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CURIOUSMINDS
A weekly serving of great articles we curate, and original content we produce. So, all you have to do is pick, read, watch and listen. |
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Stories from Around the World that Affect Us All |
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Perú Invented a New Form of Government, and Nobody Noticed
How a corrupt congress reinvented Westminster parliamentarism from the ground up.
Perú’s congress voted to remove the country’s president—again. If you missed it, it’s because this barely counts as news anymore: it’s the ninth head of state they shed in a decade. This time, they shuffled the president less than two months before a presidential election that will pick its tenth. The ousted president, José Jerí, had been in office for four months. His offense: attending a clandestine late-night meeting with a Chinese businessman wearing a hoodie to avoid recognition, then claiming the whole thing was preliminary planning for a Chinese-Peruvian friendship festival. Congress wasn’t buying it. It voted 75-24 to remove him, replacing him with José María Balcázar, an 83-year-old former judge. Peruvian legislators have figured out one weird trick that magically turns a presidential system parliamentary. Buried in the 1993 constitution is Article 113, which allows Congress to remove the president on grounds of “permanent moral incapacity.” Who determines moral incapacity? Congress does. What does it mean? Whatever Congress decides it means.
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Trump's War Powers Unfetterred
The New Republic(Politics/War)
The House voted 219–212 against a war powers resolution Thursday, refusing to place limits on President Trump’s powers as he continues his war on Iran alongside Israel. Four Democratic representatives voted with Republicans to kill the measure.
Many constitutional scholars and critics argue Trump has effectively launched an unauthorized war, exceeding the intent of Article I’s allocation of war‑declaring power to Congress and pushing the modern “imperial presidency” trend to its zenith. The Atlantic describes the episode as a constitutional dilemma, warning that treating major multi‑week campaigns as unilateral defensive actions erodes any meaningful congressional check on war‑making.
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Can Israel & the U.S. Sustain Iran's Military Power?
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Hope and Fear in Tehran
A letter from an Iranian. I had a very short conversation with my sister in Iran. The internet kept dropping because of government interference. I asked how they were doing. She replied, “We’re waiting to be attacked. We woke up to the news that the United States and Israel had launched an attack on Iran—a war that has felt inevitable for so long that its arrival is both shocking and unsurprising." American and allied forces targeted missile sites and air defenses. The attacks extended to port areas and energy hubs. There was a devastating strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, reportedly resulting in over 100 civilian casualties. Even in wars described as strategic, children die first.
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Quote of The Week Latest news bulletins on local serial killings said the police were looking for a small man with one eye. I immediately thought - If he's that small, why don’t they use both eyes.
- James King -
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Top Stories from our favourite publications to stimulate your curious mind, |
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The Sermon and the Starter’s Pistol How ironic that one Authoritarian leader unilaterally decides to wipe out another Authoritarian leader with one strike. - Has the USA lost the plot?
The Iranian regime has strangled eighty-eight million people for nearly half a century. The Revolutionary Guard is not a misunderstood civic club. But has the USA detonated its strategic leverage in a fit of moral theatre?
Here is the part that should terrify anyone who understands how states actually behave: The US has just demonstrated that negotiating away your nuclear program is a prelude to being bombed, and possessing a nuclear weapon is the only durable guarantee of regime survival. This is not rhetoric. It is pattern recognition. Every foreign ministry on earth understands this. The lesson is not subtle.
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The Radical Courage of Being Real
THE MARGINALIAN (Literature/Philosophy)
"While there is no doctrine so sacred that we shall approach its discussion with apprehension, there is none so extravagant that we shall treat its expression with contempt… We will reject no creed but the creed of force, nor any system of morality but that which teaches intolerance." - Prospectus of The Free Enquirer Born into a well-off freethinking family in Scotland in 1795, Frances Wright was still a toddler when she lost her father, her mother, and her only brother in close succession. No inheritance is large enough to recompense the loss that savages a child orphaned at so tender an age, but the inheritance Fanny and her surviving younger sister received contoured a different possibility of life than was granted most orphans. Into that possibility Fanny sketched in a life of uncommon courage and action.
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The Epstein Files and Elite Moral Collapse
PERSUASION (Philosophy/Human Rights)
It is perhaps not an accident that an island figures prominently in the horrifically appalling Epstein scandal. The scandal, which now implicates a wide swathe of America’s elite, brings together one fantasy of modernity and one of its most atrocious moral horrors. Islands have often been the places where modernity has staged its worst delusions. In the 18th century imagination, islands were, symbolically speaking, spaces where one could safely escape all moral norms and sexual prohibitions; they promised unlimited indulgence, but one that did not imperil mainstream society, precisely because they were exceptional and offshore. The image of the exceptional relaxation of norms—i.e. “offshoring”—applies to financial crimes, too. It is a form of evasion that does not imperil the system as a whole. To offshore crime, sexual violence, indulgence and financial perfidy is threatening but also reassuring. After all, it is offshore. Why was this always a delusion?
