Reading

There’s a ton of legal analysis coming about today’s opening arguments in Trump hush money trial and I’ll try to recap some of it for you later. But in the meantime I found that I enjoyed Olivia Nuzzi’s colorful twitter observations about the atmosphere in the courtroom and I suspect you will too: Hello from Manhattan criminal court where Donald Trump’s hush money trial officially starts this morning It is another freezing day inside this courthouse  Donald Trump just arrived, railed against Letitia James, and then walked into the courtroom.

In response to questions about starvation in Gaza and Sudan, a Federal Labor MP has explained, ‘In Australia, the cost of living is the issue. It’s voters’ major concern, and a political priority.’ As though quality of life is entirely affected by enough money to go shopping, politicians and economists’ emphasis on cost of living Continue reading »

The PM has announced a series of big-dollar programs to promote energy transition, “green” industries, local manufacturing and “critical” minerals. He is juggling themes that are not always consistent. The government needs to be prudent as it backs projects with taxpayers’ money. Mr Albanese seems to be walking about with a Venn diagram in his Continue reading »

It is extremely hard to kill off a public figure of the calibre of Mike Pezzullo. As with a person of similar personality, Tony Abbott, one can be sure they are out of the play for good only when their bodies lie at a crossroads at midnight, with a wooden stake through their hearts. Before Continue reading »

Although lobbying is integral to democratic representation, there are concerns regarding the secrecy and unfair influence of professional lobbyists, which may ultimately lead to corrupt conduct by lobbyists and/or officials. As the OECD has observed: “[l]obbying is often perceived negatively, as giving special advantages to “vocal vested interests” and with negotiations carried on behind closed Continue reading »

What the present moment reveals, once again, is that Western aggression during the “Cold War” was never about destroying socialism, as such. It was about destroying movements and governments in the periphery that sought economic sovereignty. Why? Because economic sovereignty in the periphery threatens capital accumulation in the core. This remains the primary objective of Continue reading »

Twelve months since the launch of the Albanese Government’s new cultural policy, REVIVE, it’s time we promoted Australia’s heritage of folklife. In 1976, America’s Bicentennial Year, President Gerald Ford signed into law the American Folklife Preservation Act, which established the American Folklife Centre in the Library of Congress. The aim of the Centre is to Continue reading »

Cooking time: 30-35 mins.Preparation time: 6-7 mins.Main cooking utensil: Shallow casserole with lidOven temperature: 350-375°F.Oven position: above center For 2 servings you need:2 hake steaks3 tablespoons butter1 onion6-oz. can tomatoesseasoning2 teaspoons capers Garnish:lemonparsley TO SERVE: In the casserole with wedges of lemon and parsley. TO VARY: Lift the fish onto a serving dish. Sieve the […]

Rwanda is now a peaceful country which remembers each year, the awful genocide of 1994. People can blindly become killers if their leaders are successful in instilling enough fear into them. Learning from history is an antidote. There are anniversaries and anniversaries. There are those that celebrate a marriage or a person surviving another year. Continue reading »

Jason Kirk’s first novel, Hell is a World Without You, tells the coming-of-age story of...

By stopping short of 200 seats, the electorate sent a message that both ruling and opposition lawmakers to make more use of dialogue and negotiation. Only 108 — that’s how many seats the People Power Party won in Korea’s general elections this month, the worst showing of any ruling party since the country enacted its Continue reading »

During its long history, Chinese dynasties were as often the victims of outside aggression as they were invaders of foreign land. Was China ever an imperialist state? There was in the past few weeks a lively debate between two scholars about precisely this question in Pearls and Irritations (P&I), the Australian current affairs online journal, Continue reading »

If the courts agree to vacate the conviction, Lucio will have spent 16 years on death row for a crime that never happened.

The post A Prosecutor Asked Texas to Kill Melissa Lucio. Now He Says She Should Be Freed. appeared first on The Intercept.

While the EU was considering more sanctions against Iran because it attacked Israel in retaliation for Israel bombing its embassy, Russia is sending Iran:

Meanwhile America is threatening China that if they don’t stop sending Russia “dual use” goods, the US will slap on more sanctions.

Boo hoo.

… because he’s an idiot:

Just for fun… it’s still early There are a lot of people who will walk over hot coals to vote for Trump. But there are just as many, if not more, who will do the same thing to vote against him.

The chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism appears to have got 'exactly what he came for' at the march, according to a witness who was there

In 1647, a colonel in the English New Model Army stood beneath the granite tower of Putney’s Church of St Mary the Virgin, and declared in the heat of debate that “the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; the poorest man in England is not at […]

Originally published April 15, 2022

Wow, guys, this is deeply uncool. After all these years, I finally make it to a Passover Seder, only to find you polished off the only cup of wine specifically intended for me. I mean, it had my name engraved all over it, in two different languages. Kind of hard not to take that personally, you know?

I realize I’m thousands of years late to this shindig, so maybe it’s uncouth of me to point this out. But back when I was first invited, I distinctly remember Boaz saying he was making a liquor run, and asking everyone to write down what they wanted on a piece of parchment. I wrote, “One cup of red wine for Elijah the Prophet. Please don’t drink till I get there or until I announce the messianic redemption (whichever comes first!) I have to pick my nephew up from school, so I’m going to be late.” Super rad to see how you respected my wishes.

The blanket suspension of student protesters casts “serious doubt on the University’s respect for the rule-of-law values that we teach,” 54 law professors wrote.

The post Columbia Law School Faculty Condemn Administration for Mass Arrests and Suspensions appeared first on The Intercept.

In our latest briefing, Open Rights Group raises the alarm over changes in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI Bill) that could open the floodgate for the abuse of data analytics and new technologies for electoral manipulation. Information is power, and new technologies amplify governments and corporations’ ability to collect, use and weaponise […]