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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 08:30
If he listened to Rudy, he surely did. A problem for Meadows: He listened to Rudy instead. And he knew Rudy was drunk: Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office has repeatedly grilled witnesses about Rudy Giuliani’s drinking on and after election day, investigating whether Donald Trump was knowingly relying on an inebriated attorney while trying to overturn a presidential election. In their questioning of multiple witnesses, Smith’s team of federal investigators have asked questions about how seemingly intoxicated Giuliani was during the weeks he was giving Trump advice on how to cling to power, according to a source who’s been in the room with Smith’s team, one witness’s attorney, and a third person familiar with the matter.  The special counsel’s team has also asked these witnesses if Trump had ever gossiped with them about Giuliani’s drinking habits, and if Trump had ever claimed Giuliani’s drinking impacted his decision making or judgment.
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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 06:30
They shouldn’t but they do. This country is nuts. Dan Pfeiffer analyzes the current polling and the task ahead in his newsletter today: Last week, Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned for being part of a criminal organization that tried to illegally overturn the 2020 election. His mug shot was released and quickly went viral. Trump fumbled the COVID pandemic that cost hundreds of thousands of American lives and even more jobs; and he is personally responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade. On the other side, President Joe Biden conducted his presidency with decency and compassion, exceeding even the most optimistic expectations of what could be achieved with a Republican Party that won’t acknowledge the legitimacy of his electoral victory. Unemployment is under 4%, the economy is growing and inflation has been coming down for months. Yet somehow — against all common sense — the 2024 election between a competent President and an incompetent criminal — will be incredibly close. He goes on to lay out the latest polling which shows that Trump and Biden are within a point of each other. It’s appalling.
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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 05:00
Nobody can say anything about Joe Biden except how old he is. Nothing else is relevant apparently. Except that his age is actually irrelevant, particularly when you look at what he’s done. Any progressive should be proud of accomplishments like this: The Biden administration Tuesday identified 10 expensive prescription drugs that have been chosen for price negotiations with pharmaceutical manufacturers as the government seeks to ease the financial burden on older and disabled Americans. The announcement marks an unprecedented step in a long political war over the nation’s exorbitant drug costs even as the pharmaceutical industry is still trying to block the plan. Half of the drugs chosen first for price negotiations are medications to prevent blood clots and treat diabetes and were taken by millions of people on Medicare in the past year, according to a list released by federal health officials who oversee Medicare, the vast public health insurance system. Others are used to treat heart trouble, autoimmune disease and cancer. Consumers will not see benefits swiftly; the lower, negotiated prices are due to become available in early 2026.
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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 04:56
Stuart Rees has provided us with a penetrating look at the hyper-masculinity of recent utterances by the government Minister Pat Conroy. As is now de rigueur for most of the MSM (including, sadly, the ABC) these utterances are focussed on justification for AUKUS and naturally, implicit demonisation of China. SNAFU – but wait: there’s more! Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 04:55
A tonic for readers who are drowning in news about China, climate change and socioeconomic problems… Boldly refusing to follow the pack mentality of the mainstream media, and not afraid to reject the Cold War mindset, Pearls and Irritations is essential reading for those who want to make a positive difference in politics and policy-making. Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 04:53
In 2009, after receiving a report from prominent Catholic priest Frank Brennan which recommended it, the Rudd Labor government abandoned the quest for a national human rights act. Instead it established a parliamentary human rights committee which came into operation in 2011. But, as one might expect, this committee was dead on arrival. It is Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 04:51
One of the what-ifs that the Albanese government should be asking itself is; what would it mean if America invaded Mexico in 2025? If the leading Republican presidential candidates are to be taken at their word this is not a foolish question. Could anything have a greater impact on the foundations of Australia’s foreign and Continue reading »
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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 04:00
Brett Baier spreading doubt about the new vaccine. He doesn’t have to do this but it’s what his audience wants to hear so that’s what they’re serving up. BRET BAIER (HOST): There’s a lot we don’t know. We don’t know really the stats. They don’t seem to match up, even today after all that we’ve been through.  DR. MARTY MAKARY (CONTRIBUTOR): That’s right. There’s a lot subject to interpretation because some people point to statistics that are massively inflated. We know that the hospitalization numbers are not real. We know the COVID death numbers are not real.  BAIER: Why do you say that?  MAKARY: Well, maybe half of those are real numbers because we don’t know who’s in the hospital for COVID versus an incidental COVID positive test. And when you test positive in the hospital when you’re in there for another reason, like heart failure, you get a stigma, you get a label. And so that goes down as a COVID hospitalization.  BAIER: And we as a country have not delved into the problems with vaccines, right? Other countries have, I know Germany had a big study.
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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 03:00

ONE STAR. If I could, I’d give it zero stars. I cannot believe I wasted six hours making this so-called banana bread. I did everything right. I followed the recipe exactly, except for changing every single ingredient.

All I did was swap the all-purpose flour for whole wheat—no big deal. And I think eggs are gross, so I used soaked chia seeds instead, which was a major improvement to this recipe I had never made before. Then for the vanilla, butter, and sugar, I added these in the EXACT AMOUNTS, except instead of vanilla, I used almond extract; instead of butter, I used coconut oil; and instead of sugar, I used raw chicken breast.

Also, I didn’t have bananas, so I used boiled celery mush leftover from when I swapped the sugar in that revolting angel food cake recipe.

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Wed, 30/08/2023 - 03:00
I just watched Andrea Mitchell attempt to interview the fast-talking hustler Vivek Ramaswamy. It wasn’t pretty. Anyway, this is making the rounds today: Philip Bump has this interesting take: This Oct. 27, 2003, exchange between Sharpton and Chris Matthews, host of the MSNBC show “Hardball,” has reentered circulation in the past few days because there was a 2024 Republican presidential candidate in the room. The event was hosted by the Harvard University Institute of Politics and, at the time, Vivek Ramaswamy was a Harvard student. So when Matthews turned to the audience for questions soon after the event started, Ramaswamy was the first to offer one. “Rev. Sharpton, hello, I’m Vivek,” he began. “I want to ask you — last week on the show we had Sen. [John] Kerry and the week before we had Sen. [John] Edwards, and my question for you is: Of all the Democratic candidates out there, why should I vote for the one with the least political experience?” And right there, you can probably see why the clip has gained new attention.