Month: September 2022
Albanese and Dutton could cooperate to remove King Charles as our head of state in favour of a republic. Instead, early indications signal we will continue bowing to the monarchy for many more years, writes Stephen Saunders.
Source: Australia the royal doormat: Time to give the Palace the boot
So forget about the time for reflection, the possibility of making the monarchy more democrat friendly. You have been awe-bombed by a family which relies 100% on our ability to quiet our inner voices, which naturally know the absurdity of a ruling family placed above the populace.
If we ask why do they continue to ‘serve’ we note their lack of political weight, their potential capture by those lucky enough, or devious enough to hold prime ministerial power.
The only ‘sweetener’ in this for a British sovereign seems to lie in the need to satisfy the personal mission of service, and the vast wealth and prestige attached to the office. In a month or so, as the novelty of a new king wears off, he will probably tail off in his relentless efforts to legitimise the existence of a hereditary monarchy, and simply continue the family tradition of opening things.
Source: A quick grab for power? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The romanticism and dazzle of royal pageantry are keeping Australia from becoming a republic, writes Dr Stuart Edser.
Source: Royal glamour holding Australia back from becoming a republic
Truth-telling, truth-listening and treaty are the ways to heal Australia, not a day of mourning for a far-off monarch
So how many people has the ABC sent to the UK to cover the death and funeral of Elizabeth II? It’s 27, according to the ABC — plus two extra journalists or former journalists who were coincidentally in Europe at the time, who have been roped in to help, including veteran correspondent Phil Williams, who though he retired from the ABC last year can’t seem to stay away from the joint.
Source: Just how many ABC staff have gone to London to see the queen?
The ABC is beginning to look like The Woman’s Weekly why would that be?
“I suspect the ABC has misread its audience. If you want wall-to-wall royalty you can get it elsewhere in spades. The ABC is better when it offers an alternative to populism,” ABC veteran journalist and former Insiders host Barrie Cassidy tweeted this week.
Source: ABC criticised for massive coverage of Queen’s death
The risk of a weak carbon trading market
We can expect industry to continue to lobby for a weak safeguard mechanism and carbon credit rules.But if the Labor government is genuine about wanting to reduce Australia’s emissions, our biggest polluters cannot be allowed to carry on emitting as usual.
And there is no role for a carbon trading policy that excuses big emitters from making clean energy transition plans.
Ukrainian authorities have found a mass grave of more than 440 bodies in the eastern city of Izium that was recaptured from Russian forces, a regional police official said on Thursday, adding some of the people had been killed by shelling and air strikes.
Source: Russia-Ukraine war: mass grave found in recaptured city of Izium
On Wednesday, the first teams of war crimes prosecutors, both Ukrainian and international, gained early access to begin investigating the vast swathes of recently liberated territory.
They said initial indications were that widespread atrocities appear to have taken place.
Nigel Povoas, a British lawyer who went to the newly recaptured territory as part of an international team helping Ukraine with war crimes investigations, said the long Russian occupation of such a large area meant atrocities there were likely to have reached “an unprecedented level of horror”.
Source: Ukrainian officials warn Russian forces are digging in after retreat
King Charles’s history of support for environmental projects and sustainable development has drawn the many conspiracies about his family into the Great Reset horror. The very people most keen to display their respect for the crown are torn by their climate denial loathing of anyone promoting policy to address the crisis. It will be interesting to see how they reconcile their ambivalence.
Source: The Right Wing disinfosphere and the King – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Prominent right-wing commentators are condemning Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) proposed national abortion ban. But their concern isn’t that they oppose threatening doctors with up to five years in prison if they perform an abortion on a patient who has been pregnant for more than 15 weeks. It’s that they know Graham’s bill endangers the GOP’s chances of gaining power and thus having the opportunity to ban abortions.
A few days ago, I received an email from an associate producer at the Dr Phil Show. They recently came across my film Inequality for All and wanted to know if I’d be “interested in joining Dr Phil as an expert guest for an upcoming episode”.
Hey, why not? The Dr Phil Show is the No 1 rated daytime TV talkshow in America. It has over 2 million viewers. I have lots to say to those viewers about the perils of widening inequality.
