The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    In the News

    Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) Presents Unique Threat to Pakistan (& China!)

    Intel Brief @ SoufanCenter.org, May 6

    Bottom Line Up Front

    • In late April, three Chinese nationals were killed in Karachi, Pakistan, in a suicide attack claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).
    • As China’s economic, political, and security inroads in Pakistan have increased, the BLA has also deliberately attacked Chinese nationals and interests in the country over the past few years.
    • The broad range of organizations that have targeted Chinese nationals and interests in Pakistan in recent years illustrate growing anxieties about Chinese engagement and human security risks.
    • The deepening Sino-Pakistan relationship serves Beijing’s geopolitical goals in the region, ranging from strengthening its historical alignment with Pakistan against India to establishing closer ties to a now Taliban-controlled Afghanistan [....]
    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    An Appalachian town was told a bitcoin mine would bring an economic boom -

    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    Cuba Hotel Saratoga explosion: Frantic search for survivors after Havana blast

    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    A record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in March

    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    "It's Not Just Hispanics. The Democrats Are Losing the Black Vote"

    Op-ed by Darvio Morrow @ Newsweek.com, May 2

    The populist turn in GOP messaging that has elite liberals hyperventilating about fascism is in fact what has been racially depolarizing the electorate as growing numbers of Hispanics -- and now blacks -- break ranks https://t.co/noL8C8EBfM pic.twitter.com/tgugd6cc73

    — Wesley Yang (@wesyang) May 2, 2022
    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    The History of Loneliness

    The West has been this lonely for some time it just revealed itself through the lockdowns.

     

    Orion 2 years 7 months ago

    Large fractions of the American electorate report sympathy for authoritarian forms of government....

    Large fractions of the American electorate report sympathy for highly authoritarian forms of government, with support being mediated strongly by education level among both white and non-white voters. pic.twitter.com/YW6J3rGcob

    — (((David Shor))) (@davidshor) April 29, 2022
    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    Operation Dudula Fuels Anti-Immigration Movement in South Africa
    Orion 2 years 7 months ago

    Elon Musk Attacks Antidepressant Wellbutrin

    Orion 2 years 7 months ago

    Cuba Adopts Russian Narrative on Ukraine War

    When all of this started, it was asked aloud whether or not this would lead to various Russian allies in the "Global South" keeping their distance. It appears that, at least as far as Cuba is concerned, there is no intention to do so. The country, which has had a tense relationship with the United States for forever, is not about to end the Russian alliance over Ukraine.

    It appears to be the same scenario in much of Africa, where the Russians have generally been intimately involved for some time on a level that Europeans can't.

    Orion 2 years 7 months ago

    Diversity is Important. Diversity-Related Training is Terrible.

    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    U.S. public continues to view grades, test scores as top factors in college admissions

    Racial and ethnic preferences are still incredibly unpopular

    Gender, race/ethnicity, and legacy are Americans' least valued factors for college admissions and high school grades and standardized test scores are their most valued factors: https://t.co/NMGMXJ9k3T pic.twitter.com/DGyvMANta1

    — Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) April 28, 2022
    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    He’s pro-Russian, anti-Zelensky and rallying for Putin in West Africa
    Orion 2 years 7 months ago

    San Francisco spends millions to shelter vulnerable residents in dilapidated hotels; results are disastrous.

    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    The hidden long-term risks of surgery: ‘It gives people’s brains a hard time’

    yet another in the continuing series of medicine admitting it doesn't know shit about the human body and that we are all their guinea pigs

    Terrific piece on important topic: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction. Have seen it too many times.

    The hidden long-term risks of surgery https://t.co/CLW7jkcx9z

    — Paul Kedrosky (@pkedrosky) April 25, 2022
    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    New York’s Top Court Voids Democrat-Drawn House Map

    artappraiser 2 years 7 months ago

    Biden Visits Alabama Factory Where Javelins Are Made
    Orion 2 years 7 months ago

    "Develop a healthier emotional relationship with Joe Manchin"

    artappraiser 2 years 8 months ago

    "Food, Fertilizer and the Future"

    It is scary when someone like Krugman starts talking like this -

    artappraiser 2 years 8 months ago

    Vice President Harris Tests Positive for Coronavirus

    By Peter Baker & Aishvarya Kavai @ NYTimes.com, April 26

    WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, becoming the latest highest-ranking official in Washington to be infected and raising new concerns about President Biden’s potential exposure as the virus tears through his administration.

    The vice president’s office said she tested positive on both rapid and P.C.R. tests and would stay away from the White House until she tests negative, working instead from the vice president’s official residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory. She had not been in close proximity to Mr. Biden for an extended period in recent days, her office said.

    “She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice president’s residence,” Kirsten Allen, Ms. Harris’s spokeswoman, said in a statement. “She has not been a close contact to the president or first lady due to their respective recent travel schedules.” [....]

    artappraiser 2 years 8 months ago

    Russia’s Turn to Its Asian Past

    I thought this article was relevant given events.

    Orion 2 years 8 months ago

    The Private Equity Giant KKR Bought Hundreds Of Homes For People With Disabilities.

    artappraiser 2 years 8 months ago

    Covid outbreak in Beijing prompts panic buying and fear of a lockdown.

    Supermarkets stocked up as long lines formed. The Chinese authorities ordered mass testing to contain a rising number of cases in an affluent district of the capital.

    By Keith Bradsher & Chris Buckley @ NYTimes.com, April 25, WITH VIDEO & PHOTOS

    BEIJING — Families in Beijing rushed to stock up on food. Supermarkets stayed open late. Residents endured long lines for mandatory testing. China’s stock markets plunged.

    A fresh coronavirus outbreak in China’s capital has raised concerns that Beijing could become, after Shanghai, the next Chinese megacity to put life on hold to contain the spread of the Omicron variant. The central government has leaned heavily on lockdowns despite their high social and economic costs, in pursuit of the Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s “zero Covid” strategy of eliminating infections.

    On Monday, the Beijing government said that 70 coronavirus cases had been found in Beijing since Friday. Nearly two-thirds have been in the district of Chaoyang, which ordered all 3.5 million residents to take three P.C.R. tests over the next five days. In other cities, mass testing in response to initial coronavirus cases has sometimes been a prelude to stringent lockdowns, like the four-week one in Shanghai that has kindled widespread complaints from residents there [....]

    “Chaoyang District is now the topmost focus for pandemic prevention,” Cai Qi, the Communist Party secretary of Beijing, and a protégé of Mr. Xi’s, said in instructions cited in the official Beijing Daily newspaper on Sunday. Mr. Cai appeared determined to show that Beijing would not be hesitant about taking steps to stifle infections, which has been a criticism leveled by some at Shanghai [.....]

    artappraiser 2 years 8 months ago

    Tyson Foods Is Spending $60 Million to Offer Workers Free College

    By Michael Hirtzer @ Bloomberg.com, April 25

    Tyson Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. meat company, is spending $60 million to give its workers free college.

    Some 120,000 U.S. employees can enroll in programs at 35 universities and other education providers starting this summer, with Tyson covering all costs for tuition, books and fees, the company said Monday in a statement. Employees can pursue undergraduate and master’s degrees, career certificates as well as [....]

    artappraiser 2 years 8 months ago

    [Where's the GOP headed?] "Bonfires of Vengeance"

    Op-ed by Charlie Sykes -

    artappraiser 2 years 8 months ago

    Pages