“[They are] seeking political advantage by undermining the most disadvantaged group in Australia … Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Mr Albanese said.
Source: Divisive Voice rhetoric ends with a light-hearted spray
Why does Indonesia seem more Independent?
Did colonialism ever die? Distant major powers are making life-and-death decisions that will impact Indonesia, ironically on the eve of the Republic’s 17 August national day celebrating Soekarno’s 1945 proclamation of independence from three centuries of Dutch rule.
Source: Unlike Indonesia we are outsourcing our defence to a foreign power. – Pearls and Irritations
“I’m hopeful that if we did the right thing, AI would be great. But the question is: Will we be doing the right thing in our policy space? And I think that’s much more problematic.”
Source: Nobel-Winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz ‘Very Worried’ AI Could Supercharge Inequality
Not Why but Who?
Climate activist Greta Thunberg possesses intelligence, articulation and integrity that many Australians should aspire to, writes Dean Frenkel.
Murdochians laugh as the world burns
The world has just suffered through its warmest month ever recorded. Heatwaves have swept across southern Europe, the US and China, breaking many temperature records in the process.
Source: Science shows the severe Climate Consequences of new Oil, Gas and Coal Production
Who and why Murdoch bends over so readily to please.
Republican super PACs in the House and Senate raked in major donations from the fossil fuel industry this year. Proving to be money well spent, GOP lawmakers are ramping up a campaign of outright climate denial.
Source: The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Paying the GOP Handsomely to Deny Climate Change
Desperate to present a united front at the forthcoming Labor conference in Brisbane, the Albanese government looks to prevent delegates from voting on the merits of the AUKUS alliance and for recognition of Palestine as a state. On two crucial issues, dissent is feared. An opportunity for informed debate will be lost. Toeing a party line is the priority. On each issue, Australia’s identity as an independent, human rights-respecting country is at stake, so why fear debate?
Source: Why does the Australian Government fear dissent on AUKUS and Palestine? – Pearls and Irritations
Israel doesn’t practice “do unto others as you would have others do unto you” But “do to others what others did to you” The problem is the others in their case are the easiest target at hand that has anything of value and that’s land
During much of 1948, Palestinians driven from their homes by the violence of that terrible year took safety in what could reasonably be called refugee camps; camps for people who have fled ongoing violence or natural disaster and are unable or fearful to return. They ceased to be refugee camps by January, 1949.
Source: Israel didn’t Place Palestinians in “Refugee,” but in Internment Camps
These are Israelis who serve in the military and pay more taxes because they are employed. If more secular Jews flee Israel, who will be left to protect the Orthodox and fund Israel’s treasury?
Right-wingers really think ahead, eh?
It is cruel irony that Israelis are preparing to move to Germany or Poland where their parents or grandparents survived Hitler.
“They’re willing to accept a drop in their standard of living because they’re so worried that their freedom of movement will be curtailed,” Shay Obazanek told The New York Times. “…they’re scared of a dictatorship, and they worry that if they wait, it may be too late.”
Isn’t that what many Jews in Nazi Germany thought 80 or more years ago? Israel was established to serve in part as a refuge for any Jew who asks for it. As of last week, many Jews now think of their designated “refuge” as a potential gulag.
Source: What Will Happen to the Refuge That Is Israel? | The Smirking Chimp
We have seen various flood metaphors used to describe ways to distort and destroy the democratic project in the Trump era. Scott Morrison’s accusation that he is the subject of a “political lynching” in the Robodebt inquiry fits neatly into the paradigm.
One of the strategists at the centre of creating President Donald Trump is Steve Bannon. He encouraged Trump to escalate his firehose of lies. The concept of a “firehose of falsehood” is a form of propaganda exploited by Putin constantly. The Rand corporation identified it and gave the device that label. The strategy involves a figure or regime lying hard and long enough, echoed through various platforms, to confuse the public.
Not only does the strategy escalate way beyond the ability to fact-check, but the public’s entire sense of faith in the institution of government is destroyed. This promotes helplessness and apathy.
The current hate-filled campaign by Far-Right conservative forces to derail the Voice Referendum is a shameful attempt to create division in order to ensure First Nations Australians remain voiceless.
Source: How the ABC platforming Sheridan & the IPA is derailing The Voice & subverting democracy
The Australian Labor Party is introducing legislation it claims will help end endemic insecure work. But if the party’s track record is anything to go by, casual workers shouldn’t hold their breath.
