Category: Informed Comment

Informed Comment

War With China So Thank God Those Subs Are On Their Way… – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Perhaps my young dog gave me a better analogy. He’s still at a stage where he’s likely to steal shoes or other miscellaneous objects. When he gives them back without a fight, I pat him on the head and say, “Good boy!” This doesn’t mean that I trust him not to steal another one and neither does it mean that I believe I’ll get it back without a fight… I suspect that many of the Australians who gave Morrison a tick of approval feel exactly the same way.

War With China So Thank God Those Subs Are On Their Way… – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

Trump’s Vilest Legacy | The Smirking Chimp

Most of the 74,222,957 Americans who voted to reelect Donald Trump – 46.8 percent of the votes cast in the 2020 presidential election – don’t hold Trump accountable for what he’s done to America. Their acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy.

Trump’s Vilest Legacy | The Smirking Chimp
Informed Comment

Americans’ acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy | Donald Trump | The Guardian
More than 74m Americans voted to re-elect Donald Trump.

Trump has brought impunity to the highest office in the land, wielding a wrecking ball to American democracy

Americans’ acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Bernie Sanders Blasts Trump: ‘What The President Is Doing Right Now Is Unbelievably Cruel’ | Crooks and Liars

Senator Bernie Sanders blasted Trump’s refusal to sign the negotiated COVID relief plan because ‘we have a pathologically narcissistic in the White House.”

Bernie Sanders Blasts Trump: ‘What The President Is Doing Right Now Is Unbelievably Cruel’ | Crooks and Liars
Informed Comment

Right-Wing Populism May Be Wounded, But It’s Certainly Not Dead

With Trump’s defeat and other setbacks for the Right around the world, some commentators have proclaimed the death of right-populism. But the structural factors that gave rise to it remain in place, and only a recharged left-wing movement can address them.

Right-Wing Populism May Be Wounded, But It’s Certainly Not Dead
Informed Comment

Peril in the Middle East, Peril at Home: Our Top 10 Stories of 2020

Here are some of the Informed Comment stories that most excited readers this year:

Peril in the Middle East, Peril at Home: Our Top 10 Stories of 2020
Informed Comment

Coronavirus Australia: This year wasn’t unprecedented. If anything, it set the precedent
Locals and tourists on the Mallacoota wharf as fire devastated the region over summer.

The common thread running through 2020 is not merely “shit”, unprecedented or otherwise. It is environmental degradation, accumulated over decades, now accelerating out of control and rebounding upon us in exactly the ways we’ve been told they would. Unprecedented? Possibly. But then consider this year the precedent.

Coronavirus Australia: This year wasn’t unprecedented. If anything, it set the precedent
Informed Comment

Inside Australia’s Secret Rich List – Michael West

Have Australia’s wealthiest old families bought off the political process? Despite myriad attempts over the years to repeal the cosy “grandfathering” exemption, the billionaires are still permitted – like no other Australians – to keep their companies “dark”. Today Michael West Media unveils the first in a series of investigations by Luke Stacy and Stephanie Tran involving more than 5,000 corporate searches to find the people and the labyrinthine structures behind the Secret Rich List. Luke Stacey and Michael West report.

Inside Australia’s Secret Rich List – Michael West
Informed Comment

How the Richest 1 Percent Came Out Big Winners in the Covid Relief Bill | The Smirking Chimp

Hidden in the bill combining Covid relief and government spending is a cool $200 billion in tax breaks. An estimated $120 billion of those tax breaks will go to the richest 1 percent of Americans. Those giveaways include:

How the Richest 1 Percent Came Out Big Winners in the Covid Relief Bill | The Smirking Chimp
Informed Comment

How Australia can learn from Scandinavian countries

It’s interesting to compare the major economic models in the Western world: the Anglo-Saxon model, the Rhineland model and the Scandinavian model.

How Australia can learn from Scandinavian countries
Informed Comment

Thank Socialism for the Vaccine. Blame Capitalism for Its Distribution.

The jaw-dropping speed of COVID-19 vaccine development is a glorious marvel of science, cooperation, and economic planning — a glimpse of how much more an egalitarian world could produce and achieve. But the lifeboat ethics of vaccine rollout is a horrifying display of the inefficiency and cruelty of capitalism.

Thank Socialism for the Vaccine. Blame Capitalism for Its Distribution.
Informed Comment

The Morrison Government’s program of class warfare
I’m here to sell product not manufacture it.

