Would it be too much to ask that we drop the “talking points” crap and actually tell the truth about the current situation so we can make a plan that actually reduces emissions without having to resort to accounting dodges and PR spin designed to make it look like you give a shit?
However it will have little or no impact on News Corp, Sky or Fox Corp (ODT)
Last week News Corp Australia commercial finance manager Emily Townsend told senior management she found it “unconscionable” to continue working for the company given she believed it had mislead readers about the cause of the bushfires sweeping across Australia.
James’ intervention shows that such concerns aren’t just held by some outspoken employees and left-wing critics on Twitter. They go to the very top of the Murdoch family tree.
The comments were a clear rebuke of James’ father Rupert, who insisted at News Corp’s annual general meeting in December: “There are no climate change deniers around I can assure you.”
For anyone who has read the opinion pages of News Corp publications or tuned into Fox News, it was a laughable statement – and one Mudoch’s second-eldest son refused to let go uncorrected.
For example, several recent News Corp articles highlighting the role of arsonists in causing bushfires have been used by prominent Fox News hosts to discredit the link between climate change and bushfires.
In an editorial last week The Australian said its bushfire reporting had been “wilfully and ineptly misrepresented by The New York Times and Guardian Australia as climate denial”.
The Bullshit Trump Spins is beyond belief he is a puppet because he hasn’t the IQ to have constructed this. The man does not READ (ODT)
the Bethlehem Doctrine is the formal policy position on assassination of Israel, the US and UK governments. So that is lie one. under which “imminent” is a “concept” which means neither “soon” nor “definitely going to happen”. To twist a word that far from its normal English usage is to lie. To do so to justify killing people is obscene. Furthermore the Bethlehem Doctrine specifically applies to “non-state actors”
Soleimani was a high official in Iran who was present in Iraq as a guest of the Iraqi government, to which the US government is allied. This greatly exacerbates the illegality of his assassination even further.
Let us now move on to the next lie, which is being widely repeated, this time originated by Donald Trump, that Soleimani was responsible for the “deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans”. if you take every American killed including and since 9/11, in the resultant Middle East related wars, conflicts and terrorist acts, well over 90% of them have been killed by Sunni Muslims financed and supported out of Saudi Arabia and its gulf satellites, and less than 10% of those Americans have been killed by Shia Muslims tied to Iran.
Soleimani actually was involved in intelligence and logistical cooperation with the United States in Afghanistan post 9/11 (the Taliban were his enemies too, the shia Tajiks being a key part of the US aligned Northern Alliance). He was in Iraq to fight ISIL.
WMD Scandal, Gulf of Tonkin Scandal, The Lying President Scandal 20,000 lies ago the scandals just keep coming and Fox Corp cleans the blackboard (ODT)
Witness to Corporate Crime committed in plain sight. America is a Fascist State when a Corporation can and does fly in the face of peoples elected governments no matter what their persuasion. Sending the message that the State is whatever the Corporations declare it to be. Justice and Equality are under Corporate control. (ODT)
The problem has been a relative small group of deniers have dominated policy as they did anti- Marriage Equality and we saw what happened there howerver they are still in play and we see their efforts to legislate laws for bigotry as opposed to equality. Strangely enough many are also science deniers and simply political opportunists who the current Australian leadership still pander to the API the most obvious and whose members media giants like News Corp, Sky and 2GB give a voice far louder than their true representation in the community. However we saw what happened in Warringah and the possibilities when the electorate isn’t distracted by economic bullshit and fear by the likes of a billionaires like Clive Palmer and Gina Rineheart with Coal interests next to Adani . (ODT)
When I had the privilege of serving as Australia’s minister for climate change, I had access to the leading scientists in Australia and internationally, the evidence and the analysis. That is what motivated me to legislate a comprehensive set of greenhouse gas emissions-reduction policies, including a carbon price. My objective was to respond to the climate science with policies that were environmentally effective, economically efficient and socially fair.
In Australian politics, a relatively small group of science-deniers and appallingly irresponsible political opportunists have successfully dominated the policy response to climate change in recent years. We all know who they are. In Australia’s national interest, in the interest of future generations, this group should be marginalised.
1) globally, by failing to take appropriate action on climate change, ranking 57 out of 57 countries on climate change policy, yet still defending Australia’s policies as acceptable, and
2) nationally, by failing to provide and implement national, long-term strategies for prevention, preparation, management and recovery for the growing incidence and severity of natural disasters linked to climate change.
The Government’s own reports, briefings and reports demonstrate it knew about the risks posed by lack of appropriate action to mitigate the consequences of climate change, and yet it did nothing tangible at all. The Morrison Government’s multiple failures, which have arguably contributed to the loss of life, homes, communities, wildlife and over 10 million hectares, must be seen as a gross act of negligence.
