The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers’, recent essay in The Monthly explores the relationship between the state and the private sector, and how that matters for the problems of our time. Chalmers’ thesis The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has published in The Monthly a very thoughtful essay calling for “a new values-based capitalism for Australia.” Chalmers starting point Continue reading »
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Under the shelter of the ‘shared values’ mantra the leaders of America and its vassal states like Australia find justification for militarisation and hegemony. Secretary of State Blinken’s comments in Jerusalem, while sharing a podium with the Israeli Prime Minister, have exposed the utter meaningless and hypocrisy of this formula. Sloganeering about shared values and Continue reading »
NSW goes to the polls at the end of next month, and Labor must be regarded as a very clear favourite. Recent polls have put Labor 12 points ahead — 56 to 44 –of the coalition. Even allowing that the Opposition leader, Chris Minns must win back seats before he builds a majority, it suggests Continue reading »
The recommendations of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce released last week, like almost any serious health reform in Australia, require joint Commonwealth and state action. Unfortunately, going into last Friday’s National Cabinet meeting state responses were at the juvenile end of the spectrum – the Commonwealth should give them and doctors more money – with no Continue reading »
As we start a new year, it is a good time to reflect on the lessons of 2022 – not just from the Covid pandemic but also the floods that wreaked havoc on communities all down the east coast of Australia. That Australia needs to be better prepared for the next crisis is a key Continue reading »
It seems the Pentagon has floated another one. The net result of this incident thus far is that the secretary of state has called off a scheduled summit to Beijing intended to reduce tensions. Let us think some early thoughts about the Pentagon’s announcement, reported in this morning’s dailies, that it has detected an intelligence-gathering Continue reading »
ChatGPT is all the rage. It even drives some people into a rage. It does...
I have lived through some tiresome news cycles in my life but this Chinese balloon cycle was one of the worst. The hysteria was completely inane, particularly on the right but among the media as well. But it is a story and it’s bizarre enough that a little calm expertise is called for. James Fallows is not only a great journalist but also an aviator and a China hand so his analysis is particularly astute: I. The Chinese Balloon Q: Do we believe the Chinese government statement that this was just a science-oriented weather mission? A: No. Q: Then what could the people who launched it conceivably have been thinking? A: Who knows. At the moment I can imagine three possibilities, all bad. -First, this could have been a screwup in the most basic sense. Whoever launched it thought the jet-stream winds would keep it over Canada, rather than dipping into the U.S. Of course that would still mean traversing airspace of a NATO member, and of course it would mean crossing Alaska before that. This possibility is conceivable but not likely. -Second, this could have been a screwup within the Chinese leadership.
Musk disclosed that the sensation the Chinese spy balloon has created is making him consider becoming a balloon himself.
On the passing away of Victoria Chick
We are greatly saddened to note the passing of Victoria (Vicky) Chick on January 15, 2023. Victoria was a vital force in many ways - intellectual, personal, and as an activist member of the academic community. She was an inspiration, mentor, and dear friend to many. She will be sorely missed while leaving behind a powerful legacy. We send our heartfelt condolences to her family.
Google gave the Shweeb $1,000,000.
“Statistically speaking, of course, it’s still the safest way to travel.” — Superman in Superman (1978) Fly enough times and you’ll experience an aborted landing. I’ve experienced two or three. The first, in Minneapolis (1989?) in low-visibility conditions, resembled one this weekend. Those who follow James Fallows’s newsletter know the veteran pilot follows aviation news closely. He reported recently on a Jan. 13 “runway incursion” at Kennedy Airport in New York. But over the weekend, two aircraft had an even closer call in Austin, Texas: The short version of what happened is: “For perspective,” writes Fallows, “around the world some 100,000 airline flights take off and land safely every day.” So there’s that. A graphical recreation follows: A friend just earned her multi-engine rating, so I hear aviation chatter from her as well. What strikes me about this Austin incident was how much it resembled my experience in Minneapolis years ago. Our aircraft was arriving from Seattle early that morning.
Documentos do processo de falência da FTX mostram como a empresa de criptomoedas despejou dinheiro em consultores, think tanks e grupos de lobby.
The post Gigante cripto FTX operou esquema de tráfico de influência, revelam documentos appeared first on The Intercept.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's recent visit to Palestine offered a paltry aid package to Palestinians and a gift to Israel's far-right in the form of the removal of the Jewish Defense League from the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.
The post The US is Legitimizing Jewish Terrorism Against Palestinians appeared first on MintPress News.
Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson recently published a book, Can College Level The Playing Field?: Higher Education in an Unequal Society, which I’d recommend to anyone who wants to understand the structural position of higher education in the US. Spoiler alert here: Their answer is “No”. Most of the book is taken up with explaining […]
I denna nyutkomna bok presenterar Mikael Priks och Jonas Vlachos — professorer i nationalekonomi vid Stockholms universitet — en genomgång av viktiga metoder ekonomer har till sitt förfogande för att göra empiriska analyser av stora och aktuella samhällsfrågor. Med utgångspukt i ekonometriska och statistiska modeller diskuterar man vilka olika identifikationsansatser som används för att undgå […]
On 8 November last year, LBC reporter Charlotte Lynch was on a bridge over the M25 taking photos and videos of a protest by campaign group Just Stop Oil. Two male police officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary approached her and asked who she was. She explained and showed them her press card. That should have been […]
Sukdhev, the mother of Ricky Reel, addresses police racism, sexism, and surveillance in the UK after the botched investigation into the suspected 1997 murder of her son by racist attackers.
The post Lowkey and Sukhdev Reel Talk Justice for Ricky Reel appeared first on MintPress News.
The EU pins its hopes to LNG.
Don’t say a word about your Monday Visual images of collapsing and collapsed buildings are horrible. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria before dawn Monday. A severe aftershock struck at midday. Early numbers (headlines keep shifting) are over 1,500 dead and climbing, per a Guardian report: CNN meteorologist Chad Myers explained what makes this type of quake different from those that strike the Pacific Rim: The 7.5 aftershock was “an earthquake in itself,” Myers told CNN’s This Morning. “It would have been the strongest earthquake since 1999 in the region.” We always talk about the epicenter, but in this case we should talk about the epi-line. Two massive tectonic plates – the Arabian and the Eurasian – meet underneath Turkey’s southeastern provinces. Along this fault line, “about 100 miles from one side to the other, the earth slipped,” said Myers. Seismologists refer to this event as a “strike slip” – “where the plates are touching, and all of a sudden they slide sideways,” said Myers.
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