Reading

Created
Wed, 29/03/2023 - 19:32
Pumping water from one messed-up catchment to another solves nothing. We need to fix our problems at source. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 23rd March 2023 It’s a classic end-of-pipe solution. Rather than addressing the problem at source, it piles one problem upon another. Yet, like so many disastrous schemes, it is now […]
Created
Wed, 29/03/2023 - 17:00
I admit that, post-EFF, when I read about some terrible Internet regulatory proposal, or knotty problem of digital ethics, I often have a burst of “well, thank goodness it’s someone else’s job to deal with this now.” (Except for the narrower domain that is still my problem, I guess). And then again, sometimes, I just […]
Created
Wed, 29/03/2023 - 09:30
This piece by David Lauter makes a point I hadn’t heard before. Trump’s been famous for a very long time and his “approval” rating has been pretty much the same. Since the 80s. There’s a fact about Donald Trump that both devotees and detractors often ignore, and it’s key to understanding what likely will happen politically — and what won’t — if any of the several criminal investigations of him lead to an indictment: Few people have ever been known so widely for so long. How widely? In 1999, 16 years before he launched his campaign for president, almost 9 in 10 Americans already knew enough about Trump to have an opinion of him, Gallup found. That year, Trump was as widely known as Al Gore, the sitting vice president, who was about to launch his fourth national campaign. Slightly more people had an opinion about Trump than about George W. Bush —the governor of Texas and son of a former president — who would defeat Gore in 2000. By contrast, only about a third of Americans that year had an opinion of John McCain, who was already in his third term as a U.S.
Created
Wed, 29/03/2023 - 08:00
Only 21% of Republicans don’t want Trump to be president again I don’t know why so many Republicans still refuse to believe that their voters actually like this guy. More proof from the Maris Poll: A majority of Americans (56%) think the investigations into former President Donald Trump are fair. 41%, though, consider the probes to be a “witch hunt.” Perceptions align closely with partisanship with 87% of Democrats and 51% of independents reporting the investigations are above board. Nearly one in five Republicans (18%) agree. Most Republicans (80%), though, think the investigations are a “witch hunt.” Most Americans perceive Trump has engaged in improper behavior. A plurality of Americans (46%) think the former president has done something illegal, and an additional 29% consider Trump to have done something unethical but not illegal. Only 23% of Americans say Trump has done nothing wrong. Most Democrats (78%) consider Trump’s actions to be illegal. While majorities of Republicans and independents perceive wrongdoing by Trump, there is less consensus about the criminality of his actions.
Created
Wed, 29/03/2023 - 07:00
Opposition leader (for now) Peter Dutton has condemned Victorian Premier Dan Andrews over traffic in Melbourne, after his candidate for the upcoming Aston bi-election spent 40 minutes driving from their home in Fitzroy to the electorate. ”What planet does comrade... Read More ›