The Stuttering Lede, Vol I
“In evolutionary prehistory, consciousness emerged as a side effect of language. Today it is a by-product of the media." John Gray
Earlier this week, the amazing Sarah Kendzior published Distant Vibes: Welcome to the era of the No Information Voter. While my own writing pales in comparison to hers, I feel that she is absolutely right and we do live in an era of no information voter:
I see darkness on the near horizon, with the election promising tyranny or violence, and possibly a brighter world beyond it, if we can get through this time with our integrity and humanity intact.
That means speaking up and refusing to back down. That means demanding of our leaders the world we want for our daughters and our sons.
That means treating Kamala Harris not as a cult figure, or as a fragile vessel who will break when lightly pushed, but as a responsible and capable woman who may soon hold the future of the world in her hands.
We deserve to, at the least, know what Harris is planning for that future. At best, to embrace it; at worst, to figure out how to survive it — for our children’s sake, and our own.
This is why, starting today I will begin publishing weekly news digest. Just something little that I perhaps can add toward that brighter world beyond November.
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Without further ado, here’s this week’s digest.
This week in history
Five years ago this week President Trump canceled a state visit to Denmark he tried to purchase Greenland from Denmark and Denmark said no.
Fifty-six years ago this week, thousands of soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army invaded the Czechoslovakia which was trying to break free from the shackles of the communist regime and build its own, freer course. Moscow’s was and remains the center of the Russian imperialism that has now evolved into ethnofascism. Decolonization will never be achieved as long as the mindset of the Russians isn’t decolonized.
Thirty-three years ago this week, Latvia declared its independence from USSR.
2024 Elections
Do Black voters have to choose between the first Black woman president and the safety and security of Palestinians? And what about the safety and security of Black people? by Michael Harriot
Donald Trump says he's refusing intel briefings so he won't be accused of leaks. Are we sure he is not being denied briefings??
The Democrats quietly dropped abolishing the death penalty from their party platform. This is the first time since 2012 the platform doesn't call for abolition and the first time since 2004 there's no mention of the death penalty at all.
Vice President Harris has been trying to counter the charge that she's "dangerously liberal" by advocating for progressive policies with reference to conservative values. Research suggests that this can increase support from moderates without alienating progressives. Harris is also using conservative rhetoric to sell progressive policy on the economic front, framing her proposed expansions of the welfare state as tools for enabling strivers to build businesses -- and then pass down economic privilege to their kids. If it quacks…
Ta-Nehisi Coates writes on the absence of a Palestinian American speaker (so far?) at the DNC.
S.V. Dáte writes “Trump is promising to slash gas prices by 50 percent or more in his first 12 months back in power. Too bad accomplishing this would destroy the domestic oil industry and bring on a recession... One fun fact: Gas prices in Obama's last two years were lower than all of Trump's first three years. And Obama's final year in office had cheaper gas than ANY of Trump's four years, including the pandemic year when demand plummeted. So... why did Trump raise gas prices?”
AOC is being criticized for her DNC speech and it’s not only about Gaza.
General Politics
"The hope that Russia might respond by moving troops from Pokrovsk has been supplanted by the realisation that it has not. Ukrainian security sources confirm that while Russia has moved troops from other sections of the eastern front line, it reinforced around Pokrovsk. Ukraine meanwhile redeployed special forces units to Kursk, and is patching up the Pokrovsk front with untested formations.”
@jmhorp notes that Goldman Sachs was anticipating a 0.6-1.0mm reduction in the BLS March 2024 jobs revision, vs. the 0.8mm actual reduction, and argues that net of revisions, "every single month in the revision period would still be positive."
Russia’s 155th marines (who were famously destroyed by Ukraine’s military at Moschun and Vuhledar earlier in this war) are now demonstrating a severed head of a Ukrainian soldier and issuing threats at the Kolotilovka border crossing point, likely around August 12 (per @Deepstate_UA). WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC VIDEO!!!!!
Judge Kenneth King had a teenage girl put in handcuffs and threatened to jail her last week because she fell asleep during a field trip to the courthouse. She is suing him.
Global sea ice has therefore lost 13%–15% of its planetary cooling effect since the 1980s. Commentary: that’s a lot.
Tech
Humour
Look, I mean...sure, Biden's speech tonight was magnificent, but that overlooks the emergence of the new MAGA strategy of JD Vance jizz cups.
