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Often seen as marvels of the human ascendancy, the world’s great cities are in mortal danger as the resources that keep them alive stagger, dwindle and give out. Today the world has 45 megacities – conurbations holding more than ten million citizens apiece – and some 500 smaller cities each of a million or more Continue reading »

What do we make of our own national war memorial inviting children to have a go at planning attacks on civilian infrastructure which amount to war crimes? Pearls and Irritations recently drew attention to a current Australian War Memorial exhibition on the 1943 Dambuster raids over Germany and the Memorial’s failure to mention the huge Continue reading »

By the time of the referendum on the Voice, No campaigners look likely to have turned it into a referendum on the Albanese government, and, probably into “wokeness.” It may be a tragedy if they do, whether for First Australians or the nation generally, because it will inevitably exacerbate divisions in the community. It is Continue reading »

The implementation of universal high-quality early childhood education could be a game changer for Australian families and the economy. The importance of quality schooling has long been recognised by government and society. In contrast, the role of early childhood education has historically been undervalued. Recently the pandemic highlighted the importance of early childhood education and Continue reading »

A well-publicised report on teacher training from Ross Fox, the Director of Catholic Education of Canberra, runs the risk of inferring that a ‘science of learning’ that works for a private school system that has no students with severe behaviours, will work for schools that have a high proportion of these student. Recently Jason Clare Continue reading »

Berlusconi’s political journey began ironically in the early 1990s on the tail end of the Italian anti-corruption campaign (known as tangentopoli) which saw the key Italian political parties decimated by accusations and charges of corruption, political control of state assets and a system of spoils for governing elites. Poking fun at Berlusconi, and indirectly at Continue reading »

Under British rule, elected representation, so widely proclaimed by the usual gang of western governments as being essential for Hong Kong’s people, was as remote as a lighthouse in a desert. As it is now the third anniversary of the first article I submitted to Pearls and Irritations on the subject of Hong Kong it Continue reading »

The Republican Party’s primary race is filling up with candidates crusading against “wokeness,” particularly in...

Trump said over the weekend that Joe Biden is the most corrupt president in history. Uh huh. Check out his latest grift with his good pals the Saudis: The LIV Golf League’s season-ending team championship will be played at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami for the second straight year. LIV Golf League officials announced Monday that the $50 million team championship will be played Oct. 20-22 at Trump National Doral, which is owned by former U.S. President Donald Trump. The three-day team championship was originally scheduled to be played Nov. 3-5 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. LIV Golf League officials have been working to move it back to Trump National Doral, where it was staged in the league’s inaugural season in 2022. The Jeddah event, now scheduled for Oct. 13-15, will be the final regular-season tournament. The Republicans are relentlessly investigating Hunter Biden’s alleged influence peddling from years ago. This is not of interest to them. Hmmm.

What’s this? A letter? With my name on it? How grand!

Bring it to me in my study, in my living room, in my boudoir, in my bedchamber. Bring it to me on a platter strewn with rose petals and flax.

Fetch me my slippers, my nightcap, and my purple velvet robe. Decant the cognac. Summon the hickory pipe.

Have you received a letter too?

But first, light a fire, and build it big and bright. Pile high the maple wood. Let the flames crackle and roar.

Draw up the easy chair, and let it glow in the embers’ heat. Let me sit, and puff, and drink, and ponder. Let me gaze out the window and hear the owl cry, Who, who?

Who could it be?

Could it be a friend come to ruin and in desperate need of aid? Or a long-forgotten foe declaring his revenge? Could it be my wanton younger brother, with news from the rough Atlantic? Or my beloved—sweet Annabelle!—returning my affections at last?

What fate, O envelope, does your cellophane portend? What weighty tidings thus crinkle your manilla?

“What Biden is doing is politically insane, environmentally bankrupt, and it’s poor economics.”

The post Biden Is Investing in Green Energy Across the South — Throwing Swing State Union Workers Under the Bus appeared first on The Intercept.

Why Trump is beating DeSantis It’s still a long way until the first Republican primaries but unless something changes quickly, it is looking more and more grim for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and more and more secure for former President Donald Trump. The polls in the early primary states show that Trump is still polling at least 20 points higher than DeSantis who still isn’t catching on. DeSantis appeared on Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo’s show this weekend and insisted that he’s floundering because the News Media doesn’t want him to be the nominee which isn’t true at all. If anything they were champing at the bit for a real horse race against Donald Trump because that would make excellent copy. But it is reasonable to ask why has been sinking in the polls over the last few months. The consensus among the pundit class seems to be that he’s just unlikable so the more people see of him the less they like him. I suspect there’s some truth to that. But it may just be the contrast between him and Trump, the political superstar.

The failure of journalists to mount a campaign to free Julian Assange, or expose the vicious smear campaign against him, is one more catastrophic and self-defeating blunder by the news media.

The post Chris Hedges: Journalists Abandoned Julian Assange and Slit Their Own Throats appeared first on MintPress News.

I thought this rotating house was impossible.

Tick, tick, tick…. Florida man Cesar Sayoc was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2019 for sending over two dozen inoperative pipe bombs to perceived enemies of then-President Donald Trump. None exploded. No one was injured. His intended victims were lucky. Politics in the U.S. is not yet full-on blood sport, but there are days it trends that way. Taunts, red hats, belligerence and semi-autos are at any moment inches away from mayhem. People have had to go into hiding over viral accusations disseminated both by social media, propaganda outlets such as Fox News, and political figures such as Donald Trump. The right-wing media complex has yet to feel enough pain in its pocket to pull back from provoking its audience to credible threats of violence. In the case of the Jan. 6 insurrection, it was actual violence. One victim of Tucker Carlson gets a profile this morning in The New York Times: What’s known about the man — a two-time Trump voter named Ray Epps — is that he took part in demonstrations in Washington that day and the night before. He was captured on camera urging a crowd to march with him and enter the Capitol.

Tree Hugging has a long venerated past of protest and environmental protection. Is the Labour Leader completely ignorant of it?

It is not possible to determine the scientific method that it is appropriate to employ for a given task (in a particular context) without knowing the nature of the task. And to know the nature of any scientific task it is always essential to have an insight into (i.e., to seek to determine) the nature […]

Dr. Ramzy Baroud: "Notice how the Quran is often burned, Islam insulted, or Islamic symbols desecrated whenever the West is undergoing a crisis and is desperate to either ignite an anti-Muslim public frenzy or distract from its own failures."

The post Burning the Quran and the Counter-Offensive: Why the West Is Panicking appeared first on MintPress News.

“I did that” Being on the field and in the game (rather than a heckling spectator) means that, even if you get politically run over sometimes, you don’t feel like road kill. Small consolation, maybe, but it’s something. And sometimes you get personal credit for the wins. Keep hope alive, Jesse Jackson might say. E.J. Dionne suggests that hope is more than a sop, but “a demanding virtue, not a sunny disposition.” Also, it’s practical, he writes. (It gets me up every morning.) Meaning it’s not naive to seek out “a rendezvous with hope“: Carol Graham, my colleague at the Brookings Institution, has made the study of well-being her life’s work as an economist.