Reading

Best of 2022: China has neither the intent nor the capability to attack us

https://johnmenadue.com/best-of-2022-china-has-neither-the-intent-nor-the-capab…
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:57
We are being led in our anti-China hysteria by the United States which is not concerned that China will attack us, or even the United States, but is concerned that its world hegemony is being challenged. A repost from November 11, 2022 That is why the US is persistently goading China into conflict and possible Continue reading »

Bulletin of atomic scientists: Arms Can Bring No Security by Albert Einstein March 1950

https://johnmenadue.com/bulletin-of-atomic-scientists-arms-can-bring-no-securit…
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:56
This article was originally published in the March 1950 issue of the Bulletin in the wake of President Harry Truman’s announcement that the United States would pursue a hydrogen bomb. The idea of achieving security through national armament is, at the present state of military technique, a disastrous illusion. On the part of the United Continue reading »

How Jiang Zemin quietly changed the nature of China’s government

https://johnmenadue.com/how-jiang-zemin-quietly-changed-the-nature-of-chinas-go…
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:55
Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin, who just died at the age of 96, made changes that altered the nature of the country’s government and the course of the global economy, affecting people worldwide, although few people realise it. Most reports provide key dates in his life but don’t explain his biggest contribution: a policy change that Continue reading »

From outrage to opportunity: the missing perspectives of women in news

https://johnmenadue.com/from-outrage-to-opportunity-the-missing-perspectives-of…
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:54
A groundbreaking new report From Outrage to Opportunity: How to Include The Missing Perspectives of Women of All Colours in News Leadership and Coverage has found that women continue to be significantly underrepresented in editorial leadership roles and news coverage worldwide – with their voices muted in a global news industry still dominated by men. Continue reading »

Democratic socialism in Australia: deconstructing the military, industrial complex

https://johnmenadue.com/democratic-socialism-in-australia-deconstructing-the-mi…
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:52
Capitalism and “liberal democracy” are failing and destroying our world. In this, the third in a three-part series, I explore how Australia must embrace a new future by emphasising trade and cultural relationships in foreign policy, managing mass media concentration and the military/industrial complex, and addressing social inequality. We have the means. Do we have Continue reading »

Best of 2022: The world votes for “climate hell”

https://johnmenadue.com/best-of-2022-the-world-votes-for-climate-hell/
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:51
Something of epochal importance happened in Egypt last week – the most significant event since Cheops shoved up his triangular monument, four thousand odd-years ago at the dawn of ‘civilisation’. But the world media, true to form, missed it almost completely. A repost from November 21, 2022 The nations of the world voted to terminate Continue reading »

Best of 2022: Pivotal Moment: Albanese and Xi in 2022 mirror Whitlam and Zhou in 1971

https://johnmenadue.com/best-of-2022-pivotal-moment-albanese-and-xi-in-2022-mir…
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:50
The meeting between Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping put me in mind of the public reaction in Australia when Whitlam met Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1971. A repost from November 17, 2022 The meeting in Bali is potentially more than just a diplomatic reset. It could be a pivotal moment for Australia, in the Continue reading »

Paramilitary Gangs

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2023/01/paramilitary-gangs.html
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:30
My prediction for 2023 is that the corruption of all levels of law enforcement will be increasingly hard to ignore, but politicians will still ignore it!

When the most powerful politicians in the country have an obvious law enforcement problem very close to home (Secret Service, Capitol Police, FBI, effing IRS enforcement), and do *nothing* about it, well...

Happy New Year, everyone!

https://digbysblog.net/2023/01/01/happy-new-year-everyone-3/
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 04:00
Once again, thank you so, so much for your support this year. I am genuinely overwhelmed. The readers of this blog are the nicest people in the world and I could not be more grateful. Here’s hoping that this next year brings us some peace and stability. I always wish that every year. But even if it doesn’t, we’ll be here documenting, analyzing and synthesizing the news as we see it. Tom, Dennis, tristero, spocko, Batocchio and I look forward to delivering it to you every day of the week as we’ve been doing for the past 20 years. To all that we lost and all that we gained in the past year, and to all that’s to come in the days ahead…cheers! — digby

On the use of mathematics in empirical modeling

https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2023/01/01/on-the-use-of-mathematics-in-empiric…
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 03:56
I have argued that in order for a mathematical modeling exercise to illuminate its target the following two conditions must be met:(1*) the objects under investigation must plausibly be stable, modular, and quantitative, with no qualitative differences among instantiations of each type; and (2*) the relations between them must be fixed and law-like throughout the […]

Uncle Joe toots his horn

https://digbysblog.net/2023/01/01/uncle-joe-toots-his-horn/
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 02:30
A brief recap before the storm The White House wants to remind you what Democrats got done last year. Maybe because unless the GOP self-destructs the Biden administration’s ability to be loud and proud has a short half-life. I know someone needing the shingles vaccine. As of today there is no cost for those covered under Medicare Part D. If eligible, get vaccinated. Here is one benefit that slipped by me. We’ll see how much more Biden can get done in 2023 with a hostile, Republican-controlled House obsessed with investigating Anthony Fauci and Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop. Jeffrey Billman of Informed Dissent cautioned that we’re looking at two years of Benghazis because “when you elect clowns, you get a circus.” It will be a clown show or a horror show, one way or another. Update: Forgot to link to this Guardian longer review of more good news from 2022.

He might be a rando

https://digbysblog.net/2023/01/01/he-might-be-a-rando/
Created
Mon, 02/01/2023 - 01:00
Machete attack in NYC Confetti rained at midnight in Times Square as revelers greeeted the new year. The crowd was a sign of a return to normal, perhaps, depending on what happens with the latest Covid variant. Earlier in the evening, however, something darker occurred nearby. Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in an early morning press conference that a man wielding a machete attacked a group of city police officers just after 10 p.m. near a security checkpoint for the New Year’s Eve event. The 19-year-old struck several officers in the head before he was shot in the shoulder, wounded, and apprehended by officers. Three officers were hospitalized and in stable condition, one with a head fracture, another with a severe laceration. Reporting is preliminary, but the attack is under investigation to determine whether it fits a terrorism profile (CNN): The FBI, NYPD and Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating, officials said in an early New Year’s Day joint news conference. “I want to be very clear … there is no ongoing threat,” said Mike Driscoll, the FBI assistant director in charge of the New York field office.