Category Archives: New Utopia

Way back in June, something crystallized for me as we covered the Colombian elections: Tech alone is never enough. Candidate Rodolfo Hernndez bet everything on an innovative system of social media campaigning; it got him past the first round, but he got crushed in the second. There are many factors behind his loss, but I am still astounded that the man would not go out and press the flesh shake hands, kiss babies or whatever politicians do as they knock on doors. The same is true of companies that have prioritized tech over the human touch.

Ever since, Ive been slightly obsessed with solutions that shun tech or rather, the standard practices associated with the industry over the past decade. Practices that go from cringeworthy, company-sinking gimmicks to the received wisdom of tech bros and VCs that some of the worlds greatest startups have ignored, and thrived without.

Start with the tech ecosystems received knowledge.

In 2019, a panel of Latin American fintech gurus, there to extol the virtues of all-digital finance, sat alongside a top official from the Bank of Mexico. The fintech mantra of cash is the competition was already beginning to get clichd, so the panel and audience were duly unsettled when the official argued that his priority was to facilitate the installation of ATMs in the more rural parts of the country. To be openly supporting the continuation and shock expansion of cash solutions was seen as a step away from the digitalized utopia that fintech fans had in mind.

Years later, adoption of fintech solutions, payment options, and digital banking has been spotty at best (including the Mexican governments own digital payments solution, CoDi). I hope those cash points were actually installed in those remote towns in the meantime.

I always harken back to this story because it so clearly illustrates the obsession with the high-level ideology of capital-f Fintech, which gets in the way of entrepreneurs pondering what people actually want or need.

The issue can be solved by going out and talking to the people youre meant to be serving in person. Unfortunately, the Latin American tech bubble is a pretty closed affair, so I worry when its members use language like democratize or revolutionize, since it often reveals companies and investors who are more interested in speaking to their in-crowd than their customers.

This obsession with in-group approval can lead down some dark roads. The most infamous case in Latin America was that of disgraced Mexican edtech startup, Yogome, whose founder was accused of inflating user numbers to entice further investments, but less catastrophic examples also abound. A closed-off tech community also results in the gimmick-loving herd mentality that gave us the rise and fall of dozens of scooter companies that, ultimately, made little economic sense.

Meanwhile, people dissatisfied with gimmicky tech offerings have started to skip over slick revolutionary new apps for tried-and-tested digital services. Community-led solutions like Venezuelan WhatsApp-run taxis and neighborhood last-mile delivery group chats in Mexico have sprung up across the region, each being eyed lustfully by entrepreneurs keen on turning them into monetizable products. Some, like Brazils neighborhood produce-delivery service, have succeeded at this, but only after others did the hard bit: building up a community of real people and thoroughly testing the product on the ground.

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Ditching tech is the new tech fad - Rest of World

Martin Scorsese onstage at the this years New York Film Festival

Wake up, babe: new Martin Scorsese hot take just dropped. The notorious Marvel-hater strayed dangerously close to reigniting 2019's biggest and dumbest Hollywood controversy on Wednesday night by taking on the thing superhero fans love most: spending a ton of money at the box office to see movies about superheroes.

The New York, New York director took a moment to praise cinema-with-a-capital-C from the very heart of it: the stage at the New York Film Festival, which he lauded as a rare, award-free utopia where you just have to love cinema.

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Cinema is devalued, demeaned, belittled from all sides, not necessarily the business side but certainly the art, he said while introducing his new David Johansen documentary, Personality Crisis: One Night Only (via IndieWire).

He continued:

Since the 80s, theres been a focus on numbers. Its kind of repulsive. The cost of a movie is one thing. Understand that a film costs a certain amount, they expect to at least get the amount back, plus, again. The emphasis is now on numbers, cost, the opening weekend, how much it made in the U.S.A., how much it made in England, how much it made in Asia, how much it made in the entire world, how many viewers it got... As a filmmaker, and as a person who cant imagine life without cinema, I always find it really insulting.

So, what is Scorsese doing with all that time hes spending not focusing on the numbers (other than searching for a new director and star for the Hulu adaptation of The Devil In The White City that hesproducing)? Perhaps rewatching Ti Wests Pearl, which in his eyes represents a pure, undiluted love for cinema. Soon, we may have to add a new metric to our /film/... excuse us, cinema rating scale: does Martin Scorsese approve? Audiences have to know!

You can watch Scorseses full NYFF speech below:

See the original post here:

Martin Scorsese feels that box office obsession is "insulting" to cinema - Yahoo Entertainment

Welcome, X-Fans, to the 175th edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!

How do you recognize 175 installments of X-Men Monday and celebrate this marvelous mutant milestone? You do a special edition of X Me Anything and see what X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White and the rest of the X-Office have to say!

So grab a snack or beverage of choice and get comfortable next stop

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: Welcome to X-Men Monday #175, everybody! Lets kick off this special anniversary edition with an introspective question from X-Fan Scott Redmond, who said with A.X.E.: Judgment Day almost complete and some titles already wrapped, there are for sure some changes in store for the X-line as a whole. While status quo changes in comics can often fade or change quickly, to what do you attribute the longevity of the House of X/Powers of X/Krakoan status quo, which is still going strong over three years later?

Kieron Gillen: Weve decided as a group to not move on from the status quo until I can reliably spell Arakiii correctly.

Jordan D. White: It is taking everything in my power to not correct that spelling. Deep breaths.

Kieron: Really, as a latecomer, I was watching it from the outside for the majority of it, and it does what any status quo should do give a lot of unique possibilities made possible by it. As there were so many, its not a surprise that one wants to explore them. On a personal level, I admire the set-ups ability to have people who actively hate each other forced to be in the same room, so they can do scenes together. Thats golden.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Jordan: Yeah I think its a really successful status quo in every sense in that audiences have really responded to it and also the creators really feel like the stories theyve been able to tell in this status are working out well. The other thing to think of is to ask what counts as a status quo I know some would argue that the X-Men Disassembled status quo and the Blue & Gold status quo and the Extraordinary status quo and the New X-Men and Jean Grey School and Utopia and O*N*E overseers that all those are different status quos. And I can understand why but from another point of view, I think everything after Decimation was all so affected by that that to me those are all phases of one long status quo that we only moved out of by making the seismic shift of House of X.

So I think there is a question to be asked about what actually defines this era. Is it that there are a lot of plants around? Is it the gates? Is it the island? Is it resurrection? Or is it more about how the mutants position themselves in the world and their attitudes towards what theyve been through? I think only time can tell.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Si Spurrier: One of the really genius aspects of this eras setup is that it exponentially broadens the scope of the metaphors we can play with. Mutantism has been used over the years to speak to a whole gamut of profoundly important social issues: race, sexuality, gender, class, mental health, and so on. Incredible and moving stories that dont preach, but do punch.

Sidenote: The keep politics out of comics! crowd have not been paying attention for [checks notes] 60 freaking years. In the Krakoan era, those possibilities are still very much on the table they always will be, so long as there are fascinating mutant characters doing fascinating things. But now we also have access to a far grander and more abstract canon of metaphors. Now we can speak to civilizations, cultures, polities, policies, faiths, and fates. Its an extraordinarily clever widening of the micro to the macro.

