He puts the risk of US civil war in the next decade at 30 per cent, believes stock markets are soon headed for difficult times and predicts the Chinese “empire” will become the dominant global power, leapfrogging America and transforming the geopolitical landscape.
Source: Wall Street titan says America will be the next empire to decline
The growing drive by Trump’s hardcore allies has spurred election watchdog groups to voice alarm about the threat to democracy posed by Flynn and Bannon – and other Trump acolytes – as they combine debunked claims about election fraud and calls for further 2020 election audits with planning conservative takeovers of official positions that run US elections. The moves come a year after the attack on the Capitol in Washington when a pro-Trump mob invaded the building in an attempt to stop the certification of Biden’s election victory.
The US could be under a rightwing dictatorship by 2030, a Canadian political science professor has warned, urging his country to protect itself against the “collapse of American democracy”.
Source: US could be under rightwing dictator by 2030, Canadian professor warns | US politics | The Guardian
Corporate crime slap on the wrist Indigenous crime incarceration and we declare systemic racism and class bias doesn’t exist.
Regulation needs more teeth. At the moment, there aren’t really harsh penalties associated with product fraud, says Ms Lester. “If you get caught, it becomes a media story and you get a slap on the wrist, but there’s not really a way to regulate that.” This is more the case when the product is being exported. “That requires a global response. It’s not something we can turn around easily.”
Source: The known unknown: Inside Australia’s $3 billion food fraud puzzle
Australia has been ranked last among 60 countries on climate change policy in an annual report that dings the nation’s performance in every major category. Overall, Australia dropped four places to 55th in the 2022 Climate Change Performance Index report, which warned even the best-ranked countries in the world were still not doing enough to stave off dangerous climate change. Australia figured poorly in all four categories — greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy — but it was on both national and international policy that it copped the biggest battering.
Source: CCPI report COP26 climate summit: Australia ranked last on policy in major international report
Critically understaffed public hospitals in New South Wales are planning to fly in nurses from overseas, a leaked memo reveals, as managers beg staff to cancel leave and take on extra shifts amid surging Covid cases.
The Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) president and medical oncologist, Prof Fran Boyle, said the timing of the changes was “appalling” considering the dramatic increases in Covid cases across the nation.
A legal expert has warned of the powers that religious organisations have to hire and fire staff after a fringe church sacked a worker who got the COVID-19 jab because it said that went against its beliefs. Lainie Chait is seeking damages for unfair dismissal after she was allegedly sacked by the Newcastle-based Church of Ubuntu for getting a COVID-19 vaccination.
Source: Sacked for being vaxxed: ‘Church’ defends decision to terminate worker who got COVID jab
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was a year of accelerated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigning, successful grassroots actions and significant legal victories for Palestinian rights.
Source: What were the top BDS victories of 2021? | The Electronic Intifada
Where no moral justification exists but where it is manufactured. Israel’s Shame. Israel supports despotic regimes like Saudi Arabia supplying them with the spyware and logistics that saw the assasination Jamal Kashoggi and bombing of Yemen. It supplies and suoports African despots in their most immoral violence.
Two complementary projects lie at the heart of the status quo: Israel’s military control over nearly five million Palestinians in the occupied territories, and the gradual colonization of the West Bank. Technically, Israel views the West Bank as “disputed” rather than occupied, and, since the 2005 disengagement, Israelis no longer believe Gaza to be under Israeli occupation. Yet in practice, the Israeli military controls both.
Source: A most moral violence
As NSW records over 22,000 new cases of COVID and the number in hospital races towards a thousand, it’s worth getting to know the man who decided to “open up” just as the Omicron strain was taking off.At 39, Dominic Perrottet is our youngest premier. He is one of 12 children and is about to become a father for the 7th time.His younger brother gave an interesting defence to police when he faced allegations of rape in 2017. Mr Perrottet, who comes from a large family belonging to the conservative Catholic order Opus Dei, later told police there was no way they had sexual intercourse. “It’s against my religion,” he said.Dom was born in 1982 and was preselected in 2010 for the NSW seat of Castle Hill. Prior to that he had completed a commerce/law degree which takes 5 years. He apparently worked briefly for a law firm but it was purely a stepping stone as his political ambitions were clear, serving as the President of the NSW Young Liberals Movement in 2005 and on the NSW State Executive of the Liberal Party from 2008 to 2011.Perrottet is an electorate hopper, moving from Castle Hill to Hawkesbury to Epping, wherever he sees the cushiest path.
