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Oh how sad… Politico reports: Michigan’s Republican party is broke. Minnesota’s was, until recently, down to $53.81 in the bank. And in Colorado, the GOP is facing eviction from its office this month because it can’t make rent. Around the nation, state Republican party apparatuses — once bastions of competency that helped produce statehouse takeovers — have become shells of their former machines amid infighting and a lack of organization. Current and former officials at the heart of the matter blame twin forces for it: The rise of insurgent pro-Donald Trump activists capturing party leadership posts, combined with the ever-rising influence of super PACs. “It shouldn’t surprise anybody that real people with real money — the big donors who have historically funded the party apparatus — don’t want to invest in these clowns who have taken over and subsumed the Republican Party,” said Jeff Timmer, the former executive director of the once-vaunted Michigan GOP and a senior adviser to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. Among some state GOP officials, the mood is grim.

Opposition leader (for now) Peter Dutton has told reporters that he already has plans this weekend to wash his hair, so will be unable to make it to the Garma festival, after being invited by the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.... Read More ›

Ed Kilgore thinks the exposure of Trump’s lies in a trial might just penetrate more of the public’s consciousness. I’m not too optimistic but if it’s even a possibility, it’s a good thing: When indicting a former president of the United States in the middle of his attempt to once again rule, you can’t just think about the laws, in their majestic complexity, that are being violated. Special counsel Jack Smith clearly understands the “court of public opinion” will have the final say on Donald Trump’s conduct, if only because he will pardon himself if the public disregards his malfeasance and returns him to the White House. So in the indictment he secured involving Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat, Smith has pulled together a vast array of evidence on an extraordinary series of events with a reasonably simple theme: Trump’s self-conscious lies about what happened in that election.

As Republican super PACs raked in millions from fossil fuel donors this year, GOP lawmakers worked to hobble government climate action.

Deepfakes are taking old scams to the next level.

The post Is That Really Your Boss on the Phone? appeared first on Nautilus.

Why the “hard problem” of AI—controlling our superintelligent creations—is impossible.

The post Building Superintelligence Is Riskier Than Russian Roulette appeared first on Nautilus.

How Fox News is taking it: Donald Trump’s third indictment this year—which charged that the former president illegally tried to overturn the 2020 election—was apparently so unremarkable to The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld that the Fox News personality couldn’t help but draw several crude doodles while the news was first announced. He instead claimed that he couldn’t “take seriously” the charges, which accuse Trump of conspiring to defraud the United States, to obstruct an official government proceeding, and to deprive people of their civil rights. Fox News reporter David Spunt, reading from the 45-page indictment, explained the charges to those on The Five. After Katie Pavlich and Jesse Watters weighed in, Dana Perino turned to Gutfeld to see if he had any thoughts on the historic news. “I don’t know. What do you think of my sketches?” replied the Gutfeld! host while showing his drawings to the camera. “Usually when I’m bored, I’ll draw men in hats.

He seems happy. They must have had a good take last night.

That the Albanese government could further compromise Australia’s sovereignty, international integrity and national interests seemed inconceivable. Yet, intelligence, a vital government function inextricably connected with independence and protecting national interest, is being penetrated and colonised by the Americans. At the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) 2023 the establishment of “a Combined Intelligence Centre – Australia” (CIC-A) Continue reading »

While we all value Pearls and Irritations (P&I) enormously and come to the site daily to read a sane, considered point of view, and share the articles with friends, family and social contacts, we probably rarely think about how it is all sustained. So please take a moment to imagine what our media landscape would Continue reading »

After a rather extraordinary month of steadily escalating defence PR and conspiracy opportunities, Australia was sat on its backside over the weekend and reminded to know its subservient place. As the culmination of media beat-ups, photo ops, military exercises and top-level ministerial talks grew, Australia was delighted to be told it could become an even more integrated Continue reading »

It was in 1982 in Calcutta, India, on my way to a conference in Bhubaneswar in Orissa state when I was confronted by the sight of homeless people sleeping on the pavement right in the heart of the city in the early nightfall. This morning (01/08/2023), I was confronted again by the sight of homelessness Continue reading »

A reading of history, including the genocide and forced exile of the indigenous Crimean Tatars, debunks apologias for the Russian annexation of Crimea based on the support of the local Russian majority. David Higginbotham’s recent article “Cognitive Dissonance in Crimea” suggested that the public has been hoodwinked into accepting some kind of false narrative about Continue reading »

For a transition to a low carbon economy to be just, the Australian government should force the fossil fuel industries to pay the entire cost. Just Transition refers to the measures needed to support workers and communities during a transition away from carbon-intensive industries. The concept has been adopted by many organisations including the Intergovernmental Continue reading »

The good news this week was the result of the Spanish elections, the bad was the news of global boiling, the takeover of artificial intelligence and Putin’s continuous threats of nuclear war. We had a good topic to talk about this week. The end of the world no less. We started well or badly, depending Continue reading »

Under the Labor party governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard between 2007 and 2013, Australia succeeded in anchoring its relations with China on mutually beneficial grounds. While reaping the economic upsides of the peaceful rise of China, Australia also hedged against a situation where an emergent China might mean political domination in the region, Continue reading »

The U.S. special inspector who monitored billions of dollars in U.S. waste in Afghanistan cautions about repeating the same mistakes in Ukraine.

The post Senate Democrats Blocked Watchdog for Ukraine Aid — Ignoring Lessons From Afghanistan appeared first on The Intercept.

The U.S. special inspector who monitored billions of dollars in U.S. waste in Afghanistan cautions about repeating the same mistakes in Ukraine.

The post Senate Democrats Blocked Watchdog for Ukraine Aid — Ignoring Lessons From Afghanistan appeared first on The Intercept.

The twice impeached, thrice indicted former president has been rejected by almost his entire cabinet They worked with him. They know him. They do not want him to be president ever again: Donald Trump may have put them in the most powerful and prestigious jobs many will ever hold, but few who worked in his Cabinet are rushing to endorse him in his bid to return to the White House. NBC News reached out to 44 of the dozens of people who served in Trump’s Cabinet over his term in office. Most declined to comment or ignored the requests. A total of four have said publicly they support his run for re-election. Several have been coy about where they stand, stopping short of endorsing Trump with the GOP primary race underway. Then there are those who outright oppose his bid for the GOP nomination or are adamant that they don’t want him back in power. “I have made clear that I strongly oppose Trump for the nomination and will not endorse Trump,” former Attorney General Bill Barr told NBC News.