Reading

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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 08:30
Is anyone surprised? I don’t think anything could be more predictable, not even the sun coming up tomorrow. “It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States,” McConnell said in a statement to The Washington Post. “It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support. During his presidency, we worked together to accomplish great things for the American people including tax reform that supercharged our economy and a generational change of our federal judiciary — most importantly, the Supreme Court. I look forward to the opportunity of switching from playing defense against the terrible policies the Biden administration has pursued to a sustained offense geared towards making a real difference in improving the lives of the American people.” McConnell — who has announced he will step down from his leadership role in November — is one of the most influential Washington Republicans to back Trump, and the endorsement was a remarkable, if expected, move from the Kentucky Republican.
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 08:00
Its that time of the year … I have a long flight today with a long drive from where I have been working this week to get to the airport and at the end of the various journeys will be a birthday cake (cue LC). The travel is to get me to where the cake…
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 07:00
Sometimes I feel as if they’re just trying to make me think I’m crazy. I never in a million years would have thought that Republicans would cut the funding for the FBI but here we are. I think the most astonishing thing about this is that they’ve done it strictly for the purpose of defending that cretin Donald Trump. It’s not that they’ve truly decided that the police need to be hemmed in or that the FBI is too big and powerful. They just want to exact revenge on behalf of their Dear Leader. If he wins they’ll pack it with toadies and give them everything they ever wanted to go after their enemies.
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 06:23

Like any football fan, I’m used to hearing differing takes on the same event. Nevertheless, I was surprised to read the Guardian’s report on those who gathered outside the Arsenal vs Tottenham Women’s Super League game last Saturday to protest the genocide in Gaza. According to the report, protesters were intimidating enough to scare dozens […]

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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 05:30
This is the one we should all send to our conservative relatives who aren’t dyed in the wool cultists. (There is no hope for them.) It’s just nuts that Biden’s getting slammed on the economy by everyone. I have friends with money who are bitching and moaning about how much their always expensive restaurant meals cost. But then they haven’t gained a lot on “wages” (don’t ask about their portfolios which have exploded) so they’re not getting enough of a taste. It’s a mantra. I think this just shows that politics isn’t really politics. It’s entertainment for some and therapy for others. It certainly isn’t about policy. And it certainly isn’t about reality.
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 05:00

Beowulf, a new prose translation into Gen Z.

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Fam. The Spear-Danes in, like, pre-Boomer days
And the kings who ruled them served courage and greatness, straight facts.
We have heard of these princes’ GOAT campaigns

There was Shield Sheafson, canceler of many tribes,
A high-key shredder of mead benches, flexing all over foes.
This dragger of the hall-troops had come far.
A smol bean to start with, he would glow up hard later on
As his powers got fire af and his rizz went viral. Legend.
In the end, each group chat on the outlying coasts
Beyond the whale road had to simp for him
And begin to pay tribute. That was one absolute unit of a king. I stan.

Created
Thu, 07/03/2024 - 04:59
Prime Ministers are too often monopolised by people telling them what they want to hear. Most political advisers can’t see beyond the latest opinion poll and the Australian bureaucracy has become equally reluctant to offer frank and fearless advice. It appears that the Attorney General, Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade Departments have each failed Continue reading »
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 04:58
Between Monday 19 February and Monday 26 February the ICJ heard oral submissions on the request for an advisory opinion in respect of the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. Make no mistake. This case is about as important as it gets. It Continue reading »
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 04:56
With the Opposition Spokesperson for Immigration, Dan Tehan, making it clear immigration levels will be a key battleground for the 2025 Election, the Government will be keen to see net migration trending down faster. While net migration past its peak in around September 2023, it is still not falling sharply. That is despite major tightening Continue reading »
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 04:54
Life in the era of end-stage Neoliberalism feels like a sci-fi script. While far right zealots gain ground with media clickbait frenzies promoting their disinformation and lies, the ‘nice people’ live in fear of being ‘non-compliant,’ so they do nothing, as the zombie-like aliens circle. Joseph Heller would observe ‘It’s Catch 22 on steroids,’ as Continue reading »
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 04:53
As we approach the tenth anniversary of the 2014 disappearance of flight 370, Malaysian Airlines, we are getting the usual barrage of media speculation about the alleged mystery and its possible causes. Yet for me at the time, as a contributor to an Asian news service, there was no mystery. Two UK dailies had run Continue reading »
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Thu, 07/03/2024 - 04:52
The brilliant, compassionate peace scholar and activist Stuart Rees, a regular contributor to this publication, constantly searches for ways of jolting the consciences of journalists, the political class – anyone in fact witnessing the horrors in Gaza. He’s simply asking people, especially those in power, to condemn and act upon the bleeding obvious: that a Continue reading »