Reading

Created
Sat, 07/01/2023 - 16:48
Back in the Paleolithic days of blogging, I got interested in the relationship between philosophical thought and political action, particularly in the cases of Hayek and Heidegger and their support for Pinochet and Hitler respectively. I think the evidence is in on Hayek (see here and here), so I won’t discuss it further. In Heidegger’s […]
Created
Sat, 07/01/2023 - 15:34

Contrary to the popular perception of Los Angeles as a youth paradise, with surfing and an “endless summer” of partying, LA in the 1960s was a hothouse of activism. The book Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties by American Marxist Mike Davis and Jon Wiener is its history.

The post LA’s 1960s rebellion a guide to the fire next time appeared first on Solidarity Online.

Created
Sat, 07/01/2023 - 14:25
Towards the end of Dreamers and Schemers, his ‘political history of Australia’, Frank Bongiorno tells us that the term ‘democracy sausage’ first entered public discourse in 2012. The date, he suggests, is significant, for while the coinage seemed on one level to speak to the relaxedness and egalitarianism of the Australian electorate, and even to a sense of celebration and fun as regards the institutions of democracy, its introduction coincided with a sharp decline in public trust in politicians and the political process.
Created
Sat, 07/01/2023 - 10:00
Which side are they on? This has been very interesting to watch. They literally didn’t know what to do. So they did everything. Yeah, they just love democracy in action — unless a Democrat wins in which case it’s obviously cheating and requires many more restrictions. The right wing media didn’t know how to read this because the fact is that the entire GOP caucus is very extreme and they are basically on both sides. So they went both ways, sometimes during the same program. Some Fox hosts were concerned that the Republicans looked foolish but they’ve since realized that their audience doesn’t care about looking foolish. I mean, come on. This is a party, a media and a movement that has been genuflecting to Orange Julius Caesar for the past six years. Clearly, looking like a bunch of clowns is not a problem for them. By the way …
Created
Sat, 07/01/2023 - 09:40
Inflation is coming down, but no thanks are due to the Fed for the trend reversal.

The Lens
The Fed Should Take Credit and Go Home
Stephanie Kelton | Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Stony Brook University, formerly Democrats' chief economist on the staff of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, and an economic adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders
Created
Sat, 07/01/2023 - 08:49
As Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative enters its 10th year, a strong Sino-Russian geostrategic partnership has revitalized the BRI across the Global South.
The Cradle
Why BRI is back with a bang in 2023
Pepe Escobar

See also

India Punchline
India’s got the BRICS blues
M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service and former ambassador
Created
Sat, 07/01/2023 - 08:30
The Supremes bear responsibility for building it Denis Aftergut in Slate: Ultimately, in politics, only voters can deliver the message, “You’ve hit bottom, and you need to change your ways.” But the MAGA House majority’s inability to select a speaker may already be pushing voters to stage an intervention in 2024. There’s an irony in this early failure. Republicans came to it through a shameless addiction to power without principle. Starting in 2010, they gained political dominance across the country in state legislatures and wielded that power by gerrymandering congressional maps. The distorted districting maps they adopted herded minority voters and Democratic ones into electoral zones that looked like intoxicated amoeba. All that extreme gerrymandering has led directly to the current fiasco in the House. The effort has put more Republican members of Congress in safe seats, with fewer Democratic constituents to answer to. That left the victors free to test the limits of their extremism. Momentously, in 2019, a radical Supreme Court majority composed of Republican nominees issued a 5–4 decision in Rucho v.