Author: peterimrich
For those of us on the Left we need to heed the warning from the ASIO chief and sharpen our antennae for spotting any of these rightwing nut jobs before they wreck the joint. Should you spot any of the aforesaid rightwing nutters, call you mum she’s the only person you can trust – but keep an eye on her particularly if she starts saying things like ‘I do so miss Gerard Henderson on Insiders, he’s so balanced’ !
‘Ooroo !
Coronavirus-panic sweeps the nation. There’s barely a bottle of Dettol hand sanitizer left on a metal supermarket shelf across the land. Panic buying of toilet paper, pasta and rice turns ugly. A fight erupts in a Western Sydney Woolworths. Two Bankstown women, aged 23 and 60 are charged with affray.
Whilst no injury seems to have been sustained, the same cannot be said of the Morrison government which ends the week reeking of corruption after misleading the senate over changes to its rorted sports grants after it had entered caretaker mode 11 April 2019, whilst former Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie departs from the script by insisting she knows nothing of changes made in her name after caretaker mode commenced.
Sport Australia has refused to answer forty questions, which officials took on notice, effectively denying a senate committee request and failing to meet its Friday deadline. Former Health Department Head, Glenys Beauchamp, did comply but she’s destroyed all of her personal notes following her resignation in January. Genius.
Adding injury to insult, Attorney-General Porter has to be corrected by his own department on his misunderstanding of his own paper tiger DIY federal anti-corruption body he’s been drafting since 2018. Then, from up shit creek, there’s a hullabaloo about all that bushfire crisis money being as scarce as rocking-horse poo. Labor’s Murray Watt makes a convincing case that Scotty’s $2 billion dollar fund doesn’t even exist.
But you can be sure the virus will be made to take the blame for four years of its own, woeful, economic mismanagement. And the welfare of business mates and wealth creators will matter far more than that of households or pensioners or wage and salary earners. And we’ll never stop hearing about how wonderful it is.
And it’ll be no good asking about sports rorts corruption and illegality or anything unconstitutional because the PM’s presser will always be about something else.
Newly-obtained government records show that Donald Trump’s company has charged the U.S. Secret Service at least $628,000 for rooms, at rates as high as $650 per night, at his Florida and New Jersey properties since 2017. Secret Service personnel have used taxpayer money to stay at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster resorts in connection with Trump’s frequent visits there.
The Washington Post, which already had obtained and written about some of the records, received a new tranche from the group Public Citizen (where I am a board member), which has persistently pursued the records under the Freedom of Information Act since January 2017.
The total charges, from inauguration day through Trump’s stay at Mar-a-Lago this very weekend, are now likely much higher, because the government has refused to disclose more recent records. Plus, many other government employees, beyond the Secret Service, accompany Trump on these trips, and others may be staying at his properties at taxpayer expense.
via Mar-a-Lago Secret Service Scandal Shows Depth of Trump Corruption | Republic Report
Can you spot the 7 stupid moments of the stupid President? (ODT)
via Here Are 7 Ridiculous and Disturbing Moments from Trump’s Visit to the CDC | The Smirking Chimp
On Friday, the Trump regime blocked a Security Council statement, expressing support for cessation of hostilities in Idlib province Syria agreed to by Russia and Turkey on Thursday in Moscow.
Endless conflict continues with no prospect for near-term resolution.
via Trump Regime Blocks SC Support for Syria Ceasefire Already Breached – Stephen Lendman
Australia’s economic growth improves, but hold the champagne. Economic headwinds? Not really. Economy stronger than the OECD, Europe, Canada and the UK? Errr … no. Strong jobs growth? Sorry, no. Alan Austin runs his ruler over the latest quarterly accounts.
via Australia’s economic growth improves, but hold the champagne – Michael West
![Screenshot_2020-03-08 It just keeps going and going the weird, mean things the Morrison government has got into First Dog o[...].png](https://olddogthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/screenshot_2020-03-08-it-just-keeps-going-and-going-the-weird-mean-things-the-morrison-government-has-got-into-first-dog-o....png?w=845)
via 
The Liar from the Shire has sunk to new depths – ok, maybe not new – with his ridiculous claim that “Emissions today are 50 million tonnes less on average each year under our government than under the previous government.”
