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Trump is an ass Part DLXXXIV: According to the Trump-friendly cable news channel, Trudeau’s visit to Trump’s Florida home had the Canadian playing timid defense. Trump’s threat to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from Canada, the Fox report suggested, prompted a complaint from Trudeau that such a move would “kill the Canadian economy completely.” Trump offered that maybe Canada could just become a U.S. state, which prompted Trudeau to “laugh nervously,” Fox reported. That part’s probably accurate. When a leader who has repeatedly expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin starts coveting your nation’s land, it’s fair to be a bit worried. Trump’s suggestion to Trudeau was that he could become governor of this new state of Canada. When someone else present suggested that this would mean adding a state that would probably vote Democratic, Trump submitted that Canada could be annexed as two states: one conservative, one liberal. Coming from the guy who offerened to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland, I wouldn’t laugh too hard. Orange Julius Caesar is feeling his oats.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared Martial Law for the first time in 45 years, suspended the South Korean legislature, and banned elected representatives from accessing the National Assembly building with massive police mobilisation. However, South Korean legislators forced their way past blockading police and special warfare forces, while hundreds of citizens shouted “Arrest Continue reading »

Earth's most distant space probes prepare for their inevitable long night.

The post Voyagers Ready to Go Dark appeared first on Nautilus.

Remember Dr. Oz? Remember when he was dragged in front of Congress for selling a...

A woman is in a critical condition in a Sydney hospital after taking an overdose of smug whilst declaring to her friends that she had completed all of her Christmas shopping several weeks before the event. “A female was admitted... Read More ›

There is a coup underway in South Korea and we don’t know at this writing if it’s going to succeed or not. The right wing would-be dictator President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law and the parliament immediately convened and countermanded it which means it cannot hold under the law. The military and police are on the scene and nobody knows what will come next. After the election here I was thinking about misogyny (I wonder why) and how it affects politics and today I was reminded of this. It’s a story in the BBC from a couple of years ago about the South Korean elections: His fingers relentlessly tap the keyboard as he replies to dozens of their messages at his desk in the centre of a busy campaign office for one of South Korea’s main presidential candidates, Yoon Suk-yeol. “Nearly 90% of men in their twenties are anti-feminist or do not support feminism,” he tells me. South Korea has one of the worst women’s rights records in the developed world. And yet it is disgruntled young men who have been the focus of this country’s presidential election. Many do not see feminism as a fight for equality.

The President of South Korea has declared martial law.

The legislature voted 190 to 0 to end the martial law, which is their right under the constitution, but the President has declared it will continue and the military command has said they will not end it till he says so. Even members of the President’s own party voted to end martial law.

I’m no expert on South Korea, but what I do know that the people with the guns have the final say. Back during the Arab Spring I noted that until the Egyptian army chose its side (it wound up choosing itself) nothing had been won.

The question, then, is the high command is unified and if lower officers and the rank and file will obey orders. So far the coup hasn’t been entirely competent: the military should have never allowed the legislators into the building to take such a vote.

There are unconfirmed reports that arrest warrants have been issued for leaders of opposition parties.

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Looks like it. In fact the Senators don’t seem to even be slightly concerned about the imminent firing of Christopher Wray for no good reason. It’s all good: As the Senate returned Monday evening from the holiday recess, Republican senators voiced little to no concern over Donald Trump’s corrupt plan to fire FBI Director Chris Wray and showed no signs of being ready to torpedo Kash Patel’s presumptive nomination as Wray’s replacement. Even GOP senators who might be expected to sound some feeble caution – Thom Tillis (R-NC), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Susan Collins (R-ME) – offered no reservations and expressed confidence in Patel’s prospects for confirmation. Garret Graff, author of “The Threat Matrix: The FBI at War” and “Watergate: A New History” wrote this in the NY Times: To understand the full scope of the damage Mr. Patel could inflict, you have to understand how uniquely powerful and dangerous the F.B.I. can be — and why a Patel directorship would probably corrupt and bend the institution for decades, even if he served only a few years.

Dear Committee Members,

As part of the faculty review process, I am pleased to report to you on my work. In this letter, I will offer information on my research, service, and teaching, showing why I continue to be an excellent and essential member of our Higher Education Institution.

