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Well, it’s on. This is why you don’t use mercenaries or trust scum like Prigozhin.
Remember that Prigozhin is to the right of Putin, which is where the threat was always going to come from. If he does take over, it is unlikely to lead to an end to the Ukraine war (unless there’s a bloody civil war), it means gloves off.
The issue here is just how much of the Russian army will side with Putin. If it’s anything substantial, he wins. If not, he’s done. This is why Prigozhin emphasized not enough weapons, etc… it was a stab in the back narrative: “Putin won’t let us win the war.”
Putin played around with the war, unwilling to go all in and used Wagner as a prison to frontlines pipeline. That was a mistake.
We’ll see if it’s a fatal one. This is entirely a matter of morale—what the military will do.
Revisiting Series 3 of the modern era of Doctor Who, it's pretty clear that Freema Agyemans' Martha Jones is the most underrated companion.
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Arrow/Stephen Amell, "Daryl Dixon," Always Sunny, SDCC 2023, Star Trek: Prodigy, Cobra Kai/Elon Musk & more!
Unsatisfied with humiliating patients, the anti-abortion right is escalating a time-tested tactic: Make ’em grovel.
The post A Year After Dobbs, the Anti-Abortion Right Is Grilling Doctors on Tattoos, Tweets, and Too-Strong Beliefs appeared first on The Intercept.
Sand kittens! The North Carolina Zoo is excited to announce yet another recent birth: three sand cat kittens (sexes unknown at this time) were born on May 11. Small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, the kittens were born to first-time mother Sahara, 3, and father Cosmo, 9. It marks the third birth at the Zoo in less than two weeks. On May 20, a giraffe calf (male) was born, and a chimpanzee infant (male) was born on May 21. This marks the first litter for the sand cat pair. Cosmo previously fathered daughter Layla, now living at the Greensboro Science Center. The Zoo plans to offer a public naming poll for the kittens. Details will be announced soon on the Zoo’s social media channels and website. The mom and triplets are doing well. The trio are beginning to explore their surroundings in the Desert Habitat. Lucky guests may be able to catch a glimpse of them in the coming days. Though they appear adorable with big ears, eyes, and petite frame, looks can be deceiving. Zookeepers are quick to tell you they are wild, ferocious animals that should never be kept as pets. These small and mighty hunters kill venomous snakes in the desert.
I don’t know what to make of this but it’s fascinating: Russia did not face an imminent security threat to justify its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary outfit, said in a bombshell video posted on social media Friday. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine were not going to attack Russia with the NATO bloc,” Prigozhin explained in the half-hour tirade released by his press service. “The Russian Defense Ministry is deceiving the public and the president,” he added. Prigozhin’s comments were at odds with the casus belli given by President Vladimir Putin when he ordered troops into Ukraine last February, although the private army chief avoided personally attacking the Russian leader.
Physicist Alan Lightman on evolution and atheism, creativity and spirituality.
The post Why Materialists Don’t Have to Be Atheists appeared first on Nautilus.
This would be funny if it didn’t mean that Marge Greene could end up being a “mainstream” Republican politician once the smoke has cleared: Tensions inside the conservative House Freedom Caucus have reached the point that some members are floating the idea of purging colleagues from the group. At least two hardliners have discussed — and proposed to Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.) — trying to boot members who no longer meet the group’s standards, according to three Republicans with knowledge of the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity. The lawmakers declined to name who’s behind the ouster calls, underscoring the sensitivity of the situation. While the members suggesting a purge did not specify the people they want to remove, they are signaling that one target of any ejection push is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Some in the Freedom Caucus have focused on Greene, who’s become a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, to illustrate their fears that certain group members are too aligned with GOP leaders and too outwardly critical of the group when it splits on certain issues.
Miami: Just saying. This is a national problem in cities big and small, red states and blue states. It’s a terrible thing and these ghouls like DeSantis trying to make it into a “woke” issue are lying assholes.
Call it Carr’s law. I’m pretty confident it withstands any testing. It’s simple: find someone talking up war with China and, if they were around 20 years ago, you find they were a supporter of the Iraq invasion. Few learn from error. On the other hand, stupidity is a constant in human affairs. Against it, Continue reading »
While much of humanity was glued to the unfolding drama over one tiny submarine, the Earth we all inhabit is slowly, steadily and implacably imploding around us. Ocean temperatures are raging off the scale, icecaps are melting and seas rising, forests are ablaze across continents, ‘heat bombs’ in heavily populated regions are pushing them into Continue reading »
In an opinion piece published in The Weekend Australian (10 June 2023), Paul Monk offers his response to critics of the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine agreement. A central focus of his critique is this open letter signed by more than 100 academics. As two of the principal co-authors of the letter, we requested a right of Continue reading »
Australia is the only democratic country in the world without a charter of human rights in either legislation or the Constitution. On 1 July the deadline for submissions will close on the federal government’s current Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework. In this Inquiry the government is seeking comments on whether the Human Rights Framework Continue reading »
This is a story of five decades, from 1973 to 2023. Diplomatic relations between Australia and the then North Vietnam were established on 26 February, 1973. It has history. Early this year marked its fiftieth anniversary, otherwise mostly ignored. The Commonwealth of Australia had then created political ties with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (which Continue reading »
Reforming political donations – will Labor and the Coalition do a sweetheart deal to thwart independents?; Ten questions about the Voice answered; and Signs of an impending recession. Read on for the Weekly Roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy. Where our money Continue reading »
Prosaic economic factors, not politics, are driving the growth in China-Australia trade, ensuring “China will only become more important as Australia’s trading partner of choice,” writes James Laurenceson. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has made clear that Australia’s relationship with China is “not going to go back to where we were”. There will be no “reset”. That’s Continue reading »
Paleotempestology promises to uncover patterns of historical hurricanes—to better predict destructive weather of the future.
The post The Secret Messages in Ancient Storms appeared first on Nautilus.
Donald Trump once told his ecstatic rally goers his philosophy of life: My whole life, you know what I say? ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll just figure it out.’” It’s worked for him up until now. As it happens one of his top proteges, “My Kevin” McCarthy has adopted the same attitude. Punchbowl reports: Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s long-term strategy is this — he has no long-term strategy. The California Republican has shown, to a remarkable degree, that his day-to-day, week-to-week style in running the House is to essentially push through — to just keep dancing — and deal with problems as they come. Get through today and worry about what happens next when it happens. McCarthy won the speaker’s gavel in January after 15 grueling rounds of voting, granting a host of concessions to the conservatives in the process. These promises put McCarthy on a collision course with President Joe Biden and the Democrats over the debt limit, yet McCarthy had finally become speaker, his longtime goal.
Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T. Davies had more production updates to pass along for the 60th-anniversary special & upcoming new series.
1. “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”
2. “I’m talking about the kitchen—just to be clear—at my food bowl.”
3. “Big Brother Is Watching You.”
4. “I am Big Brother. I am watching you.”
5. “You are a slow learner.”
6. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
7. “The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.”
8. “I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane.”
9. “Hunger reduces one to an utterly spineless, brainless condition, more like the after-effects of influenza than anything else. It is as though one had been turned into a jellyfish, or as though all one’s blood had been pumped out and lukewarm water substituted.”
10. “O cruel, needless misunderstanding!”
11. “Nothing exists except an endless present.”
12. “Let’s face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.”
13. “The object of torture is torture.”
14. “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.”
15. “Four legs good, two legs bad.”