Reading

Created
Fri, 19/07/2024 - 05:00
Meanwhile: I have serious doubts the Democrats can win with this dynamic. I don’t know that it will change if Biden gets out but it’s guaranteed that it won’t if he stays in. This isn’t the first time the press has put its thumb on the scale of the Democratic choice for president. We know that. In fact, they do it more often than not. Maybe this time it’s for the best but it doesn’t make it right. It usually doesn’t work out well for the good guys.
Created
Fri, 19/07/2024 - 04:56
The stark contrast in media coverage of the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine reveals a troubling pattern of bias that shapes public perception and policy in profound ways. As bombs fall on Gaza and tanks roll through Ukraine, Western audiences are presented with starkly different narratives that betray deep-seated prejudices and political agendas. This asymmetry Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 19/07/2024 - 04:00
Stuart Stevens knows Ohio. He worked for John Kasich, Rob Portman and focused on the state for George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. This piece in the Atlantic about what’s happened to the state since then is a fascinating look at the fascist takeover of the GOP: What happened to the Ohio GOP? For generations, it was the epitome of a sane, high-functioning party with a boringly predictable pro-business sentiment that seemed to perfectly fit the state. Today, it has been remade in the image of native son J. D. Vance, the first vice-presidential candidate to sanction coup-plotting against the U.S. government. In a speech to the Republican National Convention tonight that was virtually devoid of policy, he railed against corrupt elites and pledged his fealty to the man he once compared to heroin, suggesting that the American experiment depended on former President Donald Trump’s election. But don’t make the mistake of thinking this transformation was the result of a hostile takeover; that implies there was a fight. The truth is that the old guard surrendered to forces contrary to what it had espoused as lifelong values.
Created
Fri, 19/07/2024 - 03:16

The Victoria and Albert Museum is a glittering treasure trove of imperial loot, still named after the conjugal figureheads of one of the bloodiest networks of global subjugation in history. Can it really be the right place to consider the all too brief architectural flowering of an era which laid legitimate claim to the description […]

Created
Fri, 19/07/2024 - 03:00

We are writing to inform you that Your Body (“you,” “yourself,” “your aging body”) has updated its terms of service, which apply to the use of all your Parts and Areas. These terms will apply only to Your Once-Useful Body and may differ from Other People’s Bodies, Which Are Still Normal.

We encourage you to review the updated Terms before you attempt any dangerous activity, such as playing with your dog or walking uphill. Our other legal policies are available in our Depressing Policy Center.

Created
Fri, 19/07/2024 - 02:30
This is a good piece by Sidney Blumenthal in the Guardian about the effects of Trump’s assassination attempt. It’s truly sickening: The attempted assassination of Donald Trump has transformed the theology of Trump. He has long portrayed himself as an innocent lamb falsely accused, the target of slings and arrows to bear the suffering of believers. Now the bullet and the blood of Butler, Pennsylvania, have sanctified him for the faithful and brought forth a new gospel. Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee endorsed the party platform, a document that contained a plank pledging to create a new federal agency to defend Christian nationalism: “To protect Religious Liberty, Republicans support a new Federal Task Force on Fighting Anti-Christian Bias that will investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and persecution against Christians in America.” The document casts Christians as though they are a sect still persecuted by the Romans, about to be dragged into the Colosseum to face ferocious beasts. But after the shooting, there was no mention of a platform. There was no reference to the political party.
Created
Fri, 19/07/2024 - 02:14
Das Deutsche Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW) in Berlin hat Rechnungen für eine Vermögensteuer in Höhe von einem Prozent angestellt, wie sie derzeit politisch diskutiert wird. In dem Modell gilt ein Freibetrag in Höhe von einer Million Euro für Privatpersonen und von fünf Millionen Euro, wenn diese in einem Betrieb stecken. Das bedeutet: Privatleute müssen die […]
Created
Fri, 19/07/2024 - 00:30
The Midas Cult strikes back Rick Perlstein has been punishing himself reading a copy of Project 2025. He’s plowing through the internal contradictions so you don’t have to. His second installment uncovers needles in that haystack as well as dirty needles in plain view. Among them: “Discrimination is singled out as a bad thing, to be sure,” Perlstein finds. “Heritage would just render it impossible to fight” by not measuring it. Simply “prohibit racial classifications.” Problem solved! Becasue racial tracking of employees is a crime against “the diversity of the American workforce.” There’s plenty of weirdness authored by “the reactionary wing of … the Holy Roman Catholic Church.” Perlstein makes this observation on how the faith insinuates itself into policy.