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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" xml:lang="en-US" > <title type="text">Rad Geek People's Daily</title> <subtitle type="text">official state media for a secessionist republic of one</subtitle> <updated>2026-09-13T11:00:30Z</updated> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/feed/</id> <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/feed/" /> <generator uri="https://wordpress.org/" version="7.0.3">WordPress</generator><link rel="license" type="text/html" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/" /> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[The Parable of the Body and Its Members (xkcd # 3290: Trade)]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/09/13/the-parable-of-the-body-and-its-members-xkcd-3290-trade/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11477</id> <updated>2026-09-13T11:00:30Z</updated> <published>2026-09-13T11:00:29Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/09/13/the-parable-of-the-body-and-its-members-xkcd-3290-trade/"><![CDATA[<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://xkcd.com/3290"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="782" height="618" src="https://radgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/xkcd-3290-Trade.png.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11478" srcset="https://radgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/xkcd-3290-Trade.png.png 782w, https://radgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/xkcd-3290-Trade.png-300x237.png 300w, https://radgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/xkcd-3290-Trade.png-768x607.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 782px) 100vw, 782px" /></a><figcaption><a href="https://xkcd.com/3290">xkcd # 3290: Trade</a></figcaption></figure> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/09/13/the-parable-of-the-body-and-its-members-xkcd-3290-trade/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/09/13/the-parable-of-the-body-and-its-members-xkcd-3290-trade/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[Today is August 4, 2026, in the city of Allendale, California.]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/08/04/today-is-august-4-2026-in-the-city-of-allendale-california/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11432</id> <updated>2026-08-04T20:51:13Z</updated> <published>2026-08-04T20:51:11Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[Today is Mr. Featherstone’s birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita’s marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills. And from the other side of the Iron Curtain, here is Nazim Tulyahodzhayev’s 1984 animated short based on the story (h/t @notjessewalker). Watch: There Will Come Soft Rains (1984) | The Rediscovered […]]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/08/04/today-is-august-4-2026-in-the-city-of-allendale-california/"><![CDATA[<p>Today is Mr. Featherstone’s birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita’s marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills.</p> <div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from libraryofshortstories.com</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://www.libraryofshortstories.com/onlinereader/there-will-come-soft-rains"><img decoding="async" src="https://libraryofshortstories.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/small/oven.jpg" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://www.libraryofshortstories.com/onlinereader/there-will-come-soft-rains">There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">“Today is Mr. Featherstone’s birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita’s marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bil…</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">libraryofshortstories.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> <hr /> <p>And from the other side of the Iron Curtain, here is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OumNKTn6iek">Nazim Tulyahodzhayev’s 1984 animated short</a> based on the story (h/t <a href="https://x.com/notjessewalker/status/2084708015257616604">@notjessewalker</a>).</p> <p><figure><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OumNKTn6iek?si=bVunMr2Jfcn99EPL" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe><figcaption><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OumNKTn6iek">Watch: There Will Come Soft Rains (1984) | The Rediscovered Soviet Animated Warning</a> (YouTube)</figcaption></figure></p> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/08/04/today-is-august-4-2026-in-the-city-of-allendale-california/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/08/04/today-is-august-4-2026-in-the-city-of-allendale-california/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[Reading: “This crisis is as much a tragedy of authoritarian rule as it is a tragedy of nature” (Carolina Jimenez Sandoval, NYT)]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/07/02/venezuela-crisis-authoritarian-rule-tragedy-of-nature-carolina-jimenez-sandoval-nyt/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11103</id> <updated>2026-07-02T21:09:06Z</updated> <published>2026-07-02T21:03:44Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[What I’m Reading: Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, I’m in Venezuela. Things Are Worse Than They Look (New York Times Opinion, 30 June 2026): The twin earthquakes struck just days after I arrived. I held my mother’s hand for what felt like an eternity as the ground shook violently beneath our feet. When we emerged, it was […]]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/07/02/venezuela-crisis-authoritarian-rule-tragedy-of-nature-carolina-jimenez-sandoval-nyt/"><![CDATA[<p><strong>What I’m Reading:</strong> Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/opinion/venezuela-earthquake-tragedy.html"><cite class="article">I’m in Venezuela. Things Are Worse Than They Look</cite></a> (<cite>New York Times</cite> Opinion, 30 June 2026):</p> <blockquote> <p>The twin earthquakes struck just days after I arrived. I held my mother’s hand for what felt like an eternity as the ground shook violently beneath our feet. When we emerged, it was to a changed world — one of collapsed buildings, downed phone lines and missing loved ones. It’s still hard to make sense of the dimensions of the tragedy we are living in.</p> <p>But in the days since, one thing has become clear: The earthquakes have exposed the toll of years of corruption, institutional dismantling and the abandonment of Venezuelan citizens by their state. This crisis is as much a tragedy of authoritarian rule as it is a tragedy of nature. Venezuela’s natural disaster was unavoidable, but the devastation it has left in its wake was not.</p> <p>These earthquakes, the deadliest to hit Venezuela in decades, have killed at least 1,700 people, injured thousands more and heaped new devastation onto a country already buckling under a protracted economic and humanitarian crisis. <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> Nearly eight million Venezuelans, including doctors, nurses and other essential workers, have fled the country in recent years. The long collapse of public services — sporadic running water, periodic blackouts and dilapidated, poorly supplied hospitals, to name a few — left Venezuelans utterly unprotected when the earthquakes struck. So did years of government attacks on civil society, which demolished the nonprofits and civilian rescue networks that might have aided the response. <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p><ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> Although the Venezuelan government insists it is doing all it can, it has shared little information and deployed the armed forces in a manner that has often been chaotic, insufficient and, in some cases, an obstacle to other relief efforts. <a href="https://labpaz.org/2026/06/27/40-ong-emergencia-humanitaria-en-la-guaira-ante-la-militarizacion-la-respuesta-debe-respetar-derechos-humanos/">Local rights organizations</a> have warned about the risks of human rights abuses should the response be left in the hands of the military. Ordinary citizens and courageous local and foreign journalists are recording volunteers desperately searching for survivors in the rubble, rescue teams working without proper equipment and relatives fighting to save their loved ones with their bare hands. <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p class="attribution">— Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/opinion/venezuela-earthquake-tragedy.html"><cite class="article">I’m in Venezuela. Things Are Worse Than They Look</cite></a><br><cite>New York Times</cite> Opinion, 30 June 2026.</p></blockquote> <div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from New York Times</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/opinion/venezuela-earthquake-tragedy.html"><img decoding="async" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/07/01/multimedia/30jimenez-htqg/30jimenez-htqg-facebookJumbo.jpg" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/opinion/venezuela-earthquake-tragedy.html">Opinion | I’m in Venezuela. Things Are Worse Than They Look</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">Venezuela’s natural disaster was unavoidable, but the devastation it has left in its wake was not.</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">Carolina Jiménez Sandoval @ nytimes.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/07/02/venezuela-crisis-authoritarian-rule-tragedy-of-nature-carolina-jimenez-sandoval-nyt/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/07/02/venezuela-crisis-authoritarian-rule-tragedy-of-nature-carolina-jimenez-sandoval-nyt/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[Reading: “We need a renaissance of uncertainty.”]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/24/reading-we-need-a-renaissance-of-uncertainty/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11075</id> <updated>2026-06-24T16:19:24Z</updated> <published>2026-06-24T14:31:41Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[Over the last 40 years, climate science has transformed from a method for navigating uncertainty to a teleological campaign against doubt. In the conventional understanding, climate change is uncertain. We don’t know how much carbon the human race will ultimately pump into the atmosphere; we don’t know, precisely, how much warming any eventual atmospheric concentration […]]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/24/reading-we-need-a-renaissance-of-uncertainty/"><![CDATA[<div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from Asterisk 13 (Winter 2026)</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://asteriskmag.com/issues/13/merchants-of-certainty"><img decoding="async" src="https://asteriskmag.com/media/pages/issues/13/merchants-of-certainty/31ce75066c-1774298472/merchants-of-certainty-alex-trembath-1600x900-crop-sharpen50.png" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://asteriskmag.com/issues/13/merchants-of-certainty">Merchants of Certainty</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">We can’t predict the full impact of climate change. Why did the climate movement stop pushing the world to accept this fact and start trying to deny…</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">Alex Trembath @ asteriskmag.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> <blockquote> <p>Over the last 40 years, climate science has transformed from a method for navigating uncertainty to a teleological campaign against doubt.</p> <p>In the conventional understanding, climate change is uncertain. We don’t know how much carbon the human race will ultimately pump into the atmosphere; we don’t know, precisely, how much warming any eventual atmospheric concentration will cause; we don’t know how much this warming will affect sea levels or weather patterns; and we don’t know how well future societies will adapt.</p> <p>These uncertainties are all the scientific justification we should need to to reduce emissions, invest in more resilient infrastructure, and protect natural systems. We don’t know exactly how dangerous three or four degrees of global warming will be by the end of the century, but we don’t need to know in order to act. There’s a reason that William Nordhaus, who won the Nobel Prize for his work on climate economics, titled his book <cite>The Climate Casino</cite>: the risk is enough for us to hedge our bets.</p> <p>More recently, though, this foundational idea of the modern environmental movement has itself been cast as a form of climate denial. In their landmark polemic <cite>Merchants of Doubt</cite>, the historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway executed an ambitious reframing of the science of climate change, alleging that the central obstacle to climate stabilization was campaigns financed by the fossil fuel industries, which used PR tactics to artificially inflate the true uncertainty in scientific climate change data. Scientists and advocates created new scientific bases for climate action, such as the 350 Parts Per Million standard and two-degree temperature targets. Climate impacts were no longer seen as the consequence of centuries of industrialization but rather the criminal fault of a few polluting industries. And climate change, under the new science, is not a future risk but a present catastrophe. Nordhaus, the father of the carbon tax, now regularly comes under fire for his perceived lack of climate ambition (his work has purportedly <q>enabled climate change denial and delay.</q>)</p> <p>In place of uncertain outcomes, this new generation of climate advocates offered the certainty of present events. Doing so has entailed significant exaggeration beyond the hard facts of climate science, including the overhyping of climate change’s contribution to present-day extreme weather events and the use of implausible warming scenarios that forecast dire future impacts. This transformation has had the intended effect of narrowing the solution set understood as <q>climate action.</q> Climate change under the new regime is not an emergent long-term risk to be managed by smart planning, expanding technological capabilities, and deepening societal resilience. Instead, it is an immediate physical threat, earning illicit perpetrators — so-called <q>fossil capital</q> and the ever-growing army of <q>climate deniers</q> — an increase in climate-related litigation and regulation.</p> <p><ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p>Climate targets, single-event attribution analysis, and other forms of science activism have completely changed the way researchers, advocates, and journalists talk about the problem of climate change. The United Nations and hundreds of governments have endorsed atmospheric temperature targets. Friederieke Otto was recently named a contributing lead author on the IPCC’s upcoming Seventh Assessment Report. And the camp of <q>climate deniers,</q> a term once reserved for those who, through ignorance or malice, rejected the mainstream science of the greenhouse effect, has come to describe opponents of the Green New Deal and advocates of nuclear energy, which climate activists claim is too speculative for the certain policy prescriptions made by climate science.</p> <p>But while activists may have taken over climate science, their big-picture results are not flattering. The vast bulk of the global energy supply still runs on fossil fuels. Carbon emissions continue to rise. The Trump Administration is systematically dismantling the climate policy apparatus that has been built up over the last generation, and it is not alone — governments around the world are rolling back climate commitments. There’s little uproar, because climate change remains a low priority for the public. And trust in climate scientists, and in science itself, shows signs of decline. <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p><ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> Reconstituting climate science and policy will require contending with this fractious new informational and political gestalt. For a newly successful climate science to take root in the coming years and decades, we need a renaissance in uncertainty. Uncertainty is not a dirty word — in climate science or anywhere else. Indeed, it is better understood as a kind of epistemic bravery: an assertion that while scientists and policymakers can’t predict the future, a scientifically informed, democratic public is capable of navigating it.</p> <p class="attribution">— Alex Trembath, <a href="https://asteriskmag.com/issues/13/merchants-of-certainty"><cite class="article">Merchants of Certainty</cite></a><br /><cite>Asterisk</cite> 13: Science (Winter 2026)</p></blockquote> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/24/reading-we-need-a-renaissance-of-uncertainty/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/24/reading-we-need-a-renaissance-of-uncertainty/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[¿Perestroika Cubana?]