via What hope have we got when the rorters make the rules? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Author: peterimrich
LNP Management has increased surveillance in Australia X10 yet they are unable to collect taxes from Australia’s wealthiest and greatest avoiders. The smell of dead fish isn’t a stench coming from the Murray Darling alone it’s much closer to the ACT. (ODT)
In high school science you may have been taught that Earth is just a rock made out of nickel, iron, magnesium, potassium and silicon.
What they didn’t tell you is that at its core, the most common element is bullshit.
via Massacre of the English language in the name of jargon has a dark side
He’s certainly not Trumpish and he may be Populist but it’s when Socialism and Populism merge and are not just a Circus performance to entertain and divide the working class. (ODT)
via With Bernie Sanders Now a Frontrunner, Corporate Media Smears Him as Trump-ish | The Smirking Chimp
But Bernie is the only internationalist in the race. He’s been outspoken in criticizing the US war machine, working across party lines to end the war in Yemen and even criticizing past US interventions in Latin America. Though he hasn’t been as radical on immigration as some supporters would like, he’s articulated a clear critique of Trump’s cruel policies. Compared to 2016, he has been far bolder about identifying as a person from a working-class immigrant family, raised by people who faced genocide abroad as well as poverty and discrimination in their chosen country.
It’s no surprise that he’s enormously popular among American Muslims and Latinos. While Trump’s war on immigrants is intended to appeal to provincial elites who disdain the global poor, and to divide the white American working class from its immigrant counterparts, Bernie’s support of immigrants represents a genuine socialist solidarity with the international working class.
Of course they do after all you have to have the “Money to buy it” as the song goes. The left is never as coonsolidated as the right is when it comes to money. There’s a queue at GOP and Trump doors ready and waiting to sell them influence at all times. (ODT)
Republicans now say that soliciting or accepting help from foreign governments in U.S. elections is acceptable, after once pushing back on the notion when President Donald Trump floated it in an interview last year.
Democrats have been left “stunned” after Trump’s impeachment defense team suggested during the Q&A portion of the Senate impeachment trial that soliciting or accepting information from foreign governments about one’s political rivals is OK so long as the information is “credible.”
For years Israel has backed itself into a morally and politically unjustifiable position regarding its occupation of the Palestinian territories. Now, Israel is turning to the U.S. to help defend it. The country’s relentless pursuit to settle its Jewish citizens across the West Bank has precluded any chance of partitioning the land into two independent polities, leaving millions of Palestinians stateless and living under an interminable military regime, with no civil or political rights.
Trump’s deal gives Israel a superpower endorsement of apartheid – +972 Magazine
The platypus, a beloved emblem of Australia and a symbol of the strangeness of evolution, is at risk of extinction.
That’s according to a new study published in the February issue of Biological Conservation, which suggests the humble beaked mammal is at greater risk of becoming extinct than previously thought. As the tragic bushfires in Australia blanketed the island continent, the platypuses were “invisible victims,” as Atlas Obscura wrote.
Australia’s Shame…. ” Climate Change is Crap” Australia’s PM Tony Abbott (ODT)
This supposes what Trump a 16,000 + count Fact Check liar since his inaugauration is now being pleaded by his defence for his unbridled honesty. If you believe that then you do believe their are fairies at the end of the garden. (ODT)
The day began with a question from moderate Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
They asked Trump’s legal defence team whether they had any indication that Trump was concerned about the actions of Joe Biden in Ukraine before Biden became a candidate for president.
Trump’s lawyers could not cite any example of him doing so
“So I can’t point to something in the record that shows President Trump at an earlier time mentioning specifically something related to Joe or Hunter Biden.”
via Trump impeachment: US President’s lawyer Alan Dershowitz stuns with US election campaign defence
In stump speeches made in January, Trump mentioned Sanders’s name — or, as Trump refers to him, “Crazy Bernie” — eight times as often as Biden.
Trump, if he wants to get serious about Sanders, may need to come up with a more effective nickname for the unorthodox independent senator from Vermont. “Crazy Bernie,” like Trump’s “Crazy Nancy” for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is the name Trump resorts to for political rivals he doesn’t know how to handle.
The Right-Wing is turning on itself and it’s not just Fox Media. (ODT)
KION News 5 46
@KION546
PART OF WALL FALLS: The area is part of an ongoing construction project to improve existing sections of the wall. Read more: bit.ly/2t7HNJp
via Segment Of Trump’s Border Wall Falls Over Into Mexico Due To Wind | HuffPost Australia
Sixteen years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, most Americans understand that it was an illegal war based on lies about non-existent “weapons of mass destruction.” But our government is now threatening to drag us into a war on Iran with a nearly identical “big lie” about a non-existent nuclear weapons program, based on politicized intelligence from the same CIA teams that wove a web of lies to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The U.S. Is Recycling Its Big Lie About Iraq To Target Iran | The Smirking Chimp
Like Dupont Corporations have the power to make the thought of Common Good go away (ODT)
“They are trying to totally destroy me.”
