The GOP field is forming It’s begun. And just as we once assumed, it’s a tired re-run of 2020 with former president Donald Trump hopping from rally to rally repeating his boring recitation of the Big Lie and the perpetual “witchhunt” and “hoax” mantras. Only this time, the Republican presidential primary is starting early with what’s shaping up to be a crowded field. Whether any of Trump’s rivals will be able to knock him out remains to be seen — but there’s no doubt they think he’s weakened enough to chance it. We’ve all been closely watching Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who hasn’t yet made any overt moves to run but is nonetheless clearly positioning himself to do it. At the moment he is the only serious contender who still holds office which gives him the opportunity to demonstrate his right-wing bonafides. And boy is he ever doing that. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, the list of his aggressive authoritarian policies is already a mile long, each one designed to curry favor with the far right by provoking everyone else.
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Immediately after Russian troops attacked Ukraine in February 2022, a group of Western countries – including the U.S., EU states, Australia, Great Britain and Japan – imposed tough sanctions against Russia. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced on March 1, 2022, that the West would wage “an all-out economic and financial war against Russia.” However, even after more than nine months, the sanctioned state, Russia, shows only moderate signs of economic weakening. On the contrary, revenues from oil exports have amounted to about $20 billion per month until mid-2022, a significant increase of about one-third from $14.5 billion per month in 2021. Not only can the Russian government continue the war of aggression, but it is also liquid enough to manage without exporting gas to Western Europe.
Depoimentos colhidos pela Polícia Civil indicam que golpistas levaram pouco dinheiro e comiam no QG, mas dizem não saber quem organizou e financiou suas caravanas.
The post Depoimentos mostram que terroristas tiveram ônibus, hospedagem e até alimentação de graça para tentativa de golpe em Brasília appeared first on The Intercept.
~ Today's Water Cooler ~
On her days off from working at the cloakroom at Berlin’s Berghain nightclub, Molly Nilsson began recording lo-fi pop gems. Armed with a knack for creating gloomy ballads that sparkle with mordant observations on life, loneliness and the city, it didn’t take long for the Stockholm-born, Berlin-based artist to etch her name in the hearts […]
This piece in the NY Times about the boomer vote tracks with my instincts. First of all, the youngest boomers aren’t even 60 yet so not all of us are ancient. Biden, for instance is not a boomer. He’s older. Trump was born in the very first year of the baby boom so he’s at the very oldest edge. The truth is that there were always a fair number in that large generation who were conservative. Not everyone was a hippie. And yes, some moved right as they aged. It seems to just happen with some people. But many, many boomers were and have, as I have, been very liberal their whole lives. And they’re still fighting the good fight. Is it time to call the next election “the most important in American history”? Probably. It seems like it may involve a judgment on democracy itself. Americans with a lot of history will play a key role in determining its outcome. And judging in part by November’s midterms, they may not play the role that older voters are usually assigned. We at Third Act, the group we helped form in 2021, think older Americans are beginning a turn in the progressive direction, a turn that will accelerate as time goes on.
FROM: Gouldsboro College Admissions Team
SUBJECT: Apply today!
Hi Katherine,
As college deadlines roll around, we at Gouldsboro College encourage you to take a chance on our supportive learning community. Since our founding in 1923, Gouldsboro has given scholars from all over the country (and the world, probably) the skills they need to survive in this cold, hard world. We’ve reviewed your profile, Katherine, and think you’d be a fantastic fit. Start your application using the link below, and we’ll see you in September!
Best wishes,
Mark Doyle
Gouldsboro College Dean of Admissions
- - -
FROM: Gouldsboro College Admissions Team
SUBJECT: Only six more days left!
Hi again, Katherine,
Gouldsboro misses you! There are only a few days left to make an impression on our admissions team, and we’d love for you to step up to the plate. You don’t even need to try that hard because we accept everyone. Just give it a go, Katherine. We promise you’ll love us.
