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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
August 13, 2023
A look at key shifts likely to re-shape American politics in the coming years.
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/three-demographic-trends-underlying
It’s no secret that partisan loyalties and ideological persuasions amount to some of the strongest dividing lines in America today. When President Biden first took office, he enjoyed the widest partisan approval gap of any president in the modern polling era. 1 Before him, Trump had the honor of owning that achievement, and before Trump, it was Obama. Such political divides are also evident among politicians themselves: by one measure, the two major parties in Congress are more ideologically divided today than at any time since the Civil War.
Americans who are loyal to one of the two parties are also increasingly likely to find themselves closer to an ideological pole. According to Gallup, the overwhelming majority of Republicans have long described themselves as “conservative.” Meanwhile, the share of Democrats identifying as “liberal” has steadily grown over the past three decades—finally reaching an outright majority during Trump’s presidency and further widening the ideological chasm separating the country’s two partisan camps.
These types of divides are still the clearest way of understanding the nation’s political trends. For instance, as the two parties become more ideologically homogenous and less open to moderates—and as more voters self-sort into states whose governments better reflect their individual politics—we are bound to see fewer true presidential battlegrounds and less ticket-splitting. But the country’s shifting political alliances and growing polarization haven’t happened in a vacuum—they’ve been driven by the deepening of demographic fault lines in American life. It’s therefore worth understanding these other divisions and the ways they’re likely to impact politics at all levels of government in the years ahead.
https://twitter.com/amyewalter/status/1684598359896489991
The Diploma Divide
Perhaps the most noteworthy shift underlying the country’s politics in recent years has been the divide between college degree-holders and non-degree holders. This change, which is deeply tied to each group’s evolving views on cultural issues, has played out in a couple different ways. The first is through ideological self-identification. The Pew Research Center has gauged Americans’ political views over time and found that those who hold at least a college degree have grown much more consistently liberal than those who do not.
snip
Three Demographic Trends Underlying Our Growing Partisan Polarization
A look at key shifts likely to re-shape American politics in the coming years.
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/three-demographic-trends-underlying
It’s no secret that partisan loyalties and ideological persuasions amount to some of the strongest dividing lines in America today. When President Biden first took office, he enjoyed the widest partisan approval gap of any president in the modern polling era. 1 Before him, Trump had the honor of owning that achievement, and before Trump, it was Obama. Such political divides are also evident among politicians themselves: by one measure, the two major parties in Congress are more ideologically divided today than at any time since the Civil War.
Americans who are loyal to one of the two parties are also increasingly likely to find themselves closer to an ideological pole. According to Gallup, the overwhelming majority of Republicans have long described themselves as “conservative.” Meanwhile, the share of Democrats identifying as “liberal” has steadily grown over the past three decades—finally reaching an outright majority during Trump’s presidency and further widening the ideological chasm separating the country’s two partisan camps.
These types of divides are still the clearest way of understanding the nation’s political trends. For instance, as the two parties become more ideologically homogenous and less open to moderates—and as more voters self-sort into states whose governments better reflect their individual politics—we are bound to see fewer true presidential battlegrounds and less ticket-splitting. But the country’s shifting political alliances and growing polarization haven’t happened in a vacuum—they’ve been driven by the deepening of demographic fault lines in American life. It’s therefore worth understanding these other divisions and the ways they’re likely to impact politics at all levels of government in the years ahead.
https://twitter.com/amyewalter/status/1684598359896489991
The Diploma Divide
Perhaps the most noteworthy shift underlying the country’s politics in recent years has been the divide between college degree-holders and non-degree holders. This change, which is deeply tied to each group’s evolving views on cultural issues, has played out in a couple different ways. The first is through ideological self-identification. The Pew Research Center has gauged Americans’ political views over time and found that those who hold at least a college degree have grown much more consistently liberal than those who do not.
snip
August 13, 2023
The work of John Rawls shows that liberal values of equality and freedom are fundamentally incompatible with capitalism
https://aeon.co/essays/what-can-we-learn-from-john-rawlss-critique-of-capitalism
Completed in 1910, the renaissance revivalist Mahoning County Courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio would make any city proud. Its Honduran mahogany, terracotta, 12 marble columns and 40-foot diameter stained-glass dome stand testament to the region’s turn-of-the-century success as a moderate industrial power. Across Market Street, the humbler federal courthouse completed in 1995 invokes a then-au courant corporate office-building style: concrete and panelised stone relieved by blue-black glass, with decorative squares and circles scattered here and there.