Source: Australia’s Insecure Work Framework Is Designed and Maintained by the Labor Party
All really due to Tony Abbott’s political maneuverings of Nope Nope Nope and handing the poison chalice of the NBN he wanted created to Malcolm Turnbull. Abbott fucked Australia and himself in the long run and was thrown out of the parliamentary party. However never forget taht Tony is still lurking in the shadows and hasn’t changed one iota and is never far away, He and Barnaby Joyce are cut from the same cloth always ready for a comeback. Always hanging on. What’s with St Ignatius?
As the NBN continues to decline in speed and increase in price, an affordable, high-quality network seems like an unattainable goal, write Paul Budde, John de Ridder and Bob James.
Source: The NBN legacy: Rising prices and falling global rankings
That the Albanese government could further compromise Australia’s sovereignty, international integrity and national interests seemed inconceivable. Yet, intelligence, a vital government function inextricably connected with independence and protecting national interest, is being penetrated and colonised by the Americans.
Source: Abandoned sovereignty: Australia’s intelligence function colonised by US – Pearls and Irritations
Donald Trump’s latest criminal charges revolve around promoting the lie that the 2020 US Presidential election was stolen and right at the heart of promoting that lie has been Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch, Fox News and their other media outlets.
Racists are individuals who intentionally support racially systemic social structures like those seen in Florida. Tucker Carlson certainly promotes them and is a proud signed-up ticket carrying racist. Those that unwittingly support racism and are unaware of it are simply ignorant. While leaders like DeSantis who aspire the Presidency, and as Governor ban books, and education programs that reveal institutional racism in and effort to bury its stench are simply normalised KKK leaders in a dying Democracy.
Tucker Carlson says ‘being racist is not a crime’ but if he was he would ‘just say so’
Source: National Times – Tucker Carlson says ‘being racist is not a crime’… | Facebook
Two and a half years to get here almost seems like America is India where you can simply buy time and delay justice until after death as long as you have the money to buy it.
Donald Trump is under indictment for trying to steal an election but he may very well be given absolution for his crimes by the free and fair electoral system he has demeaned and degraded ever since he entered politics. If that were to happen I’m afraid that the half of the country that still believes in democracy and the rule of law would be hard-pressed to keep the faith if that were to happen. What would be the point?
Source: Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 indictment: Too late for justice? | Salon.com
Honestly AI or Andrew Bolt. Murdoch would have to sack AI or heavily edit it in order to maintain his quid pro quo arrangements with the IPA and LNP
So there we have it. AI could take the place of Andrew Bolt tomorrow but it would probably be sacked due to its ability to consider a counter argument.
The constitution is a profoundly racist document, an expression of White Australia, of settler history, with the concepts of Australia having been “discovered” by Europeans under the fiction of terra nullius. Implicit in it is “the passing of the Aborigines”.
The one issue on which all parties in the Australian colonies agreed in 1901 was White Australia. The Australian Labor Party was zealous on this. The Australian way of dealing with racism was to deny it existed.
Failure to recognize the suffering and marginalization of First Nations people was the core of what anthropologist W. E. H. Stanner, in his important Boyer Lectures for the ABC in 1968, called “the great Australian silence”.
Indian soldiers were invited to the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia in Sydney at 10am on January 1, 1901, but no Aboriginal Australians. The omission may not have been deliberate – perhaps it never occurred to the organizers to ask any.
It is egregious cynicism to argue in 2023 that a positive reference to First Nations people would bring a divisive racist element into the Constitution.
Source: “The… – The Fiberal Party of Australia – Lies & Misdemeanours | Facebook
Mr Albanese announced the review in Question Time on Monday. It came after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he was happy for the National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the claims, while blasting the whole allegations as “a stunt”.
Source: (1) “A review… – The Fiberal Party of Australia – Lies & Misdemeanours | Facebook
Under Tony Abbott, some 3000+ ATO tax-trained investigators were given the sack many of who went on to be employed by the big four along with many other firms advising corporations prepared to pay for their skills and knowledge of tax evasion.
An ATO amnesty arrangement to collect back taxes allowed the biggest corporations in the country to self-declare and negotiate the terms of their own settlement because the Department had lost it’s most skilled investigators. This LNP-sanctioned arrangement was and has never been available to all Australians. Why was that privilege allowed by Abbott the LNP and the ATO one might well ask?
He revealed that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) reached a settlement with PwC in March — long after the firm’s involvement in the tax leak scandal was publicly known — over PwC’s false claims of legal professional privilege that gave the big rour firm a 50% discount on applicable penalties. As part of the deal with the ATO, PwC didn’t have to admit any liability.
ATO-PwC arrangement confirms special deals must be dragged into daylight
When the government takes centrist positions on issues that need transformative and inspirational leadership, it gets bogged down trying to defend against bad faith actors who dog-whistle ‘communism’ at anything that threatens their paymasters’ interests, instead of leading from the front on reforms and policies that rise above populist fearmongering and deliver to Australians what they unequivocally voted for.
Source: The Fordham Effect – The Shot
Why are foreign investors so attracted to Australia? Why is the ASX being hollowed out by takeovers? Why do we consumers pay too much? A UBS research report has the answers. Michael West reports.
Source: The Lucky Investor Country: if the RBA has a conundrum, spare a thought for the ACCC – Michael West
The threat of Artificial Intelligence effectively doing jobs has raised fears that tomorrow’s world will be increasingly jobless. There are competing proposals to resolve the societal fallout of a jobless world.
Source: Universal Basic Income: How to do it right – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The Australian Government failed to challenge U.S. officials on the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the recent AUSMIN defence conference, writes Dr Binoy Kampmark.
Source: Labor Government shuns Assange to placate U.S. sovereigns
After a rather extraordinary month of steadily escalating defence PR and conspiracy opportunities, Australia was sat on its backside over the weekend and reminded to know its subservient place.
Source: The United States has put Australia back in its place … again
It’s hard not to feel some sympathy for people who seem to have gotten caught up in Trump’s orbit for entirely personal reasons, such as believing he offered exciting employment opportunities.
“Holding Trump accountable for his crimes pulls our democracy back from the precipice and prevents his criminal attempt to overturn an election from being forgotten or normalized,” said one watchdog leader.
Source: ‘Most Significant Charges Yet’: Trump Indicted for Trying to Overturn 2020 Election
According to Greg Sheridan who insists he’s a Great Catholic, he contradicts himself when saying there are no “universal truths”. According to Sheridan, good and evil are just socially relative terms. He agrees with Trump who after the death in Charlottesville tried to tell Americans that there’s good and evil on “both sides” and they’re equivalent.
Greg Sheridan made an interesting comment on “Insiders” where he told us that if the Voice fails to get up that means that Peter Dutton is not a racist because most people agree with him.
Interesting logic. Does that mean that the American South weren’t racist for excluding African-Americans from certain places because most people there agreed with it? Or that Hitler wasn’t anti-Semitic because most Nazis agreed with him… (No, I’m not comparing Dutton to Hitler before you start invoking Godwin’s Law. That would be unfair. For a start, Hitler managed to successfully seize power, while Dutton couldn’t even get his own party to pick him ahead of Scott Morrison.)
Source: It’s Not Corrupt If Both Sides Do It! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
This isn’t Peter Dutton it’s actually Scott Morrison “the shape changer” or “changeling”
Back from his holiday the Dutton statement
“My office has no record of the AFP Conversation” nor does The Home Affairs Department have a record of me telling them of the conversation I had.”
1) The Conversation Peter Dutton had with the AFP wasn’t put on record by him. His conversations it seems aren’t taped. However, it’s on record with the AFP. Dutton seems to be suggesting the AFP are lying.
or
2) The AFP notified Peter Dutton who simply did nothing. But now denies it. Praising his Department and once again handballing the issue to his mate Dept head Pezzulo .
3) “I was just the Minister that was not my Job”. How Scott Morrison of him or is that how Dutton of Scott Morrison?
If one was to believe Peter Dutton, ministers are completely devoid of responsibility for actions of their departments.
Source: National Times – Dutton just wants this whole affair to go away. (… | Facebook
But Crikey‘s inquiries have established that Margerison disposed of his multimillion-dollar Gold Coast home to a longstanding business partner and friend, Mike Ribot, and Ribot’s wife, Kathleen. Queensland land title records show the sale was finalised on June 30. The sale price was $5 million, according to realestate . com . au.
Source: “John… – The Fiberal Party of Australia – Lies & Misdemeanours | Facebook
Questions
1) Was the Chamber Full?
2) Did Scott Morrison defame one of Australia’s most respected and highly qualified Judges?
3) Is he calling all those that gave evidence against him ALP ring ins or Muslims?
Scott Morrison says he has been the victim of a political “lynching” in a fiery rejection of the findings of the Robodebt Royal Commission.
There is something very odd in this statement of it being a “global first” given that Koalas don’t exist anywhere else. Only a politician could come out with such crap.
A national park dedicated to koalas would be a global first. A uniquely Australian park that recognised the importance of this iconic species, now facing extinction. Creating the park is more than a NSW state issue. In Indigenous culture, there are many koala dreamings, their loss kills country.
Source: Labor must ensure survival of an iconic Australian species
Doctor and Teal rep for Mackellar, Sophie Scamps, has called on Northern Beaches Hospital boss to resign if he can’t deliver on youth mental health
The broader question is whether essential public services should be privatised at all, especially sold to chronic tax avoiders operating in the Cayman Islands. Scamps is not the only one being snubbed for answers.
