SearchDemocracy LinksMember's Off-site Blogs |
how will 2025 come to be defined? not by nick, obviously....NICK BRYANT IS CLEVER WITH WORDS AND CLICHéS, AND IN OUR MINDS THAT COULD BE WRONG — TO GUS AND HIS PUB DEVILS, BRYANT WRITES, TALKS AND POLISHES TURDS BRILLIANTLY... HERE HE IS: If 2024 was the year of democracy, with elections taking place that directly affected more than half of the world’s population, how will 2025 come to be defined? Given a billionaire is set to return as US president, and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, conveys the impression of being his de facto co-president-elect, perhaps it will be the year of plutocracy. Government by the wealthy.
they will teach you, force you and trick you on how to think....Voted many times by UK and US magazines as the most important public intellectual in the world, Noam Chomsky, scientist, linguist, human rights activist, suffered a stroke at age 95 and can no longer speak. Yet as 2025 begins, Chomsky at 96 gifts the world his examples of inquiry and dissent. These qualities he might say, remain the much needed means to strive for freedom, justice and peace. Noam Chomsky, the voice silenced, the legacy unending By Stuart Rees
His early life tells us something of the promise to follow.
half-pole or half-mast, the democrats are halfway to hell.....WASHINGTON ― President-elect Donald Trump lashed out Friday over plans for the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff during his upcoming inauguration to honor the late President Jimmy Carter ‒ but the White House said it isn't reconsidering the order.
we shouldn't abuse the elderlies, but this president abused our intelligence....Only in the world of political make-believe we inhabit in the West would the Wall Street Journal’s account of Biden’s years-long cognitive decline, and its concealment by his officials, count as a scoop. And only in a world in which the billionaire-owned media alone constructs and polices what counts as reality would the WSJ be able to run this story without also being expected to consider what it signifies about America’s professed democracy. The emperor, we are now told, was naked all along. How did it take more than four years for the fearless, tenacious billionaire-owned media to notice? The WSJ reports that even back in 2021 Biden had what his officials described as “bad days” when his mind worked so poorly he had to be kept away from senior Congresspeople and his own cabinet colleagues.
justice was a whore which ever way....The Manhattan judge who presided over former and future President Donald Trump’s hush money trial has denied the motion to dismiss the case and set the sentencing date for January 10, just ten days before his inauguration for a second term. Judge Juan Merchan stated in his ruling on Friday that Trump can appear in person or virtually for the sentencing and indicated that the President-elect will receive an unconditional discharge, avoiding jail time.
losing sino-friendship....China scholar Mark Wang still remembers a time in the 2000s when Australia’s China studies was vibrant and in a leading position in the world. Academics say China studies sector in ‘crisis’ amid a funding shortage and ‘climate of fear’ By Jenny Cai
“At that time, the student interest, government policy and funding for China studies in Australia were really strong,” said Professor Wang, the director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies. “Australian universities once hired so many China-related experts like myself, researching and teaching specialised knowledge about China.
reshaping the middle-east....Those currently celebrating the US and Israel’s decisive military victories against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria and possibly the defeat of Ansar Allah in Yemen may soon discover the pyrrhic nature of “reshaping the Middle East” in the interests of Western civilization. The dangers of ‘victory’ By Scott Burchill
Military actions enabled by Washington have left Israel more strategically dominant than it has ever been, but it is also now more politically isolated: in significant regions of the world including Europe and East Asia, it is now a pariah state.
business is relative...Biden blocks $14.9 billion US-Japan steel deal over national security concerns https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250103-biden-blocks-us-japan-steel-deal
MEANWHILE:
MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - The US State Department has approved a possible sale of advanced AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 air-to-air missiles and related equipment to Japan for $3.64 billion, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
at the highest deceitful level of hypocritical diplomacy.....French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock were in the Syrian capital for talks on behalf of the European Union, in the highest-level visit by major Western powers since Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad
FBI fairy tales about a couple of nightmares....Twin violent incidents rocked the US on New Year's Day, with an ex-US Army vet plowing a pickup into a crowd in New Orleans and going down guns blazing in a firefight with police, and an active-duty Green Beret blowing up in a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. Sputnik asked renowned former CIA analyst Larry Johnson to weigh in. “Right now, the FBI is trying to present this as what they call a ‘lone wolf individual’, acting on his own by himself. I know that’s the story. I don’t find it to be particularly credible,” Johnson said, commenting on the terror attack that rocked New Orleans and claimed scores of lives January 1.
a camera obscura....Blue chip business lobby the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce is associated with funding illegal settlements in Israel and sponsorships by notorious Elbit Systems whose weapons are deployed in war crimes. Yaakov Aharon reports. Israel’s “innovation ecosystem will be supercharged” by the war, Dave Sharma said. Indeed, the bloody rubble of Gaza has been a human testing ground for drones and all manner of new military technologies. Sharma, the Liberal Party senator and former ambassador to Israel, was addressing corporate moguls at the 2024 summit of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC).
yuckraine ends transit of russian gas to EU....Russia has officially ceased gas transit through Ukraine to the EU as of 8am Moscow time on January 1. Russian energy giant Gazprom announced the halt after negotiations to extend the transit agreements with Ukrainian companies Naftogaz and the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine, which have been in place since 2019, fell through. In a press release issued on Wednesday, Gazprom said, “Due to the repeated and clear refusal of the Ukrainian side to extend these agreements, Gazprom was deprived of the technical and legal opportunity to supply gas for transit through Ukraine starting from January 1, 2025.” As a result, gas supplies to Europe via this route are now completely suspended.
every new day in this genocide brings with it pain and brutality equal to all the previous days combined....The Israeli occupation continues the genocide in Gaza in a frenzied manner, with the pace of assaults increasing daily. For 450 days, the occupation has persisted in killing civilians, displacing them, and attacking hospitals and civilian institutions protected by all international laws and regulations. Every new day in this genocide brings with it pain and brutality equal to all the previous days combined. Every moment in this inferno in Gaza is a stain on the false humanity that never acts when Israel is the aggressor. 450 Days of Genocide: Israeli Occupation Burns Hospitals, Cold Ravages the Displaced By Refaat Ibrahim
.... that the light of freedom never dims......On this New Year’s Eve, billions of people will gather with friends to ring in 2025 with the hope of a better year to come. For the first time in many years, free-speech advocates have a reason to celebrate.
kekius annoys the teutons....The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has sparked speculation after changing his name on his social media platform X to "Kekius Maximus". The tech mogul - and close confidant of US President-Elect Donald Trump - offered no immediate explanation for the name or his new profile image which depicts the character Pepe the Frog - a meme that has been used by far-right groups [In the fall of 2016, the ADL teamed with Pepe creator Matt Furie to form a #SavePepe campaign to reclaim the symbol from those who use it with hateful intentions.].
|
User login |
Recent comments
19 min 13 sec ago
3 hours 44 sec ago
9 hours 29 min ago
13 hours 19 min ago
14 hours 31 min ago
1 day 40 min ago
1 day 5 hours ago
1 day 7 hours ago
1 day 9 hours ago
1 day 12 hours ago