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.
via Ukrainegate Should Be Called Adam Schiffgate or Schiff/Bidengate – Stephen Lendman
First the FBI now the CIA any Independant arm of government is a danger to this President why? Because they alone threaten his image and spin. (ODT)
Does Trump understand democracy? I’m really asking.
His approach to politics is combative — kill-or-be-killed. If you hit him, he will hit you back harder, no matter what the rules of the game are.
That might be a great strategy in a WWE ring. It’s less good in life.
Trump gives demeaning and sometimes racist (“Pocahontas”) nicknames to political opponents. He never apologizes, even when he has been caught admitting to sexual misconduct with women (and been accused of plenty more by a host of women) or making fun of a disabled person.
He appears to believe you are either the winner or the loser, and he must be the winner. His only strategy has been brute force. And he doesn’t seek out solutions in which all parties win.
This approach has been very destructive on the policy front. But it’s not clear whether it’s going to work for him in the long term.
via Trump’s Assault on the Constitution: Politics as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Trump suggested following Israeli tactics at his wall and shoot their legs (ODT)
Republican talking points have focused on denying that there was an explicit quid pro quo in Trump’s phone call, even though the White House readout has him saying, “The United States has been very, very good for Ukraine. I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily” and asking for a “favor.” But Taylor’s texts indicate that, as the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, he interpreted Trump’s message as an invitation to trade a politically motivated investigation for U.S. assistance and a White House visit.
via Trump-Ukraine Call Was Anything but “Routine,” Texts Show
Clive Palmer is suing YouTube sensation Jordan Shanks for defamation. Instead of capitulating however, Shanks doubled down and tore strips off Palmer in the funniest response to a legal threat yet. If you have been legally threatened in similar ways – we want to hear about it – click here to let us know – the Streisand effect may work in your favour.
QAnon figure BurnedSpy, whose wife works on the prime minister’s staff, has propagated bizarre theories about Alexander Downer and Julie Bishop
The FBI has previously warned that QAnon could act as a potential motivator for “domestic extremists” and last year Reddit banned one of its main QAnon threads for repeated violations of its content policy, warning it would not tolerate content “that incites violence, disseminates personal information, or harasses” users.
In Australia, one of the more significant QAnon figures tweets under the handle @BurnedSpy34 and has amassed 21,000 Twitter followers in just over a year. BurnedSpy tweets daily QAnon material, including bizarre theories about Alexander Downer and Julie Bishop.
The Guardian has learned the identity of BurnedSpy and established he is a longstanding family friend of the Australian prime minister and his wife, Jenny.
The wife of BurnedSpy works on the prime minister’s staff.
FACT
When he isn’t raving about how the deep state is conspiring against him, Donald Trump loves to boast about the economy, claiming to have achieved unprecedented things. As it happens, none of his claims are true. While both GDP and employment have registered solid growth, the Trump economy simply seems to have continued a long expansion that began under former president Barack Obama. In fact, someone who looked only at the past 10 years of data would never guess that an election had taken place.
via Brace yourself: the Trump slump hits US economy and the world
It should be underlined, though, that the possibilities for foreign interference in US elections is a much bigger phenomenon than simply this sort of organized-crime style arm twisting by a president.
The Republican-majority Supreme Court has gutted campaign finance law and has allowed essentially anonymous money to flood into campaigns. The Roberts court, in striking down McCutcheon v. FEC”> in McCutcheon v. FEC limits on individual spending on campaigns, opened the door to Donald Trump to simply buy the 2016 election. If he had tried to do that in the 1990s he’d have gone to jail just for that infraction.
In addition, since the money is anonymous, it can be foreign. I wrote on this issue earlier,
The Power of Fox has destroyed Democracy while we sit back and let it. (ODT)
Fox News’ propagandistic coverage of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal is winning over its audience, a new poll shows. Fox viewers have become the president’s firewall, opposing his impeachment by a 71% to 17% margin while non-Fox viewers support it, 51% to 31%.
via New poll: Fox’s audience is accepting its impeachment spin | Media Matters for America
It’s legal because I’m President. I can rob a bank shoot you it’s legal (ODT)
via Trump Now Wants China To Investigate The Bidens | HuffPost Australia
That meeting has gained a new lease of life. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, recently in the United States, was called by Trump as part of Barr’s effort to marshal cooperation in investigating the workings of US law enforcement and intelligence behind the 2016 campaign. The New York Times did not miss the humour of this. “In making the request – one of many at Mr Barr’s behest – Mr Trump was in effect asking the Australian government to investigate itself.”
via The President Did It: Donald Trump’s Phone Around – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It seems just a few days ago that the Liberals were telling us how good they’ve been at creating jobs. I suppose if you use the word “creating” in the sense of a making up a thing that’s not really there, then one would have to agree.
Then again, Scottie is very helpful these days. When it was discovered that one of the councils being given drought relief was actually experiencing a bumper season, our PM told us that he made no apology for being generous… which would be fine, were it not for the fact that the councils to which he was so generous didn’t seem to be in any Labor electorates. I’m mildly surprised that the metropolitan electorate of Chisholm wasn’t given drought relief, not because it’s a marginal electorate, but because city people have to pay higher food prices thanks to the drought…
And then there’s the NDIS which is so generous that it had more money than people needed. How else do you explain the $4.5 billion in unspent funds this financial year? Incompetence in its administration? Ridiculous. The Coalition is in charge! An obsession with returning the Budget to surplus no matter who suffers? You cynic! As if the government would do such a thing.
via Downer, The Spy Who Gave In What He Was Told… – » The Australian Independent Media Network
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