Month: June 2020
It’s not as if our standards are wonderful. But by comparison to the revolting practices in the US, our food rules, laid down by the European Union, are a haven of sanity. As well as washing chicken flesh with chlorine to compensate for the filthy conditions in which it is raised and processed, and injecting dangerous substances into cattle and pigs, Big Farmer and Big Food in the US use 72 pesticides that are banned in the UK and food colourings that have been linked to hyperactivity in children, impose no limits on the amount of sugar in baby food and permit cow’s milk to contain twice the amount of pus that the UK allows.
The acts are now facts, they happened. Today I am sure while the USA would have no qualms whatsoever about entering a war or bombing campaign against any other country on Earth for whatever reason (Washington after all since the turn of the millennium has proved itself to be the Queen of Liars), I would wager that the United Kingdom would not dare to behave today the way in which it behaved in the past when it had the power and the weapons to mow down defenceless “natives”: “Shoot when you see the whites of their eyes, what?” I would also wager that most Britons would be horrified if someone told them the full McCoy about their history.
Nothing epitomises the hypocrisy that is Australia’s racism denial like Tony Abbott being awarded a Queen’s birthday medal by a non-Indigenous “independent” panel for his “service” to Indigenous affairs.
Israel taught us occupation forget policing (ODT)
That all means that Officer Derek Chauvin used a technique taught to American police by Israeli trainers even if his judgement can be seriously faulted in terms of how he did it and how long her sustained it. He may have received the training with the full cooperation and financial support of both the Federal government, the government of the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis. His lawyers will be able to argue, which they surely will, that he used a technique that was endorsed by the city of Minneapolis’s police manual and was also part of officer training with Israel. This makes for an interesting back story and an unbiased judge and jury, if that can be found anywhere on the planet, just might find Chauvin and his three colleagues innocent, which would be a travesty but inevitable in a system where police have effectively been trained and licensed to kill.
via Militarized Police a Gift from Israel?, by Philip Giraldi – The Unz Review
In Trumps purview the 75 year old Antifa agent provocatuer is to blame for everything. Just as the banks were for his 6 bankruptcies and the women that acred up when he grabbed their pussies (ODT)
The economists of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the group that determines when recessions begin and end, have officially declared that we are in a recession, which started in February, ending the longest economic expansion the nation has experienced.
Their working definition of recession is “a decline in economic activity that lasts more than a few months.” In a statement, the panel said “The unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy, warrants the designation of this episode as a recession, even if it turns out to be briefer than earlier contractions.”
via The Smirking Chimp | News And Commentary from the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
Credit for the unprecedented wave of mass protests should go to anti-police brutality activists, movement journalists, and politicized young people. But let’s not forget the boys in blue themselves: cops’ vicious treatment of protesters proved to millions around the world that the protesters were right.
via Police Brutality Against Protesters Only Stoked the Anti–Police Brutality Movement
Don really lives in the bunker of his own mind and shames America in the process.(ODT)
America would need to start with it’s gun laws first,
Community organisations with a pro-defunding platform for police are not calling for an immediate cessation of cash. As MPD150, a group based in Minneapolis, argues, “we’re talking about a gradual process of strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from the police and toward community-based models of safety, support and prevention.”
MPD150 suggests drawing out other participants better equipped to deal with social crisis. Drop the idea of deploying “strangers armed with guns, who very likely do not live in the neighbourhoods they’re patrolling.” Shift the emphasis, rather, to “mental health providers, social workers, victim/survivor advocates, religious leaders, neighbours and friends – all of the people who really make up the fabric of a community – to look out for one another.”
via Radical Reforms: Disbanding Police Forces in the US – » The Australian Independent Media Network
We have noted too the disastrous consequences of leaders ignoring expert advice, and substituting their own inexpert, stupid and dangerous solutions. Donald Trump leads the field, and we can see where that has taken the US: almost 2 million cases and over 112,000 deaths so far!
Even Labor supporters acknowledge the success of our government’s program at both federal and local levels, and support it strongly. They too know that most of the success has been listening to the experts and following their advice, based as it is on science and experience.
