In every era, certain industries become so large, so politically embedded, and so culturally unexamined that their performance ceases to matter.

They are judged instead on the confidence with which they declare themselves indispensable. In contemporary Australia, that industry is property. It has woven around itself a powerful myth: that towers equal progress, population growth equals prosperity, and the private development model is synonymous with the national interest.

 

Stewart Sweeney

The great failure of the property industry

 

The cockroach saw my shadow 

And knew death was coming his way

Equipped with a shoe a hammer and a spray

I was tricked when he crawled into a hollow

 

Bastard

 

Through the floorboards behind the old wardrobe

That had never moved since dad had died abroad

While raking the dust with my panhandle

I found an old badge that had seen battle

 

Weirdo

 

The square and the compass typical pack

Of belonging to an elite of men

In aprons for the immemorial kitchen

Prior to my birth and after my death

As eternity is passing us blow by blow 

 

 

The hollow was shallow as a wisecrack

The beast saw me distracted

He could hear the angels sing heavenly loaded

On the blaring bleeding radio 

 

 

Axios clarified the obvious this week: Ted Cruz is preparing to run for president, again. 

A lot has changed since Cruz conceded to Donald Trump in 2016. Trump completely remade the GOP and American politics over the last decade. Different issues and new rhetoric determine political discourse. Cruz ran as an anti-establishment insurgent in 2016, only to be outflanked by the genuine outsider Trump.

 

Everything is more expensive these days, but especially those beauties already expensive to begin with.

By the way, swung by the Colonel's place the other day and a bucket with sides is $50 now…and I heard the Confederates lost the war! (*joking*…the appellation is an Honorific in the Bluegrass State, of which a forbear of Yours Truly in fact bears the distinction…as seen here during the last Great Recession.)

Except, never fear! As always, your best good pal Somerset has you covered, Sportsfans!

Herein shall ye find my invaluable Tips on how to Gift-Give your way to the heart (or other locations further south) of that little cutie you hold so dear this coming yuletide.

 

GUY SOMERSET

 

Airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela is now closed, US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday. Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against the country, citing its alleged involvement in the illicit drug trade, a charge Venezuela’s leadership has consistently denied.

Trump made the announcement in a caps-heavy post on Truth Social without elaborating how far the “surrounding” airspace spans beyond the South American country’s borders. 

“To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers, and human traffickers, please consider the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela to be closed in its entirety,” the US president wrote.

The Russian embassy in the UK has accused British media of misrepresenting President Vladimir Putin’s comments on the Ukraine conflict.

The diplomats have pointed to coverage by certain outlets, including The Daily Telegraph, which it said allowed “serious distortions” of Putin’s remarks during his recent visit to Kyrgyzstan.

“His words were effectively doctored to align with the UK’s official narrative,” the statement on the embassy’s official website said Thursday.

“In particular, he was alleged to have said that it was Russia that intended to fight until the last Ukrainian dies.”

“The actual context is entirely different,” the embassy continued, quoting Putin’s remarks word for word:

On Sunday [23 NOVEMBER 2025] night, Israeli forces stormed the Palestinian National Theater, El-Hakawati, in occupied East Jerusalem, shutting down a children’s musical show titled “Dreams Under the Olive Trees.”

Following direct instructions from far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the theater was raided and closed down just before a group of children were scheduled to perform.

 

BY Dan Sheehan

 

 

The European Space Agency (ESA) will begin working on defense projects for the first time, in a move it is describing as “historic.” A resolution by its 23 member states says the agency has the tools to develop space systems “for security and defense.”

The EU and NATO are pouring tens of billions in taxpayer and borrowed money into supporting defense firms and churning out weapons, claiming Russia poses an imminent threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that EU leaders are inflating the alleged danger to push their own political agendas and funnel cash into the arms industry.

Next year’s budget allocates a record €22.1 billion (around $24 billion) to the ESA for the next three years. Its member states include virtually all European NATO countries, as well as non‑NATO members such as Switzerland and Austria.

People clinging to falsehoods is not a failure of intelligence, but a deeply human attempt to protect emotional stability in an overwhelming world.

Chas Key’s recent article in _Pearls & Irritations_ raises a question at the centre of our political and cultural turmoil: why do people cling so fiercely to beliefs that are demonstrably untrue? Why do falsehoods, conspiracies and simplistic narratives not only survive but prosper in societies that pride themselves on being better educated than at any point in history?

 

 

Shortly after 3:46 p.m. Doha time on September 9, Osama Hamdan received a call from a journalist asking him if he knew anything about the explosion that had just taken place in the Qatari capital. The senior Hamas leader was at a meeting across town from the Islamic resistance movement’s offices on Wadi Rawdan Street in the upscale Legtaifiyah District.

 

Weapons of Willpower: Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Trump's Gaza Plan

The UN put a stamp of legitimacy on President Trump’s colonialist plan for Gaza. In a Drop Site exclusive, Palestinian resistance leaders assess the state of the war.

BY JEREMY SCAHILL AND JAWA AHMAD

 

 

Andriy Yermak’s exit as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s all-powerful chief of staff is a tectonic shift for Ukraine that sets the stage for a fierce battle over how the country is governed.

Nicknamed the “green cardinal” for wearing the military-inspired outfits his boss popularized, Yermak — a once little-known lawyer and B-movie producer — rose to wield immense influence as Zelenskyy’s top aide and was seen by many as virtually a co-president.

 

The US is keeping the EU “in the dark”regarding ongoing diplomacy and possible draft documents aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict, Politico Europe has reported, citing an unnamed EU diplomat.

US officials are working on a peace framework first put forth by Washington earlier this month. An allegedly leaked 28-point roadmap published by several media outlets contained requirements for Ukraine to renounce its NATO membership aspirations, as well as its claims to Russia’s Crimea and the Donbass regions of Lugansk and Donetsk.

Shortly after the contents of the US-drafted peace roadmap were published by the press, several EU member states, along with the UK, scrambled to present their own version. Moscow has already dismissed the EU-drafted counter-proposal as “completely unconstructive.”

 

OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, may need to raise more than $200 billion by 2030 in order to continue operating, according to HSBC research cited by several media outlets. 

The company needs the funding to continue expansion as computing costs climb amid an accelerating and increasingly frantic global AI race.

 

OpenAI needs $200bn to continue losing money – HSBC
Surging computing costs could keep the maker of ChatGPT scrambling for fresh cash, a bank research report has estimated

 

 

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The US has initiated a campaign to recruit hired guns in the Philippines to fight for Ukraine, with the German Embassy in Manila facilitating their travel by issuing Schengen visas, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"According to incoming information, US representatives have launched a campaign in the Philippines to recruit local citizens to fight on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces ... Preference is being given to former employees of Philippine security agencies and retired military personnel. Applicants are promised a monthly salary of $5,000," Zakharova told at a briefing.

The US-run recruitment drive, operated by a Florida-based security agency, includes training by American instructors and the issuance of German Schengen visas for recruits before they are sent to the conflict zone, the spokeswoman added.