friendica.vrije-mens.org
The #US Is #no #longer the #arsenal of #democracy #China
...
"Old-fashioned metal bending is among America’s hollowed-out sectors. Measured by output dollar value, the three largest US manufacturing industries are chemicals; computer and electronic products; and food, beverage and tobacco products.
In shipbuilding, the US is a nonentity. According to the US Naval Institute, China has nearly 47% of the global market, South Korea is second with 29% and Japan is third with 17%. The U.S. has less than 1%.
It takes the US more than five years to build an aircraft carrier. Between 1943 and 1945, the US built 24 Essex class carriers, Symonds said. Granted, they were less sophisticated than today’s flattops. But the difference in volume is still striking.
[...]
For the first several decades after World War II, the United States championed free trade. Exporting sectors like agriculture benefited from it. ManyUrban C. Lehner (Asia Times)
#Sergey #Lavrov #Ukraine #Russia #US #NATO #EU #Western #hegemony
Photo: Russian MFA & RIA Novosti Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with the radio stations Sputnik, Govorit Moskva, and Komsomolskaya Pravda, Moscow, April 19, 2024 …International Affairs
#Blinken ’s #visit to #China meant to #shatter #Russian-Chinese #ties — #senior #Russian #diplomat #US #Russia #China
"I think that Beijing understands this perfectly well and will not even pretend being ready to reach any agreements with the Americans to the detriment of Russia’s interests," Sergey Ryabkov saidTASS
#Blinken arrives in #Shanghai with #little #optimism on #major #breakthrough due to #US ’ #mind-set #China
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday afternoon to begin the second official visit to China of his tenure.www.globaltimes.cn
Been thoroughly enjoying @HG101's “Arcade Cult Classics”❗
The coverage is fantastic. Blown away by how many of these I haven’t got around to playing.
The backlog grows 🎮
#VideoGame #VideoGames #Game #Gamer #Gaming #Arcade #Arcades #Book #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #HG101 #HardcoreGaming101 #SwordMaster #CastleOfDragon #AtomicRoboKid #Arcarea #BogeyManor #DynamiteDuke #CharlieNinja #SnowBros #Vandyke #Toki #TheWiz #Psychic5 #MutantNight #Momoko120 #KickleCubicle #Ganryu #KidNiki #Kyros
#Vijay #Prashad : #Elites #Afraid to #Talk About #Palestine #Gaza #Israel
The Western political class has used all tools at its disposal to support Israel’s genocide while criminalizing solidarity.consortiumnews.com
Setting aside the adolescent histrionics, this is a good look at how a business with a dominant position destroys itself from within.
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/
This is the story of how Google Search died, and the people responsible for killing it. The story begins on February 5th 2019, when Ben Gomes, Google’s head of search, had a problem.Edward Zitron (Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At)
In This #Dystopia #Opposing A #Genocide Is #Considered #Worse Than #Committing #One #Palestine #Gaza #Israel
That’s how crazy they need us to be to keep us supporting a globe-spanning empire that literally cannot exist without nonstop violence and tyranny.Caitlin Johnstone
HORRORS BOTH HUMAN AND SUPERNATURAL roll out with a relentless, breathtaking pace in this final installment of the Indian Lake Trilogy. As ever, Stephen Graham Jones’s deft characterization and vivid sense of place drive the chill deep. B PLUS
#book #Books #bookreview #bookreviews #fiction #novel #novels #horror #suspense
Torney, 39, due to face Shepparton magistrates court on Friday after woman found deadAdeshola Ore (The Guardian)
Israeli prime minister terms pro-ceasefire rallies ‘horrific’ as students demand universities divest from weapons makersGuardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
All were refused bail and due to appear in children’s court on Thursday on charges including possessing or controlling violent extremist materialMostafa Rachwani (The Guardian)
Some of anarchist Aaron Bushnell's final words in chalk outside of the occupation of an administration building at Humboldt State in #Arcata, #California.
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?
The answer is, you're doing it. Right now."
Suppressing the vote has been the goal of GOP leaders for decades. Their efforts are working:
Polling locations are supposed to be accessible to all voters -but ~1 in 5 polling locations is a church, -religious entities are exempt from the Disabilities Act. The prevalence of inaccessible polling places -alarming for disabled & aging ppl in states that have moved to quash mail-in voting—incl. OK & AK -churches make up >50% of voting locations.
#VotingRights #GOPSabotage https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/04/churches-polling-places-ada-inaccessible-disability-voting-rights/
In 2024, millions of people will vote at religious sites. What if you're disabled?Mother Jones
"The study also found a "striking similarity between how Mexican immigrants are framed today and how Chinese immigrants were framed during the era of Chinese exclusion in the late 19th century.""
NPR: In Florida, an exodus of people fleeing rising anti-immigrant sentiment
pretty common for protestors to win settlements years after major protests. It doesn't get any corporate news coverage.
"As Street Roots reported in April, policing 2020 racial justice protests led to unprecedented use of force and subsequent legal claims against PPB. As of March 23 [2023], the city already resolved 71 bodily injury claims linked to 2020 protests — with more in the pipeline — totaling more than $3 million. The figure includes both legal settlements and offers of judgment (payments resolving claims that aren’t technically settlements) in addition to legal fees incurred by the city itself. "
https://www.streetroots.org/news/2023/06/28/settlement-against-portland-police-millions
The city paid for 218 bodily injury and property damage claims against police since 2020www.streetroots.org
A reminder that back in 2022, the FCC could have tried to block Musk’s purchase of Twitter.
And Republican FCC commissioner Brandon Carr rejected calls for the FCC to act.
Twitter is now a rightwing cesspool, and Republicans want it that way. /1
The FCC did not have slam-dunk authority to act.
But one basis would be clear: foreign investment. Saudi and Qatari investment groups put in a ton of money. The FCC could have investigated — held a hearing, for ex — on those ties. /2
The Open Markets Institute advanced some legal theories.
Almost certainly the rightwing SCOTUS would have blocked action.
And the FCC was deadlocked, because the White House hung Gigi Sohn out to dry.
But that’s why we need FCC action. /4
Ditch the passive lawyer-brain approach “we’ve tried nothing to stop Musk and we are all out of ideas!!”
Fill the FCC with creative legal thinkers and reformers. /5
One way to fix our media is to fix our media regulator.
The FCC needs revitalization.
The next Democratic admin needs to take this on. /6
If we make it to another one — after we let two neofascist billionaires, Musk and John C Malone, take control of two important media outlets: Twitter, and CNN.
/end
The FCC has no authority here. Open Markets Institute might want it to, but no serious telecom lawyer believes the FCC has authority over online services.
OMI can claim Twitter is a "vital comms service" but the law makes it clear it's an information service that the FCC has no authority over.
And if OMI was right, Twitter could never block anything again that wasn't illegal.
I've been struggling with Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space for so many years... I don't know why, but I've never finished the first chapter. I don't know if it's the pace of the characters, and I do love the main theme (archaeology, space exploration, etc).
Corporate media doing their jobs as usual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0YOOYZl61k
May 2004 - "Fuck The Corporate Media" analyzes the tactics, both subtle and blatant, employed by the corporate media to control your mind. This video covers ...YouTube
