My thought for the day For the life of me I fail to understand how anyone could vote for a party who thinks the existing education, aged care and health systems are adequately funded and addresses the needs of the disadvantaged. (John Lord)
Newspoll: 50/50 – Will it get any better? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The former prime minister’s reported appointment to the board is continuing to cause a political storm in Westminster with a prominent Conservative MP breaking ranks and savaging the prospect, describing Abbott as a “misogynist” with a poor record on gay rights.
Tony Abbott targeted by British MPs ahead of UK trade job
So why is Australia plunging into a rapidly emptying summer swimming pool? The answer can be found in the mutterings of the far right extremists now in charge of the National and Liberal parties, and our national destiny There is no stopping this wrecking crew. Thus far The Usual Suspects – Craig Kelly MP, Josh Frydenberg MP and Senator Richard Colbeck — are blaming Victorian Premier Dan Andrews for the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. And calling for the use of a dangerous, ineffective drug to treat the disease, while denying responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of men and women languishing in a privatised aged care system. But all this is as nothing when compared with the embarrassment of the Blunder from Down Under, the onion eating serial misogynist, and climate denying failed Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.
Blunder from Down Under – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Scott Morrison is under pressure to wind back Covid income support – but it is far too early to be standing on the exit ramp
Australia’s economy was already weak – and the coronavirus pandemic has belted it into recession | Katharine Murphy | Business | The Guardian
The sector, which includes religious, not-for-profit and private operators, has banded together to devise a massive PR campaign to “change the conversation” about aged care and “win the hearts and minds of middle Australia”. And if that involves swatting aside an incompetent minister and making the federal government look stingy, well, so be it.
Aged care sector to muscle up against minister
The real threats to American law and order are Trump’s craven enablers | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian
Since Trump promised he would hire ‘the best people’, 14 Trump aides, donors and advisers have been indicted or imprisoned
The real threats to American law and order are Trump’s craven enablers | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian
The Caravan of 600 Trump Praised PATRIOT PRAYER who are they? (ODT)
In the wake of the shooting death over the weekend of a supporter of the far-right group Patriot Prayer in Portland, Oregon, The New York Times, USA Today, and MSNBC are papering over the intrinsically violent nature of the group, its ties to white nationalism, and its history of staging armed confrontations against anti-fascist activists. This lapse is part of a larger pattern of mainstream media coverage that shies away from calling out right-wing extremism.
Mainstream media are whitewashing Patriot Prayer, a violent far-right group in Portland | Media Matters for America
There has never been a moment in American history when its democracy has come under a more profound attack than the presidency of Donald Trump. Many have suggested that America faces a moment of crisis this November, but with the U.S. Senate Select Committee concluding that Trump’s team was – and most likely remains – unwitting agents of Russia, that crisis appears to be arriving ahead of schedule.
Russia involved in Trump campaign — again
Another indication of how Donald Trump could care less how many people die due to his malfeasance on protecting lives from the Covid-19 pandemic.” —Chuck Idelson, National Nurses United
‘White House Cover-Up’: Covid-19 Task Force Reports Withheld From Public Reveal Trump Knew of Threats as He Spread Lies | Common Dreams News
“The CDC, changing its Covid-19 testing guidelines, no longer recommends testing for most people without symptoms, even if they’ve been in close contact with someone known to have the virus. Many doctors are puzzled by the agency’s change. Some doctors and infectious disease experts were more than puzzled; they were angry. One factor that makes this disease so dangerous is its capacity for asymptomatic spread. Perhaps as many as 40 percent of those infected show no symptoms. To get a handle on how and where the virus is spreading requires testing.
Rotten in Denmark: The Centers for Disease Control stopped Recommending Testing and Tracing
The US reported its six millionth coronavirus case, and deaths are headed toward 200,000. It is hard to explain just how bad the US death rate under Trump from the novel coronavirus is.
6 Million Stricken with Covid-19: Trump has turned the US into a Sh*thole Country
Santos has lodged a big report based on false assumptions to push its Narrabri CSG project through regulators. Its independent expert is not independent, nor expert. Michael West investigates.
Gas Lies: Santos tries to ram through coal seam gas at Narrabri with fake claims – Michael West
Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd warn the Coalition government will destroy the superannuation system if it bows to pressure to dump legislated increases in employer contributions.
Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd warn government seeking to destroy superannuation
Frydenberg has stepped in front and center to try to deflect all the blame onto Victoria after all if The Commonwealth is found to be responsible for the outbreak of Covid in aged-care due to poorly regulated providers then they too are to blame for the crippling of the economy and not as Frydenberg would prefer it to be Andrews work. It seems Andrews doesn’t even need to buy into what’s patently obvious. (ODT)
Morrison has accepted some accountability for what’s happened, but he’s also kept Andrews squarely in the frame as I mentioned a moment ago. I’ve said before it is reasonable to point out that states have a role in managing outbreaks during the pandemic, and there are some overlapping responsibilities in aged care – but this offensive should also be called for what it is: a patent prime ministerial effort to sidestep blame. The prime ministerial sidestep is obviously effective, though, if our Guardian Essential poll is a reliable guide. When asked in the latest survey to identify who was to blame for the outbreaks in aged care during the pandemic, slightly more respondents identified the state government (30%) than the federal government (28%) – but more people blamed the providers (42%).
Parliament lets Scott Morrison know who his tribe is – and it isn’t the premiers and chief ministers | Katharine Murphy | Australia news | The Guardian
Peter Dutton’s powerful base for exercising and seeking to exercise control over his fellow Australians, appears unchallengeable, writes Bruce Haigh.
Patriotism is defined by the ruling LNP and supported by the Labor Party. China has now been identified as the enemy. It is best to go along with that narrative lest your home is raided, travel restricted and phone tapped.
The Anzac myth is deployed in these times as an appeal to a higher order of nationalism requiring the sacrifice of some liberties and compliance with unpopular directives. Its greatest appeal is on the right of the political spectrum. It has reached its use-by date, but nothing else is on offer.
Dr Lisa McKenzie Dr Lisa McKenzie is a working-class academic. She grew up in a coal-mining town in Nottinghamshire and became politicized through the 1984 miners’ strike with her family. At 31, she went to the University of Nottingham and did an undergraduate degree in sociology. Dr McKenzie lectures in sociology at the University of Durham and is the author of ‘Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain.’ She’s a political activist, writer and thinker. Follow her on Twitter @redrumlisa.
The teachings of Marx are the best hope for UK’s beaten-up working class — RT Op-ed
Distortion of reality in the English speaking world is a formula and formula built on size no information and the power to be able to Just Do It (ODT
For all his paens to the middle class, Carlson’s show is propped up by its symbiotic relationships with a handful of extremely wealthy men. Fox honchos Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch have his back because they agree with his toxic rhetoric. Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow, subsidizes the program with ads in order to build his own right-wing brand. And President Donald Trump turns to Carlson for advice while receiving political support from him. The Murdochs oversee a global media empire that has an outsized impact on the political dealings on three continents. The family made billions by selling parts of Fox’s parent company to Disney last year. Fox founder Rupert has owned an array of mansions along with a private plane and luxury yacht, while heir to the company Lachlan recently purchased a 25,000-square-foot Los Angeles estate for a record-breaking $150 million. Carlson is the Murdochs’ biggest star, garnering the largest audience in the history of cable news. And he does it by pushing the sort of hard-edged white nationalist messages they want. Rupert hand-picked Carlson, who had failed as a host on several other networks, for a prime-time Fox slot. And Lachlan reportedly wants Fox to be “unabashedly nationalist.” He also believes “Carlson’s overarching message on immigration [is] worth protecting,” according to CNN’s Brian Stelter’s new book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth.
The wealthy benefactors and beneficiaries of Tucker Carlson’s “class war” | Media Matters for America
The economic cataclysm brought on by the coronavirus caught American consumers in an extremely precarious position — one that was evident well before more than 50 million people filed for unemployment. By the end of last year, Americans had racked up nearly $4.2 trillion in consumer debt, not including mortgage debt — a record high.
Online Lenders Could Trigger a New Consumer Financial Crisis
Rather than asking whether law enforcement and vigilantes like Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse support or oppose one another, we can see them as different groups who are both performing the same function — policing society.
What’s the Difference Between Kyle Rittenhouse and the Police?
He’s certainly more preWW2 German than he was ever American. The Germans are more American than America is at present. (ODT)
More Trump voters said they were loyal to President Donald Trump than they were to the Republican Party, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.
The GOP Is Very Much Trump’s Party, Poll Shows | HuffPost Australia
The filmmaker correctly predicted Trump’s win in 2016.
Michael Moore Provides ‘Reality Check,’ Warning Swing State Polls Signal Trump Could Pull Off Electoral Victory in November | Common Dreams News
The US Justice Department secretly took steps in 2017 to narrow the investigation into Russian election interference and any links to the Trump campaign, according to former law enforcement officials, keeping investigators from completing an examination of President Donald Trump’s decades-long personal and business ties to Russia.
