Month: June 2022

Informed Comment

Businesses warn of closures over wage rise – Michael West

We aren’t talking big business here but small working-class businesses. It’s always the case that the lobbyists for the top end of town throw cats among the pigeons in order to have Australia’s poor or lower 40% appear to be fighting among themselves so the media have something to amplify. Business has a united front, workers don’t given the LNP has reduced the Unions to a shadow of what they once were this century.

There is no talk of dropping the stage 3 tax cuts for the wealthy is there? Only a rise of wages, less than a packet of cigarettes, is what will send “Australia’s Businesses Broke”. A dollar an hour is the tipping point, a cup of coffee a day. Tony Abbott sent the whole fucking Car industry and allied services to the wall and got less of a response from the media. A whole sector of industry simply disappeared. The LNP gave QANTAS a bailout of billions to “keep its workers” and now we see it didn’t. Where did the money go?

Businesses could be “sent to the brink” of collapse by the size of the increase to the minimum wage, according to industry groups.

Source: Businesses warn of closures over wage rise – Michael West

LNP

Global Peace Index: Australia drops to 27th aided by China relationship woes

‘Peace’ in any language: A sign displays Italy’s sympathy with Ukraine ahead of a match in Turin in April.

Morrison with the help of Peter Dutton has seen us drop 9 places on the Peace Index from Very High to High. They bragged about our AAA credit rating but stay silent on our Peace and Corruption ratings. Should we be surprised at all surprised the nation threw them out?

Australia’s combative relationship with China and plans to purchase nuclear submarines have helped push it nine spots down the Global Peace Index, an annual assessment of nations’ pacifist records.

Source: Global Peace Index: Australia drops to 27th aided by China relationship woes

Cruelty

Australia’s descent into cruelty inspires other nations

Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull discussed asylum seeker policy in 2017.

Australia did lead the world in something, cruelty. The cruelty continues for politic’s sake alone not for humanities. It indelibly stained our reputation as a multicultural-friendly nation and endangered the planet in a much harsher way than the pandemic. Abbott and the LNP rode to power on its vicious wave.

Tony Abbott won a federal election after campaigning on a platform of “turning back the boats”, another policy that is now embraced by both major parties.

Source: Australia’s descent into cruelty inspires other nations

Coal

BHP announces NSW’s largest coal mine to close by 2030

BHP’s Mount Arthur coal mine in Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter.

The mine employs 2000 people, just under 10 per cent of the state’s coal mining workforce. The mine has been digging up coal since 2002 and can produce 20 million tonnes of thermal coal per year.

Source: BHP announces NSW’s largest coal mine to close by 2030

Media

Trashing of Rebel Wilson’s rights exposes media’s decency decline

The Sydney Morning Herald’s (SMH’s) treatment of Rebel Wilson is a shocking and grimy reminder of how far the establishment media has fallen in recent years.

Source: Trashing of Rebel Wilson’s rights exposes media’s decency decline

India

In Demolishing Muslim protestors’ homes, India is taking a Leaf from of Israel’s Book

Over the weekend Indian authorities bulldozed several homes belonging to Muslims in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The homeowners were alleged to have taken part in organised protests on Friday in response to inflammatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made by the now ousted spokesperson for the country’s ruling-Hindu hardline BJP party. It is the latest provocation against India’s sizeable Muslim population, following a high-court decision in March in the southern Karnataka state to ban women wearing the hijab in schools and colleges.

Source: In Demolishing Muslim protestors’ homes, India is taking a Leaf from of Israel’s Book

UK

EU sues UK over move to rewrite post-Brexit trade rules

File photo: Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government proposed legislation that would remove customs checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.

He may have got into power but he has sure as hell been a virus on the UK.

The European Union sued Britain on Wednesday over its move to rewrite the trade rules agreed to when the country left the EU two years ago, ratcheting up tensions between the major economic partners. Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government proposed legislation that would remove customs checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. Those checks were imposed as part of a hard-fought compromise when Britain left the EU and its borderless free-trade zone — but have caused both economic and political problems in Northern Ireland, where some say they undermine the region’s place in the United Kingdom. The EU has decried Britain’s effort to rip up part of the deal.

