Our successor to This Week in the Guardian, This Week in the New Normal is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world. 1. Reason to hate the media no. 5691 On Friday CNN reported that Donald Trump had “revoked” Kamala Harris’ secret service protection under […]
Ticks responsible for giving people a “meat allergy” are spreading further and wider because the planet is warming. That’s the story, anyway. The disease is called Alpha-Gal Syndrome, it is a condition where your body produces an immune response to galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, a carbohydrate found in mammalian meat. It was first […]
It looks like we can add another to the growing mountain of problems that digital IDs are going to solve for all of us. We already know that digital IDs will help counter populism, and illegal immigration, and crime, and benefit fraud, and terrorism, and pandemics. But they’ll help tackle […]
The US Navy is sending at least three destroyers and various other craft to the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, allegedly on a mission to combat drug cartel activity. In response, Maduro has mobilized 4 million members of the national militia. Trump “hasn’t ruled out” boots on the ground, but in fairness, he […]
Six days ago, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia announced a total ban on hiking, camping, hunting or other human activity in the forest. A breach of this new rule is punishable by a fine up to 28,000 Canadian dollars. Then, yesterday, New Brunswick decided to enforce a similar ban in their forests. The aim, […]
I’m starting to think a full-scale, nationwide compulsory digital ID won’t ever be a thing. Not officially, anyway. Not for quite a while. It’s a vibe I feel coming off the news that gels more with the current methodology – the indirect authoritarianism of the easier path. Piecemeal tyranny washed […]
An op-ed in the New York Times is calling for a “new definition of death” so that we can increase the number of available donor organs. I’m not exaggerating, it’s right there in the headline: Donor Organs Are Too Rare. We Need a New Definition of Death. Sometimes you can only look […]
We covered the UK’s Online Safety Act Age Verification clause going live earlier this week. We’ve also covered the fact the UK is far from alone in this. Australia launched their “social media ban”, which is in reality just an age verification system, back in the spring. Now they’re expanding […]
Plans to reform the UK’s criminal justice system – including the scrapping of jury trials for some offences and reduced sentences for those who plead guilty – are all part of larger “reforms” that would empower tyrannical authoritarianism. Former senior judge and current Investigatory Powers Commissioner Brian Leveson made the […]
Two days ago, the Telegraph headlined… Britain’s enemies could dim the sun and weaponise weather Warning in the subhead… Experts warn hostile states could use solar geoengineering approaches to ‘orchestrate environmental disaster’ There are multiple levels of psy-op happening here, and it’s interesting to break it down. It wasn’t long ago […]