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Europe lives in a delusion:

I think this from Nicholas Goldberg in the LA Times is important to keep in mind: In Shakespeare’s plays or, say, the Victorian novels of Dickens, Trollope and Austen, there are often at least two plots moving forward at any moment: a serious dramatic story involving the work’s main heroes and villains and a comic subplot peopled by absurd characters. In the real world, we have comic subplots as well. Take Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who — while American democracy has spun out of control, the U.S. Capitol was overrun and Donald Trump became a serious contender for reelection — wanders on and off the national stage like a ditzy clown keeping the audience amused. Santos has been a recurring joke in the midst of our otherwise terrifying and riveting political drama — a somewhat doughy, somewhat hapless Mr. Magoo-turned-con man in a blazer, sweater and chinos. He is a fraudster who told lie after ridiculous lie, ad absurdum, about his family background, education and job experience and, though caught in the act, steadfastly refused to be held accountable. His free ride, though, could be coming to an end.

These photos of my grand-father Oskar Lissmark and Kurt Gödel made me realize that my new specs perhaps weren’t that new after all …

Ah, springtime in America. The flowers! The birds! The… pundits? Although the first primaries for...

“Mr Speaker in response to the Government’s budget I’d like to say, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no... Read More ›

Tuberville says he calls White Nationalists “Americans.” Maybe it’s time to stop calling them White Nationalists. Let’s call them what they are: U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said there should be no efforts to block different ideological groups, including white nationalists, from serving in the military and criticized President Joe Biden for taking steps to remove them even as concerns about extremism in the military dates back to the Trump administration. Tuberville, a staunch supporter of the military and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made the comments in a Monday interview with WBHM, a National Public Radio station in Birmingham. Asked if he believed white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, Tuberville said in referring to the Biden administration, “They call them that. I call them Americans.” See? There are very fine people on all sides… “We are losing in the military so fast,” Tuberville told WBHM. “Our readiness in terms of recruitment. And why?

In Washington, the ominous possibility that lies have consequences has sent a chill down the corridors of power.

In the age of self-experiment, scientists took mind-altering drugs to test the limits of subjectivity.

The post The 19th-Century Trippers Who Probed the Mind appeared first on Nautilus.

There has been an enormous amount of hand-wringing over a recent ABC news poll that showed Joe Biden losing to Trump if the election were held today. The keening, the crying, the rending of garments from otherwise reasonable people was astonishing considering that it was just one poll, we are a long way from the election and most of them are old enough to remember when Barack Obama was toast in 2011 when his numbers were underwater. And yes, back then there was a ton of nervous chatter about replacing him on the ballot with someone else, putting up a serious primary and all the rest. So this is something Democrats do and it’s one their most annoying traits. Anyway, here’s some news for you to chew on: As Democrats coalesce around him as their inevitable nominee, President Biden still narrowly leads former President Donald Trump in a 2024 general-election matchup, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. Yet the results also expose significant vulnerabilities for Biden — including his advanced age and the widespread perception that his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, would not be “ready to assume the presidency” if necessary.

The best word for this budget is “complacent”. There’s nothing wrong with it; it’s keeping us from getting further into trouble. But it’s doing little to deal with the many troubles we already have: the transition to renewable energy, declining home ownership, the rental crisis, and problems with Medicare and education. And that’s before you Continue reading »

America’s space policy reveals its hegemonic obsession and the future quandaries for Australian policy. Even America’s approach to exploration and colonisation of the Moon is only comprehensible in terms of terrestrial geopolitics. It now expects the world to bow to its power in outer space. Both China and America have ambitious plans for colonisation, resource Continue reading »

“It’s quite clear from recent policies that the US aims to curb China’s economic development and encircle the country with military bases in unfriendly (from China’s viewpoint) countries. Such demonisation only reinforces repressive trends in China and benefits security-obsessed hardliners in China’s political system. That’s why “de-demonisation” can help those in China who favour a Continue reading »

Edward Said’s “Orientalism” encapsulates the essence of why the West resists the rise of China as a major economic and military power. Even though “Orientalism” was first published in 1978, just as China was opening up its economy to the rest of the world and well before it acquired its present economic prowess, it provided insightful Continue reading »

There were four major changes for health care in the 2023-24 budget: prioritising primary care, funding to strengthen Medicare, cheaper access to common medicines, and new funding to keep the digital health system going. Many of these changes were foreshadowed in recent weeks. The big news on budget night was a tripling of the bulk-billing incentive, a Continue reading »

With the NSW election behind us the media is mulling over what Labor has in store for the premier state. The Sydney Morning Herald recently unpacked the agenda of education minister Prue Car. There is much to cheer about, but will she deal with deep-seated problems? The cheers are well deserved. After a promising start, Continue reading »

In December, The New York Times ran a headline reminding the world that publishing is not a crime. The paper urged President Biden to move to have the charges against Julian Assange dropped. The response was silence. US President Joe Biden recently addressed the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner. His speech was full of jokes Continue reading »

On Monday of this week, Variety reported that Fox News is experiencing a burst of new advertising sales in the 8 o’clock hour formerly held by the recently fired celebrity Tucker Carlson. He had had the dubious distinction of having cable news’ top ratings for his time period but scaring away most respectable companies from buying time on his show. So it’s possible that despite the ratings slump the time slot has been experiencing since his departure, the network won’t actually suffer any more losses than they already did in their epic $787 million settlement with Dominion voting machines. They may also be saving a few dollars if it turns out that Tucker Carlson’s latest move results in his breaching the reported non-compete clause in his contract worth $25 million. Carlson posted a twitter video on Tuesday announcing that he’s going to resume his show on twitter as a way of striking a blow for free speech against all the rest of the lying media.

The BBC released new Doctor Who images spotlighting Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson & Jonathan Groff dressing to impress (& avoiding the Duchess).

“Oh, for crying out loud.”
For fuck’s sake. Is this a fucking joke?

“Get outta town.”
Are you fucking kidding me?

“Ya gotta help me out here.”
Come the fuck on.

“Well how ’bout that!”
That’s fucking great! Holy shit!

“Boy, I hear ya.”
Shut the fuck up.

“Excuse me?”
The fuck did you just say?

“Dang it.”
Fuck.

“Doggone it.”
Fuck!

“Well, shoot.”
FFFFFuuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!

As thousands of people took part in central London’s coronation festivities, Lula da Silva was nearby. After attending the King’s coronation, the president of Brazil was invited to 10 Downing Street, where he met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Minister James Cleverley. In stark contrast to Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, Lula has begun his […]

The Supreme Court spared Glossip’s life — for now. But his fight is far from over.

The post The “Power, Pride, and Politics” Behind the Drive to Execute Richard Glossip appeared first on The Intercept.