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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 10:59
It’s National Chocolate Mint Day! At least, according to one of the many “National Day” or “National Food Holiday” websites. I should probably pick one and stick to it. My reference used to be Foodimentary. But the site no longer exists. Oh, there’s a book! *1 minute later* OK, I just bought the book. It’llContinue reading 2-in-1 International Recipe Card Collection: Mocha Mint (1977)
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 10:37
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya seen in an interview with an Israeli journalist from an Israeli jail draws a statement from his family of psychological terrorism. Owen James speaks of Palestinian children tried in military court while settlers are tried in civil court. Zelenskyy pushes back on Trump with facts. Dan Duggan was one of many Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 10:00
A federal prosecutor actually wrote this piece of garbage: That letter was sent around by Ed Martin the Acting DC US Attorney Trump has now nominated to be permanent based upon his lib-owning tweets and DOGE boot licking. He tweeted this two days ago: Right. Remember this? Trump pardoned all of them. “EagleEd” was also at January 6th, he raised money for the rioters and defended some of them, even going so far as to dismiss a case as acting US Atty on which he was also the defense attorney. Hypocrisy can’t begin to describe it. You should see the shrieking on twitter over some protesters with posters that say “off with their heads” and the like about Trump and Musk. Fuck ’em. Trump pardoned all those people for violently threatening the whole US Congress during a joint session of congress to stop the peaceful transfer of power. If EagleEd wants to throw people in jail for some signs at a peaceful protest I think he should try. The result will clarify our situation once and for all.
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 08:30
Unless he’s going to ignore a court ruling, he may be getting ahead of himself: The Trump administration on Wednesday nixed federal approval of New York’s “congestion pricing” automobile tolls, which had been instituted just last month to raise funds for the region’s aging mass transit system. In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the federal government has jurisdiction over highways leading to Manhattan and that these additional tolls posed an unfair burden in motorists outside the city. Duffy called the tolls, targeting Manhattan-bound drivers, “backwards and unfair.” “New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” Duffy said in statement. […] MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said Wednesday the New York transportation agency will go to court to fight any federal efforts to end the tolls.
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 07:00
“We live in a bureaucracy.” Lol. No, it does not make sense. Here’s a little lesson for Elon that he must have missed when he became a citizen: He does seem to be familiar with this: The Führerprinzip  was the basis of executive authority in the government of Nazi Germany. It placed the Führer’s word above all written law, and meant that government policies, decisions, and officials all served to realize his will. In practice, the Führerprinzip gave Adolf Hitler supreme power over the ideology and policies of his political party; this form of personal dictatorship was a basic characteristic of Nazism. The state itself received “political authority” from Hitler, and the Führerprinzip stipulated that only what the Führer “commands, allows, or does not allow is our conscience,” with party leaders pledging “eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler.
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 05:30
Trump: "Inflation is back" pic.twitter.com/r9CStL0xrP — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 19, 2025 It isn’t his fault though, naturally. Nothing ever is. But people aren’t buying it. He promised to fix it on day one: A pillar of Trump’s political strength has been public belief that his policies will be good for the economy, and his rating on the economy remains significantly higher than the final readings of his predecessor in office, Democrat Joe Biden, who ended his term with a 34% approval rating on the economy. But Trump’s rating for the economy is well below the 53% he had in Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted in February 2017, the first full month of his first term as U.S. president. In the latest poll, only 32% of respondents approved of Trump’s performance on inflation, a potential early sign of disappointment in the Republican’s performance on a core economic issue after several years of rising prices weakened Biden ahead of last year’s presidential election. Trump defeated Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, in the Electoral College and narrowly won the popular vote.
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:59
If national governments across the globe are prepared to put minimising the climate threat ahead of protecting the fossil fuel industry, they will have to make major changes to how the net zero concept is being applied. This will require carbon offsetting to be brought in line with its intended application, and a consequential major Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:57
The board of Creative Australia, formerly the Australia Council, has betrayed its mission by enabling censorship and gross political interference in the arts, and its members must resign or be sacked. Five days after Lebanese-born artist Khaled Sabsabi was appointed to represent Australia at the next Venice Biennale in 2026, he was unceremoniously dumped by Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:55
As a quick study in the psychology of Australia-US relations, last week had it all. There was the sound of cash registers ringing in Washington as Canberra handed over the first cheque for the US nuclear submarine production base. There was the self-aggrandisement of Richard Marles at the Pentagon, chuffed at being the first defence Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:54
The decline in manufacturing jobs is common to most developed economies and is not unique to the US. Further, Donald Trump is nothing if not delusional, and his tariffs will only damage both the US economy and others as well. Employment in US manufacturing peaked a long time ago back, in June 1979. Since then, Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:54
Recently, US President Donald Trump spoke about the displacement of Gaza’s residents to Egypt, Jordan, and a group of neighbouring countries, as well as turning Gaza into an area under US control. This proposal sparked a wave of criticism and condemnation at various levels. International reactions to the proposal At the international level, the proposal Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:53
With this year’s federal budget supposedly brought forward to 25 March, the seasonal peak in business bulldust has come early. Last week, Canberra kicked off an annual ritual little noticed in real-world Australia, the call for “pre-budget” submissions on what the government should do in its budget. I’ve never known any of that free advice Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:52
The editorial authorities at The Australian newspaper have splendid senses of humour if their indulgence of the laugh-a-line contributions of Peter Jennings, Greg Sheridan and Henry Ergas are anything to go by. Jennings, who boasts his writings are “piquant”, recently said Donald Trump’s idea about clearing people out of Gaza “has about as much chance Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:51
Evolution works by conserving traits that carry value for the species, but more often it is perceived as “survival of the fittest” or in “social darwinism”. These are literary licences: scientifically, they are close to misinformation. A look at the Grandmother Effect will show you why. Before Homo became sapiens, after the end of the Continue reading »
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Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:00
President Trump took some questions yesterday as he finished yet another round of golf and wound up another long weekend at his Florida resort. Elon Musk was a big topic which appeared to get on his nerves especially when a reporter wanted to know what position the multi-billionaire actually held now that the White House has said that he is not actually running the DOGE department after all. He responded, “So, you know, you could call him an employee, you could call him a consultant, you could call him whatever you want… but you know what? Ukraine’s a bigger deal.” He sounded quite irritated that they were asking him about such trivialities when he is the one who has world leaders quaking in their boots as he re-makes the whole world in his image. He’s clearly delegated the wrecking of the federal government to Musk, to which he’s only peripherally paying attention, so that he can concentrate on wrecking the world order. Both men are doing a bang-up job so far.