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Green shoots in renewable energy; Optus and the Reserve Bank in a contest to slow the Australian economy; and the Trumpisation of Australian politics. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues. Australia’s re-awakening renewable energy industry A pep talk from the Continue reading »

In a telephone conversation between Kissinger and Nixon following the 1973 military coup d’état in Chile, the President asked if “our hand” showed in the overthrow and death of the democratically elected President Allende. Kissinger explained that “we didn’t do it”, in terms of direct participation in the military actions. “I mean we helped them”, Continue reading »

A new report from the ADL claims that anti-Semitic incidents across the US have skyrocketed by more than 400%. But as Alan Macleod reveals, the numbers do not add up unless one equates opposition to Israel's bombardment of Gaza with hatred of Jews.

The post ADL Data on Rise of Anti-Semitic Incidents Doesn’t Add Up appeared first on MintPress News.

NSO Group has pushed to be taken off a U.S. blacklist since 2021. Now, citing the threat of Hamas, it’s trying to cozy up to the Americans.

The post Israeli Spyware Firm NSO Demands “Urgent” Meeting With Blinken Amid Gaza War Lobbying Effort appeared first on The Intercept.

“I am so tired of these psychos” Maybe Americans are getting a clue. Maybe they are waking up, if not in the way wingnuts and QAnons think they should. The results of the last few elections suggest that, as Jamelle Bouie writes, the right’s culture war shtick — from “parental rights” to book bans to “critical race theory” to transgender kids and ad nauseum freakouts over drag shows — has finally worn thin (New York Times): If the results of Tuesday’s elections in Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio tell us anything, however, it’s that this post-Roe form of culture warring is an abject failure, an approach that repels and alienates voters far more than it appeals to or persuades them. It certainly turned off voters to Moms for Liberty. They got their asses handed to them in school board races in Iowa on Tuesday.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain discusses wins and eyes expansion to nonunion automakers.

The post Shawn Fain on How the UAW Whipped the Big Three appeared first on The Intercept.

One useful way to think about Silicon Valley ideologies is through looking at cryptocurrency. Payment systems like Paypal were as much a part of the Silicon Valley story as platforms like Facebook. They have always been entangled with political aspirations. According to Peter Thiel, Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon was required reading for Paypal’s leaders. They wanted […]

To help celebrate our twenty-fifth year of being on the information superhighway, we have reached out to some of our favorite former columnists for check-ins and updates. Today’s columnist, Mark Peters, was one of the winners of our 2013 Column Contest. In Best Joke Ever, he examined perfect jokes by masters of the form. We’re happy to welcome Mark back to the site with a brand-new installment.

“I make grave mistakes all the time. Everything seems to work out.” — Thor

For a genre of movies that evolved from what were once called long-underwear characters, superhero films haven’t been all that funny. The Spider-Verse movies are exceptions—and visually mind-sploding. Michael Keaton in Birdman is a dark comedy of the gods. Guardians of the Galaxy is a hoot.

Is that straight-talk enough? Joe Biden is running for president of the United States. Donald Trump is running for dictator of the former United States. That is the 2024 presidential contest in a nutshell (until someone comes up with something blunter). There is not enough bronzer in the world to conceal the pasty, combed-over remnant of a democratic republic this country will be in 2025 should enough Americans not come to their senses and dump Trump and his Christian-nationalist authoritarian cult. One thing Trump and his imitators know: repetition works. Say anything enough times and people will begin to believe it. Social proof. The left thinks facts speak for themselves and need no marketing. They’re wrong. Ask the people peddling Medicare advantage plans or Skyrizi. The press sells more soap (drugs that may be “right for you,” these days) promoting a close horse race than on covering a democracy’s slow, public descent into authoritarianism. It’s a ratings downer. Martin Niemöller is a downer. Until Trump’s goons come for your favorite news anchor. There are a few voices shouting warnings on the fringes.

"It seems Israel's latest war on Gaza has been seen as an opportunity to clean up political content on the internet and reassert informational dominance. Ultimately, it will not work. As book burners of the past found, when you suppress an idea, you discredit your own arguments against it." -- Lowkey

The post YouTube’s Connections to Pro-Israel Lobby Behind Removal of Lowkey’s Infamous Song: ‘Terrorist’ appeared first on MintPress News.

Unlike some of the shallow, paleolithic men out there, I prefer a natural woman without makeup. Actual lashes instead of fake Muppet ones. Real skin instead of caked-on purple-glitter mush. Shredded cuticles and uneven nails chewed up from anxiety instead of pointy acrylics.

Women should adhere to my sophisticated, progressive opinion. I don’t want to be deceived by concealer and contour. I want an authentic woman with dark bags under her eyes from not having slept for days and blemishes dotting her cheeks from pimples past. There’s no need to spend hundreds of dollars on retinol to prevent aging. I love crow’s feet. I want to grab fistfuls of white hair while I kiss turkey-like jowls. I know you think since all my exes are fifteen years younger than me, I don’t mean that, but that’s just a coincidence. I would totally date someone older than me, like Naomi Campbell or Julia Louis Dreyfus.

In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Stranger Things, The Simpsons, SNL, Avatar, The Umbrella Academy, Arcane, WandaVision, The Boys, and more!

Examining last week’s Verge-vs-Sullivan “Google ruined the web” debate, author Elizabeth Tai writes: I don’t know any class of user more abused by SEO and Google search than the writer. Whether they’re working for their bread [and] butter or are just writing for fun, writers have to write the way Google wants them to just […]

The post Algorithm & Blues appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

This newspaper has found officers in London have been zealous users of the system, which automatically scans the faces of passers-by and matches them against a watchlist

On 5 November 1993, John Major’s right-wing Tory government passed the Railways Act. The Act moved ahead with what even Margaret Thatcher had considered a step too far: the privatisation of Britain’s railway. Since then, at least £31 billion has leaked out of the network and into the hands of the private sector, and we […]

The United Kingdom Constitution Monitoring Group believes there is evidence of a desire by some politicians to wholly bypass democracy

‘You magically appear and then magically disappear’: meet the hidden heroes of tennis as they compete for a spot on the court

- by Psyche Film

Watch at Psyche

In Nanjing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities, rapid urbanisation is multiplying a fear of death and belief in ghosts

- by Andrew Kipnis

Read at Aeon

The Home Secretary believes homeless people live in tents on the streets of this country as a 'lifestyle choice'. She needs to take a closer, compassionate look...