Home price rebound

PropTrack released it home prices index to the end of the financial 2023 year.

Following recent prices increases, capital city prices are -2 per cent below record highs, and regional prices only -1 per cent off their record highs. 

Adelaide, Perth, and regional Western Australia have seen prices rise to fresh peaks. 

Here is the June index by capital city and rest of state: 

Source: PropTrack

And here is some more detailed analysis at Property Update. 

by Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and William Melhado, The Texas Tribune

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A state district judge this week ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to begin the process of releasing records related to the May 2022 Uvalde school shooting that the agency has shielded from the public for over a year.

The decision by 261st Civil District Court Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle marks a win for a coalition of news organizations, including ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, which sued the agency in August. The lawsuit sought the release of records that would bring more clarity to law enforcements failed response, including emails, video footage, call logs, emergency communications and forensic records.

The public deserves a full accounting of what happened that day, and were glad that the judge has begun that process, said Reid Pillifant, an associate attorney with Haynes Boone, a law firm that represents the news organizations. Were hopeful DPS wont fight this decision, and well begin the process of providing transparency.

DPS did not directly answer the newsrooms questions, including whether it plans to appeal the courts decision. In a statement emailed to ProPublica and the Tribune on Friday, a spokesperson for the agency said that the litigation is ongoing and that the department will carefully consider its options when a Final Judgment is entered.

Lyttle instructed DPS to submit a detailed list of redactions it wants to make to the public records by Aug. 31. The judge said that the court...

Christians must be ready with an unwavering answer when a lost world asks something of us we know we cannot do -- no matter how big or small -- and then be prepared to carry that cross.

Herodotus (History, Book 1.53) tells the story of Croesus, king of Lydia c. 585-546 BC in what is now Western Turkey and the Ionian shore of the Mediterranean. Croesus conquered Ephesus, Miletus and neighboring Greek-speaking realms, obtaining tribute and booty that made him one of the richest rulers of his time. But these victories and wealth led to arrogance and hubris. Croesus turned his eyes eastward, ambitious to conquer Persia, ruled by Cyrus the Great. Having endowed the region's cosmopolitan Temple of Delphi with substantial silver and gold, Croesus asked its Oracle whether he would be successful in the conquest that he had planned. The Pythia priestess answered: "If you go to war against Persia, you will destroy a great empire." Croesus therefore set out to attack Persia c. 547 BC. Marching eastward, he attacked Persia's vassal-state Phrygia. Cyrus mounted a Special Military Operation to drive Croesus back, defeating Croesus's army, capturing him and taking the opportunity...

There are many layers to the human brain. From its wrinkled exterior to its darkest depths, scientists are trying to understand them all. But in honing in on the brain's intricate neural circuitry, they appear to have overlooked patterns of activity swirling on the surface. A team of fluid physicists from the Universty of Sydney in Australia and Fudan University in China discovered brain signals rippling across the brain's outermost layer of neural tissue, the cerebral cortex, on scans of 100 young adults' brains. Signals naturally arranged as spirals, like vortices in a draining bathtub or whirlwinds of turbulent air. "Gaining insights into how the spirals are related to cognitive processing could significantly enhance our understanding of the dynamics and functions of the brain," says senior author Pulin Gong, a physicist at the University of Sydney.

Do you know how fresh and healthy grocery store produce actually is? The answer is not very! How can you tell how fresh and healthy grocery store produce actually is? All fruits and vegetables start losing precious nutrients as soon as theyre picked. And for some crops, you can be eating them weeks or []

The post 2023 Superfood Gardening Global Gathering Free 5-Day Online Event first appeared on Wake Up World.

Ukraines ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, was summoned to provide answers for his blistering critiques of Tel Avivs relations with Moscow, attempting to paint the Israeli government as deviating from a moral path due to its inability to cut relations with Russia. Despite the various means of support that Israel has provided to Kiev, it Read More...

The post After Ukraine Slams Israels Relations With Moscow, Will Tel Aviv Change Its Stance On The War? appeared first on The Last American Vagabond.

H.R. 3099 was Introduced in the House of Representatives on May 5, 2023. This bill, known as the Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords Act, is the latest act by the United States in the service of Israel.

This bill establishes the position of Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords within the Department of State. For anyone who does not remember, the Abraham Accords are agreements to normalize relations between Israel and Arab states that do not recognize Israel. It is an anti-Palestinian accord more than anything. It should be named a bill to guarantee that governments who go against the wishes of their people and are willing to turn their backs to the plight of the Palestinian people will be rewarded.

The first four members of the Arab League to sign this accord were the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. The initial signing took place in the White House during the Trump administration, and it should be noted that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu were the only heads of state present. The other countries sent their foreign ministers, ostensibly so as not to be seen signing this disgraceful agreement. It is worth noting that there was extensive widespread opposition to normalizing relations with Israel in all countries that signed the accords.

A US ambassador in the service of Israel

According to the bills text, the Special Envoy, who shall have the rank and status of ambassador, shall serve as the primary advisor to the U.S. government for expanding and strengthening the Abraham Accords. The duties of the Special Envoy include:

Encouraging countries without diplomatic relations with Israel to establish formal diplomatic, economic, security, and people-to-people ties;
Expanding and strengthening existing relationships between Israel and Muslim-majority countries; and
Coordinating efforts across the U.S. government and engaging diplomatically with foreign governments, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders to expand and strengthen the Abraham Accords.

The language in the bill demands that we ask why in the world is the U.S. government engaged in serving the interests of Israel so blatantly. Indeed, the U.S. will be selling arms to these countries, but a larger picture here is not being discussed, at least not enough. You have to hand it to Israel and even more to the Israeli lobby here in the U.S.: They got a superpower to work as Israels sales agent and pay for it. American taxpayers will now be paying additional millions of dollars to solicit or rather bully countries who have not yet established relations with Israel to do so. Is this the best use of American taxpayer dollars? Does this serve Americans in any way? The answer to both questions is No!...

Can Robert F. Kennedy Jr. mount a serious primary challenge against President Joe Biden? That is the question on everybodys mind following a poll earlier this month showing Kennedy with a very robust favorability rating. And, after crunching the numbers, we have a definitive answer: Yes. If the two competed for the Republican nomination, RFK Jr. would be a formidable opponent for Biden.

Just last night, both Sean Hannity and Bill OReilly, two stalwarts of right-wing blowhardiness, raised the possibility that the son of Democratic icon Bobby Kennedy could upset the incumbent president.

They are absolutely correct. In a GOP primary, Kennedys high favorability among voters of Donald Trump would probably carry the day for him. That is especially true because Republicans do not like Joe Biden.

A whopping 61 percent of Trump voters have a favorable opinion of Kennedy. That is higher than the favorability ratings of Mike Pence (not surprisingly), Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and Vivek Whateversmarmy.

As it turns out, only two presidential candidates have a higher favorability score among Republicans than Kennedy and neither of them is named Joe Biden.

In fact, the president languishes at the bottom of the Republican primary field with a favorability score of five percent and, lets face it, the handful of Trump voters who said they liked him were probably drunk, high, or didnt understand the question.

This is just more evidence that it would be a very bad idea for Biden to enter the GOP primary as he would be an underdog not just against Kennedy but also just about everybody else.

And, in a head-to-head matchup with RFK Jr. for the Republican nomination, Biden would get crushed.

There are two reasons for that: First, there is a multibillion-dollar right-wing propaganda machine that has been painting Biden as a (senile...

The recent lethal tasering of 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland, who was holding a steak knife and suffering dementia, has again brought into stark relief the use of excessive force by NSW police: an issue that despite its prevalence, tends to gradually subside until the next incident.

Well, as you can tell, this week we've all been guessing what's going on with the so-called coup, so today (Friday) I have decided

The post THAT RUSSIAN COUP THING YET AGAIN appeared first on The Giza Death Star.