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Community Drug Action Team launch free training on alcohol and drug issues

https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/community-drug-action-team-launch-free-trainin…
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 07:57

COFFS Harbour Neighbourhood Centre, in conjunction with Coffs Harbour Community Drug Action Team (CDAT), is hosting free training for community workers and others who are seeking to upskill themselves across alcohol and drug issues. The training will take place on Tuesday 13 June, from 9:30am – 4:30pm, in the TAFE D block theatre at Coffs...

The post Community Drug Action Team launch free training on alcohol and drug issues appeared first on News Of The Area.

Did Kev fall on his sword?

https://digbysblog.net/2023/05/31/did-kev-fall-on-his-sword/
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 07:00
More to the point, if he did, did he know it? The problem is that it only takes one to raise the motion. And it will only take five to vote him out. So this remains a very live possibility. On the other hand, Jim “Beavis” Jordan told the Freedom Caucus to pipe down and stop threatening the speaker and at least a couple of them seem to have gone quiet on the motion to vacate. So, who knows? The big question that’s probably hanging over their decision to do this is, who could they get to replace him? There is no blue-eyed dream boat like Paul Ryan waiting in the wings as there was last time the winguts pushed out a speaker. Stay tuned. This could still get interesting. Update: Lol. I don’t think this is going to cut it.

Drupal Association hires Alex Moreno

https://www.drupal.org/association/blog/drupal-association-hires-alex-moreno
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 05:32

The Drupal Association is pleased to announce that Alex Moreno joined the team as of May 2023! We are thrilled to bring Alex’s talent and experience in the Drupal Community to the team.

Bringing Alex on continues the Drupal Association’s effort to become more global in our hiring.

Already very well known for his work in Drupal, Alex’s background includes a degree in Software Engineering with a major in Artificial Intelligence. For the past decade, he lived in London, working for big enterprise companies as a consultant and Technical Architect representing Acquia, Pantheon, The BBC, and Capgemini.

House of Representatives passes Voice referendum legislation

https://johnmenadue.com/house-of-representatives-passes-voice-referendum-legisl…
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 04:58
After a marathon debate, the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning passed the bill for the referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament to be inserted into the Constitution. The bill now goes to the Senate where it is assured of passage in June. The final vote was 121 in favour and 25 against. Most Continue reading »

After Erdogan’s greatest triumph, the ‘West’ watches, and calculates

https://johnmenadue.com/after-erdogans-greatest-triumph-the-west-watches-and-ca…
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 04:56
In Turkiye, deep polarisation and the long struggle between the Atlanticists and the Eurasianists over Turkiye’s soul seems to be ending in victory for the latter. The EU has little appeal for Turks now. It lives in vassalage to the US, which itself seems to be thrashing around in the last days of empire. The Continue reading »

Have we turned a corner on growth in asylum applications?

https://johnmenadue.com/have-we-turned-a-corner-on-growth-in-asylum-application…
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 04:55
Since international borders re-opened, asylum applications at the primary stage steadily grew from a low of around 618 in February 2022 to 1,786 in March 2023. While this was well below the peak in 2017-18 of around 2,500 per month, it would have been worrying the Albanese Government given the entry of the Coalition and Continue reading »

No amount of money will fix the current health system

https://johnmenadue.com/no-amount-of-money-will-fix-the-current-health-system/
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 04:54
It has been obvious for many years that our health system needs a radical, evidence based, redesign if it is ever to meet the oft spoken goals of equality and cost-effectiveness, with a focus on prevention and timely availability of care based on need, not financial wellbeing. Ours is a country where, despite politicians’ pre-election Continue reading »

Aboriginal housing: Australia’s biggest policy failure?

https://johnmenadue.com/aboriginal-housing-australias-biggest-policy-failure/
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 04:53
The inadequate if not negligent response of governments around Australia to the critical issue of Aboriginal housing—perhaps the country’s biggest policy failure—puts into sharp focus why a Voice to Parliament may help elevate the case for urgent action. Governments have moved away from specific programs to address the acute housing needs of First Peoples, even Continue reading »

It all comes from the same patriarchal compost pile

https://digbysblog.net/2023/05/31/it-all-comes-from-the-same-patriarchal-compos…
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 04:00
This piece in the Guardian by Moira Donegal nails it: On Monday, Jim Pillen, the Republican governor of Nebraska, signed a law that bans abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy and restricts gender-affirming care for anyone under 19. The ban on trans medical care takes effect in October and the abortion ban goes into effect immediately. And so Nebraska has become the latest state to determine through law what might have once been determined by the more pliable tools of custom or imagination: the way that the sexed body a person is born with shapes the kind of life they can live. Be it through forced pregnancy or prohibited transition, the state of Nebraska now claims the right to determine what its citizens will do with their sexed bodies – what those bodies will look like, how they will function and what they will mean. It is a part of the right’s ongoing project to roll back the victories of the feminist and gay rights movements, to re-establish the dominance of men in public life, to narrow possibilities for difference and expression and to inscribe in law a firm definition and hierarchy of gender: that people are either men or women and that men are better.

If What Millennials Were Taught in School Were Actually Useful

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/if-what-millennials-were-taught-in-school-w…
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 03:00

My spouse Robin and I start our morning by enjoying a well-balanced breakfast of cereal, a glass of milk, and a backup glass of milk. While we eat, I glance at our framed “LOVE WAITS!” purity pledges on the dining room wall, which we enforced until we’d been married for a year, just to be on the safe side. I still admire Robin’s impeccable cursive, which comes in handy every day.

I grab a russet potato out of our pantry and jam it into the engine compartment of my Ford Escape. Thank goodness I haven’t misplaced my alligator clips again, or else my battery wouldn’t start, and I’d be late for work. Today is already shaping up to be stressful, as the diorama my team has been working on for all of Q3 is finally due.

In college, I double-majored in my passions: Reading Interesting Books and Doodling. This landed me my dream job, a vague corporate thing where I was offered a $150K salary as soon as I whispered the words “bachelor’s degree” at a recruiter. My friend who went to trade school is super jealous.

Until the next debt hostage crisis

https://digbysblog.net/2023/05/31/until-the-next-debt-hostage-crisis/
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 02:30
And there will be a next time By the time you read this, it’s possible that the debt ceiling saga will finally be over. Senate leaders have said they have the votes to pass it and as of this writing, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is set to call for a vote on the package immediately — and unless he is completely inept (which is very possible), that means he knows he has the votes. Of course, anything can happen with this volatile, slim GOP House majority, as we learned during the epic speaker vote back in January. They like the drama and we may get some yet. But at this moment it appears that the deal struck by McCarthy and President Biden over the weekend is likely going to pass on a bipartisan basis over the objections of some on both the left and right, avoiding a default and any ensuing economic catastrophe. This agreement has left a sour taste in the mouths of progressives who were led to believe that the Democratic leadership in Congress and the White House had learned their lesson from past debt ceiling showdowns and were not going to engage this time.

Bringing the war back home

https://digbysblog.net/2023/05/31/bringing-the-war-back-home/
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 00:30
“I somehow thought (the war) was far away” At least eight drones hit Moscow on Tuesday, leaving only minor damage to two residential buildings and minor injuries but also uneasiness in Russia. The Guardian reports: There has been no suggestion that US-made drones or munitions were used in the attacks on Moscow. There has been speculation that at least one of the drones involved was a UJ-22 produced by a Ukrainian company. Another Guardian report on the attacks: According to Russian authorities and media, eight drones were involved in the attack, with five shot down or otherwise disabled with jamming technology. Russian media close to the security services said the number was many times higher, with more than 30 drones participating in the attack. […] The attacks seem designed to bring the war home to Russia’s capital, underlying both the fact that Ukraine is capable of skirting Russian air defences repeatedly and that it has the capacity to strike deep inside Russia. Axios reports: Podolyak posted to WhatsApp that “Ukraine is not directly connected to the nighttime drone attack in Moscow.