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Sat, 18/11/2023 - 04:54
The Albanese government is about to have to make a really important decision. It’s going to have to decide what’s more important: supporting Australians who are financially under water, or keeping an election promise. And it’ll have to do it soon. It’s already working on its May budget, now just six months away. That choice Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 18/11/2023 - 04:53
Labor is too naïve in dealing with Dutton; how Canberra smooths the path for well-heeled lobbyists; how the “cost of living” obsession obscures serious social and economic fault lines; the RBA graded by an aged academic, and how to identify a conservative. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and Continue reading »
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Sat, 18/11/2023 - 04:00
The Speaker of the House has called an early recess for the Thanksgiving break because his Republicans members were so punchy from all the infighting and name-calling that they allowed a continuing budget resolution with no budget cuts to pass, mostly with Democratic votes, and couldn’t even work up a good old-fashioned cry. There are a few die hards who are still shaking their fists on the Capitol steps vowing never to let it happen again but nobody has the energy to cheer them on at this point: Their obsession with “individual spending bills” instead of omnibus legislation doesn’t really seem like the greatest idea at the moment since they can’t even get their own draconian spending bills to the floor much less pass them. So I’m not sure why they thought a government shutdown was going to shake anything loose. Not that it really matters. They have not done any actual legislating since this congress convened nearly a year ago so why start now? America is tired too — tired of their inane, infantile, behavior. And people are no doubt grateful to be spared any more of it for the next week or so.
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Sat, 18/11/2023 - 02:30
Who needs consultants? When opponents write your campaign ads for you? Vanity Fair: On Wednesday, Representative Chip Roy took to House floor to tear into his fellow Republicans, accusing them of doing literally nothing useful with their time in Washington—definitely not anything he could actually tell voters about in an effort to get reelected. “You know, we have had a tumultuous year of sorts, but in the eyes of the American people, they’ve been watching from afar wondering when this body, the people’s House, will stand up in defense of the people who send us here,” Roy said. “When are we going to do what we said we would do?” Taking aim expressly at his GOP colleagues, Roy added: “For the life of me, I do not understand how you can go to the trouble of campaigning, raising money, going to events, talking to people, coming to this town as a member of a party who allegedly stands for something…and then do nothing about it. One thing: I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing—one—that I can go campaign on and say we did.
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Sat, 18/11/2023 - 01:22

Kit Klarenberg reveals how starting in the 1970s, the Israeli government and CIA shaped how we see terrorism, using the fear of communism to serve their own foreign policy agendas.

The post Team B and the Jerusalem Conference: How Israel Helped Craft Modern-Day “Terrorism” appeared first on MintPress News.

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Sat, 18/11/2023 - 01:00

To help celebrate our twenty-fifth year of being on the information superhighway, we have reached out to some of our current and former columnists for check-ins and updates. Today’s columnist, Suzanne Yeagley, has written Interviews with People Who Have Interesting or Unusual Jobs for our site since 2002. It’s one of our oldest running columns. Suzanne returns today for the first new installment in a few years.

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Q: What is your job title?
A: The official title is “Guinness World Records Adjudicator.” I’m part of a team of adjudicators who are sent in person for certain events. I am the person who decides, normally in real time, unless it’s a very intense record, whether or not the record attempt was successful.

We go to the event in our fancy uniform. Every time I’m in it, I feel very official.

Created
Sat, 18/11/2023 - 01:00
You think Trump doesn’t mean you? What Sinclair Lewis did say in It Can’t Happen Here: “But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst Fascists were they who disowned the word ‘Fascism’ and preached enslavement to Capitalism under the style of Constitutional and Traditional Native American Liberty.” The more familiar quote misattributed to Lewis was just years ahead of its time. Whatever. The truth of it seems increasingly evident. Wrapped in the flag? ☑ Carrying a cross? ☑