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Created
Wed, 09/08/2023 - 04:25
US-driven fast-track negotiations to develop secure strategic critical minerals supply chains from Australia risk jeopardising our mining industry links with China, and locking down our own industrial development based on our critical minerals. First, necessary context. The Global South is enthusiastically engaging with multipolarity, through BRICS, SCO, Belt and Road, new reserve currency systems etc. Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 09/08/2023 - 04:22
Based on its review of “the changes in the Chinese barley market” that it started in April this year, the Commerce Ministry on Saturday lifted the anti-dumping and countervailing duties it levied on imported Australian barley from May 2020. The Australian side immediately expressed its welcome to the move, including that by Australian Prime Minister Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 09/08/2023 - 03:30
TNR: The last Congress, the 117th, which sat from January 2021 through January 2023, was controlled by Democrats on both sides of the Capitol. These lawmakers worked in concert with a new Democratic president, so naturally, we witnessed an unusual amount of legislative activity. Wanna guess how much? The 117th Congress passed, and Joe Biden signed, 362 laws. The 118th Congress—the current one; the one that opened with the clown show where Kevin McCarthy needed 15 ballots to be elected speaker by his own party—has not been quite the hive of productivity that its predecessor was. So far, seven months into its term, it has passed, and the president has signed, 12 bills. They’re on track, if they can possibly keep up this scorching pace for the next 17 months, to pass maybe 44, even 45 or 46 bills! They are not in the business of legislating. They have no agenda. They are in the business of helping Donald Trump enact revenge. After all, that busy Democratic congress also managed to impeach him twice. That will not stand…
Created
Wed, 09/08/2023 - 03:00

Let’s hear it for Wilco! I’m going to let the band get back to it in a minute, but first, I need to make an important safety announcement: Please be careful with what you put in your bodies at this festival. We’re getting reports there are some bad IPAs going around.

I’m not trying to scare anyone, but the beer might be bitter, watery, and with virtually no notes of caramel or citrus. Trust me, people, if you try that stuff you’re gonna freak out.

I get it. We’re all here to cut loose, enjoy our favorite late ’90s / early 2000s band, and yeah—get crazy with a top-rated IPA from the craft brewery truck. But our crew is telling me some of the stuff circulating out there is bad news, man.

I’m not here to narc. But if someone passes you a cup and claims it’s a Goose Island or a Lagunitas, use your best judgment. Sure, it might be a tasty, hoppy, clean pour with an excellent flavor profile. But it could be unremarkable, cloudy, even under-carbonated. I accidentally drank some last year, and I’ve never fully recovered.

Created
Wed, 09/08/2023 - 02:00
Yes it is… Fox News anchor Julie Banderas on Monday curiously defended Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election by insisting that “hatching schemes to stay in office” while “claiming you won an election you know you lost” are not crimes. While serving as guest anchor on Monday’s broadcast of The Faulkner Focus, Banderas interviewed former deputy assistant attorney general Tom Dupree about Trump’s attempt to move the Jan. 6 trial to West Virginia and force the judge to recuse herself. After Dupree said Trump’s legal team faced an “uphill battle” on both fronts, Banderas then raged about how it was “impossible” for the thrice-indicted ex-president to be “impartially” tried in that case. She also noted that Trump is expected to soon be indicted for a fourth time, this time in Georgia over his election meddling efforts in that state. “Politics written all over it,” she exclaimed. “Attorneys are supposed to represent the law, not politics, OK? Judges, same! Judges are the only ones able to recuse themselves, OK?
Created
Wed, 09/08/2023 - 01:52
It’s because the climate crisis is now visible to everyone that governments are giving the fossil fuel industry everything it demands. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 1st August 2023 To understand this moment, we have to recognise that there is an existential struggle on both sides. While environmental scientists and activists fight for […]
Created
Tue, 08/08/2023 - 23:29

In his message to the troops prior to the July 4th weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin offered high praise indeed. “We have the greatest fighting force in human history,” he tweeted, connecting that claim to the U.S. having patriots of all colors, creeds, and backgrounds “who bravely volunteer to defend our country and our values.” As a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from a working-class background who volunteered to serve more than four decades ago, who am I to argue with Austin? Shouldn’t I just bask in the glow of his praise for today’s troops, reflecting on my own honorable service near the end of what now must be thought of as the First Cold War? Yet I confess... Read more

Created
Tue, 08/08/2023 - 23:00
A republic for Republicans “High-minded claims that we are not a democracy surreptitiously fuse republic with minority rule rather than popular government,” wrote George Thomas in 2020. The Wohlford Professor of American Political Institutions at Claremont McKenna College was discussing how “we’re a republic, not a democracy” has morphed from campus conservative pedantry to a Republican ruling philosophy. “Enabling sustained minority rule at the national level is not a feature of our constitutional design, but a perversion of it,” Thomas argued. “Routine minority rule is neither desirable nor sustainable, and makes it difficult to characterize the country as either a democracy or a republic.” When it comes to perverting constitutional design, Republicans in this century have demonstrated a serious knack for it. Consider Ohio’s special election today drafted to change how Ohio has amended its constitution for over a century. It’s not just sustained minority rule at the national level that should concern Americans.
Created
Tue, 08/08/2023 - 22:00

Welcome to Yoga with Aditi. I’m Aditi, and the man snoring in the corner is Biju Uncle. Today’s yoga series is for my fellow South Asians. Hop into something comfy—nighties with holes are encouraged—and let’s begin.

Let’s start with a quick check-in. Notice what energy you’re bringing to the mat today. Are you nervous? Are you holding tension in your jaw? Is your cholesterol through the roof due to the lingering effects of centuries of British colonial rule? Try to put your stressors aside, at least for the next twenty minutes. It’s time to join me and your fellow yogis, who are mostly white ladies, for a quick but powerful session.

We will start today’s practice with Yoga for When Your Relatives Ask, “When Are You Getting Married?” You’ve been requesting this one a lot in the comments. This is the perfect sequence for when Aunty is pestering you for “good news,” and no, the new taco place opening on your corner doesn’t count.