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Australia is a part of a hostile military alliance directed at China. “Interoperability” or “interchangeability” means we’re now a US pawn, tied to its coattails. So that’s the job of every Australian: push for more information, keep talking about why AUKUS is an utter disaster and why it commits us to a costly and dangerous Continue reading »

In my condemnation of the attack on the synagogue in Melbourne, I said, “This is not acceptable by any means. Unlike the Zionists who kept silent and never condemned Israel’s destruction of 819 mosques and 3 churches in just over a year in Gaza, many of which are historic, Palestinians do not condone attacks against Continue reading »

Sorry to tell you that I’m finishing this year most unimpressed by Anthony Albanese and his government. I’m still reeling from his last two weeks of parliament, pushing through 45 bills just to show how much he’d achieved and give himself the option of calling an election early next year should he see a break Continue reading »

The national report on Australia’s COVID response is long, at 877 pages (depending upon the format), with 4,647 footnotes. But long is not synonymous with comprehensive, and there are significant gaps in the report’s analysis and conclusions. Some of these problems are not of the panel’s making, I suspect, but others, related both to methodology Continue reading »

Earlier this month, the Sydney Morning Herald published a cartoon by the irrepressible Cathy Wilcox. I gazed at the image for a long time. My first thought was that she’ll pay a price for this, and so might the Herald. And, true to form, there was indeed a strong reaction in some quarters. The cartoon Continue reading »

Our current editor Dr. Aran Martin is leaving us at the end of January. He has given excellent service to Pearls and Irritations. We are seeking a new editor and share the role description below. Pearls and Irritations is an Australian journal for the exchange of ideas from a progressive, liberal perspective, with an emphasis Continue reading »

A juvenile greater glider explores an area about to be logged in Badja State Forest. Image: Wilderness Australia. Government inaction has prompted conservation groups to apply citizen science and sleepless nights to find greater glider den trees and use the NSW logging industry’s own rules to prevent logging and save 3,000 greater gliders. In response Continue reading »

This is the second-part of my climate-not-all-bad-news series, beginning with the state of the U.S. Here I turn to China, a paradoxical story of both immense challenges and great hope. Growth as the world has never seen It is the nation that holds the world’s climate future in its hands. It is the nation whose 2014 commitment Continue reading »

If it feels as though the new Trump administration is taking shape at warp speed, that’s because it is. It’s unusual for a new administration to be announcing all these cabinet and staff nominations in such rapid succession, but that’s part of the Project 2025 manifesto to hit the ground running as fast as possible. And they’re using the Steve Bannon tactic of flooding the zone to keep the media and the opposition off balance. Trump’s getting awards from Fox News, gallivanting around Paris with his best buddy, naming one billionaire after another to his administration and giving his family members anything they want. He has even named his son’s (apparently) ex-fiance Kimberly Guilfoyle to be Ambassador to Greece. And for any recalcitrant Senators who still believe they have a say in any of it, he’s bringing the hammer down. Take for example the case of Nebraska Senator Joni Ernst, a former female combat officer who had some serious reservations about Trump’s choice to be Secretary of Defense.

Saying that being cis-gender – i.e. having a gender identity that corresponds with the sex/gender one was assigned at birth – comes with privileges need not mean erasing the lived experiences, real challenges, and specific struggles of cis-gendered people (and especially of those cis-gender people who are otherwise disadvantaged and marginalised in other dimensions). It […]

Since the Affordable Care Act’s passage, the top five health insurers’ annual profits have jumped 230 percent, with much of that going to UnitedHealthcare.

Do Republicans build anything? Temperatures here are expected to fall steadily over the next 24 hours. There is also a wind advisory.* How do I know? The National Weather Service. Where do you think The Weather Channel and other weather information sites get their information? From a bevy of satellites owned or operated by NOAA, NWS’s parent organization. I rather like having that info free and at my fingertips. I rather like that air traffic controlers from the FAA keep my flight from colliding with others in the sky nearby. But our Republican friends are not into that so much. Nor into public education, as we’ve long known: Cultists’ push to charterize, voucherize, or tax-credit scholarship public education out of existence — supported by a religious right profiteers have co-opted — is a betrayal of the country’s founding vision. Public education is the largest portion of annual budgets in all 50 states. The cult sees public schools (and children) as resources to strip-mine. Donald Trump nominating vaccine skeptic RFK Jr. to head the U.S.

