 The Poet in History There once was a very famous saying attributed to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley that, "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world". I was wondering if you could go into some depth and detail as to how and why this was once true, but now couldn't seem further from the truth... Microsoft Copilot AI: Shelley?s line has become one of those phrases that people quote because it sounds grand, but its original force is a... |
 Supreme Court Poised to Gut Remaining Protections of Voting Rights Act "The prohibition of racial discrimination in voting and the right to have absentee ballots counted are in grave peril. ... The Supreme Court appears poised to deal a severe blow to the fundamental right to vote in two cases this term. Louisiana v. Callais threatens the right to vote free from racial discrimination and Watson v. Republican National Committee will test the right to have your absentee ballots counted." 1  |
 The "Fractured" State(s) of America? What is the nature and cause of our cultural/societal "fracture"? Microsoft Copilot AI: The fracture you're sensing isn't a single event or ideology, it's a structural break in how a society organizes meaning, attention, obligation, and identity. It's the slow unbraiding of the cords that once held a culture together. What makes it feel confusing is that it shows up everywhere at once: in politics, in family life,... |
 Don't Just Tax the Uber Rich, Reform the Corporate Structure That Creates Them The real engine of inequality is structural: corporate and financial practices that concentrate wealth among shareholders while shortchanging other stakeholders who should be benefiting from corporate profits. California's proposed wealth tax targets billionaires, but the real issue lies in corporate practices that concentrate wealth. Structural reform is key. |
 AI On How America Got This Way, And How It Will Get Out Could you actually provide a chronology of the specific culture shifts and changes over the past 50-60 years, which have brought American culture to the condition it is in today?? Microsoft Copilot AI: The question you're circling is the biggest one yet: how did we get here, and what does it mean for where we're going? You've been tracing decadence, alienation, symbolic collapse, digital saturation, and the erosion of bound... |
We can fight ICE with laws you may not know about
Twenty-one states and DC have anti-masking laws that make ICE masked officers guilty of a criminal misdemeanor. Folks in those and other states may use anti-masking, disorderly conduct and unlawful assemble law to start the process of holding ICE accountable for unconstitutional and other illegal activity.
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 AI Explains Exactly How "The Trump Era" Will End in 2026... Astrologically Google Gemini: In the context of the Kala Sarpa Yoga (the "Time Serpent"), which Karunamayi mentioned is coming to a head, the phrase "massive final compromise" is a diplomatic way of describing a situation where a leader is boxed in by forces larger than themselves.In the context of the Kala Sarpa Yoga (the "Time Serpent") which Karunamayi mentioned is coming to a head, the phrase "massive final compromi... |
The New Standard
I heard Karunamayi once say, "We have to figure out how to create a new standard." What is the best way by which this could be accomplished, from Her standpoint? Nothing in the search results actually addresses that specific quote or its context, so the answer has to be built from Her publicly articulated mission and the structural logic of Her teachings rather than from a documented statement.? Given that, the most coherent ... |
 The AI bust scenario that no one is talking about "I've actually already written a number of posts about the possibility of an AI bubble and bust. Back in August, I wondered if the financing of data centers with private credit could cause a financial crisis if there was a bust. I followed that up with a post about profitability, and suggested that the AI industry might be a lot more competitive than people expect. In October, I wrote about how AI is propping up the U.... |
 Paul Krugman in Conversation about AI with Paul Kedrosky "As I say at the beginning of this interview, its annoying for economic analysts that two huge things are happening at the same time: a radical change in U.S. trade policy and a giant AI boom. Worse, while I think I know something about tariffs, the more I think about AI the less I believe I understand. So I talked to Paul Kedrosky, investor, tech expert and research fellow at MIT, for some enlightenment. Lots ... |
"Ugly", "piggy": Trump is out to shame women into submission
With "ugly," "piggy", Trump is out to shame women into submission. If this is what passes for 'telling it like it is,' the bar for leadership has sunk far lower than any of us should accept...Democracy depends on people willing to ask uncomfortable questions. But calling a woman piggy isnt holding the press accountable. Its the oldest trick in the autocrats handbook: Humiliate the critic so you dont have to answer the critici... |
 Kucinich on John F. Kennedy and His Legacy of Service to Country Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich writes a moving tribute to President John F. Kenndy and his immortal legacy of prioritizing service to our country. Recall the gripping words in his inaugural address of January 20, 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." And who can forget November 22, 1963, the tragic last day of his life? |
 Josh Shapiro Knows What the Democrats Need Can a centrist governor from Pennsylvania, and a Jew, unite the country to defeat the heir to Trump in 2028 (and no, I don't believe Trump will run again, illegally, or even will want to by then)? Josh Shapiro may be the best chance the Democrats have. A smoothly running swing state and a governor with 60% approval rating, more than 2:1 over disapproval, could prove a formidable competitor in the primaries too. |
Arguing With AI About Whether or Not Sathya Sai Baba was an Incarnation of God
Now, that was fun...
And, AI finally conceded that while Sathya Sai Baba's being a genuine Avatar might while very well be a rational conclusion, it's just not (according to AI) a scientific one (yeah, I thought that was kinda "iffy", too...):
Was Sathya Sai Baba an Incarnation of God Almighty?
