Month: September 2022

Informed Comment

Did Tourism Australia really get a KPMG report, or was it Scomo’s imagination? – Michael West

Tourism Australia, Scott Morrison

There are still many questions surrounding Scott Morrison’s ill-starred time at the helm of Tourism Australia, writes Jommy Tee. Newly released documents confirm KPMG did not undertake a probity audit in 2005 into the assessment and evaluation of shortlisted tenderers for Tourism Australia’s advertising contracts.

From his controversial “jobs for the boys” appointment, his run-ins with his minister and the board, his lack of transparency in the role, and his obfuscation at Senate Estimates it is no wonder that his departure came sooner rather than later.

Should Morrison ever look for a corporate gig after politics … well corporate Australia he’s all yours.

Source: Did Tourism Australia really get a KPMG report, or was it Scomo’s imagination? – Michael West

UK

Liz Truss Will Lead Britain Deeper Into Decline

As energy bills soar, Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, proposes short-term measures to prop up suppliers with public money. But we won’t be “back to normal” anytime soon — and it’s working-class Britons who will suffer.

Source: Liz Truss Will Lead Britain Deeper Into Decline

Truth in Humor

Waiting For The Irish To Say Charles The Third… – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The Irish simply thought of all English a  Third consideration

Scotland is about to take back Balmoral Castle and then there’s Australia

Mr Dutton has been suggesting that it’s inappropriate for King Charles to be against the destruction of the Earth because our monarch is meant to be politically neutral, but the first Charles lost his head and insisted that he didn’t need to listen to the British Parliament, although not in that order. So with a name like Charles, who knows what this Charles will do?

What will the monarchists do if Charles doesn’t become the silent figurehead who just cuts the odd ribbon and opens the odd fete and puts his name to the odd charity? (Although not so odd that it won’t have an office, a website or a plan before getting $18million from the government…) What if he feels that he has a role to play in loudly encouraging the move toward net zero? Which, after all, in Australia, is a bipartisan policy so it’s hardly controversial.

I mean, it’s not like they can demand we elect a new king.

Although it is possible that Scott Morrison had himself secretly sworn in as an alternative king in case something happened.

 

Source: Waiting For The Irish To Say Charles The Third… – » The Australian Independent Media Network

UK

The Queen has left her mark around the world. But not all see it as something to be celebrated

Not so Tanzania or Rhodesia it was a German Colony

From the very beginning, Queen Elizabeth II’s reign was deeply connected to Britain’s global empire and the long and bloody processes of decolonisation.

Indeed, she became Queen while on a royal visit to Kenya in 1952. After she left, the colony descended into one of the worst conflicts of the British colonial period. Declaring a state of emergency in October 1952, the British would go on to kill tens of thousands of Kenyans before it was over.

Source: The Queen has left her mark around the world. But not all see it as something to be celebrated

Russia -Ukraine

Ukraine forces advance in north as Russians retreat

Ukrainian forces kept pushing north in the Kharkiv region and advancing to the south and east of the country after the swift fall of Russia’s main bastion in the north-east, Ukraine’s army chief says.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Russia’s retreat from the city of Izium in the Kharkiv province as a breakthrough in the six-month-old war, saying this winter could bring more rapid gains of territory if Kyiv can get more powerful weapons.

Source: Ukraine forces advance in north as Russians retreat

Russia -Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia war: Russian nationalists rage after stunning setback on battlefield

Putin loyalist Ramzan Kadyrov has been dismayed by the Russia’s performance on battlefield in Ukraine.

Pissed at Putin

Russian nationalists called angrily on Sunday for President Vladimir Putin to make immediate changes to ensure ultimate victory in the Ukraine war, a day after Moscow was forced to abandon its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine.

Source: Ukraine-Russia war: Russian nationalists rage after stunning setback on battlefield

Culture wars

New York City’s Hasidic Schools Demonstrate the Folly of State-Funded Religious Education – Mother Jones

The equivalent of madrasas but in New York. Republicans want them in their States too but Christian. Building Cultural armies for war.

