He’s out. Thank God. Yes, he is the most worthless politician in America: It seems only minutes ago that the whole political world was agog at his tremendous political talent. Well… The lesson? Never assume that the next GOP Great Whitebread Hope is as fantastic as the press corps thinks he is. The other lesson? If you’re going to run as the biggest asshole in politics you’d better have a lot of money and celebrity that makes people think you must be really great anyway. Ron is just an asshole. I am so happy to see the end of him. It’s been a real horror covering his disgusting campaign. Let’s hope we never see him on the national stage again. This massive flame-out argues for him joining Scott Walker and Tim Pawlenty in the Loser Hall of Fame. What does it all mean? We’ll unwind all that in the next few days. But Greg Sargent is right that it spells the end of the big post-pandemic “woke” war. That battle in the culture war is coming to an end, but never fear, the war isn’t over.
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Daniel Uhlfelder went through the FEC reports and found all money paid to law firms by Donald Trump’s Super PAC in the first 6 months of last year. FEC records show that between January 1, 2023, and June 30, 2023, Donald Trump’s Super PAC, SAVE AMERICA, made payments to the following law firms in these amounts:BALLARD SPAHR LLP – $109,174.55 BEDELL, DITTMAR, DEVAULT, PILLANS & COXE, P.A. – $351,040.77 BINNALL LAW GROUP – $1,031,788.33 BLANCHE LAW – $353,090.03 BRAND WOODWARD LAW – 201,948.00 BRITO PLLC – $68,194.50 CADWALADER, WICKERSHAM, & TAFT LLP – $344,950.21 CONTINENTAL PLLC – $1,929,207.90 DHILLON LAW GROUP INC. – $734,730.8 EARTH & WATER LAW, LLC – $347,820 HABBA MADAIO & ASSOCIATES LLP – $1,503,915.14 IFRAH LAW PLLC – $720,009.28 FINDLING LAW FIRM – $541,456.25 KELLOGG, HANSEN, TODD, FIGEL & FREDERICK PLLC – $1,042,479 CHRIS KISE & ASSOCIATES, P.A. – $2,148,536.58 JOHN F. LAURO, P.A.
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – January 21, 2024
by Tony Wikrent
Global power shift
China Is the World’s Sole Manufacturing Superpower
Richard Baldwin [VoxEU, via Naked Capitalism 01-17-2024]
Trump is not an improvement in any way I hear a lot on my social media these days about how Trump is better than Biden on the Gaza war. That’s utter nonsense. It’s true that Trump isn’t particularly fond of Netanyahu (neither is Biden, actually) but that does not mean that he would ever be an ally of the Palestinians or the Palestinian allies. Donald Trump promised on Monday that if elected president again he will bar immigrants who support Hamas from entering the U.S. and send officers to pro-Hamas protests to arrest and deport immigrants who publicly support the Palestinian militant group. Trump, president from 2017-2021, said that if elected to a second White House term he will ban entry to the U.S. of anybody who does not believe in Israel’s right to exist, and revoke the visas of foreign students who are “antisemitic.” He also vowed to step up travel bans from “terror-plagued countries.” He did not explain how he would enforce his demands, including the one requiring immigrants to support Israel’s right to exist under what he called “strong ideological screening.” … Promising to drastically tighten U.S.