America has a history of lying to create the opportunity to invade and occupy countries who frankly don’t want them there (ODT)
The fingerprints of Pompeo are all over this provocation to war. In a striking parallel to the deception that accompanied the Gulf of Tonkin crisis in 1964—in which the American public was told about an attack on a U.S. ship that never happened, precipitating the Vietnam War—Pompeo and his allies carried out a complex deception in regard to the Soleimani hit. They claimed they had to kill the second most popular leader of Iran with no advance notice to Congress because the Iranian general was planning a massive attack that put the country in “imminent” danger. Trump officials have so far not provided any evidence publicly to back up this version of events. In fact, when briefed by DoD officials Wednesday, Democrats complained about the lack of hard evidence presented, leaving them unconvinced there was an imminent threat. Republican Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., said the briefing was “less than satisfying.”
Donald Trump occasionally utters unspeakable truths. In March 2018 he called Bush Jr.’s decision to invade Iraq “the worst single mistake in US history.” Earlier, Trump had said that Bush should have been impeached for launching that disastrous war.
Yet on January 2 2020 Trump made a much bigger mistake: He launched all-out war with Iran—a war that will be joined by millions of anti-US non-Iranians, including Iraqis—by murdering Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the legendary hero who defeated ISIS, alongside the popular Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Gen. Soleimani was by far the most popular figure in Iran, where he polled over 80% popularity, and throughout much of the Middle East. He was also adored by millions even outside that region, non-Muslims as well as Muslims. Many Christians throughout the world loved Gen. Soleimani, whose campaign against ISIS saved the lives of thousands of their co-religionists. Even Sunni Muslims (the people, not the billionaire playboy sheikhs) generally loved and admired the Shia Muslim Gen. Soleimani, a saintly warrior-monk who was uncommonly spiritual, morally impeccable, and the most accomplished military genius of this young century.
There is no link between droughts and climate change is the argument posited by News Corp pundits like Andrew Bolt and the LNP government’s right wing who Morrison says has “no influence”. It’s the same argument put by Big Tobacco smoking and cancer that there is no direct link. But Kelly Morrison and News Corp pundits keep silent on that score and I’m sure don’t encourage their kids to smoke.
After 40+ years of scientific research the evidence is clear that there is a correlation between the rate rise of CO2 and global warming records. That warming has intensified lengthened and changed the nature of droughts and lengthened the fire danger periods changing the nature of the fuels readily burnt. Climate change has in fact significantly impacted the consequences experienced of the bushfires we see today. Predictions to this effect were made by climatologists more than 10 years ago ignored and scoffed at.
The biggest response in 2013 was heard by ex LNP PM Tony Abbott who said science of global warming was crap. Today we hear Scott Morrison declaring it’s no time for politics. We need to deal with the new reality and we are doing that but forget the cause. (ODT)
“There is no link, the facts that cause the fires are the drought and the drying of the environment,”
“I follow the science,” lies Craig Kelly, MP for Hughes, who lobs on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, a pulpit for Piers Morgan, a Daily Mirror, former editor, sacked in 2004, for publishing fake images purporting to show British soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners.
Mr Budde said there was a case for regional and rural Australia to have fibre-optic cables.
“While that might be cost costly … I think on the other side, the social, economic benefits are as important, if not more important in situations like this,” he said.
The problem is: democracies can’t function properly if there isn’t a shared truth, no matter how broad, among the voting public.
And yes, the split in our shared reality didn’t happen overnight. It has eroded for years with the help a strident, polarising Murdoch media and talkback radio, much of which is spread widely online.
But social media’s ability to filter the facts, and experience, has accelerated this trend to a crisis level.
This is something being learned the hard way in the US, when life and death decisions are being taken on worldviews that are only half-shared within the nation.
Specifically, Mr Morrison wants the inquiry to examine three areas of climate policy: emissions, resilience and mitigation.
He would much prefer the debate focused on resilience and mitigation, nominating land clearing and dam construction as areas ripe for improvement.
These are worthy areas to examine, but largely relate to the symptoms of climate change. It’s just as important, if not more-so, to confront the cause.
There’s still no sign of any “historic change” from Mr Morrison on that front.
If you’re a lefty, or a marginally sane human being, you’re probably pretty weary by now, worn to a frazzle by the daily flood of crazy sewage draining from the White House, from Fox “News,” from Trump on Twitter, and from the spectrum of right wing news sources that have so successfully been making insanity seem routine. We’ve gotten used to words like “gaslighting” to describe the fog we have been walking around in for such a very long time. Up is down, evil is good, right is wrong.
T.S. Eliot, about a century ago, predicted the world would end with a whimper, not a bang. As a sometimes shouting, sometimes whimpering lefty, I’m sure it doesn’t matter much, but it sure seems like he may have been right. At this rate, it seems like we’re doomed.
In such darkness, it grows increasingly hard to stay awake.
The US plans permanent occupation of numerous nations worldwide, including Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and other countries it attacked preemptively.
It’s up to officials of these countries and mass public opposition to end US occupation through the power of resistance.
Pentagon bases are platforms for endless wars, including against host and neighboring countries.
So-called status of forces (SOFA) agreements establish the framework under which US forces operate abroad — serving its own interests at the expense of occupied nations and their people.
