The US has topped 150,000 new daily cases for the first time, doubling in three weeks to set a record as the president was still missing in action and tweeting about a “Rigged Election!”.
US infections hit new high but Donald Trump remains missing in action
Author: peterimrich
While the ABC is made to suffer like no other media organisation (ODT)
As FOI documents reveal the extent of Foxtel’s government support, it’s important to remember that Foxtel has always been about haggling for government money.
What we do know, after an extensive freedom of information (FOI) request reported by the ABC on Friday, is that the struggling News Corp-controlled television company gets concierge treatment from the federal government on a scale unavailable to almost any other Australian media organisation.
Foxtel’s government begging bowl is brimming with goodies
The results show that in 2011 Australia had the most concentrated newspaper industry out of any country studied with the exception of China and Egypt:
Australia’s newspaper ownership is among the most concentrated in the world | News | The Guardian
AS THE QUESTION of behind-the-scenes bonking within the Federal Government came to the fore once again this week, Morrison provided evidence – in case anyone thought more was needed – of the dismissive culture towards women that characterises his prime ministership.
Some bonk ban: Ministers in the sack Morrison won’t sack
WHEN JOE HOCKEY, former cigar-chomping Australian Treasurer in Tony Abbott’s government and Australian ambassador to the USA between January 2016 and January 2020, made it clear that he agreed with his golfing buddy Donald Trump that fraud “for sure” characterised Democratic Party voting and that “there’s plenty of good reason to have litigation, I mean it is a complete dog’s breakfast right across the country,” he did more than jump into the unaerated, putrid goldfish bowl. He inadvertently shone a light on the real nature of the relationship between the current Australian Government and the Trump White House, a relationship which exposed the Australian Government as a kind of ex-officio branch of the Trump Republican Party.
Morrison’s Trumpist dilemma: A credible revisionist narrative is impossible
What’s going on? Stupid impetuous drama? Or a real coup? If it turns out to be a coup, it may well prove that teeing it up in plain sight improves its chances of success. Trump’s supporters, disproportionately prone to violence and more heavily armed, are watching and waiting. They can only pitch in as paramilitaries or freelance goons if, like the rest of us, they see the dark days ahead. Then Trump’s coup becomes a counterrevolution.
Trump Tees Up a New Type of Coup: In Plain Sight | The Smirking Chimp
“President-elect Joe Biden won legitimately and decisively. No matter how much Donald and his enablers lie and spin, nothing will change that,” she said in a tweet on Sunday night. “But they’re going to break as much as they can on the way out. Stay vigilant–this is an attempted coup.”
Mary Trump says her uncle is attempting a coup on departure from White House | The Independent
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp shares tumbled with speculation ramping up that President Donald Trump might back or launch a rival news service after he leaves office.
US election 2020: Donald Trump fuels Fox News rival talk
“It’s pretty dangerous to our democracy to use attacking our elections as a fundraising tool.” —Larry Noble, former FEC attorney
As Trump’s Election Lies Continue, So Does His “Extremely Misleading” Fundraising Grift | Common Dreams News
The president is not elected by the people; that power is held by the electoral college. And if its electors decide to go rogue, there’s not much anyone can do.
Election 2020: Could the electoral college keep Trump in the White House?
The National Review, a conservative publication, noted that Trump campaign lawsuits like the one in Montgomery County have been ending “not with a bang, but a whimper.” “It is one thing to fume on Twitter that there is a sinister effort to steal an election; it is another thing to assert that sweeping claim in a court of law, before a judge, under penalty of perjury and/or disbarment,” National Review correspondent Jim Geraghty wrote.
Trump Attorney Admits To Judge Under Penalty Of Perjury That There’s No Election Fraud | Crooks and Liars
Rhodes: “We’ll also be on the outside of D.C., armed, prepared to go in, if the president calls us up”
Militia leader Stewart Rhodes says he has men stationed outside of D.C. ready to engage in violence on Trump’s order | Media Matters for America
The JVP is right: “Israel is a state and does not represent communities in the diaspora… It is what it is.” However, if the Israeli government takes a stand in the fight against anti-Semitism, it should stop looking for anti-Semites where they do not exist, which is not amongst defenders of human rights and universal rules of refuge and return. If Netanyahu and his sidekick Benny Gantz are really serious about tackling anti-Semitism, they should tackle the support base of their main ally in the White House. This has never happened, of course, and it never will.
Why is the Israeli Gov’t Rooting for a 2nd Term for Trump and his White Nationalist, anti-Semitic Allies?
The statement from officials at CISA, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, undercuts President Donald Trump’s lies about rampant voter fraud.
Presidential Election ‘Most Secure’ In History, Top Security Experts At DHS Say | HuffPost Australia
Australia might need another media inquiry — but, as history shows, it probably won’t do much good.
Australia’s long and unproductive history of media inquiries explained
Murdoch’s hirelings are ready. Unfortunately for Hanson-Young, the News Corp imperium is skilled in camouflaging inertia against change with promises of activity. The inquiry’s terms of reference are also shallow, omitting any reference to News Corp Australia while calling for an examination of the “state of media diversity, independence and reliability in Australia and the impact that this has on public interest journalism and democracy.”
Petitions, Probes and Rupert Murdoch – » The Australian Independent Media Network
“In a historic moment, the majority of Americans have voted for a new leader representing caring, decency, inclusion and multilateralism – and rejecting hate, divisiveness, narcissism and authoritarianism.
World Watches America
The Republican attorney general for Arizona has defended the election process in the state against criticism from the president, saying that people voted for “Republicans down-ballot, but they didn’t vote for President Trump”.
US election: People voted Republican — just not for Trump, GOP official says | The Independent
I hate to say this but Rupert Murdoch said this was America’s biggest problem and something had to be done about it well before Trump even entered the race for the Presidency. I’m about to say Trump didn’t invent Trumpism but Rupert Murdoch did and chose Trump to politicize it. Trump did but that’s as far as he got. He delivered little more than a shit load of promises and was boosted by Murdoch. It’s why Murdoch believes it’s JOE TIME (ODT)
The only liberal antidote to Trumpism is actually doing something material to aid those who’ve fallen for it — giving them something in their lives to noticeably improve their social welfare, redistributing wealth downwards. Franklin Roosevelt absorbed this lesson, as evidenced by the New Deal Coalition; it is unclear if a Biden administration is capable of doing the same. Indeed, if Biden’s administration doesn’t do anything to materially improve the lives of millions of working voters, Trumpism is apt to get stronger, not weaker, in the next four years.
Trump is defeated. Trumpism is more alive than ever | Salon.com
The Path to an American Hitler
The soul of America is like the character Two Face in the Batman movie series
Atlas is a physician with no expertise in infectious diseases or epidemiology. Fauci, an immunologist, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than three decades. MOST READ GA Secretary of State: There will be a ‘full, by hand recount in each county’ Georgia’s chief election official announces hand recount of presidential results The GOP’s Georgia boogeyman: Chuck Schumer Biden announces Ron Klain will be White House chief of staff Two Ideas for Trump’s Exit Strategy Trump’s new Pentagon sets up clash over Afghanistan pullout
‘A political animal’: Atlas attacks Fauci, escalating feud between Trump’s pandemic advisers – POLITICO
Dr Fauci said controlling America’s worsening coronavirus outbreak was not impossible but becoming more and more difficult He said lockdowns should only be a last resort But he was hopeful a substantial proportion of the US population would be vaccinated by May next year
Anthony Fauci says working with Trump Administration on the coronavirus pandemic has been ‘very stressful’ – ABC News
Donald Trump, refusing to accept the result as he mounts a series of legal challenges in a bid to retain power. And somewhere in between is a hot mess over election integrity: from conspiracy theories about dead people casting votes en masse, to claims and counterclaims of officials rigging ballots to manipulate the outcome.
US election results 2020: patchwork election system could learn from Australia
What constitutes a sackable offence for any man in the Morrison Government? Managing editor Michelle Pini reports on recent “bonk ban” transgressions.
Some bonk ban: Ministers in the sack Morrison won’t sack
“The US election has highlighted the need for truth in journalism and the need to call out unsubstantiated and false claims,” said Hanson-Young. “Before we head into another election period in Australia, we can now take a proper look at the state of media diversity here and help protect a pillar of our democracy,” she added.
Rudd’s anti-Murdoch petition results in its first steps – » The Australian Independent Media Network
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to reopen Australia’s borders immediately, saying her political movement could be devastated without a steady flow of immigrants to victimise. “A lot of people have lost their jobs or their businesses during COVID-19. But I’ve lost my entire reason for existence. It’s devastating,” an emotional Hanson told Channel 7’s sunrise.
Pauline Hanson Demands Borders Reopen So She Can Start Shitting On Immigrants Again | The Shovel
For the first time in history, an incumbent president is refusing to concede after clearly and indisputably losing a presidential election. That’s making observers, citizens, and experts nervous that Trump may be preparing to stage a coup of some sort, or perhaps call again on his supporters to commit violence to sustain his rule.
Can Trump really stage a coup? Experts weigh in on whether it’s possible | Salon.com
Bunkered in the White House Trump is counting heads of departments loyal to him sacking those that might not be SCOTUS, DOJ, DEFENCE. If it looks as if he’s preparing for a coup and his Secretary of State is joking about it why shouldn’t we believe on is taking place in the USA in 2020?
