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The statement released by the Prime Minister’s office concerning the visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang notes that there will be a ‘community event to recognise the significant contributions of the over one million members of the Chinese-Australian community to our nation’s multicultural success story’. But what Chinese-Australians truly desire is to be treated as Continue reading »

I dug a hole in the garden I don’t why just felt like digging Just broke up with my girlfriend I needed something … something to do Soon I’d dug so deep The sky was just a window above me But I didn’t care … mmm Looking for something deeper Jackson Jackson (2006) The parallels Continue reading »

Charles Garrett, an apparent British intel agent, teamed up with a local prosecutor to wrongfully indict Macedonian public figures and topple the country’s government. Everywhere Garrett goes in the region, coups seem to follow. Western media demonstrated little interest when the anti-Western VMRO-DPMNE party achieved a landslide victory in Macedonia’s presidential and parliamentary elections this May 8. However, the seismic development could reverse a foreign-orchestrated color revolution sparked almost a decade ago, which put the government in Skopje on a […]

The post British meddling in Macedonia backfires, exposing coup machinations first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post British meddling in Macedonia backfires, exposing coup machinations appeared first on The Grayzone.

Zhao Ying is a China commentator and the host of CGTN Radio’s “World Today” program. Zhao Ying interviews Professor Chen Hong, President of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and Director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University on Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia and the promising signs of recovery Continue reading »

Dutton re-ignites the climate war and weaponises immigration policy, the economy shows early signs of recovery from decades of the Coalition’s low-wage-low-productivity policy, the struggle between authoritarian populism and democracy heats up. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues. Politics Dutton’s Continue reading »

Trump’s been making a lot of wild promises lately. All restraints are gone. He’s even bribed the oil companies with vows to remove all regulations if they’ll give him a billion dollars. Dave Weigel took a look at how its landing: Ending all taxes on tips. Declassifying all files on 9/11 and the JFK assassination. Freeing a darknet market mogul from prison. Protecting Bitcoin and TikTok from government meddlers. In his four-year presidency, Donald Trump did none of that. In the last few weeks, he’s promised to do all of it — sometimes in front of crowds ready to cheer his new policies, sometimes with interviewers who don’t ask why he flipped. Democrats, already battling voter “Trumpnesia” and warmer feelings about the MAGA years, are now wrestling with out-of-nowhere promises that don’t match up with Trump’s record. The latest promise, to make tipped wages tax-free, debuted at Trump’s Sunday rally in Las Vegas. “We’re going to do that right away, first thing in office,” said the Republican nominee.

Our friends at The Believer are now publishing web exclusives. To celebrate, we’re sharing excerpts of their inaugural weekly column, in which Katie Heindl (author of the beloved Basketball Feelings) writes about the WNBA for both longtime fans and the casual observer. If you want to follow along and bypass the paywall, pick up a Believer digital-only subscription. For just $16 a year, you’ll also have full access to the magazine’s complete two-decade archive, including the most recent issue.

ACT III, SCENE IV: Castle Elsinore

Enter Hamlet, dragging the corpse of Polonius. Enter Ghost.

GHOST: Mark me. But don’t mark me late for dinner!

HAMLET: Forsooth, don’t sneak up on me like that!

GHOST: Son, what wast that scene back there with thy mother?

HAMLET: Nothing! T’was perfectly normal! Just a normal conversation between a son trying to tell his mother, the queen, about the murther of his father, the king!

GHOST: Whilst in thy mother’s chamber? Ranting on and on about thy mother’s bed, and what she shouldst and shouldst not do in it? In graphic detail? It seems that thou wast more weirdly fixated on thy mother’s sexual relationship with thine uncle, rather than with my murder.

HAMLET: Nay, ’tis not true!

GHOST: Ghosts do not lie—thou canst see right through us! But seriously, I thinkst it’s about time for us to have a talk.

