Reading
This one is from Hussein Ibish in The Atlantic who notes that we are seeing a ton of polls that show Biden in deep trouble and that everyone is on tender hooks, praying that things turn around and quickly. His analysis, however, asserts that Trump is going to lose, full stop. As he says, “Democrats, and any other sensible voters who oppose Trump, need to forcefully remind the American people about how disastrous he was as president and inform them of how much worse a second term would be. Thankfully, that is not a hard case to make.” He points out that Trump has many advantages, starting with his cult (my word not his.) And the tribal nature of politics dictates that most Republicans will vote Republicans no matter what. And then there’s the right wing propaganda machine, particularly Fox News which will help his press his case that he’s a victim of persecution by the “deep state.” The electoral college advantage is obvious and Biden is old and has left some segments of the Democratic coalition dissatisfied so there’s that. However: Trump’s flaws look far worse today than they did eight years ago.
Consider two phenomena that might seem unrelated. This fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data showing a marked increase in overdose fatalities nationally. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told CNN that she had expected overdose deaths to decline after a sharp spike during the pandemic. Instead, such fatalities have only gone up. Meanwhile, by the end of November, Donald Trump was riding high with nearly 60% support in Republican primary polling. In the past 43 years, according to the Washington Post, no candidate has had such a commanding lead and failed to win his party’s nomination. On the face of it, his astonishing poll numbers would appear to have nothing whatsoever... Read more
Source: Today’s Most Dangerous Drug appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
With higher interest rates, rising prices, and continued violence in the Middle East and Ukraine, one might expect shoppers to err on the side of caution this holiday ...
Lawsuits accusing top US universities of harboring antisemitism all originate from one source: a corporate law firm that fielded the pro-settler ex-US ambassador to Israel, and which was registered as a foreign agent of an Israeli principal as recently as 2021. The firm now represents professional Israel lobby activists posing as victimized “Jewish students” and seeking to crush the free speech rights of Palestine solidarity activists. The fallout from December 5 House Committe on Antisemitism hearings has already cost University […]
The post Registered Israeli foreign agent driving contrived campus antisemitism crisis first appeared on The Grayzone.
The post Registered Israeli foreign agent driving contrived campus antisemitism crisis appeared first on The Grayzone.
The day Tom Sullivan joined Hullabaloo Thank you to everyone who has contributed to Happy Hollandaise this year. As always, I’m incredibly grateful for your support. I’m also incredibly grateful for Tom Sullivan, the man who writes two elegant and important posts here each morning, 7 days a week without fail. While I’m still sleeping out here on the west coast, Tom has already started the day with fresh insights, good humor and principled, meaningful analysis of our chaotic political scene. And then he goes out and works on organizing North Carolina into the blue state it’s meant to be. I’d met Tom and his lovely wife at Netroots Nation years ago and we hit it off right away. But when I came across a great post on his old blog Scrutiny Hooligans I realized that I really needed him over here. I asked him to fill in for me for a few days and the rest is history. I cannot thank him enough. There is never a day that I’m, not reminded how lucky I am that he said yes that day. As you no doubt realize, this is not exactly a big money enterprise. When I moved over to WordPress a couple of years ago I made the decision not to run ads anymore.
Low rating news channel Sky News Australia has called upon the Government to raise the voting age to 65 to ensure a robust democracy. ”Let’s face it those over 65 are our most valuable citizens,” said Sky News hate merchant... Read More ›
Kelly Siegler’s talent for solving cold cases made her a TV celebrity. Then she was confronted about her use of informants.
The post What Happened When a Star Prosecutor Was Accused of Running a Jailhouse Snitch Scheme appeared first on The Intercept.
Jeffrey Prible and Hermilo Herrero always insisted on their innocence. From prison, they tracked down the man who could help them prove it.
The post How Two Men Convicted by Kelly Siegler Uncovered the Dark Secret to Her Success appeared first on The Intercept.
As a Houston prosecutor, Kelly Siegler won 68 murder convictions and 19 death sentences. But the case of Jeffrey Prible raises questions about her record.
The post Kelly Siegler Is a True-Crime Celebrity. Did She Frame an Innocent Man for Murder? appeared first on The Intercept.
