Author: peterimrich
When the Coalition under Malcolm Turnbull won 76 seats in the 2016 election, it was generally accepted that Turnbull had “blown it” and the knives were quickly sharpened. Yet when the ad man wins 77 seats, he is hailed as a messiah that has delivered a decisive victory enabling the Coalition to do whatever they damn well please.
Let’s be clear about that election result.
Leaving out Queensland, in the rest of the country, Labor won 62 seats compared to the Coalition’s 54. That is a resounding victory.
We have the government that Queensland thrust upon us against the wishes of every other state and territory (except WA – the only other state where the Coalition won a majority of seats).
via Labor are losing their nerve – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It’s a principle of stability in a parliamentary democracy that, while you may be elected by a slim majority, you must govern for everyone. If you start rewarding those who gave you power at the expense of everyone else, you invite disorder on the state.
via Return of Coalition Government threatens Australian values
It’s all OBSTRUCTION of a Co-Joint Congressional Committee (ODT)
via Here’s Another Impeachable Offense: Trump’s War on the Constitution – Mother Jones
Just who does this Prime Minister think he is that on a thought bubble of his own wind, in the loneliness of his limited intellect, think that he can make decisions concerning our standing in the world with all the simplicity of a leader unsuited to the task?
It’s not often you can offend all sides of an argument.
My thought for the day
This American Conservative political strategy of painting everything as black as possible and then pretending it’s only they that have the answers is being duplicated in Australia. It seems Australians are falling for it. I thought we were brighter than that.( John Lord)
via The state of play – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Where you have media like Murdoch, 2GB and Ch9 how on earth can you distinguish what’s business, political donation and lobbying. Let’s face it Alan Jones Andrew Bolt are paid lobbyists. (ODT)
There was a time when Indigenous Australian wages wern’t only less than half of the rest of Australia’s they were said to be government managed. $50 million went missing. Along with this “management” came an attached stigmatised negative reputation that has lasted 200 years that justified good white christian behaviour that prevented rather than assisted indigenous Australians to become like the rest of Australia. Debt, inheritance and capital gains were never and option. Only what they were given. They were and are still blamed for their historical demise. Is it any wonder they went walk about? Today the LNP government is inviting the rest of Australia to join them with their new welfare card and all the obligations that come with it. Some Australian no matter their color are to be treated as the Indigenous have for hundreds of years and we are now and only now it seems shocked. (ODT)
Stripping away people’s right to manage their own finances, making them second-class citizens, having to endure abuse and stigmatisation, being automatically branded as drug/alcohol abusers, being financially worse off due to extra fees and charges for using the card, plus penalties for when Indue fail to pay bills set up for direct debit is all OK by you?
Being denied opportunities to make ends meet by accessing cheaper options via markets, garage sales, eBay, buy/sell groups, many online stores, cash in hand sales/repairs etc, is OK by you?
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry revealed very clearly a major flaw in the Corporations Act.
The prime duty of the directors of a corporate body is to act in the best interests of shareholders, which, by implication means to maximise the profits for shareholders.
Nowhere is there any clear inference that, if the corporation provides a service to members of the public, its actions ought also to be directed to avoiding harm to the receiver of those services. Other legislation might well be invoked in those circumstances, but, in general, the corporation’s attention is firmly directed towards benefiting the shareholders. And if those who use corporate services are dissatisfied, they have to find other legal means to obtain satisfaction.
via Corporate power – customer powerless – » The Australian Independent Media Network
There is a disturbing trend emerging in Australia where the government is increasingly trying to silence the people.
They have painted unionists as lawless thugs and removed our ability to withhold our labour without their pre-arranged permission.
They have made charity funding dependent on them being uncritical of government policy.
They label conservationists and animal welfare groups as ecoterrorists and are pushing forward with legislation to make protesting unlawful if it causes any sort of disruption.
Public servants, journalists and whistleblowers face prosecution if they reveal what the government is doing.
They claim the gay community has “an agenda” and are therefore trying to introduce laws that make discrimination against them legal but discrimination against religious people illegal.