“The leaders of New York’s Hasidic community have built scores of private schools to educate children in Jewish law, prayer and tradition—and to wall them off from the secular world. Offering little English and math, and virtually no science or history, they drill students relentlessly, sometimes brutally, during hours of religious lessons conducted in Yiddish.”

Source: New York City’s Hasidic Schools Demonstrate the Folly of State-Funded Religious Education – Mother Jones

Education

Florida ranked No. 1 for “education freedom” — by right-wing group that wants to privatize it all | Salon.com

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference to discuss Florida's civics education initiative of unbiased history teachings at Crooms Academy of Information Technology in Sanford. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Anarchistic Education Florida and Arizona where anything goes

“With this report,” added Burris, “the Heritage Foundation puts its values front and forward — that schooling should be a free-for-all marketplace where states spend the least possible on educating the future generation of Americans, with no regulations to preserve quality.” It’s no accident, Burris added, that Heritage’s top two states, Florida and Arizona, were ranked as the worst on the Network for Public Education’s own report card this year.

“These two states now have such a critical teacher shortage, due to their anti-public school agenda, that you do not even need a college degree to teach,” said Burris. “Parents who are looking for the best states in which to educate their children should take this report card and turn it on its head.”

Source: Florida ranked No. 1 for “education freedom” — by right-wing group that wants to privatize it all | Salon.com

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- John Pilger delivers his contempt to the media barons the likes of Murdoch who stopped delivering news years ago
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, published in 1776. Paine wasn’t just contemptuous of one particular British ruler but of monarchs in general.

Fighting Fake News with REAL, 12/9/22; Twitter Censorship; Canada; The Monarchy; Thomas Paine, ICAC; John Pliger; Murdoch;

ALP Government,

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese puts Peter Dutton on notice a National anti-corruption bill (Federal ICAC) is coming in a few daysKangaroo Court of Australia

A Federal ICAC that does what it’s meant to will make the Anthony Albanese government, but a Federal ICAC that is nothing more than smoke and mirrors will destroy his government. We’ll all have a good idea of what the Federal ICAC will and won’t achieve when the legislation is made public so I will reserve any judgment until then.

Parliament has been suspended for at least 15 days due to the Queen’s death so the promise to table legislation for a National Anti-corruption Commission next week won’t happen but should happen not long after parliament resumes.

Source: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese puts Peter Dutton on notice a National anti-corruption bill (Federal ICAC) is coming in a few daysKangaroo Court of Australia

Informed Comment

JOHN PILGER: Silencing the lambs — how propaganda works

For decades, propaganda has steered the course of the mass media’s narrative, dominated by the needs of state and corporate power. John Pilger explains that nothing has changed in today’s world.

Source: JOHN PILGER: Silencing the lambs — how propaganda works

UK

Mourn the Queen, But God Save the People | The Smirking Chimp

Great Britain hasn’t just lost a monarch. The British social welfare state, once a shining beacon for Western democracies, is also dying. On a human level, every death is an occasion for mourning. But who mourns the needlessly dead or the system that could have saved them? If people could learn to care half as much about every victim of poverty or inadequate healthcare as they do about one person, we might yet build a just society.

They will play “God Save the Queen” and “God Save the King” many times in the days to come. But who will save the people?

Source: Mourn the Queen, But God Save the People | The Smirking Chimp

History

Queen Elizabeth dies: In Africa, tributes are tempered by Britain’s bloody colonial past

Many Africans want Britain to return prized diamonds that adorn the Imperial State Crown (pictured here worn by Queen Elizabeth II as she delivers the Queen’s Speech in Parliament in 2016).

Imagine Right- Wing and Conservative Australian loudmouths railing at our Republicans and what they perceive as disrespect of Indigenous Australians for not mourning, bending and kowtowing to the death of the Queen. They aren’t saying anything about the slave trade in Africa or the pillaging and destruction of a prosperous nation like India.

Africans aren’t nearly as polite in reminding us what was done to their forefathers in the name of The British Monarchy. Even the Germans and French left some colonies in a better state than the British because they weren’t as brutally interfered with. The difference is witnessed in Tanzania’s and Senegal’s Democracies to the lack of it in Nigeria

Though Queen Elizabeth II was revered by many in Africa, her death also reignited a different sort of conversation – one that touched on the legacy of the British Empire and the brutality the monarchy meted out to people in its former colonies.

In a younger generation of Africans growing up in a post-colonial world, some lamented that the Queen never faced up to the grim aftermath of colonialism and empire, or issued an official apology. They said they wanted to use the moment to recall the oppression and horrors their parents and grandparents endured in the name of the Crown, and to urge for the return of crown jewels – rare massive diamonds – taken from the continent.

Source: Queen Elizabeth dies: In Africa, tributes are tempered by Britain’s bloody colonial past

Israel

German broadcaster requires employees to ‘support Israel’s right to exist’

The Deutsche Welle office in Bonn, Germany, September 1, 2014. (Christian Wolf/CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)

Israel’s global influence diminishes democracies and supports autocracies for it’s right to maintain a fascist state

On Sept. 1, Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW) updated its Code of Conduct to require all employees, when speaking either on behalf of the organization or in a personal capacity, to “support the right of Israel to exist” or face consequences, such as dismissal.

Source: German broadcaster requires employees to ‘support Israel’s right to exist’

Uncategorized

Canada’s Elites Stand Ready to Defend the Monarchy

Australia’s elites not only believe but speak much the same as do Newzealanders with one exception they have no treaty with their Indigenous peoples, no Bill of Rights and believe neither is needed.

Even though most Canadians would prefer an elected head of state, Charles III is the country’s new king. But enduring monarchism does suit Canadian elites, whose worldview is sustained by the idea of inherited privilege and power embodied by the crown.

Source: Canada’s Elites Stand Ready to Defend the Monarchy

Free Speech

Twitter Censored Post for “Abusive Behaviour” Toward Queen

The exterior of the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, CA May 28, 2020.(Photo by Winni Wintermeyer for the Washington Post)

Twitter, the platform was quickly dominated by a global outpouring of both grief and glee, a heated mixture of paeans to the queen’s 70-year tenure and angry denunciations of the British monarchy’s legacy of colonial violence and exploitation. Among the latter was Carnegie Mellon’s Uju Anya, an associate professor of second language acquisition. “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating,” Anya tweeted.

Source: Twitter Censored Post for “Abusive Behaviour” Toward Queen

History

Thomas Paine Was History’s Greatest Hater of the British Crown

In Common Sense, he called England’s King George III “the Royal Brute of Great Britain,” who “hath wickedly broken through every moral and human obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet, and by a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty procured for himself a universal hatred.” Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, published in 1776. Paine wasn’t just contemptuous of one particular British ruler but of monarchs in general.

Source: Thomas Paine Was History’s Greatest Hater of the British Crown

Climate Change

The 15 Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Dramatic Climate Emergency Tipping Points that are around the Corner

our latter-day apocalypse will be driven by 15 tipping points affecting the earth’s climate. The sooner humanity stops burning coal, petroleum and fossil gas, the sooner a set of significant dangers will begin to recede. On the other hand, if the new British Prime Minister Liz Truss commits to extracting gas by hydraulic fracturing, she will lock in a significant increase in heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere– carbon dioxide and methane.

David Armstrong McKay et al. have just published at Science an article surveying the 15 climate tipping points identified by the UN’s IPCC and the amount of extra warming that will trigger them. Here is the graphic they used to illustrate these tipping points:

Source: The 15 Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Dramatic Climate Emergency Tipping Points that are around the Corner

Russia

Fears grow for welfare of imprisoned Putin critic Alexei Navalny

The United States is deeply concerned by the Russian government’s treatment of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the State Department says.

While the world’s attention focuses on Ukraine’s fight to drive out Russian invaders, Vladimir Putin’s jailers have been been tormenting  imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Russian prison authorities have interfered with Navalny’s preparation of his defence and communication with his lawyer, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price says.

He also said Navalny has been repeatedly placed in solitary confinement for minor alleged infractions.

