Month: November 2018

Media

Snowden Speaks Out for Assange: ‘If You Would Deny a Thing to Your Enemy, It Is Not a Right’

Following confirmation that the U.S. Department of Justice does have a sealed complaint against Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange—seemingly based on his work exposing the classified secrets of high-level U.S. government institutions and officials—NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden on Friday afternoon spoke out against any arrest or prosecution of the journalist, saying that one “cannot support the prosecution of a publisher for publishing without narrowing the basic rights every newspaper relies on.” Snowden’s comments echoed those of other defenders of press freedoms, but carries special weight as someone, like Assange, who has sacrificed his freedom in the name of exposing the secrets of the world’s powerful.

Source: Snowden Speaks Out for Assange: ‘If You Would Deny a Thing to Your Enemy, It Is Not a Right’

Political Tactics

Cops in Melbourne’s west who are both bloodhounds and sheepdogs

John Sylvester’s response on behalf of the Victorian Police to idiots like Andrew Bolt, Peter Dutton, Matthew Guy et al (ODT)

Rarely have middle-ranked police in Melbourne suburbs been the subject of such ill-informed, politically-driven bilge generated from the mouths of people who should know better but consistently put self-interest in front of common sense.

Source: Cops in Melbourne’s west who are both bloodhounds and sheepdogs

Corporate Crime

Not one rotten apple, it’s the whole barrel: Crunchtime for banks

“Companies are often so concerned with appearance and damage control that they are unwilling to engage in the degree of examination required to root out the entrenched causes of trust violations,” the study says. For instance, BP allowed its Texas refinery explosion in 2005 to be followed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. News Corp had an employee jailed for phone hacking in 2007, but endured another phone-hacking scandal in 2011.

Source: Not one rotten apple, it’s the whole barrel: Crunchtime for banks

Humour

CARTOONS: Mark David’s big blue bus

Stop shouting!

Source: CARTOONS: Mark David’s big blue bus

Coal

What Australian Conservatives won’t tell you
Enviroment

Government hides truth about koala mortality rates

New information on the removal of koalas from the Coomera-Pimpama region reveals a lack of compassion from the Government.

Source: Government hides truth about koala mortality rates

Trumpland Revealed

Is Donald Trump crumbling? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

An article yesterday in CNN politics:Source:

Trump’s mood takes a foul turn: ‘He’s pissed at damn near everyone’ sums up Trump’s crumbling mental state. The whole article is worth a read, but this paragraph serves to illustrate: In the last week, the President’s frayed and fraught relationships have been laid bare for all to see: He’s furious at Kelly for a Paris trip that ended in a public relations debacle. He’s blaming his political advisers for losing the winning narrative of the midterms. And he was caught off guard by his wife’s shot across the bow at one of the top advisers in the West Wing – a sign that their private conversations clearly aren’t functional. So there you have it. Event after event that call into question Donald Trump’s mental state. Episode after episode of bizarre behaviour. Countless instances of forgetfulness. Account after account of absurd statements and incongruous actions. Tweet after astonishing tweet from the most powerful man in the world, who believes that tweeting is the way to conduct global diplomacy, initiate trade wars, address worldwide conflicts, threaten adversaries, and carry out international negotiations. He even sees tweeting as a mecha

Is Donald Trump crumbling? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Chomsky: Occupation, Gaza ‘Concentration Camp’ turning Israel Fascist

‘THE RUNDOWN | Noam Chomsky has long been outspoken on political topics like American politics and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our Jotam Confino sat down with the famous linguist and professor to discuss the hot political topics.’i24 News: ‘Noam Chomsky Reflects on the State of the US and Israel’

Source: Chomsky: Occupation, Gaza ‘Concentration Camp’ turning Israel Fascist

LNP

Indonesian MPs claim Australians could be targeted in terror attacks in response to Israel rethink

“I pointed out that in dealing with terrorism, one has to know the causes,” Dr Mahathir told journalists after emerging from a bilateral meeting with the Australian Prime Minister. “Adding to the causes of terrorism is not going to be helpful, I pointed that out. And Australia has not made any decision, they are looking into it.”

