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This is an abridged version of an address by John Pilger in Sydney on 10 March to mark the launch in Australia of Davide Dormino's sculpture of Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, 'Figures of Courage'.

The post John Pilger: The Betrayers of Julian Assange appeared first on MintPress News.

I have known Julian Assange since I first interviewed him in London in 2010. I immediately liked his dry, dark sense of humour, often dispensed with an infectious giggle. He is a proud outsider: sharp and thoughtful. We have become friends, and I have sat in many courtrooms listening to the tribunes of the state Continue reading »

We are in a desperate race to avoid locking in a pathway to human extinction. This requires brutal honesty on the threats we face. Climate change, not China, Russia or the US, is the greatest threat the world faces; it will only be overcome with unprecedented global co-operation. Negotiating with the laws of physics is Continue reading »

It seems that poor old Albanese has been sold a very greedy—though only virtual—pup. Think of the comparison with another Labor PM, Ben Chifley. Albanese doesn’t come out of it very well. In 1948, at a time when energy was a major issue, Chifley launched the expensive Snowy Hydro Scheme to provide the country with Continue reading »

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald have failed to publish, except in the most cursory sense, the current or recent past associations of their gang of five experts who apparently believe Australia could be at war with China in as little as three years.  While it is not a court of law where the ethical Continue reading »

Over many months now, when talking to relatives, friends, acquaintances and strangers about the current, parlous state of geo-politics and how the world is moving ever closer to world war, and a possible, uncontrolled nuclear conflagration, the retort I often receive develops something along the following lines: “Yes, we know the U.S. is a war-like Continue reading »

In Asian media this week: War talk means uphill battle to mend ties with China. Plus: US avoids a truthful narrative; South Korea to pay for Japan’s wartime abuse; rich countries, energy giants throttle poor nations; new terms – active non-alignment and coalition of unwilling; ‘sorry’ now the easy word. The Nine newspapers’ avowedly independent Continue reading »

A poor ranking for gender equality on International Women’s Day; the computer code that has the Reserve Bank on a loop of rising inflation and rising interest rates; and why we should tax the family home. Read on for the Weekly Roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and Continue reading »

Exclusive new Declassified Australia report details Australia’s official neglect of detained WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, revealed in Federal Government files obtained under FOI legislation. The following is a transcript of a speech delivered at the Belmarsh Tribunal, Sydney, 4 Marsh. Read the full declassified Australia report here and watch the recording of the Belmarsh Tribunal here. Continue reading »

Australian media are awash with reporting on the war-with-China propaganda series by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that I’ve been writing about for the last few days. Which is really quite extraordinary, because it’s not an actual news story. It really isn’t. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age just asked five warmongering Continue reading »

Joel is driving along a deserted highway. Ellie is in the passenger seat drinking a Diet Snapple.

JOEL: We stay on this road and we’ll reach our destination by nightfall.

ELLIE: All right, cool, cool. But we’re going to stop at rest stops along the way, right?

JOEL: No, too dangerous.

ELLIE: Okay, it’s just that I might need to pee at some point.

JOEL: We just stopped to pee.

ELLIE: Yeah, well, that was fifteen minutes ago. And I’m gonna need to pee again in another fifteen minutes. Sorry, but liquids just run through me at my age.

JOEL: Then stop drinking so many Diet Snapples. Where did you even find those?

Oy vey. This is just brutal I’ll be live-tweeting this morning’s portion of the House “weaponization” hearing featuring testimony from Matt Taibbi Rep. Plaskett begins by asking Jim Jordan if he plans to use information during today's hearing that Democrats have not had a chance to review. Jordan indicates that yes, he plans to do that. Plaskett refers to Taibbi and Shellenberger as "two of Elon Musk's public scribes" who "release cherry-picked, out of context emails and screenshots designed to promote his chosen narrative, Elon Musk's chosen narrative, that is now being parroted by the Republicans." Plaskett to Jim Jordan: "Americans can see through this. Musk is helping you out politically, and you're going out of your way to promote and protect him and to praise him." She then adds, "there are many legitimate questions about where Musk got the financing to buy Twitter." Wow. Plaskett is not messing around at all and Republicans are getting mad about it. LOL — Jim Jordan claims that Matt Taibbi is Democrat so he's not actually there to help Republicans !!!

And your point is? A divorced couple in Virginia is arguing over custody of frozen embryos. Judge Uses a Slavery Law to Rule Frozen Embryos Are Property Frozen human embryos can legally be considered property, or “chattel,” a Virginia judge has ruled, basing his decision in part on a 19th century law governing the treatment of slaves. The preliminary opinion by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard Gardiner – delivered in a long-running dispute between a divorced husband and wife – is being criticized by some for wrongly and unnecessarily delving into a time in Virginia history when it was legally permissible to own human beings. “It’s repulsive and it’s morally repugnant,” said Susan Crockin, a lawyer and scholar at Georgetown University’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics and an expert in reproductive technology law. And her point is? This is your America on Trumpism, and oh so great again. “I would like to think that the bench and the bar would be seeking more modern precedent,” said Solomon Ashby, president of the Old Dominion Bar Association. The group is primarily African American attorneys.

Along with Eric Tymoigne, I will be on the “pro-” side of a “pro-/con-” Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) panel at the online part of the annual Canadian Economic Association (CEA) conference (on May 30, the live conference is in early June in my old hometown of Winnipeg). As a non-academic non-economist, if I were smart, I would keep my head down and offer fairly cautious remarks from the perspective of an educated outsider (with obvious biases). Whether that happens when I start opening my mouth remains to be seen (“No plan survives contact with the enemy”).

Bond Economics
Yet More Rambling About My Upcoming MMT Presentation
Brian Romanchuk

Karam Bales looks at the senior British Conservatives appearing at the National Conservatism Conference with its international right wing network, from Peter Thiel to Viktor Orbán

A profile of body dysmorphic disorder.

Here, as promised, is a podcast we made at the Center for Ethics and Education based on interviews we did with Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson, authors of the excellent book Can College Level The Playing Field, which is an indispensable read if you want to understand the relationship between inequality and higher education, and […]

By Juan Cole / Informed Comment Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Indian Express reports from Iran’s PressTV that the country has discovered a deposit of 8.5 million tons of lithium in the Qahavand Plain of western Hamedan province. There are only 89 million tons of lithium in the world in known deposits so far, with the […]

The post Iran Discovered To Have 10% of World’s Lithium Deposits, in Good News for China’s EV Industry appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Doctor Who: Redacted is getting a second season, but the LGBTQ women-focused show has replaced the LGBTQ woman who created & produced it.

EDITED BY PETER ORNER AND LAURA LAMPTON SCOTT

Jean conducts an interview for Lavil.

Jean Marseille recorded these dispatches on his phone while surviving on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from October through December 2022. As the chaos that followed the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 devolved into further lawlessness, Jean witnessed firsthand a city in free fall.