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The White House proudly announces that the first-ever National Women’s Day will be held on March 8. Formerly—and badly—known as “International Women’s Day,” President Trump has patriotically renamed this holiday to honor the best women on the planet: the women of the United States of America.

To mark this inaugural holiday, the president is proud to announce his five-part Agenda for American Women:

1. PASSING THE ERA
For too long, American women have lived as second-class citizens, their rights assumed but not guaranteed. That changes today with the introduction of the Equal Rifle Amendment. This constitutional amendment, proposed by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene at an NRA-sponsored chin-up competition, will guarantee that women cannot be discriminated against based on sex when buying and selling rifles. President Trump firmly believes that no matter how bad they are at sex, women should be entitled to carry guns, because it makes them hotter.

The current approach to education in Australia, as reflected in the New South Wales Bilateral Agreement and national funding models, underscores an increasing reliance on neoliberal principles. These policies prioritise efficiency, accountability, and standardised performance metrics, shaping education into a market-driven enterprise where schools and students are treated as economic units rather than as participants Continue reading »

In Asian media this week: Speeches show Li is for continuity, Trump insists on change. Plus: Cambodia worse than Myanmar for online “scamdemic”; How agents exploit Indians trying for work in America; Brutal competition shapes Fantastic Four tech leaders; Prabowo sets up sovereign wealth fund; Thailand joins Beatles era. The two superpowers this week laid Continue reading »

A dozen days ahead of this Chinese New Year, a large-scale exhibition opened at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The event, “Cezanne and Renoir Looking at the World – Masterpieces from the Musee de l’Orangerie and the Musee d’Orsay,” showcased 52 masterpieces, featuring how the pair innovatively reinvented the art of their time and Continue reading »

Elon Musk’s dream of going to Mars failed when the second Starship rocket in 2 months blew up over the Caribbean diverting airplanes throughout the area and offering some spectacular fireworks and lots of detritus falling in the ocean. You have to wonder if Musk was minding the store instead of blowing up the federal government, he’d have better luck. Musk’s philosophy behind building these starships, which he has on an accelerated schedule in order to meet his deadline of sending a manned mission to Mars by 2030, is something he calls “rapid iterative development” the goal being to build prototypes quickly and put them on the launchpad with a willingness to blow them up. Sound familiar? Unfortunately for us, a willingness to blow up government doesn’t just destroy a hunk of metal, it destroys tens of thousands of lives. Not that he cares about that. As he told podcaster Joe Rogan last week, “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit.

Following pressure from pro-Israel media and politicians, Australia revoked Hussain Makke’s visa, barring him from a scheduled speaking tour—part of a growing trend of Western governments cracking down on free speech related to Israel and Palestine.

The post Australia Revokes Visa of Muslim Scholar Under Pro-Israel Pressure appeared first on MintPress News.

The Trump administration is struggling to meet its mass deportation targets, and Erik Prince’s $25 billion private army proposal may be back on the table.

The post Trump’s Deportation Drive Stalls—Is Erik Prince’s Private Army Back on the Table? appeared first on MintPress News.

By abandoning trans rights and praising Reagan, Democrats embrace a fangless politics with a track record of electoral failure.

The post Gavin Newsom’s Cynical Embrace of the Anti-Trans Agenda  appeared first on The Intercept.

Documents released by the Covid Inquiry reveal a network of connections between senior ministers, advisers and those handed lucrative Covid contracts

You’re losing Congressional Democrats’ “protest” during Donald Trump’s marathon speech had all the impact of a Demotivational poster. That’s leadership from Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. Punchbowl News: Earlier on Thursday, Jeffries and party leaders brought in some of the most vocal rank-and-file Democrats – including Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) – to berate them for their recent behavior. The members-only meeting was called by Jeffries, we’re told. Tuesday’s debacle, as well as the ongoing clashes between progressives and moderates inside the House Democratic Caucus, isn’t Jeffries’ fault, of course. But it is his problem. And it shows little sign of cooling off right now. That may be because Frost and Crockett didn’t come to D.C. to be punching bags. They came to fight, just what the Democratic base demands. Jeffries and Schumer came to get along. Their idea of defending constituents is holding a press conference. Holding up signs on sticks and wearing pink shirts isn’t much better.

Trump says he’s cutting aid to Ukraine to prevent global war—but his administration has doubled down on arming Israel as it openly threatens regional escalation. Will Washington be dragged into another Middle East war?

The post Trump’s New Favorite War: Zelensky Out, Netanyahu In appeared first on MintPress News.

A quarterly column, steady as ever

“And yet all his crimes seem to be a quite straightforward consequence of the way the contemporary art market operates: borderline criminality is baked in.”

Books read:

• All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art—Orlando Whitfield
• All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me—Patrick Bringley
• Other books to be discussed at a later date

Books bought:

Keir Starmer's Government looks set to close loopholes that would allow foreign billionaires like Elon Musk to bankroll UK political parties

The International Development Secretary's departure was overshadowed by world events this week, but it risks having a much longer lasting impact on the Government's fortunes, argues Neal Lawson

It is hard to imagine with the eighty-two executive orders already issued by President Trump, that a man of his stature, extraordinary power, intellect, sensitivity and unwavering focus on the needs of the American people, would find the time to address an issue that is so insidious and so pervasive as the continued forced sucking of paper straws.

Yet on February 10, 2025, President Trump issued “Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws” to free us once and for all from those who would force us to use straws that simply suck. He knew it was high time to move away from the flimsy paper straws of the past and instead allow all of us, most importantly our children, the freedom to stay healthy and strong by sucking as long and as hard on petroleum-based plastic straws as they choose—at home, at work, at school, or at play.

Genetic tests promised parents healthy pregnancies. New class action lawsuits say they may be worthless.

If you’ve never fallen gently asleep to jazz ballads, only to sit bolt upright because a horse is shrilly whinnying in your ears, you should try it some time.

The post My Glamorous Life: The Unexpected Samples appeared first on Jeffrey Zeldman Presents.

6th of March 2025 My Lords, I will not speak directly to the proposals of the report to improve our military capabilities but will consider the framework in which they are set. The report’s underlying assumption is that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made Europe a much more dangerous place, against which we have to … Continue reading House of Lords Speech – Ukraine: “A wake up call” (International Relations and Defence Committee Report)

5th of March 2025 My Lords, like other noble Lords, I commend the efforts of the noble Baroness and her committee to shorten and simplify the code and guide. That they have not altogether freed themselves from the bureaucracy involved in all this is more a sign of the times than of any lack of … Continue reading Speech in the House of Lords – Conduct Committee

‘I always thought I could be an asocial primate. I cannot.’ How microbes helped James connect with the human-scale world

- by Psyche Film

Watch at Psyche

Martha Nussbaum’s philosophy is dynamic and challenging, but also elegant and lucidly written: she is the thinker of our time

- by Brandon Robshaw

Read at Aeon

Talia Lavin, journalist and author of “Wild Faith,” on the right-wing Christian ideology and characters guiding Trump.

The post Trump’s Vision for America: I Am God appeared first on The Intercept.

The 'State of Hate' report comes in the wake of last summer's racist riots and growing waves of extremist sentiment stirred up by public figures like Elon Musk

VOLUNTEERS from Marine Rescue Wooli assisted two adults and a young child sailing from Cairns to Victoria after their yacht ran out of fuel and their tender became submerged and disabled off Wooli last Thursday. Marine Rescue NSW Inspector John Murray said Marine Rescue Wooli received a call for assistance just before 12pm and rescue...

The post Marine Rescue return boaters to yacht after tender submerges on Wooli Beach appeared first on News Of The Area.

COFFS Harbour Creative Arts Group’s (CHCAG) annual Mad Hatters Tea Party takes place at the Coffs Harbour Showground Gallery on Saturday 15 March, at 2pm. One hundred percent of proceeds will be donated to the Coffs Harbour and Clarence CanDo Cancer Trust. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business....

The post Coffs Harbour Creative Arts Group’s annual Mad Hatters Tea Party to support ‘CanDo’ appeared first on News Of The Area.