The Dregs of Phenomena

The man, a woman; these are nothing but signifiers. - JL, Sem XX, Encore Brassaï, Paris, 1932

RBC CEO Dave McKay believes Canada plays a critical role in the energy security of the United States, especially when it comes to supplying oil and gas to Asia. Speaking in Toronto, McKay highlighted that while the U.S. focuses on "Buy American," they rely on Canadian energy to meet global demands. - Oilprice

The knowledge, expertise and institutional strengths built over decades of investment and pioneering research are likely to continue to benefit the US in the short term, but China is catching up rapidly through an unsurpassed investment in its own S&T areas and top-performing institutions, especially in key defence and energy technology areas. - ASPI

French unions have designed special barbecues that fit in tram tracks, so they can grill sausages while they march.

Stock buybacks made as open-market repurchases make no contribution to the productive capabilities of the firm. Indeed, these distributions to shareholders, which generally come on top of dividends, disrupt the growth dynamic that links the productivity and pay of the labor force. The results are increased income inequity, employment instability, and anemic productivity. - Harvard Business Review

If China can jump from 1 million exports in 2020 to 6 million in 2024, what is to stop China from shipping 12 million annually by 2028? And what is to stop China’s mighty car blitzkrieg from shattering 100 years of Western car dominance?

South Korea’s government, Western countries and adoption agencies worked in tandem to supply some 200,000 Korean children to parents overseas, despite years of evidence they were being procured through questionable or downright unscrupulous means, an investigation led by The Associated Press found. Those children grew up and searched for their roots — and some realized they are not who they were told. - AP

So where do I stand? I define myself as a moderately conservative communist. A communist because it seems obvious to me that only a radical social change will enable us to cope with the mortal threats to our survival (environmental changes, AI controlling our lives, new social changes). Conservative because, following Walter Benjamin, insofar as revolutions in the linear-evolutionary sense mean big victories that leave behind many squashed birds (e.g., British colonization of India pushed India toward modernity but left millions dead), we should not be afraid to say that the Benjaminian revolution would be the ultimate counter-revolution: the return and revenge of all squashed birds against the terrible price of progress. For instance, Spartacus lost (don’t forget that he defended a “primitive” pre-class society against “progressive” Rome), but the memory of his slave rebellion persists as a virtual shadow and provides a holographic depth to later rebellions. Moderate because we should always consider the unintended catastrophic consequences of our actions and learn to combine radical measures with steps back. This triad—my own socio-political Borromean knot—perfectly fits Lacanian theory. - Is JD Vance Lacanian?

"There is no difference between Hezbollah and Lebanon. Lebanon will be annihilated. It will cease to exist." — Israel's Minister of Education

Sucking on mercury with your mouth or scooping it with your hands is FORBIDDEN. 1960s Soviet safety poster

We live in a society in which slavery isn’t recognised. It’s nevertheless clear to any sociologist or philosopher that it has in no way been abolished. It’s also clear that while bondage hasn’t been abolished, one might say it has been generalised. The relationship of those known as the exploiters, in relation to the economy as a whole, is no less a relationship of bondage than that of the average man. Thus the master-slave duality is generalised within each participant in our society.” - Jacques Lacan, Seminar III

A growing cohort of Torontonians are swapping the coke-fuelled, booze-soaked club scene for cold plunges, sobriety and superfood smoothies. Inside the expensive, obsessive, addictive quest for a perfect life. …“It’s an exciting time to be a wellness brand in Toronto,” says Kate. “We’re all lifting each other up.”…Othership is wellness as theatre. “You’re seeing a show, but you’re also part of the show,” says Bent. In this case, you’re costumed in a bathing suit and cast among intimidatingly fit strangers. (Mirrors, like phones, are verboten at Othership, but I have eyes, and the crowd here is exceedingly good looking.)…“For our generation, it seems vain to spend money on material things, but it’s not vain to spend on an experience, on your body, your mental health, your wellness.” She paused, then added cheerfully, “It’s still about status and vanity.” - TL

In the Escape Room “The Phenomenology of the Mind”, the players travel back to Hegel’s time at Jena University.

There have started into life industrial and scientific forces, which no epoch of the former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman Empire. - David Harvey

Israel orders closure of Al Jazeera office in Ramallah: This is how armed and masked Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s bureau in the occupied West Bank and imposed a 45-day closure order. The network has condemned the action as ‘criminal’ and an affront to press freedom. - AJ

The big picture: Israeli officials said their increasing attacks against Hezbollah are not intended to lead to war but are an attempt to reach "de-escalation through escalation." - Axios

September 2024 UK: Our analysis reveals that the US and allies have a plausible present day capacity with non-nuclear forces to pre-empt Russian and Chinese nuclear forces by Detecting, Defeating and Defending against them. Piecing together weapon systems and geographic concerns that are usually considered as independent elements andunconnected continents provides a compelling picture of US and allied current non-nuclear strategic superiority. - Scrapweapons

All property relations in the past have been continually been subject to historical change consequent upon the change in historical conditions. The French revolution, for example, abolished feudal property in favor of bourgeois property. .^{the distinguishing feature of communism isn't the abolition of existing property relations (because all revolutions do this), but the abolition of bourgeois property, i.e. exploitation of labor through private capital}

The rise of solar power and China's staggering EV growth may have pushed global emissions into decline

The endless cycle of genocidal depravity: Prisoners have recounted being paraded before the Israeli public in cages, being spat at and having bananas thrown at them. Human rights and recent press reports detail instances where soldiers inserted a mobile phone into a prisoner’s anus and then called it, laughing as it rang inside his body. Soldiers have also taunted prisoners by claiming they were playing soccer with their children’s heads in Gaza. These instances provide only a glimpse into the sadistic behaviour exhibited by Israelis against Palestinians during times of genocide. - Beeley

From Stuxnet to Gospel to Pager Bombs, Israel is leading the Weaponization of the digital World

Fredric Jameson "made an appearance at a University of Michigan literary conference several years ago conditional on the university also arranging for him to give a public address on Palestine, where he defended the right of self-determination with force and clarity."