“Flood the zone with shit”
In 2018, while watching Trump’s State of the Union speech, Bannon told author Michael Lewis that “the real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
Author: peterimrich
There’s bad news for Scott Morrison, with polling predicting a heavy defeat for the prime minister at the upcoming federal election.The results of the latest quarterly Newspoll analysis show Labor has increased its advantage and the number of seats it would win from the Coalition has lifted from nine to 12 based on the state two-party preferred swings.
Contrary to anything Josh Frydenberg has said data has revealed otherwise.
Extraordinary details have emerged of how the Reserve Bank intervened to stop Treasurer Josh Frydenberg crashing the economy as the pandemic took grip, how, contrary to their fable of “superior economic management”, the Morrison Coalition pursued political gain over good government, and how they have been borrowing its billions almost for free. Investigation by Michael West and @13foot7.
Source: How the Reserve Bank rescued Australia from Scott and Josh – Michael West Media
Life in a recycled economy would be a lot cheaper. We wouldn’t need to buy nearly as much. So we wouldn’t need to work and earn nearly as much. We’d stop measuring our wellbeing by the Gross Domestic Product or even by the unemployment rate, because part of our wellbeing would be outside the production-consumption system of capitalism. Nor would we be relying on generosity or social solidarity. Most of us already have too much stuff — or we have the wrong stuff for this particular time in our lives. We just need a better system for reallocating stuff already produced that’s not wanted or not being used by the people who have it, and getting it to the people who do want it. Not only would this generate less waste and a cleaner environment. It might also make a dent in poverty by more systematically getting stuff to people who really need it. Stuff is now inundating us. It’s strangling the world. Could a recycled economy be part of the solution? What do you think?
Source: How to Overcome the Tyranny of Stuff | The Smirking Chimp
Canadian Diplomat acts like drug dealers do legal or not they Lie
It is unclear to me why Wettlaufer thinks she can get away with a lie so easily disproved. Perhaps she is unused to having journalists question Canada’s self-image as a benign force promoting human rights, instead of what it is: one settler colony built on genocide, standing shoulder to shoulder with another.
Source: Canadian diplomat gets caught lying about Israel arms sales | The Electronic Intifada
It is a reality of settler pogroms, Palestinian resistance, and retributive attacks. It is a reality in which the radical wing of the settler movement has the backing of the most powerful military in the region to violently clear Palestinians off their land, while the settler elite enjoys infrastructure projects that allow Israel to continue swallowing the West Bank piecemeal without ever having to declare “annexation” as state policy. It is, at the bottom of it all, the story of Israel’s incomplete colonial project — from the South Hebron Hills to the Naqab/Negev to Jerusalem to Gaza. As much as Israeli leaders may say they are tired of “the conflict,” what they really seek is to minimize Palestinian resistance in all its forms, and to shrink any attention to Israel’s ever-expanding ambitions.
While Tucker Carlson has been flirting with white nationalism for years, 2021 was the year he went full-tilt and repeatedly said the quiet part aloud, explicitly referencing the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory – and earning praise from infamous former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. And Carlson’s status as the most-watched Fox prime-time star seemingly encouraged his fellow hosts to follow suit; Laura Ingraham warned her viewers that Democrats “will import new voters to offset and eventually replace all you old people.” Carlson has long pushed white supremacist talking points with full corporate support from Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch. In the process, he has gained praise from white nationalists, while the Anti-Defamation League has repeatedly called for his firing. White nationalism is now a pillar of Fox’s prime-time platform, and the Murdochs are willing to fund and defend their hosts’ hatred.
Covid, Covid everywhere but $2Tn spent on military cover not medical or climate.
Global South leaders have regularly decried vaccine inequities, with some linking the shortfalls with ever-increasing military spending. At September’s United Nations General Assembly, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez noted that 80% of doses had been distributed to middle- or high-income nations, comparing that statistic to the nearly $2 trillion in global military spending—more than one-third of it by the United States. “How many lives would have been saved,” asked Díaz-Canel, “[if] those resources had been invested in health or the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines?”
