Now, it’s been suggested that one of their members has been travelling overseas to indulge in “sex tourism”.
Nothing illegal in that, of course. I mean, the AFP have investigated and made it clear that it’s not a crime. And there’s no Scott Morrison Tourism Australia promotion for “sex tourism” in Australia where some model asks, “Where the bloody hell are ya?” After all, one could hardly indulge in a seedy Australian sex tour, and that’s not just because the wages here aren’t competitive.
It’s because of fellow Coalition members who support family values.
Members like Tony Abbott, Andrew Broad and George Christensen…
Ok, Andrew Broad looks a bit of a hypocrite at the moment, but nobody could criticise the other two. Well, not without a defamation action, anyway.
The Murdochs’ Fox News, a uniquely destructive force in American public life that ushered in an era of post-truth politics, has been unleashed under President Donald Trump. The network now functions as a propaganda outlet for his administration, embracing any level of extremism, deceit, and bigotry necessary to promote the president’s message while scorning basic principles of journalistic ethics.
Lachlan Murdoch has consistently lied about what his network does and what it is, even as the people who work for him have breached the norms of their profession in increasingly flagrant ways and become ever more entangled with the Trump administration.
via Misinformer of the Year: 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch
In May 2003, then-president George W Bush landed in a fighter jet on a US aircraft carrier and declared “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”.
That became a symbol of strategic blunder, and a moment Mr Bush now regrets.
According to many analysts, the Islamic State (IS) group is not defeated — no matter what the current US President tweets.
For the past year, the territory controlled by IS has been shrinking, including this week when Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) penetrated Hajin, the last major town under IS control.
But in more than a year since they lost control of their de facto capital Raqqa, the US and its Kurdish allies in Syria have been slow to dislodge IS from its last strongholds near the Iraqi border.
And in Iraq, where victory against IS was declared nearly two years ago, the group persists, assassinating local leaders and staging the occasional daring raid on towns where government forces are weak.
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump shook up the Washington establishment and Middle Eastern and world politics on Wednesday by abruptly announcing by Tweet a full and immediate withdrawal of US military forces from northeast Syria. Trump’s motives for what he does are never easy to fathom. He may have been driven by a desire to please his base, which has been shaken this fall by a massive blue wave in the House midterms and a series of legal scandals sending members of Trump’s circle to prison and threatening Trump and his family members themselves. Trump campaigned in 2016 on
Source: A New Middle East: Winners and Losers from Trump’s Abrupt Syria Withdrawal
The Donald J. Trump Foundation will shut down and distribute the money it has left to charities approved by the New York state attorney general, while the state’s lawsuit against the president and his three oldest children alleging violations of state laws governing charities proceeds.
via What You Should Know About The Trump Foundation Shutdown | Crooks and Liars
A key confidant of Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered Sutherland Shire councillor Kent Johns a $350,000 party job in an attempt to head off a preselection showdown with sitting Liberal MP Craig Kelly.
Scott Briggs repeatedly called on Cr Johns to drop out of the preselection race for the federal seat of Hughes, adding Mr Kelly would move to the crossbench and “bring down the government” if the challenge proceeded, the Herald understands.
via Scott Morrison’s fixer offered Craig Kelly’s challenger a $350,000 party job to drop out
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin delivered a shocking report from U.S. Pentagon and militarily leaders severely panning Trump’s decision to immediately pull out of Syria while declaring ISIS is defeated.
Griffin, a long time Fox News national security correspondent, talked to several furious military leaders who wanted desperately to speak out about this, anonymously of course, to rebuke Trump’s impulsive move.
Griffin began, “Well, a senior U.S. Defense official tells me the president made the decision to pull out of Syria after speaking with Turkish President Erdogan last Friday, December 14th…”
It looks very much like once Erdogan told Trump his forces were going into Syria to go after the PKK, Trump acquiesced U.S. foreign policy to another strong man.
She said the US would not be able to protect its allies any longer in Syria.
She continued, “The Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF, who have fought alongside U.S. Forces to defeat ISIS and retake Raqqa, those Kurdish forces and other allies are likely to be slaughtered.”
Slaughtered. These words were not chosen lightly.
Griffin: “As one senior U.S. Defense official put it to me, ‘no one will ever work or fight with us in the Middle East again as a result of this hasty withdrawal and the abandonment of those Kurds who risked everything to fight with the U.S. against ISIS.’
The Australian reports that it was only in July that an advisor to Australia’s then-Foreign Minister Julie Bishop began to ask questions about the role Australian citizens are playing in the Yemen war, as revealed in emails released through a Freedom of Information Act request.
“Has anyone heard about this previously?” the advisor asked in an email with a link to a blog post about the mercenaries. Staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade responded, saying there may have been a “vague accusation” made in the past.
The Australian reports the government does not appear to have been contacted by the ICC. “Under Australian law, it is an offence to engage in a hostile activity in a foreign country, unless serving in or with the armed forces of the government of a foreign country,” a DFAT spokesman told the news outlet.
Australian-UAE connectionsThe commander of the UAE’s Presidential Guard is an Australian general called Mike Hindmarsh, who reports directly to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The Presidential Guard directs the UAE’s campaign in Yemen.
READ MORE: ‘Reassess UK-UAE ties’: British student charged with spying on Gulf state
In 2015, it was reported that Australian Phil Stitman was killed along with Colombian mercenaries in Yemen. They had been fighting alongside mercenaries from the US company Blackwater at the time. In 2016, reports of another Australian killed emerged in Yemeni media, which identified him as Jack Richardson.
Almost three years after making the promise, the Coalition government has made no progress in establishing a register designed to crack down on multinational tax avoidance.
After the publication of the Panama Papers revealed how some of the world’s wealthiest companies and people were using a law firm to minimise their tax responsibilities, and following a similar move in the UK, the Australian government agreed to establish a public registry of beneficial ownership of shell companies.
The register would be designed to expose the shell companies and allow tax authorities to scrutinise who exactly owned each part of a business.
Kelly O’Dwyer confirmed the move in April 2016, saying it would “improve transparency” and would mean the public and authorities would know “who ultimately controls the company”, making it easier to “disrupt illicit financial flows” and “much, much harder to engage in tax avoidance”.
But since then, the register has stalled. Inquiries on the register’s status to O’Dwyer’s office were referred to the assistant treasurer Stuart Robert’s office, which then passed them to the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, who sent the inquiry back to Robert’s office.
“Confidence men,” as Melville understood, are an inevitable product of the amorality of capitalism and the insatiable lust for wealth, power and empire that infects American society. Trump’s narcissism, his celebration of ignorance—which he like all confidence men confuses with innocence—his megalomania and his lack of empathy are pathologies nurtured by the American landscape. They embody the American belief, one that Mark Twain parodied in “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” F. Scott Fitzgerald excoriated in “The Great Gatsby” and William Faulkner portrayed in the depraved Snopes clan, that it does not matter in the crass commercialism of American society how you obtain wealth and power. They are their own justifications.
Perhaps it was inevitable that this poison would come to dominate our culture and our politics. It is the triumph of artifice. We live in an age when the fake, the fraudulent, the fabricated and the theatrical supplant reality. Trump’s manufactured persona was advertised on a reality television show. He sold this manufactured persona, as his ratings declined and he was in danger of being taken off the air, to become president. There are legions of agents, publicists, consultants, scriptwriters, celebrities, television and movie producers, wardrobe consultants, pollsters and television personalities dedicated to creating the myriad illusions that saturate the airwaves with Barnum-like lies. We can no longer tell the difference between illusion and reality; indeed when a version of reality is not verified on our electronic screens and by our reality manipulators it does not exist. The skillful creation of illusion and the manipulation of our emotional response, actions that profit the elites to our financial and political detriment, have seeped into religion, education, journalism, politics and culture. They solidify mob rule and magical thinking. Trump’s crass vulgarity, greed, unchecked hedonism and amorality, along with his worship of himself, are intrinsic to America, but his ascendancy, and the ascendancy of the character traits he personifies, represents cultural death.
Murdoch applies the same model with Sky News in Australia. Unchecked nationalism goes on unabated nightly after dark. In America they have an audience . In Australia one day they hope to.(ODT)
Tucker Carlson is attempting to stay the course amid an advertiser exodus from his Fox News program because of his racist commentary. Carlson had been a mouthpiece for white supremacy, and since being promoted to a prime-time slot on Fox, he has elevated fringe “alt-right” grievances into mainstream media.
But what are the consequences of airing unfettered, explicit white supremacy five nights a week on the top rated cable news channel in the U.S.? They’re that Fox News viewers, including the president, are exposed to extremist ideology that, thanks to the veneer of respectability a top-rated show carries, has become part of the acceptable spectrum of political discourse — but that actually puts marginalized communities under direct threat of material harm.
