Tom Roche

Antony Blinken plays the blues while Danny and Derek bring you the news. This week: in Gaza, famine sets in (0:29), U.S.-Israel tensions rise over a potential Rafah invasion (3:52), and more; Pakistan conducts airstrikes in Afghanistan (12:11); Indonesia’s general election results are confirmed (14:37); the DPRK/North Korea tests a hypersonic missile engine (17:28); there’s new evidence of coral bleaching in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (19:15); a Sudan humanitarian update (20:55); Niger’s junta government kicks out U.S. forces (23:00); Vladimir Putin wins reelection in Russia (26:42); Ukraine strikes targets in Russia and is debating a new conscription bill (27:52); the EU debates using Russian assets to support Ukraine* (32:52); the Colombian government is in peace talks with the Clan Del Golfo (Gulf Clan) (35:41); an update on CARICOM’s transition plan for Haiti (37:26); and a new study finds no evidence of brain damage from Havana Syndrome (40:02).

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*Note: After the time of recording, the EU came to a preliminary agreement on a plan to use Russian assets.

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Professor John Mearsheimer, whose political analysis predicted today’s horrors in Ukraine and Palestine, joins Useful Idiots to give his take on what’s next in the world’s biggest wars.

And since he’s been largely excluded from corporate media for his dissenting views, it’s more important than ever to get his word out.

“What you have here is a real disjuncture between what the elites think and what the publics think,” he says of the two conflicts, in what is already a clear affront to the narratives of elitist western media. “There are recent polls produced by the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Quincy Institute that show that only 10% of Europeans and 12% of Americans think that Ukraine can win the war.”

And when it comes to Israel, Mearsheimer explains that US policy is even further from what the people want. It’s not the voters who have a say, and even Congress (as pro-Israel as they are) isn’t in control: “I believe that 90% of it is accounted for by the [Israel] lobby.”

Professor Mearsheimer deep dives into each war: he explains why the US tanked Ukraine’s peace talks to further instigate Russia and what he would do now if he was in Biden’s or Putin’s position. He also delves into the influence of the Israel lobby and how Biden has given impunity to Israel’s killing Gaza killing spree.

Subscribe for the full interview for his full analysis and predictions on Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown: Nancy Pelosi needs Russiagate Detox

Watch the full interview here:

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Andrew Doyle, Hugo Rifkind, Lucy Porter and Ria Lina join Andy Zaltzman to quiz the week's news.

This week the panel tackle how a parliamentary debate about peace descended into constitutional conflict, why Donald Trump is actively urging his supporters to put their foot in it, literally this time, and how Britannia nuked the waves.

Strap in.

Written by Andy Zaltzman

With additional material by: Cody Dahler, Cameron Loxdale and Viv May

Producer: James Robinson Executive Producer: Richard Morris Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls & Dan Marchini Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

Mike Recine’s hanging out on the show today. We look at the remarkably continuing discussion of Sydney Sweeney’s hotness among the conservative commentariat, as well as DoorDash discourse, women who eat meat, and the deep state: they’re just like us!. Finally, a great reading series about a guy becoming disillusioned with White Nationalism after spending time among his volk, the hobbit-like people of the American Midwest.

Find Mike’s stand-up special on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjt3mkpvquw&ab_channel=OutforSmokesPodcast

Will’s Review of “Masters of Air” for GQ here: https://www.gq.com/story/masters-of-the-air-the-band-of-brothers-cinematic-universe

And for Angelinos, The Seeking Derangments/Chapo show on April 4th is here: https://www.lodgeroomhlp.com/shows/show-pig-a-live-comedy-podcast-spectacular-with-seeking-derangements/

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Headlines for March 21, 2024; British Surgeon Describes Children Suffering “Appalling Injuries” in Gaza, Demands Immediate Ceasefire; “Humanitarian Violence” in Gaza: Architect Eyal Weizman on Mapping Israel’s “Genocidal Campaign”

Headlines for March 18, 2024; “A Catastrophe That Cannot Be Described”: Palestinian Poet in Rafah on Daily Hardships Amid Israel’s War; Rachel Corrie: Parents & Friend Remember U.S. Activist Crushed by Israeli Bulldozer in Rafah in 2003

Ryan and Emily discuss Bibi defying Biden on Rafah invasion after call, top Israel spokesman suspended, Kushner says Gaza waterfront valuable, Steve Mnuchin floats buying TikTok, Bernie fights with Fox reporter on 32 hour work week, Peter Navarro reports for prison, SCOTUS says Texas can arrest and deport migrants, NYT praises deepstate, Havana syndrome investigation prove its fake, Honduras goes to war with crypto bros.

