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Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 07 2024

by Tony Wikrent

The (anti)Federalist Society assault on the Constitution

The Weekend at Yale That Changed American Politics 

Michael Kruse [Politico, magazine September/October 2018]

It’s not too extreme to say that one wonky student group founded in 1982 has reshaped the Supreme Court, and the nation. What actually happened at the birth of the Federalist Society? ….

This is the way to do it James Fallows, former presidential speechwriter, writes a speech for Joe Biden: Address to the Nation President Joe Biden July 2024 My fellow Americans:             I’d like to talk with you tonight about the faith that connects nearly all of us who share the blessing of calling ourselves Americans.             That is a faith in the country’s past and a belief in its future. And a willingness, in the here and now, to do what we can—to fulfill our duty—to make our country stronger, prouder, fairer, greater.             More open to opportunity. More equal under the law. More faithful to the values to which so many generations of Americans have pledged “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor,” as our founders put it nearly 250 years ago in the Declaration of Independence.

Taniel at Bolts with a short primer on today’s runoff in France. France is holding its parliamentary elections today. Clear stakes: Will far-right end up governing France? And if it fails, what possible coalition will end up governing given fragmentation? You can follow me for results starting at 2pm ET; but a quick context 🧵:  Let’s start with: In France, president runs the show… as long as their party controls the Assembly. If presidential party loses that control, the president has few domestic powers—no veto, for instance. This isn’t a US-style split government. That’s why stakes today so high.  Macron called these just 4 weeks ago. Decision shocked his own allies. He already lost his gamble: His bloc is sure to lose seats & its tentative control on Assembly.

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Trump “is somebody who is trying to destroy our country” Democrats need to look themselves in the mirror when former Republicans from the Lincoln Project are standing behind Joe Biden more steadfastly than they are. We need to look beyond the players to the broader stakes in this election and make clear to voters what they are. “I will take an old man with a cold over a narcissitic sociopath with a dictator kink any day,” said Ryan Wiggins, the group’s chief of staff. “We have got the Democratic nominee’s back because Trump cannot be president of this country ever again.” “Our answer is to go out and find the bad guys and punch them in the face,” insists Rick Wilson. “You can never take your foot off the gas in attacking Donald Trump.” When you’ve cut your opponent over the eye, work the eye! “Only one of the two main presidential candidates poses an existential threat to democracy,” said MSNBC’s Ali Velshi Saturday. So take a deep breath and hold that thought.

Thanks to Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa has helped bring the expression "babes" to the American LGBTQ community, and it's been catching on.

By Neil Wilson. Reposted with permission from Neil’s New Wayland article.   The strike action by UK junior doctors has an unreal quality. It lacks the media and political actions …

The post Junior Doctors: your 35% payrise is already in place. Demand that it be paid appeared first on The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies.

I’ve spent many hours trying to take pictures of these over the past three years and have a large collection of indistinct blurs as a result. But I went back to basics, studied the camera setting, watched a bunch of “how to” videos on YouTube and actually managed this one:

Junior Doctors need to enforce their equal pay rights to get the pay they deserve.

THE Kangaroo Bus is coming to town, bringing ease of access to government services and transactions to Aboriginal communities in regional NSW. The bus is a dedicated Service NSW Mobile Service Centre providing drivers licence and vehicle registration renewals, Seniors Card applications, driver testing and more. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth...

The post Kangaroo Bus hops in to the Coffs Coast appeared first on News Of The Area.

PATHWAYS from the local high school to the Dorrigo township will be improved through funding from the NSW Government’s Get NSW Active program. “Transport NSW, under the Get NSW Active grants program, has awarded Bellingen Shire Council $358,527.44 to connect and improve the pathway network from Dorrigo High School to the Dorrigo township,” a spokesperson...

The post Grant success is a big step towards new pathway for Dorrigo appeared first on News Of The Area.

THIRTEEN community infrastructure projects on the Coffs Coast will go ahead thanks to NSW Government funding of $300,000 through the 2023 Community Building Partnership Program. Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh said this funding will deliver much-needed improvements to local facilities across our region. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for...

The post Coffs Coast community groups win grants for building repairs appeared first on News Of The Area.

