Author: peterimrich

Informed Comment

Top 5 Things Wrong with the Mainstreamed Racist Republican “Replacement Theory”

In most years, a little over 1 million immigrants come into the United States. 2. The birth rate of immigrants is 2.0, i.e. it is at replacement, and is only slightly more than native-born Americans. In recent years fertility among immigrants has fallen faster than that among people born here. So just to underline this, in 18 years if immigration laws and trends remain the same, we can expect 18 million more immigrants in a country of 345 million or so. They won’t have three children they will have two, just replacing themselves, and the children won’t be of voting age for the most part. 3. Only 45% are likely to be naturalized US citizens, so that is only 8.1 million new voters. They will be 2.3% of the population and spread all over the country. 4. On average, about 20% of recent immigrants in the U.S. vote Republican. About 30% say they have no political leanings. The rest, about 50% do vote Democratic. So of the 8.1 million new voters among immigrants, 1.6 million will vote for Dan Patrick and his like, and we have no idea how another 2.5 million or so of them will vote, if they vote at all. So we are down to about 4 million new Democratic Party voters in a country of 3

Source: Top 5 Things Wrong with the Mainstreamed Racist Republican “Replacement Theory”

Trumpsters

Trump Extremists Brought Numerous Guns on January 6, Evidence Shows – Mother Jones

Insurrectionists carried concealed pistols, allegedly stockpiled weapons nearby, and called for overthrowing the US government.

This attempted political cover-up has hinged on another specific claim: that no one who stormed the Capitol brought guns.

Evidence of numerous firearms among January 6 perpetrators shows those claims to be false. A Mother Jones investigation drawing on public video footage, congressional testimony, and documents from more than a dozen federal criminal cases reveals that various Trump supporters descended on DC that day armed for battle with guns and other potentially lethal weapons. At least three people arrested in connection with the insurrection are facing charges for carrying firearms on Capitol grounds. At least eight others carried knives or tasers at the Capitol, including two defendants who allegedly committed assaults with tasers, according to FBI and court documents. Multiple others arrested downtown and in the vicinity of the Capitol had rifles, pistols, explosive materials, and large supplies of ammunition. And communications among numerous January 6 suspects detailed in court documents indicate that many of their fellow insurrectionists were armed with guns.

Source: Trump Extremists Brought Numerous Guns on January 6, Evidence Shows – Mother Jones

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- If only the electorates were as smart as Warringah and not as dumb as the caravan of Greens that gave Qld to Morrison
Illustration: Simon Letch

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 1/10/21 Morrison’s Career; Get Job Keeper out of sight; Farce yes Fascism not yet; Hospital Crisis; Cartoons; Trump

Scott Morrison

Morrison ditched Turnbull plans for lobbying transparency – Michael West Media

Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison two days before Mr Turnbull was replaced as Liberal leader and Prime Minister.

One of the Morrison government’s first acts was to kill off Malcolm Turnbull’s plan for greater transparency about how lobbyists interact with the federal government, leaving in place a system widely regarded as ineffective, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Source: Morrison ditched Turnbull plans for lobbying transparency – Michael West Media

Uncategorized

Turnbull slams ‘deceitful’ Morrison for giving Australia a reputation as untrustworthy

Malcolm Turnbull has accused Scott Morrison of trashing Australia’s reputation for trustworthiness and putting national security at risk, in a swingeing attack on the Prime Minister’s handling of the cancellation of the French submarine contract.

Source: Turnbull slams ‘deceitful’ Morrison for giving Australia a reputation as untrustworthy

Julian Assange

Murderous Fantasies: The US Intelligence Effort Against Assange – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Assange’s US lawyer Barry Pollack wishes that this grubby state of affairs will lead to a sensible conclusion. “My hope and expectation is that the UK courts will consider this information and it will further bolster its decision not to extradite to the US.” The US appeal against the refusal to extradite Assange will be doing its best to avoid such thorny, and telling, revelations. Assange’s defence team will be doing its best to foil such efforts.

Source: Murderous Fantasies: The US Intelligence Effort Against Assange – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison’s subs deal trashed all the rules of ethical procurement

The PM’s dishonesty in dealing with the French has left Australia in the invidious position of being a country that can never be trusted again.

Source: Scott Morrison’s subs deal trashed all the rules of ethical procurement

Informed Comment

Australia’s approval of gas projects lighting climate change fires

The gas development in the Beetaloo Basin is guaranteed to accelerate and worsen climate change impacts on our health, writes Dr David Shearman. AUSTRALIA IS A global pariah for its unapologetic fossil fuel stance, in the face of the recent IPCC code red warning on climate change.

Source: Australia’s approval of gas projects lighting climate change fires

Informed Comment

On a matter as important as climate change, shouldn’t the Prime Minister attend the Glasgow conference? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day The ability of thinking human beings to blindly embrace what they are being told without referring to evaluation and the consideration of scientific fact, truth and reason, never ceases to amaze me. It is tantamount to the rejection of rational explanation. (John Lord )

Source: On a matter as important as climate change, shouldn’t the Prime Minister attend the Glasgow conference? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Government’s climate change web of lies

Our political leaders will do anything to stay in positions of power, including deceiving the voting public on urgent matters of climate change, writes Sue Arnold. PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT issue facing this nation is not the pandemic, economic scenarios or nuclear submarines but a perilous lack of critical thinking and analysis by political parties, the mainstream media and a large majority of Australians.

Source: Government’s climate change web of lies

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

No, Barnaby. The UK energy crisis has nothing to do with its net-zero target

Barnaby Joyce UK energy crisis

As debate heats up in Australia about adopting a net-zero emissions target, Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and other key party figures have pointed to the UK energy crisis as a supposedly cautionary tale. On the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Mr Joyce expressed reticence about the net-zero policy, and said he was “perplexed there’s not more discussion about what’s happening in the UK and Europe with energy prices”. He went on: A 250 per cent [price] increase since the start of the calendar year. A few days ago, 850,000 people losing their energy provider and a real concern over there about their capacity as they go into winter to keep themselves warm and even keep the food production processes going through. Mr Joyce was clearly seeking to link the UK energy crisis to its climate target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Pro-coal senator Matt Canavan this week echoed the sentiment: So are they right? To find out, The Conversation approached Aimee Ambrose, Professor of Energy Policy at leading UK policy research centre The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, and an expert adviser to the International Energy Agency….

Source: No, Barnaby. The UK energy crisis has nothing to do with its net-zero target

China

China makes progress in fight against climate change

Xi’s announcement signals the end of coal-fired power plant development outside China. Developing countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines, seen until recently as sources of future demand growth for coal, are now taking part in a program in which the Asian Development Bank will buy coal-fired plants with the sole purpose of shutting them down. At least as significant and somewhat more surprising has been a renewed commitment to limit the development of coal-fired power in China itself. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Government’s central planning agency, has released a new plan on energy consumption that includes requiring all provinces to review already permitted high-emissions projects, including those under construction. Combined with the emissions trading market launched in July, this development suggests that Xi’s stated goal of reaching a peak in China’s coal consumption by 2026 may well be reached. China pushes for a cleaner climate China pushes for a cleaner climate Despite escalating tensions between nations, China is taking positive steps towards reaching net-zero carbon emission targets. The final development of the past week has been

Source: China makes progress in fight against climate change

Donald Trump

Trump plans to sue to keep White House records on Capitol attack secret | Donald Trump | The Guardian

Donald Trump addresses a rally in Washington on 6 January, shortly before his supporters launched an attack on the Capitol to try to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

Donald Trump is preparing to sue to block the release of White House records from his administration to the House select committee scrutinizing the 6 January attack on the Capitol by claiming executive privilege, potentially touching off an extended legal battle over disclosure. The former president also expects top aides – former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, strategist Steve Bannon and defense department aide Kash Patel – to defy select committee subpoenas for records and testimony. Trump’s moves to try to resist the select committee, informed by a source familiar with his planning, are likely to lead to constitutional clashes in court that would test the power of Congress’s oversight authority over the executive branch.

Source: Trump plans to sue to keep White House records on Capitol attack secret | Donald Trump | The Guardian

Afghanistan

Generals on Afghanistan: Yes, Trump is Largely Responsible for Chaos

That we didn’t anticipate the snowball effect caused by the deals that the Taliban commanders struck with local leaders in wake of the Doha agreement. And that the Doha agreement itself had a demoralizing effect on Afghan soldiers.” Austin is saying that when Donald Trump ordered peace negotiations with the Taliban and ultimately concluded a treaty with them in February, 2020, the Afghanistan National Army commanders saw the writing on the wall. The United States was leaving, and leaving them in the lurch.

Source: Generals on Afghanistan: Yes, Trump is Largely Responsible for Chaos

Trump

Donald Trump is on a fringe right-wing media tour pushing election fraud conspiracy theories | Media Matters for America

trump-war-on-press-2017.png

Over the past few weeks, former President Donald Trump has appeared on a number of fringe right-wing media outlets to push election conspiracy theories and other misinformation, using news events to advance his election lies while attacking President Joe Biden and laying the groundwork for another presidential campaign.

Source: Donald Trump is on a fringe right-wing media tour pushing election fraud conspiracy theories | Media Matters for America

Uncategorized

Australian Politicians should pay attention. They can’t even do that

www.facebook.com/100002333998052/posts/4360150527406037/

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- They keep telling us the internet has made us ??? How do you feel about that?

Fighting Fake News with REAL 30/9/21; China at war with Coal, Australia t world top emission exporter; The American Model of the World’s best Practice

CIA

Assange Kidnapping Plot Casts New Light on 2018 Senate Intelligence Maneuver

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 19: Julian Assange steps out to speak to the media from the balcony of the Embassy Of Ecuador on May 19, 2017 in London, England. Julian Assange, founder of the Wikileaks website that published US Government secrets, has been wanted in Sweden on charges of rape since 2012. He sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and today police have said he will still face arrest if he leaves. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

The CIA labeled WikiLeaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service” while entertaining plans to kidnap or assassinate its founder.

Source: Assange Kidnapping Plot Casts New Light on 2018 Senate Intelligence Maneuver

Informed Comment

The Smirking Chimp | News And Commentary from the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy

The competing systems of power in the United States are divided between oligarchy and autocracy. There are no other alternatives. Neither are pleasant. Each have peculiar and distasteful characteristics. Each pays lip service to the fictions of democracy and constitutional rights. And each exacerbates the widening social and political divide and the potential for violent conflict.

Source: The Smirking Chimp | News And Commentary from the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy

Informed Comment

The Week of Two High-Stakes Games of Chicken | The Smirking Chimp

This week, two high-stakes games of chicken. The first is between Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans over raising the debt ceiling and extending funding the government beyond Thursday.

Source: The Week of Two High-Stakes Games of Chicken | The Smirking Chimp

Israel

In Height of Hypocrisy, Nuclear-Armed Israeli PM Bennett slams Iran, which has no weapons or program, for “crossing all red Lines”

. Iran has a civilian nuclear enrichment program. It does not have a military nuclear weapons program. There isn’t a scintilla of evidence that Iran is attempting to produce nuclear weapons. There is evidence that it is demonstrating a capacity to go in that direction if it is severely threatened. This is called “nuclear latency” or the “Japan option,” and it is a form of deterrence. Israel, in contrast, defied President Kennedy and President Johnson, who wanted it to avoid proliferating nukes and wanted to avoid a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Helped behind the scenes by France and Britain, Israel made a nuclear weapon and by now has a stockpile of hundreds of them. That kicked off an Iraqi interest in nuclear weapons, though Baghdad’s program was never very advanced, which in turn helped draw the United States in the Iraq War. So Bennett accusing Iran of crossing red lines is the height of hypocrisy. Iran does not have a nuclear bomb. It isn’t even close. It doesn’t have a nuclear weapons program. Israel has hundreds of atom bombs. You really need a stronger word than hypocrisy.

Source: In Height of Hypocrisy, Nuclear-Armed Israeli PM Bennett slams Iran, which has no weapons or program, for “crossing all red Lines”

Israel

Israeli Diplomat Pushed UNC to Remove Israel Critic Teacher

UNC-teacherjpg

An Israeli consul general baselessly accused a graduate student of antisemitism and said she shouldn’t teach a course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Welcome to an Israeli Book Burning

The intervention by an Israeli government official, Consul General to the Southeastern United States Anat Sultan-Dadon, followed a pressure campaign by right-wing pro-Israel websites and an advocacy group to remove the graduate student, Kylie Broderick, from teaching the history department course called “The Conflict over Israel/Palestine.” The websites and pro-Israel advocacy group pointed to postings Broderick had made on Twitter that criticized Israel and Zionism and, without evidence, cited the postings as evidence of antisemitism.

Source: Israeli Diplomat Pushed UNC to Remove Israel Critic Teacher

Australia's Shame

The trailblazer – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The issues on which she fought so hard remain as far from resolution as ever. In the thirty years since the royal commission, almost 500 more Aboriginal people have died in custody. To John Pat’s name have been added others whose deaths are etched in shame – Mulrunji Doomadgee, Mr Ward, Ms Dhu. But most are forgotten numbers on a roll without end.

Source: The trailblazer – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Scott Morrison

Wooing the hostile beast within

Illustration by John Shakespeare.

The breakdown over the NEG was the trigger which cost Malcolm Turnbull the prime ministership a week later. This time Pitt is waiting to see Scott Morrison’s plan before he decides his next steps but makes no secret that he implacably opposes net zero.

Source: Wooing the hostile beast within

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Liberals and Nationals are abandoning ship like Republicans are the GOP. Morrison is turning to War as Conservatives always do to save their ass

Fighting Fake News with REAL 29/9/21; Morrison Morrison John, go to the end of town and piss off; Indigenous Australia knows what a virus is but..; Morrison everyone is there to blame

Informed Comment

If even the Democratic Party can’t raise Taxes on the Super-Rich, is the US even a Democracy Any More?

Income disparity in the US has never been greater and history tells us nations fall apart when that disparity grows. Let’s face it even Trump doesn’t believe he’s rich enough and is happy to brag about not paying taxes. He’s able to mobilize those feeling they have been and are being replaced in today’s America. Turning class war into culture war and missing the point altogether. The greatest danger to America is from the neo-fascists within and not from anyone outside its borders.

Most immediately apparent is the disproportion between the modesty of the reform proposal and the intense hostility it has evoked. Changes in the top marginal income tax bracket would only bring the tax code back to pre 2017 levels, and the surtax on incomes above 5 million will hardly dent the regressivity of the tax code. Nonetheless, from the reaction one would think a Warren/Sanders coup was about to confiscate all wealth.

Source: If even the Democratic Party can’t raise Taxes on the Super-Rich, is the US even a Democracy Any More?

Afghanistan

War in Afghanistan Isn’t Over — It’s Taking the Form of Illegal Drone Strikes | The Smirking Chimp

America since WW2 has never been for peace but rather “redefining” war.

“That drone strike in Kabul was not the last act of our war,” Representative Malinowski said during Blinken’s congressional testimony. “It was unfortunately the first act of the next stage of our war.”

Source: War in Afghanistan Isn’t Over — It’s Taking the Form of Illegal Drone Strikes | The Smirking Chimp

Media

More public figures expected to turn off Facebook comments after Australian defamation ruling | Defamation law | The Guardian

Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein

Earlier this month, Fairfax and News Corp lost a bid in the high court to escape liability for allegedly defamatory comments posted on their Facebook pages in response to articles about Dylan Voller, whose mistreatment in the Northern Territory’s Don Dale youth detention centre led to a royal commission. The five-two judgment went far beyond just finding media companies were responsible for comments made on their Facebook pages, finding that merely facilitating comments amounted to “participation” in the communication of defamatory material, even if the original poster was not aware of the content of later comments.

Source: More public figures expected to turn off Facebook comments after Australian defamation ruling | Defamation law | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Climate change: Josh Frydenberg criticised by Bridget McKenzie over net zero emissions targets

Bridget McKenzie says too many MPs want to be fashionable about climate change.

The L/– NP

198 View all comments Advertisement Nationals cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie has taken a swipe at her Liberal colleagues, including Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, labelling their support for a carbon neutral economy by 2050 the “worst kind of vacuousness over values”. The Victorian senator, who holds several regional-based policy portfolios, says too many federal MPs were worried about being “cool” rather than “the consequences of their decisions”.

Source: Climate change: Josh Frydenberg criticised by Bridget McKenzie over net zero emissions targets

Racism

Two Aboriginal women suing Queensland Rail for racial discrimination – ABC News

Angela smiling in a photograph with her three kids.

The virus Australia has lived with for 200 plus years has never been cured of or even really addressed.

Two women were forcibly removed from the Spirit of Queensland train in January They allege it was discrimination because a non-Aboriginal passenger was allowed to remain on the train Queensland Rail provided compensation and a private apology, but the complainants want greater accountability

Source: Two Aboriginal women suing Queensland Rail for racial discrimination – ABC News

Media

What’s happening in Australia will happen in the US if we, too, lose the plot on COVID | Washington Examiner

To watch what is happening in Australia right now is to watch a once-liberally democratic nation devolve into outright tyranny. Citizens in New South Wales and Victoria are being locked inside their homes and monitored by police, and anyone who dares protest the states’ strict coronavirus lockdown measures faces imprisonment, hefty fines, and even brutal physical attacks by law enforcement — all in response to a relatively minor outbreak of new cases among a population that is largely vaccinated.

What’s happening in Australia will happen in the US if we, too, lose the plot on COVID | Washington Examiner

Fossil Fuel Industry

What will the donors think? Liberal/Labor refuse to act without nod from Big Gas – Michael West Media

Labor claims it’s a safety issue, Liberals say it’s a drafting issue. The bigger issue is how both major political parties have capitulated to the oil and gas industry again, this time voting to keep offshore petroleum production data secret. Callum Foote reports. The power of money in politics is rarely so blatant as it is in the decisions and outcomes struck by Australia’s politicians to profit the gas industry.

Source: What will the donors think? Liberal/Labor refuse to act without nod from Big Gas – Michael West Media

Scott Morrison

Our Man in Washington: Morrison’s Tour of Deception – » The Australian Independent Media Network

“We Meet It and We Beat It.”

At that point, CBS’s Margaret Brennan could only observe that no country had actually delivered on such targets. Hardly a problem, came Morrison’s reply to the bubble’s bursting. “See, it’s one thing to have a commitment, but in Australia, you’re not taken seriously unless you’ve got a plan to achieve the commitment.” This was delightful coming from a Prime Minister who has no plans to speak off when it comes to dealing with climate change. In fact, Morrison’s tenure has been marked by an absence of plans on any major policy decision. When any have been proposed – the vaccine rollout being the conspicuous example – they have been spectacular failures.

Morrison was particularly fortunate on that score, winning over his hosts with a shameless slogan that sounded hopelessly electoral and starkly mendacious.

Source: Our Man in Washington: Morrison’s Tour of Deception – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Scott Morrison: What the bloody hell are you doing

Lessons might have been learned from earlier failures, but while Morrison appears to find plenty of moments to shift blame for those failures, he takes few opportunities to reflect on moments in which he could learn from them.

Source: Scott Morrison: What the bloody hell are you doing

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Media is a corrupted business model with professional standards news and information abandoned and Murdoch lead that charge.

Fighting Fake News with REAL 28/9/21; AUKUS; Media, Protest and Strikes;

Scott Morrison

Trump’s CIA Considered Kidnapping or Assassinating Assange: Report

julian-assange

Scott Morrison has attached us to be allies of this mindset that calls this war peace

Under the leadership of then-Director Mike Pompeo, the CIA in 2017 reportedly plotted to kidnap—and discussed plans to assassinate—WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange, who is currently imprisoned in London as he fights the Biden administration’s efforts to extradite him to the United States.

Source: Trump’s CIA Considered Kidnapping or Assassinating Assange: Report

Trump

Former Federal Prosecutor Explains How the Walls Are Closing in on a Flustered Trump | The Smirking Chimp

Vance began with the questionable timing of Trump’s lawsuit. Citing his legal history, she said noted that many of Trump’s lawsuits have had ulterior motives. “Trump usually files lawsuits as an aggressive mechanism,” Vance noted. “This is his history so he might file a lawsuit to distract from other things that are going on around him.” Since Trump would likely be subjected to the process of discovery, which would require some element of exposure that he typically steers clear of, Vance believes the case could simply be a “stunt, perhaps a fundraising strategy than it is a legitimate effort.” Vance went on to explain why the case appears to be “a bad legal strategy” for the former president. Citing the new Slapp statute in the state of New York, which protects First Amendment rights, Vance noted that Mary Trump could be allowed to have the dismissal of the charges fast-tracked. That could also lead to Trump being left to foot the bill for court and attorney fees.

Source: Former Federal Prosecutor Explains How the Walls Are Closing in on a Flustered Trump | The Smirking Chimp

Trump

WSJ Editorial Board Bashes Trump’s Election Lies | Crooks and Liars

WSJ Editorial Board Bashes Trump's Election Lies

Fox called it on election night. Now WSJ is calling Trump “The Big Lie”. The Audit proved they were right and the audit Trump asked for proved it.

You know, as a Republican, it’s bad when the conservative Wall Street Journal throws you under the bus for being a serial liar. Their editorial board published this article on Saturday: Trump Loses Arizona—Again. WSJ’s lead said, “He still cries ‘fraud’ even after the audit he demanded found none.” Former President Trump claims Arizona’s ballot audit found “massive fraud,” yet the new recount says he actually lost the state by 360 more votes than originally reported. He is now demanding an audit of the 2020 election in . . . Texas, which he won by nearly six points. When are Republicans going to quit playing this game?

Source: WSJ Editorial Board Bashes Trump’s Election Lies | Crooks and Liars

Informed Comment

Why corporate social responsibility is BS | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Treasury secretary Janet Yellen listens to Josh Bolten, president and CEO of Business Roundtable, in Washington.

Philip Morris announced it would UNSMOKE the world and is better than any public enforcement or Quit campaign.

In recent years, “corporate social responsibility” has been viewed by some as the answer to the multiple failings of capitalism. Chief executives have responded to all sorts of problems – worsening climate change, widening inequality, soaring healthcare costs and so on – by promising their corporations will lead the way to solutions because they’re committed to being “socially responsible”.

Source: Why corporate social responsibility is BS | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Coal

The End of Coal? In Huge News for Climate, China to Stop Building new Coal Power Projects Overseas

With the new pledge on overseas coal, Yuan Jiahai believes China has demonstrated its conviction to become a leader of global climate actions. “China’s carbon neutrality pledge does not cover the carbon emissions incurred by its companies in other countries. But if China wants to be a true leader, there is a need to be consistent with what it does domestically and what it does overseas,” Yuan said.

Source: The End of Coal? In Huge News for Climate, China to Stop Building new Coal Power Projects Overseas

Israel

Israel’s PM says at least five Palestinians killed in shootout with Israeli military as tensions spike – ABC News

Palestinian demonstrator burns tires in clash with Israeli soldiers

The Israeli PM says soldiers acted against Hamas operatives that were “about to execute terror attacks” Hamas praised the men as “martyrs” and confirmed some were members of the group The Palestinian Authority said the Israeli government was “fully and directly responsible for this bloody morning”

Source: Israel’s PM says at least five Palestinians killed in shootout with Israeli military as tensions spike – ABC News

Israel

Palestinian Parties, Organizations Greet Abbas’s Pledge to take Israel to Int’l Criminal Court as “Historic” and Roadmap

Imagine Israel the newly formed and self-declared Jewish State being brought before the ICC

President Mahmoud Abbas’s UN speech, in which he pledged to take Israel to the International Criminal Court if its squatter-settlements weren’t withdrawn within a year, with widespread acclaim. The International Criminal Court decided in March of this year that it has jurisdiction over the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza because the Palestine Authority has invited it to consider rights abuses there. Palestine is a signatory to the Statute of Rome, which established the ICC at the Hague in the late 1990s, and member states can ask the court to take up cases. Palestine was able to become a signatory because it was granted the status of non-member observer state at the UN by the General Assembly in 2012. This is the same status enjoyed by the Vatican.

Source: Palestinian Parties, Organizations Greet Abbas’s Pledge to take Israel to Int’l Criminal Court as “Historic” and Roadmap

Informed Comment

Morrison’s ‘sub-par’ performance tanks Australia’s national identity

Morrison’s tanking of the Australian-French submarine deal in favour of the AUKUS pact signals to the world that Australia is not interested in being a real sovereign nation, writes Peter Henning.

Source: Morrison’s ‘sub-par’ performance tanks Australia’s national identity

Informed Comment

Morrison and Frydenberg set multiple ‘all-time worst’ records on jobs

The Morrison years have been appalling for Australian workers. Alan Austin reveals the actual state of employment — because the mainstream media refuses to do so.

Source: Morrison and Frydenberg set multiple ‘all-time worst’ records on jobs

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Was the Morrison LNP party to the CIA’s planned assassination of Julian Assange? No then Morrison’s a total mug. If yes he’s not our PM. Either way the LNP must go!
julian-assange

Fighting Fake News with REAL 27/9/21 Julian Assange marked for Assassination by our No1 Ally; Corporate Social Responsibility is Bullshit Independants Rising; Humour;

Informed Comment

Yanis Varoufakis: Angela Merkel Was Bad for Europe and the World

Today’s German elections mark the effective end of Angela Merkel’s 16-year rule. Yanis Varoufakis ( Australian) writes for Jacobin about how she became Europe’s most dominant peacetime leader — at the expense of Europe itself.

Source: Yanis Varoufakis: Angela Merkel Was Bad for Europe and the World

Mental Health

‘Psychedelics renaissance’: new wave of research puts hallucinogenics forward to treat mental health | Mental health | The Guardian

Michael Raymond overlooking Machu Picchu in Peru

The greatest shame looking back is that it wasn’t science that put us 50-60 years back and behind the 8 ball. It wasn’t science that misinformed us and restricted our work on Climate. Its’ not science that is screwing us with Covid either.

After early psychiatric experimentation in the 1950s and ‘60s, followed by decades of prohibition – sparked in part by the backlash against the hippy counterculture – psychedelics are experiencing a renaissance. A new wave of research has returned to hallucinogenic drugs as potential candidates to treat psychiatric conditions.

Source: ‘Psychedelics renaissance’: new wave of research puts hallucinogenics forward to treat mental health | Mental health | The Guardian

Capitalism

There’s No Moral Justification for Capitalist-Owned Enterprises

This may tip the scale too far to the left but why is it that Germany and other countries are far so much more progressive than Australia is in the structure of representation on it’s corporate boards? So much so it never really discussed publicly?

Capitalist “liberty” is just another word for private tyranny. Workers, not capitalists, should control economic enterprises.

 

Source: There’s No Moral Justification for Capitalist-Owned Enterprises

Informed Comment

The Real Threat to Working People is Not COVID-19 | The Smirking Chimp

As dreadful as the numbers are with COVID-19 blazing through the unvaccinated, the underlying ideology that drives our economic model is the real existential threat to the lives of working Americans. That ideology is “Libertarianism.” Its proponents assert there are several variations on their spectrum. However, there are basic principles on which libertarians agree.

Source: The Real Threat to Working People is Not COVID-19 | The Smirking Chimp

China

U.S.-China talk could torpedo climate conference

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” General and President Eisenhower

Source: U.S.-China talk could torpedo climate conference