Al Ewing: Theres a richness of potential to Krakoa. The fact that so many stories have burst forth from the concept, blasting off in so many different directions, really speaks to how much bigger the horizons are now and really, it was just tweaking the dial marked mutants survive and thrive up a couple of notches. That alone sparked so much, in-world and out of it. At the time House of X and Powers of X hit, I remember doing some to-camera for marketing, talking about how this was the dawn of a new era of the X-Men and it really was. I dont believe the genies weve unleashed will go meekly back to their bottles.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: They better not! Now, X-Fan Robert Furey said X-Men is often described as a never-ending soap opera, and sometimes storylines last for years before coming to a definitive conclusion, if at all. As writers and editors, what are some of the challenges of both creating stories without an ending and managing characters who have so much history?

Steve Orlando: I think the key is that while the story doesnt end, the characters and their arcs can still reach satisfying resolutions again and again. Kate Prydes story may never be OVER, but the core of her character tells us what types of situations challenge, and thus teach her. Thats where arcs can be drawn from, where characters can struggle, overcome, learn, change, and sacrifice to come out the other side a little different just like us in our own lives! And just like life is always challenging us as we think weve got it all figured out, the next character, or concept, to challenge your cast is always on the horizon. The story of the X-Men may never definitively end, but its characters are constantly evolving and changing theyre not who they were 60 years ago when they debuted.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Kieron: Everything above is true, but I actually dont try to think about it too much almost the opposite. I just do a story with a start, beginning, and end, and leave the before and after to other people. As I hope Immortal X-Men shows, I take character history seriously, but I view that as actually a historical record Im using to develop a character. I tell a meaningful, closed story with them, and then get out. This is part of my aesthetic, but also part of how I try to make my stories accessible. If Immortal is the only X-story you ever read, I want you to be cared for. I want everything else to be additive.

Gerry Duggan: The Marvel Universe may never end, but our orbits through these books are finite. Since Deadpool, Ive been pitching stories that have beginnings, middles, and ends. Its very sweet to write and end, and not everyone in comics gets to enjoy getting to that finish line. Well be privileged to get to our end someday.

Victor LaValle: In the case of my very specific little sandbox, I found Sabretooths history (and that of many of the other mutants who ended up in the Pit) to be a treasure chest of intriguing, exasperating, and inspirational choices by the writers who came before me. Its amazing, in fact, to imagine that any of these lives have as many twists and turns, highs and lows as they do. Its freeing as well though because, in the end, youre just adding to that long history, to be enjoyed and forgotten, like all life is eventually.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Jordan: Yeah exactly. Its really interesting how comics as a medium has changed. Its gone from something that was undeniably thought of as a disposable medium by everyone involved to a huge part of culture whose beginnings are lovingly restored and put out in gorgeous high-end hardcovers. I doubt anyone involved in creating X-Men #1 in 1963 thought we would still be reading about the concept of the X-Men 60 years later, let alone still reading and republishing that specific issue. So now, here we are with 60 years of history and its all we can do to make the best stories we can possibly make and hope that they resonate in that long tradition of the series and that someone will be excited to reference it in the future the way were excited to refer back to the rich past weve loved.

AIPT: These answers have been so thoughtful so far time to get silly. X-Fan Chuck wanted to know, X-writers: Whats the funniest editorial note youve received about your X-work you can talk about at this time?

Steve: We did discuss the right color for Somnuss underwear in the broken baths for a while in Marauders Annual #1

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Kieron: The early teething experiences with Nick Lowe in my first time in the X-Office were a joy. BRITISHISM ALERT! just splattered all over the document whenever I let my stiff upper lip show. My favorite is when I had to spend time finding pictures of a rockery to mail him so he could tell me what the U.S. word for it is (rock garden).

The most embarrassing was my second script, which was a Sabertooth story, which I had entitled SABERWULF. Kieron, asks Nick, Is there a reason why its called Saberwulf? To which I had to answer No.

Also the time that I spelled Hepzibah as Hezbollah. That may have been an autocorrect though. I hope it was.

In short, my brain is rubbish. Its lucky Ive got blackmail information on all the editors, or Id be in trouble.

Al: Im drawing a blank on getting notes that arent Britishisms, but I did fail to give an editorial note at the right moment and thats why Nova is wearing a shirt in X-Men Red. My original intention was to have him topless except for the jacket. (In a different world where I was slightly more on the ball than I am, hed be getting a lot of beefcake shots and the X-fandom would like him more as a result.)

Leah Williams:

Courtesy of Leah Williams

Jordan: I cannot believe we are showing this.

Gerry: I read the question and couldnt see this yet, but thought to myself, if Leah didnt chime in on this, I should go rally her. Perfect. I recall one of my first emails from Tom Brevoort way back when I was on Deadpool was very short and simple: We will not humiliate Kang in this way and I cant even remember what it was we asked to do. Its been a decade since Marvel Now. Woof.

Tini Howard: It was the phone call where Jordan had to explain to me that the very cool name Id given to a recent character was also the name of an adult performer, for sure. I had no idea! Just two cool names put together! Zeitgeist, I guess.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Victor: In the first issue of Sabretooth, when he ruled his own personal Hell, I remember we had to throw some shadows over a few of the X-Mens torn limbs. A little too much bone and sinew was showing.

Si: Most of mine are to do with trying to sneak curse words into print, because Im extremely grown up and not at all immature. There was an issue recently where Banshee says feck a whole lot. It was quite fun watching Jordans margin-notes go from I dont think we can say this to again, no to eventually just a bunch of unhappy emojis.

Jordan: When we discussed it later and Si was surprised because feck was so much more of a problem to Americans, I told him to us it just sounds like saying f--k with an accent. To which he replied that was fair because thats what it is.

Si: I did once get an email that just said SI, STOP TRYING TO USE GRAWLIX SO THEY LOOK LIKE RUDE WORDS. I cant even remember which @$$#0! sent that.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: Amazing. OK, were several months into Destiny of X X-Fan Rasputin IV Fan Ben wanted to know how its decided to change from one Krakoan era to another. For example, from Reign of X to Destiny of X.

Jordan: So far, its been when a big X-story happens and shifts things in the world. We had House of X/Powers of X start things, then we kicked off Dawn of X. That ended when X of Swords broke out and youll notice that XOS is not in either the Dawn or Reign trades, it exists between them. Then Reign of X runs until both Inferno and X Lives/Deaths of Wolverine, which again are collected separately. Then we pick up with Destiny of X and where that will end remains to be shown.

Gerry: Tho we did announce Fall of X at NYCC or did I hallucinate that?

Al: We find ourselves in fall, Gerry. And I fear winter.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: X-Fan Minnie said the X-Office has been really great with connectivity across the line and finding ways to use all of Krakoa across X-series. What is your favorite concept or world that another X-writer has introduced?

Steve: For me, its been Sis work on THE SPARK, which the group knows, I recently raved about not only has it given us a really clear motivator for Captain Prydes grand actions coming up in Marauders #11-12, but its also formed a nice prism with which to challenge any characters actions is this mutant thinking? Or is this latent human socialization? Am I reacting to something like a mutant, or like my life among humans taught me to? And its all the more challenging as a writer since, of course, spoilers were human, too!

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Charlie Jane Anders: Theres so much! Not to jump on the Si praise train, but I love the holodeck inside Legions head, the Altar, that Si created in Legion of X. Its such a cool concept and a weird setting to have things happen in, and a really neat use of Legions longstanding ability to contain multitudes. Love it. Also, so much of the stuff that KG and the others have been doing with Sinister has been so fun to watch.