Source: Indonesian MPs claim Australians could be targeted in terror attacks in response to Israel rethink

Renewable Wind Energy

Scotland was first Industrialized Country to Run wholly on Wind in October

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Scotland generated enough wind power from onshore wind turbines in October to fuel electricity for five million homes, that is, virtually the entire country. By the end of 2017, renewable energy generated nearly 70% of Scotland’s electricity. That percentage continued to grow this year, led by wind projects. The next big thing in Scotland is likely to be offshore wind, which is less than one percent of generation now Wind is so obviously the future that the utility Scottish Power has sold its gas plants and will concentrate entirely on wind.

Source: Scotland was first Industrialized Country to Run wholly on Wind in October

Humour

Renters Unveil World’s Tiniest Violin For Home Owners Whose Properties Have Fallen In Value – The Shovel

Source: Renters Unveil World’s Tiniest Violin For Home Owners Whose Properties Have Fallen In Value – The Shovel

Islamaphobia

Bourke St: I am feeling nothing less than rage, alienation and despair

I am feeling nothing less than rage, alienation and despair at the moment. Muslims have been on trial for 17 years now. Seventeen years in the dock, in community detention, on parole, out on bail. Seventeen years of punishment and accountability, of collective culpability that turns inwards into confusion, anger, helplessness, shame. Seventeen years ago I was a university student in Melbourne when I was pronounced guilty for the crimes that took place in another country. Seventeen years on and my children now inherit my sentence.

Source: Bourke St: I am feeling nothing less than rage, alienation and despair

ABC, NBN

EDITORIAL EXCERPT: Undermining the NBN and ABC

This Government is intent on undermining our public institutions. And nowhere is this more evident than with the ABC and NBN.

Source: EDITORIAL EXCERPT: Undermining the NBN and ABC

LNP

Canberra’s go-slow is now beyond a joke

Workers lose about $2.85 billion a year from failures to pay their superannuation fairly and in full. This is a conservative estimate from the Australian Taxation Office but there are claims the shortfall could be as high as $6 billion.

That is a real-world problem and it needs faster attention. It is also a useful way to measure the cost of the lethargy in Canberra.

Australians have learned to keep their expectations low when waiting for their politicians in Canberra to act on a problem. There was no sign this week that Parliament will ever move faster to end a disagreement and get something done.

Voters are told the government is not caught up in the “Canberra bubble” and that their political leaders, from all parties, are focused on what matters most in the real world.

Source: Canberra’s go-slow is now beyond a joke

Liberals

Australian politics for beginners: part one

If the unemployed insist on choosing leisure over work, that is their affair, but the Liberals don’t believe they should be rewarded for such a choice. I mean, if they don’t want to go to the country to pick fruit, how hard is it to get a squeegee and a bucket of water and clean windscreens at a set of traffic lights? The Liberals also have enlightened policies on border protection and national security, with minister Peter Dutton being the top cop on the beat. We sleep safe in our beds because of his eternal vigilance — not that he gets many thanks. And we don’t need to worry about conditions on Nauru because Tony Abbott reckons it’s a very pleasant island with top healthcare. Rumour has it that he might be planning a long holiday there if he loses his seat of Warringah at the next election.

Source: Australian politics for beginners: part one

China, clean energy, Clean Power Plan, Uncategorized

China’s ‘artificial sun’ reaches 100 million degrees Celsius marking milestone for nuclear fusion
A moon, which replaces the globe in a light globe, hangs over Chengdu's cityscape.

“The benefit is simple in that it is very large-scale base load [continuous] energy production, with zero greenhouse gas emissions and no long-life radioactive waste.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-15/china-attempts-to-create-an-artificial-sun/10495536

Israel

Israel kills Gaza fisher despite ceasefire | The Electronic Intifada

A young man pulls on a pile of fishing nets while standing next to docked boats

Lethal fire against fishers is part of Israel’s militarily enforced blockade.

Source: Israel kills Gaza fisher despite ceasefire | The Electronic Intifada

Uncategorized

Israel’s next elections will be about who is more violent to Palestinians

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announces his resignation following the ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, during a press conference in the Knesset, Jerusalem, November 14, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel appears to be going to early elections. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday announced that he is resigning from his post, and that his party, Yisrael Beytenu, will leave the ruling coalition over what he called Netanyahu’s “surrender to terrorism.” The surprise resignation came just a day after Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire, ending the most violent flare-up the Gaza border has seen since the 2014 war.

