The virulent grow more virulent Throw “government closest to the people serves the people best” on the ashheap of history. Old-school conservatives may once have spouted that line, but MAGA authoritarians treat local democracy as quaint. Like the Geneva Convention that way. The New York Times Editorial Board comments on the trend among Republican-led state legislatures to put their thumbs on local democracies that buck the MAGA-red tide. For example, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will sign within day a bill stripping Texas cities of their power to govern themselves: The bill, recently approved by the Texas House and Senate, would nullify any city ordinance or regulation that conflicts with existing state policy in those crucial areas, and would give private citizens or businesses the right to sue and seek damages if they believe there is a discrepancy between city and state. That means no city could prohibit discrimination against L.G.B.T.Q. employees, as several Texas cities have done. No city could adopt new rules to limit predatory payday-lending practices. No city could restrict overgrown lots, or unsafe festivals, or inadequate waste storage.
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The Doctor needed a companion because the heart of Doctor Who is about the romance between them, which became more overt in the new show.
Something is brewing within our professional classes. Senior doctors are balloting over low pay, barristers have been on strike over legal aid fees and now the union representing the senior civil service has announced its first national pay ballot plans in its history. Strikes in the senior civil service are rare—only two were officially called […]
Democrats and Republicans have previously joined hands to support the invasion of Iraq, huge corporate tax cuts, and more.
The post The Debt Limit Bill: Yet Another Triumph for Bipartisanship appeared first on The Intercept.
Meerkat pups! (Should be Meerkat cubs, no? Kittens? ) For the first time in 16 years, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) in Washington, D.C., is celebrating the birth of three meerkats. Keepers in the Small Mammal House reported for duty the morning of May 10 and observed that 5-year-old Sadie had given birth overnight. NZCBI had received a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan (SSP) to breed Sadie and the pups’ 6-year-old father Frankie. These pups are the first offspring for Sadie; Frankie sired offspring previously at his former zoo. Meerkats live in groups called mobs that can include as many as 30 individuals, although the average mob size is around 10 to 15 individuals. Visitors can view NZCBI’s meerkat mob—which also includes Sadie’s sister, Stella—at the Small Mammal House. In the wild, meerkat pups typically remain in an underground burrow for about three weeks.
Dems’ debt-deal celebration tells us exactly what they think is a victory — and for whom they want to deliver such wins.
Through weak policy efforts and debt ceiling capitulations, Biden has helped derail his student loan relief plan — and time is running out to salvage it.
Nice of him to stipulate that we shouldn’t be “cruel to those who don’t fit the norm.” But I hate to tell him — being cruel to anyone who didn’t perfectly fit was the norm until recently when humans finally decided that allowing people to celebrate their communities and identities should be the new norm. That’s called modern civilization and these throwbacks can’t stand to see it. Any of you who are older than 40 or so (and probably a few who are younger as well) are very well aware of the the “norm” among kids and adults alike to discriminate, isolate, degrade, insult and batter LGBTQ people. Among some, it still is. These people who are threatening store clerks at Target over Pride merch are not so subtly signalling that they plan to bring back that “norm.” Don’t kid yourself, they aren’t just trying to “protect” trans kids. Going after Pride proves that. They want all LGBTQ people back in the closet with the door nailed shut. They always have. And there are a whole lot of Republicans who have gay relatives. Quite a few are gay themselves.
This piece by Tim Alberta about CNN’s Chris Licht is very illuminating. And it shows, once again, that these big shot media moguls are just fine with criticism from the right — they expect it. But they get enraged when it comes from the left. And they react very badly: The new boss told people inside CNN that Tapper’s 4 o’clock show, The Lead, was the model: tough, respectful, inquisitive reporting that challenged every conceivable view and facilitated open dialogue. Licht emphasized certain exceptions to this approach. He would not give airtime to bad actors who spread disinformation. His network would host people who like rain as well as people who don’t like rain. But, he said, CNN would not host people who deny that it’s raining when it is. This was no small caveat: More than half of Republicans in Congress had voted to throw out the electoral votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania based on lies. Meanwhile, plenty of Republicans who weren’t election deniers didn’t want to come on CNN anyway.
