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For fifteen years or so, I’d been kicking around the idea of resurrecting the artist-apprentice model that reigned in the art world for hundreds of years.

Again and again, I’d heard from young people who lamented the astronomical and ever-rising cost of art school. For many college-level art programs, the total cost to undergraduates is now over $100,000 a year. I hope we can all agree that charging students $400,000 for a four-year degree in visual art is objectively absurd. And this prohibitive cost has priced tens of thousands of potential students out of even considering undertaking such an education.

For years, I mentioned this issue to friends in and out of the art world, and everyone, without exception, agreed that the system was broken. Even friends I know who teach at art schools agreed that the cost was out of control, and these spiraling costs were contributing to the implosion of many undergraduate and postgraduate art programs.

Users need to revolt against what will very likely be an even more widespread effort to censor voices critical of Israel.

The post Anti-Palestinian Billionaires Can Now Control What TikTok Users See appeared first on The Intercept.

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – December 21, 2025 by Tony Wikrent   Strategic Political Economy The $79 Trillion Heist Harold Meyerson, December 03, 2025 [The American Prospect] …As Emma Janssen has reported in these pages, marketers are going where the money is, like bank robber Willie Sutton. First-class and business-seat travel on the airlines is […]

The intransigence of Econ 101 points to a dark side of economics — namely that the absence of power-speak is by design. Could it be that economics describes the world in a way that purposely keeps the workings of power opaque? History suggests that this idea is not so far-fetched … The key to wielding […]

The democratic risks of our housing crisis, the big AI short, and more from The Lever this week.

Al premiar con su premio de la paz a la figura favorita de Trump de la oposición venezolana, la conspiradora golpista y proguerra María Corina Machado, el Comité Nobel desobedeció los principios entronizados en sus documentos fundacionales, así como la ley sueca, alega Julian Assange en un escrito legal explosivo revisado por The Grayzone. El gobierno sueco violó sus propias leyes al concederle el Premio Nobel de la Paz a María Corina Machado, según un escrito legal explosivo introducido por […]

The post Julian Assange: Suecia violó sus propias leyes al darle el Nobel de la Paz a María Corina Machado first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Julian Assange: Suecia violó sus propias leyes al darle el Nobel de la Paz a María Corina Machado appeared first on The Grayzone.

Over on Doctor Who, U.N.I.T. has its fans, but it's more akin to "comfort food" than "cool," especially given the dark turn that it's taken.

Collective bargaining is unbanned, a rideshare giant gets sued, a new player takes on surveillance pricing, and water runs free.

Use to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts.

Known for targeting celebrities like Ms. Rachel, the pro-Israel blacklist also goes after private individuals who post in solidarity with Palestine.

The post StopAntisemitism Takes Credit for Getting Hundreds Fired. A Music Teacher Is Suing. appeared first on The Intercept.

To all my brothers and sisters in Ukraine, who have stood strong against the Russian invasion for more than 40 months. May God be with you.

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Mitt Romney’s reversal on taxes comes only after he's given up the power to fix the problem he fortified.

BI Incorporated, a subsidiary of for-profit prison company GEO Group, will help ICE pinpoint the locations of immigrants.

The post ICE Hires Immigrant Bounty Hunters From Private Prison Company GEO Group appeared first on The Intercept.

“Why, for fifty-three years, I’ve put up with it now! I MUST stop this Christmas from coming! But HOW?” — Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

1. He’s roughly fifty-three years old, give or take.

2. Unlike the music from his day, he thinks everything the youth are listening to is just a bunch of noise, noise, noise, NOISE.

3. Anticommercialist. Every year, he makes the same cynical comments about Christmas.

4. He’s used to being culturally excluded, forgotten, and ignored. But he doesn’t care.

5. Deep contempt for groupthink and is suspicious of the motivations of people, corporations, and the government.

6. He was a latch-key kid and still thrives with lots of alone time.

7. Definitely got some sort of heart trouble. You can tell by looking at him.

8. He wears his apathy as armor because he’s emotionally ill-equipped to handle the earnest sentimentality that comes with the holiday season.

9. His awkward presence could be described as “lurking.”

New polling suggests a progressive majority could come back to Labour if the PM embraces a more compassionate form of politics, argues Jennifer Nadel

The charges follow a formal investigation after Anthony Green was mysteriously removed from his position in April.

The post Ousted Air Force Special Ops Command Chief Faces Child Sexual Abuse Material Charges appeared first on The Intercept.

Indiegogo is withholding $51,000 in reader donations to MintPress News after we published investigations into US war crimes, Israeli intelligence influence, and Silicon Valley’s role in modern warfare.

The post Indiegogo Withholds $51K In Donations From MintPress in Financial Censorship Crackdown appeared first on MintPress News.

Our lone hero, cheeky yet tough, defends an opulent edifice from a larcenous gang exploiting...

FEATURES:

- Ossuary jars
- Anti-revolutionary painting
- Toxic dust
- Solastalgia

It was a cold, dry night in April, and a crowd had gathered in the center of Nukus, the capital of the Central Asian Republic of Karakalpakstan, to squint through a skein of toxic dust into the illuminated lobby of one of the world’s most peculiar cultural institutions: the Nukus Museum of Art.

Overall, you’ve got a strong concept: a log burning in a fireplace, on a loop for five hours. But we have a few notes.

• Can the log be more aspirational?
• Focus-group it to see if kids aged six to eleven think fire is too urban.
• The log seems passive. Provide more backstory.
• Can the fireplace have a cool sidekick? (e.g., a smart-mouthed pinecone.)
• Does the music have to be Christmas music?
• Will viewers know what a fireplace is?
• Make the fire more appealing to single men.
• Where’s the merchandising tie-in?
• Could the fire sing a duet with Michael Bublé?
• Instead of a holiday one-off, could it be a weekly series? (e.g., Jake Log is an ex-cop turned P.I. who plays by his own rules.)
• Why fire?

Otherwise, it’s perfect.

Happy Holidays!