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Thu, 17/08/2023 - 08:00
I don’t think so The NY Times: Early in the scrum of the 2016 presidential campaign, the political strategist Rick Wilson bumped into an old boss and strongly advised him not to cast his lot with Donald J. Trump. No good would come of it. “Even if he wins, he’s going to destroy you,” Mr. Wilson remembered telling Rudolph W. Giuliani. “This guy’s going to humiliate you.” Mr. Wilson recalled being dismissed as a provincial Floridian unable to understand the bond between two New Yorkers — outer-borough strivers who walked the Manhattan streets with proprietary airs and were now within grasp of once-unimaginable power. “He’s going to take care of me,” Mr. Wilson said Mr. Giuliani would tell those around him. A cabinet post, probably. Maybe secretary of state. Never happened. Instead, Mr. Giuliani became Mr. Trump’s secretary of aggression and blind allegiance: his attack dog, legal adviser, unindicted co-conspirator — and now, co-defendant in a criminal conspiracy case.
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Thu, 17/08/2023 - 06:30
I just don’t know what to say to this utter bullshit the right spews. Trump spent his entire term in “executive time” doing nothing but tweeting, watching TV, flying around on government aircraft to his golf resorts for pay to play sessions on the links. The idea that he was out there working hard for the people is simply ludicrous. That officials like Byron Donalds spread this ludicrous propaganda is perhaps the most disturbing thing about it. Does he believe it? Maybe. There are plenty of true believers. But it’s almost worse if he doesn’t. How cynical can you get?
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Thu, 17/08/2023 - 05:00
We haven’t heard much from His Anti-Wokeness for a bit so I thought I share a little schadenfreude from Ed Kilgore to make your day: Ron DeSantis remains the most formidable rival to Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. But it’s been a long, long time since he’s gotten any particularly good news in the polls. A new Emerson College survey shows him dropping into single digits and third place in New Hampshire, behind Chris Christie. In the RealClearPolitics averages of national GOP polls, he’s dropped from 30.1 percent at the end of March to 14.8 percent now. He looks relatively strong in Iowa, where it appears he is making a desperate all-or-nothing stand, but mostly just by comparison. Trump only leads him by 27 points in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, though sparse Iowa polling may disguise a less positive environment for DeSantis. Polling aside, recent news emanating from the DeSantis campaign has been generally quite bad.
Created
Thu, 17/08/2023 - 04:58
Australia’s leader Anthony Albanese is responsible for much more than window dressing at the ALP National Conference. As our elected leader he is required to speak for the nation about how Australia will meet its international obligations to peace and security in our region. In order to re-assert an Australian independent middle power foreign policy Continue reading »
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Thu, 17/08/2023 - 04:57
At this moment in the economic cycle the Chinese economy is stalling whilst the US is experiencing a buoyant phase. However, there is another angle to their strategic rivalry that is more important than ephemeral shifts. Viewed through a longer lens both China and the US have economic aces up their sleeve. Both possess a Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 17/08/2023 - 04:55
The Liberal Party is in deep trouble. As our main “conservative” party, the fact that it is besieged by far right figures is reason for vigilance by the rest of us. No party holds government forever, and a “conservative” or anti-incumbent vote must not be an accidental vote for theocratic politics. Figures like Moira Deeming Continue reading »
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Thu, 17/08/2023 - 04:54
It is just over ten years since the school autonomy program called Local Schools, Local Decisions commenced in NSW. It has been a lost decade. It was supposed to increased student results but high inequity in education continues with more bureaucracy, less central support for schools and bigger workloads for principals and teachers. The stated Continue reading »
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Thu, 17/08/2023 - 04:53
Pearls and Irritations has played a fundamental role in providing an internationally recognised and widely read platform where serious arguments can now challenge the shallow, rancorous Hong Kong denigration agenda advanced by the MWM. John Menadue reads exceptionally widely and with great understanding. By early 2021, he was inviting a range of writers from Hong Continue reading »
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Thu, 17/08/2023 - 04:50
So US-sanctioned, Hong Kong Chief Executive, John Lee, will not be allowed into the US to attend the forthcoming APEC annual conference. This is US unilateralism gone mad. We have seen it before, of course, with the US unilaterally refusing admission to national leaders it dislikes who wish to attend UN sessions. But there is Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 17/08/2023 - 03:39

Western media has dismissed evidence of neo-Nazi influence in Ukraine by citing President Zelensky’s Jewish heritage. But new footage published by Zelensky shows the leader openly collaborating with a fascist ideologue who once pledged to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen.” Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky has uploaded a video to his Telegram channel showing him holding court with one of the most notorious neo-Nazis in modern Ukrainian history: Azov Battalion founder Andriy Biletsky. […]

The post Zelensky holds court with Ukraine’s most notorious neo-Nazi first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Zelensky holds court with Ukraine’s most notorious neo-Nazi appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Thu, 17/08/2023 - 03:30
One of the most compelling images that came out of the Jan. 6 House committee hearings was of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows slumped on his couch on the afternoon in question, disconsolately scrolling through his phone while Donald Trump’s angry mob stormed the Capitol. As the New York Times reported: [White House aide Cassidy] Hutchinson said around 2 p.m. or 2:05 p.m. that day, she went to Meadows’ office because she saw rioters were getting closer to breaching the Capitol. Meadows was on his couch, scrolling through his phone, as he had been that morning. “I said, ‘Hey, are you watching the TV, chief? … The rioters are getting really close. Have you talked to the president?’ He said, ‘No, he wants to be alone right now,'” she recalled.”I remember Pat saying to [Meadows], something to the effect of, ‘The rioters have gotten to the Capitol, Mark, we need to go down and see the president now.’ And Mark looked up at him and said, ‘He doesn’t want to do anything, Pat,'” Hutchinson said.
Created
Thu, 17/08/2023 - 03:00

The Band – A device your physical therapist wants you to use to increase joint flexibility.

Pink Floyd – A nickname for your rosacea.

Deep Purple – The color of your spider veins.

Blur – Your twenties and thirties.

The Smiths – What you call the three couples you socialize with whose names you can’t remember.

The Who – How you respond when someone uses their correct name.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – One of several spicy foods your gastroenterologist recommends you avoid.

Chuck Berry – One of the many cuts of meat your cardiologist says you should eat less; a fruit your endocrinologist says you should eat more.

Tool – Something you can’t find.

Alice Cooper – What you named your daughter; what she named her son.

Led Zeppelin – One of the many kinds of aircraft you refuse to fly in.

Van Halen – How you get a cab because you can’t remember your Uber login.