Iwasid

The False Promise of Defence as Prosperity Framing defence spending as a path to prosperity ignores its poor economic returns, limited job creation, and the opportunity costs of not making alternative public investments.

Framing defence spending as a path to prosperity ignores its poor economic returns, limited job creation, and the opportunity costs of not making alternative public investments.

www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

Yes. I also felt this way about the assassinations in Minnesota. In fact, I continue to feel this way about the assassinations in Minnesota.

Feel like one political party kidnapping an opponent should be bigger news

NEW:

“I’ve had enough…I’m refusing to back down.”

Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier speaks to MSNBC from the Texas State Capitol. She is stuck there after the Texas GOP required police surveillance as condition for release. She is refusing to sign a waiver for the law enforcement escort.

lan Dunt © @iandunt.bsky.social • 7h Jenrick can't control who stands in the background of his photos, but he can decide whether to attend protests with a far-right message and a documented history of being organised by the far-right. He knows this. He goes anyway. Once upon a time it would have been a sackable offence.

What happened to make it not a sackable offence? Well, this country’s most Sensible politics types spent two decades bellowing into microphones that only scum don’t think it’s reasonable to have Concerns About Migration, then the big left party started doing Enoch Powell speeches. And here we are.

#OtD 19 Aug 1944 this photograph was taken in Paris of 18-year-old French Resistance fighter Simone Segouin (aka: Nicole Minet). She had come from Chartres to help liberate the capital as part of the Resistance. Learn more: stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9070...

YouTube video by TheFullMontyPython Argument Clinic

It's only fair to let new students know what they're letting themselves in for ...

youtu.be/uLlv_aZjHXc?...

Jonathan Gullis, "I'm sick of seeing the Palestine flag all over the place, even in Stoke-on-Trent (where he was an MP)"

Adil Ray, "Why?"

Jonathan Gullis, "This is not Palestine"

Adil Ray, "We have the Ukraine flag on flagpoles"

Jonathan Gullis, "That's a different separate argument"

I will never not laugh at this clip of laughter filled with pure joy. I'm pretty sure he got the job.

Smooth-brain centrist Yglesias tells on himself, “leftists don’t really care about the issues”

My orthodox friends in Brooklyn say that Zionism is Idolatry, putting the state ahead of god. So.... I guess they are antisemitic?

Official Wasteland Weekend 2024 Highlight Reel is Here! - Wasteland Weekend We're a week into the new year, but we're still thinking about Wasteland Weekend 2024. It was SUCH a

Thought this was a TS Eliot event and got quite excited but no ...

www.wastelandweekend.com/official-was...

📌

Remember, folks, @ghost.org exists!

And other non-nazi-hosting, non-enshittified platforms.

So many great possible riffs from The Wasteland.

Resisted casting you as Madame Sosostris or Tiresias 😀

I think we are in rats' alley, where the dead men lost their bones ...

Just wear the bottoms of your trousers rolled, your necktie rich and modest ...

Ah, the African Christian x far-right Israeli politics romance against Islam rears its ugly head up once again.

US artist Elizabeth Catlett's 1946 print honours Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), who was sold into slavery at the age of seven and later became the first published African-American female poet #womensart

A stunning forensic account of how ignorance of vaccine efficacy was systematically manufactured. Steier exposes the anti-vaccine playbook: how flawed studies by discredited researchers created false doubt about vaccine safety, while 40+ rigorous studies of 5.6M+ people found no autism link.

Oh, that Dino [swoons]

The cravat suits you. Makes the look 😃

YouTube video by Turanga Leela John Barry - Overture - The Persuaders

Footage of @petemandik.bsky.social and I making our way to the venue for today's episode of The Persuaders (6pm UK time, 1pm EDT) www.youtube.com/watch?v=69cc... (Episode link youtube.com/live/S7FjpEH...)

2/2 There's a propaganda strategy which can be summarised as 'get ink'. Get a (factoid?) placed in as reputable a source as possible.

Once you've got Ink you can get it referenced in other sources. The more times it's referenced, the more true it becomes (say 7x 😀).

This destroyed UK Labour.

@dingdingpeng.the100.ci
An example of The Fact on British politics is 'Corbyn's Labour was Antisemitic'.

Close analysis of the stories invoked finds each evaporates into nebulous claims, often from the same or related sources.

1/2

A lengthy piece to read while idling (on a phone screen), but well-worth persevering, not least for a deep analysis of "The Fact" - how an apparent well known truth evaporates on close investigation of its antecedents (existential sedimentation on my mind too).

@deevybee.bsky.social and @dingdingpeng.the100.ci weigh in on this too produce my favourite thread to date.
Detailed discussion that remains accessible on a topic of general interest.

Ignorance, a skilled practice Containment protocol: None. Words can’t hurt you. Words aren’t real. Philosophical ideas don’t affect reality. You won’t notice any changes after reading this. You won’t find yourself, in conversat…

A literal banana takes on learned helplessness and the “fact” that women try to leave their abuser X times before finally succeeding.

carcinisation.com/2020/01/27/i...

So I should stop saying context is everything and just say "it's indexical".

(and be the most annoying, generally avoided, person in the room).

I am so, so ready to drop it all and sit in pubs with a beer and a book.