Not Kamala, David Frum: A word to everybody writing, “The Democrats have nobody to blame but themselves” takes … The fundamental reason we’re in this crisis this morning is that the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, and Reagan is about to nominate for president a dictator-loving criminal against the Constitution. That disgrace and shame is theirs. If President Biden had posted an equally poor performance against presumptive GOP nominee Nikki Haley, then in that case yes, the Democrats would have nobody to blame but themselves – too bad for them, but the Constitution would not be in danger. The Republicans could have nominated somebody else. They chose Trump over many alternatives. They did it because their core voters like and enjoy Trump. Tell me again, who has nobody to blame but themselves? Last night, operating in the truest spirit of “good people on both sides,” a CNN moderator asked President Biden whether he thought that Trump’s voters were voting against democracy.
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The champers toasting the release of Julian Assange was delightful after many years of struggle against his clearly unjust indictment and years of imprisonment. I am sure we all enjoyed sipping it. After the excitement and sweetness has assuaged however, a certain bitterness still remains, a cold realisation just what his plea bargaining signifies. Of Continue reading »
Currently, the Palestine issue has become a question of how to get Israel to vacate and stop controlling Palestinian territories. That requires Israel to accept that it cannot continue pretending Palestine does not exist. Thankfully for Palestinians, however, it looks like much of the world already recognises that Palestine is a state. Many await the Continue reading »
One of the charms of sport is seeing underdogs upsetting the established order by overcoming teams they seemingly have no chance of beating. All sports have examples of such upsets. Long-term realities about relative strengths can fall in the short run. Ah, the glorious uncertainty of sport! On occasions, the underdogs even do it against Continue reading »
The world has made up its mind on the move to renewables. All you have to do is listen to the markets, look at what global capital is doing and ask businesses here in Australia. A new fissure has emerged in Australia’s political landscape with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton casting doubt on the LNP bringing Continue reading »
Mike Pezzullo once bestrode the federal public service like a colossus, or so some fancied. He may have thought so too. Sundry journos we’re in the habit of describing him as the most powerful public servant in the land; he never was. Whatever he was, Mike fell to earth last year when he was sacked Continue reading »
Details of Coalition’s rooftop nuclear initiative revealed, Australia to close borders to all immigrants other than brickies and nuclear scientists, ACCC considering a Coles-Woolworths merger application. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues. The Coalition’s nuclear fantasies Dutton couldn’t have picked Continue reading »
The corporate world is afraid of youth demanding change, particularly as rapacious business practices look set to drive us over the climate cliff into a frightening future. One solution the Right has implemented is the Christian Classical Education movement. It is an ultraconservative educational fashion from the US. Michigan’s Hillsdale College is its lodestar, celebrated Continue reading »
It’s been argued that Indonesia’s next President may be good for Australian interests; for domestic progressives that’s doubtful. It’s not just computer apps that get updated. Indonesian President Joko ’Jokowi’ Widodo is fiddling with the future by rewriting history and binning the past. It’s a task made easier by voter ignorance. The remake started when Continue reading »
The USA has shot itself in the head with its own wonder weapon. The most powerful weapon in the US arsenal is not F-16 jets, Himar missiles, or any of the other conventional war toys. Real US power resides in the US dollar. Continue reading »
Trump’s racist remarks toward migrants and Palestinians were met with little more than “thank you, President Trump.”
The post Trump Used “Palestinian” as a Slur. Biden and Debate Moderators Didn’t Say a Word. appeared first on The Intercept.
The high court overruled the Chevron precedent. It’s not entirely unexpected but like Dobbs it’s going to have huge ramifications. Kate Riga at TPM: The Supreme Court overruled a key pillar of federal agency authority Friday, appropriating a massive amount of executive branch power to itself. In overruling Chevron, the Court decided that federal agencies no longer get to fill in the gaps of Congress’ laws with their experts’ own reasonable interpretation of how to carry them out; that authority now resides in the judiciary. It’s a power grab that the right-wing legal world has been marching towards for years — and they finally got a Court activist enough to do it. Chief Justice John Roberts, often the tip of the spear for this movement, wrote the majority. Justice Elena Kagan, probably the Court’s best pro-agency voice, wrote the dissent, joined by her two liberal colleagues. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas wrote solo concurrences. Roberts completed the takeover with very little humility.
