What would America be like if it was like Gaza? On October 8, 2023, the Alien invasion long feared by […]
Category: Informed Opinion
“Why is the world so unfair?
Why all the economic injustice, those brutal wars, the everyday corporate cruelty?
The answer: Psychopaths.
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Senior Australian Federal Police, with almost certain involvement from politicians, secretly considered applying for a suppression order to protect Bruce Lehrmann but they didn’t tell Bruce or his barrister. So, who was […]
Senior AFP secretly considered a suppression order to protect Bruce Lehrmann – Smoking gun evidence of a political cover-up?
ByShane Dowlingon•( 1 Comment )
Instant Erudition with Jo Dyer
Instant Erudition is the Shot’s new fortnightly column: a quick read from Jo Dyer to whet your whistle while you wait for our next feature article
And it is with this reeling wreck of a country that we have thrown in our military lot. In a book out this week, Nuked: The Submarine Fiasco that Sank Australia’s Sovereignty, Andrew Fowler takes us back through the duplicitous disaster of AUKUS in all its devastating detail: from the opportunity for a new independent geo-political strategy the submarine deal with France offered, to the all-the-way-with-USA China hawks in Defence who immediately worked to undermine it. From the ongoing uncertainty as to when – even if – we’ll ever get nuclear subs from the massively overstretched US construction yards we’re now underwriting to the fact we don’t have the technical capacity to operate them if we do; from the proliferation of ex-US military men who pocketed large amounts of Australian taxpayers’ cash to provide advice on Australia’s best interests to their advice spookily aligning with the interests of their home country and that of the weapons manufacturers on whose Boards they sit. From the transparently political games Morrison played with our national security as he obsequiously cleaved us to the US while hoping to blindside a resurgent Labor with a khaki-tinged campaign, to the craven capitulation of the ALP who embraced AUKUS within 24 hours of its announcement, its privileging of old Anglophonic allies and an anti-China military strategy a price they elected to pay to avoid being wedged in a tight political race, regardless of the ultimate cost to them, to us and the country.
Protest Israel and you might be liable for their actions
The impact is feared to mean that even counterprotestors – such as Neo Nazis – would be included in the ambit of people for whose actions protest organisers could be held liable.
In the last week Channel 10 was exposed at the Bruce Lehrmann trial for lying and deceiving the public and courts, News Corp propagandist Janet Albrechtsen’s personal relationship with corrupt former judge Walter Sofronoff was exposed further and the Kerry Stokes’ controlled and financed Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case was being appealed.
One needs to ask where is the justice system that holds the people at the top accountable” None it seems when we read the Epstein List, or the sudden “convenient disappearance of documents”. Pedophilia is allowed to flourish except if you’re indigenous and accused. Intervention is ignored if you’re indigenous you’re guilty as charged. And in the case of the Epstein List the only person jailed was a woman.
And as for anything to do with revealing the Australian decision-making process about the decision to invade, despoil and ruin yet another Middle Eastern state in 2003, one is better off consulting records from the White House and the US State Department.
There is little that unites me with those who occupied the Capitol building on Jan. 6. Their vision for America, Christian nationalism, white supremacy, blind support for Trump and embrace of reactionary fact-free conspiracy theories leaves a very wide chasm between their beliefs and mine. But that does not mean I support the judicial lynching against many of those who participated in the Jan. 6 events, a lynching that is mandating years in pretrial detention and prison for misdemeanors. Once rights become privileges, none of us are safe.
John sent us articles whenever he could, with this piece,‘ We are Spartacus’, his last article to be published in Independent Australia on 12 November 2023.
Source: The loss of a true Australian legend: John Pilger dies
Play/ Amazon / YouTube / Rumble
Israel’s current war on Gaza and the Palestinians draws pessimism and hopelessness, reminding two veterans of its origin in another such war in the region in 1967, The Six Day War, which resulted In Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern joins host Robert Scheer…
Source: Ray McGovern: The Imprisonment of the Palestinian People Was Not an Act of God – ScheerPost
“What have you been focussing on at work this year?”
Well, recently it’s mostly been: genocide, terrorism, kidnapping, ethnic cleansing, war, racism, systemic racism in settler colonies, sexual assault, billionaires subverting democracy, the climate crisis, the horrors of social media, the horrors of traditional media, Rupert Murdoch, the politicians I don’t like, that discombobulating time Pauline Hanson called me a racist on Twitter, and thousands upon thousand of murdered children.
“I see,” she said, clearly seeing. “And what measures do you have in place at work to deal with all that?”
A peaceful resolution isn’t impossible, it just isn’t desired. It isn’t desired because Israel has long sought to further expel Palestinians from their land, and the “war on Hamas” provides cover for that goal. The claim that Israel has no other choice but to snuff out tens of thousands of lives in the name of fighting Hamas is patently false; it doesn’t need to, it just wants to. Ultimately their argument is “We need to kill all those people because we really really want to,” which is not a valid defense.
