Reading

I’m going to keep this one brief.

At the start, Covid could have been stopped with travel bans, track and trace, mandatory isolation and lockdowns.

The problem with how everyone did lockdowns is that they did them too late. Instead of starting lockdowns when hardly anyone had Covid BUT R was over 0 (one case of Covid was spreading to more than one person) they would wait until the numbers were high. As a result lockdowns were long, but never actually crushed Covid and over time support for lockdowns was lost.

But the real problem is that controlling Covid spread required travel bans. Western Australia, which controlled Covid almost completely for over a year, did so by shutting down all non-essential travel. If this had been done worldwide, Covid could have been ended early.

Despite being detained, silenced, and hidden from public view in the maximum security Belmarsh prison for the past five years, as the day of his extradition draws near, the spectre of Julian Assange looms ever larger over the politics of the AUKUS lands. By exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq in the searing documentary Collateral Continue reading »

A day I have long prophesied, and for which I have been yearning may be at hand. It’s a pity that the Albanese government does not really deserve a place at any celebrations, and may indeed, try to frustrate them. The tide is turning for our boat people policies, and Australia’s shameful treatment of several thousand Continue reading »

Much has been written about the entrenched disadvantage in public Schools. Successive Governments have failed to provide the very basic resources for these students. Further evidence has revealed a concentration of students with disabilities that require additional support are now located in residualised comprehensive public schools. These impoverished conditions have been easily avoided for families Continue reading »

The science is in. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has overnight confirmed that 2023 was the earth’s warmest year on record: 0.16°C warmer than the previous record year (2016); 0.6°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average; 1.48°C warmer than the pre-industrial period. The report from Copernicus notes that each month from June to December Continue reading »

Israel has emerged as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to a newly released census compiled by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Each year, the committee releases a snapshot of the number of journalists behind bars as of December 1 2023 was the second highest on record with 320 in detention Continue reading »

Joe Biden relies on advisors who view the world through the prism of the West’s civilising mission to the “lesser breeds” of the earth to formulate his policies towards Israel and the Middle East. Joe Biden’s inner circle of strategists for the Middle East — Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk — have little Continue reading »

In politics, there is often no reward, only penalty, for being right, especially when you go against the messaging of the ruling elites. Gonzalo Lira, an American citizen, war commentator and blogger, has died in Kharkiv, Ukraine, after a prolonged period of medical neglect in prison. His misfortune was being too prescient about the war Continue reading »

COFFS Coast horsewoman Beck Beverly is harnessing the healing power of horses to improve lives. Kitchi Kai Support Horses, based in Coramba, specialises in providing exceptional support and companionship through the use of miniature horses. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981...

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AN outpouring of deep affection and memories were shared by the Lowanna and Ulong village communities at the funeral of Eric Manko. Aged 94, Eric passed at 11:30pm on December 31, 2023. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us...

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THE JALIIGIRR Biodiversity Alliance and partners have taken advantage of recent wet weather by further consolidating plantings for Grey Headed Flying Foxes. Enrichment plantings have occurred at several key locations along the Coffs Coast and hinterland by Bellingen Landcare, Coffs Harbour Regional Landcare, Coffs Harbour and District Aboriginal Land Council, Jetty Dunecare Group and the...

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Bye bye Ron. It’s been real. Who would ever have guessed that the latest Republican Great Whitebread Hope would crash and burn even before the New Hampshire primary? It’s not as if they always end up being losers. Well, actually they do. Every cycle some highly touted GOP Governor is built up to be the second coming of Ronald Reagan and they inevitably come to a ignominious end that generally spells the end of their political future. (When’s the last time you heard anything about former heartthrobs Scott Walker of Wisconsin or Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota?) Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who quit the race on Sunday rather than face another primary drubbing, is no exception. The man from Florida turned out to be a dud, just like so many who have come before him. Despite all the hype he never stood any chance of dethroning Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination and it actually had little to do with him. It’s because Donald Trump has had the nomination in the bag since January 21, 2021. Even zombie Reagan wouldn’t be able to beat him.

A progressive who stays home on Election Day — or backs Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, or No Labels — is voting for Donald Trump.

The post Don’t Fall for the Third-Party Trick appeared first on The Intercept.

Ritual humiliation and humiliation humilitation A couple of social media posts about the ongoing fascist follies. The inferiority complex runs deep. Followers will, as Ruth Ben-Ghiat (“Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present“) observes, debase themselves to win the Leader’s approval and bask in any glimmer of reflected glory. Here’s the clip so you don’t have to hunt it. Like Donald Trump has for decades, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders dutifully regurgitates that people “on the other side of the world are laughing at us.” Trump the Insecure has always craved the respect of people he never felt took him seriously (like his father), and not just in New York City. It’s why Trump fawns over Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán and North Korea’s “hereditary communist monarch” Kim Jong-un. They’ll never let you into their club, Donald. You’ll never have their respect. How much more pathetic that MAGA cult members crave Trump’s? Like loyalty with him, respect is a one-way street.

The comments come despite GB News being subject to a swathe of Ofcom complaints about its broadcasts and Conservative MPs interviewing other Conservative MPs on the channel

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of organizing, creating, using, and sharing collective knowledge within an organization.  Unlock and unblock For companies, institutions, and projects struggling to become more efficient and productive—and who these days is not?—solid knowledge management can unlock productivity and unblock awareness of customer needs, awareness of unrecognized gaps, creativity, alignment, product improvements, […]

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Biden expands abortion, contraception protections One of the first headlines that popped up this morning was on a Jill Filopic column at Slate: Biden Is Whiffing It on the Most Important Issue for Democrats. Biden says restoring abortion rights will be his No. 1 priority in a second term. Well? The column criticizes the Biden administration for issuing “executive orders to protect abortion and contraception, but those do not invalidate state abortion bans or potential contraception bans.” Filopic adds, “The Department of Health and Human Services issued an important directive on the long-standing Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, confirming that hospitals receiving federal Medicaid dollars have to care for and stabilize any patient who comes through their doors, regardless of that patient’s ability to pay.” But they have limited effect. So “it’s hard to say that restoring abortion rights has been the No.

In this column, professional speechwriter Chandler Dean provides partly satirical, partly genuine “How To” advice focused on a hyper-specific subcategory of speeches—from graduation speeches to wedding toasts to eulogies and all the rhetorical occasions in between.

Congratulations! You’ve been asked to speak in front of everyone you know, plus a bunch of people you don’t.

Maybe you were chosen because you earned the highest GPA in your graduating class. After all, everyone knows that the best public speakers are the ones who can calculate the Riemann sum of a closed interval in accordance with the trapezoidal rule.

Or perhaps you’re getting up there because you were nominated by a teacher or administrator who sees in you that most inspiring of oratorical qualities: harmlessness.

Either way, your peers had absolutely nothing to do with your selection, and now they’re your audience. So here’s how you can win them over, crush your speech, and maybe even make some friends for the next three months before everyone moves away forever.

Nov. 20 – 11 p.m.
After several weeks of courtship, I have established a partnership with a human male. In a brief yet giddy discussion, relationship was determined to be “boyfriend-girlfriend.” Having spent the majority of my adult life single, I find this new pairing most intriguing.

Boyfriend’s build is appealing—could be described as having “meat on his bones.” Recently, I discovered that both he and I are inclined to wear button-ups. His typically are one size larger than mine, with bolder colors. However, sometimes I wonder if we will arrive at a restaurant one day wearing the very same one. What a sight that would be! And if we are matching, who is to say that is wrong?

My mind swirls with the possibility, but it behooves me to focus on the present. I remain alert to new findings as I engage in this romantic alliance.