How the GOP glorifies political violence

Descent into madness

Who has been invoking political violence against their opponents in the United States? The Republicans. Time to end the false moral equivalence between left and right over violence. What are we really looking for when we try to determine the politics of terrorists? Russia continues to fund media in the US. Mike Pence says Americans have no right not to have religion imposed on them. Why is right-wing fraud and Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance struggling in what should be an easy race in Ohio? Election-denialist Trump supporters are planning to interfere in the midterm elections.

How to capitalism

Games of Mates author Cameron Murray looks at developer contributions in Auckland and finds that increasing them significantly won’t pass through to house prices. Lobbying in the United States hits US$3 billion for the year to date. Non-tariff barriers are an even worse form of protectionism than tariffs — as the Chinese learnt to their cost in 2018-19. Sports people engaging in lightweight protests against the monstrosity of the Qatar World Cup are fooling no one. Why labour movements are growing stronger again, and what enraged businesses are doing to stop them. Childcare in the US is in chaos and the only ones benefiting are for-profit corporations. Major companies are realising self-driving cars are a fantasy — and don’t make any economic sense. And Tesla is being investigated for killing people with its non-self-driving vehicles.

Did you fight in the great data wars, mum?

Datarioration: we’re losing the war to save information, and fast. BOAT: do we have a candidate for dark matter? Is thinking just inner talking, can you have multiple inner voices, and do we all think the same? How to make sweet potato EVEN SWEETER! Why reality isn’t really real — at least, not locally. Twitter verification — what the point really is — or, post-Musk takeover, was.

Foreign desk

The horseshoe gets tighter — in France, extreme left and extreme right combine to try to overturn Macron’s government. Saudi Arabia’s horrendous tyranny is clearly aligning with Putin and seeking to undermine the West. The erasure of women from economics, economic history and the history of economics. Is the election of party leaders by party memberships a good idea after all? It’s a pity Democrats don’t point out that there’s one crime wave Republicans love. Expert, non-ranty takes on the CCP’s 20th National Congress. A century since the March on Rome — and Italian fascism today. Former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain on how the UK government has failed Northern Ireland.

Culture

Survivor Na’ama Carlin on what’s missing from breast cancer awareness. A cracking piece by Amy McQuire on “missing” Indigenous women and the disgusting myth of “silence” about Indigenous violence. Policing as a horror movie — or TV show: what happens when you start reading racist policing through the tropes of the horror film, by a veteran of the US drug wars.

Finally

Speaking of horror films, and with Halloween just gone, the best horror films are silent. Well, except for The Thing, obviously, which is the greatest horror film ever. Did you know that the dog at the start of The Thing (for the two people who haven’t seen it, I’ll say no more) was called Jed and also starred in White Fang with a young Ethan Hawke, and The Journey of Natty Gann? Bonus dog content: how was your commute? One of the few disappointing things about greyhounds is they lack the traditional canine passion for a good stick. Other dogs, but…