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Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 09:44

As we gather in June for DrupalCon North America, we are gathering during LGBTQ Pride Month in the U.S., a celebration of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising which was a tipping point for the gay liberation movement and spurred the growth of LGBT support organizations from 50 to 1,500 during the following year.  As an important part of U.S. history, President Obama established the Stonewall National Monument on June 23, 2016. Pride is recognized in June in many countries around the world to continue the fight for LGBTQ+ equity globally.

But we are also gathering at a time in the U.S. in which transgender rights are coming under attack in many states and local communities.

Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 08:40

GURMESH Singh gave a speech last week in Parliament outlining some of the highlights of his first term as the State Member for Coffs Harbour. “It is the first time, post-election, I’ve had the opportunity to speak that wasn’t related to a bill or other business in the House,” he told News Of The Area....

The post Gurmesh Singh takes time in Parliament to reflect on achievements appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 08:36

FRIENDS of the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden are asking readers of News Of The Area to help them name their electric buggies, now they have two. Rather than being called ‘the old one’ or ‘the big one’, with the addition of the smart new eight-seater buggy, joining the original six-seater vehicle, the pair need...

The post Help name the two electric buggies at the Botanic Garden appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 08:00
I’m relieved to see it. Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman have the story: A raucous school board meeting in Hernando County, Fla., on Tuesday night captured what’s striking about this new phenomenon. The scene featured teachers pointedly declaring that right-wing attacks are driving them to quit, even as parents and students forcefully stood up on their behalf, demanding a halt to the hysteria. “I have never seen such fear from my colleagues as I have seen in the last two months,” social studies teacher Victoria Hunt told the board. The whole affair really put the culture-war-mongers to shame. Not that they’ll see it that way; as the meeting also showed, scenes like this — with maximum rage, fear, tension and suspicion surging between parents and educators — are precisely the outcome they want. This county, north of Tampa, voted for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 by a 41-point margin. It’s wherefifth-grade teacher Jenna Barbee recently enraged local enforcers of right-wing orthodoxy by showing her class “Strange World,”a Disney movie with an openly gay character.
Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 07:41

A NEW 45-minute Garden Discovery Tour by electric buggy has been launched by the volunteer Friends of the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden. Offered on Sundays only, the timetable provides departures at 10am, 11am, 12:30pm and 1:30pm. A maximum of seven people per tour can hop on board, accompanied by the Friends garden tour guide,...

The post New Sundays-only tour launched at Coffs Botanic Garden appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 07:00
Good point. Media Matters on how this ubiquitous right wing “dementia” claim looks today: The last week has been brutal for this theory, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Biden personally negotiating a debt ceiling deal that right-wing media figures call a “total cave” to Democrats that produced “a typical DC swamp sewer bill.” In March, McCarthy offered to bring the president “soft food” to kickstart negotiations, an obvious crack at his age. But on Sunday, after striking a deal, the speaker described Biden to reporters as “very professional, very smart. Very tough at the same time.” The resulting legislation passed the House on Wednesday night and now moves to the Senate.  The right is having difficulty coming to terms with how, as Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) put it on Twitter, “Republicans got outsmarted by a President who can’t find his pants.” Some, like Fox prime-time host Sean Hannity, are treating Biden’s purported senility as entirely unrelated to the result.
Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 05:29

Little is known about the history of Marianna Spring, the BBC’s first “disinformation correspondent.” But her record of churning out disinfo of her own in the service of British government objectives sends a bright red flag up over the new Verify project.  The launch of BBC Verify, “a new brand to address the growing threat of disinformation and build trust with audiences by transparently showing how BBC journalists know the information they are reporting,” has raised questions about whether the […]

The post Troubling questions surround BBC ‘disinformation correspondent’ Marianna Spring appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 04:59
In charting the way ahead for Australia-China relations, Canberra needs to present the risks posed by increasing Chinese military power in realistic rather than hawkish terms, writes Colin Heseltine. Building the case for Australia to significantly upgrade its defence force structure and capability, including the expensive acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, is a challenge for the Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 04:57
Australia’s first Aboriginal-led Royal Commission recently completed a month of public hearings during which Commissioners questioned Victorian government ministers and senior bureaucrats about injustices against First Peoples in the criminal justice and child protection systems. These historic hearings marked the first time an Aboriginal-led Royal Commission has publicly held to account the authorities that have Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 04:55
It’s astonishing now that the analytical dust has settled on the budget that out of 57 leading Australian economists, most have given it top marks. What planet we may ask do they – and the Labour Government – live on? Not one critically endangered by climate change and a catastrophic decline in biodiversity which collectively Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 02/06/2023 - 04:54
My recent stocktake of the state of play on implementation of the Thodey Report recommendations was written just before PM&C released details of proposed changes to the Public Service Act with an exposure draft of the legislation and an exposure draft of explanatory materials. Extraordinarily, consultation on the changes ends on 31 May but these Continue reading »