They dismiss school students who are concerned about inaction on climate change as being brainwashed by virtue-signalling elites and tell them to be quiet and get back to school.
via Now is NOT the time to be a ‘quiet Australian’ – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The waning of American Democracy and power in less than 3 years. The moral bankruptcy of a Nation in full relief (ODT)
The Trump administration has blocked a planned deposition from Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union and a central figure in the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, according to a statement by his lawyer.
Trump administration blocks testimony of central figure in impeachment inquiry
HOW CAN AUSTRALIA OR ANY OTHER NATION TRUST AMERICA WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHIVE. AUSTRALIA YOUR BEING CONNED TRUMP WON’T DO ANTHINGTO HELP IF YOUR CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE IT’S THE LEAST TRUSTED COUNTRY IN THE WORD TODAY. (ODT)
Trump appeared to address some of the concerns over his decision to withdraw support in northern Syria, tweeting Monday that he would “totally destroy” Turkey’s economy if its leaders did anything he considers to be “off limits.”
“The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected,” he wrote. “It is now time for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!”
via Republicans, Foreign Policy Experts Condemn Trump’s Decision To Abandon Kurds | HuffPost
It’s not unusual for billionaires and lobbyists to set up political groups that masquerade as grassroots movements, but most of the time they make it slightly difficult for the rest of us to figure out what’s going on. Other times, however, it’s not that hard.
Part 3
Murdoch-Funded Anti-Gerrymandering Group Hired Lobbyists With a History of Gerrymandering
Part 2
“Worth This Investment”: Memos Reveal the Scope and Racial Animus of GOP Gerrymandering Ambitions
Part 1
GOP Racial Gerrymandering Mastermind Participated in Redistricting in More States Than Previously Known, Files RevealSee all (3)https://theintercept.com/series/rigging-the-vote/
via Murdoch-Funded Anti-Gerrymandering Group’s Questionable Origins
The District Attorney has subpoenaed Mr Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns
The Trump Organisation is being investigated for payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with the President
Mr Trump’s lawyers say, as president, he is immune from any criminal probe
Trump and his Lawyer (ODT)
via Giuliani Pretends Right-Wing Website Posts Are Affidavits | Crooks and Liars
Of more than 50,000 Australians who participated in the mammoth study, most — 78 per cent — were optimistic about their own futures.
But they were much less hopeful for the future of the nation at large (51 per cent optimistic), and frankly despairing about where the world’s headed, with only 30 per cent hopeful for the future of the globe.
In a hyperactive and increasingly tribalised world, it seems the fear of what lies outside our own sphere of control is far worse than the adversity we face personally.
The second whistleblower poses a threat to the president’s attempts to downplay the scandal because the second person supposedly has first-hand knowledge of Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
via A Second Whistleblower Is Coming Forward in Ukraine Scandal, Attorneys Say – Mother Jones
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic.
Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans.
So the U.S. used the Kurds and will now meekly turn them over to the tender mercies of Mr. Erdogan. Will the Green Berets and Navy Seals have to flee with their tails between their legs?
So of course Mr. Tough Guy Trump has something to say about all this, right?
Wrong.
Never has the United States had a more cowardly president, or one who could not be bothered actually to pursue a coherent foreign policy. A real strongman, not a pretend de Niro, is about to kick Trump’s butt.
——-
Bonus Video:
VOA News: “Turkey Sends Military Reinforcements to Border with Syria”
Filed Under: Donald Trump, Featured, Kurds, Syria, Turkey, US Foreign Policy
About the Author
via Trump Talks tough with Journalists but Lets Strongmen like Turkey’s Erdogan Walk all over Him
He’s a Fake. He’s not a represntativeof Australia Warringah or any of us. We voted him unrepresentative. (ODT)
I KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.Continuing to refuse to accept the science is dooming the world to even more unpleasant circumstances for our children than they will already experience because we have waited so long to take really effective action.
I truly believe the real adults need to take over the streets until the government gets stuck into the job which it is morally obliged to take on!
Ensuring that the world remains habitable for all living things!
via The never-ending battle between religion and science – » The Australian Independent Media Network
As the impeachment saga gathers pace, even some Republicans fear that we’re looking at the ’doomsday president’
via If Donald Trump goes down, he’ll try to take everyone with him | Opinion | The Guardian
However, when a scientist starts to suggest that climate change isn’t real and that it’s just a conspiracy, I have to wonder why they aren’t actually putting forward an alternative hypothesis that challenges the climate scientists. When they start to argue like Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt, I can’t but think that they’re sounding about as sane as Freddie who is blaming me for the slump in Richmond’s form is a result of my refusal to give Freddie his socks back.
Peter Dutton has described protesters as ‘a scourge’ with the threat of increased penalties and imprisonment in several states
On Monday, the activist group Extinction Rebellion will begin a week of global protests.
In Brisbane, home to the grassroots organisation’s first Australian chapter, activists are preparing to stage protests around the city. At the group’s headquarters in Woolloongabba, a busy training schedule is under way. It is hosting introductory sessions at local libraries planning two large-scale marches, with a litany of other “non-violent disruptive actions”.
Since the group conducted its first action in Australia in April, there have been more than 170 arrests, with penalties ranging from a warning to a $1,500 fine.
Would Dutton have retained his seat if Get Up and the Greens hadn’t treated his constituents as idiots? (ODT)
Anne Ruston and Peter Dutton stand out among their Coalition colleagues, since both stand out as seeming to be supremely incapable of seeing life as it really is. Their blindness to the fact that the majority of people forced to be dependent on Newstart are not drug addicts or malingerers and that the children – AND adults – who took part in the School Strike4Climate marches, are genuinely concerned about their future, is ignored in favour of vilifying fellow citizens less wealthy – or blind – than they themselves appear to be!.
I am one of many grandparents and great grandparents who accept the science on climate change. After all, the oil companies did their own research over 30 years ago and were well aware of the climate damage which would result from the escalating use of fossil fuels. And time has proved their predictions were spot on!
via Empathy. They have none. – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It has been written elsewhere that Patriotism is but a short goose-step away from Fascism, and that Nationalism is but a short spurt of frenzied flag-waving away from Totalitarianism. There is more than just a shade of truth in all of that.
Mass unstoppable protest, to my mind, is the only answer. Reasonableness, and hope in the power of our electoral system, has not worked, and the rightist nationalists and patriots currently control our national political and societal agendas. They present a face of Australia to the world that is not representative of who we are.
But getting out there and protesting, and standing solidly in the road against the nationalists and patriots, is not always an easy thing to do in contemporary Australia. Because it identifies you to them clearly as a non-patriot, and a non-nationalist, and a non-fascist, and a non-bigot, and a non-racist, and a non-hater, and a non-ignoramus, and a non-denier. It publicly identifies you as NOT being like them.
Their power will continue to grow in Australia unless more and more of us are prepared to get out there, unless more and more of us are prepared to run the risk of identifiably standing in opposition and defiance to them.
Our political parties who oppose the Right need to do more than just try and represent us in our parliaments. They need to join us on the streets. We need to join them on the streets. We need to join each other on the streets.
I cannot see any other method that will, from now on, help us to achieve a better and more humane and more progressive Australia.
via Patriots in a Red Dirt Land – » The Australian Independent Media Network
RELEASE of the second-quarter GDP figures showed the Australian economy facing its lowest annual growth since the global financial crisis, calls from RBA & general public for the Morrison Govt to engage some sort of stimulus program exp independentaustralia.net/politics/polit
1:47 PM · Sep 20, 2019Twitter Web AppIN A RECENT SURVEY conducted by the Australian Financial Review, every single economist who participated had the same message for the Morrison Government: the Reserve Bank should not have to rescue the economy on its own.
However, despite the mounting evidence of domestic economic slowdown and the growing risk of a potential global recession, the Morrison Government continues to reject calls for a stimulus. Instead, the Government insists that its tax cuts and “superior economic management” will kickstart the economy and that everything will be fine.
olddogthoughts 
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