In a recent Guardian advert pleading for readers to hand over money to the paper, leading columnist Marina Hyde declared: ‘My absolute favourite thing about the Guardian is not being told what to write.’
Hyde – or Marina Elizabeth Catherine Dudley-Williams, as she prefers not to be known – was, in fact, making ‘the most stupid boast’ that could be made by a journalist, to quote George Seldes (1890-1995), the US press critic. He was scornful of journalists who proclaimed: ‘I have never …
I just love it when all the media political pundits and talk show hosts ( News Talk?) throw out that word Democracy. You don’t have to go to a ranch to find more bull excrement than that. Folks, this is not a democracy and probably never was one, all the way back to our founding. Why? MONEY MONEY MONEY is the answer. As long as the masters of our republic keep allowing private money into electoral politics you will continue to smell that bull excrement — period!
The Open Secrets site follows the flow of money in political campaigns. After …
When Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino attempted to hype up the so-called China’s overseas police stations, one word stood out — could. “Mendicino concedes there could be new ‘Chinese police stations’ in Canada,” the country’s CTV News reported on Sunday.
The first paragraph of the article is filled with similar expressions, such as “there may be” new “Chinese police stations” and Royal Canadian Mounted Police will close any new sites “if they do exist.”
The real story should be why this speculation without evidence became a news story …
Although Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s victory in the second round of the presidential election in Turkey is almost assured ahead of the second round of votes, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, in case of victory, would alter the country’s foreign policy and put the relationship with Russia into a framework that is acceptable to the US. The question surrounding Kilicdaroglu is whether he would introduce sanctions against Russia or turn Turkey away from its newfound independent foreign policy.
Turkey is heading to the second round of the election after Erdogan achieved a better-than-expected result …
When ProPublica’s investigation into links between Republican donor Harlan Crow and the US Supreme Court surfaced, there was a sense that dark waters lurked beneath the revelations. While Justice Clarence Thomas featured prominently as the recipient of largesse and pomp from Crow – island hopping in Indonesia, private jet travel, among other treats – things were bound to get worse.
At the time of the unveiling of such ignominious conduct, Thomas did not heed the wise injunction of Lord Acton to avoid too much explaining lest the excuses become too many. His hand caught in the till, Thomas …
by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East / May 15th, 2023
Today we mark the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (‘catastrophe’ in Arabic), the expulsion, destruction, and ethnic cleansing of Palestine associated with the creation of Israel in 1948. The Nakba is a process that has never ended. Today, CJPME stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Canada and around the world and reaffirms its support for the fundamental and inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to the country that they were forced to leave behind.
Between 1947 and 1949, during the creation of Israel, a minimum of …
The Group of Seven (G7) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meeting that ended on Saturday did not name China in the joint statement, nor did it mention the so-called economic coercion that has been hyped for a long time. Nonetheless, it is hard to say the G7 is returning to rationality on the issue of China. It is more likely “retreating for the sake of advancing.” The G7 has hinted that at the Hiroshima summit held from May 19 to May 21, the main statement is set to …
The first professional one-mile race was held in London on July 26, 1855. Charles Westhall won with a time of 4 minutes and 28 seconds. Over the next 90 years, the time was slowly but surely whittled down to 4:01.4 by Sweden’s Gunder Hagg on July 17, 1945.
Nine years later, on May 6, 1954, England’s Roger Bannister did the “impossible.” He ran a 3:59.4 mile. The following month, the “impossible” was done again. John Landy of Australia ran a 3:58 mile on June 21, …
Momentary respite from insane insanity news (sic) cycle
by Paul Haeder / May 15th, 2023
And yet, once back from the hike, the low tides churning up as the tide shifts toward the rising tide, the news is never ending. The insanity of the West, the insanity of the lies, more lies and black magic lies of the US media, as well as the zombies walking the streets and even hitting the king tide Devil’s Churn, hoping 2023 will be brought in with booze, football, firecrackers. That the world will …
Talk about the dangers of artificial intelligence, actual or imagined, has become feverish, much of it induced by the growing world of generative chat bots. When scrutinising the critics, attention should be paid to their motivations. What do they stand to gain from adopting a particular stance? In the case of Geoffrey Hinton, immodestly seen as the “Godfather of AI”, the scrutiny levelled should be sharper than most.
Hinton hails from the “connectionist” school of thinking in AI, the once discredited field that envisages neural networks which mimic the human brain and, more broadly, human behaviour. Such a view is at …
Eleven months ago a critical education case came before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in North Carolina (Peltier v. Charter Day Sch., Inc., 37 F.4th 104, 116, 4th Cir. 2022). A main issue in the case pertains to the dress code at “Charter Day School” in Leland, North Carolina, specifically, whether the privately-operated but publicly-funded charter school had violated the rights of female students by stipulating what they could and could not wear. The ACLU reports that, “Girls at Charter Day School, together with their parents, challenged the skirts requirement as sex discrimination under the Equal …
The 372-page book that the European Center for Populism Studies published in March 2023, The Impacts of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on Right-wing Populism in Europe, opens its Chapter (p. 200-209) on “The Russia-Ukraine War and Right-Wing Populism in Latvia” by saying something that has broad applicability across all U.S.-and-allied nations,
Right-wing populism, and populism more broadly, has long been a feature of Latvia’s political landscape. Indeed, in December 2021, a few months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvia’s president, Egils Levits, a former judge at the European Union Court of Justice, warned that populism was …
The story of the ongoing Nakba is the story of Khader Adnan, who spent eight years of his life in Israeli prison without charge or trial and died last week on hunger strike in solitary confinement.
Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Charlie Munger recently said that everything that increases tensions between China and the U.S. is “stupid, stupid, stupid.” Microsoft Founder Bill Gates believes the U.S. will not “be successful at preventing China from having great chips.” Even American businesses try to get around the country’s export controls and protect their own interests. So what exactly have Washington’s tech sanctions against China achieved? Just like the current debt ceiling crisis, letting U.S. politics bury logic and reason time and time again is rather stupid.
Wang Wenbin, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, held his regular press conference in Beijing, on May 11th, and answered a reporter’s question: “It was reported that the G7 Summit to be held in Japan will ask China to abide by international rules. Do you have any comment?” by saying that those countries are hypocritical for accusing others of violating the never-defined stock phrase of the U.S. Government “international rules.” He said:
The US has spied indiscriminately on countries globally, not least its G7 allies, strong-armed countries diplomatically, and applied economic coercion and military interference. The US has blatantly invaded …
Imran Khan poses the greatest threat to Pakistan’s military monopoly on political power.
The arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI) caused thousands of Pakistanis to take to the streets and protest. However, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered on May 11 his release, offering a significant victory for the onetime leader responsible for bringing Islamabad closer to Moscow and away from US dominance until his removal from power.
On May 9, Khan was detained and arrested for the alleged embezzlement of 50 billion …
For the first time that scientists can recall, sea surface temperatures that always recede from annual peaks are failing to do so, staying high
by Robert Hunziker / May 12th, 2023
Global warming and extensive overfishing have damaged ocean ecosystems well beyond recognition from only a few decades ago. Still, on its own accord, the ocean stood tall for over 3 billion years. But, alas, in less than one human lifetime it is teetering like never before, and credible studies claim the world’s oceans could be devoid of life within only three decades. This is one of the most troubling transformations of all time, nothing compares to it, absolutely nothing!
The ocean heat bomb is all about the impact of global warming and overfishing, neither of which is high enough on …
I am grateful to you for reading this newsletter, which has been coming to you since March 2018 and which now – thanks to the efforts of our movements – reaches over a million people. Our first newsletter posed a problem that remains at the heart of our institute’s work:
The Left has before us a serious challenge: people think that we are good and sensitive people, but that we are utopian and fail to provide reasonable answers to practical problems. We have to overcome this penalty. We …
First of three parts: what's love got nothing to do with it in Wisconsin
by Paul Haeder / May 12th, 2023
“Are you the people with that black pick-up with the white camper?”
He’s a short red-bearded white cop standing over me and my friend, KK (initials to be revealed soon). We are in KK’s hometown, Merrill, Wisconsin, population 9,300.
“What’s up, officer?”
“We have a complaint from a resident who says you were on his property taking pictures of his house and a juvenile daughter.”
So begins the morning in Merrill, or at least, after a few hours of photographing KK’s old haunts with …
Europe is joining a number of other regions on the planet in suffering a prolonged water crisis; and it is one that shows little sign of abating. To this can be added the near catastrophic conditions that exist in other parts of the globe, where ready and secure access to water supplies is more aspiration than reality.
Since 2018, according to satellite data analysed by researchers from the Institute of Geodesy at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), the continent has been enduring increasingly dire drought conditions. Groundwater levels have been, according to the institute, low, despite the …
Tomorrow marks one year since veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered by the Israeli military while covering an Israeli invasion of Jenin refugee camp. The brutal silencing of her voice, and the images of Israeli riot police beating mourners at her funeral, will be remembered as defining moments exposing the cruelty of Israeli apartheid.
As part of our ongoing series on freedom of expression, we recognize that Shireen’s case is not an anomaly, but reflects decades of Israeli impunity for the systemic targeting of journalists. This visual honors the journalists who were killed simply because their voices exposed the …
The Haiti/Americas Team of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and BAP member organization, MOLEGHAF, request the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) launch a serious and in-depth investigation into the assassination of former Haitian de facto President Jovenel Moïse. We demand to know the truth concerning U.S. and other foreign countries’ complicity in plotting to kill Moïse, as well as to assassinate activists and ordinary Haitian citizens.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) recently published information based on newly obtained evidence from the ongoing U.S. prosecution of the alleged assassins. It reveals the seeming complicity …
Raising the federal debt limit over the years has secured unconditional routine Congressional passage and was endorsed by presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. After all, it allows the U.S. Treasury to pay past and existing bills, not expand future spending.
Routine, that is, until the recent arrival of the mad-dog Republicans with their monetized brains indentured to the war-making military industrial complex and Wall Street speculators gambling with other people’s savings.
It wouldn’t have mattered if the Democrats campaigned in 2022 as did vigorous New Deal Democrats instead of campaigning like willing servants of corporate cash and political/media consultants conflicted with …
It looks like 2008 all over again. Economic and financial mismanagement feature in scorching, consuming brilliance. The culpable, bungling banksters, have returned with their customary, venal incompetence. In the customary script, they habitually seek the role of the public purse to socialise their losses. Along the way, they will avoid richly deserved prison sentences, lie low, and return to repeat their sins.
A number of big ships in the banking industry have already sunk into oblivion, sold off and made footnotes in financial folklore. Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and most …