Source: The Pentagon Just Got $778 Billion, But USAID Is Running Out of Money for Covid-19 Vaccines?
As we embark on a new year, we find ourselves asking the same old question about the disgraced 45th president of the United States: When—if ever–will Donald Trump be brought to justice? As president, Trump weathered both the Mueller investigation and two impeachment trials. And to this day, he has yet to be charged with a single criminal offense, whether for his attempts to undermine the results of the 2020 election; his role in sparking the January 6, 2021, insurrection; or his sordid history in the private sector as a marketing con man and real-estate huckster. Understandably, many Americans have become cynical about the prospects of holding Trump to account. Many fear that Trump has forever damaged what remains of our collective commitment to the rule of law.
Rightward Republican Party radicalization is well-positioned for continuing political success, even as it promises to bring political and economic instability for the country and the world with it.
Source: For Republicans, There Will Be No “Return to Normal”
A division of the Proud Boys in Albury has resorted to harassing social media commenters and elderly residents who they don’t agree with, writes Tom Tanuki. THIS TALE ends with a group of MMA fighters hunting an elderly Albury man. Bear with me.
Problem is Israel doesn’t have a history of “sharing” it does have a history of “spying ” on it’s allies and transactional arrangements in its interests. It has kidnapped people from this country used imprisoned and killed Australians and has carried out its spying activities in other coutntries using false documents pointing to Australia. Of course it’s “Very Interested” in a closer network with Australia, It’s an opportunity for trade and further spying “on” us and not “with” us. We have just formed AUKUS and opened up to wider activities and Israel has jumped at it. “Beware of the Trojan horse” should go down in history as ” Beware of an Israeli Handshake” Meanwhile spyware is on sale to friends of Israel my ass spyware is on sale to anybody ready to pay. Simply look at the military equipment Israel has sold to African, Middle East and world dictatorships.
Mr Lapid said striking a free trade agreement with Australia was also a priority which would “expand trade and help create jobs in both our countries”, and floated the prospect of direct flights between the two countries.
Source: ‘Very interested’: Israel eyes closer spy network with Australia
We’re woefully unprepared to deal with any existential risk at all.
The Biden administration’s Infrastructure and Jobs Act, passed in October, and the new fuel standards set by the EPA will have a positive impact on electric vehicles in the United States in the coming year. Let’s review this good news.
Source: Good News in 2022: Top 5 Reasons to be Happy about Electric Vehicles in US in Coming Year
America in 2021 is not Serbia in 1995. Our machinery of impunity is not susceptible to pressure from larger nations. But the journalists, whistleblowers, and researchers who have done the hard work of exposing its lies — they are still at work. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the more these people uncover, the harder they toil. I wouldn’t bet against them.
The Abbott/ Morrison Government had made a pact with the IPA and NewsCorp to rid Australia of ABC News. Abbott backed into a corner knowing the ABC was Australia’s most trusted media source found that direct task too difficult so he banned the government MPs from going on the ABC. Morrison did almost the same. The government has become a regular fixture on Sky News and 2GB their “cash for comment” propaganda arms . Even granting Murdoch a free unexplained $30M. Australia has never seen a concerted effort like we have in the past 8 years to turn Australian media into American with Australia’s Sky News a model of Fox News, without MSM diversity. Consolidation of our MSM into 3 privatized corporate arms run by Peter Costello, Kerry Stokes, and with Murdoch controlling the largest has seen our media metamorph into the Conservative Cyclops donor at the behest of the LNP, and the want of the IPA posing as a”think tank” but acting as the LNP’s mega- donor/lobbyist and even grooming politicians of the future.
Their aim to rid Australia of any organization designed to keep the bastards honest and Democracy the political system of choice for this country which demands the existence of at least two major parties both of which are prepared to lose an election but rule for all Australians. Unfortunately only one party today is prepared for that role and it isn’t the current government.
The year ended with the resignation of ABC news boss Gaven Morris and a public sledge by ABC chair Ita Buttrose, who accused the (LNP) government of political interference.
With a federal election around the corner, it is going to be a very busy and a very interesting 2022 for the public broadcaster.
The ABC’s year from hell
Source: From taming ‘Big Tech’ to News Corp’s climate shift: The media moves that mattered this year
When Morrison was appointed Minister for Immigration, the ad man he is, he designed the warning signs and ads telling the world Australia had changed and for Asylum Seekers to queue or “Keep Out”. If they came by boat they were “illegals” a term not used anywhere else in the world.
Then he told us, Australians, he was unable to “Talk about Asylum Seeker Detention” as it was an “On the Water Matter” and he didn’t hold the hose he just designed it. Yes, Morrison became the most gagged Minister who in fact had designed his own gag.
Even those fleeing the Taliban, asylum seekers who helped our war effort in Afghanistan, face indefinite detention for another year. Lawyer and human rights advocate Alison Battisson reports on the victims of Australia’s detention regime and their fight for freedom.
Myanmar government troops rounded up villagers, some believed to be women and children, fatally shot more than 30 and set the bodies on fire, a witness and other reports said Saturday. The purported photos of the aftermath of the Christmas Eve massacre in eastern Mo So village, just outside Hpruso township in Kayah state where refugees were sheltering from an army offensive, spread on social media in the country, fueling outrage against the military that took power in February.
Source: Report: Women, Children Among Dozens Killed By Myanmar Government Troops | HuffPost Latest News
Our latest Opinium poll shows that over 60% of people now think Brexit has either gone badly or worse than they expected. It also found that 42% of people who voted Leave in 2016 had a negative view of how Brexit had turned out so far Getting Brexit done was the easy bit. Proving it was worth it and for the good is turning out to be far more difficult.
Source: Brexit one year on: so how’s it going? | Brexit | The Guardian
Speaking with host Lindsey Reiser, the political analyst stated that his sources claim Trump is having a “meltdown” and is furious with former aides who have been providing the bipartisan committee with information about White House doings related to the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the riot. “You have some new reporting about what’s unfolding in Trumpworld as this investigation ramps up,” host Reiser prompted. “You write the former president appears deeply unnerved. You wrote, quote: ‘Donald Trump is increasingly agitated by the House select committee investigating the capitol attack according to sources familiar with the matter and appears anxious he might be implicated in the sprawling inquiry into the insurrection even as he protests his innocence. What more do you know about what’s going through his head right now?” RELATED: ‘Increasingly agitated’ Trump is growing ‘anxious’ over House riot committee revelations: report 00:27 01:43
A detailed analysis published Thursday shines further light on the Republican Party’s sprawling assault on voting rights and the democratic process nationwide, an effort that includes legislation that would “politicize, criminalize, and interfere” with elections.Upending Democracy,
Source: Report Spotlights Massive GOP Push to ‘Hijack Elections in This Country’
This week, Trump told another audience that he had received the booster after all — and he got booed. He took the opportunity to once again try to make the case that he should get credit and that his supporters are “playing into [the Democrats’] hands” by booing him. “Take credit for it. What we’ve done is historic,” Trump told an audience over the weekend. “If you don’t want to take it you don’t have to, you shouldn’t be forced to take it, no mandates. But take credit because we saved tens of millions of lives, take credit, don’t let them take that away from you.” He meant, “don’t let them take that away from me.” Many people have seen those comments as Trump encouraging people to get vaccinated, but it really wasn’t and I doubt any of his followers saw it that way. In fact, he made it clear that he doesn’t care if they do it or not and that all that matters is that he is acknowledged as a big hero. In other words, his comment was really just more of his partisan politicization of the pandemic that’s gotten us into this mess in the first place. And even if he did make an explicit pitch for people to get vaccinated, it’s unlikely that it would make a difference. Polls show that the resistance to vaccines is now baked into the MAGA psyche, with him or without him. He may have created this problem but he has no power to fix it and I imagine that’s intensely frustrating for him.
