Reading

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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 08:30
Peter Baker in the NY Times: To hear President-elect Donald J. Trump tell it, he is about to take over a nation ravaged by crisis, a desolate hellscape of crime, chaos and economic hardship. “Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World!” he declared on social media last week. But by many traditional metrics, the America that Mr. Trump will inherit from President Biden when he takes the oath for a second time, two weeks from Monday, is actually in better shape than that bequeathed to any newly elected president since George W. Bush came into office in 2001. For the first time since that transition 24 years ago, there will be no American troops at war overseas on Inauguration Day. New data reported in the past few days indicate that murders are way down, illegal immigration at the southern border has fallen even below where it was when Mr. Trump left office and roaring stock markets finished their best two years in a quarter-century. Jobs are up, wages are rising and the economy is growing as fast as it did during Mr. Trump’s presidency.
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 07:00
At the time Republicans knew how bad it was: “A shrine to democracy for our country, and the world, was overrun by violent extremists seeking to overturn an election. We must hold those responsible to account.” Senator John Thune in Jan. 2021 Today: I don’t know how we can survive this level of delusion and mendacity.
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 05:30
I listened to James Carville Sunday morning on Jen Psaki’s show and read his Op-Ed in the NY Times. I got the impression from Psaki that his advice is being taken very seriously by Democrats. He believes that we need to stop caring about Donald Trump’s assault on reason and the Constitution and concentrate on kitchen table issues. He says that when people are suffering greatly nobody cares that he’s a corrupt criminal and an enemy of democracy so Democrats shouldn’t talk about it anymore. And he cautions that denouncing the other party and its voters is “no way to win an election.” (Donald Trump would like a word …) He says that Trump won on his economic message. Carville advised Democrats to focus on opposing Republican party economic policies but they also need to offer “wildly popular” economic policies that will appeal to people. He suggests issues such as the codification of Roe v. Wade, a higher minimum wage and support for H1B visas to  “expedite entry for high-performing talent and for those who will bring business into our nation.” Obviously opposing the GOP economic message is vital.
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 05:00

For years, we Democrats have been reminding you that Donald Trump is a danger to democracy and a scourge on our nation. His election back into our highest office is a terrifying, perhaps fatal turning point in American history. He will bring about a backslide from which we may never recover. But what is most important right now is civility. Propriety. Politeness. Today, we’re taking the high road—the one that leads directly off a cliff. This dire threat to democracy must be certified.

Four years ago, this man incited an insurrection. He attempted to thwart the democratic process, to overturn an election. We must never forget what happened that day, no matter how many ways he bends its truth. We must tell of its violence in our history books and teach of its blight to our children so it may never be repeated. Except today, when we need to come together and agree on one thing: That guy should be in charge.

You may be asking, “Wait, so everything’s suddenly fine now? Process takes precedence over country?”

No. Never! Never. Never, ever. Just today, though. Today, yes.

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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 04:59
Early in the New Year, acclaimed journalist and former SBS news anchor Mary Kostakidis posted a statement on her X account in the hope it would bring to a close legal proceedings brought against her in the Australian Human Rights Commission by the CEO of the Zionist Federation of Australia, alleging that social media posts Continue reading »
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 04:58
When a review of Commonwealth funding of “strategic policy work”, together with the government’s response, was released just before Christmas, the howls from associates of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute were probably audible on the Moon. A former director of ASPI, Peter Jennings, was among the first out of the blocks with an article in Continue reading »
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 04:57
It falls to someone to bring the discussion concerning what is happening in the Middle East, back to the elephant in the room. And what is the elephant? It is the fact of illegal occupation and what is not being done about it. Our media simply ignores the elephant. It prefers to concentrate upon Hamas Continue reading »
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 04:57
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s abortive attempt to impose martial law has triggered a very serious constitutional firestorm and presented the US with an extremely complicated challenge. Yoon pathetically claimed he was responding to a growing North Korean threat “within his government”, but it was obvious that his dramatic move was born out of his Continue reading »
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 04:56
Judgments about economic management will be critical in the next election. Examination of their respective records and policies suggests that contrary to popular opinion, Labor is better than the Coalition. As we enter a new year, the forthcoming election is quite close and will dominate political discussion for the next few months. For many of Continue reading »
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 04:55
Since the beginning of this century — triggered by the United States’ illegal invasion of Iraq, its occupation of Afghanistan, and aided by the turbocharged arrival of the digital age — there has been significant growth in interest among those in the non-Western world around issues related to their colonial past. This quest has been Continue reading »
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 04:53
Now the neocons are ready to make Taiwan the Ukraine of Asia. The provocations from Washington just never stop. Be it Nancy Pelosi visiting Taipei or US military personnel stationed on some of Taiwan’s closest islands to mainland China, the US is upping its game to make sure China is provoked into a corner from Continue reading »
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 04:00
He won Four years ago today I watched on television as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the joint session of Congress to stop the certification of the presidential election and I thought to myself, “it’s finally over. Trump can’t possibly come back after this.” Until then I had assumed that he would immediately start his comeback. It didn’t occur to me that he could survive inciting this violent assault, especially since he egged it on as it was happening: As we later saw on video, the crowd soon began chanting “hang Mike Pence!” Later in the evening Trump finally emerged and put out a video telling the rioters he understood why they were so upset about all the evil people who stole the election but they needed to go home now. He said he loved them and they were very special: Over the course of many hours we watched on TV as bizarre Trump supporters occupied the Senate floor and took possession of the dais, the Capitol was vandalized and trashed and rioters beat police over the head with American flags. It was the most shockingly surreal event I’ve ever observed in American politics.
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Tue, 07/01/2025 - 03:37
It’s a snow day in Baltimore and that means one thing–a post about cocktails! Full disclosure: I wanted to share these before New Year’s Day, but I’m lazy. And distracted. And lazy. Let’s be honest. I’m just really, really lazy. But better late than never, right? These two new Bloody Marys are the result ofContinue reading Snow Day Bloody Marys (Hemingway and Doritos)