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/22/perestroika-cubana/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11049</id> <updated>2026-06-25T01:03:51Z</updated> <published>2026-06-22T19:03:01Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[O.K., I do not yet have any real idea what to say about this — in maximally general terms, my starting points are to note that the Cuban Communist regime has been really awful for decades, both a totalitarian nightmare politically and socially, and a study in the most multidimensionally dysfunctional aspects of closed, planned […]]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/22/perestroika-cubana/"><![CDATA[<p>O.K., I do not yet have any real idea what to say about this — in maximally general terms, my starting points are to note that the Cuban Communist regime has been really awful for decades, both a totalitarian nightmare politically and socially, and a study in the most multidimensionally dysfunctional aspects of closed, planned economies, under revolutionary state socialism. U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba from the Cold War to the present has been like most U.S. sanctions regimes — stupid, appallingly belligerent and ineffective when not actively, massively counterproductive. (A policy of isolation cuts off and hurts ordinary Cubans but often strengthens, not weakens, the hands of their hermit-kingdom rulers.)</p> <p>But whether or not the U.S. is acting wrongly and badly (I absolutely think it is), this seems like it could be really significant! If these reforms amount to anything in the end — of course it is far too soon to know whether they will, but these are very big moves — it could be a really hopeful development. I am baffled that as of today (22 June 2026), this has been very publicly developing for at least 10 days, but there currently seem to be <a href="https://radgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-13-32-34-Americas-The-New-York-Times.png">not one story yet</a> about these measures in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/americas">the <cite>New York Times</cite> Americas section</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/18/cuban-economy-needs-urgent-changes-as-us-blockade-deepens-crisis-says-president">only one (1) short article in <cite>The Guardian</cite>, on president Díaz-Canel’s speech to the politburo,</a> without much on the overall framework or significant details on the policies that were actually enacted last week, <a href="https://radgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-13-48-41-Cuba-The-Guardian.png">buried in their usually voluminous Latin America and Caribbean coverage</a>. I’ve been trying to catch up on this story through Associated Press wire articles since I read about it through <a href="https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2067735067397423300">a post by Polymarket (!) to X dot com</a>. I don’t know what’s going to happen for the island or for its catastrophically failed experiment in one-party revolutionary communist rule or for the U.S.’s ludicrous decades of destructive, until-now perennially failing efforts at isolation and regime change, if these reforms do take hold and deepen, if they are acknowledged and diplomatically rewarded, etc. But it seems like folks ought to be reading and talking more about this!</p> <p><strong>June 12, 2026:</strong></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>HAVANA (AP) —</strong> Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday announced a package of economic reforms aimed at attracting investment, expanding participation by Cubans living abroad in the economy and decentralizing parts of the country’s administration.</p> <p>The president did not provide details about the measures or a timetable for their implementation but said during remarks to state media that it is now <q>time to change</q> and that the country <q>simply cannot continue on its current course.</q></p> <p><q>Every opportunity in the midst of a crisis must be seized as a moment for takeoff, as a moment for growth,</q> Díaz-Canel said, according to a statement from the presidency that was republished by state-run media. <q>We have established a group of priorities to confront this situation,</q> he added without offering specifics.</p> <p class="attribution">— Andrea Rodríguez, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-colombia-aid-ship-embargo-cbffe7cf4f435569e1a6d7e42a2bb5fd"><cite class="article">Díaz-Canel announces economic reforms to attract investment and involve Cubans abroad</cite></a><br /><cite>Associated Press</cite>, 12 June 2026</p></blockquote> <div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from AP News</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-colombia-aid-ship-embargo-cbffe7cf4f435569e1a6d7e42a2bb5fd"><img decoding="async" src="https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/c20c10c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/7645x5094+0+1/resize/980x653!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F65%2F18%2Ffe0f205a2cf449bdb181dc5f0ed8%2F4ae5750e2a584777867761574c2137ca" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-colombia-aid-ship-embargo-cbffe7cf4f435569e1a6d7e42a2bb5fd">Díaz-Canel announces economic reforms to attract investment and…</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has announced economic reforms to attract investment and involve Cubans abroad in the economy.</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">apnews.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> <p><strong>June 17, 2026:</strong></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>HAVANA (AP) —</strong> Cuba’s powerful Communist Party, or PCC, called an unscheduled session Wednesday, a rare occurrence that comes days after President Miguel Díaz-Canel <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-colombia-aid-ship-embargo-cbffe7cf4f435569e1a6d7e42a2bb5fd">announced an economic reform package</a> aimed at opening up the struggling island’s economy.</p> <p>Also Wednesday, in a surprise move, the National Assembly was also convened for Thursday to follow up on the party meeting.</p> <p>Both sessions come at a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-us-oil-crisis-trump-daily-life-6ed4ca97c19836a52db3546bf24683ce">critical time for Cuba</a>, as it grapples with the effects of a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-cuba-tariffs-trump-mexico-30f1d74a766fee23001684a5bb8079d9">U.S. energy blockade</a> aimed at forcing a change in the island’s economic model.</p> <p>Last week, Díaz-Canel told journalists that the upcoming reforms would expand authorizations for private companies, which were first legalized five years ago. Without providing specific details or deadlines, the president noted that the plan will also allow Cubans living both on the island and abroad to invest in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-tourism-drop-us-venezuela-economy-a75e492eba3390ddb5e81eb9d9443f1d">tourism</a>, while granting state-run companies greater freedom to partner with the private sector.</p> <p>He also forecast changes to the currency exchange market and raised the possibility that private businesses could import and export goods directly, bypassing the state intermediation currently required.</p> <p class="attribution">— Andrea Rodríguez, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-diaz-canel-economic-reforms-us-blockade-4edaf38c9c57c59398e628888295dd34"><cite class="article">Cuba’s Communist Party convenes unscheduled session to debate new economic measures</cite></a><br /><cite>Associated Press</cite>, 17 June 2026</p></blockquote> <div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from AP News</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-diaz-canel-economic-reforms-us-blockade-4edaf38c9c57c59398e628888295dd34"><img decoding="async" src="https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/0e4ca3e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2994x1995+0+1/resize/980x653!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F4c%2Feb%2F3e306b2e93c5fed215f0bad5f6d8%2Fe9c8d014a4d14ca4a2feceb500405a7c" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-diaz-canel-economic-reforms-us-blockade-4edaf38c9c57c59398e628888295dd34">Cuba’s Communist Party convenes unscheduled session to debate …</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">Cuba’s Communist Party has called an unscheduled session, days after President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced an economic reform package.</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">apnews.