The Thomas D Lambros Federal Building and Courthouse is named for Judge Thomas Demetrios Lambros (1930-2019), native son of Ashtabula, Ohio, who in 1967 was appointed to the federal bench by the US president Lyndon B Johnson. The website of the US General Services Administration remembers Judge Lambros as ‘a pioneer in the alternative dispute resolution movement’ – arbitration, as it is generally known. But the people of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley might remember Judge Lambros for a different reason.
Lambros presided over a fiercely contested lawsuit in 1979-80 filed by 3,500 steelworkers laid off by United States Steel Corporation’s Youngstown Works plant – part of a wave of closures across what we now call the Rust Belt. The lawsuit was an avowedly desperate effort to compel US Steel to sell the company either to the city or else to the workers who, hopefully with federal loans, would continue to operate the plant and keep sending paychecks to the thousands of families depending on them.
In an early hearing, Judge Lambros made a remarkable – revolutionary, almost – suggestion to the workers’ lawyers. They might have a shot if they argued that the people of Youngstown had a ‘community property right’ accrued from the ‘lengthy, long-established relationship between United States Steel, the steel industry as an institution, the community in Youngstown, the people of Mahoning County, and the Mahoning Valley in having given and devoted their lives to this industry’. Because steel production had become such a central part of community life, the judge suggested, the community arguably had a right to decide what happened to the steel mill.
snip
a LOT more at the link
Liberalism against capitalism
The work of John Rawls shows that liberal values of equality and freedom are fundamentally incompatible with capitalism
https://aeon.co/essays/what-can-we-learn-from-john-rawlss-critique-of-capitalism
Completed in 1910, the renaissance revivalist Mahoning County Courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio would make any city proud. Its Honduran mahogany, terracotta, 12 marble columns and 40-foot diameter stained-glass dome stand testament to the region’s turn-of-the-century success as a moderate industrial power. Across Market Street, the humbler federal courthouse completed in 1995 invokes a then-au courant corporate office-building style: concrete and panelised stone relieved by blue-black glass, with decorative squares and circles scattered here and there.
The Thomas D Lambros Federal Building and Courthouse is named for Judge Thomas Demetrios Lambros (1930-2019), native son of Ashtabula, Ohio, who in 1967 was appointed to the federal bench by the US president Lyndon B Johnson. The website of the US General Services Administration remembers Judge Lambros as ‘a pioneer in the alternative dispute resolution movement’ – arbitration, as it is generally known. But the people of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley might remember Judge Lambros for a different reason.
Lambros presided over a fiercely contested lawsuit in 1979-80 filed by 3,500 steelworkers laid off by United States Steel Corporation’s Youngstown Works plant – part of a wave of closures across what we now call the Rust Belt. The lawsuit was an avowedly desperate effort to compel US Steel to sell the company either to the city or else to the workers who, hopefully with federal loans, would continue to operate the plant and keep sending paychecks to the thousands of families depending on them.
In an early hearing, Judge Lambros made a remarkable – revolutionary, almost – suggestion to the workers’ lawyers. They might have a shot if they argued that the people of Youngstown had a ‘community property right’ accrued from the ‘lengthy, long-established relationship between United States Steel, the steel industry as an institution, the community in Youngstown, the people of Mahoning County, and the Mahoning Valley in having given and devoted their lives to this industry’. Because steel production had become such a central part of community life, the judge suggested, the community arguably had a right to decide what happened to the steel mill.
snip
a LOT more at the link
August 12, 2023
Avicii, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Martin Garrix & Kygo, The Chainsmokers Style - Summer Vibes #5
August 11, 2023
In this new episode Steven sits down with philosopher, neuroscientist, podcast host and author Sam Harris.