Unchecked white nationalism on Fox News facilitates radicalization
Carlson’s show shifts the Overton window toward fascism
White nationalist rhetoric poses a threat to the well-being of vulnerable populations
via What happens when the No. 1 cable news channel is steeped in white nationalist rhetoric?
But as the 48th Labor Party national conference has shown, whatever deficits Mr Shorten may be accused of having as the alternative prime minister, they are more than compensated by the professionalism and discipline of the Labor machine around him.
Mr Shorten’s personal ruthlessness and his proved capacity for consensus-building has been reflected in the management of the conference floor — helped, it must be said, by the sobering proximity of the federal election.
In a continuation of the internal battles begun with the ousting of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the moderate and more pragmatic elements of the Liberal party face off against the deeply entrenched hard-right faction of the party.
As chaos continues to reign in Canberra, everyday voters across the nation increasingly just want the Coalition to get on with the job of governing the country, rather than engaging in yet another round of damaging infighting.
This failure to act with even the most basic level of responsibility in government has only served to further degrade the electorate’s faith in a government that has completely lost its way, as Coalition party members increasingly engage in an all-out ideological battle within their own party.
via There are no winners in the Coalition’s internal conflicts
There are many reasons why the Coalition has been politically inept. John Lord examines 25 of the key areas in which they failed.
Mr Trump’s former “fixer” gives his first interview since being sentenced to three years in prison
Mr Trump knew payments to silence a former Playboy model and adult film star were wrong, Cohen says
Federal law requires campaign contributions to be disclosed
Things don’t look great for Trump
Constituting a criminal campaign finance violation, the payments could also eventually land the President in jail if he’s proven to have been involved (although probably not until he’s out of office).
Cohen had hoped for leniency given his cooperation with the Special Counsel’s investigation.
That doesn’t “wipe the slate clean”, the judge said on Wednesday.
“This court … believes a significant term of imprisonment [is justified].”
Cohen isn’t alone
Cohen’s sentencing is one of a series that will cascade over the next couple of months. It’s going to be an uncomfortable time in the White House as Mr Trump’s former associates are sentenced for lying and cheating.
Here’s a reminder of who has been charged so far:
Now, part of this unique environment could be developed to become one of Earth’s biggest offshore oil fields, with a string of about six Australian and international oil companies lined up to drop exploratory drills into its sea floor in search of fossil fuels.
Despite its relative obscurity, it is estimated to generate $10 billion each year for the Australian economy through fisheries and tourism. That’s about 50 per cent more than its more famous cousin, the Great Barrier Reef.
It is becoming known as the Great Southern Reef.
And colleague says “global warming” no longer strong enough term. “Global heating is technically more correct because we are talking about changes in the energy balance of the planet.”
via After 30 Years Studying Climate, Scientist Declares: “I’ve Never Been as Worried as I Am Today”
When asylum seekers looked to an affluent Australia for hope, it was disappointing to see some were treated with “hatred” and weren’t even allowed to set foot on its shores, said activist Malala Yousafzai.
Yet when the Taliban came for Ms Yousafzai’s family in Pakistan, her family was given sanctuary by friends, family, strangers, true to the country’s culture of welcoming those in need.
“Australia is a welcoming and warm country. And when you look at the immigration policies, they do not actually represent the people of Australia,” she said.
“[Refugees] want safety, they want homes, they want somebody to give them protection, and then suddenly you welcome them with hatred,” she said.
“You do not even allow them to land or step their feet on Australia,” she said referring to the offshore processing of asylum seekers. “So I think it is disappointing and I hope that the people of Australia do stand up for refugees and show their true human-side.”
via ‘You welcome them with hatred’: Malala’s disappointment at Australia
Trump claimed that Cohen bore responsibility for any violations of criminal law but also asserted that Cohen “probably was not guilty” of even civil violations related to the payments to former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal and adult-film star Stormy Daniels – a view at odds with that of many lawyers who specialise in campaign finance law.
“Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did,” Trump alleged.
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via Trump says Cohen pleaded guilty ‘to embarrass the President’
Big Loss for the Party Conservatives and Abbott’s mate Boris (ODT)
British Prime Minister Theresa May has survived the political battle of her life, successfully winning a vote of no confidence triggered by Conservative politicians.
The government’s inquiry into whether the ABC and SBS are competing fairly with the private sector’s media operators has given a tick to the public broadcasters.
The report concluded: “Given their market shares, and other factors, this inquiry considers the National Broadcasters are not causing significant competitive distortions beyond the public interest”. But it did see the need for greater transparency from them.
