Some GOP Senators behave responsibly today. Go figure: Donald Trump spent the weekend telling senators they should not pass more unconditional U.S. foreign aid. More than a dozen Republicans ignored him Sunday, moving forward on a bill to send $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The Senate voted 67-27 to advance the foreign aid supplemental spending bill that doesn’t include border provisions, moving it another step closer to passage. That still isn’t guaranteed, as leaders haven’t yet reached an agreement on GOP-demanded border amendments. The package faces some resistance from Republicans, who say they won’t back further aid to Ukraine unless it’s amended to include border policy changes. Last week, Republicans blocked a bipartisan border-foreign aid package that was negotiated for months, arguing it didn’t go far enough to limit migration. Consideration of border amendments would require unanimous consent from senators, which is still elusive. “From this point forward, are you listening U.S. Senate (?),” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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When my mother died in 2000, I inherited all her books. Sadly, after several moves and downsizings over the decades, her collection had shrunk. Still, it remains considerable and impressive in its own way. Her legacy to me included some special volumes like a first edition of Frederick W. Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management, a famed codification of time-management practices and an origin point for concepts that helped shape work in the last century — and this one, too. Oh, and there’s also a first American edition of E.M. Forster’s novel Howards End. On the flyleaf, she inscribed this note: “Stolen by Suzanne Gordon.” As the bookplate on the cover’s interior indicates, it was indeed stolen from (or at... Read more
Source: Banning What Matters appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
The Opposition’s shadow minister for home and foreign affairs, Barnaby Joyce, has blamed the stress of the bonk ban on his most recent drunken Wednesday night antics, which involved him falling off a planter box and swearing loudly into his... Read More ›
And why the U.S. State Department is now in a difficult position on Pakistan.
The post Pakistan Election: Latest Updates on Imran Khan and PTI’s Surge appeared first on The Intercept.
In South Dekalb County, Georgia, the South River forest forms a canopy so lush and life-giving that it is referred to as one of the…
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – February 11, 2024
by Tony Wikrent
Gaza / Palestine / Israel
Israel’s Relentless Bombing Erases Gaza’s Heritage Sites
[Wide Walls, via Naked Capitalism 02-09-2024]
Kevin McCarthy was known as a prodigious fundraiser and is as connected as anyone in politics. And he’s pissed: Donors no longer want to contribute to their campaigns. Primary opponents are lining up to take them out. And some of them have been ex-communicated from caucuses on Capitol Hill. The eight House Republicans who took the unprecedented step of removing Kevin McCarthy from the speakership are facing blowback, both in Washington and back home. It’s a sign that even four months after the historic move, emotions are still raw inside a GOP conference that is continuing to reel from McCarthy’s ouster. Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Bob Good of Virginia have arguably received the most incoming fire, with both now facing serious primary threats as they gear up for reelection. And Rep. Matt Rosendale, who recently jumped into the US Senate race in Montana, is facing headwinds in GOP circles — in part because of his vote to boot McCarthy — as top Republicans fear he will cost them a pivotal seat.
