Refugee advocates work day and night trying to prevent asylum seekers harming themselves – it is our greatest fear. To be blamed for it is devastating
Month: May 2016
Martin McMahon comments on Waleed Aly’s assessment of Australia’s bipartisan asylum seeker policy, highlighting his points with a refugee’s personal story.
Source: Waleed Aly’s soft option on ‘The monstrous failure of our bipartisan asylum seeker policy’
At least five reef islands in the remote Solomon Islands are lost completely to sea level rise and coastal erosion, and a further six islands are severely eroded.
Failure to consider the risk of climate change could trigger another global financial crisis, former Liberal leader John Hewson warns.
Sadiq Khan has said the Conservative campaign to beat him in the London mayoral race was “straight out of the Donald Trump playbook”. The new mayor of London secured an overwhelming victory over Tory Zac Goldsmith following a bitter campaign which saw his rival attempt to link him to Islamic extremists. Mr Khan said David Cameron and Mr Goldsmith had sought to “divide London’s communities in an attempt to win votes”.
Zac Goldsmith’s own sister has critcised his London mayoral campaign saying it did not reflect the type of person she knows him to be. Jemima Goldsmith tweeted that her brother was an “eco-friendly, independent-minded politician with integrity” and his campaign, which has been widely criticised for using “dog-whistle racism”, did not reflect this.
Tony Abbott’s divisive chief of staff Peta Credlin has broken her silence with her first ever television interview, declaring her support for Malcolm Turnbull but praising Bill Shorten and criticising government policy on superannuation.
Source: Election 2016: ‘Maybe I banged a few heads too hard’: Peta Credlin speaks out
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is one of the most sacred places in the world for Christianity. Yet Israel does not officially recognize it as a holy site, a new report reveals.…
Source: ‘Israel only officially recognizes Jewish holy sites’ | +972 Magazine
A law banning torture in Israel? Don’t hold your breath
Justice Mordecai Bromberg finds the immigration minister has a duty to provide the woman, identified only as S99, with a safe and legal termination
Labor is pushing for a banking royal commission, while the Coalition has promised increased funding to Asic. Here, we’ve collated some of the scandals in the banking and financial sector over the past seven years
Source: Timeline: banking scandals in Australia since 2009 | Australia news | The Guardian
Whistleblower says leak of 11.5m Mossack Fonseca files on offshore tax havens has triggered debate but not enough action
Source: Panama Papers source breaks silence over ‘scale of injustices’ | News | The Guardian
Daily Telegraph’s reporter gets a taste of detention in Beirut, while some supporters play a poor hand as they rally to Tara Brown’s defence
It seems like breaking into the property market is tougher than ever. But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull believes the Australian dream of owning your own place isn’t quite over yet. Here, he shares his tips for saving up for a deposit and getting the keys to your very first home.
1. Cut down on small luxuries
Having a glass of Grange on a Tuesday night is lovely. But do you really need to open the Hill of Grace too? Of course there’s no need to cut back right to the bone, but a little trim here and there could be the difference between a tennis court, and a tennis court with lights.
2. Be rich
This is a great little tip, and one that people often overlook when saving for a deposit. Just by being really rich, you can quickly cut down your mortgage almost to nothing, making the repayments really quite manageable. If you can’t be rich, make sure your parents are.
3. Get your salary paid straight into your bank account
Just tick the box on your employment form that says ‘Cayman Islands’. Also, while you’re saving up for a home, put the $270-a-night travelling away from home allowance to good use. By staying at a hotel, or even better, your wife’s investment property, you’ll be able to put extra money aside for your own place.
4. Sell off one of your investment properties
It’s a tough call, but if things are really dire it’s something to consider. Just keep in mind that it may increase your taxable income.
5. Readjust your expectations
We all go in with an idea in mind of where we’d ideally like to live. But do you really need to live right on the harbour? Yes, of course, bad example. But do you really need that second kitchen. Ok, sure, pretty tricky without it. But you get what I mean.
Bonus tip: Once you’ve bought a place, pay off a new mortgage once a fortnight, rather than once a month. That way you’ll accumulate twice as many properties.
WASHINGTON – (CT&P) – Director of the CIA John Brennan announced this morning that the agency will be hiring Gladys Ironfist, a homeroom teacher at Stonewall Jackson Grammar School in Lynchburg, Virginia, to give classified intelligence briefings to presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump after the Republican convention in July.
Under a longstanding bipartisan tradition, presidents allow their would-be successors to receive classified intelligence briefings to bring them up to speed on emerging threats around the world. The briefings usually begin immediately after the party conventions, and do not include the top-secret sources and methods.
Mr. Brennan told reporters that the agency believed that Mrs Ironfist would be able to explain the information in terms Mr. Trump could understand.
“We wanted someone who had experience in dealing with insecure, immature individuals without upsetting them or hurting their feelings,” said Brennan. “Mrs Ironfist has proven herself capable handling class clowns, brats, and self-centered little shits over a long an illustrious career.
