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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent visit to Vietnam highlights Australia’s continuing program of strengthening economic and military ties with countries that can be allies against China.

The post Australia cosies up to undemocratic Vietnam against China appeared first on Solidarity Online.

They’re throwing sand in each other’s faces already Rolling Stone reports: THIS IS HOW petty and aggressively stupid the 2024 GOP presidential primary has become: several close aides and allies to Donald Trump want to challenge Ron DeSantis to a literal dick-measuring contest. It wouldn’t be the first juvenile move by Team Trump in this young primary season. Already, Trump has suggested that DeSantis, his chief rival, might be secretly gay. He’s gone after DeSantis over pronunciation of his own last name. He has claimed to have salacious dirt on Florida’s governor, that he might release during the primary. Recently, Trump’s campaign went after one of DeSantis’ top aides, apparently insulting her physical appearance.  Now, some of Trump’s longtime advisers are even urging him to continuously make reference to the size of DeSantis’ penis, telling him such insults could stick with GOP primary voters and mess with his rival’s head, two sources with knowledge of the matter tell Rolling Stone.

There’s a backstory behind this Washington Post story on Republican persecution of academics, and it’s one that doesn’t make the Intercept look good. Jordan’s colleagues and staffers met Tuesday on Capitol Hill with a frequent target of right-wing activists, University of Washington professor Kate Starbird, two weeks after they interviewed Clemson University professors who also […]

More modern than most And more decent. His White House will be hosting a huge LGBTQ+ party on Sunday. (It was originally scheduled for today but was postponed due to the air quality emergency) It’s an important gesture: The party, which is expected to include thousands of guests on the White House’s South Lawn, is a deliberate contrast to a cascade of Republican legislation and other attacks targeting LGBTQ+ people, Biden officials have said. Biden, a Democrat, planned an evening celebration of LGBTQ+ families featuring singer Betty Who and Baltimore DJ Queen HD. This is good too: Biden announced that the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, will partner with LGBTQ+ community organizations to provide safety resources and training to help thwart violent attacks. Separately, HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide resources to help LGBTQ+ young people with mental health needs, support in foster care and homelessness. To confront a spike in book bans, the Department of Education’s civil rights office will appoint a new coordinator to work with schools to address that threat.

A new theory shows Earth’s water was more locally sourced than ever thought before.

The post Where Earth Got Its Water appeared first on Nautilus.

Former Australian Prime Minister (yep, really) Tony Abbott has called upon current PM, Albo, to demote King Charles down to a Knight ahead of the first King’s birthday long weekend. ”Australia owes a great deal to the Monarchy, one could... Read More ›

There is movement in the electorate For the first time in decades there is a fissure in the Republicans party on the issue of guns: Young Republicans aren’t clinging to guns like the rest of the GOP. As former President Donald Trump and new campaign entrants, including former Vice President Mike Pence, tout their Second Amendment bonafides and opposition to “gun confiscation” to 2024 primary voters, some Gen Z and millennial Republicans are moving in the opposite direction: A significant share of younger conservatives, reared in an age of mass violence, embrace firearm restrictions. One poll conducted by Harvard’s political institute this spring found that a clear majority of young conservatives supported mandatory psychological exams for gun purchasers. A separate, recurring survey from YouGov concluded in March that Gen Z and millennial Republicans are more likely to believe in tougher gun laws than older Republicans and that young conservatives’ support for the idea has grown in the past year.

Remember when transgender Americans seemed to be having a positive cultural moment? Former child actor...

Why is it possible to mistake parts of someone else’s face for your own?

The post Our Super Malleable Sense of Self appeared first on Nautilus.

As activists disrupted Semafor’s celebration with the coal baron senator, we saw the flaws of corporate funded-media in the age of climate catastrophe.

