Friday, 30 June 2023
Sunday, 28 May 2023
Forget those moments of embarrasing social ineptitude ! A thing of the past are they!
We've all been there: at that dinner-jacket-only cocktail party, right when the hosts start rolling out the canapees and suddenly you need to solve a sophisticated differential equation! You try and make a swift escape to the bar area but the damage is already irreversibly done!
Well, no more. Look at this Android-based math solver app, called Maple Calculator:
Cin cin!
Friday, 26 May 2023
The Debt Machine (AlJazeera) - MUST WATCH
A look into the global economic system, focusing on the role of debt and Europe’s debt crisis spiraling out of control.
Filmmaker: Laure Delesalle
Debt drives financial markets, creates profit and generates an endless cycle of production and consumption.
Many aspects of modern life revolve around credit. Our homes, cars, schools and government expenditures are financed by borrowing. Debt has become the engine of growth, the lifeblood of the economy. It is a machine that creates more and more debt, day after day.
This debt machine has grown to epic proportions, and now seems to have spiralled out of control. Public debt, the debt held by governments, is soaring.
The Eurozone is having a much harder time than other economies emerging from the crisis of spiraling debt. Why? How can the debt be repaid? And how can we ever get out of the spiral?
This documentary takes viewers on a fascinating journey through the rugged landscape of economics and finance. Fast-paced and dynamic, it recounts the history of sovereign debt from the late Middle Ages to the present day and offers unexpected exit routes to safeguard the Eurozone from future crises.
Caught in the debt spiral
“Government debt is not in itself a problem”, explains Karine Berger, MP, Commission of Finances, French National Assembly.
“Every country has debt. And since we have economic growth with the creation of new wealth every year, debt is ok.
That’s the assumption. The problem is when your debt gets out of control, when it gets so big that you no longer control the process and its growth year after year.”It's a debt machine, yes. When you're on it, it's very hard to get out of it.
BY LEE BUCHHEIT, INTERNATIONAL LAWYER, NEW YORK CITY
Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Now Protest Is a Moral Duty
By Craig Murray (via Tony Greenstein)
The torrential rain was shed from the policeman’s flat hat via its curved plastic peak, forming a curtain of water that flowed down in front of him, obscuring his face.
His name was Martin. A female colleague stood in solidarity beside him. Two other female policemen were filming with a large video camera from three metres away. Thirty yards down the road were large groups of burly policemen in fluorescent jackets, and beyond them the Tactical Support Group sat behind the dark windows of their mesh covered minibuses, fingering their shields and batons.
Facing Martin were the protestors. There were six of us, average age about 70. We were all absolutely sodden through, but still clutched umbrellas and tried to find angles from which to reduce the wind driven assault of cold water. As the rain was extremely noisy, and probably we don’t hear quite as well as we used to, we kept shuffling towards Martin and leaning forward to try to catch his words, before they were blown away or drowned.
Martin was reading the riot act. Or, to be precise, he was reading an order made under the Public Order Act 1986. With no sense that he understood the absurdity of his words, he intoned:
“I reasonably believe that this assembly has been organised with criminal intent. I reasonably believe that this assembly may result in violence to persons and to property. I reasonably believe that this assembly may cause disruption to the life of the community”.
Some of my top teeth are no longer natural and I get dizzy after climbing a flight of stairs or getting out the bath. I was cold and wet and longing for a nice hot cup of tea. I felt perhaps proud, but rather puzzled, to be taken for a serious criminal danger to the city of Leicester.
Behind Martin stood the paramilitary security guards of the Israeli weapons factory. They did not look really nice. I wondered if Martin was facing in the right direction.
I sneaked this photo of one of them from the taxi as I was leaving. Not entirely what you expect to find down a wooded lane outside Leicester.
Overhead a red police drone buzzed. What it could see, that the scores of police eyes on us could not see, remains a mystery. It was possibly on the lookout for subversive messages on the top of umbrellas.
I found the police operator round the corner who, to be fair, was probably sheltering from the downpour under a tree rather than deliberately hiding behind the hedge.
The factory makes, among other things, components for the kind of drones that kill women and children in Gaza on a regular basis.
