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Protesters are hailing Israeli courts as the last bulwark of democracy, but democracy for whom?

The post Protect the Israeli Judiciary — but Don’t Let It Launder War Crimes Against Palestinians appeared first on The Intercept.

Australian voters have collectively risen up and overthrown practically all traces of blue from the mainland, including in five states, two territories and at the federal level. read now...

They’re still at it I guess there’s nothing really new about this. Congressional loyalists talking in back channels to the president happened during Watergate too. (The great hero Howard Baker…) And remember Devin Nunes and his Midnight Ride? But I’m pretty sure it’s unprecedented for loyalists to be using the investigative powers of the congress to help a former president, not to mention doing it to help him pressure prosecutors in criminal investigations as a candidate for the GOP nomination. What could be more “deep-statey, swampy” than this? A number of top House GOP lawmakers have disclosed in recent days their efforts to keep the former president informed on the pace and substance of their investigations. Lines of communication appear to go both ways. Not only are Trump, his aides and close allies regularly apprised of Republicans’ committee work, they also at times exert influence over it, multiple people familiar with the talks tell CNN.

Derrick Miller, who works on military policy for Rep. Matt Gaetz, served eight years for shooting an Afghan civilian in the head during an interrogation.

The post Matt Gaetz’s Legislative Aide Is a Convicted War Criminal appeared first on The Intercept.

The economic effects of the massive French strikes are starting to extend beyond France, although so far in a limited way. Is more to come?

Most states have at least considered initiatives to do away with, or to reduce the use of, isolation in their prison systems, according to the latest major report on the subject. But there’s bad news too.

The post John Kiriakou: US Solitary Confinement appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Here’s an interesting leftist perspective on the current crisis: A number of American friends have been asking about my thoughts on Israel so I figured I’d just do a thread. This isn’t some academic analysis or anything, just some things I’ve noticed as someone who follows the news closely and has been to probably a dozen protests. Here we go: 1. The threat was real. American Left is (rightfully) wary of anyone that leans on unelected Supreme Court, but in this case they were final line of defense before dictatorship. Israel has no other checks or balances. No constitution, no separation between exec. and legislature 2.Bibi’s extremist coalition was trying to push reforms that would turn supreme court into rubber stamp. First to suffer would be Palestinians, LGBT and unions. Imagine Trump (who couldn’t even cancel Obamacare) with no obstacles, no challengers. What would he do? 3. If the reforms would have passed, many of the Palestinians with Israeli citizenship would have been disenfranchised because they have become the crucial piece in any non-Netanyahu coalition. As a result, Bibi would never lose an election ever again. Game Over. 4.

Last week, as I was losing my voice, I had a really fascinating conversation with Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times, moderated by Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation, about the state of American democracy. You can watch it here. It was a wide-ranging discussion: we talked about whether fascism is a good model for understanding the contemporary American right, the helps and hindrances of the Constitution, the virtues and vices of returning to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for insights into current events, and more. Bouie is one of those rare political writers who really knows his history; it’s almost never that I read one of his Times columns without learning something I didn’t know about the American […]

First Things describes itself as “America’s most influential journal of religion and public life.” You might...

The primary social forces disrupting American society today are modern versions of two false religions.

~ Today's Water Cooler ~

The Liberal party is broken. Riven by ideological differences, petty personal feuds and bitter factional disputes, the party which once dominated the Australian political landscape so completely, is today uncertain of what it stands for and incapable of working it out. After suffering yet another electoral rout on the weekend, which saw the sole mainland Continue reading »

A controversy threatens to blow the alliance’s nuclear submarine deal out of the water, writes Maddison Connaughton in a new article for Foreign Policy. In the wake of Paul Keating’s dramatic foray into the debate over the Aukus defence pact, much of the breathless media coverage zeroed in on his personal criticisms of Prime Minister Continue reading »

At first sight, the Chinese President’s twelve proposals to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine appear plausible. Claims about common interests are supported by references to parties working together for peace and security, abiding by international humanitarian law, sustaining an existing world economic system and insisting that nuclear weapons not be used. These sound like Continue reading »

The fact that the IPCC incorporates in its core business risks of failure to the Earth system and to human civilisation that we would not accept in our own lives raises fundamental questions about the efficacy of the whole IPCC project. If low risks of failure are taken as a starting point, “net zero 2050” Continue reading »

The media here thought the terrorism over past decades in Australia fell from the deep blue sky and had no relationship to the help John Howard gave to George Bush in the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. Twenty years after that invasion, the Australian media continue to fail us badly over its coverage of Continue reading »

The biggest threat facing the USA is not the collapse of democracy. Even though a twice impeached former president talks of death and destruction if he is arrested, while New York’s Attorney General seeks his indictment. Wokeism isn’t the biggest threat, although, due to death threats to staff, the Florida Education Department is cancelling the Continue reading »

Early this month, the Daily Mail published a story online implying three Chinese men taking photos at the Avalon Airshow in Melbourne were spies. After complaints and an open letter condemning the paper for racially profiling the Chinese communities and throwing around baseless accusations, the story disappeared from the Mail’s site without explanation. Then, The Sydney Morning Continue reading »

In the face of the shocking anti-trans and neo-Nazi rally last Saturday in Melbourne, it’s a time for solidarity – visible solidarity with those we love and all who walk with them. Show your support by joining me at 5.30pm Friday, March 31st at the State Library, Melbourne. Let’s reclaim the streets together. Dear friends, Continue reading »

It’s looking dicey for the latest Great Whitebread Hope Nobody has ever absorbed the right-wing politics of grievance as eagerly as Donald Trump. In anticipation of his possible run for president in 2016, one of Trump’s smartest moves was to deploy aide Sam Nunberg to listen to talk radio for him and give him a rundown on all the talking points floating around in the right-wing fever swamp. He was a CNN guy but he knew that whatever Fox News and Rush Limbaugh were talking about was what the base of the Republican Party was interested in and that’s where he would aim his candidacy. As it happened, Trump found that he and they were very much on the same wavelength. He didn’t even attempt to please the political establishment or cater to their needs. Trump runs almost entirely on instinct. He’s bragged openly that he doesn’t need to learn anymore because he already knows everything he needs to know. In business, he refused to look at marketing data and analyses because he trusted his personal vibes over a bunch of pointy headed numbers crunchers. He hired people because they genuflected to him, not because they had any expertise.

Doctor Who 60th-anniversary directors Chanya Button, Tom Kingsley & Rachel Talalay had some thoughts to share about the new TARDIS look.

“Twitter users will need a ‘verified account’ to get recommended on the platform’s For You page starting on April 15th, according to a Monday evening tweet from CEO Elon Musk. Given that Twitter has promised to start dismantling the ‘legacy’ verified system at the beginning of April, that appears to mean that you’ll have to be a company, government entity, or Twitter Blue subscriber if you want to pop into the feeds of people who don’t follow you.” — The Verge

Uruk-hai,

Starting April 15, the White Hand of Saruman will only be given out to Uruk-hai who have a paid subscription to SaruBlue. You do not know pain, you do not know fear, and you will taste man-flesh, all for just $8 a month.

I realize this is a change from our previous model, in which White Hands were given out to all my perfected, fighting Uruk-hai, but this subscription-based model is the only realistic way to ensure true, authentic Uruk-hai are within our midst.