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One of the most irritating things about writing this blog is making statements that are obviously correct which people, especially those with power and large platforms dispute, then later being proven correct.

Covid has been a masterclass:

First, Covid is not over. It will not be over till we either get very lucky and it mutates massively to be less dangerous, or we do what is necessary to end it. Remember that Covid is a pandemic. It moves in waves.

Second, Covid damages immunity.

Third, Covid damages a wide variety of organs, including the heart, lungs, circulatory system and your brain. This damage can be non-symptomatic, or it can be bad enough to be Long Covid.

Fourth, every time you get Covid, it has a chance of doing more damage.

“They did it to me. Had they not done it to me…you wouldn’t have it being done to them.” Trump reveals impeaching Biden is revenge for his impeachments. In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Trump talked about the Republican's "impeachment inquiry" against Biden, suggesting it's all about retribution for his impeachments: "They did it to me. Had they not done it to… pic.twitter.com/5eVlXNKdPN — Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 14, 2023 He’s posted this before on Truth Social. But now he’s on tape saying the same thing. It’s revenge, pure and simple. Unfortunately, at least half the country thinks that’s perfectly normal.

This summer saw the hottest average global temperatures in the last 125,000 years. Europe is embroiled in war, with other conflicts raging around the world. The global economy is still reeling from the impacts of the first global pandemic since 1919. Experts are warning against the threat posed by our most advanced technological creation–artificial intelligence (AI). Continue reading »

On assuming office, one of Prime Minister Albanese’s first actions was to task the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) to review the security threats posed by climate change. The report was finalised in late 2022 but not made public. Accordingly, a “release the ONI report” campaign has dominated climate-security discourse over much of 2023. Foreign Continue reading »

I’m voting “Yes” as a proud Australian of Aboriginal, European and Middle-eastern ancestry. Australia’s Constitution needs to catch up with the nation we are today. We’re a multicultural superpower and Asia-Pacific democracy, founded on 65,000 years of heritage and culture. Our Constitution needs to reflect that. But there’s another very important reason not to Vote Continue reading »

This week sees the 30th anniversary of the shameful, ill-advised Oslo Accord between Israel and Palestine. In the game of life, like a game of cards you can only play the hand you are dealt and not the hand you wish you could have. In any card game a seasoned, accomplished player plays the people Continue reading »

Gratifying it may be to see three of our top performing universities outranking Columbia and Johns Hopkins (with Melbourne even outranking Caltech and Yale (QS World University Rankings)), but as a sector our universities are in crisis. And such a crisis has dangerous implications for our democracy. The model democracy in ancient Athens may have Continue reading »

When Labor and the Liberals share similar strategies regarding China and national defence, why should Chinese-Australian voters stay loyal? Any news pointing to an improvement in Australia-China relations — such as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accepting an invitation to visit China later this year — is likely to be welcomed by Labor MPs whose seats have Continue reading »

The primary site of the authoritarian cancer is the embrace of abusive power as the way to govern. Nelson Chamisa, leader of the Zimbabwean opposition, insists that the recent election which returned the government party ZanuPF and incumbent President Emerson Mnangagwa to power, was a gigantic fraud. Five years earlier, Mnangagwa succeeded Robert Mugabe, the Continue reading »

Greg Sargent calls it the “MAGA doom loop” : For almost three years now, Republicans have defended or embraced Donald Trump’s authoritarianism — from lies about his 2020 loss to inciting an insurrection — which backfired as Americans proved unexpectedly eager to vote in defense of democracy in the 2022 elections as well as in contests this year. But Republicans aren’t giving up — they’re going even further. To an unappreciated degree, they have responded to these electoral losses with even more flagrantly anti-democratic maneuvers all around the country. The pattern is becoming clear: Even as voters are mobilizing to protect democracy at the ballot box, Republicans are redoubling their commitment to the former president’s anti-majoritarian mode of politics. And this, in turn, is motivating voters even more. Call it the “MAGA doom loop.” It’s playing out in state after state.

Son, you’re eight years old now, and you’ll probably hear this soon enough from the other kids on the playground anyway, so I might as well tell you. Santa isn’t real, the Tooth Fairy is imaginary, and there’s no such thing as the “invisible hand of the market.”

