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Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 18:56

There is broad agreement that Britain’s housing system is in a deep crisis.    Rents are now at an all-time high. Prospective tenants increasingly find themselves having to bid for properties, pay months of rent upfront and engage in lengthy ‘audition’ processes to prove they are worthy enough tenants to get a property. Earlier this year, I was lucky […]

Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 17:59
It’s Wednesday and there is a lot going on in the data release sense – housing finance, construction and today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest – Monthly Consumer Price Indicator – which covers the period to April 2023. On an annual basis, the monthly All Items CPI rate of increase was 6.8…
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Wed, 31/05/2023 - 17:25
Night of the Gnomes is Imminent! My new sequel to my bestselling Witches of Lychford rural fantasy series (urban fantasy in the Cotswolds) is in the form of a serial on Substack, and it starts tomorrow, Thursday, 1st June! On the first four Thursdays of every month, at 5pm BST (or GMT when we get there) paid subscribers will get an episode […]
Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 17:00
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Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 13:38

British counter-terror police detained journalist Kit Klarenberg upon his arrival at London’s Luton airport and subjected him to an extended interrogation about his political views and reporting for The Grayzone. As soon as journalist Kit Klarenberg landed in his home country of Britain on May 17, 2023, six anonymous plainclothes counter-terror officers detained him. They quickly escorted him to a back room, where they grilled him for over five hours about his reporting for this outlet. They also inquired about […]

The post British police detain journalist Kit Klarenberg, interrogate him about The Grayzone appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 12:30

The Drupal Community Working Group (CWG) is excited to announce the release of an updated Code of Conduct for the Drupal community. It will take effect on July 1, 2023. 

This new version is designed to reflect the growth of the Drupal community since the original Code of Conduct was adopted in 2010 and to help foster a safer, more inclusive, and harassment-free environment for everyone. While it retains the same basic structure as the previous document, much of the text was rewritten to make it easier to read. It also includes new elements inspired by other widely-used open source codes of conduct.

Some of the highlights of the updated Code of Conduct include:

Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 09:30
They’re at each others’ throats This is my daily dose of schadenfreude. Remember: snitches get stitches… With three anticipated indictments, two ongoing court cases, and an ever-expanding cadre of lawyers, former President Donald Trump is at a critical juncture—and yet his legal advisers are starting to turn on each other. According to five sources with direct knowledge of the situation, clashing personalities and the increasing outside threat of law enforcement has sown deep divisions that have only worsened in recent months. The internal bickering has already sparked one departure in recent weeks—and that could be just the beginning. As Trump’s legal troubles keep growing—with criminal and civil investigations in New York City, Washington, and Atlanta—so too does the unwieldy band of attorneys who simply can’t get along. The cast of characters includes an accused meddler who has Trump’s ear, a young attorney who lawyers on the team suggested is only there because the former president likes the way she looks, and a celebrity lawyer who’s increasingly viewed with disdain.
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Wed, 31/05/2023 - 08:00
Feel the magic The NY Times reports that Christie thinks he can win. Hookay. I doubt it very seriously because the campaign is already chock full of assholes and there really isn’t room for another one. But he can perform a useful service. He’s going to go after Trump and DeSantis: Allies of former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey have formed a super PAC to support him in the nascent Republican primary, as he makes preparations for a likely campaign kickoff in the next two weeks, according to an official with the group and others briefed on the matter. Mr. Christie’s candidacy is likely to to focus in part on drawing a stark contrast with former President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Christie supported Mr. Trump in 2016 and worked with him during his presidency, but they split over Mr. Trump’s claims on election night in 2020 that the race was stolen from him. People who have been close to Mr. Christie for years are leading the outside group, Tell It Like It Is, which is laying the groundwork for an imminent announcement, one of the people briefed on the matter said.
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Wed, 31/05/2023 - 06:30
Enjoy Steve Benen fills in the background: If this subject sounds at all familiar, it’s not your imagination. In October 2019, while campaigning in Iowa, Biden was asked whether he might follow Gerald Ford’s example in pardoning Richard Nixon after Watergate, at a time when the Republican still faced possible prosecution. Biden said he would choose a different course. “It wouldn’t unite the country,” Biden said, adding, “I think President Ford, God love him, he’s a good guy, I knew him pretty well. I think if he had to do it over again, he wouldn’t have done it.” The topic returned to the fore in May 2020, when Biden joined Stacey Abrams for a virtual town hall-style event on MSNBC, and a voter, referencing the Ford/Nixon example, asked Biden whether he’d publicly commit to a more hands-off approach and leave such matters in the hands of prosecutors. “Absolutely, yes,” the future president replied. “I commit.” Of course, in 2019 and 2020, the prospect of Trump being indicted was entirely hypothetical.
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Wed, 31/05/2023 - 06:00

Political Economy Seminar

The Meddlers: Sovereignty, Empire and the Birth of Global Economic Governance

Presenter: Jamie Martin, Harvard University

Date: Friday 23 June 2023

Time: 11am (Sydney/Australian Eastern Time)

Online: Please join via Zoom

Please join us for a seminar with Jamie Martin, on his book, The Meddlers: Sovereignty, Empire and the Birth of Global Economic Governance, recently published by Harvard University Press.

Martijn Konings will also speak as discussant.

About the talk

International economic institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank exert incredible influence over the domestic policies of many states. These institutions date from the end of World War II and amassed power during the neoliberal era of the late twentieth century. But as Jamie Martin shows, if we want to understand their deeper origins and the ideas and dynamics that shaped their controversial powers, we must turn back to the explosive political struggles that attended the birth of global economic governance in the early twentieth century.

Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 05:30
Buckle up From what I’ve read, the Rules Committee is considered the Speaker’s Committee. It is stacked with members of the speaker’s party and is considered to be a rubber stamp for anything he or she wants to bring to the floor. This is the case regardless of party. So this little mess is unusual: Rep. Chip Roy accused House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday of cutting a deal that could complicate negotiators’ efforts to pass a bill to raise the US debt ceiling this week. But McCarthy’s allies quickly refuted the Texas Republican, underscoring the tension ahead of a key meeting of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday – and putting new pressure on a conservative holdout, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has yet to take a position on the plan. Roy contended that McCarthy cut a hand-shake deal in January that all nine Republicans on the powerful panel must agree to move any legislation forward, otherwise bills could not be considered by the full House for majority approval.
Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 04:58
The fact that Australia is sleepwalking towards a catastrophic war against China has received very welcome and responsible coverage in Pearls and Irritations and other non-mainstream media. The head-in-the-sand stance adopted by much of the mainstream media stands in stark contrast. The most recent example of the latter was a 15-page supplement in The Canberra Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 04:57
The recent Robert Gregory blog in Australian Jewish News demands a response. Gregory introduces his piece with the observation ‘Australia/Israel relations are at a tipping point’. He goes on to draw attention to some important but nevertheless modest decisions by the present Labor government in the first twelve months in office. They at least evidenced Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 31/05/2023 - 04:55
Obviously if the Hon. Peter Dutton were to change his mind and offer bipartisan support for the “Voice” Referendum, its prospects would be immensely improved. The history of successful referendums tells us this. The current conflicted public discourse tells us that if both leaders were from now on, seen together, warmly and thoughtfully supporting the Continue reading »