I have been told that we’re not supposed to talk about Hitler and the Nazis because it evokes unpleasant comparisons to the modern authoritarian movement that’s getting ready to assume power in the United States. Indeed, we’re supposed to try to “make deals” with them so it wouldn’t be prudent to say anything that might make them mad. At least that’s what I hear… Nonetheless, I don’t see how we can talk about this without mentioning the Nazis so I will: President-elect Donald J. Trump is likely to justify his plans to seal off the border with Mexico by citing a public health emergency from immigrants bringing disease into the United States. Now he just has to find one. Mr. Trump last invoked public health restrictions, known as Title 42, in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, when the coronavirus was tearing across the globe. As he prepares to enter office again, Mr. Trump has no such public health disaster to point to. Still, his advisers have spent recent months trying to find the right disease to build their case, according to four people familiar with the discussions.
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The astrophysicist’s synthesized voice conveyed a self
The post Stephen Hawking’s Eternal Voice appeared first on Nautilus.
100 Executive Orders Trump and his henchmen met with Republican Senators yesterday to preview his immediate plans. They want to put on a really big show right out of the box: The incoming Trump administration is considering conducting a high-profile raid targeting undocumented immigrants in its initial days, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The raid could target immigrants allegedly living in the United States illegally at a workplace in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, the people said. In meetings between the Trump transition team and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the Trump team has repeatedly asked about resources and logistics immediately available to carry out workplace raids, the three people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak to the media about transition discussions, said. Maybe they could come out here to LA to do it. They could find some immigrants who’ve been left homeless from the fires and really give their rabid base a thrill. It sounds like they are going to get the show on the road the minute they get back in the White House.
Never mind. More capitulation from Democrats: By all indications, at least nine Senate Democrats will vote to advance the Laken Riley Act, a sweeping measure that mandates the detention of undocumented immigrants who have committed nonviolent crimes, all but ensuring that it will move forward. This is a classic GOP “message bill”: It forces Democrats to either oppose the package, creating instant ad fodder against them, or swallow the whole thing, even though it contains some awful policies that most Democrats would surely oppose in isolation. Unfortunately, some Senate Democrats are making this mess worse than it has to be—and in so doing, are flirting with an early surrender to Donald Trump. It suggests that some Democrats, spooked by Trump’s comeback, have already decided there’s no percentage in even attempting to challenge anything carrying the aura of “toughness” on immigration. That doesn’t bode well for their capacity to resist the terrible crackdown that’s coming, but fortunately, it’s not too late to find a better path.
The only person at the funeral who openly snubbed that miscreant was Karen Pence. Karen Pence! I’m with Murshed: All I feel is betrayal right now. It’s not rational, I know. But that’s how it is.
Keir Starmer's biographer Tom Baldwin on how the national broadcaster has helped to amplify Elon Musk's lies
Do you know what this gaping, bloody gash needs? Some hydrogen peroxide from the back of my linen closet that expired five years ago. I will wash the oozing cut with warm water and soap to make sure it’s clean. Then I will dump this rancid old chemical into the open meat of my hand.
Wow, that really burns. The fizzing and pain mean it’s working. You have to let it froth for a few seconds to ensure there’s not an ounce of living matter left in that flesh, even the good stuff. Then you do it again.
The thing about hydrogen peroxide is you don’t want to use a cotton pad to apply it; you just want to spill it all over so that most of it goes down the drain. No one knows if it works for wounds or not, so the more putrid and unstable the oxidizing agent, the better. When the cut hurts more than it initially did, that’s when you’re good to go.
In numerous journals and newspapers, death and destruction in Sudan is described as probably the greatest, certainly the most neglected, humanitarian catastrophe in existence. Save the Children identifies 15 million people, more than one third of a population displaced, of whom 5.8 million are children under 18, one quarter of whom are under five. The Continue reading »
In December 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, warned in relation to the situation in Gaza that “the practice of medicine is under attack” and “we are in the darkest time for the right to health in our lifetimes”. More than a year later, and with the killing Continue reading »
Clive Palmer’s latest claims as a Singaporean coal mine investor using foreign investor state dispute settlement rights in trade agreements to claim billions from the Australian Government join a growing global list of ISDS claims by fossil fuel companies defined by the UN and the OECD as threats to the global climate transition. Labor should Continue reading »
“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit around and eat blackberries”. (Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Aurora Leigh) In the 1930s, African American Vernacular English adopted “woke” as a clarion call, drawing attention to injustice, specifically the injustices daily faced by Continue reading »
In September 2021 the US, UK and Australia announced a joint project to build eight nuclear submarines for Australia at a cost of AU$368 billion. To conclude the deal, Australia had to scrap an already concluded agreement with France to build 12 conventional submarines for the Royal Australian Navy at a cost of AU$50 billion. Continue reading »
Remember the Vietnam War? The barbarism there cannot be compared with what we see almost daily in Gaza. But just looking on impotently will not solve the problem. Over Vietnam, the conscription issue allowed a sluggish Australian public opinion to be partly mobilised to counter government lies and distortions. The protest movement had some effect. Continue reading »
ASEAN preference for resolute neutrality will attract increasing pushback from major foreign players who have less respect for the concept. Determined neutrality and non-interference are the defining features of ASEAN. Some observers see this as a source of strength with its focus on common objectives rather than differences. Others see it as a source of Continue reading »
Many people have been understandably astonished by Donald Trump’s recently proclaimed desires to “take back” the Panama Canal “in full, quickly and without question” and to take over the self-governing Danish territory of Greenland. While Trump has written that “For purposes of National Security and Freedom around the world, the United States feels that the Continue reading »
The year 2025 promises to be a tumultuous one in many parts of the world. But will the status quo remain? Will it be a case of the more things change, the more they remain the same? Will we see changes for a better or worse world? And how will Australia cope with or help Continue reading »
I’m having a hard time gathering my thoughts today. It’s been a couple of very long nights here in the LA area. I have friends who lost everything and having to cope with the ignorant sociopath who will soon be the most powerful man in the country again is almost too much to bear. I’m outsourcing my commentary for the moment to California native son Brian Beutler: My exact words would be a bit more profane but that’s why I’m not a public official.
In a speech to Israel’s parliament, Jonathan Greenblatt admits the ADL’s battle against antisemitism is losing — but blows it on what to do.
The post ADL Chief Invokes Pager Attack as Inspiration for Taking on Internet Trolls appeared first on The Intercept.