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A revolution in education! A resuscitation of the university mission! To happen in, of all places, not the pompous old northeast or the debauched West…

It’s not just swing voters who will decide our fate. It’s nonvoters. Those of us who simply couldn’t believe Americans were crazy enough to elect Donald Trump in 2016 got a rude awakening. The MAGA types are loud, but not that numerous. Michael Tomasky this Presidents’ Day considers the other voters we didn’t see coming then who will again decide this year’s presidential election. He invites the Biden campaign and us to step outside our political bubble and get inside their heads: Last week, NBC produced a poll showing that respondents were remembering the Trump years comparatively fondly. No, don’t roll your eyes and tongue-cluck these people. It’s vital that we ponder this. Respondents were asked of Biden and Trump whether each man had done about the kind of job they expected, a better job, or a worse job. For Biden, the numbers were 14 percent better, 44 percent as expected, and 42 percent worse. For Trump? Prepare yourself. It was 40 percent better, 31 percent as expected, and 29 percent worse. We can rationalize that away or deal with it. But the numbers are the numbers, Tomasky advises.

Open Rights Group has urged MPs to reject proposals that would enable the UK to secretly veto security updates that ensure our online interactions are safe and secure.The Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill, which will be debated in the House of Commons on February 19, could force tech companies to apply to the Home Office prior […]

We certainly agree that regularities or models that explain or that give heuristic value over many different cases are highly desirable. But ones that do neither are not — especially if they use up huge resources along the way. When looking at the details, the Prisoner’s Dilemma’s explanatory record so far is poor and its […]

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Why was this man ever a celebrity anything? Donald “91 Counts” Trump has always been high-wealth and low-rent. He has spent his entire life complaining that the world (“they”) are laughing at us (“him”). Go figure. Ron Filipkowski reminds Americans that if you pick your president late at night while watching the Home Shopping Network (HSN), you get what you pay for. Business Insider from 2018: From deodorant to bottled water and, at one point, a personalized vitamin kit that was determined by urine test, Trump has put his name on almost anything shoppers would buy. He also had a menswear line from Phillips-Van Heusen that was sold at Macy’s, as well as a collection of Trump-branded home decor. The Washington Post found in 2016 Trump-branded manufactured in 12 countries. In 2018, Quartz estimated only 15 percent of Mr. America First’s items for sale were made in the U.S. It’s not clear where his $399 Trump “Never Surrender” high-tops are made, but those are the odds. SneakerCon in Philadelphia on Saturday loudly booed when Trump introduced them.

Chris White once drove three hours out of his way to see the spot where William McKinley was shot. In this column, he answers various questions about our nation’s past, present, and future presidents.

George Washington was kind of a big deal, and he knew it. Well aware that people would pick through his letters one day, he was careful about what he wrote and bequeathed his papers to his nephew Bushrod (seriously) for careful editing. Wife Martha torched most of what George had written her before she died, probably to hide the fact that they stayed intimate via French Revolution erotic fan fiction. By the end of his presidency, some of his fellow founders were starting to talk smack about George and whine about his politics. But he knew that with a little bit of image management, his legacy could outlive them all.

The Rwanda-backed M23 is continuing its campaign of mass rape and murder in the DRC – with the UK turning a blind-eye

Billions of miles away at the edge of the Solar System, Voyager 1 has gone mad and has begun to die. Let’s start with the “billions of miles”. Voyager 1 was launched in early September 1977. Jimmy Carter was a hopeful new President. Yugoslavia and the USSR were going concerns, as were American Motors, Pan […]

A scandal involving a pardon to a paedophile’s accomplice has already taken down Hungary's former justice minister, President, and the head of the Hungarian Reformed Church

In some constituencies, one-fifth of potential voters have not signed up to the electoral roll, new analysis reveals

In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Yellowjackets, David Tennant/Michael Sheen, Doctor Who, The Boys, and much more!

Private equity companies - many with connections to the Conservative Party - have been buying up large swathes of the public sector, including care homes, schools and GP surgeries. Special schools appear to be the latest hot property

This could be not only Labour’s last chance but, if the party doesn’t recover some courage, British democracy’s. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 11th February 2024 It’s as if Keir Starmer is seeking out all the positive reasons to vote Labour at the next election and deleting them. The national care service, abolishing […]

‘If we have any chance at all, then this is our chance – that we become calm’: a Zen Buddhist meditates on humanity’s fate

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

Players, coaches and team owners sometimes do terrible things. What, if anything, should their fans do about that?

- by Jake Wojtowicz & Alfred Archer

Read at Aeon

Offering undivided attention and curiosity not only lowers the temperature of a conversation but can change its outcome

- by Guy Itzchakov

Read at Psyche