A Bang or a Whimper? Comparing Imperial Collapse in the US to the UK’s Decline
Book Review: Erik Linstrum’s ‘Age of Emergency: Living with Violence at the End of the British Empire’.
Read more...Category Archives: Social policy
A Super El Niño Is Coming: 5 Hard‑Won Lessons the World Can Learn From Africa
Africa suffered in past super El Niño events and developed approaches to prevent and mitigate harm. Can rich countries learn?
Read more...Michael Hudson: How US Slave Interests Stifled US Monetary and Banking Policy Until 1913
On US 250th anniversary celebration, Michael Hudson considers the counter-revolution thesis and the role of slave capital.
Read more...Coffee Break: Apathetic Americans, Science Agonistes, and Cool Science
Part the First: Jessica Wildfire on Apathetic Americans. As a paid-up member of the Professional Managerial Class who came from a thoroughly working-class background, I tend to hear and see things differently from most of my colleagues. An enduring theme among them is “They just don’t seem to care…” Not exactly. From Heads Above Water: […]
Read more...Living in a Ghost Town: The Geography of Depopulation and Aging
A look at various government’s efforts, particularly in Japan, to manage shrinking and aging communities.
Read more...Do Muslims Want Sharia Law in the West?
Asking about Sharia Law in the West creates an erroneous binary for Muslims, ignoring a deeper view of law, land, and the modern nation-state.
Read more...These Church Members Disagree on Politics. Together They’re Wiping Out Medical Debt
A grass-roots effort to extinguish medical debt shows how destructive and ought-to-be-criminal US debt collection is.
Read more...Democrats’ Spunky Spooks Show There’s No Blue Light at the End of the Trump Tunnel
Elected last year on cost-of-living platforms, spook governors spit in the face of labor and embrace data centers and police state.
Read more...Ukraine’s Spree Of Strikes Against Russia Is More Showmanship Than Strategy
The European ruling class continues to deceive the EU people. Are they also deceiving themselves?
Read more...Gardens Were Missing from These City Neighborhoods. Residents Are Changing That
Some urban schools in Chicago are using space in public housing projects to train children in cultivating gardens.
Read more...Coffee Break: Against AI, Stem Cells, Cancer Chemotherapy, A Note on Louis Pasteur
Part the First: More Cognitive Surrender Where It Just Won’t Do. Last week we considered an essay on AI that used the term “cognitive surrender.” That sums up the current state of that art and the term should gain a following. Last week Nature published Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in – […]
Read more...What Would Happen if the UK Tried to, or Did, Repay Its National Debt?
The leadership contest in the UK is set to produce yet more flogging of bad neoliberal tropes, so this post provides a needed counterpoint.
Read more...Obama Legacy: As Celebrities Descended Upon Chicago Presidential Center, Across Town Firefighters Were Evacuating Patients From Another Private-Equity-Destroyed Hospital
Let’s try to understand how Barry raised a billion for his Borg ship. Don’t forget your Altoids.
Read more...Fifty Two Questions for Andy Burnham
Former mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham is set to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister. Will he bring change or more of the same?
Read more...Coffee Break: More on American Science, An NIH Grant Long Overdue, An Experimental Model, and Further Thoughts on AI
Part the First: Back to the Past in Science and Medicine. The future of basic science in the United States looks grim for everyone from the aspiring graduate student to the full professor who has met her potential and has several graduate students, postdocs, and technicians working in her laboratory. The precipitous and arbitrary Big […]
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