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Honestly, what would George Orwell have written about this planet of ours, four decades after that ominous year 1984 passed from his fiction into history? And yes, in case you think that, as in his novel 1984, published in 1949, a year before his death and just as the Cold War (a term he was the first to use in an essay in October 1945) was getting underway, our world, too, seems to be heading for a nightmarish future, I suspect that — were he capable of returning to this planet of ours — he wouldn’t disagree with you for a moment. Phew! Sorry for such a long, complicated sentence, but little wonder given the way our world is now... Read more

Source: 2084 appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Without cigarettes, I would not have survived my childhood. My mother smoked a pack a day—more than a pack when our circumstances grew dire, and/or she was bound to the state via a prison cell, a mental ward, or the welfare office. Bump that pack up to a pack and a half. She could only buy them pack by pack. Never could afford the savings bundled in a ten-pack carton. She took it day by day, every night, making sure she set aside at least one to have with her morning cup of Folgers.

Without the snug fit of a cigarette between her index and middle fingers to weigh her down, my mother’s anxious thoughts would’ve carried her away, mistrals of the unfortunate winds careening through both the front and the back door and every closed window of the house, leaving my mother heels over head in a heap on the floor. When the dust devils whirled in, kicking up crisis after crisis, it was hard to hold steady. A cigarette gave her something to hold on to, something to wield as a weapon—a sword and shield made of smoke to choke out despair.

Yes, they mean it “Blinded by the Right,” David Brock’s memoir of his time as a conservative operative contains anecdotes on Grover Norquist, the anti-tax radical (by G.W. Bush-era standards), once considered “field marshal of the Bush plan.” Among them, his fondness for rhetoric like Lenin’s “probe with bayonets, looking for weakness.” Lenin’s portrait hung in Norquist’s Washington living room, Brock writes. And another: “Grover Norquist sent out an invitation to a post election party at his Capitol Hill home. Quoting from the movie Conan the Barbarian, it said: ‘TO CRUSH ENEMIES, SEE THEM DRIVEN BEFORE YOU, AND HEAR THE LAMENTATIONS OF THEIR WOMEN.'” Brock added the all-caps. Norquist was tame by standards of the first Donald Trump administration. That was the Trump who deployed tear gas and rubber bullets outside the White House to clear the streets for a photo-op. His generals convinced him shooting protesters in the legs was uncool. Trump 2.0 really does mean to deport millions.

Steven Moffat teased plot details for his upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special, "Joy to the World." How does a "time-traveling hotel" sound?

This blog has been around since 2009. I had just stepped down as managing editor of FireDogLake (one of the larger progressive blogs of the time) after editorial direction disagreements. Running FDL was a seventy hour a week job for not very much money, you had to really believe in it. I had for most of my run, and under my editorship readership increased about 70%.

A bombshell investigation reveals hundreds of former pro-Israel lobbyists working in America’s top newsrooms. How neutral is our media when it comes to Israel?

The post Revealed: The Israel Lobbyists Writing America’s News appeared first on MintPress News.

It’s been a tough stretch, and it’s not looking like it’s going to get better any time soon. I know that for months we’ve been saying, “We’re not going back,” but actually, I am. I’m headed back to 2014. Hop in, if you want to join me.

If you’re asking, “Why 2014, exactly?” then clearly, you don’t remember all of the great things about that year. Like how you can grow a mustache and wax the ends so they curl up. Or pair it with a beard and a manbun. Or get a tattoo of a mustache on your finger, so when you hold it up under your nose, it looks like you have a mustache. That shit never gets old.

When we get back to 2014, we’re going to write a lot of fanfic. We’re going to wear outfits that make people wonder, “Hipster or Amish?” We’re going to eat salad out of mason jars and make our own kombucha. We’re going to knit giant scarves. We’re going to play ukeleles.

It’s going to be fantastic.

Europe must wake up to the growing security threats posed by Russia and the new Trump administration

Congress is set to vote on bipartisan legislation that would let Trump wipe out enemy nonprofits under the guise of fighting terrorism.

Olive oil was revered and cherished by the ancients. But its distinctive peppery taste is really a modern invention

- by Massimo Mazzotti

Read at Aeon

It may sound illogical, but growing evidence shows the benefits of testing yourself before you start learning new material

- by Ajdina Halilovic

Read at Psyche

11th of November 2024 My Lords, there are many things to welcome in this Budget, particularly on the spending side. I am less keen on some of the tax proposals, which seem to be mean-minded and counterproductive, such as the tax on knowledge. The spending commitments are important because they reverse the disastrous policy of … Continue reading Speech in the House of Lords – Autumn Budget 2024

Wondering what you've missed amid the noise surrounding Trump's victory? Here are some stories you won't have heard much about this past week

Trump keeps winning because the Democratic Party refuses to be the party of the working class.

The post Bernie Would Have Won. Seriously. appeared first on The Intercept.

The mother of late TV presenter Caroline Flack calls for Starmer to "find the courage" to restart it as exclusive new YouGov polling finds public wants reform

This Tuesday report will provide some insights into life for a westerner (me) who is working for an extended period at Kyoto University in Japan. Nara I took last Friday off as a holiday and we took the train to Nara which is about an hour away from Kyoto. The motivation was to do the…

Thousands of CFMEU members in Sydney stopped work today for the third time since August to protest administration, standing up to threats from the administrators and bosses.

The post CFMEU stops work in Sydney in defiance of administration threats first appeared on Solidarity Online.

Tuesday’s strike and demonstration by NSW CFMEU rank and file and union supporters, in defiance of the Labor-appointed administrator, is just what the campaign against administration needed.

The post It’s right to defy administration—industrial action can win first appeared on Solidarity Online.

"The council sees this legal action as an assault on press freedom and an attempt to undermine the accountability that is vital to democracy."

I have already written about the incumbent rout all over the world theory. I’m persuaded that was probably the main driver of this election. It’s just sad that the Republicans are so far gone that they put up their previous loser, a convicted felon who attempted a coup d’etat, but that’s how we roll here in ‘Murica. We are so exceptional. I think the second point is just obvious. We have never had a woman president and a rank misogynist brute beat the two that we have managed to nominate. The racism is as American as apple pie and you don’t have to be a political scientist to know that it has an effect. But the third reason is something I think we need to explore much further. Our mediaecosystem is in deep, deep trouble and regardless of the macro political influences, we are going to be under threat of this fascist movement. Michael Tomasky at The New Republic wrote a very good piece on this. He notes that people are rightfully stunned that we would elect someone like Trump. Didn’t they know how unfit he is? And why didn’t they? The answer is the right-wing media.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Unbelievably, President-elect Trump hasn’t even been inaugurated yet, and he’s already solved so many of the problems he talked about on the campaign trail. Almost as if they were never there at all. I’m so glad I voted for him.

I was really outraged about inflation. But miraculously, today I woke up in Trump’s America, and the average worker’s paycheck goes further than it did pre-COVID. Not only that, but the United States is ahead of every developed economy in recovering from the pandemic. I don’t know how Trump pulled that off so fast. Tariffs?