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It is easy to be cynical about the international rule of law. No sooner had the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against the Palestinian people than the U.S. State Department declared, “We continue to believe that allegations of genocide are unfounded and note the court did not make Continue reading »

Doctors, Teachers, Journalists, Academics are being disciplined, hauled before disciplinary bodies and even sacked for criticising the slaughter in Gaza and, most heinous sin of all, for mentioning genocide. Arrayed against those professionals is a lobby promoting the notion that criticism of Israeli government policies is anti-Semitic, hence the need to censor commentary about the Continue reading »

Just a fortnight to Indonesia’s big 14 February election and the mood is shifting as more than 200 million electors realise the reality – they’re being played by the oligarchs like puppets. Last month this column was getting ahead of itself by speculating that front-runner Prabowo Subianto, 73, a cashiered former general from last century’s Continue reading »

Despite its $160 million package to better manage asylum seekers, time is running out for the Albanese Government to get on top of the asylum seeker issue prior to the 2025 election. Asylum applications at both the primary and AAT stages fell in December 2023 but the number of applications processed also fell leading to Continue reading »

With the announcement last week of Kim Williams as the new ABC Chair, it’s timely to consider not only what needs to be done to address recent controversies but, more broadly, what we as a society want from our major public media institution and what is needed for it to thrive. There will always be Continue reading »

I worked last Friday, as I have done every 26th January since 1994, when then Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett (I was living in Melbourne at the time) ordained that the ‘Australia Day’ holiday would be observed in Victoria on the 26th January, rather than on the Monday nearest to that date, as it had previously Continue reading »

Renowned reggae artist, Ziggy Marley, the headline artist at WOMADelaide 2024 (World Music Adelaide), is an outspoken supporter of Israel even during its current genocidal operation in Gaza. In 2018, fans worldwide were shocked by his attendance at a star studded benefit for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). This event raised $60 million for a Continue reading »

If China were planning to attack US territory or takeover its neighbours like imperial Japan or Nazi Germany it would be firing up its citizens for war. Instead, its focus is on securing its existing borders, not expanding them. Editor’s Note: Australia’s hawkish posture toward China is dangerous and unnecessary, Percy Allan (Allan), a former Continue reading »

Kit Klarenberg reveals how Sacha Baron Cohen, through films like Borat, helped manufacture hatred against Muslims in order to justify human rights abuses by Israel.

The post Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat Paved the Way for Israel’s Slaughter in Gaza appeared first on MintPress News.

The big day is almost here! I’m so excited to see all of you. I know some of you have RSVP’d with a plus one, which is great. Can’t wait to meet them. But please, do me a favor and check to see that your guest is really who they claim to be and not a spy, saboteur, or rogue agent from a special mission force using an alias while attempting to clear their name.

To be specific: your spouse, your significant other, your college friend visiting from out of town who was kind of a mess back then, so you’re really hoping they’ve pulled it together—all okay. A freelance operative selling their services to the highest bidder who is the best there is at what they do? Not okay.

Parking is limited, so please carpool or use rideshare if you can. Yes, I do have a massive, multilevel garage bigger than most mansions, but it’s completely full of Bentleys, Bugattis, and Maseratis, and it’s strictly off-limits, but not for any secret reason or anything.

I can usually suss out what they’re talking about but in this case I just don’t get it. Why is this going to win him the election? E. Jean Carroll going shopping with the 83 million in damages she won from Trump defaming her? That she offered to take Rachel Maddow with her? So what? How is that the political death blow to Biden? Whatever. I guess I shouldn’t question the logic of people who think Taylor Swift is a Pentagon Psy-op to sabotage Trump’s election. There’s no point.

A party of frauds E. Jean Carroll’s attorney Shawn Crowley last week rebutted Donald Trump lawyers’ argument to the jury in his $83.3 million defamation case. She distilled Trump and Trumpism to his/its essence (CNN): Crowley concluded her rebuttal by saying essentially that Trump believes he is above the law. Trump believes that “He gets to lie. He gets to threaten. He gets to ignore a jury verdict. He gets to defy the law and the rules of this courtroom,” Crowley said. “You saw how he behaved through this trial. Rules don’t apply to Donald Trump.” “Ladies and gentleman, this isn’t a campaign rally. It’s not a press event. It’s a court of law and Miss Carroll’s life,” Crowley said. “Donald Trump sexually assaulted her. He defamed her. He is not the victim.” But MAGA Republicans are MAGA Republicans because they believe, as Trump believes of himself, that they are victims. Trump portrays himself as the patron saint of victims, and their avatar. Trump is special. Oh so special.

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On this week’s bonus episode of Lever Time, David Sirota explores how Meta is trying to protect the money it makes from harvesting children’s user data.

Several serving MPs work for oil and gas firms, while many more accept gifts or take jobs for big-polluting sectors after leaving Parliament

Sunlight to a vampire Formerly Twitter observed that there are more images and video of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce hugging and kissing after Sunday’s AFC Championship Game than of the JFK assassination. It’s been nagging at me in a good way. David Letterman called it “a lovely thing.” He calls Swift “a glowing, bright light of goodness in the world,” and sorely needed. Fans began calculating travel time, and whether Swift will be able to fly back from her Tokyo show in time to make the Super Bowl. Others noted that during the celebration on the field that Swift stepped aside so Travis Kelce could share a moment alone with his brother Jason. Swift shared warm hugs with Travis’ mother and father and sister. It’s an entire glowing, bright light of family values goodness. Naturally, the right web is seething and losing what’s left of its mind. The right’s lunatic fringe is floating insane consipracy theories about the left using Swift to rig the Super Bowl, and Swift planning to endorse Joe Biden at halftime, etc. The entire relationship is fabricated for ratings and political advantage, dontcha know?

Joining MintCast to discuss the blockade and Yemen’s escalating tensions with the United States is Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior political official and spokesperson for Yemen’s Ansar Allah.

The post Yemen’s Houthis Speak to MintPress About US Attacks, Their Blockade of Israel appeared first on MintPress News.

In war, people die for absurd reasons or often no reason at all. They die due to accidents of birth, the misfortune of being born in the wrong place — Cambodia or Gaza, Afghanistan or Ukraine — at the wrong time. They die due to happenstance, choosing to shelter indoors when they should have taken cover outside or because they ventured out into a hell-storm of destruction when they should have stayed put. They die in the most gruesome ways — shot in the street, obliterated by artillery, eviscerated by air strikes. Their bodies are torn apart, burned, or vaporized by weapons designed to destroy people. Their deaths are chalked up to misfortune, mistake, or military necessity. Since September 2001,... Read more

Source: Remote Warfare and Expendable People appeared first on TomDispatch.com.