Price said Navalny’s treatment was “evidence of politically motivated harassment” and he reiterated US calls for the opposition leader’s immediate release.

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic inside Russia, is serving an 11-1/2 year sentence after being found guilty of parole violations and fraud and contempt of court charges.

He says all charges against him were fabricated as a pretext to smother dissent and thwart his political ambitions.

Source: Fears grow for welfare of imprisoned Putin critic Alexei Navalny

Rebels or Terrorists

Leaked Oath Keeper Data Reveals Hundreds Of Police Officers | Crooks and Liars

Leaked Oath Keeper Data Reveals Hundreds Of Police Officers

The names of hundreds of U.S. law enforcement officers, elected officials and military members appear on the leaked membership rolls of a far-right extremist group that’s accused of playing a key role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism pored over more than 38,000 names on leaked Oath Keepers membership lists and identified more than 370 people it believes currently work in law enforcement agencies — including as police chiefs and sheriffs — and more than 100 people who are currently members of the military.

Source: Leaked Oath Keeper Data Reveals Hundreds Of Police Officers | Crooks and Liars

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- It’s time for a Republic and a Commonwealth of United Nations

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 11/9/22; Australia celebrates 1778 when it began 40,000 years earlier; Its Time for the Republic; and a true Commonwealth of Nations

Truth in Humor

The verdict on “Albo’s” first 100 Days | The Shot

Some described it as a great sigh of relief – the national exhalation of a breath we’d grown accustomed to holding. Others spoke of a weight lifted from our collective shoulders: we could walk freely again, stretching out carefully as the stoop straightened.

The wave of euphoria that flowed across the country on election night and its immediate aftermath was reflected in the enthusiasm even Labor doubters had for the incoming Government and its authentic workaday leader.

Source: The verdict on “Albo’s” first 100 Days | The Shot

Informed Comment

Just ousting Morrison and his cronies alone improved the tone of our governance, but is it enough? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything. They make the most of everything they have.( John Lord )

Source: Just ousting Morrison and his cronies alone improved the tone of our governance, but is it enough? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

ATO

CUBIC Corporation in action Down Under – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

Australians should ask why this profitable company has paid no company tax here since at least 2013.

In the first months of the new government in Canberra, the age of legalized tax avoidance must cease. New ground rules are absolutely necessary to ensure that old practices are not continued in the 2022-23 financial year at a time when welfare agencies are issuing tents and temporary shelters to keep families off the streets and out of parked cars on these late winter nights.

Source: CUBIC Corporation in action Down Under – » The Australian Independent Media Network

carbon

‘Untenable’: even companies profiting from Australia’s carbon market say the system must change

 

This week, several of the largest companies that profit from Australia’s carbon market called for changes to the system. They said the rules that govern the issuing of carbon credits to some projects were too lax and the market’s integrity should be improved.

Source: ‘Untenable’: even companies profiting from Australia’s carbon market say the system must change

Corporate Games, Corporate risk, corporate subsidies, Corporate Tax Evasion

Qantas boss Alan Joyce paid $2.2 million despite carrier’s struggles

Qantas chief Alan Joyce pocketed $2.17 million and more than 600,000 performance share rights this year.

The round table keeps on passing it around win or lose

Qantas chairman Richard Goyder has moved to defend the airline’s chief executive Alan Joyce after the carrier revealed he received a pay increase and bonus shares worth millions last financial year despite widespread customer service problems that have infuriated passengers.

Source: Qantas boss Alan Joyce paid $2.2 million despite carrier’s struggles

Corporate Crime, Corporate Games, Corporate Government, Corporate Greed

Lufthansa paid back its debt, Qantas bought its own shares – Michael West

Alan Joyce, Qantas

But the biggest scam came last week when Qantas handed down its profit results and declared a $400m share buy-back. The board apparently deems it okay for Alan Joyce and co to spend the airline’s excess cash – publicly subsidised cash – not on disaffected workers, not on tax, not paying back subsidies, not on services for customers but on … drumroll, buying its own shares in order to prop up the stock price and lift executive bonuses.

