Reading

“As much as dragons or incest or power struggles or even more generalized violence, [season one] has been defined by traumatic birth scenes.” — Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture

Princess Rhaenyra screams for ten uninterrupted minutes. The Maester rushes in.

MAESTER: Princess Rhaenyra, forgive me for interrupting your painful childbirth, but your dragon has gone into labor!

PRINCESS RHAENYRA: I didn’t even know she was pregnant! I mean, she put on a few pounds, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to say anything…

Princess goes back to screaming. A raven arrives through the open window with a message.

MAESTER: A note from the dragon pit, Your Highness. The delivery is—how to say this?— NOT GOING WELL.

Cut to ten minutes of dragon-screaming. Dragon doulas run around in a frenzy.

The Prime Minister's penchant for air travel dwarfs that of his predecessors flies in the face of the Government's net zero pledges and comes days after his D-Day dodging shame

. Below you will find a little Python script yours truly made to simulate a betting scenario as a Markov process and visualise how the total amount of money changes over time. This model highlights that, due to a higher probability of losing, the total money will generally trend downwards over a large number of […]

11 Labour, 17 Lib Dem and two Green candidates win Compass groups' backing, and could form pro-reform caucus if elected

A largely forgotten psychological concept helps explain the insidiousness of minor problems – and what to do about it

- by Shayla Love

Read at Psyche

In the 1840s, the iconoclastic scientist Gustav Fechner made an inspired case for taking seriously the interior lives of plants

- by Rachael Petersen

Read at Aeon

In an earlier post (here), prompted by some writings by Jacob T. Levy, I defended the idea that student protests can fall under academic freedom. My argument for this starts from the fact that while many universities can have mission specific interpretations of the latitude and constraints on how they interpret academic freedom (non-trivially constrained […]

The Conservative manifesto might make a line in an exam paper in 30 years. But voters desperate for change are unlikely to take notice

Open Rights Group has published its six priorities for digital rights that the next UK government should focus on. The pledges are part of a wider agenda for digital rights that was sent to political parties earlier this year. Executive Director, Jim Killock said: “Digital rights in the UK have been undermined by attacks on […]

As commercial insurers cut PFAS coverage, small businesses and consumers will swallow the cost.

The key to developing evidence-based policy is for policymakers to form trusted relationships with research experts who can apply their … More

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) warned that the “progressive movement is undermined” when criticism of the Israeli government turns to antisemitism. Ocasio-Cortez, along with other members of the progressive congressional “Squad,” has called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict amid thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza. Israel has said strikes will continue until Hamas is eliminated following the terror group killing more than 1,0000 and kidnapping hundreds in an Oct. 7 attack. Ocasio-Cortez hosted a talk on Monday with Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick and public policy strategist and activist Stacy Burdett centered on rising reports of antisemitism in the United States amid college campus protests condemning Israel’s government.

What they teach us about resilience.

The post The Oldest Ecosystems on Earth appeared first on Nautilus.

Later that day: Fascist scum John Kelly on the record: “What can I add that has not already been said?A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France. “A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women. A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about.

So, Macron has dissolved his government and a French legislative election is on. The Harris Interactive June 9/10 poll shows La Pen with the highest support at 34%, with the left wing Nantes coalition at 22% and Macron’s ENS coalition at 19%. Macron is not on the ballot, but if his party loses power, the Prime Minister of whatever group has the majority will be in control of French domestic policy, leaving Macron to foreign affairs.

Macron has been a terrible President. He got in only because of strategic voting. In the second round, people were too scared to give Le Pen a chance, so they went for him. During his tenure France has been rocked by repeated and massive protests. Economic performance has been bad and his signature move was to increase the age at which people can retire.

In our recent article, “Gaslighting Australia: The Instrumental Power of Australia's Mining and Energy Industries”, we look back on the last decade of Australia’s climate policy inaction. Based on our research, it seems likely that the current strategy, like former strategies, may have more to do with industry-government links than economic realities.

The post Gaslighting Australia: the Australian Government’s Commitment to Expanded Gas Production appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has delivered a speech over the weekend where he pledged to take Australia back to the good old days by abolishing the metric system. ”People are confused and it’s time the Government acted and abolished this... Read More ›