00:00 Intro
02:02 6 years later, where do you stand on AI?
16:36 Is this not the most pressing problem?
33:16 Why I deleted twitter
45:43 Narrow AI
58:26 The meaning of AGI
01:02:00 In the age of AI how do we create purpose?
01:10:06 Who will AI replace?
01:14:41 Should we be doing universal basic income?
01:21:40 Would you stop AI if you could?
01:27:31 How do we change our minds to be happier?
01:34:28 Why not lying & telling the truth will make you happier
01:41:28 The last guests question
ChatGPT Could Be The Start Of The End - Sam Harris
In this new episode Steven sits down with philosopher, neuroscientist, podcast host and author Sam Harris.
00:00 Intro
02:02 6 years later, where do you stand on AI?
16:36 Is this not the most pressing problem?
33:16 Why I deleted twitter
45:43 Narrow AI
58:26 The meaning of AGI
01:02:00 In the age of AI how do we create purpose?
01:10:06 Who will AI replace?
01:14:41 Should we be doing universal basic income?
01:21:40 Would you stop AI if you could?
01:27:31 How do we change our minds to be happier?
01:34:28 Why not lying & telling the truth will make you happier
01:41:28 The last guests question
August 10, 2023
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/gluten-and-dairy-tolerance-in-europe-tiktok-debate
What sets a European apart from her American counterpart is her flair for doing a lot and suffering very little: She saunters down to her local market, fresh cheese and baguette in tow, and sits down to enjoy her (legit) pain quotidien like it's nothing—or at least that’s how the story goes. And lately, it’s a narrative a lot of US TikTokers are adopting—after discovering that their gluten and dairy intolerances seem to vanish when dining in countries like Italy and France.
As travel to Europe continues to skyrocket, this pesky little snippet of carbohydrate-fueled discourse prevails. The TikTok scripts from the sensitivity-no-more camp go a little something like this: “You get to eat as much bread as you want in Europe because it’s not poisonous”; “Look how much weight I’m losing in Italy!”; “This is how you know something’s up with America.” Non-believers, on the other hand, tend to respond with, “Maybe it’s just because you’re walking more on vacation.”
Naturally, Gen-Z’s renewed interest in the alleged magical powers of bread and cheese overseas begs the question: Is it really possible to stuff your face with all the pasta and gelato you want while abroad, not suffer from any indigestion or bloating, and maybe even lose weight in the process? In the name of journalism, we turned to experts to find out if there’s really something special about the chemical makeup of cacio e pepe on European shores.
Does gluten affect people differently in Europe?
First thing’s first: Celiac disease is not an American phenomenon. According to research foundation Beyond Celiac, “Plenty of Europeans have celiac disease—in fact, the incidence of celiac disease in Europe in the last 50 years has been increasing at a rate similar to that of the United States.” Europeans with celiac disease avoid gluten in their own countries, and as such, a robust market for gluten-free products exists over there, too.
snip
Why Can I Eat Endless Bread and Gelato in Europe and Never Feel Bloated?
We tapped experts to weigh in on the raging TikTok debate.https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/gluten-and-dairy-tolerance-in-europe-tiktok-debate
What sets a European apart from her American counterpart is her flair for doing a lot and suffering very little: She saunters down to her local market, fresh cheese and baguette in tow, and sits down to enjoy her (legit) pain quotidien like it's nothing—or at least that’s how the story goes. And lately, it’s a narrative a lot of US TikTokers are adopting—after discovering that their gluten and dairy intolerances seem to vanish when dining in countries like Italy and France.
