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If you’re planning for future demand for a product, service or piece of infrastructure, a population forecast will be an important part of your evidence base. How many people will live nearby your new...

Last Friday (May 5, 2023), the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their latest labour market data – Employment Situation Summary – April 2023 – which revealed continuing employment growth and and modest declines in unemployment. While the US Federal Reserve is deliberately trying to undermine the labour market, even though the inflation rate…

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Source - Patreon

I’m not entirely sure what Abbott was talking about when he claimed that California has more gun deaths (recent mass shootings? total deaths?) but perhaps he doesn’t realize that California has a much bigger population than Texas. The statistical difference in gun deaths between California and Texas is quite large. California’s death rate per capita is 9 per 100,000. Texas’ is 15.6. California has the 8th lowest rate of gun deaths in the country. Texas has the 25th. As for he general point that both blue states and red states have gun violence, it’s absolutely true. But it’s the red states that really get the bang for the buck: A new study published in Journal of the American Medical Association’s Surgery found that firearm deaths are more likely in small rural towns than in major urban cities, adding to research that contradicts common belief that Democratic blue areas have higher incidences of gun-related deaths than do Republican red districts.

Despite being an American with no interest in living under a monarchy, I confess that I spent some time watching that astonishing medieval ritual of the coronation yesterday. It’s fascinating, although I resent the fact that the commentary was almost all blabbing about Harry and the balcony and almost none of it was devoted to discussing the historical context of the ceremony and explaining what it all meant, which I would have been interested to know. However, all of that is basically an entertainment pageant and as fun as it is to watch, there’s something much more important happening in Britain as this piece by David Frum points out: If you walked into a British supermarket this past winter, you were likely to see bare shelves in the salad aisle. Customers might have been limited to purchasing lettuce and tomatoes, if there were any lettuce or tomatoes to be found in the first place. Ask the grocers, and you’d hear technical explanations for the scarcity. High energy prices raised costs at British greenhouses; imports from warmer countries were curtailed by bad weather in Southern Europe.

I turn 60 this year. My health is generally good, though I have aches and pains from a form of arthritis. I’m not optimistic enough to believe that the best years of my life are ahead of me, nor so pessimistic as to assume that the best years are behind me. But I do know this, however sad it may be to say: the best years of my country are behind me. Indeed, there are all too many signs of America’s decline, ranging from mass shootings to mass incarceration to mass hysteria about voter fraud and “stolen” elections to massive Pentagon and police budgets. But let me focus on just one sign of all-American madness that speaks to me in... Read more

Source: Are the Best Years of My Country Behind Me? appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

. Susan Neiman’s defence of Enlightenment and critique of wokeism is both powerful and convincing. The ideas of the Enlightenment are still relevant, despite the numerous criticisms that have been levelled against them. The Enlightenment was characterized by a spirit of exploration that led to new discoveries in both science and culture. Rather than promoting […]

The GOP policy on gun violence WTH???? IN THE WAKE of yet another mass shooting — this time at a mall in Allen, Texas, where a gunman killed at least eight people — a Fox News guest recommended that Americans who fear they may be a victim of the next shooting should “be polite and professional, but plan to kill everyone you meet.” Alex Coker, a television host and former police officer, was quoting a line that General James Mattis reportedly told troops in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. But Coker now thinks that this kind of mindset is healthy for people in America. “What do you say to folks who live in neighborhoods maybe like Allen, Texas, where they don’t think crime will ever hit them, and they don’t need to prepare? What would you tell them?” host Lawrence Jones asked Coker on Saturday night’s episode of Lawrence Jones Cross Country. “Run away like your life depends on it. You need to be physically fit, and run fast,” Coker said. “So move move, move. Second thing is to barricade. Try to put something between you and that gunman.

Is the third time the charm? Charles’s first coronation was at Gordonstoun school in November 1965, when he played Macbeth. There is a photograph in the Royal Collections of him in a get-up nearly as strange as those he is wearing at Westminster Abbey almost sixty years later, sporting a bad fake beard and what […]

The post Golden Coats, Sacred Spoons appeared first on The New York Review of Books.

ABC obtained recordings of DeSantis’ debate prep in 2018. DeSantis. It’s clear he hasn’t improved in the last five years. The man is, as we’ve seen, unlikable and thin-skinned. It’s interesting though, that he’s always been very concerned about not “pissing off” Trump voters. He’s not alone, of course. Every Republican office holder is almost incontinent at the mere idea of such a thing. Anyway, here was Ron DeSantis getting ready to debate Andrew Gillum in 2018. Note that the two Florida Republicans helping him have already endorsed Donald Trump: During his first bid for statewide office in 2018, Ron DeSantis was grappling with a key issue that he could soon face again during his potential 2024 bid for the White House: how to not alienate Donald Trump’s base. “Is there any issue upon which you disagree with President Trump?” DeSantis was asked by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz in footage exclusively obtained by ABC News of the team’s mock debate sessions during DeSantis’ 2018 run for governor.

