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Hercules, demigod and hero, in a fit of madness brought on by FOMO and too much HGTV, did consult with the Oracle of Delphi about buying a house. The Oracle, in her wisdom, and in partnership with Redfin, advised Hercules, “You know, there’s really never a bad time to get on the property ladder.” And thus, Hercules did put an offer in on a house, and he did cry out, “Oh shit,” when it was accepted, and subsequently, these Twelve Labors were imposed upon him.

1. The Slaying of the Goodwill Acceptable Donations Policy by Surreptitiously Dropping Off, Among Other Items That Should Have Just Gone in the Trash, the Red Wine-Stained Skin of the Nemean Lion, Which Hercules Only Wore Once

2. The Slaying of the Movers Who Broke Hercules’s Only Box of Plates, Not with Violence, But by Leaving a Scathing Google Review Comparing Them to a Nine-Headed Hydra with a Case of the Dropsies

3. The Capture of the Elusive 2022 W2 Form Required to Finalize Hercule’s Mortgage Application, Which Was Somehow Not in the Bankers Box Marked “Important Documents” Even Though Hercules Definitely Remembers Putting It in There

In the last three years there has been a blizzard of new laws with respect to youth justice across Australia. While some laws have been welcome, a substantial number have been retrograde. In this category, laws with respect to young children have been the most controversial. This fact has attracted critical attention from a number Continue reading »

Australian inflation is almost back in the target range of 2-3%. The Reserve Bank should begin to cut interest rates now. This will help avoid a recession as well as substantially reducing cost-of-living pressures on the one third of households with a mortgage. Inflation outlook The critical economic question is when interest rates will start Continue reading »

The unilateral action of the Israeli government to ban the UN specialised agency UNRWA and its humanitarian work in Palestine is wrong, both morally and legally. Moreover it threatens the substructure of specialised agencies that underlies the UN system generally, on which relief and humanitarian assistance for poverty stricken or famine affected regions and their Continue reading »

`It may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as `scholasticide’ – UN OHCHR. Among the many dimensions of deliberate destruction of Gaza is that of the Palestinian education sector. In its April 2024 expression of concern about the pattern of assaults Continue reading »

Trump’s economic projects involve billions from the Saudi Arabian government — and the committee overseeing the deals is stacked with Saudi-connected officials.

In 2024, the Army recorded more Class A flight mishaps — the most serious type of aircraft accidents — than it has in a decade.

The post Army Helicopter Accidents Are Occurring at Near Record Rates appeared first on The Intercept.

But they can still do a lot of damage The Trump “Rolling Thunder” operation, as former presidential adviser Steve Bannon calls it, hasbeen in full effect in the week and a half since Donald Trump was restored to the presidency. Day after day, one atrocity after another has been perpetrated on the American people as Trump and his henchmen take a wrecking ball to the federal government. Do they know what they’re doing or are they just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks? Over the course of these 10 tumultuous days Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of all the January 6th rioters and his Justice Department has closed any pending cases. Various agencies have fired and demoted personnel, some of which can only be seen as acts of retribution such as the firing of career prosecutors who worked on the Jack Smith Special Counsel cases and the dismissal of almost all the Inspectors General.

There was a flurry of Ofcom complaints after a series of offensive remarks by presenters on the right-wing channel

Updated last part of our five part special investigation into the disappearance of the Rugby star Levis Davis

Part Four of a five-part special investigation by Dan Evans and Tom Latchem into a missing person’s case with dark criminal undertones

Record low turnout and skewed results fuel calls for reform as polling suggests a collapse in support for the current system

Two can play at that As Digby reported yesterday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of several Beltway Democrats past their expiration dates, is catching shit from a half dozen Democratic governors. They are mad as hell at Donald Trump’s newest reality show, the Project 2025 Demolition Derby, and they’re not going to take it anymore. They insist somnolent Democrats on Capitol Hill — how did Trump put it? — fight, fight, fight. Paul Krugman concurs in his newsletter, offering similar political advice he normally eschews: Today, however, I’m going to make an exception, and offer three words of advice to Democratic politicians and MAGA opponents in general: oppose, oppose, oppose. And make noise. A lot of noise. Don’t make conciliatory gestures in the belief that Trump has a mandate to do what he’s doing; don’t stay quiet on the outrages being committed every day while waiting for grocery prices to rise. I can’t promise that taking a tough line will succeed, but going easy on Trump is guaranteed to fail. Trump and his MAGA minions deserve no quarter and certainly no deference.

I’ve discussed this before, so we’ll keep it brief. Much of Musk’s wealth is in Tesla stock. Tesla car sales are down, and getting hammered particularly, but not only, in China. The Chinese are producing better, cheaper electric vehicles with autonomous driving which actually works, because they use Lidar, which Musk personally decided not to use. Even Western carmakers are catching up to and exceeding Tesla vehicles.

. Marianne Faithfull (1946-2025). R.I.P.

Is there any point to keeping count? Remember when politicizing a tragedy was gauche? Not just among Republicans inside the Beltway but among Fox News hosts and right-wing talkers? Well, those tragedies typically involved mass shootings, often at schools. But a mass casualty event in D.C. involving an airliner and an Army helicopter in the first month of Donald Trump’s watch? It’s a perfect opportunity for the president to make political statements and display his skill at stopping the buck anywhere but his desk. Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post documents that the president’s rants attributing blame for the midair collision on his doorstep this week to DEI policies were four Pinocchios-worthy (gift link): In the aftermath of the deadly collision between a jetliner and a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan National Airport, Trump held an extraordinary news conference during which he speculated on the cause of the accident. At length, he attacked former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for imposing what he called “a big push to put diversity” that he said weakened the Federal Aviation Administration.

A quarterly column from Carrie Brownstein, who is better at dispensing advice than taking it.

Q: What is an appropriate amount of time to stay at your friend’s art show if you’re not interested in the social aspect of that kind of thing? I’m all about showing up to support people, but I find the conversations at these events so tedious and performative. And I hate who these events make me become: I find myself trying to fit in, while also judging my friends, who are all of a sudden talking differently and putting on airs. Should I just suffer through them?

JD
Los Angeles, CA

A Labour government is struggling for legitimacy following its support for a brutal invasion in the Middle East. It is wishing into existence a UK ‘Silicon Valley’ in Oxford and Cambridge, dogged by infighting, trying to get a controversial Heathrow expansion over the line, and leaning into right-wing thinktanks’ demands for planning liberalisation. If Timbaland […]