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The Mouse in my Study
A true story. I’ve always harboured an affinity for wildlife, whilst maintaining a healthy respect for the dangers many present.
Even the most formidable creatures pose little threat to humans unless they feel cornered or threatened. So why, then, do I despise ants more than any other living thing? Perhaps because they seem to take perverse pleasure in stinging me for no apparent reason—as if inflicting pain were sport to them...
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Glasgow Buses Teach Me About Abundance
NOTES FROM SAVING THE WORLD (Literature)
I felt overwhelmed by the endless analysis of the behaviours of rich men and the endless advice about how to turn your passions into online riches. None of it lined up with my daily reality, riding the Glasgow buses into the library. The only endless thing in my life was the grey skies and rain. On the buses, I sat with other mid-morning passengers with their limps, prams and loud phone conversations, which took up too much space. But I got why, because at some point you have to take up too much space, wherever you find yourself. My bus rides are a contrast to life in Dubai...
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What “Western Civilization” Really Means
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA (Socio-political Environment)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio got a standing ovation at the end of his talk at the Munich Security Conference in February, largely for his assertion, that the United States and Europe are all part of a single “Western Civilization.” His listeners were doubtless gratified that he backed away from the aggressive nastiness towards Europe displayed by Vice President JD Vance the year before, and that he seemed to be anchoring the trans-Atlantic relationship in values, as countless American leaders had done in the years before the rise of Donald Trump. But what is the “Western Civilization” to which Rubio was referring?
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UPGRADE to PAID
CURIOUSMINDS content and opinions contain important information curated from reliable sources. We rely on reader support to keep it FREE. We want it to reach as many people as possible. If you value what we do and would like to help us sustain it, please consider a small monthly or annual contribution. Contributing subscribers get full access to all James King Publications including archives of CURIOUSMINDS, and a valuable BONUS: FREE ebook versions of all James King’s published books.View them at Amazon · Donate via the - Choose a subscription plan - page. If you are not a subscriber already - Go to the Welcome page |
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James King Blog offers valuable resources for students of Arts and Humanities. Particularly those interested in Environments, Literature, Performing Arts, Visual Art, Philosophy, Travel, and Human Rights. The articles provide insights into complex interactions between humans and their environments, and the ethical and moral dimensions of environmental issues. The Blog is relevant to students of all ages and those who are just fascinated by the Arts and Humanities. |
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 World Human Rights Organisations – Overview of The ImpactWorld human rights organisations are critical to uphold justice and advocate for protection of rights. They address violations and conduct research on human rights abuses. And they lobby governments and stakeholders to create and enforce policies that ensure rights are respected and protected. |
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FREE BOOKS140 Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense FreebiesThis Promo Closes 31 MarchThriller authors join forces in joint promotion campaigns to introduce themselves to readers. You can download as many books as you like.
I hope you find plenty to entertain you. CLICK THE BANNER TO VIEW THE PROMOS - AND GRAB AS MANY BOOKS AS YOU WANT |
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INVISIBLE ENEMY - a Short Story
A psychological thriller – Short Story - that will change the way you look at humankind. It’s 2021 and the world is paralysed by Covid-19. The invisible microscopic organism looks on, astonished at Man’s inability to solve his problems. Despite the warnings and having all the resources available to do so, humans run in circles desperate to escape the clutches of an invisible enemy. Commissaire Pascal de Gaulle is focused on other pressing matters, when a man falls to his death in the centre of Paris, carrying a secret. De Gaulle discovers the Drug Squad, a syndicate of drug traffickers, and the virus itself are all part of the puzzle he must solve. Is it suicide or is it murder? And how will he save his orphaned godchild from leukemia? Do not read Invisible Enemy if you don’t like puzzles.
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THE KENRIGHT CHRONICLES - SERIES
The Kenright Chronicles is a psychological thriller series. Jack Kenright, a young investment banker gets involved in an international art swindle. which cripples his business and threatens his life and his family. He ends up a recluse, working for the FBI undercover and exposes massive corruption in the gambling world. |
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Geronimo
A pivotal piece of nineteenth-century Native American history from a tireless warrior seeking justice for his people.
Storied leader of the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, Geronimo led resistance against Mexican and American troops seeking to drive the Apache from their land during the 1850s through the 1880s. In 1886, he finally surrendered to the US Army and became a prisoner of war. Although he would never return to his homeland, Geronimo became an iconic figure in Native American society and even had the honor of riding with President Theodore Roosevelt in his 1905 inaugural parade. That same year, he agreed to share his story with Stephen M. Barrett, a superintendent of education from Lawton, Oklahoma.
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Substack - Creative Xellence -
Join us at Creative Xellence where we are building a home for James King's Poetry, Short Stories and serialised Novels. Subscribe for Free and you will be notified of new content and recieve the Newsletter.
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Medium
At Medium we curate high value informative articles related to A&H from major publishers and authoratative sources. And we publish a smattering of selected articles from James King Blog and articles written by James King for Medium Publications.
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