To His Majesty King Charles III, On the coronation of my liege, I thought it only fitting to extend a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very own kingdom within a kingdom: His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh. You will no doubt recall the wise words of a renowned playwright: “The Continue reading »

“As long as we labour under the delusion that financial choices are the same for a government as they are for households or firms, who don’t have a [central] bank …

The post Two worlds. Royalty shamelessly flaunts its wealth while the people struggle to live. appeared first on The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies.

It’s not just the Australian senate that cannot know whether such missiles are conventional or nuclear, it’s also the receiving country. This uncertainty increases risks of nuclear war. At Senate Estimates in February, Greens senators sought clarity from the foreign minister and secretary of defence on whether US B52s to be based in the Northern Continue reading »

What the general told me about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in the early days of the Obama administration. During the first year of the Obama administration, I spent months in the summer and fall of 2009 reporting about the Pakistani nuclear arsenal from here in Washington; from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital; from New Delhi, the Indian Continue reading »

India as the Chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) hosted the SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting on 28 April. Largely unreported in Western media, the meeting underlined important divergences in the narrative promoted by US-centric media that suggests India and China have irreconcilable differences. The first striking illustration of this spirit of cooperation between India and Continue reading »

The French Government’s Research Minister, Silvie Retailleau, has announced a plan to shake up the country’s scientific research including investing an extra Euro 26 billion (equivalent to A$42.5 billion.) It is in stark contrast to the Australian situation where we spend $11.9 billion on research. To put that in perspective the French spend 2.3 % Continue reading »

For someone who is experiencing gambling harm, either due to their own gambling or someone else’s gambling, finding a quality service is often difficult. People with lived experience regularly tell us they struggle to find independent and quality information about what is on offer and the likely outcomes of any referral. The harms from gambling Continue reading »

As 2022 closed, WA’s main juvenile detention centre, Banksia Hill, grabbed national attention when one of its buildings was burned to the ground by rioting inmates, who scaled the fences in a stand-off with the riot squad. As 2023 unfolds, it’s still getting headlines as the state’s Commissioner for Children and Young People declares that Continue reading »

The Saudi-Iranian normalisation deal brokered by China has sent shockwaves throughout the region. Regional actors had not expected China to suddenly desire a political role in the Persian Gulf. Others were skeptical of Beijing’s diplomatic capacity and skills. Few, however, were as surprised as foreign policy hands in Washington – even though it is the Continue reading »

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – May 7, 2023

by Tony Wikrent

The ‘Free Market’ is a Fever Dream and Adam Smith Wasn’t in It [YouTube]

[Rhodes Center Podcast, via YouTube, Mar 31, 2023]

Mark Blyth interviews “Jacob Soll… professor of philosophy, history, and accounting at the University of Southern California, and in his book “Free Market: The History of an Idea,” he begins way back in ancient Rome, stops in 17th-century France with Louis XIV’s minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and, on the way to the present, barely mentions Adam Smith at all.”

COFFS Quilters and Needlecraft Inc (CQ&N), who keenly knit for purpose creating squares and blankets going towards the international Wrap With Love project, have a new drop-off point for people making material donations. The CQ&N club meets every Thursday at the Cavanbah Centre from 8.30am to 12 midday, where members will be happy to receive...

The post New drop off point for Wrap With Love donations appeared first on News Of The Area.

JETTY Dunecare members celebrated winning Coffs Harbour Regional Landcare’s (CHRL) Dee Wallace Memorial Award 2022 for 40 years of diligent work on their extensive patch of Coffs coastline with an Open Day on Saturday 29 April. Held adjacent to Jetty Dunecare’s shed at the Jetty Foreshores, the celebrations included guest speaker Peter Hardwick, a bush...

The post Jetty Dunecare Open Day and Carpobrotus Workshop appeared first on News Of The Area.

EVERYONE is invited to come along to the Coffs Harbour Neighbourhood Centre Open Day on Thursday 11 May from 8am to 2pm. Coinciding with Neighbourhood Centre Week, which this year has a theme of ‘Locals Connecting Locals’, the Open Day is set up to foster a sense of collective belonging and engagement. Advertise with News...

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