Prime Minister Scott Morrison has further damaged Australia’s reputation both overseas and from within his own Government, writes John Wren.
Source: Wren’s Week: Scott Morrison is destroying Australia’s future inside and out
Category: Informed Comment
Just how good is the WestConnex mega-deal which toll road monopolist Transurban has struck with NSW? Where is the that $11b going and what is this mysterious new “WestInvest”? Wendy Bacon investigates the deception around Australia’s biggest and most secretive infrastructure project.
This week, more stories highlighting the pain of tolls have emerged from another Parliamentary Inquiry into tolling regimes. Big trucking company Toll recommended that its trucks avoid tollroads where the benefits are not clear. But late this week, there is more diversionary spin. Channel Nine reports that the NSW government has announced 19 new bridges at the St Peters Interchange and five kilometres of motorway which will cost $2 billion.
Is this the same Sydney Gateway project that was first announced 7 years ago and announced again in 2018? Is this old money spun into another upbeat announcement or has the $2 billion project morphed into an even bigger project to feed traffic into Westconnex? Unbelievably, the same old PR line of drivers saving 40 minutes from Parramatta to the airport, as has been constantly used since 2012, has been recycled again.
The question is not how the profits from the sale of WestConnex will be used but rather how much WestConnex will cost the public now and in the future.
Technology might have moved in leaps and bounds over the past 900 years but corrupt and inefficient political systems remain de rigeur. It is now the media rather than the Church which deliver credibility to the political system, a system which governs in the interests of corporations rather than people. Yet it is people who are going to have to pay for government, if Budget paper estimates are any guide – as corporate tax receipts are not tipped to rise too much. We will pay for the useless military expenditures, for a patently unfair political and economic system which diverts wealth from ordinary people to corporations, which rewards corporate and political fealty above good government and fairness.
Source: $66 Billion Reasons: did Scott Morrison get the French submarines right? – Michael West Media
As the US government fights to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a bombshell new report has revealed just how far the CIA contemplated going in its war on the Australian journalist. It weighed not just kidnapping but assassinating Assange.
Source: The US Considered Kidnapping and Even Assassinating Julian Assange
Trump was a dream come true for the Proud Boys. God only knows what messaging he might have continued giving to white supremacist groups had he secured another term. Biden needs to now break up the dangerous groundwork that was laid for groups like them. And ordinary Americans need to push him. The safety of tax-paying Americans, and American democracy itself, is depending on it.
In most years, a little over 1 million immigrants come into the United States. 2. The birth rate of immigrants is 2.0, i.e. it is at replacement, and is only slightly more than native-born Americans. In recent years fertility among immigrants has fallen faster than that among people born here. So just to underline this, in 18 years if immigration laws and trends remain the same, we can expect 18 million more immigrants in a country of 345 million or so. They won’t have three children they will have two, just replacing themselves, and the children won’t be of voting age for the most part. 3. Only 45% are likely to be naturalized US citizens, so that is only 8.1 million new voters. They will be 2.3% of the population and spread all over the country. 4. On average, about 20% of recent immigrants in the U.S. vote Republican. About 30% say they have no political leanings. The rest, about 50% do vote Democratic. So of the 8.1 million new voters among immigrants, 1.6 million will vote for Dan Patrick and his like, and we have no idea how another 2.5 million or so of them will vote, if they vote at all. So we are down to about 4 million new Democratic Party voters in a country of 3
Source: Top 5 Things Wrong with the Mainstreamed Racist Republican “Replacement Theory”
The gas development in the Beetaloo Basin is guaranteed to accelerate and worsen climate change impacts on our health, writes Dr David Shearman. AUSTRALIA IS A global pariah for its unapologetic fossil fuel stance, in the face of the recent IPCC code red warning on climate change.
Source: Australia’s approval of gas projects lighting climate change fires
My thought for the day The ability of thinking human beings to blindly embrace what they are being told without referring to evaluation and the consideration of scientific fact, truth and reason, never ceases to amaze me. It is tantamount to the rejection of rational explanation. (John Lord )
The competing systems of power in the United States are divided between oligarchy and autocracy. There are no other alternatives. Neither are pleasant. Each have peculiar and distasteful characteristics. Each pays lip service to the fictions of democracy and constitutional rights. And each exacerbates the widening social and political divide and the potential for violent conflict.
Source: The Smirking Chimp | News And Commentary from the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
This week, two high-stakes games of chicken. The first is between Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans over raising the debt ceiling and extending funding the government beyond Thursday.
Source: The Week of Two High-Stakes Games of Chicken | The Smirking Chimp
Income disparity in the US has never been greater and history tells us nations fall apart when that disparity grows. Let’s face it even Trump doesn’t believe he’s rich enough and is happy to brag about not paying taxes. He’s able to mobilize those feeling they have been and are being replaced in today’s America. Turning class war into culture war and missing the point altogether. The greatest danger to America is from the neo-fascists within and not from anyone outside its borders.
Most immediately apparent is the disproportion between the modesty of the reform proposal and the intense hostility it has evoked. Changes in the top marginal income tax bracket would only bring the tax code back to pre 2017 levels, and the surtax on incomes above 5 million will hardly dent the regressivity of the tax code. Nonetheless, from the reaction one would think a Warren/Sanders coup was about to confiscate all wealth.
Lessons might have been learned from earlier failures, but while Morrison appears to find plenty of moments to shift blame for those failures, he takes few opportunities to reflect on moments in which he could learn from them.
Philip Morris announced it would UNSMOKE the world and is better than any public enforcement or Quit campaign.
In recent years, “corporate social responsibility” has been viewed by some as the answer to the multiple failings of capitalism. Chief executives have responded to all sorts of problems – worsening climate change, widening inequality, soaring healthcare costs and so on – by promising their corporations will lead the way to solutions because they’re committed to being “socially responsible”.
Source: Why corporate social responsibility is BS | Robert Reich | The Guardian
Morrison’s tanking of the Australian-French submarine deal in favour of the AUKUS pact signals to the world that Australia is not interested in being a real sovereign nation, writes Peter Henning.
Source: Morrison’s ‘sub-par’ performance tanks Australia’s national identity
The Morrison years have been appalling for Australian workers. Alan Austin reveals the actual state of employment — because the mainstream media refuses to do so.
Source: Morrison and Frydenberg set multiple ‘all-time worst’ records on jobs
Today’s German elections mark the effective end of Angela Merkel’s 16-year rule. Yanis Varoufakis ( Australian) writes for Jacobin about how she became Europe’s most dominant peacetime leader — at the expense of Europe itself.
Source: Yanis Varoufakis: Angela Merkel Was Bad for Europe and the World
As dreadful as the numbers are with COVID-19 blazing through the unvaccinated, the underlying ideology that drives our economic model is the real existential threat to the lives of working Americans. That ideology is “Libertarianism.” Its proponents assert there are several variations on their spectrum. However, there are basic principles on which libertarians agree.
Source: The Real Threat to Working People is Not COVID-19 | The Smirking Chimp
The National Party has no environmental credibility whatsoever, so why do they act like they are the sole arbitrator of the process?
As far back as Korea America abandoned peace and simply focused on redefining war and Australia and the UK have been swallowed up it that strategy ever since.
The United Sates seem to be undermining, with militarising the area with their Navy even though China is not interfering with the freedom of movement of international shipping in the South China Sea as admitted by retired US Admiral Cedric Leighton. In the 16th century we saw invasions from western powers with the Portuguese, Dutch and British saw invasions of conquest right up to the US in the Vietnam war. In these invasions was the western powers invasions of China and division on their country in the late 19th century, with a zero sum, your with us or you are against us foreign policy with Asia. Many horse gamblers bet odds on the historical track record of a horse US lead AUKUS group does not seem to have a strategy of Chess game and more like a game of Hungry Hungry Hungry Hippo zero sum win game in Asia.
Source: What Strategic Game is AUKUS playing in Asia? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Grace refuses to tame the shrew Grace Tame, 2021 Australian of the Year, left the nation in awe with her profoundly eloquent, inspiring and moving acceptance speech. It shamed those of us who could have done more and didn’t. Including female politicians. No more shaming or taming of the shrew within! The end of her courageous speech when she talks of her serial rapist teacher’s command to be quiet, still echoes in my head and turns my gut: “I remember him saying, ‘Don’t make a sound… Well, hear me now! Using my voice, amongst a growing chorus of voices that will not be silenced. Let’s make some noise, Australia!”