As Donald Trump made his first visit to the scene of the crime since the insurrection, the Biden campaign launched a new ad reminding people of that notorious event: You’d think of all people that members of the United States Congress would be reluctant to welcome the man who sicced a violent mob on them. But no, they greeted him with rapturous applause and even broke into a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” and brought out a cake. The House members were beside themselves. Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene gushed about how “funny” and “sweet” he is in real life and how it’s just so, like, awesome that he mentioned her by name and everything! She hasn’t been this excited since that time she had front row seats for the Back Street Boys back in ’98 and A.J. winked right at her (everybody said so.) She was far from alone. Even the Speaker of the House came before the cameras to say what a privilege it was to have Donald Trump tell him how great he is.

With only hours to go before Doctor Who S01E07: "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" hits, here's a look at some more season finale hints/clues.

Dissent in the ranks It’s important to remember that as crazy as MAGA Republicans are now that the presidential election and the future of the Supreme Court does not hinge on the large numbers of voters chanting Don-ald Trump, Don-ald Trump like zombified extras in The Mummy. Trump is bleeding support he cannot afford to lose. The old, “death by a thousand cuts” routine worked against Hillary Clinton in 2016. It can work for Democrats and Joe Biden in 2024. Greg Sargent points to an item lost in Politico’s Playbook coverage of Trump’s effort to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Trump prosecutions: “I don’t think it’s a good idea unless you can show that [the prosecutors] acted in bad faith or fraud or something like that,” Rep. Mike Simpson, a senior appropriator, told Playbook, speaking about the defund-Smith push. He denounced the idea as “stupid,” adding of prosecutors: “They’re just doing their job—even though I disagree with what they did.” Wait, what? Trump’s prosecutorial tormentors are not acting in bad faith or being fraudulent? Do tell!

Staff were offered a £1,000 pay bump as compensation - but GB News even acknowledged it may not cover the expense needed to get them to work outside normal business hours

How might it be possible to decolonise a cultural edifice built on entirely colonial foundations? This is a question it would take unlimited political will and huge financial resources to answer. A more pragmatic goal would be to give the impression that such a process is at least underway. The British Library exhibition Beyond The […]

Despite widespread economic stagnation and declining productivity in the UK, service exports -particularly to the US - are buoying the economy, highlighting London's increasing dominance and escalating living costs

More evidence that the UK health and emergency services have “profoundly failed” the NHS which is now in a “state of emergency”

🎼Look, look at the brain flying Ubu Don visited Washington, D.C. on Thursday to show off his debraining machine, only to find his fawning Republican nobles had already been debrained. Digby will be along presently with a more thorough account of yesterday’s Capitol Hill follies starring Republicans’ 34-felony-convicted former president and 2024 presumptive nominee. Suffice to say it’s udderly insane the tolerance MAGA Republican “leaders” have developed for self-humiliation. How these adults can live with themselves having sacrificed all self-respect on the altar of Trump is beyond comprehension. A major political party in the most powerful country on Earth has lost its collective mind. It’s gone from Andy Borowtiz satire to deeply unsettling. The U.S. Constitution may not be a suicide pact, but the Republican Party now is. Lickspittles and Toadies Sarah Longwell of Republican Voters Against Trump described how Republicans who once saw Trump as too corrupt, unfit, and uninformed (you fill in the rest) for the presidency have become Trump lickspittles and toadies.

The attack on Buthidaung - where thousands of Rohingya Muslims had sought refuge - has been called a "turning point" in what has been dubbed a "slow-burning genocide"

A trolley is about to run over five people, but your dad gets distracted by a nearby sports bar playing The Shawshank Redemption on one of their outdoor TVs. He just stands there watching the movie. Everyone dies.

When presented with the Trolley Problem, Dad uses the opportunity to rail against Waze, saying he knows better and GPS apps are making this generation dumb and useless, despite the trolley being on track.

After you explain the situation to him, your father approaches the conductor and begins asking questions about what kind of engine he’s got in this thing.

Dad attempts to parallel park the trolley. He has to choose between using the convenient rearview camera or twisting his neck back to look.

You present the classic Trolley Problem to your father. His first question concerns the ethnicities of everyone tied to the tracks. When you ask why it matters, he says, “Just curious!”

In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Smiling Friends/Always Sunny, Watchmen, The Walking Dead: RIP Seven, Peacemaker, HOTD, Doctor Who, and more!