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Last week the self-appointed “strategic” experts’ in the Opposition predictably were quick off the mark to criticise Prime Minister Albanese for taking time to carefully consider a US Navy approach (in public) for an RAN ship to be deployed to yet another US “coalition of the willing” in the Middle East. This time to mount Continue reading »

In the next federal election, people will not forget the Liberal Party’s disgraceful policy of supporting Israel’s crimes, violation of international laws, and betrayal of Australia’s values and principles to appease Israel and its extremist lobby, especially in the five marginal seats held by the Liberals – Banks (NSW), Sturt (SA), Deakin (VIC), Menzies (VIC) Continue reading »

Chris Bowen would have us believe that actually mentioning the words ‘fossil fuels’ and a transition away from them was a “turning point” in the history of COP negotiations. What is he smoking? Way back at the first COP in 1995 that might just have held true. But 28 years later this agreement – riddled Continue reading »

“Gaza can only succeed as an entity as part of a genuine Palestinian state. It cannot be allowed to be a mere holding pen, a new ghetto. The whole of the West Bank must be combined with Gaza as the Palestinian state. It must be a state with real sovereignty, with free and open borders Continue reading »

On the Australian economy, bulls and bears cannot both be right. 2024 will decide the fate of both economies and markets, a hard, soft or no landing. Global Outlook Bulls argue that the worst is over since the back of inflation has been broken. While elevated interest rates will not fall until next year, they Continue reading »

It’s becoming a force of habit. Initially, grand plans and hopes for those in defence. A future weapons program in the offing able to add new capabilities. Much anticipation and the inking of signatures with the relevant manufacturer. Then, mounting costs, technical faults, the disappointment, and revision. In the case of the Future Submarine deal Continue reading »

‘In the document drawn up by a top secret and high-level working group that met in Washington in September 1957, Mr Macmillan and President Eisenhower were left in no doubt about the need to assassinate the top men in Damascus.’‘Documents show White House and No 10 conspired over oil-fuelled invasion plan’, The Guardian, 27 Sept Continue reading »

Although the trial of the former media magnate Jimmy Lai Chee-ying on charges involving sedition and collusion with foreign forces, was scheduled to begin on Dec 18, there were last-minute attempts from abroad to disrupt it. The Five Eyes intelligence alliance comprises Australia, Canada, the UK, the US and New Zealand, and its two senior Continue reading »

Settler colonial states have a terminal shelf life. Israel is no exception. Israel will appear triumphant after it finishes its genocidal campaign in Gaza and the West Bank. Backed by the United States, it will achieve its demented goal. Its murderous rampages and genocidal violence will exterminate or ethnically cleanse Palestinians. Its dream of a Continue reading »

Given the history of opposition to the ordination of women, it may come as little...

Iain Overton examines the dreadful record of sexual abuse in boarding schools and asks whether the conditions which allowed historic assaults to flourish are now being addressed

Could the disappearance of certain benefits be causing Biden’s weakness among young voters in particular?

The post Poll Shows Student Debt Policy May Be Killing Biden appeared first on The Intercept.

He thinks it’s working for him Of course it’s Miller who’s put the Nazi talk back into the discourse. Trump doesn’t know from “vermin.” He would just say “rat.” Trump is an instinctive fascist not an ideological one. And that may even be worse: IN THE DAYS following Donald Trump’s remarks that migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” the 2024 GOP frontrunner was met with a wave of Democratic and media criticism, likening his speech to Nazi rhetoric. In response to the Adolf Hitler comparisons, Trump has privately vowed to further amp up the volume on his extreme, anti-immigrant messaging, according to two sources who’ve spoken to him since his rally in New Hampshire last weekend.  “He wants the media to choke on his words,” one of these sources says.

Constitutional Framers here. We’re just sending a little missive to clear up some confusion. We hear there’s been a bit of hullabaloo regarding the precise meaning of the words our colleagues and we labored over about eight score years ago. We’re here to clarify that we indeed meant what we fucking said.

Some of you are suggesting that when we wrote that someone who previously took an oath “as an officer of the United States … to support the Constitution of the United States” but “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” cannot be president, perhaps we meant something other than the literal fucking meaning of those words.

We can understand the confusion. Sometimes, people’s words are the opposite of what they mean, as when using sarcasm or engaging in a bit of satire. I can assure you that we were not employing such literary devices when we drafted the goddamn Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.

