Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
....according to a new Pew poll... while 70% of Americans say the U.S. should cooperate more with Germany, just 41% of Germans would like to see more cooperation with the U.S. Meanwhile, a whopping 69% would like to see Germany cooperate more with Russia, and 67% with China....
"Breaking" headline story by Sharon LaFreniere @ NYTimes.com, 7 minutes ago (so there will no doubt be edits)
By Nancy Cook & Darren Samuelsohn @ Politico.com, Nov. 26
The office has been without a permanent leader since October and top deputies are departing, leaving just a skeletal staff in place.
CHAPTER 15: TRIBES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Full disclosure: I did not read this in its' entirety. Actually, it's kinda boring. But, what government assessment isn't?
But, it might be worth it for this reason:
Many Indigenous peoples have lived in particular areas for hundreds if not thousands of years, and their cultures, spiritual practices, and economies have evolved to be adaptive to local seasonal and interannual environmental changes.4 Thus, Indigenous knowledge systems differ from those of non-Indigenous peoples who colonized and settled the United States, and they engender distinct knowledge about climate change impacts and strategies for adaptation
Indigenous knowledge. Yeah, we know stuff, too.
Part 2 of a series titled: China Rules/They didn’t like the West’s playbook. So they wrote their own.
By Amy Qin & Javier C. Hernandez for NYTimes.com, Nov. 25; interactive
As China grew richer, the West assumed, political freedoms would follow. Now it is an economic superpower — and the opposite has happened.
By Josh Dawsey & Damien Paletta @ WashingtonPost.com, Nov. 25
President Trump is asking his aides to address the country's ballooning budget deficits, but his limits on what they can do have all but ruled out meaningful reduction. The president's directive came last month and unnerved Republicans and investors, helping fuel a big sell-off in the stock market.
This (and not "the caravan") is their current home page headline story and GOOD FOR THEM!
So you think the U.S.'s rural population is backward? Think again. A litany of horror deconstructing India's recent spin about itself:
Read the whole thing, to the end. The best kind of anedoctal human interest story: one that adds nuance to the stereotype games we play:
By Catie Edmondson & Sheryl Gay Stolberg @ NYTimes.com, Nov. 25
[...] Nearly a dozen members of the House’s incoming class are far from being gawky freshmen, stumbling wide-eyed through the strange corridors of Capitol Hill, but are instead experienced policymakers who have worked in previous presidential administrations — seven of them for former President Barack Obama. Their return to Washington is, in part, a way to undo what they see as the unspooling of the values and legacy of the nation’s 44th president [....]
But in a freshman class where confrontation, not cooperation, could be most prized, it is not clear whether the Washington veterans will assume leadership roles or take a back seat to younger, brasher freshmen like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota [....]
for background, last Ukraine/Russia news thread started Nov. 19 here: US, UKRAINE IN ‘CLOSE DISCUSSION’ FOR NEW LETHAL ARMS
The rate of homelessness in the U.K. has increased by sixty per cent since 2010, and the number of rough sleepers has increased by a hundred and thirty-four per cent.
By Rebecca Mead @ NewYorker.com, Nov. 21
[....] Last week, a scourging indictment of Britain’s austerity policies was issued by Philip Alston, the special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights for the United Nations, who spent two weeks in the U.K. assessing the effects of the government’s efforts to curb public spending. In a lengthy report, Alston notes that the government’s claims about the effectiveness of austerity were contradicted by evidence on a wide range of indices [.....]
By Kim Willsher from Paris for The Observer @ theguardian.com, Nov. 24, with pictures
Police have used teargas and water cannon against fuel tax protesters in Paris after violent clashes erupted on the Champs Élysées. Thousands of demonstrators from all over France massed on the famous boulevard on Saturday to express their anger at the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his government. But what was supposed to be a peaceful protest by the gilets jaunes (yellow jackets) movement degenerated rapidly.
On one side, protesters reportedly infiltrated by far-right extremists and casseurs (rioters and hooligans) [....]
The first arrivals were angry and frustrated, feeling abandoned by their leaders and determined to make their voices heard. Those who spoke to the Observer were of all ages, held a wide range of jobs or were unemployed, and of various political persuasions. None of those who spoke to journalists – on or off the record – appeared to be looking for a fight.
“We’re here because we’ve had enough,” said Joel Mouilleseaux, 24, a student. “It’s always the same people who have to pay for the madness of others. We have to work to pay, work some more to pay some more and it’s been like that for years. It’s been like it since I was born, president after president, and now we’re saying, that’s enough.” He said he had voted for an independent candidate at the last election. “Left, right, for me it’s the same, always the same. I want to be heard, listened to and have a response.” [....]
By the Associated Press, Nov. 23
The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said he was asking the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants, most of whom are camped inside a sports complex.
The comments by Juan Manuel Gastelum came as city officials and volunteers worked to assist the 4,976 men, women and children who arrived after more than a month on the road [....]
By Carole Cadwalladr @ The Observer @ theguardian.com, Nov. 24
Parliament has used its legal powers to seize internal Facebook documents in an extraordinary attempt to hold the US social media giant to account after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to answer MPs’ questions.
The cache of documents is alleged to contain significant revelations about Facebook decisions on data and privacy controls that led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It is claimed they include confidential emails between senior executives, and correspondence with Zuckerberg.
Damian Collins, the chair of the culture, media and sport select committee, invoked a rare parliamentary mechanism to compel the founder of a US software company, Six4Three, to hand over the documents during a business trip to London. In another exceptional move, parliament sent a serjeant at arms to his hotel with a final warning and a two-hour deadline to comply with its order. When the software firm founder failed to do so, it’s understood he was escorted to parliament. He was told he risked fines and even imprisonment if he didn’t hand over the documents [....]
@ BBC News, Nov. 22 with pictures
A metal detectorist has found what is thought to be the first Celtic chariot burial to be uncovered in Wales.The burial ritual was reserved for high-ranking chiefs who would be interred complete with their chariot, horses, tack and even weapons.
Mike Smith believes his find may point to a huge undiscovered Iron Age settlement nearby. National Museum Wales describes the finds as "significant and exciting" [....]
An updating tally of how often every member of the House and the Senate votes with or against the president.