Reading

Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 06:30
I just love this story so much: In August 2022, James O’Keefe needed to get to Maine for a sailing trip. Rather than take a commercial flight for roughly $200, the conservative undercover-video activistdirected his employees to book a $12,000 helicopter flight direct from New York to the seaside town of Southwest Harbor, using funds donated to Project Veritas, the nonprofit he founded, according to a draft of a private internal audit conducted by an independent law firm. When bad weather forced the helicopter to make an unscheduled landing in Portland, O’Keefe booked a $1,400 black car for the three-hour drive from the helipad to the sailboat. O’Keefe justified the expenses by saying that he had a meeting near the dock, the audit stated. Two Project Veritas staffers described the person he met with to The Washington Post as a low-level donor.
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 05:00
Maybe saying the word “woke” every other word wasn’t the big winner Ron and Casey thought it was Politico reports: Of the 50 donors who gave at least $160,000 in the years leading up to his 2022 reelection campaign, only 16 — less than a third — provided funds to the super PAC Never Back Down, which can receive unlimited contributions, through the end of June. Eight other major donors gave directly to his presidential campaign but not the super PAC. The top 50 list includes five donors who are now financially supporting rival presidential candidates. And of those who are giving money to the DeSantis campaign or his super PAC, five are splitting their funds with other candidates. The inability of DeSantis to convert more of his gubernatorial donors into presidential ones is emblematic of a larger shortcoming of his current campaign. And it presents particular problems for the governor precisely because his operation has leaned so heavily on the super PAC to perform basic campaign functions.
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 04:58
It is time for us to use the words Occupation, Illegality and Apartheid. We are applying these words to an occupying power truculent and implacable in its determination its occupation will never end, committed to a creeping annexation to deliver it a permanent hold over Palestinian land and Palestinian people. … Twenty years ago it Continue reading »
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Thu, 07/09/2023 - 04:57
The native forest logging industry is a fundamental danger to Australia’s natural environment and an utter disaster for climate change policy. It is reported that the downward trend of Australia’s greenhouse emissions has ended. Instead, they have begun to slightly increase. Western Australia and Victoria have announced an end to native logging by the end Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 04:55
Once an early experiment in democracy, Australia has declined into a quagmire of unrepresentative governments at state and federal levels. Power games are played obsessively by most members of a narrowly-recruited and self-serving political class whose only interest seems to be staying in power. Politics is not a vocation for these leeches on the Australian Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 04:54
The Australian Government’s current Multicultural Framework Review is looking at ways for government and the community to work together to support a cohesive multicultural society and advance a vibrant and prosperous future for all Australians. The Review coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam Government’s 1973 report ‘A Multi-cultural Society for the Future’, which Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 04:51
China’s president has stressed the great value of strong China-US contacts at grassroots level. President Xi Jinping has stressed the importance of strengthening exchanges, promoting understanding and expanding cooperation between the Chinese and American peoples in order to continuously give new impetus to developing relations between the two countries. Xi made the remarks on Tuesday Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 04:50
The British billionaire-owned newspaper The Telegraph has an appalling new article out which reads like a paid advertisement for a missile manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The title even sounds like it was written by a marketing team: “A war-winning swarm missile will knock China out of Taiwan — fast”, subtitled “Rapid Dragon is a military gamechanger that Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 04:04
PIEATHALON BITCHES! If you don’t know the Pieathalon rules click HERE. My pie came from Down Under! Taryn of Retro Food for Modern Times sent me a recipe from The Leggos Italian Cookbook (1975) Leggos not to be confused with L’eggo my Eggo.   Before we get into it–just a little history of Leggo courtesyContinue reading PIEATHALON 10: Villa Pie (1975)
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 03:30
Following up on my post below, here’s Obama vet Jim Messina on the same topic. And he makes a point I failed to make: the real problem isn’t Biden’s age, it’s the possibility of losing because of third party gadfly campaigns. It’s happened before … MESSINA TO DEMS: CHILL OUT — Every day, it seems, there’s new fodder for Democrats looking to freak out about President JOE BIDEN’s reelection prospects: Sagging public views of the economy. Persistent voter concerns about Biden’s age. And erosion in the president’s standing among key minority groups, to name a few. The man who put the last Democratic president back into the White House — JIM MESSINA, manager of BARACK OBAMA’s 2012 reelect — is back with a reassuring message for his fellow Dems, delivered in a new 22-slide presentation exclusively obtained by Playbook: Relax. We caught up with Messina last night, and he made it clear he doesn’t see the election through rose-colored glasses.
Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 03:00

To all inhabitants of Plato’s Cave,

If you are receiving this letter, it means you have been designated a tenant of the cave—i.e., you are chained to the wall, you are forced to watch shadows for all eternity, you are projecting said shadow puppets, and/or you are a philosopher who was able to break free and understand the true shackles of reality (PhD candidates about to argue their thesis).

We are writing this memo to introduce ourselves, the new property managers of Plato’s Cave, and to let you know that this fall your rent will be raised.

We cannot wait to work with you as we journey together, but we also want to clarify that we mean real, actual money and not allegorical discussions on the concept of fiat currency.

We want to address a few points:

Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 01:23

A previously unreported NSA inspector general report about Anne Neuberger reveals disarray and dysfunction at the top of the cybersecurity hierarchy.

The post Top Biden Cyber Official Accused of Workplace Misconduct at NSA in 2014 — and Again at White House Last Year appeared first on The Intercept.

Created
Thu, 07/09/2023 - 00:55
In mainstream economic theory, institutions were long taken for granted. As the far-reaching consequences of institutional assumptions have become increasingly difficult to ignore, economists have, in recent times, made greater efforts to incorporate institutions into their models. This renewed interest in broadening economic theory to encompass economic and political institutions has centred on the analysis […]