Source: Know your Premier – » The Australian Independent Media Network
State and federal governments may be scrambling to secure rapid antigen tests to ease the burden on PCR testing, but several Melbourne businesses recognised the potential of the fast-acting and relatively inexpensive technology months ago. Nightclub owner Martha Tsamis has sold more than 800,000 of the 15-minute tests since October, when she negotiated distribution deals with manufacturers in Australia, China and South Korea. Ms Tsamis had originally bought a few thousand rapid antigen tests for staff and patrons of her late-night venues Chasers in South Yarra and Inflation in the CBD. Now, her new business Oz Medical employs seven full-time staff and supplies thousands of the tests to every Australian state – other than Western Australia, where they remain prohibited.
Source: Year of the RAT: Positive results for rapid test entrepreneurs
It started with Howard but got far, far worse when Abbott arrived intent on fulfilling the IPA’s wish. Despite pre election promises of NO CUTS TO THE ABC Morrison ensured their ABC’s budget was brought back to 1984 levels. Meanwhile under his leadership government debt exploded by 200% to nearly $1 Trillion. Only 30% of that increase was due to the pandemic. Yet the government believed that its actions should remain unquestioned.
The ABC’s relationship with the Howard government was never easy, and the 2001 cabinet papers, released by the National Archives on Saturday, reveal tensions between the government’s desire for budget cuts and fear of alienating its supporters who valued the national broadcaster. Despite having promised during the 1996 election campaign that the ABC’s budget was safe, within four months of coming to office John Howard’s government cut it by 2% and announced a review of the role and scope of ABC services by Bob Mansfield, the founding chief executive of Optus. Howard’s senior adviser, Grahame Morris, characterised the ABC as “our enemy talking to our friends” and Howard himself had accused the broadcaster of being left-leaning. But the dilemma for the Coalition was the ABC was valued by its supporters, particularly in the bush, and cuts to the ABC often played badly in the regions. The cabinet papers released by the National Archives provide more evidence of the uneasy relationship
“The election of the Howard government marked a paradigm shift in welfare policy with the implementation of far reaching reforms around the concept of mutual obligation,” they wrote. “Howard’s new welfare paradigm defined welfare as a problem associated with ‘dependency culture’ and linked reforms to specific social groups (single mothers, young unemployed, new migrants).”
The super-profitable mining industry in Australia has produced a new class of ruthless billionaires. Their fortunes tower above those of the nation’s other business elites, and they’ve used this wealth to shape the political landscape in their interest.
Just how backward is Australia when it comes to Climate Change?
Germany is breaking with atomic energy once and for all, announcing the country’s last three operating nuclear power stations will be shut down over the next 12 months. The move draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power and stands as a testament to the national commitment to clean, green energy. The decision to phase out nuclear power and shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy was first taken by the centre-left government of Gerhard Schroeder in 2002.
Source: Germany pulls plug on nuclear energy once and for all
Israel increased illegal settlements and failed to deliver promised occupied territory. The predictable result was violent resistance from the Palestinian street and greater popular support for Hamas.
Instead, after a strong start with the American Rescue Plan, passed in March, the Democrats have puttered forward, slowly losing momentum and now appearing at a standstill. Here are all the things they could have done this year, in theory, but did not.
The countdown is over! Number 1 goes to Dr Jennifer Wilson for this article from February 2021 on what would be one of the biggest stories – and one of the biggest scandals – of the year. Congratulations, Jennifer. The Morrison government is a sewer.
Source: Number 1 for 2021: The Morrison government is a sewer – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Now we need to be personally responsible for finding our own RATs unless we fit a number of criteria and we certainly won’t be getting them for free. Giving people free RATs would encourage them to test themselves and that could lead to a surge in the numbers, so it’s really better if we keep the numbers to the sort of level that suggests it’s under control. After all, the long queues in NSW and Victoria must have prevented at least a couple of thousand positive cases from being tested! There’s a lot of things that we can criticise Morrison for, but certainly it’s hard to criticise him for anything that he’s actually done.
2022 coming to get you
If you think you know the sound of horror, try the unmistakable thump of a bloody pirate demon’s wooden leg coming down the stairs accompanied by the scratch of a hook hand gouging the railing for balance. Yes, it really is worse than fingernails on a blackboard.
Source: Olde Pascoe’s Almanacke reveals pirate prefers plank to politics in 2022
The Morrison Mad-Man’s Plan, Prizes for Detterance sinks Australia to lower depths of depravity. Rewards for “Keep Out” signage in Sri Lanka.