RESEARCH

In the past year, I published two articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the leading journal Semiotics for Phlebotomists. I will submit copies to the committee as soon as I locate a library that still has the funds to subscribe to journals. I additionally got my manuscript under contract with State University Press. Publication was set for next year but has been delayed as the University’s board of trustees decided the press’s location would work better as a drinks lounge for football boosters, and the press is restarting operations in the basement of the facilities management building.

Here is that thread:  1. Of all the deceptive sales techniques the U.S. government has used on the American people, one of them—the Social Security Act—gets far too little attention. Buckle up because this is a wild ride. 2. In 1935, the American people were sold a bill of goods. They were told, “Pay into this system, and it’ll be YOUR money for retirement.” Sounds great, right? 3. But here’s where it gets juicy, in a really ugly way. Two years later, when the Supreme Court was considering the constitutionality of the Social Security Act, the government did a complete 180. 4. The government—through Assistant Attorney General Robert Jackson—argued in essence, “Oh no, this isn’t YOUR money at all. This is a TAX, and we can do whatever we want with it.” Classic bait and switch. 5. Let’s not forget the ruling in Helvering v.

Would you buy a used covert operation from this man? Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence and national security contributor for NBC News and MSNBC, flagged this on the hellsite. (Yes, I still monitor.): Kash Patel’s knees are scabbed from making obeisance to Donald Trump. And he’s got a fanatic’s zeal (check the eyes) for punishing Trump’s enemies. Which is why Trump wants to make him director of the FBI next year. Hettena points out at SpyTalk just how cavalierly Kash Patel operates in the security sphere: On October 30, 2020, President Trump signed off on a mission to have SEAL Team Six rescue Philip Walton, a 27-year-old American who gunmen had abducted from his farm in the West African nation of Niger, near the border with Nigeria. The kidnappers had hustled Walton across the border to Nigeria and were demanding a $1 million ransom. In their book Only I Can Fix It, journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker reported that the plan called for the SEALs to parachute into northern Nigeria and move three miles on foot to reach the compound where Walton was being held.

With a fragile truce in Lebanon, Israel is once again arming extremists in Syria, leveraging proxy groups to counter Iran and destabilize the region.

The post After Lebanon Ceasefire, Israel Revives Old Playbook: Backing Militants in Syria appeared first on MintPress News.

Give him credit. As a start, for that first surprise victory in 2016. No, I didn’t fully get it at the time, but I kind of get it now (since, like the rest of us, I’ve lived through it all, including his close loss in 2020). Still, twice? Him? A convicted felon, no less! And yes, I do think italics are all too appropriate under the circumstances. Two times as the president of these increasingly disunited states of America? Holy cowpie! Perspecting (No, That’s Not a Typo) Donald Trump This country actually did it — elected him (again!) — and so we deserve whatever we get, at least a little less than 50% of us do: Fox News… oops, sorry,... Read more

Source: Trumped appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

THE region’s sporting fraternity is jumping for joy after the announcement of major funding for the Hockey Coffs Coast facility on Stadium Drive. On Tuesday, Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh and Mayor Nikki Williams attended the hockey centre to celebrate the awarding of $800,000 in NSW Government funding to upgrade the synthetic field. Advertise with...

The post ‘Huge, huge result’ for Stadium Drive hockey facility appeared first on News Of The Area.

Like Trump’s loyalty is a one-way street. So is hypocrisy where the press is concerned. Kevin Kruse, the Princeton historian, caught my attention Monday night when he posted the cancellation of his Washington Post subscription. Kruse posted a screenshot of the Post’s landing page making the Hunter Biden pardon out to be the biggest national story since Nov. 5. In disgust, Kruse threw up his hands and hit “cancel. “ The Post’s front page caught me by surprise because I was otherwise tied up with North Carolina Republicans trying to cancel 60,000 votes, including those of several friends. More on that in a minute. Marcy Wheeler has an explanation for the blanket coverage of a non-story: How Jeff Bezos Smothered Pete Hegseth News because Hunter Biden Was Pardoned of Already Declined Charges Author/journalist Mikel Jollet replied that the focus perfectly encapsulated what’s wrong with American journalism: Is it a story? Sure. But every newspaper in America devoting front page headlines to Hunter fucking Biden while Trump appoints a cabal of rapists, racists and con-men to positions of enormous power is MADNESS.