“I have studied scaremongering and the culture of fear for almost three decades. It’s clear to me that the current AI doomsday narrative recycles several older panics simultaneously. Just as with the invention of the nuclear bomb, humanity feared an invention it could not control. When computers and the internet were created, we feared technological displacement. And there is the older philosophical fear that humanity’s own intelligence could be the source of its undoing. Each time, a rational assessment of the potential risks is shoved aside in favour of a narrative of an impending apocalypse. Yet when it comes to AI, I have found the evolution of this carefully staged exercise in scaremongering different in some respects.” (09/15/26)
“On the right, the postliberal right or ‘beefsteak socialists’ (brownish on the outside, red on the inside) propose to use tariffs as devices for reorganizing industries, promoting civic virtues, and protecting workers from ‘globalists.’ … On the left, the Democratic Socialists of America are no longer a mere ragtag bunch of campus activists. They have great electoral visibility and competitiveness. … Normally, we could dismiss them all as cranks on the margin. However, the problem is that their views and policy proposals are frequently advanced in public.” (09/15/26)
“California should be the most fun place in America. Look at what we have. Beaches, lakes, mountains, parks, incredible weather, great food and music, and people from every part of the world. It should be almost impossible to make California boring. But the politicians and bureaucrats who run our state are doing their best! California was not built by killjoys. It became the world’s great magnet for artists, inventors, rebels and misfits because this was the place you came to create, experiment and live freely. Try doing something fun today. Want to put on a band at a small venue? You can end up dealing with separate rules for entertainment, dancing, sound, alcohol and zoning. Want to organize a block party? Get ready to deal with police, fire, health, public works and alcohol officials.” (09/15/26)
“This is the ordinary grammar of attribution in the sabotage era. A government states that its services and their partners have reached a judgement, allied governments affirm the judgement, the proof stays classified; and the citizen is invited to supply the trust that the missing evidence would otherwise earn. It may be that the classified material is overwhelming. It may be that it is thin. The structure is identical either way, which is precisely the problem. A public asked to accept an attribution on faith has no way to tell a strong case from a convenient one.” (09/15/26)
“In 1978-9, before the election of Margaret Thatcher, the top rate of UK income tax was 83%, and any income from investment was called ‘unearned income’ and had a 15% surcharge added, giving a top tax rate of 98%. At that time, the top 1% of taxpayers contributed 11% of income tax revenue, and the top 10% contributed 35%. Today the top rate of income tax is 45%. Now, using the most recently published data for the 2023-2024 tax year, the top 1% of taxpayers paid 28-29% of all income tax, and the top 10% of taxpayers paid 59-60% of all income tax. … When people talk of having rich pay their fair share, I imagine very few of them have any idea of what share ‘the rich’ are already paying. If the top 10% paying 60% of the total is not a fair share, perhaps we should ask them what figure they would consider fair?” (09/15/26)
“Across the country, a chilling shift is occurring. Political violence has become a twisted form of virtue signaling. Mahatma Gandhi is out and Luigi Mangione is in. For an increasing number of young people, nothing signals your values like a willingness to kill others for them. For decades, being nonviolent has been the touchstone for many on the left. Something is changing. On my campus and others around the country, students are rationalizing violence and even idolizing assassins. A recent Emerson College poll shows that 4 out of 10 voters between the ages of 18-29 (39%) view Mangione’s role in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as ‘acceptable’ or ‘somewhat acceptable’. Other polls show a troubling number of liberal voters consider political violence justified, including polls showing 40% of young people embracing political violence in some circumstances.” (09/15/26)
“Ever notice how leftists routinely rally around people and things that the general public simply has no interest in, seemingly in the hope of forcing whatever that person or thing is to become popular? It might work for a short while (think Labubu, the ugly creatures that look like a cross between a monkey and bad dentistry that blew up for a minute last year) but reality has a funny way of insisting on itself and trends fade. The same thing happens in politics, as Hollywood leftists love elevating people who could easily sell out a Beverly Hills fundraiser for millions of dollars, but could easily walk unrecognized through a mall anywhere else in the world.” (09/15/26)
“What are the implications for economics of recognizing entrepreneurship? They are vast. Modern/mainstream economics is, to a great extent, the outcome of expunging the entrepreneur and forcing an entrepreneurless, mechanistic view onto the economy. This facilitates the use of mathematical analysis and quantitative predictions, but these will always be wrong to the extent that there is entrepreneurship. In a sense, mainstream economics is the science of a planned or plannable economy. And the basic models even assume that there is perfect information.” (09/15/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Macklemore has been removed from the duration of a tour with Ed Sheeran for saying ‘Free Palestine’ and criticizing Israel’s genocidal atrocities in Gaza. In an eloquent statement posted on social media, Macklemore said he was told by Sheeran that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft had barred him from the Gillette Stadium and coordinated with other stadium owners on Sheeran’s tour to follow suit. Robert Kraft has a net worth of some $15 billion. He was once publicly handed a trophy by Benjamin Netanyahu honoring his commitment to the Zionist project …. Macklemore said Sheeran defended his decision to comply with Kraft’s demand by telling him that ‘the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people.’ Which really says a lot about the detached celebrity cloud that Sheeran has been living on.” (09/15/26)