While Australia’s reluctance to meet its human rights obligations is not new, the “Zero Chance” short film competition for 2022 takes our reputation to a new and deeper level of moral depravity. It encourages Sri Lankan filmmakers to come up with videos that might deter their fellow citizens from seeking refuge in Australia via boat. Effectively, the competition proposes that every day Sri Lankans convince their neighbours to relinquish their human rights and win a digital SLR camera or a drone. The suggestion that those who have endured years of suffering may be deterred by a short film, is callous enough. The idea to recruit their fellow citizens to dissuade them from recognising their rights is morally repugnant.
Source: Using prizes to deter asylum seekers sinks to next level “depravity”
A Vote for Palmer’s UAP is a Vote for Morrison and that’s as diseased as Democracy gets. Remind yourself what Morrison did these past 3 years and what he would do with another 3 owing Palmer. Palmer is the bastard who keeps nobody honest when it comes to getting what he wants.
Published opinion polls are barely recording more than 5 per cent for “others”, but several insiders insist Palmer’s UAP is looking at a vote across Victoria, NSW and Queensland of around 8 per cent and as high as 12 per cent across suburban Melbourne and Brisbane. About 17 per cent voters under 40 are considering voting for Palmer, one strategist told this columnist.
Source: Clive Palmer woos a demographic that is disaffected and ‘mad as hell’
Half a million Australians have called for a Royal Commission into Rupert Murdoch’s abuse of power and Australia’s media concentration. But are News Corp thuggery and media diversity really the main game? Michael West investigates a mollycoddled media.
Source: Rupert Murdoch media inquiry misses the real bogeys – Michael West Media
Despite the Murdoch media hype over small nuclear reactors as a solution for Australia’s “clean energy” future, this is costly technology which barely exists in a commercial sense. Noel Wauchope explores the murky world of funding for Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs).
Source: IKEA it ain’t: don’t go looking for friendly nuclear option, no matter the spin – Michael West Media
Increasingly dire ecological damage and severe impacts of the climate crisis are pushing the natural world towards a mass extinction event unparalleled since the age of the dinosaurs, conservationists in Germany warned this week, with humanity possibly facing self-annihilation if behaviors do not change.
Source: Within Decade, Planet’s Natural World Facing Largest Mass Extinction Event Since Dinosaurs
“Patriots were determined to “Kill Pence” and “Kill Pelosi” no matter what they wish they were called that fact remains they were Patriots of Treason. They were armed and weren’t simply exercising any right of protest. They were there at the behest and invitation of Trump to stop Biden from being officially rubber stamped as President. They were there to do what Pence refused to unceremoniously do for Trump. In short, to prevent the duly elected change of the Presidency. Theirs was an attempted unpatriotic coup!
There is a more accurate term than insurrectionists to describe the people who stormed the US Capitol building on 6 January, forever smearing the seat of the American republic with fear and fascism. Although their activities inspired terror and were planned in part by members of white supremacist groups, they object to being labeled as “terrorists” or “white supremacists”. Calling them “rioters” doesn’t quite capture the political motivations of the pro-authoritarian mob of Maga fanatics. Perhaps we should view them as historical re-enactors. After all, they were only recreating the effort to undermine democracy, freedom and the US constitution that has repeated itself for centuries. Yet, if you asked them, they would undoubtedly say they were “patriots”.
Source: ‘Patriots’ are undermining American democracy | Michael Harriot | The Guardian
But in more recent years I’ve come around. As America has moved closer to being an oligarchy — with staggering inequalities of income, wealth, and power not seen in over a century — and closer to Trumpian neofascism (the two moves are connected), “It’s a Wonderful Life” speaks to what’s gone wrong and what must be done to make it right.
Soon after “It’s a Wonderful Life” was released, the FBI considered it evidence of Communist Party infiltration of the film industry. The FBI’s Los Angeles field office — using a report by an ad-hoc group that included Fountainhead writer and future Trump pin-up girl Ayn Rand — warned that the movie represented “rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture.” The movie “deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters. This … is a common trick used by Communists.”
The FBI report compared “It’s a Wonderful Life” to a Soviet film, and alleged that Frank Capra was “associated with left-wing groups” and that screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett were “very close to known Communists.”
This was all rubbish, of course — and a prelude to the Red Scare led by Republican Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin, who launched a series of highly publicized probes into alleged Communist penetration of Hollywood, the State Department, and even the US Army.
The movie was also prelude to modern Republican ideology. Since Ronald Reagan, Republicans have used Potter-like social Darwinism to justify everything tax cuts for the wealthy, union-busting, and cutbacks in social safety nets. Rand herself became a hero to many in the Trump administration.