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Episode 1 and Fortune Kit’s Charles stops by the show today to look at a few real life individuals who remind us of E1 characters, including the streamer Destiny, who we’ve all seen clips of getting yelled at by Norm Finkelstein last week. We also check in on New York’s bling bishop, the Stonetoss doxxing, South Dakota Governor Kirsti Noem, and some “new” edgy Christians who like boobs, beer, & swearin’. Finally, Charles brings us some updates from one of Fortune Kit’s favorite guys, the king of “what’s a song that’s made up of notes?” vapid twitter engagement prompts, Eric Alper.

Find Episode 1 & Fortune Kit wherever you get podcasts.

Find Charles’ band Solipse’s music: https://solipse.bandcamp.com/track/looking-glass

And the music from E1, including from The Ballad of Brewer Grouse: https://episodeone.bandcamp.com/album/the-ballad-of-brewer-grouse

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Guest: Brian Milakovsky with a grim update on Ukraine, the war, and the shrinking prospects of even a lousy peace.

The post Ukraine’s Gloomy Winter appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

This week Nick sits down with returning guest Adam Baltner to discuss the recent surprise successes of the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) and how many more Ws are possibly on the horizon.

Previous Episodes with Adam:
https://www.operationglad.io/131
https://www.operationglad.io/51

Adam's Jacobin Article (DE):
https://jacobin.de/artikel/oesterreich-superwahljahr-KPOE-salzburg

Gyrovision 2024 Tickets available:
https://allevents.in/berlin/gyrovision-2024/10000840280269907

HOW TO SUPPORT US:
https://www.patreon.com/cornerspaeti

HOW TO REACH US:
Corner Späti https://twitter.com/cornerspaeti
Julia https://twitter.com/KMarxiana
Rob https://twitter.com/leninkraft
Nick https://twitter.com/sternburgpapi
Uma https://twitter.com/umawrnkl
Ciarán https://twitter.com/CiaranDold

Special Guest: Adam Baltner.

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Jazz Emu sets out to write his friends the most romantic song ever created, in order to save their crumbling relationship and make everything in his friendship group nice again. Digging back into his alternative musical archives, Jazz takes inspiration from Barry White, George Michael and ACDC in order to learn about what makes a song romantic. Armed with misguided understanding and unerring confidence, Jazz is ready to blow some minds. If music be the food of love, it’s lunchtime. Or something like that?

Jazz Emu: musician, 70s lothario-type, ex-Hollywood foley artist and internationally renowned idiot. After a long career in (and often out) of the spotlight, he has decided to present a radio show in order to connect with the average Joes (and Janes, and other boring names) and bestow his expert knowledge of Sound upon the universe.

Written by Archie Henderson and Adrian Gray Starring: Archie Henderson, Adrian Gray, Emmanuel Sonubi, Lorna Rose Treen, Cody Dahler Produced by Sasha Bobak A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

Rania Khalek was joined by Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany and associate professor at Koc University in Istanbul, to discuss Israel’s descent into genocidal fascism. Prof. Amar addresses whether it’s useful to make Holocaust and Nazi comparisons and the real reason behind the West’s unshakeable loyalty attitude when it comes to Israel’s barbarism. 

Features Daniel Hummel, director of the Lumen Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Upper House.

Episode 1

Explores the pre-WWII roots of the movement, Evangelical Christians’ relations with Muslims of the region in the early days of the State of Israel, the theological basis of Christian Zionism, figures like Douglas Young and Billy Graham, the concept of Judeo-Christianity, the effect of the 1967 War on the relationship, and more until the Nixon Administration.

Episode 2

Picks up with the rise of the new Christian right in the 1970s and the role of Zionism therein, dispensationalism and its notion of Jews and Israel, the Israeli right’s concurrent rise to power, Jimmy Carter as a non-Zionist evangelical, the Camp David Accords, Ronald Reagan’s relationship with Christian Zionism, and where the movement stood on the eve of the Oslo Accords.

Episode 3

Picks up in the 1990s with the Oslo Accords, the push for a “Great Israel”, the Left Behind books and the rise of apocalypticism, Christians United for Israel, and more until the Obama Administration.

