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I’ve been wondering this for ages. Is he cooperating? He doesn’t seem to be a presence at Mar-a-lago. Is Trump unhappy with him? CNN takes a look at what he’s been up to: In January, as Kevin McCarthy fought to win the House speakership through 15 rounds of grinding votes and late-night sessions at the Capitol, a few blocks away a group of right-wing holdouts huddled with a familiar but surprising source – former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. A founding member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, Meadows spent years in the House agitating against GOP leadership, trying to move his party increasingly to the right. Now, Meadows was counseling a new batch of Republican rebels, advising them on specific demands to make and gaming out how McCarthy would react to their maneuvering, according to multiple GOP lawmakers who were part of the planning sessions. The group was so taken by Meadows, at one point they considered nominating him for speaker. Meadows ultimately rejected the suggestion, telling lawmakers he preferred to operate behind the scenes. “We talked to him about being speaker.

Why evolving a taste for getting tipsy could prove adaptive.

The post Do Animals Get Drunk? appeared first on Nautilus.

Waiting for DeSaster JV Last with some important history of recent primaries: 1. Comebacks I want to take a walk through history to illustrate the fact that presidential primary comebacks happen. And then to explain why I think a DeSantis comeback is not the most likely outcome. Let’s start with a level-set. Here’s where the race stands today: Yes, it’s early. There’s a lot of campaign left. There are known-unknowns lurking in the offices of various prosecutors. These are national polls. There are actuarial tables. But still: Not great for DeSantis. -Trump is over 50 percent. -DeSantis already got his first look. -And his support is waning. Here’s the thing: Usually when a candidate in a divided field is over the 50 percent mark, is growing, and has a 37-point lead, they win. 2004 Democrats Around this time in 2003, Joe Lieberman(!) led the Democratic field. He faded and Howard Dean eventually emerged as the clear frontrunner, with support in the 30s in a large field. We all know what happened: John Kerry surged in Iowa, parlayed that into a win in New Hampshire, and then ran the table. The dynamics of the 2004 race were quite different from 2024.

In general, I think the left focuses too much on national politics, when a lot of the action is happening at the state level.  So I want to discuss politics in Michigan, my home state since 1987.   Ann Arbor is even more blue than Detroit, but overall Michigan is basically a 50-50 state.  Trump won […]

The answer cannot simply come in the form of another list of dos-and-don’ts.

Simply the best

The future of he world economy is in the hands of fools You’d think dealing with people this stupid would mean that the Democrats have the upper hand. But bargaining with neophytes and nihilists isn’t as easy as you might think. They don’t understand the ramifications of what they are doing: Kevin McCarthy is finally a leading player in a huge Washington drama with his gavel on the line. But as his team sits down with President Joe Biden’s, McCarthy is confronting a handicap that even his allies acknowledge is real: Four years in the minority have left him, and the entire GOP conference, with little practice at monumental bipartisan negotiations like the current debt fight. Before John Boehner became speaker, he worked across the aisle on a landmark education overhaul. Paul Ryan took over the House after helming a massive budget deal that even Democrats called a blueprint for future talks. McCarthy brings a far different profile to the table. As minority leader, he was largely sidelined during the type of high-stakes talks with Democrats that he’s now helming.

America feels above any need to explain its calamitous geostrategic actions. Of course, it has no obligation to. But its character is revealed as being comfortable with threat fabrication, on a grand scale. It is practised at making war on false premise. And appears energised by it, not repentant. Deception, including of allies, is integral Continue reading »

For those familiar with the ongoing prosecution of Julian Assange by the United States, a brutal carnivalesque endeavour that continues to blight that legal system, there is not much to be said. Assange is a political prisoner who must be freed. But the task remains for those like Stella Assange to convince politicians and journalists Continue reading »

To surmount the debt crisis, America needs to stop feeding the Military-Industrial Complex, the most powerful lobby in Washington. In the year 2000, the U.S. government debt was $3.5 trillion, equal to 35% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2022, the debt was $24 trillion, equal to 95% of GDP. The U.S. debt is Continue reading »