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> <p><strong>June 18, 2026:</strong></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>HAVANA (AP) —</strong> Cuba’s Communist Party has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-diaz-canel-economic-reforms-us-blockade-4edaf38c9c57c59398e628888295dd34">approved an emergency economic package</a> featuring unprecedented free-market measures aimed at opening up the struggling island’s economy following heightened pressure from the United States.</p> <p>While the full document has not been released, here are some of the proposals, based on statements by <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-president-economic-social-model-d67457289b4fea6389d8839024e082e2">Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel</a> and other officials.</p> <p><strong>Decentralize state-run economy</strong> <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins><br /></p> <p><strong>Nonspecific changes to foreign exchange market</strong> <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p><strong>Government downsizing</strong> <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> to reduce the number of ministries from 27 to 21 <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> .</p> <p><strong>Municipal independence</strong> <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> [to] give municipalities greater authority to approve businesses operating within their jurisdictions and to manage relations with economic actors, including state-owned enterprises, cooperatives and private companies. <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p><strong>Autonomy for state-owned companies</strong> <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> Companies would be allowed to design their own pay systems, use and distribute profits with fewer restrictions, import and export goods, and enter into partnerships with private businesses and cooperatives. <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p><strong>Elimination of state intermediaries</strong> <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> businesses, including <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-a7038453c4234c1eb3bb026a355245d4">small and medium-sized enterprises</a>, would be allowed to import and export goods directly rather than through state-run entities <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> .</p> <p><strong>Subsidies to phase out</strong> <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> moving food and other goods to market pricing.</p> <p><strong>Rebuilding abandoned infrastructure</strong> <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p class="attribution">— Andrea Rodríguez, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-economic-reforms-diaz-canel-758f2199c867472e05e585ccc54a269f"><cite class="article">What to know about Cuba’s economic measures aimed at opening up the island’s economy</cite></a><br /><cite>Associated Press</cite>, 18 June 2026</p></blockquote> <div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from AP News</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-economic-reforms-diaz-canel-758f2199c867472e05e585ccc54a269f"><img decoding="async" src="https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/4009bb8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5164x3441+0+1/resize/980x653!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Fdd%2Fee%2F50268fbd819e26b75e52f1fef7a6%2F7a1fe621580a44b4a2f162cf95345a07" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-economic-reforms-diaz-canel-758f2199c867472e05e585ccc54a269f">What to know about Cuba's economic measures aimed at opening up …</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">Cuba’s Communist Party has approved an emergency economic package featuring unprecedented free-market measures to open up the struggling island’s …</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">apnews.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> <p><strong>June 19, 2026:</strong></p> <blockquote> <h3>Cuba pushes through sweeping free-market reforms in biggest economic shift since the revolution</h3> <p><strong>HAVANA (AP) —</strong> Observers on Friday called Cuba’s new <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-economic-reforms-diaz-canel-758f2199c867472e05e585ccc54a269f">free-market reforms</a> the most sweeping economic overhaul of the island’s communist economy since the Cuban revolution, as the grandson of former President Ra´l Castro said in an interview that Cuba must seek to move its economy forward.</p> <p>The 176 measures aim to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-colombia-aid-ship-embargo-cbffe7cf4f435569e1a6d7e42a2bb5fd">further decentralize Cuba’s state-run economy</a>, which has been left gasping by a tightened embargo under President Donald Trump. Under the island’s current economic model, the government largely determines what is produced, who produces it, the prices at which goods are sold and how the country’s resources are allocated.</p> <p>The plan includes more space for private businesses, imports and exports without state intermediation, free hiring of personnel, authorization for private banks and investment by Cubans abroad. It even permits fast-food chains to establish themselves on the island.</p> <p><q>Elements that for decades were listed as pillars of the revolutionary economy, such as the state monopoly on foreign trade and the centralization of productive forces, have been dismantled,</q> said Luis Carlos Battista, a Cuban-American political scientist and lawyer who is a doctoral candidate at the University of Salamanca.</p> <p>Cuban leaders like former President Ra´l Castro — who still wields significant power on the island — have sought to push forward more limited reforms of Cuba’s economy in the past, but efforts have run into bureaucratic hurdles. In passing the reform, Cuban authorities cautioned that implementation could be slow, and noted measures will not be viable if the U.S. does not lift the energy and financial embargo on the island.</p> <p><ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p>In an <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/us/2026/06/19/we-are-not-a-threat-raul-castros-grandson-raulito-makes-cubas-case-to-us-and-world/">interview published Friday</a>, in the United Arab Emirates-based The National, Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, grandson of the revolutionary leader, reiterated that Cuba <q>doesn’t even slightly represent a threat</q> to the U.S.</p> <p><ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cuba-sanctions-diazcanel-1cd7096822e8397dbfeffaf8e70aa536">Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel</a> said that the proposed measures were based on an analysis of the Vietnamese and Chinese models, communist countries with market economies.</p> <p><ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p>What is likely to pose a significant barrier are U.S. sanctions on Cuba, said Lee Schlenker, a research associate at the Quincy Institute in Washington. <ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins> Without sanctions being lifted, Schlenker and other analysts said many of the presented measures will be inapplicable, especially due to the limitations and prohibitions imposed on potential investors, who are penalized in the U.S. financial system if they do business with Cuba.</p> <p>Beyond that, there are a number of other obstacles that could stymie significant reforms, ranging from mistrust from potential investors to what Battista, the Cuban-American analyst called <q>slow and inefficient</q> bureaucracy.</p> <p>Despite these obstacles, the Cuban government faces a short window for obtaining results, said Paolo Spadoni, associate professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Augusta University in Georgia.</p> <p><q>If Cuban leaders hope to survive this unprecedented crisis and the pressure from the United States, they must move quickly with the implementation of reform and the achievement of tangible results,</q> Spadoni said.</p> <p class="attribution">— Andrea Rodríguez, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-economic-reforms-us-embargo-diaz-canel-trump-rubio-b6b8d4319d4291dde47084baa624c795"><cite class="article">Cuba pushes through sweeping free-market reforms in biggest economic shift since the revolution</cite></a><br /><cite>Associated Press</cite>, 19 June 2026</p></blockquote> <div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from AP News</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-economic-reforms-us-embargo-diaz-canel-trump-rubio-b6b8d4319d4291dde47084baa624c795"><img decoding="async" src="https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/c3aae9d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4001x2666+0+1/resize/980x653!