Only 13% say Joe Biden is. And yet: Meanwhile, here’s the very pious Donald Trump: From the outset of his brief political career, Trump has viewed right-wing evangelical leaders as a kind of special-interest group to be schmoozed, conned, or bought off, former aides told me. Though he faced Republican primary opponents in 2016 with deeper religious roots—Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee—Trump was confident that his wealth and celebrity would attract high-profile Christian surrogates to vouch for him. “His view was ‘I’ve been talking to these people for years; I’ve let them stay at my hotels—they’re gonna endorse me. I played the game,’” said a former campaign adviser to Trump, who, like others quoted in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. It helped that Trump seemed to feel a kinship with prosperity preachers—often evincing a game-recognizes-game appreciation for their hustle.
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Our 3rd most-read article of 2023.
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Originally published April 18, 2023.
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Grease: You attended high school in the days before overattentive school boards.
Fiddler on the Roof: You still feel a little guilty for not displaying a menorah in your home, even though you are Presbyterian. You also catch yourself expressing strong, yet unearned, opinions about bagels.
Bye Bye Birdie: You occasionally long for the moral simplicity of the 1950s, a decade that you missed by two generations and in which you would not have had any rights.
Chicago: Fishnet stockings still make your stomach clench.
We have a major problem with the damage that Rupert Murdoch has done to newspapers in Australia, and any self-respecting government should take steps to correct that as soon as possible. I met Rupert when I was working for Gough Whitlam in Canberra. I got to know the people in the Canberra press gallery well. Continue reading »
In the International Court of Justice in The Hague, South Africa has filed suit against Israel for committing genocide in Gaza in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Charges of genocide by South Africa include documentation of Israel’s killing of thousands of women and children, destruction of homes, denial to a population of water, food, Continue reading »
In August of 2023, Yousef Maher Dawas, a young Palestinian author, wrote a story of hope and resilience, titled “Kidney Transplant and Rebirth: A Palestinian Love Story”. On the 14th of October, Yousef was killed by an Israeli missile strike, along with several members of his family. Remember his words. He was not a number. Continue reading »
Last week, Israel’s Channel 12 released previously unseen footage of an Israeli tank firing at a civilian home in the settlement, just a few miles east of Gaza. The new evidence shows that the Israeli commander on the scene, Brigadier General Barak Hiram, lied to a top Israeli journalist about what happened in the kibbutz that day, after Continue reading »
We are facing the end of the world as we know it, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Our task is to bring people together in a spirit of mutual aid, and to cultivate the Living Democracy that is the only alternative now to authoritarianism, says a new book, “Living Continue reading »
Gareth Evans ,former Foreign Minister and the former ASIO head, Alan Wrigley, are likely not the only ones to be dubious about the value of much of the material collected by our security agencies. But most ministers are easily seduced. The imperatives of modern commerce have bizarrely distorted the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Continue reading »
Surveys have shown a sharp drop in support for both of Britain’s big parties among Muslims over their refusal to criticise Israel for its war. London, United Kingdom — Visiting Tel Aviv in mid-October, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stood next to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, who had launched a devastating war on Gaza Continue reading »
Following the release of the 2022-23 Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) report on private health insurers, I wrote in mid-November that the financial health of the sector was so robust there was no case for the Minister to approve a premium increase. I also argued that given high and increasing levels of reserves, now was Continue reading »
In recent years a growing number of Australians have lost confidence in their system of governance, but few journalists and political theory academics have suggested alternatives. If Australia is to improve its governance system and its democracy, it should look to European alternatives. The Australian system of governance is usually described as “Westminster”. This includes Continue reading »
The broadcaster’s response to my editing of international news stories amounted to a show trial, reflecting a malaise within mainstream media. In this tumultuous time of war and global conflict the ability of journalists to do their jobs effectively within mainstream media has never been more limited. We live in a time of state surveillance Continue reading »
Joe Biden will be giving a big speech on the anniversary of January 6th. Its themes could not be more important. And yet, we have every reason to anticipate the media covering it by discussion whether or not it actually helps Trump in the opinion polls for Biden to lay out the stakes in this campaign. It’s what they do. They’ll poll the speech and then spend hours and hours and spill buckets of pixels on whether or not “it works.” Margaret Sullivan explains why that’s wrong and what they should do instead: When Joe Biden talks on Friday about US democracy on the brink, there’s no doubt that it will be a campaign speech. Maybe the most important one of his life. But the speech will be more than that. It’s intended as a warning and a red alert, delivered on the anniversary of the violent January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The date was chosen for good reason – to make the point that more mayhem and more flagrant disregard for the rule of law and fair elections, are just around the corner if Donald Trump is re-elected. Can the political media in America get that reality across?
The London mayor has expanded free school meals and holiday food schemes during the cost of living crisis
What properties do societies possess that might make them possible objects of knowledge for us? My strategy in developing an answer to this question will be effectively based on a pincer movement. But in deploying the pincer I shall concentrate first on the ontological question of the properties that societies possess, before shifting to the […]
The post Doctor Who: The White Dragon appeared first on Doctor Who Magazine.
Campaign business as usual won’t cut it in 2024 If you live in a blue county, you probably think independents lean your way. And maybe they do. Inside city limits. But outside? Nationwide, independent voters lean red, and did in November 2022 even if the split looked closer in December 2023. Plus, the segment of the electorate that identifies as independent is growing steadily (below). There are more of them than there are Democrats or Republicans. Over half of voters roughly 45 and younger identify as independents. Not all states register by party (including some key swing states), so there this is harder to parse out. But here are two 2024 swing states that do. In North Carolina (16 electoral votes), for example, the current registration breakdown is: Independents: 36% Democrats: 33% Republicans: 30% In Arizona (11 electoral votes), the registration breakdown is: Independents: 35% Republicans: 34%Democrats: 30% Good News, Bad News Democrats cannot win without earning the votes of a sufficient number of independents and that could be a challenge, especially for candidates running statewide.
by Dave Rollo
The USA, Canada, and other countries have long recognized sprawl as a vexing dimension of urban development. Especially challenging is the difficulty creating the public consensus needed for political and planning responses to the problem.
But growing numbers of residents today are expressing their distaste for sprawling approaches to development and are primed to resist it. Perhaps surprisingly, sprawl afflicts a U.S. state better known for its natural beauty and its potatoes: Idaho.
The post Conservative Idaho: Poised to Resist Sprawl? appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.