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Killing Progressivism In The Crib
“All that time with McConnell did give Homans one special insight: McConnell hasn’t just “broken” the Senate by smashing its norms, or by making it dysfunctional. He’s essentially worked to make it irrelevant. For the foreseeable future, America’s regulatory policy will be written by the judiciary. Its ability to prosecute white-collar crime and bribery, to levy taxes, and create social welfare programs—all of these powers will be stripped from the Senate and put in the hands of the men (it’s almost all men) McConnell has placed on the courts. But he’ll probably go to his grave chuckling that Harry Reid started it, and get his name on that damn building too. America doesn’t really remember why it hated its political villains for very long, especially when they win.” Nihilist In Chief: The Banal, Evil, All-Destructive Reign Of Mitch McConnell
Every night the jungle gets closer, every day the ruins surrender more
Sarasota Half in Dream is a feature-length Surrealist documentary about dead turtles, crab swarms, decaying resorts, and microscopic histories; explorations into the abandoned golf courses, factories, and resorts of Sarasota, Florida and interviews with local youths who are using them for new and strange purposes. What would the Surrealists and Situationists think of a suburban, subtropical tourist town? What goes on in a storage unit in the dead of night? What is the afterlife of a decommissioned train car? What ghosts haunt a ruined hotel? What is the life cycle of a city? When will waters wash it all away? Streaming online for free. [via mefi projects]
Red Light Special
“ In his 1859 preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx implies that at earlier points in its development, capitalism is still “progressive” because it produces rapid increases in productivity. There aren’t enough material goods to support everyone at this stage, so socialism would only amount to the redistribution of scarcity. But at some point, Marx argues, production increases to such a scale that it becomes possible and necessary to socialize the existing mechanisms of production and redistribute the social product fairly. This would, for some, be enough to constitute socialism: a democratically run, centrally planned economy that ensures every person’s material needs are met. A Walmart for the people, with the same low prices and efficient logistics but without the poverty wages—and no billionaires at the top raking in the profits.” The People’s Republic Of Walmart? Could large megabusinesses be a starting point for a democratically planned economy?
Listening and learning, but standing strong
Rep. Ilhan Omar Apologizes
"Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize. At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. It's gone on too long and we must be willing to address it."
♪ The real Green Book's the racism we cured along the way ♪
Demi Adejuyigbe's YouTube Channel is a place where music and film are joined in clever and humorous ways. • Morrissey's End Credits Song from "Green Book" • Future's End Credits Rap from Avengers: Infinity War • Will Smith's "I Think I Can Beat The Black Panther" Should've Won Best Original Song • Fake Childish Gambino Rap I Made About Lando Calrissian for L-A-N-D-O: A Star Wars Story • Rejected Theme Song from READY PLAYER ONE • In Which Will Smith Raps the Credits for Moonlight
Amazon Warehouse Workers in Staten Island Go Public With Unionizing Push
Employees at a newly-opened Amazon warehouse in Staten Island went public with a campaign to unionize last night.
In the face of the company’s hyper-aggressive, global anti-union campaign, the new push is a pretty huge development for workers in other parts of the country—and other Amazon-owned companies like Whole Foods. The Staten Island employees’ complaints are familiar—mainly, that Amazon treats them like shit for not enough money.
Forget eagles. All hail the Broiler Chicken!
A team of researchers from several institutions in the U.K. and one in South Africa has come to the conclusion that the broiler chicken offers perhaps the most striking evidence of the rise of the Anthropocene... [phys.org]
The librarian who fought racial bias in the Dewey Decimal System
As some librarians today contemplate ways to decolonize libraries—for example, to make them less reflective of Eurocentric ways of organizing knowledge—it is instructive to look to (Dorothy) Porter as a progenitor of the movement. Starting with little, she used her tenacious curiosity to build one of the world’s leading repositories for black history and culture: Howard’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. But she also brought critical acumen to bear on the way the center’s materials were cataloged, rejecting commonly taught methods as too reflective of the way whites thought of the world.
Save me from tomorrow / I don't want to sail with this ship of fools
The 2018 US elections have gone into overtime.
Ariana Grande: God is a Woman. King Princess: hold my beer...
The world is a dumpster fire, so now is a good time to enjoy the new single and music video from queer pop icon King Princess, Pussy is God. Featuring fun with chromakey, joyous toplessness, and A-grade dance moves.
Happy Birthday Eugene!
“Debs happened to be campaigning for president in Louisiana and Texas at the time, and he took the opportunity to criticize not only local bigots but the international culture of white supremacy that Rudyard Kipling celebrated four years earlier in his poem “The White Man’s Burden.” Drawing on works by African-American contemporaries including W.E.B. Du Bois, he insisted that the Socialist Party would be untrue to its mission unless it welcomed “the Negro and all other races upon absolutely equal terms.” Something To Offer, Eugene V. Debs, The American Socialist Party And Black Liberation. (Jacobin) Bernard J. Brommel discusses his book "Eugene V. Debs: Spokesman for Labor and Socialism" (Studs Terkel Radio Archive) Mark Ruffalo reads the speech that put Eugene Debs in prison. (YouTube) The Eugene Debs House In Terre Haute, Indiana (Buckeye Muse) “When I think of the millions who have suffered in all the wicked wars of the past, I am shaken with the anguish of a great impatience. “ Helen Keller’s letter to Debs in prison. On Industral Unionism, Eugene V. Debs 1905.
An Amazing Obituary
If you work in one of the many institutions through which addicts often pass—rehabs, hospitals, jails, courts—and treat them with the compassion and respect they deserve, thank you. If instead you see a junkie or thief or liar in front of you rather than a human being in need of help, consider a new profession. One family's amazing, heartbreaking, and educational obituary for a loved one who died too soon.
A Map of Recent Philosophy
"This graphic is my attempt
to give a data-driven representation of the structure of recent philosophy. ... For this map I parsed 55327 papers in philosophy from the Web-Of-Science-Collection."
Guess I drew the short straw
Why Not Have A Randomly Selected Congress?
, Brianna Rennix and Nathan J. Robinson, Current Affairs - "Selecting the House and Senate like juries would not be ideal, but it would definitely be better."
Conspiracy Theories Replace Systemic Understanding Of Oppresion
“Illuminati theory helps oppressed people to explain our experiences in the hood. Society throws horrible stuff in our faces: our family members get locked up for bullshit. Our friends kill each other over beefs, money or turf. Our future is full of dead-end jobs that don’t pay shit. We struggle to pay bills while others live in luxury. On TV, we see people all over the world dying in poverty, even though we live in the most materially abundant society in history. Most people act like none of these terrible things are happening. Why does this occur? We start looking for answers, and Illuminati theory provides one.
We believe Illuminati theory is wrong, and we wrote this pamphlet to offer a different answer. “ How to Overthrow the Illuminati: How conspiracy theories thrived in the aftermath of the Black Power movements and how to combat them.
We believe Illuminati theory is wrong, and we wrote this pamphlet to offer a different answer. “ How to Overthrow the Illuminati: How conspiracy theories thrived in the aftermath of the Black Power movements and how to combat them.
The Labor Movement in 2018
In a Historic Move, Los Angeles Educators Vote To Strike (With Washington and more possible) ( In These Times) - Three steps for organized labor to survive in the 21st century (LEO Weekly) - Who wants to join a union? A growing number of Americans (The Conversation) - Democrats Need to Show a Whole Lot of Solidarity With Labor in 2018 (The Nation) - How two-tier unions turn workers against one another (And the looming UPS strike - Wash Post) - Labor Board backs software start up engineers fired for forming a union (Wired) - Brooklyn Wireless Workers Vote to Save Their Union (Dissent) - How New York Taxi Workers Took On Uber and Won (Labor Notes) - Two years ago this month, the NLRB extended union rights to teaching and research assistants at private universities - Union membership in Texas grows (Dallas News) - #Prisonstrike: A Rebellion Inside America’s Profitable Gulag Archipelago (Village Voice) Incarcerated Worker Protest Spreads To 11 States (Democracy Now) - What A Labor Union Is And How It Works (Teen Vogue )
Rediscovering the colors of ancient Greece, on statues and in writing
When Homer envisioned Achilles, did he see a Black man? This question is posed by Tim Whitmarsh, a professor of Greek culture, discusses the trouble of applying modern notions of race on historic figures, looking specifically at the trouble of defining "xanthos hair", and notes many of the Greek statues that seem white to us now were in antiquity painted in colour. "The differences [in descriptions of race, and color] are instructive – and, indeed, clearly point up the oddity of the modern, western obsession with classification by pigmentation."
