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Created
Thu, 04/01/2024 - 04:52
“I’ve been to pretty much any conflict,” the World Food Program’s chief economist said. “And I have never seen anything like this, both in terms of its scale, its magnitude, but also at the pace that this has unfolded.” With roughly 90% of Gaza residents displaced and seeking safety from Israel’s bombardment and ground attacks, crowding Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 04/01/2024 - 04:51
Despite a reputation for violent over-reaction in Palestinian affairs, the Israeli reaction has astonished and confused the world. The atrocities committed on 7 October 2023 by the military wing of Hamas, exceed in scale, intensity and barbarity anything previously done in Israel or Palestine. Despite its enduring cruelty, nothing in the Israeli treatment of the Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 04/01/2024 - 04:00
It’s not because he thinks he’s losing The new year is off to a strong start with two weeks to go to the first primaries, more debates for second place in the offing and legal filings dropping in the Trump cases day and night. And we’re only three days in. I hope everyone got themselves a good rest over the holidays because there’s going to be no time to catch your breath between now and election day next November. The games have officially begun. The Republicans primaries look to be gelling exactly as predicted. The weak and tepid Trump opposition hasn’t been able to get any real traction despite hundreds of millions of dollars being spent. The race for second place is between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former S. Carolina Gov. It’s clear that Trump is still the leader of the party and, as predicted, will almost certainly get the nomination. There have been a number of articles in recent days taking a look at his campaign. The Washington Post published a long piece about how he “reignited his base and took control of the Republican primary” which ends up concluding that he never really lost the base in the first place.
Created
Thu, 04/01/2024 - 03:16
In recent times, there has been a growing interest in institutionalist trends and research within economics. Traditional explanations and analyses have seemed to have little or no value. Abstract and unrealistic theories have increasingly been replaced by historically grounded ones. Institutional and structural elements in the economy are highlighted, replacing overly short-term and model-based variables. […]
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Thu, 04/01/2024 - 02:30
Hamlet never imagined this It’s long seemed as if this country is suffering a severe case of mass insanity. The truth is out there. It is more than QAnon, but please see that obligatory nonsense at the bottom later. The occasion for revisiting societal mental breakdown is a couple of headlines this morning. This will take a moment. Texas doctors do not need to perform emergency abortions, court rules (Washington Post) A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Texas hospitals and doctors are not obligated to perform abortions under a long-standing national emergency-care law, dealing a blow to the White House’s strategy to ensure access to the procedure after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. The federal law “does not mandate any specific type of medical treatment, let alone abortion,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit concluded, faulting the Biden administration’s interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law “does not govern the practice of medicine,” the court added.
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Thu, 04/01/2024 - 01:00
If you don’t know, you don’t care From Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, A Warning: One morning before Christmas, I was working out with a friend who I adore, and workout with regularly. She’s young, smart, and a recent college graduate. In the middle of our session, my phone started going off incessantly and I finally picked it up. It was, of course, breaking news. That day, it was about the Giuliani bankruptcy. I apologized to her for taking the call. I got off quickly and told her, by way of explanation, “Rudy Giuliani just filed for bankruptcy.” “Who’s Rudy Giuliani?” she asked. Vance realizes that her friend born after 9/11 has no idea that Giuliani was once “America’s Mayor.” And has no reason to know. I decided to get a gut check from my 21-year-old. “Do you know who Rudy Giuliani is?” I asked. He rolled his eyes. Of course he does. He reminded me he’s my son. But then, he schooled me on how it works for his generation. College kids, or most of them, don’t watch TV news or read newspapers. They get it from their social media feeds. Intellectually I know this.
Created
Wed, 03/01/2024 - 23:30


Our 6th most-read article of 2023.

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Originally published August 21, 2023.

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Welcome to Mary Oliver Garden, home of Italian-adjacent cuisine and poignant observations about the human condition as it intersects with the natural world.

As you can tell from our name, we invite you to step across the threshold of ordinary life into a world of exquisite writing, spiritual luminescence, and fried lasagna.

My name is Blair, and I’ll be your server today. To start, I have just one question: What will you do with your one wild and precious appetizer Toasted ravioli? Excellent choice. That’s one of my faves—a tender prayer of cheese embraced by crispy breadcrumbs, bringing gentle solace amid what nourishes us.

Created
Wed, 03/01/2024 - 20:32
Construction of Reality: Who You Feel With

This is chapter 6 of “The Construction of Reality”, one of the rewards of our 2023 fundraiser. We’ve now unlocked up to chapter 11 (There are 41 chapters in the whole book.) We are c. $1,800 from our final goal and the final reward, an article on the Middle Ages Academic crisis (overproduction and collapse.) Chapters to come include

7. The Ritual (how we create identification)

8. Interaction ritual (how daily life creates identification and personality)

9.The Ritual Masters (How rituals create different types and classes of people)

10. The Ideologues (How identity is tied into story, ideology and meaning)

11. Reign of the Ideologues (How ideology is used to create civilizations and the payoffs for ideologues)

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