Sofia Samatar is the author of five books, most recently the memoir The White Mosque. Kate Zambreno is the author of nine books, most recently…
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I’ve got a piece up at Politico this morning, setting out what I think the real Clarence Thomas scandal is, why corruption may not be the best way to think about it, and what the proper approach of the Left should be to the problem of Clarence Thomas: As a description of the problem of Clarence Thomas, however, corruption too has its limits. Morally, corruption rotates on the same axis as sincerity — forever testing the purity or impurity, the tainted genealogy, of someone’s beliefs. But money hasn’t paved the way to Thomas’ positions. On the contrary, Thomas’ positions have paved the way for money. A close look at his jurisprudence makes clear that Thomas is openly, proudly committed to […]
Open Rights Group welcomes calls by WhatsApp, Signal and Element for a re-think of government proposals that could force them to undermine the encryption of their services. In a letter published today, seven tech companies say that the Bill, “poses an unprecedented threat to the privacy, safety and security of every UK citizen and the […]
This is hard to talk about, because we live in a debased period.
Government’s job, in a democracy, should be to increase the welfare of the people and represent their will.
Because people elect the government, they need to know what the government is doing and has done in order to choose who to elect.
This is fundamental.
When people do not know what the government is doing, they cannot make good decisions.
Further, elected representatives (in principle, not in current practice) are the employees of the population. As employers, the population has a right to know what the representatives are doing. (Or if you prefer another metaphor, perhaps better, they are trustees.) They don’t have the right to know everything, but anything related to the job, including corruption and double dealing, they do.
This government runs on dirty money. That’s why it’s torching the planet. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 29th March 2023 Money for the criminals, prison for the heroes: this, in brief, is the government’s climate policy. If something is damaging to the public interest, it’s likely to be rewarded and subsidised. If it’s […]
It’s sure to be a blood-soaked spring in Ukraine. Russia’s winter offensive fell far short of Vladimir Putin’s objectives, leaving little doubt that the West’s conveyor belt of weaponry has aided Ukraine’s defenses. Cease-fire negotiations have never truly begun, while NATO has only strengthened its forces thanks to Finland’s new membership (with Sweden soon likely to follow). Still, tens of thousands of people have perished; whole villages, even cities, have been reduced to rubble; millions of Ukrainians have poured into Poland and elsewhere; while Russia’s brutish invasion rages on with no end in sight. The hope, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is that the Western allies will continue to furnish money, tanks, missiles, and everything else his battered country... Read more
♫ Then they let their hair hang down Remember when after Obama’s election, pundits insisted we were living in a “post-racial” society? “America’s struggle is to become not post-racial, but post-racist,” Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote years later. On the far right, “post-racial” was a prime, MAD magazine example of “What They Say and What it Really Means.” What some white people really meant was it was time for Black people to STFU about their treatment in white, by-God America. It was wishful thinking. At best. ‘Cause when they get behind closed doors, Charlie Rich might have sung, they still let their hair hang down. In Oklahoma, for example (The Oklahoman): In southeast Oklahoma, the sheriff of McCurtain County, one of his investigators and a county commissioner are accused by a newspaper of discussing killing a local reporter and lamenting that modern justice no longer includes hanging Black people. The explosive accusations were published this week in the McCurtain Gazette-News.
Brian Latham reveals the role of Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin in the violence in Sudan
The sun rises over a picturesque tropical island. We hear birds in the distance and see images of the island’s iconic landscape: A volcano. The beach. And, most importantly, the coconut tree. The camera slowly pans down from the top, and we see our hero, a, at its trunk. He chuckles softly to himself while gazing up.
a: Hello, old friend.
CUT TO a and his best friend, b, strolling along the beach.
a: Today, b. It’s gotta be today.
b: You sure?
a: The weather is perfect. The troops are available. And I swear, b, I just can’t wait any longer.
a grabs b by the shoulders and turns him so that they’re facing each other.
a: It happens today. We are going to find out what’s at the top of that coconut tree.
Narrator (V.O.): This summer…
CUT TO a rallying the rest of the alphabet inside his clubhouse.
As the final rites are played out, Chris Painter assesses the procession of Conservative Premierships since 2010 and their failure to articulate any coherent political project
In 1955, delegations from just over 30 newly independent countries met in the Indonesian city of Bandung for a conference on peaceful coexistence and international cooperation outside of the ‘two camps’ framework of the Cold War. Bandung was a symbolic location: the city had been abandoned and burnt to the ground by the local population […]
If we do not fully explain by adding more variables, how do we explain? Mechanisms explain because they embody an invariant property. The first mechanism, linking the gas pedal to the rotating drivetrain, is combustion: The second mechanism, linking the rotating drivetrain to acceleration, is the relationship of torque to force. Combustion is a high […]
Mexico's government already faces the threat of international dispute settlements over its energy reforms and proposed ban of GM corn. It now wants to radically change the rules of the game for its huge mining sector.
Despite promising a new era of 'accountability' and integrity, Sunak has failed to fully declare his extensive personal and familial financial interests, reports Adam Bienkov
New data show the wealthiest Americans have stashed $2 trillion in offshore tax havens, as the government relaxes efforts to combat tax evasion.
MMT presentation in London on 20th April 2023
Domestic uses of robotic dogs are fundamentally dehumanizing and would further suggest that they contribute strongly to the militarization of culture and strengthening the power of the surveillance state.
The post Here Come the Militarized Robots (But There Go Our Civil Liberties) appeared first on scheerpost.com.
A polling firm found that Peru’s coup-plotting, right-wing-controlled congress has 6% approval and 91% disapproval. Unelected leader Dina Boluarte has 15% approval and 78% disapproval. But they have the full support of the US, Canada, and foreign mining corporations.
The post Peru’s Coup-Plotting Congress Has 6% Approval, 91% Disapproval (But Full US Backing) appeared first on scheerpost.com.
On this week’s MVC, Rivka and Frank take a deep dive into the 2001 cult classic Josie and the Pussycats.
"These companies fueling the housing affordability crisis are among many corporations across industries that have shamelessly profiteered."
The post Largest US Corporate Landlords Reap Huge Profits Amid Double-Digit Rent Hikes appeared first on scheerpost.com.
By Paul Street / CounterPunch The Capitalist Democrats… The Democratic Party is a militantly capitalist entity and always has been – and not just in the neoliberal era. The much beloved New Deal Democratic president Franklin Roosevelt, himself a wealthy member of the capitalist establishment, boasted that he had saved the US American profits system by overseeing […]
The post Why the Republi-Fascists Can’t Stop Calling the Capitalist Democrats ‘Marxists’ appeared first on scheerpost.com.