via No Wonder Wall Street Fears Warren and Sanders — They Speak for the People | The Smirking Chimp
Author: peterimrich
Instead of using reason and evidence, perhaps we should start saying things that will split the Coalition. Here’s a list of ten possible ways to wedge the Liberal Party which you could use for Twitter or a letter to the Editor:
Australian lack of education is making us less imaginative (ODT)
Lendlease walked away from its contract to rebuild the Sydney Football Stadium in July, leaving a giant hole in the ground and a state government scrambling to fill the construction void. The contract was worth $729 million but, in a retirement villages tax rort, the company has claimed far more than $729 million. Michael West reports on how Lendlease plays fast and loose with taxpayers.
via Lendlease tax boondoggle bigger than the hole it left in Sydney Football Stadium – Michael West
Footage of the US special forces raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s Syrian compound reportedly consisted of overhead surveillance footage and no audio, prompting questions over the extent of the dramatic licence taken by Donald Trump in describing the final moments of one of the most wanted terrorists in the world.
US officials who also watched the feed have declined to echo details of Trump’s macabre account of the Isis’s leader death on Saturday, including that Baghdadi was “whimpering, crying and screaming all the way”
The soldiers involved would have been wearing body cameras, but that footage was yet to be given to the White House at the time of Trump’s press conference, the Times report said.
The US defence secretary, Mark Esper, declined to endorse aspects of Trump’s cinematic account in an interview with ABC’s This Week programme on Sunday morning.
“I don’t have those details,” Esper said, when pressed on how Trump knew Baghdadi had whimpered and cried. “The president probably had the opportunity to talk to commanders on the ground.”
via Doubts over Donald Trump’s dramatic account of Baghdadi raid | World news | The Guardian
Essentially, Trump is positioning himself above the law. That’s a position that’s easy to take when walled away from your constituents in the White House, surrounded by enablers and illusions of “fake news,” but less so when confronted with a stadium full of citizens chanting for him to answer for his illegalities.
Essentially, Trump is positioning himself above the law. That’s a position that’s easy to take when walled away from your constituents in the White House, surrounded by enablers and illusions of “fake news,” but less so when confronted with a stadium full of citizens chanting for him to answer for his illegalities.
via Trump’s own rules of civility taught World Series fans to boo and chant, “Lock him up!” | Salon.com
In order to protect our communities, we must deepen solidarity between Jews, immigrants, Muslims, and all groups targeted by white nationalism and the racist rhetoric of the Trump camp. This means engaging with our differences in a shared understanding that it is the right which seeks to exclude and scapegoat our communities and silence our allies. The future of multiracial democracy depends on it.
The GOP has mainstreamed white nationalist anti-Semitism | +972 Magazine
Netanyahu did not criticise Trump or his decision to pull US troops out of Syria in his statement about the Turkish operation, but gradually stopped “name dropping” the US president in his public speeches. He even failed to show up at the UN meeting in New York, where he was expected to meet Trump for a one-on-one meeting and photo opportunity.
Trump is unlikely to abandon Israel anytime soon, but by “betraying” the Kurds he clearly created the perception in Tel Aviv that he could. This will cause new turmoil in an already volatile region, and add to the mounting troubles of the Israeli prime minister.
![File: US President Donald Trump gestures as he and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver statements at the White House in Washington, US, March 25, 2019 [Carlos Barria/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/10/25/82c3cb4d276e41e09d95e7d19ad7c360_18.jpg "What is behind the Israeli outrage over Turkey's Syria operation?")
via What is behind the Israeli outrage over Turkey’s Syria operation? | USA | Al Jazeera
Despite being a serial law breaker, the Oracle Corporation is the beneficiary of government contracts from the likes of the Department of Finance, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Oracle is currently a key player in Australian Visa Processing Pty Ltd, one of two consortia bidding for the privatisation of Australia’s visa system.
Oracle cheats on Australian income tax but boasts the ATO on its client list. Oracle treats Australian laws with contempt but has various government departments fawning all over it. Imagine a shoplifter stealing from Woolworths and then being rewarded with employment shifts at the store on double time. This is the story of Oracle in Australia.
via Oracle and EY: 42 breaches of the Corporations Act and counting – Michael West
Survey shows 56% of respondents would rather see the government fend off a downturn than deliver a surplus
Trump Whines: My Murder Of A Terrorist Leader Is BIGGER Than Obama’s
One of the two main hallmarks of Trump’s Presidency* is his constant pathological need to outdo President Barack Obama.
via Trump Whines: My Murder Of A Terrorist Leader Is BIGGER Than Obama’s | Crooks and Liars
Another UNPRECEDENTED move by Trump ODT)
Top Democrats reacted with anger to Donald Trump’s decision to go ahead with the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raid without giving them advance notice, on grounds that they were not to be trusted with such highly sensitive information.
In a break with precedent, Trump excluded senior Democrats on the so-called Gang of Eight – the group of congressional leaders who by law are to be informed of covert actions ordered by the US president – from all operational intelligence.
Those cut out of the loop included Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, and Adam Schiff, who chairs the House intelligence committee.
via Pelosi slams Trump for cutting Democrats out of loop on Baghdadi raid | World news | The Guardian
George Orwell’s novel 1984 was supposed to be a dystopian work of fiction, a warning of the perversions of truth which would be required to sustain totalitarianism if we were not careful.
In 2019, it has become a User’s Manual, a play-book, and some of the worst hypocrites in the world – otherwise known as the free-media in free-countries – deploy it to the nodding approbation of the political-classes they serve.
As Humpty Dumpty said, “The question is, which is to be master – that’s all.”
“The fundamentals are good” economy makes global news for tanking. (ODT)
via Australia’s alarmingly weak economy makes global headlines
Donald Trump is so weak and pathetic he actually may have staged a photo from Saturday to make it appear as though he was monitoring the raid on the Baghdadi compound when his official schedule shows that he was actually on the golf course.
It’s truly sad when the Reality Show President* is more concerned about appearances than doing the real work that every single other President did before him. Here is a great compilation of real and unstaged photos taken by Pete Souza from the Situation Room, taken during the raid on Osama bin Laden. The most iconic is this one:
Did The White House Stage Situation Room Baghdadi Raid Photo? | Crooks and Liars
Now at Fox of course it’s all about the money. Back in the 60’s DJ’s were paid to play records to insure higher ratings on Billboard whch translated to higher sales it was called “payola” That cash flow was eventually stopped. How is it Murdoch and Roger Ailes were allowed to apply the same formula with the NEWS. These days the money isn’t delivered in brown paper bags. It comes in the for of NDA contracts. (ODT)
Recently hired Fox News contributor John Solomon, a key player in President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani’s disinformation campaign against Joe Biden and his son Hunter, is now facing further ethical scrutiny.
According to a new report from ProPublica, Solomon was involved in an apparent pay-to-play operation at The Hill, involving him courting a conservative group for a six-figure advertising deal and also quoting its director in the Hill’s news content.
Fox News contributor Solomon linked to pay-to-play news operations | Media Matters for America
That’s not America. After all, Lady Liberty used to welcome newcomers with a torch, not an AR-15. We don’t wall ourselves in while bombing others in distant parts of the world, right?
Militarism in the USA & The Decay of Democracy
Democracy shouldn’t be about celebrating overlords in uniform. A now-widely accepted belief is that America is more divided, more partisan than ever, approaching perhaps a new civil war, as echoed in the rhetoric of our current president. Small wonder that inflammatory rhetoric is thriving and the list of this country’s enemies lengthening when Americans themselves have so softly yet fervently embraced militarism.
via Killing Me Softly with Militarism: The Decay of Democracy in America
The World is Young and so there’s hope. You can’t get a Million people to a right-wing demonstration only guns(ODT
Exclusive: PM was entitled to New Zealand citizenship from birth, but it is unclear whether his mother registered it
” Hollowness of words” =Lying SOB (ODT)
One small exchange in Senate estimates has exposed the measurable gap between the prime minister’s rhetoric and actions
Peter Dutton’s Asylum Seeker’s Camp Care (ODT)
In the week leading up to the first anniversary of the white nationalist terror attack that killed 11 worshipers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, progressive Jewish groups take to the streets to send an unequivocal message to Donald Trump and Fox News.
By focusing on Fox News, which frequently acts as a de facto state television network, the protesters sought to spell out the connection between the racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric of Donald Trump and large swathes of the Republican Party, and the acts of white terrorism that have struck at Jewish, Black, Muslim, Latinx and immigrant communities over the past few years.
Kelly is welcomed on Sky but Morrison bans him from the ABC (ODT)
Scott Morrison banned Liberal MP Craig Kelly from the ABC’s Q&A program
via
The Foreign Investment Review Board has already waved through the Healthscope acquisition and is presently deliberating on the Aveo deal. Yet the question must be asked; as Brookfield pays so little tax in Australia, what is the national interest in allowing this tax haven operator to buy billions of dollars buying key infrastructure when it merely siphons the profits offshore?
via House of Cards: is Brookfield the next Babcock & Brown? – Michael West
Peter Dutton’s NOT TALKING (ODT)
An award-winning Cameroonian investigative journalist invited to give a speech about media freedom at a conference in Brisbane on Friday has been denied a visa by Australian authorities.
Mimi Mefo, winner of this year’s Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award, was due to give the keynote address at the Integrity 20 conference hosted by Griffith University, but was told in correspondence that Australian authorities, “were not satisfied that the applicant’s employment and financial situation provide an incentive to return”.
Award winning journalist barred from Australian free speech conference
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