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Twenty people were arrested yesterday for defying Queensland’s ban on Palestine protest slogans.

The post Twenty arrested in Brisbane as activists defy ban on Palestine protest slogans first appeared on Solidarity Online.

Out of the blue, my childhood friend and former neighbor Rita texted me a while ago to tell me that she had gone back to Lebanon, where we both grew up, for the first time in forty-three years. A few seconds later, she sent me several photos. One showed the building we both lived in in the Beirut neighborhood of Achrafieh, which my family moved out of in 1986 when we immigrated to the U.S. Another showed a set of stairs, with dank and dirty walls and steps. “Our shelter,” Rita, who has lived in Canada since 1980, wrote. It was an innocuous image, but it was loaded with emotions. I could smell the musty, metallic air of those stairs, which led to the basement. At the bottom, to the left, was our past and our life of fear, dread, and threat.

For fifteen years or so, I’d been kicking around the idea of resurrecting the artist-apprentice model that reigned in the art world for hundreds of years.

Again and again, I’d heard from young people who lamented the astronomical and ever-rising cost of art school. For many college-level art programs, the total cost to undergraduates is now over $100,000 a year. I hope we can all agree that charging students $400,000 for a four-year degree in visual art is objectively absurd. And this prohibitive cost has priced tens of thousands of potential students out of even considering undertaking such an education.

For years, I mentioned this issue to friends in and out of the art world, and everyone, without exception, agreed that the system was broken. Even friends I know who teach at art schools agreed that the cost was out of control, and these spiraling costs were contributing to the implosion of many undergraduate and postgraduate art programs.

Maxine Waters, the scourge of crypto, could become Financial Services Committee chair if Democrats win the House in midterm elections.

The post Crypto Critic Maxine Waters’s New Primary Foe Got Over Two-Thirds of Money From Crypto appeared first on The Intercept.

“A.I. capacity may soon displace oil or enriched uranium as the resource that dictates the global balance of power. [Open AI’s C.E.O.] Sam Altman has said that computing power is ‘the currency of the future.’” — The New Yorker

Gather around, everyday working people, and allow me to lay out a grand vision for a brave new world. A world in which all economic functions are done by computers and robots. A world where the very concept of having money no longer exists (for all of you).

“How does this work?” You ask in excitement and awe. “Surely there must be some form of standardized economic unit that facilitates the exchange of goods and services.” And yes, there will be, of course. But you don’t have to worry about that, because you will simply have none of it. Only I and like twelve other people will have it.

Thanks for reaching out. I’ve stepped away from my office, but I’ll respond promptly when I return. To clear up any confusion, please be advised that:

In Lebanon, an unprecedented campaign of DNA tests is being used to identify mangled bodies left trapped under rubble by Israel’s blitz.

The post Israel’s “Black Wednesday” Massacre Leaves Lebanese Families Giving DNA to ID Loved Ones’ Remains appeared first on The Intercept.

I’m reaching out because, well, I’ve got this shipment of 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, and I would LOVE it if I could just squeeze on by and pass through the Strait of Hormuz? Honestly, no worries if not, though!

It’s just that the vast amount of crude oil I have aboard is the lifeblood of several regional economies. Without it reaching its destination, millions will be unable to afford to heat their homes and fuel their cars, causing those economies to become increasingly unstable, undermining, in turn, the stability of the world at large. But if it’s a no, that’s fine!

I know you’re super committed to whichever geopolitical concern has driven you to block the Strait, and listen, I totally get it. That sounds really stressful and complicated. You’re doing an amazing job, by the way! I’ve heard that, like, no one is getting through, and that must be such a pain to deal with day in and day out.

It was a spring that felt more like winter last week in New York; suddenly it feels like summer. After my air-conditioned bedroom, the living room and kitchen was like a walk-in oven. A weirdly yellow bulb lit the kitchen. The kids must have left it on when they went to bed. I made an […]

The post Pete’s Presence appeared first on Jeffrey Zeldman Presents.

Matt Duss, former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, on how Democrats can win on an anti-war platform and bring about real change.

The post When Anti-War Candidates Become War-Monger Presidents appeared first on The Intercept.

Humans weren’t given souls by God or genes. We made them ourselves with language – turning sentience into something sacred

- by Nicholas Humphrey

Read on Aeon

Reduced violence is welcome, but the Gaza “ceasefire” has meant continued genocide. We can't let them get away with it in Lebanon.

The post Israel Will Keep Occupying Lebanon Despite Ceasefire appeared first on The Intercept.