Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – December 10, 2023
by Tony Wikrent
War in Ukraine
Gilbert Doctorow [via Naked Capitalism 12-04-2023] Excellent.
Reading
Even pre-schoolers understand this In one of the Atlantic articles about “If Trump Wins” Mark Liebovich goes where everyone else is afraid to go. He talks about the Trump voter. Of course, he does it after explaining that you can’t really point any of this out because it upsets the MAGAs and we can’t have that. But he does explode this high minded myth that “we’re better than that,” meaning Americans write large, which clearly only applies to some of us. Anyway: After the shock of Trump’s victory in 2016, the denial and rationalizations kicked in fast. Just ride out the embarrassment for a few years, many thought, and then America would revert to something in the ballpark of sanity. But one of the overlooked portents of 2020 (many Democrats were too relieved to notice) was that the election was still extremely close. Trump received 74 million votes, nearly 47 percent of the electorate. That’s a huge amount of support, especially after such an ordeal of a presidency—the “very fine people on both sides,” the “perfect” phone call, the bleach, the daily OMG and WTF of it all.
November 2024 is a referendum Call it a referendum. Call it a ballot measure. Whatever. The race at the top of every voter’s ballot next year will not be a race for president. Not pumped enough to show up and vote in a race between (highly likely) two old white men? How do you feel about a choice between authoritarianism and democracy? That’s what’s really the first contest on your ballot. Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré (Ret.) is counting on Gen Z, first-time voters to help save the country he served for decades: In 2024, 41 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote. For the youngest 8 million of this group, Election Day in 2024 will be the first in which they are old enough to cast a ballot, according to recent findings by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. This new generation of voters will be the most diverse our nation has ever seen. And already, these same young people have been politically engaged.
The upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special will bring us more of Russell T. Davies' uncompromising writing and an apparent move into Fantasy.
From profit mongers eyeing an immigrant surveillance boom to corporate media ignoring Trump’s climate death cult, here’s a roundup of our reporting from the past week.
A document obtained by The Intercept shows India was targeting Sikh separatists with a “sophisticated crackdown scheme” in the West.
The post Secret Indian Memo Ordered “Concrete Measures” Against Hardeep Singh Nijjar Two Months Before His Assassination in Canada appeared first on The Intercept.
Life’s a beach, ladies Some guy seems not to have noticed that Taylor Swift’s hottest concert ticket of the year made her Time‘s Person of the Year. Or that Barbie was the hottest movie ticket of the year. Barbie ends with joke about women’s health care. It figures some clueless guy‘s name is Ken. Alexandra Petri noticed (Washington Post, gifted): “Judge Guerra Gamble is not medically qualified to make this determination and it should not be relied upon. A TRO is no substitute for medical judgment.” — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, writing to doctors who have received a court order allowing an abortion to end a nonviable pregnancy There is no substitute for medical judgment, except the judgment of me, Ken Paxton. Am I a doctor? No. I’m something better than a doctor: a Ken. My accessories include: no medical expertise and a boundless reservoir of cruelty. And one time, I saw a horse. I have also been told that my handwriting is bad and that I am not patient. This all screams “doctor” to me. Move over Karen. Ken is here.
WORLD AIDS Day on Friday 1 December saw the enduringly iconic Big Banana in Coffs Harbour lit up red. Observed annually on the first day of summer in Australia, the worldwide movement run by UNAIDS is a focus for sharing information about the AIDS/HIV plight. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it...
The post Rainbow Coffs Harbour LGBTIQA+ group supports World Aids Day appeared first on News Of The Area.
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Doctor Who, Peacemaker & Shazam 2, Saturday Night Live, DCU/Maxwell Lord, The Wheel of Time, and more!
IN PREPARATION for managing water emergencies, City of Coffs Harbour Local Water Utilities staff recently attended a Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) funded workshop. 35 participants from ten regional councils were tutored through scenarios that armed them with experience of potential emergencies, leaving them better prepared to safeguard water and sewerage services during floods,...
The post Coffs Harbour hosts workshops to help regional water services get disaster-ready appeared first on News Of The Area.
PARADISE is restored across Urunga Wetlands six years after the completion of a $10 million clean-up of one of NSW’s most polluted sites. The filthy site was transferred to the NSW Government as Crown land to treat and contain more than 36,400 tonnes of contaminated soil and sediment, with the vision to transform the area...
The post Urunga Wetlands flourishing with flora and bustling with birds appeared first on News Of The Area.
THE Lifeline North Coast, Vinnies, Salvos and Lifehouse Care Support-A-Family appeal is close to having all families supported for this year. Each year the local charities identify a list of families on the Coffs Coast in need of support through the holiday period, in the form of Christmas gifts, food donations and the like. Advertise...
The post Support-A-Family Appeal aids families through tough holiday period appeared first on News Of The Area.
The first unveiling of the Fifteenth Doctor's new sonic screwdriver on London's South Bank, next to a Doctor Who regeneration sculpture.
Today is the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Adopted out of the scars of the Second World War, the UDHR outlined 30 inalienable rights and freedoms that belong to us all, regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, creed, language, religion or background. Rights to life, liberty and privacy. Freedom […]
Some thoughts on this weekend's Doctor Who: The Giggle starring David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Neil Patrick Harris, and Ncuti Gatwa.
Avoiding conflict makes violence more likely.
The post Vermont Niceness Is Not the Answer to the Shooting of Three Palestinians appeared first on The Intercept.
Human rights are about our relationship with those who wield public power, writes the CEO of the British Institute of Human Rights
Use to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts.
"The Giggle," the final Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special, is a fun maximum adventure that throws everything it can at us - and it worked.