Daniel Hummel, director for university engagement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Upper House, returns to continue the discussion on Christian Zionism in the United States since 1948. In this episode, the group picks up with the rise of the new Christian right in the 1970s and the role of Zionism therein, dispensationalism and its notion of Jews and Israel, the Israeli right’s concurrent rise to power, Jimmy Carter as a non-Zionist evangelical, the Camp David Accords, Ronald Reagan’s relationship with Christian Zionism, and where the movement stood on the eve of the Oslo Accords.

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Be sure to catch up on the first episode in the series!

Grab a copy of Daniel’s book Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations!

Daniel Hummel, director of the Lumen Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Upper House, is back to discuss Christian Zionism in the United States since 1948. This episode picks up in the 1990s with the Oslo Accords, the push for a “Greater Israel”, the Left Behind books and the rise of apocalypticism, Christians United for Israel, and more unt…

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Spencer Snyder looks at how Billionaire funded Sports Stadiums are killing cities, James Li speaks with a real estate expert about what he calls the 'Death of the American Dream', and Max Alvarez speaks to an ER Doctor who worked in Gaza.

To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/

Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Teachers Unions: Still a Huge Obstacle to Reform." "Countering Iran's Menacing Persian Gulf Navy." "Open Everything: The time to end pandemic restrictions is now." "The Good Republicans' Last Stand"

Each of these headlines comes from the same magazine: The Atlantic. For 167 years, the publication has enjoyed elite stature in the American literary and journalistic worlds, publishing such luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Barack Obama, and serving as a coveted professional destination for writers throughout the country. Founded by a number of esteemed 19th century authors, the magazine has long prided itself on its cultural and political depth.

But beneath all of its high-minded rhetoric about democracy, free expression, fearlessness, and American ideals is a vehicle of center-right pablum, designed to launder reactionary opinions for a liberal-leaning audience. As the employer of warmongers like Jeffrey Goldberg, Anne Applebaum, and David Frum, under the ownership of a Silicon Valley-tied investment firm hellbent on destroying teachers' unions, The Atlantic, time and time again, proves a far cry from the truth-pursuing, consensus-disrupting outlet it claims to be. On this episode, we dive into the history and ideology of The Atlantic, examining the currents of middlebrow conservatism, left-punching, and deference to boring business owners that have run through the magazine throughout its nearly 17 decades of operation.

Our guest is Jon Schwarz.

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been compelled to resign as armed gangs tighten their grip on the nation's capital, seizing control of police stations, the main international airport, and freeing thousands of prisoners. This week on Deconstructed, researcher and writer Jake Johnston, who has spent more than a decade reporting on Haiti, joins Ryan Grim to discuss the latest wave of violence hitting the country and the events that led to it. Johnston’s new book, “Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti,” details how U.S. and European goals have continuously undermined the nation’s governance and economy. Johnston is also the senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research where he leads Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch.

If you’d like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/give, where your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference.

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. And please go and leave us a rating or a review — it helps people find the show. If you want to give us additional feedback, email us at Podcasts@theintercept.com.

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Enlarge / Harvard's got a lawsuit on its hands. (credit: Glowimages)

Accusations of research misconduct often trigger extensive investigations, typically performed by the institution where the misconduct allegedly took place. These investigations are internal employment matters, and false accusations have the potential to wreck someone's career needlessly. As a result, most of these investigations are kept completely confidential, even after their completion.

But all the details of a misconduct investigation performed by Harvard University became public this week through an unusual route. The professor accused of misconduct, Francesca Gino, had filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit, targeting both Harvard and a team of external researchers who had accused her of misconduct. Harvard submitted its investigator's report as part of its attempt to have part of the suit dismissed, and the judge overseeing the case made it public.

We covered one of the studies at issue at the time of its publication. It has since been retracted, and we'll be updating our original coverage accordingly.

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Enlarge (credit: Nathan Devery)

Cellulose is the primary component of the cell walls of plants, making it the most common polymer on Earth. It's responsible for the properties of materials like wood and cotton and is the primary component of dietary fiber, so it's hard to overstate its importance to humanity.

Given its ubiquity and the fact that it's composed of a bunch of sugar molecules linked together, its toughness makes it very difficult to use as a food source. The animals that manage to extract significant calories from cellulose typically do so via specialized digestive tracts that provide a home for symbiotic bacteria—think of the extra stomachs of cows and other ruminants.