The review arose from a 2017 deal between the government and Pauline Hanson to get One Nation support for media law changes which liberalised ownership rules. It has been chaired by Robert Kerr, formerly from the Productivity Commission. The report was released by Communications Minister Mitch Fifield on Wednesday.
The outcome will be disappointing to News Corp in particular which has been highly critical of the ABC’s expansion in online publishing. The former Fairfax organisation, now taken over by Nine, also complained about the competition eating into the market of commercial media groups.
via ABC and SBS are not distorting media market, government inquiry finds
What fresh hell is this. In yet another mindlessly cruel, deeply racist, utterly pointless move aimed at – what?! distracting the masses from the dumpster fire engulfing him? flexing his psychotic muscle by trying to find more people of color he can traumatize? – the Trump administration (sic) wants to deport certain Vietnamese immigrants who may or may not have committed any crimes but they’re not quite white so really does it matter? According to The Atlantic, Trump et al – many suspect Nazi ghoul Stephen Miller – have unilaterally reinterpreted a 2008 agreement between Vietnam and the Bush-era U.S. that barred the deportation of any Vietnamese arriving here before 1995, when both sides reestablished diplomatic relations. Having once considered reversing the agreement, already deported a few people and then backing off, Trump now argues those Vietnamese are subject to immigration laws and eligible for deportation because what other havoc can he wreak?
via Then They Came – Senselessly and Truly Friggin’ Unbelievably – For the Vietnamese
Theresa May has pulled the pin on Tuesday’s crucial Brexit vote, as it became clear she faced a big rebellion in Parliament against the Brexit withdrawal deal she made with the European Union.
The House of Commons was promised a “meaningful vote” on May’s final European Union divorce proposal. However that may not happen until next week, or even next year – and in the meantime May faces a fight for her political survival.
via May calls off Brexit vote amid fears it could topple her government
So what would our ‘older gentleman’ have us do with his ‘very lovely ladies’ — send them back? If we are going to send immigrants back to where they came from, do we only send the 26% of the population who are first generation Australians away, in which case the UK immigrant is out too? Do we deport the 49% of first- and second-generation Australians which might be a problem if for example Mum comes from Ukraine and Dad comes from Russia? Do we send all immigrants away in which case Australia reverts to being a terra nullus of 60,000 or thereabouts years ago; or do we just agree that the ‘gentleman’ is a bigot rather than a gentleman and welcome the ladies from the Islamic community group while telling the bigot his rant is not welcome?
via Oh the irony – » The Australian Independent Media Network
We focus on ATAR the media pays far more attention to these few examples rather than proving that they are not exceptions there’s a world of success out of schooling but not enough attention to why and not enough role models to guarantee more. (ODT) Why are Australian schools failing their students? Why are there so few mentor programs and so many expanding privatised businesses selling unprovided enthusiasm for learning? Message: a who you know society is not a Meritocracy. (ODT)
It’s not just about the fuel tax; it’s about anger at ever-increasing burdens on the working class.
Overseeing his very first budget as president, Macron rushed to repeal France’s wealth tax, which had applied only to those with over €1.3 million in assets. This is why the notion of justice fiscale, or “tax justice,” figures so prominently among Yellow Vest sympathizers: Why should ordinary people, they ask, be forced to fork over another couple hundred euros each month while the super-rich are rewarded simply for being super-rich?
via What’s Really Behind France’s Yellow Vest Protest? | The Nation
Where is Wayne Swan? (ODT)
Armed with the latest national accounts, Alan Austin reports the flip side of the coin, how Australia has fallen behind.
Australia’s economy was widely regarded as the world’s best-performed through the global financial crisis (GFC). It is now outside the world’s top twenty.
The Coalition has set new “worst-ever” records for underemployment, debt, retail sales, wages and infrastructure construction.
Wednesday’s national accounts for the 2018 third quarter from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) enable us to compare precisely where Australia’s economy ranked in the world five years ago with where it ranks now.
via The Big Breather – why Australia’s economy now ranks outside the Top 20 – Michael West
The US Attorney’s office maintained that Cohen’s payoff to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall in the days before the 2016 presidential election constituted an infraction against US election laws and that it was ordered by Donald J. Trump. It was illegal because it constituted an expenditure of funds to conceal a fact pertinent to the election from the public:
via Trump is now an Unindicted Felon: US Att’y for Southern District of New York
No why modern Israel asks “why did she survive ?” (ODT)
Why Auschwitz survivor Esther Bejarano supports BDS | The Electronic Intifada
Great South Coast Economic Migration Project
Yesterday at 11:37 AM ·The GSCEMP Welcome Weekend was a huge success with the visitors all showing great enthusiasm to relocate to the region. Eleven people, visiting from Melbourne and Sydney, were welcomed by the communities of Casterton and Hamilton over the two days. In the words from Gabriel from Melbourne:
‘I finally feel like I’m in Australia and it already feels like home.’