“On the biggest stage in US politics, Biden did not meet their modest expectations. And by the end of the 90-minute showdown, the Democratic president’s allies—party strategists and rank-and-file voters alike—descended into all-out panic following a debate performance punctuated by repeated stumbles, uncomfortable pauses, and a quiet speaking style that was often difficult to understand.” — The Boston Globe, 6/28/24
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Your staff has been broken, White Wizard. We Free Peoples saw it happen—LIVE.
But it wasn’t just Biden. Trump was awful too There’s no sugar coating it. The best you can say about that debate last night is that it was a missed opportunity for Joe Biden to put to rest the questions about his age and focus on Donald Trump’s extremist agenda and his criminality. The worst is that he gave a disastrous performance that should lead to his resignation and an open convention in August to choose a successor. There are plenty of Democrats pushing for that right now and it’s always possible they’ll succeed in getting Biden to drop out and turn the Chicago gathering into a shitshow not seen since 1968. Maybe that’s the kind of spectacle that will finally bring the Democratic party down to the level of the Trump Show. And maybe that’s what the American people really want. I don’t know what was wrong with Biden. It’s hard to imagine that they ever would have asked for a debate if this was the way he is normally. We’ve seen him recently in Europe holding press conferences and giving speeches and he seemed to be fine.
Despite deciding not to decide, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority laid out a legal road map for anti-abortion zealots.
The post Alito’s Dissent in Emergency Abortion Case Provides “Building Blocks” for More Extreme Bans appeared first on The Intercept.
If the president steps down, the DNC committee that could pick the new nominee is stocked with corporate lobbyists looking to influence public policy.
Helluva cognitive wizard The moment last night when Donald Trump brought up “acing” his cognititve test (actually a screen for early dementia, including Alzheimer’s), Joe Biden should have pounced. He didn’t. “This guy over here boasts about passing a dementia screen. Boasts! Anyway, how good was it? Donald Trump is obsessed with sharks and showerheads, with windmills and electric boats,” Biden might have responded. “Can he even draw the clock? Next thing you know, he’ll be accusing relatives of stealing his steak knives.” (A former landlady of mine with dementia complained about that.) “Trump thinks having an uncle who taught at MIT makes him a genius,” for goodness sake, Biden didn’t say. Last week Trump got wrong the name of the physician who gave him the test. But Biden didn’t pounce. Missed opportunity. The choice the debate presented was “Hell no” vs. “Oh, no,” as MSNBC’s post-debate panel put it. Joe Biden is an accomplished legislator and a surprisingly successful president. But he’s not a communicator on par with Barack Obama. That’s okay.
Doctor Who Season 1 is coming to Blu-ray & DVD, with every episode and all the supplemental video extras on August 12th - but only in the UK.
Heidi Siegmund Cuda revisits that time Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was part of an operation to divide California known as Calexit, which collapsed after it was revealed to be funded by Russia
The normalisation of racism and dog-whistles will only get worse if the press continues to treat Farage as an entertaining figure representing the ‘real views’ of the British people – it must stop, writes Byline Times’ Editor
Post debate visit One of us here is a delegate to the Chicago DNC convention in August. Turns out that privilege comes with demands on your time. That includes, coincidentally, being present when the party’s candidate shows up in your state to campaign. About the time this posts, I’ll be on the way from my end of the state to one such event four hours away. (N.C. is nine hours from east to west.) I can only imagine what it’s like to be the youngest state chair in the country, Anderson Clayton, now 26. She’s been barnstorming North Carolina’s 100 counties since her 2023 election and attracting national press along the way. And fitting presidential visits into that schedule. Here she is at 24 (June 2022) taking a selfie with a local blogger who avoids selfies. Gen Z gonna Gen Z. I’ll try to share what I can through the August convention. These things tend to be tightly controlled and hyper busy. It was less demanding to attend the Charlotte convention in 2012 on a press pass. Your patience appreciated. Digby will be along presently with some presidential debate coverage/fallout. And there will be fallout.
Netanyahu downplays civil war fears despite escalating protests and resignations, revealing Israel’s internal fractures.
The post Is Israel Headed Toward Civil War? appeared first on MintPress News.