Author: peterimrich

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Concerns about NBN overuse highlight Coalition Government’s failings

Many long-term issues plaguing the NBN could’ve been avoided if it was an all-fibre network, writes Paul Budde. RECENTLY, IT was reported that a new Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Commissioner, Anna Brakey, said: We’ve got an opportunity to have a look at the regulatory framework and to make sure, that we efficiently use the NBN. If we set prices too low, there would be overuse of the NBN. And as a result, that would require more investment that just would not be efficient. It would not be valued by people because we priced it too low in the first place. But if we set the price too high, there will be underuse of the asset and potentially bypass. So, without a doubt, I think, getting the NBN regulatory framework, giving that attention and coming up with a new [special access undertaking] or revised SAU, is by far my biggest priority for this year. It’s astonishing to hear from the ACCC that they think that the “NBN could be overused” and that “customers would not value it anymore”. The ACCC is mandated to act on behalf of the consumers, not the NBN company. The fact that she is in favour of protecting the NBN in the knowledge o

Source: Concerns about NBN overuse highlight Coalition Government’s failings

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Uncategorized

Beware of what it is you want
May be an image of text that says 'Compare the pair Childbirth bill United States of America Australia Medicare $0 Total Free OP Room OB SEMI-PVT Labor Recovery Anesthesia Drugs Pharmacy ⅣV Solutions Immunology Chemistry Laboratory Hematology Supply Sterile Supply $20,939 $13,443 $4,063 $3,443 $40,184 $5,841 $4,751 $973 $754 $3,129 $704 $3,088 $1,126 $631 Total $103,075'

AuthorAustralian Labor Party This is what Australia’s Health Minister genuinely believes – https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/hunt-healthcare-us

New Health Minister Used Maiden Speech To Call For US-Style Healthcare

BUZZFEED.COMNew Health Minister Used Maiden Speech To Call For US-Style HealthcareNew Health Minister Used Maiden Speech To Call For US-Style Healthcare

Australian Labor Party

1t5ShpconSssmoried  · Is this what Greg Hunt meant when he said he thinks Australia should move to a US-style healthcare system? Scott Morrison and the Liberals are not on your side.

LNP, LNP Government

Morrison’s vaccine rollout fail: Mates versus the states

Unlike other vaccine rollouts, the Morrison Government’s COVID vaccine rollout hasn’t been distributed by the states, but by Liberal-aligned private companies. Andrew P Street follows the money.

Source: Morrison’s vaccine rollout fail: Mates versus the states

LNP, LNP Government

The Coalition’s absurd and undemocratic war against the ABC

Another Senate Estimates session brings another culture war attack on the ABC. This time it is the revelation that Government senators are apparently monitoring the Twitter feeds of prominent ABC journalists to see what they “like” and using this information to accuse them of… oh, who knows what, this time?! It’s becoming both tedious and absurd.

Source: The Coalition’s absurd and undemocratic war against the ABC

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought: Morrison steal an FBI sting to boost himself and grab more police power
Image

Fighting Fake News with REAL 9/6/21; Murdoch Media an arm of government; Australian History; Fascism: Morrison and Dutton move treats us like mushrooms

Informed Comment

The Beginning of the End of Democracy as We Know it? | The Smirking Chimp

So without Manchin, is the For the People Act dead? Probably, unless Biden can convince one Republican senator to join him in supporting it. Would Mitt Romney or Lisa Murkowski or Susan Collins be willing to do so and buck the voter-suppressing, Trump-dominated GOP? Or will history record that Republican senators were more united in their opposition to democracy than Democratic senators are in their support for it? The optimist in me says Romney will do it because he’s an institutionalist who’s appalled the authoritarianism that Trump has unleashed in the GOP. The cynical realist in me says no way.

Source: The Beginning of the End of Democracy as We Know it? | The Smirking Chimp

Media

All three major cable news networks largely ignored a police raid at one of the world’s oldest and most politically significant mosques | Media Matters for America

MSNBC CNN Fox News on Al-Aqsa mosque

Western Media’s Ethnocentric focus boosts Israel

The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem was raided last month by Israeli security forces following weeks of simmering tensions between the police, right-wing Israelis, and Palestinian protesters. Despite the timing of the raid — during the holy month of Ramadan — and the significance of the mosque in Islam, U.S. cable news largely ignored the incident in the days following the raid, mentioning it only 12 times in weekday coverage from May 10-14.

Source: All three major cable news networks largely ignored a police raid at one of the world’s oldest and most politically significant mosques | Media Matters for America

Israel

Capitol Insurrection in Jerusalem? Netanyahu Calls New Government a “Fraud,” calls for Massive Squatter Protests

The Jerusalem Post reports that Avigdor Lieberman of the “Israel Our Home Party,” who is part of the “Change” coalition, asserted last week that he anticipates that what “everyone saw happen in the Capitol in Washington to happen” in Jerusalem.

Source: Capitol Insurrection in Jerusalem? Netanyahu Calls New Government a “Fraud,” calls for Massive Squatter Protests

CO2, CO2 Emmissions

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Hits Highest Level in Over 4 Million Years | Common Dreams News

CO2 emissions

“The solution is right before our eyes. Solar energy and wind are already cheaper than fossil fuels and they work at the scales that are required. If we take real action soon, we might still be able to avoid catastrophic climate change

Source: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Hits Highest Level in Over 4 Million Years | Common Dreams News

LNP, LNP Government

ABC News economics department shows incompetence with false information

The ABC’s economics reporting is becoming as bad as in Rupert Murdoch’s tawdry tabloids and Fairfax/Nine pro-Coalition pamphlets. Alan Austin reports.

Source: ABC News economics department shows incompetence with false information

Informed Comment

A disaster is headed our way if we remain so ambivalent about our vote – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day This Government’s performance over its time in office has been like a daily shower of offensiveness raining down on society. Surely performance or lack of it must mean something.

Source: A disaster is headed our way if we remain so ambivalent about our vote – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia

WA’s first governor James Stirling had links to slavery, as well as directing a massacre. Should he be honoured?

Today, councillors in Perth’s City of Stirling will vote to decide whether to change their city’s name. This follows a residents’ motion arguing a new name would better “reflect the long standing and relevant history of this land in such a way that is inclusive and in recognition of the Nyoongar community”. This is not about erasing history, said Whadjuk Noongar Elder Len Collard. It is about extending history, “so that all experiences are reflected”.

Source: WA’s first governor James Stirling had links to slavery, as well as directing a massacre. Should he be honoured?

Australia

Entry Into Australia Is Only for the Rich

Australia stood absolutely alone among democratic nations with its ban on citizens returning from India. It is notable, too, that at the time of Australia’s ban, India had fewer COVID-19 cases per capita than either the United States or UK at their peaks — countries against which travel bans were never implemented. Prime Minister Scott Morrison for his part rebuffed accusations that the policy, which was lifted in mid-May following the backlash, was racist, claiming that “it’s got nothing to do with politics, this is a virus” and that “there’s no politics or ideology in a pandemic.” Amid all this, Australian elites like Nicole Kidman and Lachlan Murdoch, as well noncitizens like Natalie Portman and Viggo Mortensen, have reentered the country at whim, bypassing quarantine altogether. This at a time when tens of thousands of Australians remain stranded abroad due to strict quotas on reentry, which have in turn produced a hyperinflated market for the scarce commodity of airfare, with tickets prices often soaring into five-digit figures.

Source: Entry Into Australia Is Only for the Rich

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Is Portsea home address of Melbournes 2nd highest income group or biggest capital gains tax avoiders?

Fighting Fake News with REAL, 8/6/21; Porter and the Politician’s spin. Reality the ABC was defending itself and Porter capitulated. Defamation defense is ridiculously EXPENSIVE for the innocent; Top 1%; Coal Logic; NDIS;

Informed Comment

U.S. democracy at risk as Republicans condone Capitol riot

As Republicans refuse to investigate the Capitol attack and continue to embrace Trump, America remains at high risk of further political violence, writes George Grundy. THIS TIME there’s no doubt as to the protagonists. Donald Trump and senior members of his family and Administration fomented a violent attack on the United States Capitol, on the day the 2020 election results were due to be certified by the United States Congress.

