Danny and Derek once again speak with Aziz Rana, the incoming J. Donald Monan, S.J., professor of law and government at Boston College, this time to conclude the series on Americans’ relationship with the Constitution. This episode explores how economic transformations affected attempts at constitutional reform in the 70s, the rise of originalism, judge…
Ciarán+Nick again VERY EXCELLENT in this consistently funny-and-insightful demolition of a braindead 2022 documentary celebrating Angela Merkel and global (esp German and British) neoliberalism. Nick esp brings the receipts regarding German politics c1991-2024.
Nick and Ciarán sit down and chat about the documentary Merkel (2022) where Tony Blair says some things. For some reason.
skippable, certainly after the 1st of 4 (or 5) segments:
1. host Bohart tells some jokes--not bad, but not great--mostly about US politics 2. fairly tedious interview with Katy Balls (@ The Spectator) on US politics 3. guest Sunil Patel does /his/ standup, which, like Bohart's is right on the borderline between skip! and amusing 4. /quite/ tedious interview with Sarah Churchwell (@ U London) on US politics 5. {brief outro, not quite a segment} from Bohart
net: you've probably got better ways to spend this half-hour
Columns. Analysis. The Guardian's Long Read. Who has time? Catherine Bohart, that's who, and she's going beyond the headlines to give you the lowdown on one of the biggest stories this week, alongside a guest journalist and roving correspondent Sunil Patel.
This week: Biden steps down, Kamala steps up, but what's going to happen next? Puzzled by US politics? We've got you babes.
Katy Balls, political editor of The Spectator, and US politics junkie, is our guide through it all; and Professor Sarah Churchwell joins to look deeper into how a younger candidate might affect the vote.
Meanwhile, in the TL;DR Sidebar, comedian Sunil Patel throws his hat in the ring to be the Vice Presidential nominee. For both Trump and Harris.
Written by Catherine Bohart, with Madeleine Brettingham, Sarah Campbell and Ellen Robertson.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd & Lyndsay Fenner
Recorded at the Museum of Comedy, and Edited by David Thomas
Production Coordinators - Beverly Tagg & Katie Sayer
Subscribe for the full episode at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:
When the US government has been running a decades-long regime-change operation, sabotaging another country with shadow governments and crippling sanctions, it’s hard to take anything it says about the country’s leaders at face value. Which is why, as Venezuela held elections this week and corporate media shouted reports of stolen elections, dictatorship, and civil war, you might find yourself asking:
Is any of this actually true?
Journalist Anya Parampil, author of the new bookCorporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire, documents the bipartisan efforts of the last four US presidents to destroy Venezuela’s economy enough to remove its leaders from power and instate a US-backed puppet as head of state.
“You can't deny,” she says, “what was an orchestrated demolition of the Venezuelan economy on behalf of foreign powers.” And while we hear repeatedly from corporate media that the problems come from within Venezuela, whether it’s dictatorship, gangs, or corruption, Anya points out a basic truth:
“Coming at it from the point of an American, I'm not going to intervene in your country at all, and beyond that all I know is that their lives would be better if the sanctions were lifted.”
She explains why, even after the constant meddling of neocons like John Bolton and Gargamel-doppelganger Elliot Abrams, the piracy of the country’s oil, and the destruction of countless people’s lives with harsh sanctions, the US has still been unsuccessful in regime change.
Subscribe to hear the full interview with Anya Parampil where she details how each US president from Bush to Biden made efforts to derail Venezuela’s economy, how these efforts have actually created the immigration problems they love to complain about, and Anya’s epic 2019 interview with Tucker Carlson which led to a call from then-President Trump.
Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown: The State Dept Doesn't Know What a War Crime Is
Thanks for supporting independent media. Subscribe for the full episode here:
Danny and Derek welcome back to the podcast Alejandro Velasco, associate professor of modern Latin America at New York University, to discuss this week’s presidential election in Venezuela, the results of which have prompted allegations of fraud and corruption by the opposition.
Krystal and Emily discuss stun poll with Kamala flipping swing states, Trump implodes Project 2025, Israel assassinates top Hamas and Hezbollah figures, Kamala accidentally reveals VP, Krystal debates panel on JD Vance, and did Trump betray the religious right on abortion.
To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.com/
In Barry Levinson and David Mamet's WAG THE DOG (1997), a political spin-doctor teams with a movie producer to fake a war and save an incumbent president. You've heard of manufacturing consent, but to what extent can Hollywood and Washington manufacture reality? We're joined by Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison of the American Prestige podcast to discuss.
Check out American Prestige - https://www.americanprestigepod.com/
Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus
Danny and Derek break down what we know about Israel’s killing of Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas as he visited Iran, as well as its drone strike on Fuad Shukr of Hezbollah in Beirut.
