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Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:52
There’s nothing profound about the Biblical quote; variations are embedded in many religions and cultures. So it needs no prophet, seer or conman to make this prediction: After a war like the current one in Gaza has cooled, the survivors will be bent on revenge. The ancient tragedy is underway just next door in Papua, Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:51
“I didn’t tell my husband that our child is a transgender person who likes girls, until months later. His smile froze after hearing what I said.” Good evening! Today’s piece delves into the emotional journey of a Chinese mother coming to terms with her child being transgender. GRR has remained dedicated to issues of self-exploration Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:50
This commentary is part of a Century International series exploring a shared future for Palestine and Israel that guarantees the fundamental rights of both communities. The Gaza war has exposed the bankruptcy of the existing policy frameworks. Our “Shared Future” series intends to spur conversation and promote new, better options for security, rights, and governance—for Palestinians and Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 03:47
The right’s decades-long plot to destroy public education and replace it with right wing Christian indoctrination is coming to fruition CNN reports on the latest assault on public education by the extreme right. They never quit. Near the edge of the Phoenix metro’s urban sprawl, surrounded by a wide expanse of saguaro-studded scrubland, Dream City Christian School is in the midst of a major expansion. The private school, which is affiliated with a local megachurch where former President Donald Trump held a campaign rally this month, recently broke ground on a new wing that will feature modern, airy classrooms and a pickleball court. It’s a sign of growth at a school that has partnered with a Trump-aligned advocacy group, and advertises to parents by vowing to fight “liberal ideology” such as “evolutionism” and “gender identification.” Just a few miles away, the public Paradise Valley Unified School District is shrinking, not expanding.
Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 03:00

We live in the greatest nation in the world, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of room for improvement. During my first hundred days in office, I promise to tackle immigration reform, cap insulin prices, and ensure that people will no longer accidentally get their cars stuck on top of an office building at midday on a Thursday.

A day-one initiative would be fixing our broken tax code. It’s high time the rich paid their fair share of taxes, and I would enact sweeping measures to ensure they do. Also, on day one, I would require parking garages to have more than just a flimsy, steel-reinforced concrete barrier in place to keep drivers from accidentally smashing through the side of the parking garage and careening down to the top of a nearby office building, where they would remain stuck for several hours.

We need transparency. Taxpayers should know exactly where their money is going. In addition to transparency, we need opaqueness, namely in the walls of our parking garages. They should be opaque and shouldn’t have open-air windows, which could be mistaken for exits by people who forgot they were still on the seventh floor.

Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 02:27
by Dave Rollo

The Finger Lakes region of western New York State is distinguished by a series of long and narrow glacial valleys, dammed by moraine, that now contain lakes. Glacial scouring created some of the deepest lakes in North America, including Seneca, Cayuga, and Skaneateles lakes. These spectacular natural features give the region its identity.

The region features ample farmland and forest and a relatively sparse population. Tompkins County,

The post Tompkins County, the Finger Lakes Hub of Sustainability appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 01:22

If the Biden administration is serious about protecting press freedoms, officials from Washington might want to have a stern talk with federal prosecutors in Detroit.

The post Federal Prosecutors Attacked Me for My Reporting — and They’re Doing It to Hide Info From the Public appeared first on The Intercept.

Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 00:30
Swing voters swing, Biden delivers Trends are more important than individual polls. Since Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts (with more cases pending), polling trend lines now favor Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential race. Polling immediately after Trump’s convictions was too soon to pick up the shift. Two-time Trump voters have had enough. Donald Trump is bleeding support. “My guess is right now, this is gonna be a blip,” pollster Lee Carter told Fox News’ Fox & Friends this morning. “I don’t think this is something that’s long term.  Sure. Just a flesh wound. Significantly, there has been a large swing since May among independent voters toward Biden. And since they are the largest bloc of registrants in many states, independent turnout could be determinative. Simon Rosenberg tweets, “We’ve had lots of polling this year suggesting a Trump guilty conviction could weaken his coalition and cost him voters (as it should). We now have 6 national polls showing Biden gaining 2-4 pts since the conviction. Election appears to be changing, getting bluer.” The Fox poll was among registered voters.
Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 00:20
In many European countries over the past decades, there has been increasing frustration over what is perceived as a lack of social integration of immigrants and children of foreign-born parents. One factor that researchers and politicians have highlighted as a possible explanation is what is called ‘neighbourhood effects,’ which, simply put, refers to how the […]
Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 00:11
US Likely To Sanction World’s Largest Drone Manufacturer

And, it’s Chinese, of course.

The United States House of Representatives passed a ban on the future sale of DJI drones in the U.S. on Friday, making the DJI ban more likely than not. The “Countering CCP Drones Act” is part of the United States’ 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA), a major piece of yearly legislation allotting defense spending for the coming year.

Drone maker DJI is based in China and controls over 70% of the world’s drone market share, a combination that threatens U.S. lawmakers

But…

Created
Thu, 20/06/2024 - 23:31

Walk through any art museum and you’re likely to see a mix of the classical and contemporary, impressionist and surrealist, refined and raw, beautiful, eerie, and provocative. Looking at art allows me at least a few moments of relief from the “that’s just the way it is” attitude of our hyper-consumerist, hyper-militarized, hyper-nihilist nation. I can step outside my day-to-day life and accept an invitation, however briefly, to boundlessness! I can experience invention, creation, and re-creation just moments apart. I can see everyday objects with new eyes as they’re repurposed and reframed in extraordinary ways. I can celebrate the relentless power of human vision and imagination. In a museum, I often find that I can actually breathe. The Lyman Allyn... Read more

Source: The Art of the Submarine appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Created
Thu, 20/06/2024 - 23:00
Louisiana again The Pelican State is in the news again. No, it’s not for House Speaker Mike “18th-century values” Johnson, or for Rep. Clay “I’d drop any 10 of you where you stand” Higgins, or for Sen. John “Wanna buy my pig?”* Kennedy, all Republicans. Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday signed into law a bill requiring display of the Ten Commandments in every public classroom in Louisiana. This makes Louisiana the only state with such a requirement. A similar bill proposed in Texas last year failed. Someone recently suggested that if Christian legislators insist that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools, make them display The Beatitudes (the words of Jesus) right beside them. It’d likely be a deal-breaker. “I can’t wait to be sued,” Landry told the crowd at a Tennessee GOP fundraiser last Saturday. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation promise to make Landry’s day.
Created
Thu, 20/06/2024 - 23:00

Though her family sometimes received food stamps and occasionally had their utilities cut off, Marcie Alvis Walker’s parents led her to believe that they were an average middle-class Black family. They encouraged her to pursue her dreams and told her that if she worked hard enough, she’d achieve them. The small catch was that Walker’s dream was an elusive one for any cash-strapped and undereducated Black woman: being a New York Times–bestselling author. Now, as a published non-bestselling author, she wishes she’d had a backup plan.

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In an article written for Oprah magazine, the critically praised, award-winning author Dorothy Allison tells me: