Imagine that: Sixty percent of Americans approve of the indictment of former President Donald Trump, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS following the news that a New York grand jury voted to charge him in connection with hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. About three-quarters of Americans say politics played at least some role in the decision to indict Trump, including 52% who said it played a major role. Independents largely line up in support of the indictment – 62% approve of it and 38% disapprove. Democrats are near universal in their support for the indictment (94% approve, including 71% who strongly approve of the indictment), with Republicans less unified in opposition (79% disapprove, with 54% strongly disapproving). While views on the indictment are split along party lines, the poll finds that majorities across major demographic divides all approve of the decision to indict the former president.
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My latest for the Boston Globe:
Starmer’s unfitness as leader didn’t just emerge when he conned his way into Labour top job, at least according to survey of staff during his tenure as DPP Keir Starmer and his acolytes like to make much about the fact that he was the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) before becoming an MP and therefore […]
I didn’t know they still existed but apparently, the Blue Dogs and the “Problem Solvers” caucus are getting ready to screw up the Democratic strategy for dealing with the debt ceiling by giving away the store. (That’s what they always do — don’t kid yourself.) This is a very bad idea: A group of House Democrats is secretly crafting a fallback plan to avoid an economy-rattling debt default. The White House wants no part of it. The rogue band of moderate Democrats has spent weeks constructing a break-glass deal with centrist Republicans in case the country goes all the way to the brink on the debt ceiling. As the summertime deadline for action approaches, they’re worried a prolonged standoff could lead to fiscal disaster. But Biden officials and party leaders, however, see it far differently and are bristling at the attempts at a compromise, according to four lawmakers familiar with the discussions. Their party’s message to those plotting centrists: Your efforts are unlikely to succeed and risk hurting our goal of a clean debt ceiling increase.
As groups like the Finance and Society Network make clear, banking and finance are too important to be left to financial economists and industry lobbyists. We all need to take some interest in what the powerful do and how they do it. These days this also extends to the huge ecosystem of alternative finance, fintech and decentralised finance (DeFi). Most people’s experience of this at the moment probably extends little further than lurid headlines trumpeting the huge sums made and lost (currently mainly lost) in cryptocurrency. There is, however, a lot more at stake than one might at first think.
Like any focus of fevered speculative activity, cryptocurrency has attracted its fair share of hyperbole and misinformation. In a recent paper in Cambridge Journal of Economics I try to look past this and consider the multiple issues involved.
The post The future of money and banking’s crypto reserve drain problem appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).
Christo Grozev of the US government-sponsored Bellingcat endorsed the terror attack that killed a Russian war reporter and injured many others during a public event in St. Petersburg. He also defended Ukraine’s attempt to assassinate a Russian philosopher because he was a “propagandist.” In the hours that followed the April 2, 2023 bombing of a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, Christo Grozev of the US government-funded Bellingcat outlet defended the terror attack that killed a war reporter and wounded 30 others. […]
The post “Legitimate target” — Bellingcat defends terror attack at St. Petersburg cafe appeared first on The Grayzone.
This is just sad: Mike Pence might harbor deep-seated resentment toward Donald Trump for his handling of Jan. 6. But it’s Nikki Haley who really gets under the Pence camp’s skin. Inside Pence’s orbit, staffers have begun privately complaining about a presidential contender who, like Pence, is polling in single digits — distressed that Haley is drawing what they view as more favorable media coverage than the former vice president receives. In recent weeks, they fumed about coverage that painted her as a fiscal conservative at a donor retreat in Florida and didn’t fully capture what they described as her tepid reception at CPAC, where Pence previously drew headlines for getting booed. The animosity hasn’t quite reached the level of hostilities between Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar in the 2020 Democratic primary, and Pence staffers appear to spend more time thinking about Haley than vice versa. But the tension surfacing between them has all the makings of the first, real undercard feud of 2024.