Source: U.S. democracy at risk as Republicans condone Capitol riot

Democracy

Republican State Legislatures Are Winning Their War On American Democracy | HuffPost

A Virtually Unprecedented Effort’ To Suppress The Vote Republican legislatures in 14 states have already passed 23 laws that placed new restrictions on voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Another 60 restrictive bills are moving through legislatures in 18 states, according to the Brennan Center’s legislative tracker. At the current pace, the U.S. will have more new voter suppression laws than in any year since 2011, when a rash of new voter ID provisions went onto the books.

Source: Republican State Legislatures Are Winning Their War On American Democracy | HuffPost

Asylum

Denmark Offshores the Right to Asylum – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Lurking, as it always does in these situations, is the Australian example. The right to asylum is vanishing before the efforts of bureaucrats and border closing populists. The UN Refugee Convention, like other documents speaking to freedoms and rights, is becoming a doomed relic.

Source: Denmark Offshores the Right to Asylum – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Israel

Israel, ‘Only Mideast Democracy,’ Criminalizes Journalism, arrests Al Jazeera Reporter for Covering E. Jerusalem; What is being Covered Up?

The Israeli police took another step toward criminalizing journalism on Saturday when they arrested al-Jazeera Arabic correspondent Givara al-Budeiri while she was covering a demonstration in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem marking the anniversary of the Naksa, the Setback. That term is how Palestinians refer to the 1967 Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories. She was clearly wearing a vest marked “Press” when Israeli police assaulted her, shoved her against a wall, kicked her, packed her into a squad car and kicked her some more, then jailed her for seven hours. She complained of pain in her right side.

Source: Israel, ‘Only Mideast Democracy,’ Criminalizes Journalism, arrests Al Jazeera Reporter for Covering E. Jerusalem; What is being Covered Up?

Israel

Israel’s Detention of Journalist, Palestinian Activists in Sheikh Jarrah Draws Global Condemnation | Common Dreams News

Sheikh Jarrah

“Israel is on a rampage in Sheikh Jarrah, detaining journalists and prominent Palestinians… all because they won’t shut up about being ethnically cleansed from their homes.”

Source: Israel’s Detention of Journalist, Palestinian Activists in Sheikh Jarrah Draws Global Condemnation | Common Dreams News

Corporate control

New finding: in 49 Australian industries the major firms are owned by common investors

In more than a fifth of Australia’s industries, the two biggest firms control at least half the market. Think of telecommunications, supermarkets, department stores, packaging, airlines, hardware, service stations, cinema chains and commercial television. In industries like these there’s a temptation to share the spoils — not to compete too hard on price or service. How much stronger would that temptation be if both dominant firms in each industry were owned by the same shareholder or set of shareholders? Support non-profit journalism you can trust. Neither firm might want to put the other out of business. There’s evidence to suggest this has indeed been the case in the United States where increases in common ownership have been linked to higher airline fares, more expensive pharmaceuticals, and higher bank fees. It’s enough to make you wonder whether there’s common ownership in Australia.

Source: New finding: in 49 Australian industries the major firms are owned by common investors

WAR

Of Plagues and Rodents: Australia’s War Against Mice – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Bait poisonings of household pets and working animals have also been recorded. Peter Best, a veterinarian based in South Tamworth, estimated that one in 15 admissions to his practice had involved poisoned animals. Such facts could only make another researcher at the CSIRO sigh. “If it’s used properly,” observed Steve Henry, “it should be a very, very low risk that a bird should find one of those grains of zinc phosphide and eat it.” The bait was sound. The same could not be said for those using it. “Why birds start falling out of the sky is [that] people do inappropriate things.” Such people used the bait in ways “not described on the label, or people make up their own baits.” When asked about her attitude to the problem, Healthy Rivers Dubbo convenor Melissa Gray suggested, with no detectable irony, that everybody wanted “the mouse plague gone, but there’s no silver bullet.” No silver bullets, maybe, but virtually everything else in the armoury of extermination. For the president of the NSW Farmers Association, the mayhem caused by such a poison as bromadiolone was worth the effort. Showing the somewhat patchy wisdom of his forebears, he accepted the lethal calculus. “It will ca