The 1st 3-ish (feels like more) segments are KB+SE with "allstar panel" of Ryan Girdusky (not bad as a guest, though I mostly dislike his politics) and Michael Starr Hopkins (who mostly just regurgitates the worst sorts of loathsome Obama/Hillary identity-vs-class CorpDem politics). Skip these all, you have better sinks for your attention/time.
The 4th (SCOTUS reform) and 5th (Trump assassination-attempt investigation) segments aren't actually /bad/ like the preceding, but are both just replacement-level BP.
Felix and Alex provide some Olympics commentary by reviewing the last few Assassin’s Creed games. Plus, a return of our Animal News segment with a discussion of how much screen time captive gorillas should get. Then: Republicans get “weird,” Megyn Kelly critiques Kamala’s rise to power, Trump seems like he’s running out of gas, and Israel gets a January 6 by people demanding their soldiers’ freedom to commit sexual violence. Finally, a reading series on the phenomenon of “medbeds” and the people who hope Trump will unleash unlimited free space healing technology.
excellent on (2nd segment) Ziklag and (4th/final) Venezuela
Headlines for July 30, 2024; Biden Proposes Major SCOTUS Reforms, Including Ending Lifetime Appointments & Enforcing Ethics Code; Ziklag Exposed: Secretive Christian Nationalist Network Tries to Purge Voters in Battleground States; It’s Not Just “Childless Cat Ladies”: JD Vance Once Described Childless People as “Sociopathic”; Venezuela: Maduro Claims Victory, Accuses Opposition of Coup Attempt Following Disputed Election
General Allenby, Sharif Hussein and his son Feisal, and their handler TE Lawrence array the forces of the British Empire and the Arab Revolt against the Turco-German forces in Palestine. The battle starts in Gaza and ends with Allenby walking into the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem. The story of the fateful campaign that brought British … Continue reading "World War Civ 40: How Britain Took Palestine in 1917"
excellent as usual--Steel always at his best taking the piss from the posh
Mark Steel’s award-winning show where he travels around the UK visiting towns with nothing in common but their uniqueness.
After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.
“...a place where all the baristas know your name ... "
Next stop, Mark is in Nether Edge, a leafy suburb of Sheffield which wants to become a village.
Here he samples the local honey, visits the local shops and cafes, a rum keg - and the bowl's club that once threw out Ronnie Wood for inappropriate behaviour.
He also talks to the passionate locals about a campaign by the council to make the area less leafy by cutting down half of the trees.
Written and performed by Mark Steel.
Additional material by Pete Sinclair.
Producer: Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2024.
VERY EXCELLENT. Note that the 80+ minutes of this episode is composed of ~3 parts, following not in order:
0. ads before, after, and in middle of content 1. ~40 min (after 42:03 in audio, before closing ads) is an interview (in Spanish, uninterpreted) by José Olivares (formerly @ Intercept, now moved to DSN='Drop Site News') of former President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009) on political economy and empire in Honduras, US, Latin America, and beyond, and especially on * the 2009 US (Obama-Hillary) coup that ousted him * the narcoregime that ruled Honduras 2009-2022 with support from the Obama and Trump regimes * Honduras during and after the 2022 election of his wife Xiomara Castro 2. ~40 min (0:33-42:03) interview (in English, uninterpreted) by Ryan Grim (also {formerly @ Intercept, now moved to DSN}) of José Olivares regarding Olivares' interview of Zelaya
On June 28, 2009, democratically elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted by a military coup. In response to Zelaya's push for a poll to gauge public interest in constitutional changes, the Honduran Supreme Court ordered the military to arrest him. He was then sent to Costa Rica in his pajamas.
The coup led to nearly 13 years of right-wing rule, marked by collusion with drug trafficking organizations, widespread privatization, violence, repression, and a significant migrant exodus. During this period, the Honduran left organized a strong resistance movement. In 2022, Xiomara Castro, Zelaya’s wife and a leader of the anti-coup resistance, was elected president, signaling a major shift in the country's history.
In this episode of Deconstructed, Zelaya sits down for an exclusive interview with journalist José Olivares to discuss the 15th anniversary of the coup, the ensuing resistance movement, the right-wing and drug trafficking organizations' control, and the U.S. government's role and influence. Host Ryan Grim and Olivares delve into Zelaya's interview, recent developments in Honduran history, and present the full Spanish-language interview with Zelaya.
Deconstructed is a production of Drop Site News. This program was brought to you by a grant from The Intercept.
To read the full English-language transcript of Zelaya's interview, visit DropSiteNews.com or TheIntercept.com.
pullquote: > a good first approximation is that any `require` for a package should be replaced with `use-package`. It simplifies your `init.el` and, as I said before, can reduce your startup time with no effort on your part.