Trump yearns to be worshiped as the great leader who single-handedly saved the world but his followers are all inexplicably offering themselves up as human sacrifices instead.
Source: Trump’s Covid Army Turns Against Him | The Smirking Chimp
The Republican assault on free and fair elections instigated by Donald Trump is gathering pace, with efforts to sabotage the normal workings of American democracy sweeping state legislatures across the US. A year that began with the violent insurrection at the US Capitol is ending with an unprecedented push to politicize, criminalize or in other ways subvert the nonpartisan administration of elections. A year-end report from pro-democracy groups identifies no fewer than 262 bills introduced in 41 states that hijack the election process. Of those, 32 bills have become law in 17 states.
Hundreds of journalists killed or arrested, rising numbers of female media workers targeted, floods of misinformation and hate speech and ineffectual or hostile governments unable or unwilling to protect the public’s right to know. The 2021 press freedom index released recently by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) makes for grim reading. The report reveals that 488 journalists were detained in 2021 – an increase of 20% compared to the previous year – while a total of 46 were killed and 65 held hostage. Of those detained, 60 were women (33% higher than 2020). As you might expect, it tends to be autocratic regimes with dismal records for freedom of speech and human rights which crop up once again as the worst offenders.
The ‘let it rip for Christmas’ COVID policies urged by Scott Morrison and Dominic Perrottet have come home to roost where they were always going to – on the elderly. More than 100 aged care homes are now in Tier 0 severe lockdown, the number suffering COVID outbreaks nearly doubling in a week. Rather than “opening up” for family Christmas, thousands of elderly Australians are confined to their rooms today, having a solitary Christmas lunch, denied all visitors, not even allowed to share the meal with their peers. On behalf of the distressed residents, their worried families and the shockingly stretched aged care workers, I invite the Prime Minister and NSW Premier to “stare down” the virus and take “personal responsibility” for a few weeks in solitary confinement, without a personal photographer for company. The tragedy of Christmas 2021 for the residents and staff in aged care facilities has been (almost) unreported.
Source: Aged spend Christmas alone, thanks to PM and Perrottet
“Extinguishing the threat of variants and ending this pandemic requires vaccinating the world.”
Source: In Six Weeks Ahead of Christmas, Rich Nations Snagged More Vaccines Than Africa Got All Year
…and you know what? Fine. Let him try. We need all the help we can get. At present, those who are dug in against the vaccines refuse to listen to anyone in science or government advocating for the shots. They are not to be trusted, as Trump gamely taught his supporters for years. He is greatly responsible for this, and if his own blistering self-interest causes him to act in the self-interest of his countrymen for a refreshing change of pace, I see no sense in trying to thwart him because of his original culpability. If Donald Trump praising the vaccines (and himself) serves to get a few needles into the arms of a few vax-deniers, he will have performed the best act of his life since entering politics.
Source: Trump’s 2024 Campaign Will Likely Be: “I Did the Vaccines All by Myself!” | The Smirking Chimp
Didn’t the Germans have the equivalent of Australia’s IPA backed by Murdoch Media? The Anglo- Universe was way ahead of them and seems to have been for years
What alt-right guru Steve Bannon failed to create, German taxpayers have just stepped in to revive: a Nationalist International. Thanks to the German government, the far right is about to get its own well-heeled global think tank, complete with the sort of political academy that was so dear to Bannon’s plan for world domination. Germany’s gift to the far right is the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, the public policy arm of the country’s most prominent extremist party, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Erasmus, a Dutch humanist of the Renaissance best known for his ironic essay “In Praise of Folly,” would have been appalled at such a grotesque misappropriation of his name. The AfD, after all, has built its political base on a series of follies diametrically opposed to humanism, from its initial anti-immigration screeds to its current overtures to the anti-vaccination crowd.
In under nine minutes, MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Tuesday night summarized the American right wing’s transformation in recent years into a political movement that openly celebrates violence, zeroing in on America Fest 2021—a conservative gathering taking place in Phoenix this week where Kyle Rittenhouse was celebrated by influential Fox News hosts and received a standing ovation.