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F98%2Fe5%2Fb17b08a1412831c025d3c442d2cc%2F79ab658237c14220a7add2ec1f59188c" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://apnews.com/article/cuba-economic-reforms-us-embargo-diaz-canel-trump-rubio-b6b8d4319d4291dde47084baa624c795">Cuba pushes through sweeping free-market reforms in biggest econ…</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">Observers are calling Cuba’s new free-market reforms the most sweeping economic overhaul on the island’s communist economy since the Cuban revolut…</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">apnews.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/22/perestroika-cubana/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/22/perestroika-cubana/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[What I’m Reading: “Rethinking High-School Science Fairs”, Leah Libresco Sargeant]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/18/what-im-reading-rethinking-high-school-science-fairs-leah-libresco-sargeant/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11044</id> <updated>2026-06-18T14:42:19Z</updated> <published>2026-06-18T14:38:05Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/18/what-im-reading-rethinking-high-school-science-fairs-leah-libresco-sargeant/"><![CDATA[<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from Asterisk</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://asteriskmag.com/issues/13/rethinking-high-school-science-fairs"><img decoding="async" src="https://asteriskmag.com/media/pages/issues/13/rethinking-high-school-science-fairs/4ac3bb4442-1770398368/copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-happy-independence-day-1-1600x900-crop-sharpen50.png" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://asteriskmag.com/issues/13/rethinking-high-school-science-fairs">Rethinking High-School Science Fairs</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">America’s earliest science fairs gave students the chance to do independent research. Today, they’re a competitive gloss to glorified internships.…</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">asteriskmag.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> </p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><div class="wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"><div class="wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"><p class="wp-block-paragraph">Science exploration driven by genuine curiosity is more open-ended than experiments that come in a box and test students on whether they get the right answer. I remember in my high school physics class we were <em>first</em> taught the value of Earth’s gravitational constant <em>g</em>, and <em>then</em> asked to perform an experiment that should reveal it.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Of course, working with cruder tools, limited patience, and air resistance, many of us didn’t wind up squarely on 9.8 m/s<sup>2</sup>. One of my partners was quick to scribble out our actual observation, and she and I had a brief struggle over control of the pencil as she attempted to put in the “correct” answer. She had a better sense of the teacher’s intentions than I did. The tables that honestly reported a “wrong” result were encouraged to repeat their experiment until they got a trial that “worked.” We missed the chance to talk about how scientists reconcile noisy data. We missed the chance to run an experiment for the purpose of exploring the unknown.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Students in science fairs and adults in professional labs know the answer they’re supposed to get. A result has to be statistically significant to “count” and, just like in my physics class, students can be tempted to keep reworking their results until they get the right answer. There was no p-hacking at my research internship, but part of the education I received in a professional lab was how much the scientific process was dominated by anxiety, not curiosity. </p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">—Leah Libresco Sargeant, <a href="https://asteriskmag.com/issues/13/rethinking-high-school-science-fairs"><cite class="essay">Rethinking High-School Science Fairs</cite></a><br><cite>Asterisk</cite>, February 2026</p></div></div></div></div></blockquote> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/18/what-im-reading-rethinking-high-school-science-fairs-leah-libresco-sargeant/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/18/what-im-reading-rethinking-high-school-science-fairs-leah-libresco-sargeant/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[Reading: Brett Devereaux, “Why Stone-Faced Fascists Keep Getting Antiquity Wrong” (The Bulwark)]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/09/reading-brett-devereaux-why-stone-faced-fascists-keep-getting-antiquity-wrong-the-bulwark/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11037</id> <updated>2026-06-09T21:23:42Z</updated> <published>2026-06-09T21:23:40Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[IT IS THIS VERY IDEOLOGICAL PROJECT that demands the flattening down of the real historical Greek and Roman tradition and demands hostility towards classicists who actually cherish it, because the study of the ancient world does not conform neatly to modern bigotries or hard-right ideology. The irony is that it is precisely this complexity that […]]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/09/reading-brett-devereaux-why-stone-faced-fascists-keep-getting-antiquity-wrong-the-bulwark/"><![CDATA[<div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from thebulwark.com</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/p/why-stone-faced-fascists-keep-getting-antiquity-wrong-x-twitter-elon-musk-ancient-greece-roman-empire"><img decoding="async" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LBN-!,w_1200,h_675,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff45aea49-f2a7-40ab-be0e-4f8d52780867_5195x3462.jpeg" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/p/why-stone-faced-fascists-keep-getting-antiquity-wrong-x-twitter-elon-musk-ancient-greece-roman-empire">Why Stone-Faced Fascists Keep Getting Antiquity Wrong</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">Online bigotry masquerading as a love of history in the fever swamps of Elon Musk’s X.</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">Bret Devereaux @ thebulwark.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> <blockquote> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">IT IS THIS VERY IDEOLOGICAL PROJECT that demands the flattening down of the real historical Greek and Roman tradition and demands hostility towards classicists who actually cherish it, because the study of the ancient world does not conform neatly to modern bigotries or hard-right ideology. The irony is that it is precisely this complexity that has drawn generations of readers and scholars to the Greek and Roman classics and ensured their continued place in the pantheon of <q>great works.</q> Indeed, as Stanford classicist Reviel Netz notes in <em><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/why-the-ancient-greeks-matter/6C08DD345E62246E02BC0AAD89C3D37C">Why the Ancient Greeks Matter</a></em>, it was the very fractious, discordant, individualistic nature of Greek culture—clearly visible in their literature—that set them apart from previous and contemporary societies.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">For its part, Rome was a <a href="https://acoup.blog/2021/06/11/collections-the-queens-latin-or-who-were-the-romans-part-i-beginnings-and-legends/">diverse society from its foundation</a> and regularly extended citizenship to foreign ethnic groups and even freed slaves. Roman authors like <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0026%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D13">Livy</a>, and even foes of Rome like <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/itc/classics/bagnall/3995/readings/b-d2-1d.htm">Philip V of Macedon</a>, recognized that this liberality was a foundation of Roman strength. While the Greeks and the Romans could certainly be bigoted, their stereotypes <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Race-Ethnicity-Classical-World-Translation/dp/1603849947">map poorly</a> onto the modern racism demonstrated by X’s unworthy defenders of Western civilization. Herodotus <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/2a*.html">thought</a> Egypt the oldest of all peoples, in some ways more civilized than Greece, with a better calendar and an older and deeper religious tradition. Homer imagined the mythical Ethiopian king Memnon as a cousin to the hero Hector and <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D486">also the most beautiful man Odysseus had ever seen</a>, a stark contrast to racialized claims that actress Lupita Nyong’o could not possibly play the famously beautiful Helen. Meanwhile, the Greeks and Romans felt little kinship with other European <q>whites.