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The CIA expert and Russia specialist who served seven presidents under risks of nuclear war is alarmed that the war in Ukraine has brought us to the most dangerous moment yet.

The post Ray McGovern: The Last Chance to Avoid World War III? appeared first on scheerpost.com.

There’s a lot of back and forth going on over a new study that people say suggests masks are useless to stop the spread of an aerosol based virus. The NY Times, which has been a bastion of COVID mitigation skepticism, featured an op-ed by Brett Stephens that’s as misleading as what you can find on Breitbart any given day. Here’s Dr Tom Friedan: Masks have been an effective tool throughout the Covid pandemic, despite erroneous claims to the contrary. The widely cited Cochrane review on masks was poorly done and even more poorly communicated. Regrettably, researchers analyzed the wrong datasets, in the wrong way, and overstated their conclusions—leading to sweeping and inaccurate characterizations. Many nuances around mask type, setting, behavior, and policy are explained in this helpful piece by @dr_kkjetelina. http://bit.ly/3ErwuNN 3/ The CDC did an excellent review citing extensive evidence that masks are effective, from multiple studies.

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And Marjorie Taylor Greene is on it Here’s something to read while you savor your Friday afternoon cocktail. You’d better be prepared to have another: Earlier this month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican, addressed the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, whose purview runs from this small resort city up along the Washington state border. Before she spoke, a local pastor and onetime Idaho state representative named Tim Remington, wearing an American flag-themed tie, revved up the crowd: “If we put God back in Idaho, then God will always protect Idaho.”  Greene’s remarks lasted nearly an hour, touching on a range of topics dear to her far-right fans: claims about the 2020 election being “stolen,” sympathy for those arrested for taking part in attacking the U.S. Capitol and her opposition to vaccine mandates.

By John Kiriakou / Original to ScheerPost I was very fortunate to have been able to travel to Cuba a week ago as part of a delegation of American authors, poets, and writers to participate in the 31st annual International Book Festival.  The Cubans included my first book, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in […]

The post John Kiriakou: An Ex-CIA Agent’s Trip to Cuba appeared first on scheerpost.com.

There is nothing quite like the fresh hell of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter account, wondering...

In neutron stars, astrophysicists see a form of matter like none other.

The post Giant Zombie Atoms of the Cosmos appeared first on Nautilus.

[I]f your anger is directed at race and racism…if you’re aiming for change and not...

The political and media class have siphoned the opportunity and money out of the Alice Springs 'youth crime' moral panic and have now moved on. read now...

Right to life only really applies to the zygotes, embryos and fetuses. No one else need apply “Right to life” zealots insist that pregnant patients must be bleeding out and literally on the verge of death before a doctor can provide life saving procedures: In Tennessee, Republican lawmakers are considering whether patients should be forced to continue dangerous pregnancies, even while miscarrying, under the state’s abortion ban — and how close to risking death such patients need to be before a doctor can legally intervene. At a legislative hearing last week, a lobbyist who played a dominant role in crafting the state’s abortion legislation made his preference clear: A pregnant patient should be in the process of an urgent emergency, such as bleeding out, before they can receive abortion care. Some pregnancy complications “work themselves out,” Will Brewer, who represents the local affiliate of the anti-abortion organization National Right to Life, told a majority-male panel of lawmakers Feb. 14.

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Blast from the past William Saletan discusses the current state of disarray in the GOP over Ukraine and points out that Fox is pushing for disengagement hard. He also mentions a tiny group of GOP officials who are fighting back when they go on the network and says there are more of them. 1. Rep. Nancy Mace, Hannity, Tuesday. Hegseth, sitting in for Sean Hannity, begins the interview by complaining that Biden is spending more time in Ukraine than on the border or the train disaster in Ohio. He asks: “If you’re the American people, are you confident in this endless endeavor this administration is undertaking?” Mace parrots the Fox view. She says Biden’s policy is “Ukraine first, and it’s America last.” But halfway through the segment, when Hegseth asks what America is getting for “the billions we’re spending” in Ukraine, Mace turns serious. She points out that in 1994, we guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty in exchange for its agreement to surrender its nuclear weapons. And she says we can shorten the war by accelerating aid to hasten Ukraine’s victory.

Greg Sheridan, in his opinion piece of Tuesday 21 February, provides yet another display of his spiteful, vacuous journalism – his erroneous claims that I am not the progenitor of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting, and that my views on Australian strategic policy are eccentric and at odds with the US alliance. PJ Keating reply to Continue reading »

It’s quite remarkable how quickly Australian politicians and ministers fell in lock step with pro-Israeli forces trying to sabotage the Adelaide Festival because I and Mohammad El-Kurd refuse to be silent on more than seven decades of systematic Israeli terrorism against us. The fact that some people think our words are too harsh means they Continue reading »

Last Thursday, the Australian government condemned Israel for planting more settlements on the occupied West Bank: 10,000 extra units. It’s a big step to criticise Israel because in Australia its organised friends are a powerful lobby. But this was a huge breach of international law. And, as Penny Wong pointed out, a deliberate blow to Continue reading »

In Asian Media this week: Pyongyang using Pacific as firing range. Plus: opposing views on Asian security; democracy-vs-autocracy a false division; China’s population to plummet; Thailand’s global standing at low point; man-made threat to sea life. North east Asia became even more perilous this week, with North Korea launching three ballistic missiles, including an ICBM Continue reading »

AEMO warns Australia could be plunged into darkness; Don’t blame Lowe: he has a lousy job; and the Murdoch media’s internal culture: it isn’t pretty.  Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts, and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy. Inflation, wages and profits There must Continue reading »

The world was a very dangerous place in the late 1960s. It is again. This time the danger is in Asia as well as Europe, as highlighted by John Lyons’s recent two-part series on the ABC. The difference is key leaders in the late 1960’s acted to reduce the risks. The US and the USSR Continue reading »

I hope this article will turn out to be a short communication because my hand trembles with indignation as I write. I refer to the article “Why history does not disqualify Japan as an ally: a reply to Richard Cullen” by Robert Cribb Feb 21, 2023. In his refutation of Richard Cullen’s contribution, he made the Continue reading »

Richard Sharp has pumped money into a group that almost funds organisations like the TaxPayers' Alliance, Eurosceptics, and the BBC-bashing News-Watch

If you give a bear cocaine, he’s going to ask for more cocaine.

When you give him the cocaine, he’ll probably ask you for a vodka chaser.

When he’s finished, he’ll ask you if you’ve ever thought about honey, like really thought about how great it is, how it’s all-natural and totally free, just a gift from the fucking earth, and how that’s so great.

Then he’ll want to look in a mirror to make sure he doesn’t have white powder on his muzzle.

When he looks into the mirror, he’ll think what a great mirror it is for doing cocaine on. So he’ll probably ask you for more cocaine.