The Washington Post: Paralysis, limbo, stalemate — any of them describe the state of the House of Representatives this week. On Wednesday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) sent the House home until Monday after spending an entire day talking with a group of far-right conservatives who held up all floor action over their dissatisfaction with the debt limit bill signed into law last week, among other grievances. They failed to reach any path forward. McCarthy told reporters that he’s not exactly sure what they want and that different members are asking for different things. This is a significant challenge to McCarthy’s leadership and his ability to govern and run the House. While it’s not as dire as the motion to vacate — the procedural maneuver by which a single House Republican could trigger a vote to depose McCarthy as speaker — supporters of the rebels say that their tactic of bringing the chamber to a halt by voting against House rules could be just as damaging. They weren’t doing anything real anyway. All they had on the agenda were messaging bills for the wingnut faction.

Australia’s capacity to protect its sovereignty lies not in accession to US interests but in a broad diplomatic and security effort with our Asian neighbours, writes Paul Keating in a letter delivered to Prime Minister Albanese on 24 January, seven weeks before the San Diego AUKUS announcement and obtained by the Guardian Australia under FOI Continue reading »

A few days after coming to power in 1972 Gough Whitlam declared that ‘Australia’s real test as far as the rest of the world is concerned is the role we create for our own Aborigines’. More than foreign aid programmes, more than any role the country plays in agreements or alliances, treatment of the Aborigines Continue reading »

In ordinary anticipatory history the game is waiting for Trump.  I think China will wait for the next US administration before making any serious steps towards dialogue. They would reasonably expect that administration to be led by Trump. No one else will break the bipartisan establishment hating China. It’s not a long time to wait Continue reading »

When former NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane was vilified, his home raided and false claims made by a journalist who wanted to promote himself, no apology was given, no restoration made. Instead, the victim became the guilty party, punished for something he did not do. Sounds familiar? These practices occurred between April 2020 and November Continue reading »

Most people can focus to see if they’re looking at a bird, a car or a person. Throw in a military scope and the sharp eyes of youth and ask yourself if you would spot the difference before you pulled the trigger. So why does the IDF constantly claim they mistakenly shoot civilians? They’re either Continue reading »

The ugly situation developing in Kosovo, formerly a province of Serbia, has parallels with Ukraine. The result could be just as bloody. But is anyone listening? The legal status of Kosovo remains obscure. Originally it was an autonomous province within Serbia. But the Albanian majority in the province claimed Serb victimisation. Their militants had long Continue reading »

America and the West are more isolated from the rest of the world than at any time since WWII. From May 22–23, the Toda Peace Institute convened a brainstorming retreat at its Tokyo office with 16 high-level international participants. One of the key themes was the changing global power structure and normative architecture, with the Continue reading »

Shangri-La Dialogue was a missed opportunity for talks as defence chiefs Austin and Marles insisted on belligerence and doublespeak. When it comes to China, the Joe Biden administration has become a one-trick pony – pretend to be ready for dialogue, then go in for the kill. How effective that has been depends on the eye Continue reading »

Doctor Who star Yasmin Finney on working with Russell T. Davies, some David Tennant foreshadowing, and an interesting 60th-anniversary tease.

Rufo’s Documentary Foundation received an influx of untraceable money in 2021, as his national profile grew.

The post Funded by Dark Money, Chris Rufo’s Nonprofit Stokes the Far Right’s Culture War appeared first on The Intercept.

But it’s on life support From Professor Melissa Murray: Some initial thoughts on Allen v. Milligan. Media is trumpeting this as a “victory” for the Voting Rights Act. And it is. And I don’t want to be a turd in the punchbowl… but this is pretty weak sauce from this Court.  First, this doesn’t “strengthen” the VRA. It preserves the status quo. And the status quo is that this Court has done an A+ job of hobbling the VRA over the last 10 years.  In 2013’s Shelby County v. Holder, it eviscerated the preclearance formula. The preclearance regime required states with a history of voting discrimination to first “preclear” any changes to their voting rules and regs with the DOJ or a three-judge federal court panel  The Court invalidated the preclearance formula on the ground that progress had been made and minorities were voting and blah blah blah.  This progress narrative prompted RBG to note in dissent that throwing out the preclearance formula was like throwing out your umbrella in a rainstorm because you weren’t getting wet.