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AUKUS is fundamentally part of a global program to reassert US dominance as its power fades. That is what AUKUS is about; it’s about tying Australia to that slowly sinking ship, the United States Empire. The Labor Government has been captured by this militaristic ideology, and it is our job to shake them out of Continue reading »

As the climate crisis accelerates and intensifies, it’s easy to despair about the possibility of any country taking the lead in ‘saving the planet’. And yet Xi Jinping at least says encouraging things. Should we take China seriously? A decade or so ago I wrote a paper with the, not entirely serious, title: can Australia Continue reading »

Bronwyn Kelly interviews prominent science writer and researcher Julian Cribb on key strategies that we will need for dealing with the significant environmental disasters we are facing in the age of climate change. Kelly and Cribb focus on strategies for transitioning our current unsustainable agriculture systems to systems that create an endless, renewable food supply Continue reading »

As university history lecturers, we like to imagine that we are instilling in our students a deep interest in the subjects we teach. We want to foster a lifelong curiosity about the world, as well as the ability to pursue knowledge and refine understanding. Happily, these capacities also happen to be those needed in modern Continue reading »

It is pitiful to think that a Labor Government elected in its own right two years ago might be running scared of a depleted Opposition party and its public relations arm, News Corp, but that is what appears to have been happening on a number of fronts. Disclosure As a voter who lived on the Continue reading »

The pundits are already in a tizz: What’ll happen to defence, AUKUS, trade and other relationships should Trump win in November? More pressing and certain is how we’ll cope when Indonesia’s President-elect Prabowo Subianto takes office in October. Next door there’ll be a leader “with demonstrated disregard for the rule of law …seen by many Continue reading »

The rule of law has always been fundamental to the success story that is modern Hong Kong, and its custodian is the judiciary. So long as its legal system is protected by capable, independent and professional judges, the city has a bright future. Anybody, therefore, who wants to undermine the “one country, two systems” policy Continue reading »

“Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza, including the assault on Rafah,” said the chair of the United Nations commission behind the investigation. A United Nations commission tasked with conducting an in-depth investigation of Israeli military actions in the occupied Palestinian territories concluded Wednesday that Israel’s government is responsible for multiple war crimes Continue reading »

Medical Aid for Palestinians CEO Melanie Ward's political bid triggers fears of compromised aid efforts as Gaza suffers.

The post Gaza Aid Leader Faces Backlash Over Labour Party Run appeared first on MintPress News.

That’s what Trump told the Republican conference on Capitol Hill this morning. Luckily, he may be spared from having to attend the convention in that horrible city: Donald Trump is preparing for a scenario in which he will be unable to attend the Republican National Convention, a decision influenced in part by the possibility that he could be sentenced to home confinement after his historic conviction late last month.  Preparations are being made at both Mar-a-Lago, his home in Florida, and in Milwaukee, the host city for the convention next month, should Trump either choose to make appearances from afar or be unable to attend, according to two sources familiar with the planning. […] In case of potential house arrest, the Republican National Committee is already setting up convention-themed staging at Mar-a-Lago, along with a massive screen at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where most convention activities will take place. “If you look at what has been released about the stage at our convention, it’s going to be the highest-tech stage ever,” a Republican operative who has toured the convention site said.

What are the strongest days of the week? Saturday and Sunday. The rest are weekdays!

But they also have their own strengths, and they should be proud. For example, Friday is good at being casual, and Tuesday is good at tacos. Can you name something Monday is good at? No? That’s okay!

How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh? Ten tickles!

Only as long as the octopus is fine with being tickled. Remember, we should always respect the boundaries of other people and cephalopods. How would you feel if someone tried to tickle you when you didn’t like it? Not very good, right? So next time you encounter an octopus, be sure to ask before drumming your fingers along its slippery body.

Want to hear a joke about construction? I’m still working on it!

And that’s no problem. We don’t have to get everything right on the first try, although I bet that can be frustrating. Do you feel frustrated right now? I do. Let’s take a deep breath and count to ten, and then you can help me finish my construction joke. It’s going to be hilarious.

Voters are just clueless about reality From Judd Legum: In a speech in Nevada on Sunday, Trump said that Venezuela “took all of their criminals, and they dumped them into a place called the United States of America.” Trump claimed that soon, America would be more dangerous than Venezuela “unless you make me President, in which case, we’ll be very safe.” A press release by Trump’s campaign on June 9 claimed that Biden had failed to reduce “high crime rates.”  Trump’s claims are being repeated by other Republicans running for office. “Since Joe Biden took office, crime has skyrocketed across our country,” Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC) posted on X. In a Facebook ad, Rick Becker, a Republican Congressional candidate in North Dakota, claims that “[v]iolent crime rates are through the roof.” According to a recent poll by The Economist, 63% of American voters say crime is a very important issue. (Another 28% say it is a somewhat important issue.) Criticisms by Trump and other Republicans appear to be breaking through.

The Doctor and Ruby look to get to the bottom of the Susan Twist mystery in this clip from Doctor Who S01E07: "The Legend of Ruby Sunday."

The right-wing newspaper’s ads seem to skirt the line of partisan campaigning, prompting a note from the Electoral Commission…

Now, I don’t care to discuss the alleged complaints American Indians have against this country. I believe, with good reason, the most unsympathetic Hollywood portrayal of Indians and what they did to the white man. They had no right to a country merely because they were born here and then acted like savages. The white […]

Restrictions on how Ukraine uses weapons supplied by the West should be ditched so it can "achieve a faster victory"

If you think wind prices are high now…. Andy Borowitz: Marjorie Taylor Greene Warns That Windmills Will Drive up Cost of Wind LAS VEGAS (The Borowitz Report)—Speaking at a campaign rally on Thursday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warned that plans to build more wind turbines in the US would “send wind prices through the roof.” “If you think you’re paying a lot for wind now, just wait until Biden starts building all the windmills he wants,” she said. “Joe Biden is coming for your wind!” Painting a dark picture of the havoc wind power will wreak on the American consumer, she said, “It’s simple economics.

Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T. Davies shared a rundown of five episodes that viewers might want to check out before the season finale.

The odds are that the entire continental United States will swelter through a hotter-than-normal summer this year. And no surprise there. It seems as if that’s been the forecast every spring for years now. But this summer promises to eclipse even the summer of 2023, which, in the Northern Hemisphere, was the hottest since at least the year 1 AD, according to tree-ring analysis. You read that correctly: this summer may be hotter than any summer in the last 2,024 years (and undoubtedly many tens of thousands before that, since tree rings can take the data back only so far). The world’s hot future has already arrived in parts of the Global South, thanks largely to past greenhouse gas emissions... Read more

Source: Air Conditioning appeared first on TomDispatch.com.