Acting prime minister Barnaby Joyce has endorsed Christian Porter to return to the ministry in future, just one day after the former industry minister resigned over his legal fees being paid by a trust with money from unknown donors.
It seems to me that the only difference between Australians and Iranians in this regard is that Australia is part of the white Anglophone diaspora. It is also part of the Five Eyes intelligence program, which groups the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia (hmm, I wonder what they have in common)? Race is so central to US politics that it even comes into nuclear policy!
Speaking of submarines, Christian Porter has resigned. I know that previous sentence may not seem to make sense to those of you who don’t follow politics closely but the current modus operandi of the government is to distract us from the previous disaster by pointing us in the direction of another disaster until one of them has something that we can focus on where there is more than one side of the argument. To demonstrate with a complete hypothetical:
Assuming all truth passes through the same three stages, looking at the current stage of Israel’s occupation it’s safe to presume that the truth and nature of its reality is coming to the end of the second phase. It’s thus entering the third stage where the Zionist state’s practice of apartheid is accepted as self-evident.
Source: Israel’s future is apartheid in a ‘solution of the three classes’
Having remained committed to the Five Eyes security agreement and having put boots on the ground in Afghanistan for the duration, “NZ” appears to have been taken out of ANZUS and replaced with “UK”.
Anglo American Alamo on Asia renting Fort Australia from from from a fella…. The SQAUKUS
They were appearing to talk up their close friendship, but Scott Morrison and Joe Biden’s AUKUS announcement quickly turned awkward when the US President appeared to forget our Prime Minister’s name. Mr Biden thanked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson but then paused as he addressed Mr Morrison. “Thank you, Boris … I want to thank, ah, that fella down under,” Mr Biden said.
Source: Joe Biden forgets Scott Morrison’s name in awkward AUKUS call
The forgotten nation after 220 years and years of generational cultural and systemic racism
The COVID-19 crisis in Wilcannia demonstrates how entrenched neglect, combined with a global pandemic, have created a perfect storm impacting the most marginalised people in society. The treatment of the Barkindji people of Wilcannia is appalling by anyone’s standards and should be unacceptable to every Australian. The stories flooding out of Wilcannia of mistreatment of Aboriginal people should make every person stand up and demand immediate action. The government needs to take immediate action to address the conditions in which the people in Wilcannia are forced to live, and by providing vaccinations immediately to all those who want to be vaccinated.
Source: COVID in Wilcannia: a national disgrace we all saw coming
Climate scientists believe that if Greenland continues to rapidly melt, tens of millions of people around the world could face yearly flooding and displacement by 2030
Source: Rain fell on Greenland’s ice sheet for the first time ever known. Alarms should ring | Kim Heacox
Mr Blind Trust is what we get with Christian Porter. No need asking.
Mr Porter says a blind trust has made a contribution to his legal fees A blind trust means the beneficiary is shielded from knowing who donated the money The federal opposition says Mr Porter should not have accepted the money without knowing who it came from
While the people of the U.S. were mourning and recalling the sadness surrounding the day, Trump eagerly provided commentary with his son for a boxing match on the day. At the same time, other political leaders flocked to remembrance sites. Trump bragged he scored an “obscene” amount of money for the gig, something he likely needs to fight the legal problems he’s facing.
“On this day in 1973, Salvador Allende’s democratically elected socialist government was overthrown in a military coup led by the U.S.-backed fascist Augusto Pinochet.”
Source: ‘The Other 9/11’: Progressives Remember Allende’s Chile | Common Dreams News
In 2001, conservative prime minister John Howard demonized 433 refugees who had been rescued at sea. It inaugurated an era of racist, abusive policies toward asylum seekers in Australia — and a movement that fights in solidarity with refugees.
Source: Twenty Years After the Tampa Affair, Australia’s Left Must Keep Standing Up for Refugees
This week marks 1000 days since the Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised Australians an integrity commission. In that time, the Prime Minister has done almost nothing to live up to his word. The truth is, this Government does not want an integrity commission before the next election. Especially one as robust as mine.
One of the enormous dangers of the Texas abortion law is that a Stasi-like culture of betrayal and fear will evolve in the Lone Star State and copy-cat states, with long-lasting destructive effects. If a friend, neighbor or co-worker can turn someone in and gain a reward for doing so, the ripple effects are going to be corrosive, intensifying over time.
A new approach to democracy is needed to fight the Federal Government’s failure to deliver First Nations’ rights as called for in the Uluru Statement of the Heart, writes Matthew Butera. Our collective failure to embrace the Uluru Statement from the Heart represents a missed opportunity to accelerate Australia’s journey to becoming a more reconciled, inclusive and just society. An innovative approach to doing democracy could be the path back on track.
Source: First Nations Voice to Parliament: It’s time to rethink democracy
Australia’s Greens are poised to increase their vote in the next federal election. We talk to party leader Adam Bandt about challenging neoliberalism and confronting the climate crisis.
Source: Australian Greens Are Building a Movement to End Neoliberalism
Fox News is driving political violence in the US, a media watchdog warned, after the primetime host Tucker Carlson predicted “revolt” against the Biden administration. In a Monday night monologue targeting the White House and military leaders over the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Carlson demanded resignations. He also said: “When leaders refuse to hold themselves accountable over time, people revolt. That happens. “We need to change course immediately and start acknowledging our mistakes. The people who made them need to start acknowledging them or else the consequences will be awful.”Angelo Carusone, president and chief executive of Media Matters for America, a progressive group, said: “When there’s another big violent rightwing flashpoint that captures attention, way too many in media will wonder out loud: ‘How did this happen?’ ‘Were there the signs?’ “You don’t need to wade into the online fever-swamps to see the cauldron of extremism simmering. Fox News is ratcheting up heat and legitimising nightly. A
“If agencies want to remain relevant, and attractive places to work for top young talent, they need to end their work for the worst polluters on the planet.”
Source: Young PR and Ad Professionals Demand Industry Ditch Fossil Fuel Clients | Common Dreams News
Well, this certainly sounds stupid. So how did the wife of a COVID patient convince a judge that a drug used mainly for animals and in studies found to be ineffective at treating COVID be used on her husband against all medical advice?
Source: Ohio Judge Orders COVID Patient Treated With Ivermectin | Crooks and Liars
Amid the terminal amnesia of the U.S. media, it is refreshing to see someone remember the circumstances under which Trump pulled out of Syria, as a comparison to Biden’s Afghanistan. Let us just review that situation.
Christopher Pyne LNP MP (retired) is promoting Australia’s Arms industry
Florida Republican Michael Waltz made up to $25 million from the sale of Metis Solutions, a defense contractor with a spotty record training Afghan security forces. Lee Fang
Source: Mike Waltz Made Millions from Afghanistan Defense Contractor
Many brave, honorable Afghans fought there, but the cohesion and commitment, the belief in their mission, was not there. By contrast, the Taliban were organized, dedicated and coherent, and armed and trained for the actual combat taking place, not for European-style trench and tank warfare. The Taliban clearly had a plan that worked for that country, as the speed of the takeover shows. It succeeded; the U.S. and the Kabul regime failed in what became mission impossible. The fall of Kabul was inevitable. Washington, once again, deluded itself into thinking otherwise. The secretary of state said, “This is not Saigon.” It is Saigon. It is Baghdad. It is Kabul.
Source: Afghanistan only the latest US war to be driven by deceit and delusion
Was the Afghanistan War a failure? Not for the top five defense contractors and their shareholders. Jon Schwarz
In the wake of the Tokyo Olympics, another international scorecard has been released, and Australia does well here too. The US-based Commonwealth Fund conducts regular surveys of health care in 11 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In its latest comparison, Australia ranks third overall, slipping from second in the previous comparison in 2017. The US, not unexpectedly, ranks last overall, and last on four of the five component rankings.
