“For me, indigenous recognition won’t be changing our constitution so much as completing it.” – Tony Abbot, 2015.
Source: The Voice: walking with the Australian people for a better future – Pearls and Irritations
The Labor national conference has a deep historic legacy, having shaped some of our young nation’s most consequential policy decisions. Despite diligent efforts to quell the detractors and instil a sense of unity, the conference couldn’t avoid public rancour bubbling up over the half-a-trillion dollar target that is AUKUS: Australia’s largest military spend since the Second World War.
Source: ‘War is peace’: What does AUKUS get us into, and why? – The Shot
The alleged branding of the Star of David on the face of a Palestinian man by Israeli police has left many around the world aghast at the barbaric cruelty and violence of such an act. It has been reported in numerous media outlets yet is, so far, glaringly left out of others. This kind of humiliation and violence seems to come from another era in a time when racial violence and the attacking of the underdog whilst authorities turned a blind eye was de rigueur. But it’s 2023.
Like most locals in the close-knit Maui community, the realtor was disgusted by the opportunism.“It’s been bottom-feeders calling us, asking about what kinds of lands we have available,” he said. “This is not the time. It’s unfathomable what people are going through with loss of life, that they would be calling. But I guess that’s America.”
Source: Disaster Capitalists Are Circling Maui Like Buzzards
Michaela Cash had police raid the Unions, Barillaro the Jordies, and now the LNP in Hawkesbury. Cap that off with Citizen K and his defense counsel Brendan Coellary and LNP starts to make us look more and more Latin American.
In shades of John Barilaro’s police raid on Friendly Jordies, a local newspaper has been visited by police for ‘harassing’ a Liberal councillor and threatened with action from the Fixated Persons Unit. Michael Sainsbury with the story of police and political harassment of journalists.
Hawkesbury Post editor and co-owner Samantha Magnusson had barely walked in the door on the evening of Tuesday August 22, when her dogs began to bark madly. Her partner went outside to calm them and returned with two local police officers who wanted to interview Magnusson.
They had been sent following a complaint by Hawkesbury City Council Mayor Sarah McMahon, who is also a vice-president of the NSW Division of the Liberal Party and its twice failed candidate for the Federal seat of Macquarie, which encompasses the HCC and Blue Mountains local government areas.
“I am here today in relation to the receipt of a complaint by the Mayor Sarah McMahon in relation to being harassed by yourself … do you have contact with her?” one of the police officers asked.
“Kitchen Cabinet raises fundamental questions about political journalism in general.
Source: “Kitchen… – The Fiberal Party of Australia – Lies & Misdemeanours | Facebook
The Better Money Managers
“The “entitlement calculation engine” was supposed to help Centrelink determine how much welfare recipients should be paid, based on their individual circumstances. It was one part of a much larger effort to overhaul Centrelink’s payment infrastructure.
The contract was awarded in November 2019 by the then minister for government services, Stuart Robert. The money was subsequently paid over four years in instalments of $23m, $44m, $67m and $57m.
Source: “The… – The Fiberal Party of Australia – Lies & Misdemeanours | Facebook
However, do not despair my fellow liberal snowflakes, there are some vague indications that the era of wall-to-wall Trump coverage may only last another ten or so years. That maybe (I know it is a difficult thing to conceptualize) that somewhere – way off in the distant future – there may yet be a media and entertainment world that contains just a tiny tiny wee bit less Trump. (I know! But can’t we at least dream?)
Source: Trumpty-Dumpty or Wishful Thinking? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Trump gang set to make history in Georgia election racketeering case
Source: Trump set to make history in Georgia election racketeering case – Gulf Times
It is hard to gauge the importance of the Trumpist Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event that took place in Sydney this weekend. There were more high-profile figures speaking than previously, and several currently serving politicians alongside white supremacists and antisemites.
Lyle Shelton quoted Maurice Newman approvingly when he stated, “Laugh it off if you like, but there are parallels between Germany 1933 and Australia 2023.” As one of the few observers who could stand to watch the entire weekend’s events observed: “I actually couldn’t agree more with this, those parallels were on stage at CPACAustralia this weekend.”
Yet the reality of AI is that because it is trained on decisions previously made by humans – decisions that themselves embody prejudice – AI tools are biased. This means that companies and other entities seeking to use AI to achieve meaningful, non-discriminatory outcomes, need to approach doing so critically.
Enter: the movement for ethical AI.
Source: AI risks entrenching biases. Here’s how companies can use it more ethically. – Missing Perspectives
He is a carrier of PTSD and as such entitled not to be blamed for passing it on so generously, to so many others in an even more intense way like 10 years and more of detention. Dutto is one of the lucky ones immune from future debilitating breakdowns. Peter Dutton truly believes by passing PTSD on to others they to0 should understand and become more like him.
The ABC’s Annabel Crabb has taken on the role of his publicist and try to show us just what a ‘nice guy’ spud, the ex-cop, turned $300 multi-millionaire now is. She tried ever so hard to contact Stuart Robert, Lind Reynolds, and others to her show their nicer sides too. However, they were far more camera-shy due to their PTSD and no longer believed in miracles due to their condition. Annabel’s producers promised however to keep on trying.
Apparently, Pete has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
At least, this was part of the insightful discourse to which the national broadcaster subjected viewers on its latest Kitchen ‘Counter-Information’ Cabinet episode, featuring the culinary skills of hard-hitting host, Annabel Crabb, and the Liberal Opposition Leader.
Source: Dutton reveals PTSD battle on ABC’s ‘Kitchen-Counter-Information-Cabinet’
According to Shane Dowling, he has received legal threats from Linda Reynolds’s solicitors.
Senator Linda Reynolds has sent me a legal threat from her lawyers, as per below, after I emailed them some questions regarding false evidence that Linda Reynolds has admitted giving under oath in the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann in the ACT Supreme Court.
What’s the scam with the powerful and secretive lobby group APPEA? The lobbyists who tout for Santos, Shell, BP, Exxon, Origin and Woodside have been hiding their financial accounts for two years.
Requests for an interview with chief executive Samantha McCullogh have been ignored. The APPEA PR guy has told Michael West Media he would not be disclosing them.
APPEA got the South Australian government to push through the most draconian anti-peaceful-protest laws in the country in the wake of its annual conference in Adelaide this year.
Source: What’s the scam Sam? ASIC is wondering too – Michael West
Australia’s funding priorities have been utterly muddled of late. At the Commonwealth level, there is cash to be found in every conceivable place to support every absurd military venture, as long as it targets those hideous authoritarians in Beijing. It seemed utterly absurd that, even as the Australian federal government announced its purchase of over 200 tomahawk cruise missiles – because that is exactly what the country needs – there are moves afoot to prune and cut projects conducted by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).
For the most part, the earth is heating up just in the way that climate change models from a decade ago had predicted if we went on spewing 35 billion tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere every year. And we have. The frightening thing is that unfolding climate events are sometimes worse than the models had suggested because of factors of which the models did not take account.
Israeli ordnance dropped on Gaza is an exceptionally perilous and noxious threat to the environment. Musleh, who participated in a study examining the destructive impact of Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza’s environment, noted that the bombings have contaminated crops and destroyed soil quality in agricultural areas.
“Rainfall causes the toxic components to seep into the groundwater,” Musleh said, noting that deep-buried bombs “pose a significant threat to the people and the environment.”
Back in Beit Hanoun, on Abu Jarad’s farm, the May 2023 bombing destroyed 50 olive trees and numerous seedlings, contaminating the soil with toxic components and harming the productivity of the farm.
“Trees can’t grow where the rockets bombed,” farmer Abu Jarad said. “When I run the tap water [which is from a well], I clearly see the gray and black polluted water.”
