Author: peterimrich

Capitalism

During the pandemic, a new variant of capitalism has emerged | Larry Elliott | The Guardian

The building blocks of new-variant capitalism are already there. Governments are going to tax and spend more, and they will use regulatory powers to weaken monopolies. There will be selective use of nationalisation – as happened with UK defence manufacturer Sheffield Forgemasters this week. Another roaring 20s? We need to do better than that Dan Davies Read more Governments will borrow money to invest in infrastructure projects and to increase the budget for science. Industrial and regional policies will be back in vogue. The idea is to harness the power of the state with the dynamism of the private sector and, as was the case with Keynes, to save capitalism from itself.

Source: During the pandemic, a new variant of capitalism has emerged | Larry Elliott | The Guardian

Trump, Trumpland Revealed

In one-two punch to Donald Trump, Justice Deptartment approves release of taxes, memo

Donald Trump has long fought to keep his tax records from congressional investigators.

Washington: Former US president Donald Trump suffered twin setbacks on Friday, local time, when the Justice Department cleared the way to release his tax records and disclosed a memo showing he urged top officials last year to falsely claim his election defeat was “corrupt”. The department, reversing course from the stance it took when Trump was in office, paved the way for the Internal Revenue Service to hand over the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s tax records to congressional investigators – a move he has long fought.

Source: In one-two punch to Donald Trump, Justice Deptartment approves release of taxes, memo

News Corp

Mike Lindell says he’s pulling MyPillow ads from Fox News. Here’s what that means. | Media Matters for America

Tucker Carlson Mike Lindell

MyPillow is Fox News’ single largest advertiser, after other companies have dropped ads over the years due to the network’s bigotry and conspiracy theories. Media Matters President Angelo Carusone laid out the details, including that MyPillow accounted for 18% of all ads on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight in the first half of 2021. In 2020, there were periods when MyPillow accounted for 41% of that show’s ad inventory.

Source: Mike Lindell says he’s pulling MyPillow ads from Fox News. Here’s what that means. | Media Matters for America

America's Shame

From Arsenal of Democracy to Arsenal of Empire: Let’s Abandon Ruinous Foreign Wars for Actual Self-Defense

And then the Soviet Union collapsed — and nothing changed in the U.S. military’s global posture. Or, put differently, everything changed. For with the implosion of the USSR, what turned out to remain truly uncontained was our military, along with the dreams of neoconservatives who sought to remake the world in America’s image. But which image? That of a republic empowering its citizens in a participatory democracy or of an expansionist capitalist empire, driven by the ambition and greed of a set of oligarchs?

Source: From Arsenal of Democracy to Arsenal of Empire: Let’s Abandon Ruinous Foreign Wars for Actual Self-Defense

Informed Comment

Daniel Hale Is a Truth-Teller in a Time of Systemic Deceit

Daniel Hale is a man of tremendous conscience, courage, and moral clarity. It is an abomination that this brave whistleblower has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after being convicted of exposing the horrors of the U.S. drone assassination programs, the killing of civilians, and the Kafkaesque “terror” watchlisting system run by the government.

Source: Daniel Hale Is a Truth-Teller in a Time of Systemic Deceit

Cuba

U.S. announces Cuba sanctions as Biden meets with Cuban American leaders

Image: A man is arrested during a demonstration against the government of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana, on July 11, 2021.

The Biden administration imposed new sanctions against two top Cuban officials and the Cuban National Revolutionary Police for their role in the crackdown against anti-government protesters in Cuba.

Source: U.S. announces Cuba sanctions as Biden meets with Cuban American leaders

Israel

Israel kills child out shopping with his dad | The Electronic Intifada

A boy wearing a coat stands in the snow

An 11-year-old Palestinian child was killed by Israeli occupation forces as he rode in his father’s car on Wednesday. Israeli forces then fatally shot another Palestinian youth during the child’s funeral in the village of Beit Ummar on Thursday. On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers also killed the water engineer for the West Bank village of Beita. The child, Muhammad Muayyad Abu Sara, was running errands with his family near the entrance of Beit Ummar near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. The boy’s father, Muayyad Abu Sara, was in the car with Muhammad and his other children, Anan, 9, and Ahmad, 5, he told media. Six Israeli soldiers reportedly ordered him to stop and opened fire while the car was around 50 meters away. The soldiers fired at least 13 bullets at the vehicle, witnesses told Defense for Children International Palestine. A bullet struck the boy in the chest. He was taken to hospital for surgery, but died hours later. The father told media that as they were driving, Muhammad reminded him that they had forgotten to go to the grocery store. The father said he turned the car around and felt bullets “raining” on them. He told his children to lower their heads. His 5

Source: Israel kills child out shopping with his dad | The Electronic Intifada

News

Readers Didn’t Give Up on Local News. Corporations Did. | The Smirking Chimp

Mega-investor Warren Buffett once held a big portfolio of daily and weekly newspapers. He specialized in squeezing out competitors so each held a local monopoly. Then he’d chop staff and news content, letting him glean annual profit margins above 30 percent. Alas for poor Warren, along came the internet, allowing people to root around for free to find local information missing from his hollowed out papers. They began losing readers, advertisers, and profits. So in 2020, Buffett sold out his entire portfolio. But rather than concede that maybe his slash-and-burn, profit-maximization approach had produced inferior products, “The Oracle of Omaha” (as Wall Street had labeled him) blasted the whole idea of local newspapers as dinosaurs. They’re “toast,” he proclaimed.

Source: Readers Didn’t Give Up on Local News. Corporations Did. | The Smirking Chimp

NBN

Is the ACCC protecting telco consumers or fattening up NBNCo for sale? – Michael West

ACCC and NBCo

Abbott’s Legacy and embarrasment  being dumped

Is the ACCC helping the Government get the best price for the sale of NBNCo? The competition regulators are doing consumers no favours hindering investment in new telco infrastructure. Who is looking after the interests of telco consumers? asks former NBNCo CTO Gary McLaren.

Source: Is the ACCC protecting telco consumers or fattening up NBNCo for sale? – Michael West

News Corp, News Corp Press

News Corp walks a delicate line on COVID politics

Gladys Berejiklian and Alan Jones

Andrew Bolt threads his way through this maze by attacking politicians who he says have “smeared” the people who took part in the anti-lockdown marches on July 25. At the same time he remains uncharacteristically agnostic on whether lockdowns are right. Last year Bolt was calling lockdowns an over-reaction. It evidently makes a difference when it is your side of politics doing the locking down. As Australia enters a pre-election phase, it matters what the Murdoch media do. Its newspapers represent about two-thirds of the nation’s metropolitan daily circulation, with monopolies in Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart. In August, Sky News will re-enter free-to-air television via several Southern Cross Austereo regional channels, which it claims will give it an audience of seven million. What the Telegraph does is particularly important because it is Murdoch’s main populist political attack dog in Australia. It circulates widely in western Sydney, where there are several ma

Source: News Corp walks a delicate line on COVID politics

Truth in Humor

Gladys, Climate Change And Why Some Days Everything Is So Obvious… – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Like I said, it’s obvious really. I once said that when I first bought a home, I one day hoped to live in a million dollar property. Little did I realise that it would happen without me moving. I also imagined that it would be a beachfront property. Given the way climate change action is happening, that might also happen without me moving, too

Source: Gladys, Climate Change And Why Some Days Everything Is So Obvious… – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Scott Morrison

Australia COVID: The vaccinated to avoid lockdown restrictions once 70% target hit

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media following Friday’s national cabinet meeting.

Brushing his failed promises behind more promises in the meantime Australia and currently Sydney his pride and model of what was best practce is burning in his wake of  ” new I’m gunna Australia promises ”

Vaccinated Australians will get special rules to avoid some lockdown restrictions once 70 per cent of the eligible adult population have had two vaccine doses, and international border rules will be loosened to allow more people to come home. Once the national vaccination total hits 80 per cent, broad lockdowns will not be used in major cities, caps on returning Australians will be abolished and all restrictions on vaccinated travellers leaving the country will be removed.

Source: Australia COVID: The vaccinated to avoid lockdown restrictions once 70% target hit

Conspiracy

The contagion of conspiracy theories – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The world is awash with conspiracies, ranging from the downright weird – QAnon comes to mind – to subtle, reasonably sounding counter arguments mounted by so called libertarians. The main enabler of both brands is – you guessed it – the hydra headed global entity known as News Corp. At the QAnon end of the spectrum is Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Jeanine Pirro and others on the Fox News network in the USA. In Australia it is Paul Murray, Chris Kenny, Alan Jones et al, on Sky After Dark. Some Fox News lunacy All of the above are highly paid entertainers masquerading as journalists. It’s pointless enumerating their collective idiocy other than stating the obvious danger of their prognostications. Craig Kelly spruiking Hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 on Sky After Dark, is a prime example. Let’s hope NSW Police knock on Kelly’s door and serve him with a warrant under the current NSW Health regulations. Sadly, this will never happen.

