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Thu, 26/10/2023 - 07:30
He’s just been more quiet about it than the showboaters The Republicans finally found a Speaker: Mike Johnson, 51, has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2016, and is currently serving his fourth term in the House. He represents Louisiana’s fourth congressional district, which includes nearly 760,000 residents. Johnson won the seat with the largest margin of victory in his region in more than 50 years, according to a biography on his website. Of note: After earning both a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from Louisiana State University, Johnson spent nearly 20 years practicing constitutional law. Johnson then served in the Louisiana Legislature from February 2015 to January 2017. He and his wife, Kelly Johnson, have been married since 1999 and have four children. Where does he fit into the GOP landscape? Johnson was unanimously re-elected as as vice chair of the House Republican Conference for a second time last year. He also serves as a deputy whip for the 118th Congress, and currently sits on the House Judiciary Committee and on the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
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Thu, 26/10/2023 - 06:59
The Lost Chance For Peace In Ukraine & What It Will Cost

The great devastation of World War I for the combatants was a lost generation. A massive chunk of the fighting age men died. The established figure for France is somewhere around 1.5 million (the official figure is 1.3 million, but it is generally agreed that’s too low.)

Let’s take a look at what that meant. First the population pyramid in 1914.

Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 06:00
Different worldviews, shaped by a different understanding of history I was on the Majority Report last Friday and in discussing the Israel War with Sam and Emma I made the point that one of the divides on this issue is generational and it’s for a lot of reasons. Older people like myself were raised in the direct shadow of WWII and “Never Again” is etched on our brains. The war was an everyday part of popular culture, our parents talked about it as if it was yesterday (which it was, to them) and the Holocaust was something immediate and horrifying. (I went to see “The Sorrow and the PIty” twice!) All that is ancient history to today’s young people who are far more influenced by our culture’s belated recognition of white colonialism and racist violence writ large as their historical touchstone, perhaps made more immediate to them by the actions of the United States after 9/11. It’s a different worldview shaped by different historical experiences. Both are valid ways to see this current situation and it’s hard to argue either way.
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Thu, 26/10/2023 - 04:57
Australian sovereignty should have been something of a pub joke prior to AUKUS. After it, it has become a dead letter. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s sole purpose during his visit to Washington is to be the country’s uncritical undertaker, ensuring that remains of independence are buried, even as the minerals are extracted. Visiting a Continue reading »
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Thu, 26/10/2023 - 04:56
If we are looking for historical parallels to the current destruction in Palestine, then the razing of the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis is unfortunately one that comes readily to mind. While we would all agree that this was appalling, inhuman and unfathomable, is blowing women and children to pieces in Gaza any less so? Continue reading »
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Thu, 26/10/2023 - 04:54
On 20 October 2023, an Aboriginal teenager died in custody in Perth, Western Australia. Cleveland Dodd, 16-years-old, was found unresponsive in his cell in Casurina maximum security prison security prison. On 21 October 2023, a Palestinian mother, Alaa, and her three children, Eman (6), Faiz (5) and 7-month-old Sara, were killed by an Israeli strike Continue reading »
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Thu, 26/10/2023 - 04:53
Governments across the nation claim they want to reduce pollution. On their list are electric cars. Consumers are encouraged with rebates, tax breaks and blarney, but discouraged by inaction on infrastructure. Though the ocean is 200 km to the south, Norseman is a port. It’s the cast-off point into the Nullarbor, the great isolation that Continue reading »
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Thu, 26/10/2023 - 04:51
Former Australian ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, last week wrote a piece praising the rise of diplomacy in our dealings with Beijing, claiming that since changing prime minister, we don’t have a defence minister and senior public servants beating the drums of war, running roughshod over the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Opinion pieces Continue reading »
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Thu, 26/10/2023 - 04:30
I assume you’ve heard that ABC is reporting that Meadows got an immunity deal with Jack Smith and has told them that he knew the election wasn’t rigged and told Trump that many times (among other things.) If you haven’t seen it, here’s a link to that article. Nobody is sure who may have leaked this or why but I think it’s pretty clear that it wasn’t Trump’s team. He does not sound pleased.
Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 04:02

Fellow parents,

I am so angry and drunk right now that I am shaking. This evening, our young son spent several unsupervised hours trick-or-treating while my husband and I got plastered at the Schroeder’s adults-only Halloween party.

Upon arriving home, we found him bawling his eyes out over his disappointing candy haul. Apparently, while the other neighborhood children received chocolate bars, quarters, and popcorn balls, my son, for some reason, received rocks. As in multiple rocks, from multiple houses.

One rock? Okay, fine. But every house in the neighborhood? This was obviously a coordinated effort to humiliate our family.

To think, as we were sipping gin fizzes, bobbing for apples, and sipping mai tais, you were all conspiring to fill our son’s empty pillowcase with pebbles and igneous stones. Shame on you.

To top it all off, our five-year-old daughter missed out on tricks or treats altogether after being coerced by that boy with an unhealthy attachment to his blanket to spend the whole night in a pumpkin patch. Without a coat on, mind you!

Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 03:09

October 25, 2023 Aggressive Nostalgia The Dark Side of Pining for the Good Old Days By Alfie Kohn “Time was when parents had their own authority about the rearing of children….There was no back talk and no nonsense….Today we have the child- centered home. In it there is little peace and quiet, and certainly not much respect for, or fear ... Read More

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