Source: Deep-buried bombs imperil Gaza | The Electronic Intifada
Russia’s civil aviation authority said the Wagner boss was on the passenger list of a jet which crashed while flying from Moscow to St Petersburg.
Source: Yevgeny Prigozhin: Wagner Group boss killed in plane crash in Russia
Trumpists
“bitter” people who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them.” (Obama)
“basket of deplorables”( Hilary)
And, in a poll finding that really is astonishing, Trump voters claimed they trust the notorious fraudster more than anyone. A whopping 71% of Trump voters claim “what he says is true.” Only 63% of them say that about family and friends, 56% about conservative media figures and 42% about religious leaders. The word that comes to mind is “cult.”
It’s a pity these Reports are never in Real Time
The steady decay in Australia’s wealth generation capacity continued throughout the Liberal National period, as Alan Austin reports.
THE THREE COUNTRIES which lost the most wealth per person through 2022 were Sweden, New Zealand and Australia. That’s according to the 2023 global wealth report released last week by the research division of the Swiss-based financial giant, Credit Suisse.
Source: Global wealth report confirms Coalition incompetence right to the end
Any argument that declares it’s unjust to teach children from the age of three Australia’s Real History is hiding the past from view. That history has been carried forward intergenerationally today for 250 years and still exists in our social psyche.
The Germans are totally aware of that poison and teach their children from the earliest age their Real History and the coming of Hitler. So why are Conservative Australians so fearful of their past?
The Dutch hid their disgrace after WW2 and falsely represented themselves as anti-Nazi heroes until 1984 when it was proved that their actual unrecorded treatment of Dutch Jews was worse than that of the Germans. That less than 20% of Dutch Jews survived the enthusiastic deportation to death camps by their countrymen.
Alsmeer gained the reputation of being the Dutch most anti-Semitic town, where its elected Mayor was hanged for crimes against the Jews and his collaboration with Hitler. Coincidently Andrew Bolt’s family originates from there, his relatives still live there and so did he when he flunked Adelaide Uni. He still loves the place but like a true conservative, he advocates and will vote NO. He also wants the disgraceful aspects of our past ignored like he does Alsmeer’s
Colonisation is not just something that occurred in the past, it continues today. It’s steadfast in its approach, and its consequences affect each and every one of us. I struggle to see how we as a nation can make any real headway towards closing the gap around urgent national issues such as deaths in custody, the over-representation of First Nation peoples in custody, suicide rates, and displaced children, while the system continues to perpetuate the legacies of colonialism.
Source: Continuation of colonisation: Reflecting on January 26 – Missing Perspectives
The Home Affairs minister Clare O’Neil warns they face a “dystopian future” from cyber-crime, foreign interference and threats to our Biggestdemocracy. What she didn’t say is that Australia can no longer be called a liberal democracy because it has numerous harsh laws lacking the normal protections for liberty. Defence minister Richard Marles stresses the urgent need to spend vast sums on weapons to defeat an unnamed enemy (China) which shows no sign of wanting to invade Australia.
Source: Why are government officials manufacturing false espionage threats? – Pearls and Irritations
One might argue that currently, Israel is the most anti-Semitic Nation. So much so it shames Judaism with its crimes against humanity. More and more Jews are protesting and saying “Israel isn’t us”
As a global community, we must take the time to understand the conditions that allowed hatred, racially fuelled bias and mass violence to take effect resulting in the Holocaust. By understanding the conditions leading to the atrocities of the Holocaust, we can gain insight into how and, importantly, when to act to mitigate such atrocities in the future.
Rupert Must be begging for James or Elizebeth to come back. Lachlan is such a loser
Media executive Lachlan Murdoch has paid Crikey more than a million dollars in legal costs incurred during his aborted defamation suit.
Media executive Lachlan Murdoch has paid Australian publisher Private more than a million dollars in legal costs incurred during his aborted defamation suit against Crikey.
Mr Murdoch, CEO of Fox Corporation, has paid more than 1.3 million to Crikey’s publisher Private Media – in excess of the $1.1 million requested by the publisher.
