ABC’s Four Corners episode ruffled plenty of feathers at News Corp Australia. Plus: Paul Barry’s fill in impressed by Media Watch’s fairness
Author: peterimrich
Letters sent to Scott Morrison and Bridget McKenzie warned of gaps in biosecurity controls weeks before Ruby Princess arrived
The ABC has obtained letters sent to the Prime Minister and former agriculture minister Bridget McKenzie warning of gaps in biosecurity controls weeks before the COVID-hit Ruby Princess docked in Sydney.
The Maritime Union of Australia wrote to the PM and then-agriculture minister warning of “significant concerns” over biosecurity control gaps The warning was sent in January 2020, six weeks before the Ruby Princess incident A report by the inspector-general of biosecurity said it was “perplexing” the agriculture department was not better prepared
Australia was in a world-leading position on managing COVID last year and squandered it.
And now continues to do so with small-minded, inward-looking debate while the world moves forward.
Fortress Australia is not just physical, in the form of all but closed borders, but mental and emotional, as we and our leaders choose to reinvent processes and debate that have already been had elsewhere.
Instead of taking advantage of international advances and knowledge that may allow us to accelerate towards normality, we choose to argue among ourselves.
Source: Zoe Daniel: How Australia squandered its world-leading pandemic position
The effort by former President Donald Trump and his ardent supporters to delegitimize Arizona’s 2020 presidential election was supposed to reach a turning point during the third week of August. But as has been typical with this hyperpartisan effort, the pro-Trump contractors empowered by the state Senate’s Republicans faced another delay, ducking an anticipated reckoning with facts and critics.
In the immediate aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, U.S.-backed Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum’s forces murdered hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban prisoners by jamming them into metal shipping containers and letting them suffocate. At the time, Dostum was on the CIA’s payroll and had been working with U.S. special forces to oust the Taliban from power. The Bush administration blocked subsequent efforts to investigate the mass murder, even after the FBI interviewed witnesses among the surviving Afghans who had been moved to the U.S. prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and after human rights officials publicly identified the mass grave site where Dostum’s forces had disposed of bodies. Later, President Barack Obama promised to investigate, and then took no action.
Republicans override Trump’s plan to “get out” and reek havoc on the Taliban not on ISIS-K
Republicans are pushing President Joe Biden to take actions that would amount to re-invading Afghanistan by either requiring the U.S. military to retake an abandoned air base or staying in the country long enough to restart the dormant war with the Taliban.
Source: Republicans Push Biden To Re-Invade Afghanistan | HuffPost
The current situation in Afghanistan is the result of decades of political interference by the United States Government with the support of other Western leaders, writes John Pilger.
Source: JOHN PILGER: How the U.S. ruined Afghanistan playing the ‘great game’
the federal government is still facing heavy pressure and criticism over why it didn’t move earlier. Defence veterans and those with family or friends in Afghanistan had been warning for months of the encroaching and swelling Taliban forces, fearing death and persecution for those with ties to nations that had fought the militia group during the 20-year war. Video went viral this week of a man, claiming to be an Australian citizen, who said he had been beaten by the Taliban.
Source: ‘You’re leaving them to die’: MP suspended for Afghanistan outburst
The new dawn looms. Where the unvaccinated are Morrison’s scapegoats and our children are used as guinea pigs. Sometimes making people do something can be tricky. Some go for the gentle encouragement method. Others go for the ‘scare the crap out of them’ approach. It’s sad to see NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and some in our media taking the latter approach. In what has now finally been declared a race to vaccinate, I personally feel the scare tactics have gone a step too far. I listen to the daily updates of the hundreds of COVID-19 cases in NSW and hear the daily death toll as we all do. But like many others I wince when I hear the victims of Sydney outbreak described not as loving mothers, or cherished sons, but as ‘unvaccinated’. Like that is the most significant thing about their life. We all want to see more people vaccinated, but I think this public branding of a victim is both perverse and disrespectful. It borders on victim blaming.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg appears to have thrown the most important findings of the banking royal commission under a bus, in glorious double-speak. On Thursday he issued a direction to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission through what is known as a statement of expectations. It is very different from the previous such statement, issued in 2018. This one includes an entirely new clause, placed right at the top. The government expects ASIC to: identify and pursue opportunities to contribute to the government’s economic goals, including supporting Australia’s economic recovery from the COVID pandemic. ASIC’s description says it is a regulator whose job is to “take whatever action we can, and which is necessary, to enforce and give effect to the law”. From ‘why not litigate’… It’s how the royal commission saw ASIC’s role.
…to ‘why not capitulate’
Rather than “why not litigate,” it reads as “why not capitulate” — justified by the need to identify opportunities to contribute to Australia’s economic recovery.
Source: Frydenberg’s directions to ASIC throw the banking royal commission under a bus
The spiv with the shiv celebrates the third anniversary of his defining perfidy “Scott was in it from the word go.” Herr Schickltuber on the political assassination of Malcolm Turnbull. A piffler of modest abilities and questionable achievements who wanted to be PM, his only valid claim to the Prime Ministership was that he’s not Peter Dutton. A unctuous quibbler for whom a glib catchphrase passes for uplifting rhetoric, who goes on and on and on like a one-ended stick with utterances that are not so much Winston Churchill as Kuta beach kiosk t-shirt – “How good is Bali?”, “I’ll sunburn for you”, “If ya wanna go on the jet-ski you’ll get a go on the jet-ski.” Listening to Scooter attempt inspiring oratory is like watching a 3 year old draw a horse.
Source: Happy anniversary, ScoMo – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Morrison’s reliance on Private MainStream Media to not to keep repeating his history of failing to act, to act solely in his political interest, to repeatedly misinform and not do his job has been the mainstay of his self-serving approach to government. He holds the media’s purse strings and Murdoch, Costello, Stokes, Ch10, and WiNN know it. Murdoch has the biggest private grip on as a paid influencer and is intent on getting the biggest portion of the LNPs budget.
A political party with the sole purpose of eradicating Federal Government corruption has been registered in time for the next election, but may not make it to the starting gate. Investigations editor Ross Jones reports.THIS WEEK, the Morrison Government provided new proof – if any was still required – that Australia needs to police its politicians.
As if we needed another reason to stop what we were doing and laugh full-stop at Donald Trump, here it is. A huge section of his very great border wall was torn to shreds after heavy rains fell in southern Arizona. Yep. All it took was one little monsoon in Douglas, Arizona to tear the wall of its hinges, leaving a gaping hole in Trump’s beautiful legacy. (Much like heavy winds tore a lovely section of the wall down last year that left President Beaker with IBS.)
Source: Trump’s Border Wall Torn Apart by Monsoon, Who’s Laughing Now?
Neither corporations nor liberals will stop climate disaster. The Left can.
From Otto von Bismarck to Joe Biden, capitalist politicians have tried to cure the system’s ills without transforming society. But it takes socialists to really change the world for the better.
Clearly and tragically, according to Israel, any foreigner – no matter where they are from – who loves a Palestinian and gets married is making a very grave mistake.
Where’s the moral rejection, the shaming and the shunning, of the greed of its richest readers, a lust for money that will truncate the natural lives of most living souls, save only the geriatric few like Charles Koch? (Though I fervently wish him the opposite, Koch will probably die long before his sins can be visited on him. Live long, Charles Koch. I don’t trust the afterlife to serve you the treat you deserve.) It’s as if the Economist has decided to point out the soon-to-come wreck of the ship it’s sailing on, while neither getting off nor working its best to change course.
Source: ‘The Economist’ Notices the Climate | The Smirking Chimp
America has been at war every day since 9/11. These days, there are American troops deployed in around 800 military bases on every continent. The U.S. Defence budget is over $700 billion per year – dwarfing any other nation on Earth. The U.S. military is also one of the planet’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. This isn’t money wasted — every bullet shot and every drop of oil burned is profit. Afghanistan is one of the most successful wars ever waged. Let us pray that an excuse can soon be found for the next one. After all, China and Russia must be regarding the vacated playing field with envious eyes.
Take heed evangelical Republicans, if Afghan refugees are allowed in this country, they will immediately try to implement Sharia law into America!!! 9/11! The Tarmac! Benghazi! Baby Parts! Solyndra! Fox News is always about keeping the white nationalists on edge. So Tucker Carlson is fearmongering over Afghan refugees trying to escape the Taliban. Tucker is practically a Grand Wizard in the KKK, what more do you expect from him?
Source: Tucker Carlson Warns Afghan Refugees Will Try To ‘Enact Sharia Law’ | Crooks and Liars
Mr. Prince, whose Blackwater guards were convicted of killing civilians in 2014 while providing security for Americans during the Iraq war, said he was charging each passenger $6,500 to get them safely into the airport and on a plane, and it would cost extra to get people who have been trapped in their homes to the airport. It remained unclear whether Mr. Prince had the wherewithal to carry out his plans.
Based on the contributions of more than 530 scientists from over 60 countries and compiled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), State of the Climate in 2020 is the 31st installment of the leading annual evaluation of the global climate system. “The major indicators of climate change,” officials from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information pointed out in a statement, “continued to reflect trends consistent with a warming planet. Several markers such as sea level, ocean heat content, and permafrost once again broke records set just one year prior.” “Annual global surface temperatures were 0.97°–1.12°F (0.54°–0.62°C) above the 1981–2010 average” in 2020, said NOAA, making last year one of the three warmest on record “even with a cooling La Niña influence in the second half of the year.”
Source: Atmospheric CO2 Levels Haven’t Been This High in 800,000 Years: NOAA | Common Dreams News
Neo-Nazis are targeting anti-lockdown rallies and using covert tactics to indoctrinate frustrated Australians into their hate-filled and violent ideology. At least two leaders of the far-right National Socialist Network were at Melbourne’s anti-lockdown protest on the weekend, trying to recruit new members to their group, The New Daily can reveal.
Source: How neo-Nazis use anti-lockdown protests to recruit new members
My thought for the day When a political leader deliberately withholds information that the voter needs to make an informed, balanced and reasoned assessment of how it is being governed. It is lying by omission. It is also tantamount to the manipulation of our democracy.
Today’s GOP, on the other hand, has become something that would be entirely unrecognizable to Nixon or Eisenhower. It’s become an American version of the Taliban. Lest you think that’s hyperbolic, consider these parallels:
Source: Trump Brutally Represents an American Version of the Taliban | The Smirking Chimp
The digital advertising platforms don’t just want our data. They also want us to spend our lives online, an “addiction” created for the primary purpose of serving advertisers. Manal al-Sharif reports on the pitfalls of “digital dictatorship” in this latest of her Tech4Evil series.
Source: Captive Mood: how Big Tech manipulates your emotions to serve advertisers – Michael West Media
Educated, and critical of a political system doesn’t require one to stand outside and be some sort of role model or be inside of it and symbolically be a victim to it. The question is the naval-gazing problem.
Look, if you’re making a living through socialist politics then you shouldn’t be surprised if people raise an eyebrow when you shell out millions of dollars on property. That said, I don’t really care about Piker’s fancy new house. There is a strain of purity politics on the left that means that nobody seems to be able to do anything correctly. Had Piker bought a more modest house in a cheap neighbourhood, for example, he would probably have been accused of being a gentrifier. Instead of wasting all its time in-fighting, the left really ought to exert its energy building a broader base and trying to actually get into power. Let Piker enjoy his fancy new pool. There are bigger fish to fry.
Source: Can a socialist live in a $2.7m mansion? | Arwa Mahdawi | The Guardian
Portland’s police force chose to stand back and stand by as Proud Boys who came to the city to fight with anti-fascists assaulted protesters and a right-wing gunman opened fire.
Source: Portland’s Bizarre Experiment With Not Policing Proud Boys Rampage Ends in Gunfire
Musicians and friends of Charlie Watts pay tribute to the drummer, with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards tweeting a poignant image of an empty drum kit.
Right-wing figures are attacking “woke ideology” in the U.S. military and using anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in their tirades against the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, including spreading the false claim that the U.S. embassy in Kabul flew a LGBTQ pride flag on its rooftop ahead of the Taliban’s takeover. Conservative outlets have seized on the current media fixation on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and its fallout to attack the Biden administration and Afghan refugees, and they are also criticizing the so-called “woke agenda” in their commentary over the Taliban’s takeover of the country. (Right-wing media have co-opted the term “woke” from Black activists and now use it as a derogatory catch-all term to encompass their grievances against social justice initiatives.)
As a scholar specializing in forcible displacement and refugees, I see this harrowing scene unfolding within a broader context of Afghanistan’s long-standing displacement crisis. This includes an unequal sharing of refugees between the developed world and economically disadvantaged countries.
Morrison and his Coalition Government have announced 3,000 humanitarian visas for Afghan refugees but that is within the already allocated 13,750 refugee annual intake. He also pointedly mentioned that he would not tolerate refugees arriving “illegally” and would not create a “product” for people smugglers returning to his reductive narrative of framing Afghan refugees as potential threats to Australian security.
Morrison leadership for what it is is reactionary never proactive leaving the kids at risk
We’re expecting advice from ATAGI as to whether the rollout should be extended to all 12 to 15-year-olds, as countries like the United States and Canada have done. But where does that leave children under 12? We know they’re making up a large proportion of new infections in Australia’s current outbreaks, which was not the case last year.
Has Morrison picked up the phone? 1200 turned back at Kabul airport.
Hope has turned to despair for hundreds due to a lack of coordination between Australian agencies and bureaucratic processes, sources say
The Delta variant is also thriving in younger populations and in epidemiological and evolutionary terms, opening up actually makes the virus stronger because it can mutate faster and become both more virulent and more deadly. We are in a weird political space where science is being sidelined in favour of ideology. We need to remember that the Spanish flu killed an estimated 50 million people. COVID-19 is just getting started. Morrison is banking on things being just alright enough to provide a moment of clear air and create a window for him to call and win a quick election before it all goes to shit again. Palmer and Kelly are there to help him do the Devil’s work. God help us all.
Source: Freedom protesters and Craig Kelly central to Morrison’s re-election plan
Christopher Pyne LNP MP (retired) is promoting Australia’s Arms industry
Florida Republican Michael Waltz made up to $25 million from the sale of Metis Solutions, a defense contractor with a spotty record training Afghan security forces. Lee Fang
Source: Mike Waltz Made Millions from Afghanistan Defense Contractor
Meanwhile, thousands languish in jails across America for the possession of weed which is legal in 18 states
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Monday to more than five months in prison for burning a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a church in Washington, D.C., and for carrying two high-capacity firearm magazines when he was arrested weeks later, the Department of Justice said. Tarrio pled guilty to one count of destruction of property and one count of attempted possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device in July. Tarrio said Monday that there was “no excuse” for his actions, adding that he made “a grave mistake” that day. “I’d like to profusely apologize,” he said, adding, “What I did was wrong.”
Source: Proud Boys leader sentenced to 5 months in prison on weapons and vandalism charges – CBS News
Any extension of the withdrawal deadline would mean the U.S. is “extending the occupation,” said a Taliban spokesperson.
Source: ‘The Answer Is No’: Taliban Reject Idea of US Extending Exit Deadline | Common Dreams News
Taft, a former booker for news shows, explains that it is like pulling teeth to get a climate scientist on television, even at the height of a disaster like the great northwest heat wave. One problem with having a handful of corporations give us our news is that those corporations invest in other corporations including Big Oil and Big Coal. There may well be financial reasons for which the bosses don’t want a big deal made out of the climate emergency. There is money to be made fighting wars in distant poor countries. Someone has to manufacture the bombs to drop on the people over there. There is no money to be made for corporations in not selling gasoline. Hence the radio silence we get from our television media on the biggest terror threat to the US in history, the climate emergency.
When politics is neither a duty or a service and reduced to simply a game of 4 years to set up winning at all costs then there is only 1 party to vote for ant that’s the opposition.
The Morrison Government is about to pull one of its best-ever scams. All of the Coalition’s many tricks take Australians to the cleaners, but this quiet little rort is aimed squarely at Australian democracy.
Source: Killing competition and a Federal ICAC, courtesy of the Coalition
Former Liberal MP Craig Kelly has joined Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party so he can access a war chest of funds to more widely share his controversial views over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: Craig Kelly joins Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party for ad spend
Morrison wants to “Open Up” like the UK
Nearly 5000 people who attended a music festival in Cornwall have tested positive for coronavirus. Health officials are investigating 4700 cases after the Boardmasters event, headlined by Foals and Gorillaz. The event, which ran in the Newquay area from August 11-15, was attended by about 76,000 people.
Source: Cornwall festival, headlined by Gorillaz, ends with 5000 coronavirus cases
The man in charge of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s office was running corporate affairs at Westpac’s BT when the superannuation giant was aggressively covering up a major scandal involving the gouging billions of dollars from its members.
Source: Frydenberg’s revolving door
Our PM is a past master at sheeting home mistakes to others. When have you heard him genuinely, I mean genuinely, accept responsibility, concede an error of judgement, appear eager to put the record straight? No, it’s always someone else’s fault. His verbal diarrhoea is legendary. As is his inability to utter a genuine full-throated ‘Sorry’. There’s always a ‘Morrison’ way of avoiding it.
Source: Toad of Toad Hall – » The Australian Independent Media Network
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