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Living on a Smoke-Bomb of a Planet

https://tomdispatch.com/living-on-a-smoke-bomb-of-a-planet/
Created
Thu, 15/06/2023 - 23:31

As it turns out, it’s never too late. I mention that only because last week, at nearly 79, I managed to visit Mars for the first time. You know, the red planet, or rather — so it seemed to me — the orange planet. And take my word for it, it was eerie as hell. There was no sun, just a strange orange haze of a kind I had never seen before as I walked the streets of that world (well-masked) on my way to a doctor’s appointment. Oh, wait, maybe I’m a little mixed up. Maybe I wasn’t on Mars. The strangeness of it all (and perhaps my age) might have left me just a bit confused. My best... Read more

Source: Living on a Smoke-Bomb of a Planet appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Dumb and Donald

https://digbysblog.net/2023/06/15/dumb-and-donald/
Created
Thu, 15/06/2023 - 23:00
“He’s scared s—less” That is why Trump, who pleaded not guilty this week, is under indictment on 37 federal felony charges. Not because he listens to idiots. Although, that is a factor, the Washington Post reveals: One of Donald Trump’s new attorneys proposed an idea in the fall of 2022: The former president’s team could try to arrange a settlement with the Justice Department. The attorney, Christopher Kise, wanted to quietly approach Justice to see if he could negotiate a settlement that would preclude charges, hoping Attorney General Merrick Garland and the department would want an exit ramp to avoid prosecuting a former president. Kise would hopefully “take the temperature down,” he told others, by promising a professional approach and the return of all documents. Trump would not have it. Trump time and again rejected the advice from lawyers and advisers who urged him to cooperate and instead took the advice of Tom Fitton, the head of the conservative group Judicial Watch, and a range of others who told him he could legally keep the documents and should fight the Justice Department, advisers said.

Impunity pervades post-Johnson Government

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/impunity-pervades-post-johnson-government/
Created
Thu, 15/06/2023 - 17:27
Johnson’s lack of candour might look like a personal phenomenon, but it was something which pervaded his government. This had grievous consequences. As our recent report details, lack of transparency and accountability pervaded his government’s approach to the pandemic. It is demonstrated through the use of technologies which could be employed as population-level surveillance, with […]

Quick Takes 3: Foreign Interference, Pandemic Deaths As New Normal, China-Brazil Trade and More

https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/niyBMplQItCsymRowVi4IpJTpfXVttXD
Created
Thu, 15/06/2023 - 15:06
Quick Takes 3: Foreign Interference, Pandemic Deaths As New Normal, China-Brazil Trade and More

In Covid news:

1) CO2 levels below 540 are sufficient to stop exponential Covid spread.

2) The European Mortality Project will start using death numbers from 2020-2022 and late when calculating excess mortality. Meaning that they will make “people who died due to Covid or Covid related mortality” just part of the normal. An out of control pandemic is normal now.

Australian labour market – rebound after weak month but 10 per cent of available and willing labour remain idle

https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=60915
Created
Thu, 15/06/2023 - 12:38
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released of the latest labour force data today (June 15, 2023) – Labour Force, Australia – for May 2023. The May result reverses two consecutive months of weaker results from the Labour Force survey. Employment rose by 75.9 thousand (a strong monthly result), participation rose by 0.1 point to…

The abortion issue isn’t going away

https://digbysblog.net/2023/06/14/the-abortion-issue-isnt-going-away/
Created
Thu, 15/06/2023 - 09:30
More and more people want to keep it legal The intensity around the abortion issue is actually growing. Gallup posted this: -A record-high 69% say abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy. The prior high of 67% was recorded last May after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization draft was leaked, showing that the court planned to nullify constitutional protection for abortion. -Most Americans oppose abortion later in pregnancy, but the 37% saying it should be legal in the second three months of pregnancy and 22% in the last three months of pregnancy are the highest Gallup has found in trends since 1996. -Gallup’s oldest trend on the legality of abortion finds 34% of Americans believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances, nearly matching last year’s record-high 35% and above the 27% average since 1975. Another 51% currently say abortion should be legal under certain circumstances, while 13% (similar to the all-time low of 12%) want it illegal in all circumstances. -Fifty-two percent of Americans say abortion is morally acceptable, matching last year’s all-time high.