It’s all part of the Republicans’ cunning plan At this point in election season the political press starts making forays into the wilds of Real America to try to find out what the voters are thinking. It can be an interesting exercise in the hands of journalists who have a feel for more than the usual “breakfast crowd at the diner” type of stories and find some insight that’s helpful to understand the cross currents that shape the electorate in a particular cycle. All too often, however, it’s just a series of cliches and conventional wisdom, unfortunately. We always see tons of coverage of Iowa and New Hampshire, for obvious reasons. But when it comes to picking the brains of swing voters they always seem to head up to Wisconsin, the quintessential swing state. Back in 2020, just before the election, the NY Times sent a couple of reporters there to take the temperature of voters in the state that former president Donald Trump barely won in 2016 to see what undecided swing voters were thinking four years later.
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What a feast of anti-China stories we have had again from the Coalition and our media over the incident between HMAS Toowoomba and a Chinese PLA-N destroyer. The whole issue really looks to be overblown – and seeded by some in the Sinophobia school who are worried about where Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Continue reading »
After a succession of record-breaking months of record heat including 1.8°C in September, global warming for 2023 as a whole will likely tip 1.5°C, with 2024 even hotter as the effect of the building El Nino is felt more fully. Already hundreds of thousands have died and millions displaced, primarily in countries least responsible for Continue reading »
Israel’s military campaign to rout the war machine and government authority of Hamas in the Gaza Strip has entered its sixth week. Its steady physical destruction of the terrorist organisation’s military capabilities above and below ground has left a trail of physical ruin and a growing humanitarian tragedy as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian Continue reading »
Living standards have fallen recently. The Albanese Government has responded with targeted assistance, but the policy options to alleviate the damage for working families are limited, especially in the short run. However, one readily available policy option would be to reshape the Stage 3 tax cuts due to take effect next July. All the evidence Continue reading »
The traditional parties of compassion – Labor in Australia, Labour in Britain, Liberals in Canada and the Democrats in the US – have come under attack from the left and the right for abandoning workers. The critique from the left, particularly the Marxist left, is that the parties of compassion have become preoccupied with socially Continue reading »
For a former cricketer (one time Port Melbourne Cricket Club thirds all-rounder) and keen participant in politics it was immensely satisfying to see Australia winning the ICC World Cup while the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was there in the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad to witness it. In case you were wondering of the Continue reading »
Being part of the global supply network that supplies parts for the Israeli F-35 jet fighters used over Gaza implicates Australia in their alleged war crimes. Australian-equipped Israeli Air Force F-35 Joint Strike Fighters are being used to commit what amounts to war crimes in Gaza by bombing civilians and providing aerial support for a murderous ground Continue reading »
Elon Musk has announced that common pro-Palestine phrases like “from the river to the sea” and “decolonisation” are now banned on Twitter and will result in suspension, falsely claiming that they “necessarily imply genocide”. This move is likely an attempt to appease key advertisers who have been pulling out of the platform in response to Continue reading »
Amid campus tensions over the Gaza war, the university declined to explain why the vandalism of posters warrants FBI involvement.
The post American University Called on the FBI to Investigate Defaced Posters appeared first on The Intercept.
One thing for which I’m personally grateful is that I can get away with writing articles like this.
The post 10 More Things to Be Grateful for This Thanksgiving appeared first on The Intercept.
The majority in most nations don’t support Israel’s genocidal bombing in Gaza but politicians by huge majorities do, and those who support Palestinians find themselves under constant attack.
Explanations for this tend to concentrate on how much money politicians receive from Israel supporters.
“What people don’t know is that every room in every one of those homes had cameras.
Details buried in the Chancellor's statement show we are heading for years more of tax rises, low growth and public sector cuts thanks to his Government, reports Adam Bienkov
The bill would also mandate the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism in Israeli courts. The families of hostages call it political theater.
The post After Hamas Attack, Israeli Politicians Want to Empower Military Tribunals to Execute Palestinians appeared first on The Intercept.
Just ask this religious scholar who took 73 high-dose LSD trips.
The post You Can Have Too Much Transcendence appeared first on Nautilus.
Hold fast We’ve reached “the end justifies the means” chapter of our American experiment. Peter Wehner runs down in The Atlantic a by-now familiar accounting of the fascistic things Donald Trump says and his MAGA audience applauds. Trump’s rise to the presidency began with, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best.” (The Republican Party took that as candidate recruiting advice.) He’s gone from declaring Mexicans drug dealers, rapists and criminals in 2015 to telling crowds today that immigrants from south of the border are terrorists and escapees from mental institutions who are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Wehner pointedly begins by sketching out the dehumanizing rhetoric that prededed the Rwandan genocide in 1994. I still remember just where I was when I heard that news on the radio.