Source: Of Plagues and Rodents: Australia’s War Against Mice – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Uncategorized

Support falls for PM Scott Morrison as Coalition regains lost ground

Popular support for Prime Minister Scott Morrison has fallen sharply amid Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdown, the poor vaccine rollout and disputes about quarantine facilities. But the latest Newspoll, which was released on Sunday night in The Australian newspaper, shows the two major parties locked 50-50 on a two-party-preferred basis despite the primary vote of both parties remaining the same. Conducted with 1506 voters between June 2 and June 5, the poll found the Coalition’s primary vote of 41 per cent remains unchanged since April and on par with its May 2019 election victory. Labor’s primary vote of 36 is also unchanged from the last poll, but close to three points better than its election performance.

Source: Support falls for PM Scott Morrison as Coalition regains lost ground

LNP, LNP Government

Propaganda Machine: Deloitte skews fact on economy, media laps it up – Michael West

Deloitte's dodgy data

Deloitte Access Economics’ claims about Australia’s economic recovery were repeated verbatim by media outlets, although many were based on cherry-picked data and mixed verified GDP figures with unverified data in a classic apples with oranges comparison. Alan Austin takes a closer look.

Source: Propaganda Machine: Deloitte skews fact on economy, media laps it up – Michael West

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Incorrect ‘facts’ now emanate from Scott Morrison’s federal departments

In his address to the Australian Business Economists on Tuesday 18 May, Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy said (page 1): “Australia’s economic recovery from the pandemic has been… ahead of any major advanced economy as at the end of 2020.” In fact, Australia is badly lagging many advanced nations on the critical indicators, as analyses of comparable economies have proven. Independent Australia asked Dr Kennedy: ‘Do you accept that South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Denmark, Israel, Norway and New Zealand are major advanced economies comparable with Australia and all had stronger or similar annual GDP growth and lower jobless rates at the end of 2020?’ His office replied: ‘The Secretary’s ABE speech was rigorously checked beforehand and is based on the latest available data and Treasury’s most recent forecasts.’ Australia’s post-COVID economic recovery lags behind comparable nations Australia’s post-COVID economic recovery lags behind comparable nations It is not just Scott Morrison and his ministers disseminating dubious data. The head of at least one federal department is making factually questionable assertions of a political nature, writes Alan Austin. Ken

Already, Kennedy’s incorrect assertions are being used for tawdry party political purposes. It also now appears Treasury is the source of many of the Treasurer’s false assertions. This really should stop.

Source: Incorrect ‘facts’ now emanate from Scott Morrison’s federal departments

ABC

Christian Porter ABC defamation case: Why Christian Porter has really capitulated

At the end of the day, a plaintiff brings a defamation case against a media organisation for compensation, or for an apology, or to get an online article or publication removed – or perhaps all three. But Porter has finished his case with none of these. You be the judge on who “won”.

Source: Christian Porter ABC defamation case: Why Christian Porter has really capitulated

LNP, LNP Government

Scott Morrison 4 Corners: ABC versus the government is a song that remains the same

Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

This year, Four Corners, the longest-running, most lauded and consequential program in Australian television history, turns 60. But will the ABC pluck up enough courage to throw a party? No doubt the Prime Minister, should he be invited, will send his apologies. Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Prime Minister Scott Morrison.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Tensions between the ABC and the government have once again boiled over, despite Scott Morrison coming to high office with the best intentions to steer well clear of the ABC controversies his predecessors delighted in stoking.

Source: Scott Morrison 4 Corners: ABC versus the government is a song that remains the same

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- LNP has no policies but “Nope”. Bans ethical Education, Universal Health, Industry Super Funds, the ABC, ethical lending etc etc
May be an image of footwear and text that says 'SCOTT MORRISON LABELS aBc FOUR CORNERS PROGRAM ON QANON DISAPPOINTING' AND POOR FORM' Must be true then!'

