Reading

Situations Where My Particular Set of Skills Would Come in Handy

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/situations-where-my-particular-set-of-skill…
Created
Fri, 02/02/2024 - 00:01

I am falsely accused of a crime and find myself at an intense trial that could end in jail time. The judge tells me that he will drop all the charges if I can give him information about five men spotted at the scene of the crime. He shows me the pictures of the suspects. They are the members of One Direction.

- - -

I go to the bank to make a withdrawal, and they tell me they have new safes to hold large sums of money. I overhear the employees talking about how the code for the safe is the phone number sung at the beginning of “Kiss Me Thru The Phone” by Soulja Boy. There is also a fingerprint scanner that will only unlock if the person’s fingers have evidence of using an iPod shuffle to listen to the song “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” by Soulja Boy.

In celebration of Rosemary Bechler 1951-2021 (text & video)

https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2024/02/01/in-celebration-of-rosemary-blecher-19…
Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 22:16

I met Rosemary in February 2016 in Berlin, where we inaugurated DiEM25. After weeks of frantic emailing, in which she had made clear her determination to be part of our pan-European movement from its beginning to her very last breath (as it turned out), I first held her hand in mine fittingly in the Red […]

The post In celebration of Rosemary Bechler 1951-2021 (text & video) appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Why Taylor Swift Terrifies Republicans

https://george-lakoff.com/2024/01/31/why-taylor-swift-terrifies-republicans/
Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 15:41
Click below to read the latest post from FrameLab, the newsletter co-founded by Dr. George Lakoff: The latest target of the Republican Party’s feverish and conspiratorial wrath: 34-year-old pop music megastar Taylor Swift. Why do Republicans see Swift as a threat? The simple answer: She is a powerful young woman who challenges the traditional social […]

Between Conflict and Collegiality: Palestinian Arabs and Jews in the Israeli Workplace

https://economicsociology.org/2024/02/01/between-conflict-and-collegiality-pale…
Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 11:35
by Asaf Darr* The ongoing and fierce conflict between Jews and Palestinian Arabs is a daily reality in Israel, the country where I reside. As a sociologist of work and economic sociologist, I became increasingly interested in the ways in which the broader conflict is manifested in daily socio-economic encounters on the shop floor between […]

“No Collusion! No Obstruction!”

https://digbysblog.net/2024/01/31/no-collusion-no-obstruction/
Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 11:30
“The election was rigged, I won in a landslide!” This is how Trump convinces his cult that up is down and black is white. He just says something that’s outrageously false, the polar opposite of the truth, with total confidence, over and over again. In fact, his deluded followers often tell reporters that the thing they admire about him the most is that he always tells the truth. Has there ever been a demagogue in history who was so willing to lie so blatantly about clear, observable facts? They always lie, of course. And they are outrageous in their rhetoric. But this brazen defiance of reality seems to me to be pretty unique. I think religious cult leaders do this and get away with it with their flock. But I don’t know that political leaders have been able to get away with it like this. Obviously, it takes a supporting propaganda infrastructure and a monstrously stupid following. But still, give Trump his due. I think he may be the most flagrant, obvious liar in world political history and he’s succeeded in making tens of millions of people believe everything he says.