And the Japanese Embassy in Canberra is leading the anti China campaign in Australia. Penny Wong should have a serious discussion with the Ambassador. With QUAD and maybe JAUKUS, Japan is anxious to recruit us and others as spear carriers against China. As Michael Auslin in the AFR put it, ‘A new QUAD is coalescing Continue reading »
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Just in time, the fundamental faults of AUKUS are being exposed in Canberra and Washington. This development is not only due to the mounting concern among Australian civil society groups. The Australian mainstream media are now discussing the hitherto unmentionable drawbacks of AUKUS. But it’s because two US Senators, Democrat Jack Reed and Republican James Continue reading »
For those of us focused on sustainability, we wonder what it would take for a progressive government to wake up and smell the evidence. In other words, how close to collapse does Australia and the world need to be before the government (including its public service) decides it should take the issue seriously? Would you Continue reading »
Recent commentary has suggested politics in 2022 witnessed a “progressive wave” – a global trend towards parties of the Left. While this is legitimate if you are content to look at just the UK and USA, the global picture is much more complex. I noticed George Megalogenis’ recent article about the possibility of a “progressive Continue reading »
I have long been a fan of the British parliament’s system of having independent commissioners for standards who review complaints that MPs have breached their Code of Conduct or the Nolan Committee’s set of standards of public life. By comparison, the Australian way — privileges committees, or ad hoc bodies of officials chosen just for Continue reading »
Why was Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani assassinated by the US? His visit to Venezuela in 2019 may provide some answers. Published in The Cradle on January 3, 2023 On 3 January 2020, the US military assassinated Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Force in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Continue reading »
The American republic morphed well over a century ago into an empire of many endless wars. With U.S. troops still in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and numerous African countries, with over 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and a war budget of roughly one trillion dollars a year, it’s no surprise that one of Continue reading »
Guantánamo Bay “is the iconic example of the abandonment of the rule of law,” the letter argues.
The post More Than 150 International Organizations Call on Biden to Close Guantánamo on 21st Anniversary appeared first on The Intercept.
Meet the MAGA JFK and Jackie With all the hoopla in Washington since the Republican House majority came to town, it’s easy to forget that clown car is only performing in one ring of the GOP circus. Hard as it is to take your eyes off that show, it’s also important to pay attention to some of the other acts in state houses around the country — and none is more riveting than what’s going on down in the laboratory of anti-democracy known as Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis was sworn in for his second term last week in Tallahassee with a two-day extravaganza that guests called “DeSantis-Palooza.” It featured an ostentatious outdoor inaugural ceremony on the steps of the Old Capitol preceded by a prayer meeting with 80 to 100 people from the faith community, followed by a “Toast to 1 Million Mamas” hosted by Casey DeSantis at the governor’s mansion.
Here is a clip from one of our live songwriting sessions on our Twitch channel. We just turn on the camera and try out ideas and see where they take us.
This clip from one of those sessions we posted to our YouTube Channel.
Play a hypnotic keyboard (Live Stream Clip)
I had a hypnotic keyboard part I was messing around with.
I wanted to try it out with the band to see if we could come up with anything for it that we might be able to use for a song.
-Tom
Conspicuous Consumption in the US & Germany
By at least one measure, China now leads the world in producing high-quality science. My research shows that Chinese scholars now publish a larger fraction of the top 1% most cited scientific papers globally than scientists from any other country.
I am a policy expert and analyst who studies how governmental investment in science, technology and innovation improves social welfare. While a country’s scientific prowess is somewhat difficult to quantify, I’d argue that the amount of money spent on scientific research, the number of scholarly papers published and the quality of those papers are good stand-in measure…
Today, China is second only to the US in how much it spends on science and technology. Chinese universities now produce the largest number of engineering PhDs in the world, and the quality of Chinese universities has dramatically improved in recent year…
Our research also found that Chinese research was surprisingly novel and creative – and not simply copying western researchers. To measure this, we looked at the mix of disciplines referenced in scientific paper…
Why does the apparently prescient and correct “key currency” view remain an embattled minority view?
In his June 1945 Congressional testimony in opposition to the new Bretton Woods institutions, John H. Williams outlined his own “key currency” view of the postwar international monetary system, which he explicitly tagged as quite definitely a “minority” view (1947, p. 266). Money is inherently hierarchical, not multilateral, and the central monetary problem for postwar reconstruction was to stabilize the dollar-sterling exchange rate as the core of a new global dollar system, which other currencies could join as they were able.
Things are going to break and central banks are going to have to respond, but the mental frame that most people will be using is not well suited for understanding how the world now works
The internecine warfare in the House is not between those who respect democratic institutions and those who do not. McCarthy, backed by Trump and far-right conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, is as morally bankrupt as those trying to bring him down.
The post Chris Hedges: America’s Theater of the Absurd appeared first on MintPress News.
Freya, a golden retriever, is the newest member of the St. Louis Fed’s K-9 unit. Using her keen sense of smell, she helps protect the Federal Reserve Bank.
No, they are not okay This from Rep. Ronny Jackson sounds like something Navin R. Johnson might say. In case you missed what that’s all about.
Sam Bright reports on the influence held by a parliamentary lobbying group backed by private health interests
More crypto chicanery! How crypto-focused bank Silvergate got a very big ticket rescue from a quasii-government mortgage banker's bank.
On this week’s Lever Time Premium: David explores the ramifications of the potential Kroger/Albertsons merger; and we offer up another eye-opening edition of “One Thing.”
On this week’s Lever Time Premium: David explores the ramifications of the potential Kroger/Albertsons merger; and we offer up another eye-opening edition of “One Thing.”
Kevin Higgins, the brilliant socialist poet and political commentator, has died aged only fifty-six. One of the kindest and most generous people and a passionate supporter of human rights for Palestinians. Higgins’s poetry could be subtle or superbly acerbic, as in the case of this brilliant ‘tribute’ to Margaret Hodge, the unpleasant Barking MP who […]
God helps those who service themselves If there is a silver lining to the MAGAfication of the U.S. House, it is this: outside the Beltway there are signs that Republicans care about something other than owning the libs. Thomas B. Edsall examines efforts inside several state legislatures to marginalize the governing-be-damned philosophy of the craziest of Republican crazies. In South Carolina (of all places), the majority Republican caucus has insisted all members sign onto a set of rules prohibiting from campaigning against other members or from dishing to reporters on what transpires inside confidential closed meetings. Refusal to sign would exile members from the caucus. South Carolina Freedom Caucus members branded the move a “loyalty oath.” A conservative web publication said the rules: would prohibit members from endorsing or campaigning on behalf of anyone challenging a G.O.P. incumbent in next spring’s primary elections. It would also prohibit lawmakers from posting images of the House’s electronic voting board on their social media pages — and from discussing the “internal processes” behind House votes during public appearances.