Reading

Seems the Syrian army just wouldn’t fight and its allies couldn’t prop it up this time, which given the speed of the advance makes sense. This is one of the most pathetic shows of bad army moral and corruption I’ve seen in my entire life. There weren’t enough troops willing and able to fight to even make a stand at the capital.

I don’t see how Hezbollah or Iran or even Russia could have saved Assad from an army this bad. The Syrian had to be able to at least slow the enemy down. Hezbollah and Russia no longer had significant numbers of ground forces in the country and couldn’t get enough there soon enough.

This is terrible for Lebanon, Palestine, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. Russia loses its Med port and airfield; Hezbollah its land route for supplies and Iran its easy ability to reach its allies.

I hope the new conquerors of Syria are more tolerant than I expect them to be.

Today Cliff Schecter and Hal Sparks talked about Kash Patel & how he could be the first possible leather daddy to head the FBI. The Steve Bannon plan is to overwhelm the media with Trump’s horrible nominees. What gets to the MSM, that makes them disqualified, isn’t the same as what makes it to late night comedy shows, or to Fox News, or RW social media. Part of what we can do with our audiences is to show how weird these people are. There are serious reasons these people are horrible, that would disqualify them to normal people like us. But we need to also point out stuff that the MAGAs have a hard time with, but we can’t reach their channels. If we tried they’d say, “I thought you were COOL WITH DEI, gays, and leather daddies!” So we put stuff out saying, “We’re cool them being gay or leather daddies, but we are not cool with their policies to destroy our national security, are you?” Frankly I don’t know which weird, corrupt, sick, incompetent or illegal activity of Trump’s nominees will knock them out of the process. But we need to find them and share them.

Yes, I know. That’s an oddly generic (some might even say silly) title for a post by someone who has been scribbling about film here for 18 years. Obviously, I love movies. That said, I am about to make a shameful confession (and please withhold your angry cards and letters until you’ve heard me out). Are you sitting down? Here goes: I haven’t stepped foot in a movie theater since January of 2020. There. I’ve said it, in front of God and all 7 of my regular readers. *sigh* I can still remember it, as if it were yesterday: It turns out that it is not just my imagination (running away with me). A quick Google search of “Seattle rain records” yields such cheery results as a January 29th CNN headline IT’S SUNLESS IN SEATTLE AS CITY WEATHERS ONE OF THE GLOOMIEST STRETCHES IN RECENT HISTORY and a Feb 1st Seattle P-I story slugged with SEATTLE BREAKS RECORD WITH RAIN ON 30 DAYS IN A MONTH. Good times! February was a bit better: 15 rainy days with 4.1 hours a day of average sunshine. But hey-I didn’t move to the Emerald City to be “happy”.

A MAN of integrity and love for the land, Frank Kennedy passed away at Mater Christi Aged Care on Monday 25 November, aged 80. A Requiem Mass was held at Our Lady of the Way Chapel at Marian Grove in Toormina, on Friday 29 November. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it...

The post Frank Kennedy: environmentalist with the community in mind appeared first on News Of The Area.

IN taking a fresh look at the skills shortage, a coalition of organisations is creating civil construction opportunities for local refugees. The Refugee Employment Pathways Program (REPP) was devised by the social enterprise Purpose & Growth (P&G) for refugee and asylum seeker communities. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your...

The post Partnership provides civil construction training in Coffs Harbour for refugees appeared first on News Of The Area.

HEAVY rain didn’t deter former racing driver Joel Wakely from attending the National Holden Motor Museum on Saturday to help celebrate 76 years of the marque on our roads. Mr Wakely, 87, was in Coffs Harbour to launch his book on the 48-215, affectionately known as the Humpy, which started 70 years of Australian automotive...

The post Humpys turn out to celebrate 76 years of Holden appeared first on News Of The Area.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

HANDY, helpful and practical, the free 2025 Legal Topics For Seniors Diary is available now at Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh’s electorate office. A favourite year after year, the Legal Topics For Seniors Diary is a free legal information resource produced for seniors by Legal Aid NSW. Advertise with News of The Area today....

The post The free 2025 Legal Topics For Seniors Diary is back appeared first on News Of The Area.

In his ongoing campaign to pad and shield criticism of Israel in the conduct of its war of gross bloodletting in Gaza, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rarely misses a beat to attack critics. It has become clear that even mere disagreement from long standing allies suggests wobbliness and tilting in the direction of antisemitism. Continue reading »

International Court of Justice to provide advice on nations’ climate change obligations. SE Australia and WA to experience more heat waves than predicted but NT and FNQ will have fewer. Mixed evidence of countries working together to progress sustainability. International Court of Justice climate change hearings You are possibly vaguely aware of but not well Continue reading »

“We must ask for no references to Gaza/Palestine/Israel as it’s a very sensitive topic in our area. If these topics are included it drastically changes our risk management plans for events. Thus for safety and harmony we kindly ask the guest speakers avoid these topics and any questions about it that come up.” – Sam Continue reading »

There should be a Christmas truce/ceasefire (Orthodox Christmas or western doesn’t matter) in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Last Western AND Orthodox Christmas, there was discussion of the possibility of a truce or ceasefire over one of the Christmases. The precedent quoted was of course, the spontaneous ceasefire that took place over December 1914, Continue reading »

Is your local community, like mine, preparing for that enjoyable Christmas Carols event? Will there be a reference to the place where it all began and, if so, what will be said? Will there be any reference to the current plight of its citizens? Most of us attend our Christmas Carols event as an opportunity Continue reading »

Mohammed Salamat delivered this anguished poem about his detention on Nauru outside Federal Parliament last Tuesday November 19, 2024. The reality of ‘offshore processing’ by the Australian government is still very much a fact, in legislation and the news. Barn of Broken Doors  Australia, is this the land you promised, Where hope once bloomed, now Continue reading »

Tricking people into seeing unexpected content and converting some of them into customers is a tale as old as the web. It was the perfect model for the takeover.

The post Domain harvesting and the Twitter long game in retrospect appeared first on Jeffrey Zeldman Presents.

. Une des erreurs fondamentales dans le débat actuel sur la dette publique et le déficit budgétaire est de ne pas distinguer entre différents types de dettes. Même s’il est vrai qu’à l’échelle macroéconomique, les dettes et les actifs s’équilibrent nécessairement, il est loin d’être insignifiant de savoir qui détient les actifs et qui supporte […]

As Syrian rebels retake major cities from Bashar al-Assad, many are celebrating a return home.

The post He Thought He Wouldn’t Live to See Aleppo Again. This Week, He Returned Home. appeared first on The Intercept.

As Syrian rebels retake major cities from Bashar al-Assad, many are celebrating a return home.

The post He Thought He Wouldn’t Live to See Aleppo Again. This Week, He Returned Home. appeared first on The Intercept.