Reading

Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 08:30
This piece by Jenny Boylan is a super important read if you want to understand what transgenderism really is all about. I would imagine that most who read this site believe that all people should have the right to live their lives as they choose and support the rights of transgender people to live freely in our society. This goes much deeper: There they are, in their Chevrolet Colorado, five dudes bouncing up and down as the truck grinds through the rugged American high country. Two guys up front, three in the back. Shania Twain is blasting. The fellow in the middle is singing along. “Oh, I want to be free, yeah, to feel the way I feel. Man, I feel like a woman!” The other guys look deeply worried. But the person in the back just keeps happily singing away, even as the dude next to him moves his leg away. Just to be on the safe side. This commercial aired back in 2004, and even now it’s not clear to me if it’s offensive or empowering, hilarious or infuriating. Twain says she wrote “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” after working at a resort where some drag queens were performing. “That song started with the title,” she said.
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 08:24
Yesterday was May Day, celebrated as the Labour Day public holiday here in Queensland. And this week, appropriately enough I’m giving two presentations on the case for a four-day working week, one to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, a business-oriented thinktank, and one to a parliamentary inquiry. I started writing a post about […]
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 07:00
Get a load of the new young guns Michelle Cottle in the NY Times: Here’s a head scratcher for you: What happens when the leadership of a political party becomes so extreme, so out of touch with its voters, that it alienates many of its own activists and elected officials? And what happens when some of those officials set up a parallel infrastructure that lets them circumvent the party for campaign essentials such as fund-raising and voter turnout? At what point does this party become mostly a bastion of wingnuts, spiraling into chaos and irrelevance? No need to waste time guessing. Just cast your eyes upon Georgia, one of the nation’s electoral battlegrounds, where the state Republican Party has gone so far down the MAGA rabbit hole that many of its officeholders — including Gov. Brian Kemp, who romped to re-election last year despite being targeted for removal by Donald Trump — are steering clear of it as if it’s their gassy grandpa at Sunday supper.
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 06:00

Having written about the city’s austerity policies and their relation to insecurity and walking it as a researcher (and tourist), I was increasingly asking myself how people living in the city were actually dealing with the day-to-day effects of the insecurity-competitiveness nexus. I wanted to add a micro-level to the practices of authoritarian neoliberalism that I was observing, where different institutional scales converged in making a competitive, austere city. How do inhabitants (trans)form their everyday practices to navigate this attractive yet insecure city? In a recent article in Urban Geography, I draw on interview data collected in Oaxaca between 2017 and 2019 and argue that they adapt their day-to-day rhythms through varied practices of care and what I call ‘adapted mobilities’.