</q> If anything, Gauls, Britons, and Germans could be far more alien and barbarous to ancient writers than Egyptians, Syrians, Persians, or even Ethiopians.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">The classical canon does not present a single vision of greatness, but many. It even questions the value of greatness itself. Even in Homer, Achilles’s vision of greatness through glory in the <em>Iliad </em>conflicts with Hector’s dogged defense of his home. The poem does not render a clear verdict on who is right, only who won. Homer doesn’t end with the triumph of Achilles, but wistfully notes <q><a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133%3Abook%3D24%3Acard%3D776">such was their burial of Hector, breaker of horses.</a></q> Even if we take the <em>Iliad </em>and Achilles’s victory at face value, what triumph he has is undermined in the <em>Odyssey</em>: Achilles’s shade appears in the Underworld and rejects Odysseus’s declaration of his greatness. <q>I would rather follow the plow as thrall to another man, one with no land allotted him and not much to live on,</q> he <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D486">laments</a>, <q>than be king over all the perished dead.</q></p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Homer is hardly the only figure in the classical canon to question the sort of violent masculine greatness to which the statue accounts aspire. Sallust famously <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/sallust/bellum_catilinae*.html">concludes</a> that the great military achievements of the Romans merely served to undermine their morals and domestic politics, while he extols the greatness of writing history. Tacitus, in the midst of praising his father-in-law Agricola’s military achievements, in turn questions the fundamental morality of Roman conquest itself through the <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0084%3Achapter%3D30">famous words he attributes to Calgacus</a>: <q>robbery, butchery, and plunder they call by the lying name empire and where they make a wasteland, they call it peace.</q> Unless we view the ancients as if they were cartoons, it should not surprise us to find classical views on both violence and masculinity were complex and varied.</p> <p class="attribution">— Brett Devereaux, <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/p/why-stone-faced-fascists-keep-getting-antiquity-wrong-x-twitter-elon-musk-ancient-greece-roman-empire"><cite class="article">Why Stone-Faced Fascists Keep Getting Antiquity Wrong</cite></a><br><cite>The Bulwark</cite>, 4 June 2026</p></blockquote> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/09/reading-brett-devereaux-why-stone-faced-fascists-keep-getting-antiquity-wrong-the-bulwark/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/06/09/reading-brett-devereaux-why-stone-faced-fascists-keep-getting-antiquity-wrong-the-bulwark/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[War Is Not A Weapon You Can Aim]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/05/25/war-is-not-a-weapon-you-can-aim-2/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11023</id> <updated>2026-05-25T16:43:54Z</updated> <published>2026-05-25T16:41:37Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[Reading: Matthew Petti, A Pointless War in Reason (June 2026). Trump still expected a quick and unambiguous surrender when he and Netanyahu launched the war a few days later. Israel assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a first strike, and Trump said that he was anticipating a situation like with Delcy in Venezuela. A […]]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/05/25/war-is-not-a-weapon-you-can-aim-2/"><![CDATA[<p><strong>Reading:</strong> Matthew Petti, <a href="https://reason.com/2026/05/02/a-pointless-war/"><cite class="article">A Pointless War</cite></a> in <cite>Reason</cite> (June 2026).</p> <blockquote> <p>Trump still expected a quick and unambiguous surrender when he and Netanyahu launched the war a few days later. Israel assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a first strike, and Trump said that he was anticipating a situation <q>like with Delcy in Venezuela.</q></p> <p>A month into the war, Trump admitted at an Easter dinner that he had told the British prime minister the war would last only three days. He gave a similar timeline to <q>skeptical</q> Middle Eastern leaders before the war began, telling them it would <q>only take 100 hours,</q> according to Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a pro-diplomacy nonprofit, who also broke the news of Iran’s 2003 offer.</p> <p><ins class="ellipsis editorial" title="[Elision by the editor.]">. . .</ins></p> <p>Whether or not the truce holds past April, Trump has lost control over the conflict he has entangled the U.S. in. With its back to the wall, Iran discovered that it holds a lot of leverage over the world economy. Israel and the Arab states, meanwhile, found that they can push the U.S. to adopt maximalist goals.</p> <p>The war has led to an outcome that neither Iranians nor Americans wanted. But it has fulfilled the vision of Netanyahu, who declared from the rooftop of the military headquarters in Tel Aviv that bringing the U.S. directly into the war <q>allows us to do what I have been hoping to do for 40 years.</q></p> <p>Ironically, it has also fulfilled the vision of the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who foreshadowed his plans in a 2022 speech: <q>By God, I see it with my own eyes, a war that will change the face of the globe, a regional religious war that will burn both the green and the dry.</q> The American political class helped pile a lot of the kindling, and it doesn’t know how to put the fire out.</p> <p class="attribution">— Matthew Petti, <a href="https://reason.com/2026/05/02/a-pointless-war/"><cite class="article">A Pointless War</cite></a><br>In <cite>Reason</cite> (June 2026).</p></blockquote> <div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from Reason.com</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://reason.com/2026/05/02/a-pointless-war/"><img decoding="async" src="https://d2eehagpk5cl65.cloudfront.net/img/q60/uploads/2026/04/iran-war-setup-v1.jpg" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://reason.com/2026/05/02/a-pointless-war/">A pointless war: How Iran hawks finally got their way</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">President Donald Trump and his predecessors spent decades putting the U.S. on a path toward war against Iran.</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">Matthew Petti @ reason.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> <p>It is easy to look at this appalling mess and come away with the conclusion that Donald Trump is especially foolish, rash, inconstant or callous and dangerously careless with deadly fights he cannot control. Donald Trump is all of those things, but his rudderless war is not just the latest expression of his peculiar vices or malign influence. The real fact, whether about Trump’s wars or the decades of American wars in the Middle East before this one, is that whether the War President is a fool or a mastermind or just some guy, they never have the control they think they have over the wars they bring into the world. <a href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2014/09/24/war-is-not-a-weapon-you-can-aim/">War is not a tool you can wield; war is not a weapon you can aim.</a> War is a fire, which grows out from where you set it, and burns on with a life of its own.</p> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/05/25/war-is-not-a-weapon-you-can-aim-2/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/05/25/war-is-not-a-weapon-you-can-aim-2/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[There Has Never Been A Safer Time To Live In U.S. Cities]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/04/20/there-has-never-been-a-safer-time-to-live-in-us-cities/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11017</id> <updated>2026-04-20T18:01:11Z</updated> <published>2026-04-20T18:01:11Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[What I’m Reading: Scott Alexander, “Record Low Crime Rates Are Real, Not Just Reporting Bias Or Improved Medical Care”, Astral Codex Ten (Feb. 18, 2026). Violent crime (and most other forms of victimizing crime) in the U.S. is much less common now than it used to be. It was getting much less common for a […]]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/04/20/there-has-never-been-a-safer-time-to-live-in-us-cities/"><![CDATA[<p><strong>What I’m Reading:</strong> Scott Alexander, <a href="https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/record-low-crime-rates-are-real-not">“Record Low Crime Rates Are Real, Not Just Reporting Bias Or Improved Medical Care”</a>, <cite>Astral Codex Ten</cite> (Feb. 18, 2026).