Ashok Thomas

After reducing her Amazon stake by $12.6 billion, Jeff Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Scott makes one of the largest donations to… - The Times of India Tech News News: MacKenzie Scott has donated $80 million to Howard University, one of the largest single gifts in its history, to support general operations and its Co

I wish more billionaires were as generous !

McKenzie Scott has donated over $19 billion, to more than 2,500 non-profit organizations, since 2019.

Her donations are known for being unrestricted, allowing the recipient organizations to use the funds as they see fit, and not tied to donor wishes.

By its very nature, it's a very subjective survey.

Surprised to see the heavy use of anti depressants in the 'happy' nations.

In the age of social media, people only see the happy and fun side of others, which may cause disillusionment..

Birthright is a strong word i feel. They still need to get the support of party leaders and be able to get votes.

Later on, congress leaders, fighting among themselves, cannot choose one among themselves, saw the family as a unifying force, and hence the dynasty continues.

Time for it to end.

I agree with the overall sentiment, but i will not say emphatically that they consider it as birthright. After Nehru, Indira did not inherit the post, but Lal Bahadur Shastri became the PM. It was after his untimely death that Indira Gandhi became PM, foisted into the position by a 'syndicate'....

well, people do vote for dynasts, rather than a meritorious person due to name recall. Hence the continuation of dynasties.
Even in the US, Bush Jr. was helped by the family name.

Democrats must not cave in to Trump | Bernie Sanders The government shutdown is not an accident. Trump’s budget would push millions into poverty and must be stopped

Democrats must not cave to Trump now.

We cannot allow health care premiums to double, 15 million to lose their health insurance and Trump’s authoritarianism to accelerate.

To surrender now would be a historic tragedy for our country, something history won’t look kindly upon.

Congratulations Team India on an inspiring victory in the cricket world cup ! 👏🎉

Republican faithful alone are not enough to win elections. He might want to consider the optics with the broader coalition.

Also this is the guy who said Trump is hitler and will never vote for him, just a few years back. And then did a 180. He just says what seems beneficial at the moment.

The Third world countries are relegated to operating these polluting manufacturing plants, while rich developed nations get rid of these from their territory.

Incredible to see this spirit, even after enduring a brutal onslaught by Russia for nearly 4 years..

He just wants to win some overt praise from other leaders. That's his win.

Everything else that happens can be spun as a victory !

Yeah, better to ask which model is best suited for a task.

There could be a proliferation of AI tools in future, catering to specific jobs, like lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, game developers, content creators and so on..

The frenzied media trial in this case was beyond terrible.

No point watching any news channels, as they are more interested in heated 'debates' than in real journalism.

With extreme levels of wealth inequality, poor people will be forced to use such avenues for survival..

And the insanely rich like Elon have 14 children with 4 women, with no spousal or parental commitment to anyone.!

How Finland starts its fight against fake news in primary schools Country on frontline of information war teaches everyone from school pupils to politicians how to spot slippery information

It's a vicious cycle. Fake news and propaganda machines like Fox news propel these demagogues, who in turn add fuel to the chaos.

Any remaining democracies must start teaching critical thinking at school, from a very young age, like Finland does.

In many groups, there is often a fierce criticism of socialism, by circulating memes that say "Socialists always run out of other people's money" or "they make everyone equally poor".

Sharing of economic benefits is not such a black and white issue. A case for welfare capitalism, in my blog below:

and once lost, it is difficult to recover it...

Yes, once democracy has lost to authoritarianism, it becomes very difficult to recover it. Best not to lose it in the first place.

Happy Diwali wishes to all who celebrate ! 🪔

As usual, sabre rattling... probably because they are worried about the Afghan foreign minister's 6 day visit to India, when there are border clashes between Pak and Afghanistan.

Finally some strong words from Jeffries.. to counter the constant vilification..

The alternative is terrible. Especially with powerful modern weapons, huge populations, interdependent economies etc.. when compared to earlier centuries..

YouTube video by Ollie Bye History of the World: Every Year

This could be one of the shortest and most impactful history overview one can take.

It shows kingdoms appearing, expanding, contracting, disappearing all the time...with stable borders and peace only in the last few decades.

Let's stick to the status quo.

No more conquests.

No more kings.

"Millions died that Caesar may be great" - Scottish poet Thomas Campbell.

The same can be said for Alexander or Ashoka or any number of emperors and despots.

No More Kings !

YouTube video by Indiara Sfair Indiara Sfair & Tiago Juk | Simbiose (Learn the harmonica with me at harmoniclass.com) ❤️

Something to uplift the spirit after all the doom scrolling..

Stunning Harmonica performance !

YouTube video by Bernie Sanders …the Billionaires are Laughing All the Way to the Bank

Bernie Sanders on how demagogues give simple (but wrong) solutions to difficult problems - blame a minority group and dehumanise them.

My take - These simple solutions resonate with a lot of people, who lack critical thinking or those for whom identity is more important than economic well-being.

Earlier, using friendly media, they used to build a case about spreading democracy or stopping weapons of mass destruction.

This time there is no such effort to justify their actions.. Just a passing mention of a war on drugs !

There is a decades-long movement behind this, called the "7 mountain mandate" - to control every aspect of society.

Not just non-stop lies, they are all outlandish, grotesque lies ! I wonder who in the world is choosing to believe this !

My initial joy at a pro-democracy voice getting the award has evaporated already. !

Yeah, the peace prize doesn't have a great track record. Even giving to Obama at the start of his presidency was premature.. It was more a statement of hope at the time, than anything to do with reality.