The weekend involved a guided bus tour of the towns, including visits to a hospital, school, dairy farm, aged care facility and homestays with local families in Casterton.
At the end of the weekend, it was clear that the visitors loved our region and plan to move as soon as they can. The project team will now assist the families to find jobs and suitable housing in order to move to the Great South Coast region in the coming months.
A huge thank-you to the Glenelg Shire Council, Southern Grampians Shire Council, the Leadership Great South Coast project team and many local community members that assisted to make the weekend a success.
via Great South Coast Economic Migration Project – Home
Watch Fossil Fuel’s lobbyist News Corp’s Andrew Bolt and all you will see is the the voice of the reactionary right wing elders not just aloof but defiant and with tin ears broadcasting and mocking the young 17 year olds who are soon to be voters (ODT)
But the voice and face of the revolt on Monday night painted a different picture. Bellemo was no dill headed for a dole queue.
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Striking students defy PM to protest at inaction on climate change
Education
Striking students defy PM to protest at inaction on climate changeStudent activism has many precedents over decades, but in 2018 it resonated especially strongly. It’s been the year of the teenage revolt in the US after the Parkland school shooting in February, a tragedy that sent survivors out on a potent public campaign for gun control.
Their message: we may not yet be able to vote, but we do have a voice.
via ‘I don’t believe that’: how a 17-year-old student stole the show on Q&A
Tony Abbott’s and Chris Kenny’s holiday camp(ODT)
via Mental Health On Nauru Comparable To Torture Victims, Doctors Without Borders Says
Everyone has Julia Banks on their lips but nobody is talking of James Molan’s threat. (ODT)
Senator Jim Molan has slammed the preselection process which saw him relegated to an unwinnable spot on the NSW Senate ticket and warned he is “not to be taken for granted” if Prime Minister Scott Morrison doesn’t intervene to save his political career.
Speaking on Perth radio on Sunday, Senator Molan said he had been courted by other parties, but would stick with the Liberal Party for now.
via I’m not to be taken for granted’: Molan eyes Morrison intervention
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved to save embattled backbencher Craig Kelly from being thrown out of Parliament in a risky intervention that will ignite a fresh war between the Liberal Party’s conservative and moderate forces.
Mr Kelly, a key ally of former prime minister Tony Abbott who helped engineer the demise of Malcolm Turnbull’s National Energy Guarantee, is facing certain defeat in a preselection challenge by Kent Johns in the safe southern Sydney seat of Hughes.
via Liberal Party in turmoil over plan to save Craig Kelly through emergency powers
Anonymity of Liberal Party voices and the Press that’s the news andit smacks of little more than PR. (ODT)
And then there is the traitor-in-chief, Malcolm Turnbull. This week Turnbull reacted strongly on Twitter against a story published in The Australian. In it, an anonymous source asserted “his hands were all over” Banks’ defection. Turnbull mocked the idea as paranoid.
The same story also reported Turnbull was in contact, via text message, with his successor in Wentworth, independent Kerryn Phelps.
This was a cause for “concern” among Liberals who are angry at Turnbull being “unwilling to provide public backing to Liberal candidate Dave Sharma” during the Wentworth byelection. Never mind that Turnbull’s contact with Phelps was as part of a job handover, which shows he is doing the right thing by his former constituents. Who cares about those constituents now that they have voted the wrong way?
An anonymous Liberal was quoted as saying the contact between Phelps and Turnbull “speaks for itself and confirms everybody’s suspicions”, which is as conspiratorial as it gets.
via Liberals descend into tribalism under the cover of ‘loyalty’
Israeli military censorship
Israeli media are subject to military censorship of details related to the 11 November incident and the specifics of the commando unit’s cover story, such as the name of the organization they were said to be working for, have not been published.
The name of the Israeli officer who was killed during the battle has been censored and Israeli outlets have referred to him as “Colonel M.” However, his name was revealed by publications out of censors’ reach as Mahmoud Kheireddine of the Sayeret Matkal elite reconnaissance unit.
Israel’s military censor has banned media from publishing the photos of the Israeli commandos after they were released by the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
via Israel’s espionage crimes in Gaza and abroad | The Electronic Intifada
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