I will not look away, because these lives matter and I have a duty to honor them.
I will not look away, because that would be giving the bastards what they want.
I will not look away, because even in my powerlessness to help I still have the power to bear witness.
I will not look away, for the same reason that when my parents are dying I will hold their hand and stay by their bedside until they are gone.
Even if we can’t stop this, at the very least we can give them our seeing.
At the very least we owe them that.
Watching Bruce Lehrmann’s terrible, horrible, no good very bad days in the witness box at the start of his defamation case against Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson last week, one wonders if he was fully prepared for the difference between a cross-examination by Dr Matt Collins KC and a chequebook chat on Spotlight?
Source: Lies exposed in Bruce Lehrmann’s case against Lisa Wilkinson – The Shot
Peter Foster was thrown in jail for Pyramid Schemes and the false advertising of Baylin Tea. Why are the media, politicians, and think tanks allowed to flood the zone with shit when advertisers can’t?
I do find it interesting that it’s Advance Australia has announced its opposition to any misinformation laws. After all, they were heavily involved in the “No” campaign misinformation while their IDs were hidden. Why was that?
The big problem with misinformation laws is quite simple: Who decides what’s misinformation? We don’t seem to see one with advertising do we?
Of course this doesn’t mean that no company has ever engaged in insider trading or tried to mislead the public; it simply means that if they’re found to be doing that, then there are legal consequences.
The point is that if we can have laws that prevent companies from peddling misinformation to the ASX, why is it such a threat to hold political entities to the same standards?
The Goebellian Voice behind the psychopaths who would be kings Abbott, Morrison, Dutton, Trump,and Boris
even though the right-wing political parties in our country have been rejected by the population, they still run the country. The outcome of the Voice referendum concretely demonstrates that our country is currently being run from overseas, as a wholly owned subsidiary of NewsCorp. It illustrates starkly that the mainstream press in Australia is the actual right-wing opposition, not the LNP.
Most of the world now looks on us as being a country full of unreconstructed racists. It is hard to disagree with this assessment. Thanks, Rupert and NewsCorp. Thank you Channel Nine. Thank you, Sky News. I am sure that in these newsrooms they will be partying late into the night. It’s hard to blame them. After all, they have once again demonstrated exactly who is running the country.
Source: All Hail Our Glorious Leader: Rupert Murdoch – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The very essence of a psychopath is lying, A psychopath will lie without guilt, or any remorse to get you merely as an object to do what he wants you to. Donald Trump is one Tony Abbott is one and so is Spud. History has shown that psychopaths with the backing of the “For Profit” mainstream media can shift nations. It’s impossible for a psychopath and a media system operating in unison can possibly deliver anything for the common good of a nation. Empathy and information were simply steamrolled while the world watched Racism rise and at one and the same time was being denied. How the fuck does that work Dutton is no David Copperfield Australia.
‘No’ voters have not only denied First Peoples a means to improve their systemically disadvantaged lives they have also endorsed Dutton’s Trumpification of Oz politics where truth, integrity and fidelity are entirely dispensable.
Source: A farce only a monster could love – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The reasons we believe Australia will vote “Yes” to give First Nations people a seat at the table are to do with voter intelligence, the rejection of contemptuous politicians and media, and the overwhelming capacity of Australians to do the right thing.
Source: Cookers stir the crock to stop Australia voting ‘Yes’
Fascism is always the bastard child of bankrupt liberalism. This was true in Weimar Germany. It was true in Italy. And it is true in the United States, writes Chris Hedges.
Dutton proves to us when it comes to logic and or reason he lives his life and leads with none. He is after all mr Boomgate and acts before he thinks. According to Waleed Aly
Currently the system has the government allocate money by whatever mechanisms currently exist. It’s the system over which Peter Duttons Coalition itself presided most recently for nine years. The exact system that a No vote would preserve. However according to Dutton “The system is broken” which is the argument you make for change or “Yes”, not for the status quo. But, for whatever reason you might support it, a No vote simply delivers the status quo.
Somewhere amidst the array of tangential arguments surrounding the Voice, the idea took root that governments across Australia spend more than $30 billion a year on Indigenous Australians. The figure isn’t so much a lie as it is misleading. It gives the impression of being the amount spent on programs exclusively for Indigenous Australia, but it’s actually not, Only about $4 – $6 billion answers that description. The rest – outlined in a 2016 Productivity Commission report – is simply the Indigenous share of government spending on all Australians on things like health and education.
