Author: peterimrich

Julian Assange

Defending Julian Assange Is Defending Anyone Who Dares to Speak the Truth | The Smirking Chimp

The corrupt process must be exposed and all Assange supporters must speak up. The United States should not be allowed to use the Espionage Act or any other mechanism to snatch up anyone, anywhere and charge with a crime of dubious legality. If they are allowed to do so in this case they will certainly do it again. Anyone who wants to expose high crimes will find themselves in Assange’s position. People who oppose the empire and its machinations are all at risk if Assange is extradited and stands trial in the Eastern District court. He is a political prisoner and others will be too if the prosecution proceeds. It is no exaggeration to say that we are all Julian Assange.

Source: Defending Julian Assange Is Defending Anyone Who Dares to Speak the Truth | The Smirking Chimp

Australia's Shame

Dozens of children still locked up in Don Dale over festive period

Dozens of children are likely to spend Christmas behind bars in the Northern Territory’s infamous Don Dale youth detention centre, four years after the government agreed to close it. Inmate numbers climbed to 44 in recent months after the NT government toughened youth bail laws earlier in the year. Darwin lawyer John B Lawrence SC is representing an 11-year-old Indigenous boy on remand in the former men’s prison. “It’s disgusting that a child so young is in custody and away from his family over the holidays,” he said on Wednesday. “But it’s a fact and it’s appalling that we accept and let this happen in Australia”.

Source: Dozens of children still locked up in Don Dale over festive period

American Dream, American Politics

Is the World Throwing Off the Chains of Neoliberalism? | The Smirking Chimp

Most Americans, however, are waking up to the damage Reagan’s 40-year-long experiment with Friedman’s neoliberalism has done to America. In these days of dark news ranging from the rise of great power militarism to a crushing new wave of Covid, there are green shoots growing through the cracks: neoliberalism is finally being replaced by social democracy around the world and in many states in America. “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind,” Thomas Paine told us in 1776. “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Our work has just begun.

Source: Is the World Throwing Off the Chains of Neoliberalism? | The Smirking Chimp

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- The Morrison Perrottet LNP Personal Freedom Legacy

Fighting Fake News with REAL 23/12/21; Truth in Humour; Abscondment Day; Laundering Money

inequality

The Year in Inequality in 10 Charts: Our Economic and Racial Divides grew Wider in 2021

Where are we as 2021 comes to a close? These 10 charts highlight major inequality developments of the year, covering some steps back and some important steps forward. The rich have gotten richer by squeezing workers and consumers The combined wealth of the 745 U.S. billionaires surpassed $5 trillion in 2021, up 70 percent since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Tax Fairness analysis of Forbes data.

Source: The Year in Inequality in 10 Charts: Our Economic and Racial Divides grew Wider in 2021

COVID-19

NSW, the land of hope, freedom and glory – » The Australian Independent Media Network

It’s always been apparent and obvious, to me at least, that opening up too soon without retaining other precautions such as masks and distancing was a recipe for an eventual return to more stringent restrictions, sooner or later. Perrottet may think that his hope-filled, glass-half-full approach to the virus and his almost crusading zeal to bring about a free and happy conclusion to two years of COVID-19 misery is the way to go. I have reservations about that, and I’m possibly in reasonably good company. To me, rather than bringing about a new freedom to the NSW people, it seems more likely that the state government has simply given up and feels it can no longer cope with this health emergency.

Source: NSW, the land of hope, freedom and glory – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

2021 forever remembered – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.{ John Lord }

Source: 2021 forever remembered – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia's Shame

How Minnesota’s Foster Care System Reminds Native Moms of a Racist Legacy – Mother Jones

Australia’s Indigenous have told us they have lived with this generational fear for 200 years. America laid down the model over 400 years ago and which we still maintain the vestigages of it today. People like Stan Grant and others have described how they experienced much the same as their  forebears and many still do today. Equal isn’t equal much to Australia’s shame.

Australia follows when it comes to Indigenous Australia and shames us with political gaslighting and denial

“For the families that we work with, it’s constantly living in a state of fear,” says Nord. “Grandma was in the system and now Mom is in the system and now the child is in the system… How can we expect our community members to even start healing?” Nord, who is a Navajo and Hopi Indian descendant, has experienced that fear herself. In February of 2015, Nord temporarily lost custody of her 6-year-old daughter after a social worker determined she “was in imminent danger.” It took two years to get her back.