</p> <div style="background-color: #ddd; border-radius: 5px; padding: 0.5em 1.0em; margin: 1.0em 3.0em;"><h3 style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">Shared Article from astralcodexten.com</h3><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; min-height: 156px;"><a href="https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/record-low-crime-rates-are-real-not"><img decoding="async" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZfAj!,w_1200,h_675,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5065e31b-2f93-4c58-9217-d75e2fe243d4_1536x1024.png" style="max-width: 200px; height: auto;" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0em; font-size: 1.1em;"><strong><a href="https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/record-low-crime-rates-are-real-not">Record Low Crime Rates Are Real, Not Just Reporting Bias Or Impr…</a></strong></p><p style="margin: 0em;">...</p><p style="margin: 0em; "><span style="color: #666; font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;">Scott Alexander @ astralcodexten.com</span></p><br style="clear: both" /></div> <p>Violent crime (and most other forms of victimizing crime) in the U.S. is much less common now than it used to be. It was getting much less common for a long time, then in the last few years it got a little more common again. Now it’s gone back to getting more and more uncommon than it has ever been. Of course it could be even better, and where violence and victimization continue to happen they are serious issues that should be taken seriously. But there has never been a safer time to live in the U.S. or in U.S. cities than right now. (Really, really really. This is robust even when considering what we can find out about reporting rates over time, or changes in mortality from violent crime due to improvements in emergency medicine.)</p> ]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/04/20/there-has-never-been-a-safer-time-to-live-in-us-cities/#comments" thr:count="1" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/04/20/there-has-never-been-a-safer-time-to-live-in-us-cities/feed/" thr:count="1" /> <thr:total>1</thr:total> </entry> <entry> <author> <name>Rad Geek</name> <uri>http://radgeek.com/</uri> </author> <title type="html"><![CDATA[“The Formula of a Property Vacuum,” from: The Syncretic Society (1977-1980), Felipe Garcia Casals [Pavel Campeanu]]]></title> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/04/12/formula-property-vacuum-syncretic-society-1977-1980-felipe-garcia-casals-pavel-campeanu/" /> <id>https://radgeek.com/?p=11008</id> <updated>2026-04-12T20:08:08Z</updated> <published>2026-04-12T20:03:11Z</published> <category scheme="https://radgeek.com?taxonomy=category" term="Misc" label="Misc"/> <summary type="html"><![CDATA[What I’ve been reading: This is from Introduction, one of two samizdat essays written in the late 1970s by an East European official occupying a high managerial position, writing in French under the pseudonym Felipe García Casals. The author was later revealed as the Romanian Marxist intellectual Pavel Câampeanu. The essays were circulated in French […]]]></summary> <content type="html" xml:base="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/04/12/formula-property-vacuum-syncretic-society-1977-1980-felipe-garcia-casals-pavel-campeanu/"><![CDATA[<p><strong>What I’ve been reading:</strong> This is from <strong><cite class="article">Introduction</cite></strong>, one of two samizdat essays written in the late 1970s by <q>an East European official occupying a high managerial position</q>, writing in French under the pseudonym <q>Felipe García Casals.</q> The author was later revealed as the Romanian Marxist intellectual Pavel Câampeanu. The essays were circulated in French and reached the West through academic channels, then published in English translation as <strong><cite>The Syncretic Society</cite></strong> (White Plains, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1980, trans. Guy Daniels).</p> <p>Casals uses the term <q>Stalinism</q> to refer not just to Stalin’s dictatorship, but to the characteristic mode of production under classical Soviet models of central economic planning from the introduction of the Five Year Plans until perestroika and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. One of the ideas he especially wants to develop is that totalitarian politics and the cult of personality are integral parts of, and downstream consequences of, the economic planning system. He also wants to argue that system is really not characterized by worker ownership as in the revolutionary slogans, but also not by a form of disguised ownership where the Party or the State effectively takes on the role of a capitalist proprietor as in some left-wing critiques of actually-existing communism as a form of <q>state capitalism.</q> Instead, he argues, the system is characterized by an ongoing, perennial, systematically-sustained form of <q>property vacuum,</q> and a great deal of other consequences, follow. He writes (footnotes are by the translator, Guy Daniels):</p> <blockquote> <p>Stalinism does not act <em>on</em> necessity, but in its name. Such is its basis for solving the fundamental problem left unsolved by premature socialism: that of organizing ownership, the decisive premise of industrialization. That organization consists largely in the productive utilization and multiplication of the means of production, whose form of ownership is essential to this process. The convulsive form of ownership that was typical of premature socialism had defined the terms of the problem: the premature but effective elimination of the private ownership of the means of production creates the risk of establishing their premature but ineffective social ownership. Being intolerable in its private mode, and inaccessible in its social form, ownership becomes volatile.</p> <p>Stalinism did not create this ownership-in-abeyance. Rather, <a class="page-number">[12]</a> it represents an economic and social system which is centered not on a transition of that state of abeyance toward social ownership but on the former’s perpetuation. Having acquired an historical existence because of its duration, ownership-in-abeyance must also acquire a conceptual existence. It is quite possible that such a role could be assumed by the formula of a property vacuum. In the light of that concept, Stalinism can be viewed as a mode of production based on a system of organizing ownership which is doubly negative: anticapitalist (because capitalism has been eliminated) and nonsocialist (because social ownership was never tried out). Those interpretations which attribute to proprietorship under Stalinism a univocal and/or positive character overlook the essential uniqueness of that multivocal society.</p> <p>At first glance, the concept of a vacuum of ownership makes for a certain distrust. It represents, however, phenomena that are perfectly familiar from the historical viewpoint but overlooked from the conceptual viewpoint; e.g., the land reform that followed the October Revolution. Promulgated by the Second Congress of Soviets after the take-over of the Winter Palace, the Land Decree proclaimed that land was <q>… a national patrimony put in the possession of those who worked it.</q> Land ownership was made completely vague: control was separated from possession. One historian of the USSR rightly stated that <q>… the Land Decree introduced a principle that was quite the opposite of ownership in rural areas</q> (Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, <cite lang="fr">L’Union Soviétique de Lénine à Staline: 1917-1953</cite>, p. 77). The concept of a property vacuum is aimed at grasping the phenomenon while avoiding its definition by negation.