Reading

Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 16:20
I’ve posted a few times over the years about a trip I made with my partner to Leipzig in East Germany back in 1984, and I confess that the now-defunct country retains a kind of fascination for me. My rather banal judgement then and now is that the country, though marked by annoying shortages and […]
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 09:30
So Trump has revealed his secret plan at last: Former president Donald Trump has privately said he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory, according to people familiar with the plan. Some foreign policy experts said Trump’s idea would reward Russian President Vladimir Putin and condone the violation of internationally recognized borders by force. Trump’s proposal consists of pushing Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbas border region to Russia, according to people who discussed it with Trump or his advisers and spoke on the condition of anonymity because those conversations were confidential. That approach, which has not been previously reported, would dramatically reverse President Biden’s policy, which has emphasized curtailing Russian aggression and providing military aid to Ukraine. As he seeks a return to power, the presumptive Republican nominee has frequently boasted that he could negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours if elected, even before taking office.
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 08:00
Yeah, whatever. He made it clear yesterday that he’s just doing this to get elected. I mean, he said it out loud: Basically Trump said that he’s fine with making little 10 year old rape victims go through childbirth because a “state” says that’s how it should be. He also took credit for ending Roe v Wade — I don’t think he realizes just how much that’s going to hurt him in swing states that are trying to ban abortion. The Biden campaign came out swinging: Update: Former President Donald Trump went after Sen. Lindsey Graham Monday for knocking Trump’s stance on abortion, saying that “Democrats are thrilled” with Graham pushing a federal ban on the procedure.
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 06:30
I’m not sure where she’s getting this stuff but she’s one step away from QAnon with crap like this: This woman is very powerful. (I know that’s hard to accept but it’s true.) In this Republican Party she is a force to be reckoned with and she’s on the verge of defenestrating the current Speaker over this if he doesn’t do her bidding.  There’s a good chance he will bend to her will because it does not conflict with his Christian Nationalist beliefs. In fact, she’s probably trying to rally his right wing Christian base to pressure him not to bring Ukraine aid to the floor. That would explain this as well: She got roasted on social media and responded on Sunday: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Sunday defended an earlier statement saying Monday’s eclipse and Friday’s New York-area earthquake were signs from God telling people to repent. After two days of backlash, Greene addressed a community note that was added to provide context to her original post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 06:00

Last year I published an edited volume called Clickbait Capitalism. The title came as a surprise, even to me. The book was meant to be called Libidinal Economies of Contemporary Capitalism. No one was interested in the volume until I changed the title. This surely tells us something about the publishing industry and how it likes to market the political-economic. A list of recently published books includes the following: Chokepoint Capitalism, Crack-up Capitalism, Cannibal Capitalism. Whatever next? One pundit on Twitter cut to the heart of the matter: “Why not ‘capitalist’ capitalism?” Anyway, I sent an email out to a few publishers: “I have a book manuscript called Clickbait Capitalism. Do you want to see it? Click here!” And just like that, they were interested. It was almost an accident. At the very least an experiment. There was no mention of clickbait whatsoever up until that point. Then suddenly it became the hook for the entire project.

Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 05:00
They didn’t even show Florida, which is a real shocker: It’s about time the MSM took notice of this phenomenon. There’s been a ton of talk about the Biden “uncommitted” vote because of Gaza but very little about the fact that Trump’s getting a smaller percentage of the GOP vote than Biden gets from Democrats. And a bunch of these races have happened long after the other candidates have dropped out: A month after Nikki Haley dropped out of the Republican race, former President Trump is still dealing with a contingent of voters showing up to cast primary ballots for candidates who aren’t him. Why it matters: President Biden has more successfully unified his voters despite never facing a strong primary opponent and an organized protest vote over the war in Gaza. -In 10 recent primary contests, more than one-quarter of GOP primary voters cast a ballot for a non-Trump candidate. -“Joe Biden has a real golden opportunity to capture all those disaffected people who voted for Nikki Haley,” said Arizona-based GOP strategist Barrett Marson.
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 04:58
In 1890 Henry Parkes spoke of “The crimson thread of kinship running through us all.” He believed this “crimson thread” – evocative of blood – united all white people in the Australian colonies and bound them to Britain. The federation he was advocating for Australia was to be exclusively white and eternally British. In contemporary Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 04:57
The death of young aid worker Zomi Frankcom in Gaza last week was a tragic reminder that we have all failed to stop this unrelenting violence against the innocent. Many Australians have been horrified that the six months war continues, because governments fail to uphold international law and even our own leaders have hidden from Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 04:56
As paediatricians and child health professionals we have committed our professional lives to promoting the physical and psychological health of children. Every society places great importance on the care and protection of its children in addition to the dignity it attributes to all human lives. War harms children disproportionately. It destroys their right to thrive Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 04:55
The Western press is filled with stories of foreboding about the Chinese economy. We are told regularly that China’s fast growth is over, that China’s data are manipulated, that a Chinese financial crisis looms, and that China will suffer the same stagnation as Japan during the past quarter century. This is U.S. propaganda, not reality. Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 04:53
We are getting used to mega-sized investment announcements from the government – a couple of billion for hydrogen projects, four or maybe six billion for “critical minerals” and now a billion for solar panel manufacturing. Of course, these numbers are small compared to government commitments such as the NDIS or of course AUKUS, but they Continue reading »