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Created
Thu, 19/12/2024 - 08:30
A big shout-out to everyone who has contributed to the annual fundraiser this year. I’m blown away by your generosity and kindness. In times like these it matters more than ever that we all stick together and I am so very grateful that you are sticking with me. Things are already getting weird in DC. As I wrote earlier, the infighting over the budget has already begun with the co-President Elon Musk threatening GOP members with primaries unless they agree to shut down the government until the congress comes in (apparently failing to understand that they will have an even smaller majority in the House than they do now.) We’re back to the tried and true GOP strategy of “if I hold my breath until I turn blue I will get what I want” and it doesn’t ever work out. So stay tuned for that. But the Trump Vengeance and Retribution Tour has officially begun as well, which will probably dominate the news once the new congress convenes. And the opening salvo is a House investigation into … Liz Cheney, who is apparently enemy #1.
Created
Thu, 19/12/2024 - 07:00
There’s already trouble in GOP paradise even before Trump takes office. Government funding is about to run out and they need to either pass a budget or punt with a continuing resolution. Otherwise we’re looking, once again, at a government shutdown. There are some Republicans who relish that because they just love to be transgressive. But Speaker Johnson just wants to get past it however he can until Dear Leader can come in and magically make everything work perfectly. The problem is that the House Republicans are in disarray with some wanting just a clean extension until March while others want to shoot the moon with massive cuts (as usual.) Johnson can’t get anything done unless he gets cooperation from at least a few Democrats as a result. Grab some popcorn. They’re already at each others’ throats.
Created
Thu, 19/12/2024 - 05:36

WALKING three kilometres along forest roads quietly, in the dark, might not be everyone’s idea of fun, but Ian Scott and Maureen Courtenay have been doing it every spring for ten years. They are part of a large, dedicated group of volunteers who conduct koala surveys in Bongil Bongil National Park for the NSW National...

The post Koala surveys show breeding activity in Bongil Bongil appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Thu, 19/12/2024 - 05:30
She was not fired, she quit. And she quit at least partially because she didn’t approve of the Trump bootlicking. It’s much more complicated than that, of course. The government is falling apart for all the same reasons all the governments everywhere are falling apart and she’s in opposition to her former ally Trudeau on a number of issues. Chrystia Freeland used to be a journalist and a good one. She’s going to run for Prime Minister and I hope she wins. She will not put up with Trump’s bullshit. Meanwhile, Trump’s continuing on because he has the mind of a 12 year old bully: He’s trolling, of course. But it also illuminates how idiotically he sees the trade issue. If we buy things from Canada he sees that as a subsidy. Apparently all the goods we are buying are worth nothing? It’s right up there with his insistence that NATO has to pay us “dues” like some Florida fat cat Mar-a-Lago member. It’s so embarrassingly stupid I don’t even know how to explain it. I realize that by this time most people probably think this silly trolling stuff doesn’t matter and really don’t want to hear about it.
Created
Thu, 19/12/2024 - 05:00

Yoga for Young Adults Who Did Something Weird to Their Backs

Fifteen-Minute Yoga for the Modern Woman Who Spent the First Ten Minutes of Her Free Time Having a Panic Attack (Actually Only Five Minutes of Yoga)

The Exact Amount of Yoga You Need to Do to Tick That Box Where You Can Confidently Tell Your Doctor and Your Therapist That You’re “Doing Yoga”

Yoga for Reading Any Email That Begins with “People Are Trying to Reach You on LinkedIn”

Breathing Exercises for Checking LinkedIn and Seeing That No Less Than Seven Recruiters Think You’d Be a Great Fit for Business School at Full Sail University

Cooldown Techniques for the Five Minutes You Think Maybe They’re onto Something, Look into Applying to Business School, and Realize You Can’t Actually Afford Tuition

Benji the Dog Fan Cam

Yoga Video Where Adriene Loudly Says, “Wow, Good Job on All Those Planks!” to Impress Passersby (No Actual Planks)

Seven Hours of Corpse Pose, Which Is Definitely Not An Excuse to Take a Nap

Standing Warrior Pose Flow for the Empowered Woman Who Just Learned She Was Supposed to Be Cleaning Her Yoga Mat This Whole Time

Created
Thu, 19/12/2024 - 04:00
President-elect Trump held his first press conference since the election this week and seemed surprised that he is suddenly so popular with all the wealthy business titans who are making the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago like they’re the wise men and he’s the baby Jesus. He actually seemed to be a bit befuddled by his new found popularity among his billionaire pals: He’s not wrong. In his first term it was clear that political and business establishment leaders wanted nothing to do with him. And the media elites who are now elbowing each other out of the way to sit next to him and his major domo Elon Musk at the Mar-a-Lago dining table were openly hostile. A lot of this love coming from the moneyed elite is easy to understand. After all, he promised to eliminate regulation and give them all tax cuts, so what’s not to like? But it’s more than that. They all seem to be downright giddy at the prospect of getting up close and personal with the once and future president. It’s a far cry from the way they reacted during Trump’s first term, particularly among the media moguls.
Created
Thu, 19/12/2024 - 02:30
Advice for our times Donald Trump wants to create spectacles (Thunderdome), Josh Marshall observes. His professional wrestling instincts are not a mere joke. “That whole bombast is not only made to make people feel afraid, particularly the people they’re threatening directly, but to create this aura of power and uncheckable power and to knock people back on their heels and make them feel disoriented, demoralized, and all those things,” Marshall tells Greg Sargent’s Daily Blast podcast: It’s typical Trump to threaten 10 things a day. And his opponents, his enemies are feeling overwhelmed with all the different threats, and he doesn’t actually have to do anything. So it is really important for people both to be prepared for him to do all sorts of crazy stuff, but also to be attuned to that spectacle, which is his greatest power. Trump’s goal is an America cowed, Marshall says. Maybe he jails people. Maybe he just threatens. Maybe be actually does bring lawsuits, launch investigations. He doesn’t need to follow through on many for people to cower behind silence.
Created
Thu, 19/12/2024 - 01:00
“A moment of genuine madness.” — MSNBC’s Chris Hayes Max: Thunderdome. How do I get in there?Aunty Entity: That’s easy. Pick a fight! Two important points this morning. First, like it or not, the public wants Thunderdome. The press covers Thunderdome. Thunderdome draws eyeballs in this attention economy. Again, and again and again: How many Rocky movies did Stallone make? Brian Beutler responds both to ABC’s capitulation to Trump and congressional Democrats’ preference for Rep. Gerry Connolly over progressive star AOC for top Oversight Committee post. “Democrats should imagine how Fox News would fill its airtime if this were a Democratic transition, and then speak and react as if they were creating soundbites for a big, aligned, signal-boosting media company,” Beutler writes. “Democrats should be unashamed to fight [Trump]. In this conservative-dominated media environment? Attract eyeballs, for God’s sake! Pick a fight!