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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 11:30
Bobo the cat! (And a spry almost 99 year old Dick VanDyke) He was particularly worried about his cat. Luckily, he survived! Dick Van Dyke’s Beloved Cat Bobo Has Been Found After He And His Wife Were Forced To Leave Him Behind Amid Malibu Wildfire Evacuations Dick, 98, previously told concerned fans that Bobo the cat had escaped as he and his wife evacuated their Malibu home with their other pets on Tuesday evening. Among these residents was legendary actor Dick Van Dyke, 98, and his wife, Arlene Silver, who reassured fans on Tuesday that they’d safely escaped the danger zone. However, one beloved family member ended up being left behind: Dick and Arlene’s beloved cat, Bobo. Posting to his official Facebook page, Dick explained that they’d managed to leave with most of their pets, but Bobo had sadly escaped at the last moment. Commenting on the original Facebook post late on Wednesday evening, Dick confirmed that Bobo was dutifully waiting for his owners at home when they returned. Bobo doesn’t look too thrilled about all the attention. But he’s an Orangy. Waddya gonna do?
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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 10:00
“I’ve studied automation, and know just about everything there is to know about it.” There are many, many stupid things to read today. But that has to be the dumbest. Trump is promising not to automate America’s ports on behalf of the East Coast Longshoreman’s union. (The West Coast union already made a deal to accommodate it but I guess they don’t know what they’re doing.) I posted about this yesterday but it’s worth doing it again in light of his bragging about his vast knowledge of how the supply chain works: You know, the supply chain is still broken. It’s broken. You see it. You go out to the docks and you see all these containers. And I own property in California, in Palos Verdes. They’re very nice. And I passed the docks, and I’ve been doing it for 20 years. I’ve never seen anything like it. You know, for 17 years, I saw containers and, you know, they’d come off and they’d be taken away—big areas, you know, you know, in that area, you know, where they have the big, the big ships coming in—big, the port.
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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 05:00

Look, I want to make one thing clear: I’m not a selfish guy. I’m all for my employees discovering themselves and finding true love. The first time one of my top correspondents emailed out of the blue to say she’d decided to move to a tiny mountain town and take over a struggling antique shop, I said, “Good for you.” The second time it happened, this time with a struggling breakfast diner in an off-season tourist town, I was surprised, but I also said, “Good for you.”

But after the third and fourth times, I began to worry that a pattern was developing. And the twenty-sixth time an employee emailed me a no-notice resignation on account of having discovered both her soulmate and her passion for veterinary work in the quaint English village where I had sent her (all expenses paid) on assignment, I have to admit that I was less than pleased. Her email informed me that she was happy to forfeit her year-end bonus and the extremely competitive promotion she’d been up for because she was going off Wi-Fi forever, effective immediately. Last I knew, she didn’t even have a dog.

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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 04:58
American interference, at the behest of Netanyahu’s far-right Israel, has left the Middle East in ruins, with over a million dead and open wars raging in Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, and with Iran on the brink of a nuclear arsenal. In the famous lines of Tacitus, Roman historian, “To ravage, to slaughter, Continue reading »
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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 04:57
In the wake of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s 6-hour coup, Western pundits have opined that this was an affirmation of South Korean democracy’s robustness and resilience, its institutional maturity and strength. This is like saying after a survivor fights off an assault, that this demonstrates a mature state of legal order. Hardly. It Continue reading »
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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 04:57
Medhurst was born in Damascus, Syria. His father is English and mother is Syrian. Both his parents served in United Nations Peacekeeping and Observer missions and were among the UN Peacekeepers awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Medhurst was born in Damascus, Syria. His father is English and mother is Syrian. Both his parents Continue reading »
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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 04:56
“The first thing we’ll do is sack those 36000 public servants in Canberra” – David Littleproud, leader of Australia’s National Party. Donald Trump’s Cabinet is fraying at the edges before it gets down to business. Matt Gaetz surrendered the Attorney-General offer and Chad Chronister, fingered to be the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, self-ejected. Continue reading »
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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 04:55
Government spending is keeping Australia out of recession, just as last week’s feeble GDP numbers tallied 7 consecutive quarters of negative growth. Michael Pascoe reports on the moaning business lobby. A funny thing happened after Wednesday’s weak national accounts figures: a large part of the economic commentariat poured scorn on government spending and investment for keeping the Continue reading »
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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 04:53
In his acceptance speech after Labor won the 2022 election, Anthony Albanese promised to look after disadvantaged and vulnerable citizens. During the cost of living crisis over the past two years he told people he felt their pain and had their backs. He just inverted these assurances with a $600 million handout to one of Australia’s Continue reading »
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Sat, 14/12/2024 - 04:52
Some of the most dangerous people in the world right now are those normalising and sanitising fascistic politics. It was not just in the banal media discussion that preceded Donald Trump’s re-election; it can also be found at the ABC, including on Radio National lifestyle programming. One of the tropes to look for is the Continue reading »