Fighting Fake News with REAL 7/6/21; Truth in Humour; Covid Reality of a non functioning LNP; Baning History;Trump; My Bali Office;

Fascism

Opinion | Top 10 Signs of Looming Fascism | Gary Engler

Fascism_proud_boys

I’ve come up with a quick fascism worry checklist. Consider this penance for trying to write believable (and therefore somewhat sympathetic) extreme right-wing characters. It is based on a definition of fascism by historian Robert Paxton as well as the experience of living with some very worrying people inhabiting my imagination and real life.

Source: Opinion | Top 10 Signs of Looming Fascism | Gary Engler

Informed Comment

No, Small Isn’t Beautiful

Anti-bigness types are not anti-capitalists, but their diagnosis of the problem with the current mode of production is quite similar to anti-capitalist diagnoses. Under a conventional capitalist system, a relatively small group of affluent people (the capitalist class) owns and controls the productive apparatus of society, and a much larger group of non-affluent people (the working class) must submit themselves to work for the former group, with the penalty for non-submission being death via starvation. This is an unequal and unfree way to organize a society, full of coercion and ripe with potential and actual abuse. The socialist solution to this problem is to have the working class collectively take ownership and control of the productive apparatus of society away from the capitalist class. Put differently, socialists want to replace rule by the few (oligarchy) with rule by the many (democracy), not just for the government but also for the economy.

Source: No, Small Isn’t Beautiful

Murdoch Media

The Fox-fueled rise of new host Trey Gowdy | Media Matters for America

Trey Gowdy

Trey Gowdy, a former Republican congressman turned Fox News contributor, joins the ranks of the network’s hosts on Sunday night with the debut of his creatively named weekly program, Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy. Fox looms large in the career ambitions of Republican politicians thanks to its large audience of GOP primary voters and its prominent, kingmaking hosts. It has been a launching pad for the party’s rising stars over the years, from Sen. Marco Rubio and former House Speaker Paul Ryan to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. And those who leave office or lose elections, from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to Rep. Liz Cheney, have sought out a Fox landing spot as a way to collect a steady paycheck, stay in the network’s spotlight, and plan their next move. But even with the network’s historic intertwining with Republican politics in mind, Gowdy’s rise is remarkable.

Source: The Fox-fueled rise of new host Trey Gowdy | Media Matters for America

TAX

G-7 Nations Sign Pact To Make Corporations Pay Fairer Taxes | HuffPost

Hardly a radical recommendation

LONDON (AP) — The Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed Saturday to support a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15% in order to deter multinational companies from avoiding taxes by stashing profits in low-rate countries.

Source: G-7 Nations Sign Pact To Make Corporations Pay Fairer Taxes | HuffPost

Israel, Palestinian Israelis

Israelis Actively Plotted “indefinite” Occupation of Gaza, West Bank, back in 1960s– the 6 Day War was just a Pretext

Adam Raz, an Israeli researcher at the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research, has published in Haaretz about historical documents he found in Israeli archives that blow a hole through the used car narrative so big you could drive a truck through it. The story begins with the 20 percent of the Israeli population after 1948 that was of Palestinian heritage, typically called in the Hebrew press “Israeli Arabs” (terminology that tended to disguise their Palestinian identity, since Zionists have spent a lot of time denying there are any Palestinians, sort of the way Trumpies maintain that Biden is not actually in the White House).

Source: Israelis Actively Plotted “indefinite” Occupation of Gaza, West Bank, back in 1960s– the 6 Day War was just a Pretext

Israel

Four Things to Know About Israel’s New ‘Change Coalition’

4. Even if it wins and manages to hold onto power, the “change coalition” will not bring significant improvement in the lives or rights of Palestinians.