Source: Lachlan Murdoch pays Crikey $1.3m over aborted defamation suit
The Great American Promise to it’s allies
Legislation in Congress known as the Afghan Adjustment Act would allow Afghan refugees to apply for permanent legal residency after undergoing additional vetting, but it’s failed to advance. Without congressional action on a pathway to citizenship, most of the more than 76,000 Afghan refugees who came to the U.S. after the Taliban takeover are stuck in legal limbo.
Source: Afghan Refugees who aided the U.S. are Stuck in Legal Limbo 2 Years after Kabul’s Fall
Australia needs a YES vote to truly become a WE Society. And a NO vote to remaining a Colonist nation. While America has the greatest number of Trillion and Billionaires, but “trickle down” as promised.
Our job now, if we want America to become the “we society” that represents the highest outcome of democratic governance, is to get a large enough progressive majority in Congress that in 2025 we can actually pull it off.
Source: Can America Move from a “Me Society” to a “We Society?” | The Smirking Chimp
The chaos called America
Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Lara Trump, Trump lawyer Alina Habba, and other members of Trump’s orbit are scheduled to speak alongside antisemitic streamer Jason Dean this week. Dean, who also spoke at a May Trump hotel event with Eric and Lara Trump, has said that he has “NEVER been able to buy the Hilter/Nazi ‘Official Story’” and praised Adolf Hitler for having a “vision” and wanting “to straighten everything out” but “the bankers got him.”
“The first effect of existentialism,” Sartre wrote in his 1946 essay Existentialism is a Humanism, “is that it puts every man in possession of himself as he is, and places the entire responsibility for his existence squarely upon his own shoulders.”
Source: What makes a good life? Existentialists believed we should embrace freedom and authenticity
When a Historian takes aim at writing the History of the referendum and is from the left what chance has the voice two months from now. Grace Brooks is neither a supporter of the voice nor an advisor. In fact, she’s less active than those she criticizes.
Later this year, Australia will vote in a referendum on creating an Aboriginal Voice to advise parliament. The Yes campaign is flagging, hobbled by a technocratic strategy and language borrowed from corporate social responsibility values statements.
No campaign’s messaging is designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of voters. While the Yes campaign sticks to unconvincing, technocratic rhetoric about community consultation and “listening,” the No campaign is arguing that the Voice will interfere with everything from national defense to school curriculum. It’s a scattergun approach, and it is working.
If the Voice had emerged as a result of an organic movement — like the campaigns against Australia Day or those for a treaty, which regularly mobilize tens of thousands of people — then it might have been in a position to counter the No campaign. But this is far from the case.
In fact, among the highest-profile supporters of the Yes campaign are peak corporate bodies like the Business Council of Australia and mining giants like BHP, which has donated $2 million. It’s a far cry from the strikes that spearheaded the Aboriginal land rights movement of the twentieth century, which were aided by solidarity from unions and the Communist Party of Australia.
Source: Australia’s Voice Referendum Is Losing Thanks to the “Radical Centrism” of Its Architects
What’s occurring in edited and manipulated videos is neither “free-speech” nor information. “The full version of the interview on Network 10’s The Project reveals Mr Albanese answered immediately and clearly.”
Misleading. The interview with the prime minister was edited to cut out his response.
Edited versions of a TV interview with Anthony Albanese are being used to suggest the prime minister was lost for words when asked about the powers of the proposed Indigenous voice.
This is misleading. A campaign video from Fair Australia and a similar video from lobby group Advance were selectively edited to suggest Mr Albanese didn’t have a response to a key question.
Source: Labor True Believers, Political Analysis and Satire | Facebook
Advance, and FA, are fronted by Peter Dutton’s hand-picked shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Also connected to the FA campaign is Tony Abbott, who is an adviser to Advance – the group having unsuccessfully defended him in his then North Shore electorate of Warringah in 2019.
