And it was a close race between Deputy PM Michael McCordlessdrill, the aptly named Senator Ben Small, the PM himself, Scott “Big Dick-Swinging” Morrison and, proving there is always equality in idiocy, the good little woman and Minister for Women, Marise Payne. Another star-studded idiot episode!
Bloody Idiot of the Week — Episode 21: A couple of small pricks
The number one goal of the GOP is voter suppression, with over 250 bills introduced in 43 states aimed at limiting voter rights and voter access.
Ted Cruz Confirms The GOP’s Biggest Fear Is More Americans Voting | Crooks and Liars
Political terrorism is all coming from the right now. Why can’t ASIO admit it?
ASIO now has real, violent movements to deal with — none of which come from the left. Its new labels for ‘terrorism’ are ridiculous.
Political terrorism is all coming from the right now. Why can’t ASIO admit it?
“Cancel culture will try to block this. But you know who they can’t block? They can’t block me, they can’t block you, and they are not going to block this show,” Dr. Siegel whined. I’m shocked Siegel didn’t mention Pepe LePew or Mr. Potato Head. Remember this?
Dr. Mark Siegel Should Have His Medical License Suspended | Crooks and Liars
“They don’t like me, and I don’t like them”. In one simple sentence, a young man laid bare his experience of the often fraught relationship between Indigenous children and police.
Division in trust over Indigenous deaths in custody continues as recent events open up old wounds – ABC News
It turns out that most of the companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange didn’t need the government’s JobKeeper payment, so healthy has their rebound been, and most of them have decided they’re keeping the money.It turns out that most of the companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange didn’t need the government’s JobKeeper payment, so healthy has their rebound been, and most of them have decided they’re keeping the money.
Here’s a riddle: What does a Centrelink recipient have in common with Gerry Harvey? – ABC News
If a Mango Mussolini says get your vaccine, but Fox News doesn’t cover it, does it make a sound in the forest?
Fox News Failed To Cover Donald’s Call To Get Vaccinated | Crooks and Liars
Meaa president says members ‘dissatisfied’ with Australian Press Council and there should be ‘genuine redress for lapses’ in standards
Journalists’ union considers pulling out of press watchdog over ineffectiveness | Media | The Guardian
Same water, same valuer, $80m and nought. The same type of water licences for irrigation properties near those for which the Coalition government paid $80 million in 2017 were valued at zero between 2008 and 2010, writes investigative reporter Kerry Brewster in this exclusive report.
Barnaby Joyce signed off $80m for Angus Taylor’s old company after zero was paid for same sort of water nearby – Michael West
“The benefits of a four-day workweek include reduced unemployment, increased productivity, and greater employee well-being.”
Spain to Experiment With 4-Day Workweek, ‘an Idea Whose Time Has Come’ | Common Dreams News
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp says a landmark three-year agreement with Facebook to pay for its Australian content will transform the terms of trade for journalism.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp strikes deal as Facebook agrees to pay for Australian content | Australian media | The Guardian
Faced with the unemployment crisis of 1890, jobless workers in Melbourne formed a union to fight for relief. But the Australian labor movement remained indifferent to their struggle — and soon paid the price. Those self-defeating attitudes are still alive in unions today.
If Australia’s Unions Don’t Organize Unemployed Workers, They’re Digging Their Own Graves
The US has far less mobility and equality of opportunity today than almost the entire European Union
The ‘American Dream’ of upward mobility is broken. Look at the numbers | US news | The Guardian
Since the year 2000, the Israeli military in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank has “detained, interrogated, prosecuted, and imprisoned approximately 13,000 Palestinian children,” according to Defense for Children International. Nowadays Israel typically prosecutes between 500 and 700 children annually in military courts. Even though they are civilians and children, they are essentially court-martialed. Wednesday, it added five more to the total.
Israel has Detained 13,000 Palestinian Children since 2000 and just took 5 more
Did you know that “the gross domestic product of the worlds poorest 48 nations is less than the wealth of the worlds three richest people combined“? ( John Lord )
Culture is but a reflection of the society our politicians create – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Eight people are competing for every available job yet the Morrison Governmentcontinues to blame people themselves for being unemployed, putting the Coalition in breach of a key international treaty for as long as it refuses to raise JobSeeker to the poverty line. A Senate Committee hands down its report into JobSeeker when Parliament resumes next week. A clear commitment to increase the rate by of $250 a fortnight is vital to put pressure on the Government to do the right thing, legally and morally. Emma Dawson reports.
JobSeeker Hypocrisy: ‘rule of law’ for Porter but not for those below poverty line – Michael West
60 percent of new cars sold in China in 2030 will be electric, according to Switzerland’s UBS bank. And by 2040 the only new cars on the market globally will be electric, the bank predicts. So report Daniel Ren and Pearl Liu for the South China Morning Post.
By 2030, 60% of New Cars in China will be Electric, and by 2040 all New Cars in the World will be: USB Bank; Will Mideast Oil States Survive?
Piers could not take the rightful criticism of his well documented racism towards Meghan Markle by a Good Morning Britain cohost, Alex Beresford .
Internet Celebrates Piers Morgan Canceling Himself | Crooks and Liars
And I suspect the British media now recognizes what Americans already know and Morgan and the Windsors are learning the hard way. Defending the Queen and taking potshots at duchesses may sell papers, but if you’re going to take aim at Oprah, you best not miss. Otherwise, prepare to be si-lenced.
Only Oprah had the empathy and interview skills to take on the damaging British media – and win | Salon.com
When his daily pile of antidepressant pills stopped working, former Liberal Party director and trade minister Andrew Robb began researching psychedelic therapy as an option to send his depression into remission. “In wanting to do it myself, take advantage of it, I have tried to explore what it actually does. And there’s no doubt that it is quite well agreed that it increases the activity in the brain,” Mr Robb told 7.30. The irony of a conservative advocating currently illegal “shroom” or ecstasy therapy is not lost on him. “I understand that because it had such a bad rap in the 60s, the misuse of these drugs for recreational purposes had a very bad effect,” he said. Mr Robb is advocating for “limited amounts [to be] available for the medical profession to use in a controlled medical situation to alleviate mental health diseases”.
Former trade minister Andrew Robb advocating magic mushroom therapy
Following an IA article analysing the real winners of the Morrison Government’s proposed News Media Bargaining Code, managing editor Michelle Pini was interviewed by RTV Slovenia’s Jaša Rajšek about the Code, the Facebook blockade and the Australian media landscape.
Michelle Pini interviewed by RTV Slovenia on Australia’s Google and Facebook code
The UK variant is spreading in 27 European countries, and is dominant in at least 10 The South African variant has been detected in 26 European countries The Brazilian variant has been detected in 15 countries across Europe
COVID-19 variants power European coronavirus surge, reversing a six-week decline in infections – ABC News
Asked by senators about the proliferation of rightwing views, Miller said Sky News covered “a range of opinions” and “often asks a range of people to appear”. He was responding to earlier claims by the star witness at the inquiry, Kevin Rudd, who claimed Sky News had the potential to build an “alternative political ecosystem out there on the far right”. There’s the “archdeacon of hard-right conservatism in this country, Alan Jones”, Rudd said. “My concern is: where does this land over time – because I’ve seen the ecosystem unfold in the United States.”
Devine intervention as Sky News Australia’s YouTube channel eclipses ABC’s | Australian media | The Guardian
And
Former Neo-Nazi Recruiter: Fox News Driving Radicalization In America
Al Jazeera reports that Pope Francis began his unprecedented trip to Iraq on Friday, his first visit abroad since the beginning of the pandemic. No pope had ever visited Iraq, though the country once had a significant Christian population. Part of the reason for the pope’s visit is to give heart to the dwindling Christian community, which includes Uniate Catholics.
Pope Francis Preaches Tolerance in War Torn Iraq, and Even Militias Welcome Him
Rather, it is because for the first time in Australian history, the Canberra press gallery is dominated by talented, hard-nosed and courageous women journalists, and this alters the understanding of why these allegations matter, and how they should be treated. As well, there is a generation of male reporters who, in at least some cases, “get it”. The result is a new field in the ongoing journalistic job of interrogating power.
Shift in gender balance means abuse claims are being taken seriously
An inquiry into the allegation against Mr Porter, similar to the one ordered by Chief Justice Susan Kiefel into the Heydon allegations, has been suggested by a range of people. They include former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, parliamentarians, prominent lawyers and friends and family of the woman at the centre of the allegation. “She [Kiefel] did not seem to share the qualms of Mr Porter, that conducting such an inquiry would reverse the onus of proof that would somehow catapult us into a lawless state, where we’d have no protection of the law in the country,” said Jo Dyer, a friend of the woman behind the allegation. “We believe there are precedents in both the legal and the corporate world, where confidential inquiries can be sensitively handled, can be appropriately handled – that will allow everybody to have the opportunity to tell their story.
Porter’s internal investigation into judge reveals more complaints
An investigation into Victoria’s unregulated private drug rehabilitation system has found vulnerable patients are being referred to operators accused of exploitative billing practices, treating people without appropriate expertise and employing misleading advertising.
Victoria’s drug rehab system slammed by health complaints commissioner report
Chris Uhlmann should receive an award for his writing about Twitter. No, not a Walkley, but there are many great fiction awards and Chris has been doing great fiction for years. Like when he asserted that it was South Australia’s reliance on wind power which led to transmitters being blown over.
« The Sewer Of Twitter » Is Why Chris Uhlmann Should Receive An Award – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The European Union appears to be rejecting Benjamin Netanyahu’s smears against the International Criminal Court after Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda confirmed on Wednesday that she would be launching a formal investigation into war crimes in Palestine.
EU backs ICC after Netanyahu’s “anti-Semitism” smear | The Electronic Intifada
One of the problems with politics was best expressed when a Liberal politician was attacking a policy that she thought was Labor’s, only to be told midway that it was, in fact, Cormann who said it. Suddenly it became good policy. I always try to separate the person from the politics but that’s not always easy. Just like when Andrew Bolt says something you agree with, you wonder whether you should reassess your views or your whole life.
Let’s Try To Be Fair And Balanced About This… – » The Australian Independent Media Network
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The Trump record Let’s examine the Trump record.
Donald Trump is a loser. Why is the Republican Party sticking with him? – NZ Herald
The MIT Technology Review has released its Green Future Index. Among Middle Eastern countries, Morocco ranks number one, and it also leads Africa.
Morocco beats U.S. in Green Energy Future Index with Massive Saharan Solar Plant
The Morrison Government’s eye-watering stimulus package has little to show in the way of long-term benefit for the majority of Australians. Tarric Brooker reports. AS THE BULK of the Morrison Government’s coronavirus stimulus package draws to a close, one can’t help but be reminded of a quote from wartime British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
Coalition’s eye-watering debt yields underwhelming results
It’s unconfirmed yet whether it was intentional or an unfortunate coincidence, but it seems at least symbolic that even the CPAC stage itself is shaped like a symbol adopted by Nazis and subsequent white supremacist movements.
All of it points to a grim future for the country if the movement currently animating the conservative movement holds majority power over the next decade. Defeat has not chastened the movement, but rather emboldened it. And if CPAC is the predictor it normally is, the next incarnation of Republican power will be even more aggressively racist and authoritarian than its predecessor.
But CPAC isn’t a sideshow. It’s the main stage of the conservative movement, predicting its future behavior in an era of widening asymmetric polarization. CPAC presaged the rise of the Party of Reagan over that of Gerald Ford and Dwight Eisenhower. It heralded the scorched-earth confrontational politics of Newt Gingrich in the Bill Clinton era. It elevated George W. Bush at a time when the mainstream GOP still saw itself more in the mold of John McCain. It celebrated the Tea Party before GOP legislators had fully embraced it. And it promoted openly racist birthers and conspiracy theorists like Donald Trump at a time when the the mainline GOP was producing superficially anti-racist autopsies and promoting candidates like Marco Rubio and Spanish-speaking Jeb Bush. So if we want to know where the Republican Party is heading today, we should pay close attention to CPAC. So what’s the theme now? Where is it going? The answer seems to be doubling down on Donald Trump, white supremacy, insurrection and conspiracy theories. One theme of CPAC this year is unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump, and an insistence that not only is there no conflict within the party over Trump, but anyone who suggests otherwise is a has-been or fifth-columnist attempting to subvert the movement:
As CPAC Goes, So Goes the GOP. And It’s Not Looking Good. | Washington Monthly
The government earlier this year released a discussion paper exploring how an Indigenous Voice to government might work. The Voice to government is not the same as the Voice to parliament that the Uluru Statement from the Heart proposed in 2017. This is because the government doesn’t support the Uluru idea of a distinctive Indigenous body enshrined in the constitution. Instead, it prefers a body set up by an act of parliament. The government of the day could change its powers, or even abolish it, as it pleases. The powers could be expansive, but equally, they could be meaningless. A Voice established under the constitution, meanwhile, would have the authority of the Australian people. This idea has attracted majority support in public opinion polls.
Indigenous recognition is more than a Voice to Government – it’s a matter of political equality
In 2019, Erik Prince, the founder of the notorious mercenary firm Blackwater and a prominent Donald Trump supporter, aided a plot to move U.S.-made attack helicopters, weapons, and other military equipment from Jordan to a renegade commander fighting for control of war-torn Libya. A team of mercenaries planned to use the aircraft to help the commander, Khalifa Hifter, a U.S. citizen and former CIA asset, defeat Libya’s U.N.-recognized and U.S.-backed government.
Erik Prince and the Failed Plot to Arm a Warlord in Libya
John Thune’s Childhood $6 Wage—$24 Adjusted for Inflation—Sure Helps Make the Case for At Least $15 | Common Dreams News
“The worst thing is that these people aren’t dumb. They know about inflation… They just don’t think people who make their food and clean their bathrooms deserve the same things they got.”
John Thune’s Childhood $6 Wage—$24 Adjusted for Inflation—Sure Helps Make the Case for At Least $15 | Common Dreams News
57% of the electorate thinks the government doesn’t spend enough on anti-poverty initiatives, while 56% want to see more investment in education and healthcare.
Majority of US Voters Want Government to Invest More in Healthcare, Education, and Fighting Poverty: Poll | Common Dreams News
The ability of thinking human beings to blindly embrace what they are being told without referring to evaluation and the consideration of reason never ceases to amaze me. It is tantamount to the rejection of rational explanation. ( John Lord )
Finding the truth and reporting it is more important than creating a narrative where controversy matters more – » The Australian Independent Media Network
SCOTUS denies Trump bid to shield tax returns Donald Trump suffered a major setback on Monday in his long quest to conceal details of his finances as the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for a New York City prosecutor to obtain the former president’s tax returns and other financial records as part of a criminal investigation.
Donald Trump’s tax returns to be released after Supreme Court ruling
For over half a century, Israel has lorded over Palestinian society, plundered their land, erased the border of “Israel Proper,” and settled hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers in a territory slated for a Palestinian state. With this one-state reality firmly in place, Israel is now attempting to obfuscate who exactly counts as part of Israel’s “population” — and whether they are deserving of the country’s public health service.
Saturday Night Live tells the uncomfortable truth about Israel
Any man who adopts a “don’t ask, don’t tell” position on sexual violence against women, as the Prime Minister has done, is an abject moral failure.
Source: Whether Morrison knew or not, he is an abject moral failure and should resign
The power of a competitive generation market is that each generator gets to decide for itself what makes it sustainable in the long run. That’s also a weakness of the market.
How the Texas electricity system produced low-cost power but left residents out in the cold
“There is no anti-pipeline movement in Kansas in particular, and there’s never been any kind of protest or civil disobedience at any kind of fossil fuel site,” said Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director of the Kansas Interfaith Action, a religious coalition that advocates for climate action in the state. “So this is a bill that addresses a problem that doesn’t exist.”
4 More States Propose Harsh New Penalties For Protesting Fossil Fuels | HuffPost Australia
‘Like vacation, sex and arts – it’s a work-life balance thing’: Columbia professor defends heroin habit, sparking drug debate — RT USA News
A Columbia professor has gone public with his affinity for heroin, claiming his drug habit has made him a better person. But social media is divided over his unabashed substance-snorting.
‘Like vacation, sex and arts – it’s a work-life balance thing’: Columbia professor defends heroin habit, sparking drug debate — RT USA News
Britain is in the grip of an assault on its public sphere by the state of Israel and its advocates.
We must resist Israel’s war on British universities | The Electronic Intifada
Australians have benefitted profoundly for nearly three decades, as has the rest of the world from the internet – freedom of information, knowledge and choice to communicate and share, which strikes at the heart of the human condition and the founding egalitarian principles of the web. But Morrison and the Liberals with guzzling greed and the architecture of Murdoch and News Corp want to change all that for profit and power in the hands of the elite and super wealthy few – to control these golden ribbons of information… just links
Morrison and Murdoch taking it all down – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Google was prepared to pay these “premiums” to make sure that its business model would still survive. It is the company’s advertising business model that it was keen to protect and for that reason, it was prepared to pay off the news companies. So nothing fundamental has been solved by the Australian Government through its media code. It is now simply waiting for the next battle and the regulator (ACCC) has also already foreshadowed that it will concentrate on that advertising business model. This will be a much tougher battle that Australia will not be able to win on its own. Google will use its full legal power with gigantic financial resources to defend their business.
Facebook is right to call the Australian Government bluff
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