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Fri, 21/02/2025 - 04:00
Over here: The last day has been the worst polling day for Trump during his entire 2nd term. -4 polls show his net approval rating underwater like The Little Mermaid. -The 3 polls with a trend line show his ratings going down. -His one time strength (the economy) is now a weakness. pic.twitter.com/l9IQOhXS9K — (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) February 20, 2025 Meanwhile: He is completely out of it:
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Fri, 21/02/2025 - 03:18

Big congratulations to McSweeney’s friend, colleague, and writer Mac Barnett, who has been named the 2025-26 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Here’s the press release from the Library of Congress:

The Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader announce the appointment of Mac Barnett as the 2025-2026 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Barnett is the ninth author to hold this position. He succeeds Meg Medina, who served as the National Ambassador from 2023 through 2024.

Barnett is the author of more than 60 books for children, including Twenty Questions, Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, A Polar Bear in the Snow and Extra Yarn, as well as the popular Mac B., Kid Spy series of novels, The First Cat in Space graphic novels and The Shapes Trilogy picture books.

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Fri, 21/02/2025 - 02:30
Sellouts are selling out The Lincoln Project poses, “@realDonaldTrump if you truly believe Zelensky is a dictator, then why aren’t you kissing his ass like you do all the others?” Before we get to more ass-kissing, John Harwood states what we all know: “Trump lies about every single thing” because “he’s psychologically unable to tell the truth.” It’s not even worth debunking, although photographic evidence does. “We are one news cycle away from Trump giving military aid to Russia,” the Lincoln Project also posted on Wednesday, presumably not in all seriousness. But who can say with the speed at which King Donald is climbing into Vladimir Putin’s pants? Trump is selling out Ukraine, NATO, and now, not unexpectedly, the United Nations: Here’s the Reuters blurb: LONDON/GENEVA/BERLIN, Feb 20 (Reuters) – The U.S. is refusing to co-sponsor a draft U.N.
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Fri, 21/02/2025 - 02:28
If You Go For The King #2: Romania

So, the supreme court of Romania cancelled the previous Presidential election, ostensibly because of Russian interference.

The guy who won last time, however, will probably win the next elections in May. He recently stated:

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Fri, 21/02/2025 - 02:11
Trump’s assaults on governance could trigger systemic collapse. Here’s how it might happen, and how we can prepare. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian  18th February 2025 Though we might find it hard to imagine, we cannot now rule it out: the possibility of systemic collapse in the United States. The degradation of federal […]
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Fri, 21/02/2025 - 01:32

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for immigrants, particularly the non-white variety from south of our border. His statements that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of our country,” coupled with Fox News reports on Hispanic-appearing migrants who commit crimes, leave little doubt about what he and his allies think of (non-white) immigrants and their contributions to this country. So it didn’t surprise me that he recently began to follow through on his own and his Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership’s earlier intentions (as far back as 2018) to detain immigrants — including unaccompanied children — at military posts. Earlier this month, the first deportation flight carried a few men from the American mainland to our... Read more

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Fri, 21/02/2025 - 01:00
“What can I do today?” The news out of Washington, D.C. and Europe is so insane that let’s start with someone who’s not cowed by the Musk-Trump coup: New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “Every day our job is to wake up and say what can I do today?” “There is no act too small.” You might want to watch that several more times. Meanwhile, Republicans in control(?) of Congress are running scared, too concerned for their political survival to dedicate any of their waking hours to saving their republic (or their European allies) from the Russian puppet sitting in the Oval Office. “Senate and House Republicans know Trump will orchestrate the running of a primary challenger backed by Elon Musk’s unlimited resources if a member defies him.,” Gabriel Sherman writes at Vanity Fair.
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Fri, 21/02/2025 - 00:00

Dear Miss Julie,

As you’re about to discover, we’re sending Lionel back to preschool today after his two-week-long illness-related absence. Although we had a wonderful time hanging out with our boy twenty-four hours a day, taking him to multiple doctors’ appointments, neglecting urgent deadlines, and waking up intermittently at night to pin him down while injecting syringes of ibuprofen into his mouth, he’s finally well enough to return to school, according to a telemedicine appointment with a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Holistic Healing Center receptionist temp. A few small notes:

Created
Thu, 20/02/2025 - 21:27
Post Keynesian authors have offered various classifications of uncertainty … A common distinction is that of epistemological versus ontological uncertainty, with the former depending on the limitations of human reasoning and the latter on the actual nature of social systems … Models of ontological uncertainty tend to hinge on the existence of information that is […]
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 20:00
Sam Christie and Aniruddha Rajan Sudden contractions in credit supply can trigger and amplify recessions – a reality made painfully clear by the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC). However, quantifying these real economic effects is challenging. In this post, we demonstrate a novel way to do so using Granular Instrumental Variables (GIV), focusing on the … Continue reading GIV us some credit: estimating the macroeconomic effects of credit supply shocks
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 18:54

AN ENGAGED crowd of nearly 300 packed the Coast Hotel at Coffs Harbour last Friday night for “Politics in the Pub” featuring the first Independent Senator for the ACT David Pocock, and two-time Federal candidate for Cowper, Caz Heise. Despite the sweltering conditions and standing-room-only crowd, the audience remained enthusiastic, directing a wide range of...

The post Independents join forces at Coffs Harbour’s ‘Politics in the Pub’ appeared first on News Of The Area.

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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 18:52

AN 86-year-old cyclist has celebrated his birthday aboard his bike, in a pedalling party of friends. Dressed in high-viz lycra, the Dorrigo, Urunga, Bellingen Bicycle User Group’s (DUBBUG) very own “Poppy John” enjoyed a birthday ride that included a stop off for morning tea where his wife Pam joined in. Advertise with News of The...

The post ‘Poppy John’ celebrates his 86th birthday cycling with friends appeared first on News Of The Area.

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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 17:41

PROGRESS on the Coffs Harbour bypass will be explained in a series of webinars next month. Webinars will provide an update on construction progress of bridges, tunnels and earthworks, and participants will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of each presentation. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for...

The post Webinars to explain Coffs Harbour Bypass progress appeared first on News Of The Area.

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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 12:32
Today (February 20, 2025), the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest – Labour Force, Australia – for January 2025. Employment growth was relatively strong and concentrated on full-time employment, which is a good sign. It was, however, unable to keep pace with the underlying population growth and the rising participation rate and as a…