Source: How Minnesota’s Foster Care System Reminds Native Moms of a Racist Legacy – Mother Jones

Fox News

“Kill shot,” “deadly,” “ambush”: Fox host Jesse Watters tells audience to go after Dr. Anthony Fauci | Media Matters for America

screen grab

Fox News host Jesse Watters encouraged an audience of young right-wing activists to “ambush” Dr. Anthony Fauci with a rhetorical “deadly” “kill shot” while describing a gotcha question they could ask Fauci based on a conspiracy theory about the origins of COVID-19.

Source: “Kill shot,” “deadly,” “ambush”: Fox host Jesse Watters tells audience to go after Dr. Anthony Fauci | Media Matters for America

Fox News

Dr. Anthony Fauci calls on Fox News to fire host who encouraged a “killshot” | Salon.com

Jesse Watters and Anthony Fauci (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Fox News cried “victim” after the ABC’s video on Murdoch but pride themselves on what they do.

Last month, Fauci was similarly targeted by Fox Nation personality Lara Logan, who compared him to “Joseph Mengele, the Nazi doctor who did experiments on Jews during the Second World War and in the concentration camps.”

Source: Dr. Anthony Fauci calls on Fox News to fire host who encouraged a “killshot” | Salon.com

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy

Traffic laws abolished in NSW as residents are encouraged to show personal responsibility instead | The Chaser

Morrison and Perrottet guide to the road ahead.

Drivers across New South Wales will enjoy a raft of new freedoms from next week, with the abolishment of all of the states’ traffic laws.

Source: Traffic laws abolished in NSW as residents are encouraged to show personal responsibility instead | The Chaser

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- America thinks the costume doesn’t fit anymore Morrison is desperate to try it on Australia

Fighting Fake News with REAL 22/12/21; Truth in Humour;

Malcolm Turnbull

Change in voting system might save us all

For my part, that 2016 legislative change will likely make the difference between a snake oil peddler like ex-Liberal-turned-UAP-leader Craig Kelly being a footnote to Australian political history instead of switching to the Senate and enjoying six years spruiking imaginary medical advice through the most powerful megaphone in the country. And that’s reason enough to give Turnbull a grateful tip of the cap.

Source: Change in voting system might save us all

Politics

Politics isn’t super-appealing to women in Australia right now. Is it different elsewhere? – ABC News

A composite shows close-up portraits of Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, Kaja Kallas, Najla Bouden and Magdalena Andersson

In fact, with less than a third of Lower House seats filled by women, Australia is currently ranked 56th in the world when it comes to female representation in parliament, according to figures from the Inter-Parliamentary Union. So what’s holding Australia back while women elsewhere are seemingly smashing through glass ceilings to hold top office?

Source: Politics isn’t super-appealing to women in Australia right now. Is it different elsewhere? – ABC News

Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton’s $35k defamation win disputed by Shane Bazzi

Minister for Defence, Peter Dutton.

Currently, AG Cash is desperately trying to regulate Social Media before the 2022 election as it’s the main source where painful and inconvenient anti-government truths can be found in influential numbers. The LNP has calls it “trolling” whereas it in fact it’s opposition News and Opinion not found in our biased MSM or even the LNP neutered ABC. It seems we have a public that needs a voice and government that wants it shut down at all costs.

But he also noted the tweet “was not published in any mainstream media and was published to a relatively small number of people”. Mr Dutton’s case resulted in a relatively small damages award, falling well short of the maximum of $432,500 that could have been awarded.

Source: Peter Dutton’s $35k defamation win disputed by Shane Bazzi

Informed Comment

When Congress Returns: Its First Priority Must Be to save American Democracy from the Big Lie, Big Anger, and Big Money | The Smirking Chimp

So what’s really motivating Manchin? Four possibilities: West Virginia is a coal state, and Manchin doesn’t want to do anything that might dampen coal production (the bill has a number of environmental measures). Possibly, but Manchin must know there’s no long-term future in mining coal regardless of what happens to this legislation. There are far fewer coal jobs left in West Virginia than there are jobs in health care. The legislation would, however, help West Virginians transition from coal to new and better jobs. And help them survive in the meantime.

