“What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?”
– Ursula K. Le Guin
“We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Freedom is like that. It’s like air. When you have it, you don’t notice it.” Gornick admits that her 1977 oral history, now reissued, has faults. But it’s a brilliant evocation of the exhilaration of conversion and of finding a cause
“We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Freedom is like that. It’s like air. When you have it, you don’t notice it.” Gornick admits that her 1977 oral history, now reissued, has faults. But it’s a brilliant evocation of the exhilaration of conversion and of finding a cause
Romance of Communism
“Words are like leaves and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.” – Alexander Pope
The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that despite a strong global economy and near full employment, none of the four societal institutions that the study measures—government, business, NGOs and media—is trusted. The cause of this paradox can be found in people’s fears about the future and their role in it, which are a wake-up call for our institutions to embrace a new way of effectively building trust: balancing competence with ethical behavior. Click here to download the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer report.“
A memoir that conceals. Rebecca Solnit’s latest book promises intimacy, but it speaks more powerfully on broad, collective problems
SEAN INNIS and BOB MCMULLAN. Restarting Australian democracy Part Two
The performance of National Cabinet has been the administrative success story of the pandemic. Cooperative and decisive action at the top of our federation has ben crucial to successful management of the virus. It is clear that National Cabinet should continue until current restrictions have been removed. But what then? Continue reading
New powers for ASIO to question 14-year-olds and go after foreign spies
Australia's domestic intelligence agency will have the power to forcibly question foreign spies and 14-year-olds under new laws introduced to Parliament.
US Attorney-General advances Trump’s quest to become “President For Life”
The corrupt “Injustice Department’s” move to drop the case against turncoat Russian agent, Michael Flynn, demonstrates Trump’s unfettered control. For a president with limited authority, this is a critical step to a de facto dictatorship. DCReport editor-in-chief, David Cay Johnston, reports.
The storm we can’t see WaPo. A must read.
The dark decade ahead The Week
“Words are like leaves and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.” – Alexander Pope
“Facebook is for people who can’t face books.” – Madeleine Beard
“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” – Stanislaw Lem
“Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don’t need to be done.” – Andy Rooney
“The only way to amuse some people is to slip and fall on an icy pavement,” – E. W. Howe
“I would have answered your letter sooner but you didn’t send one.” – Ace Goodman
“Two things are infinite. The universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe.” – Albert Einstein
A memoir that conceals. Rebecca Solnit’s latest book promises intimacy, but it speaks more powerfully on broad, collective problems
Police dossier alleges Sydney GP exchanged certificates for drugs
Eastern suburbs GP, Dr Joe Grech, has been involved in drug supply and possession, and providing false medical certificates, a police dossier shows.
Fact-checking ‘Plandemic’: A documentary full of false conspiracy theories about the coronavirus Politico
WSJ.com: “Nazis rose to power in Germany in part because of dislocations caused by a mass-death pandemic a century ago, research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday said. The paper, written by bank economist Kristian Blickle, examined how the German political system reacted to the influenza pandemic that struck the world between 1918 and 1920. Those events have been back in the world’s consciousness as nations attempt to navigate the coronavirus crisis. The current crisis has resulted in large death tolls, profound economic dislocations and great political uncertainty, at a time when many nations have seen the rise of nationalist political movements that seek to reverse decades of economic and political international linkages. A century ago, “influenza deaths themselves had a strong effect on the share of votes won by extremists, specifically the extremist national socialist party,” the paper said in reference to the Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler, who became chancellor of Germany in 1933…”
Fact-checking ‘Plandemic’: A documentary full of false conspiracy theories about the coronavirus Politico
