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Last week we got a reminder that, among its many functions, the federal budget is the repository of all the successful rent-seeking by the nation’s many business and other special interest groups. Unfortunately, it added to the evidence that the Albanese government knows what it should do to manage the economy better, but lacks the Continue reading »

A not-so-happy anniversary: Usually, a first anniversary is an occasion for all-round rejoicing and back-slapping. So, it was to be expected that there’d be universal self-congratulation on the first anniversary of Anthony Albanese’s, Rishi Sunak’s and Joe Biden’s announcement on 13 March 2023 that Australia would purchase nuclear-powered attack-class submarines from the US as part Continue reading »

Kushner, who served as a key Middle East adviser to Trump, said that Gaza’s “waterfront property could be very valuable” and urged Israel to “clean it up.” Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former president and presumptive 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump, said in a recent interview that if he were in charge of Israeli policy, Continue reading »

The basic problems mostly originate at the level of methodology, and in particular with the current emphasis on methods of mathematical modelling. The latter emphasis is an error given the lack of match of the methods in question to the conditions in which they are applied. So long as the critical focus remains only, or […]

Pye is scheduled to die Wednesday night. His conviction raised red flags, including alleged racism by his own trial attorney.

The post After Four Years Without an Execution, Georgia Prepares to Kill Willie Pye appeared first on The Intercept.

Back when Texas had some common sense Her comments used to be the usual way people would defend the right to abortion — straightforward, no weasel words, practical and confident. Then the anti-abortion zealots became mainstream in the Republican party and Democrats went on the defensive and they didn’t emerge from it until 30 years later when the Supremes struck down Roe v Wade. The price for that foolish capitulation is extreme.

When do you start calling the person you are dating “babe”? Psychologist and philosopher William James called this the single greatest question about human relationships. Thinkers and scientists have studied the issue relentlessly, and here are their findings.

On the first date: Either you are a delusional and scary person, or you are shockingly good at turning first get-togethers into magical adventures with hot-air balloon sex. Saying “babe” on date one is the ultimate “going all in” strategy, and it will ensure either your absolute victory in becoming lovers or, more likely, that your number is promptly blocked, deleted, and reported to the authorities.

On the second or third date: This is where we leave psycho territory and enter the land of the merely desperate and pathetic. A three-date babe index carries a clear subtext: I want to be in a relationship, and I want it now. Perhaps your date is just as sad and needy as you, and your fast-track “babe” ploy will work. If so, congrats. Enjoy your codependency.

New research on census, youth, mental health; a recent talk and an upcoming one tl;dr:  1. New paper with Janet Vertesi: “The Resource Bind: System Failure and Legitimacy Threats in Sociotechnical Organizations” 2. “Techno-legal Solutionism: Regulating Children’s Online Safety in the United States” (my paper with María Angel) was officially published as part of the ACM CS+Law symposium.  […]

Labour is set to unveil details of its plans to devolve more powers away from Westminster

Trump needs money so he’s putting Manafort back on active duty Donald Trump had an epic meltdown on his social media site Trump Social on Tuesday. Even for someone who is prone to ranting and raving in public, this was one for the books. Apparently on the verge of cracking under the financial pressure stemming from the civil judgments against hims for defamation and fraud, he let fly with post after post filled with whining and invective against New York Attorney General Leticia James and NY State Judge Arthur Engoran. For instance, he wrote: “Any business thinking about moving into New York State is CRAZY! The level of anger and hostility toward businesses and business people is incredible. Numerous people have spoken to me about this since the Racist and Politically Corrupt A.G., who ran for office on a platform of “I will get Trump” without knowing anything about me or my business, and her corrupt puppet Judge, Arthur Engoron, who has already been overturned 4 times on this case, a record, started doing a number on me.” He seems a little bit stressed, wouldn’t you say?

As the House of Lords finally begins scrutiny of the UK data protection reform, Open Rights Group urges peers to support amendments that would strengthen the independence and effectiveness of the UK data protection authority, and bolster the public’s right of seeking a remedy against an infringement of their rights. The ICO has a long […]

The “temporary pier” being built on the Mediterranean coast of Gaza is not there to alleviate the famine but to herd Palestinians onto ships and into permanent exile.

The post Chris Hedges: Israel’s Trojan Horse appeared first on MintPress News.

Psychically, TFG “needs to make the election a referendum on himself.” Perhaps the most delicious part of the 24/7 Trump reality show is watching the 77-year-old spoiled brat come apart at the seams, and his organization with him. It seems “panic mode is setting in.” The former president never expected to win the presidency in 2016, botched the transition, didn’t know what the hell he was doing, hired sycophants and relations to whom he didn’t listen, and hundreds of thousands of Americans died in his tardy response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Because he’s corrupt as hell, never ran anything larger than a small family business, and because Donald Trump is about Donald Trump 24/7/365. Trump does not keep chickens that I know of, but they are coming home to roost anyway. Psychically and financially, if not yet criminally. A smart, ah say, a smart challenger-candidate with Trump’s pandemic record wouldn’t touch the “Are you better off?” question with a ten-foot cattle prod.

The second semester of my freshman year of college, I found Jesus. When it happened—it being when I came before the saints and admitted I was a sinner in need of a savior—all I could think about was how happy my mother would be. She’d been sending (tithing) her good, hard-earned money (disability and welfare checks) to every pompadoured, polished, bedazzled, fork-tongued televangelist for years in hopes of saving her wayward children.

I found Jesus because in the first semester of my freshman year, I’d found love. That fall, I slowly fell for a wiry, bespectacled boy from Chicago whom I’d mistaken for a professor because he carried a briefcase and wore a shirt and tie with impeccably creased dress slacks. He seemed taken at first sight of me. I was conceited with the stuff of youth, complaining but delighting in being the chosen object of his infatuation.

Timothy Snyder considers “The Bloodbath Candidate” Consider: In “The Bloodbath Candidate,” Yale history professor Timothy Snyder, author of “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” analyzes Donald “91 Counts” Trump promising in Ohio last Saturday there would be a “bloodbath for the country” if he’s not elected: The Vandalia rally began with a brazen celebration of the convicted criminals who took part in Trump’s failed coup attempt.  Those present were instructed to “please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6th hostages.”  The reference was to convicts serving time for attempting to overturn the results of the last presidential election and thereby overthrow the American form of government.

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Summer, 2002. Flags and bunting billow as the UK marks Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. The Three Lions put in a better than expected performance at the World Cup, but in true English fashion, there is grumbling because the glory of almost four decades previous could not be replicated. Despite the cultural distractions, real political […]

In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Superman & Lois, X-Men '97, Doctor Who, Bosch: Legacy, PLL: Summer School, IWTV, The Acolyte, Fallout & more!