What a pity it is that politicians ignore expert advice from scientists working in other fields, notably the study of climate change and environmental protection because it conflicts with their ideological position.
If only they would listen to the experts and use their advice!
via Listen to the experts – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Trump’s paying to Refute the Polls to placate the Republicans who have turned against him.(ODT)
In her 2017 book “The Color of Money,” Baradaran lays out how, over centuries, policymakers wrote Black Americans out of the economic system — and how policies blocking Black people from obtaining mortgages, land and credit created an immense wealth gap between Black and white Americans that persists to this day. In her book, Baradaran says that after slavery was abolished, Black Americans held just .5% of all the wealth in the U.S. Today, the number is barely higher, at about 1%.
via Why The U.S. Needs To Do Reparations Now | HuffPost Australia
For everyone so worried about the Protest causing a spike in COVID infections this photo was taken at the same time as the protest was on, it shows people at a market in North Sydney, no masks, no physical distancing, no health precautions, all of which were happening at the protest. Direct your anger equally or stfu
When white politicians and media judge peaceful #BlackLivesMatter protests as “selfish” while turning a blind eye to violent outbursts by anti-lock-down conspiracists, we are a long way from equality, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.
via Rallies for #BlackLivesMatter ‘selfish’ — violent anti-lock-down ‘understandable’
The gassing that didn’t happen according to Trump. Throwing the AG under the bus!
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed that Donald Trump has no regrets for gassing peaceful protesters at Lafayette Park in order to clear out a path for his walk of shame to hold a bible in the air at a church he doesn’t attend.
She blamed the cover-up general, Attorney General Bill Barr for making those decisions, which she claimed were done without White House knowledge. That is a bald-faced lie, since as soon as the orders were given to clear out Lafayette Park, Trump immediately took his stroll to St. James Church.
Coincidence? I think not.
via White House Stands By Decision To Gas Peaceful Protesters For Photo-Op | Crooks and Liars
KKK left Blacks hanged in trees for the public to see. Now Trump posts tweets about how great it is to see his secret service boys and their dogs prepare for so much FUN with such eagerness.
via How Tear Gas Became the White Supremacist’s Favorite Poison – Mother Jones
So my knowledge of history is sketchy and very personalised, so I am open to being shot down in flames in the conclusions I might draw.
As a dual British/Australian citizen, I confess to being proud of neither country for the legacy of the colonisation and settlement which is attached to their gunship methods.
In the case of the colonising of both America and Australia, but perhaps more so in the case of America, the invading forces relied on their military to keep the peace. A consequence of this has been a much more militaristic approach being adopted by the later law and order forces established in those countries.
People are often amazed to hear that in the UK, the police do not normally carry guns.
via The legacy of colonisation – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Key points:
Greenpeace say the spill will “poison” the environment for years
Over 100 specialists have been dispatched to the area by the emergency services
An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the spill
via Vladimir Putin declares state of emergency in Arctic region over Norilsk fuel spill – ABC News
Years of flatlined wages and now a request for more? The well off haven’t faced this and have seen a rise in their income. So why are the Economists voting for those the worst off to carry the load yet again? The threat do you want to keep your job? Well, we saw the increasing precariousness of work and now it’s being asked even more needs to be done. It’s a threat that we’ve seen repeatedly with a variety of excuses over and over again (ODT)
via Economists back wage freeze 21-19 in new Economic Society-Conversation survey
Key points:
There have been a number of high-profile racist incidents in Australia targeting Asians during the coronavirus pandemic
Nevertheless, analysts say that China’s travel warning is the latest attempt to pressure Australia into cooperation
Incidents of xenophobia and harassment of foreigners have also been recorded in China during COVID-19
Australia says China travel warning ‘unhelpful’ amid escalating diplomatic row – ABC News
“The United States would normally condemn this tactic if used by dictators of other countries, and its use here directly threatens our democracy.”
The Morrison Government has abandoned those in the arts and entertainment industry — an industry worth $112 billion per annum, writes Peter Wicks.
olddogthoughts 
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