First they came for …
The exploration and development of cosmic space should be for the good of, and under the control of, all humanity:
https://phys.org/news/2025-07-space-exploration-democratic-equitable-potential.html
[The case is obvious: sectional national interests are destroying the value of cosmic space as an opportunity for all humankind – just as Musk et al way they want … but of course they don’t really …]
Keir Starmer’s nauseating Trump love:
“I think I do understand what anchors the president, what he really cares about. For both of us, we really care about family and there’s a point of connection there.”
… but not Palestinian families …
Keir Starmer’s family values in action:
Kyiv’s sleepless nights under fire:
https://www.ft.com/content/d819835f-4be2-4db5-91d3-90316bcd068d
Yep!
It has long been thus.
Audrey Watters argues persuasively that ITTech is born from military goals. And of course corporate complicity is older than that, and pre-digital e.g. see Edwin Black’s work on IBM’s secretive connivance with Holocaust management.
Let’s not forget that Palantir is the possibly the most evil company on Earth (Alex Karp, that’s you), possibly by far responsible for more genocidal murder than Microsoft.
But they are all at it – keyboard killers even as they preach at us about enlightenment …
(Worthwhile noting here that Hedy Lamarr’s invention of frequency hopping fed into very early work on mobile battlefield communications that in turn fed into the early work on packet switching, the foundation of today’s digital data systems.)
Edwin Black:
Nazi Nexus: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nazi-Nexus-Corporate-Connections-Holocaust
IBM and the Holocaust: https://www.amazon.co.uk/IBM-Holocaust-Strategic-Alliance-Corporation-Expanded-ebook
Audrey Watters:
https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/swords-into-plowshares
It is interesting that the ‘Sixties’, that word that is a shorthand for all the things that seemed good but were, it now turns out, associated with some very bad things too (not least the reinforcement of libertarianism). Yes, there was ‘free love’, great music, liberating dress codes, and rise in laisser-faire attitude, but…
So, typical of the ‘revision’ of the Sixties myth is this quote from Karl Schroeder’s essay “Nobody is More Woke thatn Trump”:
“If Trump is attacking the core institutions of the United States and the international order, it’s because he knows that institutions embody values. He is “woke” according to the definition that the term has had for the past century. I like Gordana Lazić’s definition of it, as referring to “a heightened awareness of social inequalities and injustices.” The thing is, both the American Left (if there is such a thing anymore) and MAGA share this exact kind of heightened awareness—they just differ on what the injustices are.”
See also Part 3 of: Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit, from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age. Raymond Craib
Totalitarian democracy …
I think it is counter inituitive that a smooth, polished surface such as that found on an airplane is best for reducing frciton, drag etc. But it turns out that a rough, but structured surface, like shark skin, is much more efficient:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/airlines-save-billions-shark-skin-b2742953.html
Chronophagia
(seen in Richard Powers, Overstory)
“It’s not hidden, it’s just spun. Disguised by the propaganda of the mass media who frame this holocaust as a war of defense in response to a terrorist attack while constantly diverting our attention to other far less significant issues.” Caitlin Johstone, 26/4/25
A spittingly angry newsletter about a process that Chomsky called the manufacture of consent (and although Caitlin does note refer to that work directly, it fits …)