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Created
Sun, 15/09/2024 - 05:51
Short Take: Reforming NATO

1. How many of you think the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) needs reformation in some way?

2. How many of you think it is just fine the way it is?

3. How many of you think it should just be abolished?

If you could please limit your answer in the comments to 1, 2 or 3 I would be very appreciative. There will be a ful post for a full discussion of the issue soon. I want to get a sense of how everyone is thinking on this issue before I complete to essay.

Created
Sun, 15/09/2024 - 05:00
Last night, Bill Maher made a joke about Trump and Laura Loomer having an affair. (It was cruder than that but basically that was it.) That theme was all over social media yesterday, starting with the big kahuna. above. Loomer was very, very upset about it: She should know about defamation and character assassination. It’s her entire brand: Uh huh:
Created
Sun, 15/09/2024 - 03:30
Ok. It’s Donald Trump who believes he can change reality simply by saying something over and over again. And for about 46% of voters, it appears that he can. Not even a 3 point lead. Yes, I still think Harris will pull out a narrow win. But what do we do about the 46% of our fellow Americans who think that bigoted conman should run the country? Their willingness to believe his lies (or rationalize them) makes them monsters too, doesn’t it? (Or dangerous fools, if we want to be generous about it.) I knew we had been a racist, violent people. But I thought we had progressed further than this, I really did.
Created
Sun, 15/09/2024 - 00:30
Another family feud over a GOP candidate in AZ Most of us have them, family members who for reasons unfathomable have gone full red-hat. For other unknown reasons a lot of them run for office in Arizona. Six members of Rep. Paul Gosar’s (Ariz.-R) family made a point of asking people not to vote for him. Several appeared in attack ads against him and after Jan. 6 called for his ouster from Congress: “I consider him a traitor to this country. I consider him a traitor to his family,” Gosar’s brother, Dave, a Wyoming attorney, said. “He doesn’t see it. He’s disgraced and dishonored himself.” Now it’s Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter’s turn, reports Mother Jones. Her sister, Pamela, “an activist prayer warrior,” is running for a state house district in suburban Maricopa County. Lynda’s distancing herself: In their quest to hold onto the legislature, Republicans have turned to a member of a famous Arizona family—Pamela Carter, older sister of the original Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter.
Created
Sat, 14/09/2024 - 23:00
Compiled for sharing If you’re in the mood for a breathless summary of superconmisogynisticextrabragadocious Trumpy lowlights, Seth Meyers has you covered. Bookmark it for Thanksgiving. This Zak Kimball guy has a set of explainers on his TikTok page, but this one answers The Donald’s debate challenge to Vice President Kamala Harris about why she hasn’t accomplished the things she proposes in 3-1/2 years in that office. For the civics-challenged. Tom Bonier explains why the polls are so screwed up and why they now overestimate Repunblicans’ support. And for those of you paying attention, voter registration has been way up since Biden handed Harris the baton. Voter registration has been spiked insanely since Harris trounced Trump in the debate and Taylor Swift’s endorsement. Enjoy. Update: Knew Rosenberg had these but could not find them earlier
Created
Sat, 14/09/2024 - 22:59
I Tidningen Näringslivet kunde vi för några år sedan läsa en intervju med ekonomiprofessor Daniel Waldenström, där denne gång på gång bagatelliserade den ökade inkomst- och förmögenhetsklyftan i Sverige under de senaste 40 åren. Enligt Waldenström har efter 00-talet ”inkomstskillnaderna faktiskt inte ökat särskilt mycket alls.” De som påpekar att ojämlikheten de facto ökat kraftigt även […]
Created
Sat, 14/09/2024 - 22:14
Konjunkturen vill inte riktigt vända, arbetslösheten ökar, tillväxtprognoserna har redan förbytts i stagnationsprognoser. De närmsta åren kommer med stor sannolikhet att bjuda på en långvarig konjunktursvacka. I detta minst sagt svåra läge har det blivit allt tydligare att penning- och räntepolitiken inte längre är verkningsfull. Men vad regeringen med manisk envishet vägrar inse är att […]
Created
Sat, 14/09/2024 - 10:04
Cooking time: 30 mins.Preparation time: 20 mins.Main cooking utensils: 3 saucepans For 4 people you need:1 cup ricewatersalt¼ cup flour2 tablespoons butter1¼ cups chicken stock⅔ cup milk2 egg yolks3 tablespoons creamcooked breasts of 2 young chickens or 1 large chicken divided into 4 piecessqueeze lemon juice1 – 1½ cups mushrooms2-4 tablespoons butter Garnish:1 hard-cooked egg […]
Created
Sat, 14/09/2024 - 10:01
The Necessity Of Surplus For Tech Innovation

by Bruce Wilder

(Ian–this is an elevated comment from my post on Breakout Societal Power. It fills in much of the gap elided to in this phrase “Small groups in competition have the chance, though not the certainty, of fast progress, stuck as they are in a cauldron. It doesn’t always happen…” but does so better than I would have. It’s not just about why some societies in sharp competition don’t make it, however.)

There is an underlying dynamic of solidarity and surplus that seldom gets the attention it deserves.

Created
Sat, 14/09/2024 - 09:30
The Wolves of Yellowstone Gray wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995, resulting in a trophic cascade through the entire ecosystem. After the wolves were driven extinct in the region nearly 100 years ago, scientists began to fully understand their role in the food web as a keystone species. TRANSCRIPT: In 1995, something really exciting happened in the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone. 41 wild wolves are reintroduced here by scientists. After 100 years of being hunted, wolves could once again call this place home. The wolves thrived, but something else very surprising happened. Their return had a spectacular effect on the landscape, an effect that spread wider than anyone thought possible. So how did this all happen? In the past, wolves were seen as a risk to people and livestock, and they were exterminated from the Yellowstone area in the 1920s. The elk’s main predator was gone, and their population more than doubled. Elk are both grazers and browsers, so they eat grass, shrubs, and trees. They overgraze the entire park, upsetting the natural balance of the ecosystem.
Created
Sat, 14/09/2024 - 08:00
Politico takes a look at the movement behind Vance’s ascent to power: Now that Vance is accompanying Trump on the top of the Republican ticket, this paradox has opened Republicans up to fresh criticisms. How populist can Vance really be while cozying up to billionaires in Silicon Valley? What does a Yale-educated attorney and ex-venture capitalist understand about the lives of Trump’s blue-collar voters? Is a guy who owns not one but two million-dollar houses a credible mouthpiece for the GOP’s fledgling economic populism? But the deeper I’ve dug into the conservative world Vance comes from — often referred to as the “New Right” — the more I’ve come to see Vance’s split identity as a feature rather than a bug for his ideological supporters. In fact, Vance embodies an archetype that has been theorized about at length in New Right-adjacent books and podcasts (many of which Vance has read and listened to).
Created
Sat, 14/09/2024 - 06:30
They are having to shut down elementary schools in Springfield today because of threats. Haitian immigrants are keeping their kids at home and fear going to the store. It’s only a matter of tie before something terrible happens. Trump said today at his press conference that he specifically plans to deport all the immigrants in Springfield. Of course, they are here legally but that doesn’t matter. Neither does it matter that he said he would deport them all to Venezuela. They are, of course, Haitian but to him all the “shitholoe countries” are the same. His demagoguery is getting worse and worse. And his partner in crime JD Vance doubled down today: Those immigrants were invited to fill the jobs that the locals couldn’t fill. The town was dying. losing population by the thousands. They are considered by the local businesses to be their best workers: What we are seeing is true fascist demagoguery. And it’s being promulgated as much by the new generation leader JD Vance as it is the elderly psychopath Donald Trump. This is the GOP.