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Mai Tran began catsitting in 2021 while Tran was on pandemic unemployment, often staying overnight in people’s homes. Tran has now cared for twenty-two cats and traveled to ten apartments all over New York City, observing the interior lives of cat owners and appeasing their neuroses. From home vet visits to black eyes to refugee cats, Chronicles of a Catsitter documents the most memorable days on the job.

In late 2021, I pick up another gig through the cat rescue Facebook group. The couple I work for lives only a few blocks away, so I arrange to drop in twice a day to hang out and feed the cats rather than stay overnight. The couple keeps four long-haired cats in a one-bedroom apartment. They send me photos of each pet along with detailed bios. The cats’ names, slightly altered for anonymity but the same in essence, are King Fluff, Ding Dong, Pilaf, and Freddy.

Hardeep Matharu, Editor of Byline Times, explores why the June 2024 print edition focuses on how 'cruelty is the point', to a point – and what the left must understand about the role of emotion in politics today

Oh my god, hey! How’s it going?

I feel like such a jerk, man. It has been the craziest week. I am literally just seeing this ransom note now.

Ugh, I’m the worst.

Okay, hang on, hang on, I’m just skimming back through—ah, shit. I see you set a meet time two nights ago, right under the old oak tree in Magellan Park. You didn’t end up—

You did? You weren’t waiting long, were you?

A couple of hours? Even though you hadn’t heard from me? Huh, okay. I mean, I would’ve confirmed at least—

No, no, totally fair. I get it, that’s on me.

Wait, that wasn’t the night with all the crazy rain, was it? Man, you must’ve gotten soaked.

How’s my kid holding up, anyway?

Oh, yeah, that sounds like him. Hey, let me ask you a question: Are you giving him a little iPad time at night?

All right, I mean, that’s your call. I know I tried to be a real “no screen time” hardliner at first, but honestly, you’re just punishing yourself. Believe me, I’m not going to tell anyone if he gets a little too much time with Ms. Rachel if it’s going to make your life easier.

The report is expected to proscribe Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action as 'extreme protest groups' and restrict their ability to fundraise and assemble

The MP reported a donation from a company that appears to be inactive in the UK – which his team has now told Byline Times was a mistake

This NASA simulation lets viewers into the extraordinary spectacle of entering a blackhole (minus the spaghettification)

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

A free and unified Europe was first imagined by Italian radicals in the 19th century. Could we yet see their dream made real?

- by Fernanda Gallo

Read at Aeon

From fitness to finance, the SMART goal-setting method is ubiquitous, but often detrimental. There are better approaches

- by Christian Swann

Read at Psyche

Households carrying credit card balances tend to be middle income, but the ratio of credit card debt to income is highest among those who earn the least.

Brexit will cost British firms £7.5 billion a year in new costs, according to a new report, with hundreds of millions wasted on border facilities that were never used

The unsellability of DSGE models — private-sector firms do not pay lots of money to use DSGE models — is one strong argument against DSGE. But it is not the most damning critique of it. The most damning critiques that can be levelled against DSGE models are the following two: (1) DSGE models are unable to […]

When I met with John McDonnell on October 11, 2018 at his Embankment office block in London he was then the Shadow Chancellor. The theme of the meeting was dominated by the concerns (near hysteria) about the power of the City of London (the financial markets), expressed by his advisor, a younger Labour Party apparatchik…

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

You’ll notice at the end of that ridiculous rant he also complains that Biden says he’s a “threat to democracy” plaintively wailing “what did I do?” He says he had “no wars” which is a lie. He didn’t get out of Afghanistan as he promised and his drone war was lethal. He had American troops in war zones all over the world. But be that as it may, asking “what did I do?” to deserve being called a threat to democracy is a very stupid thing to say. He is the only president to have ever illegally tried to overturn an election so that he could stay in office and incite an insurrectionist mob to storm the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of power during a joint session of congress. Maybe his cult members in the NRA don’t believe that was a threat to democracy but it most assuredly was. I confess to feeling a little bit disoriented lately by the flagrant gaslighting we are suffering through in this election. It’s worse than ever and it’s hard to force yourself to pay attention to it. I can’t say I blame the average voter for tuning it out. A few more highlights from his NRA speech.

