Source: The Real Drama Behind Today’s Fourth Hearing | The Smirking Chimp
Author: peterimrich
Don’t be surprised! Rupert Murdoch also publicly said that Newscorp wasn’t an organisation focused on Climate Change denial. He once claimed to be be Fair and Balanced. But then scammers are like broken clocks aren’t they? Right at least twice a day. They have to be, otherwise they wouldn’t be the persuaders they are. Look at Trump, how often have you seen him apologise? He simply says “I never said that” and moves on. Their existense is “ratings”. Their product “the audience numbers” which they then sell on the market as influencers to those who have the money to pay to protect and or increase their interests. Political parties and their funders their target market and in Murdoch;s case the powerful and wealthy of America. Cash for comment is their business model not “news”, and ethics well they have none.
Fox News host Martha MacCallum claimed after Tuesday’s hearing of the House select committee on Jan. 6 that there was a “stunning” lack of evidence to back up Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud – a far cry from the channel’s election-denying rhetoric leading up to the Capitol riot.
Fox News host left shocked by Jan. 6 hearing: “Stunning” lack of evidence for Trump’s fraud claims | Salon.com
My thought for the day Sometimes wisdom jumps a generation. Well, we can always hope. ( John Lord )
Source: Only Labor can implement the much-needed change we need – » The Australian Independent Media Network
As Australian journalist Julian Assange faces the hell of extradition, it is more urgent and necessary than ever for the Australian government to intervene on his behalf.
Source: It’s Time for Australia to Demand Julian Assange’s Release
The justice system has failed to defend the principles it should protect in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, so the public must wake up to the necessity of peaceful global protest to run parallel with Assange’s legal battle, write Sara Chessa.
Source: 6 reasons why everyone should fight for Assange’s freedom
The EPA is urging the Government to order an independent review of Forestry Corporation NSW, which is facing new allegations after having just been fined for wiping out significant koala habitat, writes James Tremain.
Overseas transfers
Last year, $322 million, compared to just over $1 billion the year before, was transferred overseas before being taxed in the form of transfers to related companies, while another half-billion was siphoned off in recharges to unspecified associates.
There is simply not enough disclosure about where the money is going or why, but the activities of EnergyAustralia on the tax front have not escaped the attention of the Tax Office. The group disclosed that the ATO had been investigating its affairs.
One of EnergyAustraia’s Mount Piper generators in NSW came online on Tuesday morning, but too late according to a release filed in Hong Kong which said that the company is out billions in potential profit from electricity forward contracts. The company was forced to purchase expensive electricity from the market after having troubles with both its Mount Piper and Yallourn power stations in Victoria.
The company said the overall increase in energy prices will yield higher returns in the long run, so long as it can keep its coal and gas power stations in operation and “purchase fuel as required, generate and dispatch electricity at the higher prices”.
As Australians pay the price for decades of poor energy planning two Hong Kong billionaires Michael Kadoorie and Li Ka-Shing are cleaning up.
Barilaro was appointed to a $500,000-a-year job less than a year after quitting state politics in a move that has outraged Liberal ministers and backbenchers.
Source: John Barilaro’s new New York job set to be blocked by Labor
This week, Congress is putting final touches on the CHIPS Act, which will provide more than $52 billion to companies that design and make semiconductor chips. The subsidy is demanded by the biggest chip makers as a condition for making more chips here.
State election officials have recounted how Donald Trump supporters threatened them and their families after they refused to help the former president overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Source: US election officials reveal Trump threats before Capitol riot
Hold your fire. There’s heaps to do at home. A Voice to Parliament. Energy. Welfare. Education. Higher Education. Health. Wages. The Arts. Climate. Everything worthwhile’s been neglected under the fossil fuel muppets of the last nine years.
And do bring on the Royal Commission into Murdoch. As soon as you can.
Morrison didn’t just drive the Liberal Party into a mountain. He and his predecessors dismantled our democratic, civil society. You call yourself a builder in the election campaign. Let’s see some of that. So what’s the go, Albo?
Source: What’s the go, Albo? (Part 1) – » The Australian Independent Media Network
A man who has passionately called for governments to get out of people’s lives has somehow ended up in a job that requires him to work with the government every single goddamn day.
He doesn’t seem to realize he lost 20 seats in the last election. Slow on the uptake isn’t the word for interim opposition leader Peter Dutton.
The unequivocal message voters sent the Coalition at the election is completely lost on new Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
“How Dutton thinks he can win these seats back by sticking to policies so dramatically rejected is curious,” according to one senior Labor insider.
The Liberal leader’s explanation indicates, at the very least, he is finding it hard to come to terms with the changed new order.
In the interview he said: “I’m making it very clear to the Labor Party now that we aren’t supporting the legislation, which is the position we took to the Australian people and millions of people voted for us on that basis.”
Millions didn’t, and this dog in the manger attitude is a recipe to maintain the status quo at best.
Source: Peter Dutton still fighting the last election suits Labor
CEOs asking CEOs what they should be paid isn’t good or valid Scientific Organizational Management.
At America’s biggest low-wage employers, chief executives now pocket 670 times more than their workers.
Source: Why Keeping Workers Poor Is actually Bad for Business
She works twice as hard and is twice as smart as Susan Ley ever was. She’s real value for money and transparent to boot is our Tanya
Minister will release five-yearly report which she says details ‘alarming story’ of native species extinction and cultural heritage loss
Nobody’s thinking about the pandemic anymore masks are off, 80k people are at the MCG but the daily death rate keeps rising our hospitals are overrun and underemployed. The daily cases are unknown but we know are underreported. State politics seems to have determined our new attitude to death and it’s not good.
“The truth is we simply don’t have enough hospital beds open, so we’re looking at private and peri-urban health beds to free up capacity in the system.”
Source: New subvariant detected in SA as state records 11 COVID-related deaths – ABC News
“But if we don’t do it then we run the risk that the storage facilities will not be full enough at the end of the year towards the winter season. And then we are blackmailable on a political level,” he said.
Source: Europe eyes coal as Russia gas flows wane – Michael West
With the development of social media helping to spread far-Right messaging from the West, anti-Islamic activism in China and India is thriving, writes Bilal Cleland.
The latest predictions about Israel’s uncertain future are based on a different logic. Since Israel has always defined itself as a Jewish State, its future is mostly linked to its ability to maintain a Jewish majority in historic Palestine. By the admission of Morris and others, this pipe dream is now crumbling as the ‘demographic war’ is clearly and quickly being lost.
By not divesting itself of the Big Lie and not embracing the truth of what the January 6 committee is revealing, the Republican Party is losing its last shred of moral authority to function as one of America’s two governing parties.
Source: Why the January 6 Committee Is Failing To Slow Trump’s Attempted Coup | The Smirking Chimp
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough was shocked by the results of a new poll showing a majority of Americans — including one in five Republicans — think Donald Trump should be prosecuted.
Source: Truth about Trump “starting to sink in” for Republicans, says Morning Joe | Salon.com
If Russia were persecuting a whistleblower like Julian Assange, the US would rightly condemn it as authoritarian abuse. But because that persecution is backed by the US, the mainstream media and American politicians are fine with it.
Source: We Would Never Tolerate Julian Assange’s Persecution If Any Other Country Carried It Out
Contrast this with what Morrison and Frydenberg were telling us, and reality bites the lies told. Now Peter Dutton is here to tell us what good managers they were.
The Independent Australia ranking on economic management (IAREM) for 2022 reveals Switzerland now leads the world and Australia remains outside the top 20, reports Alan Austin.
Australia’s dismal 22nd ranking – behind Portugal, Malaysia, Guatemala and Ecuador – is the nation’s fourth year outside the world’s top 20. This contrasts with being in the top spot under Labor in 2009 and from 2011 to 2013. This decline reflects the long-term effects of hundreds of billions lost offshore in company taxes not collected and billions more lost to corruption and gross mismanagement under the Coalition.
Variables which have deteriorated most severely over recent years in Australia are inflation, economic growth, the tax burden and federal government debt.
