Martin Rayner

YouTube video by Vlogging Through History We Need to Talk - Has Ken Burns gone WOKE with the American Revolution?

An historian claps back at right-wing whiners complaining that the new Ken Burns documentary series on the American Revolution is overly “woke” because of it giving much-needed focus to the thirteen colonies’ ongoing conflict with the indigenous population.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKoM...

Excellent book by Adam Tooze called "The Wages of Destruction" that richly details the economics of Nazi Germany.

Excellent doc exploring the fraudulent schemes (foremost being the “Mefo bills” promissory system) that underwrote Hitler’s “economic miracle” but also required conquest, plunder, systematic theft, and slave labour to avoid collapse.

Pretty much this in a nutshell.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj0i...

YouTube video by Have I Got News for You Have I Got News for You S70E7 | Gabby Logan Hosts a Sharp, Hilarious News Roundup

The latest “Have I Got News For You”...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nOm...

T-shirt with a bold woodcut-like picture of a guillotine.

My next-door neighbour was showing off the new t-shirt she got from Etsy the other day. She’s a really eccentric character with many axes to grind...

Map of Canada (UK map inset) with push pins in it showing various places lived over the years.

Was thinking about the various places I’ve lived over the years. Curious to know whether that’s a typical number, was surprised to learn that according to data from an American moving company, 75% of men and 64% of women said they still live in the same city where they grew up!

Looks good as is.

Seems ridiculous to be expelled for stating something that's demonstrably true.

Funny, but Trump would never use a word like fine. It would have to be some ridiculous superlative. 😉

That's a wild set-up. Holy shit.

Whitby Cathedral and the “99 steps” up to it.

Some more pictures of Whitby.

Aerial view of Whitby, England (Yorkshire).

Whitby, England… Was born here 66 years ago today! 🎂

Cool satellite map of the United Kingdom.
#maps

Trump as a king standing on the back of a prone EU, holding a gagged and injured Zelinsky with one hand while tossing the flags of NATO and Ukraine into a fire while a crowned, shirtless Putin with a bloody axe under his belt looks on with gleeful satisfaction.

Trump’s cynical “peace plan” makes clear that he desperately wants to collaborate with Putin, even if that means devastating Ukraine. It’s a cruel joke.
#cartoons, #Ukraine

And just the tip of the iceberg of corruption and lawlessness.

Love the colour scheme and textures. A real treat for the eyes.

Nailed it.

“Checkmate” (1831) by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch depicting a chess match between Mephistopheles and Faust while an angel looks on.

“Checkmate” (1831) by Friedrich Retzsch depicting a chess match between Mephistopheles and Faust, a painting which is prone to various allegorical interpretations.

Fun fact: Though he appears defeated, a chessmaster worked out that Faust actually has one decisive winning move left.
#Art

Based on US government figures, monthly deficits with respect to both trade in goods only and overall (both goods and services) from June 2024 through August 2025.

Despite all the grandiose claims Trump makes about his “historic” accomplishments on the trade front, especially when it comes to one metric that he’s especially fixated with, America’s chronic trade deficit (a key driver behind his tariffs), the reality of things so far is much less impressive. 😒

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Ripped Over Bonkers Idea For How To Bring 'Civility' Back To Air Travel The Trump administration promoting civility‽‽

These people are so unserious. 🙄
www.comicsands.com/duffy-dress-...

U.S. employers added surprisingly solid 119,000 jobs in September, government says in delayed report U.S. employers added a surprisingly solid 119,000 jobs in September, the government said, issuing a key economic report that had been delayed for seven weeks by the federal government shutdown.

Yesterday’s overdue US jobs report was pretty decent, but it was interesting to note that factories shed 6,000 jobs in September — the fifth straight monthly drop.

Not to worry, investments from Trump’s conjured foreign investment promises will soon take hold, right?
tinyurl.com/8e68y7ws

YouTube video by Found in Amber How a Banished Poet Invented Hell

Fascinating documentary about Dante Alighieri, the Medieval Italian poet, writer, politician, and philosopher whose 1314 work the “Divine Comedy” is responsible for the version of Hell that’s had the most profound impact on Western culture ever since.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5KZ...

Editorial cartoon by Michael de Adder showing a poster of Uncle Sam saying “YOU are UNAmerican” pointing at Trump who thinks “Sedition!”

Dark times when advising US military personnel not to follow orders that are unconstitutional or otherwise illegal is now considered by the Trump regime to be a “seditious” act worthy of death by hanging.
#cartoons

The White House has tried to draw a red line on tariffs. It’s getting blurry. After the Trump administration eliminated duties on a slew of agricultural products that aren't grown in the U.S., other industries are pushing for the same treatment.

The slippery slope of Trump’s recent lifting of tariffs on certain agricultural goods (e.g., coffee, bananas, etc.,) that cannot be grown in America. Should be noted that in his first term there was an exemption process for manufacturing inputs unavailable from US sources.
tinyurl.com/yuubs3dj

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay (The Hamilton Spectator) depicting US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra as an imperious, medal-bedecked colonial governor telling Canadians to "Submit or [expletives] suffer his majesty's [expletives] wrath!"

Pretty much sums up the tenor and tone of US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra’s “diplomacy”... 😆
#CdnPoli, #cartoons

Screengrab from an ad for Liberty Razors, an overtly right-wing company that purports to take on "woke razor companies" in the supposed "War on Masculinity".

Marketing to MAGA men. Be amazed. 🤢
libertyrazors.com

“The Hunters Return to the Castle” showing a unicorn being killed, draped over the back of a horse and brought back to the castle, where the hunting party is welcomed by dozens of courtesans from the castle.

“The Hunters Return to the Castle” from the late-Medieval Unicorn Tapestries depicting a group of noblemen and hunters in pursuit of a unicorn through an idealized French landscape.
#Art
More here: tinyurl.com/z6y53f87

‘Treat ICE like a vampire’ — and 5 more tips for dealing with law enforcement at work Every employer should devise a response plan, a former DHS attorney said Friday at an American Bar Association event.

Lawyers are advising companies that employees should be trained to “treat ICE like a vampire,” meaning “don’t invite them in” because if you do, they have all their rights and powers, whereas “if you restrict where they can go, you can mute their power a little bit.”
#ICE
tinyurl.com/yn46m8zh

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and French Marshal Jean Bernadotte

Fun Swedish Fact: The current King Carl XVI Gustaf is a direct descendent of Napoleon’s Marshal Bernadotte who became Charles XIV John in 1810 after being elected by the Swedish parliament following the death of the childless Charles XIII.

Stocks and other other economic indices all pointing down as of 11:30AM (PST) November 20, 2025.

That doesn’t look good.