Another debunking years later One of the most infuriating aspects of the right-wing Contract On America is how obvious the cons are. No, that’s not it, either. It’s that we, the reality-based community, dumbly play along as if there’s some factual basis behind them. The collective We give “the miners, and sappers–of returning despotism” the benefit of the doubt. Like parents with a toddler still trying to grasp object permanence, we play along when the child acts as though the red ball we’ve palmed has ceased to exist. So, too, with the right’s allegations of election fraud that time and again prove to be the actual fraud. Why? Because it would be bad form to call out the infant-like credulity of diner-dwelling Real Americans™? Or impolite to brand them liars and cheats and unAmerican, even if justly deserved? The tactic: Lob a “voter fraud” smoke grenade into the news cycle and shout fire. The “news” compliantly plays along, front-paging the false story.
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Though her family sometimes received food stamps and occasionally had their utilities cut off, Marcie Alvis Walker’s parents led her to believe that they were an average middle-class Black family. They encouraged her to pursue her dreams and told her that if she worked hard enough, she’d achieve them. The small catch was that Walker’s dream was an elusive one for any cash-strapped and undereducated Black woman: being a New York Times–bestselling author. Now, as a published non-bestselling author, she wishes she’d had a backup plan.
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When I first got divorced, I didn’t have a job, because I was doing my best to be a good and proper Christian woman whose husband was the head of the household while she looked after his every need and cared for his castle. Small hiccup—my first husband was having none of that: no church, no traditional job, no needs, no castle.
On Sunday night, the Israeli army carried out a series of intensive strikes in multiple locations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Political commentators referred to the strikes as ‘diversion’ tactics, intended to cover a rescue operation that reportedly brought two Israeli hostages home. For Palestinians, the experience was one that has become familiar: […]
Dear Me,
What, you think your bird feeders clean themselves? That rainstorms are Mother Nature’s dishwasher, making everything just ducky at the thistle feeder? That you can simply hose down your bird-feeding stations once or twice a year with whatever water’s left over in the spray nozzle and call it a day?
Well, allow me to piss in your Cheerios, princess. See, our feathered friends shit where they eat, which means your improperly maintained platform feeder is now a petri dish of disease and death. That wasn’t a purple finch you spotted at your feeder, toots. It was a common house sparrow with pink eye. And every time Pinky rubbed its little crusty, diseased head against anything it touched? That’s right, genius. Say hello to Conjunctivitis Carnivale for the aviary known as your backyard.
Pestilence starts with ignoramuses like you who don’t have the first clue about proper bird-feeder-cleaning protocol.
The High Court ruled against Croydon Council in relation to its treatment of a disabled asylum seeker.
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Community, OMITB, The Rookie, TWD: The Ones Who Live, Chucky, Star Trek: Discovery, Doctor Who, and more!
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As Britain goes into recession, the Government is planning to double down on the same slash and burn agenda that first helped get us into this economic slump
On Sunday night, the Israeli army carried out a series of intensive strikes in multiple locations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Political commentators referred to the strikes as ‘diversion’ tactics, intended to cover a rescue operation that reportedly brought two Israeli hostages home. For Palestinians, the experience was one that has become familiar: […]
- by Aeon Video
- by Gavin Evans
- by Jennifer Saul
Recent attacks on cargo vessels in the Red Sea have disrupted a major shipping lane. This analysis looks at the impact on shipping costs and global trade flows.
Stella Assange speaks to Byline Times about her fears for her husband if his extradition to the US is allowed following a forthcoming hearing in London
Over the last few years, the Australian and UK Labor/Labour[1] parties, have followed strikingly parallel paths. A better-than expected result with a relatively progressive platform (Oz 2016, UK 2017) A demoralizing defeat in 2019, followed by the election of a new more conservative leader (Albanese, Starmer) Wholesale abandonment of the program Failure of the rightwing […]
THE third and final session of the Ignite Mini’s series hosted by Regional Development Australia Mid North Coast (RDAMNC) was held at Bellingen Golf Course on Thursday 8 February, after earlier sessions in Taree and Kempsey. Attracting a full house of key stakeholders from a diverse range of industries, the one-day forum covered a host...
The post Ignite session covers challenges and opportunities for Mid North Coast appeared first on News Of The Area.
SIXTY years of service to the Coffs Coast community is being celebrated by the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) Coffs Harbour Unit. The Coffs Harbour Unit, formed in 1964, has supported the community through several major natural disasters, including multiple major flooding events in 1991,1996 and 2009. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s...
The post Celebrating 60 years of Coffs SES, a vital force in the community appeared first on News Of The Area.
Isabel Ringrose explains that imperialism is about more than major countries dominating the smaller ones
The post Why capitalism breeds imperialism and war first appeared on Solidarity Online.
With more than 30,000 dead and much of Gaza reduced to rubble Israel’s genocidal assault shows no sign of relenting.
The post Israel set to launch murderous assault on Rafah as Albanese sits by first appeared on Solidarity Online.
Today (February 15, 2024), the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest – Labour Force, Australia – for January 2024, which confirms a weakening in the labour market. The signs of a slowdown were appearing in late 2023 and the January figures probably confirm that trend, although the changing holiday behaviour makes it difficult to…
And I’m talking about stupid weird Monmouth poll: – Just under 1 in 5 Americans believe the singer Taylor Swift is part of a covert effort to help President Joe Biden win the 2024 election. At the same time, the Monmouth (“Mon-muth”) University Poll also finds that most Americans are supportive of efforts by Swift to encourage her fans to vote. Just under half (46%) of the American public has heard something about Swift being part of a supposed covert government effort to help Biden win the 2024 presidential election. Just under 1 in 5 Americans (18%) believe such a conspiracy involving Swift exists. Fully 71% of those who believe this identify with or lean toward the Republican Party and 83% indicate they are likely to support Donald Trump in the fall. Also, nearly three-quarters (73%) of those who believe the Swift conspiracy also believe the 2020 election outcome was fraudulent.
Recent papers have argued that monetary policy and economic conditions can influence the amount of innovative activity in the economy, and therefore productivity and living standards in the future. This paper examines whether this is the case for Australia, a small open economy that tends to import innovation from overseas. We find that contractionary (expansionary) monetary policy reduces (increases) aggregate research and development (R&D) spending, and that lower (higher) R&D spending reduces (increases) future productivity. However, using firm-level data and a broader survey measure of innovation that also captures adoption, we find heterogeneous responses across different firm types. Small firms decrease innovation in response to contractionary monetary policy shocks whereas large firms increase innovation. This heterogeneity appears to reflect differing exposure to the channels through which monetary policy affects innovation. These channels include affecting demand or affecting financial conditions and constraints. We also find that US monetary policy spills over and affects Australian firms' innovation.
