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As a Houston prosecutor, Kelly Siegler won 68 murder convictions and 19 death sentences. But the case of Jeffrey Prible raises questions about her record.

The post Kelly Siegler Is a True-Crime Celebrity. Did She Frame an Innocent Man for Murder? appeared first on The Intercept.

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – December 17, 2023

by Tony Wikrent

 

Oligarchs’ war on the experiment of republican self-government

Constitution in the Crosshairs: The Far Right’s Plan for a New Confederacy

Nancy Maclean, Arn Pearson, December 11, 2023 [progressive.org, via Naked Capitalism 12-15-2023]

The midpoint of the current federal Labor government’s term of office is a good time to take stock and assess its performance. What has it done in each of the major policy areas? What has not yet been done but needs to be done? What are the possibilities and prospects? More generally, what does the recent experience of Labor in government indicate about the role of the state and policies for reform within modern Australian capitalism?

This special theme issue of JAPE contains 19 articles that address these concerns.

The post Labor in Government: A new special issue of JAPE appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Make them explain it. Make them own it. CNN’s Kasie Hunt interviewed RFK Jr and confronted him with his own words. As with Trump, he basically told the audience, you can believe me or you can believe your eyes: I watched some “man-on-the-street” interviews at an RFK event the other day. Oh my god. The anti-vax crowd is well represented, of course, and some of them would otherwise be Trumpers.But there were some woo-woo lefties there too, so woefully mid-informed that it made my head hurt. (Did you know that Joe Biden is a criminal and lied about COVID on behalf of Big Pharma? ) So I’m not sure that this sort of interview will affect his potential voters much. They’re pretty far gone. Right now some polls show him getting about 20% and pulling from both sides. But we really don’t need this conspiracy addled gadfly in there stirring the pot. This election is too important. But it doesn’t look as if anyone can stop him. Let’s just hope he doesn’t get on the ballot anywhere where it can make a difference. Happy Hollandaise, everyone!

For those who had hoped Australia might bring a more constructive approach to issues of peace and security, year’s end cannot come soon enough. 2023 has seen a succession of armed conflicts – from Ukraine to Nagorno-Karabakh, Sudan, Myanmar and Israel-Palestine – and countless humanitarian crises fuelled by civil war, insurgencies, and the ravages of Continue reading »

The latest Japanese political scandal involving at least four top government ministers and numerous junior officials is widely seen as a fatal blow to the prime minister Fumio Kishida already dogged by a weak image and record low popularity polls. It is worsened by LDP party’s seeming inability to decide on the economic policies needed Continue reading »

Trumpian populism has not yet taken hold here. Why? Perhaps because this country’s not quite as unequal as others. One good thing about taking a break from work is that it gives you time to let your mind wander from all the pressing concerns of our fast-moving world – the preoccupation with this ‘‘crisis’’ and Continue reading »

Indonesians have just witnessed a messy, badly produced TV ‘debate’ between the politicians jostling to run the world’s fourth largest democracy facing a national election in less than two months. Just a few weeks ago it seemed Indonesian politics was edging towards modernity by recognising that half the voters are women with different values, needs Continue reading »

After letting net migration blow out to around 518,000 in 2022-23, the Albanese Government has announced it wants to bring net migration down to 375,000 in 23-24 and 250,000 in 24-25 Home Affairs Minister O’Neil insists these are ‘estimates’ rather than ‘targets’ – presumably trying to avoid criticism of the blow out in net migration Continue reading »

More than 100 health, legal, social, community services providers, advocates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations have stepped up pressure on the nation’s Attorneys-General to raise the age of criminal responsibility nationally to at least 14 years old, with no exceptions. Their joint statement was released ahead of a meeting of the Continue reading »

Bipartisan support for temporary extra government spending to preserve businesses and jobs through JobKeeper was one of the few positive outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognition that the long-term damage caused by short-term economic crises far exceeds the cost of temporary government spending to avoid it underpinned that consensus. It’s worth considering now whether the Continue reading »