Source: IAREM 2022: Switzerland tops economic rankings, Australia out of top 20
In a wide-ranging interview with The Age, Robert Redlich, QC, said in the lead-up to the November state election that scrutinising “how the government of the day is expending the public purse” was the most important role of a commission like his.
Source: Anti-corruption commissioner Robert Redlich wants pork barrelling declared corrupt
Employment Minister Tony Burke does not believe wages growth is about to further fuel inflation, saying pay rates have suffered a decade of stagnation.
Source: Wages not fuelling inflation, Burke says – Michael West
But aye, there’s the rub! (Apologies to His Bardship). Most Indie contestants were campaigning on one, or perhaps a few specific issues that attracted sufficient support from their electorates, together with the last nine years of almost indescribable neglect of the succession of incompetent LNP governments, which provided such rich pickings!
Source: Welcome to The New Teal – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The ALP government confirms their action to increase renewables in order to reduce energy costs and emissions. While Dutton confirms nothing but a promise of opposition to the government offering no alternatives.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton signalled the Coalition would not support legislation for a more expensive, 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 but declined to specify the size of its own, more modest target. “We will announce that before the next election,” Mr Dutton told the ABC.
Source: Government stands by renewables goal as Dutton flags opposition
The Coalition came to power in 2013 with the promise to wreck things and they didn’t disappoint. Labor had introduced a price on carbon that was working well. It encouraged polluters to reduce emissions, investment in renewable energy, and research and development. It gave money to farmers for carbon abatement. Trade exposed industries were compensated…
Over the last nine years, our relations with other countries soured. Our rankings for human rights, transparency and corruption, and press freedom have all tumbled, as has trust in government and other institutions.
These will all have to be rebuilt.
From the way Peter Dutton has started as leader, it seems the wrecking mentality continues in the federal Coalition. Luckily, the Australian electorate has made them irrelevant.
Source: Builders or wreckers – the contrast is stark – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The National Mindset denies the Region’s their possibilities
Graham Readfearn @readfearn Mon 20 Jun 2022 03.30 AEST Last modified on Mon 20 Jun 2022 03.31 AEST The regional powerhouses of Australia’s industrial economy could slash their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% and become centres for multibillion-dollar investments in renewable energy, according to a report backed by some of the country’s biggest companies.
Prepare to subsidise fossil fuel plants indefinitely. That is the message this morning as, in the wake of Coalition dithering, the new government grooms Australian energy customers for more of the same energy policy. It’s the Richard Wilkins solution. Callum Foote and Michael West report.
Nine years of Coalition dithering on climate and energy have surely taken their toll. Way behind the eight-ball on transition to renewable energy, the new government is now grooming Australians to subsidise multinational fossil fuel corporations to keep their polluting coal and gas power stations running way into the future.
The public grooming comes via Murdoch and Nine media this morning to extend the life of fossil fuel plants and entrench the power of the very same corporations which have just extorted the energy market operator AEMO by threatening to pull supply out of the grid unless richly compensated.
Art is an essential expression of human creativity. But today’s high-end art fairs are a carnival of consumerism for the ultra-wealthy rather than a celebration of creative expression.
The statement said that “The Council is deeply concerned by the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the recent escalation of violence, including the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, other journalists and other innocent victims.”
It seems to me that to run this argument is to suggest an equivalency exists between the left and the right when there isn’t one.
Trump’s Insurrection Stole the Strategies of Black Lives Matter
Donald Trump never gave a direct order to hang Mike Pence. In fact, Trump didn’t even come up with the specific idea of hanging, but when the insurrectionist mob he sent to the Capitol developed this idea on their own, he was only to happy to roll with it. As Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said during the first night of hearings, Trump responded to the chants of “hang Mike Pence” by saying the rioters “had the right idea” and that Pence “deserves it.”
Source: The Smirking Chimp | News And Commentary from the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
According to a new poll from ABC News/Ipsos, 58 percent of US adults support prosecuting Trump for the riot—including 91 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of Republicans. (About 60 percent of independents believe Trump should be charged.)
Two decades ago, then-treasurer Peter Costello blocked Shell from a takeover of Woodside, arguing that a foreign takeover of the North-West Shelf was against the national interest. It’s happened anyway.