Most people in the Drupal Community are aware of the role the Community Working Group (CWG) plays to support community health. For those of you who may not be, in short, the CWG is a group of volunteers from our community who come together to support the Drupal space to make it a healthy, productive environment that supports all its members. It consists of two teams: the Community Health Team (CHT) which acts as both a resource and works to develop and/or support community initiatives, and the Conflict Resolution Team (CRT) which is responsible for helping to uphold Drupal’s Code of Conduct and facilitate communication when tension arises. Read more about our charter.
A conversation between Yo-Yo Ma and Fabiola Gianotti.
The post The Cellist and the Physicist appeared first on Nautilus.
News about Khan, a former prime minister at the center of a political crisis roiling Pakistan, mostly disappeared from the country’s media.
The post In Secret Meeting, Pakistani Military Ordered Press to Stop Covering Imran Khan appeared first on The Intercept.
Grab some popcorn and sit down for a very entertaining read from Hugo Lowell at The Guardian. The turmoil inside the legal team only exploded into public view when one of the top lawyers, Tim Parlatore, abruptly resigned two weeks ago from the representation citing irreconcilable differences with Trump’s senior adviser and in-house counsel Boris Epshteyn. But the departure of Parlatore was the culmination of months of simmering tensions that continue to threaten the effectiveness of the legal team at a crucial time – as federal prosecutors weigh criminal charges – in part because the interpersonal conflicts remain largely unresolved. It also comes as multiple Trump lawyers are embroiled in numerous criminal investigations targeting the former president: Epshteyn was recently interviewed by the special counsel, while Parlatore and Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran testified to the grand jury in the classified documents inquiry.
Henry Kissinger, self-praised and adulated as a statesman of genius, foreign policy expert of prowess, recently warned the world that, to avoid world war three, America and China must learn to live together. They have less than ten years, he argues. He has also become a centurion. It is a remarkable achievement, all the more Continue reading »
It has been my privilege to know Yunupingu, and for our lives to have criss-crossed and intertwined all these years. I think that now – finally – I have answered my own puzzlement about his life’s choices. I do not intend in these few remarks to chronicle this man’s enormous achievements. That is readily accessible. Continue reading »
In Asian Media this week: India Special: West’s one-two soft-soaping of country’s leader; anti-colonial Modi pushes ‘new’ future; forecasts of Indian century ‘magical thinking’. Plus: tighter US, Japan, South Korea ties; Timor-Leste’s ASEAN ambitions; Bangkok backing key to poll winner’s survival. India I: Anthony Albanese’s gushing greeting last month for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Continue reading »
Last year the NSW Education Department paid almost $10 million to Deloitte Consultants for ‘expert’ advice, not to mention how much of tax-payers revenue went into the pockets of the disgraced PWC for similar nonsense. This reliance on outside know-how is a ‘logical’ step up from the failed policy of governments employing experts in leadership Continue reading »
As a long-ago holder of an orange lobbyist Parliament House pass (referred to as a ‘gold diggers’ pass, in contrast to the ‘true blue’ pass of staffers or the ‘yellow press’ pass for the press gallery), I read the latest kerfuffle about lobbying, political donations, influence peddling and political insider trading with an element of Continue reading »
Inflation is coming down quickly; Prime Minister Albanese appeals to our best selves on the Voice; and Chinese-Australians – a quiet immigration success. Read on for the Weekly Roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy. Economics Inflation is coming down quickly – the Continue reading »
The recent ‘Red Alert’ series, along with statements by some U.S, and Australian military leaders would have us believe that Chinese military forces could soon in waves be running up Bondi Beach invading our erstwhile peaceful land. Strange then, given this immediacy of threat, our military preparations are increasingly linked to AUKUS, its central plank Continue reading »