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Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 15:41
Click below to read the latest post from FrameLab, the newsletter co-founded by Dr. George Lakoff: The latest target of the Republican Party’s feverish and conspiratorial wrath: 34-year-old pop music megastar Taylor Swift. Why do Republicans see Swift as a threat? The simple answer: She is a powerful young woman who challenges the traditional social […]
Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 11:35
by Asaf Darr* The ongoing and fierce conflict between Jews and Palestinian Arabs is a daily reality in Israel, the country where I reside. As a sociologist of work and economic sociologist, I became increasingly interested in the ways in which the broader conflict is manifested in daily socio-economic encounters on the shop floor between […]
Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 11:30
“The election was rigged, I won in a landslide!” This is how Trump convinces his cult that up is down and black is white. He just says something that’s outrageously false, the polar opposite of the truth, with total confidence, over and over again. In fact, his deluded followers often tell reporters that the thing they admire about him the most is that he always tells the truth. Has there ever been a demagogue in history who was so willing to lie so blatantly about clear, observable facts? They always lie, of course. And they are outrageous in their rhetoric. But this brazen defiance of reality seems to me to be pretty unique. I think religious cult leaders do this and get away with it with their flock. But I don’t know that political leaders have been able to get away with it like this. Obviously, it takes a supporting propaganda infrastructure and a monstrously stupid following. But still, give Trump his due. I think he may be the most flagrant, obvious liar in world political history and he’s succeeded in making tens of millions of people believe everything he says.
Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 10:00
They’ve already seceded… Scott Rosenberg’s Hopium Chronicles today provides a vivid description of what’s happened to the right wing in this country, beginning with the descent of Fox News into a full-blown propaganda machine that actually communicates in a discrete language spoken by the MAGA cult: My friend Greg Sargent once referred to this fictional world as Foxlandia. It’s a place they go where Trump is a strong leader, the economy is in recession, eggs cost $27 a piece, inflation is still raging, Putin is an ally and the West is sinister, antifa is ISIS, dozens of American cities burned to the ground in 2020, vaccines give you COVID, insurrectionists are hostages, children carrying their rapist’s babies is a blessing, assault weapons bring freedom, etc. It is, to borrow from one of my favorite TV shows, Stranger Things, the upside down. […] In thinking about it today what I am describing perhaps should be understood as a form of succession from the United States and our democratic heritage.
Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 09:43

THE St John Paul College Theatre is the venue for the launch of the Coffs Harbour Music Society’s exciting concert programme for 2024. The new venue has wonderful acoustics, raked seating, an intimate ambience, plenty of easy parking and flat access. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message...

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Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 09:33

IN RECOGNITION of his significant service to the community through bushfire governance, research and mentoring roles, Korora resident Dr Grahame Douglas has been named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division. “The recognition is both a shock and surprise as well as a culmination of years of effort,” Mr Douglas...

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Created
Thu, 01/02/2024 - 09:23

ANTIQUES Roadshow fans are in for a treat when long term presenter Hilary Kay speaks in Coffs Harbour next week. An expert panellist, Ms Kay has been a regular face on the iconic British TV show for 45 years. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone...

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