Connor Grey

@davidwengrow @karlfrankjr But can’t these studies be read as affirming what you’ve said? That a central part of the story of humanity includes migration, and the mixing of previously distant communities. And so all of us have “mixed” ancestry, with culture and language developing as hybrids of hybrids?

@karlfrankjr No. It’s a hybrid, derived from other hybrids.

Another day, another Harvard genetics paper on the whereabouts of an (I really must stress this) purely *imaginary “Indo-European homeland” - published in Nature, to the applause of alt-right and white supremacists the world over, but of course, all in the name of “good science”.

With the latest @scholagladiato1 YouTube video on pirate swords, wondering what Matt Easton would make of this type of sword displayed in St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall (in a section titled “Burma, China, Japan”). Surprisingly close in design to the stereotype “pirate sword”?

@RoryStewartUK Yes, yes, and no doubt he was a powerful and thoughtful figure, who was also surprisingly down to earth and very funny. @DaftLimmy

Very sorry to hear of the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury - I have worked with him for a long time and have always been struck by his humility, openness, care and sense of public service.

Very kind of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to become government officials while remaining in their executive roles at companies that either do business with or have regulatory conflicts with the government.

In his #COP29 speech, Aliyev complained about Western "fake news media", again called Azerbaijan's gas reserves a gift from God, and bragged about the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh. Reminder: this is a climate change conference

It's still kind of ridiculous to me that so many newspaper staffs are bifurcated into "the writers who aren't allowed to express opinions" and "the writers who aren't required to engage with facts."

Israel has just signed a $5.2 billion deal with Boeing to buy 25 warplanes. These machines will be used to massacre civilians in the region. Another good reason to boycott Boeing. Note, many flight search websites (like Kayak) allow you to filter out certain aircraft in results.

Really smashed the elite there guys.

We are all worried about Trump. But #Rojava faces an existential threat. If Trump withdraws US troops from NE Syria, as he tried last time in power, Türkiye will take it as a signal to invade and Rojava will face destruction. Time to rally around.

this clip is quite old, but anyone feeling surprised or shocked by today’s result clearly hasn't been paying attention. Obviously I'm biased, but my mate David had a clearer diagnosis of contemporary politics than anyone alive now.

This This This!

@JohnAchterhof @JEllulz @jasonhickel This is a false dilemma. Read some of Jason’s work and you’ll find there are alternatives to capitalism on one hand, and nationalising everything on the other.

@JEllulz @jasonhickel If you think the problem is capitalism, then the solution is nationalizing the heights of industry. If you think the problem is with corruption of government function (including regulating capitalism) by moneyed "special interests," then the solution is reform of government.

All the takes are correct and yet they also miss the point. Yes, it was insane for the Democrats to think they could win by running a soulless candidate, without a shred of progressive policy vision, pursuing endorsements from neocon war-hawks everybody hates, while arming and funding a genocide, and belittling and crushing those who have enough morality to protest it.  It is enraging that the Democrats are so smug and blind to this. But these are all just symptoms.  The deeper reality is that liberalism has failed, liberalism is dead, and people urgently need to wake up to this fact and respond accordingly. It is a defunct ideology that cannot offer any meaningful solutions to our social and ecological crises and it must be abandoned. Democrats have proven over and over again that they cannot accept even *basic* steps like public healthcare, affordable housing, and a public job guarantee - things that would dramatically improve the material, social and political conditions of the working classes. And they cannot accept a public finance strategy that would steer production away from fossil fuels and toward green transition to give us a shot at a liveable future. Why? Because these things run against the objectives of capital accumulation. And for liberals capital is sacrosanct. They will do whatever it takes to ensure elite accumulation, it is their only consistent commitment.  At home, they suppress and demonize progressive and socialist tendencies. Abroad, they engage in endless wars and violence to suppress input prices in the global South and prevent any possibility of sovereign economic development. The Democrats have done all this purposefully and knowingly, for my whole life, not as some kind of "mistake" but in full consciousness that it is in the interests of capital. And because liberalism cannot address our crises, and because it crushes socialist alternatives, it inevitably paves the way for right-wing populism.  They know this pattern, and yet they risk it every time - this election being only the most recent example. They did it in 2016, when they actively crushed the Sanders campaign and sent Trump to the White House. They do it because ultimately they (and I mean the liberal ruling class here) don't really mind if fascists take power, so long as the latter too ensure the conditions for capital accumulation. They 100% prefer this to the possibility of a socialist alternative. So, progressives have to face reality. The dream of "converting" the Democratic party is dead. This is now a fact and it must be accepted. The only option is to build a mass-based movement that can reclaim the working classes and mobilize a political vehicle that can integrate disparate progressive struggles into a unified and formidable political force and achieve substantive transformation. This will take real work, actual organizing, but it must be done and that process must begin now.

@JohnAchterhof @jasonhickel Except oligarchy and the overreach of private power is the natural end point of liberalism / capitalism - however you define it.

The left cannot win with right wing policies. The left cannot win with right wing policies. The left cannot win with right wing policies. Anyone surprised by today’s result has missed this simple point.

But also. x.com/JKSteinberger/…

2020 is just the first year of the 2020s. You'd better buckle up, join a union, learn about mutual aid, general strikes, histories of popular struggle failures and victories. Your textbook history will not help you during this decade, but your solidarity with others will.

I see the Americans are about to make the worst person they've ever produced President again.

Greta could’ve chosen to just be a climate darling, and not put a target on her back. But instead she’s choosing to use her voice to call out the evils of imperialism. Which is how you know she’s a real deal environmental activist—she sees the interconnectedness of these issues.