The reality is the Coalition Government has engaged in blatant class warfare that has punished and disenfranchised workers and the most vulnerable, whilst protecting corporate interests and its political donors. Let’s take a tour of the most recent policy misadventures.

The Morrison Government’s program of class warfare
Informed Comment

Pathetic leadership = pathetic policy = pathetic cabinet = pathetic governance – » The Australian Independent Media Network
We are Teflon coated

My thought for the day I feel people on the right of politics in Australia show an insensitivity to the common good that goes beyond any thoughtful examination. They have hate on their lips, and their hate starts with the beginning of a smile.

Pathetic leadership = pathetic policy = pathetic cabinet = pathetic governance – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

They Said Tax Cuts for the Rich Would Create Jobs. It Never Happened.

For forty years, governments around the world have been cutting taxes on the rich, claiming that the result would be more jobs and higher incomes. A new study shows how catastrophically wrong that policy has been.

They Said Tax Cuts for the Rich Would Create Jobs. It Never Happened.
Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Trickle-down economics doesn’t work but build-up does – is Biden listening? | US economy | The Guardian
The development and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines shows public investment works.

A new study confirms tax cuts for the rich do not benefit the rest. Recovery from the pandemic is a chance to change course

Trickle-down economics doesn’t work but build-up does – is Biden listening? | US economy | The Guardian
Informed Comment

Scott Morrison’s Successful Year! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

GOTTA LAUGH

Scott Morrison has had a really successful year! I know this, and not just because the media keep telling me what a great year he’s had.

Scott Morrison’s Successful Year! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

How Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook will Turn America into a Banana Republic

For the United States, the lesson is stark. Surviving the recent electoral turmoil does not guarantee it will outlast a similar scenario the next time. Republican leaders’ failure to repudiate baseless allegations of electoral fraud – and some Republicans’ willingness to pursue legal action based on these claims – further undermines the legitimacy of the democratic process. Trump was defeated, but Trumpism will have a lasting effect.

How Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook will Turn America into a Banana Republic
Informed Comment

Who is the owner of Nature?
Who owns Nature?

The greatest threat to humanity lies in this unprecedented and unequal distribution of resources – the inability of the selfish few to share what they have stolen from all of us through globalism. The future of life on this planet hangs in the balance.

Who is the owner of Nature?
Informed Comment

Without a reboot in 2021, can Anthony Albanese win the next election? | Anthony Albanese | The Guardian
Anthony Albanese

I once supported Albanese’s leadership tilt, but the Labor leader’s competitiveness is compromised by factors internal and external

Without a reboot in 2021, can Anthony Albanese win the next election? | Anthony Albanese | The Guardian
Informed Comment

How come a pathetic government leads in the polls? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

“How come?” with almost three terms of pathetic governance is the Morrison government able to maintain such a lead in the polls?

How come a pathetic government leads in the polls? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

Trump appointees protest politicization of the pandemic now — but the GOP has long distorted science | Salon.com

.

main article image

“two Trump appointees at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) who witnessed “the White House’s slow suffocation of the agency’s voice, the meddling in its messages and the siphoning of its budget.”

Trump appointees protest politicization of the pandemic now — but the GOP has long distorted science | Salon.com
Informed Comment

JOHN PILGER: The most lethal virus is not COVID-19 — it’s war

I have reported a number of wars. I have seen the remains of children and women and the elderly bombed and burned to death — their villages laid to waste, their petrified trees festooned with human parts. And much else. Perhaps that is why I reserve a specific contempt for those who promote the crime of rapacious war, who beckon it with bad faith and profanities, having never experienced it themselves. Their monopoly must be broken.

JOHN PILGER: The most lethal virus is not COVID-19 — it’s war
Informed Comment

The Usual Suspects: oil and gas majors star in Australian tax heist – Michael West

Top40 Tax Dodgers

Angus Taylor’s rescue package for the oil industry is a testament to the ability of large corporations to game governments. The latest Tax Office transparency data shows that oil and gas juggernauts are, again, Australia’s biggest tax cheats, yet are demanding and getting more public subsidies to prop up their oil refineries. Michael West reports on the good and the bad in multinational tax dodging land.

The Usual Suspects: oil and gas majors star in Australian tax heist – Michael West
Informed Comment, Uncategorized

A considered reflection – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day The pedlars of verbal violence and dishonesty are the most vigorous defenders of free speech because it gives their vitriolic nonsense legitimacy. With the use of free speech, the bigots and hate-mongers seek to influence those in the community who are susceptible or like-minded.

