World War ll — 75 Years Later

“The house is burning but the clock still keeps time.”

As Warren Buffett once said: “You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”

Chinese ambassador’s comments a ‘wake-up call’ for Australians, says Martin Parkinson

THE ACCOUNTABILITY CHASE: The ex-PM&C sec has backed the federal government’s push for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.

• You must check this out: the June issue of National Geographic looks at World War ll — 75 years later. 
• The New York Times’ Taffy Brodesser-Akner with “What Happened to Val Kilmer? He’s Just Starting to Figure It Out.”
• Claire McNeill of the Poynter-owned Tampa Bay Times with “Her Senior Year Derailed, a High School Journalist Pushes Toward One Last Deadline.”

ALEX MITCHELL. Constance dream turns to nightmare

By ALEX MITCHELL | On 8 May 2020

At the start of this week, NSW Cabinet Minister Andrew Constance was Liberal Party front-runner to take the Federal seat of Eden Monaro. Now his long-held career ambitions to shift from Sydney to Canberra are in ruins. What went wrong? Continue reading →

Roman Quaedvlieg says he is considering his legal options in the wake of a finding by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) that he acted corruptly while in his position as the Commissioner of the Australian Border Force (ABF).

Claiming the process is 'deeply flawed,' Mr Quaedvlieg also tried – and failed – to have a summary of the ACLEI's findings suppressed, saying it was not in the public interest to release them.

The Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI)'s role is to detect, investigate, prosecute and prevent corrupt conduct, and to maintain and improve the integrity of staff members in law enforcement agencies. It is governed by two specific pieces of legislation are the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 and the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Regulations 2017

The story so far

Mr Quaedvlieg, who is also a former ACT chief police officer and an assistant commissioner with the AFP, faced the ACLEI over eight separate allegations of corruption, most of which pertained to the misuse of his influence and position as the ABF commissioner.

He was sacked over these allegations. Three of the eight allegations were eventually proven by the ACLEI, but no formal charges will be laid because of a lack of evidence.

Former Border Force (ABF) boss found to be corrupt by ACLEI, but no charges will be laid

WHEN YOU’RE RICH, YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR PROBLEMS TO THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Democrats fume over having to clean up Bloomberg’s mess

ACCOUNTABILITY: Congress Backs Australian Call for Investigation Into China Over Coronavirus Deceit

US senators propose renaming street outside Chinese embassy after Wuhan whistleblower Guardian

JOHN KASS: How does Gov. J.B. Pritzker — and how do local governments — collect taxes from businesses he’s shut down?

Until Pritzker shut down the state’s restaurants and bars, they employed more than 500,000 Illinois workers. The only employers with more workers are the state and local governments.

And he has yet to offer leadership for business owners who are obligated to pay state and local taxes, and who, through no fault of their own, are hemorrhaging money because he shut them down.

Pritzker has granted himself immense state emergency powers. But he hasn’t demanded the Illinois General Assembly meet and act, and the state tax code is written largely by the legislature, though local governments set their own levies.

Pritzker also hasn’t told homeowners what he’d do, if anything, about paying the property bills they’ll be getting in July, even if they’ve lost their jobs.

Most government operates on the Goodfellas principle: “F*** you, pay me.”

Designer Cyril Diagne has developed a prototype of an augmented reality app that can copy objects from the real world and paste them into a Photoshop document. Here’s how it works: you point your phone at a book sitting on your desk, the software produces an image of just the book on your phone screen, you point the phone at your computer, and the book image gets pasted into the Photoshop document. It looks like straight-up magic (or at least like a scene from Minority Report or something)

‘We Are Not Essential. We Are Sacrificial.’ NYT. From an MTA conductor.

Giant Hospital Corporation Takes Advantage of Coronavirus to Fight Nurses’ Union Drive The Intercept

72 UFWC Members Dead – After Strike, 12 S.C. Chicken Workers Fired – NOLA Garbage Workers Strike Payday Report

‘Stop throwing us bare bones’: US union activism surges amid coronavirusGuardian

Mass Incarceration Poses Uniquely American Coronavirus Risk The Intercept

The Left Case against Open BordersAngela Nagle, American Affairs. Re-upping this controversial, unwoke article from 2018, because it seems the open borders crowd has gone silent in the face of a global pandemic.

When Cotton Mather Fought The SmallpoxAmerican Heritage (Re Silc). Mather’s house was bombed (!).


The Verge: “Google has added a very useful feature to Google Lens, its multipurpose object recognition tool. You can now copy and paste handwritten notes from your phone to your computer with Lens, though it only works if your handwriting is neat enough. In order to use the new feature, you need to have the latest version of Google Chrome as well as the standalone Google Lens app on Android or the Google app on iOS (where Lens can be accessed through a button next to the search bar). You’ll also need to be logged in to the same Google account on both devices…”

Return to work, or else Popular Information

Obsession With Fraud Sabotages U.S. Aid to Millions Without Jobs Bloomberg

Food Banks Can’t Go On Like This The Atlantic

Op-Ed: Enjoying nature during the shutdown is easy — but only if you’re rich Los Angeles Times

Why America Can Make Semiconductors But Not Swabs