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Created
Wed, 24/07/2024 - 15:54
It’s the Wednesday pot-pourri – British politics, self promotion, events, sport and music. Politicians invariably claim that the situation they inherit when they take office following an election is untenable and that the ‘public finances’ are worse than they had initially thought. Of course, the idea that ‘public finances’ can be good or bad or…
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Wed, 24/07/2024 - 09:30
Josh Marshall notes that even though the Democrats are now hugely enthused about the election, the naysayers who wanted Biden to drop out are still unhappy: [A]lready we’re hearing that this rush of support for Harris is yet another bad thing. Democrats have only just changed the last terrible thing pundits said they were doing only to be told that their solution is also a disaster in the making or at least a mistake. I don’t want to pick on anyone but this piece by Graeme Wood seems to capture this whole new storyline. In a way the argument is just a continuation of the Thunderdome craze of the last six months: a contested convention, blitz primaries, and the like. The new terrible mistake is rallying around Kamala Harris too quickly. Because this just compounds what Wood and seemingly many other pundits and columnists feel is the belief that “Democratic politics felt like a game rigged by insiders to favor a candidate of their choice, and to isolate that candidate from the risk associated with campaigning.” I wish I understood this reflex to stomp all over Democratic hopes from pundits who claim to be liberals.
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Wed, 24/07/2024 - 08:16
This fall, I am teaching a course, “Politics Through Literature,” which still has spaces available for students to register. You can register whether you are an undergraduate at Brooklyn College, another college in the CUNY system, or at any college in the New York area. Please reach out to me for information on how to register if you an undergraduate outside the CUNY system. There is no online component; all instruction is in-person. The course is listed as POLS 3440 and meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30-10:45. Below is the course description from the syllabus. This course takes up some of the most wrenching and destabilizing concerns of politics and art—money, sex, beauty, property, and the family—through great works […]
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Wed, 24/07/2024 - 04:59
We write to express our extreme concern that Senator Payman has resigned from the Labor Government. Letter sent to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the end of the Parliamentary session in June requesting urgent Australian Leadership to end the War on Gaza Dear Prime Minister, We write to express our extreme concern that Senator Payman Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 24/07/2024 - 04:58
It’s easy to see why the advisory opinion of the United Nations International Court of Justice (the World Court) might give Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, a few matters for consideration. Some of the Court’s findings include that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful, that all states are under an obligation not Continue reading »