Source: The contagion of conspiracy theories – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Fe Fi Fo Fum Morrison’s promises, Murdoch extended regional spin, dumping the NBN, rorts a plenty are coming an election is coming. But is Morrison going?

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 31/7/21; Liar Olympics; Daniel Hale vs The State; Morrison brushes failed promises behind new promises while Sydney burns; News Corp preparing spin for the election;

America's Shame

Jim Jordan Feigns Amnesia When Asked To Clarify Jan 6 Trump Conversation | Crooks and Liars

Jim Jordan Feigns Amnesia When Asked To Clarify Jan 6 Trump Conversation

“On January 6, did you speak before during or after the Capitol was attacked?” the reporter probed. Jordan looked up in the air making believe he had a think about it. “Ahhh, I’d have to go…IIiiiiii I spoke with him that day after. I think after,” his voice raised almost an octave higher. “I don’t know if I spoke to him in the morning or not? I just don’t know. Have to go back, I mean, I don’t don’t don’t–” he stammered.

Source: Jim Jordan Feigns Amnesia When Asked To Clarify Jan 6 Trump Conversation | Crooks and Liars

Informed Comment

Covid is facing a resurgence in the US, and so is Trumpian politics | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Trump continues to stage rallies for his avid followers as he did last weekend in Phoenix, where he declared, “Our nation is up against the most sinister forces … This nation does not belong to them, this nation belongs to you.” Wrong. America belongs to all of us. And we all have a responsibility to protect its public health and its democratic institutions. The real sinister force is the Trump Republicans’ cynical exploitation of lies and anti-scientific rubbish to divide and divert us. Months ago, it seemed as if this darkness was behind us. It is not.

Source: Covid is facing a resurgence in the US, and so is Trumpian politics | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Israel

Pfizer vaccine: Israel to offer third COVID-19 booster shot to older citizens

An Israeli paramedic prepares to administer a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Jerusalem: Israel’s Prime Minister has announced that the country would offer a coronavirus booster to people over 60 who have already been vaccinated. The announcement by Naftali Bennett makes Israel the first country to offer a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to its citizens on a wide scale.

Source: Pfizer vaccine: Israel to offer third COVID-19 booster shot to older citizens

Mental Health

Can psilocybin and MDMA treat mental health problems?

Psilocybin is the “active” ingredient in “magic” mushrooms.

In the meantime, parts of the US are embracing psychedelics. In 2019, the city of Denver decriminalised magic mushrooms, or psilocybin, after a referendum. In 2020, Oregon became the first US state to vote to legalise psilocybin for therapeutic use. Garcia-Romeu is wary about people believing that psychedelics might offer a “magic pill that will solve all their problems. “I always say, ‘This is not going to pay your bills, it’s not going to wash your dishes, or fix your relationship with your estranged family members.’ “You don’t just take a pill, and all of a sudden you’re in fantastic shape.”

Source: Can psilocybin and MDMA treat mental health problems?

Scott Morrison

Hello, national security? It’s QAnon here. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

However, if you are claiming this particular ABC Four Corners episode was about you; fine, let’s make it about you then. After all, “The Prime Minister takes the lead role in Australian Government counter-terrorism policy coordination.[7]” Mr Morrison, the Australian people deserve an answer to this important question: how did your counter-terrorism policy coordination allow a conspiratorial quasi-political evangelical movement, that almost succeeded in a coup d’etat upon the world’s largest democracy, to infiltrate our home turf of Kirribilli House?

Source: Hello, national security? It’s QAnon here. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Melbourne

Should the University of Melbourne host the Menzies Institute? The answer hinges on academic freedom

Why should this conservative think tank be given pride of place in a world-reputed university? It’s been given pride of place voice on Sky News After Dark, and linked to the IPA has Melbourne University now become an extension of these organizations with $7mill boost from the LNP? Who said cabals don’t exist in Australia? Of course, they do. Once in the 60s and 70s there were only conservative individuals, academics like  Prof Knofflmacher who debated left-wing ones like Geoff Sharp, now there are organizations being given pride of place. Would the CPA ever be given the same largesse on campus? There is nothing intellectual here but just another step in the political culture war and another step in the policing of thought on a world-leading campus.

