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America's commitment to arming allies like Israel and Ukraine has exposed cracks in its own military strategy, as endless wars leave the nation ill-prepared for future conflicts.

The post The High Cost of Empire: US Weapons Depletion Fuels Concerns Over Military Readiness appeared first on MintPress News.

"This bill fails to uphold the promises made in the Treaty and disregards the voices of Māori."

Check out a preview of the Steven Moffat-penned, Ncuti Gatwa & Nicola Coughlan-starring Doctor Who Christmas Special, "Joy to the World."

Calling all incels The richest man in the world seeks “high IQ revolutionaries” to work for him for free: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are asking Americans who are “high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” and willing to work over 80 hours a week to join their new Department of Government Efficiency – at zero pay. In a new X post on Thursday that doubled as a job announcement and another one of Musk’s trolling attempts, the account for the newly formed Doge wrote: “We don’t need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.” The name of the department, which is not part of the federal government, harkens back to a meme of an expressive shiba inu dog. “If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants,” the statement added.

John Whitbeck’s plea for sanity – UN Membership for Palestine Now, 14 November 2024, should not be put into the too hard basket. At present, of course, the State of Palestine has only non-member observer status, having failed in an application for full member status in 2011. Whitbeck cites only three international instruments in advancing Continue reading »

The APEC Peru agenda has been hijacked by the spectre of a Trumpian attack on its foundational principles. China provides the only viable counterbalance. APEC Peru is a unique opportunity to prepare for the global trade disruption that commences on January 20 when Donald Trump formally becomes the 47th President of the United States. The Continue reading »

The climate crisis is much more severe than most people and politicians realise. Most information, education and media reporting around climate change (global heating) focuses on reducing our annual emissions to a target based on a ‘trajectory of progressive reduction’, and eventually ‘net’ zero annual emissions by 2050 or some other date. But this ignores Continue reading »

Around 18 months ago, The Economist applied uncommon energy to advance the narrative that the US economy was in outstandingly good shape. Very recently, we have been instructed by the same influential British weekly that, “America’s economy is bigger and better than ever” [paywall]: Which makes one wonder, what primary anxieties are prompting these distinctive, Continue reading »

Look, I don’t need to tell you that times have been tough the past few years. Between the pandemic, mass protests, worldwide inflation, and Target locking deodorant in plexiglass cases, we’ve all had our fair share of struggles. Why, just last week, there were reports of drag queens milling around our local library. So when Commander Zorpf and his legion of bloodthirsty alien warriors returned vowing to fix things, I did the only thing I could: I sided with Zorpf. Again.

Yes, I know that last time the aliens were in charge, they reigned over humanity with violence and chaos, and I understand that Commander Zorpf is now a convicted felon in the Intergalactic Criminal Court. And yes, Commander Zorpf has repeatedly said that his first order of business after being put in charge of Earth again would be to declare himself “Supreme Leader of All the Universe for All Eternity.”

But have you seen the price of eggs?

A handful of years ago, South Australia’s Whyalla steelworks, owned by British industrialist Sanjeeev Gupta, was touted as the potential birthplace of an Australian green iron and steel industry. Today, the mounting crisis at Whyalla brings sharply into focus both the risks and opportunities of this pivotal moment in Australia’s energy transition, and the transition Continue reading »

Many Australians will be surprised that voters across the US could cast a vote for Donald Trump after a (poorly) attempted coup on January 6, 2021. The only reason we might find this shocking is because we don’t talk about the Dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 as what it really was – a Continue reading »

Donald Trump’s re-election as the US president last week comes at a time of extreme volatility in the Middle East. The president-elect has promised to end all wars. In his usual impulsive and unpredictable manner, he has pledged to resolve the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office and help Israel finish its Gaza and Lebanon operations quickly. Continue reading »

The death and displacement of millions of Muslims in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen mean little. But if they are Muslims in Xinjiang, suddenly, their lives take on phenomenal value – propaganda value. Someone sent me a statement signed by 15 Western and allied countries denouncing China’s human rights records in Continue reading »

Vengeance Well, President-elect Donald Trump certainly is off to a roaring start, isn’t he? Ensconced at his Mar-a-lago beach club with the richest man in the world glued to his side every moment, he’s getting a whole new band together for his second term. Aside from his choice of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, this time there’s nary an establishment figure anywhere to be seen as he chooses his new cabinet and White House staff. He’s going directly to the life-blood of MAGA and picking the most controversial, lib-triggering extremists he can find. I mentioned his first group of nominees earlier this week none of whom have anything to particularly recommend them for these jobs but they at least have some government experience behind them. The choice of FOX News celebrity Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense was the first inkling that this was about to go seriously off the rails. Hegseth has no experience running anything and has no government experience beyond serving as a National Guard officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and a prison guard at Guantanamo prison.

Trump’s pick for attorney general shows that loyalty is the only qualification that matters.

The post Matt Gaetz Is Barely a Lawyer appeared first on The Intercept.

But no How many clowns can Donald Trump fit into that car? Quite a few, it seems. Including a man who in court documents claimed brain damage. “The reason we know about RFK Jr’s brain worm is that he mentioned it during a divorce deposition, to argue that he was cognitively impaired and therefore had limited earning potential,” posted Catherine Rampell of The Washington Post. Trump, himself in mental decline and famous for suggesting people inject bleach to cure COVID-19, chose Brain Worm Guy to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Like his prospective boss, RFK Jr. is a clear and present danger to public health (The Guardian): Alastair McAlpine, a pediatric physician at British Columbia’s children’s hospital, wrote: “It is hard to overstate what a terrible decision this is. RFK Jr has no medical training. He is a hardcore anti-vaccine and misinformation peddler.