American society is going through a phase of polarisation unlike anything seen before, and so far, unparalleled in any other Western democracy. It has given rise to intense feuds among politicians, and makes governing difficult for the White House, most recently aggravated by yet another debt crisis. But why is this happening? The rift is Continue reading »

A new Bill to silence climate protest has provoked a broad chorus of alarm in South Australia. Despite opposition, it seems likely the Bill will pass and South Australia will join the ranks of governments determined to suppress opposition to the fossil fuel industry. The 2023 Australian Petroleum Producers and Explorers Association National Conference took Continue reading »

The recent announcement by federal ministers Tanya Plibersek (Environment) and Murray Watt (Emergency Management) of substantial investment in upgrading the nation’s flood warning gauge network is welcome.But gauging is only part of the problem of flood warning: there is another element which is not routinely well recognised in flood management circles. This is the reality Continue reading »

“Speak softly and carry a big stick.” The pithy words spoken by US President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 has been said to be his ideal policy for the US. But in recent years, the “big stick” diplomacy has proven to be too simplistic for the world they used to dominate. The aphorism served the US well Continue reading »

One of the stranger aspects of the current war, at least for this observer, is the sight of Ukrainian military commanders telling BBC cameras in perfect Russian of their anti-Moscow plans. They have yet to learn to speak Ukrainian.  Moscow is supposed to be attacking Ukraine out of concern it will bring NATO to Russia’s Continue reading »

‘When I speak of scientific socialism I speak in terms of bringing about a revolution, bringing about the workers’ republic which Connolly spoke to us about. A workers’ republic to us means one thing and one thing only, the economic domination, the ownership of every factory, mill, and mine in this country, by the working […]

So, let’s state what should be obvious.

A leaked intelligence report from February says “Netanyahu probably calculates Israel will need to strike Iran to deter its nuclear program.”

The post Leaked Report: “CIA Does Not Know” If Israel Plans to Bomb Iran appeared first on The Intercept.

Will Trump show up? Poor Fox News. They just can’t catch a break. First they found themselves on the hook for over three quarters of a billion dollars because they lied about the 2020 election. Then they fired their popular bomb-throwing white nationalist celebrity anchor Tucker Carlson and their ratings went into the toilet. And now, after spending months boosting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (years, actually) angering their audience’s Dear Leader Donald Trump in the process, DeSantis slapped them in the face by deciding to formally announce his candidacy on Twitter instead of the network. This is a man who actually signed election suppression legislation in a live exclusive on Fox News so you can be sure they expected they would get the long awaited big event. Instead, like their cashiered bomb thrower Carlson, DeSantis raced into the arms of the right’s new “it boy” Twitter owner, Elon Musk. The best he could offer Fox was an appearance with D-List has-been Trey Gowdy later in the day. Rupert Murdoch must be fit to be tied. Don’t any of these people know the meaning of gratitude?

At the beginning of the year 2000, a book titled Irrational Exuberance was published. The American economics professor and Nobel laureate Robert Shiller warned that the extensive deregulation in the financial market that had taken place since the Thatcher-Reagan era had led to a rapid credit expansion. Banks and financial institutions saw a skyrocketing increase […]

A lot of thought went into the concept and design of our space and we can’t wait to share it with you.

First, we wanted the restaurant to feel vast and spacious, so we did an open-ceiling concept as the raw industrial warehouse look is “in.” Our ceiling measures approximately four and a half LeBron Jameses stacked on top of each other. We didn’t bother adding any soundproofing or insulation and left a few wires hanging for authenticity and not because our electrician quit.

We wanted to create a cozy and intimate atmosphere where you feel inclined to have those deep soul-bearing talks with your lover over drinks. The high ceiling acoustics create a perfect echo chamber that amplifies everyone’s voices into a cacophony of tone-deaf choruses so you can have a truly private conversation, so private that the person sitting next to you can’t hear it even though you’re shouting in their face.