A considered reflection – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

My view of the year that was: A year of scandal and corruption – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day People need to wake up to the fact that government affects every part of their life and should be more interested. But there is a deep-seated political malaise. ( John Lord)

My view of the year that was: A year of scandal and corruption – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

To reverse inequality, we need to expose the myth of the ‘free market’ | Opinion | The Guardian
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person. The wealth of the world’s billionaires has risen by more then $10t since the start of the pandemic.

We need an informed public that sees through the poisonous myth billionaires want us to believe: that income is a measure of your market worth

To reverse inequality, we need to expose the myth of the ‘free market’ | Opinion | The Guardian
Informed Comment

We Have Liberal Leaders In Charge – Thank God! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

But if we apply their own standards, imagine if a Labor government did this: Promise that we were “back in black” pre-election, only to fail to deliver a budget at the specified time because it’s all too uncertain. Have unemployment jump Preside over the first Australian recession this century Deliver the biggest deficit in our history Borrow more than all the previous Australian governments combined Have no plan to pay it back until some unspecified date when unemployment is less than 6% Destroy our trade with our biggest trading partner by calling for an investigation into Covid-19 which pointed the finger at China

We Have Liberal Leaders In Charge – Thank God! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

As World Teeters on Brink, Over 250 Scientists and Scholars Warn of Full-Fledged ‘Societal Collapse’ | Common Dreams News
A woman looks at the destruction in Haulover in the Northern Caribbean Autonomous Region, Nicaragua, on November 28, 2020, days after the passage of Hurricane Iota. (Photo: Inti Ocon/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 250 scientists and scholars from 30 countries have issued an open letter calling on policymakers to “engage more with the growing risk of societal disruption and collapse due to damage to the climate and environment,” arguing that only then “might communities and nations begin to prepare and so reduce its likelihood, speed, severity, harm to the most vulnerable, and to nature.”

As World Teeters on Brink, Over 250 Scientists and Scholars Warn of Full-Fledged ‘Societal Collapse’ | Common Dreams News
Informed Comment

The cost of ideology – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In January 2020, Morrison only committed $2 billion to bushfire recovery across the nation. It cost $1.2 billion to buy their way out of the robodebt fiasco they created, and we don’t know the cost of the legal and administration fees on top of that. Shows where the Coalition’s priorities lie, doesn’t it?

The cost of ideology – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

Fascism Expert: Donald Trump Has Turned Destructive and Vindictive — Like All Dictators | The Smirking Chimp

World Mental Health Coalition Board member who has helped guide members in applying our mental health knowledge to the political domain as well as within the currents of history, to achieve our mission of bettering societal mental health.

Fascism Expert: Donald Trump Has Turned Destructive and Vindictive — Like All Dictators | The Smirking Chimp
Informed Comment

My view of the year that was (part 2) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Come April/May of 2020 the coronavirus had taken control of our economy and our health. The government, to its credit, believed in the science and took the advice of experts. Which is something they refused to do with climate change.

My view of the year that was (part 2) – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

How rorts, mates and marketing took over politics | The Saturday Paper
Budget: Tax cuts for COVID 'naive', says ex-Liberal leader John Hewson

Quite a wish list, I agree. But this is merely the bare bones of what needs to be done if we are to get serious as a nation about transparency, accountability and integrity in our politics and government. It is genuinely in our national interest, and we should expect and accept nothing less of those we elect to represent and govern us.

How rorts, mates and marketing took over politics | The Saturday Paper
Informed Comment

Giuliani – » The Australian Independent Media Network

For Giuliani, the enduring image that will be recalled by political commentators though is that of rivulets of hair dye streaming down his face in the heat of the political turmoil into which he has so foolishly wandered. What a sad legacy!

Giuliani – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

My view of the year that was (part 1) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

I finished the year 2019 with a piece titled George Christensen and other secrets about the rather rotund figure of George. Well, not about his wholesome physique but about why he needed to spend so much time in Manilla. “Many fellow parliamentarians now call him the ‘Member for Manila’ because of his frequent travel to the region, including an astonishing 28 trips in a four-year period.”

My view of the year that was (part 1) – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

Are Debtors the New Workers of the World?

Mass household indebtedness is a key feature of financialized capitalism, driving insecurity and sustaining poverty around the world. Could a union of debtors join forces to agitate for the abolition of all consumer debt?

Are Debtors the New Workers of the World?
Informed Comment

The Liberals Always Have A Plan And An Announcement To Remind You That One Exists… – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Cults need their followers to be in constant contact because without that, followers may start to notice that there are more sensible ways of looking at things. So whenever I here the Liberals say that they have a plan, I can’t help but think that – when other people say it – we actually expect the person saying them to follow up by describing the actual plan.

