Without the open-air scrutiny of a public inquiry into NSW transport, Labor is vulnerable to the misinformation and deceit that infects every part of NSW transport policy. This is the second part of an article on the setting-up of little, piecemeal reviews of transport matters that surprised the new NSW Government. The first dealt with Continue reading »
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A very comprehensive review of drug policy in NSW completed in 2020 was largely ignored for two and a half years. The Commissioner of the Inquiry understandably believes further consideration is redundant. The newly elected NSW government intends to keep a commitment made before the election to conduct a Drug Summit. They are right to Continue reading »
The push to recognise the Frontier Wars at the Australian War Memorial, the teaching of this history in many high schools, and growing commemoration of Frontier War incidents is seeing parallels being drawn between the heroism of First Nations’ warriors and that of the ANZACs. A proud warrior tradition Australia is experiencing a quantum shift Continue reading »
The bearded pig — the native wild boar that has dominated the jungles of the huge island of Borneo for thousands of years — may be close to extinction. First the Penan – the people known to the outside world as the Borneo jungle nomads – started to come across dead wild boar in the Continue reading »
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – April 30, 2023
by Tony Wikrent
Strategic Political Economy
America Fails the Civilization Test
[The Atlantic, via The Big Picture 4-23-2023]
The true test of a civilization may be the answer to a basic question: Can it keep its children alive?
TWO years up-and-running, the Ulong Health Hub is now on the brink of another major milestone, to build a second consultation room. The driving force behind this next momentous step, the proprietor of Ulong General Store and Café in the Valley and Chair of the Ulong Community Hall, Carol Cleary, hosted a celebration for the...
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Here’s a good analysis of the DeSantis flop (so far) from Harry Enten: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent the past few months running to the right ahead of his expected entry into the 2024 Republican presidential primary campaign. From signing into law a six-week abortion ban to fighting with Disney, the governor has focused on satisfying his party’s conservative base. So far at least, those efforts have not paid off in Republican primary polling, with DeSantis falling further behind the current front-runner, former President Donald Trump. Things have gotten so bad for DeSantis that a recent Fox News poll shows him at 21% – comparable with the 19% that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has pushed debunked conspiracy theories about vaccine safety, is receiving on the Democratic side. DeSantis was at 28% in Fox’s February poll, 15 points behind Trump. The Florida governor’s support has dropped in the two Fox polls published since, and he now trails the former president by 32 points. Early polling problems The Fox poll is not alone in showing DeSantis floundering.
CHRYSALIS Steiner School Class 10 students Abbi and Lara, ably supported by Lara’s mother Andi, hosted a successful fundraiser with a market stall at the monthly Bellingen Markets on Saturday 15 April. Class 10 students from Thora Valley’s Chrysalis Steiner School rallied to help the girls put on another fundraiser for their Arnhem Land educational...
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THE combined Rotary Clubs of Coffs City and Daybreak have run their annual Charity Golf Day at the Coffs Harbour Golf Club. “The well supported afternoon was a huge success for both clubs with Mike Blewitt Ford as naming right sponsor helping so much with our cause, and presenting the prizes,” Coffs City Rotary Club...
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This is what we’ve come to in the era of Donald Trump. It’s not just that his criminal behavior is overlooked by his idiotic followers. It’s a plus: During E. Jean Carroll’s first day on the witness stand, her lawyer asked what had brought her to a federal courtroom in Manhattan. “I am here because Donald Trump raped me and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” Ms. Carroll replied. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I am here to try to get my life back.” A day later, Mr. Trump, who has denied the attack and called Ms. Carroll a liar, campaigned in New Hampshire, joking to a crowd about his changing nicknames for Hillary Clinton and President Biden. He did not mention Ms. Carroll’s testimony, or the civil trial going on 250 miles away. But he remarked cheerfully on a poll released that day, which showed him far and away leading the 2024 Republican primary field. Since Mr.
