Reading
For Trump and Vance In “Hillbilly Elegy” JD Vance wrote about the steel Plant in MIddletown, Ohio that rescued his family from poverty and brought them into the middle class. It’s still there: Its future looks bright too, thanks in part to a grant of up to $500 million from the Biden administration. The money is aimed at helping its owners replace a coal-fired blast furnace so that steel can be produced with clean hydrogen and natural gas — improvements that would cut climate and air pollution and help ensure the plant stays open for another generation. But the political benefits for the Biden administration — and by extension Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee — are less clear. This is true not just in Middletown but in similar communities across the country that are on track to receive funding from either the Inflation Reduction Act or the bipartisan infrastructure law, arguably the two biggest domestic accomplishments of President Joe Biden’s time in the White House. Both measures remain largely unknown to the public, polling has shown.
Australia is not immune to the global trend to nationalism. Politicians here as elsewhere pepper their talk with terms such as “sovereignty”, “national values” and “our way of life”. These are all relative, only defined by reference to other peoples and other nations that are “not like us”. The uniqueness of Australian nationalism is that Continue reading »
I write as a child of Holocaust survivors because I am disturbed by the demagoguery engaged by the leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, labelling hapless Palestinian refugees as potential terrorists. I quote from The Guardian article: “Peter Dutton has compared Hamas to the Nazis in an opinion piece that calls the registered terrorist organisation Continue reading »
At primary schools in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Australian children were prescribed textbooks with titles such as New Worlds to Conquer, and taught to admire the British Empire as a gift to the world. The theft and occupation of indigenous peoples’ land together with their enslavement and annihilation, was synonymous with progress and Continue reading »
The call for Bisan Owda’s nomination to be rescinded was “an incredible testament to the threat posed by a single young woman with an iPhone,” said one author. The head of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which nominated Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda for an Emmy Award for her documentary on life under Continue reading »
“When you’re siding with John Bolton on whether to bomb Iran, you’re as insanely hawkish as it gets.” Celebrity progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez falsely claimed at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night that Vice-President Kamala Harris “is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza”. There is literally no evidentiary basis anywhere for this assertion. She Continue reading »
The challenge we face with digital technology is not just managing it; it’s about what it’s doing to us. As of 15 August 2024, mobile phones have been banned in public schools across Australia. Anecdotally, most think this is a good idea. Then, last Monday, the ABC’s Q&A had a sensible debate on controlling digital Continue reading »
Peter Dutton’s politicised dog-whistling about visas for people fleeing the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza ignores the devastation and extreme risk for innocent civilians trapped in a violent conflict. In a crisis, moving away from danger is a natural and rational human response. While some people have the financial resources, immigration documentation and networks to get Continue reading »
One hopes that the story of Majdal Shams and its courageous people could prompt Australia’s policy makers to stand up for international law and take a principled stand against lies that exacerbate hatreds and fuel war talk. Continue reading »
Our friends at The Believer sent a trio of novelists, poets, and critics to the Windy City to report from inside and around the Democratic National Convention. Daily installments of this limited series, which is inspired by Esquire’s 1968 coverage, will run on The Believer’s website for the rest of the week. Today, we’re catching you up on recent events with a new installment by Suzanne Scanlon, who chronicles her second day on the convention floor.
Breaking this cynical cycle requires getting honest about Biden and Harris’s roles in this blood-soaked charade.
The post The U.S.-Led Ceasefire Talks Are Just Buying More Time for Israel’s Genocide appeared first on The Intercept.
Chuck D has made a full transition from “Fight the Power” to “work with the power.” MintPress News explores this new venture that fuses together YouTube, popular musicians, and the U.S. national security state.
The post From Fight the Power to Work for It: Chuck D, Public Enemy and How the CIA Neutralized Rap appeared first on MintPress News.
A Missouri prosecutor was set to argue that Marcellus Williams had been wrongly convicted. New evidence that prosecutors had mishandled the murder weapon got in the way.
The post A Prosecutor Admits His Office’s Incompetence Cut Off an Innocent Man’s Path to Exoneration appeared first on The Intercept.
One of the most important insights I heard from the commentary last night came from Chris Hayes on MSNBC. He pointed out that while the campaign is leaning heavily on Walz’s biography as a small town teacher, coach, soldier and family amn, all of which is true, it’s important to remember that Walz also spent 12 years in DC as a congressman and has been a very successful Governor of a big state. Walz is a great politician — an astute, experienced public official who knows how to communicate effectively and enact an agenda. If something should happen he would make a great president. This choice speaks very well of Harris’s political judgement but it’s also speaks well of her seriousness of purpose.
According to Keynes, financial crises are a recurring feature of our economy and are linked to its fundamental financial instability: It is of the nature of organised investment markets, under the influence of purchasers largely ignorant of what they are buying and of speculators who are more concerned with forecasting the next shift of market […]
“With great power comes zero responsibility.”
“I’d rather endure a radioactive spider bite than a mediocre writer’s diatribe.”
“I’m not a hero. I’m a high-functioning alcoholic with a typewriter.”
“Never trust a person wearing green. Green is the color of goblins, envy, and the well-manicured lawns of people who never shut up about their goddamn flowerbeds.”
“I’m your friendly neighborhood despiser.”
“It’s not about the pen. It’s what you do with the pen that defines you, a dullard with ink.”
“We all wear masks. Some are figurative, others are made of cheap cosmetics and smudge in the heat.”
“I’ve stopped reading what the newspapers have to say about me. None of it is true. Except for the parts that are.”
“Everyone also has a part of themselves they would hide if they had an ounce of dignity.”
“One thing people love more than a writer is to see a writer fail so miserably that after they compose, they decompose.”
He’s projecting again: Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed Wednesday that his Democratic opponent in the presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin just days before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Trump said in a speech in North Carolina: “Remember when Biden sent Kamala to Europe to stop the war in Ukraine. She met with Putin, and then three days later, he attacked. How did she do? Do you think she did a good job? She met with Putin to tell him, ‘Don’t do it.’ And three days later, he attacked; that’s when the attack started. Did you know that, General?” (Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg was at the North Carolina event.) Facts First: Trump’s claim is false. Harris has never met with Putin. In reality, she met with US allies, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at the Munich Security Conference in the days before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Putin was not at the conference. “Frankly speaking, I cannot recall a single contact between President Putin and Mrs.
The juvenile arrest records are sealed by law — but police regularly disclose them to prosecutors and even right-wing media.
The post The NYPD Is Illegally Leaking Sealed Records About Children to Tabloids appeared first on The Intercept.
The single donor has also backed an anti-vaxxer, pro-Brexit candidates and the Conservatives
Leaked documents reveal how Israeli officials sought legal loopholes to avoid FARA registration while pushing anti-constitutional legislation in the U.S.
The post Israel’s Secret Scheme to Skirt US Laws and Influence American Politics appeared first on MintPress News.