There is one political problem from which all others follow. It is the major cause of Donald Trump, of Nigel Farage, of the shocking weakness of their opponents, of the polarisation tearing societies apart, of the devastation of the living world. It is simply stated: the extreme wealth of a small number of people.
It can also be quantified. The World Inequality Report (WIR) 2026 shows that about 56,000 people – 0.001% of the global population – corral three times more wealth than the poorest half of humanity. They afflict almost every country. In the UK, for example, 50 families hold more wealth than 50% of the population combined. https://www.theguardian.com/
One day during his first term, Donald Trump summoned a top aide to discuss a new idea. “Trump called me down to the Oval Office,” John Bolton, national security adviser in 2018, told the Guardian. “He said a prominent businessman had just suggested the US buy Greenland. https://www.theguardian.com/
The first domino to fall is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization itself. NATO is built on the sacred promise of Article 5, that an attack on one is an attack on all. If the U.S. attacks Denmark, we are not just breaking the treaty; we are triggering it against ourselves. NATO dissolves instantly. The alliance that kept the peace in Europe for 75 years evaporates, leaving the continent to rearm and realign against the new aggressor across the Atlantic. We don't just lose an ally; we create a unified enemy.
The essence of tyranny is the imposition of one man’s will on an entire polity — with no checks, balances, or even reasons cited to back him up. It is, to coin a phrase, a triumph of will. In fact, you could argue that a tyrant aims for exactly such a demonstrable act of pure solipsism as soon as he can pull it off — against all elite and popular opinion and common sense — because it proves by its very arbitrary irrationality that only he matters.
That’s why President Trump’s threat to the sovereignty of a NATO ally, Denmark, is a red line. No one — neither Greenlanders nor Americans — wants what is an insane idea. No one needs it. No reason can be given for it. And yet Trump keeps insisting, like a mafia boss, that he will take it. He must be stopped. https://andrewsullivan.
The U.S. political system is currently experiencing previously unimaginable levels of partisan and ideological polarization. And at the same time, public disaffiliation with both major parties is reaching historic highs. Gallup has been conducting large-sample polls of partisan self-identification since the 1980s and now reports that a record 45 percent of Americans consider themselves political independents. Self-identified Democrats and Republicans each represent a dismal 27 percent. https://nymag.com/
You can ignore Trump slyly hinting to the Lord’s chosen that he just might call off the next election.
“Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.”
But don’t ignore this: Trump won’t be calling off the election because he doesn’t have to. The Fix for 26 is already in.
The Republican plan is to win next year’s election this year. Yes, the voting will be bent, jacked and hammered this year, 2025, one year before the official voting. Because this is the year of The Great Purge.
As 2024 ended and Donald Trump’s cabinet picks were rolled out, commentators scrambled to decide which one was the worst. Was it Matt Gaetz for attorney general? Or Pete Hegseth, for secretary of defense? Or maybe Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services?
Soon after, the White House crowed that Trump had assembled “the greatest cabinet of all time”.
Gaetz didn’t even make it to a confirmation hearing. But the others did, most narrowly squeaking through on party-line votes.
The result was what commentators labelled a “clown car cabinet”. Others pointed out the utter absurdity of the president’s choices. https://www.theguardian.com/
Hunched forward, gripping the podium, mouth-breathing, and visibly struggling to get enough air to push out the words. His skin was greasy with uneven patches of orange, his voice was weak, and his sentences rambled and veered off course. He read words when expected, got a laugh on cue, and then, mid-celebration of a national sports team, started ranting about oil. It was incoherent and disjointed, and the crowd around him just kept clapping like everything was fine. This was the President of the United States earlier today when he hosted the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers at the White House. And if you watched the footage, you saw all of this too.
Yes, they caught the guy, after decades. I hope I’m not ruining it for you, but why would they make this entire doc if there was no conclusion, no satisfaction? Then again, that’s one of the reasons I’ve steered away from recent true crime documentaries, they too often leave you hanging.
But not this one.
