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Created
Thu, 20/07/2023 - 09:30
FWIW Not bad. It’s too close for comfort but we have a long way to go. We just have to keep our heads down and plow ahead. I will never understand this: BIDEN Americans give President Biden a negative 38 – 54 percent job approval rating, compared to a negative 41 – 54 percent job approval rating in June. Registered voters give him a negative 40 – 53 percent job approval rating compared to a negative 42 – 54 percent job approval rating in June. Americans were asked about President Biden’s handling of… the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: 43 percent approve, while 48 percent disapprove; foreign policy: 39 percent approve, while 53 percent disapprove; the economy: 37 percent approve, while 58 percent disapprove. I guess a lot of people just hate the guy no matter what he does. But they’ll vote for him anyway? What? It’s kind of depressing because it shows that a whole lot of Democrats are completely clueless about what’s actually happening and are as deluded as the cultists. Hooray for tribalism, I guess…
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Thu, 20/07/2023 - 08:00
He’s not good at this Jonathan Chait points out that he just refuses answer questions and he does it so obviously that even gullible GOP voters can see it: Florida governor Ron DeSantis abandoned his policy of only speaking to Republican Party–aligned media by giving an interview to CNN’s Jake Tapper. Unfortunately, taking questions is just one part of doing an interview. The other part is answering them. DeSantis conspicuously refused to answer any of the most newsworthy questions posed to him. Tapper asked DeSantis if he would sign a national six-week abortion ban like the one he signed in Florida: “Yes or no, will you support that?” DeSantis did not say yes or no: Tapper asked if he would stop arming Ukraine or stop giving it financial support. DeSantis did not answer that, either. Instead, he framed the question as being about sending American troops there. “A vital national interest means we would send troops to Ukraine.” He eventually said, “I am not gonna diminish our stocks, and not send to Taiwan, and not gonna make us less capable to exigencies.
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Thu, 20/07/2023 - 07:12

The Grayzone has exposed British intelligence freelancers for collaborating with Ukraine’s Security Service to destroy Kerch Bridge. Leaked documents suggest they played a role in the latest attack on the bridge, and may be helping Kiev hunt down accused collaborators. On July 16, a predawn assault on the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea with mainland Russia left two civilians dead and a 14-year-old injured. As advisors to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted at Ukraine’s culpability, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed his […]

The post Leaked files suggest hidden British hand in latest Kerch Bridge strike first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Leaked files suggest hidden British hand in latest Kerch Bridge strike appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Thu, 20/07/2023 - 06:30
This is a perfect example of how the little cogs in his mind creak to life to cover for the fact that he knows fuck-all about what she’s talking about. Think about all the times he’s said exactly that, “we’re working on that”, “we have a plan” “It’s so ridiculous”, “It’ll be easy.” He’s said that about everything from health care to nuclear weapons to COVID 19. He’s very stupid but his ego demands that he pretend he knows everything. We’ve all met people like this in our lives. What continues to astonish me is that at least some of his followers must be able to see that he’s completely clueless but they cheer anyway. I guess they just admire liars. Used car salesmen must see them coming a mile away…
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Thu, 20/07/2023 - 06:00

Change is afoot at the Reserve Bank of Australia. This week the Treasurer announced Michele Bullock will take over from Philip Lowe as Governor of the RBA. Lowe had faced mounting political heat after he abandoned forward guidance given as late as November 2021 that interest rates would not rise until 2024 and joined central banks around the world in rapidly hiking interest rates.  

One of Bullock’s first tasks will be to oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the Review into the RBA released in March 2023. Most attention about the Review has focused on its proposed structural changes to the RBA, which would create separate boards for monetary policy decisions and institutional governance. This change will bring the RBA in line with many of its international peers. Last week, outgoing Governor Philip Lowe announced initial steps towards implementing this recommendation.

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Thu, 20/07/2023 - 05:00
Good news about the electorate Pollsters Celinda Lake and Mac Heller discuss the changing age demographics of American voters: It’s easy to envision the 2024 presidential election becoming the third straight contest in which a veteran Democrat goes up against Donald Trump. Once again, the Democrat wins the popular vote but swing states are tighter. Could go either way — and has, right? But things are very different this time, and here’s why: The candidates might not be changing — but the electorate has. Every year, about 4 million Americans turn 18 and gain the right to vote. In the eight years between the 2016 and 2024 elections, that’s 32 million new eligible voters. Also every year, 2½ million older Americans die. So in the same eight years, that’s as many as 20 million fewer older voters. Which means that between Trump’s election in 2016 and the 2024 election, the number of Gen Z (born in the late 1990s and early 2010s) voters will have advanced by a net 52 million against older people. That’s about 20 percent of the total 2020 eligible electorate of 258 million Americans.
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Thu, 20/07/2023 - 04:58
Uzupis, a historic district of Vilnius, Lithuania and a vibrant artistic community, had unilaterally declared its independence from the rest of the country. It adopted three mottoes: “Don’t Fight,” “Don’t Win” and “Don’t Surrender.” These seem particularly apt for the ambiguous status of Taiwan with its anomalous international status and phantasmic national identity. Lithuania, the Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/07/2023 - 04:57
The Royal Commission into Robo-debt has provided significant insights into how a cavalier government can ignore fundamental processes of good governance by ignoring accepted standards of decision making to pursue its ideological agenda. Commissioner Catherine Holmes is to be congratulated for her comprehensive consideration of the Robo-debt scheme which “lacked a legal framework and revealed Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/07/2023 - 04:56
In the last few years, Australian and US foreign policy toward the Pacific has been framed as a benign influence, couched in money terms, offers and suasion. But in such offers comes that bit of intrusive steel, a less than subtle threat that gravitating into the orbit of another power, most notably China, will come Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 20/07/2023 - 04:54
The ground has been shifting under the feet of the world’s central bankers, including our own Dr Philip Lowe, the outgoing chief of the Reserve Bank. This has weakened the power of higher interest rates to get inflation down. Like all economists, central bankers believe their theory – their ‘‘model’’ – gives them great understanding Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 20/07/2023 - 04:53
There is nothing that agitates some whitefellas more than an intelligent, articulate and charismatic blackfella. The emphasis the No Campaign is putting on Thomas Mayo is a classic example. Thomas Mayo attended the Uluru gathering and afterwards travelled the country visiting hundreds of communities to explain the Voice. At each he movingly recited from memory Continue reading »