Source: Lufthansa paid back its debt, Qantas bought its own shares – Michael West

UK

Elite rule: Liz Truss’ socially exclusive cabinet

Despite her rhetoric of inclusivity, Liz Truss’ cabinet is anything but that, writes Sam Bright.

English elitism and lack of experience dominate the Truss Cabinet.

Source: Elite rule: Liz Truss’ socially exclusive cabinet

UK

Elizabeth’s legacy: the enduring Australian monarchy – Michael West

We are glorifying an individual when we should be denying the system of Imperial Colinisation she represented despite the Commonwealth.

In 1954, Elizabeth stood at Farm Cove in Sydney, where Captain Arthur Phillip landed in 1788, and celebrated it as the birthplace of the nation. Our consciousness has changed. The Queen saw Australia as a young nation. Now we boast of the oldest continuing occupation by a people.

The crowds got smaller and less voluble with every visit, but Elizabeth cemented the monarchy over the years. If it was not only showmanship, it was attention to detail. John Cain, Victorian premier 1982-90, met her during celebrations for 150 years of Victorian statehood in 1984. ‘’I knew your father,’’ she told him. That was John Cain senior, premier 1952-55. A young monarch might have had other things on her mind. Mind like a steel trap.

King Charles III is an underwhelming prospect for Australians. He is 73, but he could go 20 years. His mother would have ignored many a gentle hint (she was apparently a bit sniffy whenever a European queen would abdicate).

There will be another referendum on a republic, but when?

Elizabeth’s legacy: the enduring Australian monarchy – Michael West

Elizabeth’s legacy: the enduring Australian monarchy – Michael West

Informed Comment

Queen Elizabeth II’s Reign Glamorized Britain’s Political Backwardness

During Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign, the UK witnessed immense social transformation. Throughout this tumultuous period, the monarchy served one purpose: suppressing Britain’s political divisions in the name of unity and deference to the Crown.

Source: Queen Elizabeth II’s Reign Glamorized Britain’s Political Backwardness

and

Rather than doing away with the old aristocracy, capitalism has found its own uses for the British monarchy. The two now function in tandem to preserve the status quo in Britain — and should be opposed together.

The British Monarchy Has Woven Itself Into the Fabric of Capitalism

 

Climate Change

The west is ignoring Pakistan’s super-floods. Heed this warning: tomorrow it will be you | Fatima Bhutto | The Guardian

people trudge through water with belongings

Today, Pakistan, the world’s fifth-most-populous country, is fighting for its survival. This summer, erratic monsoon rains battered the country from north to south – Sindh, the southernmost province, received 464% more rain over the last few weeks than the 30-year average for the period.

Source: The west is ignoring Pakistan’s super-floods. Heed this warning: tomorrow it will be you | Fatima Bhutto | The Guardian

Polls

New Poll: Americans Believe MAGA Is A Threat To Democracy | Crooks and Liars

New Poll: Americans Believe MAGA Is A Threat To Democracy

“Fifty-eight percent of respondents in the two-day poll – including one in four Republicans – said Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement is threatening America’s democratic foundations.

Source: New Poll: Americans Believe MAGA Is A Threat To Democracy | Crooks and Liars

Uncategorized

Old Dog Thought- IA prove media is a free-for-all in a marketplace where truth, facts news and information have little or no place.

Fighting Fake News with REAL 10/9/22; EU and the winter Freeze; Crikey on the World Stage thank Lachlan; AI call them out as Scammers;

Murdoch Media

A winner by wallet maybe, but Lachlan Murdoch has put Crikey on the world stage

Fox lies democracy dies

If he gets in the witness box, Lachlan Murdoch stands to win his defamation action against Crikey but the local publisher is an early winner.

Source: A winner by wallet maybe, but Lachlan Murdoch has put Crikey on the world stage

Media

More about the Crikey crowdfunding con

Is this a fight between two competitors where one, IA, fears it’s about to lose, and lose out big-time, the pot of gold- subscription money? According to them the crowdfunding of Crikey needs to be stopped why? Because they are already well funded? Well, there goes the Monthly or any other Independent publisher fighting to deliver better quality REAL News and Information. Are Murdochs funding IA or has AI merely jumped ship and joined the Murdochs of their own accord? What value is there when IA have turned to play the man and has taken it’s eyes off the ball and the man happens to be on their own team?