Source: Four Things to Know About Israel’s New ‘Change Coalition’

Informed Comment

The ‘Quaranteens’ – ABC News

Screenshot_2021-06-06 'I have no concept of where I should be in my life socially and emotionally'

We are Australia

What life’s like for young Australians who turned 18 in a pandemic. By Meghna Bali, Maddy King and Ange McCormack / triple j Hack Updated 6 Jun 2021, 9:58am Published 6 Jun 2021, 5:55am Share this story In the future, we’ll look back at 2020 and remember it all like a blur: the lockdowns, the late-night press conference panics, the toilet paper shortages, the Netflix binging and the sourdough-starting, the anxiety, the loneliness, the grief. Young Australians who were in their last year of high school will remember it as a generation-defining disaster.

Source: The ‘Quaranteens’ – ABC News

Informed Comment

There are consequences for reneging on a major promise – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day Having the ability to admit that you are wrong is an absolute prerequisite to discernment and knowledge.’ ( john Lord )

Source: There are consequences for reneging on a major promise – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Anti- Media, Australian Media, Conservative Media

Dog’s Breakfast No Dogs Barking – Quarantine and Vaccine Rollout – » The Australian Independent Media Network

DOG’S BREAKFAST NO DOGS BARKING (POLITICAL ANALYSIS) – Quarantine and vaccine rollout. Not just Victorians shouldering the risk and blame but older Australians too, while the Liberals ‘get away with murder’.

Source: Dog’s Breakfast No Dogs Barking – Quarantine and Vaccine Rollout – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Uncategorized

Your week Victoria Your week Australia wrapped up in an informative 17minutes WOWW
“The Week on Wednesday” with Van Badham & Ben Davison

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/weekendwrap-jun-6-2021/id1528299411?i=1000524367719

"White People", Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Was his VC a misguided effort to cancel history? Is this the principle on how we move forward? A blow torch applied on our percieved past?
Former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been accused of committing heinous crimes, including murder, on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

Fighting Fake News with REAL 6/6/21 Ben Roberts- Smith; The ABC; Pandemics What are we doing?

America's Shame

America’s Nazi Problem and the End of Policing | The Smirking Chimp

Who Cried Make Germany Great Again?

Put in a broader historical context, the attack on the Capital was an act of political terrorism made in the name of white supremacy. It echoes a sordid history that included the violence against Blacks that took place in Tulsa a hundred years ago. Tulsa was destroyed as a result of white supremacist violence and over 300 Black people were killed. That was an act of economic terrorism. Today economic and political terrorism are unified and drive a Republican Party that is relentless in its destruction of the rights of Black people and its willingness to destroy democracy as well. In the current moment, politics has become an extension of racial violence; this is a politics that no longer hides in the shadows or margins of society and has become a governing principle of the Republican Party.

Source: America’s Nazi Problem and the End of Policing | The Smirking Chimp

Informed Comment

Why the PRO Act is Critical | The Smirking Chimp

Something I’ve just learned about Amazon – one of America’s most profitable and fastest-growing corporations, headed by the richest man in the world: According to the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Amazon warehouse workers sustained nearly double the rate of serious injury incidents last year as did workers in non-Amazon warehouses.

Source: Why the PRO Act is Critical | The Smirking Chimp

Racism, Racism Australia, Racism USA

Georgia Board of Education Votes to Censor American History

An enslaved family picking cotton outside Savannah, Ga., in the 1850s. Photograph by Pierre Havens.

The state board drafted a resolution restricting classroom discussion of racism, then blocked comments from the YouTube livestream.

Source: Georgia Board of Education Votes to Censor American History

Donald Trump

Don McGahn Is Finally Testifying About Trump’s Obstruction. In Other Words, the Cover-up Worked. – Mother Jones

Remember Don McGahn? On Friday, Donald Trump’s ex-White House counsel will testify before the House Judiciary Committee about the former president’s efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation, an appearance so overdue that its main message will be an ironic reminder. The cover-up McGahn is supposed to shed light on was a smashing success.

