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Only someone ignorant, stupid or on the payroll could deny climate change before 2023, but this is the year where to remain in denial you have to be 5-sigma stupid or on the payroll.

So, boys and girls, let’s look at some of the highlights of what will be one of the coldest years of the rest of your life.

Let’s start with Antarctic sea ice extent. Remember, this is during WINTER.

Aisha Jung, who had worked for Amnesty International for 17 years, told Byline Times that she took on legal action after objecting to the award of the prisoner of conscience status

Despite the next Government being presented with a task every bit as daunting as in 1945, Chris Painter argues that it will face qualitatively different constraints and challenges.

All things Cold War are new again An old joke from the Cold War comes to mind this morning. At the risk of telling it badly, here goes: American: We have freedom of speech in my country. I’m free to criticize my president as much as I want. Russian: But is true in Soviet Union! I too am free to criticize your president as much as I want. Now let’s back up to another Cold War tale I recalled at the very beginning of the Donald Trump administration (1/26/2017). Programmers and scientists across the country were rushing to back up climatic data in fear that the new administration would delete it and other research that conflicted with the administration’s chosen view of reality. They hoped to head off a MAGA Dark Age. Oh, right. My other Cold War story (see update below): Hedrick Smith in “The Russians” (1984) recounted a visit to Moscow’s Lenin Library. (Memory must serve, as I cannot locate the text online.) Smith, the New York Times’ Moscow Bureau Chief from 1971–74, had gone to one of the world’s great libraries to do some research. He needed a back copy of Time(?) magazine.

With Israel's diplomatic missions in Africa expanding from forty to fifty and possibly beyond, it gradually gains control over the entire continent. Regrettably, Palestine is losing ground even in regions where it naturally finds support.

The post Africa: Untapped Ally for the Palestinian Cause – Israel’s Awareness and Africa’s Orphaned Status appeared first on MintPress News.

In Doctor Who, the sonic screwdriver is a deus ex machina and, in a Freudian sense, totally the Doctor's magic wand in so many ways.

During MagicCon: Barcelona, Wizards of the Coast game us more previews to the Doctor Who set coming for Magic: The Gathering.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Some people are wising up and removing this bawdy board book from impressionable kindergarten classrooms. The title alone is filthy. It encourages kids to join orgies, which is obviously how all those letters got injured up there in the so-called “coconut tree.”

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Normalizes binge eating and obesity. All this does is teach little kids—even girls!—that it’s okay to consume food when you’re hungry. To make matters worse, the caterpillar doesn’t go on a diet, doesn’t hate itself, and doesn’t even get properly shunned by society for its gross and destructive dietary choices. Instead, it turns into a literal butterfly. Not only is this the opposite message we should be sending children, but it’s completely unrealistic.

The Giving Tree
A story of handouts. Flat-out socialism. Not to mention the climate-thumper extremism of giving the tree feelings. “Oh no, a tree is sad. It turns into a pathetic little stump. Whatever will we do?” Ridiculous.

The genome sequencing company also administers China’s National Gene Bank, which is part of the state surveillance of minorities that facilitates the mass detention of Uyghurs

Twenty-five years ago today, the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 was passed, receiving Royal Assent to go on the statute book. The resultant national minimum wage was introduced on 1 April 1999 following the establishment of the Low Pay Commission, which is charged with making recommendations to the government on the rates. It was not […]

The post Doctor Who Magazine Special: Action Figures: The Essential Guide 2005-2023 appeared first on Doctor Who Magazine.

David Sirota speaks with economic geographer Brett Christophers about his new book on the current masters of capitalism.

What the sleeping minds of nonhuman animals, from cetaceans to primates, might tell us about their possible dreamworlds

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

She said two FBI informants “groomed” her son. They waited until the day after his 18th birthday to spring their trap.

The post After His Mother Asked for Help, FBI Terrorism Sting Targets Mentally Ill Teen appeared first on The Intercept.

She said two FBI informants “groomed” her son. They waited until the day after his 18th birthday to spring their trap.

The post After His Mother Asked for Help, FBI Terrorism Sting Targets Mentally Ill Teen appeared first on The Intercept.

People fret about the authenticity of AI chatbots but precisely the same issues confront everyday exchanges between humans

- by Larry S McGrath

Read at Psyche

Anne Frank’s diary is one of thousands of desperate, secret and vivid journals each bearing witness to the reality of war

- by Nina Siegal

Read at Aeon

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If Barack Obama and David Axelrod are really concerned about the climate crisis, they can fess up to their culpability — and demand change from Joe Biden.

Standard financial conditions indexes use financial variables, which don’t necessarily capture how easy or hard it is for households and firms to access credit. How does a new index that doesn’t rely on such variables compare?

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The MVC team unpacks the inescapable cultural phenomenon of the Barbie movie.

Mother, may we get our portraits painted?

It might seem like a black box, but computing has always relied on the labor of people.