Illiberalism
Gilead
Abortion, reproductive freedom and health
Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
I think I understated the matter when I observed in my dissertation that conservatives prefer ideology to the empirical.[1] I think white Christian nationalists simply cannot wrap their heads around the fact—this would empirical—that their not-merely-ideological-but-foundational views are completely at odds with the rest of the country.
It’s a similar problem to that of Zionists who think their biblical claims on Palestine render any opposition to the Israeli government’s policies toward Palestinians and their land anti-Semitic and who simply cannot imagine that Palestinians are human beings with rights or that people around the world see Palestinians in that way.
Hannah Knowles and Caroline Kitchener, “Abortion rights advocates win major victories in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia,” Washington Post, November 8, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/07/abortion-ohio-kentucky-virginia-elecitons/
Donald Trump
Finances
Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Dominic Rushe and Maya Yang, “Trump claims financial statements at heart of $250m fraud trial are ‘worthless,’” Guardian, November 6, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/06/donald-trump-expected-to-appear-in-250m-civil-trial-in-new-york
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[2] fair use.
Jamie Dettmer, “Israel has only weeks to defeat Hamas as global opinion sours, former PM Ehud Barak says,” Politico, November 7, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/ehud-barak-israel-palestine-war-hamas-global-opinion-sours/
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[3] fair use.
Gregorio Sorgi, Jacopo Barigazzi, and Veronika Melkozerova, “Ukraine should start EU membership talks, Commission says,” Politico, November 8, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-eu-membership-talks-should-start-european-commission/
So-called ‘ridesharing’
Bezzle
Fig. 1. “Clarkdale Classic Gas Station, Clarkdale, Arizona,” Photograph by Alan Levine, October 28, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
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Uber’s first reported quarterly profit according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)[4] could have been a one-off.[5] But now they’re reporting another one.[6]
I’ll be waiting to hear from Hubert Horan.
Kellen Browning, “Uber Reports Record Ridership and Second Straight Quarterly Profit,” New York Times, November 7, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/business/uber-quarterly-earnings-profit.html
- [1]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
- [2]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [3]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [4]Richard Waters, “Uber makes first operating profit after racking up $31.5bn of losses,” Financial Times, August 1, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/dae2b90e-1ba0-4e8f-aabc-34aae4ca05d7↩
- [5]Cory Doctorow, “No, Uber’s (still) not profitable,” Medium, August 9, 2023, https://doctorow.medium.com/no-ubers-still-not-profitable-2b8054e375ea; Hubert Horan, “Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Thirty-Three: Uber Isn’t Really Profitable Yet But is Getting Closer; The Antitrust Case Against Uber,” Naked Capitalism, August 9, 2023, https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/08/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-thirty-three-uber-isnt-really-profitable-yet-but-is-getting-closer-the-antitrust-case-against-uber.html↩
- [6]Kellen Browning, “Uber Reports Record Ridership and Second Straight Quarterly Profit,” New York Times, November 7, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/business/uber-quarterly-earnings-profit.html↩