Reading

(First of two collections of important articles published 2014 or earlier. )

I want to take readers through some of my previous writing on ideology and character, and how they help form the societies in which we live. Taking the time to read these articles (a short book’s worth), should vastly improve your understanding of the world and the articles to come. It should be worth your time, even if you read the articles when they were previously published, as, at the time, they lacked both context and commentary, and were not collated to be read together so that the connections were obvious.

(I have a lot of new readers, so I’m going to republish this. These are some of the most important articles I have written–Ian)

Baseline Predictions for the Next 60 Years

Trump’s foreign policy henchmen are going around the world sabotaging America I’m pretty sure that this “visit” with Netanyahu was to simply reassure him that if he can just hold out until January 20, 2025 Trump will take care of him: Three former U.S. foreign policy officials in Donald Trump’s administration met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other public figures in Israel on Monday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The delegation was comprised of Robert O’Brien, who served as Trump’s fourth and final national security adviser, as well as former Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates John Rakolta and former Ambassador to Switzerland Ed McMullen, said the person, who requested anonymity as the trip’s itinerary was not public. In addition to Netanyahu, the delegation met Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and several other Israeli officials, the person said. Among the main goals of the trip was to obtain a better understanding of Israel’s complex domestic political situation, said the person familiar with the visit.

Check out new preview images for Showrunner Russell T. Davies and series stars Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson's Doctor Who Ep. 4: "73 Yards."

Australia’s Vegans have launched a petition to ban the Bunnings sausage sizzle, claiming the smell of burning flesh combined with the phallic shape of the sausage is off putting and offensive to the community at large. ”It’s time that Bunnings... Read More ›

The brain cells once alleged to explain empathy, autism, and theory of mind are being refined and redefined.

The post A Closer Look at the Science of Mirror Neurons appeared first on Nautilus.

ICC warrants against Israeli officials would mean they can’t travel — and their patrons in the U.S. would be pressured over continued arms sales.

The post Can a U.S. Ally Actually Be Held Accountable for War Crimes in the ICC? appeared first on The Intercept.

Craig Foster on his 3 greatest revelations while writing Amphibious Soul.

The post Biodiversity Loss Is the Greatest Menace on Earth appeared first on Nautilus.

The ICC chief prosecutor accused Israeli and Hamas leaders of war crimes while repeating false claims against Hamas and downplaying Israeli violence against Palestinians, writes The Cradle news desk. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Continue reading »

Trump had a little meltdown last night. ‘My Speech in Dallas this weekend at the NRA’s ‘Endorsement of President Donald J. Trump,’ was attended by a Record Crowd of very enthusiastic Patriots,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Biden Campaign, however, put out a Fake Story that I ‘froze’ for 30 seconds, going into the ‘Musical Interlude’ section, when in actuality, the 30 to 60 second period of silence is standard in every one of my Speeches where we use the Music,” he went on, “Check out any of my Speeches!” “The reason they came up with this Disinformation is that Biden freezes all the time, can’t put two sentences together, and can rarely find his way off the stage without help,” he claimed. “Donald Trump doesn’t freeze! It is a MADE UP Biden Campaign story, put out in a dying Newspaper that I never heard of, and every Reporter knows it, including the large group that was there….” he added. Here’s the thing. Nobody’s ever mentioned that his speeches always contain a weird 30 second pause right in the middle when the music comes on.

It had been widely anticipated that, to maintain any institutional respect, the International Criminal Court would have to indict some Israeli leaders, unavoidably including Prime Minister Netanyahu, in connection with the Gaza genocide and that, for balance, it would choose to indict at least one Hamas leader at the same time. Its announcement today of Continue reading »

Why has Egypt confirmed that it will support South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide? The answer lies in the significance of the Philadelphi Corridor or the Salah Al-Din Axis. On May 12 Egypt confirmed that it has joined the South African lawsuit against Israel, becoming the sixth Arab Continue reading »