Then I read the rest of the email:
For this conversation we will be asking questions like: do college admissions enroll minorities over prospective Caucasian students? Are Caucasian teachers and professors being laid off to “make up for past discriminations” against minority educators, as seen in Minneapolis?
These were the only questions included in the email. In other words, it would be a show about favoritism to Black people over white people.
The incumbent chief executives of Australia’s top 20 companies enjoyed a pay rise averaging 17.16% over the past year, more than nine times the average raise received by ordinary full-time workers, data compiled by Guardian Australia reveals.
Pressure is growing for Labor to abandon the third stage of the tax cuts, due in 2024, because of pressure on the Budget. The tax cuts overwhelmingly favour high-income earning men and are a piece with the tilt against ordinary workers under the Morrison government, writes Alan Austin.
Source: Workers’ share of the national income pie falls to all-time low – Michael West
Matthew Guy AKA Matt Guy wants to be your Leader. The Premier of Victoria.
The Victorian State Liberal Party Leader proved once again that if anyone can take it to the next level of idiocy, it’s, well, Matthew Guy.
In his tribute to the late monarch, Guy chose Parliament to announce that Queen Elizabeth’s lineage (unbeknown to her) included children’s storybook favourite, “King Arthur” — of the Round Table:
Source: Queen Elizabeth, King Arthur and the knights of the ABC round table
Showing his true colors is Morrison being paid?
Mr Morrison’s register of interests was updated this week to reflect a new position on the board of the International Democrat Union.
The IDU was founded as an international alliance of political parties from the right to centre-right, but the former PM did not respond to questions about what many observers say is its increasing affiliation with populist, Christian anti-immigration parties on the far right of European politics.
Doug Saunders, international affairs columnist for Canada’s largest newspaper, The Globe and Mail, said the IDU had “shifted to the intolerant far right” as it kept Fidesz, the party of Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban, among its members.
Source: Morrison signs on with political network home to ‘intolerant far right’
The utterly inhumane, unconscionable treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is the most visible and horrific example of this, again, bipartisan cruelty. But people are so (rightfully) fixated on it that they tend to overlook the others. We should look at the others, though, because the partner visa is an exercise in cruelty all by itself.
Unless you’ve had the audacity to fall in love with a foreigner, you’ve probably not thought about this blatantly racist and classist bit of fuckery. But it is nasty, and this Labor government has no intention whatsoever to un-fuck it.
Source: Australia’s partner visa is an inhumane travesty, and Labor’s all-in with it | The Shot
Text messages described as repugnant and racist were sent by the officer who shot dead an Indigenous man in the Northern Territory.
Text messages described as repugnant and racist were sent by the officer who shot dead an Indigenous man in the Northern Territory.
The messages were retrieved from the phone of Constable Zachary Rolfe, who was initially charged with the murder of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker during an arrest attempt at Yuendumu in 2019.
Constable Rolfe was later acquitted on all charges after a Supreme Court trial.
At a coronial inquest into Mr Walker’s death on Wednesday, counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer read a number of messages sent some months before the shooting.
In one, Constable Rolfe wrote about being allowed to “towel locals up”.
In another, the officer made reference to a “c—s”, a term Sergeant Anne Jolley, the chief officer at Yuendumu, agreed at the inquest was blatantly racist.
Constable Rolfe also referred to “Neanderthals who drink too much alcohol”, which Sergeant Jolley accepted was disgusting and unacceptable.
Source: Kumanjayi Walker shooting cop sent ‘racist’ messages
Shareholders in US social media giant Twitter have voted almost unanimously to approve a deal struck with Elon Musk earlier in the year to purchase the company.
Based on a preliminary tabulation of the stockholder vote, some 98.6 per cent of the votes cast at the Tuesday special meeting approved the proposal to adopt the deal.
This paves the way for Twitter to attempt to legally compel the Space X and Tesla head to go through with his acquisition of the company after he unilaterally terminated the deal in July.
Source: Twitter shareholders approve Musk deal – Michael West
Once Australia’s own Yannis Varoufakis explains
Varoufakis says a history of market liberalization and reliance on cheap Russian gas has left the continent scrambling, in turn pushing up energy costs in the Global South as richer European countries buy up other sources of energy. “Yet again, Europe is exporting misery to the rest of the world,” says Varoufakis, a member of the Greek Parliament and former finance minister. His latest piece for Project Syndicate is “Time to Blow Up Electricity Markets.”
A Jewish group in Germany has filed criminal charges against Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and defense minister Benny Gantz over the bombardment they ordered in Gaza this summer.
The Israeli surprise attack from 5-8 August left some 50 Palestinians dead, including 17 children. At least 360 people were injured.
“This was a supposed preemptive strike that was carried out without a concrete threat,” Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East said on Sunday.
“Israel must be held accountable for war crimes like any other state.”
Source: German Jews file war crimes charges against Israeli leaders | The Electronic Intifada
An Israeli court indicted a Palestinian journalist on Monday for identifying with a terrorist organization and incitement to violence, based on 11 posts taken from her personal Facebook profile. The indictment claims that in some of her posts, Lama Ghosheh praised the activities of Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Gaza, after they were killed by the Israeli army.
Source: Israel indicts Palestinian journalist over ‘incitement’ in Facebook posts
Israeli attacks on Palestinians have received widespread condemnation while also inspiring unity and solidarity, writes Dr Ibrahim Natil.
Israel is not worried about accountability before the international community and it believes it is protected and above international law. Israel targets journalists, reporters and human rights in a systematic policy to frighten and terrify them to hide the expanding Israeli apartheid system every day in Palestine.
Source: Israeli military attacks are an affront to human rights
My thought for the day
Our lives have become controlled by the noise of the mass media. The sad thing is that we listen. (John Lord )
Vice Chancellors today are vacuum cleaners sucking up bonus wages in $ millions. Increasing their earnings by simply sacking staff en-mass, stealing wages, and offering degree courses to local and overseas students on the backs of an army of untenured part-time and casual staff and online to absolutely every and anyone. Yes, today you can simply buy a degree. Courses no longer carry the same prestige they once had forcing students to stay on longer in the ever-increasing, double degrees MBAs and PhD debt trap with no more guarantee of a job based on merit than before. Who you know still wins out over what you know where Lachlan Murdoch a BA in Philosophy is living proof despite One Tel and Ch10 on his track record.
The education system has been in sharp decline in inverse proportion to the financial returns being hailed. Throwing public money at these beggars in surplus, an otherwise sensible proposition that could shield the sector from the ravages of impudent investment decisions, looks less appealing on closer inspection. Without deep, remorselessly brave reform, one that directly decapitates the officialdom of university management, good money will be thrown after ill-gotten gains.
Source: Beggars in surplus: Australia’s university gangsters
Scamming the taxpayer has become a way of life for the national security state. We deserve a more transparent, democratic policy-making process. Our elected officials owe us their allegiance, not the defense-industry giants that make such hefty campaign contributions while beefing up lawmakers’ stock portfolios.
Isn’t it time to end the national-security version of spending unlimited in Washington?
Source: The Weapons Industry as a Taxpayer Scam | The Smirking Chimp
La Niña is officially here for the third year in a row. You probably associate it with flooding, but how might it affect future drought and bushfires? And could a fourth La Niña be possible?
After weeks of anticipation, it’s finally official: the Bureau of Meteorology has declared another La Niña is underway. This means Australia’s east coast will likely endure yet another wet, and relatively cool, spring and summer.
It’s the third La Niña event in a row. This is rare, but not unheard of. Triple La Niñas have also occurred in, for example, 1973–1976 and 1998–2001.
The past two La Niñas mean water catchments are already full, and soils are sodden from Noosa in the north through to Lismore and the Hunter Valley in the south. It means more flood events are likely in the coming months.
The bureau’s declaration will be unwelcome news to many people – especially those in parts of New South Wales and Queensland still recovering from recent floods. So what else can flood-weary Australians expect in the coming months? And is a fourth La Niña on the cards?