He’s self-dealing. He owns stock valued at between $1 million and $5 million in Enersystems, a coal brokerage firm he founded in 1988? Last year he made half a million dollars in Enersystems dividends (roughly three times the $174,000 salary he made last year as a senator).

He’s takes bribes. He collects more campaign money from coal, oil, and gas companies than any other senator. (In June, Exxon lobbyist Keith McCoy told the Greenpeace investigative unit that Manchin participated in weekly meetings with company operatives.)

He loves the power and attention. Who ever heard of Joe Manchin before the Biden administration?A minor-league Democratic senator from a small, poor state suddenly has the national spotlight and has become the biggest spoiler in the Democratic Party.

Frankly, your guess is as good as mine.

Source: When Congress Returns: Its First Priority Must Be to save American Democracy from the Big Lie, Big Anger, and Big Money | The Smirking Chimp

American Politics

Joe Manchin Killed Build Back Better After The White House Hurt His Feelings | HuffPost Latest News

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Dec. 15.

Manchin applies his political tactics like Kim Jong-Un. Nothing he says runs true.

Notably, however, Manchin said Monday that he knew from the beginning — five months ago — that negotiations between himself and Democrats would ultimately fail. Nonetheless, he allowed Democrats and Biden to try and appease him.

Source: Joe Manchin Killed Build Back Better After The White House Hurt His Feelings | HuffPost Latest News

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Told Us This Would Happen | Crooks and Liars

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Told Us This Would Happen

“Let’s make that extremely clear. The climate ambitions have been reduced because of Joe Manchin. We have had, for example, the minimizing of Medicare expansion. Much of that is also thanks to Joe Manchin, and we need to really make it very clear that this bill, this framework was signed off by Joe Manchin, and so this is a Joe Manchin Build Back Better Act, and so this idea that we’re going to go back to the table and give him the pen again for a bill that he has already — has his ink all over? Makes very little sense.”

Source: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Told Us This Would Happen | Crooks and Liars

Trump, Trumpland

Donald Trump Sues New York AG Tish James for Asking Too Many Questions – Mother Jones

American Justice is an Oxymoron

Trump claims in the lawsuit that James knew her investigation was “unsupported, unjustified, and unfounded in fact or in law.” Trump’s attorneys say that other state attorneys general—citing Louisiana’s Jeff Landry, a close Trump ally—think it’s a politically-motivated “fishing expedition.” The entire investigation, Trump’s suit contends, is “motivated by malice, political animus, and a desire to harass, intimidate, threaten, oppress, coerce, injure and/or retaliate against Trump and his business, the Trump Organization.”

Source: Donald Trump Sues New York AG Tish James for Asking Too Many Questions – Mother Jones

Trump

“Don’t, don’t, don’t”: Trump lashes out after crowd boos him for getting COVID booster | Salon.com

Donald J. Trump, with a bandage in his hand, removes his face mask as he arrives to speak to supporters from the Blue Room balcony during an event at the White House on Saturday, Oct 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

when O’Reilly asked him if he’d received a booster, Trump responded, “Yes.” “I got it, too,” O’Reilly added, after which the crowd began to boo. “Don’t, don’t, don’t,” Trump said to the crowd. “That’s alright, it’s a very tiny group up there,” he added, pointing to a section of the crowd

Source: “Don’t, don’t, don’t”: Trump lashes out after crowd boos him for getting COVID booster | Salon.com

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- This is a photoshoot of Morrison’s plan yet to be executed and executed it will be.
May be a cartoon of text that says 'READY FOR TAKE-OFF.. TAKE- ΠOPE 18.12.21 DECISIONS TAKEN BUT yeT NOT ANNOUNCED Merry Election 2022! DECISIONS ANNOUNCED BUT NOT YET DELIVERED'

Fighting Fake News with REAL’ 21/12/21 Xmas Cartoon, Dr Susan Ryan Kooyong; Zali Steggell, Wahringa

Informed Comment

Alan Kohler: Prepare for a March election and then a horror budget in May

Alan Kohler election

The sting is not just in the scorpion’s tail but in its nature.

Since the election of the Whitlam government in 1972, the average tax to gross domestic product ratio during three Labor governments was 20.4 per cent while during the three terms of Coalition government it’s been 22.4 per cent. In other words, Australia’s highest-taxing party is the LNP, quite comfortably.

To be clear: The only reason the Coalition is able to say that it’s keeping the taxation to GDP ratio below 23.9 per cent is because it is running huge deficits.

It is budgeting to finance an average of 4 per cent government spending with bonds rather than tax.

That’s why next year’s budget will have to be brought down after the election rather than before it: They’ll have to get started on the spending and welfare cuts early, and such budgets are always best in the first term, just after an election.

Source: Alan Kohler: Prepare for a March election and then a horror budget in May

Informed Comment

As a fish rots from the head, so is Australia’s democracy – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Today we discovered that over the past four years the Coalition has spent three times as much on Liberal electorates when compared to Labor-held seats. This proves that we should move house if we want some of our taxes to come back to us, or maybe just vote them out. Which brings us to accountability. No bill has been seen. Morrison blames Labor because he cannot get his own pathetic version of an integrity commission past his own backbenchers. Ask yourself why he won’t legislate a national integrity commission. Ask yourself why he vilifies the NSW ICAC every second day. You know the old saying – if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. The verdict is that, for me, the Coalition government is the single worst government in living memory, possibly in our history of representative government. From the top to the bottom they shred convention, they outsource our governing functions to multinationals, they have starved our elderly in aged care, they keep the unemployed poverty-stricken, they are fanning the flames of conflict with China, they have destroyed our social fabric, and they run kangaroo courts. There’s not a lot to like.

Source: As a fish rots from the head, so is Australia’s democracy – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Well-being and security for all or wealth and privilege for a few – Labor and the LNP are far from the same. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Liberal/Nationals governments talk a lot about “the economy” and very little about society. “The economy” is about allowing rich people to get richer so they will then employ people who work to make them even more money. The lower the labour cost, the higher the profit. “The economy” is about the GDP – a number that is easily manipulated by including a big government program when it needs a boost. “The economy” is about the budget, an obscure set of figures which are ripe for cherry-picking – a guess based on convenient assumptions, which can decide to leave stuff out at will, which never ends up being accurate, where debt and deficit can be a disaster one year and a wise investment the next. The LNP would have us believe that they are very concerned for our mental health and well-being as a result of the pandemic. Prior to that, not so much. When, in February last year, Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers suggested Australia should consider adopting a wellbeing budget, Josh Frydenberg absolutely ridiculed him.

Source: Well-being and security for all or wealth and privilege for a few – Labor and the LNP are far from the same. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

‘We’ve had enough with trolling’: AG Cash pressures Labor on social media crackdown

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash is leading the government’s latest foray to rein in social media giants.

After Peter Dutton’s somewhat meager success in the courts, the rush is on to ID and shut down anyone that AG Cash or other Government Parliamentarians may or may not be offended by. Couple that with the call Dutton made for Government MP’s to be allowed to sue or when sued to be covered at our, the tax payer’s, expense they’re demanding to be untouchable. Dutton probably foresaw that he was going to have to shell out his own costs but didn’t, it seems, predict, he’d have to pay some of the costs of the person he was suing.

The Government gets bad PR on Social Media which it doesn’t get from the privatized “cash for comment” MSM. It can’t close the ABC down and doesn’t like it. The biggest trolling on Social  Media is anti- Government and the algorithms amplify that anti-government sentiment. While they have  Parliamentary Privilege we have Social Media and our privilege needs to be regulated as we roar and they merely squeak on Social Media..

“This is a very simple bill that says we’ve had enough with online trolling,” Senator Cash said. “If Anthony Albanese and Labor cannot support that then quite frankly, they are failing Australians.”

Source: ‘We’ve had enough with trolling’: AG Cash pressures Labor on social media crackdown

Life

Australia’s age gap: luck at birth can mean nine years extra life

People born into the lowest socio-economic parts of society will live, on average, nine years less than someone born into the most advantaged parts of society.

The government actuary broke down average lifespans based on socio-economic background for men and women, at birth, at age 25, 65 and 85. At birth, a boy born in the most socially-disadvantaged 10 per cent of the population can expect an average lifespan of 75.9 years. But one born in the most socially-advantaged 10 per cent of population can look forward to 84.6 years. At age 25, the gap is even wider. The most socially-disadvantaged men can expect another 51.6 years of life while among the top 10 per cent, young men can expect another 60.1 years.

Source: Australia’s age gap: luck at birth can mean nine years extra life

Coal

Twilight of the coal boom as banks run out of excuses to fund coking coal – Michael West Media

Scrap steel, coking coal, IEEFA

In addition, the U.S. and China issued a joint declaration on enhancing climate action with specific focus on reducing methane emissions.

As China seeks to reduce reliance on Australian coking coal in the long term, much will depend on the steel technology path chosen in countries such as India, where steel demand is set for continued growth. India is already a significant user of DRI technology using gasified domestic thermal coal as the reductant but it is also a major importer of Australian coking coal for its blast furnaces.

However, the Indian Government is now eyeing steps to increase the domestic supply of coking coal and reduce dependence on imports while also aiming to diversify imports away from Australia.

Given ongoing resource security concerns and advancing alternative technologies, the days of coking coal being protected from the kind of investor and financier pressure on emissions faced by thermal coal look increasingly like they are over.

 

Source: Twilight of the coal boom as banks run out of excuses to fund coking coal – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

To End Hyperexploitation, Seasonal Workers Need Union Solidarity

In October, Australia introduced a new visa for seasonal agricultural workers that is supposed to create pathways to permanent residency. But history shows that seasonal workers can only guarantee their rights if they’re organized into fighting unions.

Source: To End Hyperexploitation, Seasonal Workers Need Union Solidarity

COVID-19

Omicron Surge Gives Hospitals Reason to Let Journalists In

Medical workers tend to a patient at a Brooklyn hospital that has seen a rise in coronavirus-related cases on Dec. 15, 2020, in New York City.

Australians love reality shows maybe it’s time to witness “hospital reality” and what Covid wards look like filled with the non-jabbed, while patients without Covid, but with serious conditions, are being turned away. Maybe it should be shown on the big screens of Melbourne when anti-vaxxers and freedom marchers are protesting about their inconvenience.

Most CEOs were not OK with it. Their decisions to ban reporters, taken one by one and with an impact that was collective, helped turn the sudden battle against Covid-19 into a long war with hundreds of thousands of victims whose terrifying plight could not be witnessed. This spared Americans from the medieval inconvenience of seeing the suffering and death of a plague in their midst. In its first months, the pandemic was defined by empty streets and grounded planes, by 6 feet of distance between nervous people, and by the strained faces of hospital workers who were swamped and frightened.

Source: Omicron Surge Gives Hospitals Reason to Let Journalists In

Fox News

Murdoch’s Fox News escalates Four Corners complaint against the ABC to media watchdog

ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson presented Fox and the Big Lie, the program that frustrated executives at the American cable network.

Murdoch Media’s American Fox News complains it was attacked by our ABC. The Australian Media watchdog has no teeth and rarely if ever comments publicly on SKY or News Corp’s incessant trolling of the ABC. Nevertheless we hear Murdoch central crying “victim”. You really do have to laugh at the ridiculousness of Fox News, who as we speak is, being sued by Dominion Systems for $1.5 Bn. Fox staff have been the biggest and loudest, not reporters but, promoters of “The Big LIe” and lead up to Jan 6th. When they saw the result of that assisted incitement they panicked, and now post-riot are saying it was simply the right of peacefull protest. The world’s biggest anglo-media thug is crying victim why? Because the Murdoch’s want them to avoid any more lawsuits.

Fox News sent a formal complaint to ABC’s chair Ita Buttrose and ABC managing director David Anderson in September, arguing the program, which focused on the American cable TV network’s coverage of former US president Donald Trump and its role in the 2020 US election, was an attack on Fox News.

Source: Murdoch’s Fox News escalates Four Corners complaint against the ABC to media watchdog

Fox News

Fox Hosts Lash Out At CNN For Finally Noticing They’re Not ‘News’ | Crooks and Liars

Fox Hosts Lash Out At CNN For Finally Noticing They're Not 'News'

Unfortunately, there is only one Democratic Party in America that protects or seems to protect Democractic processes. It’s not the Republican Party. There needs to be a redefinition of what “news ” is and a re-examination of the First Amendment Protection given. Julian Assange a publisher and journalist is accused of a crime he didn’t even commit in America and is being extradited without bein afforded any First Amendment Protection. He is recognized by the rest of the world as a member of the press and has won awards in recognition of that. Fox News is in America and is recognized as the very antithesis of news but receives that protection. America isn’t the living example of a Democracy it professes to be.

By Heather — December 19, 2021 As we’ve discussed here many times (and others have as well), the rest of the corporate media needs to stop treating Fox as a legitimate news outlet, and start acknowledging that they’re nothing more than right-wing propaganda dressed up as “news.” The recently revealed January 6th texts between Mark Meadows and many of the anchors on Fox has forced networks such as CNN and others to finally start treating Fox in the manner they deserve, with Don Lemon wondering why they’re even allowed into the White House press room to ask questions: This was met with the reaction you might expect from Media Buzz host Howard Kurtz, who opened his show this Sunday complaining about Lemon. Kurtz pointed to Fox’s defense of Jim Acosta (who had his press badge revoked after Trump lost it during one of his insane briefings, because he didn’t like a question Acosta asked him) as justification that Fox is somehow worthy of the same professional courtesy from CNN now. Kurtz followed up by bringing on Special Report host Bret Baier to join him in complaining about Lemon. Baier also helped play cleanup on aisle five over the mess the network finds themselves in now that

Source: Fox Hosts Lash Out At CNN For Finally Noticing They’re Not ‘News’ | Crooks and Liars

Socialism

‘Historically Large Win’: Chile Votes for Socialism over Fascism

Chile Votes for Boric

Can we do the same in 2022?

With 97% of 46,887 polling stations reporting Sunday, Gabriel Boric had 56% of the votes, compared to 44% for his opponent

Source: ‘Historically Large Win’: Chile Votes for Socialism over Fascism

Israel, Israel Crimes

Israeli Squatter-Settler Mobs attack Palestinian Hamlets, wrecking Cars and Homes and Hospitalizing 2

If being Anti-Israel means being Anti-Semitic then the Jewish Diaspora is fast becoming Anti-Semitic.

The Israeli squatters attacked Ibrahim Ahmad Abu al-Izz near the squatter-settlement of Yitzhar, which was built on Palestinian-owned land south of Nablus, hitting him in the chest with a rock so that he had to be transported to the hospital in Nablus.

Source: Israeli Squatter-Settler Mobs attack Palestinian Hamlets, wrecking Cars and Homes and Hospitalizing 2

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- The sting isn’t in the tail of the scorpion it’s in its nature
Latest Government report indicates record economic mismanagement

Fighting Fake News with REAL 20/12/21; LNP history and the Economy; LNP and the PM as a man;The Election March not May; Murdoch Media and facts; What the unions have done; America America the General’s Warning

Informed Comment

Albo seems to be everything that Scomo isn’t – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day The way you think and feel about yourself affects every aspect of your life. When you love, accept, respect and approve of yourself, you validate your existence.( John Lord)

Source: Albo seems to be everything that Scomo isn’t – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Prime minister’s department ‘can’t find’ sports rorts document requested by Rex Patrick under FOI | Freedom of information | The Guardian

Rex Patrick

Independent senator Rex Patrick has condemned the prime minister’s department for claiming it cannot find a key letter from Christian Porter to Scott Morrison about the sports rorts affair, a position seemingly at odds with the attorney general’s office, which has fought to keep the document secret. Patrick has been fighting an almost two-year freedom of information battle with the attorney general’s office, seeking access to a letter from the then attorney general to the prime minister about the administration of the community sport infrastructure program. The attorney general’s letter is thought to provide legal advice to the prime minister on a particular aspect of the damning auditor general’s report that found the government handed out $100m in sport grants in order to favour “targeted” Coalition seats at the May 2019 election. Parliament House, Canberra Information watchdog demands change after two government departments break FoI laws within a month Read more The request was rejected on cabinet confidentiality and legal privilege grounds, something Patrick disputed and took to the watchdog, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. While he was waiting for a

Source: Prime minister’s department ‘can’t find’ sports rorts document requested by Rex Patrick under FOI | Freedom of information | The Guardian

Asylum Seekers

Treatment of asylum seekers is our national shame

10 December, International Human Rights Day, happened to be the birthday of Adnan Choopani. Adnan escaped persecution in Iran when he was just 15 years old and has been moved from detention centre to detention centre for almost nine years now. Even though he was recognised as a refugee in 2014 already. At the moment, Adnan is being detained in the Park Hotel. This Human Rights Day Rally coincided with his 24th birthday.

Source: Treatment of asylum seekers is our national shame

Murdoch

At Long Last, Have They No Sense of Decency? | The Smirking Chimp

So, in the depths of this darkening winter, as COVID variants are roaring back at us and as this most dangerous threat from radically indecent Republicans and assorted fascists imperils the best that is in us, we slog on toward Christmas, carrying our soggy list of hope and desires through the rain, snow, and cold of this dark winter, some of us echoing that famous question Joseph Welch posed to Joe McCarthy back when we were kids: “At Long Last, Have You No Sense of Decency?”

Source: At Long Last, Have They No Sense of Decency? | The Smirking Chimp

Fox News

Could Dominion’s Lawsuit Finally Take down Fox Fable “News” for its Serial Lies?

A lot of Dominion discovery, which may already be ongoing, could eventually become public, so we could see duplicitous emails from corporate bosses to anchors ordering them to delegitimize President Biden. Moreover, Fox could be out a lot of money, as much as $1.6 billion, which Dominion is asking for, or even more, if a jury awards greater damages. But the whole legal basis for its big lies, of Sullivan and the neutrality doctrine, could be in jeopardy. The bad thing would be if all this weakens the US press’s first amendment protections, just because an Australian-American billionaire and his band of merry fraudsters decided to see if they could get away with lying on air 24/7.

Source: Could Dominion’s Lawsuit Finally Take down Fox Fable “News” for its Serial Lies?

Israel

Trump goes on anti-Semitic rant, claims Israel controlled Congress and Jews run New York Times | Salon.com

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Trump loves Russia, Nth Korea, and so it’s no surprise he loves Israel. He is anti- Democratic and approves of autocratic rule and in particular their leaders. However, he doesn’t conflate Jews with Israel. Israel on the other hand conflates itself with Jews, even when they are increasingly becoming distanced from it. Lets face it Israel only has 30% of the worlds Jewish population. and 25% of Israelis aren’t Jews. So to call Trump anti-Semitic is simply to say he’s pro-Israel and that Israel is anti-Semitic as the worlds Jews are turning their backs on the State in increasing numbers. However, if the Western world and some Middle Eastern countries are largely pro-Israel and one considers that Jews against Israel are the real representatives of Judaism, it’s community and it’s spirit, then yes anyone “for Israel” is anti-Semitic.

Donald Trump said that the American Jews “no longer love Israel” in a recently aired interview, claiming that “evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country.” “People in this country that are Jewish no longer love Israel,” Trump told Israeli journalist Barak Ravid in a Friday episode of podcast “Unholy: Two Jews on the news.” Trump continued: “I’ll tell you, the evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country. It used to be that Israel had absolute power over Congress. And today I think it’s the exact opposite.”

Source: Trump goes on anti-Semitic rant, claims Israel controlled Congress and Jews run New York Times | Salon.com

Climate Change

Scientists watch giant ‘doomsday’ glacier in Antarctica with concern | Antarctica | The Guardian

Satellite view of Antarctica with the Thwaites glacier marked in red.

Should all West Antarctica’s glaciers ever collapse, there is no coastal city in the world that would not, over time, be swamped at ruinous cost to life and economies. The consensus of glaciologists used to be that it would take centuries of global heating before glaciers the size of Thwaites shattered and collapsed, but so rapid and unexpected has been the loss of sea ice at the opposite end of the earth in the Arctic, and so sudden was the loss of Larsen B that it is now considered possible it could happen rapidly in Antarctica, too. Ice loss in the Arctic barely affects sea levels because it mostly forms at sea. Antarctic ice, however, is mostly on land so any melting adds to sea levels.

Source: Scientists watch giant ‘doomsday’ glacier in Antarctica with concern | Antarctica | The Guardian

Donald Trump

Former Guy’s CDC Director: Trump Muzzled CDC On COVID Response In 2020 | Crooks and Liars

Former Guy's CDC Director: Trump Muzzled CDC On COVID Response In 2020

Donald Trump’s former CDC director verified the House Oversight Committee’s report that said Trump, his administration and officials made “deliberate efforts to undermine the nation’s coronavirus response for political purposes.”

Source: Former Guy’s CDC Director: Trump Muzzled CDC On COVID Response In 2020 | Crooks and Liars

WAR

Generals Warn Of Divided Military And Possible Civil War In Next U.S. Coup Attempt | HuffPost Latest News

Three retired U.S. generals warned in a chilling column Friday that another coup attempt in America in 2024 could divide the military and plunge an unprepared nation into civil war.

Source: Generals Warn Of Divided Military And Possible Civil War In Next U.S. Coup Attempt | HuffPost Latest News

Karl Marx

For Karl Marx, Alienation Was Central to Understanding Capitalism

Karl Marx’s groundbreaking account of labor alienation forms an invaluable part of his thought. For Marx, alienation was fundamental to grasping capitalism and how to dismantle it.

Source: For Karl Marx, Alienation Was Central to Understanding Capitalism

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- The hard work, the belief grants are allocated on merit, Morrison says they are and the LNP is always the best. Barnaby holds the hose
Australia debt

Fighting Fake Facts with REAL 19/12/21/; Dodgy Cash; Debt; Murdoch gives Morrison an A; Barnaby the Grants Bagman

Informed Comment

Eight years in, how do our Coalition economic management gurus measure up? – Michael West Media

Australia debt

”Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” So said Warren Buffett. And the tide has ebbed on the Coalition’s claim to be superior economic managers. Exposed by its bungled response to the pandemic, both in the provision of health protections and economic safety nets, the government has proved Buffett’s aphorism. Alan Austin crunches the numbers.

Source: Eight years in, how do our Coalition economic management gurus measure up? – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

Coalition pumps more money into keeping Australia ‘safe’

BUILDING MULTIPLE PEARL HARBOURS  TO KEEP US AND THE LNP’S ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT SAFE. SURE SOUNDS LIKE A MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY TO ME. “WANTED” A SHORT TERM  BOGEY MAN FOR HIRE.  A FUTURE APOLOGY GUARANTEED ALONG WITH BENEFICIAL TRADE AND MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES AT A LATER DATE.

ONCE UPON A TIME, our political masters announced economic plans and industry policies. Defence and military spending were not central planks of industry policy. Something changed. In the Alice in Wonderland world of late capitalism, militarisation, war preparations and defence spending have, apparently, become central to our economic welfare.

Source: Coalition pumps more money into keeping Australia ‘safe’

Informed Comment

Anti-lockdown movement rolling over for UAP

Preferences and power of Billionaire Clive’s money are all for the benefit of the LNP and assured and underpinned by a quietly understood transactional Quid pro Quo arrangement.

Members of the anti-vax movement have been showing support for the United Australia Party, two factions that share similar characteristics, writes Tom Tanuki.

But things have devolved rather rapidly of late.  And now, the greatest letdown of the “freedom” movement – not to me but to itself, a great letdown of its own potential – is the eagerness with which it has rolled over for one Clive Palmer.

The Freedom Movement have been…

Source: Anti-lockdown movement rolling over for UAP

Australia's Shame

Only a Democratic Overhaul Can Put an End to the Corruption of Australia’s Political Class

Every month, it seems a new corruption scandal emerges in Australian politics. These improprieties are not exceptions to the norm, they are the natural outcome of a two-party system that serves the wealthy elite.

Source: Only a Democratic Overhaul Can Put an End to the Corruption of Australia’s Political Class

LNP, LNP Government

Josh Frydenberg’s pick for ACCC chief represented bank in one of regulator’s biggest criminal cases | Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) | The Guardian

Josh Frydenberg and Gina Cass-Gottlieb sit next to each other at a wooden table in an office

CULTURE CAPTURE

Josh Frydenberg’s nomination for chair of the competition watchdog may have to recuse herself from any decisions relating to one of the regulator’s biggest cases if she is approved for the job.

Source: Josh Frydenberg’s pick for ACCC chief represented bank in one of regulator’s biggest criminal cases | Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) | The Guardian