Join Kevork Almassian and Seyed Mohammad Marandi as they discuss the stunning fall of Assad’s government, the rise of a former al-Qaeda leader, and Israel’s territorial ambitions in the chaos.

The post From Damascus to Chaos: Assad’s Fall and al-Qaeda’s Comeback appeared first on MintPress News.

In this column, Kristen Mulrooney writes letters to famous mothers from literature, TV, and film whom she finds herself relating to on a different level now that she’s a mom herself.

Dear Mrs. McCallister,

In 1990, I was about the same age as your son Kevin, and he and I were on the same wavelength—that is to say, I judged the hell out of your parenting. Poor Kevin. The youngest of an indeterminate number of kids, with an antagonistic older brother, a creepy uncle, nasty cousins picking on him in his own home… and a mother who couldn’t give him the time of day.

You said it yourself, Mrs. McCallister: “What kind of mother am I?”

What kind of mother lets her entire family bully her eight-year-old? What kind of mother makes her youngest child sleep alone in a spooky attic? What kind of mother forgets about her baby when she jets off to Paris and leaves him HOME ALONE??

I thought you were the worst mom in the world.

And spaghetti against the wall Political skulduggery is born here and raised elsewhere. The North Carolina GOP should advertise. When Republicans won control of North Carolina’s state Supreme Court in 2022, the new 5-2 court quickly reversed a previous ruling and ordered a new redraw of the state’s congressional districts. The new map turned a 7-7 partisan balance in this evenly divided state into an 11-3 split favoring Republicans. Results borne out on Nov. 5 will be felt on Capitol Hill and across the nation. Down-ballot races matter. A lot. A month after Election Day, political power struggles continue in North Carolina. The GOP supermajority in the state House will attempt today to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill marketed as “disaster relief” for western North Carolina. Branded “a sham” by Cooper, the bill “appropriated no new money for areas hit by Helene, nor created the small-business grants requested by local business leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.” But the measure does strip powers from Democrats elected on Nov. 5 to the state’s executive branch.

Transparency campaigners slam what they describe as the Prime Minister's 'lacklustre' approach to cleaning up politics

If you are someone who is lucky enough to talk to people you are interested in for a living, you will sometimes get asked, ‘Who would you most like to interview?’ Usually when people do that, my mind goes completely blank. But on the rare occasions when it hasn’t, there has generally been only one […]

In a new report, the Justice Department’s inspector general found that the agency violated its own rules to snoop on reporters.

The post This Is How Trump’s Department of Justice Spied on Journalists appeared first on The Intercept.

DESIGNER 1: The investors want us to make extremely small urban apartments more enjoyable. Got any ideas?

DESIGNER 2: Yes. Extremely small balconies.

DESIGNER 1: That’s genius. How small are we talking?

DESIGNER 2: Just big enough for one person to stand.

DESIGNER 1: How about half as big?

DESIGNER 2: That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard. But is that still too big?

DESIGNER 1: Yes. Let’s make them smaller.

DESIGNER 2: I’ve never lived in the city, but it feels like we’re onto something.

DESIGNER 1: Me neither, and I completely agree.

DESIGNER 3: Hey, I heard you’re working on an extremely small urban apartment project. Do you need more help from someone who has also never lived in a city?

DESIGNER 1: Yes.

O ιμπεριαλισμός τελικά κερδίζει όταν κάνουμε το λάθος να υποστηρίζουμε τυραννικές μορφές όπως ο Ασαντ. Στις 15 Αυγούστου 2021 έπεσε το αμερικανοκίνητο καθεστώς της Καμπούλ. Τότε, εξέφρασα ανακούφιση για την ήττα του αμερικανικού ιμπεριαλισμού και, ταυτόχρονα, τρόμο για το τι επρόκειτο να υποστούν οι γυναίκες του Αφγανιστάν στα χέρια των τζιχαντιστών Ταλιμπάν. Αμέσως, το «φιλελεύθερο»-ιμπεριαλιστικό […]

The post Ο εχθρός του ιμπεριαλιστή δεν είναι πάντα φίλος του αντι-ιμπεριαλιστή – Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.