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Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – March 10, 2024

by Tony Wikrent

Global power shift

[X-Twitter, via Naked Capitalism 03-06-2024]

With last week’s announcements from the Coalition and Australian Greens, the contours of next year’s election housing debate have begun to take shape. It’s pretty clear that, as in four of the past six national polls, this policy area will be a flashpoint of the coming contest. While not laying out any policy measures, as Continue reading »

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is nailing nuclear energy for Australia to his economic renaissance mast. His earlier thought was that the electricity generating transition should be confined to SMRs (small modular reactors) conveniently placed in the basements of factories around Australia. He then expanded his concept to include the construction of large industrial reactors of Continue reading »

A reason for Indonesians overwhelmingly supporting cashiered general Prabowo Subianto and a likely military dictatorship is because the electorate rarely reads; voters haven’t been taught to think critically so know little of their new president’s past. In 1998, Prabowo was stripped of his rank and discharged from the Army for disobeying orders. His squad arrested Continue reading »

As I write, it’s exactly four months since October 7, 2023, when Hamas breached the border between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel and, with others following, Islamic Jihad or simply enraged civilians, embarked upon what was undoubtedly a killing spree. Yet in its aftermath, it is not too farfetched to assert that we in Continue reading »

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When Anthony Albanese said during 2022 he’d “always been underestimated… but here I am”, the message he was trying to convey was one of self-congratulation. He portrayed himself as a poor boy made good who deserved widespread public applause and appreciation for that achievement. Now we know that the essence of the message conveyed something Continue reading »

As 2024 marks the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, whether this mythical creature should be named “Dragon” or “Loong” in English has puzzled many and stirred heated discussions. The two creatures vastly differ in their shapes, legends and the cultural symbols they represent. And in recent years, more and more Chinese people Continue reading »

An interesting essay that takes a critical but well-informed look at the development of China’s Middle East policy-settings recently appeared in the journal Foreign Policy. You can read the article – written by Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington-based Stimson Centre. Ms Sun draws on much relevant experience as she writes, Continue reading »

DeSantis’ spectacular flame out sours his followers on his strategy Oh my. It looks like Ron DeSantis has lost his clout. Florida’s sick of the “war on woke.” Just this last week the GOP legislature failed to even get a rainbow flag ban out of committee! What is this world coming to? It wasn’t the only culture war proposal from conservative lawmakers to end up in the bill graveyard during the session that ended Friday. One rejected bill would have banned the removal of Confederate monuments. Another would have required transgender people to use their sex assigned at birth on driver’s licenses — something the state Department of Motor Vehicles is already mandating. A third proposed forbiddinglocal and state government officials from using transgender people’s pronouns. Some of those ideas have come up in the past and may surface again next year. But the fact that the bills failed, even with public support from DeSantis, marks a change from the days when the GOP supermajority in Tallahassee passed nearly everything the governor asked for.

“Foreign malign influence” and disinformation are now targets of new government efforts.

The post DHS Using Hamas to Expand Its Reach on College Campuses appeared first on The Intercept.

. One of the greatest concerts of all time. With tears in my eyes, I notice that it still after more than twenty years takes my breath away. George Harrison (1943-2001). R.I.P.

From the “you can’t make this stuff up” files She is totally shameless so this won’t embarrass her. But it should embarrass someone. The following won’t embarrass this looney tunes either. But it should: I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with Kevin McCarthy about anything. But his loathing for this woman is well taken. I hope he succeeds in using his network to take her out. She’s almost as nuts as George Santos. And then there’s this piece of work: Oh really? Imagine that … As I said, you can’t make this stuff up.

. Die Verteidigung der Aufklärung und die Kritik am Wokeness von Susan Neiman ist sowohl kraftvoll als auch überzeugend. Die Ideen der Aufklärung sind trotz der zahlreichen Kritiken, die gegen sie erhoben wurden, immer noch relevant. Die Aufklärung war gekennzeichnet von einem Geist der Erkundung, der zu neuen Entdeckungen sowohl in der Wissenschaft als auch […]

Will SCOTUS now revisit Dobbs and Heller? Need I repeat that conservatives principles always seem to be a mile wide and an inch deep? Democracy, the rule of law, the peaceful transfer of power, peace through strength, the sacredness of the Constitution, etc. “If you ask me what the biggest problem in America is, I’m not going to tell you debt, deficits, statistics, economics—I’ll tell you it’s moral relativism,” Congressman Paul Ryan insisted four years before becoming House Speaker. Relativism was for years a charge conservatives levied against liberals. Until it was no longer useful. My memorable first introduction to Rick Perlstein in 2005 included something Richard Nixon once told a staffer, “Flexibility is the first principle of politics.” Expediency conservatives hold sacrosanct. Jill Lepore asks in The New Yorker whether, having sacrificed the 14th Amendment in pursuit of political expediency, “originalists” on the Supreme Court now feel free to rexamine other amendments: There’s more than one way to skin a Constitution.

From a Three Musketeers-inspired billionaire aiming to “transform” voting to a corporate Dem undercutting antitrust enforcers, here’s all the news from The Lever this week.

Britt is as phony as Joe Biden is real It was baked in that Saturday Night Live would use Alabama Sen. Katie Britt’s “absurdly overdramatic” SOTU performance as it’s cold open. My problem with SNL’s sketch? “Bless his heart” Britt will probably just be flattered that SNL asked Scarlett Johansson to play her. “What was the point of that nonsense?” The American Conservative asked, descrbing Britt’s appearance as a ” hyper-emotional speech that verged from creepy to hormonal to giddy within the span of twenty minutes.” It’s a wonder SNL did not just replicate Britt’s address almost word-for-word, as Tina Fey once did in mocking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. But The American Conservative‘s response to Biden’s SOTU was just as bizarre, judging it a declaration of war on half the country while calling Biden a liar and Britt “authentic.” Judge for yourself which of the likely 2024 presidential candidates is the kind of authentic you want sitting in the Oval Office.

Biden vowed to codify Roe. But the ruling was never about whether the government had a right to your body, only when it had a right to your body.

The post Roe Was Never Enough to Ensure Reproductive Freedom appeared first on The Intercept.

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I’m sure you are aware that the Academy Awards ceremonies are this Sunday. As an alleged “movie critic”, I sheepishly admit I have only seen 1 of the10 nominees for 2023’s Best Picture: Oppenheimer, if you really must pry (“I must! I must!”). Then again, it’s been years since Academy voters and I have seen eye to eye as to what constitutes a “best picture”. Either my aesthetic has changed, or the Academy has lowered its standards. I don’t think my aesthetic has changed, if you catch my drift. This is my way of explaining in advance why you may notice only one “Best Picture” winner from the last several decades made my list, which I have culled from the previous 95 Academy Awards. Or perhaps it’s just my long-winded way of saying “they don’t make ‘em like they used to”. And stay the hell off my lawn. You Can’t Take it With You (Best Picture of 1938) – 86 years on, Frank Capra’s movie version of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s stage play (adapted for the screen by Robert Riskin, who was nominated) still resonates in light of our current economic woes.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon