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If a party can get your vote by being slightly less evil than the other party (and this applies to both the Republicans and Democrats to many voters), then they have no incentive to be good.

If you live in a society where parties are tending more and more evil, voting for less evil simply ensures that the trend will continue. Since “evil” in this case means “bad for ordinary people but great for me and people who bribe me”, there’s no reason for politicians enmeshed in the system, who rose under the system to do anything for the majority unless it benefits the rich and powerful more.

However politicians do sometimes change their votes or actions when in power based on needing to be elected.

Could AI help me compose a musical expression of love?

The post A Glitch in My Serenade appeared first on Nautilus.

Lol. The greatest sore loser in the history of the world has a few words: You really have to wonder when the wingnuts are going to get tired of this. Ever? Or are they so brainwashed they’ll never learn?

The young man, bound by zip-tie cuffs, delivered his Israeli captors’ message but was shot as he tried to walk out of the hospital gate.

The post IDF Sent in Handcuffed Prisoner to Evacuate Hospital, Then Killed Him When He Left appeared first on The Intercept.

Wassup, fellow slackers, poseurs, losers, stoners, and the dorks smart enough to make loot before the dot-com crash.

I said yo, wassup! Not clapping? Good. Thought so.

I get that it’s totally wack, but this year, I’m running for president of the USA, because I want to represent you, the voiceless and forgotten, my fellow Gen Xers.

That’s right, my entire platform revolves around Gen X values, like fixing everything that sucks about this country—which is a lot. Our time is now. The boomers had their chance and blew it. Do we expect millennials to fix anything? Not when they’re busy crying in the office bathroom they won’t. And Gen Z? Sure. Get lost and TikTok a new aesthetic or whatever.

With my Gen X cabinet full of bitchin’ advisors, we’re gonna do what we do best: point out society’s flaws, work hard to work less, fire up the glorified blog, a.k.a. Substack, roll up our sleeves for another tattoo, and tell our grown-ass children to make their own goddamned mac and cheese.

South Africa has made an urgent request for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue emergency orders to prevent “large-scale killing, harm and destruction” from Israel’s imminent assault on Rafah. The ICJ, which is preparing to commence separate hearings on the legal status of Israeli occupation next week, has yet to respond. The world Continue reading »

There was a time when the world looked to China to reduce its emissions. China was, they quite rightly pointed out, one of the globe’s worst polluters. But it’s never been the world’s worst offender. There are many arguments why. The obvious one is the per capita argument:China has more people, so it should have Continue reading »

It was with a sense of disgust rather than despair that I read in the Jerusalem Post this week: “‘Antisemitic’ UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese banned from Israel.” We’re being gas-lighted again and this is a chance to push back against the narrative that to support victims of Israel is to somehow be antisemitic.  Back Continue reading »

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The nation’s economists and economist-run authorities such as the Reserve Bank have not covered themselves in glory in the present inflationary episode. They’ve shown a lack of intellectual rigour, an unwillingness to re-examine their long-held views, and a lack of compassion for the many ordinary families who, in the Reserve’s zeal to fix inflation the Continue reading »

How governments approach Indigenous governance is crucial to addressing the reform task set by the Productivity Commission’s recent report. The Productivity Commission’s recent review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap challenges Australian governments to fundamentally reconfigure how they engage with First Nations organisations. Modernising how government organisations approach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Continue reading »

Where are all our rock stars? The battle for your freedom is raging. Led by Australia’s own Julian Assange, from behind his grey cell walls. Day X, Julian’s final appeal (20-21st Feb 24), is just around the corner and the global community rally behind him to make sure his keepers know the whole world is Continue reading »

When one side in hostilities lacks an army, that side often finds its only recourse is to use what the other side calls “terrorism.” On October 7, Hamas launched a terrorist attack on southern Israel, killing some 1,100 people, a majority of whom were civilians. Such action cannot be condoned. In addition, mainstream media have Continue reading »

Lara finally gets her star turn Poor RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel. Nobody has debased and humiliated herself more chasing the approval of Donald Trump, even going so far as to change her name from Romney McDaniel to just McDaniel because Trump despises her uncle Mitt. But it didn’t really do her any good in the end because like so many others before her, loyalty and Trump are a one way street and he has decided that he’s done with her. In some ways you can’t blame him.The RNC is a mess. The  Federal Election Commission released its year end fundraising reports and they showed that the RNC had its worst fundraising year since 2013 only managing to take in $87.2 million in 2023. According to Fox News, “if adjusted for inflation, the RNC’s fundraising was last this low in 1993 — before the 2002 McCain Feingold Act restricted political committee fundraising from corporations and capped donations from individuals.” They started off this year with just $8 million in cash. That’s bad. To make matters worse, the Democrats raised three times as much last year and are rolling in the dough.

North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll is mounting an insurgent independent campaign in the North East, after being barred from the shortlist

Based on the 2021 Fifteenth Doctor audition script, Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T. Davies viewed the "Timeless Child" storyline as canon.

Meet Robert Kraft, the eccentric billionaire owner of the New England Patriots who is not only funding unusual Super Bowl ads but also pro-Israel American politicians.

The post Super Bowl Propaganda: Patriots’ Robert Kraft’s Ties to Israel Explained appeared first on MintPress News.

Can you smell the fear on the GOP? Molly Jong-Fast reflects on Robert Hur’s hit job. Democrats freaked out about the special counsel’s gratuitous comments about Joe Biden’s memory. The press obsessed over it. Republicans redistributed theories that Biden might drop out and Michelle Obama might step in. Biden himself has responded with jokes about his age. Jong-Fast writes (Vanity Fair): Now, I understand why everyone’s so anxious; another Trump presidency could be the end of American democracy. But there’s also a reason why Republicans are so obsessed with trying to get Biden to drop out. It’s not because they are concerned about Biden’s mental acuity; it’s because they know that incumbency is a huge advantage and the economy is picking up. (Meanwhile, Trump is trying to look like an incumbent president—while taking credit, somehow, for the stock market’s rise.) […] The media’s decision to seize on bad polls, especially around Biden’s age, has ratcheted up Democrats’ nerves for months. Yet polls have been wrong before. Remember the red wave of 2022?