For years, I thought that there were two “sides” to the discussion around climate change. There were the people who believed in the science and the people who thought it was all a farce. Often, they could segregated into Democrats and Republicans. Of course, there were plenty of people who believed in the science but […]
Reading
Don’t be embarrassed, it’s a common mistake. You look around and think, Yep, this is it. Paramilitary deportations, apocalyptic foreign policy, and private corporations looting the federal government. This has to be the Fourth Reich.
Not so fast, my friend. That’s a protected term. Technically speaking, it’s only the Fourth Reich if it comes from the Reich region of Germany. Everything else is just sparkling fascism.
Fascism can come from anywhere, of course. Spain and Italy have produced their own versions over the years. Some of the stuff coming out of California rivals the classic vintages. However, only one region holds this unique appellation.
This is fascism, obviously. No one is arguing that. It’s simply a matter of designation. You see, every region has what they call terroir, something in the land that imparts a certain je ne sais quoi on a given far-right government. You might not be able to describe it, but you know it when you see it.
A new report finds Republican lawmakers stand to massively financially benefit from Trump’s renewed push to end the “death tax.”
The Trump administration filed no new evidence in its case against Khalil, according to a new filing ahead of Friday's hearing.
The post The Case Against Mahmoud Khalil Hinges on Vague “Antisemitism” Claim appeared first on The Intercept.
- - -
Dear Readers,
A few years ago, when my godson was graduating from high school, I went looking for a suitably impressive of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. I thought a well-made hardcover edition would make a great gift, given that Leaves of Grass is the closest thing we have to American scripture. But when I looked around, I found nothing like what I wanted. There were paperbacks, there were older hardcovers, but there were no handsome new editions featuring the whole poem, well-presented and made to last.
Trump backed off on most of his tariffs after Japan sold a ton of bonds and he panicked. He replaced most of the tariffs with a blanket 10%, and kept tariffs on China and Canada (because those countries had counter-tariffed the US, supposedly.) Now the report is that what US negotiators are demanding is that in exchange for avoiding US tariffs, other countries tariff China.
It should be noted, first, that China will not back down. The way Trump is framing this is “China will come to us” and sub-voce “beg” and that’s not happening, it would be a massive loss of face for Xi and for China and China is a “face” society. So massive tariffs on both sides will continue unless the US makes the first overtures and in a face saving way. The US rates on China are 125% and the Chinese rates on America are 85%.
In trying to get a little for myself, why must I push someone else down?
Yesterday I gave a keynote address at a University of Alberta event. Here’s a link to the blog post that summarizes my remarks:https://nickfalvo.ca/what-lies-ahead-for-community-level-homelessness-planning-in-alberta/
In the colonial view of the world — and, in its own strange fashion, Donald Trump’s view couldn’t be more colonial — White European colonizers were embattled beacons of civilization, rationality, and progress, confronting dangerous barbaric hordes beyond (and even, sometimes, within) their own frontiers. Colonial violence then was a necessary form of self-defense needed to tame irrational eruptions of brutality among the colonized. To make sense of the bipartisan U.S. devotion to Israel, including the glorification of Israeli violence and the demonization of Palestinians, as well as the Trump administration’s recent attacks on Black South Africa, student activists, and immigrants, it’s important to grasp that worldview. On the Caribbean island of Barbados, Great Britain’s 1688 Act “For the Governing... Read more
“President Trump on Wednesday abruptly reversed course on steep global tariffs that have roiled markets, upset members of his own party and raised fears of a recession. Just hours after he put punishing levies into place on nearly 60 countries, the president said he would pause them for 90 days.” — New York Times, 4/9/25
- - -
Folks, I’m thrilled to announce that the gamble paid off. Nobody believed we could do it, but here we are. The plan worked—stocks are skyrocketing back to less than they were before.
You’ve probably seen the numbers by now, and they’re incredible numbers. An absolutely fantastic set of numbers. In fact, these numbers are nearly halfway to the numbers we had before we tried any of this.
Now, a lot of people are saying we did a whole lot of damage for nothing. But you know what? That couldn’t be further from the truth. On the contrary, we’re pretty confident that this is the smartest thing anyone’s ever done. We undid so much damage that, as of today, we’re only mostly damaged.
“These arrests are further proof that the right to protest is under attack in the UK" says the global campaigning network
The Prime Minister previously watered down his commitment to "abolish" Parliament's unelected second chamber
- by Aeon Video
- by Joshua May
- by Anand Vaidya & Manjula Menon
The former GB News host failed to overturn a High Court order protecting the anonymity of a man he allegedly catfished into sharing sexual material online
Lily Smith Like mother, like daughter? Like father, like son? Despite the increasing prevalence of digital payments in today’s world, young people continue to use cash. The persistence of cash use, even among youngsters who have grown up with debit cards and smartphones, raises interesting questions about the factors that influence young people’s payment choices. … Continue reading Parental guidance: the influence of parents on young people and their attitudes towards cash
It’s obviously becoming difficult to keep track of where the US government policy is on any particular day. Last week, it was ‘Liberation Day’, which included tariffs being imposed on remote penguin colonies in the back of nowhere, then Musk labelling the Trump’s trade adviser ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’, then tariffs on Chinese…
It has been a sodden, often grey summer in Johannesburg. The rain has continued into early autumn as the days begin to cool. On the last Friday in March, the offices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) were warm and cosy as people came in from the rain. Established in 1996 in […]
Following is an unedited, automated transcript of this Lever Time episode.