Reading

John Farnham was close to death earlier this year and so our top story of 2022 receiving over 75,000 views reflected the depth of affection in our nation for the iconic Australian vocalist. Well done to Naomi Fryers for so brilliantly capturing this love in this moving September piece. read now...

Rock on.

Global Voices Southeast Asia and Oceania editor Mong Palatino reviews the impact of China's economic and diplomatic expansion in the Pacific.

And so it has come to this. I finally quit Twitter… almost exactly a decade ago.

I could spin yarn and claim it was some major feat of clairvoyance, of course. That I foresaw all that happened lately with Twitter and decided to bail early. But it wasn’t that, really. I just felt strongly that centralized services are dangerous and unethical, and I decided to stop using them. Back then, Twitter was the last one on the chopping block for me.

The “Why”

Why did I feel so strongly about centralized services? Had you asked me ten years ago, it would have been difficult for me to explain. But even then I would have said it boils down to control and power dynamics. At the time I was a Free Software advocate, working for a Polish version of the FSFE. Software freedom was (and remains) important to me and it seemed obvious that one cannot have software freedom in a walled garden.

Hardly a strong, concrete argument, I know!

Politico has some highlights of the January 6th transcripts that we didn’t hear about in the hearings. Good lord: Yeah … It’s almost too much disgusting, immoral, illegal behavior in one place. What are they going to do with all this stuff?

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

There was good reason to think the Republicans would do well in the 2022 midterms based on the historical precedents. The out party gains, the economy was shit, the president was unpopular yadd, yadda, yadda. But something else went on in 2022 that should make the media take a long hard look at how they cover campaigns and polling. The NY Times did a deep dive into what happened and it is clear that the Republican polling outfits played a media that was far to eager to buy what they were selling. They love to see the Democrats give a good spanking by Republicans. In fact, it’s their favorite thing, even if some of them are Democrats themselves. An excerpt: In the election’s immediate aftermath, the polling failures appeared to be in keeping with misfires in 2016 and 2020, when the strength of Donald J. Trump’s support was widely underestimated, and with the continuing struggles of an industry that arose with the corded home telephone to adapt to the mass migration to cellphones and text messaging.

My blog is on holiday until Monday, January 7, 2023. I have lots of things to finish writing to meet deadlines and a lot of personal things to do (moving things, etc) which require travel and time. So I am…

Neil Wilson First published 27th December 2022 here   Eliminating the cost of the Asset Purchase Indemnity   Summary In 2012, the Bank of England agreed to transfer gilt coupon …

The post Eliminating the cost of the Asset Purchase Indemnity appeared first on The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies.

He seems preoccupied with Ukraine and Russia What are your hopes for the American people in 2023, Mr President? “Peace. We never should have been involved with a certain war that’s taking place that’s hurting a lot of people, killing a lot of people, hurting a lot of countries and hopefully that will be straightened out very quickly with Ukraine and Russia …” Interesting that he leads with that. And after dodging questions about DeSantis and abortion he blathers about the border and inflation and then makes this very adamant statement at the end “We have to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine…” I think we can see the outlines of his campaign coming into focus. It shouldn’t be a surprise considering his base’s views on these issues. Of course he’s going to rant and rave about the border and demagogue inflation to death, But it’s clear that he’s going to come out solidly against NATO and demand withdrawal of support for Ukraine in support of Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression.

Happy new year, Jazz Pickles.

A close reading of "End of Year" lists.

Slacker Sunday holiday edition! My West Cost excursion is coming to an end soon, so between that and the holidays ending, more normal blogging should resume soon.

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – January 1, 2023

by Tony Wikrent

The dark side

Dress Rehearsal: Trump’s attempt almost two years ago to undermine the 2020 election reads today like a blueprint drawn for a future autocrat.

Fintan O’Toole, January 19, 2023 issue [The New York Review]

Apparently, he’s staying at Mar-a-Lago. How perfect. What’s a MAGA man to do after losing an election? Emulating President Trump, Brazil’s outgoing president, Jair Bolsonaro, plans to skip his successor’s inauguration ceremony and travel instead to — where else — Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Bolsonaro will avoid handing over the official presidential sash to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at an inauguration ceremony at Brasilia on Sunday. Instead, the October election loser will fly this weekend to Florida for a visit with Mr. Trump at the famed Palm Beach resort, several Brazilian press outlets report.  On Tuesday, the official Brazilian government website published a statement saying that the Office of Institutional Security has confirmed that the security team for Mr. Bolsonaro’s family will be “on a trip to Miami, Florida,” next week. “Bolsonaro will not be in Brazil for the inauguration ceremony,” a professor of international relations at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Regiane Nitsch Bressan, told the Sun.

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Today's News:

We are being led in our anti-China hysteria by the United States which is not concerned that China will attack us, or even the United States, but is concerned that its world hegemony is being challenged. A repost from November 11, 2022 That is why the US is persistently goading China into conflict and possible Continue reading »

This article was originally published in the March 1950 issue of the Bulletin in the wake of President Harry Truman’s announcement that the United States would pursue a hydrogen bomb. The idea of achieving security through national armament is, at the present state of military technique, a disastrous illusion. On the part of the United Continue reading »

Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin, who just died at the age of 96, made changes that altered the nature of the country’s government and the course of the global economy, affecting people worldwide, although few people realise it. Most reports provide key dates in his life but don’t explain his biggest contribution: a policy change that Continue reading »

A groundbreaking new report From Outrage to Opportunity: How to Include The Missing Perspectives of Women of All Colours in News Leadership and Coverage has found that women continue to be significantly underrepresented in editorial leadership roles and news coverage worldwide – with their voices muted in a global news industry still dominated by men. Continue reading »

Capitalism and “liberal democracy” are failing and destroying our world. In this, the third in a three-part series, I explore how Australia must embrace a new future by emphasising trade and cultural relationships in foreign policy, managing mass media concentration and the military/industrial complex, and addressing social inequality. We have the means. Do we have Continue reading »

Something of epochal importance happened in Egypt last week – the most significant event since Cheops shoved up his triangular monument, four thousand odd-years ago at the dawn of ‘civilisation’. But the world media, true to form, missed it almost completely. A repost from November 21, 2022 The nations of the world voted to terminate Continue reading »