The institute is a partnership between the university and the Menzies Research Centre, a self-described “think-tank that champions Liberal principles” that “is affiliated with the Liberal Party of Australia”. The institute’s board includes: Sky News commentator Peta Credlin, a former chief of staff to PM Tony Abbott; Geoffrey Hone, chair of the right-wing think-tank, the Institute of Public Affairs; and David Kemp, a former Howard government cabinet minister. A former chair of Qantas and a University of Melbourne pro vice-chancellor and dean also sit on the board.

Some students and academics. They question the appropriateness of the university hosting a platform, set up with A$7 million in federal government funding, that lauds Menzies’ achievements but overlooks negative aspects of his legacy.

 

Source: Should the University of Melbourne host the Menzies Institute? The answer hinges on academic freedom

Informed Comment

Melbourne University’s Robert Menzies Institute Is a Right-Wing Con

After starving universities of funding, Australian conservatives now want to set up an institute dedicated to right-wing leader Robert Menzies. Its only purpose will be to shift public debate to the right and provide Liberal hacks with subsidized employment.

Source: Melbourne University’s Robert Menzies Institute Is a Right-Wing Con

LNP, LNP Government

Australia COVID: AstraZeneca vaccine creator says Australian lives at risk over mixed messaging

Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert says public health messaging needs to be clear.

“But I think the problem is the messaging around the vaccination, because if you’re telling people at some stage, ‘oh you shouldn’t have this vaccine, it’s probably not the best thing for you’ and then you want to change that message and say ‘oh, no we’ve changed our mind, it is good’, I think that makes it difficult for people who are considering whether to get vaccinated and when to get vaccinated. “Public health messaging needs to be really clear and when it changes, it can be difficult for people to deal with and have effects that were not intended and that may be what’s happened in Australia.

Source: Australia COVID: AstraZeneca vaccine creator says Australian lives at risk over mixed messaging

Australia

Covid Australia vaccine rollout tracker: total number of people and per cent vaccinated, daily vaccine doses and rate of progress | Australia news | The Guardian
Covid-19 in Australia

Active cases *

increasing
decreasing
NSW 2562 QLD 42 WA 16
VIC 205 NT 7 SA 25
TAS 0 ACT 0

Vaccinations

14.1% fully vaccinated
17.8% only one dose
37/38 ranked in OECD

How does Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout and schedule compare with other countries, when will Australia be fully vaccinated and when will you be eligible to get your dose? We bring together the latest numbers on daily new Covid-19 cases, as well as stats and live data on total vaccination figures in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and other states Follow our Covid live blog for the latest updates Restrictions: NSW; Vic; Qld; SA; border restrictions Hotspots: NSW map; Vic list; Qld; SA Get our free news app; try our weekend edition app; get our morning email briefing

Source: Covid Australia vaccine rollout tracker: total number of people and per cent vaccinated, daily vaccine doses and rate of progress | Australia news | The Guardian

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News, Uncategorized

Old Dog Thought- Individuals once freely debated on Melb Uni campus Frank Knopfelmacher vs Geoff Sharp today it’s organized Culture War with the Menzies Institute given LNP funded $7m pride of place



Fighting Fake News with REAL 30/7/21; Australia Systemically Structured Not To Serve Us; NSW, Billionaires and Climate Change; The Cost of Power Ashbygate;

Murdoch Media

Sociopathic Tucker Ridicules Testimony By Capitol Hill Hero | Crooks and Liars

Sociopathic Tucker Ridicules Testimony By Capitol Hill Hero

I don’t know how many different ways I can say it: TV dinner heir Tucker McNear Swanson Carlson is a deeply damaged person, and he takes it out on anyone who doesn’t validate the bubble he lives in.

Source: Sociopathic Tucker Ridicules Testimony By Capitol Hill Hero | Crooks and Liars

Jan 6th

The First Hearing of the Jan. 6 Committee Completely Demolished Key Myths about the Capitol Attack | The Smirking Chimp

Asked what questions he felt the January 6 committee should investigate, Officer Fanone urged the committee to investigate whether there was any coordination between members of the Congress, their staff and the insurgents. Officer Dunn used a powerful analogy to describe what he wants—that of a hitman. If a hitman kills someone, he goes to prison, Dunn said. So too must the person who hired the hitman. “It was an attack carried out on January 6, and a hitman sent them,” Dunn said. “I want you to get to the bottom of that.” You couldn’t ask for a clearer mandate.

