DeSantis comes out for de-funding the IRS It makes my head hurt when I think of how the wingnuts capitalized on a few left wing activists saying “defund the police” whenever I hear these calls to “defund” everything from the FBI to DHS to the IRS. You’d think they’d at least be a tiny bit embarrassed by the raging hypocrisy: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would be “welcoming” of a measure from Congress to defund the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) if he’s elected president next year. The comments from DeSantis, who officially announced this week that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, came during a conversation with radio host and Second Amendment advocate Dana Loesch on The Dana Show. During the interview, DeSantis was asked whether he would sign a measure from Congress to abolish the IRS through funding means, as well as what he would replace the system with. “Are you for a far tax, a flat tax, where do you stand on that?” Loesch asked DeSantis. “So, the answer’s yes.
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Noam Chomsky on Why This Is the Most Dangerous Point in Human History Noam Chomsky Interviewed by C. J. Polychroniou May 27, 2023. Common Dreams. We live in a world facing existential threats while extreme inequality is tearing our societies apart and democracy is in sharp decline. The U.S., meanwhile, is bent on maintaining global hegemony […]
I’m sure you’ll recall that Elon Musk recently held a little event with Ron Desantis. It didn’t go well. But that doesn’t mean Ron isn’t grateful: FLORIDA GOV. RON DeSantis (R-FL) signed a bill regarding spaceflight on Thursday just one day after he announced his presidential run in a glitch-filled interview with Elon Musk on Twitter Spaces. DeSantis signed into law CS/SB 1318 – Spaceflight Entity Liability along with 27 other bills. The law exempts “spaceflight entity from liability for injury to or death of a crew resulting from spaceflight activities under certain circumstances.” The measure also requires “a spaceflight entity to have a crew sign a specified warning statement.” Florida is a known launching point for SpaceX aircrafts, and the new law could potentially shield Musk and other space flight companies from being sued for accidents that injure or kill crew members.
SAWTELL Public School (PS) is moving forward with building an outdoor Gumbaynggirr community cultural learning area in memory of Uncle Mark Flanders. “The Rotary Club Of Sawtell is proud to be supporting this project and to this end has donated $5,000 towards its construction,” Sawtell Rotarian Alan Freedman told News Of The Area. Advertise with...
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THE new President of the Coffs City Probus Club, Jane Newell, has been speaking out about what the club offers, in a recent interview on Coffs Harbour community radio station, 2AIRFM. Hosting the interview, Ken Capps who is the recent past-President of Coffs City Probus, felt it would be a good opportunity to tell people...
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BECAUSE of the success of the ‘On the road, 65Plus workshop’ held earlier this month, Transport for NSW are offering another workshop on June 7. Julie Crocker, from Drivewise Training School, will again conduct a free road safety workshop to help people aged 65 or over make safer choices when driving, walking, using a mobility...
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THE Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is calling on all local ‘superheroes’ to assemble for the Million Paws Walk this Sunday, May 28, from 9am until 2pm, at the Park Beach Reserve, Coffs Harbour. Because every superhero needs a sidekick, the RSPCA urges people to bring their furry best friend...
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MINISTER for Agriculture and Regional NSW Tara Moriarty made a welcome surprise visit to the Landcare NSW State Gathering where she confirmed the NSW Government’s commitment to providing Landcare with almost $59m for its 2023-2027 program, almost trebling the investment on the 2019-2023 program which received $22.5m. Larry Langman was in attendance as Secretary of...
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MORE and merrier, the festival to mark the completion of the Bellingen Memorial Hall makeover brings added acts to the celebrations than originally planned. Following delays earlier in the year owing to timing required for the final touches to the refurbishment of the town’s treasure, the celebration series of performances is even more anticipated. Advertise...
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DOCUMENTARY editor Jane St Vincent Welch, who lives in Bellingen, proudly worked on a film that is coming on tour to Sawtell and Coffs Harbour cinemas in mid-June. The film is called Audrey Napanangka and will be accompanied by director Penny McDonald and Audrey, the star of the doco. Advertise with News of The Area...
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Sycophantic ministers cosy up to the gas industry. Electricity from renewables will soon match increasing demand for electricity. Will sodium replace lithium in batteries? All together now … 1…2…3… We love you gas, we do, We love you gas, we do … Headline, The Guardian, 16 May 2023, South Australia tells gas industry the state is Continue reading »
Over the past month, Australian pressure on the Biden administration to drop the charges against Julian Assange has grown significantly. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earned the gratitude of Assange’s father, John Shipton, by leading the call for the charges to be dropped, making his strongest statement yet on the Assange issue on May 4, declaring: Continue reading »
To survive this critical century, we need to know the truth about it. Whether it is specific issues like the Ukraine war, the Covid pandemic, a conspiracy to take control of the world, or the wider pursuit of human progress, truth is extraordinarily elusive, and fiercely contested. Knowing the truth also helps us to see Continue reading »
As the people of Thailand say, ‘same, same.’ Here we go again. Another indigenous Australian, and this one an educated, travelled, and articulate First Nation public intellectual is being maligned. Stan Grant has stepped away from the ABC, as a result of persistent and vitriolic racist abuse. The persistence of racism Those most aligned with Continue reading »
Exploitation of migrant workers in Australia is rife, a new Grattan Institute report has found. The report, Short-changed: How to stop the exploitation of migrant workers in Australia, shows that recent migrants are twice as likely as long-term residents to be underpaid, and up to 16 per cent of recent migrants are paid less than Continue reading »
The housing problem is huge and complex but the plight of the homeless is growing and must be addressed urgently. To solve the problem, what are the practicalities of manufactured housing and their financing? One of the hallmarks of a fair society is said to be how individuals, communities and governments treat, value and support Continue reading »
As Canada grapples with allegations of foreign interference by China, John Price writes that politicians would be wise to read Australian academic David Brophy’s new book: ‘China Panic: Australia’s Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering’. When announcing public consultations with the intention to set up a foreign influence registry in March, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Continue reading »
Recent reports indicate that the United Arab Emirates’ Rashid 2 rover planned for China’s Chang’e 7 mission to the moon in 2026 has hit an American speed bump. This ambitious mission is merely the next in the impressive Chang’e lunar series. It includes a moon orbiter, a lunar lander, a so-called “hopper” that can move Continue reading »
LOCKY Miller received a hero’s welcome as he returned to his hometown of Coffs Harbour in the NRL Indigenous Round, donning the jersey of the Newcastle Knights as their fullback against the Cronulla Sharks. Despite the outcome not going in Miller’s favour against his former teammates, the crowd erupted in cheers every time he touched...
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If you haven’t been following the story of the most corrupt, immoral wingnut AG in the country, here’s a rundown. Let’s see if Republicans can summon the will to do something about him: The Republican-dominated Texas House has scheduled a vote on the impeachment of the state’s Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, for Saturday at 1 p.m. The vote was set to take place just two days after a bipartisan but Republican-led committee of representatives recommended that Mr. Paxton should be impeached for a range of abuses that may have been crimes. The attorney general has been handling various legal challenges for years, weathering multiple investigations with few political repercussions. On Friday, Mr. Paxton again denied any wrongdoing and invited supporters to “peacefully” make their voices heard during the impeachment vote at the State Capitol. Here’s what to know. Who is Ken Paxton? Before he become the attorney general in 2015, Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. worked as a lawyer and state legislator, serving in both the State House and Senate.
Fergawdsakes: “Murderers.” “Criminals.” “We are watching you.” These are just a handful of the threats and abuse sent to meteorologists at AEMET, Spain’s national weather agency, in recent months. They come via social media, its website, letters, phone calls – even in the form of graffiti sprayed across one of its buildings. Abuse and harassment “have always happened” against the agency’s scientists, Estrella Gutiérrez-Marco, spokesperson for AEMET, told CNN. But there has been a rapid rise recently, coinciding with extreme weather in Spain. A severe drought has shrunk water levels to alarming lows, exacerbated by record-breaking April temperatures. The abuse got so bad that in April, AEMET posted a video on Twitter calling for an end to the harassment, and asking for respect. Even the government intervened.
My problem with Michel Foucault, then, is not that he seeks to “move beyond” the welfare state, but that he actively contributed to its destruction, and that he did so in a way that was entirely in step with the neoliberal critiques of the moment. His objective was not to move towards “socialism,” but to be […]
By Ellis Winningham Oftentimes, we advise people to limit the use of the word “money” when discussing MMT concepts. Although the word is incredibly common, the term is actually …
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It is not difficult to discern Foucault’s animosity toward the post-war left project. Obviously he was very hostile to Marxism … For Foucault in 1977, “the return of the revolution, that’s our problem (…) You know it very well: it’s the desire itself of the revolution that is a problem” … Foucault’s non-vote for Mitterrand […]
(But not without struggle, it seems) Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, addressed the 2023 graduates of Johns Hopkins University: The time is of the essence, and it is that essence that I would like to talk about today. One of the most common truisms on Earth is the advice to value or at least not waste time. Why has it become so widespread? Every person eventually realizes that time is the most valuable resource on the planet, not oil or uranium, not lithium or anything else, but time. Time. The very flow of time convinces us of this. Some people realize this sooner, and these are the lucky ones. Others realize it too late when they lose someone or something. People cannot avoid it. This is just a matter of time. Now, you can look back at the time you have spent here at the university studying—did you get everything you needed from it? You have even more time ahead of you, a whole lifetime. These are the careers you will build. This is your parents’ pride, which they have every right to, if they raised the children who graduate from Johns Hopkins. These are your families who, I wish you this, will bring you love.