Like Australia wants to? Is this some Corporate Western Anglo Alliance? (ODT)
Category: Uncategorized
Australia accuses China of human rights abuses because of it’s re-education programs yet the Conservatives in the LNP not only want to rid us of multiculturalism are anti- safe schools and are ready to imprison asylum seekers for life. Australia’s shame.(ODT)
Asylum seekers on Papua New Guinea are self-harming and attempting suicide following the introduction of controversial medical transfer laws because they see it as the fastest way of getting to Australia, the Department of Home Affairs has told federal MPs.
via Department of Home Affairs claims PNG asylum seekers attempting suicide after Medevac
Love him or hate him Rudd is right (ODT)
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has lashed members of the Liberal party for whipping up national “hysteria” over China, describing outspoken backbencher Andrew Hastie as “post-pubescent” and warning of a descent into “neo-McCarthyism”.
via Kevin Rudd slams ‘post-pubescent’ Andrew Hastie for China ‘hysteria’
2GB is no longer Macquarie and CH9 would readily sack Jones a smaller cog in a much bigger wheel. (ODT)
A veteran radio executive puts it bluntly: “Alan’s a big fish at Macquarie but a small fish at Nine,” he says, pointing to the company’s portfolio of TV stations, newspapers, websites, streaming service Stan and real estate brand Domain. “He makes a lot of money but Nine won’t sit back and let him taint their whole reputation.”
While Jones insists his Ardern comments were a “mistake”, his detractors pointed to his growing rap sheet: calling for Opera House chief executive Louise Herron to be sacked last year for not allowing advertisements to be projected onto the building; suggesting that former Prime Minister Julia Gillard ought to be “thrown in the sea“; reading a text message on-air in the lead-up to the 2005 Cronulla riots, urging “Aussies” to “support the Leb and wog bashing day“; and a $3.74 million defamation payout in 2018 to a family Jones wrongly implicated in the deaths of 12 people.
In the UK, television news is governed by impartiality rules but our press is fiercely partisan, predominantly towards the right, and it is important that people understand this.
Sign up to the Media Briefing: news for the news-makers
Read moreBut the current undermining of public trust in media, fuelled by President Donald Trump’s attacks on “fake news” and now mimicked by the UK government, goes far beyond scepticism or challenge. When research shows 72% of people in Britain believe television news to be accurate, it is right to be angry that Mr Johnson spurns it in favour of a union-flag-bedecked turn on Facebook.
In Australia, that surge came with the election of Tony Abbott the promotion of Islamophobia and the widespread cry from News Corp supporting groups like Reclaim Australia and the UPF with the accompaying message from the likes of Alan Jones Andrew Bolt, Rowan Dean Chris Kenny broadcasting the words “who let them in”. Bolt, in particular wildly generalising from the specific to whole communities with negative stereotyping. Hypocritically claiming he’s an individualist. Bolt daringly challenged people to push back in order to cry “I told you so” Basically he could be regarded as a recruiter for extreme action as much as those social media radicalisers of extreme Islam and ISIS. Yet he an extreme right-wing clarion was allowed to do it on the basis of “free speech” when others weren’t merely because he was employed by the Murdochracy. (ODT)
via The Trump Administration Owns the Surge in White Nationalist Violence
The Liberals will put the country in such a bad state by the end of this term. We should see people return to Labor in droves. However, that is not what I want to see.
I want people to return to Labor in droves because they fully support Labor. That is Labor, a positive, progressive party, who places the worker and disadvantaged at its core.
I want people to return to Labor in droves because negative messaging by the right-wing and Greens has not flourished. I want people constantly talking about the Labor agenda and why we need it.
We can do this! Let’s resurrect the Labor Herald.
via Bring Back The Labor Herald – » The Australian Independent Media Network
There have been more suicides so far in 2019 than this time last year.
But the Commonwealth and the states talk but do little. As of the first day of August, I estimate that 1,700 Australians have been lost to suicide, more than this time last year.
We really need to know
Statistics are windows on change. Despite our criticisms, the bureau’s biennial income and wealth survey gives us the best view of inequality we’ve got, but large areas remain foggy.
In research for the Evatt Foundation, we have used data from the Bureau of Statistics, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and national accounts to estimate that, for the first time in more than half a century, the richest 10% of households own more than half of Australia’s private wealth.