Si: The Si Praise Train sounds like a really mopey session at a megachurch. Im here for it. (Thanks, guys.) To speak to the general stuff thats going on here, I think were all reacting to the sheer fertility of the Krakoan experiment. Jons genius was to simultaneously reduce mutants and mutantkind to units of utility uniquely tooled cogs in a beautiful hard-sci-fi machine and to let them express their characters and hearts as explorative beings within that new context, all at once. The first part of that paradigm throws up some incredible ideas to do with mutant powers behaving as technologies (I think of Kierons recontextualization of Moiras abilities, Gerrys plans with Darwin, Leah and the Waiting Room, Victor and the Hole) while the latter part cracks open endless possibilities to do with characters exploring new social dynamics Vitas work in particular stands out there or creating incredible new cultures from tabula rasa, where Al, Tini, and Steve have all made big, beautiful swings.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Kieron: Its not a specific, singular idea, but as a body of work, what Al has done to make Arakko a credible and coherent place with its own philosophy is a hell of a thing.

Al: Ta! That was something I felt strongly about. For me to speak a little selfishly there are almost too many things to count, its such a big soup. Weaponless Zsen is a fascinating character who dovetails well with the Fisher King I think that started as me and Si having a conversation about how Arakko would treat those without powers or without useful powers, implementing our thoughts on the page and then connecting the dots in a way thats built a fun side-story in the background. I hope I do her justice in X-Men Red #8-10. Similarly, Leahs Waiting Room is very fertile soil to tell the kind of story I love to tell way down the road, and what Tini did with Apocalypse was a great bit of character growth that I cant wait to build on.

Gerry: Honestly, were crushing it.

Victor: Agree with all that was said above and I would add Vita Ayalas arc in New Mutants, particularly the nuanced and surprising twists and turns in the Amahl Farouk/Shadow King storyline. The story of Amahls eventual freedom and the start on the path to recovery/redemption was beautiful.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: And all that just scratches the surface. Next up, X-Fan Dave (Comic Book Herald) said that some of his favorite X-potential is from all the Powers of X sci-fi. Dominions. Phalanx. Rasputin IV. Concerningly cute Nimrods. Without spoiling anything, how eager is the X-Office to take the Krakoa era into the distant future?

Steve: Distant future? Distant past perhaps

Kieron: Three words. Sins of Sinister. Three more words. Will Include This.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Al: I think about this a lot. I think about all the moving parts a lot. I think about crashing them together. I even think about them when Im writing other books sometimes

Gerry: Same. And Im not the only one that is thinking, Forge is also thinking. And tinkering in his shop in fact.

AIPT: Well, we just got some teases so lets get a few more. X-Fan TheMidNightKing17 asked, which characters will have a big 2023?

Kieron: Rasputin. Also, now that I think about it, Emma Frost will be big in Sins of Sinister.

Al: A lot of fans were upset when Storm moved from the seat of Peel Me A Grape While I Tell You How To Run Your Planet to the seat of Come To Me When The Crap Really Hits The Fan. And theyre right shes only going to have a big 2023 now if the crap absolutely hits the fan for Arakko in a spectacular way. And what are the chances of that?

Anyway, Genesis is going to have a big 2023.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Gerry: Forge, Synch, and Bring On The Bad Guys. 2023 is a big year for Black Hats. Stasis has a revelation that I cant wait to get to. Firestar burns bright.

Si: Silver Sable.

Jordan: There are some Kate Pryde plans that I am both excited and scared by.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: Speaking of fear, youd be surprised how often nervous X-Fans submit questions about this next topic so Im going to do them a solid one last time. X-Fan Mr. Shoebill said, with Gerry Duggan taking over Iron Man, has there been any discussion regarding the Tony Stark/Emma Frost wedding? Mr. Shoebill pointed out that the last time this was mentioned was X-Men Monday #104 in May 2021.

Gerry: I remember that being a late addition to that book? Maybe Im crazy, but I dont think anybody was asked? It was just Oh, yeah, future s--t? Okay, have fun. I think its a terrible idea and I think fans would rightly be all over me for it.

AIPT: And thats the last time well ever talk about that in X-Men Monday. Thank you, Gerry. Now to the big screen X-Fan Wilberd Gijzel wanted to know, what was everybodys first reaction to the news Wolverine will be in Deadpool 3 and finally in the MCU?

Charlie Jane: I love it! I think Deadpool always needs a straight man to drive to distraction, and it cant always be Cable. Plus, I can already tell that Hugh Jackman will be having a lot of fun cutting loose. But Im waiting until we can see the whole Wolverine family in live action.

Kieron: I laughed a lot. What a way to announce it, right? Beautiful. Applause.

Al: Great, now I have to watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine so I can get all the X-Men Origins: Wolverine jokes.

Alyssa Wong: WOLVERINE! WOLVERINE! WOLVERIIIINE!!!

Mark Basso: Im hyped! And hey, if they want any inspiration, Ben Percy wrote Deadpool into a bunch of the last years Wolverine issues

AIPT: Weve officially entered the #SeriousComicsJournalism portion of the interview (are you paying attention, Eisner judges?). X-Fan Ensign Ro said, from Mister Sinister to Forge to Fred Dukes, the Krakoan mustache appears to signify salient members of the national infrastructure. Who will be the next mutant to have this honor bestowed upon their lips?

Mark: Wolverines had it a bunch, he just keeps shaving with his claws between panels.

Steve: I think the closest we got is Horsepowers powerful beard, hmm

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Al: Theres a certain mutant I very much want to grow a beard, but I warn you now, it will be the most traumatic beard ever grown in X-history. Mustache only I mean, is it time Roberto grew his own Tom Selleck in honor of his TV hero, Magnum P.I.? Or is that too dangerous? I mean, Ive seen Stefanos art from X-Men Red #9. Putting a mustache on that could kill someone.

Jordan: I am sold.

Si: Covid lockdown ie, mask-wearing combined with zero barbershops being open made me wonder what Juggernaut would look like if we went the full Alan Moore. Like would the beard jut out of his mouth- and eye-slits? Would he look like some sort of creepy hairy smoke-breathing diving-bell? Would there be an audible pop sound, like a champagne cork leaving the bottle, every time he takes off the helmet? We need to explore this. We could have something to rival SNIKT and BAMF on our hands here.

AIPT: X-Fan mole the morlock said Judgment Day has all this action at the North Pole. But where is the magical merry mutant Santa Claus? Someone should tell him the Progenitor is trying to steal his thunder! This guy even made a naughty-or-nice list!

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Kieron: Im not sure who leaked the team-up that ends Judgment Day to you, but we will hunt them down and punish them. This kind of spoiler ruins stories for everyone. Im outraged.

Gerry: As an aside, I saw Harbour as Santa in Violent Night and its really fun and a lot more brutal than I thought theyd swing for.

Jordan: Now I am sad its too late to do a Holiday Judgment Day parody of all the heroes getting visions from Santa about whether they deserve presents or not.

AIPT: Its never too late for an idea that good, Jordan. OK, as we wrap up, lets say Mister Sinister gets his hands on the X-Offices DNA. What are some of the X-Office chimeras he whips up in his lab?

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Steve: Just imagine how deep the cuts would go on a book written by Stephal Ewingdo.

Kieron: My mutant abilities are my appendix was on the wrong side of the body and I have acidic enough skin to slowly melt metal glasses. I hope that other people in the X-Office are bringing more to the gene-party than I am.

Al: Im shoe size 12 in the U.K., I wear glasses, and Ive listened to Stevie Wonder in a bedsit, so in some ways you could say I have all of Beasts mutant powers.

Gerry: Im really adept at finding parking.

View original post here:

X-Men Monday #175 - X Me Anything With the X-Office AIPT - AIPT

Hypercars are discussed in hushed tones among car aficionados. Sightings are treated with the same amount of excitement and incredulity of a sasquatch spotting. A hypercar is one that can liquify a Toyota Corolla just by parking next to it. Hypercars laugh in the face of automotive superlatives of rarity and performance extremes. To be considered a hypercar, a vehicle has to be excessively fast, incredibly rare, and come with a price tag of over $1 million. The sixteen-cylinder and 250+ miles per hour Bugatti Veyron has been cited as the first car to truly earn the title of hypercar (via Peterson Automotive Museum).

Pagani, maker of cars like the Zonda, Huayra and new Utopia, is considered a hypercar brand. No one would consider a Pagani Huayra a "normal" car by any means, and with only six official dealerships in the entirety of the Western Hemisphere, it's safe to say it's an exclusive brand. Cars like the Bugatti Chiron and Ferrari LaFerrari are among the few brands to hold the hypercar title. They represent the absolute best Bugatti and Ferrari have to offer. The word "compromise"doesn't even exist in the hypercar lexicon.

Anyone with the right finances can theoretically buy a supercar today. A hypercar requires all the planets to align, an act of God, and then immense wealth to even be considered for the privilege of owning one.

Link:

The Difference Between A Supercar And A Hypercar - SlashGear

For more than a century, the idea of linking the two sides of the Strait of Gibraltar has been on the table for both Morocco and Spain, although it was not since the 1979 declaration that both countries conceived the idea of building a railway linking the two continents.

On the Moroccan side, the work that SECEGSA has been carrying out in Spain for more than 40 years has been entrusted to the Socit Nationale d'tudes du Dtroit de Gibraltar (SNED). On the Spanish side, the project has been "relaunched", according to the state company that is promoting it, which is going to receive a new allocation in the 2023 Budget to take the definitive step towards the start of the works, according to the Executive in the public accounts that have just been presented.

The project will involve the construction of a tunnel through the underwater seabed at the junction of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, while the government is trying to revive, with the support of Germany, the MidCat gas pipeline project, which was rejected by France during the emergency caused by the European energy crisis.

The Spanish company in charge of carrying out feasibility studies for the project is the Sociedad Espaola de Estudios para la Comunicacin Fija a travs del Estrecho de Gibraltar (SECEGSA), which is attached to the Ministry of Transport. This public company has recently revealed that in 2021 it was included in one of the European funds of the Spanish Recovery Plan to undertake new studies on this infrastructure, despite the tense relations between Spain and Morocco at that time.

In the 2022 budgets, another appropriation for that amount was already allocated to update the preliminary project for the so-called Europe-Africa Fixed Link in the Strait of Gibraltar. This transfer was made available after the approval in April 2021 of the Recovery Plan.

Following Pedro Snchez's recent change of position on Western Sahara, and in a political context marked by the progressive normalisation of relations with the Alaouite regime, the government has included an allocation of 750,000 euros for research into the feasibility of the project in the State Budget for 2023. A modest endowment, which is contemplated in the actions destined for the Trans-European Transport Network. The funds will be used to update a preliminary project that was drawn up more than fifteen years ago, incorporating the technical advances accumulated in recent years.

The latest SECEGSA accounts, recently published, correspond to the financial year closed in December 2021 and were formulated in March 2022, when Snchez's change of course on the Sahara came to light. In them, SECEGSA points out that "the most relevant event" of the 2021 financial year was the inclusion in the Spanish Recovery Plan of the update of the preliminary connection project drawn up in 2007, "with the consequent financing through European funds of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM)". There are 2.3 million committed, subject to "strict deadlines" that SECEGSA does not detail, according to ElDiario.es.

The update of this preliminary project is justified by the fact that "the technical and technological advances registered in the last 15 years in the field of construction, management, operation and maintenance of underground and underwater works represent a spectacular leap". According to the state-owned company, the meeting with the world's leading German company in tunnel boring equipment, Herrenknecht, opened the door to the acceptance of the project, which is no longer a utopia. According to SECEGSA, the various differences between the Spanish and Moroccan kingdoms over the medical care of Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali did not create a deadlock, and the relationship with SNED remained fruitful.

Due to the geostrategic nature of the Strait of Gibraltar, the EU pays close attention to the relationship between Europe and Africa. Although Brussels is interested in further developing the Europe-Africa rail network, it is not one of the EU's priorities.

Haizam Amirah Fernndez, Senior Researcher for the Mediterranean and the Arab World at the Elcano Royal Institute, is sceptical about such a Euro-African connection, saying that it is not the most favourable context, as the reality is that today, despite the years that have passed, these two societies are still active. The biggest problem "is to match political wills and create the conditions for opinions" on the part of two states "with relations of ups and downs".

The rest is here:

The Spanish government reactivates the tunnel project to link Morocco with Spain - Atalayar

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! COO Vanessa Pappas explains TikToks popularity; the Muse makes an acquisition; and a new story charts the rise and fall of the Wing. Have a relaxing weekend.

How it happened. A mere 18 months after the Wing embarked on an ambitious relaunch, the once popular womens coworking company shuttered its doors for good.

In a recent feature for Fortune, I spoke to former employees, members, and investors to chart the meteoric rise and tumultuous fall of the Wing, which its founders once billed as a womens utopia.

Cofounded by Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan in 2016, the Wing blossomed from its original idea as a pit stop for on-the-go women to a full-fledged coworking startup with a mission to empower women through community. By late 2018, it had raised a whopping $117 million from investors like NEA, Kleiner Perkins, SoulCycles cofounders, and WeWork. The company was valued at about $365 million that same year.

The Wing brought in visits from household names like Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jennifer Lopez. At its peak, the coworking company had 11 locations globally, 12,000 members, and a 35,000-person wait list.

But tensions were bubbling under the surface. One former executive told me there wasnt a lot of transparency around what the strategy was at all, and an early investor said Gelman, the companys CEO, seemed reluctant to ask for help. A 2019 lawsuit forced the Wing to drop its ban on membership for men, who were previously only allowed to visit as guests. That same year, criticism emerged over its handling of an incident in Los Angeles, where a white guest harassed a Black member and her guest.

Soon after, hourly employees, most of whom were Black or brown women, went public with reports of mistreatment that contradicted the Wings uplifting, empowerment brand.

Gelman resigned as CEO in June 2020, kicking off a round of CEO musical chairs.

In February 2021, flexible-office-space pioneer IWG bought a majority stake in the startup. Under new ownership, the Wing staged an ambitious reopening of six locations in 2021 that lasted just months. Problems with members returned as well. While 80% of members were pleasant, former employees told me, the remaining 20% either treated you like you were the help or said things that were not appropriate.

In August, the Wing permanently closed its doors. The company couldnt shake off past scandals and suffered from a combination of poor business management and a troubled, post-pandemic coworking industry. As one former member told me when describing its often vacant San Francisco space: I was thinking, How is this going to stay around?

