In a bid to fireproof the state for the remainder of summer Chris Minns has spread half a billion tonnes of mulch over the state’s bushland. “We’ve been sending out Elvis the water sucking helicopter to hoover up all that... Read More ›
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Why would anyone want to live in a place with the name of a fascist moron emblazoned on the front? Would you buy a condo in Hitler Tower? “My client is worth hundreds and hundreds of millions,” said one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Alina Habba, during closing arguments at the trial, adding, “let alone the brand, which is worth billions.” But up and down the spine of Manhattan, condominiums in high-rise buildings emblazoned with Mr. Trump’s name have underperformed, according to sales data from two real estate tracking firms, and an analysis of the data by the Columbia University economist Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh. The line in the sand is the year 2016, when Mr. Trump was elected president. In 2016, condominiums in Trump’s buildings in New York began to decline, underperforming compared to the Manhattan condominium market. In a one-year window, condos in buildings that had the Trump logo went from selling at a 1 percent premium compared with similar units, to selling for 4 percent less, meaning that Trump condos became a “bargain” among the city’s luxury units, said Mr. Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate.
Check out the BBC & Disney+'s teaser posters for the return of Doctor Who this May - a case of "One of These Things Is Not Like the Other."
Within two weeks the remaining people of Gaza, herded into Rafah, will all be dead, either from disease, starvation, or murder, an Australian medical specialist told me on Friday. Humans can’t survive in these conditions. What is Australia doing? he wanted to know. What the Australian government is doing is putting out a series of Continue reading »
In terms of significant dates and milestones in the long running pursuit by the US of publisher and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, this coming week ranks highly. On Tuesday and Wednesday this week a hearing before two judges in the UK’s High Court will hear Assange’s final bid to appeal against extradition to the United Continue reading »
As someone who has written in the past on the topic of antisemitism in this Journal – South Australia and antisemitism, July 12 2022, and Antisemitism and the IHRA definition, April 26 2023, I was moved to do so again following the piece published by the newly formed Jewish Council of Australia (the Council) on Continue reading »
The idea of a Western garden under threat from the unruly jungles of the rest of the world is at the heart of today’s global rifts. The Ukraine conflict basically pushed Russia out of the Western garden, just as the Gaza conflict revealed that Israel, as a Western outpost, can commit atrocities with impunity. Travelling Continue reading »
Australian aviation is in the news again. Having ripped off passengers, illegally sacked workers, and impacted the health of residents under airport flight paths, the industry has now received $30m from taxpayers to manufacture “sustainable aviation fuel” (SAF). And investors and airlines are clamouring for more. Having “committed to net zero emissions by 2050”, or Continue reading »
Back in the 1960s and 70s, the media was referred to as ‘The Fourth Estate’. The media played a role as a check and balance against government abuse of power, corruption, and overreach. The media was an integral part of any healthy democracy. The old mass media companies prior to the information age, now referred Continue reading »
Australia is no longer competitive in the nickel market, largely due to Indonesia’s recent domination in the sector. This domination strategy has been carefully planned by Indonesia as it looks to boost its downstream industrial policy in critical minerals processing with the backing of Chinese investments. Since 2014, there has been strategic planning by Jakarta Continue reading »
The smoke and dust had only just settled from the armed incursion by Hamas in the Gaza envelope of neighbouring Israel on October 7 when the IDF began releasing “eyewitness” stories of Hamas’ beheading of babies and the rape and mutilation of women. These alleged horrific acts were immediately picked up by Israel’s enablers in Continue reading »
Now we know how racial mass murders are committed by watching one live on our computer and TV screens. We live in an upside down world. Countries that we have long been told are “rogue states” – and groups that have been branded as “terrorist” – are the ones currently committed to carrying out the Continue reading »
Offered with no comment. This is MAGA.
Tennessee State Capitol yesterday WZTV Nashville: The group of more than a dozen masked individuals marched wearing red shirts and black pants, waving flags with swastikas on them. It is not clear at this time who the group is or affiliated with, though many of the shirts said “Blood Tribe.” Your future, if you choose to accept it. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to put a stop to it. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV planning guide at ForTheWin.us.
