Reading

Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 07:00
By supporting Trump they are signing away any chances they have to win. Ron Brownstein lays it out: The dilemma for the Republican Party is that Donald Trump’s mounting legal troubles may be simultaneously strengthening him as a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination and weakening him as a potential general-election nominee. In the days leading up to the indictment of the former president, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced two days ago, a succession of polls showed that Trump has significantly increased his lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his closest competitor in the race for the Republican nomination. Yet recent surveys have also signaled that this criminal charge—and other potential indictments from ongoing investigations—could deepen the doubts about Trump among the suburban swing voters who decisively rejected him in the 2020 presidential race, and powered surprisingly strong performances by Democrats in the 2018 and 2022 midterms.
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 04:57
Climate change is causing more flash floods in dry areas and increasing methane emissions from wetlands. Cats continue to destroy Australian wildlife. Chicken and salmon farming pollute their local environments. Pet cats killing our wildlife Cats have driven 27 Australian native animals to extinction and currently threaten another 124 birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals with Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 04:56
Britain’s Oxford Dictionary and America’s Webster’s have moved quickly to shut down further nominations for the 2023 “Word of the Year”. They’ve declared “aukustrate” the unbeatable winner. Unsurprisingly, Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary found no reason to disagree, and fell into line. The announcement followed the Global Public Relations Institute giving its Marx/Goebbels Award for the Propaganda Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 04:54
The new House Select Committee on China is currently blaming China for every problem in America. Those who appeared and suggested improving Sino-American relations were accused of giving comfort to the enemy. In this light I asked Chat GPT-4 a series of questions to test GPT on its sense of the classic civic and social Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 04:53
Congratulations to the new Premier and his team. Top of the agenda is for NSW to secede from the Federation. Let the other States pay a share of the $380 billion for the submarines. Let them risk being part of AUKUS. West Australia is the wealthiest State in the nation. It can certainly carry the Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 04:50
One of the world’s oldest unresolved international issues, Kashmir, has experienced many stark vicissitudes over time. In 2019, it made headlines due to India’s controversial revocation of Article 35A and 370, which essentially eliminated Kashmir’s special status and autonomy. This led to overarching vehemence amongst Kashmiris who protested in droves. To subdue them, thousands of Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 03:30
No it’s not crazy to hold a president accountable: In the eyes of the world’s media, the indictment of Donald Trump was not the big freaking deal many Americans might expect. Save for a handful of English-language websites and newspapers, the story ranked beneath most regional and local concerns and in more than a handful it was found alongside or just above the coverage of other celebrity news items like the denial of parole to Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius and the Gwyneth Paltrow ski accident trial. There’s a reason for this and it may be hard for many Americans to hear. For all our chest-thumping about our world-leading democracy, we lag the world in living up to the idea that no one is above the law, particularly when it comes to heads of state and government. While, as much coverage at home and abroad noted, the indictment of a president is unique in American history, to the rest of the world, holding leaders to account is much more commonplace. In fact, it is hard to find a major country as reluctant to require its leaders to face the legal music as we have been.
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 02:00
Here’s the thing: this may help Trump get the nomination. It won’t help him win the presidency. The man is a pig, accused of rape and sexual misconduct by dozens of women. Jeb apparently forgets that the whole thing is about Trump paying hush money to the porn actress he slept with while his wife was taking care of their newborn baby. I suppose if that was the only thing Trump had done, and the rest of his presidency was immaculate, the majority might chalk it all up to politics. But it’s just one of hundreds of transgressions, failures, corrupt acts and incompetency that we all saw with our own eyes.
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 02:15
Almost sixty years ago Milton Friedman wrote an (in)famous article arguing that (1) the natural rate of unemployment was independent of monetary policy and that (2) trying to keep the unemployment rate below the natural rate would only give rise to higher and higher inflation. The hypothesis has always been controversial, and much theoretical and […]
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 01:30
It’s not prosecution that’s selective “For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law.” – Field Marshal Óscar R. Benavides, former president of Peru. Donald Trump niece Mary Trump summed up her uncle’s view of the world in just over 20 words Thursday night: “He knows the difference between right and wrong. He just never in a million years thought it would apply to him.” [timestamp 3:50] Selective constitution is now an organizing principle for the party that all but bears Trump’s name. It seems an awful lot of its members respect neither the Constitution or the rule of law, yet aspire to run a country ostensibly run based on them. I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will will not support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The only thing American about them are their birth certificates.
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 00:44
Labour’s sums just don’t add up – so much for ‘competence’ An attempt by Keir Starmer’s Labour to create a ‘household bill’ meme to hit the Tories over the ‘cost of living crisis’ – in reality a manufactured emergency enriching the Tories’ corporate backers – backfired after Labour couldn’t even write add up five lines […]
Created
Sun, 02/04/2023 - 00:00
Unless it is No, really. These GOP state senators in North Carolina introduced this bill on Thursday. I’m still not convinced it wasn’t an early April Fools’ Day gag. I am certain it’s Tim Moffitt trolling the left. VERY on brand. He’s also introduced legislation to allow one of his counties to “prohibit or restrict skateboarding” on public streets. Multiple outlets have reached out to Timmeh for comment on the trophy bill. So far, Moffitt’s not talking. Probably too busy snickering.
Created
Sat, 01/04/2023 - 21:30
JV Last takes a look at the GOP primaries’ various possibilities in light of the indictment: Yeah, no. Makes no sense. Another part of the dynamic that gets frozen is DeSantis. As it stands right now, just about everyone assumes he’s running. It would destabilize the race if DeSantis didn’t run. And Trump’s indictment almost certainly keeps DeSantis in, even if his polling continues to decline. We know this because yesterday evening—by total coincidence—Florida Republicans introduced their bill to change the law so that DeSantis could run for president as the sitting governor. This makes sense because it underscores the extent to which DeSantis is less a competitor to Trump than his understudy. He’ll keep making demonstrations and preparing his run because someone has to be ready in case Trump blows up. In short: I can see how the indictment might introduce uncertainty into the Republican primary. But right now I’m convinced that it will function as an artificial stabilizing element which actually makes it harder for the campaign to develop and change according to its own logic. Agreed.
Created
Sat, 01/04/2023 - 21:03

By Juan Cole / Informed Comment Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A New York Grand Jury empaneled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has indicted the former president, Donald John Trump. So report Ilya Marritz, Andrea Bernstein, Bill Chappell and Vanessa Romo at NPR. I gave all three of Trump’s names because that is usually how felons […]

The post Trump and the Triviality of Evil appeared first on scheerpost.com.