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It’s Wednesday and while I usually have a few topics to discuss, today I am concentrating on the recent disruptions to shipping channels and the likely impact on inflation. I was also hoping to post a video of the recent launch of my new book with Warren Mosler in Melbourne on September 12, 2024 but…

Gabija Zemaityte The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, among others, has argued that long-term fixed-rate mortgages (LTFRMs) could increase home ownership in the UK. The share of mortgages with longer fixes increased in the UK and internationally over the last decade. Persistently low interest rates over that period have supported demand for longer-fix products, … Continue reading Long-term fixed-rate mortgages through an international lens: could they lead to higher home ownership? →

Why do the mass killers of the fossil fuel industry walk free while the heroes trying to stop them are imprisoned? By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian  1st October 2024 The sentences were handed down just as Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina. As homes were smashed, trucks swept down roads that had turned into […]

Did you know it’s illegal to knowingly broadcast false information about a catastrophe, especially if such communications may cause substantial “public harm?” Public harm includes direct & actual damages to people or property & the diversion of law enforcement or public health & safety authorities from their duties. Link to FCC rules on FALSE INFORMATION/BROADCAST HOAXES https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/guides/hoaxes But Elon Musk & X are not regulated by the FCC. So, HOW DO WE STOP THIS? Make it illegal, just like we did for broadcast TV and radio. I know that the internet is not subject to the same laws as broadcast radio & TV. But we can create them. We can use the same criteria that the FCC uses, which will protect people who spread the false information unintentionally. But to just ignore it is to abdicate the need to protect people during this vulnerable time. Dash, on Mastodon pointed out some of the reasons why Musk is getting away with this. He also understood that this is a call for a change @CatDragon @spocko because the internet isn’t subject to the same laws as broadcast tv (so he isn’t breaking the law).

Oh look. Here’s Ron DeSantis’s hardcore MAGA spokeswoman discovering that the disinformation culture she has cultivated for years now may not be such a great idea: That stuff is clogging the Twitter sewer right now and the Republican leaders in these disaster area are starting to realize that it’s affecting their own voters. If they’d understood this during COVID, studies show that many lives could have been spared. This is the result of the MAGA death cult exploiting conspiracy theories for their own ends and killing people in the process. For the sake of Florida citizens I hope this time they do not listen.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Meidas Touch reports: After his VP debate, JD Vance went fishing with a pro-Trump trophy hunter group that publishes kills of endangered animals including pygmy hippos like Moo Deng, the adorable and feisty pygmy hippo baby that has gone viral across the internet. The pro-trophy hunting group, Safari Club International (SCI), organized a fishing trip for Vance in Michigan before recording an interview for the MAGA Republican Ruthless podcast. Phony weirdoJD had this to say about the group: “I think something that people don’t fully appreciate, especially far lefties who pretend to care about the environment, is they assume that these guys just want to take, take, take from the environment. Like they want to kill every animal. They want to get every fish out of the lake and they want to take them home and they don’t think about conservation. When in reality the people who are hunting and fishing they care the most about conservation. They care about the balance I think more than people who never spend any real time in the environment.” He is lying.

Death of an elder in the West Bank and the death of children in Al-Nuseirat. Views of Lebanon look like Gaza. John Mearsheimer and Norman Finkelstein comment on October 7, while Media Watch shows up for journalists in Gaza and Lebanon. ABC’s 4 Corners experts give rise to questions for the Coalition. Our five-minute scroll Continue reading »

As Tom mentioned this morning, Bob Woodward has a new book out and its full of juicy revelations as usual. CNN reports that there’s some good stuff about Biden in it — he calls Netanyahu a “son of a bitch” and a “bad fucking guy” which is actually a relief. At least the “unwavering” support for Israel’s ongoing ultraviolence isn’t based upon Biden’s inexplicable regard for Bibi. Biden has also reportedly said that he regrets naming Garland as AG because of the persecution of Hunter which I think is fair enough (although there are other reasons for wishing there had been a different AG during this period as well.) But it’s the Trump stuff that really grabs: The book also contains new details about Trump’s relationship with the Russian president. In 2020, Woodward writes, Trump had “secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines for his personal use.” During the height of the pandemic, Russia and the United States did exchange medical equipment such as ventilators.

Why the Abraham Accords were never going to bring peace to the Middle East.

Despite Trump’s claim that FBI had “free rein,” his aides limited witness lists and scope of questioning, per a senator’s report.

The post Trump White House Got in the Way of Brett Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Investigation appeared first on The Intercept.

Shock jock, John Laws, has stunned the Nation by announcing his retirement from radio. It was not the news of his retirement that stunned the Nation but rather news that Mr Laws was in fact still alive. “I thought he... Read More ›

He always lies and when caught just doubles down: After Donald Trump was asked in a Monday interview about the future prospects of Gaza, the former president made a curious claim: “You know, I’ve been there, and it’s rough.” There is no public evidence of Trump ever having been to Gaza, which has been governed by militant group Hamas since 2007. He certainly didn’t go to Gaza as president, and CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post have all found no proof he made a prior visit. Perhaps he merely meant he has been to Palestinian territory, since he did visit the West Bank in 2017? Or maybe he was just talking about having been to the broader region? Nope. Trump’s campaign said Monday night that he meant what he said about having been to Gaza in particular – and the campaign insisted the claim is true. “President Trump has been to Gaza previously and has always worked to ensure peace in the Middle East,” campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told CNN. Leavitt, though, did not provide a single detail about Trump’s supposed trip to Gaza.

Mark Martin crosses paths with plenty of people described in Jack Smith’s latest brief.

The post This Law School Dean Sure Is Associated With Lots of Trump’s Alleged Co-Conspirators appeared first on The Intercept.

This spoiled narcissist who had everything handed to him on silver platter by his rich father (after which he lost most of it because of his terrible business judgment) has always told people that he made it on his own. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve mentioned it before but once again, if you want to read one more book about this miscreant make it “Lucky Loser” by the NY Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig. It shows the scope of Trump’s failures and how he was really rescued by reality TV which created the persona that brought him to the White House. He’s no more authentic than a Real Housewife of New York. Here’s the publisher’s note: Soon after announcing his first campaign for the US presidency, Donald J. Trump told a national television audience that life “has not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me.” Building on a narrative he had been telling for decades, he spun a hardscrabble fable of how he parlayed a small loan from his father into a multi-billion-dollar business and real estate empire.

The next generation is still feeling the effects.

The post Light Pollution Is Making Fish Anxious appeared first on Nautilus.