The common thread is the trope of special treatment. Perhaps the most persistent criticism of the Voice is that it gives Indigenous Australians an institutional status no one else can have. In this view, it is not a proposal for reconciliation, but for privileging. That’s what the No campaign means when it calls the Voice “divisive” and racial. For some, that objection is limited only to its presence in the Constitution,
The system is in desperate need of some proper advice, perhaps from a representative body of some sort. That’s the promise the Voice holds, really. A kind of rolling audit, admittedly without the authority to compel or punish but, importantly, also without the party-political imperatives. that have over ridden past decisions. According to Aly then, it’s a matter of which auditor you prefer. And in recent times that choice has been PwC or any other corrupt big 4 that Dutton has turned to for the last 9-10 years but not on any account an Indigenous Voice or Black and therefore Racial
Dr Jeff McMullen AM discusses the fundamental need for a Voice to Parliament to address the disproportionate burdens faced by First Nations Australians.
Source: No good reason to vote ‘No’
I don’t mention it often but I actually have a degree in journalism. I graduated with distinction from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2003, and while it would be another 13 years before I’d ever put my degree to any use, the experience played a massive role in forming my opinions about the mainstream press.
Source: The news has nothing to do with newsworthiness – Pearls and Irritations
Is Dowling’s information accurate?
A Channel 7 personality who has been charged with child rape and torture has been granted suppression orders to override the new Queensland laws, which start on the 3rd of October, that allows alleged sex offenders to be named before they are committed for trial.
Now that Robert Kennedy Jr. says, “I’ve always been aligned with libertarians on most issues” let’s look at how libertarianism would work out in America, and where it came from in the first place…
How Libertarianism is a Poison that’s Crept into America (Part 1)
And
Their principal argument was that if everybody acted separately and independently, in all cases with maximum selfishness, such behavior would actually benefit society. There would be no government needed beyond an army and a police force, and a court system to defend the rights of property owners. It was a bizarre twisting of Adam Smith’s reference to the “invisible hand” that regulated trade among nations.
Fakery is not beyond Rupert Murdoch if you witnessed his performance in the UK inquiries. Back then he did an Alan Bond impersonation.
Rupert Murdoch, who has for decades promoted global elites who rape and pillage government finances around the world, has faked his resignation as executive chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp to avoid his legal and financial labilities for his countless crimes.
Imagine this scenario. On Sept. 11, 1973, the reactionary sections of the Chilean army, led by General Augusto Pinochet and given a green light by the U.S. government, did not leave their barracks.
Given Lachlan Murdoch’s track record the odds of him failing would be pretty high.
The Voice “No Campaign” is driven by the lies of spineless News Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch and his puppets Senator Jacinta Price and wannabe Liberal Senator and Murdoch employee Warren Mundine.
We, Westerners, impose our sense of individualism onto a society that has a sense of communalism. We are bothered by it. But this is not something the Chinese people need “rescuing from”. China is not your enemy, the people telling you China is your enemy, are you enemy.
Source: Everything you know about China being a threat is untrue – Pearls and Irritations
Corporate capitalism, defined by the cult of the self and the ruthless exploitation of the natural world and all forms of life for profit, thrives on the fostering of chronic psychological and physical disorders. The diseases and pathologies of despair — alienation, high blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety, depression, morbid obesity, mass shootings (now almost two per day on average), domestic and sexual violence, drug overdoses (over 100,000 per year) and suicide (49,000 deaths in 2022) — are the consequences of a deeply traumatized society.
Source: Chris Hedges: Our Collective Trauma is the Road to Tyranny – scheerpost.com
It’s going to be huuuge. The election campaign in the US of A, next year, will be bigger than Ben Hur. However, I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that many commentators are talking shit.
If your business relies on ripping off staff, taxpayers and other assorted bystanders – or needs to prevent public access to affordable life-saving medication – in order to stay afloat, it should just close down, writes managing editor Michelle Pini.
Remember everyone The Coalition tried to ensure you don’t get cheaper prescriptions … because the Pharmacy Guild are big Liberal donors (Dave Smith )
Source: Old, sick or dead? You still need to come and see the chemist
Scott Morrison leaked US and Australian government documents in October/November 2021 to embarrass US President Joe Biden but Scott Morrison has never been questioned or charged regarding the leaks unlike others who have done the same or similar.
Julian Assange and Daniel Duggan are both in jail and in the process of being extradited to the US and whistleblowers Richard Boyle and David McBride are facing charges for leaking Australian government information.
One of the worst mistakes you can make when formulating your understanding of the world is to begin with the assumption that the truest and most accurate position must lie somewhere near the center of the two major political perspectives you see laid out all around you.
It’s a mistake not only because assuming that the center position must be the best one is a type of fallacious reasoning known as the middle ground fallacy (the correct position between “Drink a gallon of bleach daily for good health” and “Drink zero bleach daily for good health” is not “Drink half a gallon of bleach daily for good health”); it’s also a mistake because the entire framing arises from a situation that has been artificially engineered by the powerful.