“We believe she has the patience to deal with someone as clueless and thin-skinned as Mr. Trump, and she’ll throw cold water on any conspiracy theories he may come up with as a result of receiving information that is intended for adults.
“After all, we don’t want the crazy son of a bitch to nuke Luxembourg on his first day in office, do we?”
Sadiq Khan, the son of a bus driver, became London’s first Muslim mayor on Friday, seeing off a Conservative challenger who attempted to link him to extremism.
Source: Sadiq Khan elected London’s first Muslim mayor after bitter campaign
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump dominated his former rivals for the nomination in interview airtime on Fox News. From May 1, 2015, through Trump’s decisive victory in the Indiana primary on May 3, 2016, the businessman garnered more than 49 hours of interview airtime on the network, more than twice as much as second
Source: STUDY: Trump Won The Fox Primary, Doubling Any Other Candidate In Interview Airtime
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has revealed a well-known millionaire tried to bribe him when he was a relatively new member of parliament.
Source: Do we need a federal anti-corruption body? – The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Friday 6 May 2016 You would think that a Prime Minister and his Treasurer who are proposing to cut company tax to 25% over the next ten years would have some idea of what the cost to the taxpayer might be. But no. When the PM was asked in an interview with David Speers on…
Deputy IDF Chief of Staff came under a barrage of criticism for saying that trends that prevailed in pre-WWII Europe can be seen in Israel today. But if Israelis took a minute to reflect on…
Source: The deeper meaning of IDF general’s Holocaust comparison | +972 Magazine
The Palestinian member of Knesset Israelis love to hate and the IDF deputy chief of staff make harsh but nearly identical statements invoking 1930s Germany. The statements are received very differently. IDF Deputy Chief of…
Source: Who’s allowed to talk about 1930s Germany? | +972 Magazine
As we’re sure you all know by now, climate change is happening, and it is almost certainly due to us. The burning of fossil fuels since the late 1800s has put more carbon into the atmosphere at a rate not seen since the age of the dinosaurs.
Source: Five Reasons Not To Care About Climate Change | IFLScience
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute and their scientific partners have …
Source: Will Climate Change make the Mideast Uninhabitable & trigger mass exodus?
WASHINGTON – (CT&P) – Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has still not found his testicles, according to a report released from the Associated Press this morning.
“We’ve pulled out all the stops to try find his scrotum,” said an aide on condition of anonymity. “I mean we’ve looked everywhere. At first we thought the Democrats had stolen them, then we searched the offices of everyone in the Freedom Caucus. We even asked the FBI and CIA for help. But so far, no results.”
According to a press release from the RNC, Priebus’ testicles have been missing since last fall, when it became apparent that Donald Trump would be a real contender in the race for the Republican nomination. Without them, Priebus has been powerless to do anything to prevent the GOP from being taken over by a neo-fascist lunatic bent on destroying the Party and the country as a whole.
“It’s getting really frustrating,” said the aide. “Some of us are beginning to think the asshole had no balls to begin with.”
Priebus has vowed to continue the search as long as he is chairman, which won’t be long if things continue as they have been.
The Budget papers reveal an Australian economy in much worse shape than it was under Labor. Alan Austin unpicks the data.
Source: Budget papers show steep decline of Australian economy under Coalition
Instead of dumping leaders as duds when we’re disappointed by reality, we should start looking at the real reasons for our underperformance.
Source: Budget predictions pointing us towards world of rainbows
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton hits out at the media over its coverage of asylum seekers and refugees.
Israel’s justice minister announces a plan to apply Israeli law to parts of the West Bank, or in other words, annexation. By taking an incremental approach, she stands a pretty good chance of succeeding. Success,…
Source: The incremental annexation of Palestine | +972 Magazine
Donald Trump was the runaway winner in the Indiana primary, as expected. Polls, and the demographics of the state, had suggested as much. And as usual during this election, they’ve been proven right.
Before the advent of Zionism and Arab nationalism, Jews and Palestinians lived in peace in the holy land. Menachem Klein’s new book maps out an oft-forgotten history of Israel/Palestine, and offers some guidance on how…
Source: Before Zionism: The shared life of Jews and Palestinians | +972 Magazine
Bronwyn Bishop has formally farewelled Parliament and fired a warning shot at former prime minister Tony Abbott over his role in her demise.
Source: ‘It’s not the end’: Bronwyn Bishop farewells Parliament and drops Tony Abbott bombshell
The Turnbull Government’s $4 billion raid on tax-dodging multinationals appears to amount to little more than the natural dividend of hiring extra staff to the depleted ranks of the Australian Tax Office, according to tax transparency campaigners and Labor.
Source: Multinational tax crackdown in budget shows cuts to ATO cost millions, says Labor
A substance produced after taking the drug ketamine could be used to create a fast-acting anti-depressant without its harmful side-effects, according to scientists. Ketamine, which was banned in the UK in 2006 and made a class B drug in 2014, was initially used as a horse tranquiliser by vets but has latterly become better known for its use by clubbers and to facilitate date-rape.
A massive wildfire in the western Canadian city of Fort McMurray destroys about 1,600 structures, Alberta province Premier Rachel Notley says.