The Liberals Always Have A Plan And An Announcement To Remind You That One Exists… – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

You gotta hit bottom – » The Australian Independent Media Network

It seemed that a lot of Americans didn’t vote for Trump as they had realised the country was at rock bottom. Australia surely is also at its own nadir. We have had no climate emissions plan for a decade due to political infighting as discussed recently and the competition on which side of politics can be more horrible to refugees which is thought to win votes. When those who are recovering from addiction are interviewed, a frequent discussion point is they realised they had hit rock bottom and someone or something gave them the impetus to commence the climb out of the abyss they found themselves in. Hopefully Biden is the impetus for the US to start climbing. Is it too difficult to hope that enough Australians realise at the next Federal Election that we have hit rock bottom, and elect parliamentarians that can show us the way out of our climate change denial and refugee abyss?

You gotta hit bottom – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

Does Australia really have to be so strident when it comes to China? | Hamish McDonald | Opinion | The Guardian

Zhao Lijian’s tweet was a cheap shot but Scott Morrison’s response could have been more diplomatic

Does Australia really have to be so strident when it comes to China? | Hamish McDonald | Opinion | The Guardian
Informed Comment

Trump is going to La La Land – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day The Office of the American President was once viewed by its people as an office of prestige and importance. Trump has reduced it to one of ridicule and contempt.

Trump is going to La La Land – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

Scott Morrison – you are a fraud – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The man in charge of our government at present is far too similar to Donald Trump for comfort. He tells lies – as do, it seems, far too many politicians – but he does so with a frequency and purpose that makes his behaviour seem unexceptional, because it is consistent. His hubris is such that he does not even perceive, or, if he does, he does not care, that his plans to achieve, and retain a firm grip on, power are seriously damaging the future for most of those affected by his policy decisions. He is, in consequence, a dangerous man to be allowed to hold the reins of power.

Scott Morrison – you are a fraud – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

Malcolm Turnbull on climate change, Trump and the Murdoch media

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull on climate change, Trump and the Murdoch media

Malcolm Turnbull on climate change, Trump and the Murdoch media
Informed Comment

What Trump’s claim of a ‘stolen election’ means for activists today

What Trump’s claim of a ‘stolen election’ means for activists today

So what are we to make of the Trump campaign’s lawsuits, Republicans refusing to honor the election results and the Department of Justice looking into “allegations” of supposed voter fraud? If this isn’t a coup, then what is it?

What Trump’s claim of a ‘stolen election’ means for activists today
Informed Comment

This government isn’t fit for purpose – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Looking back on my writing for 2020 and what has motivated it the most common ingredient has been a sense of frustration that I’m not having the impact I once did. By that I mean my readership has dropped a little. I want more people to know the truth. Perhaps I have become too repetitive and people are bored by it. Or as my son suggests, l’m a bit too lengthy. That’s not my fault of course, it’s the government’s. They have been so consistently horrific in yet another year of awfulness that one feels compelled to regularly convey it to the AIMN readers.

This government isn’t fit for purpose – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment

Rudd’s News Corp petition pushes Murdoch’s minions into meltdown

In its gormless retaliation to Kevin Rudd’s petition asking for a Royal Commission into the Murdoch media, News Corp has unwittingly confirmed why such an inquiry is so utterly essential. Founder and director Dave Donovan and managing editor Michelle Pini report.

Rudd’s News Corp petition pushes Murdoch’s minions into meltdown
Informed Comment

China beat the coronavirus with science and strong public health measures, not just with authoritarianism

I live in a democracy. But as Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself longing for the type of freedom I am seeing in China. People in China are able to move around freely right now. Many Americans may believe that the Chinese are able to enjoy this freedom because of China’s authoritarian regime. As a scholar of public health in China, I think the answers go beyond that.

China beat the coronavirus with science and strong public health measures, not just with authoritarianism
Informed Comment

Memo To Trump: There is not time to mince words
Memo To Trump: What are you thinking!?!

Alright Orange Man, we are in quite the predicament and there is not time to mince words.

Memo To Trump: There is not time to mince words
Informed Comment

Profiles in Cowardice | The Smirking Chimp

Now America is being subject to a stress test to see if it has enough strength to withstand Trump’s treacherous campaign to discredit the 2020 presidential election. Trump will lose because there’s no evidence of fraud. But the integrity of thousands of people responsible for maintaining American democracy is being tested as never before.

Profiles in Cowardice | The Smirking Chimp