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Fri, 01/12/2023 - 07:43
Human society is energy blind. Like a fish in water, it takes for granted the existence of that without which it could not survive. As with so many of humanity’s problems, this conceptual failure can be traced back to an economist. However, the guilty party is not one of “the usual suspects”—Neoclassical economists—but the person … Continue reading "Putting Energy Back into Economics"
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 07:00
New polling shows that, if given the chance, Floridians will vote for a constitutional amendment supporting abortion A majority of Florida voters say they would vote yes on a constitutional amendment ensuring abortion access until fetal viability around 24 weeks, according to a new poll. “If this amendment does make it on the ballot, initiatives like this one need a supermajority of 60% in order to pass, and it looks like the proposed abortion amendment is right at that threshold among these respondents,” said University of North Florida pollster Dr. Michael Binder. “Even among registered Republicans, 53% would vote to protect abortion rights in Florida, with just 39% voting no.” The University of North Florida polled Florida voters and found 62% support the amendment and 29% are opposed to it, with a 4.37% margin of error. In April, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban, which has not taken effect as a previous 15-week ban awaits the outcome of a legal challenge. A constitutional amendment would supersede either law.
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Fri, 01/12/2023 - 06:00

UTS Comms Critical Webinar Series #2

The Atlas Network: Big Oil, Climate Disinformation and Constitutional Democracy

Date and time:

10-12 noon, Friday 8 December, Sydney time
6-8pm, Thursday 7 December, New York time

Register here

Welcome: James Goodman
Chair: Scott Ludlam

Speakers:
Dr Jeremy Walker (Silencing the Voice)
Prof Nancy MacLean (Democracy in chains)
Amy Westervelt (Drilled)
Prof J. Timmons Roberts

Responses:
Brendan Demelle - Desmog
Climate Investigations Center (tbc)

The post Webinar: The Atlas Network: Big Oil, Climate Disinformation and Constitutional Democracy appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 05:47

An extraordinary email uncovered under freedom of information laws raises serious questions about whether Bellingcat, the “open source” collective widely cited by mainstream journalists and loved by the CIA, collaborates directly with Western intelligence agencies. Editor’s note: On December 22, The Grayzone received an email from Bellingcat founder and editor-in-chief Eliot Higgins threatening legal action if this story was not removed from the internet. Attempts to respond to Higgins produced an out of office automated reply, noting he was now […]

The post FOI raises further questions about Bellingcat coordination with Western intelligence  first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post FOI raises further questions about Bellingcat coordination with Western intelligence  appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 05:00

Let’s microdose in my softest micro French terry sweatshirt gown. Let’s do Molly under my heritage-quality Molly Patchwork Quilt. Let’s celebrate the happiest season with the hug drug and a cheeky panty in boiled wool.

I live in the Garnet Hill catalog like Barbie lives in Barbie World. And like the Barbies, we have a matriarchy. All the men wear flannel joggers and have no penises. We do not need a social safety net because there are no poor, elderly, or human people here. The children buy their own childcare and Signature Supima long johns, which allows us ladies to stroll the tawny streets of medieval Portugal, or hunt whales above the Arctic Circle.

MDMA is all about connectedness to self and others. I want to mix and mingle at a private school winter concert. I want to make a hefty donation to the capital campaign and unwrap my crepe wrap dress for the head of school. I want to wear a $349 velvet button-down to the neighbors’ cocktail hour and sneak away to their timeless bathroom to pleasure myself with a porcelain Christmas tree figurine.

Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:59
Henry Kissinger’s death draws to a close the epoch of intellectualism in foreign policy to which he was committed following his early study of and belief in a system of organised strategic balance and restraint of the kind that emerged from the Treaty of Westphalia in the 17th century. I first met Henry Kissinger in Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:57
It is more than 20 years since Labor Leader Simon Crean addressed Australian troops leaving to fight in the Bush-Blair-Howard war on Iraq. “I don’t believe that you should be going,” he said, absent a United Nations determination. “But that’s a political decision, that’s an argument that the prime minister [John Howard] and I will Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:56
Dozens of ‘small modular reactor’ designs are being promoted but precious few will reach the construction stage and the likelihood of SMRs being built in large numbers is negligible. Small modular reactors (SMRs) are defined as reactors with a capacity of 300 megawatts (MW) or less. The term ‘modular’ refers to serial factory production of Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:55
Tony Abbott added two new posts to his resume this month, debuting as Fox director and announced to be “joining the Danube Institute team as a guest lecturer.” Add these to the October news that Abbott is now an Advisory Board member of the far-right Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC). Australians should be watching. Hungarian Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:54
John Edmund Ryan, OBE was a former soldier, career diplomat and acting director of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS). He entered Australian folklore on 30 November 1983 when an ASIS team raided Melbourne’s Sheraton Hotel, during a training exercise. The subsequent political controversy engulfed the federal labor government and it claimed Ryan’s career, with Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:53
The new National Party led government for New Zealand will be New Zealand’s first cabinet coalition of three parties. Their joint agreement, hammered out during a month of difficult negotiations, will reverse a number of reforms introduced by the outgoing Labour Government and cut public service staff to approach 2017 levels. The outgoing Prime Minister Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:51
“Digital platforms continue to provide vested fossil fuel actors with a cheap and easy way to disinform the public about climate change,” said one campaigner. An analysis published Wednesday shows that major fossil fuel corporations have pumped millions of dollars into digital advertising this year in the lead-up to the COP28 talks, part of a Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:50
Sometimes Israel’s crimes are so horrific that at first you don’t even understand what you’re looking at. You just stare at it trying to make sense of what you’re seeing for a bit, like you would if you suddenly saw a space alien or a leprechaun or something. It happened to me yesterday when I Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:42

Visegrád 24 and its ultra-viral content have dominated social media platforms since Israel's war on Gaza began, but who is behind the pro-Israel account helping to shape the narrative on the year's most controversial topic? MintPress News investigates.

The post Visegrád 24: The Polish Government-Funded Fake News Factory Driving The Online Israel-Palestine News Cycle appeared first on MintPress News.

Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:00
He denies it but yeah, he probably did. They reportedly went at it on January 6th, you’ll recall when MyKev supposedly said, “who do you think you’re talking to?” So they have that kind of relationship. And this report says that he said “fuck you” when Trump told him why he didn’t support him during the ouster: During a phone call with McCarthy weeks after his historic Oct. 3 removal as House speaker, Trump detailed the reasons he had declined to ask Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and other hard-right lawmakers to back off their campaign to oust the California Republican from his leadership position, according to people familiar with the exchange who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose a private conversation. During the call, Trump lambasted McCarthy for not expunging his two impeachments and not endorsing him in the 2024 presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the conversation. “F— you,” McCarthy claimed to have then told Trump, when he rehashed the call later to other people in two separate conversations, according to the people.