In the increasingly geopolitically charged waters of international trade and investment, Chinese technology enterprises are navigating a particularly turbulent current in Australia. The growing scepticism and regulatory scrutiny they face reflect a techno-geopolitical uncertainty, with Australia caught between its economic interdependence with China and strategic alignment with the United States. China’s pivot from a major Continue reading »
Slovakia is the poor relation created when the former Czechoslovakia divided in 1993 into the Czech and Slovak Republics. The Czech Republic has hewn closely to EU and NATO policies over Ukraine. But despite NATO membership the Slovak Republic has decided to halt military aid to Ukraine. And its prime minister, Robert Fico, has now Continue reading »
Labor’s Defence and Foreign policies are increasingly pushing away party ‘true believers’ writes Wayne Ryan, Life Member of the ACT Labor Party branch. Dear Fellow Labor Party Members, “ALP Branch Member Disappointment at Labor Defence Policies”, Letter to ACT Politicians Katy Gallagher, Andrew Leigh and Alicia Payne I am becoming increasingly depressed at the Labor Continue reading »
We live in an age where there has never been greater access to information, nor greater doubt about its accuracy. An information explosion risks blowing apart the foundational workings of our democracy. Where we source our information from, who we listen to, who we trust, has changed. You just have to look at your social Continue reading »
In a recent speech, the Federal Treasurer hastily bundled together three things that he felt superannuation funds ought to invest in: renewable energy, defence and housing. It was a classic ‘sandwich’ communication: bracket the unpleasant item between two that sound good. I agree that super funds investing in renewable energy makes good investment sense and Continue reading »
What has become very apparent in public policy over the past twenty years is the extent to which the “short-term” is given precedence over the “long-term”. Both major political parties live to win the next election, and the mainstream media joins in rapturously because it treats politics as a binary competition that is most sensationally Continue reading »
The US has become a more dangerous nation and Donald 2.0, with his instinctive aversion to war, may even be less threatening to the world. Joe Biden’s presidency has very little to write home about. When it comes to foreign and trade policies, he has not only continued his predecessor’s, but also maximised them. While Continue reading »
Three and a half hours. Three and a half hours from Jenin to Tul Karm. In three and a half hours you can fly to Rome, or drive to Eilat. But in the occupied West Bank today you’re barely able to drive between two nearby cities. That’s the time it took us this week to Continue reading »
The Biden campaign is out with a stark new ad featuring a woman talking about traveling out of state to receive an abortion due to Texas’ strict abortion ban. It’s the latest in their push to put reproductive rights front and center in the 2024 race. It will be playing: -during the The Bachelor season premiere -on HGTV, TLC, Bravo, Hallmark, Food Network & Oxygen -during NFL championships – on digital This is very good. But it’s just a start. They need to keep it up.
A quick refresher People don’t know what they don’t know. That’s tautological, but true. One reason I publish ForThe Win every two years (the 5th edition isn’t quite ready) is to give less-experienced Democratic county chairs in under-resourced counties a “cookbook” for assembling a countywide get-out-the-vote program in support of their candidates. State parties assume chairs have already learned the nuts and bolts by the seat of their pants. They instead provide sometimes overly thick manuals focused mainly on party administration. “Where’s the part about electing Democrats?” is my usual reaction. In presidential years, people unfamiliar with local party operations start calling the headquarters here in West Cackalacky (or your Cackalacky). Some have basic election questions. Others want to discuss policy or something they just saw on the news. Angry others want to chew the ears of retiree volunteers who answer the phone as though local committees are part of the Collective with a subspace connection to decisions made in the West Wing. That’s not how this works.
More breaking reporting on the unfolding Boeing debacle, and other news, from The Lever this week.
Depends on which war you mean The race is on to see who burns out on Donald Trump first, Trump Himself or the rest of us. With his shuttling furiously between court apearances and campaign appearances, Trump can no longer tell his Nikkis from his Nancys. “I am your retribution” has turned into “IMMUNITY NOW, IMMUNITY TOMORROW, IMMUNITY FOREVER.” Although neither as smart nor as clever nor as intellectually agile as George Wallace, Jamelle Bouie nonetheless believes Wallace’s “legacy in national politics … is very clearly Trump.” I need a break. Make that “break.” The Russians are still bombing Ukraine. The Israelis are still bombing Gaza. Vladimir Putin is still directing the former and Benjamin Netanyahu, the latter. Al Jazeera provides a rundown of events on Day 697 of the war on Ukraine: “Meat grinder” (Business Insider): Russian marines and paratroopers are refusing to launch certain types of assaults due to concerns over the huge losses other troops are suffering, a Ukrainian official said, the Kyiv Post reported.
Ainsi, la crise de 2008 a créé la surprise dans les rangs des économistes influents, qui croyaient voir le monde entrer au XXIe siècle dans le temps de « la grande modération » – c’est-à-dire la prévention des mouvements économiques erratiques grâce au pilotage « scientifique » des politiques monétaires … Cet épisode a sans […]
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Blue Eye Samurai, Our Flag Means Death, Reacher, Doctor Who, SNL, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and more!
On college campuses around the country, administrators are responding to peaceful sit-ins with sanctions and criminal charges.
The post Amid Gaza Protests, Universities Are Cracking Down on a Celebrated Protest Tactic: Sit-ins appeared first on The Intercept.
The Post Office Scandal. The contaminated blood scandal. Hillsborough. Orgreave. Time and time again, we have witnessed unforgivable episodes in modern British history that demonstrate the total disregard those in position of power and influence have for the lives of ordinary working-class people. Profits and furthering personal careers take priority while working-class communities are forced […]
I’ve been reading Maylis de Kerangal’s Réparer les vivants (oddly available in two different English translations as Heart (US) and Mending the Living (UK)), which I highly recommend. De Kerangal’s speciality is writing about people at work and this is the saga of a heart transplant over 24h, from the beginning of the donor’s day […]
