Source: Common Dreams
“Government aggression and the rise of Big Tech are threatening the rules-based international order and global human rights, Amnesty International warned in its annual State of the World’s Human Rights report, released Wednesday. The organization expressed particular alarm over Israel’s war on Gaza and the inability or unwillingness of its allies to rein in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from bombing civilian populations, displacing more than 1.9 million people, and restricting the flow of aid into the besieged Gaza Strip. This and other conflicts, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had led to ‘a near breakdown of international law,’ Amnesty said.” (04/24/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2023-near-breakdown-international-law
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Robin Hanson of Overcoming Bias more or less believes medicine doesn’t work. This is a strong claim. It would be easy to round Hanson’s position off to something weaker, like ‘extra health care isn’t valuable on the margin.’ This is how most people interpret the studies he cites. Still, I think his current, actual position is that medicine doesn’t work …. His argument: there have been three big experimental studies of what happens when people get free (or cut-price) health care: RAND, Oregon, and Karnataka. All three (according to him) find that people use more medicine, but don’t get any healthier. Therefore, medicine doesn’t work. If it looks like medicine works, it’s a combination of anecdotal reasoning, biased studies, and giving medicine credit for the positive effects of other good things (better nutrition, sanitation, etc).” (04/24/24)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/contra-hanson-on-medical-effectiveness
Source: Common Dreams
by Mimi Kennedy
“The inability of U.S. citizens, even a majority, to influence our country’s policies of war and peace in a rapid and effective way has long been obvious to many. Our support for Israel’s war in Gaza has made it painfully obvious, and now perilous. The U.S. stands before the world as an accomplice to Israel’s flagrant violation of international law in Gaza. Yet Congress continues to pass aid because so many of our legislators (and their constituents and donors) cannot turn their backs on our ally, for valid reasons of historical memory and conscience. So it is time to create an escrow account for further aid to Israel. With such an account we can still show support for our ally. But the aid will not be released until the U.N. certifies that Israel is in compliance with international law regarding the treatment of civilians in Gaza.” (04/24/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/escrow-account-for-israeli-aid
Source: Pioneer Institute
“Hoover at Stanford’s Stephen Kotkin on Stalin’s Tyranny, WWII, & the Cold War.” (04/24/24)
https://pioneerinstitute.org/featured/hoover-at-stanfords-stephen-kotkin-on-stalins-tyranny-wwii-the-cold-war/
Source: Palm Beach Examiner
by Karl Dickey
“This amendment would enshrine the right to hunt and fish into Florida’s Constitution, in addition to existing Florida statutes dealing with hunting and fishing in the state. The proposed amendment looks to preserve forever fishing and hunting, including by the use of traditional methods, as a public right and preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife. … Personally, as I wrote regarding Amendment 1, I will be voting against Amendment 2 as it has multiple potential for unintended consequences, especially when it comes to one’s property rights in the state. It is yet another government-generated proposal looking for a solution to a problem that does not exist; we have effective laws on the books already regarding hunting and fishing.” (04/24/24)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/floridas-amendment-2-fishing-and
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“TikTok says it will challenge in court an ‘unconstitutional’ law that could result in it being sold or banned in the United States. President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to divest the app or it will be blocked in the US. The law has been introduced because of concerns TikTok might share user data with the Chinese government – claims it has always denied. ‘We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts,’ said TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew. ‘The facts, and the Constitution, are on our side.'” (04/24/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87zp82247yo
Source: Law & Liberty
by Andrew Beck
“In the modern context, ‘aristocracy’ is believed to be those possessing the earmarks of inherited wealth, unearned social privilege, and personal vanity. Classically understood however, aristocracy is simply ‘the rule of the excellent’ (from the Greek aristo or ‘excellence,’ and kratos or ‘rule’), where according to Plato, governance is entrusted to individuals deemed to be of superior virtue, wisdom, and merit. Noticeably absent from Plato’s qualifications is property and material possessions, or reputation, i.e. ‘honor.’ While the Greeks believed that inherent traits of strength and intelligence qualified one as an aristocrat, the Romans required more suitable measurements.” (04/24/24)
https://lawliberty.org/forum/american-aristocracy/
Source: United Press International
“Germany said it plans to resume funding the United Nations Release Agency for Palestinian Refugees after joining more than a dozen other countries in suspending support amid allegations that employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a joint statement announcing that the country would ‘shortly resume its cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza’ following the release of a U.N.-commissioned report that found Israel did not offer enough evidence to support the claims.” (04/24/24)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/04/24/Germany-UNRWA-restart-funding-Israel-Hamas/5521713971141/
Source: Hoover Institution
“Russian Economic History — A Conversation With Sergei Guriev.” (04/24/24)
https://www.hoover.org/research/russian-economic-history-conversation-sergei-guriev
Source: CounterPunch
by Nick Licata
“The breakthrough technologies of the printing press and data digitization allow the masses to access information. That flood of new information crumbled the legitimacy of the established political orders. Will great powers fall again due to the greater information flow in the new digital media era? Over 500 years have separated the invention of the Guttenberg Press and the creation of digital data. Each begat substantial social and political upheavals. Those changes could come sooner since the speed and breadth of the digital era’s impact dwarfs that of the printing press.” (04/24/24)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/24/the-digital-era-will-prompt-revolutions-as-did-the-print-era/