“read Anna Funder’s book and make up your own mind. It’s certainly one of the more interesting books I’ve read.” ( Rossleigh)
Source: “Wifedom” – An Alternate View – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The question is do any of the superpowers provide us with a model in which individuals want to live?
Every empire falls and the fantasy of American exceptionalism doesn’t exempt the U.S., writes Wilmer J. Leon, III. Yet the failing hegemon behaves as though it still controls events, but instead creates worldwide danger.
Source: Every Empire Falls
Senator Linda Reynolds has admitted lying under oath when she gave evidence at the Bruce Lehrmann rape trial which when put together with part of the ACT Inquiry Report raises the real possibility that Bruce Lehrmann might have been found guilty if Senator Reynolds had not perjured herself.
Australia can change, and for the better. It happened this month on the back of the mighty Matildas and it can happen again in October.
Let’s just hope it doesn’t involve watching any more fucking Channel Seven.
Source: I willingly watched Channel 7 and didn’t even regret it – The Shot
Why does Mainstream media report what Dutton and Howard think? But not Rudd or Gillard. Why are they regarded as our seeming gurus, men of wisdom, and sounding boards in the press telling us the British invasion of Australia made First Nation peoples equal and better off. When it’s blatant bullshit. In 2023 proportionately Australian Aboriginals are not only the most incarcerated people on the planet but for the least offences.
Of course we all understand that Tony Abbott’s views are the sort of news that’s worth reporting. As someone who was once Prime Minister of this fair land, his opinion is worth a lot more than mine or yours because we’re all equal and to set up something like the Voice is, well, it’s just like Apartheid in South Africa because having the Indigenous population given that sort of recognition in the Constitution would lead to people like Mr Abbott being just as oppressed as all those poor South Africans who were forced to stick to Whites Only areas.
Post Covid and Trump America is on the up again economically. Yet the feeling of well-being isn’t. Australia is also on the way up with the ALP in charge. However, we have a feeling of well-being generated by the fact the LNP is no longer the government. While the ALP seems a united team nationally the political fringes Greens, Independents, and One Nation still hold a measure of sway.
However, in America, there’s a serious division between the States which is reflected in the Democratic Party nationally. Biden seems to have to struggle to get things done. Meanwhile, SCOTUS makes America seem a Fascist Dictatorship rather than the great Democratic experiment with its recent rulings.
In other words, the economy is getting better overall – but overall has become a less useful gauge of wellbeing as the rich get richer, the poor grow poorer, and the working middle is under worsening siege.
Source: Why aren’t Americans happier about the economy? | Robert Reich | The Guardian
Throughout history, tyrannical rulers have created their own private operations outside normal chains of command, run by people like Prigozhin, who are personally loyal. This give tyrants flexibility to do what they want without bureaucratic opposition. It protects them against revolt by their subordinates in the chain of command. And it gives them deniability when operations go badly.
Source: Putin, Trump, and the Privatization of Tyranny | The Smirking Chimp
To media hysterics, Dan Andrews got a pay rise this week, making him the country’s highest paid premier or chief minister. But that’s not the whole story, as James Fitzgerald-Sice reports
Source: Premier pay rates: are we getting value for money? – Michael West
“Johnson will be remembered by history as the most immoral, dishonest and morally squalid of all British premiers.”
This is going a bit far; it was a certain Tony Blair who, playing the role of sidekick to US President George W. Bush, embarked upon an illegal war that led to the destruction of Iraq and a good portion of the Middle East. His conduct, both directly or otherwise, in the confection, and intentional misreading of intelligence material elevating Iraq’s Saddam Hussein to the level of globally dangerous despot, must surely be seen as squalid as any. Along the way, he corrupted public life and politicised institutions. And yet he moves and speaks, to this day, with impunity – the one who got away.
Let me be upfront: I’ll be voting for the Voice to Parliament. But I won’t be voting yes because I think it will give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people any substantial influence on national policy. Rather I’ll be voting yes because it’s the only option on the table to give Indigenous Australians at least some recognition in our Constitution.
To ensure its longevity, the Albanese Government must pull recalcitrant public servants into line and take on the Murdoch media, writes Paul Begley.
Last week, the Greens introduced a Bill to the Senate to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Murdoch media empire. While many people will want to support such a move, Dr Martin Hirst says he’s not convinced — yet.
Source: Two chances inquiry into Murdoch media will float: Fat and slim
The Reserve Bank of Australia has raised interest rates again, ostensibly to keep inflation in check. But the reality is that the move will only enrich banks and rich property investors — at the expense of renters and struggling mortgage holders.
olddogthoughts 
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