Penny Wong has inherited huge challenges in her role as Foreign Minister. She is surrounded by alpha males controlling the defence and security debate, convinced that only deadly military weapons can secure a safe future for Australia. She heads a department historically seen as weak and irrelevant by too many men in power. They dismiss Continue reading »
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Subordination of the military to the civil power in a democracy is non-negotiable, but is often taken for granted. More democracies falter because of a breakdown of civil-military relations than through external subversion or foreign aggression. The near monopoly over the use of lethal force that military organisations hold imposes an obligation on governments to Continue reading »
Government announces that nice people drive electric cars; $50 a day Jobseeker payment “cruel”; and a Wiradjuri warrior’s Anzac Day. Read on for the Weekly Roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy. Economics Immigration: this is really a big reform. The Reserve Bank Continue reading »
Breakthroughs set to make a big difference in energy sector This could change everything. A series of breakthroughs by scientists in China will see expensive, hard-to-find lithium replaced by cheap, easily available sodium in many applications. China is building 16 sodium-ion battery plants and will have 95% of the world’s capacity within two years, analysts Continue reading »
If we look back on the major wars of the prior century and forward to the growing menace of a war fought with nuclear weaponry, there is one prominent gap in analysis and understanding: in an imperfectly governed world, spheres of influence in certain regional settings play crucial war prevention roles. This gap is to Continue reading »
If he testifies truthfully it could be helpful but it can’t erase his pushing of the Big Lie On Wednesday night the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that Donald Trump could not claim executive privilege to prevent his former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying before the Grand Jury that’s hearing evidence for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president’s activities leading up to January 6th. Immediately on Thursday morning Pence testified for more than five hours. I guess they didn’t want to waste any more time. Pence and his team had negotiated with the Special Counsel for months to avoid having to do a voluntary interview and ended up filing a lawsuit to prevent testifying under subpoena. He claimed that as President of the Senate he could not be compelled to testify under the Speech and Debate clause of the constitution which protects members of congress and a judge partially bought the argument. Pence was told he must testify but he can avoid answering questions about his legislative role on Jan. 6.
He listens when you speak, he appears to understand his privilege and complex power dynamics, and he’s never once lectured you about a Paul Thomas Anderson movie—sorry, “film.” Though not necessarily a common occurrence, coming across a seemingly perfect cis heterosexual man, either socially or in the workplace, can be a very overwhelming experience.
Maybe he’s the only man in the office who doesn’t talk about sports at the start of every meeting—completely oblivious to who might be left out of the conversation. Or maybe you met him on a dating app, and he actually asked you a question about yourself. At first, you might have thought, “Wow, he sees me as a fully realized human being with agency and he has a nice haircut. This is too good to be true.” It’s probably not too good to be true. It’s just too good to be entirely his doing.
Former president Donald Trump hugged and consoled a woman who breached the Capitol during the January 6th insurrection at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, the Washington Post first reported. In a clear attempt to appeal to the further-right members of his base, Trump embraced 54-year-old Micki Larson-Olson, a Trump über-fan who’d driven 30 hours to see him speak in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Thursday. “President Trump, will you please sign my Trump backpack that I carried up to Jan. 6?” she shouted, donning a red-white-and-blue ensemble with a matching wig. “I went to jail for 161 days for Jan. 6. I’m an Iraq War veteran.” Larson-Olson was found guilty last September of a misdemeanor for resisting police efforts to clear the Capitol complex after the breach. According to the Justice Department, U.S. Capitol Police approached the Texas woman, “who was dressed in a Captain America costume and holding two flags in the air,” and repeatedly asked her to leave.
The ACLU’s Keegan Medrano, a queer, Native advocate in Helena, said Zephyr’s expulsion was the culmination of months of attacks from Montana’s far right.
The post An Insider’s View of the Montana Legislature’s Attacks on Trans Rep. Zooey Zephyr appeared first on The Intercept.
Peter Davison & Georgia Tennant set for Big Finish's 60th anniversary event, Doctor Who: Once and Future - "The Artist at the End of Time."
Day after day Shake that man’s hand. I continue to be amazed that, Pulitzers or not, Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mike Luckovich hasn’t been run out of his swing state. Georgia is not that purple. From Wednesday: From Thursday (O-U-C-H!): Damn. Has Luckovich got a security detail? Here’s another classic:
In a heartfelt statement, the former television personality said that using the truth was “a problem I never thought I’d have.”
Jessica always wanted to work in academia. The journey there hasn’t come without its challenges. She worked in restaurants and retail to support herself financially throughout her master’s degree, spending eight years on various insecure contracts in the university sector. For the past two years, she’s been on a permanent contract—a job she loves and […]
Two red-state abortion bans fail The conservative rush to turn post-Roe v. Wade United States into Gilead hit a couple of speed bumps on Thursday. The civil war against women halted first in South Carolina (of all places) and again in Nebraska hours later. Washington Post: In lengthy and often impassioned speeches on the South Carolina Senate floor, the state’s five female senators — three Republicans and two Democrats — decried what would have been a near-total ban on abortion. One, Sen. Sandy Senn (R), likened the implications to the dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” in which women are treated as property of the state. Senn seems almost peeved about that. She said abortion laws “have always been, each and every one of them, about control — plain and simple. And in the Senate, the males have all the control.” South Carolina and Nebraska currently allow abortions for up to about 22 weeks.
“A Texas state agency told its employees this month that they must dress in a manner that is ‘consistent with their biological gender,’ a directive that seemed to be a thinly veiled attack on transgender employees.” — The Guardian, 4/25/23
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In order to keep our workplace running efficiently, we strive to create a professional environment. One in which every employee takes pride in their work and appearance, and also openly makes it clear if they have a pee-pee or a hoo-ha.
Acceptable workplace attire for men:
- Slacks, khakis, or corduroys with the zipper “accidentally” undone
- Dress shirts tucked into the pants, firmly lifting your balls like an athletic cup
- Any formal shoe made of reflective material for routine urinal inspections
Acceptable workplace attire for women:
Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers are hosing down hopes of any serious action on cost of living, health or aged care in the upcoming budget.
The post Editorial: Labor finds billions for war but won’t fund JobSeeker and health—we need a fightback appeared first on Solidarity Online.
Iain Overton looks at the hyperbole around post-Brexit Britain, and how nationalist exceptionalism blinds us to our real problems and their remedies
The Victorian Labor government, which claims to be the most progressive in Australia, is laying the ground for a horror state budget on 23 May.
The post Victorian Labor prepares savage budget cuts appeared first on Solidarity Online.
The US and NATO have stepped up weapons deliveries to Ukraine further, aiming to prepare it for a highly anticipated spring counter-offensive.
The post Pentagon leaks confirm Ukraine is a dangerous proxy war appeared first on Solidarity Online.