Amazingly, humans also play host to bacteria that can break down cellulose—something that wasn't confirmed until 2003 (long after I'd wrapped up my education). Now, a new study indicates that we're host to a mix of cellulose-eating bacteria, some via our primate ancestry, and others through our domestication of herbivores such as cows. But urban living has caused the number of these bacteria to shrink dramatically.

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Derek and Danny are back, the latter without any rubles. This week: Russian kicks off its presidential election (1:47); a Gaza humanitarian update (4:29) and Biden speaks on a Rafah invasion (11:24); more Israeli strikes in Lebanon (15:30); U.S. policy potentially shifts on DPRK/North Korea (17:17); in Sudan, the military makes gains in Omdurman (20:20); Ukraine attacks Russian oil facilities (24:26) and receives a U.S. stopgap aid package (26:54); the right surges in Portugal’s election (29:37); PM Ariel Henry resigns as chaos ensues in Haiti (32:20); and the U.S. expands its lead in global arms sales (35:17).

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Danny and Derek welcome writer and co-executive producer John Orloff to the pod to discuss Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air miniseries. They go into John’s background, his work on HBO’s seminal Band of Brothers, the distinct horror of WWII aerial warfare, how MOTA tackled the POW experience, the challenge of writing and shooting such a massive production, and how a WWII-era drama is informed by the current global climate.

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Alex Ptak and Jeremy Kaplowitz of the Quorators podcast join the pod today. We take a moment looking at the house bill to ban TikTok, then Alex and Jeremy take us on a tour of the world of political Quora. What would happen if two ex-presidents fist fought each other? Can goths be MAGA? Can you call the cops on Satan? We explore the answers to these questions and more importantly, what’s up with the people who asked them.

Find Quorators:

Wherever you get podcast: https://pod.link/1646130232

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Quorators

Patreon :https://www.patreon.com/Quorators

The Jacques/Chapo/Seeking Derangements show at the Lodge Room in LA, Thursday April 4:

https://www.lodgeroomhlp.com/shows/show-pig-a-live-comedy-podcast-spectacular-with-seeking-derangements/

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As I’ve written before, Emacs has a world clock. Well, it’s not really a clock: just a list of times in various cities but it’s great for today’s remote work place. If your colleagues are stationed all over the world, it’s really useful to know what time it is where they are so you don’t try to contact them at 3 in the morning their time.

As the above linked post says, it’s possible to edit the list of cities listed. The method that Choi uses (in the above link) to configure them is the custom interface but others may prefer a more Lispy way of configuring it.

Bozhidar Batsov also addresses the world clock function and shows us how to configure it in, say, our init.el file. It’s easy to do except for knowing what the proper time zone is for the city you’re interested in. It’s easy to find that out by searching for “iana time zone <city>” For example, if I wanted to add Glasgow to the list, I would search for “iana time zone glasgow” and discover that the proper time zone is “Europe/London”. There’s also a database that you can download that contains all the supported places but it’s definitely overkill for this application.

Batsov also notes that you can edit the time string that gets displayed. Basically, you can specify any format supported by format-time-string. You might find that useful for further automation.

This is just another small example of how Emacs helps smooth your daily workflow. Even if you only occasionally want to know what time it is at Aunt Millie’s, it’s worthwhile looking up her time zone and adding it to the list.

Update [2024-03-15 Fri 12:41]: Glascow → Glasgow.

GNU Emacs can be used for quick data visualization in combination with Gnuplot. When you have some data and you want to visualize what the correlation looks like, this command comes in handy. No need for any setup - no data file and no Gnuplot script.

The command below uses some sensible defaults for trivial cases.

• If the first line contains string label, the same is used as a key label for the value and/or axes' names as appropriate.
• If there's a single column of data, it is used as Y value.
• If there's more than one column, first column is used as X value and other columns are plotted along Y-axis.
• Takes care of comma or whitespace separator.
  

Note: The latest version of the code is available at the end of the post.

- Install gnuplot executable and gnuplot Elisp package.

- Evaluate the defun (C-M-x).

- Select a data range using rectangle command copy-rectangle-as-kill (C-x r M-w).

- Run M-x  gnuplot-rectangle. This opens the graph in a new window for easier interaction. Use C-q to exit.

- Run C-u M-x  gnuplot-rectangle to specify title and style (added in updated version).

Bar graph

Time series

Scatter plot

Live Preview

Use M-x gnuplot-preview to generate live preview of supported graph types.

Code