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – December 17, 2023
by Tony Wikrent
Oligarchs’ war on the experiment of republican self-government
Constitution in the Crosshairs: The Far Right’s Plan for a New Confederacy
Nancy Maclean, Arn Pearson, December 11, 2023 [progressive.org, via Naked Capitalism 12-15-2023]
The midpoint of the current federal Labor government’s term of office is a good time to take stock and assess its performance. What has it done in each of the major policy areas? What has not yet been done but needs to be done? What are the possibilities and prospects? More generally, what does the recent experience of Labor in government indicate about the role of the state and policies for reform within modern Australian capitalism?
This special theme issue of JAPE contains 19 articles that address these concerns.
The post Labor in Government: A new special issue of JAPE appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).
Make them explain it. Make them own it. CNN’s Kasie Hunt interviewed RFK Jr and confronted him with his own words. As with Trump, he basically told the audience, you can believe me or you can believe your eyes: I watched some “man-on-the-street” interviews at an RFK event the other day. Oh my god. The anti-vax crowd is well represented, of course, and some of them would otherwise be Trumpers.But there were some woo-woo lefties there too, so woefully mid-informed that it made my head hurt. (Did you know that Joe Biden is a criminal and lied about COVID on behalf of Big Pharma? ) So I’m not sure that this sort of interview will affect his potential voters much. They’re pretty far gone. Right now some polls show him getting about 20% and pulling from both sides. But we really don’t need this conspiracy addled gadfly in there stirring the pot. This election is too important. But it doesn’t look as if anyone can stop him. Let’s just hope he doesn’t get on the ballot anywhere where it can make a difference. Happy Hollandaise, everyone!
For those who had hoped Australia might bring a more constructive approach to issues of peace and security, year’s end cannot come soon enough. 2023 has seen a succession of armed conflicts – from Ukraine to Nagorno-Karabakh, Sudan, Myanmar and Israel-Palestine – and countless humanitarian crises fuelled by civil war, insurgencies, and the ravages of Continue reading »
The latest Japanese political scandal involving at least four top government ministers and numerous junior officials is widely seen as a fatal blow to the prime minister Fumio Kishida already dogged by a weak image and record low popularity polls. It is worsened by LDP party’s seeming inability to decide on the economic policies needed Continue reading »
Trumpian populism has not yet taken hold here. Why? Perhaps because this country’s not quite as unequal as others. One good thing about taking a break from work is that it gives you time to let your mind wander from all the pressing concerns of our fast-moving world – the preoccupation with this ‘‘crisis’’ and Continue reading »
Indonesians have just witnessed a messy, badly produced TV ‘debate’ between the politicians jostling to run the world’s fourth largest democracy facing a national election in less than two months. Just a few weeks ago it seemed Indonesian politics was edging towards modernity by recognising that half the voters are women with different values, needs Continue reading »
After letting net migration blow out to around 518,000 in 2022-23, the Albanese Government has announced it wants to bring net migration down to 375,000 in 23-24 and 250,000 in 24-25 Home Affairs Minister O’Neil insists these are ‘estimates’ rather than ‘targets’ – presumably trying to avoid criticism of the blow out in net migration Continue reading »
More than 100 health, legal, social, community services providers, advocates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations have stepped up pressure on the nation’s Attorneys-General to raise the age of criminal responsibility nationally to at least 14 years old, with no exceptions. Their joint statement was released ahead of a meeting of the Continue reading »
Bipartisan support for temporary extra government spending to preserve businesses and jobs through JobKeeper was one of the few positive outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognition that the long-term damage caused by short-term economic crises far exceeds the cost of temporary government spending to avoid it underpinned that consensus. It’s worth considering now whether the Continue reading »
The former president’s comments have ignited concerns from critics and scholars who have warned that a second Trump administration threatens democracy – even as his advisers push back on those fears, dismissing them as baseless. Many likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers have no issue with several of Trump’s recent statements, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll has found, and, more often than not, they say the same statements make them more likely to support the former president. Holly Rice, a 57-year-old poll respondent from Cumming, Iowa, said she was backing Trump for his policy agenda, saying “I don’t care what he tweets. It’s a little off the wall, but you know? A lot of them do stuff like that,” Rice said. “At least we know he’s not a polished politician. He reminds me of my father.” June Koelker, a 71-year-old poll respondent from Monticello, Iowa, said Trump’s immigration plans made her more likely to back him, but she answered she was “less likely” to support him for his statement about those who enter illegally “poisoning” the country.