Reading

Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 06:38

A recent rally in front of the White House featuring Nazi iconography has been wholly ignored by the same mainstream media outlets pushing the narrative of rising antisemitism. The two DC-based organizations behind the events collaborated with the Biden administration on a similar event last February. This Veterans Day, on November 11, passersby outside the White House gates were met with the sight of protest signs bearing Nazi-inspired Wolfsangels and protesters performing fascist salutes. While the rally may have fallen […]

The post US govt-linked Ukraine activists hold pro-Nazi Veterans Day rally outside White House first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post US govt-linked Ukraine activists hold pro-Nazi Veterans Day rally outside White House appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 06:30
“It looks like they hate immigrants. Well I am an immigrant, and I did what I could to try and save that little girl ”— Hero Brazilian delivery driver Caio Benicio Right wingers rioted in Dublin last night, angry because an immigrant stabbed 5 people. It turns out that it was an immigrant who stepped in and stopped the assailant. Imagine that.  Brazilian food delivery driver in Dublin heroically stopped the knifeman who attacked a group of young children outside their school yesterday. The attack, which hospitalized three children under the age of 7 and a 30 year old teacher who was trying to protect them, triggered the worst riots in living memory in the Irish capital after a far right mob, described as a “lunatic, hooligan faction” by the police was whipped up by reports on social and mainstream media that the knifeman was an immigrant. The ringleaders were then joined by opportunistic rioters who looted stores, and torched buses and police vehicles.
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 05:00
They’re there for him in his time of need. And they’re prepared to use the power of the state to shut down his critics. Here’s how the free speech warriors of the right defend the first Amendment: Elon Musk’s new lawsuit against Media Matters, which X Corp. filed late Monday, has been dismissed by legal experts as a frivolous effort to bully a prominent critic into silence. But some Republicans apparently see this as a feature, not a bug: They are allying themselves with Musk’s effort for precisely this purpose. Musk’s suit charges that Media Matters deliberately and deceptively harmed X (formerly Twitter) with a widely-publicized investigation showing that posts containing pro-Nazi content appeared on X alongside advertisements from leading companies. That, along with a surge in antisemitic content, has advertisers fleeing the site, sparking a slide in ad revenue. Republicans are eagerly rushing to Musk’s rescue — and not just rhetorically.
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 04:58
In a lead article last week in The Sydney Morning Herald the political and international editor Peter Hartcher declared that Australia was ’connected to three wars’, but only one of them would be measured in decades. He was referring to the conflict in Gaza and the war in Ukraine both of which ‘affect Australia’s security’. Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 04:55
The Federal Government has announced a review of current policies and programs that aim to promote a more equitable distribution of the health workforce. The Working Better for Medicare Review, to be led by nurse, advocate and remote health expert Professor Sabina Knight and former senior health bureaucrat and academic Mick Reid, is expected to consult Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 04:54
Something’s happening in renewable energy, the government embraces the National Party’s established approach to infrastructure funding, if you can’t find a rental on land take a cabin on a cruise, the Albanese government is slow to act because it has to clear all significant policy through Dutton, and why Adolf Eichmann would have been acquitted Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 04:53
The terms of reference for the ACT Law Reform and Sentence Advisory Council are Rolls Royce, but the resources – three public servants – are Mini Minor. While the council is well constructed and will certainly be well led, it needs more horsepower. The establishment of the ACT Law Reform and Sentence Advisory Council is Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 04:51
The dismissal of Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by Queen Elizabeth’s Vice-Regal representative, Sir John Kerr, was an extraordinary event. For almost fifty years a debate has raged about why the Governor-General took the unprecedented action he did on 11 November 1975. This five-part series puts a spotlight on the on the external events that Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 04:50
The Guardian has long promoted itself as a valiant publisher of news and analysis that holds the powerful to account. It is a thing of wonder that the Guardian appends the following comment beneath news pieces: ‘Our quality, investigative journalism is a scrutinising force at a time when the rich and powerful are getting away Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 02:45
Where we are headed That’s about as succinct as it gets. So do yourselves a favor. Volunteer for a local campaign. Donate to a local campaign (not to a marquee one doomed to fail because you really can’t stand the Republican). Encourage your Democratic family and unaffiliated friends (especially) to vote in the primary and general election next year. Yes, it really does matter: BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — In the northwest corner of Louisiana, a candidate for parish sheriff demanded a recount Wednesday after losing by a single vote in an election where more than 43,000 people cast ballots. […] “This extraordinarily narrow margin … absolutely requires a hand recount to protect the integrity of our democratic process, and to ensure we respect the will of the people,” John Nickelson, the Republican candidate who trailed by one vote in last week’s election for Caddo Parish Sheriff, posted on social media Wednesday. Henry Whitehorn, the Democrat who won the sheriff runoff, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. You’ve seen plenty of close races, even in unlikely places like this.
Created
Sat, 25/11/2023 - 01:00
Trump’s “Stanford” experiment The MAGA faithful, at long last, have not seen the light. That Road to Talledega moment, that flash of insight when the scales fall from their eyes and their political savior is revealed a bronzer-caked madman bent on the destruction of the red, white and blue nation they hold so dear? Never happened. What has happened since Donald Trump’s Veterans Day “vermin” speech is that the mainstream press and others have finally stopped giving him the benefit of the doubt. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Donald Trump is a fascist,” late-night host Stephen Colbert told his audience. Former Republican Tom Nichols declared Trump had “crossed one of the last remaining lines that separated his usual authoritarian bluster from recognizable fascism.” Even the New York Times this week broached the subject. But the answer to why the faithful have not wavered might be found in Philip Zimbardo’s 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment and its aftermath. Zimbardo famously set up a mock prison in Stanford University’s psychology department.
Created
Fri, 24/11/2023 - 23:40

Originally published November 26, 2013.

- - -

And after the feaste, which did consist of water-fowl, and cod and bass and other fishes, and a great many wylde turkeys, the people of Plymouth did retire. And upon awakening they were greeted with many goodly savings, on itemes of considerable necessitie, and just in tyme for the forthcoming holidaye season!

Shoes of sturdy leather were to be had for the low, low sum of a single raccoon’s pelt, and milking cow discounts did flood with joye anyone able to parse the true meaning of “half-off.” Values on corn, squash, peas, and barley likewise were out of this (New!) worlde; and the people’s clamour to purchase a canoe, a novel form of transport that many did consider the hot new gift, was so immense that for some poore souls it did prove injurious.

The canoe came with not one, but two paddles!

Children cried out for the latest in earthen wares, stickes carv’d to resemble swords and lances, and the itemes, most useful in rough housing and horse play, did seem to fly off the shelves, such was the zeale of the demand.

Created
Fri, 24/11/2023 - 21:35
Episode 19 of my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. Coming today from The Cape, Victoria, Australia. In this episode, I discuss the mess that privatisation and public-private partnerships have created. I note that these arrangements were all justified by the claim that the governments had run out of money…
Created
Fri, 24/11/2023 - 20:50
Toxic chemicals deliberately added to sewage are being spread across a vast area of farmland, with potentially catastrophic effects. We’re suing the government to stop it. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 18th November 2023 It’s an experiment with 8 billion test subjects, no controls and no endpoint. What happens when you release thousands […]