US Justice Department shielded Trump from Russia probe, ex-officials say
But law enforcement officials never fully investigated Trump’s own relationship with Russia, even though some career FBI counterintelligence investigators thought his ties posed such a national security threat that they took the extraordinary step of opening an inquiry into them.
Within days, the former deputy attorney-general Rod Rosenstein curtailed the investigation without telling the bureau, all but ensuring it would go nowhere.
According to the Government, the ABC and SBS weren’t to be included.
Source: Google and Facebook should pay to use ABC and SBS content, ACCC told | Media | The Guardian
THE MOST PROFOUND challenge arising from Australia becoming the worst developed country for government debt is not the economic hardship this will impose on those having to pay the interest and repay the principal. A more serious issue is that most citizens haven’t a clue what is actually happening.
Coalition adds more debt in nine months than Labor did in under six years
“#Unfit” might not be potent enough to fully indict Trump, and it could arrive too late for anyone to listen to its warning. If nothing else, though, it allows Gartner and his peers to be secure that they made their best effort. “I am more confident in my diagnosis of Donald Trump than I have been of any other diagnosis, because I have more information,” he says. That we can believe.
“#Unfit” delivers a Trump diagnosis we all know and warns of dire consequences for ignoring it | Salon.com
The final night of the 2020 RNC, according to Los Angeles Times reporter Stephen Battaglio, had “an average audience of 21.6 million viewers” — whereas former Vice President Joe Biden’s acceptance speech at the DNC attracted 24.6 million viewers.
Trump’s Republican National Convention was a ratings flop | Salon.com
This is 26-year old Anthony Huber, one of the victims shot dead last night in #Kenosha during the protests and chaos that ensued. His partner says he was the smartest, kindest, loving man she ever knew. She told me he was an amazingly talented skater, went semi pro in his early teens. They’re honoring his memory by asking people to skate in his honor at Basik Skate Park in Kenosha. #Wisconsin #SkateForHuber #RIP
This is 26-year old Anthony Huber, one of the victims shot dead last night in #Kenosha during the protests and chaos that ensued. His partner says he was the smartest, kindest, loving man she ever knew. She told me he was an amazingly talented skater, went semi pro in his early teens. They’re honoring his memory by asking people to skate in his honor at Basik Skate Park in Kenosha.
https://theintercept.com/2020/08/28/kyle-rittenhouse-violent-pro-trump-militias-police/
This year’s RNC was predictably a circus, while the DNC was largely pitched to a relatively small sliver of affluent professionals and suburban conservatives. While conservatives are pulled ever rightward by an increasingly radicalized fringe, liberal elites discipline their base into accepting a message crafted for someone else.
The Republican National Convention, dominated by veneration of Donald Trump and bleak warnings of the dangers of socialism, has completely ignored the climate crisis, an omission that has disturbed some conservatives who warn the party risks being left behind by voters.
Republicans at the Convention Did Not Lay Out a Plan for Climate Change—Much Less Acknowledge It – Mother Jones
Few would doubt that China poses challenges for America, but we can no longer pretend that American policies are always just, or that China is the evil empire. China used to provide a major market for American agriculture and the auto industry; now it doesn’t. President Trump determined that. China used to work closely with WHO sharing their massive data on Covid-19; now they don’t. President Trump determined that. China could offer critical help in mounting an effective response to climate disaster, but that would make no sense to Trump, who sees the world as a collection of races not keeping their places. Connect the dots. At a time when no one can escape pandemic or global heating, policy may matter more than ideology. If a “Democratic” nation revokes emission standards, everyone will suffer. If a “Communist” country develops effective pandemic responses, everyone benefits so long as nations share ideas and data. Traditionally, liberals tend to embrace these kinds of common-sense strategies. Why should anyone opt for race over reason just because someone uttered the word “China”?
When is China-Bashing Racist?
Morrison’s efforts to impress Trump is causing our chaos and his confusion and a lack of direction. He’s always tended to be a follower rather than a decisive leader a boat without a rudder and he seems to believe Trump is the answer. Canberra is now increasingly revealing itself to be what it has always been a Government in opposition. Working for themselves and not Australia. Frydenberg’s already “blaming” his economic failures on Victoria. The deaths encountered however have and will continue to be from the Commonwealth’s aged-care sector (ODT)
Ever got into a car and found a little way into the journey that the driver isn’t sure of the destination? Scott Morrison predictably won plaudits for his latest assault on China via new legislation that will empower him to cancel or veto agreements between state entities and foreign government organisations. China might be our biggest trading partner, but it is thoroughly on the nose in much of Canberra.
Morrison’s China decree reeks of rash decision-making
We live in a time when politicians saying “the buck stops here” only applies when there is not a problem, writes Michael Pascoe.
