Reading

The Opposition’s shadow Treasurer (yep, he’s the best they could manage), Angus Taylor, has moved to assure the Nation that he’ll make a great Treasurer, as he has all his fingers and toes to count with. ”Australian’s need to rest... Read More ›

A love story? That’s doubtful In court today, Michael Cohen testified: He also said that it was Melania who came up with the “it was locker room talk” talking point after the Access Hollywood tape. Yeah, it’s a real love story. Get a load of this bs from the NY Times: Donald Trump sat silent, stone-faced and staring straight ahead as he listened to the intimate details in Stormy Daniels’s testimony on Tuesday, closing his eyes at times in an apparent attempt to maintain his composure. But there was one moment when he lost it — when Ms. Daniels recounted asking Mr. Trump about his wife, Melania Trump, and recalled that he told her they didn’t “even sleep in the same room.” From the defense table Mr. Trump shook his head in disgust and muttered “bullshit” loud enough that he drew a rebuke from the judge, who called his actions “contemptuous.” Mr. Trump has a great deal of experience sending a specific message to his intended audience — whether on television, at rallies, through social media or in the Oval Office. His intended audience, on Tuesday and throughout the trial, is the jury.

This island of macaques rebuilt their social networks after calamity.

The post How a Hurricane Brought Monkeys Together appeared first on Nautilus.

Lee Alan Dugatkin on his 3 greatest revelations while writing The Well-Connected Animal.

The post The Astonishing Ways Animals Use Social Networks appeared first on Nautilus.

Nothing can shake them Here was Trump’s economy in 2020. Massive unemployment, food lines, tens of thousands of deaths with no end in sight. He only cares about himself. And they love him for it. They love him so, so much Michael Tomasky took a look at this issue today and it’s mind-boggling: Politico and Morning Consult asked respondents a series of questions about all the major economic legislation Biden has signed. Majorities know little or nothing at all about the infrastructure bill, the CHIPS act, the American Rescue Plan, and the Inflation Reduction Act. And get this: While 40 percent said Biden has done more than Trump on infrastructure, 37 percent said Trump had done more. In January, NBC found that Trump has a 22-point advantage over Biden on the question of whom voters trust more with the economy—up 15 points from the same poll in 2020.   How can this possibly be? Fine, we know that most people pay scant attention to politics. But even scant attention should produce some knowledge.

These elites in politics, business, media, and church have brought shame on themselves and us. Either covertly or overtly they have supported or wilfully ignored the genocide. History will  be a very harsh judge. Politicians have run scared of the Zionist lobby. Business complains about disruption of shipping, whilst many are making huge profits by supplying arms. Our white Continue reading »

Australians should be clear that the “Future Gas Strategy” released last week is not in the national interest. It represents the greatest capitulation of any Australian government to the demands of the fossil fuel industry. It is the latest form of climate denial which is happening globally as fossil fuel companies and state national energy Continue reading »

The way that the government has permitted the opposition and the Murdoch media (and even the ABC and Fairfax media) to push it around on issues such as climate and immigration policy raises the question: Does modern Labor have any moral bottom at all? Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is an excellent negotiator. He won’t be Continue reading »

12½ years ago I wrote, in a column published in the Fairfax (now Nine) mastheads, that “the surest way to gain acceptance for policy proposals that former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry might have called ‘frankly, bad’ is to wrap them in a ‘security’ blanket”. That is, I went on, “if you want a government to Continue reading »

Labor’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has a strange attraction to muddying the political waters in areas that are going well, such as its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Serious gains are already occurring in the efficiency of battery storage of electricity from solar, wind and pumped hydro sources. Bigger gains seem likely as breakthroughs Continue reading »

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant being used frequently today in rallies around the country in support of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza. More relevantly, for the purposes of this paper, the chant is being used in university campuses, where protestors are active, to the point of Continue reading »

It’s time we reckoned with what it means to become a corporatocracy. Our governments exist to enact the desires of their corporate masters. Some of these politicians, like Madeleine King, appear to do so with alacrity, while others appear lost in the perceived demands of party and pressure groups. The end result will be an Continue reading »

This year our federal members of parliament will vote on a new National Schools Reform Agreement (NSRA). Before voting they might consider what happened to the schools they once attended. Their alma maters reveal what went wrong. Public interest in where MPs went to school isn’t new and often comes with judgments based on the Continue reading »

Last month Prime Minister Albanese cheerfully welcomed the Chinese government’s removal of import duties on Australian wine. Following numerous government-to-government talks held in Canberra and Beijing over recent months, it was seen as a positive step in a new era of Australia-China relations. For winemakers, it was merely a small win on the journey back Continue reading »

This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem. This took place while UNRWA and other UN Agencies’ staff were on the compound. While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas. The UNRWA headquarters has on its Continue reading »

A conversation with Issue 55 cover artist Angie Wang.

The post Why AI Can Never Make Humans Obsolete appeared first on Nautilus.

“We’re continuing to work around the clock with the government of Israel and with the government of Egypt to work on this issue,” the State Department said.

The post American Medical Missions Trapped in Gaza, Facing Death by Dehydration as Population Clings to Life appeared first on The Intercept.

This obviously coordinated “mental anguish” and “torture” line seems like a double edged sword to me. Plenty of Americans have been involved with the legal system and those who haven’t have seen trials, both real and fictional, portrayed on television for years. They’ve even been exposed to the Manhattan courts in the “Law and Order” series for decades. They know what this process looks like. Saying Trump, the alleged alpha male, is being tortured by having to endure it isn’t exactly a compliment. If it’s true then someone needs to tell Trump to man up. His surrogates are making him sound like a wimp. But if the shoe fits… Oh, and by the way, Tuberville going after the jury is really something. That guy is brain damaged — and evil.

“Nearly half of Republicans believe California ‘not really American.’ ” — LA Times

After being jolted awake by yet another earthquake, I take a deep breath and compose myself. Ahhh… the sweet smell of smog. I rise, brew up a pot of fair trade coffee, and inject my arm with the mandatory daily vaccine.

Today is my birthday, and I’m going out with friends to celebrate, but I have some things to do beforehand. First, I need to write my monthly mortgage check: $800,000. But it’s no big deal, because I’m saving tons of money not owning a car thanks to our Supreme Leader Gavin Newsom outlawing them.