Reading

Created
Sun, 24/12/2023 - 01:00
WHAT went viral? They seemed otherwise unstoppable. Then common terrestrial bacteria felled the invading Martians in “War of the Worlds.” Put a pin in that. Could it be important? A week or so ago, this post from Adam Kinzinger popped up and … whut? Whatever prompted that was unclear or I missed it and dismissed it. Then last night this pops up: The story on MeidasTouch includes video “testimony” from former The Apprentice staffer Noel Casler about “Diaper Don”: “The diapers is not a joke,” Casler began. “He would often soil himself on The Apprentice set. He’s incontinent from all the speed, all the Adderall he does, all the cocaine that he’s done for decades…His [bowels] are uncontrollable.” Casler claimed that Trump has been wearing diapers since the 1990s and the he had a chance to witness it firsthand in the late 2000s, while working on the set of The Apprentice. One hellsite user Xitted, “Wonder why Trump hasn’t sued Noel Casler for defamation yet? Prob cause discovery would be wild” “It’s true. Many people are saying,” quipped another X user.
Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 21:13
I was walking with my teenage son in a large shop the other day, and we passed by the children’s section. I saw a duvet cover that so much reminded me of Kretk – or, in English translation, the Little Mole. We were recalling which of the Kretk films that we saw we liked most […]
Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 10:59
Things Are Going Much Worse For Israel In Gaza Than The Official Reports

I always thought that the official casualty numbers from Israel, both for their own soldiers and for how many Hamas they’ve killed were dubious. But now we’re getting confirmation. Likewise against Hezbollah.

Sure they have:

Against Hezbollah:

Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 10:00
Sometimes you just have to let things play out for awhile: More than 15 million people have signed up for health insurance plans offered on the Affordable Care Act’s federal marketplace, a 33 percent increase compared to the same time last year, according to preliminary data released by the Biden administration on Wednesday. Federal health officials project that more than 19 million people will enroll in 2024 coverage by the end of the current enrollment period next month. That total would include those who gain coverage through state marketplaces, continuing the record-setting pace. Despite a recent warning from former President Donald J. Trump, the front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, that he was “seriously looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act, the latest surge in marketplace enrollment is a testament to the law’s enduring power. Legislation passed earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic increased federal subsidies for people buying plans, lowering the costs for many Americans.
Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 08:30
That would be Christopher Rufo: I had been wondering why there was such out-sized coverage of this issue. I realize that many members of the elite media went to Ivy League schools so it’s of personal interest. But now I see that it’s a right wing hissy fit ginned up by their chief propagandist. Rufo knows exactly what he’s doing. And I have to assume that the mainstream media knows it too. It’s not as if he’s trying to hide it. Keep your eye on this as we go into the election year. These mini-scandals have a way of affecting close elections depending on the timing. I can’t help but think of the Comey sabotage in 2016. Thee is good evidence that if it had happened a week or so earlier, Clinton would have recovered in the polls. (They bounced up and down a couple of points throughout the fall campaign.) These folks know how to get the media excited and they’ll find a way to dominate unless the public remains vigilant and calls them out. Happy Hollandaise!
Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 05:30
Semafor reports on a recent meeting by some pretty heavy hitters to strategizde how to stop this sabotage campaign by No Labels: A coalition of Democratic and Republican anti-Trump groups are organizing an aggressive, multi-front campaign to stop the independent group No Labels from injecting a third major candidate in the upcoming 2024 election. Their plans, laid out in a private, roughly 80-minute call obtained by Semafor, include legal attacks, opposition research and warnings to potential candidates and donors that involvement with No Labels could make them politically toxic. No Labels, founded in 2010 by a top Washington political fundraiser, Nancy Jacobson, bills itself as an answer to America’s divisive partisan politics, and has sought to present a poll-tested centrist platform. Democrats believe any such effort is far likelier to pull votes from Biden than from Trump, whose support The call, organized by the center-left Democratic group Third Way with the help of the progressive Move On, also included representatives of End Citizens United, the Lincoln Project, American Bridge, Public Citizen, and Reproductive Freedom for All.
Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 04:57
Despite the limitations of the recent COP28 climate meeting in Dubai, there was a positive aspect skipped over too quickly by its critics. At the closing plenary (time stamp 2:24:50), the Zambian representative described his delight at the ‘climate love’ he experienced – the extraordinary goodwill among most participants. Goodwill, moral sensibility, and the empathetic Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 04:52
“The fact that one of the least populated countries on Earth contains the world’s second most expensive housing is a national calamity, and a stunning failure of public policy,” writes Alan Kohler, in the latest Quarterly Essay. He doesn’t mince words. We are in a housing crisis – and it is a public policy failure Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 04:51
Usman Khawaja played an important batting role in Australia’s recently finished demolition of Pakistan in the first Test in Perth. The ongoing controversy, however, around his writings on his cricket boots and black armband as a protest display have raised questions about the relations of sport and politics and the role of sporting and other Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 23/12/2023 - 04:50
The victimisation by Israel of Palestinian children is so profound that Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkain, a Hebrew University of Jerusalem law professor, has described it as “Unchilding,” that is, in order to “eliminate the next generation of Palestinians, Israel treats Palestinian children as both nobodies who are unworthy of global children’s rights and as dangerous and killable Continue reading »