Reading

Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 05:30
You’ve heard all about the new Louisiana law requiring the display of the 10 Commandments in every schoolroom in the state. But they’re just getting started: The crowd at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette, La., applauded Gov. Jeff Landry as he signed bill after bill this week on public education in the state, making it clear he believed God was guiding his hand. One new law requires that transgender students be addressed by the pronouns for the gender on their birth certificates (“God gives us our mark,” he said). Another allows public schools to employ chaplains (“a great step for expanding faith in public schools”). Then he signed into law a mandate that the Ten Commandments be hung in every public classroom, demonstrating a new willingness for Louisiana to go where other states have not. Last month, Louisiana also became the first state to classify abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances. “We don’t quit,” Mr. Landry, a Republican, said at the signing ceremony. No they don’t. Ever. They have been working at this for many decades.
Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 04:58
As solar panels get cheaper, companies and governments commit to increasing oil and gas production. Community opposition to wind farms funded by fossil fuel interests. Indigenous languages threatened by climate change. Companies increasing oil and gas production Extracting and burning the coal, oil and gas in the world’s existing and under-construction mines and fields will Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 04:56
Imminent elections in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom are affected by two long-running concerns: Palestine and the decline of the West. Responses to them will also affect the 2025 elections in Australia. Here, ALP voters are already being lured to listen to the Coalition’s siren song of nuclear power, Sinophobia, and refugees, Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 04:55
In response to the question, ‘Do you despair over the slaughters in Gaza’, a close friend responded, ‘When I hear the news, I’m angry and permanently pissed off. I also recognise that anger can lead to despair.’ Her personal reaction mirrors a national malaise, a Gaza frustration coupled to powerlessness which like a Covid pandemic Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 04:53
“I want my tenderness back…Give me back that soft, sacred part of myself that weeps at the corpses of children, so I can Behold the world gently again…” – Caitlin Johnstone Even in difficult times, Compassion is the sustaining ethic for all major faith traditions and underpins civilised living in our democracy. Our various forms Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 04:50
David Daokui Li says China’s decision makers have finally come around to stimulating domestic consumption rather than investment, and for that Beijing will provide more welfare. The Communist Party of China has said the upcoming Third Plenary Session of its current 20th Central Committee will focus on “deepening comprehensive reform to advance Chinese modernisation.” Based Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 04:13

BACK at Boambee Headland for the third consecutive year, a group of ten GeoLINK staff participated in planting 240 trees as part of their company’s carbon offset program. The ongoing regeneration program is orchestrated by Coffs Harbour Regional Landcare (CHRL) and supported by GeoLINK and City of Coffs Harbour’s Coastal Works bush regeneration team. Advertise...

The post Revegetation planting continues at Boambee Headland appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 04:11

ALMOST the entire Karenni community of Coffs Harbour came together at the Jetty Foreshores in celebration of their National Day on Saturday 15 June. This year marks the 149th anniversary of Karenni National Day, typically observed annually on June 21, commemorating the date in 1875 when the British government recognised the Karenni state as a...

The post Karenni community of Coffs Harbour celebrate their 149th National Day appeared first on News Of The Area.

Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 04:00
One of the biggest revelations in Watergate was the existence of Nixon’s enemies list. The episode was particularly dramatic because it was announced by CBS correspondent Daniel Schorr on live TV and as he was reading it he found his own name on the list. It was a tremendous scandal at the time which sounds downright quaint today what with the former president and current GOP nominee routinely calling the press the “enemy of the people” and publicly declaring his intention to prosecute his political rivals. New York Magazine helpfully drew up a partial list which they promise will be updated as the threats add up:Joe Biden and family, obviouslyManhattan District Attorney Alvin BraggNew York Judge Juan MerchanNew York Attorney General Leticia JamesNew York Judge Arthur EngoronSpecial Counsel Jack Smith and anyone involved in the federal Trump investigations/indictments Those are the obvious ones. But there are more.
Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 02:30
Anyone who doesn’t take this seriously is a fool That is the head of the Heritage Foundation which is pulling together Project 2025. He is very arrogant, very confident that they have the election in the bag and very proud of the work they are doing. First and foremost, he is obviously saying that they will not accept the results of the election if Trump doesn’t win. The rest is just as batshit crazy. QUESTION: Is your organization going to accept the results of the 2024 presidential election, regardless of the election results. ANSWER: Yes, if there isn’t massive fraud like there was in 2020. QUESTION: There wasn’t massive fraud. Where was it? ANSWER: no answer QUESTION: What is the plan for the deportation of undocumented immigrants in the interior, not at the border. ANSWER: We need to have the biggest mass deportation system in America. QUESTION: What are these people (undocumented immigrants) doing? ANSWER: A lot of them are committing crimes like murdering the 12-year-old girl in Houston. FACT: That’s one out of 11 million. In Texas, undocumented immigrants were 37.1 % less likely to be convicted of a crime.
Created
Sun, 23/06/2024 - 00:30
More smackdowns, please Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) brought some heat to her stumping in Nevada for Joe Biden this week. This, this is what I’m talking about. Behold: But what little coverage AOC’s appearance drew missed the fire. Las Vegas Sun: “For women and gender diverse people, it is life and death,” said Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., during a discussion about reproductive rights Thursday in Las Vegas. Ocasio-Cortez later appeared in downtown Las Vegas for a rally to support Biden’s reelection campaign. “It’s not hyperbole. It’s reality.” And Axios? Axios felt the need to both-sides Democrats, placing more emphasis on dissension in the ranks than on her message: AOC holds first 2024 rally for Biden as progressives rage over Gaza. This is what Democrats fight in convincing progressive voices and younger voters that their vote is their voice, that their vote is their power, that their power matters, and that Democrats have their backs. If there is media bias, it is against progressives’ most powerful voices. Democrats themselves are uneasy about putting up a public fight.
Created
Sat, 22/06/2024 - 23:00
Perfection rarely is A casual friend introduced me to his buddy at a public concert last night. The usual. Tom works with the Democratic Party, etc. The buddy replied with the familiar “fed up with both parties” bit. Rebecca Solnit wrote about that stance in 2016: Cynicism is first of all a style of presenting oneself, and it takes pride more than anything in not being fooled and not being foolish. But in the forms in which I encounter it, cynicism is frequently both these things. That the attitude that prides itself on world-weary experience is often so naïve says much about the triumph of style over substance, attitude over analysis. […] If you set purity and perfection as your goals, you have an almost foolproof system according to which everything will necessarily fall short. But expecting perfection is naïve; failing to perceive value by using an impossible standard of measure is even more so. Cynics are often disappointed idealists and upholders of unrealistic standards.
Created
Sat, 22/06/2024 - 19:00

The administration says the “Azov Brigade” is separate from the old, Nazi-linked “Azov Battalion.” The unit itself says they’re the same.

The post The U.S. Says a Far-Right Ukrainian Army Unit Can Now Get Aid. A Photo Shows Training Was Already Happening. appeared first on The Intercept.

Created
Sat, 22/06/2024 - 18:17
Palestinians have experienced 70 or 80 years of dispossession, occupation, and human rights violations.   Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On June 13, I analysed the report of The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel for the UN’s Human Rights Council, which found Hamas guilty of war crimes and found Continue reading »