The Opposition’s leading proponent of numerology, Sussan Ley, is speculated to this week be considering mounting a challenge to leader Peter Dutton, following the weekends dire polling results for the Coalition. ”We thought with the media going to town and... Read More ›

Really? When the greatest crisis of his presidency hit — a global pandemic the likes of which hadn’t been seen in one hundred years — he failed miserably. How anyone can think this man should be back in the White House is mind boggling and once he is dispatched next November, this nation is going to have to undergo some very serious soul searching to figure out what has happened to it and what to do about it.

Consider Donald Trump to be in a racial bind when it comes to election 2024. After all, he needs Black voters to at least defect from Joe Biden in swing states, if not actually vote for him. Yet, more than ever, he also needs his white nationalist base to believe that a second Trump term will be even more racist than the first and he’s been openly claiming that he’ll address the ghost of anti-white racism. Not surprisingly, his evolving strategy for the Black vote has been high on empty symbolism and viral moments, but distinctly low on specific promised policy benefits for the Black community. Milkshakes and far-right policies are all the presumptive Republican presidential candidate has recently offered... Read more

Source: Black MAGA Is Still MAGA appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Marjorie Taylor Greene and other MAGA leaders are demanding that Mike Johnson defind Jack Smith’s office. That’s ridiculous, of course but it’s good for fundraising, I guess. But Trump and his henchmen do have big plans for the DOJ and the FBI if they win in November: Trump, who has been indicted on dozens of criminal charges by the Justice Department, has vowed on the campaign trail to overhaul the agency if he wins the presidential election on Nov. 5 and pledged to use it to pursue his own opponents, including Democratic President Joe Biden. The plan is essentially twofold, according to the nine people interviewed by Reuters, some of whom requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. First: flood the Justice Department with stalwart conservatives unlikely to say “no” to controversial orders from the White House.

October of 2020: Granted, it was Rasmussen but still. By the way, the 2020 Black vote came in at 8% for Trump. Today Biden spoke at the Morehouse graduation. Everyone was worried there would be a massive protest or walkout. The Morehouse president had said that they were prepared to shut down the ceremony if such a thing happened (rather than call security or police) so everyone was on high alert. There were a couple of awkward moments but no huge protest. The valedictorian ended his address by calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Biden applauded and then later endorsed in his speech.There was no mass protest but a handful of graduates turned their backs on him. His speech seemed to be well received. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem for Biden among young Black men. A lot of young working class men of all races and ethnicity are attracted to Trump. That’s a sad comment on our culture but it is what it is. And Gaza has animated the young beyond any other issue and many of them blame Biden for the war. But when it comes down to voting, there’s a good chance that this massive racial realignment some of the polls are suggesting is overblown.

Keeping silent, while a genocide is in full swing for all to see, is not good for social cohesion. These days any expression of grief over the genocide in Gaza is regarded as a threat to social cohesion. Any expression of moral clarity is labelled antisemitic. A large number of us are expected to keep silent and Continue reading »

The late historian Paul Schroeder offered insights into how to bring Russia into a collective security arrangement. With the death of scholar Paul Schroeder, international historians lost one of their most innovative and distinguished practitioners. Schroeder’s approach to the study of international relations was ideational: it is not power or interests alone that shapes the Continue reading »

When Labour Governments moved to protect native forest in the past – Hawke, Wran, Gallop, Kirner, Beattie, Carr – they knew that they were protecting irreplaceable natural values and resources. Even as late as the early 2000s however, the role of forests in climate change mitigation was little known. It was certainly not a matter Continue reading »

The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) is a constant presence in Australia’s mainstream media. Its predominant role is to defend the state of Israel come hell or high water. Whenever someone appears in the media criticising Israel and/or supporting the Palestinian cause, AIJAC personnel pop up to set the reader straight. AIJAC complains about Continue reading »