I would like you to meet Liane. One of the Palestinian children killed this week in Gaza by weaponry of the Elbit weapons company we were picketing. Whether her death involved any components made in this precise Leicester Elbit factory I do not know. It is probable.
Look into Liane’s eyes, then tell me you do not wish you had been with me, standing in the rain.
When Martin had finished speaking I replied, rather to his, and everybody else’s, surprise. He had started moving away but returned to listen.
I said that I was not an organiser of the protest, just a supporter. But the Order he had read out did not apply. We were just six people – that is not enough people to constitute an “assembly” under Part 2 of the 1986 Public Order Act.
I then went to the police camera team and said the same thing to them. As they were filming for evidence purposes to show the Order had been made, I asked them to maintain the tape for evidence that the police had been told we were not an assembly in terms of the act.
They were really not very happy about this. You could see the cogs whirring as they wondered whether they could arrest me. I presume all these police had arrived after an operational briefing that they were dealing with violent Middle Eastern terrorists, and they were having a brief bout of cognitive dissonance.
There are of course people who resolve cognitive dissonance by an immediate resort to violence, and rather a higher proportion of such people than you might expect, find their way into the police force, so I then wandered off with some friendly remarks about the weather.
I reported yesterday on the incredibly heavy handed policing of this protest. The Chief Constable of Leicestershire, Robert Nixon, has instructed the protest must be “stamped out”, according to one police officer I spoke with.
About sixty protestors have been arrested, and some 50 released on bail on condition they leave the county of Leicestershire completely.
Some have even been arrested hundreds of miles away, for the new crime of planning to attend a demonstration.
Palestine Action co-founders Huda and Richard were released last night, having being arrested Tuesday on the motorway following police surveillance #ShutElbitDown pic.twitter.com/9iClbSfSt6
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) May 4, 2023
Earlier that day I had witnessed the police harass a mother in hijab. Two male officers, not accompanied by a female officer, arriving to quiz her on why three children present at the protest were not at school.
Truancy is not in general a police matter, and if an intervention was deemed necessary it should have been carried out by a qualified local authority officer. The cultural insensitivity on display was remarkable, and it underlined the fact that every single police officer I saw over two days was white.
This picture, from a few days earlier at the same protest, illustrates it well. Leicester is a very multi-cultural city, but these are the county police.
Each time I arrived at the protest, I went walking around to count the number of police and see what they were doing. Generally I chatted with whoever was in charge, and made plain I thought they were far more heavy handed than was compatible with the right to protest.
I received a message from Palestine Action to the effect that friendly chats with the police are not really how they roll. I respect their position and its cause, but my own view is that if you treat the police officers personally as the enemy, it makes it hard to complain when they do the same to you.
On this final visit I noted, in addition to the ordinary and tactical support group minibuses; the drone squad, at least four marked police cars, the same number of unmarked cars with uniformed officers inside, and five cars parked up with occupants in civilian clothes sitting there for hours ostensibly doing nothing at all.
I called an Uber to leave. I then said my farewells, and my phone beeped saying the Uber had arrived, indicating the pick up point. I walked to the car and opened the back door – and there behind the dark windows were some burly policemen in plain clothes and a directional microphone.
The bearded driver was furious. He yelled at me “Why did you open that door?”
I replied “Well, if you will go around in disguise, people will mistake you for an Uber”.The car doors were pulled shut again in anger and the car drove off. Three different groups of policemen approached, all yelling out “Why did you open that door?” “What were you doing with that car?”
Laughing, I replied “I am sorry, I thought it was my Uber”. Fortunately that very second my Uber pulled up next to me. I got in and left, giggling away.The action at Elbit is continuous. I shall definitely be back at some stage. Please do get yourselves there. I regard it as a moral duty. We were just a few gentle souls in the rain, but I am proud to have been there.
Tuesday, 7 February 2023
Land of the Free, Home of the Book Burners...
