Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive! Whatever else he might have been, Sir Walter Scott was no clairvoyant. Deeply cemented into Scottish history and folklore, his long narrative poems are now largely forgotten. But this single line captures the essence of AUKUS, where a cocktail of strategic conceits Continue reading »
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AUKUS has become a stillborn project. Vassal states, satellites – in other words the butlers of international relations, the minders of the royal stool – are a rarely respected lot. In Australia’s case, being Washington’s butler is hardly like being Jeeves to Bertie Wooster. Jeeves is, after all, a near omniscient being, a confidant who Continue reading »
The irony was thick as lard. What an indigestible image for International Women’s Day. What an appalling advertisement for the Melbourne ASEAN Summit and its Australian host, a claimed world leader for gender equality. The above pic appeared last week just before Minister for Women Katy Gallagher released the government’s Working for Women strategy to “ensure Continue reading »
Having a comfortable place to live is a human right. It is enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Australia has signed. But it is clear from today’s housing crisis Australia has lost its way. It is April 1943. The war in the Pacific is in its 17th month. While Continue reading »
Last week on Brisbane radio I briefly canvassed a proposal that all our state & federal parliamentary buildings should be alcohol-free zones. At first glance, this might seem to be either outlandishly radical or an example of wowserism. But it’s important to note that in 2024 many workplaces involved in critical decision-making processes are now Continue reading »
In recent years, there has been a notable shift among certain Western politicians, media outlets and think tanks regarding their perspective on China’s developmental trajectory. The once popular theory of an imminent collapse of China, famously asserted by Gordon G. Chang over two decades ago, has finally begun to lose traction. But there is still Continue reading »
My hosting service is having some issues with the shared server I’m on. I’m not sure when it will be fixed (heck, as I write the site is loading fine, so it may be fixed now or it might not), but if you’ve been having trouble getting here that’s what’s going on. I’ve talked to them twice with no luck, if issues continue I’ll have another more forcible chat and may wind up moving to another hosting company, though I’d prefer to avoid that as I’ve been with the current one for 15 years and this is the first time I’ve had a problem which couldn’t be solved with one or two calls.
Here’s part of that story: Hur’s February report stated that following a yearlong investigation into Biden’s possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents, he had concluded that “no criminal charges are warranted.” But journalists quickly fixated on Hur’s incendiary and unfalsifiable description of Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory” and his references to specific Biden memory lapses over the course of their five-hour interview. The mainstream political press treated Hur as an impartial voice levying credible accusations, unleashing a deluge of reports calling Biden’s mental acuity into question. Hur’s background as a former clerk to right-wing judges and a Trump administration appointee — and his gratuitous swipes at a Democratic president that happened to align with a yearslong GOP campaign to portray Biden as addled — failed to raise their alarms.
Dear Lord,
Before we begin, we just want to thank you for, well, everything. For the air we breathe, the water we drink, the other waters we fish and boat on, dominion over all birds, beasts, and creeping things, and for promising all of it to us, the meek of the earth.
However, as the planet’s current tenants and future inheritors, we have a few concerns about its prospects as our forever home. Specifically, whether there will be anything left for us to inherit. To that end, we’ve put together a small list of concerns we would love for your Almightiness to address before we take you up on your generous offer:
1. Is the plan to pass on the earth as-is, or is there some scope for renovations? Because it doesn’t seem to be in factory condition, as it were. Mostly because of the factories. Between the extensive soil erosion, near-total deforestation, mass extinction, the collapse of oceanic circulation, carbon emissions in the air, forever chemicals in the water, and plastic everywhere else, there’s not much planet left to inherit. After millennia of patiently waiting for the world to come, it would be nice if there was a world to come.
Dan Watters and newly announced artist Kelsey Ramsay are the creative team of the new Doctor Who comic book series launching in June.