The Evatt Foundation’s results seem to stand up well, but governments should really be producing better data themselves.
Inequality and its harmful effects on economic output and stability are growing. We owe it to ourselves to find out by how much.
There is nothing wrong with offering or paying for sex services by consenting adults. I think there has been a general taboo about talking about or doing anything sexual for far too long. Slut shaming is a very real thing and begins from an early age. There is still time to make a difference and jump on the second wave of the sexual revolution bandwagon and advocate for complete decriminalisation for sex workers in Queensland. Lobby your local MP’s, write emails and letters in support even if you aren’t a provider, just because it’s the right thing to do. Let your friends and family know that you are in support of sex worker rights and tell them why. All we want is a safer work place, the ability to ask for help and to receive support when it is needed. A win/win for everyone in my book!
Donald Trump seems to think the United States is just like Trump Holdings, or whatever he calls his company now. And just for a trip down memory lane, let’s have a look at how Donald Trump has benefitted from debt restructuring.
via ‘King Of Debt’ Trump Suggests He’d Default On National Debt | Crooks and Liars
The harder it becomes for Trump to campaign on the economy in the months ahead, the more important culture war issues and rally-the-base moves will become for him. It isn’t inconceivable that Trump could pull off a narrow Electoral College victory in 2020 even if the U.S. goes into a recession, but doing do would mean firing up his base as much as possible and benefitting from a low Democratic turnout — and there are many culture war and nativist themes that could become even more important to Trump if the economy declines.
Abortion is at the top of the list.
Christian right that Supreme Court justices aren’t the only people he would be nominating for the federal judiciary in 2021 and beyond.
Trump can rally his Christian Right supporters with school prayer, but anti-immigrant rhetoric.
rolling back Obama-era protections against anti-gay discrimination in the workplace allowing companies to discriminate against those who offend a contractor’s religious views.
Anti-Islam extremism is another issue Trump will likely pander to in 2020.
claiming that Democrats could never love Israel as much as he does is a way for Trump to rally his far-right base.
China is a major player on the world stage, geopolitical know-nothing Trump outclassed, outshined, and outwitted by its ruling authorities.
He’s an embarrassment compared to other major world leaders, a laughing stock geopolitical wrecking ball.
His regime’s unacceptable Indo/Pacific agenda made resolving major differences with China all the harder – notably US dirty hands all over months of disruptive protests in Hong Kong, along with selling F-16 warplanes and other heavy weapons to Taiwan.
A Final Comment
Former White House council of economic advisers chairman under Obama Jason Furman believes “Trump’s China strategy is failing.”
“His tougher approach has yielded no meaningful Chinese concessions but is increasingly damaging the US economy,” adding:
He “needs to change (his) strategy radically.” Based on the current trend, it seems unlikely.
Читайте больше на http://www.pravdareport.com/opinion/142652-usa_china/
Welfare and Wages falling behind and the government claim all is well (ODT)
With wages stagnating and the cost of living continuing to balloon, the Government remains silent in the face of this crisis, writes William Olson.
via ‘A wages crisis’: The Coalition Government is shirking its duty
The Banner is wrong it should be Morrison confirms America is to send Australian Troops Planes and Warships to Iran (ODT)
via Scott Morrison confirms Australia to join US protection of oil tankers in Straits of Hormuz
Wiser Americans are turning away fro their boorish President
Diplomacy and mediation require respect, historical knowledge, and empathy – the latter being the ability to see the perspective of others without necessarily agreeing with them. Trump shows none of these qualities. And with the diplomatic corps having been gutted of personnel during his presidency, there is little recourse for wiser counsel to offset this president’s boorish, bullying manner.
Trump’s mercurial character makes him unreliable as a partner. He is prone to turning nasty on a dime even to people whom he has at one time lauded as being friendly with. Witness his erratic behavior towards Chinese President Xi Jinping or French leader Emmanuel Macron. Trump seems to have no brake for his big mouth, or care about the consequences.
The G7 summit later this week in Biarritz will be a telling spectacle of how isolated Trump has become on the world stage. Previous gatherings have shown disregard and peevishness from other leaders. The forthcoming meeting promises to be even more cringeworthy because of Trump’s increasingly tarnished image.