Source: How does Australia’s health system rate internationally? This year it wins bronze
Earth has warmed 1.09℃ since pre-industrial times and many changes such as sea-level rise and glacier melt are now virtually irreversible, according to the most sobering report yet by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
and
Sky News Regional – a new free-to-air television offering – has just launched in regional areas across Australia with such luminaries as Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt, Cory Bernardi, Paul Murray, Rowan Dean and Peta Credlin hustling to get into our loungerooms, to flood regional airways between Cairns and Kalgoorlie, with anti-immigration rhetoric, climate denialism, conservative claptrap and vaccine misinformation all masquerading as news.
Source: When news is not enough : we make it up ! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
A federal tribunal has ordered Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s department to release secret documents about the workings of national cabinet after rejecting government claims the peak group is a committee of federal cabinet. The tribunal backed an appeal from independent senator Rex Patrick in a significant decision that opens national cabinet to public scrutiny through requests for its agendas, minutes and other documents.
Source: National cabinet thrown open to scrutiny in ruling it is not a cabinet
In a short time, Sky News Australia has turned itself from a cable television station with a small audience (most popular in politicians’ offices and Qantas lounges) to a digital juggernaut with one of the biggest reaches of social media of any Australian television station. The key to this turnaround was a strategy that leans heavily on opinion “After Dark” personalities who regurgitate right-wing international culture war topics and flirt with conspiracy, much like Fox News in the US.
Source: Rants, raves and bogus COVID claims: Sky News booms in rural Australia
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not only proven himself a failure to Australians but also on the world stage, writes Bruce Haigh.
Low morale and dysfunction in DHA Finally, and also not surprisingly, Pezzullo says nothing in the briefing for Andrews about his Department having one of the lowest levels of morale in the Australian Public Service. And of course, he wouldn’t as this is primarily the result of his leadership. The fact is Pezzullo and Outram have lost control of Australia’s visa system and hence, border control. Recovery from this point will be extraordinarily difficult, costly and take many years. But with a government obsessed with its public reputation on border protection, Pezzullo and Outram know that is not what the Government wants to hear — so they have decided the best course of action is just not to tell them and hope they don’t find out.
One dose will not protect you! Yesterday the Premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian offered ‘guidance’ that alarmed me to the core, because it was the absolute opposite of what the science is currently telling us. Australia, please heed this warning: the time to use the AstraZeneca to stem the Delta Outbreak in Sydney has passed and I cannot be more clear on that. Below are a series of correct explanations toward incorrect assumptions left by the NSW premier at the NSW press conference on the 23/07/21.
Source: We need to know the truth – » The Australian Independent Media Network
LNP Ignores the experts
Offshore wind farms are an increasingly common sight overseas. But Australia has neglected the technology, despite the ample wind gusts buffeting much of our coastline.
Source: Wind turbines off the coast could help Australia become an energy superpower, research finds
Students and academics at the University of Melbourne are mobilising against the opening of a Liberal-aligned research institute on campus that counts conservative commentator Peta Credlin and the chairman of right-wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs as board members.
Source: Melbourne University students mobilise against Liberal Party-backed Robert Menzies Institute
On June 8, an internet blackout was precipitated by one customer updating their settings through a “valid configuration change”. With speed, 85% of the network of the tech infrastructure company Fastly began returning errors. A global outage ensued. “The downed sites,” according to Brian Barrett of Wired, “shared no obvious theme or geography; the outages were global, and they hit everything from Reddit to Spotify to The New York Times.”
Source: How CDN Providers Break the Internet – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Any wonder Costello sacked Hewson. The only thing keeping Morrison, Dutton, and Frydenberg afloat is private MSM
Support for Scott Morrison and the government have slumped in Newspoll, in a major backlash against the botched vaccine rollout. Labor has surged to a two-party lead of 53-47 per cent, compared with 51-49 per cent in the previous poll in late June.