You’re not surprised Pointy-headed intellectuals in their ivory towers oppose Uhmurica! These librul college professors oppose mandating even one course in U.S. history for graduating from the UNC system, alleges Fox’s Pete Hegseth. Never mind that a high school course in United States history is a prerequisite for admission to the system’s colleges. “They think learning about America is, and this is their words, ‘indoctrination’, ” Hegseth tells viewers his network indoctrinates 24-7-365. I’m having trouble even finding indoctrination among “their words.” You’re not surprised, I know. And even less surprised that Fox does not find room for a link to the actual letter in its four-paragraph story. The actual letter is here: We, the undersigned UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, are alarmed by the interference and overreach of the North Carolina legislature, the UNC System Board of Governors, and the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees whose actions violate the principles of academic freedom and shared governance that undergird higher education in N.C. and the U.S.
Every Sunday, I blog about the geek-friendly radio shows the BBC are putting out in the forthcoming week! All of the following can be either listened to live or downloaded afterwards for free on the BBC Sounds app, no matter where you are in the world. Please note: I don’t include later episodes of most drama […]
The title of today’s May Day rally – ‘workers of the world unite’ – paraphrases the most important thinker of the workers’ movement, Karl Marx, and his call to arms, ‘the proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of the world unite!’ That call for unity in […]
The Indutrial Revolution and globalization were child’s play Danielle Allen was still at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study in 2008 when she raised red flags about anonymous viral emails attacking then-presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. “I started thinking, ‘How does one stop it?’ ” Allen told the Washington Post: Allen set her sights on dissecting the modern version of a whisper campaign, even though experts told her it would be impossible to trace the chain e-mail to its origin. Along the way, even as her hunt grew cold, she gained valuable insight into the way political information circulates, mutates and sometimes devastates in the digital age. Now at Harvard, Allen is still warning about digital mayhem. Only now, her concern extends to “generative artificial intelligence, a tool that will help bad actors further accelerate the spread of misinformation.” She’s signed onto an open letter with technologists, academics, and others calling for a six-month pause in “the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.” Email spam was bad enough.
In accepting this year’s Izzy Award, The Lever’s Andrew Perez highlights the importance of reader-supported adversarial journalism.
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Good Omens, Star Trek: Picard, Justified, Doctor Who, The Rookie, Bill Maher/Elon Musk, X-Men '97 & more!
Visiting economics conferences and seminars, the sessions usually start with the presentation of mathematical-statistical models building on assumptions somewhat analogous to “let us assume that people are green and descending from Mars” — and then long technical discussions follow on how good these models are at making us better understand contemporary societies and economies. Yours […]
Carlson showed himself as the paragon of propaganda, courageously telling the Heritage Foundation gala exactly what it wanted to hear.
The post I Really Think You Should Read Tucker Carlson’s Last Speech Before Fox Fired Him appeared first on The Intercept.
On display in the City of Canada Bay Museum is a model of the car ferry that crosses the Parramatta River between Mortlake and Putney. Although officially known as the Mortlake Ferry, it is more familiarly known as the Putney Punt. The service has carried traffic across the stretch of river between Mortlake, on Wangal […]
Trygve Haavelmo — with the completion (in 1958) of the twenty-fifth volume of Econometrica — assessed the role of econometrics in the advancement of economics, and although mainly positive of the “repair work” and “clearing-up work” done, he also found some grounds for despair: We have found certain general principles which would seem to make good sense. Essentially, […]
MADELINE McTernan, 22, Coffs Harbour swimmer and Tokyo Paralympic swimmer COFFS Harbour Paralympian Madeleine McTernan has dedicated a recent gold medal win to Linda Mol, a family friend and war veteran who tragically lost her fight against ovarian cancer earlier this month. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business....
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ALICE Campion will guest speak at writers talks at Bellingen and Dorrigo libraries next week. ‘Alice’ is a bit of a crowd in herself, being five authors who write collaboratively under the one name in a manner they believe is an Australian first. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your...
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FOOTY talk now has another home with a partnership between Triple M Coffs Coast, Group 2 Rugby League and AFL North Coast hosted by the radio station’s ‘Moffee in the Morning’, Michael Moffatt. The Coffs Coast Rugby League and AFL collaboration will help keep locals up to date with games and scores through the new...
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