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Crazier and crazier

https://digbysblog.net/2023/03/05/crazier-and-crazier/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 12:00
Florida has gone completely around the bend Maybe I’m wrong (I hope not) but I have a feeling that these monsters are going way too fast and are pushing the limits of what normal people will tolerate. If not, we are in big trouble: Florida legislators have proposed a spate of new laws that would reshape K-12 and higher education in the state, from requiring teachers to use pronouns matching children’s sex as assigned at birth to establishing a universal school choice voucher program. The half-dozen bills, filed by a cast of GOP state representatives and senators, come shortly before the launch of Florida’s legislative session Tuesday. Other proposals in the mix include eliminating college majors in gender studies, nixing diversity efforts at universities and job protections for tenured faculty, strengthening parents’ ability to veto K-12 class materials and extending a ban on teaching about gender and sexuality — from third grade up to eighth grade.

Sandpit

https://johnquiggin.com/2023/03/06/sandpit-198/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 11:49
A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such.

Monday Message Board

https://johnquiggin.com/2023/03/06/monday-message-board-590/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 11:48
Another Message Board Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. I’ve moved my irregular email news from Mailchimp to Substack. You can read it here. You can also follow me on Mastodon here I’m also trying out Substack as a blogging […]

Up is down and black is white

https://digbysblog.net/2023/03/05/up-is-down-and-black-is-white/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 10:30
Bizarroworld is bigger than we knew They didn’t start the fire? Comments by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, were met with laughter at an international conference in India, when he said that the Ukraine war had been “launched against” his home country. Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, a politics and economics event in Delhi, Lavrov also claimed that Russia was trying to stop the war. “The war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us using Ukrainian people, of course, influenced the policy of Russia, including energy policy,” he said, briefly stumbling over his words as people in the audience laughed. Lavrov continued: “And the blunt way to describe what changed: we would not any more rely on any partners in the west. We would not allow them to blow the pipelines again,” in a reference to the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea in September. Contrary to Lavrov’s claim, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, launched an invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year, in what he called a “special military operation”. Right.

Make Republicans Great Again?

https://tomdispatch.com/make-republicans-great-again/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 09:53

In 2015, according to the talking points being floated by former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and her team, she alone heroically removed the Confederate flag that flew on the grounds of the state capitol and so healed racial wounds. She implied as much right after it happened, again at the 2020 Republican National Convention, and in subsequent interviews. This “achievement” remains a critical part of her story about why she aspires to become president. Given the weakness of the South Carolina governorship, Haley doesn’t have a lot to show for her time in office or, for that matter, defending President Donald Trump as his ambassador at the United Nations. Still, even her claim to that... Read more

A call for genocide at CPAC

https://digbysblog.net/2023/03/05/a-call-for-genocide-at-cpac/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 07:30
I’ve heard more than few transgender folks say in anguish, “they just don’t want us to exist.” It’s heartrending. And it’s true: During the second day of CPAC events, Michael J. Knowles, a political commentator and Daily Wire host, made a series of pointed comments towards the trans community that many are viewing as genocidal. Ramping up to his speech on Saturday, Knowles called for the banning of transgenderism entirely in a recent episode of “The Michael Knowles Show,” adding that it wouldn’t be genocide to do so as “It’s not a legitimate category of being.” Behind the podium on Saturday, he leveled up those initial remarks. “There can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism,” Knowles said in his CPAC speech. “It is all or nothing. If transgenderism is true, If men really can become women, then it’s true for everybody of all ages. If transgenderism is false — as it is — if men really can’t become women — as they cannot — then it’s false for everybody too.

Minneapolis Teachers Union, Cops Battle Over Student Recruitment

https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/05/minneapolis-teachers-union-cops-battle-over-s…
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 07:17

By Marjaan Sirdar / Unicorn Riot Minneapolis, MN – A Minneapolis Public Schools teacher talked to Unicorn Riot about the Minneapolis Police Department’s (MPD) newly created PEACE Recruitment Program and the teachers union’s recent decision to oppose it. “The police are desperate now and they’re coming for our kids.” Minneapolis Public School Teacher and Union […]

The post Minneapolis Teachers Union, Cops Battle Over Student Recruitment appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Collapsing services and neglected people in a disintegrating society that could be thriving

https://gimms.org.uk/2023/03/05/disintegrating-society/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 07:07

“When people live in a fair, caring society, where everyone has equal access to social goods, they don’t have to spend their time worrying about how to cover their basic …

The post Collapsing services and neglected people in a disintegrating society that could be thriving appeared first on The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies.

He’ll stay until they drag him away

https://digbysblog.net/2023/03/05/hell-stay-until-they-drag-him-away/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 06:00
And he’ll incite his cult to violence if they try it. They asked him if he’d drop out and he says he won’t. It appears he thinks it will actually help him: Former President Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that he would not drop out of the 2024 presidential race if he was indicted in one of several investigations he is facing. Mr. Trump made the comments to a group of conservative media before his speech to the Conservative Political Action Coalition conference in National Harbor, Md. It was the first time Mr. Trump spoke publicly about how he would respond if he was indicted while actively seeking the presidency, an event that would roil the 2024 campaign. Mr. Trump is facing two state investigations — one in New York City and one in Fulton County, Ga. — as well as two federal investigations led by Jack Smith, a special prosecutor. Mr. Smith is investigating Mr. Trump’s attempt to thwart the peaceful transfer of power after losing the 2020 election, as well as Mr. Trump’s possession of hundreds of classified documents and presidential material at his private club, Mar-a-Lago.

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – March 5, 2023

https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/niyBMplQItCyqzqTy_bG6R-xWH3zZqEA
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 05:29
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – March 5, 2023

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – March 5, 2023

by Tony Wikrent

[TW: Sorry this week’s wrap is light. I was in the hospital overnight for a medical procedure and my energy has been sapped. I’m tired and sore, but otherwise fine.]

 

Living on a Deadline in the Nuclear Age. Some Personal News From Daniel Ellsberg 

[Antiwar.com, via Naked Capitalism 3-31-2023]

 

War

Ukraine anniversary

https://johnmenadue.com/ukraine-anniversary-this-will-run-in-the-afr-and-asiali…
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 04:57
The anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine war gives us pause to reflect on recent global shifts which affect our security. The first shift in unsurprising: the growth of strategic competition and accompanying tensions in the two main theatres, the North Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific. The Ukraine war has broken what little trust existed Continue reading »

The greatest propaganda campaign in human history

https://johnmenadue.com/the-greatest-propaganda-campaign-in-human-history/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 04:56
China is the victim of the largest and greatest propaganda campaign in human history. Whether this is a sign of things to come or an aberration based around a particular point in time remains to be seen but propaganda it is. Apparently, in 2017, China incarcerated between 1 and 5 million Xinjiang residents, except there’s Continue reading »

The Murdoch pragmatists

https://johnmenadue.com/the-murdoch-pragmatists/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 04:55
Anyone who has worked closely with media mogul Rupert Murdoch comes away with two abiding impressions. The first, is that Murdoch is one of the most impressive business leaders one will ever encounter. His boundless energy, intelligence and innate charm, his ability to look around corners and see opportunities where his rivals see none, a Continue reading »

Seeing university reform through an ethical lens

https://johnmenadue.com/seeing-university-reform-through-an-ethical-lens/
Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 04:54
The current review of Australia’s higher education sector, the Australian Universities Accord (the Accord), aims ‘to drive lasting and transformative reform in Australia’s higher education system’. We propose that this review be undertaken through an ethical lens. Beside the ethical responsibilities of academics for teaching and research, and the expectation that students will behave ethically, Continue reading »