Exclusive: Leaked plans reveal which groups could be labeled 'extremist' by the Government
Donald Trump is very proud of his talent for nicknames. In a recent interview in New Hampshire he explained, “I do a lot of names for people, some people say I’m very good at that.” I suppose that’s true. His followers do seem to love it when he bestows some juvenile nickname on one of his rivals. This seems to be the extent of his “branding” expertise which makes some sense since his success at that was due to him slapping his own name on everything in sight, from meat to ties to con games and buildings. Put a name on it and it sticks, I guess. When he first ran for office his penchant for silly nicknames was jarring but it’s so common now that nobody much notices the fact that he really seems to have lost his touch since the halcyon days of “Li’l Marco” “Pocohontas” and “Lyin’ Ted.” His nickname for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was “Ron DeSanctimonious” or sometimes “Ron DeSanctus” neither of which made much sense. I’m not sure he even knew what the words meant.
An esteemed UN court has issued little-noticed but hugely significant rulings in cases brought by Kiev and its Western sponsors against the Kremlin. The judgments raise grave questions about Kiev’s military campaign in the Donbas, whether it was attempting genocide during its eight-year-long war against the population, and if the West planned to exploit the brutal repression to provoke war with Moscow.
The post Failed ICJ Case Against Russia Backfires, Paves Way for Genocide Charges Against Ukraine appeared first on MintPress News.
The Chairman of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee has written to the European Commissioner, Didier Reynders, to warn that the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill is close to being passed despite its potential to undermine the UK adequacy decisions under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation […]
Chris Hayes makes the case for Biden recovery “These are just the facts,” Chris Hayes argued Tuesday night. In the wake of the pandemic inflation spike, I’ve experimented with store brands. Some are better than others. But many are just as good as the higher-priced, better-shelf-placement, name brands. Gas has come down to about $3/gal. Eggs are no longer $5/dozen. But that breakfast cereal I used to buy at about $3.69 a box is now about $6.39 and not budging. So, nope. You can’t eat GDP charts or statistics. And those persistently higher food prices are in your face each week. That makes it a harder sell for President Joe Biden that the economy has recovered under his administration. Even if it has. And it has. Chris Hayes made a valiant stab at making that case on Tuesday evening with a series of massive charts. Behold. Wages are up, and disposable income. Even if it doesn’t feel like it at the grocery store. The consumer price index is better “than any of our peer countries,” Hayes points out. “They would all trade places to be us.” View the segment below.
Paul Niland argues that those calling for a negotiated peace in Ukraine fundamentally misunderstand how Russian torture, rape, and other war crimes make such a peace impossible
Mai Tran began catsitting in 2021 while Tran was on pandemic unemployment, often staying overnight in people’s homes. Tran has now cared for twenty-two cats and traveled to ten apartments all over New York City, observing the interior lives of cat owners and appeasing their neuroses. From home vet visits to black eyes to refugee cats, Chronicles of a Catsitter documents the most memorable days on the job.
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Most people who know me know that I catsit. It’s not my go-to conversation topic, but it often comes up logistically, like when I tell people I live in X neighborhood but am actually heading back to X place for the week, or when I’m making plans to meet someone, or when I say I have to leave the function early to feed the cats (I never have to; I just want to leave).
MAGA purges the RNC “The RNC is entering the 2024 election with a third of the Democratic National Committee’s reserves,” writes David Graham in The Atlantic. Graham noted last month that the Republican National Committee has ceased functioning as a political party. Today, it operates as another arm of the Trump Organization, now with loyalist Michael Whatley, immediate past chair of the North Carolina GOP installed as chair, and Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as co-chair. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that “with the political equivalent of shock and awe,” Team Trump has begun a purge of the RNC staff. “The senior leadership has been almost entirely replaced or reassigned, while dozens of lower-ranking officials including state directors were either fired or told to reapply for their jobs.” The RNC is now eating its own. Given the RNC’s years of electoral losses post-2016, clearing out the dead wood makes sense, Graham writes, and presidential nominees typically take control of the party.
“Our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see.”
The post Open-source moderation appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.