Fearless commentary on finance, economics, politics and power

Weapons, tactics, techniques and, maybe most importantly, ideology are already spreading in the US and across the Collective West from the Ukraine and Gaza Conflicts. 

“I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice,” William Lloyd Garrison once said. “On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation.”

In her new book, astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger explores how scientists might find life on other worlds.

Commercial financial flows to the forest-risk commodity sectors are driving the majority of tropical deforestation and biodiversity loss.

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, pandemics, Seattle Clean Air Collective, Presidential immunity, Susie Wiles, feared political operative and Trump’s right hand person, AI infesting Etsy crochet pattern marketplace ~

Celebrated intellectual and historian Wang Hui, author of The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought, discusses the origins and evolution of Chinese values

“What the US is really interested in is ‘security shoring,’ not nearshoring,” as it begins to place national security concerns above all other considerations in its relationship with China. 

The officialdom has just wheeled out much heavier weaponry in the war against free speech, here targeting not-for-profits.

Climate migration is here, even in rich countries like the US, and set to accelerate.

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, pandemics, anti-Trump legal cabal revealed, sudden emergence of the Molineux Rule as an issue for Bragg’s prosecution, documents unsealed by Judge Cannon with the loss of a judgeship. ~

Hooray! Google fully reversed itself on its AI-generated censorship and demonetization threat. But don’t assume this sort of thing is over.

Oh noes! Populism is gaining ground! A report on A/B testing of messaging in Italy to defang it.