Joe Biden won the presidential election decisively, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seems intent on denying that reality. When asked Tuesday at a press conference about engaging with the Biden transition team, Pompeo assured reporters that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
Pompeo: “There Will Be a Smooth Transition to a Second Trump Administration” – Mother Jones
And on this point, there’s much reason for hope that, whatever chaos Trump tries to stir up, democracy will prevail. The House is expected to continue to have its majority of Democrats. While the Senate should still have a Republican majority by January — with two runoff races outstanding in Georgia — when it meets to accept the slates of electors, at least four Republicans have already congratulated Biden and referred to him as president-elect: Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Ben Sasse of Nebraska. That means that there should be a majority of both the House and the Senate who, at the time when it’s crucial, acknowledge that Biden is the rightful president.
Trump’s Coup Attempt Is Very Real — but There Are Several Gaping Holes in the Plan | The Smirking Chimp
Trump’s demise signifies a powerful rejection of the use of false narratives that create alternate realities and there’s a message here for Morrison, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.
Trump may be gone but in Morrison, he lives
The great advantage of writing satire is that when you tell the truth, nobody believes you. This is fortunate because it means that no secret service people whisk me away to interrogate me about who’s leaking all this top secret stuff.
Biden Loses OR Who Needs Votes When You Can Crown Yourself King Donald? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It was interesting to see that, albeit belatedly, the American media started to stop giving Trump opportunities to spew out his lies across the country and beyond.
The importance of regulating disinformation and ‘fake news’
Why should Christian Porter be given the benefit of silence when Australians aren’t. Why shouldn’t MP’s practice what they preach and their pasts remembered. The ABC informs us Morrison wants it shut down. So does Rupert.
The Australian’s editor-at-large, Paul Kelly, said on Q&A that Porter was “trashed” by the program, adding
What’s in the ‘public interest’? Why the ABC is right to cover allegations of inappropriate ministerial conduct
My thought for the day The purpose of propaganda is to make you feel good about the wrongs being perpetrated on you.
For better or for worse, we are much like America – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The rush by the government and its media supporters to attack last night’s Four Corners as not in the public interest is not merely wrong, but offensively so.
The ABC has exposed the sordid side of Canberra in the public interest
Media magnate Rupert Murdoch and outgoing US President Donald Trump have long had a rocky relationship – but the pair share one thing in common. They both love to win.
Is Rupert Murdoch really turning his back on Donald Trump?
Is Trump planning to send in the army to arrest Biden or simply disappear him? (ODT)
“Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.”
Trump sacks defence chief as Biden pushes ahead with presidency
Joe Biden’s thumping victory in the US presidential election is also a thumping victory for the global climate. Biden campaigned unabashedly to rejoin the Paris climate agreement, to pledge net-zero emissions by 2050, and to spend AU$2.4 trillion on new climate initiatives. His election is a game-changer for global climate action.
US election 2020: Australia alone in the new global climate
J
Georgia Voters Can Put an End to Mitch McConnell’s Grim Reaping | The Nation
anuary runoff races could flip the Senate and prevent the majority leader from obstructing another Democratic presidency.
Georgia Voters Can Put an End to Mitch McConnell’s Grim Reaping | The Nation
In other words, despite zero evidence of voter fraud, the GOP should attack the outcome of the election because a Democrat was elected president
Can Biden Heal America when Trump and his Allies Don’t Want it Healed? | The Smirking Chimp
A survey by ANU shows workers born overseas and older Australians bore the brunt of cuts to hours compared with other groups
Australian workers lost $47bn in wages during first eight months of Covid recession, study says | Australia news | The Guardian
Australia risks becoming an international pariah if it maintains its climate denialism as its major trading partners embrace carbon neutrality.
Walls close in around Scott Morrison on climate change
Losing is “like psychic death for Trump”: Psychologists warn Trump may provoke violence after loss | Salon.com
Yesterday, the Associated Press and other major media outlets confirmed it: President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid. But unlike previous incumbent presidents who sought an additional term and were denied it by voters, Trump has made it clear that he is unwilling to accept the voters’ will.
Losing is “like psychic death for Trump”: Psychologists warn Trump may provoke violence after loss | Salon.com
In one last chaotic push Mr Trump could gift himself legal immunity, fire leading officials he doesn’t like, and worst-case scenario, launch a nuclear war.
Donald Trump could wreak havoc in the dying days of his presidency
Biden is right to recognize that we cannot see our political opponents as enemies. Republicans like Romney understand this truth — a truth that is a necessary pre-condition for a constitutional republic. What happens next will depend in large part on whether Romney stands virtually alone or if more Republicans join him to remake the Republican Party as one committed to constitutional democracy, rather than the personal desires of a single man.
Republicans must break with Trump and reach out to Biden so that Americans can heal and democracy can thrive – MarketWatch
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