast-paced, team-oriented culture. You need to determine whether or not my résumé was full of lies. I just think a much more effective way to get to know me and my capabilities than asking a series of the same old behavioral questions and case studies might be to ask me to rank my favorite Cheers characters in order.

I know this seems risky on my part. Obviously, for many people, hiring someone on the wrong side of the Diane-Rebecca Divide is a nonstarter. But I think the question is more what can you learn about me from the fact that I have the courage to tell you I rank Diane higher based on how she propelled 90 percent of the plots forward in those early seasons. At the same time, I could expound on how Rebecca showed up at a time when the show had done everything they could with Diane and needed a change. This might give you a good idea of my understanding of team dynamics, not to mention where I developed a keen sense of when to pivot.

"Let the Trumpists come and spend a few days [here] and feel, hear, and see how Putin 'wants peace'" a mother of a fallen Ukrainian soldier tells Kris Parker

Last year, the IRS Martinsburg site was “viewed as a high priority.” Now, under the Trump administration, it's “functionally obsolete.”

The post It’s Tax Season — The Perfect Time for Trump to Sell This “Critical” IRS Computing Center appeared first on The Intercept.

Snippets from a full day in a 24-hour diner make up this 13-minute short, offering a brief yet rich glimpse into diverse lives

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

Those with this little-known trait think more deeply and feel more empathy. But they also deal with significant challenges

- by Elaine Aron

Read at Aeon

U.S. taxpayers spent billions developing Ozempic-type diabetes and weight-loss drugs — now those drugs’ markups could bankrupt the U.S. health care system.

How Americans spent $6.2 billion to develop overpriced diabetes and weight-loss drugs.

An exclusive Byline Times interview with Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration

Michal Stelmach, James Kensett and Philip Schnattinger Economists frequently use the vacancies to unemployment (V/U) ratio to measure labour market tightness. Analysis of the labour market during the current inflationary period often assumes the V/U ratio is constant and compares this measure with a supposed pre-2019 equilibrium. However, the V/U ratio has trended upwards over … Continue reading What can 40 years of data on vacancy advertising costs tell us about labour market equilibrium? →

I am in a grim and introspective mood this morning. I have been reflecting on how my father might react to where we are. He was one of those who fought against fascism. His life was shortened by being wounded during that fight. As a result, I never knew him as a healthy person. What, […]

Let’s start with this: Ukraine is losing the war, and the longer it goes on the worse the peace deal will be. I absolutely agree with Trump that there needs to be a peace deal, and soon.

But the rhetoric coming out of the Trump administration and its proxies suggests that Ukraine owes America nothing, and that indeed, Ukraine owes America for all its support. This sounds reasonable, on the face, but only if you don’t know any history.

Let’s start with the 2014 Maidan protests which overthrew the government. They were a color revolution, heavily supported by the Americans and Europeans. Say what you will about Yanukovych, he was the elected President. There’s decent evidence that the sniper massacre was done by Maidan itself (see this academic study), and post coup, Ukraine was essentially run by Victoria Nuland.

The British press are reporting that the Government there is planning further spending cuts of the order of billions of pounds because the economic environment has changed and the current fiscal trajectory is threatening their self-imposed fiscal rules thresholds. We already heard last week how the Government is significantly cutting Overseas Aid as it ramps…

Justin Trudeau eloquently calls Trump’s tariffs a trade war. Miko Peled questions why the allies aren’t liberating the concentration camp that is Gaza, Jeffrey Sachs asks how many wars China has been in in the last 40 years. Peter Cronau lists our eclectic list of defence priorities. BREAKING: Justin Trudeau is specifically asked if he Continue reading »

“He’s threatening an entire population with death — what else is that other than genocidal?” one expert told The Intercept.

The post Trump’s “Genocidal” Threat to Gaza: If Hamas Won’t Release Hostages, “You Are DEAD” appeared first on The Intercept.

Via Mediaite: JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The first results of CNN’s instant poll are in. Let’s get right to CNN’s bureau chief and political director, David Chalian. David, how did the voters that you snap-polled feel about the speech? DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, first, I just want to mention, Jake, this is a poll of speech watchers, not a poll that is representative of the country overall, or what an electorate, an election looks like. And what we know is that people who tend to be fans or partisans with the president no matter which party the president is in, tend to tune in more on speeches like this. And that’s the case in tonight’s survey as well because 21 percent Democrat, 44 percent Republican in this sample. 35 percent independent. That’s about 14 points more Republican than the overall general population. So keep that in mind when you see these results of speech watchers. To the results. What was your reaction to Trump’s speech? 44 percent of speech watchers in our instant poll tonight say they had a very positive reaction to Trump’s speech, 25 percent somewhat positive, 31 percent negative.

“The Pentagon announced that Fort Moore, formerly named Fort Benning for a Confederate general, will again be named Fort Benning, although it will now honor a different Benning.” – CBS News

It is with immense pleasure that I, King Éomer of Rohan, announce that Helm’s Deep and its fortress shall today revert to the original name of Sauron’s Deep.

No, my loyal servants, not that Sauron.

Rest assured that our beloved stronghold is not named after the evil dark lord hell-bent on destroying Middle-earth, but after a beloved Elven soldier named Elduin Sauron from the Battle of Mirkwood, or something.

This brave warrior, whose name we definitely didn’t spend hours looking for in various scrolls until we found one that matched, sacrificed his life and fought honorably against the forces of Dol Guldur. With this official renaming, we will now be able to celebrate the illustrious military career of the mighty Sauron (again, not that one) in all his glory.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon