It is not until the second half of Izabella Scott and Skye Arundhati Thomas’s short book that they reveal the meaning of their titular Pleasure Gardens. The first half of their text, subtitled Blackouts and the Logic of Crisis in Kashmir and illustrated with photographs by Kashmiri artists Nawal Ali, Ufaq Fatima and Zainab, is […]
Reading
The hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars used to build this new stadium will benefit everyone in our city, as long as they own the stadium and the billion-dollar sports team playing inside.
The stadium will be a community space enjoyed by all who can afford a $175 ticket and a steady supply of $37 Dasanis. It will be surrounded by luxurious new apartments (that I own), brand-new stores (that I own), and dozens of new locally owned restaurants that I’ll evict after six months to make room for a Wetzel’s Pretzels (that I own and enjoy).
We’re all going to benefit from the new jobs. We’ll need security guards to break up drunken brawls between sunburned stepdads, custodians to wipe up the puke off those stepdads’ inconsiderate stepsons, and plenty of whatever job deals with both of those groups barreling off the freeway in their Chevy Panzers.
I know I could pay for the stadium myself, but the community needs me to be frugal so I can fund other necessary developments like another country club for underprivileged CEOs.
Israelis blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dragging them into endless war — and are at a loss for how to carve a way out.
The post Israeli Society Is in a Deepening State of Contradiction appeared first on The Intercept.
California Governor Gavin Newsom appears to be taking climate change seriously, at least when he’s in front of a microphone and flashing cameras. His talk then is direct and tough. He repeatedly points out that the planet is in danger and appears ready to act. He’s been called a “climate-change crusader” and a leader of America’s clean energy revolution. “[California is] meeting the moment head-on as the hots get hotter, the dries get drier, the wets get wetter, simultaneous droughts and rain bombs,” Newsom typically asserted in April 2024 during an event at Central Valley Farm, which is powered by solar panels and batteries. “We have to address these issues with a ferocity that is required of us.” These are... Read more
‘It is absolutely clear that the ability of the labour movement to defend existing rights and gains for the working population, let alone advance towards greater democracy and workers control of industry and society, is menaced by fascism, racialism and racialists. To remove that danger is a crucial task for socialists and trade unionists in […]
“As the budget process progressed, updated revenue projections showed that many of the cuts weren’t needed. Both fiscally conservative and liberal good government groups and the Independent Budget Office said City Hall’s revenue projections were inaccurate. But the mayor ordered agencies to slash their budgets anyway.” — New York Times
When Harry Met Sally
Harry and Sally are neurotic New Yorkers looking for love in the Big Apple. When the former college classmates bump into each other at a bookstore, they promise to get coffee and catch up soon. But thanks to the administration’s refusal to put caps on market rent, Sally has been pushed to the outer edges of Brooklyn, while Harry lives in the deepest reaches of Queens. They never see each other again.

- by Michael R Sheehy

- by Clayton Page Aldern