This type of federal budget is rare. The Turnbull government sought and adopted best practice. You can’t argue with that.
Source: Federal budget 2016: The more you look at it, the better it gets
NEW YORK – (CT&P) – During a phone interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today Donald Trump told host Joe Scarborough that he planned on choosing a running mate who had some knowledge of something.
Trump said that the potential vice president should have at least some understanding of a wide variety of subjects that he knows nothing about, such as civics, foreign affairs, domestic policy, science, and history.
“A running mate should complement the nominee and make up for any deficits he may have,” said Trump, in an attempt to sound presidential.
“I want to find someone who will be loyal to me but at the same time will be able to provide me with information about things that I’ve never thought about before, like governing.
“For example, I’d like someone who knows what a bill is and how to get it passed, what form of government we have, and the functions of the five branches of government we have in this country. I just don’t know much about that kind of stuff.
“I’m much better at acting like a lunatic and spouting crazy conspiracy theories that I read in the tabloids. That’s fine for fooling idiot Tea Party voters in the primaries, but in the general election and if I win the White House, I’m gonna need someone who can actually engage in critical thought if I’m going to get anything done.
When Scarborough asked if he had anyone in particular in mind, Trump was evasive.
“It’s too early to tell at this point. This will more than likely be a long process because we don’t know of anyone crazy enough to accept the job at this point.
“I’d love to choose a current Republican senator or representative, but they’ve proven to the entire country they have no fucking idea how to govern, so I’ve crossed them off the list.”
DALLAS – (CT&P) – Now that Rafael Cruz, father of Ted, the notorious Zodiac Killer, has been positively linked with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, it seems that the entire Cruz line is an unhinged pack of vicious killers.
Early Tuesday, Donald Trump exposed the elder Cruz’s part in the JFK conspiracy, calling him the “mastermind” behind the brutal murder of our beloved president.
Trump alleged that Rafael was with John F. Kennedy’s assassin shortly before he murdered the president, claiming that he was pictured with Lee Harvey Oswald handing out pro-Fidel Castro pamphlets in New Orleans in 1963, rock-solid proof that Cruz might as well have pulled the trigger himself.
“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Kennedy’s being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is obvious,” Trump said Tuesday during a phone interview with Fox News. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don’t even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.
“I think that most media personalities are just too terrified of the Cruz family to bring it up. They’re scared Lyin’ Ted or his religious kook Dad might go ‘off the reservation’ and take them out with a high-powered rifle or fill them full of lead while they’re trying to get some on Lover’s Lane.”
Trump’s hypothesis was bolstered later the same day when a video of Rafael ranting and raving about God, the constitution and what he called Second Coming of Jesus Christ in the form of Ted, his only obnoxious son, was aired on Fox News.
“Anyone this unstable is perfectly capable of assassinating a president, and God knows his drunken child abuse probably led to Ted’s murder spree on the west coast during the late 60’s and early 70’s. I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to do it. I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to say it,” Trump said, before touting his support from Jerry Falwell Jr. and other evangelical leaders.
Trump continued, “At least the religious kooks that support me, like Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham, have their hearts in the right place. They know how to line their pockets while preaching the gospel, unlike like that lunatic Rafael Cruz.”
Although the Cruz campaign has yet to formally respond to the charges, surrogate Glenn Beck told Fox that Trump was clearly out of his mind, because everyone knew that the Freemasons and the Illuminati were behind the assassination of JFK.
“As usual Trump is just spouting nonsense,” said Beck, who was dressed in a suit made entirely of aluminum foil.
Despite trailing behind Hillary Clinton in polls, Sanders once again proved his appeal to disaffected midwest voters by pulling off his 18th victory of 2016
Source: Bernie Sanders pulls off shock victory over Hillary Clinton in Indiana | US news | The Guardian
Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson has been sworn in as a Labor Senator for Western Australia.
The German police took off their helmets and marched with the protesters- clearing the way for them. German police officers escort an anti- crony capitalism protest march with some 20,000 people in…
In a stunning turn of events today in Thailand, riot police yielded to the peaceful protesters they were ordered to harass and block. They police removed barricades and their helmets as a sign of s…
He really should have seen this coming.
Source: After Asking For A Photo To Be Taken Off Twitter, This Politician Became A Meme – BuzzFeed News
It’s no accident. There’s a science to this.
Source: No Shame: The Science Behind Why Most Australians Feel Okay About Tormenting Asylum Seekers
Peter Dutton hits out at advocates and others who he believes are pressuring asylum seekers to behave in a certain way so they can come to Australia.
Peter Dutton today displayed either the worst case of cynicism I have seen in politics – which, believe me, is saying something – or a sad tendency towards self-delusion. Another refugee has set themselves on fire. Take a moment to consider the first word of the previous sentence. Another. This time it was a young Somali woman, Hodan Yasi. This time.
A video of hip-shaking New Zealand police performing the Running Man dance has gone viral, with more than four million views.
Scientists have pinpointed a fault in a gene that should turn off hunger signals in Labrador retrievers making the dogs more inclined to become food-obsessed.
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