Reading

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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 15:49
Such is the title of a recently published FOREIGN AFFAIRS article by Bernie Sanders, the sub-title of which is Replacing Greed, Militarism and Hypocrisy With Solidarity, Diplomacy, and Human Rights. Readers will recall Bernie Sanders as the Senator for Vermont with a reputation as a liberal progressive who sought the Democratic nomination for President in Continue reading »
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 10:30
He’s got problems. Big ones. Rudy Giuliani is trapped in a living “nightmare,” and the former New York City Mayor can’t believe it’s real, he was overheard telling pals at Donald Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago last week. Source exclusively tell Page Six that Giuliani was spotted at the Palm Beach club as he’s facing bankruptcy stemming from a spate of debts. An attendee told us they heard the former Trump attorney saying he’s in a “nightmare world,” and “he wakes up everyday and can’t believe it’s real.” The onetime pol was hit with a whopping $148 million claim after being found guilty by a Georgia court of falsely accusing two poll workers of committing voter in Fulton County during the 2020 election. Feds are also reportedly targeting Giuliani’s own $3.5 million Florida condominium, as Giuliani contends he lacks the finances to settle his debts. Giuliani was at Mar-a-Lago attending an event in support of Arizona Republican congressional hopeful Abe Hamadeh, we hear.
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 09:00
Following up on a previous post, here’s Jamelle Bouie on Trump’s impunity” At no point during his long career as a celebrity real estate mogul and businessman has Trump faced any meaningful consequences for his fraudulent, even criminal, behavior. He has operated, for decades, with a shield of impunity crafted from his shamelessness, his celebrity and his craven willingness to intimidate critics with litigation or even just the threat of litigation. What is striking is the extent to which this shield of impunity has only been strengthened by the political and legal institutions of the United States. First and foremost among these is the Republican Party, which has never wasted a chance to thrust itself between Trump and the consequences of his actions. When it was the “Access Hollywood” tape, Republicans were there for Trump. They were there for Trump when it was his callous reaction to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville.
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 06:00
Amanda Marcotte on the whiner-in-chief: As anyone who listens to him can attest, Donald Trump may be the most self-pitying person on planet Earth. Pretty much all the man does is whine and cry about how he’s the victim of an imaginary “witch hunt.” In reality, his list of transgressions is staggering. If he were any other person, he would have been sentenced to prison many times over with no real hope of release: Sexual assault. Decades of fraud. Attempted extortation of a foreign leader. Stealing classified documents. Flagrant acceptance of what very much looks like bribes. Attempting to overthrow democracy. Inciting a violent riot that got people killed. I’m sure readers can list a dozen more, but let’s get to the point: It’s absolutely bananas that Trump isn’t in prison yet. On Monday, right before Trump finally got the tiniest taste of the justice he deserves for committing decades of criminal fraud in New York, he got bailed out by the state’s appeals court.
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 04:59
After five months of military operations, Israel has destroyed Gaza. By analysing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, this report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met. More broadly, they also indicate that Israel’s actions have been driven Continue reading »
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 04:56
The operation of democracy in Australia is incapable of addressing the impending environmental and climate crises because of conflict between tested truth – and convenient lies. Speaking about the State of the Global Climate report launch 2024 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, “Sirens are blaring across all major indicators… Some records aren’t just chart-topping, Continue reading »
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 04:55
The long arc of history dominated the discussion between China Foreign Minister Wang Yi and former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. “In the main, (it) was a big picture discussion about the geostrategic balances and influences in the world,” Keating said. This conversation was different from the discussions in the Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue Continue reading »
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 04:53
Richard Tanter stated in Pearls and Irritations on March 21 in regard to my piece on a former Defence Deputy Secretary, Paul Dibb on 14 February, that “Media self-censorship, and acceptance – if not cultivation – of a mystique of impenetrable opacity about Pine Gap has facilitated public acceptance of government silence, misdirection and mendacity Continue reading »
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 04:52
When Canberra told us we had to join the US in its cruel attempt to prevent a Vietnamese peasant army from overthrowing a US-armed Saigon government, some of us thought the politicians were plain stupid. When they told us the men on bicycles wearing rubber sandals were the puppets of a China seeking to thrust Continue reading »
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Wed, 27/03/2024 - 04:51
In 1942, a Finnish sound engineer Thor Damen, secretly recorded 11 minutes of a conversation between Finland’s Commander-in-Chief, Carl Gustaf Mannerheim and Adolf Hitler, without the latter’s knowledge. Fighting as allies, both seemed awed and shocked by the Soviet capacity to fight, Hitler exclaiming, “They had the most armaments that people could imagine. Well, if Continue reading »