Chalmers Johnson explained SOFAs in 164 countries as follows, saying:
So fuck it. Just kick back and watch or read some heartwarming Fox News, which tells them that though five percent of the world’s land mass is becoming an uninhabitable inferno, US firefighters there are being cheered at airports. Those that are left.
“We don’t know precisely when and we don’t know precisely where, but it was real,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News on Thursday, remarks many interpreted as an admission that Soleimani did not actually pose a grave and immediate threat to American lives.
The plot and lies thicken. Propaganda is quick the truth takes longer to come out and Trump can’t stop it. (ODT)
Critics said the Post reporting undermines the Trump administration’s claim that it assassinated Soleimani due to an “imminent threat” to American interests—and indicates the general’s killing was part of what was meant to be a far more sweeping effort to damage the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“This suggests a mission with a longer planning horizon and a larger objective, and it really does call into question why there was an attempt to explain this publicly on the basis of an imminent threat,” Suzanne Maloney, an Iran scholar at the Brookings Institution think tank, told the Post.
This is the man who pulled the trigger on the death of 176 Passengers a global terrorist posing as a President needs to be sacked and tried. (ODT)
Trump Officials Had No Idea When Or Where ‘Imminent’ Iran Attacks Would Happen Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Friday that despite the lack of specifics, the attacks were really, really imminent.
mainstream news organizations are now taking the president’s evidence-free claim that the Iranians were planning to “blow up” an American embassy at face value on social media.
Trump turns Saudi religious hatred of Shiia into political propaganda against Iran and in doing so is creating the unity that never really existed (ODT)
Coalition forces stood aside as Saddam’s tanks, with helicopters overhead, smashed their way into Shia cities like Karbala, Najaf and Basra, and then began their mass executions.
Three decades later, the US and its allies are still making the same mistake, treating the millions of Shia in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and Afghanistan as if they were Iranian agents.
Down the centuries, the Shia have been one of the most savagely persecuted religious minorities; they fear today that in the wake of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, they are once again being demonised, as Donald Trump denounces all who oppose the US in the Middle East as Iranian proxies.
The Coalition continued to ignore warnings about the results of climate change and now must bear responsibility for our bushfire catastrophe, writes John Wren.
This is a greater cost than the ALP’s Pink Bats add this to the NBN and let’s talk LNP Management and Scott Morrison’s future. (ODT)
How utterly despicable — a U.S. president blaming his presidential predecessor for a foreign foe’s reign of regional terror.
This sitting, cocksucking, motherfucking two-bit punk of a nonelected president doesn’t deserve mere removal from office; he also deserves, at the very least, a till-end-of-life federal prison term in which he gets repeatedly ass-slammed, just as he has done to Obama, an actual U.S. president, for three years.
Trump is a liar, a swindler, an obstructor of justice, a conscienceless abuser of power, a serial Constitution violator, a warmonger of an isolationist, a pissant of a coward whose inevitable removal from this earth — not through the front door of the White House, but the back door of some federal penitentiary’s mortuary — will be the most welcome event in the history of these United States.
I don’t customarily deploy the language of my second paragraph, but this sitting, cocksucking motherfucker has earned it. Fuck him.
Trump launched a reckless criminal act of state terror designed to provoke a war. Iran de-escalated the situation as of Wednesday — refusing to engage in a retaliatory cycle of violent escalation while demonstrating their military capability. Trump responded with a rambling, lifeless, incoherent slurred speech that promised to ratchet up economic sanctions without threatening further violence.
Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat. My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all 176 souls lost aboard this flight.
The consequence of Trump’s recklessness
A total of 176 people were killed when a Ukrainian passenger plane came down soon after taking off from Tehran in the hours after the missile strike.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revealed intelligence that suggests it was shot out of the sky by Iran. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Australians have the same intelligence.
“The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile,” Mr Trudeau said. “This may well have been unintentional.”
Iran was on a war footing in the hours after launching its ballistic missiles and would have been prepared for an American response from the air.
All indications point to a tragic mistake.
It won’t take long for critics to point the finger of blame at Mr Trump himself.
Even before Mr Trudeau’s press conference, Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, who served for the US military in Afghanistan, implied the President should carry responsibility.
“Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat” he tweeted.
Given the rate at which greenhouse gases and global warming have resulted in the change and the extreme intensity of global weather conditions, what chance has a future recovery of biodiversity now? Particularly when the events we are experiencing now has been exacerbated by modern man’s contribution to Climate Change and in the face of scientific evidence and warnings our leaders keep denying it.
Indigenous management or management of any kind will fail unless the reduction of fossil fuels is acknowledged and the rate of contribution that increased CO2 has made to the weather with it. The warnings and predictions were made globally for what’s occurring here, now, and were scoffed at incessantly by Rupert Murdoch’s media pundits across the English speaking world. Pretenders declaring themselves experts but deserve jailing for fake news. Surely if there is a case for a class action against financial advisers there is one against Murdochians to be made? (ODT)
olddogthoughts 
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