Reading

Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 09:59
Generally, I don’t tear up every time I hear news of an actor’s passing. But this is one of those times: Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. Sounds about right. He was fearless, alright. And what a resume…where do you even start? Donald McNichol Sutherland was born in Saint John, Newfoundland/Labrador on July 17, 1935. I’ll admit that on occasion, I have completely forgotten that he was Canadian-born. But Sutherland himself certainly never forgot about his roots. From today’s obituary by the CBC: Though he found international success, the actor maintained a professional and personal connection to Canada throughout his life. He narrated two documentaries for the National Film Board in the ’80s, lent his voice to the 2015 Canadian animated film Pirate’s Passage and returned to Toronto theatre — where he got his start — in the early 2000s. He was awarded a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2000. “I’m a Canadian. The thing about Canada is that you go from east to west, from Nova Scotia to Vancouver.
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 09:30
Every, single, election this happens. It’s tedious and destructive. Josh Marshall has a good piece today on the totally predictable phenomenon of Democrats running to the press to clutch pearls and wring hands over the campaign they think should be doing something different than they are. He notes this Axios piece that “presents a picture of a campaign cocooned from outside input, intolerant of dissenters who aren’t confident of a win and largely the work of Biden and top advisor Mike Donilon, who is portrayed as having a strategy that is little more than a preciously naive hope that in the end voters will “do the right thing.” So typical. Marshall writes: But the heart of the piece comes at the top with a quote (emphasis added) from someone described as a “Democratic strategist in touch with the campaign.” I spend a lot of time trying to avoid the twin perils of wallowing pessimism and empty optimism. But when I read this, I at first literally checked to see whether I had done a search of my email that had served up an Axios newsletter from last January.
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 08:00
Has there ever been a quicker descent into obscurity? There was a time when we couldn’t stop talking about Carlson but the one-time King of Wingnuttia seems to be completely irrelevant to the broader political conversation these days: For Tucker Carlson, it has to be the ultimate good-news, bad-news moment: A major publishing house has canceled a prominent political journalist’s upcoming biography of the far-right media figure. The good news, for Carlson partisans, is that the book in question — Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unravelling of the Conservative Mind, by Jason Zengerle — was likely to be a less-than-fawning look at the former Fox host’s journey from establishmentarian to conspiracy theorist. The bad news, though, is that the cancellation stems at least in part from the belief that Carlson, once the biggest name on cable, no longer has the kind of cultural footprint to warrant a pricey, complicated book by a top-shelf writer.
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 07:31

By Denis Bright   With both sides of the mainstream Australian political divide supporting the AUKUS deal, debate about the merits of this commitment by Scott Morrison has largely gone into recess. As the third anniversary of Scott Morrison’s announcement of the AUKUS deal on 16 September 2021 approaches, there is growing confidence in the defence…

The post Australian Futures: Bringing AUKUS Out of Stealth Mode appeared first on The AIM Network.

Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 06:30
Yet business leaders are falling all over themselves to support him. Meanwhile the projections from the Big Money Boyz are very rosy and the markets are roaring. Why in the hell do these people want to put that imbecile back in the White House? They are asking to kill their own golden goose. Nothing matters more to them than their personal income taxes, I guess.
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 06:00

New in Drupal 10.3

The third and final feature release of Drupal 10 ships with a new experimental Navigation user interface, stable Workspaces functionality, stable Single-Directory Components support, simplified menu editing, taxonomy moderation support, new recipe and access policy APIs and more.

New experimental Navigation module

The new Navigation module provides a redesigned collapsible, vertical navigation sidebar for the administrative user interface. Sub-menus open on a full height drawer that can accommodate deeper navigation levels. On smaller viewports, the toolbar is placed on top of the content, and opens with an overlay.

Variations of the new Navigation module's user interface

Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 05:00
Judges Tried To Persuade Cannon To Recuse but she refused The NY Times has a big scoop on the Mar-a-lago case (gift link from the reporters) Shortly after Judge Aileen M. Cannon drew the assignment in June 2023 to oversee former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case, two more experienced colleagues on the federal bench in Florida urged her to pass it up and hand it off to another jurist, according to two people briefed on the conversations. The judges who approached Judge Cannon — including the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga — each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge, the two people said. But Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, wanted to keep the case and refused the judges’ entreaties. Her assignment raised eyebrows because she has scant trial experience and had previously shown unusual favor to Mr.
Created
Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:59
Wind, solar and pumped hydro energy storage can provide all the electrical energy we need, on demand, cheaply, quickly, with minimal carbon emissions. This is the message that will cut through the energy confusion. The clean energy debate is hampered by widespread lack of awareness of off-river pumped hydro energy storage. It is the third Continue reading »
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:58
As the temperature in Mecca reached 125.24° F. (51.8° C.) on Tuesday, word leaked out that nearly 600 pilgrims had died of heat stroke and 2,000 have been hospitalised for treatment. A virtual clinic treated more thousands remotely. Some 324 of the dead were Egyptians, while dozens were from Jordan. The season of the annual Continue reading »
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:57
For goodness’ sake, negotiate! For the fifth time since 2008, Russia has proposed to negotiate with the U.S. over security arrangements, this time in proposals made by President Vladimir Putin on June 14, 2024. Four previous times, the U.S. rejected the offer of negotiations in favour of a neocon strategy to weaken or dismember Russia through Continue reading »
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:56
At some point there must come a crisis. The G7 and their allies and partners will either have to cease their support for Ukraine as the toll and costs become too great, or decide that the defeat of Russia is of such importance to them collectively that they engage militarily in the conflict. It would Continue reading »
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:55
Earlier this year we co-authored two op-eds on this site (“The prosecution of Australians complicit in Israel’s crimes in Gaza” (29 February 2024); “Australians at risk if they serve in the IDF” (19 January 2024)) concerning the legal issues that are raised by Australians travelling to Israel to fight with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). Continue reading »
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Fri, 21/06/2024 - 04:54
The Jewish Council of Australia, according to reports by Al Jazeera, is deeply concerned that the Australian Jewish Association is promoting the far-right Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin as a speaker at an Australian Zoom event, apparently held on 19 June, notwithstanding that Feiglin has recently quoted Adolf Hitler in reference to the wiping out of Continue reading »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »