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Do the work. Score the points. Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice reflects on Tuesday’s elections (bolding mine): Some 48 hours ago, pundits were rushing to explain how, why, where, and exactly to what extent the Democratic Party is doomed. A New York Times/Sienna poll released last weekend showed President Joe Biden catastrophically trailing indicted orange gasbag of hatred former President Donald Trump in virtually every key swing state. According to the poll, Trump leads Biden by five points in Arizona, four in Pennsylvania, six in Georgia, and 11 in Nevada. Analysts like Nate Silver and Matt Yglesias made panicky noises, condemning Dems for not mounting a serious primary challenge to the incumbent. There was weeping, there was gnashing of teeth. And then, we had an actual election. Tuesday night’s results are difficult to square with the “Biden and Democrats are doomed” narrative. In an off-year election, with the incumbent president’s approval rating mired below 40 percent, you would normally expect the president’s party to be stomped, crushed, spindled, and obliterated.
If your encounter with these poems is anything like mine, the first thing you might experience is pure music: the thick stunning spellbinding sound at work in Safiya Sinclair’s writing. And then almost at the same time you might realize that the poems, which are often layerings of elaborations, lists, and collations, are also telling stories, making arguments even, and conjuring images with a moving deftness and visceral potency. Listen to the brilliant patterning of vowels—the “ahs” of “father” and the “un” of “unbending” and “unbroken” turning into the “oh” of “low” in “Pocomania,” named for a religion in Sinclair’s native Jamaica:
Father unbending father unbroken father
with the low-hanging belly, father I was cleaved from,
pressed into, cast and remolded, father I was forged
in the fire of your self. Ripped my veined skin, one eyelid,
father my black tangle of hair and teeth. Born yellowed
and wrinkled, father your jackfruit, foster my overripe flesh.
Father your first daughter now severed at the ankles, father
your black machete …
Stop white-knuckling polls Everybody Relax. The Net economy runs on clicks. The polling economy runs on polls. Cable news runs on ratings 24/7/365. All make money promoting a horse race with a photo finish. MSNBC kept flipping back to Steve Kornacki updating returns from the Kentucky governor’s race Tuesday night long after Dave Wasserman of Cook’s Political Report had “seen enough.” The Associated Press called the race for incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear 90 minutes later. So it goes. On Election Night, we don’t count policy positions or polling averages or pundits’ opinions. We count votes. It’s how democracies keep score. And last night? Last night was “nearly a clean sweep” for Democrats. Beshear won another term in “red” Kentucky on an explicit abortion rights campaign against his GOP challenger. Beshear went straight at Daniel Cameron on the abortion issue with this powerful ad featuring rape survivor Hadley Duvall. “Because of her courage, this commonwealth is going to be a better place and people are going to reach out for the help they need,” Beshear told supporters.
Lawyer Gareth Roberts examines new proposals that may be robust, but are they good policy?
The post Doctor Who Magazine 597 appeared first on Doctor Who Magazine.
Dr Kit Yates examines the lessons emerging from the Covid Inquiry and why fear of pressure from politicians led to the creation of Independent SAGE
It’s somehow only day forty-seven of bus stop pickup duty. As I approach, I can see the wince behind your polite smile. I don’t blame you—I wouldn’t want to hang out with this trite, milquetoast version of me for the next three to twenty-six minutes, either. I don’t know what it is about you, an assemblage of perfectly kind moms and dads who happen to live near me, that transforms me into the Actual Most Boring Human of All Time. But I do know this: I have no idea what to talk about with you.
The miners’ strike of 1984-5 pitted the Thatcher government and the National Coal Board against Arthur Scargill’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), in a battle for the future of Britain’s coal-mining industry, and, by proxy, the entire direction of the country’s political economy. The NUM was probably the most male-dominated of any trade union in […]
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- by Anna Smout, Glenn Melvin & Marie Yap
The death toll in Gaza reaches 10,000 after a month of Israel’s brutal air and ground attacks.
The post Netanyahu’s Savage Game: Mass Killing Palestinians, Exploiting Israeli Grief appeared first on The Intercept.
Israel’s horrifying assault is targeting the entire population of Gaza. Every day brings more sickening war crimes and atrocities.
The post All out to stop the slaughter as Albanese backs Israel’s genocide first appeared on Solidarity Online.
US President Joe Biden has given Israel’s murderous rampage in Gaza his full and absolute backing.
The post Biden’s embrace of Israel designed to cement US power first appeared on Solidarity Online.
Union solidarity with Palestine has exploded as anger grows over Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the Labor government's support for Israel.
The post Surge in union action for Palestine builds solidarity movement’s power first appeared on Solidarity Online.
From Kerala to Cairo, people are taking on their own governments in the fight for Palestinian lives in Gaza.
The post Solidarity with Palestine sweeps world first appeared on Solidarity Online.
The overall number of U.S. veterans is steadily declining, as more of those who served in WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War pass away. But the number of women veterans continues to rise.
Right-wing groups are mobilising against offshore wind projects, holding rallies in Wollongong and Port Stephens on the NSW coast against plans for nearby projects.
The post Unions stand up to right-wing campaign against offshore wind first appeared on Solidarity Online.
The confusion that surrounded the Yes campaign for the Voice to parliament has turned into some despair among the official Yes campaigners in the aftermath of the referendum’s defeat.
The post After the Voice’s defeat, we need the politics of protest first appeared on Solidarity Online.
Anthony Albanese and the Australian government back the US and Israel as junior partners in bullying and exploiting the world, argues David Glanz.
The post Australia the US’s partner in crime not puppet first appeared on Solidarity Online.
Tax prep companies claim a government-run direct-file system would be expensive — but it could cost less than the federal subsidies going to the industry.
Francesca Diluiso, Barbara Annicchiarico and Marco Carli While climate change is often seen as a long-term concern, climate mitigation policies can have different short-term effects, since they affect the transmission mechanism of conventional macroeconomic shocks. In a new working paper, we show that cap-and-trade schemes lead to lower volatility in GDP and financial variables, and … Continue reading Beyond emissions: the interplay of macroprudential regulation and climate policy
NHS doctor David Oliver explores how the Conservatives' NHS policies left it in a dire state and unable to cope with the pandemic
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