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It took some years for Americans to realize they’d been lied to about the war in Vietnam. Thanks to the publication of the Pentagon Papers, and thanks to the antiwar movement, Americans eventually learned about the injustices and failures of that war. Likewise, it took several years after the starts of the wars in Iraq Continue reading »

Ansarallah has single-handedly disrupted global shipping power dynamics. Yemen is launching attacks against Israeli-linked vessels deep into the Indian Ocean to cut off the last waterway route to the occupation state. Republished from The Cradle, March 21, 2024 Our people are ready to send hundreds of thousands of mujahideen to Palestine. Okay, geography might pose Continue reading »

On March 19, the Hong Kong legislature passed the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and reached a historic milestone in the implementation of “one country, two systems”. Legislation to implement Article 23, which requires Hong Kong to legislate on its own to prohibit seven national security offences, has been outstanding since 1997, and the inadequacy of Continue reading »

The unprecedented political, economic, and social crises in Egypt may trigger a resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has historically filled gaps the state cannot meet. Republished from The Cradle, March 19, 2024 On the morning of 4 March, the State Security Criminal Court in Egypt sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide Mohammed Badie to Continue reading »

Good luck with that. Apparently, they’re getting upset with Trump’s revenge obsession. Go figure: Donald Trump’s bid to oust a Florida Republican who backed Ron DeSantis over him is reviving a long-running GOP anxiety: that he can’t be dissuaded from the grudges and inflammatory rhetoric that plagued his party’s lawmakers during his first term. Trump’s call for a challenger to Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), the only House Republican from DeSantis’ state to endorse the Florida governor in the primary, reveals a campaign with little interest in courting his former rivals and their supporters. But as President Joe Biden makes a play for Nikki Haley voters who might be reluctant to back Trump, Republicans are starting to nudge the former president to at least try to tone it down. They’re concerned about a rerun of the hair-pulling past — where GOP candidates in battleground races are constantly challenged to answer for their presumptive nominee’s more erratic and boisterous statements.

Here in the U.S., my home state of Indiana has a new state-mandated DEI initiative: The law specifies that: “Each board of trustees [of a public college] shall establish a policy that provides that a faculty member may not be granted tenure or a promotion by the institution if, based on past performance or other […]

Well met, hale wanderer! You have journeyed through the Fiendish Greenwood, over the Sea of Knives, and across the Barren Plains of Evermore to reach the citadel ahead: the Academy of Arcane Knowledge!

Owing to my ragged cloak and even more ragged beard, you no doubt believe I am merely the town fool. But to enter the Academy and gain True Understanding, thou must first answer my Riddles Three! For I am the Riddle Master of this enchanted sanctuary!

Riddle the First: What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?

“Man,” you surmise? For he crawls as a baby, walks as an adult, and uses a cane as an elder? Correct! Perhaps thou do possess the wisdom necessary to pass…

Riddle the Second: It has a bed but never sleeps. And the one that uses it never knows that he’s using it. Of what do I speak?

“A river,” you guess? You betray your befuddlement! The answer is “a casket”!… er—wait.

I think I said the first part of the riddle for “river”—the bed part—but the second part for “casket.” I did, didn’t I?

….

….

Shit. Fuck.

Fuck!

A business world with deeply misguided priorities—exemplified by horror stories from the worlds of tech, gaming, and entertainment—accounts for much worker unhappiness and customer frustration.

The post Our Lady of Perpetual Profit appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Nobody can stand to be in congress anymore Staffers are sick of it too: When it comes to job satisfaction, members of Congress aren’t the only ones considering calling it quits. Only about one in five senior aides on Capitol Hill believe that Congress is “functioning as a democratic legislature should,” and about the same margin believe that it is “an effective forum for debate” on key issues. Given those assessments by the people who live and breathe these issues, this particularly glum finding should not come as a surprise: Almost half of senior congressional aides are considering leaving the Hill because of “heated rhetoric from the other party.” These are just some of the findings from an investigation by the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofitthat aims to improve both lawmaker effectiveness and constituent engagement. Situated seven blocks away from the Capitol in Eastern Market, the foundation conducts seminars for staff and offers research to outside groups trying to figure out the byzantine ways of the House and Senate.

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The one symbol that the Israeli military could not prevent was the use of the keffiyeh, a staple in every Palestinian home. Now, it has become the new symbol of nationhood and resistance, at times even replacing the now-banned flag.

The post On Keffiyeh and Watermelon – Revealing the Meaning of Palestinian Symbols appeared first on MintPress News.

Sliding into the 1930s The Silent Generation generally avoided speaking directly about anything deemed uncomfortable in polite society. TV’s Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds, fergawdsakes. It was a thing when Lucille Ball was “expecting” (never pregnant) and they wrote it into the series. One of my old roommates had been a junkie as a teen before I knew him in college. My My Silent Generation mother was distressed that I seemed to know people with “problems.” It’s like a throwback to the 1950s that today the news media has a problem openly discussing “problems.” Digby on Sunday referenced the Cleveland Plain Dealer editor Chris Quinn dealing plainly with uncomfortable truths about the immediate past president. Jay Rosen took note as well. Rosen has been particularly vocal about reporting that dances around the objective facts.

You are better off now than four years ago I took a cue ten days ago from the Bulwark and every morning began posting the New York Times front page from four years ago. Remember those grim headlines? The GOP’s idiotic attempt at campaigning in 2024 on “Are you better off?” relies on Americans having short memories and on our collective PTSD from the COVID-19 pandemic. We’d rather blot out images of empty store shelves, 6-ft distancing stickers, bodies in refrigeration trucks, mass graves, daily infection and death plots, etc. At one point, I was tracking how many preachers who claimed they were protected by the blood of Jesus had died of COVID. I stopped counting at 50 about this time four years ago. Donald Trump and the GOP want to play “Are you better off”? I’m happy to oblige. On this April Fools’ Day, the Associated Press is running a series of articles highlighting the miriad ways Americans can be fooled.

It's time for some random insights into (and wildly ridiculous speculations about) the Doctor Who Season 1 trailer and episode titles.

Do Say: “Whoa, where is Uncle Tony?”
Everyone will be saying this, so you’ll fit right in.

Don’t Say: “He’s in a better place now.”
Ordinarily, this would be a fine thing to say at a wake, but the context will make this land a little different. Yes, odds are, wherever his remains are now is a better place than this funeral home, which is rife with tension (because of the missing body). But right now, any speculation about where he is should be practical (e.g., “he could be in his truck”), not theoretical (e.g., “he is in a better place”).

Do Say: “Where was the last place you put him?”
Obviously, the answer will be the casket, but did anyone actually check the casket for clues? Sometimes, in times of chaos, someone needs to state the obvious to get things moving in the right direction.