Source: EU sues UK over move to rewrite post-Brexit trade rules

Russia

China’s Xi Jinping backs Russia on security issues

China Russia

China sees Russia and Putin as a proxy satellite rather than a power unto itself and Putin is obliging them because without China’s silent support he couldn’t continue.

China has refused to criticise Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or even to refer to it in such terms while accusing NATO of provoking Russia into attacking.

Source: China’s Xi Jinping backs Russia on security issues

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought – Democracy has been battered by a decade of IPA, Murdoch and LNP’s vandalizing of the ABC. It’s time to reverse that again.

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 16/6/22; Media in Australia; The Armada of boats, Peter Dutton;

Informed Comment

From being horrible in government to being hypocritical in opposition – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day Often life is an experience of random unidentifiable patterns and indiscriminate consequences that don’t always have order nor require explanation. The more we relate to others, the more we get to know ourselves. ( John Lord )

Source: From being horrible in government to being hypocritical in opposition – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Three things Labor should reconsider – » The Australian Independent Media Network

There are three things that Labor should reconsider.

1 they should increase income support payments.

2 they should scrap the stage 3 tax cuts.  With inflation on the rise, we certainly don’t need to give rich people more money.

They should revisit the taxation reform Tax concessions on property investment have fuelled the housing crisis – start there.

3 Labor should do a complete review of defense spending. We are wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on last century’s weapons of war. Cyber security, robotics, and autonomous systems, communications, international regulatory bodies, foreign aid, trade, and diplomacy will be far more important than accumulating manned tanks and submarines.

Governments,, have to be flexible enough to respond to changing circumstances.

Source: Three things Labor should reconsider – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australian Economy

Australia must lift game to be competitive – Michael West

Morrison and Frydenberg were electioneering and telling us we have recovered and are now the best nation on the planet. We’re not! We don’t manufacture anymore. Not even our own cars since Abbott closed the industry down. Morrison wants us to be a top 10 “arms” manufacturer and the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporter. Mining took us up those 3 notches to 19th. All of which is at a cost that spells the death of the planet and the environment. Maybe Australia needs to lift its game and become less competitive in terms of old standards and find new ones to judge itself on.

We are a resource-rich nation like no other of sun, wind, and oceans and have the potential to be less destructive of our flora fauna land, and the planet on which we rely. We need to become a 23rd-century Indigenous nation.

Frydenbergs “great Fundamentals

Australia’s strong trade performance and pandemic recovery has elevated the nation’s international competitiveness by three spots to 19th in a global survey of 63 countries.

This came after Australia fell to its lowest ranking in 25 years in 2021, the Institute for Management Development World Competitiveness Yearbook showed on Tuesday.

However, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia think tank has warned Australia’s future competitiveness is not assured without lifting its game in a number of areas.

This includes technology, energy, skills and training, entrepreneurship, tax and productivity.

Australia’s worst ranking was in the entrepreneurship category, standing at 61 out of the 63 countries, while workplace productivity tumbled from 20 to 41.

Source: Australia must lift game to be competitive – Michael West

Australian Economy

The LoweDown: batten down the hatches for “decisive action” as recession, bear markets loom – Michael West

Australia economy

Recession is likely. Share markets, bonds, property, crypto; it’s all falling, just as the cost of living is soaring and central banks around the world are hoisting rates to crush demand and curtail rising prices. Michael West checks out the outlook.

Source: The LoweDown: batten down the hatches for “decisive action” as recession, bear markets loom – Michael West

Wages

Minimum wage to increase by $40 per week

The biggest fall in real wages since the GST highlighted the importance of cost of living pressures in the election campaign.

It’s the  MINIMUM wage bar that is being raised not the wages of ALL workers. After all Stage 3 tax cuts are due and if there was any justice that should be dropped. Politicians will benefit from that cut along with the 2.75% increase just handed them. That could well be a kicker of more than a total of 5.2%. It makes them our employees coupled with allowances among the highest paid on the planet for managing a paltry 25M of us. We don’t get a say in what we pay them.

So why on earth is there screaming when the lowest-paid workers have been found to be constantly ripped off and the politicians regularly caught with their heads in the trough. Minimum wage workers are doing more than one job to just survive in a world where the cost of living is going up because the previous government left the economy to the “efficiency” of the “free market” to exploit but not share the profits of real and increased productive labor. Inflation sets fire to the poor not the rich and the media amplify the noise.

Australia’s lowest-paid workers will receive a $40-a-week pay raise from July 1 after the industrial umpire raised the national minimum wage by 5.2 per cent, the highest rise since 2006, in a decision praised by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Source: Minimum wage to increase by $40 per week

Politicians

Federal politicians awarded 2.75 per cent pay rise

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with his ministry. They will all receive a 2.75% pay rise from July 1.

The Remuneration Tribunal has awarded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and all MPs their largest pay rise in the last decade. From July 1, they will enjoy a 2.75 per cent pay rise, meaning Albanese’s salary will rise to more than $564,000 and MPs will earn $217,060 plus their allowances.

Source: Federal politicians awarded 2.75 per cent pay rise

Uncategorized

Labor needs to lift its game to ensure koala survival

Australia’s koalas may be doomed unless the new Labor Government implements strong policies to save them, writes Sue Arnold.

Source: Labor needs to lift its game to ensure koala survival

ALP Government,

A pox on both your houses – » The Australian Independent Media Network

none of us can expect any government to change the world overnight. Whitlam and Rudd both tried that, and it didn’t end well. Albanese has a history of building consensus and getting results, so rather than scream from the rooftops that your particular policy or action isn’t done inside the next 100 days, calm down and wait. Albanese isn’t the new Messiah and he can’t please everyone. But if he can demonstrate major political parties and good governance don’t have to be mutually exclusive, a lot more people will go into the polling booth in three years’ time without the virtual pegs on their nose.

Source: A pox on both your houses – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Energy

Power companies accused of engineering crisis for profit

power companies

Compo claim Australia’s highly-regulated markets have created infinite opportunities for manipulation and even the government-owned Snowy Hydro has been accused of gaming the system. Power companies say their hands have been forced by perverse incentives. On Tuesday, the nation’s top energy regulator wrote to power generators to remind them of their legal obligations and to suggest they may have engineered recent shortfalls in order to access the compensation payments that companies receive under emergency shortfalls when the government can force them into business.

Source: Power companies accused of engineering crisis for profit

Gun Control

You’re 18. You Can’t Rent A Car, Hit The Club Or Buy Cigarettes — But You Can Get An AR-15.

You’re 18. You Can’t Rent A Car, Hit The Club Or Buy Cigarettes — But You Can Get An AR-15.

Does this make any sense?
 
Ukraine

Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine must maintain Western attention to win this war

Volodymyr Zelensky has mastered the art of communicating with a global audience.

Western support is critical to the Ukrainian effort to defend its territory, and for its counter-offensives to regain those parts of the country seized by the Russian military. And sustaining this support means that Ukraine, its president, its citizen information warriors and its diplomatic corps will need to continue their efforts to engage the politicians and populations of the United States, Europe and beyond.

Source: Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine must maintain Western attention to win this war

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- 4 weeks ago Morrison and Frydenberg were telling us ” Our economic fundamentals were great the best in the world” Now we hear crisis has “developed” not “inherited” Watch our MSM attack the ALP and worker’s wages

Fighting Fake News with REAL 15/6/22; Dutton, Gas; Inflation;

Peter Dutton

It’s been called the worst job in politics. Can Peter Dutton buck the trend?

Sky After Dark’s horse in the race has never look like a genuine thoroughbred.Nevertheless, The Murdoch’s are painting him up to be their Fine Cotton but we all know his track record and that he’s a fake.

Morrison is already playing the salesman and shifting blame away from himself in Trump-like fashion never admitting his loss was his own dead weight. He flopped like the Edsel did in the 50s in 2022. But  is the Dutton better or worse than the Scomo? Morrison has after all the Pentecostalists behind him who are now fully immersed in politics since Howard enticed them, and their money to the Party and unleashed the culture wars on Australia. Dutton has only the Monkey Pod room with Hastie and Credlin seeing the light of opportunity while Dutton looks for the numbers that really aren’t there.

But Dutton will have to get used to the fact the new government – not the Coalition – now has the allure and prestige of power. There’s only so much tub-thumping he can do without looking isolated and pitiable.

Source: It’s been called the worst job in politics. Can Peter Dutton buck the trend?

Energy

You might be warm and cookin’ with gas… if only it wasn’t 95.7% foreign owned!

The cost of living is through the roof, as gas prices make it hard for Australians to keep warm this winter. Labor needs to stand firm against foreign interests and reserve domestic supply. Dave Donovan looks at how we got to this cold, dark place.

Source: You might be warm and cookin’ with gas… if only it wasn’t 95.7% foreign owned!

Australia

Freezing indoors? That’s because Australian homes are closer to tents than insulated eco-buildings | Philip Oldfield | The Guardian

Freezing young woman in warm clothes sitting on couch and hugging cushion

Compared with other OECD countries Australia has been a free for all when it comes to housing. Architects aren’t required. So, hit with climate change the reality of our low standards of housing compared with other nations is staring us in the face, and revealing why we are pp the world’s biggest domestic emitters of CO2.

Our national building standards need to be overhauled to fight climate change and energy poverty – and improve our lives

Source: Freezing indoors? That’s because Australian homes are closer to tents than insulated eco-buildings | Philip Oldfield | The Guardian

NDIS

NDIS crackdown welcomed by advocates as organised gangs infiltrate scheme | Australia news | The Guardian

Person pushing a wheelchair

The LNP  made it harder to gain access by those that needed help but so much easier for systemic fraud to be conducted by providers.  Labor’s Bill Shorten intends to reverse that fraud, not the access by the needy. We saw the same system occur in the provision of Education, Childminding, Employment, and Jobkeeper services. Frydenberg willingly increased x4 funds to Guide Dogs Australia  $3-4 M for 35 dogs. He  proved he needed one himself.  Meanwhile, he and the LNP kept calling themselves the better managers.

Oh yes The ALP was accused of being much worse because of Pink Bats in comparison a relatively smaller issue.

Experts say scheme ‘not working well for everyone’ after Bill Shorten says Labor will target fraudsters

Source: NDIS crackdown welcomed by advocates as organised gangs infiltrate scheme | Australia news | The Guardian

charity

Frydenberg-funded guide dog charity caught swindling taxpayers

35 dogs at what cost?Frydenberg has been tipped to be the new head of the AFL.

A Melbourne “charity” whose CEO almost certainly broke federal laws by officially spruiking a sitting member of parliament is charging taxpayers four times what it was a decade ago to deliver just three-quarters of the services.

Source: Frydenberg-funded guide dog charity caught swindling taxpayers

Murdochian Myth

Lachlan Murdoch’s $220m bet on digital bookmaking falls flat

Lachlan Murdoch is the mastermind behind New Corp’s move into online betting.

Lachlan Murdoch’s history in Australia doesn’t seem to read well. First Onetel and now Points Bet all business blunders. This Philosophy major doesn’t appear to have the business skills of his father. He knows how to spend but not make money. But then Rupert was driven out of the UK, threatened with jail, and the loss of license in the UK, only to be saved by the Tories with whom he had an arrangement of mutual benefit. He fled to America, the land of Trump, became an American, and flourished when he appointed Roger Ailes to head up Fox News.

Yes,the Murdochs have made money but it seems unclear that it was entirely their doing. Corporate raiders of the assets of others have served them well. However, Australia hasn’t been as kind to their bottom line despite Newscorp’s quid pro quo arrangements with the LNP to ransack the ABC, the IPA, and multinational non tax paying corporate interests. The Murdochs have never really had any regard for journalism, news and information or the Australian people.

The rationale for News is that digital betting would supplement the challenged earnings its traditional media assets have experienced in Australia over time.

Source: Lachlan Murdoch’s $220m bet on digital bookmaking falls flat

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders skewers Republican critic of ‘full-on socialism’ in Fox debate | Bernie Sanders | The Guardian

Bernie Sanders with Lindsey Graham and Fox host Bret Baier after the debate.