 

https://972mag.com/israel-goes-elections-will-much-violence-used-palestinians/138659/ 

 

Fox News

MSNBC’s First Look highlights how Fox News exploited the migrant caravan in the lead-up to the midterms, then immediately forgot about it

Ayman Mohyeldin: “While Fox News spent more than 33 hours discussing the caravan through Election Day, the network didn’t focus on it at all the day after the midterms, and it has spend less than five minutes on the subject the day after that”

Source: MSNBC’s First Look highlights how Fox News exploited the migrant caravan in the lead-up to the midterms, then immediately forgot about it

Trumpland Revealed

As Trump Attacks Press and Spreads Inane Voter Fraud Lies, Bernie Sanders Says ‘Authoritarian’ Is Only Way to Describe Him

“Trump describes the free media as an ‘enemy of the people’; attacks leaders of democratic countries while cozying up to authoritarian nations; and now uses his influence to try to stop the counting of votes in Florida and Georgia,” Sanders wrote, referring to the president’s demand earlier this week that Florida immediately end its legally required recount and declare the GOP candidates he endorsed the winners.

“There is only one way to describe him: Authoritarian,” the Vermont senator added.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/14/trump-attacks-press-and-spreads-inane-voter-fraud-lies-bernie-sanders-says

$4billion, Money

Trump Campaign Paid Millions to Trump Businesses During Midterms – Mother Jones

Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign raised and spent an unprecedented sum of money during the midterm elections. But much of that cash wasn’t used to help endangered Republicans in Congress—it was used to help Donald Trump.

Source: Trump Campaign Paid Millions to Trump Businesses During Midterms – Mother Jones

Conservative

This Male Conservative Politician Says He’s Now A Woman, And Is Therefore Free To Talk About Abortion

The man is doing an Andrew Bolt who was noted for calling himself an Indigenous Australian. It goes to show what Conservatives turn to when legless in arguments….nonsense (ODT)

Nationals senator Barry O’Sullivan has told parliament he is declaring his gender “to be a woman”, so left-wing politicians will stop attacking him over his anti-abortion views.

Source: This Male Conservative Politician Says He’s Now A Woman, And Is Therefore Free To Talk About Abortion

LNP

Liberal candidate for marginal Yan Yean gone after anti-Muslim video surfaces

Meralyn Klein, second from right, during the 2016 Nillumbik Council elections.

The Liberal Party’s candidate for the marginal seat of Yan Yean has quit as the endorsed candidate after a video surfaced that appeared to show her making allegations against Muslims.

Source: Liberal candidate for marginal Yan Yean gone after anti-Muslim video surfaces

Scott Morrison, Uncategorized

Exploiting death: Scott Morrison, Pellegrini’s and Sisto Malaspina

As if on brilliant cue, Shire Ali, like Malaspina, had been a blessing, giving Morrison a chance to scold imams into a greater state of vigilance even as he extolled the inner Melburnian spirit.

Elevate the standing of the slain common man; berate the state of the corrupted accused. Shire Ali’s mental health was of little consequence to finding a suitably political description for him, one that could be marketed. “Of course issues of mental health and all these other things are important,” he told Network Ten, but the assailant “was a terrorist” with the blood of Islamic State coursing through him. “He was a radical extremist terrorist who took a knife to another Australian because he had been radicalised in this country.”

“We’ve been doing whatever we can in our capacity to eradicate extreme thoughts and potential acts of terror.”

The Australian National Imams Council secretary, Sheikh Moustapha, took issue with that stance, telling ABC Radio Melbourne that:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/exploiting-death-scott-morrison-pellegrinis-and-sisto-malaspina,12098

Indonesia

Indonesians privately told ‘five per cent chance’ Australia will go ahead with Israel embassy move

Others within the government insist the remarks do not signal official policy and that Mr Morrison is prepared to move the embassy if it is in Australia’s national interest, despite the protests from Jakarta.Advertisement

The private message suggests Prime Minister Scott Morrison might restore the government’s previous stance on Israel after the blowback to his policy shift, which is being described as a “captain’s call” that has hurt the Coalition.

https://peterimrich.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=42887&action=edit

 

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Robert Reich: The truth about Trump’s economy | Salon.com

via Robert Reich: The truth about Trump’s economy | Salon.com

Banking, Uncategorized

Goldman Sachs is implicated in history’s largest financial con – but will it be held accountable? | The Independent

Tim Leissner (right), the senior Goldman banker on the ground in Malaysia pleaded guilty in New York to financial crimes related to 1MDB last week

Even by Wall Street standards of gouging customers this was one hell of a skim.