Trump’s overbearing egotism and mental meltdown make him a person whom others are learning to ignore.
via How the world learned to stop worrying and ignore Trump — RT Op-ed
Incredibly, the European press is speculating whether the US Navy will intervene, without any warrant of international law.
Trump and his warmongers have not only failed to increase US prestige among key allies in Europe, but have actually so diminished the US superpower that now small European courts are defying it.
via Another Country Defies Trump in Latest Blow to Iran Warmongers
“IN OFFICE BUT NOT IN POWER”
The cause of this is not immediately obvious, but I would place some blame at the feet of one Anthony John Abbott. Since becoming Opposition Leader in 2009, Abbott instituted a particularly vicious and highly rigid brand of politics that has not really left the LNP to this day. I have quoted this before, but it deserves repeating. The extent of the change in the party when Turnbull replaced Abbott was best summed in Abbott saying that Turnbull was ‘in office, not in power’. That turned out to be true, and Morrison is seemingly in a similar position. The difference is, he learned the lesson: he toes the line regardless of the consequences.
Long Live the Idiot King
The accident-prone oil industry has already proven that catastrophic oil spills are always a matter of when, not if. It is brazen overconfidence that is now on show as global oil giant Equinor tries to establish a high-risk operation in the wild waters of the Great Australian Bight. But the truth is that offshore oil disaster has already struck in Australian waters and the impacted communities are still suffering.
The people of Nusa Tenggara Timur deserve justice. And the lesson from the Montara spill – and every other oil disaster around the world from Exxon Valdez to Deepwater Horizon – is that there should be a permanent ban on any oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.
via Accident-prone oil industry to drill Great Australian Bight
LNP SEEMING TO CONTINUE ITS POLICY OF AVOIDING ACCOUNTABILITY ON THE PEOPLES MEDIA OUR ABC (ODT)
“I can’t answer for Ken … Ken made the decision, or someone made the decision, that Ken was not going to be appearing tonight and I’m disappointed Ken was not able to be here.”
Related Article
Anthony Albanese: “It is clear to me that enshrining that voice in the constitution is what must come first.”
Journey from the heart
Indigenous ‘voice’ to Parliament ‘must come first’: AlbaneseBurney affirmed Labor’s commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart – “in its entirety, including to the Voice”.
She declared: “Our position is very clear at the moment.”
In an era when Labor’s old light on the hill has been replaced with a candle in the wind, this is the caveat to watch for: “At the moment.”
via The most interesting thing on Q&A was who didn’t turn up
The LNP Government is dragging the innocent in to try to save themselves(ODT)
On 17 August 2019, The Age newspaper reported that the Prime Minister had announced at a Liberal State Council meeting that there will be an
‘assault on the “shady” activist group GetUp, including fresh action that could curb its vast campaigning and fundraising potential.’
GetUp was active in Kooyong during the last election. Morrison’s sudden crackdown on GetUp is probably also in preparation for a possible new election for the seat.
Section 44(i) has certainly become a revelation to the nation for the uncivil way in which some elected members of parliament are willing to act.
There’s one thing studio execs probably didn’t count on: Fox News.
Reporting that followed the film’s cancellation illustrated just how afraid the studio is of right-wing media and their followers.
That exact scenario played out nearly word-for-word last week — only with the sides neatly reversed. Buckling under pressure from outraged conservative media and Trump, Universal Pictures first paused promotion of an upcoming movie and then scrapped it altogether. The brief, bizarre controversy was an instructive example of how right-wing media outlets are waging the culture war under Trump, all while constantly claiming that it’s liberals who promote outrage culture.
The truth is that our society has an extremely asymmetric view of outrage culture, and that’s largely thanks to the ever-efficient right-wing feedback loop. To combat this one-sided perspective, journalists at mainstream news organizations need to start looking at complaints and popular outrage in a much more macro context. Until they do so, Fox News and others will continue to utilize selective political outrage to advance their agenda unchecked.
A former Infowars staffer who organized the Proud Boys protest in Portland Saturday deemed the “mission” a success because President Donald Trump sided with the right-wing extremist group against the anti-fascists.