Source: How your spiking energy bills are making foreign investors rich – ABC News
It’s not rising workers’ wages that are causing spiraling inflation — it’s corporate profiteering.
Source: No, Rising Prices Are Not Being Driven by Rising Wages
I am not a fan of Rupert Murdoch’s subscription TV service, Sky News Australia. It is a low-budget, down-market clone of the reactionary Sky News in the UK, which was the major media booster of the Brexit calamity courtesy of regular promotion of windbag Nigel Farage.
Sky Australia takes some inspiration from the UK but more from its other toxic sibling, Fox News in the US, infamous for enabling Donald Trump’s appalling regime and his attempted coup.
I had my share of venomous exchanges with the Sky crew and their self-important ranters, the bottom feeders of the Australian media. Imagine my surprise when they asked me to participate in a documentary.
Source: Sky News is making a doco about the ABC. The host? Chris Kenny
Australia’s universities have been corporatised and compromised, and business schools are at the vanguard of academic capture. Jeanne Ryckmans investigates the rise and fall of the five-star travelling former professor who led the high-life on public grants.
Source: The great Sydney University grant swindle – Michael West
The cost of doing business
“We built Ranger against the wishes and against the consent of the traditional owners,” he says.
LEST WE FORGET
The LNP, Murdoch’s Sky and News Newscorp drove this gifted Queenslander of the Year 2015 from the country. Ensuring the loss to Australia of one of it’s most educated, intelligent, and talented citizens. They achieved it with their White, Nationalistic, Anti- Muslim, Misogynistic, Jingoistic, and Racist rants ever publicly focused on an Aussie and shamed us all. Those Neanderthal trolls robbed the country of a role model for Australia’s future with their hate and disregard for basic Human Rights. Sorry, Yassmin.
Source: Yassmin Abdel-Magied on marriage, her upbringing, and more
Whatever Avi Yemini does almost always seems to benefit the Liberal Party so the people who are demanding to know who @PRGuy17 is and who funds him/her should also be asking the same questions of Avi Yemini as he is a Liberal Party troll as much, if not more, as @PRGuy17 is a Labor Party troll. Has Avi Yemini received any money from the Liberal Party or its supporters and has Avi Yemini received any money from Clive Palmer for the free advertising he gave Palmer’s UAP during the 2022 election?
The Al Jazeera news network, based in Qatar, has received from the Palestine Authority an image of the bullet that killed American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and has concluded that it was certainly fired from an Israeli M4 rifle. The green-tipped, 5.56mm caliber bullet is deadly when fired at a human being and would only be used with an intent to kill. It was recovered from her skull.
It is pretty clear that Eastman knew there was a good chance for serious bloodshed if Pence overturned the election.
after the insurrection on Jan. 6th he came back to one of the White House lawyers who said what is no doubt going to be one of the most famous quotes of this scandal: “I’m going to give you the best free legal advice you’re ever getting in your life. Get a great f-ing criminal defense lawyer. You’re going to need it.” A few days later Eastman emailed Trump’s other attorney Rudy Giuliani asking to be on the “pardon list.”
When John Lennon said the Beatles had a bigger following than Christ he was right but misunderstood. Trump actually believes he has a bigger following than MLK. He’s speaking to Southern Christian Evangelists and wants them onside. They fill his coffers with gold and believe they are America.
Speaking to a crowd of evangelicals at the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Nashville on Friday, Trump claimed his speech at the outside the US Capitol on January 6 was more massive than Martin Luther King’s I had a dream speech.
This is sick on so many levels.
Source: Trump Compares Himself To Martin Luther King | Crooks and Liars
Patriot Front needs to be understood as a part of the militant wing of the Republican Party’s revanchist campaign to erase trans people from public life and push queer people back into the closet. When the right uses eliminationist rhetoric about LBGTQ people, it can’t then feign shock when straight-up fascists show up to support its cause.
Source: The Far-Right’s Assault On An Idaho Pride Event Was Meticulously Planned | HuffPost Latest News
olddogthoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.