You can read my full feature about the Wings demise here.

Paige McGlauflinpaige.mcglauflin@fortune.com@paidion

The Broadsheet is Fortunes newsletter for and about the worlds most powerful women. Todays edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe. Subscribe here.

Joining forces. The Muse, the jobs marketplace run by cofounder Kathryn Minshew, has acquired recruitment platform Fairygodboss. Its the Muses first acquisition. TechCrunch

Mining deep. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is cracking down on energy consumption by crypto miners in Texas. The senator wants to know whether crypto mining contributed to the states power grid failures during last years extreme winter storm. The Verge

Sing for change. The next Grammy Awards will include an award for a song for social change. More than 80% of the submissions received so far are for Shervin Hajipours Baraye, a protest anthemabout 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, whose death in police custody sparked widespread protests in Iran. Hajipour was arrested after the song went viral.Variety

Not optimistic. Now in the ninth month of Russian detention, Brittney Griner is not convinced the U.S. will succeed in getting her home. The basketball star is afraid she will have to serve the entirety of her nine-year sentence in Russia, her lawyer says. New York Times

Clocking in. At the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit this week, TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas answered questions about keeping U.S. user data out of the hands of the Chinese government and the effects of screen time on young children. The former YouTube executive called TikTok the last sunny spot on the internet. Fortune

A true maverick. Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall was brought in to overhaul the NBA teams culture after a 2018 report uncovered rampant sexual harassment within the franchise. Initially skeptical about taking the job, she says she ultimately decided to do so for the sisterhood. Fortune

Chipping away. Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su says that overseeing the chipmaker is like running a different company every two years. Since taking over in 2014, the company has gone from a market cap of $2 billion to $93 billion. Fortune

Midterm predictions. Rep. Katie Porter says shes not sure whether the reversal of Roe v. Wade will lead to wins for Democrats in the November midterm elections. Some voters may believe abortion restrictions wont reach their stateeven though a Republican Congress is likely to pass a national abortion ban. Fortune

Cuba Gooding Jr. will serve no prison time after plea in sex abuse caseNew York Times

I wanted revenge. What I got was betterVogue

Ciaras lasting career is a testament to her community Allure

FBI monitored Aretha Franklin for years, file showsNew York Times

There wasnt an aha moment. There were thousands of them.

Peloton star Robin Arzn on how she decided to quit her job as a lawyer and pursue a career in fitness

This is the web version ofThe Broadsheet, a daily newsletter for and about theworldsmost powerful women. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.

Continue reading here:

Why the Wing, a once buzzy womens coworking startup, shut down - Fortune

US-based cruise company Royal Caribbean Group has revealed its plans to open a new cruise terminal at the Port of Galveston that will generate 100% of its needed energy through on-site solar panels.

In developing the new $125 million terminal, Royal Caribbean Group approached design strategies that aligned with its environmental goals, its focus to advance the development of sustainable infrastructure as well as the decarbonization strategy.

To remind, in May this year, the company joined the Mrsk Mc-Kinney Mller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, a nonprofit, independent R&D centre focusing on decarbonisation strategies.

During the construction, materials and transportation processes were used that produce less carbon. Furthermore, the company minimized interior sources of pollution through the installation of materials with low or zero volatile organic compounds (VOCs) content, and enhanced air filtration media, focusing on occupant thermal comfort and controllability.

We are focused on innovating across all aspects of our company, especially in our work to advance sustainability in the communities we visit, said Jason Liberty, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean Group.

Specifically, the terminal will rely on 30,000 square feet of on-site photovoltaic solar panels, enabling the ports self-sufficient energy usage. Any remaining energy not used by the terminal will be sent to the local power grid, according to the company.

The new cruise terminal at the Port of Galveston will be the first in Texas to achieve LEED Gold certification, an industry-leading certification expected to be received within the first two quarters of 2023. This makes the terminal, which will be used by the companys Royal Caribbean International brand, the first LEED Zero Energy facility in the world.

The Galveston terminal marks the cruise companys fourth LEED certified facility and its first Gold certified.

The previous projects include Terminal A at PortMiami; the Springfield, Oregon campus; and the Innovation Lab at Royal Caribbean Groups corporate headquarters in Miami.

We deeply value both the oceans we sail and the communities we visit and operate in, and the modern design and development features at our terminal in Galveston will work in service of both, Liberty added.

The opening of the terminal will mark the first time Galveston welcomes Royal Caribbeans Oasis class vessels, the worlds largest cruise ships.

The keel-laying ceremony for the first LNG-fuelled Oasis class ship Utopia of the Seas was held in July this year.

Read the original:

World's first zero-energy cruise terminal to be opened at Port of Galveston - Offshore Energy

These letters published in the Oct. 16, 2022print edition of the Las Cruces Sun-News.

We're all prone to confirmation bias, such as casting recent floods in Pakistan as evidence of climate change. "Climate weirding" is not a scientific term, but "baroclinic instability", meaning the atmosphere flows in waves which vary chaotically, is. One such chaotic variation is that of El Nio and La Nia. Of La Nia, NASA writes: "... Indian monsoon rainfall tends to be greater than normal, especially in northwest India." We are currently experiencing La Nia.

Things are multi-factoral, the concept of global warming appears valid, and one cannot preclude changes in precipitation. However, the year to year variability of the Indian monsoon is large while modeled trends of precipitation to date are small. This suggests that La Nia was much more significant than climate change in flooding Pakistan. Because "baroclinic instability" occurs regardless of CO2, reducing CO2 will not prevent events such as monsoon floods, nor any other weather events that occur from fluctuations of motions.

Nietzsche lamented that through science we had killed god but also warned that we would seek replacements to shelter us from uncertainty as previous gods had. Climate change may be one of these religions, with fossil fuels unambiguously evil and low CO2 a supposed utopia. But with its forcing limited as logarithmic, CO2 is not such a potent devil, and satellites indicate that with increased CO2, plant life has increased globally. While global warming is a kernel of truth, many presumed resultant adverse phenomena are increasingly contradicted by the observational record.

Be wary of absolutist ideologies, especially those dripping with moralism.

Steve McGee, Las Cruces

Doa Ana County needs and deserves a sheriff who will go beyond the average in serving our communities. As our sheriff for the past four years, Kim Stewart has proven that she is effective, compassionate and brave.

Sheriff Stewarts policy of community policing has created countywide trust in her office (DASO). Part of that success comes from her personal responses to community issues and frequent involvement in community events. Because DASO is now very aware of the needs and concerns of our communities, Sherriff Stewart has redirected its fiscal and organizational resources to advance their effectiveness in addressing crime.

In support of DASOs staff, Sherriff Stewart initiated a Peer Support Program and drastically expanded training opportunities for both certified and noncertified staff. During the COVID outbreak, she defended DASO's administrative staffs ability to work from home, fighting intense political pressure to force them back into the office. Responding to the need to protect DASO's staff by providing them with a stable and defensible structure, she updated a 21-year-old policy and procedures manual.

Working to solve todays problems using todays strategies, and acting on the knowledge that the sheriffs office exists as a part of a system of law enforcement, Sheriff Stewart has successfully developed and participated in cooperative, effective, and cost efficient teamwork with municipal, state, and federal agencies. She has also implemented better uses of existing technologies while seeking out and adopting new technologies.