As travel to Europe continues to skyrocket, this pesky little snippet of carbohydrate-fueled discourse prevails. The TikTok scripts from the sensitivity-no-more camp go a little something like this: “You get to eat as much bread as you want in Europe because it’s not poisonous”; “Look how much weight I’m losing in Italy!”; “This is how you know something’s up with America.” Non-believers, on the other hand, tend to respond with, “Maybe it’s just because you’re walking more on vacation.”
Naturally, Gen-Z’s renewed interest in the alleged magical powers of bread and cheese overseas begs the question: Is it really possible to stuff your face with all the pasta and gelato you want while abroad, not suffer from any indigestion or bloating, and maybe even lose weight in the process? In the name of journalism, we turned to experts to find out if there’s really something special about the chemical makeup of cacio e pepe on European shores.
Does gluten affect people differently in Europe?
First thing’s first: Celiac disease is not an American phenomenon. According to research foundation Beyond Celiac, “Plenty of Europeans have celiac disease—in fact, the incidence of celiac disease in Europe in the last 50 years has been increasing at a rate similar to that of the United States.” Europeans with celiac disease avoid gluten in their own countries, and as such, a robust market for gluten-free products exists over there, too.
snip
August 10, 2023
The Who - Who Are You (Promo Video) Filmed in London on 4 May 1978, 4 months before Keith Moon died
August 10, 2023
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/09/ken-chesebro-memos-trump-coconspirator-00110458
Attorney John Eastman is often credited as the architect of Donald Trump’s last-ditch attempt to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election. But the work of lesser-known attorney Kenneth Chesebro — identified as “Co-Conspirator 5” in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment — may have been more instrumental in stoking the chaos that ultimately unfolded. The House Jan. 6 select committee helped unearth several key documents drafted or contributed to by Chesebro that would become Trump’s strategy at crucial moments in the weeks following his loss to Joe Biden. The special counsel team unearthed another — an internal campaign memo referenced in the 45-page indictment last week and first revealed publicly Tuesday by The New York Times.
The memos and emails reveal the underpinnings of a desperate strategy to assemble slates of fraudulent electors, first to preserve legal options and later to foment a conflict on Jan. 6, 2021, that might lead to Trump retaining the presidency. Along the way, Chesebro concocted methods for avoiding unfavorable court rulings, enlisting friendly allies in Congress to grease the skids and ultimately counting on Mike Pence to take “bold” steps to derail the impending Biden presidency. (Chesebro, through his lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Here’s a chronology of Chesebro’s key documents and proposals, which show how his thinking evolved from philosophical discussions to operational plans — and at times veered into outright fantasy.
DEC. 6, 2020 MEMO:.................
snip
'Co-Conspirator 5': Ken Chesebro and the evolution of Donald Trump's Jan. 6 strategy
Read the documents that formed the rough draft of Trump’s scheme to stay in power.https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/09/ken-chesebro-memos-trump-coconspirator-00110458
Attorney John Eastman is often credited as the architect of Donald Trump’s last-ditch attempt to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election. But the work of lesser-known attorney Kenneth Chesebro — identified as “Co-Conspirator 5” in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment — may have been more instrumental in stoking the chaos that ultimately unfolded. The House Jan. 6 select committee helped unearth several key documents drafted or contributed to by Chesebro that would become Trump’s strategy at crucial moments in the weeks following his loss to Joe Biden. The special counsel team unearthed another — an internal campaign memo referenced in the 45-page indictment last week and first revealed publicly Tuesday by The New York Times.
The memos and emails reveal the underpinnings of a desperate strategy to assemble slates of fraudulent electors, first to preserve legal options and later to foment a conflict on Jan. 6, 2021, that might lead to Trump retaining the presidency. Along the way, Chesebro concocted methods for avoiding unfavorable court rulings, enlisting friendly allies in Congress to grease the skids and ultimately counting on Mike Pence to take “bold” steps to derail the impending Biden presidency. (Chesebro, through his lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Here’s a chronology of Chesebro’s key documents and proposals, which show how his thinking evolved from philosophical discussions to operational plans — and at times veered into outright fantasy.