“read Anna Funder’s book and make up your own mind. It’s certainly one of the more interesting books I’ve read.” ( Rossleigh)
Source: “Wifedom” – An Alternate View – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Albo’s plot to ensure Tanya remains in the background?
THE PUBLIC IS entitled to know the true cost of Labor’s rejection at the recent national conference of any significant policies to address climate change, biodiversity loss and ending native forest logging.
Source: Labor fails on the environment at national conference
Mordecai Bromberg wiser than the Supreme Court
The lower court decision had shaken the fossil fuel industry with its finding in favour of the eight children and their litigation guardian, an octogenarian nun. Justice Bromberg found that considering the potential harm arising from carbon dioxide emissions was a mandatory consideration of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Minister for the Environment also had a duty of care given that it was reasonably foreseeable that the Australian children would face a risk of harm in extending the mine project. Furthermore, the Minister had control over that risk, given that she could approve the extension, and that the children were vulnerable to a real risk of harm arising from climatic threats.
Source: Climate Change Litigation: The Montana Precedent – » The Australian Independent Media Network
On Sunday, concerns were raised
Tropical storm Hilary has inundated streets across Mexico’s Baja California peninsula with deadly floodwaters, before moving over southern California, where it has swamped roads and downed trees.
Australia’s Shame, We cut back on Legal Aid, Foriegn Aid, and Welfare under a decade of LNP Government.
After 16 months of work and under pressure from civil society organizations, the law exempting survivors of sexual violence from legal fees has just been passed by the National Assembly (lower house) of Parliament. According to Article 123 of the law, victims of sexual violence are now no longer liable to the payment of the costs of consignments, justice, enforcement and proportional rights, therefore modifying the Code of Criminal Procedure of August 6, 1959, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On July 15, Palestinian journalist Basel Adra found himself apprehended by the military after documenting an Israeli settler’s assault in the occupied West Bank. Adra was subjected to handcuffing, blindfolding, and forced to endure hours under the scorching sun. While the Union of Journalists in Israel decried this incident as a grave infringement on press freedom, his ordeal mirrors the distressing reality encountered by countless Palestinian reporters.
The Labrynth
Energy consumers are getting used to dancing with their provider each year to not be ripped off. But that’s no easy waltz. The twists and turns can make anyone dizzy. Sandi Logan knows the score.
Australian politics is at a critical moment in its history. The timidity of the Albanese government is matched by the ruthless negativism of the Dutton opposition. The political culture from which both sides operate harks back to Australia in the 1950s when, as Donald Horne pointedly remarked, the country was led by second-rate people. It still is.
Australia should be led by first-rate, morally inspiring, truly visionary leaders. There is light at the end of the tunnel. A younger generation of leaders is emerging. Some were at the Labor conference, voicing their concerns. Albanese ignored them, but it will be to his peril.
Source: Albanese and the ALP, running scared – Pearls and Irritations
Punching Down has always been Racism disguised and excused as “Just Joking” CPAC 2023 had a house full of ugly Australians applauding Punching Down with two Uncle Toms leading on their cheering.
“Each of us has a choice. You’re with the nasties voting no, or you believe Australia can be better and vote yes.”
Compare those at CPAC with those at the ALP Conference and note the difference.
Standards are important, especially standards of honesty and decency. Politics is supposed to be a contest of ideas and ways to improve the country articulated and advertised by those aspiring to be our leaders, not a bear pit where anything goes. If politicians can’t self-regulate, we should regulate for them. South Australia has had ‘truth in political advertising’ laws since 1985. Maybe the rest of the country should catch up.
Source: The more things change, the more they stay the same – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It’s been happening for decades and all sides of politics have a hand in how public servants became usurped by global consulting firms, diminishing the public service in the process. Who are these firms that hold so much influence over our governments and how do we keep them accountable? asks Lachlan Guselli.
Source: The Big Four and the steep cost of a shadow workforce, hollowed out public service – Michael West
olddogthoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.