The post Dealing with everyday insecurity in the competitive city appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 05:30
This one was particularly egregious: The fallout came fast whenFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s new election police unit charged Peter Washington with voter fraud last summer as part of a crackdown against felons who’d allegedly broken the law by casting a ballot. The Orlando residentlost his job supervising irrigation projects, and along with it, his family’s health insurance. His wife dropped her virtual classes at Florida International University to help pay their rent. Future plans went out the window. “It knocked me to my knees, if you want to know the truth,” he said. But not long after, the case against Washington began falling apart. A Ninth Judicial Circuit judge ruled the statewide prosecutor who filed the charges didn’t actually have jurisdiction to do so. Washington’s attorney noted that he had received an official voter identification card in the mail after registering. The case was dismissed in February. One by one, many of the initial 20 arrests announced by the Office of Election Crimes and Security have stumbled in court. Six cases have been dismissed. Five other defendants accepted plea deals that resulted in no jail time.
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 04:58
The 2023 Defence Strategic Review has recommended Australia adopt a new strategic conceptual framework dubbed ‘National Defence’ that incorporates a ‘strategy of denial’. This approach is tied to a broader concept of ‘collective security’ in the Indo-Pacific and is aligned with America’s framework for ‘integrated deterrence’ of China. ‘National Defence’ is consistent with American force Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 04:56
The biggest choice facing this country is between poor public services and inadequate government income support or more taxes. Unfortunately, I fear that next week’s Budget will seek to avoid this choice. The purpose of government is to choose, and the best record of those choices and consequently a government’s priorities is its Budget. Service Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 04:55
In a recent submission to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s (PM&C’s) public service reform team, Paddy Gourley, Helen Williams and I support stronger action to improve the capability of the APS and its standing as an institution, but do not support adding ‘stewardship’ to the APS Values. Stewardship is a responsibility of ministers Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 04:53
The 190 page Parkinson Immigration Review provides a very good blueprint for the future, considering the limitations placed on it by its terms of reference and timeline. The government has circulated a “Migration Strategy” document for consultation picking up broad concepts in the review’s recommendations. There is much more work to be done to decide Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 04:50
The US has been increasingly treating Taiwan like a sovereign nation with whom diplomatic relationships and alliances can be formed, in violation of its longstanding One-China policy that has kept the peace for decades. And I just think it’s worth noting that the western media who’ve lately been condoning these moves became outraged at Donald Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 04:05
Cooking time: 35 mins.Preparation time: 20 mins.Main cooking utensils: pie pan, skilletOven temperature: 425-450°F, then 350-375°F.Oven position: above center For 4-6 people you need:1½ cups all-purpose flourpinch salt½-1 teaspoon dry mustard6 tablespoons butter½ cup dry grated Cheddar cheese2 tablespoons water1 shallot or onion2 tablespoons butter3 eggs⅔ cup shelled prawns⅔ cup coffee creamsalt and black pepper1-2 […]
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 04:00
“Incredibly bad luck, bad place” Yes, sitting in the bullpen at a baseball game is a very bad place. You could get shot at any time. You really should be more careful. An 18-year-old baseball player is recovering after being struck by a bullet during a game Saturday afternoon at George Dobson Field at Spring Lake Park. The Texas A&M University-Texarkana player was hit once in the chest as he sat in the left field bullpen during an Eagles game, said Shawn Vaughn, Texarkana Texas Police Department spokesman. The incident happened about 6 p.m. The player was taken to a local hospital for emergency surgery. Vaughn said it does not appear anyone was the target of the shooting. The stray bullet seems to have been fired from a neighborhood near the ballfield. “Incredibly bad luck, bad place,” Vaughn said. Around the time of the shooting, police were alerted to shots being fired from cars traveling through a nearby neighborhood, Vaughn said. The shooting happened about the fifth inning of the Eagles’ game against the University of Houston-Victoria. “The announcer said, ‘Shots fired!
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 03:00

With a heavy heart, I must announce something profoundly personal and painfully private to my 900,000 followers.

Over the past few weeks, many of you have been asking: “Where is John?” “Why isn’t John in any of your pics anymore?” and “Where did you get that gorgeous floral crop top?”

Well, John and I are getting a divorce. And the top is from Bougie Barn. (Use promo code DIVORCE to get 30 percent off your next purchase.) #BougieBarnPartner.

Our decision to split was not made lightly. John and I spent hours wondering how this would affect our beautiful children and my future content. We asked ourselves tough and critical questions to ensure ending our relationship felt right, like: “How will we co-parent?” and “Should our divorce reveal be a YouTube video, a TikTok, or a hurried Notes app screenshot?”

I know what you’re thinking: “You guys seemed so happy.” Well, that’s because I Facetune smiles on John’s face.

Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 02:00
Democrats have learned they cannot appease terrorist Republicans If you think that old dogs can’t learn new tricks you need to take a look at Joe Biden. Back in 2011, during the first serious Republican debt ceiling hostage crisis and the protracted negotiations that followed, Biden undercut Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and wrecked a deal he had made for a terrible one. There was a lot of hand-wringing at the time over Biden’s tendency to give away the store so when the Republicans pulled their hostage maneuver again in 2013, Reid stipulated that Biden needed to stay out of the negotiations — and the White House agreed. The Obama administration, including Biden, had learned their lesson: Negotiating with the extremist GOP on the debt ceiling is a very bad idea. They refused and the Republicans capitulated, sparing the country and the world economy another jolt. The days of dreaming about a “Grand Bargain” were blessedly over. You may have noticed that we never had one of these fights during the Trump years when the deficit was growing at a very fast pace.
Created
Tue, 02/05/2023 - 01:30

Today, war by media is a key task of so-called mainstream journalism, reminiscent of that described by a Nuremberg prosecutor in 1945: 'Before each major aggression[...] they initiated a press campaign calculated to[...] prepare the people psychologically[...]"

The post John Pilger: From Yellow Journalism to China Bashing, the Media’s Enduring Role in Promoting War appeared first on MintPress News.