Source: Morrison and Coalition sink in Newspoll with rollout shambles
On Sunday night, we got strong evidence that, for the most part, Republican voters understand that the Big Lie is indeed a lie. They just repeat it because they view themselves as co-conspirators in perpetuating it. In his speech at the second “annual” Conservative Political Action Conference of the year, Trump bragged about how he lies about polls and elections when he doesn’t win them. “You know, they do that straw poll, right?” Trump asked, referring to the 2024 GOP nominee straw poll CPAC conducted of attendees. “If it’s bad, I say it’s fake. If it’s good, I say, that’s the most accurate poll perhaps ever.” The “humor” of this not-actually-a-joke is due to being a sly reference to the Big Lie — an admission on Trump’s part that he didn’t win in 2020 and is merely saying otherwise for political gain. And it’s no surprise that Trump went there. He loves to brag about how much corruption and crime he gets away with. What is perhaps more important is the audience’s reaction to this not-a-joke.
Source: Trump supporters think they’re players — but they’re still just pawns | Salon.com
Despite this revelation, will the state still try to murder Julian Assange? It will be fascinating to watch its continued attempts to do so, if indeed it continues to attempt it.
Source: U.S. Government’s Witness Against Assange Admits He Lied | The Smirking Chimp
The Treasury Department told Congress last month that under-collected taxes are on track to total $7 trillion over the next decade, or about 15% of total tax revenues that would be owed under the law, thanks in part to budget cuts over the past decade that have sharply scaled back audits. Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Mazur recently explained to Congress that this trend has negative consequences, including higher tax rates elsewhere in the economy — that is, the costs are borne by people who follow the rules — as well as the fact that “persistent non-compliance also undermines confidence in the fairness of our tax system.” As other experts have explained, much of the “tax gap” as it is known comes from higher-income earners. While nearly all regular wage income is properly reported, other forms of income such as business partnerships and capital gains have higher rates of misreporting. (This news also comes in the context of a political environment in which billionaire executives such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have successfully avoided having to even pay federal income taxes in some years, by receiving much of their compensation as stock in their own companies.) Wall Street
Source: Wall Street Journal columnist: Defund the tax police | Media Matters for America
Trump’s Tourists
“Of the nearly 700 Republicans who have filed initial paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run next year for either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives, at least a third have embraced Trump’s false claims about his defeat,” the Post reported Monday. At the federal level, there are dozens of “current Republican officeholders, lining up to seek reelection, who have backed Trump’s efforts over the past eight months by questioning the validity of the 2020 result, taking legislative votes, or signing on to official efforts to overturn it,” the newspaper noted, adding that 136 of the GOP’s candidates for next year’s vital midterm races are current members of Congress who voted against the certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory on January 6. Trump’s falsehood that he would have been victorious last November had it not been for cheating Biden supporters was enthusiastically taken up by the GOP at the state level, too. Despite a complete lack of substantiating evidence, that fabrication continues to be invoked by right-wing candidates hoping to win office this year or in 2022.
But prudish prohibitions were no match for the power of celebrity. Six years after Bernardini was the first woman in a bikini, Brigitte Bardot made The Girl in the Bikini. Pop singer Brian Hyland sang Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini in 1960. And in 1962, the original Bond girl, Ursula Andress, strode from the surf in a bikini with a knife holstered on her hip. There was no stopping the bikini taking off after that.
Source: July 5 in history: World’s first bikini is unveiled in Paris
In this piece, I want to make the case for social media companies to be regulated in similar ways to telephones. It is true to say that one cannot have one’s access to the telephone cut off if one says something offensive. Whatever one says, access to the medium is not restricted. If the medium is used for illegal activities, the state takes action rather than the private company. When it comes to social media, the state has effectively surrendered its power to enforce the laws.
Source: The Case for Social Media as a Public Utility – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Gaslighting, talk. spin and promises are a typical LNP strategy of “seeming” to be aware of the direction without any actions necessary to be taken. Tudge, like Morrison announcing what is needed as if it’s being done. Such as the bullshit that we were first in line to get vaccines the deal signed done and dusted when it wasn’t.
How do we attract high-performing school leavers into teaching? Everyone knows the answer. That is, except the Federal Education Minister.
Source: Alan Tudge wants Singaporean education excellence on the cheap
The former New South Wales director of public prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, has questioned the use of the fixated persons unit to arrest a 21-year-old producer for the Friendlyjordies YouTube comedy channel.