This crap should be used in school maths classes as an example of how data can be manipulated to mislead.
The latest release tracking Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions includes a table of emissions for each financial year.
Emissions to the end of June 2007 were 627.0 Mt CO2-e. Six years later, they were 537.6, and 533.9 a year after that when the carbon price was repealed in 2014.
In the year ending September 30, 2019, they were 530.8.
To save you doing the sums, under Labor policies, emissions reduced by over 93 Mt CO2-e. Since the Coalition “axed the tax” almost six years ago, emissions have reduced by about 3 Mt CO2-e.
But hey ScottyFromMarketing, run with that line if you want. Get Angus to say it too.
Because we ALL know how trustworthy you two are.
Remarkable, is it not? Trump is openly dismissive of the experts and the number they have announced because what he says is true because he is Donald Trump. He identifies it as ‘coronaflu’ and not a virus. My favourite part of the summary is his suggestion that people with the disease return to work. Not only is this fundamentally irresponsible from a medical perspective, it also shows a quite callous disregard for the sick. The President is effectively saying ‘GET BACK TO WORK!’. He simply lacks the empathy (like a certain Prime Minister I could name) to offer human responses. All he can see is the consequences for him and his fellow rich people. Ordinary people do not enter into the equation.
via Ideology Über Alles: The White House and COVID-19 – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Trumpsters are Lower than a snake’s belly actively plotting the withholding of medicines from those they regard their scapegoats, enemies or simply unwanted by them (ODT)
via Hawkish Group Targets Medicine Sales to Iran Amid Coronavirus Crisis
“Our government has restored our nation’s finances. We have turned that around. We have kept our AAA credit rating. We have handed down, well done Josh and the entire team, the first Budget surplus in more than a decade — back in the black,” claimed FauxMo in an embarrassing display of premature congratulation.
That was about as truthful as when he put his arm around Malcolm Turnbull – something he has a bad habit of doing – and brazenly said “I’m ambitious for this guy,” as his numbers men were scurrying around the halls drumming up support. Only it wasn’t for Malcolm.
ScottyFromMarketing has no problem telling lies if he thinks it will advance his cause. Like all ad men, he wants to manipulate public opinion
Who do you trust? Not you, FauxMo – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Compare the pair. Thulasisi Sivapalan is Australia’s most prolific super fund investor. The PhD candidate with the Accounting Discipline Group at the UTS Business School tried to join 41 super funds just to get their financial statements. It was a tough journey; navigating mystified admin staff, unhelpful regulators at APRA, even an abattoir. On a mission to find out how much tax super funds pay, Thulasisi discovered billions of dollars in discrepancies between what Australia’s super funds were telling their investors and what they were reporting to APRA. Callum Foote reports on a peculiar road-trip.
Climate Science: Shift from Carbon Sponge (ODT)
via ‘Alarming’: Tropical Forests in Shift From Carbon Sponge to Carbon Source | Common Dreams News
Arthur Finkelstein figured it out in the 1990s and Netanyahu continues to follow his campaign mentor, refining his political agenda in line with Judeo-centrism. In the state that calls itself the ‘Jewish State,’ the ‘Israeli’ is gradually becoming rare, he has been supplanted by ‘the Jew.’
via Why does Netanyahu keep winning?, by Gilad Atzmon – The Unz Review
The Privatisation of the war in Afghanistan (ODT)
How right is Bernie Sanders?(ODT)
There is good reason to believe the medical infrastructure for acute care has been as neglected as our roads and bridges in the current neoliberal order A survey of California hospitals conducted by the National Nurses Union revealed: “ Only 27 percent report that there is a plan in place to isolate a patient with a possible novel coronavirus infection. 47 percent report they don’t know if there is a plan.
There are policy responses far short of a social revolution that would address these strains. Paid sick leave more work at home four day workweek, universal healthcare, and job guarantees would be a good start. These are portrayed as radical, but they are essential to the health of the body politic and the air that we all breathe.
via Heckuva Job, Pencie! A US ruled for and by the Rich leaves Workers at Risk for Coronavirus
olddogthoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.