They are on track to destroy Social Security and medicare so the Republicans don’t have to Mark Joseph Stern at Slate brings the bad news: During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Joe Biden criticized Republicans for proposing to “sunset” Medicare and Social Security every five years. In response, many Republican lawmakers booed the president, prompting him to quip, “So, folks, as we all apparently agree: Social Security and Medicare is off the books now.” Perhaps these Republicans really do disagree with a plan put forth by a member of their leadership mandating periodic expiration of popular entitlement spending. But at least some of their judges are all for it—and want to transform the idea into constitution law. Recently, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals crafted a theory that would empower courts to strike down mandatory spending on federal programs, compelling Congress to either reappropriate the money or let the programs die.
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Luke Chester was part of union’s ‘locus of power’ As Skwawkbox reported last night, the explosive report by Baroness Kennedy on sexual harassment and bullying within the TSSA union has already seen senior officers of the union removed or resign – and former general secretary Manuel Cortes had already ‘retired’ under a cloud last year […]
Corporate lobbyists are sponsoring events celebrating racial progress to advocate for their clients' business interests.
The post Lobbyists Mingle With Congress Under the Banner of Celebrating Diversity appeared first on The Intercept.
Global South
- First, the Euro is getting to be completely excluded in Russia
- Second, the use of national currencies through BRICS is moving ahead
- [Third], the Brazilian Central Bank and the People’s Bank of China signed a memorandum of understanding allowing bilateral trade IN YUAN for Brazilian and Chinese companies, investors, and institutions
National Currencies: it is happening!
amarynth
When I attended K-12 evangelical Christian schools in the 1980s and 1990s, we didn’t call...
A man at a Connells Point barbecue who boldly stated that he doesn’t know much about politics before embarking upon a rant about what’s wrong with the state of the world has proven to be 100% correct. “I thought maybe... Read More ›
Successive budget cuts and ABC mismanagement have been detrimental to projecting a positive international image, writes Duncan Graham. read now...For some reason the new “weaponization committee” called Tulsi Gabbard, Chuck Grassley, Ron Johnson and Jamie Raskin as their first witnesses. You can imagine how the first three testified. It was the predictable shit show. But Raskin was magnificent. This is how you do it: Fox didn’t show this? How interesting. I wonder why?
Based on a recent Instagram post, it appears that Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa is wrapping up his run on Netflix's Sex Education.
Salt1 pkg (8 oz) medium noodles½ cup packaged bread stuffing2 teaspoons instant minced onion½ cup milk1 lb ground beef1 egg1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce1 tablespoon butter or margarine1 can (10½ oz) mushroom gravy¼ cup light cream½ teaspoon dried dillweed
News of Russian banks connecting to Iran’s financial messaging system strengthens the resistance against US-imposed sanctions on both countries and accelerates global de-dollarization.The Cradle
The Big Stiff: Russia-Iran dump the dollar and bust US sanctions
Pepe Escobar
See also
“One factor that could well be keeping the gold price so supported is the strength of buying from central banks, including those in China, India and Turkey. As these fast-growing economies look to diversify away from the hegemony of the US dollar, these banks have bought considerable volume last year with that trend expected to continue into this year.”
Oilprice
Central Bank Buying Spree Lifts Gold Prices
RelatedCity AM
The buying coming from China is in preparation for war – not bullish gold for the sake of gold.…
Footage from the aftermath of a deadly police raid on anti-Cop City protesters shows an Atlanta cop asking, “They shoot their own man?”
The post Officer in Cop City Bodycam Footage Suggests Fellow Cop Was Shot by Friendly Fire appeared first on The Intercept.
~ Today's Water Cooler ~
James O’Keefe wants to be the next … Robert Preston? Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe has always been a little bit nuts. But now his own organization has turned on him, and he’s reportedly taking a break from being a dirty trickster for a while. The staff has produced a memo to the board saying that he’s abusive and crude (you don’t say!) and that donors are sick of his antics. Apparently, he’s been spending money like a drunken sailor. All of this is par for the course for a standard right wing grifter, which he is (among other things) but I have to admit that this surprised me: The memo’s authors also raised concerns about O’Keefe’s use of Project Veritas money to promote his own theatrical ambitions. Project Veritas is best known for its undercover stings against Democratic groups and other Republican targets. But O’Keefe, who performed in high-school musicals, has added a series of musical productions to the group’s repertoire, including an elaborate “Project Veritas” experience that involves O’Keefe dancing while wearing a bulletproof vest.
Daring leadership is what makes or breaks organizations. Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen, which is why I’m bringing my whole self into this meeting. Let me put down my shield and reveal my truth before we dive into today’s Brené Brown lunch-and-learn.
By the end of this presentation, I will fire twelve of you.
Yes, it’s not ideal timing. And I’m not happy to do it. But as Dr. Brown says, “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.” So, let me be clear. Half of you will no longer have a job by day’s end.
Let me first address what you all are probably worried about. Our revenue is fine. Healthy even. We’re actually making more money than ever, and by “we,” I mean the company. Unfortunately, the reason for the cuts is far more threatening than financial concerns; it’s organizational efficiency.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong invoked the power of shared colonial histories in a speech during her recent visit to the United Kingdom. The statement was clearly carefully prepared and framed but, judging from her recorded comments, it seems that she has not thought through the implications of the adoption of radical post-colonial diplomacy. Rather, she Continue reading »
The previous two parts in this series addressed soft power and Australia’s alliances respectively. The focus of Part 3 is hard power and a discussion of self-reliance and Australia’s evolving military strategy. Hard power: Australia’s military strategy In an offensive sense, hard power represents the ability of a nation to coerce another country and bend Continue reading »
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a story Wednesday alleging that the United States was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline system last year, citing a source “with direct knowledge of the operational planning.” The Biden White House adamantly denied the veteran investigative journalist’s reporting, calling it “complete fiction.” Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative Continue reading »
The Medicare Review contains welcome aspirations, but the instruments to achieve them are poorly delineated. An early statement in the Medicare Review report is challengeable. “Most Australians enjoy ready access to quality Primary Care services and with that good health outcomes”. That is certainly not true for the 33% of Australians who live in rural Continue reading »
Secrets make us paranoid. We should do away with secrets and spies and become a truly open society. We have become so obsessed with the so-called ‘China threat’ that our fears are now totally irrational. The decision by the USA to shoot down a Chinese balloon might have had a strange logic to it, but Continue reading »
At personal, national and international levels, crises provide learning opportunities. How to adapt to loss by seeking change, how to think differently about family, community and nation by, among other things, pondering the meaning of security and sovereignty. Immediate responses to the massive earthquake disasters in Turkey and Syria concern rescue, shelter, food supply, healthcare Continue reading »
Amnesty International just made a submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and some of it surprised me. I live in China, I’ve travelled extensively, including many kilometres in Xinjiang. First in 2014 when I cycled from Macau to the Kazakhstan border and again in 2019, I flew to Urumqi and Continue reading »