… that we know of The Washington Post: Among many striking things about the July 2021 audio of Donald Trump seeming to discuss a classified document with guests is how casual it all was. In real time, the now-indicted former president seems to recognize that what he’s doing is not kosher, requesting that it be off the record and drawing an aide to comment with an apparently uneasy laugh, “Yeah, now we have a problem.” It’s as if those involved were familiar with the dance of Trump being cavalier with sensitive information. Which, even before this latest entry, is indeed what his full record demonstrates. Appearing on MSNBC over the weekend, former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said she personally witnessed the way Trump shared information at Mar-a-Lago during his presidency. Asked whether it was plausible that Trump was actually showing off classified documents in July 2021 — Trump has suggested it was mere “bravado” — Grisham said: “The short answer is yes. I watched him show documents to people at Mar-a-Lago on the dining room patio.
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They can’t say they weren’t warned. Shortly before coming to office Anthony Albanese said, ‘I’ve been underestimated my whole life’. It was a significant personal reflection during a hectic election campaign, one that spoke to Albanese’s resolve, his self-belief, and a subtle barb at the failure of others to recognise his political determination and tactical Continue reading »
Widodo visit: Indonesia’s approach to regional security needs to be more than than fence-sitting. The visit to Australia this week of President Joko Widodo of Indonesia – known as Jokowi – should give us pause to reflect on how we and Indonesia stand with each other and what the future holds. Truth be told, our Continue reading »
Russia’s failed attempt to make Ukraine into a buffer state is only helping China’s statecraft on its own western borders. If the author of the Art of War, Sun Tzu, was marking President Xi’s statecraft from some lofty place in heaven, he may well give Xi a special distinction. For Sun Tzu, the best way Continue reading »
Most Australians have little idea how frequently miscarriages of justice in the form of wrongful convictions occur in Australia. This lack of knowledge should be no surprise; not even our criminal justice system tracks such data let alone researches the possibility of wrongful convictions. In the absence of data, most people, including many in the Continue reading »
Elite sport has the potential to uplift, inspire and connect individuals and groups in a way that is unrivalled in our culture. It can represent the soaring ambition and capabilities of our species, as well as our innate capacities for collaboration and compassion. Sport can be an unmatched training ground for developing character and creating Continue reading »
There’s growing awareness public dental programs are unable to meet the demand for services. Private dental care is increasingly unaffordable, and millions of Australians go without the treatment they need. The potentially avoidable costs to the health-care system and to people’s quality of life has led to increased pressure for a Medicare-style universal insurance scheme Continue reading »
Why hasn’t the devastation of almost an entire people been called out for what it is? Where’s the outrage of what is happening in Jenin, Palestinian Territory? One of Australia’s foremost newspapers had an article today on whether it’s best to drink soy, almond or oat milk. Really? Who could have imagined that in 2023 Continue reading »
At its core, climate change is a form of genocide. If Bangladesh sinks – when Bangladesh sinks – it won’t be an abstract environmental loss, but the last breath of a people that started dying the minute the British landed on Indian soil. Developed countries created this climate disaster. Now they need to fix it. Continue reading »
A bunch of white guys who founded a country: For the July Fourth holiday, I have some fare that’s lighter than the doom and gloom about today’s politics that I usually dish up: a little tour some of the statuary art in the U.S. Capitol Building. Each state submits two statues to be on display; they are strategically placed throughout the Capitol. Some of my favorites include Hawaii’s King Kamehameha I and California’s Junípero Serra. There are also a handful of statues on permanent display that are not part of the Statuary Hall collection. But today is all about the American Revolution, so here are some of the Founding Fathers, including many lesser known ones, all photographed by my Bulwark colleague Hannah Yoest. Roger Sherman, Connecticut Caesar Rodney, Delaware Charles Carroll, Maryland Samuel Adams, Massachusetts John Stark, New Hampshire Richard Stockton, New Jersey Robert Livingston, New York John P.G. “Peter” Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania Nathanael Greene, Rhode Island Ethan Allen, Vermont George Washington, Virginia Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson
On this Independence Day Republicans around the nation are high-fiving their success in depriving their fellow citizens of their liberty. They are so happy and proud to be Americans. This piece by Jill Lawrence spells out what they are celebrating today: Despite the promises of America’s founding documents, on Independence Day 2023, justice, the “general welfare,” “equal protection of the laws” and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are all at risk. The Supreme Court, conservative governors and gerrymandered state legislatures are racing to shrink fundamental rights and freedoms, enabled and empowered by structural inequities built into the Constitution. The result is that tens of millions of Americans are being deprived of rights that other Americans have. On Independence Day 2023, justice, the “general welfare,” “equal protection of the laws” and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are all at risk.