America’s only true Presidential Politician.

‘Is guaranteeing healthcare to all people socialistic?’ senator asks Lindsey Graham in stellar defense of political philosophy

Source: Bernie Sanders skewers Republican critic of ‘full-on socialism’ in Fox debate | Bernie Sanders | The Guardian

Robert Reich

Liz Cheney for President? | The Smirking Chimp

Bernie Sanders is closer to what Americans need than any other politician, surely? Robert Reich is not always with us.

Liz Cheney’s courage and integrity are closer to Paul Wellstone’s than to almost any current politician I can think of. All of America needs her to run for president in 2024. Do we need her to win as well?

Source: Liz Cheney for President? | The Smirking Chimp

Jan 6th

The 1/6 Committee’s Biggest Challenge: Assessing Whether Trump Is Bonkers – Mother Jones

Trump produced an unprecedented flood of lies and false statements during his presidency—over 30,000, according to the Washington Post. Is it possible he cannot tell fact from fiction? As a narcissistic egomaniac, does he believe he can manufacture reality? His psychological relationship with the truth has always been difficult to fathom. Trump cannot cite any confirmed evidence of fraud, yet he has unwaveringly insisted dark sinister forces stole a grand electoral landslide from him. Again and again, reality was presented to him, but he acted as if it did not exist. Is this because he cannot recognize reality or because he doesn’t want to recognize reality for assorted transactional purposes? So far, the committee has not provided an authoritative answer. But that may be above its pay grade. In any event, there is a fundamental truth that transcends resolution of this issue: Whether or not Trump believes in his Big Lie, he has successfully encouraged millions of Americans to do so, and that includes the thousands who assaulted the Capitol on January 6. In either case, Trump is a threat to the republic.

Source: The 1/6 Committee’s Biggest Challenge: Assessing Whether Trump Is Bonkers – Mother Jones

Informed Opinion

Why the Oath Keepers looks an Awful lot like al-Qaeda and Trump is its Usama Bin Laden

January 6 and its aftermath clearly could have been far more bloody if the Capitol police and then the Secret Service had not done such a good job of protecting elected officials from these heavily armed and militarily trained wack jobs. It should be remembered how the odious Trump cultivated these right-wing militias, and told a similar group to “stand back and stand by” during his debate with Joe Biden. They stood by all right.

Source: Why the Oath Keepers looks an Awful lot like al-Qaeda and Trump is its Usama Bin Laden

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Under the LNP Australia became one big Foreign-owned Mining Company paying no tax. We now feel the pain.
May be an image of text that says 'Australia COVID 2020 Total Cases 2021 2022 28,407 Reported Deaths 367,097 909 7,273,639 Number of Days 1,331 340 6,808 Cases Per Day 365 84 163 Deaths Per Day 1,006 2.7 44,623 3.6 The first 163 days of 2022. [Data from 11 June 2022, reported 12 June] 41.7 Credit to Prof Mary-Louise McLaws for the 2020 and 2021 data. Credit to https://covidlive.com.au/ for the 2022 data.'

Dying with Covid not Living with it. We once cared

Fighting Fake News with REAL 14/6/22; Covid Stats; Murdoch created Journalist; Cost of Living Gas and the big Freeze;

LNP Corruption, LNP Tactics

ABC’s ‘Murdochracy’ creep no accident

Supposing the Morrison Government wanted to turn successive failures to destroy the ABC’s credibility into a success story, it could not do better than make significant Murdoch appointments to the ABC board, writes Paul Begley.

Source: ABC’s ‘Murdochracy’ creep no accident

ALP Government,

Same as it ever was … – » The Australian Independent Media Network

@008

Make no mistake, we’ve been here before. No sooner did Kevin Rudd and Labor gain power in November 2007 than they were confronted by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) which kicked off three months earlier, and threatened the banking industry just two months after the poll.

Source: Same as it ever was … – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia's pride

Qantas Smiles: shareholders and executives grin, customers and staff grit their teeth – Michael West

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce

How does Qantas get away with it?

