The epithet ‘useful idiot’ has often been attributed to Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik revolution of 19171, but there is no indication that any of Lenin’s works contain the epithet….
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Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob adores as the interpreters of nature and the gods. For these men know that, once ignorance is put aside, that wonderment would be taken away, which is the only means by which their authority is preserved.
Parque Nacional Yasuní (PNY) is a national park in the far east of Ecuador and occupies an area of just over 9,800 square kilometres. The park lies within the Napo…
Over the last little while I had to deal with an American cooker who was completely lacking in any understanding of science, let alone any dealing with Covid-191. Not long…
As I explained in an earlier post, my partner and I have both had Covid-19 after three and a half years of avoiding catching it1. While we were both very…
You see, if somebody robs a store, it's a crime and the state is all set and ready to nab the criminal. But if somebody steals from the commons and from the future, it's seen as an entrepreneurial activity and the state cheers and gives them tax concessions rather than arresting them. We badly need an expanded concept of justice and fairness that takes mortgaging the future into account. [The Real World of Technology, CBC Enterprises, 1990. https://monoskop.org/images/5/58/Franklin_Ursula_The_Real_World_of_Technology_1990.pdf]
There have been numerous documented cases of money paid to local government councillors by people like property developers who are looking to make a load of cash based on alterations…
I used to be part of this dilettante conservative intellectual class until I realized that while my colleagues and I fashioned ourselves as thought leaders for the right, we were really just puppets for decrepit, out-of-touch oligarchs. Republican billionaires created the hellish state of our current politics. Some of them, like Elon Musk or Peter Thiel, are outright fascists who want to create dictatorship. Some are Christian supremacist theocrats. But many are just delusional rich kids.
When a cell doubles and redoubles, sequestering nutrients and resources, unchecked and uncontrolled, to the detriment of the surrounding tissue and eventually the entire body, we call it 'cancer'. When a person sequesters wealth and resources, land and corporations, drunk on power, unchecked and uncontrolled, to the detriment of others and eventually to society, we call them 'billionaires'. Greed is a disease.
Women’s Forum Australia (WFA) is a group who has been leading the push to have the book Welcome to Sex at least withdrawn from bookshops in Australia, if not banned…