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As Columbia braces for October 7 anniversary protests, an email to faculty over the weekend instructed them to call security if students disrupt classes.

The post Columbia Law School Told Professors to Call Campus Police on Student Protesters appeared first on The Intercept.

Good evening, and thank you all for attending this important town hall meeting. Due to budget cuts, we’re excited to announce our groundbreaking merger with Spirit Halloween.

Yes, you heard correctly—Spirit Halloween, your go-to for spooky décor and flimsy costumes that disintegrate in a light breeze, is the new future of this hospital. But don’t worry, patient care is still a top priority. Half of the ER will still handle medical emergencies. The other half will be a fully functional Spirit Halloween pop-up store. I realize this is an unconventional decision, but let’s be real, the only part of this hospital turning a profit has been the parking lot. It’s time to expand our portfolio.

I know some of you may be concerned about the optics of a giant inflatable ghost hovering outside a hospital. Does it send the wrong message? Maybe. But when weighed against the message of “We’re shutting down, and the closest emergency room is 178 miles away,” Casper here doesn’t seem so bad. Plus, it’s a friendly ghost. Sort of.

I happened to spend some time with a highly intelligent 17 year old over the weekend who’s taking AP Government and is keenly interested in the election. She’s following all the polling and the punditry and knows the ins and out of the battleground map better than most adults I talk to. And she said something that struck me because I hadn’t really considered it before. We were talking about the VP debate and she found it odd that it was so civil. She kept waiting for something to happen. And I realized that there are millions of people for whom Trump’s brand of demagogic politics is normal. They are either young like this person and have literally grown up in this era of bad feelings or they are those for whom politics wasn’t of interest until Trump came along. That’s a lot of people who don’t know that it isn’t supposed to be this way. Granted we have had more spirited arguments in televised political debates than the one we witnessed last week between JD Vance and Tim Walz. But we never had the kind of debates like those that Donald Trump has participated in since 2016.

They will defend disinformation to your death It’s been an article of conservative faith for as long as I can recall that government ought to be run more like a business. On that topic…. A long time ago, in a high school far, far away, a decade before the breakup of Ma Bell, I read a book about corporate rip-offs. It included a tale of a private school bus service in Greensboro or High Point, NC that (IIRC) had a run of burned-out clutches in its fleet of brand new buses. Despite his repeated complaints, the owner kept getting the runaround from the maker’s regional manager who claimed that no other customers had experienced similar problems. This was a lie. The owner had contacted other fleet owners by long distance and letter (remember when this was) and had a file of receipts. Yet the regional manager insisted the breakdowns must have been caused by the service’s drivers. The money quote went something like this: “He was lying to me. I knew he was lying to me. He knew I knew he was lying to me.

We all heterodox economists who have chosen the road ‘less traveled by’ know that this choice comes at a price. Fewer opportunities to secure ample research funding or positions at prestigious institutes or universities. Nevertheless, yours truly believes that very few of us regret our choices. One doesn’t bargain with one’s conscience. No amount of […]

In the South, residents are suffering from the fallout of two disasters — recent Lever reporting shows how corporate meddling and regulatory failures made both of them worse.

How it ought to work Thousands of people, government agencies, military, and private volunteers, responded to Hurricane Helene’s devastation in western North Carolina. Don’t let the People of the Lie tell you otherwise. The official death count here is mounting. Our county sheriff reports over 70 so far. Search and rescue teams expect to find more victims among the tangles of branches and debris left behind by the flooding. Neighbors helping neighbors Not only is the military here, but an army of volunteers. Drew Reisinger, Buncombe County Register of Deeds, turned his office into a relief center for coordinating welfare checks on thousands of people unaccounted for (mostly because of lack of cell service, thankfully). Many of those processing incoming reports worked remotely. Everyone has heard that Asheville’s drinking water system will be down for weeks, so they’re sending in cases of bottled water. And cases. And cases. And cases. Thank you. What they’re missing is you can’t flush your toilet (or bathe) with bottled water.

By StewartM

(This is an elevated post by commenter StewartM.)

Niccolo Machiavelli

When one child refuses to go to school, ignore their insolence and lavish praise on their compliant sibling. Malcolm puts on his shoes perfectly! Malcolm gets a toy from the prize jar! Once the first child succumbs and leaves on time, swiftly punish their infraction by fashioning a mini-guillotine from the bagel slicer. Decapitate their Paw Patrol toys one by one while both children watch in horror. Hang the severed heads around the house. Wave the bagel slicer threateningly every morning.

Friedrich Nietzsche

There are no higher powers, least of all yours, and your parenting has no purpose. Your child will become an adult regardless of this one morning. So, who cares if you’re late? Rejoice in the chaos of absent expectations.

Taking stock of the human toll of one year of destruction in the densely packed Gaza Strip.

The post Israel’s Year of Killing, Maiming, Starving, and Terrorizing the People of Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.

One of the most interesting developments in the little world of political theory / philosophy in recent years has been the mass resignation of the editorial teams of both Philosophy & Public Affairs, and Journal of Political Philosophy. Public statements from both groups suggested they were disturbed by their existing publishers’ injunctions to publish in […]

'It is difficult not to regard the Act as a classic piece of doublethink designed to censor freedom of expression in the guise of protecting it'

As Reform UK draws the UK’s media eye at a press conference today, Hope Not Hate argues it’s time for journalists to call it out

Campaigners blast media giant for ‘supporting’ right-wing channel accused of fuelling racist riots, despite Sky's claims of backing diversity

October 7, 2024—Today, we can expect a parade of treacly sycophantism, brazen sociopathy, and humanist admonishment. They write for their mark, the reader they assume…

DNA is nature’s highly efficient mechanism for data storage. Now, scientists are taking note to address our storage crisis

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

The belief in witches is an almost universal feature of human societies. What does it reveal about our deepest fears?

- by Gregory Forth

Read at Aeon

The confusion of my illness helped me understand Buddhist theories of ignorance and its role in the relief of suffering

- by Emily McRae

Read at Psyche

ΑΝΟΙΚΤΗ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΔΙΕΘΝΟΥΣ ΠΟΙΝΙΚΟΥ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΥ 7η Οκτωβρίου 2024 Αξιότιμοι δικαστές του Διεθνούς Ποινικού Δικαστηρίου, Όταν τον Ιανουάριο μάθαμε ότι το Δικαστήριό σας αποφάσισε να εξετάσει τις καταγγελίες για όσα συμβαίνουν στην περιοχή Ισραήλ-Παλαιστίνης, αναθαρρήσαμε. Η ανθρωπότητα χρειάζεται ένα Διεθνές Ποινικό Δικαστήριο που να διασφαλίζει το Διεθνές Δίκαιο και να είναι έτοιμο […]

The post Ανοιχτή επιστολή των Γιάνη Βαρουφάκη & Μπράιαν Ίνο προς τους δικαστές του ΔΠΔ με αφορμή την επέτειο της 7/10: Κινητοποιηθείτε τώρα, αλλιώς το Διεθνές Δίκαιο «τελειώνει» appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

OPEN LETTER TO THE JUDGES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT 7th October 2024 Dear Judges of the International Criminal Court, When we heard in January that the Court on which you sit had decided to hear the case concerning the situation in Israel-Palestine, we were encouraged. Humanity needs an International Criminal Court that upholds the […]

The post Brian Eno’s & Yanis Varoufakis’ Open Letter to the Judges of the ICC, on the anniversary of 7th October: Act now or International Law withers forever appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.