There are some important lessons for the Liberal Party to learn from their recent series of election losses. There is no necessary law of political gravity which means that a party which has entered a losing sequence needs or will continue to do so. But if you keep making the same mistakes it is most Continue reading »
Why is Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong vocal about Australian-Chinese journalist Cheng Lei, jailed in China, but silent on Australian journalist Julian Assange, jailed in the UK? Senator Wong tweeted on 31 March 2023, “It is one year since Australian citizen Cheng Lei faced a closed trial in Beijing on national security charges. She is Continue reading »
At the last election, the Labor Party adopted a climate policy of “Swimming between the Flags”. This resulted in electoral success but it represented an unthinkable future for humanity. “Swimming between the flags” was Albanese’s policy of safety from attack by the Coalition government and their media supporters at the last election. Policy did just Continue reading »
When unpacking the way in which national funds for front line services such as homelessness are handed out, arguably little has changed for modern day Darwin since the garrison town was bombed in 1942. When Justice Charles Lowe handed down his first report of the Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances connected with the attack Continue reading »
For a public servant of my acquaintance, the new and emerging problem of public administration is dealing with what she called activists and advocates. Apparently, it was not a problem, or as much of a problem, before as it is now. Now it threatens good government. And she’s not talking about the unnatural influence on Continue reading »
One of the many, many signs that Australia is nothing more than a US military and intelligence asset is the way its government has consistently refused to intervene to protect Australian citizen Julian Assange from political persecution at the hands of the US empire. In a new article titled “Penny Wong moves to dampen expectation Continue reading »
12 slices sandwich bread¼ cup soft butter or margarine2 teaspoons prepared mustard2 cans (7¾ ounces each) red salmon, drained1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)¼ cup sliced pimiento-stuffed olives1 small onion, chopped (about ¼ cup)1 package (10 ounces) frozen green peas1 can (10¾ ounces) condensed cream of shrimp soup¼ cup milkDill pickles Toast bread; […]
“Many of the former President’s fellow Republicans have quickly come to [Trump’s] defense, expressing varying levels of dismay at the indictment, with some even vowing to take official countermeasures however they can.” — TIME
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Great. Just great. We’ve gone and set a big old precedent. Now every politician has to be super careful not to commit any crimes.
You’re telling me lawmakers are supposed to constantly make sure the stuff they’re doing is totally legal? What’s next, airline pilots need to know how to fly a plane? Gimme a break.
Congratulations. The floodgates have opened. Now anyone in an incredibly powerful position has to “have ethics” and “take responsibility” and “not commit fraud.” What else are you people gonna crack down on? Insurrections? Buzz off.
… for Trump Axios recognizes reality: Think about how topsy-turvy Republican politics has become for Trump’s top rivals to defend him after he’s indicted. If that’s the mood of the GOP electorate now, good luck getting past Trump for the nomination. The first poll conducted post-indictment, by Yahoo News/YouGov, shows Trump’s support skyrocketing among Republicans. Trump now holds a 26-point lead over Florida Gov. DeSantis (57%-31%) in the GOP primary — up from just eight points two weeks ago. What’s good for Trump in a primary is unlikely to translate into a general election. Trump had rock-bottom favorability ratings among all Americans before the indictment, and the specter of a presidential candidate facing the prospect of jail time isn’t likely to win over swing voters. The problem for Republicans is that their voters don’t care much about electability. Just look at their 2022 roster of statewide candidates, which was filled with deeply flawed nominees who nonetheless cruised through primaries in which the most extreme rhetoric resonated. Getting them to care about DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov.
There’s nothing magical about Bayes’ theorem. It boils down to the truism that your belief is only as valid as its evidence. If you have good evidence, Bayes’ theorem can yield good results. If your evidence is flimsy, Bayes’ theorem won’t be of much use. Garbage in, garbage out. The potential for Bayes abuse begins […]
Over the past few years there has been a lot of talk about the mainstream media “normalizing” and “mainstreaming” the white nationalist fringe that has risen to prominence under the Trump regime. They have been reasonably successful at providing context for stories about groups like the Proud Boys and have done a decent job of reporting on events like January 6. But they just can’t seem to wrap their minds around how to deal with the insurrectionist caucus in Congress. On Sunday, CBS News inexplicably decided to air Lesley Stahl’s interview with second-term Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for the venerable “60 Minutes.” If you think it was a tough interview, take a look at this response from Greene and I think you’ll be able to guess how it went: “It was an honor to spend a few days with the legendary icon Leslie [sic] Stahl and talented crew [of 60 Minutes]. Leslie is a trailblazer for women in journalism.
Ferguson et al.'s revised INET working paper on Trump and the 2016 election is temporarily available on open access from the International Journal of Political Economy.
The Doctor Who news continues: Jinkx Monsoon (RuPaul’s Drag Race; Chicago on Broadway) has joined the cast, reportedly in a major role.