Reading

Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 10:30
Axios’s “Vibe Survey” found that people are feeling quite good about the economy. Imagine that: Americans overall have a surprising degree of satisfaction with their economic situation, according to findings from the Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll. That’s in spite of dour views among certain subsets of the country — and in contrast to consumer sentiment polls that remain stubbornly weak, partly because of the lingering effects of 2022’s inflation. The Axios Vibes poll has found that when asked about their own financial condition, or that of their local community, Americans are characteristically optimistic. It’s broadly understood that economic well-being influences electoral outcomes. By the same token, however, political affiliation influences the responses that Republicans, in particular, give when they’re asked about the economy. So asking about personal finances rather than the broader economy can reveal optimism not seen in consumer-sentiment polls.
Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 10:01
The Weird Pro-Biden Messaging

Democrats, Democrats never change.

It’s all, “well yes, Biden is bad, especially that *cough* Gaza thing, but, ummm, Trump will be worse. So hold that nose, crawl up to the cesspit and vote Biden.”

I mean, I’ve always been anti-lesser evil, but is there any line?

We’re talking a full blown genocide, with deliberate starvation of the population. Only one working hospital remains in Gaza and it is under attack as I write this. If you want to, and you have a strong stomach, you can find such fun videos as a father who is a doctor amputating his own daughter’s leg, on his kitchen table, without anaesthetic. (There is no anaesthetic left in Gaza, all surgery is without anaesthic. Welcome to Hell.) Babies died abandoned in incubators and Palestinians running to get food from aid trucks are gunned down by quad-copter drones.

Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 09:22

WITH just over a week to go until one of the most anticipated events on the Coffs Coast entertainment calendar, organisers are gearing up for a hectic final eight days. On Saturday January 27, music legends Brian Cadd, Russell Morris and Glenn Shorrock will come together for a night to remember at the North Coast...

The post Cadd, Morris and Shorrock head to Coffs Harbour for legends concert appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 09:20

NEWCASTLE Permanent’s Cinema Under the Stars returns to Coffs Harbour Showground on Saturday 20 January with the children’s film ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ (PG, 2022). The popular community event will again be free, and lots of fun is to be had with live music and children’s activities before the film begins at sundown. Advertise...

The post Cinema Under the Stars returns to Coffs Harbour Showground appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 09:18

THE BUSTLING ecosystem of bugs, birds and beasties which exists at the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden in Coffs Harbour is being brought to the attention of visitors. The entrance to the Garden now offers an ‘Alive with Diversity’ photo display of the animals inhabiting the site, as well free information leaflets on wildlife living...

The post Learn about the less obvious life at the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 09:05

TWO forestry contractors have been found guilty of assaulting two men in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest on 25 June 2020 by Coffs Harbour Local Court. Mark Graham and Andre Johnston, who were assaulted on a public road in the State Forest north of Dorrigo, have been seeking justice for more than three years. Advertise...

The post Forestry contractors convicted of 2020 assaults in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 08:30
That’s what it’s come to. He’s just spreading disinformation for fun now. He’s not going to win anything in New Hampshire. I thought this was an interesting look at what happened to his once vaunted campaign from Marc Caputo. An excerpt: There’s dispute about whether Trump was ever beatable in a GOP primary. But there’s little disagreement among connected political pros about the multiple problems with the campaign of DeSantis, an aloof not-ready-for-primetime candidate who didn’t know what he didn’t know and was arrogant about it, according to more than a dozen insiders who shared their insight to The Messenger since March. They spoke on condition of anonymity, many out of fear of retribution from DeSantis or his aggressive army of social media followers on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. DeSantis’s prickly personality estranged one-time allies, donors and political pros. His likability problems turned off many voters. The $47 million spent against him by the super PACs of Trump and Nikki Haley damaged him. And the spring and summer criminal indictments of Trump changed the trajectory of the race.
Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 07:00
From Scott Rosenberg’s Hopium Chronicles (to which you should subscribe for a little bit of political positivity.) As we often discuss here the central dynamic in American politics since Dobbs in the spring of 2022 has been Dem overperformance, Republican struggle in race after race, all across the country. We saw it in the battlegrounds in 2022, as we improved our standing over 2020 in AZ, CO, GA, MI, MN, NH, PA; and got all the way up to 59% in CO, 57& in PA, 55% in MI, 54% in NH. We saw it all throughout 2023 as we took away Colorado Springs and Jacksonville, two of the largest GOP held cities; the Supreme Court seat and rancid gerrymandering in WI; the six week abortion ban in OH; the Virginia Assembly and the fantasy that the 15 week abortion ban would be a safe haven for Republicans; and so much more, all across the country. When I started Hopium in early 2023 I wondered whether this dynamic that we saw in 2022 would continue in 2023, and it did. 2023 was really a blue wave year across the US. And here in early 2024 we’ve been wondering would this same dynamic carry over to this year?
Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 05:30
Really? He’s got a lot of nerve… I carry no brief for Nikki Haley. She would be an awful president but not because she’s not “tough” enough. This is reminiscent of his fatuous claims against Hillary Clinton that she didn’t have the “strength and the stamina” to be president. He thinks all women are weak. But as he proved when he was president nobody is a bigger patsy than he is. By the way, he’s also going after her for her ethnicity: In case you were wondering: Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday went after Nikki Haley while referring to her by her first name, Nimarata, in the latest example of Trump using racist dog whistles to attack his GOP presidential rival. Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants and was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. She took her husband Michael Haley’s last name after they married. Trump misspelled Nimarata as “Nimrada” as he attacked her in a new post on his social media platform Truth Social. The MAGA crowd has been calling her “Nimroda” (nimrod, get it?) for months. naturally he’s doing it now too. Most Republicans don’t care.
Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 05:24
Following the introduction of the model-based inferential framework by Fisher and the introduction of the design-based inferential framework by Neyman [and Pearson], survey sampling statisticians began to identify their respective weaknesses. With regard to the model-based framework, sampling statisticians found that conditioning on all stratification and selection/recruitment variables, and allowing for their potential interactions with […]
Created
Thu, 18/01/2024 - 05:12
I love writing. The medium is excellent for communicating ideas, or a narrative history. But writing is one-dimensional, and it’s much worse at communicating the history of ideas in higher dimensions. My meta-scientific interest in understanding how ideas travel, how their fate waxes and wanes, has frequently pushed me beyond my preferred medium. Traditional historiography is extremely […]