Protesilaos Stavrou (Prot) has an excellent video on the fundamentals of the use-package macro. If you’re new to Emacs or are one of the few Emacs users who isn’t constantly tweaking your init.el, use-package is a macro you use in your configuration files that makes it easier to configure packages. One of it’s major features is that it automatically defers loading packages under several circumstances resulting in a decreased load time. That feature is especially useful for packages that you seldom use: they won’t be loaded until you actually need them.
The rules are a bit more complicated than you might think. Prot goes through several examples that illustrate how use-package decides what to load, when to load it, and how and when to configure it.
As of Emacs 29, use-package is builtin. Before that, it was a package from John Wiegley that lived on ELPA. Now that it’s builtin there’s no longer a need for special hacks to get it loaded before the rest of your configuration is processed.
When I converted my configuration to use-package, I simply searched for every instance of the require command and replaced it and the subsequent package configuration with a use-package call. There are doubtless exceptions but a good first approximation is that any require for a package should be replaced with use-package. It simplifies your init.el and, as I said before, can reduce your startup time with no effort on your part. Take a look at Prot’s video for the details.
The video is 35 minutes, 44 seconds long so you’ll have to schedule some time but it’s definitely worth your while. Now that it’s builtin, there’s no reason for not using it.
Geoff Norcott examines modern masculinity in this stand-up series for Radio 4, by creating the safe space of a working men’s club so he can speak freely about the problems men are facing and how we might go about fixing them in a way that benefits everyone.
This week, Geoff looks at men’s reluctance to put on sunscreen. Why not take a simple, basic precaution against the hottest and largest thing in the entire solar system? Vanity? Bravado? Or something else? With the help of his studio audience, Geoff looks at whether this is connected to men’s reluctance to seek medical advice and their habit of dying early.
Written and presented by Geoff Norcott
Recorded by Richard Biddulph
Production manager: Sarah Wright
Executive producer: Caroline Raphael
Producer: Ed Morrish
Bessner and (mostly) Davison global week-in-review EXCELLENT as usual
On the eve of the XXXIII Olympiad, the world remains complicated. This week: Joe Biden suspends his 2024 presidential campaign (0:32); in Palestine/Israel news, Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a fawning US Congress (2:26), the ICJ rules on the legality of Israel’s occupation (6:13), the IDF shrinks the “protected zone” around Khan Younis in Gaza (9:13), China brokers a Palestinian “national unity” agreement (11:19); Houthi/Ansar Allah carry out a drone strike on Tel Aviv (13:48); in Bangladesh, a pause for the protests primarily aimed against a government job quota system (17:21); the US opens an embassy in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu (20:01); a new round of ceasefire talks are scheduled for Sudan (21:18); in Russia, the Gershkovich and Kurmasheva trials are wrapped up quickly (23:09); in another diplomatic move, China hosts Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba in a prelude to potential peace talks (25:03); a preview of Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela (26:54); and the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that Sunday was the hottest recorded day ever, a record only to be broken on Monday (28:48).
Orígenes returns! not much about Cuba in this episode, but a great short political-economy-focused analysis of 16c Europe
In this episode we jump back to Europe in order to understand how the change of Spanish dynasties, from Trastámara to Habsburg, radically changed the trajectory of world history and foreshadowed the profound structural problems that would hamstring Cuba's colonial development for centuries to come.
Music for the episode is by Cuban musician Yaxx Castillo and art is by Cuban artist Raupa.
VERY EXCELLENT, esp bits (too short, toward mid-audio) on Zionism's use of apartheid, pinkwashing, and ... forestry!
Saree Makdisi argues Israel has long presented itself as a bastion of tolerance and democracy in the heart of the Middle East. But he says the war in Gaza is seeing support among progressive voters, particularly in the United States, collapse, and that the Netanyahu regime is lifting the veil of denial over a story of cultural and ethnic dispossession.
Bibi Netanyahu brings his dirty laundry to congress, and we discuss how the rapidly coagulating Kamala campaign will define itself on the moral red-line of Gaza in the coming days and weeks. And: JD Vance continues to humiliate himself, Jordan Peterson conducts an expert interview of Elon Musk, and RFK will command the masses to go to the country.
Get your fresh merch restocks at: https://chapotraphouse.store/
Ciaran and Nick run down some recent news including ICC issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leadership, and Ciaran has a few of the dumbest MEPs to share with the class.
Felix+Will+guest amusing /and/ insightful. You will not unforget Rod Dreher's depiction of J.D. Vance as 'Frodo of the hollers' :-)
We’re joined by streamer Hasan Piker for an honestly unprecedented news round-up. Joe Biden is OUT of the Presidential race (and possibly dead??), and Kamala Harris is now the presumptive nominee. Mere days after avoiding getting his head blown off by millimeters, it appears Donald Trump has LOST the mandate of heaven. And Trump’s VP pick, as recently as last week a symbolic football-spike in a race presumed already won, is rapidly deflating when put in front of real people. All that plus Lord of the Rings and Aarons Sorkin reading series inside!