Sheriff Kim Stewart is not just a full-time sheriff; she is a hands-on, all-the-time, all-the-way sheriff.

Ronald G. White, Las Cruces

More letters to the editor:

See the original post:

Letters to the editor: On baroclinic instability - Las Cruces Sun-News

Not so long ago any damp bell tent in an unloved corner of a farm could be called a glampsite, but in recent years there has been a dramatic upgrade of rustic accommodation across the UK a trend that was accelerated by the pandemic. Holidaymakers craving the outdoors are now willing to pay more for a back-to-nature experience, but we want our nature accessorised with a wood-fired hot tub, stargazing deck or oak-barrel sauna.

This new breed of yurts, treehouses, pods, gypsy caravans and safari tents are simply too sumptuous to confine to the summer months. Many sites have responded to increased demand by extending their seasons into winter, shutting only for a few weeks of maintenance.

The glamping and rustic-accommodation specialists Canopy & Stars says that it has seen a trend towards all-season camping properties, with bookings overall 42 per cent higher during September and October than in 2019, the year before the emergence of Covid. So heres our selection of glampsites worth booking beyond the summer months open year-round unless otherwise stated.

Wantisden Park is 15 minutes from the sea

Hidden away on a private estate near Suffolks heritage coast, a 15-minute drive from the sea, these sleek, modern pods, train cabins and cottages overlook ancient woodland, rivers and lakes. Many are equipped with kitchens, bathrooms and outdoor hot tubs, while the on-site farm shop and caf is another upgrade for campers who want their winter camping to be heavy on the holiday element.Details One nights self-catering for two from 140, with a two-night minimum stay; closed Dec 21-27 and Jan 3-Feb 13 (wantisden.co.uk)

The Quiet Site is an award-winning campsite

JO CROMPTON

This award-winning campsite has been offering a tranquil Lake District base to lovers of the outdoors for more than 50 years. Near Ullswater, it was one of the UKs first zero-waste campsites, but its luxury credentials are as inviting as its eco credentials. The on-site bar, housed inside a 17th-century barn, is the perfect village pub, with exposed low beams and roaring open fires. The 15 Glamping Burrows partially buried underground and reminiscent of hobbit homes, with underfloor heating are perhaps the best winter option, with views over the lakes.Details One nights self-catering for six from 80 (thequietsite.co.uk)

Sperrinview is perfect for stargazing

Dramatically positioned in the foothills of Northern Irelands majestic Sperrin Mountains are four dinky but stylish pods, featuring a viewing window for stargazing in this designated Dark Sky Park. Theres a communal hub with a library and larger kitchen facilities, while the A-frame cottages are heated and have private bathrooms. With your own outdoor barbecue and fire pit, solitude and staring at the skies are the main pastimes here.Details One nights self-catering for five from 110; closed Dec 25-26 and Jan 1 (sperrinviewglamping.com)

Get cosy in a Trecombe Lake heated lodge

These heated lodges and pods occupy a woodland waterside setting less than five miles from Falmouth, making it perfect for campers who like to balance out the bucolic back-to-nature vibes with all the delights of a seaside town the proximity of indoor attractions is a real bonus out of the summer months. The lakeside setting makes this a delight for wild-swimming fans, plus you can return to a breakfast hamper full of the best Cornish produce.Details One nights self-catering for five from 145, with a two-night minimum stay (trecombe-lakes.co.uk)

Lawnsgate Camping has on-site llama-trekking

LAWNSGATE CAMPING

A lovely yurt, gypsy caravan and cabins Lawnsgate Camping in the North York Moors offers options that stretch the season. This has been a family-run working farm for generations, so its the real deal. On-site llama-trekking and picturesque nearby villages means that there are plenty of activities outside the peak summer months. The farm shop vending machine isnt to be missed either. Logs are provided for the wood-fired stoves in all cabins.Details One nights self-catering for two from 85 per night, with a two-night minimum stay (lawnsgatecamping.com)

Best luxury glamping in the UK

Loveland Farms geodome is ideal for families

Inspired by hanging tree pods that are a fixture in the forests of Canada, Loveland Farms eco pods are a treat for design-loving, eco-minded travellers. The owners, Jeff and Karina, are successful designers who abandoned London for north Devon, and their credentials are on show everywhere in this six-acre farm on the idyllic Hartland peninsula. The large geodome is the best out-of-summer option for families a futuristic glass and canvas structure perched high on a wooden platform and heated by wood-burners; theres even a projector screen so you can host your own cosy film nights on the wall of the pod.Details One nights self-catering for two from 149, with a two-night minimum stay; closed Nov 21-Apr 5 (lovelandfarmcamping.co.uk). Note it closes for much of winter and early spring

Fforest Farm is set in 500 acres

Fforest Farm, an ecologically minded site on the Pembrokeshire-Ceredigion border, sets the standard for modern British glampsites. The collection of crofter-style cottages (crog lofts), domes, bell tents and shacks around an old farmhouse set in 500 acres is owned by a design-obsessed local family. The most winter-friendly options have private onsen baths, wood-burning stoves and underfloor heating. Communal areas are a highlight, with a spa, cedar-barrel sauna, huge lodge with a deck and even an atmospheric pub a 200-year-old snug cosied up with rugs and lanterns.Details One nights self-catering for four from 171, with a two-night minimum stay; closed January and some February dates (coldatnight.co.uk)

Brook House Woods has an outdoor cinema

BRUNA BALODIS/SAWDAYS

With an outdoor cinema, tennis court, in-room massages and home-cooked-meal delivery service, this is as swish as British glampsites come. The cluster of luxury treehouses, cabins and handcrafted wooden huts some with underfloor heating, others with wood-burners makes a charming base for exploring the nearby Frome Valley and Malvern Hills. A roster of events including gin-botanicals foraging, yoga and chocolate making adds to the appeal for families, groups of friends and individual campers.Details One nights self-catering for two from 127 (brookhousewoods.com)

Swap Sussex for Scandinavia at Downash

SAWDAYS

An hour from London, this collection of five treehouses and cabins is set on 33 acres of secluded farmland near Ticehurst. Outdoors there are all-season touches such as Swedish baths and hot tubs, plus fire pits and log-burning barbecues; indoors expect underfloor heating, plus projector screens and popcorn makers for cosy film nights. The Scandi-style interiors also feature wood-cladding, unique lampshades, well-equipped kitchens and picture windows to make the most of the views.Details One nights self-catering for two from 155 (canopyandstars.co.uk)

A treehouse at Beudy Banc

SAWDAYS

For hikers and mountain bikers, Beudy Banc is a sort of utopia a converted barn sleeping up to eight and a duo of treehouses (with wood-burners), offering uninterrupted views of south Snowdonia and immediate access to a series of world-class biking trails crisscrossing the undulating landscape. The owner is an architect, and it shows in the sleek, contemporary design details, but the zero-carbon status is equally impressive; the installation of a wind turbine provides clean renewable power throughout the year with minimal environmental impact.Details One nights self-catering for two from 110; closed Jan 10-Feb 20 (beudybanc.co.uk)

Enchanted Glade is a collection of bell tents and converted wagons

BETH MERCER

Lying back in a steamy wood-fired hot tub looking up at autumnal treetops, then skipping across the leaf-strewn ground into the barrel sauna is the big sell at this hippyish site in the rolling West Sussex countryside near Ardingly. As well as the wild spa which is open for day visits (from 15 for a two-hour hot-tub experience) this collection of bell tents and converted wagons (all with wood-burners) has a heated treatment room for massages and often hosts events such as therapeutic womens circles.Details One nights self-catering for four from 145, with a two-night minimum stay; open until the end of October, then group bookings over Christmas and new year (enchantedglade.co.uk)

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Why autumn is the new glamping season | Travel | The Sunday Times - The Times

Stan Grant, a white guy who is a leading commenter on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Oz's BBC), believes that China's hegemonic brutality is -- wait for it -- a manifestation of Whiteness. He writes:

It is not possible to understand China without understanding race and racism. Specifically, without understanding whiteness.

