Reading

Created
Tue, 11/04/2023 - 00:30
Tiffany Dover is ready to exit the shadows The conspiracy caucus’ legacy may linger long enough to bite us the next time a nasty virus appears. Brandy Zadrozny interviews Tiffany Dover, a Tennessee nurse unwillingly placed by anti-vaxxers at the center of their conspiracy theories (NBC News): I’d been following Tiffany since that day, Dec. 17, 2020. Like thousands of others, I first saw her on a livestream during the national rollout of Covid vaccines to front-line workers, where Tiffany became one of the first people in the U.S. to get a shot. I was also watching when she fainted immediately after, launching a wave of misinformation and conspiracy theories that would eventually unravel her life.  The modern anti-vaccine movement was powered by unverified stories of the dead and damaged. Tiffany wasn’t the first person to be swallowed up in an anti-vaccine propaganda campaign, and she wouldn’t be the last.  The unsettling thing about it — to me and the more well-meaning conspiracy theorists who took up an interest in Tiffany’s case — was that she seemed to just disappear. Imaginations ran wild.
Created
Mon, 10/04/2023 - 23:00
They’ll have Trumpism without so much Trump in it The persistent Mr. Frank Luntz delights us with yet another look into the minds and desires of Trump voters. He finds them, curiously, outside rural diners. He doesn’t specify how he selects his focus groups — more than two dozen! — and gets them to sit still for him. Some things haven’t changed. Like their sense of victimization (New York Times): Many felt ignored and forgotten by the professional political class before Mr. Trump, and victimized and ridiculed for liking him now. Like Republican primary voters nationwide, the focus group participants still respect him, most still believe in him, a majority think the 2020 election was stolen, and half still want him to run again in 2024. Others want Trump without so much Trumpiness in a 2024 presidential candidate. They want “a candidate who champions Mr. Trump’s agenda but with decency, civility and a commitment to personal responsibility and accountability.” Um, no, they don’t. That’s the difference between Luntz reporting what Trump voters say they want and considering what their choices actually reflect.
Created
Mon, 10/04/2023 - 22:00

1. You’re wearing pajamas—not sexy or cute ones.

2. When a friend visits, you’re drinking a beer on the couch.

3. You’re not wearing makeup.

4. You don’t really feel like going to the party. When you do, you feel awkward and alienated, and you leave early.

5. You’re wearing baggy sweat clothes (but not training for a boxing match).

6. Your apartment is messy.

7. You’re smoking a cigarette.

8. You don’t really feel like going to the party. When you do, you drink too much and jump up on the coffee table to sing a song, and everybody’s awkwardly amused, except your one irritatingly earnest friend who’s concerned about you.

9. Your hair is not styled in any particular way. It’s not perfectly straight and shiny, or fixed into an updo, or big and bouncy. It’s just sort of limp and wavy.

10. One shirttail is untucked in the front.

11. You bring a six-pack of beers to a friend’s house and crack one open right away when you get there.

12. No one’s heard from you in a while, maybe three days.

13. You didn’t shave, and you have a bit of stubble (face or legs).

14. You’re watching television.

Created
Mon, 10/04/2023 - 21:41
China Helps Bring An End To Yemen War

So, back on March 16th I wrote an article about the Chinese brokered Iran-Saudi Arabia peace deal. At the end of the article I wrote:

I am most interested to see if this will mean some sort of peace can be worked out in Yemen, or if it means the Iranians will abandon the Houthis, which would be sad.

Turns out peace with Yemen was almost certainly part of the deal:

Saudi Arabia has decided to end the war in Yemen . A Saudi delegation will travel to Sana’a next week to conclude an agreement with Yemen, Reuters reported

Created
Mon, 10/04/2023 - 20:05

Before it collapsed and its billionaire depositors were bailed out by the US government, Silicon Valley Bank successfully lobbied Congress to remove regulations on it. A senator admitted, “I understand why Americans are angry, even disgusted”.

The post US Bank Bailout Benefitted Billionaires, Exposing Corruption: ‘I Understand Why Americans Are Angry’ appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Created
Mon, 10/04/2023 - 20:03

By Vijay Prashad / Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research There is no need to delve too deeply into statistical data when the findings are obvious. For instance, when women and men work at the same job, women are paid – on average – 20 percent less than men. To raise awareness about this persistent disparity, the International […]

The post Women Hold Up 76.2% of the Sky appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Created
Mon, 10/04/2023 - 20:00

I can’t recall such utter hopelessness in UK politics, with every political party in the grip of a self-serving cabal of the political class interested purely in personal interest. The Labour Party is entirely taken over by the Wes Streeting tendency. Its method is to find the most right wing racist in Hartlepool who ever […]

The post So Now Who Do We Vote For? appeared first on Craig Murray.