This year we need your help to follow the money, call out corrupt campaigning, and monitor voter suppression wherever it occurs
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Every one of us will experience illness, damage, impairment, disability and, inevitably, old age, writes Penny Pepper
"Something worth noting (and may not be readily apparent): Yang Hengjun is an Australian citizen. But to the Chinese government, he's Chinese."
It was interesting to spend a few weeks in London recently and catch up with friends and research colleagues. It always focuses the mind on issues when one is in situ rather than gazing at data and reports from afar. My view of British Labour as being incapable of providing the British people with a…
Somebody’s on the hot seat again: A chief witness and onetime friend of Representative Matt Gaetz is cooperating in an unfolding House Ethics Committee investigation into whether the Florida politician had sex with an underage girl while in Congress, a lawyer for the witness said Friday. Fritz Scheller, who represents Joel Greenberg, said that he had provided documents to the committee and that Greenberg “has and will cooperate with any congressional request,” The New York Times reported. In May of 2021, Greenberg pled guilty to several charges, including sex trafficking, and is currently in his second year of an 11-year sentence. The former Florida tax collector was able to secure a more lenient punishment by agreeing to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation into Gaetz. In February of 2023, the department announced that it was closing the investigation without charging the Florida Representative with any crimes.
Britain's standing on human rights is in "jeopardy" and Good Friday Agreement undermined by the Safety of Rwanda Bill
Trump’s been channeling Hitler so I guess this is just par for the course. It’s still startling: Anthony D’Esposito, a congressman from New York, posted a picture on X last week of an undocumented immigrant flashing two middle fingers after being arraigned for allegedly assaulting two NYPD officers. “We feel the same way about you,” D’Esposito wrote. “Holla at the cartels and have them escort you back.” But Republican Congressman Mike Collins took it a step further: “Or we could buy him a ticket on Pinochet Air for a free helicopter ride back.” His post was flagged as violent speech, but it was allowed to stand on the grounds that “it may be in the public’s interest for the Post to remain accessible.” Collins probably considers his statement a joke intended to communicate his views of migrants, and it is best not to overreact to behavior that is designed to provoke. But his post also reflects the mainstreaming of authoritarianism in the GOP.
Some GOP Senators behave responsibly today. Go figure: Donald Trump spent the weekend telling senators they should not pass more unconditional U.S. foreign aid. More than a dozen Republicans ignored him Sunday, moving forward on a bill to send $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The Senate voted 67-27 to advance the foreign aid supplemental spending bill that doesn’t include border provisions, moving it another step closer to passage. That still isn’t guaranteed, as leaders haven’t yet reached an agreement on GOP-demanded border amendments. The package faces some resistance from Republicans, who say they won’t back further aid to Ukraine unless it’s amended to include border policy changes. Last week, Republicans blocked a bipartisan border-foreign aid package that was negotiated for months, arguing it didn’t go far enough to limit migration. Consideration of border amendments would require unanimous consent from senators, which is still elusive. “From this point forward, are you listening U.S. Senate (?),” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
When my mother died in 2000, I inherited all her books. Sadly, after several moves and downsizings over the decades, her collection had shrunk. Still, it remains considerable and impressive in its own way. Her legacy to me included some special volumes like a first edition of Frederick W. Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management, a famed codification of time-management practices and an origin point for concepts that helped shape work in the last century — and this one, too. Oh, and there’s also a first American edition of E.M. Forster’s novel Howards End. On the flyleaf, she inscribed this note: “Stolen by Suzanne Gordon.” As the bookplate on the cover’s interior indicates, it was indeed stolen from (or at... Read more
Source: Banning What Matters appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
The Opposition’s shadow minister for home and foreign affairs, Barnaby Joyce, has blamed the stress of the bonk ban on his most recent drunken Wednesday night antics, which involved him falling off a planter box and swearing loudly into his... Read More ›
And why the U.S. State Department is now in a difficult position on Pakistan.
The post Pakistan Election: Latest Updates on Imran Khan and PTI’s Surge appeared first on The Intercept.
In South Dekalb County, Georgia, the South River forest forms a canopy so lush and life-giving that it is referred to as one of the…
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – February 11, 2024
by Tony Wikrent
Gaza / Palestine / Israel
Israel’s Relentless Bombing Erases Gaza’s Heritage Sites
[Wide Walls, via Naked Capitalism 02-09-2024]
Kevin McCarthy was known as a prodigious fundraiser and is as connected as anyone in politics. And he’s pissed: Donors no longer want to contribute to their campaigns. Primary opponents are lining up to take them out. And some of them have been ex-communicated from caucuses on Capitol Hill. The eight House Republicans who took the unprecedented step of removing Kevin McCarthy from the speakership are facing blowback, both in Washington and back home. It’s a sign that even four months after the historic move, emotions are still raw inside a GOP conference that is continuing to reel from McCarthy’s ouster. Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Bob Good of Virginia have arguably received the most incoming fire, with both now facing serious primary threats as they gear up for reelection. And Rep. Matt Rosendale, who recently jumped into the US Senate race in Montana, is facing headwinds in GOP circles — in part because of his vote to boot McCarthy — as top Republicans fear he will cost them a pivotal seat.
And then there’s this: The kewl kidz are very upset that anyone would suggest they aren’t doing their jobs well: By the way: This is how you do it:
Last month, news bubbled that the Victorian State government had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Israeli Defence Ministry in December 2022. “As Australia’s advanced manufacturing capital, we are always exploring economic and trade opportunities for our state – especially those that create local jobs,” a government spokesperson stated in January. In March Continue reading »
In what world does a dominant state claim they have a right to defend themselves against those they have unethically, immorally and illegally imprisoned for decades, killed and persecuted without trial? There’s been an abundance of evidence… Our intelligence sources say… It is very credible intelligence… A complete and transparent investigation… According to the intelligence Continue reading »