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Created
Mon, 25/11/2024 - 02:30
Uh-huh Can we stop parroting that we can’t normalize Donald Trump? Or autocracy, kleptocracy, oligarchy, etc.? Look around. Anyone who says, “Well, that’s never going to happen,” to warnings that some batshit insane event might happen under the coming Trump administration has not been paying attention over the last decade. “Well, that’s never going to happen” keeps happening. A brief review (in no particular order): After all of the above and much, much more — and yet still more — Americans elected Donald John Trump as president for a second time on Nov. 5, 2024. Let’s contemplate some of what may come next. Look, fighting back against what’s coming is not just righteous, but patriotic. I’m tired. You’re tired. We’re all tired. But for all its flaws, the ideal of America that MAGA Republicans want to unmake with extreme prejudice is worth fighting for. I’m sorry I’m not more upbeat about it like James Fallows or Rebecca Solnit. That doesn’t lessen the imperative, especially since there is no guarantee how low the foes of freedom won’t stoop once they get rolling.
Created
Mon, 25/11/2024 - 01:00
S-O-P for M-A-G-A Now that campaign season is almost over (our N.C. state Supreme Court recounts, lawsuits, etc., could drag into December), I’ve scheduled my Covid booster and flu shots for later this morning. With quacks and cranks poised to take over the health system on January 20, hoarding your necessary meds is a good idea. As is getting your shots, advises Joyce Vance at Civil Discourse. She got hers on Friday: Increasingly, I’m contemplating the issues we are going to face at the intersection of public health and the rule of law. Dr. Vin Gupta posted on BlueSky today, “We need as many healthcare professionals to be courageous and speak to truth, for our patient’s sake and for the sanctity and credibility of our profession. That starts now. We cannot allow the highly abnormal to be normalized.” He said it in the context of the qualifications, or lack thereof, of Trump’s nominees for key positions in the health sector, including Marty Makary as FDA commissioner, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for surgeon general, and Dr. Dave Weldon for CDC director, all of whom would work for Kennedy. Each of them is controversial.
Created
Sun, 24/11/2024 - 13:34

After an attempt on his life, former President Evo Morales, who leads the polls for the upcoming presidential elections, accuses the Bolivian State and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of orchestrating the paramilitary operation. Due to popular intervention and surveillance footage, enough evidence has been produced to sustain such accusations. Morales blames the business and geopolitical interest around Lithium, for what he calls a grab for power by former partner and now rival, Bolivian President Luis Arce. A full […]

The post VIDEO: Evo Morales speaks to The Grayzone, blames U.S. for assassination attempt first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post VIDEO: Evo Morales speaks to The Grayzone, blames U.S. for assassination attempt appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Sun, 24/11/2024 - 12:00
“Strength takes many forms, and the most obvious forms are not always the most significant. The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us. […] If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential. […] We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth […] But democratic society — in it, the highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may. In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation.” – President John F. Kennedy, from his Robert Frost tribute address (October 23, 1963) 61 years ago this past Friday, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy landed in Dallas, Texas at 11:38am.
Created
Sun, 24/11/2024 - 10:00
Trump seems to genuinely believe that he can rule the world through tariffs by using them as a cudgel to make foreign countries stop laughing at us. But there’s another reason he loves them. They give him power over American businesses and a massive opportunity for corruption: The sweeping tariffs that President-elect Donald J. Trump imposed in his first term on foreign metals, machinery, clothing and other products were intended to have maximum impact around the world. They sought to shutter foreign factories, rework international supply chains and force companies to make big investments in the United States. But for many businesses, the most important consequences of the tariffs, enacted in 2018 and 2019, unfolded just a few blocks from the White House. In the face of pushback from companies reliant on foreign products, the Trump administration set up a process that allowed them to apply for special exemptions. The stakes were high: An exemption could relieve a company of tariffs as high as 25 percent, potentially giving it a big advantage over competitors.
Created
Sun, 24/11/2024 - 08:30
Jamelle Bouie sent this along in his newsletter today and I thought is was perfect for the moment: Most Americans who know of Frederick Douglass know that he lived to see the destruction of chattel slavery and the liberation of Black Americans from the despotism of human bondage. Less well known is the fact that Douglass would also live long enough to see the slave stand free, stand a brief moment in the sun, and move back again toward slavery, to paraphrase W.E.B. Du Bois in his book “Black Reconstruction.” Douglass died in 1895 as the counterrevolution to Reconstruction and the agrarian rebellions of the 1880s and 1890s took final shape. In 1890, Mississippi imposed its Jim Crow Constitution. Other states in the South soon followed suit. In 1896, the Supreme Court would affirm “separate but equal” in Plessy v. Ferguson, a landmark ruling that would stand until 1954, when it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education. In 1894, at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington D.C., Douglass delivered the last great speech of his career.
Created
Sun, 24/11/2024 - 07:05

THE donation of an innovative piece of equipment is set to revolutionise breast cancer surgery at Coffs Harbour Hospital. Acquiring the Magseed Localiser was made possible by a remarkable $94,000 donation from Coffs Harbour’s Pink Silks Perpetual Trust. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us...

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Created
Sun, 24/11/2024 - 07:04

AN exhibition of work from TAFE photography students opens next Wednesday, 27 November. Called “PICS”, the end-of-year showcase features work by the Certificate IV in Photography and Digital Imaging class at Coffs Harbour Education Campus (CHEC). Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02)...

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Created
Sun, 24/11/2024 - 07:02

THE native stingless beehive installed at Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary almost a year ago reached a significant milestone last week. Maintained by the Coffs Harbour branch of the Australian Native Bee Association (ANBA), the beehive was home to a healthy population of Tetragonula carbonaria bees, but had reached capacity. Advertise with News of The Area...

The post Native beehive split at Coff Coast Wildlife Sanctuary appeared first on News Of The Area.