Category: USA

Curiositys, Freak U.S.A, Future, USA, WarLeave a comment

Most Americans Believe US Will Be in World War Within Next Decade

Fernando Kaskais

by Kyle Anzalone – Mar 2024 The majority of Americans believe it is likely that the US will be involved in a world war during the coming decade. Under President Joe Biden, the US is preparing for great power wars with Russia and China, engaged in multiple Middle East conflicts, and posturing for a confrontation with Iran and North Korea.  According to a new YouGov poll, 61% of Americans responded that it is very or somewhat likely that a world war would break out in the next five to ten years. About two-thirds of people responding to the poll said they believe the war will … Continue reading Most Americans Believe US Will Be in World War Within Next Decade

Islam, Politics, Russia, Terrorism, USALeave a comment

Moscow attack proves Russia — and US — have lost sight of priorities

Fernando Kaskais

People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims of a shooting attack set up outside the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the Moscow Region, Russia, March 24, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov We both have the same enemies but spend most of the time ignoring that fact By ANATOL LIEVEN The Islamic State terrorist attack in Moscow is the starkest possible reminder that despite the war in Ukraine, Russia and the West also still have some of the same enemies. What the terrorists — ISIS-K, an Afghanistan offshoot of IS, took responsibility — did in Moscow, they have done … Continue reading Moscow attack proves Russia — and US — have lost sight of priorities

Freak U.S.A, Military, Politics, Technology, USA, WarLeave a comment

VC/DC: Silicon Valley wants its cut of US military spending

Fernando Kaskais

studiostoks/ Shutterstock It’s official — the Pentagon is (sort of) becoming a bank By NICK CLEVELAND-STOUT It’s official — the Pentagon is becoming a bank. Well, sort of. At a March 8th event on dual-use technology at SXSW in Austin, Texas, director of the Office of Strategic Capital Jason Rathje announced that his team has officially received the internal authority to grant executive loans and loan guarantees, a first within the Pentagon. The Office of Strategic Capital, or OSC, was created in response to growing concern over China’s investment in next-generation technology. According to its investment strategy, released Friday, March 8th, the OSC will invest … Continue reading VC/DC: Silicon Valley wants its cut of US military spending

Military, Politics, Technology, USA, WarLeave a comment

America’s Secret Hypersonic Weapon Is About to Stun the Pacific

Fernando Kaskais

Giancarlo Casem A momentous test on the horizon could redefine aerial warfare. BY KYLE MIZOKAMI A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber was photographed last week on Guam with an interesting sidekick: a live AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). The bomber is believed to be involved in a secret final test of the weapon that may even have already taken place. The ARRW was one of several Mach 5+ weapon systems pursued by the Pentagon, and although recently canceled, the Department of Defense is finishing testing anyway to grab whatever data it can on the performance of so-called hypersonic weapons. Indications that a … Continue reading America’s Secret Hypersonic Weapon Is About to Stun the Pacific

China, History, Philosophy, Politics, USA, WarLeave a comment

The Modern Wisdom Of Daoist History

Fernando Kaskais

Daniel Martin Diaz for Noema Magazine A Daoist perspective of history imparts a sense of humility on social actors as their power rises and encourages them to avoid the hubris of thinking that historical transformations are driven by some moral rationale. BY DINGXIN ZHAO – is a professor in the department of sociology at Zhejiang University and Max Palevsky professor emeritus at the University of Chicago. During a reading project I undertook to better understand the “third wave of democracy” — the remarkable and rapid rise of democracies in Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa in the 1970s and 80s — … Continue reading The Modern Wisdom Of Daoist History

Activism, Big Banks, Money, Politics, USALeave a comment

Banks For The People

Fernando Kaskais

Ingo Pohl A movement is growing in the U.S. that seeks alternatives to traditional banks, replacing their total focus on profit with a devotion to community and justice. BY PIPER FRENCH – Piper French is an independent writer based in Los Angeles. Gregory Jost noticed the first two bank branches close in the Bronx about six months before the pandemic. They were right next to each other: a Chase and a Bank of America, about three blocks from his son’s school in Norwood, and one day, he walked by and saw they were gone. When COVID hit, the trend accelerated. “We … Continue reading Banks For The People

Curiositys, History, Media&Culture, USALeave a comment

Finding the First Americans

Fernando Kaskais

Footprints dated to 23,000-21,000 years ago at the White Sands National Park, New Mexico. All images courtesy Matthew Bennett/Bournemouth University Archaeology and genetics can’t yet agree on when humans first arrived in the Americas. That’s good science and here’s why Jennifer Raff is associate professor in anthropology and affiliate faculty member in the Indigenous Studies Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas. She is the author of Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas (2022). The debate over how people first arrived in the Western Hemisphere continues to roil archaeology in the United States – and … Continue reading Finding the First Americans

Curiositys, Media&Culture, Psychology, USALeave a comment

WHAT KIND OF MAN WAS ANTHONY BOURDAIN?

Fernando Kaskais

He was so damaged, and yet he showed us so much of the world. By Ben Rhodes “Travel isn’t always pretty,” Anthony Bourdain once said, wrapping up an episode of one of his shows in his distinct staccato voice-over. “It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts; it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you.” Over his 15 or so years on television, Bourdain took Americans to places they were unlikely to go and introduced them to people they were unlikely to meet. At his best, he stripped away the filters that a superpower imposes on the world—good and … Continue reading WHAT KIND OF MAN WAS ANTHONY BOURDAIN?

Curiositys, Freak U.S.A, Living, Media&Culture, USALeave a comment

Why Do Americans Own More Guns Per Capita Than Anyone Else?

Fernando Kaskais

Why do Americans own more guns per capita than anyone else? BY BRIAN GALLAGHER One question for Jennifer Carlson, a 2022 MacArthur Grant-winning sociologist at the University of Arizona and author of the forthcoming book Merchants of the Right: Gun Sellers and the Crisis of American Democracy. The legal structure makes it possible. The social structure makes it urgent. If you talk to people who own and carry guns, their number one reason for doing so is for self protection. This is really clear if you walk into a gun store and start talking to people. It’s very clear from the survey … Continue reading Why Do Americans Own More Guns Per Capita Than Anyone Else?

China, Globalization, Politics, USALeave a comment

The Clash Of Two Gilded Ages

Fernando Kaskais

Despite their great-power rivalry, America and China are more similar than most people think. Both are living through a Gilded Age and struggling to end the excesses of capitalism. BY YUEN YUEN ANG Yuen Yuen Ang is a professor of politics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 2021 she is named by Apolitical as one of the 100 Most Influential Academics in Government. Ang is also the inaugural recipient of the Theda Skocpol Prize, awarded by the American Political Science Association, for “impactful contributions.” Yet for all the advances in material and cultural life, there remained a feeling that … Continue reading The Clash Of Two Gilded Ages