And when he said that Julia Gillard should be put in a chaff bag and thrown into the sea, he didn’t mean a literal chaff bag, any bag would have done. Of course, this did mean some ambiguity about the word “sacked”, when he suggested that Opera House chief, Louise Herron, should be sacked for refusing to acquiesce to his demands over a horse race.
And when one of Turnbull’s lawyers contacted him, the old rascal realised that calling Malcolm “a traitor to the nation” may have been open to misinterpretation.
Then, of course, was his comments last year when the leadership of Turnbull was under threat: “The n—– in the woodpile here, if one can use that expression – and I’m not going to yield to people who tell us that certain words in the language are forbidden – the person who’s playing hard to get is Mathias Cormann.”
Yes, Alan Jones deserves a second chance. We all make mistakes and say things that we don’t mean in the heat of the moment… It’s just that most of us don’t do it on radio because we don’t have our own sock jock show. Whoops, I meant shock jock.
via Why Alan Jones Deserves Another Chance… Or Two! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The LNP lead the way on Asylum Seeker Tortoure and now we lead the way on punishing the jobless. Morrison says Grinners a Winners when it comes to 150,000 jobs for 780,000 unemployed. “You have a Go you get a Go” if you buy an pay for a ticket in his lottery. A 1 in 5 chance to feed yourself. (ODT)
Another global agency has exposed Australia as bringing up the rear in caring for the disadvantaged. Alan Austin reports from Europe.
Stone cold, motherless last is where the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) now ranks Australia on generosity towards people out of work.
The OECD is the club of 36 developed mixed capitalist economies. It regularly reports on a wide range of social and economic outcomes and provides useful benchmarks by comparing all 36 countries.
Over the last six years, the OECD has reported that Australia’s ranking on many desirable economic outcomes has been steadily tumbling. On several variables which measure care for the needy, Australia is now ranking last or close to.
via In supporting jobless, Australia comes a stone cold, motherless last – Michael West
MAKING AUSTRALIA GRATE AGAIN
Fears that China will exploit Australia’s neglectful – if not abusive – relationship with its Pacific neighbours are aired all week but the Morrison government isn’t listening. It does everything in its power to offend and alienate Pacific leaders as it clings to its ideological fixation with supporting a moribund coal industry at home.
Above all, enlisting or inspiring the support of Alan Jones, aka The Parrot, has helped the Morrison government shine a light on the unreason, the bullying, the racism and the misogyny which lie at its heart.
Workers’ wage rises lowest on record
THE WAGES SLUMP the Abbott Government plunged Australia into back in 2014 is now firmly entrenched. More than five years after the first failed budget by disgraced former Coalition Treasurer, Joe Hockey, workers’ wages are increasing at the lowest rates since records have been kept. It is unlikely there has been a worse period in Australia’s history for workers receiving a fair share of the nation’s vast wealth.
This dismal news emerged from the quarterly wages figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) last Wednesday.
Global comparisons
Tradingeconomics.com has data on wage growth for 30 developed countries, current to March or June this year for most. The average rise after allowing for inflation is 2.27%.
Australia’s puny 0.82% ranks a dismal 21st out of those 30 countries. Down in the bottom one third.
This is the time when workers should be earning a fair share of the nation’s vast wealth and investing in homes for now and superannuation for the future. The nation should be investing in the quality of life for all citizens now – especially those doing it tough – and in infrastructure for the future.
It seems the rich foreign controllers of the Coalition parties have decided to grasp as much as they can while they can and to hell with the Australian people. Because eventually, surely, one day, citizens must wake up to what is going on and call a halt.
As the Post-Gazette reported:
The choice for thousands of union workers at Royal Dutch Shell’s petrochemical plant in Beaver County was clear Tuesday: Either stand in a giant hall waiting for President Donald Trump to speak or take the day off with no pay.
“Your attendance is not mandatory,” said the rules that one contractor relayed to employees, summarizing points from a memo that Shell sent to union leaders a day ahead of the visit to the $6 billion construction site. But only those who showed up at 7 am, scanned their ID cards, and prepared to stand for hours—through lunch but without lunch—would be paid.
“NO SCAN, NO PAY,” a supervisor for that contractor wrote.
If the democratic party had any backbone it would stop participating in the humiliating annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) propaganda visits to Israel, as a form of protest.
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