MPs’ ‘inexcusable’ behaviour is routinely excused in The Age of No Responsibility – Michael West
When everything is going downhill at speed it’s easy to pretend that beforehand everything was fine
Before Covid inflicted carnage, the Australian economy was struggling | Greg Jericho | Business | The Guardian
Another bravura performance from CNN’s fact-checker who’s been doing yeoman’s service during TrumpFest, aka the 2020 Republican National Convention.
WATCH: CNN’s Daniel Dale’s Rapid-Fire Fact Check Of Trump’s RNC Speech Is Amazing | Crooks and Liars
FACT CHECK
The problem is that Trump’s rhetoric on those issues, like his rhetoric on almost all issues, is a complete fantasy with no grounding in reality. Let us just consider four planks of his personal platform.
How Trump brought us 11.1% Unemployment, lost Manufacturing Jobs, worsened Trade Deficits and Kowtowed to China
President Trump has a woman problem: they have turned from him in droves since the last election. So who better to tout his credentials, and gloss over his flashes of overt misogyny than his wife? Surveys have shown she is the most effective of all the Trump surrogates at shaping the way people – especially, crucially, independent women – think of her husband. Which is why Trump’s campaign officials have been trying to coax her out of the shadows, urging her to take more of an active role.
There’s something odd about watching Donald Trump’s women spruik for him
MAFIA IN THE WHITE HOUSE
The White House has warned The Washington Post that it’s collecting a “dossier” on one of its journalists after he reported that President Donald Trump’s private business, the Trump Organization, has charged taxpayers at least $900,000. The chilling, Kremlin-esque threat was made in response to a story Thursday by Pulitzer Prize-winning Post reporter David Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Joshua Partlow that the Trump Organization has charged the Secret Service steep fees for agents guarding the president during his multiple trips to his own properties.
White House Amassing Reporter ‘Dossier’ After Story On Trump’s Business Charging Taxpayers $900,000 | HuffPost Australia
The empathy of a Psychopath (ODT)
The estate of Leonard Cohen is not happy. US President Donald Trump has taken the most cherished song in Cohen’s catalogue for his political purposes. Hallelujah, a source of divine spiritual uplifting was played at Republican National Convention.
Trump’s misuse of ‘Hallelujah’ shows song cannot remain the same in US
Does anyone for one moment think Donald Trump wont take full advantage of this? (ODT)
New Delhi: India now has the fastest-growing coronavirus caseload of any country in the world, reporting more than 75,000 new infections per day.
Coronavirus: India’s COVID-19 outbreak is now the world’s fastest-growing
Australia is a nation of double standards. It should come as no surprise to see our politicians and our media brazenly wearing them like badges of honour. As a country, we criticise China at every available opportunity for any whiff of foreign interference, though we turn a blind eye to blatant interference coming from Israel. As many on the right say: “China has a woeful record on human rights”, as if Palestine didn’t exist. The media talked up “historic” peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. People hear the words “Middle East peace deal” and think of Israel and Palestine, yet the media have neglected to sufficiently inform the public that this dud deal that is already in jeopardy. It has not brought about peace, in fact, Gaza has seen Israel bomb their men, women and children every night for two weeks.
Branch stacking scandals highlight the media’s double standards
The new emails show Mr Sukkar was told in 2018 by his brother Paul Sukkar – a former electorate officer for Mr Andrews – as well as Mr Bastiaan that electorate officers were managing a campaign to recruit party members. Mr Sukkar has sought to blame rogue former staffers in his office for the impropriety, but these emails suggest he was aware of the plans. On April 4, 2018, Mr Bastiaan and Paul Sukkar sent emails to Mr Sukkar that showed they were directing an electorate officer called Thilaga “Jessy” Jayakumaran to manage the recruitment of new party members. Mr Sukkar’s office had helped install Ms Jayakumaran in the office of Kevin Andrews.
Liberal branch stacking: Sukkar plots to block the career of James Newbury
He killed people on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesdaay night as Republicans were fueling the white-hot furnace of fear and hate at their convention from Hell. And, once again, we must sort through the surreal emotions that leave us both shocked and not at all surprised.
Our Long-Dreaded Fear is Here | The Smirking Chimp
The climate crisis is to blame for these fires, which are growing in number and intensity every year. It’s also to blame for the increasing number and virulence of hurricanes now hitting the Gulf and Southeast, flash floods along the Eastern seaboard, and fierce winds across middle America. Two hurricanes are now threatening the Gulf coast. The Gulf has never before had two hurricanes at the same time.
Feeling the Consequences of Trump’s Rotten Presidency, First Hand | The Smirking Chimp
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