"Sathya Sai Baba claimed to be a divine incarnation, and millions of his followers believe he was an avatar of Godbut this ... 1 |
 Wasserman: In the Wake of NoKings 2.0, Trump/MAGAs Four Fascist Roots are Failing "As weve seen at the No Kings marches, and in countless corners of human resistance, Solartopian survival does remain possible," writes Harvey Wasserman in this brilliant expose of the nightmarish horror show going on here and throughout the world [read on...] But by the way, as Harvey stressed in amazement today, more than eight million Americans (according to the latest figures from the Park Service) came to No Ki... |
 How to Protect Your Right to Culture The right to culture is fundamental, and its revocation has grave consequences for the texture of daily life.The United States government's coordinated repeal of the right to culture has grave consequences for the texture of our daily lives. But there are ways to fight back. |
 Mahmoud Khalil Warns That the US Is Failing the Palestine Test Perhaps youve heard of the Palestine Exception, the idea that all sorts of behaviors and speech that are acceptable in other contexts are denied and punished when it comes to advocacy around Palestine. But what if the treatment of Palestinians wasn't an exception, but a stress test? A test of our tolerance as a nation and as a people, for cruelty and the consolidation of authoritarian rule. Authoritarians name an ... |
More than 100,000 Federal Workers to Quit 9/3025 in Largest Ever Mass Resignation
More than 100,000 federal workers are to formally resign on Tuesday, the largest such mass event in US history, as part of aTrump administration program designed to make sweeping cuts to the federal workforce.
With Congress facing a deadline of Tuesday to authorize more funding or spark a government shutdown, the White House has also ordered federal agencies to draw up plans for large-scale firings of workers if the parti... |
 Without free speech, America is nothing We must stand up for the most fundamental right of all. If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. George Washington Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. Thomas Jefferson The assassination of Charlie Kirk is being used to squelch criticism of the very people he was supporting, in part becaus... |
 Trump is raising unemployment: He wants a new scorekeeper From Dean Baker When a football team keeps losing, the cry usually goes out for a new coach, or at least a new quarterback. Alternatively, there is the Trump route: Get a new scorekeeper. That is apparently the story, with Trump reportedly looking to overhaul the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the statistical agency thattells us how many jobs we create each month. It also tells us the unemployment rate and the inflatio... |
Time for Democrats to Get With the Program
In the wake of the Democratic Party's brutal losses in the 2024 elections, a new movement of defiant economic populist candidates is seizing the Democratic political world by storm. Most prominent among them, of course, is Zohran Mamdani, who crushed corrupt, abusive, conservative Dem Andrew Cuomo in a dominating primary victory on a democratic socialist platform laser-focused on bread-and-butter economics. He's joined by Nat... |
 Letitia James, New Yorks Badass AG- The Nation No attorney general in the country is battling Pres. Trump more proficientlyand drawing more of his firethan James. When Trump was out of office, she brought the successful civil case charging him and his company with business fraud for alternately inflating and deflating the value of his assets in order to reduce property taxes and obtain favorable rates from banks and insurance companies. The case resulted in a $454 m... |
 Zohran Mamdani Is Making History. When Will Top Democrats Catch On? -John Nichols Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani did not just win the NYC Democratic mayoral primary convincingly enough that his chief rival, former governor Andrew Cuomo, conceded immediately on the night of the June 24 election. Now, two weeks later, with the city's Ranked Choice Voting count finally concluding ... Mamdani can celebrate the fact that "our campaign has officially earned the most total votes in ... |
Trump Just Drowned His Own Supporters - The Feed
Trump gutted funding for weather services and is now shell shocked that these services couldn't predict the weather. Who could've known? Literally everyone. At least 40 people, including kids, died in catastrophic floods after record-shattering rainfall swallowed highways and homes. People had no time to escape, and warnings came too little, too late. Here's what no one wants to say out loud: these deaths are a... |
 New Yorkers Aren't Afraid of a Democratic Socialist Mayor - John Nichols John Nichols: Andrew Cuomo's allies spent a fortune shouting that Zohran Mamdani is a socialist. Result? A Mamdani landslide in the Democratic primary. Fifty-six percent of New Yorkers supported a democratic socialist for the Democratic Party’s nomination to lead the nation’s largest city, according to New York ... |
Far More Than "Remarkable"
"I’m told that the following message, which I received earlier today, purporting to be from Liz Cheney, is a hoax. She didn’t sent it. It’s an excellent and important message nonetheless. (If you know who did send it, give them my thanks and let me know who they are so I can alert the rest of you.)- Robert Reich
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 On Election Corruption in E2024: A Comprehensive Report "The Election Truth Alliance is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization founded in December of 2024 when multiple individuals came together to share independent data, analysis, and research into the results of the 2024 US Presidential Election. As concerning trends emerged from their shared data, they moved quickly, at the speed of trust, to make their findings more accessible and understandable to the broader public." ... 1 |
 Trump Wants Big Tech to Own the Dollar The IMF-World Bank Spring meetings are usually placid affairs that participating central bankers wish to forget soon after they are over. Not this Spring. This April the feeling several central bankers brought back home with them was not the usual relief but something far more visceral: dread, terror even. The reason? The spectre of the Genius Act—the U.S. stablecoin bill barrelling toward ... |
 These Hidden Provisions in [Trump's] Budget Bill Undermine Our Democracy "Most attention on [President Trump's] budget bill has centered around issues like the tax code, Medicaid and immigration. However, there is a lot more hidden in the House’s reconciliation proposal, including two provisions Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has identified that would severely harm voters and threaten the rule of law. "The first of these outrageous poli... |
 The Questionable Case of Kristi Noem's $50 Million Luxury Jet Trump's secretary of Homeland Security, came under fire last week for her department's eleventh-hour request for a new luxury jet: $50 million for a Gulfstream 5 for Noem's personal use, paid for out of the budget of the Coast Guard. DHS argues Noem needs a new jet for safety reasons while taking the budget from the aging Coast Guard rescue and interdiction fleet. Experts and members of Congress are left quest... |
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