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Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 08:00

In the recent years, progressive lawyers have sought to bring considerations of class and political economy back to the centre of legal analysis. Coalescing around ClassCrits and, more recently, the Law and Political Economy movement, legal scholars have taken aim at the role of law in sustaining a profoundly unjust and unsustainable neoliberal political economy. This emerging body of literature highlights the (mal)distributive effects of facially neutral laws and the ways that law contributes to the constant remaking of class relations. The flip coin of this relationship, namely the effect of political economy on the existence, interpretation and application of law, is less examined, probably because of the distinctly Marxist flavour of this question.

The post War, law, political economy: thinking through forms appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 07:00
Remember those so-called sensible Republicans who didn’t think they should launch an impeachment inquiry? Well, they’ve seen the light: Before House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched an impeachment inquiry, center-right Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., urged his party not to go down that road, saying it was “too early” given the lack of evidence against President Joe Biden. But two days after McCarthy made that decision last week, Bacon, who represents an Omaha-based district that voted for Biden in 2020, shifted his tone and said he wasn’t taking issue with it. “If there’s a high crime or misdemeanor, well, let’s get the facts,” Bacon told NBC News, adding that he had been “hesitant” about it earlier — but now it’s done, and he stands by McCarthy, R-Calif. “I don’t think it’s healthy or good for our country. So I wanted to set a high bar. I want to do it carefully. I want to do it conscientiously, do it meticulously,” Bacon said. “But it’s been done.
Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 05:57

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández goes on trial this week in New York City for overseeing a massive cocaine trafficking conspiracy. Washington learned of his dealings with narco-cartels soon after it backed a coup that brought him to power.   When then-Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernández, set out for a pleasant jog along the National Mall while on an official state visit to Washington DC on August 13, 2019, he seemed not to have a care in the world. “Daily […]

The post Trial of Honduran ex-president reveals Washington’s protection of ‘narco-state’ first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Trial of Honduran ex-president reveals Washington’s protection of ‘narco-state’ appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 05:30
To those who thought that Trump calling the 6-week abortion bans “terrible” in his interview this weekend would cause the “pro-life” movement to abandon him, think again. Aaron Blake of the WaPo asked Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America about it and this is what they said: If you ever thought the anti-abortion movement was about anything other than rank politics, you know better now. They are just another political interest group trying to maintain its power in the party. It’s what they’ve always been. These are people who’ve spent the last five decades screaming that abortion is murder. Now they’re talking about “ambition and common sense” and trying to sell a 15 week abortion ban in order to get votes for their side. Apparently, fetuses may be endowed with all the rights of fully formed human beings but maybe a little genocide under 15 weeks is a small price to pay to maintain political power? Looks like it.
Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 04:57
Australia, with fewer secrets to hide, is more compulsively secretive than the US, China or NATO. General Angus Campbell is concerned about “truth decay” and artificial intelligence, worried that eventually citizens of this country will be unable to sift fact from fiction. Countries such as Russia were using disinformation as a weapon of statecraft in America Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 04:56
Indonesia and Australia have more to gain from energy transition – and more to lose from inaction – than any two countries in the world. But the Indonesian government must navigate significant policy challenges to attract the capital it needs for a swift, just and orderly transition. When Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Australia recently Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 04:53
After more than six months of Parliamentary wrangling, the ALP’s flagship housing future fund bill finally cleared the Senate last week. For Australia’s neglected social housing sector, this presages a welcome revival of federally-supported capital investment, absent for most of the past quarter century. But, in a longer-term perspective, the resulting program will be significant Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 04:52
China wants to expand its sphere of influence; the West, thankfully, is devoid of such base instincts. We can ignore the US’ vastly greater military budget, its 800 overseas military bases compared to China’s one, its mammoth track record of overseas interventions, and its military encirclement of China with Australia’s aid; China is the obvious Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 04:50
None of us has previously witnessed a barrage of extreme weather events of the kind that has been devastating lives across the globe this summer. Canadian wildfires the size of Austria, a Hawaiian town incinerated by a hurricane-fuelled firestorm, a Greek island devastated by three years of rainfall in a single day, a Libyan town Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 04:00
I would guess that most of you haven’t ever heard of Sneako, a right wing Youtube “influencer.” Here’s a short bio: Nicolas “Nico” Kenn De Balinthazy (born: September 8, 1998 [age 25]), better known online as Sneako, is a right-wing Muslim-American internet personality. Sneako is closely associated with figures such as Andrew and Tristan Tate, rapper Kanye “Ye” West, white nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes, LeafyIsHere and the hosts of the Fresh&Fit Podcast. Through his main channel “SNEAKO” and second channel “SHNEAKO” on YouTube, Sneako amassed over 2,000,000 subscribers, up until his termination from the platform after repeated community guideline violations. He now posts content on the “alt-tech” platform Rumble.com You can get more details here but let’s just say this guy is a real piece of work.
Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 03:00

Elaine, did you make this hummus?

No.

It’s really good.

Okay, but I didn’t make it.

- - -

David, did you make this hummus?

Nope.

Well, who did?

I don’t know.

I just want to compliment the person who made the hummus, but no one will tell me who made it.

I wish I could tell you who made it so you’d shut up about it.

I’ll shut up about it when I get some answers.

- - -

Hey, Eric, did you make this hummus? It’s delicious.

No, I didn’t make it either, and why do you have to compliment the person who made it? Can’t you just eat it and move on?

Because last year when I came to this office party, I made a spinach artichoke dip and no one said shit to me about it. Someone should have said something. Do you remember that dip I made?

No, it was a long time ago. I’ve probably eaten thirty or forty dips since then, so I don’t remember your stupid dip.

Exactly. People forget dips and the people who made them. We need to talk about the elephant in the room while there’s still time.

Created
Tue, 19/09/2023 - 02:30
Over the last few days as most of the media was blathering on about Joe Biden’s “bad week” , Donald Trump was stepping up his campaign and appearing at various venues saying things and behaving in ways that should have made journalists’ ears perk up, wondering if he’s lost more than a step. He was wildly dishonest and incredibly self-destructive even for him. It started with an interview with Megyn Kelly for her Sirius XM show last Thursday, the first since Trump crudely insulted her back in 2015 in the first presidential primary debate. Trump seemed to expect a friendly, Fox-like, interview and she gave him plenty of softballs and expressed her agreement with much of his nonsense. But she did ask some probing questions about his legal troubles and once again he more or less confessed to his crimes. He must have said the words “Presidential Records Act” a dozen times, reiterating over and over that he had every right to take any document he chooses. And he slipped up continuously, providing the prosecution plenty of fodder: Trump on taking classified documents: “I’m allowed to have these documents.