CRIKEY … “INDEPENDENT”? 

Long before Crikey decided to stick its head above the parapet and issue this challenge to Lachlan Murdoch, Independent Australia was being mauled by Murdoch’s minions. We were being attacked, scorned and subjected to almost innumerable legal letters from News Corp, practically all of which threatened our very continuation as a publication. That’s because we were actually broke — not pretend poor, like Crikey. IA

The deeper you dig into Crikey’s crowdfunding in its defamation case against the Murdochs, the muddier it becomes.

Source: More about the Crikey crowdfunding con

Colonialism

Queen Elizabeth Is Dead, But Her Bloody Legacy Lives on

In this undated image released on March 6, 2021, Queen Elizabeth II walks past Commonwealth flags in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, to mark Commonwealth Day, in Windsor, England.

Elizabeth took pains to shield the monarchy from politics, but its bloody, racist legacy can’t be erased.

 For millions of people who lived through and still suffer the consequences of the Royal Family’s brutal colonialism and racism both abroad and in the U.K., the Queen’s legacy will live on in the form of the violent and lasting rule that the Royal Family has overseen and still profits from.

Source: Queen Elizabeth Is Dead, But Her Bloody Legacy Lives on

UK

James Connolly: The British Monarchy Is an Affront to Democracy

The British monarchy is a vestige of tyranny, a grand monument to hierarchy and plunder. As Irish socialist James Connolly wrote in 1911, the royals are for the other despots of society, the capitalists and landlords — not for the working class.

Source: James Connolly: The British Monarchy Is an Affront to Democracy

Israel

More Ukraine-Palestine Hypocrisy: US slams Russia for Deporting Residents from Occupied Territory, which Israel does all the Time

 On Wednesday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield castigated Russia for having deported large numbers of Ukrainians from the parts of Ukraine that the Russian military had occupied, referring to these as ‘filtration operations.’ She said, ‘Of course, I need not remind this Council that the forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons from occupied territories, to the territory of the occupier, is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians, and constitutes a war crime.’ She asked, ‘So why are they doing this?’ and answered her own

Source: More Ukraine-Palestine Hypocrisy: US slams Russia for Deporting Residents from Occupied Territory, which Israel does all the Time

Saudi Arabia

Saudis sentence Leeds doctoral student Salma Al-Shehab to 34 Years in Prison for Human Rights Tweets

They killed Khashoggi but they sentenced a Dr to torture and slow death. You can’t be brilliant in Saudi Arabia

Source: Saudis sentence Leeds doctoral student Salma Al-Shehab to 34 Years in Prison for Human Rights Tweets

Trump

Justice Department leans in on Trump’s special master request for documents | Salon.com

Donald Trump (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

The United States Department of Justice responds to Trump’s special master request for Mar-a-Lago documents

Source: Justice Department leans in on Trump’s special master request for documents | Salon.com

Foreign Policy

This Winter, Freezing Europeans Can Blame Trump’s Neocon Foreign Policy

FILE - This March 16, 2019 file photo, shows a natural gas refinery at the South Pars gas field constructed by Revolutionary Guard-affiliated company, Khatam al-Anbia, the largest Iranian contractor of government construction projects, on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, in Asaluyeh, Iran. On Monday, April 8, 2019, the Trump administration designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization” in an unprecedented move against a national armed force. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal offered Europe a way to diversify natural gas supplies, but instead Europeans were left at Russia’s mercy.

Source: This Winter, Freezing Europeans Can Blame Trump’s Neocon Foreign Policy

Informed Comment

A Personal Question to Powerful People Who Continue To Deny the Results of the 2020 Election | The Smirking Chimp

I have a serious question for people who have power in America and who continue to deny the outcome of the 2020 election and enable Trump’s Big Lie: What are you saying to yourself in private? How are you justifying yourself in your own mind?

I don’t mean to be snide or snarky. I’m genuinely curious.