Israel’s supporters have sought to redefine antisemitism so that the term primarily refers to criticism of the Israeli state. This effort has been a great boon for Israel’s diplomatic propaganda — but a disaster for anti-racist struggles in Europe and the US.
Source: Redefining Antisemitism to Protect Israel From Scrutiny Won’t Make Jews Safer
The real issue here is not “parents’ rights” but children’s rights. In most cases, the parents’-rights gambit is rhetorical sleight-of-hand meant to distract people from what’s really going on, which is adults depriving vulnerable children of the resources they need to grow into healthy adults. Book bans, “don’t say gay” laws, crackdowns on school newspapers and right-wing takeovers of school boards: It all serves the same purpose. For all the talk about “liberty” and “choice” that anti-education activists engage in, the end goal here is to limit the freedom of thought, and the freedom of life choices, that kids can have as adults.
Welcome to America’s Taliban. Fundamentalism has arrived. A Bill to ban Abortion in all States has been introduced. Education is totally privatised and is whatever you want it to be. None is fine and has been legislated in Florida and Arizona. Flat earth theory is an accepted reality and the states has no responsibility for children. The Republican Dark Ages have been directed and authorised from the top down with guns the ultimate authority just as in Afghanistan.
The introduction of such a bill is a sign of just how potent the abortion issue has become ahead of the midterms.
Women in every US state would be prohibited from having an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy under a proposed national ban designed to galvanise Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.
Three months after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in America, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, an ally of Donald Trump, has introduced legislation for a federal ban, claiming that such a move would get the nation into a position that was “fairly consistent with the rest of the world”.
Source: US midterms: Republican senator introduces national abortion ban bill
Fox News actually summarized and listed all of the investigations into Trump which until now haven’t been amplified. Sean Hannity shot himself and Trump in the…..
On Monday night’s Hannity, Sean read a list of the investigations into Trump’s criminal actions — that actually did the reverse of what the Fox News host hoped to achieve.
Most Fox News viewers most likely don’t know all the investigations undertaken against the former president, because Fox News and right-wing media refuse to cover them in any detail to shield any real scrutiny against Trump.
Source: Dumb Hannity Proves Why Trump Should Never Hold Office Again | Crooks and Liars
I what universe is this rational?
As Donald Trump faces mounting allegations of impropriety, experts say even a prison sentence wouldn’t necessarily stop him becoming US president for a second time.
Source: Donald Trump could become president of the United States again — even if he’s in jail – ABC News
Now I promise not to spend too much time on this but I feel the need to point out that the idea that King Chuckles can’t comment on climate change because it’s just a wee bit controversial is one of those things that needs a bit of an examination. I’m just going to do a short examination and then we can go back to discussing politics like we normally do, ok?
It Took More than Trade to Screw the Country’s Workers But trade is not the whole story of the upward redistribution of the last decade. We also made government-granted patent and copyright monopolies longer and stronger. We also encouraged the financial sector to become bloated, giving big paychecks to Wall Street types at the expense of the rest of us. And, we have a corrupt corporate governance structure that allows CEOs and other top management to line their pockets and rip off the companies they work for. And we also ensured that highly paid professionals, like doctors and dentists, are protected from the same competition that their less educated counterparts face.
This is the topic of Rigged [it’s free]. It’s also the focus of a video series I recently did with the Institute for New Economic Theory, How to Unf*ck America. (Coming soon to a theater near you.)
Perhaps what is most striking about the inequality just happened story is how deeply ingrained it is among people in policy circles. When we make policy decisions that are virtually guaranteed to redistribute income upward, the implications for inequality do not even get raised.
Source: The Big Myth About Inequality: It Just Happened! – scheerpost.com
In her ‘devotion to duty’ the Queen sacked an Australian PM described by Philip as a ‘socialist arsehole’. By John Menadue
In the mammoth royal love in we are enduring, we are told about the Queen’s cordial relationship with numerous PMs. But not Gough Whitlam. That would upset our colonial mind set. We try and shut out the Queen’s implausible and misleading denial on the Whitlam sacking.
. See more
Chris Hedges September 12, 2022 by Scheerpost
The fawning adulation of Queen Elizabeth in the United States, which fought a revolution to get rid of the monarchy, and in Great Britain, is in direct proportion to the fear gripping a discredited, incompetent and corrupt global ruling elite.