In 2012 and 2013, the Malaysian government was raising $6.5bn (£5bn) from investors to establish a sovereign wealth fund and finance various domestic infrastructure investment projects. And the cut for Goldman Sachs – the most prestigious investment bank in the world – for arranging the fundraising from the global capital markets? Ten per cent, or $600m.
▼

Please click the pla

via Goldman Sachs is implicated in history’s largest financial con – but will it be held accountable? | The Independent

Fox News, Uncategorized

Midterms: Late results reveal Democrats ‘blue wave’ as party secures best election performance since 1974 | The Independent

The consensus on election night seemed clear: although Democrats regained the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years, no blue wave had materialised.

A week later, the steady trickle of further gains in late results appear to reveal a far more positive picture for the party,

The Democrats have now picked up at least 32 seats in the House and are on course for four more, in addition to flipping seven governorships and eight state legislative chambers.

It means the overall results in the first nationwide election of Donald Trump’s presidency represent the Democrats’ best midterm performance since 1974, a vote which came in the wake of Watergate and Richard Nixon’s resignation.

via Midterms: Late results reveal Democrats ‘blue wave’ as party secures best election performance since 1974 | The Independent

Trump, Uncategorized

Five days of fury: Inside Trump’s Paris temper, election woes and staff upheaval

“He’s just a bull carrying his own china shop with him wherever he travels the world,” presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said.

via Five days of fury: Inside Trump’s Paris temper, election woes and staff upheaval

Trump, Uncategorized

Donald Trump ridicules Emmanuel Macron, blasts France’s performance in two world wars as relations sour – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Key points:

Trump the Diplomat from a distance

US President Donald Trump has attacked his French counterpart in a series of tweets just two days after returning from commemorations to mark 100 years since the end of World War I in Paris.

Mr Trump lashed out over Mr Macron’s suggestion Europe should build up militaries
He also complained about tariffs on US wine and attacked Mr Macron’s popularity
The complaints struck a nerve in France on the anniversary of the Paris terror attacks

via Donald Trump ridicules Emmanuel Macron, blasts France’s performance in two world wars as relations sour – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Think Tanks, Uncategorized

Dirty little secret: ‘Think tanks’ are among top culprits in media disinformation crisis — RT Op-ed

Dirty little secret: ‘Think tanks’ are among top culprits in media disinformation crisis

IPA AUSTRALIA (ODT)

Think tanks are increasingly taking advantage of tight news budgets to influence the press agenda in favour of their sponsors.

Decades ago, these outfits generally operated as policy advisories. Although, some were comfortably enumerated ‘retirement homes’ for distinguished public servants or intellectuals. However, in modern times, they have become indistinguishable from lobbying firms. With the budgets to match.
On the Russia (and broader Eastern European) beat, think tank influence is becoming increasingly dangerous and malign. And it’s leading to a crisis in journalistic standards which nobody wants to acknowledge.

via Dirty little secret: ‘Think tanks’ are among top culprits in media disinformation crisis — RT Op-ed

terrorism, Uncategorized

The link between terrorism and mental illness is complicated, and vilifying communities doesn’t help

Following another act of fatal violence in Melbourne’s CBD last Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed claims the perpetrator, Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, had a mental illness. He said this was a “lame excuse”, saying he wanted imams and the Muslim community to pay greater attention to people at risk of radicalisation.

via The link between terrorism and mental illness is complicated, and vilifying communities doesn’t help

Uncategorized

Bourke Street: How James “Jimmy” Gargasoulas became the monster who massacred Melbourne and has been found guilty

Melbourne and has been found guilty

James Gargasoulas.

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Reasons not to – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Continually fighting against things has drained both the government and the people. We need leaders who can explain why we should do things, not why we shouldn’t.

via Reasons not to – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Abbott, Uncategorized

Targeting Tony Abbott: inside the micro-campaigns to unseat the former PM | Australia news | The Guardian

There is a groundswell in Warringah and – worryingly for Abbott – the disparate groups are coordinating
If the posters popping up around Manly and sales of anti–Tony Abbott T-shirts are any gauge, the member for Warringah has a fight on his hands.

“There’s a huge amount of grassroots activity. Organisations are popping out of the ground everywhere. And we are finding each other,” says Louise Hislop, the convenor of Voices of Warringah.