Source: Don McGahn Is Finally Testifying About Trump’s Obstruction. In Other Words, the Cover-up Worked. – Mother Jones

Global community, Globalisation

A global agreement on corporate tax is in sight – let’s make sure it happens | Nadia Calviño, Daniele Franco, Bruno Le Maire and Olaf Scholz | The Guardian

President Biden

For more than four years, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have been working together to create an international tax system fit for the 21st century. It is a saga of many twists and turns. Now it’s time to come to an agreement. Introducing this fairer and more efficient international tax system was already a priority before the current economic crisis, and it will be all the more necessary coming out of it.

Source: A global agreement on corporate tax is in sight – let’s make sure it happens | Nadia Calviño, Daniele Franco, Bruno Le Maire and Olaf Scholz | The Guardian

Israel

Israel’s Netanyahu pledges to destroy President Biden’s Iran, Settlements Policies if he Can Survive

Outgoing Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu lost his chance to form a government as the deadline ran out on Thursday, but he swung into action in an attempt to stop his rivals from forming one, either. A successful prime minister would have to be able pass a confidence vote in the Israeli parliament or Knesset, requiring a simple majority of 61 yes votes in the 120-member body. Netanyahu’s rivals, the right wing extremist Naftali Bennett of the Yamina Party and the centrist Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) Party, have lined up exactly 61 votes. The slimness of this majority, however, makes them vulnerable. Netanyahu called on right wing members of the coalition not to vote for it and instead to join him.

Source: Israel’s Netanyahu pledges to destroy President Biden’s Iran, Settlements Policies if he Can Survive

Media

Why have media outlets been fined more than $1 million for their Pell reporting?

Email Twitter1 Facebook LinkedIn Print In February, Australian media companies pleaded guilty to contempt of court over their reporting of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on sexual abuse charges. On Friday, the Victorian Supreme Court handed out more than A$1 million in fines against 12 media organisations. The most heavily hit were the The Age ($450,000) and news.com.au ($400,000). Other high-profile programs, such as the Today Show also copped fines ($30,000). These heavy fines were meted out despite the fact that the media companies had apologised to the court and had even agreed to pay the prosecution’s legal costs. There are many ways the law restricts media freedom in Australia, including laws regarding defamation. But contempt of court, seen here by the media’s breaching of a suppression order, is one of the more controversial mechanisms. It is, however, a limitation the courts impose regularly, and take very seriously. Support non-profit journalism you can trust. How did this start? Back in December 2018, the court placed a suppression order on the Pell conviction when he was initially found guilty by a jury (his conviction was quashed in April

Source: Why have media outlets been fined more than $1 million for their Pell reporting?

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy

NDIS independent assessments will be introduced this year despite concerns and mistrust

NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds remains committed to introducing legislation for independent assessments this year.

The new Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme has stood behind a plan to introduce independent assessments for people with disabilities by the end of the year, but conceded in budget estimates hearing the original plan needed more work. National Disability Insurance Scheme Minister Linda Reynolds told senate estimates on Friday afternoon it became clear when she took on the portfolio there was “significant concern” about the independent assessment process and the way it was being communicated.

NDIS independent assessments will be introduced this year despite concerns and mistrust

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought-ABC didn’t make headlines here but private media certainly did in an effort to over power the court for a dollar

Fighting Fake News with REAL 5/6/21; Pell and the Media; Trump’s Facebook Ban, Morrison & QAnon;;

Democracy

Democracy: On the Precipice?

If we extrapolate from the current trend lines, democracy will be gone in a couple decades, melted away like the polar ice. But although down, democracy is not out. By John Feffer | June 2, 2021

Source: Democracy: On the Precipice?

Israel

Top Ways Israel’s Netanyahu Torpedoed Mideast Peace and Harmed Israel and America

Ironically, that coalition only reached a majority in parliament by accepting for the first time as a silent partner a small Palestinian-Israeli party that is the equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood. Netanyahu had regularly run against Israelis of Palestinian heritage as terrorists and disloyal, playing fear politics there the way the odious Trump did in the U.S. Netanyahu denounced the move as a fraud, again, imitating Trump.

Source: Top Ways Israel’s Netanyahu Torpedoed Mideast Peace and Harmed Israel and America