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Ukraine’s intelligence service asked a respected Danish journalist to prove she was not a pro-Russia propagandist by making pro-Ukraine propaganda.

The post Danish Reporter Says Ukrainian Intelligence Tried to Coerce Her Into Working as a Propagandist appeared first on The Intercept.

I can (barely) remember when if your flights got cancelled they'd rebook you on another airline, or bus the whole planeload to a hotel for the night. The point with the latter isn't just *the cost* - though of course it's that - it's that they took care of it for you. Just another layer of worry for everyone all the time now.

I'm old but it wasn't *that long ago*. A better world is possible!

I have to admit that Michelle Huneven’s new novel was almost too delicious for me,...

I don't even really want to pick on Paul here, but the DOT does have lots of unused authority and some people complaining know that! I don't expect Elaine Chao to do anything good, but I do expect her Dem successor to go into office learning what good he can do!

It's so weird that people who don't like Pete Buttigieg have suddenly decided that secretary of transportation is a position with limitless power, such that even the president's authority pales in comparison. I mean...really? Quick, name three prior secretaries of transportation.

Our 6th most-read article of the 2022.

Originally published July 29, 2022.

Thank you for calling the perimenopause hotline. Our phone lines are flooded with an unexpected gush of calls right now, but we assure you that our specialists are working hard to absorb this heavy flow and someone should be with you in a hot flash.

While you wait, please enjoy this informative recording of some of our most frequently asked questions.

Q: What exactly is perimenopause?
Although women the world over experience perimenopause, the resources available to help them understand this completely natural period of transition are spotty at best. But there’s no reason for the process to be shrouded in euphemisms and superstitions.

West Coast time finally catching up with me.

Retraction Watch reports: “A Russian philosophy journal has retracted a paper about lesbian fashion magazines, citing a newly passed law that bans ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences.'” The journal is Logos (not to be confused with Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought & Culture or with Logos, the undergraduate philosophy journal at Cornell University), the author is Reina Lewis, a professor of Cultural Studies at the London College of Fashion at University of the Arts London, and the paper is, “Looking Good: The Lesbian Gaze and Fashion Imagery.” The paper is still online, but, Retraction Watch reports: an entry on the Russian database eLIBRARY indicates it was retracted for being “in violation of standards.” The notice continued: “The retraction was issued by the decision of the editorial board due to the presence of signs that fall under the scope of Law No.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
I think the play makes a lot more sense if you imagine the ghost dad was making demands of lots of the characters in order to have the whole thing culminate in a pile of bodies.

Today's News:

Well looky here what came in the mail.

Today, I make available a video session that I recorded in Japan while I was working there in the latter part of this year. It sets out a range of interesting topics that form, in part, the research program that my colleagues and I at Kyoto University have mapped out to work on in the coming year. I hope that by the end of 2023 we will have advanced this program and perhaps will be able to stage some sort of event (Covid permitting) in Japan later next year to spread the knowledge....

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Japan and the World Economy through the lens of MMT – video presentation
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Here are my most popular posts of 2022. Thanks for reading!

The post Top 5 Posts of 2022 appeared first on Economics from the Top Down.

Piston-powered drones fly ahead of cruise missiles It took a lot of chutzpah for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to issue an ultimatum to Ukraine late Monday: “The point is simple: fulfil [Russian demands] for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army.” That’s rich, especially considering The Washington Post’s lead story this morning, headlined, Inside the Ukrainian counteroffensive that shocked Putin and reshaped the war. It is not that Russia does not still maintain the capacity to inflict damage on Ukraine, the way stinging insects raise painful welts. But Lavrov’s boast about the Russian army appears to be just that. The Kremlin’s troops are badly depleted. Conscripts are fleeing the country. So much so that a Kazakh chocolate company created a pointed ad about it. When Moscow diverted troops south to defend the Russian-held regional capital of Kherson, Ukraine advanced toward and retook Kharkiv: In early September, Ukrainian forces would steamroll across hundreds of square miles, routing the Russians and surprising themselves.

In my library, there are n philosophy books and six economics books. If yours truly can choose two books of each type in 150 ways, how many philosophy books are there in my library?

Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda Report joins Lee Camp to discuss deeper issues at play in the Brittney Griner prisoner swap, China, and blowback from years of US backing violent extremist groups.

The post How The Empire Controls The Narrative, With Margaret Kimberly appeared first on MintPress News.

Waitress horrified when massive python drops from coffee shop ceiling 'Massive' deadly snake spotted on popular Aussie beach (Thanks to pharmaross)

George Santos is evidence Congressman-Elect George Santos, scheduled to be sworn into Congress in days, is under investigation by a New York prosecutor (NBC News): “The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning. The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement about her fellow Republican on Wednesday. “No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.” Santos, who made history last month as the first openly LGBTQ non-incumbent Republican to be elected to Congress, was the subject of a bombshell investigation The New York Times published this month, which found much of Santos’ background appeared to have been manufactured, including claims that he had worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and had graduated from Baruch College. Daily Beast has reporting on the mysterious source of the $700k Santos lent his campaign from his Devolder Organization.

Alcohol-Fueled Family Game of Monopoly Turns Violent, Gunfire Erupts, Player Ends Up in Jail (Thanks to Asher Scheiner)

World’s dumbest fish ocean sunfish knocked the sailing boat Yeah Baby out of the race (Thanks to Ralph)

Drunken man poops on PT Cruiser, tells hospital staff his blood will be ‘Pure. Natural. Ice.’ (Thanks to Dave Vander Ark and Ralph)

John Wayne Airport Offers Emotional Support Animals to Help Frustrated Travelers (Thanks to man tom)

A man with a desire to become a dog has fulfilled his lifelong dream after purchasing a £12,480 human-sized collie costume - but worries his friends will think it's a peculiar habit (Thanks to pharmaross and John Lobert, who says...

Single men stink more than married ones — and women can smell it: study (Thanks to pharmaross)

Penelope Mackie, a philosopher at the University of Nottingham, has died. The following obituary was provided by Mark Jago (Nottingham). It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our friend and colleague, Penelope Mackie, following a period of illness. Penelope was born into an academic family. Her paternal grandfather Alexander was professor of education at the University of Sydney, and her father was the philosopher J.L. Mackie (whose philosophical papers she co-edited). She went to Somerville College, Oxford, in 1971, where she took the BPhil in Philosophy with a thesis, Identity and Continuity, in 1978, and later the DPhil in 1987, with a thesis, How Things Might Have Been: A Study in Essentialism. After her DPhil, Penelope moved to the US, first as a visiting lecturer at the University of Maryland (1986–1987) and then as Assistant Professor of philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University (1987–1990). She then returned to Oxford, this time as a fellow of New College (1990–1994), before moving to Birmingham in 1994 and then to Nottingham in 2004, where she worked until her death.

Our 7th most-read article of the 2022.

Originally published April 18, 2022.

“The Florida Department of Education announced Friday that the state has rejected more than 50 math textbooks from next school year’s curriculum, citing references to critical race theory among reasons for the rejections.” – CNN, 4/17/21

Here in the great state of Florida, we are committed to protecting our children from any and all forms of indoctrination, and math is no exception. These are the mathematical concepts we find objectionable based on the dangers they pose to children:

To understand the attempted coup that culminated in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, it is useful to go back to Donald Trump’s immediate response to the election he actually won, in 2016. The head of his transition team, Chris Christie, then governor of New Jersey, presented Trump with a detailed plan […]

The post Dress Rehearsal appeared first on The New York Review of Books.