And then there’s this: The kewl kidz are very upset that anyone would suggest they aren’t doing their jobs well: By the way: This is how you do it:
Last month, news bubbled that the Victorian State government had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Israeli Defence Ministry in December 2022. “As Australia’s advanced manufacturing capital, we are always exploring economic and trade opportunities for our state – especially those that create local jobs,” a government spokesperson stated in January. In March Continue reading »
In what world does a dominant state claim they have a right to defend themselves against those they have unethically, immorally and illegally imprisoned for decades, killed and persecuted without trial? There’s been an abundance of evidence… Our intelligence sources say… It is very credible intelligence… A complete and transparent investigation… According to the intelligence Continue reading »
A number of commentators have proposed that the Aged Care Funding Taskforce would, and indeed should, recommend increasing user charges. With particular reference to services delivered through Commonwealth Home Care Program (CHSP), this step would be achieved by splitting care services and ordinary daily living supports; the former would be subsidised and clients would pay Continue reading »
A landmark event in global public health is taking place in Panama City on Feb 5-10: the 10th Conference of Parties (COP10) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Since 2003, the FCTC has been ratified by 183 countries, and all of them, including China, have made steady progress in monitoring tobacco Continue reading »
In recent days, U.S. media have been proclaiming that North Korea plans to initiate military action against its neighbour to the south. An article by Robert L. Carlin and Siegfried S. Hecker, neither previously prone to making wild assertions, created quite a splash and set off a chain reaction of media fear-mongering. In Carlin’s and Continue reading »
US politicians and others are always boasting about the US being the greatest in just about any category you can think of – from the record for eating hot dogs in a given time to their so-called democracy. But perhaps the greatest boast is that it is a peace-loving state committed to protecting the world. Continue reading »
Ai Weiwei joins a long line of dissenters such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Liu Xiaobo who became disenchanted by the West. After criticising Israel for its scorched-earth military operation in Gaza and defending Palestinian human rights, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei had his long-planned exhibition at the famed Lisson Gallery in London abruptly cancelled in Continue reading »
He is so brain damaged that he still thinks, after all this time, that NATO countries pay some sort of “dues” and if they don’t it means he can refuse to support them. It’s so stupid that it’s hard to even contemplate how dangerous it is to allow this person to be president again.
As many of you know, I spent a good portion of my career covering entertainment, and during that time I was fortunate enough to interview many talented performers, including three Beatles (George, Paul and Ringo), a bunch of movie and … Continue reading
An empty bucket, a Zappos shoebox, potting soil, a collapsed dog crate, a dog bed, a broken lamp wrapped in duct tape, some synthetic firewood—the flotsam and jetsam of the half-forgotten years. These leftovers from past lives accumulate in suburban garages as the people who once wanted them get older and older. Useless and unnoticed, […]
The post The Memory Hole appeared first on The New York Review of Books.
The only winning move is not to play Joshua: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess? Joahua, the artificial intelligence defense computer in War Games (1983), almost launches World War III while playing “Global Thermonuclear War” with itself. A young computer enthusiast played by Matthew Broderick thought it was just a cool game he’d found on a military supercomputer he’d hacked. He invites Joshua to play. Joshua was actually in control of missile launch commands. The presumptive Republican candidate for president in 2024, the imbecile Donald “91 Counts” Trump is no computer, and seems to lack intelligence, artificial or otherwise. But he did have an uncle who taught at MIT, so same difference. Trump last night publicly entertained inviting global thermonuclear war. In the Broderick role in this year’s War Games reboot, we have the mainstream press. Reporters are busily pecking away at their keyboards trying to coax the American electorate into playing “but her emails” once again … because it was so much fun (and good for clicks and ratings) in 2016.
Renegade Nell, a new 8-part historical swashbuckling fantasy by Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley), premieres on Disney+ on March 29th.
From more Boeing revelations to the dark money in TV broadcasting, here’s all news from The Lever this week.
Be a shame if something happened to it Wicked Witch of the West voice: And your western economy, too! “The president of a big country stood up, said, ‘Well, sir…” the former president told a MAGAfied crowd in Conway, South Carolina. Here we go. Another bullshit “sir story.” Washington Post: “One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?,’” Trump said during a rally at Coastal Carolina University. “I said, ‘You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent.’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.” “This is crazy. And 8 years later, Trump shows that he STILL doesn’t understand how NATO works! It’s not a protection racket. They don’t pay us to protect them. Geez,” tweeted former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. Foreign policy wonks gasped. Why, at this point, who can say?
Three years after Trump’s unprecedented killing spree, the death row visitation project offers a lifeline for those who survived.
The post Amid the Lingering Trauma of Trump’s Executions, a New Project Brings Families to Federal Death Row appeared first on The Intercept.
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Super Bowl LVIII, Superman: Legacy, Puppy Bowl XX, True Detective, TWD: Daryl Dixon, Doctor Who, and more!