Reading

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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 06:30
I don’t actually think that’s hopium. The vibe I’m getting from everything I see and read is that the Harris campaign is feeling cautiously optimistic. That doesn’t mean that it’s in the bag but I think it certainly means they aren’t seeing anything that would lead us to believe that Trump has it in the bag, contrary to what the MAGA crowd is saying. Again, this feels like 2012 to me. Romney and his people were measuring the drapes at this point. The polls were very close and Karl Rove was strutting around telling everyone that it was over. On election night, we had this silly scene (which happened to make Megyn Kelly’s career.) They simply could not believe that Obama had won because the polls were close and they’d convinced themselves that they couldn’t lose. After Trump came along in 2016, many of them convinced themselves that they can never lose. Obviously, we have no idea if this will go our way. We got schooled in 2016 too, after all. I was certainly convinced that Clinton would win because I couldn’t imagine how anyone could vote for that miscreant. We all know what happened.
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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:58
This week I read an article in Al Jazeera describing the killing in one day of hundreds of Palestinian civilians. The same day I read a piece in CNN, “Israeli soldiers returning from war struggle with trauma and suicide”. The article tried to elicit sympathy for soldiers who were traumatised from bulldozing Palestinians. According to Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:57
Let us be abundantly clear. What Israel is intending is against its obligations under international law. What Israel is intending is against its moral obligations as fellow citizens of the human race. The United Nations Relief Agency UNWRA has been in operation since the early 1950’s and has hundreds perhaps thousands of employees. Palestinian refugees Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:56
By focusing on punitive programs instead of community-driven support over a ‘youth crime crisis’ that did not exist, the incoming Queensland LNP government appears to be blind to the systemic issues that drive children toward vulnerability. Their policies will reinforce a cycle of criminalisation that will haunt our communities for generations. It’s several days after Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:53
The Canberra community decided on 19 October to remove from its parliament the two most recent ministers for corrections, Mick Gentleman (Labor) and Emma Davidson (Green). In mid-2023, Minister Gentleman chose not to act on the findings of the second and final report of Neil McAllister, the then independent inspector of correctional services. Instead, Gentleman Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:52
In a speech at the Australian Education International (AEI) conference, Education Minister Jason Clare is reported to have told the audience that student caps will help with “the government’s ambitions to get immigration levels back to pre-pandemic levels, including international student numbers”. The latest Treasury forecast of net migration in 2024-25 at 260,000, to the Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:51
Journalists around the world were once inspired by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to commit to significant investigative journalism. The pair, with significant help from a Deep Throat source, brought down a US President, Richard Nixon, over the Watergate break in and cover up. But now the once great newspaper they worked for, The Washington Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:50
Earlier this week I pointed to a Ukrainian (South Korean, U.S.) propaganda campaign which claims that thousands of North Korean soldiers will soon fight with on the Russian side against Ukraine: To have North Koreans fighting in Russia against the Ukrainian incursion in Kursk would make little sense. That incursion is for one already mostly defeated.Besides Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:07
Seven Days Till The US Federal Election

And Trump is very slightly ahead in the polls.

As is usually the case in modern American elections, much that is important isn’t at stake in this election: most notably whether or not the genocide in Palestine will continue. Both candidates and both parties are under the thumb of the Israeli lobby. Nor is an end to the terminal decline of the American Empire on the ballot, though Trump pretends it is.

That isn’t to say the election doesn’t matter, but it’s a choice between two terrible candidates. Trump is clearly senile and mercurial is the kindest word one can use to describe him. Harris is not that bright, and appears to fall into the Bush Jr. category: something happened to damage her. Plenty of rumors of alcohol problems, though I don’t know if they’re valid.

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Wed, 30/10/2024 - 04:00

Listen, I get it. You’ve been lurking in this creaky old house for centuries. It’s your time to shine—Halloween is your Super Bowl. But could we maybe hold off on the supernatural terror until after the election?

I’m barely keeping it together. You’ve been doing a stellar job with the whole “creepy footsteps in the hallway” routine and the bloodcurdling screams at 3 a.m. Chef’s kiss. But I live in a swing state, and between the ad blitz, campaign flyers, and the fifteen daily texts from Tommy with Democracy Matters, I just don’t have the emotional bandwidth for your spooky nonsense right now.