wednesday newstrip

Five journalists among 20 dead in Israeli strike on Gaza hospital · UK police arrest protester over a ‘Plasticine Action’ T-shirt · there is concern immigrants in Australia could become "targets" of discrimination & hate over the weekend with nationwide rallies planned calling for an end to "mass immigration" · Australia Post has taken the extraordinary step of immediately suspending many forms of postage to the United States, as a T.®ump administration tariff on low-value parcels is due to come into effect within days · YouTube confirms AI alterations to Shorts, raising concerns among creators · judge unseals bombshell 'smear campaign' texts & emails in Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni case · 11-year-old New South Wales student crowned Little Miss Universe after pageant in Manila. She has been competing in beauty pageants since she was six · Texas Attorney General on Monday said that the vast majority of schools in the Lone Star State should still plan on displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms even after a federal judge ruled against it last week.

Another out-of-nowhere space filler

while I work on other things.

Seventy-six Trump boners
led the rigged charade.

How / wrong can / one man be?

 

wednesday newstrip

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Beach suggested the "deep state" was to blame after a man was caught on video throwing a Subway sandwich at a federal officer · Australia's meth, cocaine, MDMA, & heroin consumption up by 34 per cent · Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich vows to resume illegal E1 development in occupied West Bank which would split the West Bank in two · T.®ump cold-called Norwegian minister to ask about Nobel Peace Prize · pro-MAGA host Gina Loudon accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being "just as evil" as Russian President Vladimir Putain because he did not wear a suit during a visit to the White House earlier this year · Chris Hemsworth's fitness app lays off staff, closes Australian office in shift to US · JD Vance sparked outrage when his huge security convoy took up all of the disabled parking spaces at a posh Cotswolds farm shop.

wednesday newstrip

'Great friends' Australia, NZ vow closer defense ties · a 46-year-old decided to run bare-chested in the annual Sydney City2Surf, displaying the scars of her double mastectomy to break the stigma around choosing not to get breast reconstruction & to live without breasts · T.®ump secretly authorizes military action against Latin American cartels, NYT reports · Deputy Australian Prime Minister Marles insists Australia 'not supplying weapons to Israel' but critics argue 'parts of weapons are weapons' · tens of thousands protest in Israel over plan to escalate war on Gaza · London police arrest 466 people as pro-Palestinian protesters defy new law · DoNuts T.®ump has ordered the official White House portrait of former President Barack Obama to be relocated once again — this time to a "hidden" staircase out of view of visitors.

recently, at Series Magritte

L'éternité (2)

Dante, Christ, &
a wheel of butter
in the middle. I
doubt that any of
these would keep
me happy for
eternity, not unless
there was something 
else to go with them.

Though I must admit
I sense something 
miraculous in the
line-up. Given that
the two busts are
somewhat crusty
with age, how does
the butter manage
to stay so fresh?

wednesday newstrip

The Lamborghini Temerario revs to 10,000 and loves to slide · "this proves we’ve been lied to:" alien-like world discovered beneath Antarctica fuels explosive rift between scientists & truth-seekers · Koenigsegg Jesko attack drags supercharged Hayabusa, bike pops 140-mph wheelie for the win · radioactive wasp nest found at site where US once made nuclear bombs · an outraged Aussie has lashed out at the expensive prices at op shops, with many claiming they have ditched the charity stores for good & gone to Kmart or Target · Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, it is only a matter of when & how · New York mass shooter was targeting NFL offices — but took the wrong elevator · a world class website documenting New Zealand's history could be allowed to wither & die with cuts confirmed at the Ministry for Culture & Heritage.

from the archives

I am feeling my age, I am feeling / of an age. Watched I am curious – Yellow on public tv last night, Zabriskie Point on cable this morning. Saw them both on their first release, a couple of years apart, thirty five years ago. I am curious – Yellow in an "art cinema," Zabriskie Point, thanks to the success of Antonioni’s earlier Blowup, in general release.

Both polemics. Both so dated now. Strange fashion statements. Suits & talkfests in one, afros & action in the other. Yellow seems so stilted, redeemed only by the interview with Olof Palme (later assassinated), the brief clip of the always emotion-provoking Martin Luther King Jr. (also assassinated later) & a snippet of Yevtushenko reading "Babi Yar." Zabriskie Point is corny, saved only by its eclectic score & the beauty of Death Valley.

& yet both are illustrations of how we, at the time, thought we could change the world. That we didn’t succeed is painfully obvious as you read the papers, watch the news. Sometimes I think we didn’t go far enough, became content with having pushed the boundaries a little to provide a comfort zone. Pliable enough for a while, but now growing brittle, & under more threat than ever before.

11/29/2004

What part

of
     NO
don’t you
under-
stand? 

N?

No,
O.