</p> <p>The property vacuum represents the absence of autonomous economic mechanisms securing for one social stratum the complete ownership, juridically ratified, of the means of production. Complete proprietorship makes it possible to control both the organization of production and the appropriation of the product. In this sense, the absence of proprietors is the best proof of a property vacuum. The latter consists in an <a class="page-number">[13]</a> incomplete control of the prerogatives of ownership; viz., a control limited to organizing production. As such, it results not from the action of an autonomous economic mechanism but from a perpetual extra-economic intervention. Finally, it is not ratified juridically, since laws can legitimize ownership but not its absence. That is why, under Stalinism, law does not merely proclaim ownership: it supplants the latter.</p> <p>Under the conditions of a property vacuum, the means of production can neither be sold nor bought: they are not commodities. Consequently, they do not have an economically determined value. Yet they do have a conventional price–one intended to serve only the purposes of accounting. That noneconomic price is assigned to them, necessarily, by an extra-economic authority possessing that prerogative. The production of means of production is not aimed at their profitable sale. Hence the mechanism of its regulation is not the economic stimulus of a viable demand but an extra-economic order [<i lang="fr">commande</i>]: the plan. For Stalinist industrialization, this substitution of an order for demand plays an essential role. That is why it becomes, spontaneously, the general model for organizing social relations.</p> <p>The property vacuum has the result that the means of production are shifted into an extra-economoic sphere. This means that they are not susceptible of appropriation, since ownership does not exist outside of the economic sphere. Thus the means of production have a real existence as regards technology, and only an apparent existence as economic phenomena.</p> <p>According to the Stalinist dispensation, the means of production are owned by the producers themselves. According to most of Stalinism’s critics, the means of production are owned by the State or the bureaucracy. Although it dismisses both of these assertions, the concept of a property vacuum does not equate them with each other. First, there is already an important equalizing element: the two categories of presumptive owners share in the appropriation of the social product via the same mechanism, the wage. (Here one must except collectivized agriculture.) This form of appropriation–which is indirect, <a class="page-number">[14]</a> nonspecific, and independent of the appropriating subject–does not confirm, in economic terms, the proprietary character ascribed to the two categories. The elements of their inequality do not involve the amount of salary but rather its connection with the work done, and the degree to which ownership is inaccessible to them. The incomplete control of certain prerogatives of ownership, which is typical of a property vacuum, remains strictly inaccessible to the producers, and constitutes a monopoly of power. Hence it is solely with respect to that monopoly that the property vacuum is manifested as separation between the possession and control of property. The monopoly, therefore, is not one of ownership but of its incomplete control founded on nonpossession.</p> <p>The limits to this incomplete control are set by the common form of appropriation: the wage. Hence there is a lack of connection between the nature of that activity and its remmuneration, which engenders yet another nonrelation: between the amount of activity and the amount of remuneration.</p> <p>That brings us to the second inequality between the two categories. Although equalized by the mode common to both, the wage, they are differentiated by the varied action of that common mode. If one is willing to apply the term <q>management</q> to the incomplete control of property, one can state that the general principle <q>to each according to his work</q> applies to the nonmanagerial producers but not to the managers, who are not producers. From this angle of vision, the latter are also favored as compared to capitalists, since profits express precisely the dependencec of appropriation on the economic results of management.</p> <p>In the monopoly of management, Stalinism has created a specific type of activity without at the same time creating a specific mechanism for its remuneration. In so doing, it has provided the objective basis for the separation between management and responsibility. Lacking any economic standard of comparison, managerial activity is subject to no audit on the social plane. The fact that it is protected against any regular economic <a class="page-number">[15]</a> penalty represents the economic basis of its infallibility. A system of management which is unaffected either by production or by its economic valuation, is in fact not subject to any evaluation. Thus infallibility expresses, not an evaluation of the managers’ abilities, but the society’s systematic inability to evaluate this kind of activity. Perfection being incommensurable, the incommensurable is perceived as perfection. This attribute is possessed, not by the different individuals performing a certain function, but by the function performed by those different individuals.</p> <p>After a while the property vacuum, being artificially maintained, engenders the objective necessity of this subjectification: the function of infallibility. Criticism of Stalinism on the level of the e<q>cult of personality</q> only perpetuates the confusion between the objective necessity for that function in a property vacuum and the historical agents who perform that function at one time or another. Actually, all those figures who lose that function–whether through death or political change–lose at the same time that infallibility which they personified without possessing it. The function of infallibility perdures, regardless of those ephemeral figures who perform it, and who are usually found, <i lang="la">a posteriori</i>, to have been personally unfit to fulfill that function. It is not the providential leaders who produce the function of infallibility: it is the function of infallibility which produces the agglomeration of providential leaders. The true message brought by the providential leader is that of a society dominated by providence; i.e., by the most tyrannical form of necessity: chance, which is the natural result of failure in the matter of theory. The infallible leader is the institutionalized negation of theory, although he claims to be its sole incarnation. But the best that theory can do is to be adequate. The moment it is declared infallible, it is already dead, having degenerated into mythology.</p> <p>The result is an evident confusion of values of which the infallible leader is only one of the consequences. Its most general consequence is incommensurability, which spontaneously <a class="page-number">[16]</a> gives rise to a lack of proportionality [<i lang="fr">démesure</i>].<sup>[<a href="#formula-property-vacuum-syncretic-society-1977-1980-felipe-garcia-casals-pavel-campeanu-n-1" class="footnoted" id="to-formula-property-vacuum-syncretic-society-1977-1980-felipe-garcia-casals-pavel-campeanu-n-1">1</a>]</sup> The latter represents the lack of a system of values that is coherent, adequate, and hence socially operative. Such a system can unify elements that are diverse yet mutually conditioned. It cannot, however, unify elements that are disjunct by reason of their incompatibility. The syncretism of the society is echoed in the syncretism of its values.</p> <p class="attribution">— Felipe García Casals [Pavel Câampeanu], <cite class="essay">Introduction</cite><br>In <cite>The Syncretic Society</cite> (1977/1980), pp. 11-16. Translated from the French by Guy Daniels.</p></blockquote> <ol class="footnotes"> <li class="footnote" id="formula-property-vacuum-syncretic-society-1977-1980-felipe-garcia-casals-pavel-campeanu-n-1"><strong><sup>[1]</sup></strong>Casals seems to be using <i lang="fr">démesure</i> (a rather arcane word) in overlapping senses, to suggest both a lack of proportionality and immeasurability.—<a title="[Guy Daniels, the translator into English]">G.D.</a><a class="note-return" href="#to-formula-property-vacuum-syncretic-society-1977-1980-felipe-garcia-casals-pavel-campeanu-n-1">↩</a></li></ol>]]></content> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/04/12/formula-property-vacuum-syncretic-society-1977-1980-felipe-garcia-casals-pavel-campeanu/#comments" thr:count="0" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://radgeek.com/gt/2026/04/12/formula-property-vacuum-syncretic-society-1977-1980-felipe-garcia-casals-pavel-campeanu/feed/" thr:count="0" /> <thr:total>0</thr:total> </entry> </feed> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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