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JEN, QUENTIN, STEPHANIE, and DAVID enter a conference room located deep inside the DC Beltway. DAVID sits in a chair. QUENTIN sits in a chair facing the opposite direction. STEPHANIE throws a chair through the window and sits on the table. JEN picks up a chair and duct tapes it to her back, then sits on STEPHANIE.

DAVID: All right, everyone. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this is the most important holiday party of our lifetime. Who’s in charge of the food?

STEPHANIE: Joe Biden is in charge of the food.

DAVID: Great. What food is he bringing?

JEN: He’s not bringing any food.

DAVID: What do you mean?

QUENTIN: He didn’t buy or make any food. He’s not bringing any food.

Interest rates settings depend on forecasts of price inflation, wages and unemployment. There is now sufficient evidence to suggest that the Reserve Bank should begin to cut interest rates soon and arguably at its December Board Meeting. The balance of risks if it stays there much longer is that the economy will fall into a Continue reading »

Australia’s vote this week in support of a UN General Assembly resolution aimed at creating an “irreversible pathway” to a Palestinian state caps a year of important symbolic changes by the Albanese Government on this issue. But there is a fatal flaw at the heart of government’s policy of creeping recognition of a Palestinian state: Continue reading »

Incoming US President Donald Trump will force us, as citizens of the ‘West’, to face the demon in the mirror.  They “will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.” Donald J Trump about the people of Gaza and their defenders. “Western justifications Continue reading »

In Asian media this week: Disaster survivor says she wishes she had died. Plus: Macabre dispute over Pakistan protest deaths; Trump’s new term, crisis time for AUKUS: Martial law becomes South Korea’s democratic moment; Fentanyl America’s problem, says Beijing; Women’s freedom means no going back on population decline This week marks 40 years since the Continue reading »

In an expected move, the leading organization of the far-right “constitutional sheriffs” movement has endorsed...

BBC and Disney+'s Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T. Davies has some interesting thoughts to share about the future of streaming and television.

The Trump administration may soon have a new weapon to target perceived enemies.

The post Silencing Dissent: Attacks on Free Speech and Nonprofits Are Already Ramping Up appeared first on The Intercept.

The Trump administration may soon have a new weapon to target perceived enemies.

The post Silencing Dissent: Attacks on Free Speech and Nonprofits Are Already Ramping Up appeared first on The Intercept.

The corruption this time is going to be epic Last February, as Donald Trump was running for the Republican presidential nomination, he appeared at SneakerCon in Philadelphia to debut his latest branded product, gold sneakers emblazoned with the number 45. They retailed for $399 and reportedly sold out immediately, or at least orders for them did. They ended up going for thousands of dollars on ebay. Nobody knew exactly where these sneakers were made or who was making them but Newsweek reported that the designs were trademarked by  CIC Ventures LLC out of Palm Beach and its managers were two Trump associates. The website states that the company selling the shoes is located in a small town in Wyoming and declares that the shoes “are not designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals.” It uses the name, image and likeness under a license agreement. That same company is now selling a new product called “Fight, Fight, Fight” cologne and perfume which sell for $199, also under a license agreement.

A rumoured $100 million donation from Musk to Nigel Farage's Reform would be banned under the proposal

“bug-eyed fascist ideologues” We’ve warned plenty here about Christian nationalism, the New Apostolic Reformation, and the Seven Mountains mandate. Considering the Second Coming of Trump already features cabinet nominees associated with efforts to turn our democracy into a theocracy (what’s the big deal about swapping out two letters?), it’s time for another look. Amanda Marcotte this morning offers a hair-raising glimpse at Salon. “You think you ‘know’ what’s in it,” Marcotte introduces it on Bluesky, “but I promise it’s much crazier. I went deep in the research on this. Lots of quotes from Christian nationalists Trump has appointed, and experts.” Plenty of those, but some key points before you click over to read the whole thing: Just because we’ve heard this all before does not mean they are any less of a threat this time around. Believe them the first time. They don’t want to govern; they want to rule. The oligarchs behind Trump are in it for more money and power and because they are Randian adolescents. The Christian nationalists are after dominance with a capital “D.”

An MP imprisoned despite multiple rulings demanding his immediate release, elected mayors replaced by government appointees and a ‘Palace Regime’ that disregards the people’s will — there lies a broad summary of Turkey’s current political landscape. Using similar rhetoric to justify unjust and inhumane measures will do the UK government no good. Can Atalay, a […]

Amid unprecedented anti-war protests, universities like CUNY and Concordia are turning to private security firms with Israeli military backgrounds to monitor and suppress dissent.

The post How Private Israeli Security Firms Are Killing Free Speech on College Campuses appeared first on MintPress News.

“Concerts should be fun. I don’t like it when they feel like religion.”

I had been wondering something about Jack Stratton, the founder and leader of the band Vulfpeck, for the past twenty-one years. I remember him occasionally rapping in his sleep back in 2003, when I was Jack’s camp counselor on the shores of Lower Baker Pond in Wentworth, New Hampshire. “Unh. / Just like Sprewell,” he’d say, a midnight non sequitur. Or had I really heard that? It can be hard to tell what’s persona and what’s genuine in the world of Vulfpeck. Even their origin story has a factual version and a fictional narrative: they either met as undergraduates at the University of Michigan, or they were the rhythm section for an imagined German recording engineer. When we spoke, Jack confirmed that the sleep-rapping was real.