This is Lever Weekly, a recap of our work from the past week. If you only read one email from us all week, this should be it.
Rough clay or day clay? Trump could shoot them in the middle of Fifth Avenue and they’d vote for him with their dying breaths. “My kids need you! You’re a Christian! You’re honest! Look at his family! All good kids!” David Neiwert nails it: Susie too: Okay, neither of these eligible voters are salvageable. They’re too far gone. But there are others “on the fence” surely embarrassed by these displays of lunacy. Paul Rosenberg interviewed Rachel Bitecofer about her new book, “Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game.” Bitecofer seems to be covering ground seeded in the past by George Lakoff, Drew Westen, and Anat Shenker-Osorio about appealing more to emotion than intellect. Republicans now campaign on negative partisanship, she says, while many Democrats cannot let go of their “old strategy” of campaigning on policy: “find things people like, tell them you’re going to give them that — and then appeal on your character, your biography, your qualifications for office.” Republicans dumped that approach long ago.
The weather hasn’t been great, but the other day the sun came out for a bit so I could get the long lens out. These characters came out to feed. Long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus):
“They” say that your taste in music is imprinted in your high school years. Why do you suppose this is? Is it biological? Is it hormonal? Or Is it purely nostalgia? According to a 2021 study, it may have something to do with “arousal, valence, and depth”. Say what? Have you wondered why you love a particular song or genre of music? The answer may lie in your personality, although other factors also play a role, researchers say. Many people tend to form their musical identity in adolescence, around the same time that they explore their social identity. Preferences may change over time, but research shows that people tend to be especially fond of music from their adolescent years and recall music from a specific age period — 10 to 30 years with a peak at 14 — more easily. Musical taste is often identified by preferred genres, but a more accurate way of understanding preferences is by musical attributes, researchers say. One model outlines three dimensions of musical attributes: arousal, valence and depth. “Arousal is linked to the amount of energy and intensity in the music,” says David M.
Just let Stephen Colbert sum it all up for you:
People need to understand why Trump’s massive fraud matters to them. Dan Pfeiffer has some ideas about how to talk about this in his substack today: Yesterday’s trial verdict was civil, not criminal. So technically, Trump has not been convicted of a crime, but that’s a distinction without a difference for most voters. He has been declared a fraud by the state of New York and can no longer conduct business there. We should also assume most voters won’t hear a single word about the fine, unless we tell them. Judge Engoron rendered his verdict the Friday before a holiday weekend. Back when I worked in political communications, this was the sort of timing I would suggest to dump bad news so the fewest people would notice. Therefore, the onus to spread the word is on us. I view this verdict as a way to do three things: Be Clear About What Trump Did: Ultimately, Trump was found guilty of lying to banks and insurance companies to line his own pockets with hundreds of millions of dollars.
That was Wednesday. Friday he posted this: I have a sneaking suspicion those flattering photos aren’t exactly on the up and up. Considering the grotesque comments he makes about other people, he deserves to be criticized for his looks. Personally, I don’t think his weight is a big deal. But the near-blackface and the full Flock of Seagulls hairdo is worth mentioning. Doesn’t anyone notice how fucking weird that is?
Trump is going to restrict abortion even more if he becomes president. We’ve heard he is thinking about endorsing a 16 week abortion ban to keep his evangelicals happy. (He likes the 16 week as opposed to the 15 week ban because it’s an even number. I kid you not…) Anyway the following isn’t really news since it’s been out there for a while. I’ve written about it as have others. But the NY Times publishing it can make it real for a lot of people: Behind the scenes, specific anti-abortion plans being proposed by Mr. Trump’s allies are sweeping and legally sophisticated. Some of their proposals would rely on enforcing the Comstock Act, a long-dormant law from 1873, to criminalize the shipping of any materials used in an abortion — including abortion pills, which account for the majority of abortions in America. “We don’t need a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books,” said Jonathan F. Mitchell, the legal force behind a 2021 Texas law that found a way to effectively ban abortion in the state before Roe v. Wade was overturned. “There’s a smorgasbord of options.” Mr.