I keep reading that the Coalition will play to their strong points in the upcoming campaign which, according to some, are national security, the economy, cost of living, and something that hovers around vaccine rollout/post-pandemic recovery/getouttamyface freedom.
Source: Strong points? I don’t think so – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Another “I don’t hold the hose moment”
Morrison, pushed back against calls from unions and business groups for the commonwealth to source and distribute rapid tests for free to people across the nation. He said testing was the states’ “job” and he was “glad they’re doing it”. With some Australians waiting several hours to get a free PCR test and several days to get the result, demand for rapid antigen tests has grown dramatically and prices have risen in turn. Some consumers claimed one retailer appeared to be selling the same five-test kit online for $90 on Wednesday, up from about $45 last week.
Another STROLLOUT by Morrison whos still behind doors Planning
Australia’s peak doctors’ body has revealed that it had warned governments to secure rapid antigen tests when they began planning to open up the country, after Scott Morrison described the scarce screening tool as a “precious commodity”. With fresh claims that the long-standing PCR testing system was “crumbling” as the country recorded more than 18,000 daily Covid cases for the first time, Australians were lining up at pharmacies to try to buy rapid antigen tests (RATs). Some state governments on Wednesday accused the federal government of not “stepping up” to “fill the gap” by failing to procure more supplies of the vital screening tool, while Morrison called a snap national cabinet meeting for Thursday to discuss the sharp rise in cases fuelled by the Omicron variant.
If you are unfortunate to end up with long Covid, common symptoms include abnormal breathing, constant fatigue, malaise, sore chest, sore throat, heart abnormalities, headache, muscle pain, abdominal problems, nerve pain, insomnia, dizziness, brain fog, anxiety and depression. In fact, just about any organ in your body can be damaged by the virus. On a more cheerful note, at least one study has found that children are less likely to get long Covid.
It is time to look back at 2021 and consider the most consequential developments, as covered here at Informed Comment.
theme emerging. The theme, pitifully but inevitably, was endless variations of the claim that Republicans aren’t as sinister, or frightening, or fascistic as the hotheaded #Resistance or “woke mob” make them out to be.
On Sunday, the town of Kodiak in southern Alaska hit 67°F—seven degrees warmer than the daytime high in San Diego—and shattering the December record for Alaska by nine degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The town also broke the local December record by more than 20 degrees.
Source: Hotter in Alaska Than San Diego This Week as Temperature Record ‘Pulverized’
Warning from the field “look straight at it”
We also need stories that show humanity responding rationally to the crisis. A lack of technology isn’t what’s blocking action. Instead, humanity needs to confront the fossil fuel industry head on, accept that we need to consume less energy, and switch into full-on emergency mode. The sense of solidarity and relief we’d feel once this happens – if it happens – would be gamechanging for our species. More and better facts will not catalyze this sociocultural tipping point, but more and better stories might.
Fake Product allowed for Sale in America called the “News”
When Chris Wallace abruptly announced that he was leaving Fox News after 18 years, it was the final nail in the coffin for “fact-based reporting” at the network. The purpose of Fox’s “straight news” division was ostensibly separate from the opinion side of the network – where Fox’s most popular content comes from commentators like Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity. The illusion of “straight news” at Fox disappeared as personalities like Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, Harris Faulkner, and Bill Hemmer spent 2021 spreading conspiracy theories, promoting misinformation, and minimizing the seriousness of COVID-19 while undermining vaccines.
Source: Fox’s “straight news” didn’t exist in 2021 | Media Matters for America
Republicans: Taking One-Party Control of the Election Process and Referee.
This is an entirely new threat. This is not voting suppression or gerrymandering (though those remain huge democratic obstacles which we continue to report on). What is now taking shape across America is the machinery necessary to steal an election.
Morrison as Treasurer Planned the elimination of Australia’s Motor Industry
Morrison formulates another plan but executes nothing. Meanwhile the States act. Andrews buys 34m kits and will give them away at no individual cost. Morrison says “Well some people can pay and some can’t”. “We’ve been working behind closed doors”
What exactly is your plan for “living with COVID” in the couple of thousand aged-care homes that are your responsibility? Events of the past two weeks have shown “living with COVID” is a euphemism for “letting it rip”, so let’s be frank about it: Do you have any plan for letting COVID have its way with the elderly? “Letting it rip” is quite a problem in the general population as case numbers soar and hospitalizations steadily mount – but it’s another level of difficulty altogether for the third of a million Australians using residential aged care.