FUNDING for the design of a proposed shared pathway network which will link West Coffs with the city centre has been granted by the NSW Government. The State Government will provide $750,000 through its Get NSW Active program to the project’s design phase, to be undertaken in 2024/25. Advertise with News of The Area today....

The post Pathway linking West Coffs to the city’s CBD goes to plan thanks to Get Active funding appeared first on News Of The Area.

CITY of Coffs Harbour’s free bus travel trial will continue until 14 July, with the community encouraged to make the most of the remaining free transport on Fridays and weekends. City of Coffs Harbour is also inviting people to share their experience of bus travel during the free fare period via a new survey now...

The post Have your say on Coffs Harbour’s free bus trial appeared first on News Of The Area.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Ah, July 4th weekend. Nothing kicks off Summer like an all-American holiday that encourages mass consumption of animal flesh (charcoal-grilled to carcinogenic perfection), binge drinking, and subsequent drunken handling of explosive materials. Well, for most people. Being the semi-reclusive weirdo that I am (although I prefer the term “gregarious loner”), nothing kicks off summer for me like holing up for the holiday weekend with an armload of my favorite rock ‘n’ roll musicals. For your consideration (or condemnation) here are my Top 15. Per usual, I present them in no ranking order. For those about to rock…I salute you. Bandwagon – A taciturn musician, still reeling from a recent breakup with his girlfriend, has a sudden creative spurt and forms a garage band. The boys pool resources, buy a beat-up van (the “Band” wagon, get it?) and hit the road as Circus Monkey. The requisite clichés ensue: The hell-gigs, backstage squabbles, record company vultures, and all that “art vs commerce” angst; but John Schultz’s crisp writing and directing and mostly unknown cast carry the day.

I am glad to see Velshi and a few others in the media looking at the big picture. I wish there was more of it.

Use to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts (no vax/anti-vax.)

This piece in the NY Times by a geriatrician is nicely done. As someone who is older and will be hitting those geriatric years sooner than I might like, the cruel ageist attitudes we’ve seen in recent days is more than a little bit depressing. I realize that Joe Biden is in the most high pressure difficult job in the world and we all have a perfect right to be concerned about his ability to handle it. (I only wish everyone was as concerned about his opponent’s obvious intellectual and character deficiencies.) I think this is a sensitive analysis of what may be going on with Biden: I’m a geriatrician, a physician whose specialty is the care of older adults. I watched the debate and saw what other viewers saw: a president valiantly trying to stand up for his record and for his nation but who seemed to have declined precipitously since the State of the Union address he gave only a few months earlier. As a country, we are not having a complete or accurate discussion of age-related debility. I know no specifics — and won’t speculate here — about Mr. Biden’s clinical circumstances.

They were LIED too! I vividly recall when the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke, the media and certain self-righteous Democrats all screamed in unison that they were livid that Clinton had lied to them about having extramarital sex. “He lied to ME!,” they cried, as if that was the real crime he had committed. I would have thought that after Trump, who lies more easily than he breathes, they would realize that little conceit is ludicrous. Apparently not: President Biden has lost more than broad Democratic support since his bad debate. He has bled credibility — with the media, lawmakers, top officials and even his own paid staff.  It’s not clear if — and how — Biden recovers it, top Democrats tell us. […]  Axios’ Alex Thompson, the most deeply sourced reporter on the Biden beat, has chronicled, day after day, the number of longtime staff and top Democratic officials who feel deeply angry and misled. These are the president’s fans, many on his payroll. Lawmakers and top Democrats feel duped by Biden … his press office … his campaign co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg … his top aides.

The black and white banners unfurled from the battlements of Parliament House on 4 July made us remember 2003 when ‘No War’ appeared in red paint on the top sail of the Opera House. They lifted the spirits of all who then opposed Australia joining the war in Iraq and all who now want action Continue reading »

At the coming elections, many of us will vote on the basis of a party’s or a candidate’s stance on the issue of Palestine. It will be a vote to reject the occupation, apartheid, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, and a myriad of other unspeakable horrors. And it will be an Continue reading »

Big banks keep providing big money to fossil fuel companies but it’s time for the Global North to invest for the future and pay its historic climate debt to the Global South. Diminishing Sagebrush is threatening the USA’s Greater sage-grouse. Bankers banking on fossil fuels Fossil fuel companies keep digging up coal, oil and gas Continue reading »