Why did your mother and I lie to you? Well, we didn’t so much lie to you as tell you stories that were untrue, stories that we hoped would add magic to your childhood and also reassure you that capitalism is a good and fair system for everyone, instead of one in which some people can’t afford insulin while other people are Jeff Bezos.

And the thing is, back when Mom and I first told you about the invisible hand, we actually believed in it ourselves—not as a real hand, of course, but as a metaphor for a fundamental principle of economics. The principle I naively thought would save us when I got laid off, but then our mortgage went underwater, and it turned out that not one of Mom’s 223 Facebook friends wanted to get in on that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity she was pursuing at LuLaRoe.

On Thursday morning NBC News reported that the FBI has created a stand-alone unit to investigate all the threats being made against FBI agents and Federal Prosecutors investigating Hunter Biden. You will be forgive for thinking that this must mean there has been a spate of left wing terrorism we haven’t heard about but, in fact, the threats are coming from right wingers who are convinced that these federal officials have been too soft on the younger Biden. Apparently, there has been “a dramatic uptick in threats against FBI agents that has coincided with attacks on the FBI and the Justice Department by congressional Republicans and former President Donald Trump.” And let’s not forget the right wing media which has been hammering this for months, and in the process encouraging their febrile audience to believe that everything coming out of the FBI and the Justice Department is being manipulated by the White House and the career FBI officials and prosecutors are all Democratic operatives.

Some 13,000 members of the United Auto Workers are participating in what they’re calling their Stand Up Strike.

The post UAW Temporarily Loses Twitter Verification as Union Strikes Against Big Three appeared first on The Intercept.

Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T. Davies had some interesting clues/teases to drop about the 60th-anniversary episode "The Star Beast."

Just what are voters buying? “Repetition is really important. And so is repetition.” Donald Trump knows the value of repetition. Debunking his lies has no stopping power on his relentless repeating of them. It’s a habit that the press has come to accept from Trump and from Republicans when they repeat lies, but sees as futile, even pathetic, when Democrats repeat facts. USA Today: Linda Muñoz is scared about the economy. She dipped into her emergency savings this year. And she doesn’t believe President Joe Biden feels her pain. The retired teacher from Channelview, Texas, worries about paying $4 for cereal and $3.38 for gasoline in her state. “According to him, everything’s perfect,” said Muñoz, a Republican. “He just doesn’t live in reality.” As Biden tries to sell Americans on an economic rebound, most Americans aren’t buying it, according to an exclusive poll from the Suffolk University Sawyer Business School and USA TODAY that reveals major concerns about the state of the economy and little hope of people’s outlook improving.

The post Don’t be a Statistic appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.

Sabotuers of Democracy unite A friend with roots in the theater once told a Netroots audience about his journey from the closet to being authentically himself. When finally he came out to actress Bea Arthur, she replied, “Joel, are you the last to know?” Joel died of pancreatic cancer several years ago. “Are you the last to know?” comes to mind because spread across the internet today is a quote from retiring Utah Sen. Mitt Romney that may wind up on his tombstone: “A very large portion of my party really doesn’t believe in the Constitution.” Commenting on Romney’s remarks to The Atlantic‘s McKay Coppins, Jamelle Bouie writes, “Faced with a conflict between partisan loyalty and ideological ambition on one hand and basic principles of self-government and political equality on the other, much of the Republican Party has jettisoned any commitment to America’s democratic values in favor of narrow self-interest.” Republican commitment to the Constitution is highly situational.

If you care about climate change, it’s time to start thinking about nickel.

Exclusive new poll finds the public is far more tolerant of diversity and cultural change than the Government appears to believe, Adam Bienkov reports

1. Agravain!

2. Aglovale!

3. Bagdemagus!

4. Chuffachoo!

5. Lancelot!

6. Galahad!

7. Sagramore!

8. Oompazaz!

9. Dinadan!

10. Esclabor!

11. Caradoc!

12. Ungtchypow!

13. Lamorak!

14. Huggadog!

15. Gingalain!

16. Segwarides!

Knight: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15
Noise: 4, 8, 12
Both: 16

Reflecting on a decade of court reporting, James Doleman explains how the apparent formality helps take the emotion out of awful events and focus on the evidence

In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Alan Moore, One Piece, Frasier, Doctor Who, Kite Man, The Orville, Bill Maher, Justin Roiland, and more!