Targeting Tony Abbott: inside the micro-campaigns to unseat the former PM | Australia news | The Guardian

Israel

Israeli Snipers Shoot 6 Children, 9 Women & 22 Other Unarmed Protesters in Gaza

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that at least 37 Palestinians were injured with Israeli live ammunition, including six children, nine women and one paramedic woman.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, 220 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of “The Great March of Return” on March 30th, while more than 24,000 others have been injured.

Israeli Snipers Shoot 6 Children, 9 Women & 22 Other Unarmed Protesters in Gaza

Israel

Israeli incursions into Gaza are the rule, not the exception | +972 Magazine

Illustrative file photo of Israeli troops deployed along the Gaza border. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The covert incursions we learned about Sunday night demonstrate something even broader, however. The raid came at the height of the most serious cease fire talks we’ve seen between Israel and Hamas since 2014. That it occurred just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared he was doing everything to avert another war, suggests that Israel did not intend for it to actually spark an escalation. In other words, there was nothing special about the cross-border raid other than the fact that it left seven people dead.

via Israeli incursions into Gaza are the rule, not the exception | +972 Magazine

Australia's Shame

Crucifying Julian Assange

Julian Assange’s sanctuary in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London has been transformed into a little shop of horrors. He has been largely cut off from communicating with the outside world for the last seven months. His Ecuadorian citizenship, granted to him as an asylum seeker, is in the process of being revoked. His health is failing. He is being denied medical care. His efforts for legal redress have been crippled by the gag rules, including Ecuadorian orders that he cannot make public his conditions inside the embassy in fighting revocation of his Ecuadorian citizenship.

via Crucifying Julian Assange

Humour

Gender Height Gap May Take Years To Close, Experts Say – The Shovel

Gender Height Gap May Take Years To Close, Experts Say – The Shovel

Australia's Shame

Divide between government and Islamic leaders deepens over Bourke Street attacker

Divide between government and Islamic leaders deepens over Bourke Street attacker

Filed under:
Donald Trump, Trump, Trumpland Revealed

Trump Largely Alone As World Leaders Take Aim At Nationalism | HuffPost

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L), Moroccan King Mohammed VI (3rd L) and his son Crown Prince Hassan Moulay (2nd L),

At a weekend commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, the president who proudly declares himself a “nationalist” stood apart, even on a continent where his brand of populism is on the rise.

 

Trump Largely Alone As World Leaders Take Aim At Nationalism | HuffPost

French President Macron Condemns Nationalism In Front Of Trump

Humour

Peter Dutton Says Caravan Of Guatemalan Refugees Is Walking Towards Australian Border – The Shovel

via Peter Dutton Says Caravan Of Guatemalan Refugees Is Walking Towards Australian Border – The Shovel

Climate Change

The Australian’s continued support of climate change denialism

This is despite the fact that, its then-editor, Chris Mitchell, said eight years ago: “for several years the paper has accepted man-made climate change as fact”.

But last week, the paper gave columnist Michael Asten more than 400 square centimetres, for an article of well over 900 words, to argue there are massive divisions about the science.

To be fair, he probably did not write the headline:

And why does The Australian continue to publish articles designed to raise doubts about anthropogenic climate change and the urgent need to tackle it when it does not provide similar support for tobacco lobbyists and flat-earthers?

It panders to the ridiculous right of the Liberal Party, typified by Tony Abbott and to the companies with a financial stake in climate change denial who donate to the Institute of Public Affairs.

via The Australian’s continued support of climate change denialism

Tertiary Education

‘We are under assault’: Major universities go to war with Morrison government over research cuts

The country’s biggest universities say they are “under assault” and have launched an extraordinary attack on the Morrison government over a fresh round of cuts to academic research.

Vice-chancellors are furious about a $134 million raid on research funding to pay for student places at regional universities – as well as other Coalition measures in the works including a free speech blitz, a “national interest test” for research grants and a new tax on enrolments.

via ‘We are under assault’: Major universities go to war with Morrison government over research cuts

Media

See The Stirring Anti-Palm Oil Ad Deemed Too Political For TV | HuffPost

A veterinarian with the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme carries a baby orangutan at SOCP's orangutan rehabilitation

See The Stirring Anti-Palm Oil Ad Deemed Too Political For TV | HuffPost

Demonstration, Uncategorized

WATCH thousands of far-right marchers light a SEA OF FLARES in Poland as police look on (VIDEO) — RT World News

WATCH thousands of far-right marchers light a SEA OF FLARES in Poland as police look on (VIDEO)

WATCH thousands of far-right marchers light a SEA OF FLARES in Poland as police look on (VIDEO) — RT World News

USA

NRA tells American doctors’ to ‘stay in their lane’

US doctors are breaking their silence on guns.