Apart from pushing its faux neo-liberal creed of free markets, Qantas has always been a sacred cow. Our politicians and business leaders recline in comfort in their Qantas lounges, with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News on their TV screens, enjoying their frequent fliers.

Yet the Spirit of Australia has vanished, replaced by an avaricious corporate monster preying on taxpayers at every turn. Old codgers such as this writer will recall better times. Once the staff were proud to work there.

Source: Qantas Smiles: shareholders and executives grin, customers and staff grit their teeth – Michael West

LNP

Marles: Libs fibbed about making peace with France

Malcolm Turnbull

Defence Minister Richard Marles has scoffed at suggestions that the Coalition was anywhere near agreeing to a compensation package with France after Australia abandoned its submarine contract last year.

New opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has questioned the size of the compensation being paid to France, saying the outgoing Morrison government had been aiming for a significantly lower figure.

“That’s just not true,” Mr Marles, who is also deputy prime minister, told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.

“What we are seeing from the Coalition weeks into their time in opposition is that they are just making stuff up now.”

Richard Marles scoffs that the Coalition was anywhere near agreeing to a compensation package with France after Australia abandoned its submarine contract

Source: Marles: Libs fibbed about making peace with France

Enviroment

Mother Nature: Economic growth is sending her bankrupt

For life as we know it to persist, we must acknowledge there are natural limits to growth. Economic growth equals increased demand, which is simply not sustainable in a finite world, writes Keith Presnell.

Source: Mother Nature: Economic growth is sending her bankrupt

Informed Comment

Still Faxing: CITIC the gigantic tiny Chinese coal miner – Michael West

What's the scam?

CITIC the Chinese coal mining juggernaut churns out $8bn in revenue from its suite of Australian coal mines, gets government subsidies, but pays almost no tax and actually faxes in its one financial report to regulators. What’s the scam?

Source: Still Faxing: CITIC the gigantic tiny Chinese coal miner – Michael West

Democracy 2.0

History Says Democracy Will Die if Democrats Don’t Try “Going Big”

Franklin D. Roosevelt at desk working ca. 1932 or 1933. (Photo by: Hum Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Roosevelt would have relished the fight and going big. But Biden and the Democrats now seem intent on going small — so “smol” and petite and inoffensive that no one notices or gets mad at them. One especially dispiriting example of this that Kuttner does not address in the book, but has elsewhere, is inflation. The Biden administration could have gone on the offensive and made the case that inflation is being driven by supply chain issues, corporate price-gouging, and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince — as opposed to rising wages and government spending — but instead has largely settled into a silent defensive crouch. Now Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve reappointed by Biden, is saying that the Fed’s policy is to “get wages down,” something Americans will enjoy even less than inflation.

Source: History Says Democracy Will Die if Democrats Don’t Try “Going Big”

Australian Economy, Economy, US Economy

To Fight Inflation, the Fed Is Declaring a War on Workers

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell plans to address sky-high inflation by hiking interest rates — acknowledging that doing so will suppress wages and worker power. It’s a response that will force workers to bear the brunt of the inflation crisis.

Source: To Fight Inflation, the Fed Is Declaring a War on Workers

Uncategorized

Release names of pols who wanted pardons from Trump after Jan. 6, says Ocasio-Cortez | San Luis Obispo Tribune

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Official Portrait.jpg

Who thought themselves guilty of an indictable offense?

Americans need to know who sought pardons from former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Sunday.

Source: Release names of pols who wanted pardons from Trump after Jan. 6, says Ocasio-Cortez | San Luis Obispo Tribune

Jan 6th

US Capitol riots: Donald Trump evidence enough to indict ex president

Trump is satisfied he has enough wriggle room

Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot say they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Source: US Capitol riots: Donald Trump evidence enough to indict ex president

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- The woman the LNP would have lead the Nation works for Murdoch of course
Australia’s Pride

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 13/6/22; Credlin reveals Australia’s LNP spirit; Dutton and Murdoch Goosestep; ABC under Paul Fletcher; Fletcher writes for the Murdochracy; Mother Nature Speaks

LNP Economic Management

Cost of living and superannuation gap leaves many migrants in Australia struggling to retire – ABC News

Suad Hirmiz's husband sist with his arm around her as they look at the camera smiling.