NOV. 18, 2020 MEMO: Chesebro’s initial foray into Trump world’s upper echelons came as states prepared to certify their election results. Chesebro was advising Wisconsin-based Trump attorney Jim Troupis about a legal strategy for challenging the results there in court. Here, Chesebro first emphasized that Jan. 6, 2021 was the real “hard deadline” for courts to rule on Trump’s election challenges. But he stressed that in order to sustain legal challenges to Wisconsin’s results, a slate of pro-Trump electors must convene on Dec. 14, 2020 and cast ballots as though they were legitimately elected.
“It may seem odd that electors pledged to Trump and Pence might meet and cast their votes on December 14 even if, at that juncture, the Trump-Pence ticket is behind in the vote count,” Chesebro wrote. “However, a fair reading of the federal statutes suggests that this is a reasonable course of action.” Chesebro noted that if courts ruled in Trump’s favor, Congress may only be able to count electoral votes cast by the legally prescribed deadline of Dec. 14. In other words, it was a contingency plan while lawsuits were pending.
“It may seem odd that electors pledged to Trump and Pence might meet and cast their votes on December 14 even if, at that juncture, the Trump-Pence ticket is behind in the vote count,” Chesebro wrote. “However, a fair reading of the federal statutes suggests that this is a reasonable course of action.” Chesebro noted that if courts ruled in Trump’s favor, Congress may only be able to count electoral votes cast by the legally prescribed deadline of Dec. 14. In other words, it was a contingency plan while lawsuits were pending.
DEC. 6, 2020 MEMO:.................
snip
August 10, 2023
https://twitter.com/edgarrmcgregor/status/1689284636361248768
The scene in Lahaina, Maui this morning's absolutely devastating. The entire town is being destroyed
by an intense wildfire, forcing residents to seek shelter in the ocean. Make no mistake, climate change is making scenes like this more frequent.https://twitter.com/edgarrmcgregor/status/1689284636361248768
August 10, 2023
https://bigthink.com/the-present/conspirituality-new-age-conspiracy-theories-public-health/
In her mammoth 2010 work, The Shock Doctrine, Canadian journalist Naomi Klein coined the framework of “disaster capitalism.” Her book describes the agility with which multinational corporations have exploited natural disasters, civil wars, and terrorist threats to encourage deregulation, and to appropriate public assets and utilities. Klein opens her book by recounting how the economist Milton Friedman, at the age of ninety-three, made his last vandalizing policy suggestion: that instead of state and federal governments rebuilding public schools in the parishes of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, they issue citizens with vouchers to pay for private school tuition. The disaster, according to Friedman, was a golden opportunity to accelerate the march toward privatizing everything. For example, Klein noted that New Orleans’ public school system ran 123 schools at the time Katrina hit. By 2010, privatization had driven that number down to four, while the city went from seven charter schools to thirty-one.
Within months of COVID-19 erupting around the world, it was clear that the practices of disaster capitalism as described by Klein could be adapted to create an equally ruthless dynamic. In disaster spirituality, a real public health crisis, or a fictional moral panic like QAnon, can become the basis for an evangelical call to spiritual renewal. Whereas the captains of disaster capitalism seize distressed assets for privatization, the charismatics of disaster spirituality seize the attention and emotional commitment of their followers. That attention is then funneled into monetized networks that sell spiritual and wellness products focused on individual well-being (or smugness) as opposed to the common good. As a result, the consumer is left even more isolated and unprepared for social stress.
Pierre Kory is a critical care physician who made headlines in December 2020 by testifying before the Senate that the antiparasitic drug ivermectin was a “wonder drug with miraculous effectiveness” against COVID. As the pandemic raged, he used the contrarian social media sphere to sow doubt about vaccine data, while claiming, against evidence, that the efficacy of ivermectin was being suppressed by Big Pharma. His FLCCC (Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance) website then became a global hub for hundreds of doctors offering telemedicine sessions to prescribe proprietary alternative COVID-19 treatment protocols, and pharmacies willing to sell and ship these pseudomedical combinations of dodgy drugs. Likewise, New Age propagandist Mikki Willis teamed up with a discredited hydroxychloroquine doctor, Vladimir Zelenko, to create and market a supplement stack as a supposed COVID-preventative to his extensive email list.