Source: The First Hearing of the Jan. 6 Committee Completely Demolished Key Myths about the Capitol Attack | The Smirking Chimp

Murdoch Media

Fox News manufactures dissent over officers’ searing select committee testimony | Media Matters for America

Capitol Police Fox News

When Fox News turned to Bret Baier for comment shortly after the conclusion of Tuesday’s hearing of the House select committee investigating the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump rioters, the network’s chief political anchor was adamant that it would be impossible for anyone to downplay the devastating testimony heard that day. Over the previous several hours, four police officers had described in searing detail how they had risked their lives defending Congress from a violent, bigoted throng that sought to halt the counting of electoral votes formalizing President Joe Biden’s election. “If you were watching, you saw compelling, at times damning, emotional testimony from these four officers who fought the line to try to protect the Capitol and the lawmakers inside,” Baier said. Highlighting the officers’ descriptions of how they “fought to hold on to their lives,” he added that while Republicans are trying to argue that the investigation is politically motivated, “you can’t watch the testimony and say that’s not a big deal.”

Source: Fox News manufactures dissent over officers’ searing select committee testimony | Media Matters for America

Informed Comment

Why Aren’t Biden and the Democrats Going All Out for Democracy? | The Smirking Chimp

You’d think President Biden and the Democratic Party leadership would do everything in their power to stop Republicans from undermining democracy. So far this year, the GOP has passed roughly 30 laws in states across the country that will make voting harder, especially in Black and Latino communities. With Trump’s baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen, Republicans are stoking white people’s fears that a growing non-white population will usurp their dominance.

Source: Why Aren’t Biden and the Democrats Going All Out for Democracy? | The Smirking Chimp

Israel

Half of Palestinians Killed by Israeli Air Strikes on Gaza in May were Civilians and other War Crimes: HRW

Human Rights Watch conducted a detailed study of military actions by Israel and the Hamas party-militia in Gaza and concluded that both committed war crimes during the Israeli assault on the Palestinian enclave this spring, but that deaths of Palestinians at Israeli hands were 21 times higher than Israeli deaths.Three of the Israeli airstrikes killed 62 Palestinians without any discernible military target in the area, wiping out entire families. HRW concludes that the seriousness of the war crimes justifies referral to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, a step Israel and the United States have resisted. The ICC nevertheless has determined that it has jurisdiction in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Source: Half of Palestinians Killed by Israeli Air Strikes on Gaza in May were Civilians and other War Crimes: HRW

Planet Earth

Planet’s Vital Signs Are Reaching Dangerous ‘Tipping Points’ Amid Climate Crisis, Scientists Warn | Common Dreams News

Climate reaching tipping points.

“We need to stop treating the climate emergency as a stand-alone issue—global heating is not the sole symptom of our stressed Earth system.”

Source: Planet’s Vital Signs Are Reaching Dangerous ‘Tipping Points’ Amid Climate Crisis, Scientists Warn | Common Dreams News

Climate Change

More livestock, more carbon dioxide, less ice: the world’s climate change progress since 2019 is (mostly) bad news

Back in 2019, more than 11,000 scientists declared a global climate emergency. They established a comprehensive set of vital signs that impact or reflect the planet’s health, such as forest loss, fossil fuel subsidies, glacier thickness, ocean acidity and surface temperature. In a new paper published today, we show how these vital signs have changed since the original publication, including through the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, while we’ve seen lots of positive talk and commitments from some governments, our vital signs are mostly not trending in the right direction.

Source: More livestock, more carbon dioxide, less ice: the world’s climate change progress since 2019 is (mostly) bad news

Australia's Shame

Closing the Gap: Indigenous suicide and incarceration rates rising

Just three of the 17 new Closing the Gap targets are on track to be met.

Indigenous people are still far more likely to be jailed, die by suicide and have their children removed than non-Indigenous people a year after the new Closing the Gap agreement was signed, according to the Productivity Commission.

Source: Closing the Gap: Indigenous suicide and incarceration rates rising

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy

Public policy failure of Coalition’s vaccine rollout

Far worse than the ALP’s Pink Bats and how many has this government let die

Is the Morrison Government’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout program one of Australia’s biggest ever public policy failures?

