The whole world is experiencing an “escalation to extremes” because we imitate each other to a profound degree. We should choose our models more carefully. There are over 100 million people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes and over 36 million of these are seeking refuge in other countries. We are in the Continue reading »
Reading
I cannot even begin to understand how governments can fail to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. They know – absolutely know – that Palestinian children are dying in droves. The children are killed by bombs, maimed, traumatised, experience amputations without anaesthesia, and they are starving. For this song, I chose a tune which has been Continue reading »
People in Hong Kong, particularly the media, should still be allowed to voice diverse opinions and criticism without fear of retribution – as long as it is fair and fact-based. This will help mitigate the concern of people considering a move to the city and show ‘one country, two systems’ is still alive and well. Continue reading »
Gopers falling apart This is a point worth making over and over again: Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined Biden at the star-studded event moderated by late night host Stephen Colbert in New York City, and The Atlantic’s Mark Leibowitz told the “Morning Joe” host that he was struck by that show of unity around the president. “There is a coherence of purpose when you see three presidents up there,” Leibowitz said. “When you contrast that to, I mean, you will not see a living former Republican president or nominee anywhere near a Trump rally going forward. I mean, this is not a party that has a past, you know, before Donald Trump came on the scene.” Scarborough agreed, saying that former Trump officials were among the ex-president’s harshest critics. “That’s such a great point,” Scarborough said. “Let me interrupt because you’re making such a great point, I want to ruin it right now. No, you just said, we have three Democratic presidents, you would never find a Republican president onstage with Donald Trump.
Trump just loves them: Former president Donald Trump disseminated on social media on Friday an image of President Biden with his hands and feet tied, the latest example of the Republican candidate’s use of increasingly violent rhetoric and imagery this campaign season. The image can be seen about halfway through a 20-second video that Trump posted on his Truth Social site. The post says it was recorded Thursday on Long Island, where Trump traveled this week to attend a wake for a recently killed police officer. In the video, two trucks decorated with giant Trump flags and altered American flags are driving on a highway. On the tailgate door of one of the trucks is the image of Biden bound and lying horizontally. Similar images of Biden have been circulating on social media for months, if not years, on sites including Instagram, Reddit and Twitter, before the platform changed its name to X. In February, the popular World Star Hip Hop site posted a video of a truck it said was in California featuring such an image.
Ronna McDaniel is unhired, but NBC still pays retired generals and admirals who have a personal stake in what they “analyze.”
The post NBC Rejects Trump Voice but Embraces War Party appeared first on The Intercept.
Low-GDP Russia sticks with what works Heather Cox Richardson spotlights a report warning that Russian disinformation efforts are as vigorous as ever. The report focuses on Ukraine but its implications apply more widely. Russia lacks the West’s resources and collective GDP. So its geopolitical strategy leans heavily on an asymmetrical advantage in information warfare: This means that the strategy that matters most for the Kremlin is not the military strategy, but rather the spread of disinformation that causes the West to back away and allow Russia to win. That disinformation operation echoes the Russian practice of getting a population to believe in a false reality so that voters will cast their ballots for the party of oligarchs. In this case, in addition to seeding the idea that Ukraine cannot win and that the Russian invasion was justified, the Kremlin is exploiting divisions already roiling U.S. politics. Since I am “reading” Barbara McQuade’s “Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America,” Richardson’s post is well-timed.
Use to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts.
Plus, big electric utilities face heat, decarbonization projects take off, feds crack down on corporate misconduct, and Biden’s new judge nominee is blasted for her hedge-fund past.
