It’s Wednesday and I have some commitments in Melbourne (recording a podcast with the Inside Network) and that requires some travel. So time is tight. Today, I update the latest from Japan courtesy of yesterday’s release from the Bank of Japan of its ‘Statement on Monetary Policy’. The parallel universe continues and is delivering superior…
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Ncuti Gatwa might be scarred for life after hearing the confessions of real doctors; new Doctor Who Christmas Special images were released.
It’s going to be a long year, people. It’s clear that it’s going to require a lot of fortitude to avoid falling into despair over the next few months if they continue to cover this election as they have been. What I see happening is that while they are appropriately covering Trump’s ascent into full Hitlerian fascism (for now, anyway) they are also succumbing to their usual need to “balance” the coverage by hyping Biden’s unpopularity. I’m not suggesting that he’s popular. He isn’t. But just look at the NY Times coverage of their polling. I’m sure you remember this one from last month: Ok. Here’s their latest poll which shows that Biden is leading Trump nationally among likely voters: Here’s the website: I’m not kidding when I say he’s leading nationally which ought to account for a mention in at least one headline fergawdsakes! Here’s how they address it way down in the main article: Overall, registered voters say they favor Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden in next year’s presidential election by two percentage points, 46 percent to 44 percent.
We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store. He said that a couple of months ago in the wake of a full summer of panic over an alleged wave of violent shoplifting all over the country. The LA Times’ Michael Hilzik takes a look at this issue in light of the fact that the National Retail Federation’s report that “organized shoplifting” was sweeping the nation is now revealed to have been a total lie: The statistic, published in April by the National Retail Federation, was that “organized retail crime” — including the videotaped flash mob smash-and-grab events aired in frequent rotation on the cable and evening news shows — came to more than $45 billion a year. Specifically, the NRF declared that organized crime accounted for “nearly half” of the $94.5 billion in retail “shrink” attributed to theft or “other causes” in 2021. The claim appeared in the latest edition of the federation’s annual report on organized retail crime. On Dec.
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Why Gaza urgently needs a plan B. War will drag on… It’s now clear that the Gaza War is far from over. Hamas refuses to surrender. Israel has rejected the UN General Assembly’s call for a cease fire and American pressure to lower the intensity of the war because it says Hamas would regroup and Continue reading »
As Australia’s expands its support to the NATO proxy war against Russia it is critical that the Parliament plays a role in determining when we become involved in overseas conflicts. In January of this year, I posed the question is Australia currently at war? The evidence available at that time led to the conclusion that Continue reading »
Since coming to office in 2022, the Albanese Governments foreign policy has been dominated by its enthusiastic embrace of the AUKUS agreement with old allies, the United States and the United Kingdom. However these nations are totally out of step with global opinion about gross breaches of international law by the Netanyahu regime and neither Continue reading »
While the speechless unite, in a silent accord. Australia’s Geopolitical Present and Future: Bethlehem through Poetry and Literature. An incomplete – very incomplete – snapshot of the current season of Advent: Internally the US is divided and its global leadership is crumbling; the Middle East, and Ukraine play insolent, obscene court jesters to kings, nobles, Continue reading »
Self-employment has changed in recent years. It’s been both shrinking and becoming more precarious. Proportionately, there are fewer business owners and there’s more gig work. The reality is getting further away from what many have imagined. An idea that’s been going around for a long time held that freelancing is part of some entrepreneurial boom Continue reading »
Accountability only works if information about government is readily available. And who doesn’t believe in accountability, at least in theory? While opposition political parties are ardent about freedom of information laws, for governments they’re a pain in the neck. More than with most other aspects of government, where you sit is where you are most Continue reading »
In contrast to cricketer Usman Khawaja’s principled stand for human rights, the Liberal’s Simon Birmingham and Labor’s Josh Burns broadcast their judgements that the time is not right for a ceasefire. Commentary from these Australian MPs in response to slaughter in Gaza, both of whom are in Israel to show support for that country, shows Continue reading »
US presidents are losing their authority as the world’s policemen. Russia fights to keep Ukraine out of NATO. Israel fights in Gaza to wipe out the Palestinians. China and the Global South advance their national interests without fighting at all. All can and do ignore President Biden’s wishes. Then the current, soon-retiring, US policeman wants Continue reading »
When we complain about the media, this is why What’s wrong with this picture? In most situations, comparing a political opponent to Adolf Hitler might seem like an extraordinary step. For Joe Biden’s campaign, it has become part of the routine of running against Donald Trump. When the former president said that undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” during a New Hampshire rally on Saturday, a Biden campaign aide charged with monitoring Trump immediately circulated the comments to staffers, according to senior officials. Within hours, the campaign released a statement attacking Trump for having “channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy.” In fairness, the article goes on to explain, correctly, that Trump is evoking Hitler in his speeches. The Biden campaign even sent the article around.
Faced with institutional racism in council housing and the existential threat of the National Front, hundreds of Bengali migrant families decided to squat, taking over entire streets and estates in 1970s London. Through oral history interviews and archival research, Dr Shabna Begum explores this little-known episode of East End history. She sits down with Tribune […]
A lawyer acting for the lawyer of Baroness Michelle Mone told Byline Times it would be defamatory to suggest David McKie 'knowingly represented a false position’
The role of broadcasting and communications regulator Ofcom in scrutinising the proposed newspaper deal has not received the scrutiny it deserves, writes Julian Petley
The coming war may not be civil A “yankee” in a meeting yesterday said she’d moved to North Carolina from New England because she felt her political activism would make more of a difference here. She may be right. This really is going to be a battleground in 2024. This Morning Digest edition from Daily Kos makes that case: NC Supreme Court: Candidate filing closed this past Friday for the March 5 primaries in North Carolina, a perennial swing state that will host closely watched races up and down the ballot. Not to be overlooked, though, is a crucial contest for an eight-year term on the state Supreme Court. Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Allison Riggs in September after Mike Morgan, a fellow Democrat, resigned ahead of launching a bid for governor. Had Morgan instead sought and won another term on the court, he would have faced mandatory retirement at the age of 72, in 2027, less than halfway through a second term. The new justice, whose appointment at 42 made her the youngest woman ever to serve on the court, won’t face that same problem, but she doesn’t have a clear path to the general election.
Idag när jag hjälpte vår yngsta dotter att efter nio år i Malmö flytta tillbaka till Lund fann jag till min förvåning att huset hon skulle flytta in i på Stora Magle Kyrkogata var gamla Historiska Institutionen. Huset som jag besökte ett otal gånger i mitten på 70-talet när jag läste tre betyg i historia […]
The MVC team analyzes a zany adaptation of Charles Dickens’ iconic holiday story.
Dr Evan Harris, former Director of Hacked Off and now a legal analyst to the successful claimants against Mirror Group Newspapers over phone hacking and other unlawful information gathering, deconstructs former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan’s statement on the damning judgement against the firm last week.
A recent opinion poll rocked the world of the Big Oil lobbyists in their proverbial thousand-dollar suits and alligator shoes. The Pew Research Center found that 37% of Americans now feel that fighting the climate crisis should be the number one priority of President Joe Biden and Congress, and another 34% put it among their highest priorities, even if they didn’t rank it first. Companies like ExxonMobil and countries like Saudi Arabia have tried since the 1990s to gaslight the public into thinking climate change was either a total fantasy or that the burning of coal, natural gas, and petroleum wasn’t causing it. Having lost that battle, the fossil-fuel lobbyists have now fallen back on Plan B. They want to convince you... Read more