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021. Of the 1597 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books:
1. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, and because it was considered to have sexually explicit images
2. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
3. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, profanity, and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
4. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted for depictions of abuse and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, violence, and because it was thought to promote an anti-police message and indoctrination of a social agenda
6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references and use of a derogatory term
7. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Reasons: Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and degrading to women
8. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Banned and challenged because it depicts child sexual abuse and was considered sexually explicit
9. This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
Reasons: Banned, challenged, relocated, and restricted for providing sexual education and LGBTQIA+ content.
10. Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit.
Think the above is far-fetched? Think again (from Insider):
Amid the GOP’s nationwide push against teaching about race and sexuality in schools, two members of the Spotsylvania County School Board in Virginia advocated for burning certain books, according to the Fredericksburg-based Free Lance-Star newspaper. This came as the school board directed staff to begin removing “sexually explicit” books from library shelves, after voting 6-0 in favor of the removal, the Lance-Star reported. The board has plans to review how certain books or materials are defined as “objectionable,” the paper said, which opens the door for other content to be removed.
Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg both championed burning the books that have been removed. “I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said. Meanwhile, Twigg said he wanted to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.”
Monday, 6 February 2023
Exactly Why and How Republicans Hate Ilhan Omar
It has literally nothing to do with antisemitism
THE HOUSE OF Representatives voted 218-211 on Thursday to kick Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., off the Foreign Affairs Committee. Why?
According to the resolution, it was because “Omar, by her own words, has disqualified herself from serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs.” It listed four statements by Omar and made pains to note that they had all been condemned by some of Omar’s fellow House Democrats for being antisemitic or anti-American (whatever those words mean in present-day politics).
Omar spoke out for herself yesterday. “This debate today is about who gets to be an American. What opinions do we have to have to be counted as Americans?” she said. “I am Muslim. I am an immigrant. … Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted?”
For her part, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said, “One of the things that we should talk about here is … the targeting and racism against Muslim-Americans. … This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America.”
The GOP’s stated rationale is obvious nonsense. On the one hand, it’s not fair to say antisemitism is the last thing the Republican Party cares about, because the last things the Republican Party cares about are racism and wealth inequality. On the other hand, antisemitism is perfectly fine with the GOP, as illustrated by (among endless other examples) its reaction to former President Donald Trump hosting a chummy dinner with Nick Fuentes and Kanye West.
In fact, you can make an argument that antisemitism or something with the same structure is fundamental to all conservative politics. They need it to hide what they’re really about.
Conservatives can’t acknowledge the obvious reality that modern societies are run by huge corporations and the ultrawealthy, because they work for huge corporations and the ultrawealthy. Instead, they’re forced to come up with nonsensical explanations for how the world works, which always involves an imagined secret elite. The Jews are a perennial favorite, but it can also be unions, or the gays, or the international communist conspiracy, or the space lizards wearing ultrarealistic human masks. In the confused minds of the right-wing base, it can be all of these at once, with Jewish Unionized Gay Communist Lizards controlling all unseen.
While it sounds a little presumptuous to say so, the explanations offered by Omar and Ocasio-Cortez for the GOP’s actions are also not the whole story.
It’s certainly true that in the past, conservatives would not have been able to abide a nonwhite, nonmale, non-Christian in any position of power. But today, the U.S. right would be absolutely ecstatic to have someone with Omar’s background on the Foreign Affairs Committee, as long as she were an enthusiastic proponent of bombing everything. This is actually a small sign of societal progress, which we should celebrate.
Omar was closest to the mark when she said this is about a particular question: “What opinions do we get to have?” It is largely forbidden in elite U.S. circles to point out the existence and motivation of the Israel lobby — because you can get called antisemitic for noting that Boeing deeply enjoys selling joint direct attack munitions to Israel or for having the temerity to agree with an Israeli prime minister. You cannot suggest, as Omar did, that the U.S. should be judged by the same moral standards as others, because our enemies kill in an irrational frenzy, while we have reasons. (This squelching of open debate is naturally led by those who proclaim their vociferous opposition to cancel culture and political correctness.)
It’s unquestionably true that the rage on the U.S. right toward Omar is greatly accentuated by her failure to be a white, Christian, native-born man. The pullulating hate that Trump demonstrated in 2019 toward her — and Ocasio-Cortez; Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. — is still bracing to read. It can only be explained as the loathing elites always have for their inferiors when they step out of their rightful place.