MORRISON & FRYDENBERG’S PROUD ECONOMIC MANAGEMEMT

At age 66, Suad Hirmiz found herself on the hunt for a new house to rent. 

With her only income being Centrelink disability payments and her husband’s age pension, she resorted to selling her gold jewellery and offered to pay four months’ rent up front.

“No real estate agents would accept our applications,” Ms Hirmiz told the ABC.

“So I sold my gold. I just went down to Sydney Road [in Melbourne] and sold it.”

The couple are on a housing commission waiting list, but in the meantime nearly half of their fortnightly government payments go towards rent.

With little or no superannuation, increasing costs of living and limited access to suitable care facilities, many Australians are struggling to retire.

Source: Cost of living and superannuation gap leaves many migrants in Australia struggling to retire – ABC News

Anthony Albanese

‘No impediment’: PM backs permanent residency for Biloela family

Point of difference:- Peter Dutton declares Albanese empathy a danger to Australia

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has opened the door for the Nadesalingam family to pursuie permanent residency after their four-year ordeal in immigration detention.

Source: ‘No impediment’: PM backs permanent residency for Biloela family

Murdoch Madness, Murdoch Media

What is the “mad left”? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Even before the Albanese government was certain that it would have a clear majority, the Sky News chorus had begun baying about the “mad left” taking power. What the madness constitutes is never quite made clear. It is “vibe” rather than diagnosis.

It is not to be dismissed because of that inexactitude. This is another echo of the games deriving from the American right where the so-called left is essentially unfit to hold office; only the right can form a legitimate government. The fear-mongering underpins the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as well as the continuing efforts to “stop the steal.”

It is further developed in the US. The intertwining of the religious right with the Republican Party has given an Evangelical (Pentecostal) infusion to the mix. In the Spiritual Warfare battle between good and evil that must be won for Jesus to return, Jesus votes Republican and the “left” is a demonic force obstructing him

 

Source: What is the “mad left”? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Karl Marx

Karl Marx Was Right: Workers Are Systematically Exploited Under Capitalism

Even among Marx-friendly economists, the labor theory of value has fallen out of favor. But its technical validity is less important than the core message: workers are exploited because the value they create is undemocratically taken by capitalists.

Source: Karl Marx Was Right: Workers Are Systematically Exploited Under Capitalism

UK

Even the Murdoch press is now waking up to the truth: Brexit was an act of self-harm | Michael Heseltine | The Guardian

Lorries queue at the entrance of the Port of Dover, February 2022.

Frydenberg kept telling us how he managed the Pandemic better than the UK but he never mentioned Brexit

When the most anti-EU newspapers are pointing to the policy’s inevitable failures, it’s time our government admitted the truth

Source: Even the Murdoch press is now waking up to the truth: Brexit was an act of self-harm | Michael Heseltine | The Guardian

America's Shame

At March for Our Lives, A Call for a Nationwide Strike of Schools

March for Our Lives 2022 - Brooklyn Bridge

While 88% of Americans want Strict Gun Control Fox News and Murdoch Media to speak and broadcast to less than the 12% to insure the 88% aren’t heard. Who is paying? The corporate gun manufacturers behind the NRA

“Avoid attending school if your leaders fail to do the job and keep us safe from gun violence.”

Source: At March for Our Lives, A Call for a Nationwide Strike of Schools

Saudi Arabia

Tiger Woods Reportedly Turned Down 9-Figure Deal To Join Saudi ‘Sportswashing’ Golf Circuit | HuffPost Latest News

Golfer Phil Mickelson, on the other hand, went for the money, though he called the Saudis “scary motherf**kers.”

Legendary golf champ Tiger Woods declined a nearly $1 billion deal to play in a controversial new tournament circuit bankrolled by Saudi Arabia, the CEO of the operation has told The Washington Post.

Source: Tiger Woods Reportedly Turned Down 9-Figure Deal To Join Saudi ‘Sportswashing’ Golf Circuit | HuffPost Latest News