Source: Turning Point ‘AmFest’ Was ‘Right Wing Celebration Of Violence’ | Crooks and Liars
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Glenn Greenwald and Chris Hedges discuss mass surveillance, government secrecy, internet freedom and U.S. attempts to extradite and prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. They spoke together on a panel moderated by Amy Goodman at the virtual War on Terror Film Festival after a screening of “Citizenfour” — the Oscar-winning documentary about Snowden by Laura Poitras
At this time of year we traditionally reflect upon our blessings and forgive those who have trespassed against us. But we’ve been trying that for millennia, and the results have been unsatisfactory. So let’s discard the accumulated wisdom of all humanity’s spiritual traditions and focus our mental energy instead on how much we dislike various awful people around us. Merry Christmas.
Source: The 10 Worst Americans of 2021
When socialists talk about creating a more equal society, we don’t mean a society where everyone has an exactly equal share of everything. We mean a society where power has been equalized by extending democracy into the economy.
Source: The Equality That Socialists Care About Most Is Equality of Power
It has been a tough 12 months, and it was sometimes hard to find a silver lining. But AusPol in 2021 also offered its share of bizarre, unexpected and downright silly moments, giving rare moments of levity to an otherwise crummy year. In the spirit of looking for the light, here are some of the political happenings that made us giggle, shake our heads, or just stare in befuddlement.
Source: Auspol’s weirdest moments amid the bin fire that was 2021
As a result of yet another “Beulla peal me a grape ” announcement by Morrison, the States are having to mandate another strict program of protections like mask-wearing because all Morrison brings to the table is square dance-callers series of announcements. Which of course Morrison claims is sensible but rather a “personal responsibility” like Sunscreen and not necessarily enforced.
Albo sensibly reminds us that if you don’t put on Sunscreen your children and their friends freinds friends won’t catch your sunburn. Morrison, you’re the stand out example of Australia’s biggest KLUTZ.
Now Morrison wants the states to again step up and open up vaccination hubs to shoulder the burden of a booster program that suddenly looks as much of a race as the initial vaccination effort. Or as his apologists at The Australian put it, he’s “putting the heat on” the states. Meantime, GPs are complaining of a lack of funding and supply to meet the demand purely for those who are deemed eligible for one — which under the federal government’s rules is still only a minority of the population. There are “plenty of doses in the fridge”, Morrison says, but apparently insufficient funding to make it worthwhile for GPs to run vaccinations at scale. It’s early yet, but it looks increasingly like Morrison has again planned a Commonwealth rollout, it has again gone wrong, and he’s again demanding the states and territories save him. What will the price be this time?
No, we are not outraged that our six former prime ministers suckle on the taxpayer teat. A few of them did some good after all. Pandemic or no pandemic, the six managed to rustle up a million dollars in expenses this year alone, report Stephanie Tran and Mark Sawyer. Australia does a good job of looking after its former prime ministers.
Source: Who didn’t replace the toner? How our ex-prime ministers spent a million bucks – Michael West Media
Morrison’s Plan Unhinged
A Northern Territory environmental group has won a court battle over a Morrison government grant to develop the Beetaloo Basin onshore gas field. The Environment Centre NT argued in the federal court that the $21m grant for exploration wells was legally unreasonable on multiple grounds.
Less than a week after Israeli Border Police shot dead a Palestinian who had stabbed an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, the State Attorney’s Office decided last Thursday to close an internal investigation into the conduct of the officers. Footage of the incident showed Muhammad Salima, 25, carrying out the stabbing attack before being shot once by the nearby police officers. While Salima lay on the ground wounded and incapacitated, an officer circled around and fired two additional shots directly at him, killing Salima instantly. The Justice Ministry said that the investigation was shelved because “there was a real and tangible danger to the lives of the soldiers and civilians,” and as a result, “there was a legal justification for the use of [lethal] weapons.”