So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
Trump’s tweets were also hilariously stupid, given that, of the four members of Congress, only Omar was born outside of the U.S. Pressley is from the far-away foreign land of Cincinnati.
So the right has an especially terrifying brand of venom reserved for someone like Omar. White Christian men certainly have far more wiggle room to tell the truth, but conservatives are perfectly capable of revving up their giant hate machine against anyone who wants to say things that make them uncomfortable.
The upshot here is that all of us — everyone who thinks American politics doesn’t have to be dominated by childish lies — are in this together. Omar is a truly courageous person who must be defended by everyone who values honesty. Understand, though, that this is both because it’s the right thing to do and because, if you have a similar affection for reality, you’re also on their list, and you better believe they’ll eventually get to you too.
Source: @TI
Thursday, 2 February 2023
Labour's Sturmer: witchhunter supremo
From: London General Date: 24 January 2023 at 20:09:05 GMT
To: stephenkapos@gmail.com
Subject: FAO: Stephen Kapos
Dear Stephen,
It has been brought to the attention of the Labour Party that you have been advertised as a speaker for an event entitled ‘Zionism During the Holocaust - Reclaiming the Memory of All Those Who Died’, hosted by Socialist Labour Network on Friday 27th January 2023.
In line with Labour Party rules, Socialist Labour Network is a group which the NEC of the party has determined is incompatible with Labour Party values. Any support for the organisation would likely be deemed in breach of Party rules and may lead to expulsion.
Yours sincerely,
London Labour
To: London General
Labour Party
26th January 2023
Dear London General,
Thank you for your emailed letter of the 24th of January giving me advance warning that I am likely to be expelled from the Party if I were to speak from the panel as a Holocaust survivor at the SLN (Socialist Labour Network) Webinar on the 27th January — on Holocaust Memorial Day.
The Holocaust is the most important single example of genocide, which at its worst descended into an industrial process of mass murder of millions.
As a child survivor and one of the fewer and fewer still living direct witnesses to the Holocaust I feel a compelling duty to bear witness and speak out about it at any platform that would invite me and to any audience ready to listen.
I am an activist for Palestinian human rights and an active member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in its Camden Branch. The defence of Palestinians living under a brutal occupation is very important to me, particularly as a Holocaust survivor. Palestinians live under a system of apartheid as recognised by Amnesty International and other major human-rights organisations. Those are my political beliefs which I claim are protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010.
I am not a member of SLN nor have I been following its activities, but via the book to be discussed on the 27th I have a general understanding of SLN’s views on present-day Zionism (as a political movement ) and on some of the actions of the Zionist movement during the Holocaust and WWII. I am in sympathy with some of those views on the grounds of my political beliefs mentioned above. I have personal experience of the Kastner project in Hungary which was driven by Zionist ideology.
My father was a victim of Kastner’s scheme and ended up stranded in the Belsen and Theresienstadt concentration camps. I was myself briefly interned in a Kastner-run detention camp in Budapest.
You make mention of Labour Party values.
I learnt about Labour values during my party activism in the period when Frank Dobson was our MP and I worked in a warm and friendly atmosphere prominently on various election campaigns.
Those values were very different to that of the present leadership whose values permit intimidation, banning of discussion of some of the most vital political topics, disregard for the Party’s own rules, and for natural justice, the drastic reduction of inner party democracy, extreme factionalism, lack of support for striking workers.
I do not share these values.
Please accept my immediate resignation from the Labour Party effective from tomorrow, i.e. from the 27th of January 2023. Your attempt to effectively bar me from speaking about the Holocaust on Holocaust Memorial Day was the last straw for me.
In the short term the Tories are self-destructing which may well bring the Labour Party into government soon.
In the long term this period of the Party’s history will be remembered with shame: this was when MacCarthyism was revived and imported into the Labour Party — and into the political life of the UK itself.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Kapos
Copies to : Sir Keir Starmer MP,
The Secretary, Holborn & St. Pancras CLP.
(pls forward)
With thanks toTony Greenstein.