Other opportunists promoted anti-5G accessories, like a $113 belly band for pregnant women to protect their unborn babies, or a $125 pet collar for your cat or dog to create a force field against the supposed dangers of 5G radiation. Disaster capitalism and disaster spirituality rely, respectively, on an endless supply of items to commodify and minds to recruit. While both roar into high gear in times of widespread precarity and vulnerability, in disaster spirituality there is arguably more at stake on the supply side. Hedge fund managers can buy up distressed properties in post-Katrina New Orleans to gentrify and flip. They have cash on hand to pull from when opportunity strikes, whereas most spiritual figures have to use other means for acquisitions and recruitment during times of distress.
snip
related:
Conspirituality: How New Age conspiracy theories threaten public health
A new online religion is spreading misinformation and phony products.https://bigthink.com/the-present/conspirituality-new-age-conspiracy-theories-public-health/
In her mammoth 2010 work, The Shock Doctrine, Canadian journalist Naomi Klein coined the framework of “disaster capitalism.” Her book describes the agility with which multinational corporations have exploited natural disasters, civil wars, and terrorist threats to encourage deregulation, and to appropriate public assets and utilities. Klein opens her book by recounting how the economist Milton Friedman, at the age of ninety-three, made his last vandalizing policy suggestion: that instead of state and federal governments rebuilding public schools in the parishes of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, they issue citizens with vouchers to pay for private school tuition. The disaster, according to Friedman, was a golden opportunity to accelerate the march toward privatizing everything. For example, Klein noted that New Orleans’ public school system ran 123 schools at the time Katrina hit. By 2010, privatization had driven that number down to four, while the city went from seven charter schools to thirty-one.
Within months of COVID-19 erupting around the world, it was clear that the practices of disaster capitalism as described by Klein could be adapted to create an equally ruthless dynamic. In disaster spirituality, a real public health crisis, or a fictional moral panic like QAnon, can become the basis for an evangelical call to spiritual renewal. Whereas the captains of disaster capitalism seize distressed assets for privatization, the charismatics of disaster spirituality seize the attention and emotional commitment of their followers. That attention is then funneled into monetized networks that sell spiritual and wellness products focused on individual well-being (or smugness) as opposed to the common good. As a result, the consumer is left even more isolated and unprepared for social stress.
Pierre Kory is a critical care physician who made headlines in December 2020 by testifying before the Senate that the antiparasitic drug ivermectin was a “wonder drug with miraculous effectiveness” against COVID. As the pandemic raged, he used the contrarian social media sphere to sow doubt about vaccine data, while claiming, against evidence, that the efficacy of ivermectin was being suppressed by Big Pharma. His FLCCC (Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance) website then became a global hub for hundreds of doctors offering telemedicine sessions to prescribe proprietary alternative COVID-19 treatment protocols, and pharmacies willing to sell and ship these pseudomedical combinations of dodgy drugs. Likewise, New Age propagandist Mikki Willis teamed up with a discredited hydroxychloroquine doctor, Vladimir Zelenko, to create and market a supplement stack as a supposed COVID-preventative to his extensive email list.
Other opportunists promoted anti-5G accessories, like a $113 belly band for pregnant women to protect their unborn babies, or a $125 pet collar for your cat or dog to create a force field against the supposed dangers of 5G radiation. Disaster capitalism and disaster spirituality rely, respectively, on an endless supply of items to commodify and minds to recruit. While both roar into high gear in times of widespread precarity and vulnerability, in disaster spirituality there is arguably more at stake on the supply side. Hedge fund managers can buy up distressed properties in post-Katrina New Orleans to gentrify and flip. They have cash on hand to pull from when opportunity strikes, whereas most spiritual figures have to use other means for acquisitions and recruitment during times of distress.
snip
related:
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Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
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