Source: Public policy failure of Coalition’s vaccine rollout

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- A whole Nation Vaccinated in a week

Bhutan has surged to the top of the vaccination tables.

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 29/7/21; Humour, Ikea,Pfizer; Trump;

American Politics

Right-wing commentators insult police officers who testified at January 6 committee hearing | Media Matters for America

image — January 6 committee — officers testifying

But a significant portion of right-wing media personalities responded by attacking the officers for their testimonies and insulting them on personal levels. For example, after Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn described how a crowd of rioters had yelled racial insults against him — something that Dunn, who is Black, said he had never experienced before while in uniform — The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis tweeted Tuesday afternoon that Dunn had made his claim “without evidence.” Just to be clear, Dunn was describing an event that occurred directly to him on January 6 — but Davis instead questioned whether “left-wing politics might have influenced his claims today.”

Source: Right-wing commentators insult police officers who testified at January 6 committee hearing | Media Matters for America

Climate Change

US, European and UK diplomats meet to encourage Australia to ramp up climate action | Australian politics | The Guardian

Coal fired power station at sunset

Proof that Australia is the world’s laggard on Climate Change.

Exclusive: Diplomats have had multiple meetings in Canberra to discuss ways to engage with Australia on setting stronger climate targets

Source: US, European and UK diplomats meet to encourage Australia to ramp up climate action | Australian politics | The Guardian

Israel

State of Surveillance: if Pegasus can hack Jeff Bezos’ phone, is there anywhere to hide? – Michael West

Pegasus, surveillance capitalism, NSO Group

Israeli firm NSO Group has created spyware which can hack a smartphone, beat encryption and access every bit of our data, live-time, just like reading over somebody’s shoulder. Human rights activist and cyber-security expert Manal al Sharif examines the implications. This is the first exclusive in Manal’s Tech4Evil series of investigations which expose the threat of Big Tech on our minds, our humanity and democracy itself.

Source: State of Surveillance: if Pegasus can hack Jeff Bezos’ phone, is there anywhere to hide? – Michael West

Surveiellance

How to Defend Yourself Against NSO Spyware Like Pegasus

Even iPhones were vulnerable to the surveillance software, which appears to have been used against activists, journalists, and others.

Source: How to Defend Yourself Against NSO Spyware Like Pegasus

Climate Change

Extreme heat waves in a warming world don’t just break records – they shatter them

Summer isn’t even half over, and we’ve seen heat waves in the Pacific Northwest and Canada with temperatures that would be hot for Death Valley, enormous fires that have sent smoke across North America, and lethal floods of biblical proportions in Germany and China. Scientists have warned for over 50 years about increases in extreme events arising from subtle changes in average climate, but many people have been shocked by the ferocity of recent weather disasters.

Source: Extreme heat waves in a warming world don’t just break records – they shatter them

China

I wouldn’t sign a China trade deal now: Tony Abbott

Former Australian PM Tony Abbott, now a trade representative for the British government, speaking at UK think tank Policy Exchange.

The lie continues. Abbott didn’t set up a “Trade Deal” with China  the ALP did well before Abbott came along, stole it. Our relationship with China today would be significantly better than it currently is under the LNP. Mind you, Tony Abbott was a role model and precursor for Trump teaching him how to run a democracy into the ground with a nope nope nope strategy and which the GOP still employ today. Abbott however, was a backroom Liberal Party puppet whereas Trump stole the Republican Party and leads it today.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has told a British audience that there is no way he would sign a trade deal with China today.

Source: I wouldn’t sign a China trade deal now: Tony Abbott

Protest

Protesters’ cries for freedom ring hollow for dying woman

Adriana Midori Takara, 38, died after contracting the coronavirus.

Adriana Midori Takara was just 38 when she died from COVID-19 this week. She was only a year older than I am and had no underlying health conditions. Her first COVID test was negative and then a few days later, when she was tested again, it was positive. Ten days later, she was dead.

Source: Protesters’ cries for freedom ring hollow for dying woman

Protest

Sydney lockdown protests condemned

Politicians, academics and celebrities have voiced their frustration over lockdown protests which could make the situation even worse, writes Dr Binoy Kampmark. PANIC AND FURY. A sense that things have gotten away. This was the feeling on Sunday morning, 25 July, with the vision of COVID Zero vanishing in a country that had boasted of suppressing the virus and its disease.

Source: Sydney lockdown protests condemned

Truth in Humor

“This Won’t Be A Sympathetic Interview, Mr Morrison!” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Sig O’Phant: Good evening, tonight we’re bringing you an interview with the Prime Minister. Good evening, Mr Morrison.

Source: “This Won’t Be A Sympathetic Interview, Mr Morrison!” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Abbott is such a liar elected 2013 signed the ALP’s China Trade Agreement in 2014 and claims ” It’s Mine” Then proceeded to screw the relationship up from the get go.
Former Australian PM Tony Abbott, now a trade representative for the British government, speaking at UK think tank Policy Exchange.

Fighting Fake News with REAL,28/7/21; Tony Abbott; 38 at dead; Israel never prosecuted; KKK;

Trump

GOP brawls over Trump on eve of first Jan. 6 hearing | TheHill

Liz Cheney speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday

Trump’s critics in both parties are ignoring the distractions, saying the Jan. 6 attack was a threat to the nation’s underlying democratic traditions — and one that deserves a thorough examination. “It’s going to be … a really important opportunity to remind everybody about the necessity of accountability for what happened, [and] for making sure that it never happens again,” Cheney said.

Source: GOP brawls over Trump on eve of first Jan. 6 hearing | TheHill

American War

Colombian Mercenaries and the Assassination of Haiti’s Jovenel Moïse

Two men, accused of being involved in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, are being transported to the Petionville station in a police car in Port au Prince on July 8, 2021. - Police in Haiti have surrounded a group of possible suspects in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the UN envoy to Haiti said. Helen La Lime said from the Haitian capital that four members of a group that attacked the presidential palace Wednesday and shot the president have been killed by police and six others are in custody. (Photo by Valerie Baeriswyl / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE BAERISWYL/AFP via Getty Images)

“We’re pumping all this money into Plan Colombia, and meanwhile, we’re hemorrhaging soldiers who go and turn mercenary so they make lots more money in Iraq.”

Source: Colombian Mercenaries and the Assassination of Haiti’s Jovenel Moïse

Forbes Billionaires List

Where there’s a bill there’s a way: Rex Patrick’s dogged fight against Coalition to repeal billionaires’ loophole – Michael West

Secret Rich List, 1995 exemption, grandfathered billionaires

It’s been quite the innings for some of Australia’s wealthiest billionaires. Certain large proprietary companies owned by the establishment – Secret Rich-Listers as we call them – have been cloaked in darkness by government legislation for more than a quarter of a century. Luke Stacey reports how South Australian Senator Rex Patrick is fighting to buck the trend and demolish Australia’s Secret Rich List once and for all.

Source: Where there’s a bill there’s a way: Rex Patrick’s dogged fight against Coalition to repeal billionaires’ loophole – Michael West

Election

Michael Pascoe: Beware the promises in next election budget

Given current polling and the vaccination schmozzle, the odds are favouring the government hanging on to the benefits of incumbency as long as possible, hoping the vaccine bungles will fade, the shots work, peace breaks out over our internal borders, and the promises of opening up start to look more credible. That would mean a repeat of the 2019 timetable – an April budget ahead of a May election. Given the government’s denial, dissembling and deflection over blatant and systemic corruption last time, fasten your seat belts for even more rorting of the public purse for political purposes.

Source: Michael Pascoe: Beware the promises in next election budget

Informed Comment

GG Picking his Spots Oblivious to the Crisis in His Own Backyard – These Common Threads of Office – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The GG Buffoon is a do-nothing Liberal backer and military general hand-picked by the Prime Minister, and unlike a predecessor 46 years ago who turned on Gough Whitlam for far, far less – then, there was no crisis in the population, no monoliths of government corruption, no gross government incompetence, and no threat to the people they governed, but a progressive and popular Labor government. Today we have all these serious constitutional transgressions and existential threats and this GG buffoon sits on his arse installing more corrupt politicians like cowboy beetroot water-rort Barnaby Joyce and sports-rort lying cowgirl Bridget McKenzie.

Source: GG Picking his Spots Oblivious to the Crisis in His Own Backyard – These Common Threads of Office – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Oil & Gas

Gas Myths: Australians pay 7th highest prices in world despite being biggest gas exporter – Michael West

Australia is the biggest exporter of gas, bar none, in the world, yet we are paying the seventh-highest prices for gas in the world. Callum Foote reports on the gas cartel and the myth there is a gas “market”.

Source: Gas Myths: Australians pay 7th highest prices in world despite being biggest gas exporter – Michael West