Source: Scott Morrison’s coercive control of women (part 3) – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Australia is languishing through lack of leadership. Christian Porter, Scott Morrison and the LNP have forgotten that they are servants to the people. Instead, they are trying to enslave us to a decrepit legacy system that is reliant on coercive control, and social infrastructure drip fed by political bullies.
Source: Scott Morrison’s coercive control of women (part 2) – » The Australian Independent Media Network
“Almost comical”. Experts lambast Scott Morrison’s “crazy” AUKUS deal to buy nuclear submarine tech from parlous UK and US programs. Marcus Reubenstein finds a real prospect Australia will be used to “underwrite” the foundering foreign submarine industry.
The hacktivist collective Anonymous leaked over 150 gigabytes of private data after hacking the web registration company Epik, a popular domain host for far-right groups.
Revelations of rampant cheating at KPMG echo the broader decay in culture at the top of business in Australia; at the Big Four firms which advise both our largest corporations and government, indeed the firms to which government itself is being outsourced. Michael West speaks with Jeffrey Knapp.
Source: Uppercut: KPMG cheating scandal mirrors Big Four rot, business leadership – Michael West Media
Tess Lawrence is not known for holding back when holding forth. In this first excerpt from a longer treatise she calls out Prime Minister Scott Morrison, accusing him of both implicit and complicit coercive control over women in Australia, including female cabinet ministers as well as complainants of alleged rape and other forms of sexual assault and harassment. Content warning: This article discusses rape and institutional political psychosexual violence. Scott Morrison’s coercive control of women
Source: Scott Morrison’s coercive control of women (part 1) – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Just imagine for one moment that the identity of Christian Porter was transformed into that of a Labor Minister. How do you think the Murdoch media would react? Well, let me tell you. The Australian, Sky News, The Herald Sun and other news outlets (where the truth goes to die) are completely ignoring the issue of where the money come from to pay Porter’s bills, and that parliamentary standards are worsening under this Government. It is like they take delight in the destruction of those things necessary to make our democracy work.
Morrison fled to Murdoch’s and the US Lap
Morrison’s de facto declaration of cold war on China can only further damage the nation’s relationship with its biggest trading partner, while his break-up by press announcement with France over the epic absurdity of its romance of the retro-fitted diesel nuclear submarine can only help destroy his credibility and that of his government even further. Above all, AWKUS sees an alarming retreat in Australia’s foreign policy from an independent nation with pretensions to being a middle power, to a vassal of the United States, not a deputy sheriff but an indentured servant.
09.22 Dominic Kelly
Libertarianism is marginal in Australian politics. But the governing coalition’s failings and the rise in support for right-wing anti-lockdown protests have given the dangerous Liberal Democratic Party an opportunity to make gains.
Source: Jacobin
So Iran, a country with which we were enjoying warming relations until Donald Trump poisoned them, is up there with China and Russia as a threat to Australia in the opinion of the National Security Committee. Barnaby Joyce reminded the media the ‘‘reason we have a National Security Committee is because it’s secret’’. Photo: AAP The possible insight is that such a perception betrays the entirely American-centric nature of our security and defence outlook. It underlines our client state status that Iran-Saudi and Iran-Israel tensions were a consideration in signing open cheques for nuclear-powered submarines. After our participation in the Iraq and Afghanistan debacles, the Morrison government apparently maintains an interest in Australian military involvement in the Middle East.
Source: Michael Pascoe: And now Iran is threatening us, claims Acting PM
As the Trumpist movement escalates its assault on American democracy and society, the country’s political and leadership class cannot reasonably claim the defense of ignorance, or protest that this was all so “unprecedented” and came as a total surprise.
Email Twitter62 Facebook8.6k LinkedIn Print Scenes of protesters clad in hi-vis jackets and shouting anti-vaccination slogans have dominated the news this week.