Source: Michael Pascoe: PM, how do you let COVID rip in aged-care homes?
We saw how Vanstone and Guy cozied up to Australia’s Mafia Dons. They certainly weren’t the ALP being offered incentives.
Australia is cementing its name as a haven for money-launderers in global regulatory circles. Now that former laggard America is reforming however, the 64 billion dollar question is: will Canberra finally leap into action? Nathan Lynch examines how Australia has been exposed by the changing climate in Washington.
The LNP wants to shut down the ABC and control the Internet because when it comes to Democracy they level the playing field. “Bias” and “Trolling” are their euphemisms for “fact-checking” and the “public auditing” of their message. A message controlled and fed to us by our over-concentrated and consolidated private media begging for the financial benefits and rewards on offer by the LNP at the taxpayer’s expense. They want MPs to be able to sue and defend themselves in defamation actions at taxpayer expense as well to be “untouchables” as if their current parliamentary privilege wasn’t enough.
They claim to be the party of “free speech” but are rather the party of privatized and commodified speech or cash for comment and they have the cash and it’s ours. They have just increased government debt from $300M to almost $1 Tr or 200% of which private media compete for a part while keeping the ABCs Budget at 1984 levels. Now they want to control the Broadband and Internet as well.
Everybody needs high-speed internet. But private corporations will never provide it. The solution: treat internet infrastructure as a public utility, funded by the public and built by union workers.
Source: Public Broadband Internet Isn’t a Luxury — It’s a Necessity
How is it that Dr. Wilson sounds as if she stands shoulder to shoulder with Andrew Bolt when I’m sure she doesn’t intend to? Bolt likened Greta Thurnberg to an irresponsible misguided mentally ill child. A victim of dark forces, a troll on the global landscape who gained attention and recognition for what she “isnt” and adult. In fact, she gave rise to children around the world “not knowing their place and rebelling”.
“Free Speech” let loose by technology doesn’t need policing it certainly has changed the landscape and open it up. Smashing through the once traditional cultural barriers that are there “ageism”, “gender” “Race” and “Class” are just some examples. Trolling however, is a petty issue compared to the potential benefits Twitter and Social media offer. Algorithms for profit are far more dangerous as is government control of the space. They are changing the system. The excuse that Trolls have taken over and that the space needs policing is a Duttonism. Do you cut down a forest for a tree? If the algorithms didn’t link and herd the like-minded for the purposes of profit maybe Jan 6th wouldn’t have occurred. The sideeffect of these algorithims is to put like minded peole together.
Of course “we” need to learn to cope, and learn that new process with our children but not necessarily in traditonal ways. I certainly believe our children are happier than when learning lifes coping skills in isolation because of the cultural barriers that still exist between them and their parents. How great it is for a kid to feel they are being treated as an adult an independant being rather than being told they are just a kid. They might be treated for who they are and not just a stereotype. Sure mistakes are made but can we learn anything without them? We didn’t cancel the Industrial Revolution because extended families declined and social dysfunction increased with urbanisation.
There’s a danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater in policing the Internet, social media, and other platforms as the LNP would now like to do. They have lost the power of messaging they had with our MSM. Their grip on the message has been weakened and it bothers them. The equality of voice and communication has improved age, gender, race, class differences lessened if the algorithms didn’t simply rearrange the playing field by a design for accelerating profit.
Hopefully there’s a responsible adult somewhere in the teenager’s life who can protect and guide them through this experience. And perhaps some adults need to think a bit more deeply about risking a teenager’s well being for the sake of their notions of liberty.
Source: Who am I talking to? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Like a Beagle Boy serial offender Stuart Robert strikes again
Once again, universities have suffered at the hands of political interference, this time from the acting Minister for Education Stuart Robert who decided to reject six approved research projects. The rejected grants, he said, “do not demonstrate value for taxpayers’ money nor contribute to the national interest”. All were in the humanities: two on climate, two on China, two more on literature. This is not the first time the minister has tried to take out the trash. Who could forget the time Robert was forced to refund $721 million to victims of Robodebt? That too was dropped late on a Friday. Here’s what happened this time.
Source: Under cover of Christmas, Education Minister Stuart Robert overruled the experts
“Many social housing tenants have negative experiences,” it says. These included a lack of responsiveness to maintenance requests, concerns about safety – including drugs and criminal behaviour – and tenants feeling they were badly treated or their voices ignored.
Source: Social housing in Victoria needs single regulator, review of public and community housing finds
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