More than 400 people have died in just three days as a heatwave hits Pakistan’s largest city.
Month: May 2016
India has set a new record for its highest-ever recorded temperature – a searing 51 degrees Celsius or 123.8F – amid a devastating heatwave that has ravaged much of the country for weeks. Hundreds of people have died as crops have withered in the fields in more than 13 states, forcing tens of thousands of small farmers to abandon their land and move into the cities.Others have killed themselves rather than go to live in urban shanty towns. Rivers, lakes and dams have dried up in many parts of the western states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday defended Peter Dutton as an “outstanding immigration minister” after a storm erupted following Dutton’s earlier comments on refugees.
Source: Peter Dutton’s refugee claims are out of touch with the evidence
Humility is the first step towards redemption, and as a religious man, no one knows this better than Tony Abbott.
Source: Tony Abbott is haunting Malcolm Turnbull as surely as Rudd haunted Gillard
Today we take a behind-the-scenes look at the infamous yet mysterious electoral campaign management consultancy known only as Prehistoric Death Birds Inc
Source: We have an old saying in the dog-whistle business … | First Dog on the Moon | Opinion | The Guardian
Hypocrisy is the calling card of British imperialism and British elite as such. This is what they teach at all aristocratic schools and all British universities
Source: What is the most corrupt country in the world? – PravdaReport
Netanyahu’s allies were set for fresh negotiations with representatives of Lieberman’s far-right Yisrael Beitenu party to try to entice it to join the governing co
Source: Israel set to form ‘most right-wing government in history’ – Your Middle East
According to Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, feminist journalists should not be allowed to report on Donald Trump because “Trump is the antithesis” of feminism. By O’Reilly’s standard, any journalist Trump may have offended would be disqualified from reporting on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.On the May 17 edition of Fox News’ Th
Source: If We Follow Bill O’Reilly’s Logic, Only Trump Sycophants Can Cover Trump
Zero emission milestone reached as country is powered by just wind, solar and hydro-generated electricity for 107 hours
Source: Portugal Runs for Four Days Straight on Renewable Energy Alone
Child soldier turned western Sydney defence lawyer, Deng Thiak Adut, says he will no longer vote for the Liberal Party because it has tried to “deter the public from empathising with refugees”.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International has published a report showing 86 pc of Australians would welcome refugees.
By Denis Bright For the first time in generations, issues about social class are intruding into the 2016 election agenda. Barnaby Joyce made an unintended contribution to the politics of class in his assessment of Bill Shorten in a RN Breakfast interview with Fran Kelly: People are going to have a clear choice between someone…
You can’t blame the Liberals and their communications strategists for believing the demonization of refugees is a vote winner. The rise of Pauline Hanson, who stole votes from the Liberals, Howard’s success with Tampa and ‘children overboard’ in 2001 and Abbott’s ‘stop the boats’ election win in 2013 have given the Liberals a sense of…
Source: Breaking the Dog Whistle – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Why on an issue as sensitive as refugees do Coalition ministers seek out differences rather than emphasise unity? Is it because they would – for base political purposes – prefer the issue to consensus?
Source: Dutton’s comments divide in an effort to conquer – The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The following is an edited version of an address given by John Pilger at the University of Sydney, entitled ‘A World War Has Begun’. I have been filming in the Marshall Islands, which lie north of Australia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Whenever I tell people where I have been, they ask, “WhereMore
Source: John Pilger: Why Hillary Clinton Is More Dangerous Than Donald Trump – New Matilda
The CIA inspector general’s office has said it “mistakenly” destroyed its only copy of a comprehensive Senate torture report, despite lawyers for the Justice Department assuring a federal judge that copies of the documents were being preserved. The erasure of the document by the spy agency’s internal watchdog was deemed an “inadvertent” foul-up by the inspector general, according to Yahoo News.
Source: CIA ‘mistakenly’ destroys copy of 6,700-page US torture report | Americas | News | The Independent
Australian newspapers cannot escape the trend to online, and the plethora of challengers that are arriving as part of it.
