Reading

Created
Thu, 06/02/2025 - 11:30
Bondi made her first move and it’s purely about vengeance. Trump must be so pleased: Attorney General Pam Bondi spent her first day on the job Wednesday redirecting the Justice Department’s significant law enforcement authority toward addressing President Donald Trump’s grievances with the agency, making her allegiance to his agenda clear in a series of strongly worded directives. Despite pledging during her confirmation hearing that “politics will not play a part” in her decision-making, Bondi created a “Weaponization Working Group” to review instances of what she described as “politicized justice” – starting with the federal criminal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith. She also pledged to examine what she alleged was federal cooperation in the criminal and civil investigations of Trump in New York — even though they were carried out by state authorities, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Created
Thu, 06/02/2025 - 07:05
I watched Trump’s joint press conference with Netanyahu, in utter disbelief. Not that the idea, or indeed the practice, of ethnic cleansing of Palestine is new. But at that press conference the mask has fallen. Recently, fascism has been on the march everywhere, but that press conference seemed to herald an age of naked fascism. Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 06/02/2025 - 05:00

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to the federal payment system late on Friday, according to five people familiar with the change, handing Elon Musk and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending. — New York Times

- - -

A lot of people doubted that my Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could do what it set out to do. But I am proud to say that in just weeks, we have used the Tesla, SpaceX, and X playbook to make America’s collapse much more efficient.

Created
Thu, 06/02/2025 - 04:59
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of studies and literature on foreign fighters and the risks they pose to their home countries focuses on jihadis, with a smaller smattering of pieces on far-right individuals seeking combat experience in Ukraine. However, many countries in the world will soon experience (if they aren’t already) the return of a different Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 06/02/2025 - 04:58
It’s said that what the world needs today are strong leaders whom social media and associated propagandists insist are the only ones who can bring order back into a dangerously chaotic world. Their strengths, it is claimed, outweigh their shortcomings. In Australia, attention is turning to Peter Dutton, who according to his supporters, is the Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 06/02/2025 - 04:57
Anyone having to deal with the health and human services industries knows how rigidly they are controlled by the Medical Model and its sister act, Compliance Surveillance. What goes unnoticed in this mechanically e-captive state of affairs is that the dominant model of assessing and accrediting the quality of care is only one approach to Continue reading »