Donziger is not exaggerating. As he was arguing the case against Chevron in Ecuador back in 2009, the company expressly said its long-term strategy was to demonize him. And since then, Chevron has continued its all-out assault on Donziger in what’s become one of the most bitter and drawn-out cases in the history of environmental law. Chevron has hired private investigators to track Donziger, created a publication to smear him, and put together a legal team of hundreds of lawyers from 60 firms, who have successfully pursued an extraordinary campaign against him. As a result, Donziger has been disbarred and his bank accounts have been frozen. He now has a lien on his apartment, faces exorbitant fines, and has been prohibited from earning money. As of August, a court has seized his passport and put him on house arrest. Chevron, which has a market capitalization of $228 billion, has the funds to continue targeting Donziger for as long as it chooses.
Oh Tony Abbott will be disappointed!! He wanted us to be ever so British and an honarary member of NATO and a leading member of the global Coalition. The LNP wante to even be world Arms Dealer and not just a buyer. It seems his and the LNP thought bubble have been well and truley popped. (ODT)
As with climate policy, Australia’s leadership is too close to America, too close to Rupert Murdoch and too weak to secure the country from future military threats. This is the second in the “Second Rate Leadership”, series by former public service chief Jon Stanford.
Speaking of urgency, how long do you think it’ll take for that report on whether Bridget McKenzie breached ministerial standards to reach the PM’s desk? It’s been a week and nothing yet. I mean, it’s not like they need to wait for DNA samples to come back from the lab.
But I guess it’s hard to convince someone to take one for the team when everyone else is playing for themselves.
via Scott Morrison Dazzles At The National Press Club… – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The old man the young with heart love and they along with Women and Black Americans have the capacity to change America’s Direction (ODT)
“Sanders is a movement candidate — who will be accountable to our generation,” Carney replied. “He has proven that he is aligned with the version of the world that we want to create. And since before our generation was born, he was fighting the injustices that we are fighting today.”
New Hampshire Youth Movement is a natural ally of the Bernie 2020 campaign, as the organization’s website makes clear:
via Bernie Sanders and His Movement Are on the Verge of History
Quid Pro Quo there is nothing more certain than Trump expects a return from Israel.(ODT)
Palestinians have an opportunity to stop annexation. But it may mean taking drastic steps, such as dismantling the Palestinian Authority and putting an end to security coordination with Israel.
via Trump just green-lit annexation. Here’s how Palestinians can stop it – +972 Magazine
Advertisers are it seems thin on the ground when searching for arenas of truth (ODT)
In 2007, after Fox & Friends promoted a quickly debunked report that then-Sen. Barack Obama had gone to school at an extremist Islamic madrassa as a child, a top Fox News executive issued a truly startling internal memo to the network’s newsroom. “For the record,” then-Vice President of News John Moody wrote, “seeing an item on a website does not mean it is right. Nor does it mean it is ready for air on FNC.”
Thirteen years later, Facebook has reportedly named Jennifer Williams, who was a Fox & Friends senior producer at the time that memo was sent, to head video strategy for the social media giant’s forthcoming Facebook News,
Rather than practicing unquestioning allegiance, Chomsky recommends active questioning, telling Scheer, “You don’t love a state and follow its policies. … You criticize what’s wrong, try to change the policies, expose them; criticize it, change it.”
Chomsky was referring to Israel, but he could just as easily be talking about America, or even Americans’ attitude toward their preferred candidates. For his clear-eyed analysis of America under Trump, his decades-strong willingness to challenge authority and admit uncomfortable truths, and boundless intellectual energy, Noam Chomsky is our Truthdigger of the month.
the best evidence indicates that the wishes of ordinary Americans [have] little or no impact on the making of federal government policy. Wealthy individuals and organized interest groups—especially business corporations—have … much more political clout. … [T]he general public [is] … virtually powerless. … The will of majorities is … thwarted by the affluent and the well-organized, who block popular policy proposals and enact special favors for themselves. … Majorities of Americans favor specific policies designed to deal with such problems as climate change, gun violence, an untenable immigration system, inadequate public schools, and crumbling bridges and highways. … Large majorities of America favor various programs to help provide jobs, increase wages, help the unemployed, provide universal medical insurance, ensure decent retirement pensions, and pay for such programs with progressive taxes. Most Americans also want to cut “corporate welfare.” Yet the wealthy, business groups, and structural gridlock have mostly blocked such new policies. …
Murdoch is the proxy State Media for the LNP government “No questions asked” as long as you slash the funding to the ABC. Today our public media has been reduced ti the equivalent funding it had in 1984. This Government rode into power on the promis of No Cuts to the ABC. (ODT)
Any decent journalist would have asked basic questions such as:
How and when did the extraordinary surge in asylum seekers come about?
