If you were too young in 2003 here is what Bush told the American people:

1) The Iraq War won’t cost a lot of money
3) We won’t need a lot of troops
4) We’ll bring peace and freedom to Iraq
5) We’ll find WMDs
6) We’ll be welcomed as liberators
7) It will be easy
8) It won’t take long

All lies.

'Utopianism has never been the fatal flaw of the left. What truly undermines its capacity for political realism is this belief in the saving power of catastrophe.'

Corey Robin on 'late capitalism':

newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

War is not a spectator sport fought for a Western audience, and the war on Iran is no mere “distraction” from Gaza.

Instead we must understand the illegal attack on Iran as an extension of the project in Gaza. 🧵

“I think the world needs many more young angry women, to be honest,” said Greta Thunberg. “Especially with everything going on right now. That’s the thing we need the most of.”

According to this survey, a huge majority wants more action on climate change but mistankenly believe they are in the minority.

Are the Trump Tariffs crazy or is there a rational plan?

Broadly speaking, I have come across three ways to understand the tariffs, which may be paraphrased in the following way 🧵

The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, says its bandwidth costs have gone up 50% since Jan 2024 — a rise they attribute to AI crawlers.

AI companies are killing the open web by stealing visitors from the sources of information and making them pay for the privilege

During apartheid, South African armed forces killed 69 civilians in the Sharpeville Massacre. The world was shocked. This event is still taught in history classes.

On average, Israel has massacred more than 70 Palestinian civilians *every day* for the past 18 months.

In a targeted attack on his car, Israel has killed Al-Jazeera's
Hossam Shabat, who was only 23 years old and was one of the last remaining journalists in Gaza.

There are no words.

NEW: Hossam Shabat’s Last Article

Filed hours before his killing in an Israeli airstrike, journalist
Hossam Shabat describes the resumption of Israel's scorched earth campaign in his hometown of Beit Hanoun.

Translated through tears by Sharif Kouddous

dropsitenews.com/p/hossam-sha...

The obscene secret of patriarchal masculinity was always that the patriarch is an infantile subject, unable to care for himself and others, but infinitely demanding of love and care. Once these demands are denaturalised and refused, patriarchal masculinity becomes petulant, whiny, and irrational.

AfD voters struggle more financially and worry more about it compared to other voters. Yet what they want to be protected from are the immgrants. Why? Cracking this nut must be the main task for the left going forward. (h/t @adamtooze.bsky.social)

Cryptocurrency is the perfect distillation of the spirit of contemporary capitalism in that it completely severs the dream of getting rich from the need to provide a good or service that anyone wants. You get rich by screwing everyone else over.

Environmentalism and climate politics are seen as profound threats to profits & political order

Those countries w the strongest historical movts also have the strongest police regimes. 20% of Aust protests led to arrests, 17% in the UK and 15% in Norway

tinyurl.com/4vnkb3az

This is a striking figure. www.ft.com/content/abec...