Royal North Shore Hospital charges $1m per public bed ($750m per year for 750 beds) and Northern Beaches $2.5m per bed ($600m for 250 beds). Numerous approaches have been made to the Northern Sydney Local Health District authorities – the regulator – by this publication for financial disclosures. Also to the hospital management and corporate overlords. All approaches have been rebuffed. What are they hiding?
Source: Caymans-owned Northern Beaches Hospital performs world-first “Headinthesandectomy” – Michael West
The British East India Company is back in Business
The UK government will grant hundreds of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea in a bid for energy independence, ignoring calls to stop new fossil fuel projects.
While Australians pride themselves, for the most part, in having stricter gun laws than most and not being warlike in disposition, their governing officials have increasingly thought otherwise. War drums are beating. The chatter about acquiring and building armaments is getting more frenzied. As a client state of the US imperium, firmly enmeshed in the security arrangements of the AUKUS agreement, Canberra is becoming increasingly interested in militarising the population and turning the country into a garrison state.
Source: Kits for killing: AUKUS goes to school – Pearls and Irritations
On the global level, the 2021 entry into force of a nuclear ban treaty — officially known as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons — is a sign of hope, even if the nuclear weapons states have yet to join. The very existence of such a treaty does at least help delegitimize nuclear weaponry. It has even prompted dozens of major financial institutions to stop investing in the nuclear weapons industry, under pressure from campaigns like Don’t Bank on the Bomb.
Source: The Profiteers of Armageddon: Oppenheimer and the Birth of the Nuclear-Industrial Complex
“We are fighting against the Yankee enemy of humanity,” explained Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, setting the tone of the 44th anniversary celebration of their revolution.
Source: Nicaragua Celebrates its Revolution While the US Plans New Sanctions Against It – CounterPunch.org
Former President Donald Trump no longer has the charisma or whatever drew people to him to run for the presidency. Out of the dozens of former Cabinet officials under Trump’s administration, most have declined to publicly support the twice-indicted president’s third bid for the White House, except for four. Only four.
Source: Only 4 In Trump’s Former Cabinet Say He Should Be Re-Elected | Crooks and Liars
Australia’s official media watchdog is no longer fulfilling its intended purpose, reports Alan Austin.
Source: Australia’s media watchdog not holding News Corp to account
As a terrible omen for the Australians, four defence personnel seem to have perished in waters near Hamilton Island through an accident with their MRH-90 Taipan helicopter as part of the Talisman Sabre war games. The US overlords were paternal and benevolent; their Australian counterparts were grateful for the interest. Blinken soppily suggested how the sacrifice was appreciated. “They have been on our minds throughout today; they remain very much on our minds right now.” But the message was clear: Australia, you are now less a state than a protectorate, territory to exploit, a resource basket to appropriate. Why not just make it official?
Source: AUSMIN and Assange: The Great Vassal Smackdown – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The trip had generated quiet concern within the Defence Department for the fact that the delegation to the United States was being led by an Australian portfolio minister but sponsored by a private organisation linked to a third country – Israel – something that was considered highly irregular.
Source: “The day… – The Fiberal Party of Australia – Lies & Misdemeanours | Facebook
The World Meteorological Association said this weekend as July comes to a close that it will have been the hottest month in recorded history. Its first three weeks were certainly the hottest on record. It likely will have been the hottest month in 120,000 years. Modern homo sapiens as a species is thought to have begun about 150,000 years ago. The WMO quotes United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who pointed out that already in July we have seen the three hottest days on record, and the highest ocean temperatures ever recorded for this time of
Source: WMO: July to be Hottest month on Record, as World enters era of Global Boiling, Global Burning
Systemic and Institutional- The private policing of America.
The company announced this week that it has instructed U.S. financial institutions to stop allowing customers to use its debit cards to purchase marijuana products at cannabis stores, which now operate legally in 38 states for medicinal use and 23 states for recreational use, as well as in the District of Columbia.
Source: Mastercard Move at Cannabis Shops Intensifies Call for US Decriminalization
The Second and Silent Invasion of Australia by a “cluster bomber”
Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles hosted the U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III on 29 July in Brisbane to advance the Australia-U.S. Alliance and their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and globally. Building on the high tempo of engagement between leaders and ministers, including the meeting between Prime Minister Albanese and President Biden in May 2023, the Ministers and Secretaries (the principals) determined that the Alliance has never been stronger. Based on a bond of shared values, it remains a partnership of strategic interest – premised on a common determination to preserve stability, prosperity, and peace.
olddogthoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.