softrugged @softrugged

@RoKhanna @grahamformaine ro: the president america needs. <3

@ostonox if we're serious about our leftism, ro is the best presidential candidate so far, with the strongest economic justice and depolarization vision. <3

Zizek on Thiel "We should not reduce Thiel to a figure in the Trumpian universe. The US global hegemony is now gradually dissolving, and Trump’s attempts to behave like a master of the world intervening anywhere he wants, from Venezuela to Iran, are in their very arbitrary and excessive form more and more a comedy – a dark comedy, but nonetheless a comedy. The US hegemony was not just a bad thing – for example, it did help to maintain peace in Europe in the Cold War years. Now this hegemony is not declining just because of the rise of other superpowers: Trump himself, with his chaotic policy, is accelerating this decline. However, even if the ongoing Iran war will turn out to be the end of the Trump reign as he practiced it in the last year, Thiel’s vision will remain relevant, inclusive of its basic paradox of fighting against the antichrist from a position which ultimately is that of the antichrist. Is this not the truth of nationalist‑populist Christians? Are they not the ultimate figure of the antichrist today? The enigma is here: Why does Thiel, a proponent of digital control, refer to the notion of the antichrist? Why does he not act as many others do, as a simple radical technocrat who thinks only unconstrained AI can save us? (Not to mention the fact that many big inventors of AI warn against its dangers.) Why does he justify the unconstrained reign of digital corporations with a reference to Christian spirituality? I think that, in a deeper sense, Thiel is right against pure technocrats. Digital technocracy cannot survive alone; it needs some kind of spiritual foundation, and since our societies are predominantly Christian, the most obvious way is to present their antichristian stance as true Christianity – a nonsense, but a nonsense which obviously works. As a matter of fact, I much prefer to Thiel Ali Larijani, the recently “eliminated” grey eminence of the Iranian regime, who graduated in Artificial Intelligence and wrote three books on Immanuel Kant"

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The world lost Anthony Bourdain 8 years ago today. I love this quote from him.

@PeterBeinart that video was just amazing. thank you <3

Sam Harris thinks his beliefs on Israel-Palestine are inarguable. He’s wrong. peterbeinart.substack.com/p/a-reply-to-s…

@isaiah_bb peter beinart did a video response (on yt) that just annihilates every harris point and exposes him for the fraud he is. the world should watch it. <3

Hercules and Nessus, by Giambologna, 1599

On Sunday, my friend Gordon Wood was struck and killed in a car accident. Gordon taught history at Brown Univ. and was among the most accomplished historians America has produced. He won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for The Radicalism of the American Revolution, and his earlier book The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 took the 1970 Bancroft Prize. He also received the National Humanities Medal. He was, in my view, the finest historian of America's founding—which makes it all the sadder that he did not live to see the nation's 250th birthday. His reputation reached popular culture, too. Matt Damon's character in Good Will Hunting invokes him by name in the famous bar scene, accusing a Harvard student of simply "regurgitating Gordon Wood, talking about [...] the pre-Revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization." I feel fortunate to have collaborated with Gordon on several projects. In a 2019 anthology I compiled, he wrote an essay on the possibility of a shared American narrative. He centered his argument on equal rights as "the most radical and most powerful ideological force" the Revolution unleashed. "This powerful sense of equality is still alive and well in America," he wrote, "and despite all of its disturbing and unsettling consequences, it is what makes us one people." When I needed jacket blurbs for my new book Lincoln's Compass, coming out this November, I turned to Gordon. The fit was natural: the book argues that Abraham Lincoln took the Declaration's claim that "all men are created equal" as his guiding moral compass—and that he refocused the nation on that claim. Gordon, ever the gentleman, offered generous praise. He was, in many respects, the dean of American historians. He will be very hard to replace.

Prime Minister Carney told Mrs Carney that he loved her after the kiss too. 🥰🇨🇦

@DigitalGroundG @hasanthehun @TheOmniLiberal an invitation to career sui...hasan is smarter than this.

Spike Lee's Knicks jersey is signed by Pope Leo ✍️

The role of Canada’s Governor General calls for sound judgement, deep learning, and an unwavering commitment to the rule of law — the very principles which Louise Arbour has built her exceptional career upon.

At every stage of her exceptional career, Louise Arbour has defended and promoted justice, dignity, and equality. Today, she takes her place as Canada’s 31st Governor General. Congratulations, Your Excellency.

PM Carney: In order for a society to be free, its institutions must be held to account. That laws are the rampart between the powerful and the disadvantaged. That the dignity of every human being must not depend on random factors such as where you live, your citizenship or expediency. And that Canada's role in this world is to put these principles into practice and help other countries to do the same.

LIVE: The 31st Governor General of Canada • EN DIRECT : La 31e gouverneure generale du Canada x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Spot on.

Residents of French village say US Defense Secretary Hegseth not welcome for D-Day visit ➡️ go.france24.com/bwm6

Velvet Underground playing for the American Society of Clinical Psychiatrists [1966]

NEW: The Liberal government’s new elections bill includes a loophole that will let dark money fund third-party groups during election campaigns, a watchdog warns. Latest from @emmapaling readthemaple.com/liberal-loopho…