Yet far too often the conversation around the rise of this new superpower is in predominantly geo-political terms,about authoritarianism versus democracy, about human rights or whether we will go to war.

But race sits at the heart of it all.

But Stan, you might be thinking, if Chinese nationalist thinking in the Xi era is built around Han Chinese superiority, how on earth is this the fault of white people? Ah, Stan's way ahead of you:

In some ways, Xi's China may represent the end of whiteness. Except that the Chinese Communist Party itself mirrors whiteness.

The irony is Xi has also become what he opposes. He is a Han nationalist his idea of Chinese power is ethnic Han superiority persecuting non-Han, non-white people in his own country.

If whiteness is power, Xi Jinping is its champion.

The continuation of white power, in darker skin.

David Rieff tries to make sense of this in his Substack newsletter. Excerpt:

Imperialism is a White Supremacist construct, and therefore to be an imperialist power is to be a white power, even if you are, well, non-white. And say what you will about Grant, he carries this argument to its logical conclusion. Xis China might have represented the end of whiteness, he laments, but instead the Chinese Communist Party itself mirrors whiteness. How can this be? Well, it has turned out that Xi is a Han nationalist, committed to the idea that Chinese power is ethnic Han superiority.

Grant is probably right about this. But instead of this leading him to question his own efforts to put all forms of capitalism, including the Chinese, indeed, arguably all forms of power, into the Procrustean Bed of White Supremacy, Grant doubles down, insisting that Han persecution of non-Han is nothing less white people persecuting non-white people.

One feels as if one has entered a lunatic asylum. The Han are not white, and somehow they are. But in Grants world, and in this he is in no sense expressing a fringe view but rather is an emblematic figure of a very wide current of an opinion, whiteness is a synonym for power, full stop. Thus, for Grant, the tragedy of Xis China is that it has become what he believes historically its opposed, whiteness, of which, he says, Xi Xinping is its championthe continuation of white power in darker skin.

Whiteness as metaphor, in short. It is this metaphorization of understanding, no is the deepest intellectual, and in some ways, the deepest philosophical ill that afflicts us.

This is not one of those things you can roll your eyes at ("Look at those lunatic liberals, ha ha!") and move on. As Rieff -- a man of the Left -- notes, Grant's view is not on the fringe, but represents "a very wide current of an opinion" among Western elites -- particular white Western elites.

Where do these liberals -- white and otherwise -- think all this "blame whitey" stuff is going to go? It is one thing to examine the racial dynamics within society and culture; it is quite another to blame another race entirely for the evils of the world, as if it were an expression of their racial being ("whiteness"). There is a reason why people can say whatever vicious thing they want about white people as a group, and not only will there be no consequences for their racism, but they may even be promoted within the elite system -- but nobody would dare speak ill of non-white peoples as a group. So you get the absurd claim that Xi Jinping's racism is really white racism.

Again, where do they think this going to go? David Brooks was shocked by the closet anti-black racism of some Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council, revealed in a secretly recorded and released tape. Brooks wrote:

Besides being offended by the racist comments made by members of the Los Angeles City Council as so many people were I was also struck by the underlying worldview revealed during their leaked conversation.

Council President Nury Martinez who has since resigned from the Council along with two colleagues and a labor ally talked about a range of subjects, including redistricting, but two assumptions undergirded much of what they said. Their first assumption was that America is divided into monolithic racial blocs. The world they take for granted is not a world of persons; its a world of rigid racial categories.

At one point Martinez vulgarly derided someone because hes with the Blacks. Youre either with one racial army or youre with another.

The second assumption was that these monolithic racial blocs are locked in a never-ending ethnic war for power. The core topic of their conversation was to redraw Council districts to benefit Latino leaders.

Its real simple, one of the participants in the conversation said at one point. You got 100 people, right? Fifty-two of them are Mexicano. I feel pretty good about it. I feel pretty good about my chances of beating your ass.

Those two assumptions didnt come out of nowhere. We have had a long-running debate in this country over how to think about racial categories. On the one side there are those, often associated with Ibram X. Kendi and others, who see American society as a conflict between oppressor and oppressed groups. They center race and race consciousness when talking about a persons identity. Justice will come when minority group power is used to push back on white supremacy. The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination, is how Kendi puts it.

On the other side, there are others, like Thomas Chatterton Williams, Coleman Hughes and Reihan Salam, who argue that racial categorization itself can be the problem. The concept of systemic racism is built upon crude racial categorization. As Williams puts it, America should fight racism while over the long term getting rid of the categories that come out of the collision of Africa and Europe in the slave trade and the New World.

You do that by emphasizing how much all humans have in common and by emphasizing how complex each persons identity is that it includes race but so many other things, too. The last thing you want to do is traffic in the sort of racial essentialist categories that were so rampantly on display during that conversation among the City Council members.

That conversation is what happens when the assumptions of the former school of thought are embraced as a matter of course. You dont get a righteous struggle against oppression. You get a bunch of people who assume that public life is a brutal struggle of group against group, and who are probably going to develop derogatory views of people in rival groups.

Well, yeah, but it's a little late for that, don't you think? We have been through at least ten years in this country of the demonization of white people as a group, by elite culture -- including elite media culture, which has magnified these outrageous, racist claims of people like Ibram X. Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, and others. And by Woke Capitalism, which has empowered these race radicals within corporate life. Here in Central Europe, where I now live, it's common to hear Europeans working for US multinationals express frustration that their American bosses have introduced American cultural politics into their European workplaces.

About fifteen years ago, when I was at The Dallas Morning News as a columnist, I mentioned in a piece -- maybe I quoted somebody, or said it myself, I can't recall -- that in Dallas, there was a lot of conflict between blacks and Latinos. One of my then-colleagues, a white liberal, appealed to our boss to get the piece spiked, on grounds that it wasn't true and it would cause problems. Though more liberal than I was, my boss let the piece go, because she knew it was true, though liberals in Dallas officially did not notice these things. One of my good friends, a raging white liberal, a gay man who lived in a mixed white-black-Latino neighborhood, wrote in to say that OF COURSE IT'S TRUE, and it's a reality that has to be dealt with. But our elites -- again, particularly white elites -- refuse to do it. They prefer to live in their ideological bubble.

The truth is, tribalism is basic to human nature. Classical liberalism's creation of the Individual as a political unit was a great achievement of justice in most (but not all) respects. This is where Martin Luther King stood: on calling for black people in America to stop being treated by white-dominated society as a monolithic group, but to be granted justice on the same terms as everybody else. He was right. But now "justice" has been redefined as equality of outcome, and branded "equity". Which is why we now have people from favored ethnic groups being massively favored, and others massively disfavored, based not on their actual talent and performance, but based on their race. Take a look at this:

Related, this insane University of Minnesota doctors' graduation rite in which the new physicians vowed to fight structural racism and the usual suspects in their profession:

Also related:

You know what this is going to do, in the long run? Drive people to seek out Asian doctors for the best medical care. That is to say, it will diminish the faith people have that their physician, whatever his or her color, is about as competent as any other physician. Now we know that doctors were admitted to medical school on the basis of ideological categories that included privileging race over intellectual capabilities.

