Colltales

News, Current Affairs, Culture & the Arts, Difficult Conversations

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O 23

O 23: Quando 2+3 Não É 5, Alguns Vêem um Enigma

Quando 2 + 3 Não É 5, Alguns Vêem Um Enigma Números e a Internet. Criados para avaliar e rastrear o mundo, são agora infinitos e vão seguir existindo muito depois de desaparecermos. Como a matéria pode se reduzir à sua representação numérica, toda expressão humana um dia vai residir apenas no reino digital. Por exemplo, o número 23, que o destino me deu com meu primeiro sopro de ar. Como outros,…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Running Out of Excuses, Colltalers

Running Out of Excuses, Colltalers Rare protests erupted in Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan, triggered by anger at China’s repressive Covid policies. As the World Cup dominates the sports headlines, attention is slowly turning to the fate of the estimated thousands of migrant workers killed constructing Qatar’s stadiums and infrastructure. Trump’s tax records, which he’s been fighting to keep away…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: A Cup Made of Offsides, Colltalers

A Cup Made of Offsides, Colltalers A “loss and damage” fund for poor nations hurt by the climate is the most consequential result of the COP27 summit held in Egypt. Or just another pie in the sky. Qatar World Cup kicked off under the specter of dead migrant workers. Saudi Arabia’s bin Salman avoids suit for role in reporter’s murder. Title 42, the policy that summarily barred thousands of asylum…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Bringing it All Home, Colltalers

Bringing it All Home, Colltalers Cop27, the U.N. Climate Conference, heads for its second week the same way the previous 26 had: with lots of heated speeches and a bunch of happy lobbyists, but no breakthroughs. But Biden will see Xi. Speaking of inaction, there’s the G20 summit. And a most immoral World Cup begins Sunday. The U.S. midterm elections offered a reprieve to President Biden and the…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Vote After the Penumbra, Colltalers

A Vote After the Penumbra, Colltalers Tomorrow’s U.S. midterm elections may either prove women and minorities still hold the key to the future of American democracy or seal Republicans’ deal to reelect Trump in 2024. If that’s the case, a World Meteorological report about the last eight years as the hottest on record will likely be buried. To survive Russian attacks on Kyiv’s power grid, Ukraine…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: A Phoenix Reborn in Brazil, Colltalers

A Phoenix Reborn in Brazil, Colltalers Brazil chose Lula as their new president after a tight second-round win. Russia’s Putin withdrew support for a grain deal brokered by the U.N. adding to the global food crisis triggered by its invasion of Ukraine. The Uyghur is suing the U.K. for importing forced-labor-produced goods from China. A disturbing hammer attack that almost killed Paul Pelosi was…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Eclipse & the Mississippi, Colltalers

Eclipse & the Mississippi, Colltalers Russian forces used electrical shock, waterboarding, beatings, and death threats on Ukraine’s Izium residents, survivors told Human Rights Watch. An Alaskan snow crab harvest was canceled for the first time. Despite teetering on the brink of disaster, the U.K. decided Boris Johnson is not the answer. Former President Trump is set to testify on Nov. 14 to the…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Last Call to Catch a Liar, Colltalers

Last Call to Catch a Liar, Colltalers Xi Jinping opened China’s single-party congress with one simple directive: to stay the course and to stay in power. A deadly fire at Iran’s Evin prison adds fuel to the turmoil triggered by the month-long women-led protests against the regime. From Switzerland to Antarctica, glaciers continue to melt. From Moscow, some chilling words by a Kremlin aide:…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: The Sun Does as it Pleases, Colltalers

The Sun Does as it Pleases, Colltalers Thousands participated in the Women’s March in several cities, fighting to restore legal abortion in the U.S. Activists encircled the British Parliament demanding freedom for Julian Assange, the publisher facing life in prison for exposing American war crimes. And Biden will pardon jailed pot users. It’s Indigenous People’s Day, even as many still celebrated…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Only Sorrow Wins Wars, Colltalers

Only Sorrow Wins Wars, Colltalers Brazil’s presidential election goes to an Oct. 30 runoff between ex-President Lula, who came ahead with 48% of the votes, and the current, Bolsonaro, with a high percentage of abstentions. In Iran, the women-led rebellion continues, triggered by the Morality Police’s Sept. 16 killing of Mahsa Amini. Despite protests, Russia’s Putin has annexed Ukraine’s Luhansk,…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Cataclysm On Our Doorstep, Colltalers

Cataclysm On Our Doorstep, Colltalers The Western media downplayed the gathering of Russia’s Putin with China’s Xi, and India’s Modi, and the Russian troop escalation in Ukraine. But we remain wary; this war is still being fed by weaponry and oil money. Meanwhile, the alleged “staged” vote on the annexation of territories continues. Fridays for Future has gathered thousands in dozens of cities…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Mass Graves & Bad Climate, Colltalers

Mass Graves & Bad Climate, Colltalers The pre-nuclear war in Ukraine has reached another tragic milestone: the discovery of mass graves in Izium, which Russians occupied for six months until Ukrainian forces kicked them out. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has again wandered into the risky foreign policy realm by traveling to Armenia. The Republican cruel stunt of shipping asylum seekers to New York,…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Denying Peace a Chance, Colltalers

Denying Peace a Chance, Colltalers Many Ukrainians don’t know yet but the war with Russia may last a long time. If there’s no world resolve to end it, it’s not going to be the fossil-fuel industry or weapon manufacturers, making gazillions out of it, that will stop it. Rather than celebrating small wins, give peace talks a fighting chance. The Queen is dead, her son became King Charles III, and…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Tomorrow May Die Today, Colltalers

Tomorrow May Die Today, Colltalers Guns fell silent for a bit around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex while U.N. inspectors visited it. A report will follow. Iraq remains calm too after last week’s bloody clashes between Shi’a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and security forces. And this Labor Day may mark a global resurgence of unions. Chileans have decided not to approve a new, progressive…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: This War Cannot Be Won, Colltalers

This War Cannot Be Won, Colltalers As the United Nations’ team of nuclear experts waits to travel to Zaporizhzhia, the world holds its prayers that an errant missile doesn’t hit Europe’s biggest nuke. The specter of Chernobyl still haunts us all. Worst yet, Russia’s just rejected the U.N. review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has strengthened the…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Worst Than a Killer Meteor, Colltalers

Worst Than Killer Meteors, Colltalers Fears of a nuclear holocaust have forced Putin to allow the IAEA to inspect Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia complex. Gun battles around Europe’s largest set of nukes have irrupted too dangerously close for comfort. Similar dread fuels the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and France’s talks over Iran’s nuclear program. Outrage has followed Saudi Arabia’s 34-year sentencing of…

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Curtain Raiser

Curtain Raiser: Our Enemies Have a Point, Colltalers

Our Enemies Have a Point, Colltalers A watershed? Ukrainian President Zelensky’s threat to target Russian soldiers guarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex, Europe’s largest, may be the escalation of the resistance against the invasion that no one wanted and everybody feared. What happens now matters to our civilization’s fate. The FBI seized boxes of top-secret documents illegally kept by…

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