The excessive use of consultants and contract labour was one of the most damaging injuries sustained by the Australian Public Service in the 10 years or so before the 2022 election. It was self-inflicted, arranged by departmental secretaries, agency heads and the Public Service Commission with the tacit approval of Ministers. An excuse has been Continue reading »
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Australia’s penal colony culture has continued into the fabric of all our public administrations, but most particularly Health, Education, Community Services and Justice. ‘Don’t challenge the System. Learn to do what you’re told, and to know your place,’ could be the mottoes of many arms of government. In the field known as ‘Alcohol and Other Continue reading »
Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israeli citizens was horrific. There are 2 things to bear in mind – firstly it didn’t happen in a vacuum and secondly the scale of the retaliations, the punishment, far outweighs the crime. Firstly the history of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people is well documented. Below are a few Continue reading »
Podcaster/geek expert Tyrell Charles offers a "Doctor Who 101" in the first of a new BBC video series that helps new fans get into the show.
Fight the wind or ride the balloon Thomas P.M. Barnett’s “The Pentagon’s New Map” (2004) outlined how the sources of conflict in the world are concentrated in the non-integrating “gap” areas under cultural stress and disconnected from the broader economy. As in Barnett’s past work, “America’s New Map: Restoring Our Global Leadership in an Era of Climate Change and Demographic Collapse” (2023) looks to a future worth creating. The cultural stress in the U.S. these days, Barnett tells James Fallows on his podcast this week, is connected to America “losing its whiteness.” But that’s more connected to climate change than Americans of the Baby Boom generation care to admit. Fallows writes: Barnett is crystal-clear about climate change as a central driver of world politics, economics, and strategic tensions. And he emphasizes two related aspects of particular importance to the United States. —One is climate’s role as driver of migrations—mainly south-to-north around the world, since that’s more feasible than east-west migration across the broad oceans.
Plus, wages are going up across the auto industry, Big Oil’s hopes for an oil train run into trouble, and Michigan passes an ambitious climate plan.
Kicking the 14th Amendment down the road Whistling past a graveyard. Tiptoeing through a minefield. Neither the courts nor election officials nor Congress want to touch ruling Donald Trump ineligible to serve as president. Colorado Politics: A Denver judge on Friday found Donald Trump remains eligible for the state’s 2024 presidential ballot even though he engaged in an insurrection, joining courts elsewhere that have rejected attempts to disqualify the leading Republican candidate. District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace determined the provision of the 14th Amendment barring insurrectionists from holding office does not apply to presidents and, therefore, does not disqualify Trump. “While the Court agrees that there are persuasive arguments on both sides, the Court holds that the absence of the President from the list of positions to which the Amendment applies combined with the fact that Section Three specifies that the disqualifying oath is one to ‘support’ the Constitution whereas the Presidential oath is to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the Constitution,” Wallace wrote.
The Doctor Who/BBC Children in Need sketch "Destination: Skaro" is a hilarious sign of things to come when the show officially returns.
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Doctor Who, Elon Musk/Twitter, Bosch: Legacy, Invincible, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Rick and Morty, SNL & more!
We don't know if Steven Moffat is returning for Doctor Who, but we do know that his new show is a comedy-drama called Douglas is Cancelled.
An unredacted 2019 tax filing reveals the donors to AIPAC’s charity arm — some of whom give to other hawkish, pro-Israel causes.
The post Meet the Secret Donors Who Fund AIPAC’s Israel Trips for Congress appeared first on The Intercept.
Europe is in significant decline and has been for some time. The standard chart compares European GDP versus American but I won’t use it, because I don’t believe in GDP at this point, the numbers are both manipulated and unrepresentative of actually national economic ability which matters. That Russia with its tiny GDP was able to massively ramp up weapon production and the US and the EU with much larger GDPs were not is a good example.
In a leaked tape of an all-staff meeting, the head of New York’s Legal Aid Society also said four law firms had threatened to pull funding over the statement.
The post Public Defenders Get Restraining Order to Block Their Own Union From Voting on Gaza Statement appeared first on The Intercept.
The soothing sounds of Steely Dan to ease your way into the weekend. You’re welcome. Steely Dan, guitarist Walter Becker and singer-pianist Donald Fagen are masters of irony and erudition. They grew up listening to Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington. Since the late 1960s, they have been a musical Rubik’s Cube, continually honing their integration of jazz and rock. The pair performs Steely Dan hits “Josie” and “Chain Lightning” as well as standards “Mood Indigo” and “Hesitation Blues.” Originally recorded July 23, 2002. Originally aired in 2003.
Rescue Cubs! Two very young, orphaned mountain lion siblings were rescued and transported to Oakland Zoo yesterday morning by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) following their search for the kittens, which started yesterday morning. An adult female mountain lion, who CDFW suspects is their mother, was struck by a car and killed on Saturday, November 11th, along Highway 280, near the Hillsboro/Burlingame area. Over the weekend, residents reported seeing two cubs alone near the area, and they were found safe in one of the reporting residents’ backyard. Both kittens are female, approximately six to ten weeks old, and weigh five and five-and-a-half pounds, respectively. These kittens mark the 25th and 26th mountain lion rescues as part of the Zoo’s Rescue and Recovery Program for local wildlife in need. Upon arrival, at 11:30am today, Oakland Zoo’s Veterinary Hospital staff conducted a thorough health examination on both female cubs. The exam included virus testing, parasite treatment, and bloodwork testing. Additionally, vital fluids were administered to the visibly dehydrated kittens.
We are one step closer to fully private internet searches.
The post Cryptographers Solve Decades-Old Privacy Problem appeared first on Nautilus.
The Defense Department passed the same paltry number of sub-audits as it did last year — and would not say if would ever see a clean audit.
The post Pentagon Fails Sixth Audit in a Row, Claiming “Progress Sort of Beneath the Surface” appeared first on The Intercept.
Kevin Drum adds: There is, obviously, not much that can be done about the fact that Biden reads as old. But having now listened to a number of Biden’s recent speaking gigs, there’s really no question that this is solely about his physical appearance. Cognitively, Biden is perfectly normal. The worst he ever does is the occasional verbal flub, a longtime Biden habit. Agree with him or not, he says what he means to say and has obviously run the White House to his own specifications. He withdrew from Afghanistan despite internal qualms. He continued negotiating with Joe Manchin even though much of his staff hated the guy. He is staunchly pro-Israel in the face of a virtual staff revolt. He thinks Xi Jinping is a dictator and has repeated this through the grimaces of his Secretary of State. Contrast that with Donald Trump, who doesn’t read as old but can barely remember who the president is, who he’s run against in the past, and how many world wars we’ve had. We can either have the charade of an active president with a deteriorating mind behind it, or we can have an actual active president with a strong mind but physical limitations.
Now that we've seen Russell T. Davies & David Tennant's Doctor Who/BBC Children in Need scene, here's a look behind the scenes & new images.