If we talked about "blackness" in America the way we talk about "whiteness," you would hear endless discussions in the media about how "blackness" is making cities uninhabitable because of crime. Never mind that the victims of black crime are overwhelmingly black people; such complicating factors don't trouble the minds of liberals, who prefer Theory over messy Reality when it comes to social issues (conservatives tend to be this way about free-market economics). We hear little talk about the many factors contributing to multigenerational black poverty, which itself drives crime. No talk about the collapse of the black family, and of the kinds of values internal to any community that make it possible for the young (and not so young) to flourish. There is only one acceptable response to the culture framed by the media and other elites: somehow, this is the fault of Whiteness.

I mentioned in this space the other day, I think, that a Baton Rouge cop said recently that crime in the majority-black Louisiana capital has never been as bad there as it is today, and for the first time, it has become general in the city, not confined more or less to the black neighborhoods. That's bad, but the worst part was his saying that he can't imagine anything that's going to make it better. You can't have stricter policing, not after the Summer of Floyd (Baton Rouge was where the Alton Sterling event played out; even though the Obama Justice Department investigated and found the two white officers had behaved properly in that killing, bad feeling is everywhere). And, said the officer, there don't seem to be any forces internal to the city's impoverished black community that work towards social stability. I did mention a despairing white Boomer liberal friend in Baton Rouge, a former juvenile court judge who said that if you want to see why things are so horrible in our city, go spend some time in juvenile court. He went on to explain that the total collapse of the black family, and the social consequences thereof, are shocking, and inescapable. Middle-class professional white people there don't talk about it if they share any doubt about the liberal narrative, because we either don't want to be seen as racist, or we genuinely wonder if noticing some of this stuff is racist. Middle class professionals of all races can afford to push that out of mind, because their kids don't go to school with the ghetto kids, and the ghetto, being far away, keeps its problems to itself. Not anymore, at least not in my former city.

But these realities are certainly escapable by people who don't have to face these unpleasant facts, and by liberal elites who manage the Narrative. You would think that history would have shown us the great evil of scapegoating people on the basis of race and religion. But here are our liberals, doing it as a matter of course -- even to the point of blaming Chinese racism on white people. Tell me, how does this mentality differ from this letter from Martin Latsis, head of the Soviet secret police in Ukraine, to his agents, explaining to them how to carry out Lenin's campaign of Red Terror:

Do not look in the file of incriminating evidence to see whether or not the accused rose up against the Soviets with arms or words. Ask him instead to which class he belongs, what is his background, his education, his profession. These are the questions that will determine the fate of the accused. That is the meaning and essence of the Red Terror.

We have seen what that did in the Soviet Union. And in Nazi Germany. And in the segregated South. And in Rwanda. And all over Europe in ages past, when Christians carried out pogroms against Jews. Tribalism, which is hard to distinguish from racism, is fundamental to human social groupings. It's in our nature. We can try to overcome it, but it's always going to be there, and is always going to emerge in times of great social stress. The Latino, anti-black tribalism we saw in Los Angeles is the way most of the world works. The de-tribalization wrought by liberalism is in one sense one of its greatest achievements. (The down side is the loss of the capacity for social solidarity, but that's a different topic.)

And yet, the Left and its Establishment-Right allies, have thrown it all away. Somehow, they really do believe that only white people are racist, and that if we can only contain and suppress the whites, who carry within their whiteness the polluting seed, then racial utopia will emerge. They're scandalized, then, to hear Latino politicians talking in raw, racial terms behind closed doors. Do they not think that black pols in L.A. do the same thing? More to the point, do they not think that black voters and Latino voters outside of polite middle class settings, think and talk in the same way? Working-class whites do. This is the way of the world. Learning to see all people are morally equal, and to treat them that way, even when it strains tribal loyalties, is an achievement of civilization. Atticus Finch, Harper Lee's fictional white small-town lawyer who stood against his own tribe to defend a black man in a Jim Crow Southern court, is a symbolic hero of the classical liberal tradition. No more: according to liberals like this black law professor, Atticus is a "white savior" and a "dangerous myth" because of the concept of justice that he symbolizes.

Today's liberals see justice not at Atticus Finch did, but as Karl Marx did. And they are counting on all the whites of the United States to behave as whites on campus do: with guilt-ridden docility. I do not believe it's going to go down that way, not if there's any kind of serious economic collapse. This is why for years I've been banging on about how leftist identity politics inevitably calls up demons among whites that the leftists will not be able to control. Last week, I heard a lecture by Carl Trueman, who spent some time in it talking about the erotic pull of Evil, and mentioning the Nazis being absolute masters of aesthetics. Sitting in the audience, I thought about how one thing that has kept wokeness from realizing its full potential as a tyrannical totalitarian ideology is the fact that it is not sexy. Or at least they haven't found a way to make it sexy yet. If the radical Right, white tribalist types ever manage to master aesthetics, we could be in real trouble in this country.

I think what gets to me most about that moronic Stan Grant piece is what it demonstrates about the need for our intellectual classes -- media, academic, scientific, etc. -- to avoid seeing the world as it is, and instead construe it in such a way that reassures them in their prejudices. Eventually, a system that lies to itself about reality is going to collapse. What Stan Grant wrote in that column has no value as serious analysis about contemporary China and its ambitions, but as David Rieff observes, Grant's approach to understanding reality is quite common among his class. This is how these people really do see the world. Once you spend enough time among them, and come to see that there are entire areas of human experience that they don't want to know about, because it violates their internal model -- well, you realize that our society is more fragile than you think, because the people who run it live by therapeutic lies.

When that social order breaks down, it will be back to blood for everybody, as a matter of survival -- thanks in large part to the postliberal American Left, which did so much to raise consciousness of racial identity, and make that the most salient political characteristic in American life today. That they have done this in a highly diverse society, where we have to find a way for all of us to live together in peace, is unforgivable.

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Hannah Arendt said in her 1951 book The Origins Of Totalitarianism that a shared characteristic of the pre-totalitarian liberal elites in both Russia and Germany was a carefree willingness to knock down pillars of civilization, simply for the pleasure of watching those who had been unjustly excluded in the past rush in to claim a place for themselves. When the history of our own civilization's decline and fall is written, note will be taken of the Western elites -- not all leftists, not by a long shot -- who destroyed the moral and legal pillar rejecting collective guilt, and, along that spectrum, those who destroyed the liberal principle of judging people not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.

The Stan Grant idea of equating power with whiteness is a stupid, ideological way of reading the world. But Stan Grant is a big deal in Australia -- and, as David Rieff said, Grant's orientation towards the world is common, at least among the ruling class. People like Grant have a lot of power to set the Narrative for the way we all come to understand the world. It is important to understand that they cannot be trusted.

UPDATE: Australian readers write to say that Stan Grant identifies as Aboriginal, not white. So noted.

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The East Is ... White? Xi Jinping Is A Cracker? - The American Conservative