One of the most interesting dimensions of our contemporary crisis of democracy discourse and literature is its moralism. If you listen to the talking heads on MSNBC or read more sophisticated academic treatments of the topic, you’ll find a frequent claim that mainstream Republican leaders who are not Trump—people like McConnell or McCarthy—are cowards or careerists. Unlike the Greenes and Gaetzes of the party, goes the argument, these men are not ideologically opposed to democracy. They’re just insufficiently committed to democracy. That’s the problem. If they were ideologically principled, if they were honorable, if they were dedicated, out of conviction, to democracy, these leaders would take on the authoritarians in their midst. In the past, the argument continues, Republican leaders […]
Ionized air and wires may take headphones to the next level.
The post A Scientific Breakthrough in Noise Reduction appeared first on Nautilus.
It messes with your head This may piss off some. Ever since North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham, former Democrat, switched parties and handed Republicans a supermajority in the state House of Representatives (and an abortion ban) after proclaiming herself an “unwavering advocate for abortion rights.” The stunning shift has not led me to the angry conclusion that she was a fraud waiting to happen. There was something of conspiracy theory to the narrative that she was a Trojan candidate. With her history as a progressive, it did not wash. And it’s a bad look for the left. Fully vaccinated and boosted, Cotham had had Covid three times, ending up in the emergency room straining to breathe during her third bout. Doctors worried about blood clots. In February 2022, WSOC Charlotte reported: Her kitchen island is covered in pills and medical devices to treat lingering and long-lasting symptoms of COVID-19. Cotham says she has to use inhalers and drink three liters of water a day. She has IV drips brought to her house every Wednesday.
So, the main police unions in France put out this rather deranged statement:
Now that’s enough…
Facing these savage hordes, asking for calm is no longer enough, it must be imposed!
Restoring the republican order and putting the apprehended beyond the capacity to harm should be the only political signals to give.
In the face of such exactions, the police family must stand together.
Doom (Sooz Kempner) checks in via a Doom's Day teaser as the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary multimedia event rolls into its next "hours."
According to Keynes, financial crises are a recurring feature of our economy and are linked to its fundamental financial instability: It is of the nature of organised investment markets, under the influence of purchasers largely ignorant of what they are buying and of speculators who are more concerned with forecasting the next shift of market […]
Still yearning to breathe free The sun is up. The flag is out. Justice for all is still elusive. As is our country treating all of us as if we really were created equal. I mistrust public pieties. As much as Jesus mistrusted hypocrites who pray in public “that they may be seen by others.” As much as the immediate past president’s flag hugging. The phoniness, it burns. But still, as with relations we love despite annoying flaws and uninformed opinions, yes, liberals do still love their country. Shining through its dappled history are snippets of grace we cling to like the hope that that sibling or aunt or uncle or cousin retains the potential to be more than pedestrian. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It took a few years for the generation that declared independence from England to hash out just what they thought a more perfect union might look like. They did not get it quite right.
We don’t wait. We start our own constitutional convention.
The former Brexit Party Leader's claims to have been politically persecuted by the banks have been taken at face value by publications that really should know better
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Superman: Legacy, Doctor Who, Christopher Meloni, Always Sunny & much more!
Corporations have found a way to punish people for disagreeing with them. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 29th June 2023 Punishment without trial: this is the latest weapon in the war against dissent. Apparently, it’s not enough for the police to be given powers to shut down any protest they choose. It’s not […]
28 civil society organisations and privacy experts have written to the European Commission to raise concerns about the threat that UK data reform poses to European citizens’ data rights. The Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill, which is expected to be passed into law this autumn, will amend the UK GDPR. Privacy campaigners have […]