Source: Opinion | It Is Time to Throw the Monarchies of the World Into the Dustbin of History | Chris Hedges
The passing of Queen Elizabeth was met by a singular narrative of the mainstream media, eager to shower her with praise and forgo criticism, writes Dr Tim Dunlop.
Dr Lee Duffield looks at the media circus surrounding the royal death and succession in England, and asks what it might mean for freedom and good government.
Source: Queen’s death stirs media frenzy, prompts questions for Australia’s future
Australia’s path to a Republic is less complex than Canada’s or NZs we have no treaties and Indigenous Australians aren’t even named in our Constitution We only admitted Terra Nullis was wrong 25-30 years ago and are trying to remedy our historic failings now. A Republic seems simple as do treaties under an entirely new Constitution that goes with a Republic.
Greens senator says people expected her to be ‘ranting and raving’ after Queen’s death but she has reflected and now wants Labor to ‘show ambition’
British republicanism, which used to be a perfectly acceptable position, quite within the range of polite debate, and definitely not something you could be arrested for.
A woman in Edinburgh was arrested at the weekend for holding a sign that said: “Fuck imperialism, abolish monarchy.” In Oxford, an even milder protest resulted in the arrest of Symon Hill. He emerged from church as the proclamation for King Charles III was being read, and called out: “Who elected him?” There is a question mark over how disruptive that was, in the great scheme of things, but it was enough for the police to arrest and handcuff him, later to de-arrest him on the understanding that he would be questioned in the future. Hill says that, at the time, they told him they were acting under the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (2022), though they later described it as a potential public order offence.
It seems Putins army is refusing to give Putin what he wants
But perhaps there’s one hint. Throughout his tenure, Putin has consistently invited NATO and its allies to blink. At this crucial time, the West owes it to Ukraine, and for the sake of its own credibility, to ensure it does not give the Russian president what he wants.
Source: With his army on the back foot, is escalation over Ukraine Vladimir Putin’s only real option?
Trump praised Putin, calling his military moves “genius.”
Eric Trump said on Sunday that if his father was president, “Do you think Russia would’ve invaded Ukraine? No way! No way! Trump would’ve called up Putin and said, ‘Listen, don’t play games. We’re not gonna do this.'”
Yeah, sure thing, buddy. The guy that withheld military aid for Ukraine before asking Zelensky to announce an investigation of his political opponents would be really tough with a genocidal maniac like Putin by saying those two sentences.
Source: Zelensky Has Some Thoughts On Why Trump Kept Praising Putin | Crooks and Liars
Donald Trump and Snowflake Fascism
Donald Trump and Gaslight Fascism
The reality of Trump’s conniving to subvert the republic cannot be recognized by leading Republicans. Doing so would create a dilemma for them. They would then have to explicitly declare themselves in favor of or opposed to this Trumpian war on democracy. They realize an outright expression of support for autocracy would not be good for the GOP, yet a declaration of opposition to the Trumpist assault on the Constitution would alienate any Republican from the party’s cult-like base. (See Liz Cheney.) To survive within the GOP, they must deny. They must say black is white. War is peace. Authoritarianism is democracy. That is the only way the party can now exist. The logic of their position demands it.
Source: Donald Trump and His Two Forms of Fascism – Mother Jones
Dutton wants to focus on the Culture Wars I wonder Why?
The latest official data on Australia’s economy reveals serious structural problems making all workers poorer.
Chalmers’ challenge
The Treasurer will hand down a detailed federal budget next month which will reveal his intended strategies and expected outcomes. His priority must be to rectify wages, reform the tax system and shift the share of the nation’s booming revenues back into a fair balance.
This may take some years to accomplish fully. If he can get started in October, we will all be very “reasured”.
Australia’s privatized employment services system doesn’t help people find work. Instead, thanks to reforms first introduced by the Labor Party, it punishes welfare recipients with a bureaucratic maze of “mutual obligations.”
Source: Australia’s Unemployment System Is a Marketized, Bureaucratic Nightmare
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