Corduroy Academy

( Mostly) radical thoughts, ideas, and links from late stage colonial capitalism.

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    Aidan
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    Groundwater depletion accelerating in many parts of the world

    The groundwater that supplies farms, homes, industries and cities is being depleted across the world, and in many places faster than in the past 40 years, according to a new study that calls for urgency in addressing the depletion.

    The declines were most notable in dry regions with extensive cropland, said researchers whose work was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. On the plus side: they found several examples of aquifers that were helped to recover by changes in policy or water management, they said.

    We are straight up reaping the “rewards” of extractive capitalism.

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    Several killed in Israeli attack on UN shelter housing 800 in southern Gaza

    Several people have been killed after a United Nations shelter in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis was shelled by Israeli forces, the Gaza head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said.

    “Two tank rounds hit building that shelters 800 people – reports now 9 dead and 75 injured,” Thomas White, the Gaza director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on the social media platform X.

    Can these genocidal maniacs get any worse?

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    Doomsday clock stays at 90 seconds to midnight

    Atomic scientists have kept their Doomsday Clock set at 90 seconds to midnight as they did last year, citing worry about Russia’s potential use of nuclear weapons amid its invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s war on Gaza and worsening climate change as factors driving the risk of global catastrophe.

    I do kind of wonder if the doomsday clock is a better indication of threats to capitalism than threats to human existence? I guess you could say I’m hopeful.

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    Republicans Push To Legalize ‘Property Owners’ Killing Homeless People in Kentucky

    Republican politicians in Kentucky are rallying behind a new bill that would authorize the use of force—and potentially deadly force—against unhoused people who are found to be camping on private property. The bill would also criminalize unsanctioned homeless encampments and restrict cities and towns from preempting state laws. 

    The bill, known as the “Safer Kentucky Act,” or HB5, would target homelessness, drug possession and mental illness by drastically increasing criminal penalties for a range of offenses. Introduced last week by Republican state representative Jared Bauman, it already has 52 sponsors in Kentucky’s House of Representatives. A vote is scheduled for this week.  

    Obviously a bit US heavy today, but this is just abhorrent. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this paved the way for other western nations to pull the same shit. Conservatives, and I mean that in the broadest and most offensive way possible, are hellbent on your production = your worth. It’s sick.

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    Being American Requires Conformity

    A Texas school district superintendent defended the continued suspension of a Black student over his locs hairstyle in a full-page newspaper ad, paid for by an education foundation.

    Darryl George has been suspended repeatedly by the Barbers Hill Independent School District for his hair. The teen’s family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit saying the punishment violates the CROWN Act, an acronym for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” which became law in Texas in September.

    When the education system is about one thing: forced compliance with capitalism. It’s examples like this we need to dwell on, people. Cultural and individual expression is upsetting capitalists… again.

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    The absurdity of the return-to-office movement

    corporate titans are still pushing for their employees to return to their offices. Banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase and tech giants like Meta are demanding that their staff be back at the office several days a week.

    Those return-to-office demands are often couched in non-falsifiable claims about the necessity of having chance encounters at the office where folks bounce creative, productive ideas off of each other.

    Typical of this view is JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who claimed in 2021 that working from home “doesn’t work for spontaneous idea generation.” There is no empirical evidence for this claim, and the desire for employers to see their employees working in their offices seems to be more about the need for control and an attachment to the old ways of doing things.

    You can just say: “cunty capitalist micromanagers”.

    They only like this because they like to maintain control and remind you that you are a corporate slave. Can’t have you finding a better life, what would they do? Have less surplus value to pointlessly micromanage?

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    Israel’s war on Gaza causes ‘cracks in the edifice of hypocrisy’

    The extremity of Israel’s war on Gaza has become so unbearable that there are at last cracks in its political support. And the massive effort that Joe Biden has undertaken to back Israel no matter what it does is raising questions even in mainstream politics. 

    There is, to begin with, the crisis over Netanyahu’s declaration that there must never be a Palestinian state. This totally contradicts U.S. policy— lip service to a Palestinian state. And it thereby incurred rebukes by Biden’s official spokesmen: the only way to get peace in the region is a two-state solution. 

    “Democrats ‘appalled’ by Netanyahu’s bashing of two-state solution,” Politico reported. “Growing number of Senate Democrats question Biden’s Israel strategy” – the Washington Post. Five Democratic senators said they would join 13 who had endorsed a measure to condition supplemental aid to Israel– more than a third of the Democratic caucus.

    A lot of talk to continue allowing one of the largest, fastest, and most horrific genocides in real time. Australia, the USA, the UK, all the western supporters have shown how truly undemocratic they are — and we should never forget.

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    Ecuador police arrest gang members who stormed hospital

    Ecuadorean security forces have arrested 68 gang members after they stormed a hospital in the town of Yaguachi, in Guayas province.

    Officials said the men tried to take over the facility, at which a member of their gang was receiving treatment.

    Police said the intruders’ aim was to guard the patient from potential attacks from rivals.

    There have been previous incidents in which gang members have been targeted while in hospital.

    Is it me or does this sound a lot like primary school but with guns? Everyone deserves safe, free and accessible healthcare. You shouldn’t need a 68 strong posse to get it.