As the ABC reported: Some of those gathered held a banner reading ‘freedom’, while others sang the national anthem and chanted ‘f*** the jab’. Some attacked union offices, drawing criticism from officials such as ACTU chief Sally McManus, who described the protests as being orchestrated “by violent right-wing extremists and anti-vaccination activists.” These images may shock some but for researchers like me — who research far-right nationalist and conspiracy movements, and explore the online spaces where these people organise — these scenes came as no real surprise.
Premier Daniel Andrews has urged Victorians to stay the course, saying “there is no other way” and vaccinations are “the only ticket out of the pandemic” as Melbourne teeters on the edge.
Source: ‘There’s no other way’: Daniel Andrews urges Victorians to stay the course
My thought for the day Will we ever grow intellectually to the point where we can discern, understand and act on those matters that seek the good within us? ( John Lord )
Australia’s nuclear submarine deal will be of no benefit to the country in terms of environment or foreign policy, writes Dave Sweeney.
Source: Nuclear sub plan sees Australia’s reputation take a dive
Marketing and the big Fail. Doesn’t the word Murdoch spring to mind just look where Harvey Norman’s Advertises.
The government’s response was the program was designed quickly to create the most stimulus and there was no mechanism to recover the funds from those that found out after the event they didn’t meet the criteria. Sounds like the same thing they pilloried the progressive side of politics for about a decade earlier. At the same time, the same conservative government considered chasing individuals who received JobKeeper as well as JobSeeker during the 2020/2021 Financial Year. In the government’s eyes this isn’t a correct and proper use of resources. The story is pretty clear – the progressive political party really couldn’t market themselves out of a wet paper bag. The conservative political party is all about the marketing. Anyone want a black coffee mug?
Source: A tale of two ideologies – » The Australian Independent Media Network
In his maiden speech, Dutton said “I have seen the sickening behaviour displayed by people who, frankly, barely justify their existence in our sometimes over tolerant society.” Having watched Dutton enhance his personal fortune for twenty years, I have seen nothing to justify his existence in our parliament or the support of his over tolerant constituents and colleagues.
Source: Dutton does defence – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Political cowardice means those funding Joe Biden’s ambitious social policy plan want to leave the mega-rich unscathed
Education Minister Alan Tudge should look closely at history before criticising expert’s proposed curriculum changes, suggesting school students challenge ideas about Anzac Day, writes Dechlan Brennan.
We need to teach future generations how to properly understand the effects of fossil fuel power and become more efficient energy consumers, writes Howard Morrison.
The Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation package would reshape the American economy.
Source: Deconstructed: Tax the Rich
Strap in for a media blitz on the threat from China. Prime Minister #ThatFellaDownUnder Scott Morrison and his merry band are about to take a war to the election. Michael West reports.
The PM’s army of propagandists has been working around the clock over the past two days marketing the latest announcement to a fawning press: AUKUS, a new “Alliance for the Ages as China Threat Grows”, according to The Australian. And what results!
Christian Porter’s secret legal payments are off the front pages, as is the JobKeeper mega-rort, the biggest transfer of wealth in history from working Australians to wealthy Australians and foreign corporations.
Early Thursday morning there was no AUKUS. The AFR did have a scoop though, splashing with: “PM to announce $90b French submarine deal is dead”.
Noam Chomsky talks to Jacobin about why the US withdrawal from Afghanistan won’t change US imperialism, the many war crimes of George W. Bush, and why he still believes in average people’s ability to push back against the war machine.
Source: Noam Chomsky: Average People Still Have the Power to Stop Wars
Socialism comprehends empathy; conservatism and its partner capitalism do not.
Ronald Reagan would not recognise a party that wants to intrude the power of the state everywhere, making a mockery of values it once espoused
Virtually every new data release confirms Australia’s economic demise under Prime Minister Morrison and Treasurer Frydenberg. Alan Austin updates the tally of disastrous outcomes.
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT IS at an all-time low. As is Australia’s net worth and its global ranking on economic growth. Tax-free corporate profits are at an all-time high.
Source: Morrison Government sets more ‘worst ever’ economic records
Ten reasons why we MUST have a change of government:
Source: We can do so much better than this – » The Australian Independent Media Network
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