The former president’s comments have ignited concerns from critics and scholars who have warned that a second Trump administration threatens democracy – even as his advisers push back on those fears, dismissing them as baseless.  Many likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers have no issue with several of Trump’s recent statements, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll has found, and, more often than not, they say the same statements make them more likely to support the former president.  Holly Rice, a 57-year-old poll respondent from Cumming, Iowa, said she was backing Trump for his policy agenda, saying “I don’t care what he tweets. It’s a little off the wall, but you know? A lot of them do stuff like that,” Rice said. “At least we know he’s not a polished politician. He reminds me of my father.”  June Koelker, a 71-year-old poll respondent from Monticello, Iowa, said Trump’s immigration plans made her more likely to back him, but she answered she was “less likely” to support him for his statement about those who enter illegally “poisoning” the country.

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Stay hydrated, get good sleep As we approach the winter solstice, things are not as dark as they seem. More sunlight is on the way. As I noted the other day: I’m assembling mailing lists for the 5th Ed of For The Win right now. Two years ago 40% of Idaho’s counties either had no functioning Democratic committees (or no sign of them on the Net). Today all do. Two years ago an even higher percentage of Iowa’s counties were MIA. Today only 5 [of 99] are. Sure, it’s red Idaho and Iowa, but it’s dramatic progress in two short years. Nobody knows about that. Now you do. Candidate filing closed at noon on Friday in North Carolina and I was thrilled: Chided for absences across more than 25% the General Assembly races in 2022, Friday’s final half-day of election filing for the 2024 cycle brought a resounding end to the fortnight. All 50 Senate districts have a Democratic candidate, and 118 of 120 House of Representatives districts have one. That’s a far cry from nobody in 15 Senate and 29 House races.

The Israeli military continues to act as it did during the Nakba, when it employed torture in a bid to crush the spirit of Palestinian resistance, perceiving the humiliation of Palestinians as an expression of dominance, power, and supremacy.

The post Urinating on Prisoners: Why Humiliation is Functional in Israel’s War on Palestinians appeared first on MintPress News.

From billionaires bankrolling judges’ luxury trips to the politics of Israeli soccer hooligans, here’s a roundup of our reporting from the past week.

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How the Russia hawks have fallen … for Putin Not that long ago the American right was militarist, love-it-or-leave-it, and rabidly anti-Communist/anti-Russia. To a comical “no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops” and “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” degree, even. Fight ’em over there so we don’t fight ’em over here. War was good business, good politics, and a resume-builder for aspiring politicans. Americans of all political stripes reflexively pulled for the underdogs facing imperialist aggression (unless we were the imperialists). Then came the BIg Shift. Now righties are fans of authoritarians and dictators. They’ve soured on all-American democracy and have turned fascism-curious. Let Russia have Ukraine, whatevs. It’s been in the making since the 1990s. Susan B.

An FOI request has revealed that the data of people who are referred to Prevent is being shared more widely than previously known, including with airports, ports and immigration services. Data is also being re-used after cases have been marked ‘no further action’. ORG uncovered this information when the Met police sent a poorly-redacted response […]

Year-end roundup time…here’s a few more recommended 2023 Blu-ray reissues for your creel: Dance Craze (BFI; Region ‘B’ locked) – In the book Reggae International, a collection of essays compiled by Stephen Davis and Peter Simon, sub-culturalist Dick Hebdige writes about the UK’s short-lived yet highly influential “2-tone” movement of the early 1980s: Behind the fusion of rock and reggae lay the hope that the humour, wit, and style of working-class kids from Britain’s black and white communities could find a common voice in 2-tone; that a new, hybrid cultural identity could emerge along with the new music. The larger message was usually left implicit. There was nothing solemn or evangelical about 2-tone. It offered an alternative to the well-intentioned polemics of the more highly educated punk groups, who tended to top the bill at many of the Rock Against Racism gigs.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon