Author: peterimrich

Republicans

Texas Republicans Pass Voting Restrictions to Solidify Anti-Democratic Hold on Power – Mother Jones

It has long been assumed that as America heads toward a future in which people of color comprise a majority of the population, it will grow increasingly difficult for the Republican Party to win elections by appealing to a shrinking base of conservative white voters.

So : Trash the notion of the REPUBLIC

As Texas becomes more diverse, conservatives have held on by shaping the electorate to their advantage.

Source: Texas Republicans Pass Voting Restrictions to Solidify Anti-Democratic Hold on Power – Mother Jones

America's Shame

The Republican Party’s flirtation with Fascism is becoming a Marriage

Republicans love to hijack democratic and progressive concepts, such as “free speech,” and apply them in a hyperbolic context that is counterintuitive to the original intent. While this tactic burgeoned in recent years, Donald Trump’s presidency and toxic wake has elevated the issues and urgency to defeat this.

Source: The Republican Party’s flirtation with Fascism is becoming a Marriage

Uncategorized

Young PR and Ad Professionals Demand Industry Ditch Fossil Fuel Clients | Common Dreams News

shell

“If agencies want to remain relevant, and attractive places to work for top young talent, they need to end their work for the worst polluters on the planet.”

Source: Young PR and Ad Professionals Demand Industry Ditch Fossil Fuel Clients | Common Dreams News

Murdoch Media

Fox News keeps pushing slow-motion video to accuse Biden of disrespecting fallen U.S. troops | Media Matters for America

Fox and flags

Fox News has continued to push a story based on manipulated video, alleging that President Joe Biden had disrespected fallen U.S. troops by looking down at his watch during the dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base. An analysis by Media Matters found that Fox has mentioned Biden reportedly looking at his watch during the ceremony in at least 18 segments.

Source: Fox News keeps pushing slow-motion video to accuse Biden of disrespecting fallen U.S. troops | Media Matters for America

America's Shame

Droning Disasters: A US Strike on Kabul – » The Australian Independent Media Network

A mere month after the conviction of whistleblower Daniel Hale, who did more than any other to reveal the grotesque illusion of reliability behind the US drone program, UAV warfare was again shown to be a butchering enterprise praised by the precisionists and found politically wanting. Those attending the funerals of the slain family members, an event taking place in the shadow of US power in retreat, needed little convincing who their enemy was.

Source: Droning Disasters: A US Strike on Kabul – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Health & life

Growing fears reopening too soon will overwhelm Australia’s health system

Registered nurse Katie Katie (L) talks with a fellow nurse inside the Covid-19 ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at Adventist Health in Sonora, California on August 27, 2021.

Health care workers fear reopening Australia with just 70 per cent of the eligible population vaccinated could lead to the health system collapsing.

Source: Growing fears reopening too soon will overwhelm Australia’s health system

LNP Corruption, LNP Government, NBN

Government still holding Australia back in global broadband ranking

Abbott told us FIBRE wasn’t NEEDED in his NOPE NOPE NOPE campaign and handed TURNBULL the poison chalice to put it in place so he wouldn’t be blamed neat politics, hey! However, a fucked up government service to Australia

Australia has a fibre penetration of just 21.7% out of a total of 9.1 million broadband subscriptions at 25th position, below the OECD average of 30.56% fibre penetration. If NBN Co’s 900K FTTC lines were defined as fibre, that percentage would rise to nearly 32% and 18th position. New Zealand fared much better, posting a 60.1% fibre penetration rate and 8th position. Austria, Belgium, Chile, Ireland, Israel and the United Kingdom all increased their fibre connections by more than 50% in 2020. In more and more OECD countries, most broadband connections are now fibre, with the share of fibre in total broadband above 50% in Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway and Portugal, exceeding 70% in Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain and Sweden.

Source: Government still holding Australia back in global broadband ranking

Climate Change

Climate crisis putting a billion children at ‘extremely high risk’

“Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people to give them hope. But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day.”

Source: Climate crisis putting a billion children at ‘extremely high risk’

Informed Comment

In the Liberal world empathy is as scarce as vaccines – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Take a deep breath… and go. “The NSW Government has been far from perfect in its handling of the virus. But at least it doesn’t place residents under 23-hour-a day house arrest because someone hundreds of kilometres away may have walked past someone who may have had Covid. Instead, NSW has tolerated a small number of new daily cases of coronavirus without resorting to lockdowns.” For the record this apathetic twaddle was originally published in The Herald-Sun. Now fast forward to Tuesday August 31, 2021 when New South Wales listed 1,164 Covid-19 cases and four deaths. In Victoria, the number is 76. None in the Liberal state of Tasmania, none in the Liberal state of South Australia (as of August 30) ditto, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, Labor states. Until we change this government, we can look forward to months of apathy: “a lack of feeling; the absence of passion, emotion, excitement, or energy. Lack of interest in things which others find moving or exciting. Apathía, from the Greek apátheia, insensibility.”

Source: In the Liberal world empathy is as scarce as vaccines – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Coal

Clive Palmer’s campaign will have a body count

CAN YOU SMELL IT, dear reader? That faint but unmistakably putrid odour of dank memes and moral decay? It can only be one of two things: a truck full of rotting fish has crashed into the abandoned vomit factory, or Clive Palmer’s political grift is back on. Unfortunately, it’s the latter. The United Australia Party are already gearing up for the coming election as Palmer attempts to recapture the same triumph as 2019, where he spent $83 million to secure zero seats in either house. However, it contributed to the skin-of-the-teeth return of the coal-friendly Morrison Government who celebrated their win by immediately opening the Galilee Basin for coal mining.

Source: Clive Palmer’s campaign will have a body count

LNP, LNP Government

Josh and Scotty’s excellent adventure can have no happy ending. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Without Murdoch Clive and the IPA

There is the smell of political death about the PM writes The Canberra Times’ Jack Waterford. The veteran joins Niki Savva in noting the unprecedented shift of power from the commonwealth to the states, a direct function of a weak, untrustworthy PM who increasingly reveals his lack of leadership in National Cabinet meetings. It may take the federation decades to recover from the collapse in Prime Ministerial leadership. The Coalition’s primary vote drops to 36 per cent, according to News Poll – the party’s lowest since March 2019 and over two points below its May 2019, election result. Yet Labor support rises to 40 per cent – its best result in the poll since December 2018.

Source: Josh and Scotty’s excellent adventure can have no happy ending. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison changes tune on reopening as he focuses on election

Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison has changed tack from ridiculing COVID-zero states to saying he “acknowledges” their worry about opening borders, with the Prime Minister telling the Coalition to start preparing for an election. As the saying goes, a week is a long time in politics. Just days ago, Mr Morrison was telling Queensland and Western Australia to get out of “the cave” of lockdowns, claiming they were ‘undermining’ the reopening plan and comparing them to children’s movie The Croods. By Tuesday, he was on a morning blitz across what he called the “low-COVID” states, singing from a new songsheet where he could see their “sensible concerns”.

Source: Scott Morrison changes tune on reopening as he focuses on election

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought-When your in the pocket of the biggest private distribution platform can you lose? Murdoch did it for Abbott, Trump and with Clive-Aid Morrison. He’ll be back for the $$
May be an image of 1 person and text that says 'He He is a glib charlatan, a mountebank, a sideshow juggling ค? act, an empty and frivolous collection of slogans and clichés. He is, beyond any doubt, our worst Prime Minister. -Mike Mike Carlton'

Fighting Fake News with REAL 1/9/21, It’s Spring a change of Season but not the PM;

America's Shame

The same MAGA mob Who supported Insurrection are Smearing pro-American Afghan Refugees as Dangerous

Stoking fear of Afghan refugees, Stephen Miller — architect of Trump’s ethno-nationalist agenda — used the Afghanistan withdrawal and the ISIS airport attack as another opportunity to spread Islamophobia. Just hours after Kabul fell to the Taliban, Miller focused on an anti-immigrant message: “It is becoming increasingly clear that Biden and his radical deputies will use their catastrophic debacle in Afghanistan as a pretext for doing to America what Angela Merkel did to Germany and Europe,” he wrote, referring to Syrian refugee resettlement through 2016. In Miller’s racist imagination, Merkel allowed the masses of Middle Eastern refugees to “defile” Europe’s traditional heritage while failing to identify Muslim terrorists hidden in their midst.

Source: The same MAGA mob Who supported Insurrection are Smearing pro-American Afghan Refugees as Dangerous

Afghanistan

New Chapter of Afghanistan War: U.S. Drone Strike Kills Family

Relatives and neighbors of the Ahmadi family gather around the incinerated husk of a vehicle targeted and hit by an American drone strike, which killed 10 people including children, in Kabul on Aug. 30, 2021.

The drone strike that hit Khwaja Burgha, a working-class residential neighborhood in Kabul, was said to have killed numerous members of the Ahmadi family, with the youngest alleged victim being a 2-year-old girl. Morgue footage shared on social media showed the burned bodies of several children, as well as photos of the victims before their deaths. One of the dead, according to members of the Ahmadi family who spoke to reporters, was a former Afghan military officer who had served as a contractor for U.S. forces, as well as a worker at a charity organization. Join Our Newsletter Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you. I’m in “The Americans said the airstrike killed Daesh members,” a neighbor of the family angrily told reporters after the strike, referring to the Islamic State. “Where is Daesh here? Were these children Daesh?”

Source: New Chapter of Afghanistan War: U.S. Drone Strike Kills Family

Uncategorized

Ohio Judge Orders COVID Patient Treated With Ivermectin | Crooks and Liars

Ohio Judge Orders COVID Patient Treated With Ivermectin

Well, this certainly sounds stupid. So how did the wife of a COVID patient convince a judge that a drug used mainly for animals and in studies found to be ineffective at treating COVID be used on her husband against all medical advice?

Source: Ohio Judge Orders COVID Patient Treated With Ivermectin | Crooks and Liars

Informed Comment

As Our Children Head Back to School, Partisan Politics Threatens their Learning and their Safety | The Smirking Chimp

These lawmakers – and many of the people they represent – equate “freedom” with being allowed to go without a mask and to own a gun, while also being ignorant of the shameful aspects of America. To them, personal freedom means taking no responsibility. Yet this definition of freedom is precisely the opposite lesson our children and grandchildren need. To be truly free is to learn to be responsible for knowing the truth even if it’s sometimes painful, and responsible for the health and safety of others even if it’s sometimes inconvenient. The duty to help our children become responsible adults falls mainly on us as parents and grandparents. But our children also need schools that teach and practice the same lessons. America’s children shouldn’t be held hostage to a partisan political brawl. It’s time we focused solely on their learning and their safety.

Source: As Our Children Head Back to School, Partisan Politics Threatens their Learning and their Safety | The Smirking Chimp

Australian Scams

Robber barons and high-speed traders dominate Australia’s water market

What began as an informal arrangement between neighbouring farmers, where one farm’s surplus water could be transferred to another, has over the past two decades morphed into a complex set of commodity markets whose annual turnover exceeds A$1.8 billion.

Source: Robber barons and high-speed traders dominate Australia’s water market

Informed Comment

JobKeeper shame and the collapse of business leadership in Australia – Michael West Media

JobKeeper, BCA, AI Group

Unless they disclose who got it, JobKeeper will remain a giant festering stain on the reputation of big business in Australia. Michael West reports on business’s greatest shame.

Source: JobKeeper shame and the collapse of business leadership in Australia – Michael West Media

LNP Corruption, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Australian Electricity Market Operator predicts stable supply despite closures of coal-fired power stations – ABC News

A view of Lake Liddell with the Liddell power station reflected in the background.

Taylor suppresses and bullshits about the real information experts supply on our power grid

The manager of the country’s electricity markets has dropped its warning that Australia faces a power supply shortage AEMO says the closure of coal plants in coming years will be shored up by new battery and gas plants Possible flooding at Yallourn station in Victoria remains the biggest short-term risk to supply

Source: Australian Electricity Market Operator predicts stable supply despite closures of coal-fired power stations – ABC News

Australia's Shame

We should be better than this – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In a world where developed democracies such as Canada, the US and Europe are opening their arms and creating paths to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees (after all we all helped to create the current situation) – Australia says ‘not our problem’ apart from a token airlift. It beggars belief. We can and should be doing much better than this. What do you think?

Source: We should be better than this – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP

Paul Bongiorno: Truth serum needed just as much as more vaccine doses

When the premier of Australia’s biggest state warns the country that things are going to get much worse before they get better, we should thank her for her honesty and urge our national political leaders to take note. In many ways Premier Gladys Berejiklian has no alternative but to face the facts of her own lethal misjudgments since June; she is trying to move the argument from case numbers to hospitalisations at the very time when the state’s health system is already struggling to cope. The day on which a new record of 1290 infections was announced, Ms Berejiklian was warning her hospitals would face even greater pressure on stretched intensive care units peaking in October, the same months she hopes the state will reach 70 per cent of its adult population fully vaccinated. This in itself is a reality check. If you take an increasingly strident Treasurer Josh Frydenberg at his word, he will withhold federal financial support for people in states whose governments continue lockdowns once the 70 per cent national target is reached. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is warning states to stick to the reopening plan as economists warn of another technical recession. Photo: AAP He says th

Source: Paul Bongiorno: Truth serum needed just as much as more vaccine doses

COVID-19

Picnics for the rich and curfews for the poor

One of the consequences of managing the COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting the divide between socioeconomic classes,

Source: Picnics for the rich and curfews for the poor

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Taiwan, Israel, Gladys and Dan. Same problem 5 solutions who’s leading?
Gladys says she’s setting the new standard

Fighting Fake News with REAL 31/8/21 Misinformation spread safely from a Bolt Hole, Dan, Gladys, Brett and popularity

Science

The Great American Science Heist

Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind., and Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., right, get together on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 1978 at the Capitol during a break in a closed session of the Senate that is discussing the Panama Canal treaties. Dole said he would move to make public charges involving Gen. Torrijos and members of his family being involved in drug traffic. Bayh, as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has custody of classified files dealing with the allegations. (AP Photo/ John Duricka)

“Scientific and technological research conducted or financed by the United States represents a vast national resource,” the report continues. “Public control will assure free and equal availability of the inventions … [and] will avoid undue concentration of economic power in the hands of a few large corporations.”

Source: The Great American Science Heist

Uncategorized

Biden got 117,000 Afghans Out: Contrast that Time Trump Abruptly Withdrew Troops from Syria and refused to Help Kurdish Allies

Amid the terminal amnesia of the U.S. media, it is refreshing to see someone remember the circumstances under which Trump pulled out of Syria, as a comparison to Biden’s Afghanistan. Let us just review that situation.

Source: Biden got 117,000 Afghans Out: Contrast that Time Trump Abruptly Withdrew Troops from Syria and refused to Help Kurdish Allies

Israel

Israel offers COVID booster vaccine for ages 12 and above | Coronavirus pandemic News | Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/000_9LL4UN.jpg?resize=770%2C513

Morrison is telling us it will be “safe” to open up when fully vaccinated. Israel proves he’s bullshitting and pandering for the next election.

Israel has begun offering a COVID-19 booster to children as young as 12, and its prime minister says a campaign that began a month ago among seniors has slowed a rise in severe illness caused by the Delta variant.

Source: Israel offers COVID booster vaccine for ages 12 and above | Coronavirus pandemic News | Al Jazeera

Climate Change

Hurricane Ida Blasts Ashore In Louisiana As Major Category 4 Storm | HuffPost

A man passes by a section of roof that was blown off of a building in the French Quarter by Hurricane Ida winds in New Orlean

Hurricane Ida blasted ashore Sunday as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., rushing from the Louisiana coast toward New Orleans and one of the nation’s most important industrial corridors. The Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph (230 kph) hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier, coming ashore about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of where Category 3 Katrina first struck land.

Source: Hurricane Ida Blasts Ashore In Louisiana As Major Category 4 Storm | HuffPost

Polls

Labor extends lead to 54-46 as lockdowns hit Coalition vote in Newspoll

Labor has increased its lead to 54-46 in the latest Newspoll, as record COVID-19 cases keep millions of Australians in lockdown.

Source: Labor extends lead to 54-46 as lockdowns hit Coalition vote in Newspoll

Informed Comment

The greatest con of all: It’s safe – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day The true test of any nation surely must be the manner in which it treats its most vulnerable.( John Lord )

Source: The greatest con of all: It’s safe – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Australian public fed nonsense as country heads to “irreversible” decision. | by Matt Barrie | Aug, 2021 | Medium

Everything Morrison’s Plan isn’t: Israel is sliding and failing Taiwan isn’t it’s back to ZERO

“Countries that consistently aim for elimination — ie, maximum action to  stop community transmission as quickly as possible — have generally fared better than countries that opt for mitigation targeted way to reduce cases so as not to overwhelm health-care systems.”  Countries opting for elimination fare better for health, economy & civil liberties. Source: The Lancet.

Joint modeling for the “opening up” strategy has been conducted by the Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing at University of Western Australia, the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis at the University of Melbourne and an independent modeling expert. “If 70% of adult Australians (excluding children <16 years) were fully vaccinated, but with a 95% vaccination level for those aged ≥60 years, the AZ-mRNA strategy would eventually result in some 6.9 million symptomatic COVID-19 cases, 154,000 hospitalisations, and 29,000 fatalities.” It concludes: “The consequences of opening up prematurely could prove to be both irreversible and unacceptable. Aus

Source: Australian public fed nonsense as country heads to “irreversible” decision. | by Matt Barrie | Aug, 2021 | Medium

Uninformed Comment

Morrison Government sets records in economic mismanagement

Here are just ten records set by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his hapless Treasurer Josh Frydenberg which the media have failed to report accurately — if at all.

Source: Morrison Government sets records in economic mismanagement

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Even Berejiklian finds Morrison an Evil Bully

Fighting Fake News with REAL 30/8/21; Morrison’s Record of Mismanagement; Poll on voting; Poll on Climate;

Conservative, Conservative Media, Conservative Think Tank, Neo conservative

Republicans Call Decency “Woke” Because They’re Indecent

“Woke” is Republican-speak. Murdoch Media-speak. Conservative political speak

“Woke” is versatile Conservative catch-all epithet: A form of abuse thrown at us who cry change

And the bigots and the hate-preachers and the supremacists are right to be afraid of us because we in our “wokeness” are going to make sure that they do not have the final word here. To Republicans, to be woke is to be deeply human, and that humanity will remain the foe they cannot defeat.

It’s woke to want fair elections.
It’s woke to be anti-racist.
It’s woke to be anti-fascist.
It’s woke to trust Science.
It’s woke to wear a mask in a pandemic.
It’s woke to be the parent of a bullied child.
It’s woke to want to be addressed with the gender you identify with.
It’s woke to want a less-polluted community.

Source: Republicans Call Decency “Woke” Because They’re Indecent

Voting

58 Years After Historic Rally, Thousands March on Washington for Voting Rights, DC Statehood | Common Dreams News

Demonstrators rally for voting rights in Washington, D.C.

The For the People Act would grant statehood to Washington, D.C.; ban partisan gerrymandering; implement automatic voter registration for federal elections, and take other major steps to expand voting rights. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore full anti-discrimination protections to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Source: 58 Years After Historic Rally, Thousands March on Washington for Voting Rights, DC Statehood | Common Dreams News

Israel

Bennett’s “Natural Growth” Rhetoric can’t conceal Israel’s colonial Land Grab

LAND GRAB

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is playing with words to advance the colonial state’s de-facto annexation of the occupied West Bank. In an interview with the New York Times, Bennett used spin about compromise which amounted to nothing other than promoting colonial expansion while retreating on formalising another land grab. “This government will neither annex nor form a Palestinian state, everyone gets that,” Bennett said. “I’m prime minister of all Israelis, and what I’m doing now is finding the middle ground – how we can focus on what we agree upon.” While diverging political views among Israelis may have prompted Bennett to shift towards a compromise, particularly as his is a coalition government, the issue at stake is still the colonisation of Palestinian land. Moreover, the Palestinians have been removed from the equation.

Source: Bennett’s “Natural Growth” Rhetoric can’t conceal Israel’s colonial Land Grab

Women

Medicare investigation indicates female genital mutilation in Australia – Michael West Media

Ms Gbla said “FGM is put in the ‘too hard’ cultural basket, instead of being treated like all other forms of child abuse and violence against women. And the impact of that is that little girls are being left unprotected, and that’s the saddest part for me. That is what breaks my heart.” “If a white child was at risk of being abused, you’d never make the argument it’s their culture.” What’s more, Ms Gbla highlights that that the practice and definition of FGM is not limited to any one culture. It covers any kind of cutting to the female genitalia performed for non-medical reasons and is unfortunately practiced on every continent except Antarctica. “The history of FGM in the west gets suppressed,” Ms Gbla says, citing the condition of “hysteria involved cutting women’s clitorises left right and centre” while labiaplasty remains a modern iteration of FGM. “Violence against women and child abuse doesn’t discriminate, but we discriminate,” Ms Gbla said.

Source: Medicare investigation indicates female genital mutilation in Australia – Michael West Media

Propaganda

Palmer’s propaganda fodder for far-Right rebellion

Of concern here is the theme Palmer has advocated, saying that there have been few COVID-19 deaths and that the real threats are from the vaccinations themselves — identical to the views of The Australia Project, the same people who are seemingly advocating an overthrow of the government. One has to wonder if Clive’s war-chest has been spent on anything other than advertising.

Source: Palmer’s propaganda fodder for far-Right rebellion

LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Government and media misinformation making the pandemic tougher

As long as profit is the driving force of our MSM and Truth, a dispensible sideshow, the battle against the pandemic, climate change, economic injustice, and for our democratic unity will not be just tougher but will continue to be a planned political strategy.

Malevolent fringe groups, smelling blood on the periphery, seek to prey on the confused, reaching out to them when no one else will. This all takes place on a stage set by a corporate entity that has no care for the damage it leaves behind. How we choose to perceive, navigate and communicate this social crisis will have a bearing on the outcomes of our communities and determine the future state of our national harmony. Why is it on the population to bear the burden of these considerations? Without a national message and guidance, without a press willing or able to talk truth to power, Australians are left to fend for themselves in a murky maelstrom of misinformation and political self-interest.

Source: Government and media misinformation making the pandemic tougher

LNP Economic Management

Australian Christian Lobby says believers should push for COVID freedoms, not ‘fear death’

Martyn Iles of the Australian Christian Lobby.

The Australian Christian Lobby has called on its supporters not to “fear death” and instead push state governments to end COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions. In an email to members on Friday night, managing director Martyn Iles said the coronavirus was here to stay and that he was “not afraid to face the inevitable”. “Christians should lead the way on this because fear of death’s a condition from which Christ has freed us,” Mr Iles wrote. “The truth is, we must face the virus, either sooner or later because it’s not going anywhere. But fear is ruling the day at great cost.

Source: Australian Christian Lobby says believers should push for COVID freedoms, not ‘fear death’

LNP Economic Management, LNP Government, LNP Theft

Australia COVID: JobKeeper overpayments should be returned to taxpayers, voters say

JobKeeper helped keep many Australians off welfare support through last year’s lockdown, but some firms have used the program to boost profits and executive dividends.

Australians overwhelmingly believe companies that have used the federal government’s $98 billion JobKeeper program to boost their profits should be made to repay the cash.

Source: Australia COVID: JobKeeper overpayments should be returned to taxpayers, voters say

COVID-19

Should you still bet on Australia? The big post-pandemic picture

Let’s put the daily COVID updates to the side for now. It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when you obsess about the next daily case count.

Source: Should you still bet on Australia? The big post-pandemic picture

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- God Botherers, All Know God’s Plan. It is what it is and not Science.
May be a cartoon of text that says '↓ Australia will be opening up Soon.. I'm not Sure they're talking king to uડ. wrcox'

Fighting Fake News with REAL 29/8/21; Far Right and COVID-19 Conspiracies; Misinformation works for Politics; Creationists and God’s design;

Republicans

How Republicans Stoke Anti-Government Hatred | Washington Monthly

For citizens to grasp how public policy matters they must experience it as a part of their daily lives—the bridges they cross, the schools their children attend, the rural hospital that saved their life. Only then is there hope of them favoring collective enterprise. “Build Back Better” is not only a plan to revitalize the country but an opportunity to build back trust. Fried and Harris’ book gives us the knowledge and tools we need to shoulder this task—to build back better a commitment to the public good.

Source: How Republicans Stoke Anti-Government Hatred | Washington Monthly

America's Shame

Trump’s Supreme Court just showed why court-packing is necessary to save U.S. democracy | Salon.com

US President Donald Trump and Supreme Court Justice John Roberts (Getty Images/Salon)

Law professor Stephen Feldman explains why court-packing should be defended on both moral and political grounds

Source: Trump’s Supreme Court just showed why court-packing is necessary to save U.S. democracy | Salon.com

Afghanistan

What is ISIS-K? This is the group behind the deadly Kabul airport attack

ISIS-K

What is ISIS-K? The Islamic State Khorasan Province, which is also known by the acronyms ISIS-K, ISKP and ISK, is the official affiliate of the Islamic State movement operating in Afghanistan, as recognized by Islamic State core leadership in Iraq and Syria.

Source: What is ISIS-K? This is the group behind the deadly Kabul airport attack

Israel, Israel Crimes

Israel kills 15-year-old in night attack on refugee camp | The Electronic Intifada

A smiling boy wearing a tee and a long necklace

What goes unreported in the West’s Media. Just another Israeli training exercise.

Using live bait to train greyhounds is illegal here. The IDF however trains and bloods it’s recruits using live Palestinians and their children and do it at night in the cover of darkness. If an Israeli was killed which is a very rare occurrence indeed the media noise would thunder around the globe.

A Palestinian child was killed by Israeli forces as he stood on the roof of his home on Tuesday. The noise of gunshots awoke Imad Khaled Hashash, 15, and his brother at 3 am as Israeli forces raided Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. Israel conducts such night raids into West Bank towns and cities on a daily basis, arresting Palestinians. The brothers went up to the roof of their house to see what was happening, according to a field investigation by Defense for Children International Palestine. As Imad was reaching for his phone to take a picture or a video, Israeli forces shot him in the head with live ammunition. Imad’s brothers couldn’t evacuate him at first because Israeli troops were firing tear gas. A neighbor’s taxi took Imad to Rafidia hospital in Nablus, where he was pronounced dead. Israeli soldiers enjoy near-total impunity for their killing of Palestinian children in their homes “without fear of any consequences,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, DCIP’s accountability program director, said.

Source: Israel kills 15-year-old in night attack on refugee camp | The Electronic Intifada

Scott Morrison

Even Berejiklian is fed up with the PM, who she privately regards as an ‘evil bully’

Illustration: John Shakespeare

Palaszczuk and Berejiklian let it rip and describe the real Scott Morrison

Thursday was the day Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk finally had had enough of Scott Morrison. She announced she was not waiting any longer for the Prime Minister to work with Queensland. In January, Palaszczuk decided that Queensland needed to dump the failed system of hotel quarantine and build its own cabin-style facility. But when she pitched this to Morrison, he was unsupportive.

Source: Even Berejiklian is fed up with the PM, who she privately regards as an ‘evil bully’

Fossil Fuel Industry

As the world battles to slash carbon emissions, Australia considers paying dirty coal stations to stay open longer

A long-anticipated plan to reform Australia’s electricity system was released on Thursday. One of the most controversial proposals by the Energy Security Board (ESB) concerns subsidies which critics say will encourage dirty coal plants to stay open longer. The subsidies, under a so-called “capacity mechanism”, would aim to ensure reliable energy supplies as old coal plants retire. Major coal generators say the proposal will achieve this aim. But renewables operators and others oppose the plan, saying it will pay coal plants for simply existing and delay the clean energy transition.

Source: As the world battles to slash carbon emissions, Australia considers paying dirty coal stations to stay open longer

Newscorp

Slow news day: the Herald Sun falls back in the pack

Media Slow news day: the Herald Sun falls back in the pack A long-time kingpin in Melbourne print media, the Herald Sun has taken quite the tumble, falling to fourth place among News Corp’s Australian mastheads. Christopher Warren Aug 26, 2021 20 (Image: AAP/James Ross) There’s a changing of the guard in Australia’s media: long-time Melbourne circulation kingpin the Herald Sun has tumbled way down the rankings. Now, it looks like it’s not only runner-up to local competitor The Age, it’s fallen to fourth spot among News Corp’s remaining Australian mastheads. It’s the second blow to News Corp’s market supremacy, following the ABC’s leap to displace news.com.au at the top of the Nielsen Digital News Content rankings since the 2020 summer of bushfires. The Herald Sun — boasting an audited circulation over twice its competitor with 600,000 copies when it first merged back in 1990 — is down more than three-fourths, with 146,026 subscribers across its print and digital products, according to June 30 internal figures reported by the company to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

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