Male Violence And State Violence
Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay “What Is Socialist Feminism?” From 1976 with a new introduction from the author. (Jacobin)
"Highbrow but delightfully bizarre"
The Believer, a five-time National Magazine Award finalist, is a bimonthly literature, arts, and culture magazine based at the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada. In each issue, readers will find journalism, essays, intimate interviews, an expansive comics section, poetry, and on occasion, delightful and unexpected bonus items. Our poetry section is curated by Jericho Brown, Kristen Radtke selects our comics, and Joshua Wolf Shenk is our editor-in-chief. All issues feature a regular column by Nick Hornby and a symposium, in which several writers expound on a theme of contemporary interest.
Tiny Goat Visits
Every Tuesday at the Oregon Zoo, two tiny goats named after Supreme Court Justices visit the other animals. So far, Ruth and Sonia have met seals, a porcupine, elephants, Chupacabra, giraffes, a hornbill, penguins, river otters, and an aardvark.
neither Northern nor Southern, but an amalgam of everything
"Florida is no place for those who want to view it from a safe distance. This state is invasive, creeping, needy. Hardy and scrabbling, our peninsula’s sour with poison and rot and choking vines. You fight for the right to live in its greenery, and once you’ve finally carved out a space, you stay tangled in the wreck. Once you’ve left, there’s no coming back. The best you can do is hack out a different life somewhere else.
This place isn’t yours to write about. It’s barely mine." Kristen Arnett: The Problem With Writing About Florida
What're the best resources for re-learning Math starting from Algebra?
Hi ya'll!,
I didn't always love math, but I sure do now! As I got more serious with game programming, I started to really get math. But I also ran into a serious issue: I mostly punted on it in high school and I was missing the basics. I managed to patch up my knowledge of games-useful trig, but now I'd like to go back and really dig in. What're my options?
An Egyptian-UFO Cult in Brooklyn
Nuwaubian group wound up labeled as a hate group by the SPLC.
Not long ago in Georgia, black and gold pyramids stood proudly on the 476-acre compound of Tama-Rey. It was the holy “Land of the Sun,” a place where the self-declared God, Dr. Malachi Z. York, manipulated thousands of nationwide followers in the “Nuwaubian Nation of Moors” to believe they were cosmic purveyors of an extraterrestrial truth.
Looking for Wisconsin politics Twitter/blogs/podcasts/whatever
Wisconsin mefites -- what are your favorite sources for local politics?
Why functional programming? Why Haskell?
Haskell is most likely quite different from any language you've ever used before.
In Haskell, we de-emphasise code that modifies data. Instead, we focus on functions that take immutable values as input and produce new values as output. Given the same inputs, these functions always return the same results. This is a core idea behind functional programming.
Have we reached Peak MoviePass?
MoviePass, the $9.95/month movie-a-day movie theater subscription service that has changed the moviegoing experience and has nudged the largest movie theater chain in the US to introduce it's own rival service, has reached three millions subscribers. However, because of it's shaky economics the company is not exactly celebrating this milestone. (Previously)
Podcast: The Adventure Zone: Amnesty - Episode 12
A Lunar Interlude. The Pine Guard and the residents of Amnesty Lodge take a well-earned break at a local winter recreation hotspot. Aubrey meets the Hornets. Duck reveals soupy secrets. Ned logs onto the InterNed.
"Night Trap will never appear on a Nintendo system."
"Ever since its inception, the video game industry and controversy have gone hand in hand. Custer’s Revenge, Death Race, Grand Theft Auto, Sam Fox’s Strip Poker… these titles and many more like them have secured their position in the history books by stirring up trouble, but few have instigating the kind of furore that results in the industry-wide adoption of a ratings classification system. When it comes to notorious video games, Night Trap – recently confirmed for release on the Nintendo Switch – is in a league of its own; the real irony is that its iniquitous status as highly subversive 'video nasty' is almost entirely undeserved."
It's there a point at which depression needs to be accepted?
You stare into the abyss. One half of you lives, works, loves, creates, volunteers, parents, and plays, but the other half is always staring into the abyss. Quietly. Without a fuss. Staring, always.
Do you just learn to live like that?
Please just stop it with the beeping
Are there any brands that make appliances that don't make loud beeping noises? Or, have adjustable alerts? Or, if not brands, is there any way to distinguish (maybe certain review sites?) quieter appliances from louder ones? (I'm not talking about the performance of the machine, I'm talking about the alerts that signal the end of a cycle or run.)