Students have established solidarity encampments at 11 universities in Australia since April 23rd when the first camp was established at the University of Sydney. Many of these students have for the last 7 months been watching a continuous stream of war crimes and their aftermaths on Tiktok and Instagram, uploaded by Gazans enduring horrific conditions. Continue reading »

David McBride, for all his flaws, is a better, a more decent and honourable person than any of those he has discomforted or outraged. On May 1, a Canberra public servant in the department of Finance came up before the ACT Supreme Court for his role in an attempt to defraud the Commonwealth of up Continue reading »

The claim by Paris officials that ‘foreign interference’ is behind the civil turmoil in New Caledonia not only attempts to deflect responsibility from France for the crisis but is also an insult to the Kanak peoples’ long struggle for independence. The French Minister of the Interior’s claim that Azerbaijan is stoking the violence denies agency Continue reading »

The increasing number of Grandparents paying private school fees has enabled elite schools to evade Commonwealth parent income tests determining the rate of taxpayer funding that goes to society’s most wealthy and least in need students. Some private schools have acknowledged that many grandparents pay school fees. In effect, this is an admission that they Continue reading »

If you are in Melbourne and travel though the CBD along Collins Street on the 109 tram you pass a nondescript building called Collins House. It looks a bit scruffy and nowadays it is dwarfed by high rise buildings. Yet once Collins House was the centre of a sprawling empire of mining, media and other Continue reading »

Relations between great powers and their neighbouring regions are often fraught. The cases of the United States and Latin America, or the European Union and North Africa, come to mind. For instance, tensions related to immigration from Latin America and North Africa, has led to the rise of right wing populism in the United States Continue reading »

After more than six months, it appears to many that Israel is losing its war in Gaza. At the same time, Israel is fighting Hezbollah on its northern border, relations between Jerusalem and Washington are strained, and the International Court of Justice has ruled that a plausible case can be made that Israel is committing Continue reading »

"73 Yards" is one of the weirdest episodes of Doctor Who in all the best ways possible - and it travels that weird route in a unique way.

With FDA approval on the horizon, an internal document lays out measures to treat PTSD and stanch the suicide crisis.

The post The VA Is Quietly Fast-Tracking MDMA Therapy for Veterans appeared first on The Intercept.

Kevin Drum takes them downtown: The Washington Post reports today that consumer sentiment softened this month. That’s true enough. But they also say this: Come on, folks. Do we have to keep doing this? Nobody has to guess at consumer buying habits by looking at fast food, kitchen renovations, sneakers or afternoon lattes. Why? Because every month the government publishes a nice, tidy summary of all consumer spending. Here it is through March: If the Washington Post thinks the government is rigging the statistics they should say so. But maybe they don’t know about government statistics. Maybe someone should tell them. Kevin concludes: And guess what? The government also publishes lots of other handy statistics! I’ll spare you the charts, but real wage growth has been up steadily; home sales are down from their 2021 boom year but have increased lately; auto sales are up and have been steady lately; and durable goods consumption is up. Inflation has been hovering around 3% for an entire year, which is not especially dire.

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the work for the week, were finished. And so on the seventh day, They slept in until 8:30 a.m. Then They looked upon each other and proclaimed, “Damn, is it time to go to the grocery store again? Didn’t we just do that?!”

All the work They had done to create the delicious chickpea lunch bowl for last week felt like it should have covered Them for several more days. But it did not. And so now They must come up with another equally good idea, though They have no good ideas and the only food They can remember that exists is hot dogs.

And so They began the creation of the week’s meal plan, though They each hoped unto themselves that The Other would proclaim, “Whatever, let’s just get takeout all week and go bowling.”

And so They looked upon each other for the next hour and said, “What do you feel like eating?”

“I don’t know, what do you feel like eating?”

“I asked you first.”

Finally, She suggested bolognese. Thus the Other She exclaimed, “It takes like three hours to cook bolognese. We have pickleball this week, and you’re working late two nights. We need a bunch of easy stuff.”