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It’s a tough contest these days, but Ted Cruz retains the title of most unctuous creep in the Republican party

“New editions of [Roald Dahl’s] children’s classics, including ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ have been altered to eliminate words deemed inappropriate. A backlash ensued.” — New York Times

Dear Fat-Headed Roald Dahl-Censoring Fuckers,

You’re censors. You’re not editors, and you’re not readers. You’re censors. You are exactly what Orwell warned us about.

So fuck you.

Without the author’s consent, you are changing and omitting words that the author wrote. That makes you a censor. An agent of censorship. Only fascists censor books.

What you’re doing is crazy. See? We said it. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.

You will not take words from the human race. You have no fucking right.

When you censor, you condescend. Fat people call themselves fat because they are not ashamed of themselves. But you are ashamed of us. You think being overweight is something to be ashamed of, so you erase this word, and you erase all fat people. Well, fuck you.

Fascinating: Personally, I’m not into the ancestry craze. I don’t care much about that stuff. I’m old fashioned. But it is fascinating to see how much an immigrant country like the United States has evolved in this way.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s track record and rail company links raise questions about his ability to hold the rail giant accountable for the derailment disaster.

~ Today's Water Cooler ~

In his newsletter today, Dan Pfeiffer notes the contrast between President Biden and Ron DeSantis on President’s Day, when Biden went to Kiev and DeSantis went to Fox: On the other side was Florida Governor and putative Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis appearing on Fox and Friends to slam President Biden for his offering “blank checks to Ukraine.” DeSantis told the hosts: This moment was revelatory in two key ways. First, it demonstrated the challenge for Republicans trying to run against the Fox News caricature of “Sleepy Joe.” It’s hard to overstate the stature gap between a commander in chief astride the world stage and a Governor chopping it up Steve Doocy on a cable morning show. You can’t credibly argue that Biden isn’t up to the job, when he is blazoned across every screen doing the job in historically courageous ways. Presidents usually win reelection in part because they have the consistent opportunity to create made-for-media moments that dominate the national conversation.

Retiring Sen. Pat Toomey is joining Apollo Global Management after helping enrich the private equity industry during his time in Congress

Saba Salman reports on the yet-to-be-published findings of a national commission examining the impact of the pandemic, disablism and systemic racism

Testimony of Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs University Professor at Columbia University UN Security Council Session on the Nord Stream Pipeline Destruction February 21, 2023 As Delivered My name is Jeffrey D. Sachs. I am University Professor at Columbia University. I am a specialist in the global economy, including global trade, finance, infrastructure, and economic statecraft. I Continue reading »

A key feature of following the news and reporting from mainstream Western media today is the relentless China bashing. It is off the charts, tiring, and often regurgitated trivia or fabricated stories with no evidence to support callous statements about the country, demonstrating a deep lack of understanding. But it continues to be churned out Continue reading »

The anniversary of the war in Ukraine was accompanied by high level visits to both Moscow and Kviv. One visit appears to offer at least a glimmer of hope and the other presents a picture of more destruction, suffering and death. Chinese foreign minister Wang’s meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov and president Putin Continue reading »

Many government reviews or reports are leaked in part for reasons of bureaucratic politics and the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) is no exception. Given the probability that these emanations are accurate, two reactions are also highly likely. The first is that knowledgeable and engaged citizens are likely to suffer from hypoxia in the realisation that Continue reading »

While Governments often promote consensus views that disguise racism, domination of the less fortunate and an ages old acceptance that violence can sustain dominant interests, recent articles in P&I have begun to challenge this conformity. A history of social theory records distinct ways of encouraging citizens to think, either by endorsing consensus views of how Continue reading »

Despite the grilling he got in two separate parliamentary hearings last week, Reserve Bank governor Dr Philip Lowe’s explanation of why he was preparing mortgage borrowers for yet further interest rate increases didn’t quite add up. There seemed to be something he wasn’t telling us – and I think I know what it was. We Continue reading »

Australia’s major literary festival is facing backlash as it prepares to host renowned Palestinians writers Susan Abulhawa and Mohammed El-Kurd. Once again Israel’s crimes against Palestinians are absent from the media storm, writes Randa Abdel-Fattah. Next month’s 38th Adelaide Writers’ Week is historic. For the first time, one of Australia’s major literary festivals is programming Continue reading »

Email to CLPs warns them that any existing affiliations with groups campaigning for abortion rights, minority human rights, disarmament and a fully public NHS are cancelled The Labour party has banned local parties (CLPs) from affiliating with an array of groups supporting the human rights of ethnic minorities or campaigning for a public NHS, in […]

Democrats must respond to McCarthy’s full capitulation to MAGA Greg Sargent is right: Democrats have loudly expressed outrage about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to grant Fox News’s Tucker Carlson exclusive access to surveillance footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Democrats say this will compromise security and enable Carlson to rewrite the day’s history with cherry-picked footage shaped into cleverly concocted propaganda. But Democrats have a better response to the California Republican’s tactic than fulmination: They can access the footage themselves. They can either allow news organizations to view all of it or at least respond to any distortions Carlson might conjure up by making whatever footage is relevant available to outlets. This would be smart politics, but it would also be good for the country. Carlson says his producers have gained “unfettered” access to about 44,000 hours of footage and already insists some of it does “contradict” what’s publicly known.

If you can’t devise an experiment that answers your question in a world where anything goes, then the odds of generating useful results with a modest budget and nonexperimental survey data seem pretty slim. The description of an ideal experiment also helps you formulate causal questions precisely. The mechanics of an ideal experiment highlight the […]

Rupert Murdoch said that he was “delighted” by the purchase of McCarthy and noted that Fox had snapped him up at an attractively low price.

Over the festive period the government launched its ‘30 second’ media campaign in response to the cost of living crisis, which shows how many energy saving actions you can perform in the duration of a short advert. Footage shows people closing curtains, switching lights off, changing bulbs and turning down the flow temperature on their […]

Jim Chanos, the president and founder of Kynikos Associates and well-known investment manager talks to Rob about the post-pandemic financial system, which has become more steeped in a casino culture than it has been in a very long time, and whether China's financial situation serves as an example or as a warning.