Reading

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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 08:00
The descent of MAGA into chaos continues Charlie Sykes: By the end of what promises to be a very long day Kevin McCarthy will either (1) be narrowly elected with the votes of fabulist and accused felon George Santos, conspiracist MTG, and a handful of dissidents who hate his guts, or (2) he’s going to have to move his stuff out of the Speaker’s Office a day after prematurely moving it in. Time after time, the man who would be speaker tried to shrink himself into the office, and is ending his bid by offering multiple concessions to the bomb-throwers in the caucus who will hold him hostage if he survives. Even Newt Gingrich is alarmed by the shambles. “The precedent that sets is … any five people can get up and say, ‘Well, I’m now going to screw up the conference, too.’ The choice is Kevin McCarthy or chaos.” But it’s chaos either way, isn’t it? McCarthy is a hollow man and a weak leader, and his caucus is now in the process of testing just how weak he is. One of the most powerful speakers in House history is about to be replaced by one of the puniest.
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 07:53
4 eggs, separated4 ounces sugar4 ounces plain flour, siftedPinch of saltStrega liqueur (or a mixture of cognac and rum)½ pint double cream, whipped¾ pint vanilla pastry cream (see below)1 pint chocolate pastry cream (see below)2 ounces chopped nutsCoarsely grated orange peelChopped glacé cherries Combine eggs and sugar in the top of a double saucepan and […]
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 07:43
[attention conservation notice: I am neither a philosopher nor a cognitive scientist] A quick friendly-critical response to this piece by Liam Kofi Bright, which also plugs some of my own collaborative work with Hugo Mercier and Melissa Schwartzberg. The short version – many arguments against the human capacity for reason rest on shaky empirics, as […]
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 07:20


The Little Secret About Corporate Profits 

Have you noticed that when workers get better wages, the media blames them for rising prices, but when corporations rake in record profits, there’s silence?

That’s because corporate profits aren’t tracked nearly as closely as worker wages. And the reason why comes down to power.

Every month we get measurements of prices, jobs, and wages — these are the three economic variables we hear repeatedly because they are released each month like clockwork.

Created
Wed, 04/01/2023 - 06:51

Diario.ES The Guardian Ver artículo en el sitio original In English Durante meses, un presidente en funciones con inclinaciones autoritarias puso en duda la democracia de su país. Sus simpatizantes protagonizaron una violenta marcha sobre la capital para negar su derrota electoral por un estrecho margen. Pero las instituciones de la democracia fueron más fuertes que los ataques y el […]

The post Así será la política exterior de Lula: un mundo multipolar y alianzas lejos de EEUU appeared first on Center for Economic and Policy Research.

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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 06:21

The Guardian Diario.ES See article on original site En español For months, a sitting president with authoritarian sympathies sowed doubt in his country’s democracy. When he lost the election by a narrow margin, his supporters led a violent march on the capital in denial of the final result. But the institutions of democracy proved robust […]

The post Lula’s Foreign Policy? Encouraging a Multipolar World appeared first on Center for Economic and Policy Research.

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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 05:39

            Well, Mr. and Mrs. Biden, the holidays are over. You know, the holidays during which you were going to decide whether or not to run for reelection. So, what did you decide?             This being a democracy, we hope that you came down on the side of the 70% of voters who don’t want...

The post Say Another Go Ain’t So, Joe first appeared on Ted Rall's Rallblog.
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 05:30
Historic weakness At this moment, we don’t have any idea what will happen. He could pull it out or we could end up with several ballots and someone else. By the time you read this we may know. But whatever happens we are going to be dealing with a House majority in chaos and historically weak. Lol. Ron Brownstein analyzed the ramifications of this: No matter how they resolve Tuesday’s vote choosing the next speaker of the House, Republicans appear poised to double down on the hard-edged politics that most swing state voters rejected in last November’s midterm election. Stubborn conservative resistance to House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has put the party at risk of precipitating the first speakership election that extends to more than a single ballot since 1923 – and only the second since the Civil War. But even if McCarthy ultimately prevails, the show of strength from the GOP’s conservative vanguard has ensured it enormous leverage in shaping the party’s legislative and investigative agenda.
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 05:28
Deleted paragraphs drastically change impression created by notorious 2019 programme ‘Is Labour antisemitic?’ An admission by the BBC that it radically edited an interview in its notorious 2019 Panorama programme that presented Labour as antisemitic has been discovered tucked away in a corner of the broadcaster’s website. ‘Is Labour antisemitic’ was broadcast just months before […]
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:57
America’s confected strategy to contain China for its own ends has to be separated from Australia’s self-reliant defence, with clarity. The Strategic Defence Review must staunch the bleeding. It’s too easy to mislead Australians on their security. Kim Beazley, a former ALP Defence Minister, was at home when addressing the Ramsay Centre in Sydney last Continue reading »
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:56
The call for a steady state global and national economy and even degrowth is a distraction unhelpful to the environmental cause. The challenge is to inspire and sustain ingenious strategies to decouple economic growth from environmental harm. The sorts of programs championed by Environment Minister Plibersek are heading in the right direction. Stephen Williams praises Continue reading »
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:55
The Liberal Party’s problem with Chinese-Australian voters became apparent after its loss in the May 2022 federal election. Post-election number-crunching reveals that in 15 seats with large concentrations of Chinese-Australian voters, the swing against the Liberals was 6.6 percent, in contrast to 3.7 percent in other seats. And for those who were still not convinced Continue reading »
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:54
Restoring the “tattered relationship” between Australia and China will take a long time. But “there is a much-increased optimism among the Chinese community” in Australia after the visit to China by Foreign Minister Penny Wong. The recent policy and diplomatic turnaround between Australia and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) provided a welcome boost to Continue reading »
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:53
Propaganda is a dark and devious art. It exploits ignorance to peddle dogma. It violates truth, logic and right reason. It is the negation of philosophy and science. It confines understanding in a straight-jacket of faux dictionary definitions. Like a woke lexicon, it is precious, politically correct and distorts language. For as Orwell well knew, Continue reading »