Photos from the beginning of the 20th century, searchable by world map
Le musée départemental Albert-Kahn conserve les Archives de la Planète, un ensemble d'images fixes et animées, réalisé au début du XXe siècle, consacré à la diversité des peuples et des cultures.
“Yes, I'm doing my job. It's work.”
Stella Parks is a CIA-trained pastry chef and senior editor of Serious Eats, and the author of
BRAVETART, "THE BEST BAKING BOOK WE'VE SEEN IN YEARS", "the new go-to baking book," "packed with clever upgrades of baking classics," that "celebrates the science of junk food," "a case for the american dessert itself."Welcome, everything is fine. We’re going to talk about The Good Place.
The Good Posts: Chapter One -Andrew Hickey kicks off a series of posts about the The Good Place, possibly the best show currently on Television, with a discussion of premise and format.
Love in a time of multiple equilibria
Thomas Picketty is back with another pot-boiler: Brahmin Left vs Merchant Right: Rising Inequality & the Changing Structure of Political Conflict.
Thrill at explanations for how elites in France, UK, and US have captured both major political wings and so prevent the correction of inequality! At 65 pages, this is a quick-for-Picketty read. (SLPSE)
The Art of Conversation
The Studs Terkel Radio Archive collects decades of work from Chicago journalist and interviewer Studs Terkel as he addressed some of 20th Century America’s most pressing issues and concerns
Notable topics include - Work, labor and economy, LGBTQ Culture & Rights, The Great Depression, Race Relations, and More
Tragic Kingdom
Bats Day in the Fun Park aka Bats Day aka Goth Day has, for two decades, been an annual gathering of goths at Disneyland. Sadly it seems the event will not carry on in its current form (blame Trump), but hopefully some sort of similar, if curtailed, event will continue lurch on in undeath.
Speedrunning 500 years of bad economics
Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies: Burn It With Fire
(SLYT) Berkeley researcher Nicholas Weaver explains all you need to know about the entire bitcoin/cryptocurrency/blockchain space: what it is, why it's horrible and how governments and black hat hackers can attack it.
Leeds-Detroit-Berlin-New York
Ahead of their time? Probably. Influential? Another one of those that inspired more than sales would suggest. Timing is everything.
You might know Age of Chance for their cover of Prince’s "Kiss" but you had a hard time remembering because the video was posted without sound for years, and other posted versions were often taken down. For many years there was little trace of them but started showing up again with the reissue of their catalogue in 2009.
Gelman's Law
A quick rule of thumb is that when someone seems to be acting like a jerk, an economist will defend the behavior as being the essence of morality, but when someone seems to be doing something nice, an economist will raise the bar and argue that he’s not being nice at all.
17. ORANGE. 18. 19. 20.
The debut album from Boards of Canada, Music Has The Right To Children, turns 20 today.
Calling All Mountain Goats Fans
For the past few months, the podcast I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats has provided a fascinating glimpse into the mind of John Darnielle, who is both one of our greatest songwriters and, [some] would argue, one of our greatest writers. Every week on the podcast, Darnielle has been sitting down with Night Vale host and Mountain Goats superfan Joseph Fink. The podcast’s first season has centered on the classic 2002 album All Hail West Texas, the last and greatest document of Darnielle’s acoustic-guitar-and-boom-box lo-fi period. And now we get a tribute album out of it. (Link to free album stream.)
"Have I offended you? Do you find me offensive?"
What in God’s Name Happened to Ricky Gervais?
A look at the decline of the once great comedian who has gone from creating The Office to having his own David Bowie song to reflexively defending shitposters online.
West Coast to Chicago Amtrak choices
There are three trains that go to Chicago from the west, the Empire Builder, California Zephyr and Southwest Chief. Which should we take?
“Homosexuality is Stalin’s Atom Bomb To Destory America”
“Information has come to our attention that you are homosexual. What comment do you care to make?” During the Lavender Scare, LGBTQ+ military and government personnel were targeted en masse — especially women, Airman Second Class Helen James was one of them. Navy recruit and Drag King Rusty Brown gives an oral history of the panic and paranoia at the time. (PDF) MAKING GAY HISTORY podcast and transcript on the founders of Daughters of Bilitis, the first advocacy organization for lesbians in 1955.