But independent parliamentary budget office says ALP plan costs $1.87bn over seven years, not the $2.5bn over four years quoted by immigration minister
Source: Peter Dutton’s figures on Labor’s refugee policy don’t add up | Australia news | The Guardian
The more things change, the more they stay the same. For those who thought Malcolm Turnbull’s ascent to the position of Prime Minister might take Australia’s conversation on refugees in a more humane – or at least less deranged – direction, the 2016 election campaign must be proving sobering. Last night, Peter Dutton fronted conservativeMore
Source: Peter Dutton Bashes Refugees For Being Unemployed And Taking Jobs At The Same Time – New Matilda
Our government spends four times more on the cruel offshore detention of asylum seekers than on indigenous health. Australians should be dismayed at the waste and inhumanity.
Source: Australia’s disgraceful inhumanity to people seeking asylum
Comment: As the savage reaction to a seemingly simple question subsided, a new response emerged.
Source: Crowds bite back at savage response to Duncan Storrar’s simple Q&A question
Australia will finally have an election campaign that deals with the possibility of asylum seekers arriving by boat, after almost twenty years of campaigns focused on other, less important issues.
“When it comes to election campaigns, too often all we hear about is health or education, or economic plans, when what Australians really want to hear about is what affects them the most: a guy getting on a boat,” Jenny Lance, a spokesperson for the Voters’ Alliance group said.
She said the early signs showed this campaign was headed in a different direction. “Since Peter Dutton’s interview the other night, I really get the sense that the next forty days or so of the campaign will dominated by the danger asylum seekers pose to our nation. What a refreshing change”.
Brenda explained the plan. They crowdfund a flotilla of actual boats to sail to Nauru and then to Manus Island to pick up all the illiterate asylum seekers
The peace negotiations between the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad and the insurgents seeking to topple him and his one-party Baath state were headed on the rebel side by Mohammad Alloush, leader of the Saudi-backed Army of Islam (Jaysh al-Islam, or JI).
Source: Why Is Washington Supporting Fundamentalist Jihadis in Syria? | The Nation
It will only cost you a few cents more, Aly said on The Project, but will help save farmers from financial ruin.
Source: Waleed Aly wants you to buy Australian dairy in ‘the greatest call to arms I have ever made’
The plight of milk farmers facing a drastic cut in payments sparks a wave of social media support and petitions, with one of the most popular started by a 16-year-old girl worried about her family’s future.
Horrific conditions in offshore detention centers have led to an epidemic of self-harm.
Immigration minister says refugees will ‘take Australian jobs’ and simultaneously ‘languish in unemployment queues’. Well, no minister
By Behrouz Boochani This is my answer to Peter Michael whose article (now behind a paywall) in The Herald Sun quoted Immigration Minister Peter Dutton: “MANUS Island asylum seekers are trading taxpayer-funded cigarettes on the black market to pay for alcohol, electronics and marijuana.” In the Manus prison, a skinny man with a pale and…
Source: The reality of Manus Island – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Asylum seeker who went from Nauru detention to giving scores of people jobs says asylum seekers have compelling reasons to work hard.
Source: Election 2016: Illiterate farmer defends refugees against Peter Dutton attack
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has accused the Turnbull government of reviving the “Pauline Hanson rhetoric of the past” following Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s controversial comments about “illiterate” and “innumerate” asylum seekers taking Australian jobs.
Political reporter Stephanie Anderson looks into just how accurate Peter Dutton’s comments on the dangers of an increased refugee intake are.
It is Tuesday night and I have had a very hard day with my business which STILL, after almost two months, is having problems with Telstra and the NBN. It’s been so stressful I have avoided looking at politics while I try to deal with it. But today I have seen/read two things which I…
Despite years of Jewish education, much of which focused on Israel, this young American Zionist was still ignorant of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. By David Sarna Galdi The Israeli occupation of the West…
The United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet 47 million Americans are living in poverty. The Democratic presidential candidate spoke about the issue in West Virginia on May 5. – 2016/05/16
Source: Bernie Sanders Gives a Very Important Speech on Poverty (Video) (from @Truthdig)
How does a middle-aged, white Scottish man living in the Scottish Highlands end up becoming a Muslim – especially when he hasn’t properly met a Muslim in his life? For me, it all started when I heard the call to prayer from a local mosque while on a beach holiday in Turkey. It woke something up inside me, and inspired me to begin a spiritual quest. Back home in Inverness, I went to the local bookshop, bought a Qur’an and started to read. While reading, I always asked God to guide me on the journey I had set out on.
The Turnbull government plans to end a program that funds specialist centres for children with psychotic disorders, prompting concerns from mental health experts that suicide rates will rise.
Source: ‘Futures will be lost’: Health fears as youth psychosis program dropped
The only family he has in South Korea is his abusive father, who he hasn’t seen since he was 15.
Another day, another blackface scandal. Settle in for a long ride because they won’t stop while the lies of nation persist, writes Amy McQuire. Over the weekend, yet another blackface scandal broke. It must be at least the third this year, almost time to begin a running tally. This latest outrage came in the formMore
Source: Bashing Blackface While The Real Structures Of Racism Endure – New Matilda
Electricity bills are often ludicrously high thanks to our energy-intensive modern world, but every now and then, thanks to the forces of nature, a metaphorical miracle takes place. As reported by Quartz, Germany just experienced such a phenomenon when a particularly bright and sunny day supercharged their solar and wind power sectors.
Source: Germany Just Produced So Much Renewable Energy That It Had To Pay People To Use It | IFLScience
“Climate scientists have been warning about this since at least the 1980s. And it’s been bloody obvious since the 2000s. So where’s the surprise?”
Source: Last Month Was The Warmest April Ever Recorded, Continuing 7-Month Hot Streak
Following her allegation that the Liberal Party is trying to undermine her, Sophie Mirabella now claims that voters may be against her too.
“Look, you can’t rule it out. Every time I ask someone in this electorate whether they’re going to vote for me, they go all quiet and avoid eye contact. So yeah, I definitely think there’s something going on here. There’s a conspiracy against me”.
She said had been the victim of unpopularity. “What’s the saying? ‘If you want a friend in politics get a dog’. Well I tried to get a dog the other day, but the workers at the pet shop conspired against me and wouldn’t sell me one”.
NEW YORK – (CT&P) – Just one day after a “hit piece” in the New York Times about how Donald Trump treats women was published, a new poll suggests that his support among abused women has surged to new heights.
The Quinnipiac/SurveyMonkey poll taken of 1000 current and former beauty queens, victims of domestic abuse, and sex slaves across the United States this morning found that an average of 80% of the abused/objectified woman demographic found Trump attractive. 70% said they would marry Trump immediately if he became available, and 65% said they would have sex with him no questions asked.
“The article in the Times seems to have really shored up his support among women who are used to being viewed as a piece of meat to be used and discarded,” said Dr. Emilio Lizardo of SurveyMonkey.
“Women who have had their personalities beaten down to nothing and their lives shattered at the hands of men seem to really dig The Donald.”
Rowanne Brewer Lane, a former model who was featured in the article, told Fox News this morning that the Times spun the information and were out to get a “good man.”
“After the first inspection, in which Mr. Trump carefully examined me from head to toe and probed critical areas for firmness, we got along great. He was a perfect gentleman and was even nice enough to ask if I was on my period before our first date. You don’t run into that kind of caring, sensitive man very often.”
Petra Warmtwatavich, Miss Siberia 2012, agreed with Lane.
“Mr. Trump very nice,” said Warmtwatavich. “Mr. Trump have many rubles. I marry Mr. Trump but Petra need more than small American penis can give.”
There have been no polls taken yet of the general public or of the all-important married women demographic after the Times piece was published, but pundits believe it will do nothing to help Trump’s huge negatives with women in general.
“Trump is unique in American politics because we’ve never seen such a moronic buffoon reach such heights,” said former Vermont governor Howard Dean on MSNBC. “After this article he’ll no doubt try to go out and play the ‘abused woman’ card, but it won’t get him anywhere. There are simply not enough cases of domestic abuse out there to get him elected.”
Peta Credlin, said Tony Abbott in awe, is the fiercest political warrior he has ever known. And it appears that the vengeful soldier has lost none of her belligerence. The problem for the Liberals is that she is still fighting the war from last September, or even earlier. Credlin’s crack at Malcolm Turnbull as “Mr Harbourside Mansion” is far more lethal than Bill Shorten’s mild innuendo about the prime minister’s wealth and apartness.
Source: Friends like these | The Monthly
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
Source: Backpacker tax to go as Credlin attacks Turnbull again
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