If “politicians in robes” fits “The attempt of a radical minority to enforce their will on the rest of us, who constitute a majority, by stealing control of the states and then, through them, control of the federal government is precisely what the Confederates tried to do before the Civil War: it is no accident that one of the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, carried a replica of a Confederate battle flag,” writes Heather Cox Richardson in her “Letters from an American” this morning. She cites events Friday in North Carolina. There’s a word for this sort of thing: Bad (CBS News): In massive victories for Republicans, the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday threw out a previous ruling against gerrymandered voting maps and upheld a photo voter identification law that colleagues had struck down as racially biased. The rulings likely give the GOP-controlled legislature the ability to rework the state’s congressional map for next year’s election to help Republicans gain seats in the narrowly divided U.S. House.
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In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Good Omens, Always Sunny, WWE Draft, The Flash, AHS 12, King/Musk, Twisted Metal, The Big Bang Theory & more!
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Walking up to the edge of what might destroy Fox News, and then doing an about-face, is the business strategy of the network's owner.
The post The Ejection of Tucker Carlson Is a Classic “Reverse Ferret” by Rupert Murdoch appeared first on The Intercept.
The prominent Australian mainstream economist Chris Richardson recently celebrated the fact that the Australian government is now in surplus: x His “temporary” and “permanent” comment was in relation to this earlier tweet: tax revenues are up but that’s temporary; there’s too much spending, and that’s permanent. Yes, this is “stunningly strong” news for the government’s … Continue reading "It’s not a deficit, it’s a fiat"
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Me on Schwartz Media's The Weekend Read, reading my article on ChatGPT, published in the April edition of The Monthly
Of all the recent failures of the Australian mainstream media, the failure to properly report and analyse the trilateral security partnership known as AUKUS must surely qualify as the most pitiable.
Baby Spider Monkeys! Three boisterous baby Spider Monkeys have been thrilling visitors to Taronga Western Plains Zoo these school holidays. Born over the space of a few months to mums Rosa, Hiccups and Jai, the three young females are thriving as they learn to eat, play and climb on the Primate Islands. “It’s really exciting to have three new babies, and to see the whole troop pitching in, it’s a real family affair,” said Primate Keeper Sasha Brook. Hiccups has always been a really good aunty to the other babies we’ve had in the troop, but hasn’t had offspring herself for a really long time, so it’s really nice to see her having a baby of her own.” “The eldest of these babies in particular has been getting more and more adventurous, venturing away from mum, interacting with her keepers, experimenting with eating solid foods and even clambering over other monkeys. It’s really cute to see!” The Spider Monkeys are very active throughout the day but the best time to see them is during feeding time, which occurs between 12.30pm and 1pm daily.
Part 2: Debt and the Collapse of Antiquity – Michael Hudson Colin Bruce Anthes Welcome back to theAnalysis for part two of our conversation with Dr. Michael Hudson on The Collapse of Antiquity. Michael Hudson I think the character of early Christianity is what is in the Lord’s Prayer. “Forgive them their debts as we forgive the debtors.” Continue Reading
The post Democratic Liberty Versus Oligarchic Liberty first appeared on Michael Hudson.There’s secret, top-secret, code-word-secret — and then there’s whatever President Trump’s health-care plan is. It’s apparently so deeply classified that the people overseeing the plan don’t even know they’re involved. The Republican Party has promised (and failed) to repeal and replace Obamacare for more than a decade — that is, the entirety of the law’s existence. Trump began teasing his own replacement plan during his first presidential bid, five years ago. Back then, he pledged to swap out the Affordable Care Act for “something terrific,” details TBD. Over subsequent months and years, Trump boasted about the benefits of his plan. It would be cheaper yet somehow also more generous than Obamacare. It would be “so easy,” even though “nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” It would “take care of everybody,” even as it took literal care away from many. Trump proclaimed the GOP will become “the party of healthcare,” but a conservative replacement to Obamacare would probably look something like…Obamacare.
Former Obama spokesperson Ben LaBolt earned millions working for Facebook, Instacart, and Union Pacific before joining the Biden White House.
The Texas Legislature is set to enact three laws to redefine the rules concerning religion...
Fighting words: Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the right-wing book-purging organization Moms for Liberty, offered a righteous-sounding answer when asked this past weekend on “CBS Sunday Morning” what sort of book she wants to see remain in schools. “Books that don’t have pornography in them,” she piously declared. “Let’s just put the bar really, really low. Books that don’t have incest, pedophilia, rape.” That’s hard to square with what just happened in Martin County, Fla. The school district there recently decided to yank from its high school library circulation eight novels by Nora Roberts that are not “pornography” at all — largely prompted by objections from a single woman who also happens to be a Moms for Liberty activist. “All of it is shocking,” Roberts told us. “If you don’t want your teenager reading this book, that’s your right as a mom — and good luck with that.
Stone buildings in northern India reveal secrets of old structures that could save lives.
The post The Ancient Architecture that Defies Earthquakes appeared first on Nautilus.
Russell T. Davies teased that Star Trek: Picard spoiled an upcoming Doctor Who episode title and a possible return to SDCC this summer.
NOT. READY. FOR. PRIME. TIME. Desantis melts down today outside the protective bubble of his carefully controlled, scripted FL events. At the Museum of Tolerance, of all places. The question that set DeSnowflake off was about this. Originally tweeted by Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) on April 27, 2023. I wrote about this before but I think it’s important. There is evidence that Ron DeSantis covered up torture at Guantanamo. He refuses to talk about it. And if you think the guy in that video up top is incapable of being complicit in torturing you aren’t paying attention. Here’s an excerpt from the Guardian today. If you are interested in this story, you should read the whole thing: “DeSantis and his group, the JAGs people were there. They were conducting the investigation,” Aziz said. “They were coming the same day the people died. They came to the cells.” What DeSantis saw and heard in the hours and days after the three deaths could be key to an enduring mystery that has hung over Guantánamo ever since: how did Ahmed, Utaybi and Zahrani die?
The 21st Century is changing much about the world that humans take for granted. Among the more shocking possibilities is that it will sound the death-knell of the nation-state as the main instrument of human self-governance. The nation state, established in the Americas and in Europe post-Napoleon, is now so firmly ingrained in our identities, Continue reading »
Australia, and my Party too, must make a commitment to restoring the primacy of reason, rejecting a paranoid view of history and ‘telling truth to power’. Our blind adoption of irrational policies, supine and unquestioning acquiescence to anything the United States proposes must end. Our species, facing an existential threat to civilisation from climate change, Continue reading »