The risks for Australia in joining another “failed” American war, this one contrived to crush China, are worse than even-money, and climbing. The consequences verge on existential. Australia’s wartime Prime Minister John Curtin wrote to Britain’s Prime Minister Churchill in a 1942 letter marked “Most Secret” – “we make no apologies for our effort or Continue reading »
Currently Australia has 6 Collins Class submarines in service all of which are approaching end of service life. If they are to remain safe and operational a major and expensive refit will be required. Australia no longer has Collins Class replacement submarines planned, after the demise of the program to build 12 French designed Barracuda Continue reading »
It took less than 48 hours from Thursday until Saturday morning for New Zealanders to learn who their new Prime Minister would be. There was none of the dithering, back stabbing and delays evident in some other democracies when changing leaders. After Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern resigned there was just one nomination, Chris Hipkins, 44, Continue reading »
The least well-developed political sense is the feel for when it is time to move on. Power is very satisfying and rewarding, however much one must profess that they find it onerous and difficult. Even those tempted to walk away at a time of their own choosing and with their ego and dignity intact can Continue reading »
Islamic experts praise region’s success in anti-terror, ethnic group harmony. World-renowned Islamic religious figures and scholars have highly praised on the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region’s great achievements in development, saying they will share with the rest of the world what they saw with their own eyes in the region. More than 30 Islamic scholars from Continue reading »
US mission creep in Ukraine follows in the fatal footsteps of ultimately failed war campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since the failures of the US military missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq – and many other Muslim nations like Libya – critics of the US mission in the “global war on terrorism” have lamented Continue reading »
I love the smell of my neighbor’s weed in the morning. And afternoon. And evening. Seven days a week, God bless him. A grocery delivery guy dropping food at my apartment Thursday morning thought it was my weed and complimented me on the quality. Twenty-nine-and-a-half years sober. I still enjoy the smell.
The post Smells like victory appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis published a jaw-droppingly misleading graph that portrays China as spending more on its military than the US. In reality, the Pentagon’s budget is roughly three times larger....
When the St. Louis Fed published the deceptive graph on Twitter, it went viral, garnering hundreds of negative responses.
Michael P. McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida, quipped, “If they’re willing to put this out, just imagine the internal analyses the Fed conducts to manage the economy”.
Breaking news! Using advanced multiple nonlinear regression models similar to those in recent news stories on alcohol and dairy and more than 3.6M observations from 1997 through 2012, I have found that drinking more causes people to turn into men! Across people drinking 0-7 drinks per day, each drink per day causes the drinker’s probability […]
In collaboration with Godfree Roberts and his excellent Here Comes China weekly newsletter. This selection is but a fraction of what is a rich, complete and interesting newsletter.Mostly finance and economics.
Global South
Here comes China
amarynth
People think I’m over the top by calling Marjorie Taylor Greene the “shadow speaker.” I’m not: Days after he won his gavel in a protracted fight with hard-right Republicans, Speaker Kevin McCarthy gushed to a friend about the ironclad bond he had developed with an unlikely ally in his battle for political survival, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. “I will never leave that woman,” Mr. McCarthy, a California Republican, told the friend, who described the private conversation on the condition of anonymity. “I will always take care of her.” Such a declaration from Mr. McCarthy would have been unthinkable in 2021, when Ms. Greene first arrived on Capitol Hill in a swirl of controversy and provocation. A former QAnon follower who had routinely trafficked in conspiratorial, violent and bigoted statements, Ms. Greene was then widely seen as a dangerous liability to the party and a threat to the man who aspired to lead Republicans back to the majority — a person to be controlled and kept in check, not embraced. But in the time since, a powerful alliance developed between Ms.
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You CAN get away with killing a million people if you make a million babies. It nets out.
Today's News:
Class returns to Big Finish this month with Secret Diary of a Rhodian Prince. BlogtorWho spoke with writer Blair Mowat and actors Greg Austin and Jordan Renzo about the new release. Big Finish brings us another audio release for the Doctor Who spin-off Class, the young adult drama created by Patrick Ness about four human teenagers, […]
The post INTERVIEW: Class is in! Greg Austin and Jordan Renzo return to Coal Hill in ‘Secret Diary of a Rhodian Prince’ appeared first on Blogtor Who.
I took a ride on a moving radio telescope