Watch Hasan daily on Twitch at: https://www.twitch.tv/hasanabi
warning: AI ~= discourse mining. pullquote, slightly edited: > [Jakhar et al. (2024)](https://doi.org/10.1029/2023MS003874) demonstrate that common [AI/machine learning] equation discovery algorithms tend to rediscover well-known closure models, such as the [nonlinear gradient model (NGM)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradient_descent#Solution_of_a_non-linear_system) or other models derivable by Taylor expansions. While the NGM fits data of subgrid-scale fluctuations well, it leads to unstable simulations because it fails to accurately represent the transfer of energy across scales.
Source: Journal of Advances in Modeling EarthSystems
Equation discovery methods, a type of machine learning through which equations are learned from dictionaries of plausible equation terms, offer a promising avenue for learning interpretable and often easy-to-implement closures for subgrid-scale fluctuations. Subgrid-scale closure models are crucial in weather and climate simulations, as well as other computational fluid dynamics problems, where small-scale processes cannot be fully resolved due to computational constraints.
Jakhar et al. [2024] demonstrate that common equation discovery algorithms tend to rediscover well-known closure models, such as the nonlinear gradient model (NGM) or other models derivable by Taylor expansions. While the NGM fits data of subgrid-scale fluctuations well, it leads to unstable simulations because it fails to accurately represent the transfer of energy across scales. This highlights a key challenge in current equation discovery methods: the need to incorporate physical knowledge into the learning process.
The authors suggest that including energy transfer constraints in loss functions can improve the accuracy and stability of the discovered models by forcing the inclusion of higher-order terms in closure equations even though they do not strongly affect mean-square errors in representing fluctuations. This research underscores the importance of combining data-driven approaches with physical insights to develop effective closure models for complex systems.
Citation: Jakhar, K., Guan, Y., Mojgani, R., Chattopadhyay, A., & Hassanzadeh, P. (2024). Learning closed-form equations for subgrid-scale closures from high-fidelity data: Promises and challenges. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 16, e2023MS003874. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023MS003874
It’s Listeners’ Week! Host Chloe Slack (Sian Clifford) is listening to the listeners who have suggested things to listen to, including vaping, the maths of parenting and murder.
Sian Clifford stars as self-important journalist Chloe Slack in this comedy series parodying women’s current affairs and talk shows, surrounded by an ensemble cast of character comedians.
Chloe Slack - Sian Clifford
Ensemble cast:
Ada Player
Alice Cockayne
Aruhan Galieva
Em Prendergast
Jodie Mitchell
Jonathan Oldfield
Lorna Rose Treen
Mofé Akàndé
Sara Segovia
Additional voice: Etta Treen
Created by Lorna Rose Treen and Jonathan Oldfield
Writing team:
Alice Cockayne
Catherine Brinkworth
Jodie Mitchell
Jonathan Oldfield
Lorna Rose Treen
Priya Hall
Will Hughes
Script Editor - Catherine Brinkworth
Photographer - Will Hearle
Production Coordinator - Katie Sayer
Producer - Ben Walker
Aziz Rana, the incoming J. Donald Monan, S.J., professor of law and government at Boston College, once again joins Danny and Derek to continue the discussion about Americans’ relationship with the Constitution. The conversation picks up in the postwar period, exploring how the document became an economic document as well as a political one, the rise of …
Bessner and (mostly) Davison global week-in-review EXCELLENT as usual
Danny and Derek are back with a news update after two weeks, and it appears that events continued to transpire despite their absence. This week: in Gaza, another round of fledgling ceasefire talks (0:35), the Knesset officially rejects Palestinian statehood (6:05), The Lancet journal publishes a study on the likely number of Palestinian casualties thus far (10:30), Haaretz publishes a piece about the Hannibal Doctrine’s use on 10/7 (14:07), and Biden’s “aid pier” is officially kaput (17:27); the results of Iran’s presidential election (20:49); violence in Bangladesh over government job quotas (24:06); a new UN report on civilian displacement within Sudan (26:37); the respective junta governments of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso form a “confederation” (28:29); the Ukrainian military is losing its foothold on the eastern side of the Dnipro River (30:46); the results of the French election (34:37); the results of the UK election (38:32); Kenyan police begin arriving in Haiti as an intervention force (40:35); a New Cold War update featuring China suspending nuclear talks with the US (42:34), Russia and the US starting up a new arms race in Europe (44:21), and accused spy Evan Gershkovich’s trial moved up in Russia amid negotiations with the US (46:23).