Source: ‘The system is defending police shooters instead of putting them on trial’
America’s MSM view of the Middle East, in this case CNN leaves Palestinian Gaza and the West Bank out of its picture of the Middle East as if the territories illegally occupied by Israel are legal. While the Golan Heights are shown here as Syrian territory CNN fails to mention Israel’s illegal occupation of it as well. Their’s is a totallt fake view of the region. Meanwhile, the Jewish Diaspora, the majority of Jews living outside of Israel, are fast becoming Anti- The Israel State. Israel may once have has claims to self defence but that fake claim was lost years ago when it became the primo aggressor and occupier in the region.
No such correction has been forthcoming from CNN or GPS, which raises the prospect that CNN’s cartographers do not recognize the reality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. Until corrected, the map seemingly portrays just one uninterrupted Israeli apartheid state. This is, of course, the political reality – one that makes more likely the struggle for equal rights in one state rather than Palestinian statehood in disconnected West Bank and Gaza bantustans.
Source: CNN erases West Bank and Gaza Strip | The Electronic Intifada
Donald Trump must go down in the Guinness Book of Records as the single and biggest loser of cases brought before the the American courts in history. Yet he walks free and untouched despite being a vexatious litigant who often doesn’t pay his costs. Will his appointed Supreme Court now protect him?
The House committee has said the records are vital to its investigation into the run-up to the deadly riot that was aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Source: Trump asks supreme court to block release of 6 January records | Donald Trump | The Guardian
In the opening of his 1911 proposed constitutional amendment to abolish the chamber, Victor Berger, a socialist congressman from Milwaukee, complained that the Senate “has become an obstructive and useless body, a menace to the liberties of the people, and an obstacle to social growth.” You could make more or less the same case today.
Source: Monster: The Completely Useless and Undemocratic US Senate – Mother Jones
The polls are showing a move away from the Tories. The panic from moderate (sic) Liberals facing challenges from viable independents in their tree-lined, Toorak-tractored enclaves and the fear from the journeymen party spivs horrified at the possibility of being held to account has brought some tidings of comfort and joy for many of us watching from the side-lines. It has also boosted traffic on LinkedIn and Trip Advisor as this effluvium considers their post-election prospects or checks the star ratings for top bunk vs bottom bunk at various of Her Majesty’s homes for the habitually shady.
Source: 2021 – Good bits and bad bits – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Yet, Mr Frydenberg seemed ecstatic to discover that his potential nemesis, Dr. Monique Ryan was once a Labor member. While it might be true that this might scare some of the more conservative voters off voting for her, I suspect that there are more likely to be people who would have voted Labor in the seat who may go, “Oh, she must be ok then. I’ll vote for her.” And like I said, unless there’s a North Shropshire situation where traditional Labo(u)r voters decide that it’s more important to sink the conservative candidate than vote for their actual party of choice. then most of the Independents in the various seats will have little chance of succeeding. But if any of them are actually still in the race after Labor and The Greens are eliminated, then they’ll probably get a strong preference flow from those two parties. But thanks, Josh, you may have actually sent enough votes Dr Ryan’s way to give her a realistic chance of toppling you. I suspect you’ll still limp over the line, but, if you don’t, well, at least you gave it a real shake and bake!
Warning of Dangerous Deterioration Following Assange’s Reported Stroke, Doctors Implore Australian Deputy Prime Minister to Intervene Over 300 doctors from around the world have today written to the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Barnaby Joyce, imploring him to seek Julian Assange’s immediate release from prison in the UK on medical grounds. (Here is the link to the letter.)
Source: Please help this man – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Joyce’s reasoning, while jejune on the historical contributions of WikiLeaks, has the merit of unusual clarity. He argues that the UK “should try him there for any crime he is alleged to have committed on British soil or send him back to Australia, where he is a citizen.” Assange never pilfered any US secret files; did not breach Australian laws and was not in the US when “the event being deliberated in the court now in London occurred.” To extradite him to the US would not only be unjust but bizarre. “If he insulted the Koran, would he be extradited to Saudi Arabia?”
Source: Voices of Concern: Aussies for Assange’s Return – » The Australian Independent Media Network
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