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They always are Krugman reminds us of the history: But, of course, many Republicans do want to eviscerate these programs. To believe otherwise requires both willful naïveté and amnesia about 40 years of political history. First of all, if Republicans had absolutely no desire to make major cuts to America’s main social insurance programs, why would they sunset them — and thus create the risk that they wouldn’t be renewed? As Biden might say, c’mon, man. And then there’s that historical record. Two things have been true ever since 1980. First, Republicans have tried to make deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare every time they thought there might be a political window of opportunity. Second, on each occasion they’ve done exactly what they’re doing now: claiming that Democrats are engaged in smear tactics when they describe G.O.P. plans using exactly the same words Republicans themselves used. So, about that history. It has been widely forgotten, but soon after taking office Ronald Reagan proposed major cuts to Social Security.

The billionaire said that he would personally talk to the Martians and convince them that joining a union would be a mistake that they’ll regret.

Our current highly technically-dominated world is composed almost exclusively of technology, which needs radical rethinking and intentional direction if humanity is to flourish. read now...

This should be lit: House Republicans have asked former White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony to testify before Congress as they launch a new investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. The GOP leaders of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and Committee on Oversight and Accountability sent a letter to Fauci on Monday requesting a transcribed interview. Fauci said in November that he would cooperate with any oversight hearing in the Republican-led House. “If there are oversight hearings I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before the Congress,” Fauci told reporters during his final briefing at the White House. “I have no trouble testifying — we can defend and explain everything that we’ve said.” Fauci, one of the nation’s top infectious disease experts, was the public face of the U.S. pandemic response during the Trump and Biden administration. He stepped down from his posts at the White House and at the helm of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in December. House Republicans also sent letters requesting testimony from EcoHealth Alliance President Dr.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has ruled that all mortgage holders in Australia must receive a kick to the groin each month in a move that is designed to put a hold on inflation. ”We saw yesterday with Valentine’s day... Read More ›

~ Today's Water Cooler ~

In a 2016 piece about the mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, I wrote: But there is something about [Orlando] that screams “Last call for sane discourse and positive action!” on multiple fronts. This incident is akin to a perfect Hollywood pitch, writ large by fate and circumstance; incorporating nearly every sociopolitical causality that has been quantified and/or debated over by criminologists, psychologists, legal analysts, legislators, anti-gun activists, pro-gun activists, left-wingers, right-wingers, centrists, clerics, journalists and pundits in the wake of every such incident since Charles Whitman perched atop the clock tower at the University of Texas and picked off nearly 50 victims (14 dead and 32 wounded) over a 90-minute period. That incident occurred in 1966; 50 years ago this August. Not an auspicious golden anniversary for our country. 50 years of this madness. And it’s still not the appropriate time to discuss? What…too soon? All I can say is, if this “worst mass shooting in U.S.

The failure to produce an artificial heart is a testament to the wizardry of nature.

The post If Technology Only Had a Heart appeared first on Nautilus.

‘What exactly aren’t we understanding? It is a fact these companies worked with the Government’, a campaigner who lost his key worker father, told Byline Times

Scheduled for the 2040s, while the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines might never eventuate, the theatre surrounding the announcement provides a publicly-digestible narrative for the surrender of Northern Australia to the American military in the present day. Time to talk about time and submarines. Time is the most salient consideration in the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines debate. The Continue reading »

Six years ago, John Menadue, Robert Manne, Tim Costello and I agreed that Australia’s refugee and asylum seeker policy was in a complete mess. The trouble started with the 2013 election campaign when Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott tried to outdo each other, pledging that the boats would be stopped and that anyone headed for Continue reading »

Surely the Australian people are entitled to an explanation as to why in December last year the government voted against an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. On 30 December a vote was taken in the UN General Assembly whereby the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was Continue reading »

I have no sympathy for Michelle Rowland in her persecution over accepting almost $20,000 in donations from betting and gambling behemoth, Sportsbet, before the last election. Sportsbet was then, and is now, a leader in the industry she, as the prospective federal minister, would be responsible for regulating. After the May election she was confirmed Continue reading »

There are very sound strategic reasons to continuously build and maintain heavily automated missile frigates and Air Independent Propulsion conventional submarines in Australia, as an alternative to spending $150B-$200B on unmaintainable AUKUS Nuclear Submarines. “I do not say, my Lords, the French will not come, I only say they will not come by sea” John Continue reading »

The Order of Australia system is a bunyip aristocracy that reflects the hierarchies of British society in which the high and mighty get the cream and others are left with the skimmed milk. Just before the country slipped into its raucous celebrations for Australia Day last month, Mr David Hardaker served up in Crikey a Continue reading »

Pearls and Irritations is essential reading for anyone interested in public policy analysis. In some fields it is not the only source of opinion and commentary, but its writers are more often come to the subject with deeper experience, including from years in the bureaucracy, academia, and the public square, and with a more firm Continue reading »

It would be a grave mistake for Beijing to respond in kind in the face of incessant provocations and escalations by America and its allies. Western countries, especially those in the Anglo-American sphere love to drum up exaggerated claims about China’s economic coercion and geopolitical threat. But compared to the often genocidal or starvation-level sanctions Continue reading »

But you don’t blow anyone’s mind JV Last at the Triad (subsc. only —) says that Nikki Haley would be “fine” as president and I’m not going to argue because I don’t think she would be fine at all. She’s a creature of the Republican party and it is a toxic, neo-fascist institution that taints anyone who seeks to represent it. Sorry, that’s just how it is. And Last makes that case for me when he discusses why Haley has no chance in hell: I think the jury is still out on DeSantis. He’s just a name to a lot of Republicans. In fact, there are a good number who can’t tell the difference between him and George Santos.

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