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Created
Mon, 13/01/2025 - 04:53
In less than two weeks, when Donald Trump takes office, he will confront sharply conflicting advice on Ukraine from pro-war and anti-war camps in his incoming administration. We cannot predict the outcome, but here is relevant analysis of the choices facing him. I will offer first a précis of the known and increasingly agreed military Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 13/01/2025 - 04:52
Tuesday night’s Australian ABC news had me outraged with the story about Dreyfus going to Israel to – what? Mend bridges? The faint-hearted Prime Minister Albanese, who very obviously lacks confidence in dealing with apartheid Israel and the criminal Netanyahu, is apparently behind this. Seemingly terrified by the world-class criminal Netanyahu’s attack on Australia for Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 13/01/2025 - 04:51
So many people have a concern about ETIM and following their role into Syria they are reported in many Western media outlets as “coming for China next”. First of all, who are ETIM? The East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Xinjiang Uyghur fundamental Muslim Extremist group, 22 of whom found themselves, without trial, tortured and imprisoned. Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 13/01/2025 - 04:50
Before asking whether we are on the precipice of a calamitous war between the United States and China, we need to query who wants such a conflict and who will benefit from it. Certainly, arms manufacturers will gain.  So will the media and global strategy pundits. All three will improve their businesses and their incomes. Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 13/01/2025 - 04:30
Tate’s a right wing star: Tech billionaire Elon Musk has voiced his support for Andrew Tate’s bid to become the UK Prime Minister, despite Tate’s controversial views and criminal allegations. Musk’s involvement in British politics, which includes criticism of Labour leader Keir Starmer and endorsement of far-right figures, has sparked significant debate. Conservative spokespersons have described Musk’s actions as irresponsible and dangerous. A video clip surfacing on social media shows Andrew Tate denouncing the “generational failure” of UK politics. Earlier this week, he referred to himself as the “unofficial Prime Minister of The United Kingdom” in a post and voiced support for Greenland being annexed into the US. What Andrew Tate is doing will be studied for many years. Even if he doesn’t win and become Prime Minister, his involvement will transform British politics & create an army of men demanding change.
Created
Mon, 13/01/2025 - 02:30
While you lost sleep over friends in L.A. For those of you not following the victim-blaming on Fox News: “We stoke hatred.” Is it on their business cards? Rude Pundit remarks: Not that it’s up to me (it’s up to LA County voters–home rule is cool & all that), but LA County in 2024 had a $49.2 billion budget (https://ceo.lacounty.gov/budget/), and I don’t see anything wrong with spending these amounts on these ⬇️ activities. ICYMI: The Supreme Court said Friday it will review the constitutionality of a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires health plans to provide no-cost preventive care, including cancer screenings, immunizations and contraception, to millions of Americans. The case puts the law, commonly known as Obamacare, in the crosshairs once again and follows several challenges in recent years by conservatives hoping to overturn it, as well as a landmark 2012 ruling by the justices upholding its legality. In Becerra v.
Created
Mon, 13/01/2025 - 00:38
Trots sin 30-åriga frånvaro i praktiken lever målet om full sysselsättning kvar i retoriken. Social-demokraternas nya partiprogram anger till exempel att full sysselsättning bör vara det övergripande målet för den ekonomiska politiken. För att det ska bli mer än tomma ord behöver den ekonomiska politiken läggas om. Vi föreslår följande. 1. Låna till investeringar Det enklaste […]
Created
Sun, 12/01/2025 - 12:20
Drivin’ down your freewaysMidnight alleys roamCops in cars, the topless barsNever saw a womanSo alone, so alone – from “L.A. Woman”, by The Doors In my 2019 review of Jacques Demy’s 1969 drama Model Shop, I wrote: George’s day (and the film) turns a 180 when he visits a pal who runs an auto repair shop and espies a lovely woman (Anouk Aimee) who is there to pick up her car. On impulse, he decides to follow her in his MG (yes, it’s a bit on the stalking side). He follows her high up into the hills over L.A., and then seems to lose interest. He stops and takes in a commanding view of the city and the valley beyond, deeply lost in thought. In my favorite scene, he drives up into (Laurel Canyon?) to visit a friend who’s a musician in an up-and-coming band. George’s pal turns out to be Jay Ferguson, keyboardist and lead singer of the band Spirit (and later, Jo Jo Gunne). Ferguson (playing himself) introduces George to his band mates, who are just wrapping a rehearsal. Sure enough, the boys in the band are Ed Cassidy, Randy California, and Matthew Andes-which is the classic lineup for Spirit!
Created
Sun, 12/01/2025 - 09:30

MORE than a month after his disappearance, the parents of 18-year-old Jacob Partridge are “still out searching every day” for their son in bushland around Emerald Beach. Jacob, aged 17 at the time, was last seen by friends at about 11pm near Emerald Beach – 20km north of Coffs Harbour – on Friday 6 December...

The post Community continues search for missing teen Jacob Partridge appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Sun, 12/01/2025 - 09:00
It’s even worse than the last time: The Trump family business released a voluntary ethics agreement Friday that allows it to strike deals with private foreign companies, a move that could help outside actors try to buy influence with the new administration. The so-called ethics white paper bars the Trump Organization from striking deals directly with foreign governments, but allows ones with private companies abroad, a significant departure from President-elect Donald Trump’s first term. An ethics pact that Trump signed eight years ago barred both foreign government and foreign company deals. They’re also trying to buy back the lease on the Trump Hotel in DC which they let go a couple of years ago. Why give up all that easy money? Plus MAGA DC needs a club house. Corruption is no longer an issue, at least until the Democrats take power again. Then the right wing scandal machine will rev up to a thousand and the Democrats will cower in fear. But right now, Trump can be photographed taking bankers boxes full of hundred dollar bills from an Afghan warlord and everyone would just shrug.
Created
Sun, 12/01/2025 - 07:30
Max Read published an interesting piece today about Mark Zuckerberg’s move right. He reminds us that Zuck has changed up the moderation policies every election since 2016. He just rolls with flow of whatever he thinks is the political zeitgeist. But now it’s also happening at a very important time in Zuckerberg’s life. Read writes: [This] is a useful corrective to the unfortunate framing that this announcement represents an “unapologetic” Zuck (if anything, the 2025 version is more “apologetic” than its 2021 or 2016 equivalents, just presented in a well-calibrated tone of defiance that casts his previous decisions as coerced). But I do think there’s an important and interesting difference between this video and Zuck’s previous post-election weathervane announcements: The gold chain. It’s been clear for a while now that Zuckerberg has been Up To Something.
Created
Sun, 12/01/2025 - 06:00
I am reliably told by virtually everyone that mentioning fascism is off the menu and that we need to only talk about kitchen table issues. But Jeff Sharlet makes a good point about how we have also decided to oppose Trump nominees on matters of character rather than ideology which doesn’t seem to be working: Problems with Pete Hegseth ranked from very bad to way, way worse: 6. drunkenness (common); 5. incompetence (common); 4. corruption (common); 3. raving bigotry (common); 2. alleged rape (less common); 1. Proposing military attack on US cities to exterminate all enemies. (That’s a new one). And yet focus has been winnowed down to drunkenness and incompetence, which probably describes a good 1/4 of cabinet secretaries in history. It’s framed as outrage—“he’s a drunk!”—but it functions as normalization. Not normalization via some insidious media plot to sanewash fascism. Rather, a much broader subconscious desire to frame problems in a fashion that lets us belittle actual threats. Just a dumb drunk. Ha, ha, incompetent. Not existential risk.