A photo Beijing released on March 6th of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s foreign minister Wang Yi delivered a seismic shock in Washington. There he stood between Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, and Saudi National Security Adviser Musaad bin Mohammed al-Aiban. They were awkwardly shaking hands on an agreement to reestablish mutual diplomatic ties. That picture should have brought to mind a 1993 photo of President Bill Clinton hosting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn as they agreed to the Oslo Accords. And that long-gone moment was itself an after-effect of the halo of invincibility the United States had gained in the wake of the collapse of the... Read more
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Give me that old-time retribution Sublimation: a feature or a bug? One has to wonder with the obsessive attention Americans pay to the sex others are having, to gender nonconformity, and especially to extrajudicial punishment. Brandon Garrett and Gregory Mitchell ponder findings that suggest Americans’ adherence to Sir William Blackstone’s principle that it is “better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer” is slipping. If their faith in due process was ever there. Researchers asked if at trial it was worse if an innocent was convicted, a guilty person went free, or if both were equally bad. (Slate): Most respondents answered that the errors were equally bad. Our first results showing widespread rejection of the Blackstone ratio were so surprising and potentially disruptive that we tested their robustness multiple times, using a series of large samples drawn from the entire U.S. population and multiple measurement methods. Across multiple national surveys sampling more than 12,000 people, we have found that a majority of Americans, more than 60 percent, consider false acquittals and false convictions to be equally bad outcomes.
Richard Bourke’s (2018) “What is conservatism? History, ideology, party” critically discusses (inter alia) Samuel P. Huntington’s (1957) “Conservatism as an Ideology.” Yes, that Huntington (1927–2008). What follows is not about the clash of civilizations, promise. Bourke claims that “the conservatism of Oakeshott and Huntington, like the liberalism of Hayek and Rawls, reflects an effort to fabricate an […]
Noom
Instructions: Pay seventy dollars a month to count calories in an app and receive daily reminders that celery is less calorie dense than cake frosting.
Pros: Fleeting sense of accomplishment from signing up and paying for a service.
Cons: Ruin brunch by assessing the calorie density of your friends’ meals; targeted ads for Noom for the rest of your life.
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French Women Don’t Get Fat
Instructions: Eat minuscule portions of your favorite foods with a vintage seafood fork. Serve poached pears at dinner parties. Start wearing scarves and smoking a pack of cigarettes a day; hiss at fat people.
Pros: A single tarte tatin from the farmers’ market can last up to five days.
Cons: Clarins anti-aging serum is no match for cigarettes. Also, you’re starving.
The MP's recent comments on Ukraine and Brexit sit oddly with his stance on Russian aggression in 2014 – and with his firm’s investments in companies close to Putin’s regime, reports Tom Scott
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Elon Musk/Magneto, James Gunn/Kevin Smith, Neil Gaiman, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Justified & more!
Activists from Palestinian Action continue their protests around the Elbit-owned UAV company to mark 75 years since the 'nakba' displacement
How Helen Gym’s fight to save a hospital turned her into a frontrunner to be Philadelphia's next mayor.
The former Commons leader said it was a deliberate attempt to ‘gerrymander’ elections in the Conservatives’ favour. Josiah Mortimer reports
Local journalism is collapsing. Today, there are fewer local newspapers than at any time since the eighteenth century. More than 320 local titles closed between 2009 and 2019—a trend that has only accelerated since the pandemic. It’s hard to understate the importance of local journalism; it keeps communities connected, helps keep local councils accountable, and […]
As private equity donated to groups supporting Ron DeSantis, he oversaw a billion-dollar transfer of state employees’ retirement dollars into underperforming firms.
The phoney war is over – Prince Harry’s phone-hacking wars have begun, reports Dan Evans
- by John Troyer
- by Crispin Sartwell
Demonisation of migrants and a focus on ‘going back’ to some made-up glorious past means Brits need to be alert to ‘fascism’, XR activist Dirk Campbell tells Josiah Mortimer
The narrowing of the gender pay gap since the 1970s appears to be linked to women increasing their labor force attachment and shifting to higher-paying occupations.
Thirty years ago today, the unthinkable happened. Shortly after giving birth to our second child, my beloved wife Kristina died from an intracranial aneurysm. People say that time heals all wounds. I wish that was true. But some wounds never heal. Even after thirty years, you must learn to live with the scars. But in […]
Supplies for your "COVID is over" party.
The Turkish government detained a team of Spanish elected officials and civil society leaders on hand to monitor election day activity in a Kurdish city.
The post Erdogan Arrested and Expelled International Officials Observing Turkish Election appeared first on The Intercept.
Thoughts and prayers.
THE winners of the EJ Mantova Art Prize have been announced, following the official opening of the annual event on Saturday 6 May at Bellingen Showground Pavilion. Held in conjunction with the Bellingen Show, and run by the Bellinger River Agricultural Society, the prize attracted 95 entries across four categories, each with a first prize...
The post Winners announced for Bellingen’s EJ Mantova Art Prize appeared first on News Of The Area.
BELLINGEN Shire Council, in partnership with the University of Sydney’s Leave Nobody Behind project, hosted its very first Disability Inclusive Emergency Planning (DIEP) Forum on 26 April at the Cedar Bar. The forum addressed the critical issue of the vulnerability of people with disabilities during climate and disaster risks and their limited involvement in emergency...
The post Bellingen hosts first Disability Inclusive Emergency Planning Forum appeared first on News Of The Area.
POPULAR amongst painters and perusers, the Coffs Harbour Creative Arts Group (CHCAG) ‘Flowers & Gardens’ exhibition opened on Sunday 7 May at the Coffs Harbour Showground Gallery. The exhibition features the work of the CHCAG members in a variety of styles and media, including an impressive array of irises. At Sunday’s official opening event, CHCAG...
The post Coffs Harbour Creative Arts Group opens Flowers & Gardens exhibition appeared first on News Of The Area.
MEMBERS of the not-for-profit Mid North Coast Hot Rod Club (MNCHRC) presented the Woolgoolga Men’s Shed with a cheque for $1,000 in April, as a donation towards equipment, and as a gesture of thanks. Darren Bromell, spokesperson for the MNCHRC, said the Hot Rodders’ gift comes from its members’ debt of gratitude for the “wonderful...
The post Hot Rodders thank Woopi Men’s Shed with a donation appeared first on News Of The Area.