L-O-S-E-R Donald Trump has hawked “digital trading cards” of himself, Trump gold shoes, and Trump Bibles, a pundit pointed out on Friday. And Trump this and Trump that and Trump vodka he doesn’t drink. Trump is even peddling the hem of his garments like some oleaginous televangelist selling prayer cloths with magical healing powers and weekly “prosperity plans.” The man who once boasted he was so rich he couldn’t be bought advertises every single day that he’s for sale. Perhaps Trump fatigue finally is setting in. He can still sucker the press into covering his daily outrages. He can still draw eyeballs and clicks. MAGA politicians who rode in on his coattails still genuflect before his image. But can he win a presidential election? Politico considers that Trump is losing more than the suburbs: The analysis of GOP presidential primary results from more than 1,000 counties shows warning signs for Trump, especially as Republican voters continued to vote against him in closed primaries after he clinched the nomination. And it makes clear that, while independents and crossover voters may have boosted former U.N.
In Doctor Who, time travel stories to the past were intended to teach kids about History - and featured some of the show's funniest moments.
“We’re not going to clean up your mess,” said analyst Rula Jebreal about PEN America’s recent outreach to prominent Palestinian voices.
The post PEN America in Damage-Control Mode Amid Revolt From Staff and Palestinian Writers appeared first on The Intercept.
Stoneham Mass.; February 29, 2024 – Visitors to Stone Zoo will notice a fuzzy new face in the prehensile-tailed porcupine habitat. On February 22, Prickles, a prehensile-tailed porcupine, gave birth to a porcupette. The baby is the fourth offspring for Prickles, age 10, and dad, Shadow, age 11. The latest prickly addition, who weighed just under 1 pound at birth, is settling in well in the Windows to the Wild space. The baby received its first medical exam on February 23 and appeared bright, healthy and alert. As with any new birth, the veterinary and animal care teams are closely monitoring the mother and baby. The porcupette has been gaining weight, and will continue to be weighed every day during the first month to make sure there is continued healthy weight gain. “We’re excited to welcome another porcupine to the zoo family, and to report that they are all doing great. We’ve observed the porcupette grip branches with its prehensile tail, which is an excellent sign of a strong, healthy baby,” says Pete Costello, the Assistant Curator at Stone Zoo.
Ancient currents seemed to move in concert with a 2.4 million-year dance between the Red Planet and Earth.
The post Do Our Oceans Feel the Tug of Mars? appeared first on Nautilus.
Maryland’s former governor-turned-Senate candidate championed mega-ships like the one that destroyed the Baltimore bridge.
Or, at least, something to keep in mind Josh Marshall makes an observation I haven’t seen anyone else make and while it may not prove to be prophetic it’s certainly worth considering. He starts off by noting that while we’ve known for quite some time that the GOP congress is nota serious governing party, this congress has taken it to an entirely new level. As he says, it’s been on “longrunning shutdown drama” and is now only able to function at all with the GOP Speaker running the chamber with Democratic votes, courting his own ouster every single day. More than a few powerful and well-known GOP Reps are retiring, some walking away mid term. But there’s a lot more: Then you’ve got the seemingly unrelated Trump takeover of the RNC. Let’s set aside the very important issues of corruption, cronyism and creeping strong-manism. There’s every sign that Trump and his family are going to steer significant amounts of the RNC’s money into a legal slush fund for Trump and his various co-defendants. It’s hard to imagine this won’t further depress giving to the RNC. Some donors won’t care.
Trump’s getting worse by the day Dana Milbank: This week, he announced that he is not — repeat, NOT — planning to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He apparently forgot that he had vowed over and over again to do exactly that, saying as recently as a few months ago that Republicans “should never give up” on efforts to “terminate” Obamacare. “I’m not running to terminate the ACA, AS CROOKED JOE BUDEN DISINFORMATES AND MISINFORMATES ALL THE TIME,” the Republican nominee wrote this week on his Truth Social platform. Rather, he said, he wants to make Obamacare better for “OUR GREST AMERICAN CITIZENS.” Joe Buden disinformates and misinformates? For a guy trying to make an issue of his opponent’s mental acuity, this was not, shall we say, a grest look. The previous day, Trump held a news conference where he nailed some equally puzzling planks onto his platform. “We’ll bring crime back to law and order,” he announced.
I guess that’s how MAGA prefers it?