How big is the problem, really, given the Government is saying it is no big deal?
Is the Government really getting on top of the problem or are they just spinning a line?
What is the surge costing the economy and the budget?’
Does the Government actually have an effective plan to get on top of the problem?’But no, Chambers and Kelly just happily ignore such basic questions.
via ‘The Australian’ falls for Government spin on asylum seekers — again
“Does the minister agree that, whatever debate there may be concerning the principle of ministerial responsibility, the practice has almost invariably been that a minister resigns when his or her continued presence is causing damage and embarrassment to that government?” John Howard
While Australia bleeds, corporate multi-nationals are ripping us off blind, none more so than the major accounting firms.
As the nation watches its environment undergo perhaps the worst hit to its resilience with ongoing water shortages, a bushfire catastrophe, accompanied by declines in our gross domestic product (GDP) through unprecedented losses to agriculture, tourism, business, biodiversity and timber resources, major accounting firms are reaping the benefit of our privatised public sector to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
via ‘Unaccountable’: Accounting firms secure lucrative government contracts
The Trump administration did not consult the Palestinians in drawing up the plan, which gives away East Jerusalem and 30% of the Palestinian West Bank to Israel. The Palestinians may as well, Palestine foreign minister Saeb Erekat said, just withdraw from the 1995 Interim Agreement on Oslo.
Trump appears to have decided to unveil the Israel-Palestine plan on Tuesday to take the pressure off from his Senate impeachment trial and to shore up his support from the Jewish and evangelical communities. A majority of Americans in polls say they want Trump impeached and removed from office.
Morrison’s It’s all too much Australia pray! Frydenbergs resilient Nation is waiting for the NBN to kick in while the world passes by. (ODT)
No action from Morrison Government as NBN continues downward trend
Tony Abbott tried to set up a Climate Council within our Universities with the cheap $4million Bribe and Dr Bjorn Blomborg sold to us by News Corp as the world’s foremost intellect on Climate Change why? So Abbott could control “his” argument on Climate. Abbott did much the same supporting the Ramsay Foundation’s bribe of Universities to control our Culture and History. Again with the full backing and sale by News Corp The Spectator and Quadrant.
Twiggy Forrest is doing an Abbott controlling his Philanthropic Grant to consolidate his and Mining’s message on Climate. This isn’t generosity driven by any means but rather a bribe and grab for power and the privatisation of the Science much the same as when big Tobacco and Big Pharma wanted to control the research and thus the message vitally needed to serve their interests rather than the Common Good . Forrest is a Miner afterall. (ODT)
What Andrew Forest does is avoid paying tax and instead makes donations, so that he gets to control who and how the money is used, while also building up his reputation as a good Aussie bloke.
Not one Australian has voted for Twiggy and yet he helps set government policy, along with his profiteering climate change denier mates.
A true philanthropist is one that gives; not one who seeks fame and glory or the power to control how their gift is used.
It’s likely that Andrew Twiggy Forest is far from a true philanthropist.
Dutton is keeping up his reputation from the worst Minister for Health ever to the worst Homeland Minister. He simply doesn’t no what he’s doing. (ODT)
There are possible explanations for Dutton’s and Pezzullo’s failure in the bushfire emergency.
The first is sheer incompetence and the collapsed morale in the Department of Home Affairs. Abul Rizvi has cited numerous examples of just that.
The second explanation is, as an insider in Emergency Management Australia (EMA) told me, the focus in EMA has been the possible threat of terrorism to the neglect of other threats like bushfires. Presumably, this focus has been at the direction of Dutton and Pezzullo. This is consistent with the way we know that Dutton and Pezzullo have operated for many years — frighten us about the threat of terrorism because that delivers more political dividends.
Or is there just confusion in the Government about who is responsible? Is there shared responsibility with the Minister for Agriculture and Water David Littleproud?
At least one thing is very clear and that is the responsibility of the Department of Home Affairs for Commonwealth Emergency Management. It has failed in that responsibility.
Momentum is growing to call witnesses to Donald Trump’s impeachment trial after it was revealed his former national security advisor has written a book manuscript saying Trump directly tied military aid to Ukraine to politically-motivated investigations.
The revelations about John Bolton’s forthcoming book have shaken up the Senate impeachment trial, which appeared to be moving toward a speedy acquittal for Trump as early as the end of the week.
via ‘This is a game-changer’: John Bolton revelations upend Trump’s impeachment trial
Is Trump’s Impeachment raising Bernie? (ODT)
According to a Media Matters review Fox News prime-time hosts completely ignored the devastating bushfires raging across Australia during the first three months of the crisis It was only after a Rupert Murdoch-owned Australian newspaper started pushing a misleading talking point about arson that Fox’s Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham picked up the story to distract from the role of climate change in accelerating the crisis.
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