And $6 boxes of cereal Between degrees I worked as a waiter. I preferred tips on a credit card. Yes, that made them more reportable. But it also made them bigger. Customers seemed more generous when the cash didn’t come directly out of their wallets. They felt the bite more when they plopped down cash. Americans’ sense that their personal economy remains unwell may stem from something like that. Great economic data is abstract. Six-dollar boxes of breakfast cereal are not. Nor five dollars for a dozen eggs. That’s what Americans feel most, The Atlantic‘s Gilad Edelman explains: Working with Leger, a North American polling firm, we asked 1,005 Americans how they felt about the economy. As with other recent polls, this one painted a gloomy picture. Only 20 percent of people said that the economy has gotten better over the past year, compared with the 44 percent who said it has gotten worse. (There was a big partisan split, but even among self-identified Democrats, only 33 percent said the economy has improved.) Then we asked them to choose, from a long list, what factors they consider when deciding how the national economy is doing.

And 90% aren’t eating every day.

The US could stop this tomorrow, Israel is a small country completely dependent on America.

The only country really doing anything to help is Yemen. They have been attacking Israeli associated freighters whether Israeli flagged or not (but not any freighter that is not owned or heading to Israel.) The US has been protecting this Israeli freight and has announced a campaign to stop them and keep the Red Sea open with twelve partners, none of whom are on the Red Sea: Britain, France, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the Seychelles and Bahrain.

by Dave Rollo

Warn anyone in the USA about the coming energy crisis and you’re likely to see eyes roll. “What energy crisis? That was half a century ago! Markets and technology won. Today we’re back among the top oil suppliers!”

All true, but the response gives a false sense of security that has policymakers and publics sleepwalking toward a cliff. An energy crisis is likely ahead, no matter our rank (currently third) among oil supplying nations.

The post Approaching the Energy Cliff appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

This hasn’t exactly been a year of good news when it comes to our war-torn, beleaguered planet, but on November 15th, U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping took one small step back from the precipice. Until they talked in a mansion near San Francisco, it seemed as if their countries were locked in a downward spiral of taunts and provocations that might, many experts feared, result in a full-blown crisis, even a war — even, god save us all, the world’s first nuclear war. Thanks to that encounter, though, such dangers appear to have receded. Still, the looming question facing both countries is whether that retreat from disaster — what the Chinese are now calling the “San... Read more

Source: The U.S. and China at Year’s End appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

This was your court, John Roberts SCOTUS-watcher Dahlia Lithwick comments on the dilemma in which the Roberts court finds itself. Choose your clichéd metaphor: painted itself into a corner, hoisted on its own petard, shot itself in the foot, chickens coming home, etc. Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife are just one court soap opera. The fact that conservative funders expend lavish sums to sustain the pair in the style to which they’ve become accustomed makes it clear that both the Federalist Society and SCOTUS conservatives believe justice goes to the highest bidder. The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to ban Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot for engaging in insurrection is on its way to D.C. Thomas will surely not recuse himself from that and other Jan. 6 cases involving players with which his spouse Ginny is closely aligned.

The meat industry’s misinformation tactics are even worse than the fossil fuel industry’s. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 14th December 2023 Everything that makes campaigning against fossil fuels difficult is 10 times harder when it comes to opposing livestock farming. Here you will find a similar suite of science denial, misinformation and greenwashing. […]

Dear People Who Hate the Paul McCartney Song “Wonderful Christmastime,”

Hi, it’s me. I’m that person who loves the song “Wonderful Christmastime.” What do I mean by “love,” you ask? I don’t mean I find myself accidentally humming along with it while I’m shopping for sherpa-lined sweatpants or driving to a December root canal. No. I mean I listen to it on purpose. I mean I seek it out.

Because you have not replied to my previous letters, I’m brainstorming my own best-guess reasons for your hatred of this song. Before we begin, please understand that hatred is almost always based on one primal, human emotion: fear.

You might fear the Paul McCartney song “Wonderful Christmastime” because you are afraid of being left out of wonderful Christmastime celebrations. These range from ironic ugly sweater bashes to sincere gingerbread-swap scenarios to glittery how-is-she-not-freezing-in-that-sleeveless-dress galas you’ll remember into your twilight years. The joy of not being alone in December!

New legislation designed to limit the activities of Russian oligarchs seems to be more honoured in the breach than the observance