At first, Judy Melinek didn’t know how to respond when she learned about an NRA tweet last week telling doctors who dared enter the gun debate to stay “in their own lane.”

But two days later, when the forensic pathologist was on her way to the morgue to examine the body of one of the country’s many forgotten gunshot victims, the words came to her.
US doctors are breaking their silence on guns.

US doctors are breaking their silence on guns.

“Do you have any idea how many bullets I pull out of corpses weekly? This isn’t just my lane,” she tweeted on Friday. “It’s my [expletive] highway.”

Joseph Sakran, a trauma surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, who suffers from a paralysed vocal cord after taking a stray bullet in the neck almost 25 years ago, refused to stay silent as the country’s latest mass shooting hit the news.

“I have Two Words for you Hell No! #Hell No for #ThousandOaks #Hell No for all black men that die & no one hears about it. #Hell No for all those that we still may be able to save,” Sakran wrote.

Melinek and Sakran are among countless medical professionals who have taken to Twitter in the past few days to fire back at the NRA – creating a viral response that has ricocheted around the Internet under the hashtags #thisisourlane and #thisismylane.

via NRA tells American doctors’ to ‘stay in their lane’

Informed Comment

The Lessons of World War I– Don’t Trust Hateful Politicians like Trump

Trump went to celebrate 11,000,000 dead but cancelled because of rain. He hasn’t cancelled the rain of terror in the Yemen he’s assisted it. (ODT)

Technological innnovations lengthened the war and made it dangerous. In Iraq, the US faced roadside bombs, which killed or wounded thousands.

War hasn’t been abolished, and the rise of hyper-nationalism in Hungary, Poland, India, Brazil and Russia and the US makes the world more dangerous and potentially deadly.

Trump’s own American nationalism is destabilizing for the world. Let’s hope he doesn’t stumble, in Yemen, Iran, or in East Asia, into a debilitating and fruitless war.

The Lessons of World War I– Don’t Trust Hateful Politicians like Trump

Change

Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change (2015)

via Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change (2015)

LNP

‘They can’t look the other way’: Scott Morrison turns up heat on Muslim leaders

As far back as 2005 with the Cronulla riots the biggest enablers of those riots were said to be the shock jocks of 2GB and Alan Jones was singled out back then as one of the loudest Nationalist voices at the time. Scott Morrison in fact saw political advantage to be had in encouraging the ultra-right-wing division of the them and us culture wars. However there were wiser heads than his in the Liberal Party at that time who saw the party and Australia in fact as a broad church.

However that all changed with the coming of  Tony Abbott and his Team Australia . Not until 2013 did we see the expanding dark cloud of Islamophobia form across Australia. Despite the miniscule number of domestic events defined largely by the media as terrorist the volume of noise devoted to Islamic hate and Islamophobia come to a crescendo that we haven’t let go of. Abbott took us to yet another war we couldn’t and won’t win, he increased National Security to a level never seen before and now Morrison is amplifying the same providing justification of hate despite the advice of all our experts.

It seems Politicians know better than experts these days on just about everything.. Conservatives have a historical record of drumming up danger that only they claim thay can manage and at times when they are particularly desperate. Wit the assistance of Andrew Bolt who can name 5 cases among 10 million people in Australia’s 2 largest cities as living proof of the danger we are living in. Forget the fact the rest of the world considers those 2 cities as the worlds most livable for their safety.  The fact that Morrison 10 pts down in the polls has re-introduced Abbott’s Team Australia, Them and Us onto the front pages of our conservative influencers for profit MSM media indicates one thing the LNP are not only desperate but incapable of managing themselves let alone the country. (ODT)

Tony Abbott, who oversaw a major strengthening of Australia’s counter-terrorism laws as prime minister, on Monday said Mr Morrison was “quite right to say on the weekend that there is a problem within Islam”.

via ‘They can’t look the other way’: Scott Morrison turns up heat on Muslim leaders