Long Island. You’ve got to know, if you live in Connecticut, you look down on Long Island (as well as New Jersey!) Long Island makes no sense, to get anywhere you first have to drive through New York City. And it’s flat and overpopulated and… https://lefsetz.com/
It’s very rare for a fourquel to be the best film in a franchise, but that’s how things stand with the chequered 28 Days Later series. In this one, which follows immediately on from the previous episode, 28 Years Later, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell bring pure death-metal craziness. There is real energy and drama in this latest iteration of the post-apocalyptic zombie horror-thriller saga, created by director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland back in 2003, with Nia DaCosta taking over directing duties for this film. Fiennes’s dance to Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast is basically one of the most extraordinary moments of his career. At the screening I attended, we were on our feet, looking for a speaker bin to headbang into. The band surely has to rerelease this track with Fiennes’s performance as a new official video. His Voldemort was never so freaky.
Many dramas – especially good ones – don’t become major hits overnight. Think of the likes of Game of Thrones or Succession, which needed time to warm up, and some jaw-dropper episodes (namely the Red Wedding and Kendall bumping off a waiter, respectively) to really get going. Industry is one such show – the slow-burn HBO/BBC series that firmly hit its stride in season three. Good news: season four is even better, truly top-tier television that’s surely destined for end-of-year lists, a serious feat when we’re barely a week into January.
The Game of Thrones franchise has fruited again, like an abundant oak. Where’s left to go? A startling opening, in which a lumbering oaf takes a dump behind a tree, gives us a clue. Chronologically, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Monday 19 January, 9pm, Sky Atlantic) sits between the juggernaut original and its courtly prequel, House of the Dragon. Tonally, it’s in a world of its own.
That oaf eventually gets a name: Dunk. Contrary to expectation, Dunk is a knight. Specifically, a “hedge knight”, a lower-status category whose kind cannot afford their keep and must sleep under trees. “Any knight can make a knight” we are reminded, by simply dubbing them. This lack of gatekeeping has resulted in a class system in which highborn valiants scorn their ignoble brethren. They are knights in name only, and only just. Of course, there’s nothing just about this. https://www.theguardian.com/
1. Patient refused autopsy.
2. Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.
3. Patient has waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
4. On the second day, the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
5. She is numb from her toes down.
6. Patient’s medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40-pound weight gain the in the past three days.
7. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
8. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.
9. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
10. Patient has no previous history of suicides.
11. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
Today's police joke
Today's little girl joke"Hello?"
If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.The game of golf is 90% mental and 10% mental.Since bad shots come in groups of three, a fourth bad shot is actually the beginning of the next group of three.When you look up, causing an awful shot, you will always look down again at exactly the moment when you ought to start watching the ball if you ever want to see it again.Any change works for a maximum of three holes . . . or at a minimum of not at all.No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse.Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls.If you're afraid a full shot might reach the green while the foursome ahead of you is still putting out, you have two options: you can immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball halfway there.The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about the golf swing.The inevitable result of any golf lesson is the instant elimination of the one critical unconscious motion that allowed you to compensate for all of your many other errors.If it ain't broke, try changing your grip.Golfers who claim they don't cheat also lie.Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot.A golf match is a test of your skill against your opponent's luck.It is surprisingly easy to hole a fifty foot putt ......for an 8.Counting on your opponent to inform you when he breaks a rule is like expecting him to make fun of his own haircut.Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.It's not a gimme if you're still away.The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree.There are two kinds of bounces; unfair bounces and bounces just the way you meant to play it.You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two-inch branch 90% of the time.Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.If you want to hit a 7 iron as far as Tiger Woods does, simply try to lay up just short of a water hazard.To calculate the speed of a players downswing, multiply the speed of his backswing by his handicap; i.e. backswing 20mph, handicap 15, downswing = 600mph.There are two things you can learn by stopping your backswing at the top and checking the position of your hands: how many hands you have, and which one in wearing the glove.Hazards attract, fairways repel.You can put "draw" on the ball, you can put "fade" on the ball, but no golfer can put "straight" on the ball.A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours.If there is a ball in the fringe and a ball in the bunker, your ball is in the bunker. If both balls are in the bunker, yours is in the footprint.Don't buy a putter until you've had a chance to throw it.