Source: A Personal Question to Powerful People Who Continue To Deny the Results of the 2020 Election | The Smirking Chimp

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- I was 6 the bread and milk were still delivered by horse and cart. Now I’m 76 the Queen is dead, and 4 story buildings are flying us around but….
Murdoch presents an Australia’s Shame Andrew Bolt even brought his notes

The IPA is a hidden voice to parliament. However, they were and have never been recognised as owners of this nation or it’s first peoples. Andrew Bolt personally endows the IPA with respect and with special rights accrued. The fundamental argument Andrew Bolt puts forward is “forget the past”. Indigenous Australians like the IPA already have the opportunity of forming a united voice to parliament but because they aren’t as special or exceptional they haven’t become another IPA. In other words, 1778 was year zero in Terra Nullus Australia when history began,

Fundamentally, Bolt’s attitude boils down to the message ” if they can’t organize themselves like the white colonizers, migrants and the IPA have it’s their own bloody culture’s fault and that needs changing.” Indigenous Australians don’t need special consideration they need a good and strong dose of whitewashing, re-education, policing and their cultural poverty erased. In many ways it’s what Bolt accuses China of doing to the Uyghurs is actually his solution here.

Unfortunately, while Bolt isn’t shy of pointing out that Indigenous Australians are “different” on every social metric. He blames them for it. He has difficulty explaining the systemic aspect racism built in over 220 years that helped create and then generationally maintain that state of difference. Lack of opportunity, Quick to criticise Andrew Bolt has never offered any explanation as to how to begin to bring about systemic change to his accepted and continued racism because refuses to admit it exists. Simply put he expects Indigenous Australians to change and be more like him White. Adam Goodes was always Bolt’s worst Blackman while Eddy Betts his best. Does that hold any longer since Eddy has stood up and pointed to the racism that Bolt denies exists?

Fighting Fake News with REAL 9/9/22; Press Freedom; with News; The Fake Dutchman who wants to Colonize Australia; Trump is alive because of Democracy;

Climate Change

Climate change costs $1500 per household – Michael West

Deadly floods and natural disasters this year have cost each Australian household $1532, a new report has found.

Source: Climate change costs $1500 per household – Michael West

Coal

Aussie coal in permanent decline: report – Michael West

State budgets may be raking in royalties from thermal coal exports now but governments need to prepare for a bleaker future, and job losses.

Source: Aussie coal in permanent decline: report – Michael West

Socialism

Barbara Ehrenreich Made Socialist Ideas Sound Like Common Sense

Barbara Ehrenreich was driven by both her undying anger at the profound injustices of life under capitalism and a fervent hope that the world doesn’t have to be this way.

Source: Barbara Ehrenreich Made Socialist Ideas Sound Like Common Sense

Journalism

Friendlyjordies leading the way for public interest journalism

As distrust in the mainstream media grows, independent journalists such as Friendlyjordies are on the rise, writes Chris Hall.

Source: Friendlyjordies leading the way for public interest journalism

Informed Comment

ClubsNSW’s private criminal prosecution against Friendlyjordies

The latest display of power by the gambling industry over a whistle-blower and a YouTuber should disturb us all. Managing editor Michelle Pini reports

Source: ClubsNSW’s private criminal prosecution against Friendlyjordies

Media

Press freedom under threat again for whistleblowers

Bearing hallmarks of the 2019 Australia Federal Police raid on the ABC over its ‘Afghan Files’, Finnish journalists are on trial for treason after reporting on Finland’s national security, writes Dr Binoy Kampmark.

Press freedom under threat again for whistleblowers
Israel, Israel Crimes, Israel-Body Count

Israel admits it’s gaslighting the world on Shireen’s killing – +972 Magazine

The conclusion of Israeli culpability is hardly news. What makes the announcement infuriating, however, is the way in which the Israeli army has casually confessed to the crime, knowing full well that the shooter will never be punished for the killing, nor will his superiors in government or the military pay a price for peddling falsehoods for months.

Israel admits it’s gaslighting the world on Shireen’s killing – +972 Magazine