Privatisation, corporatisation of, and debt creation in Australian tertiary institutes have accelerated cheating on a scale that has become the new norm. However, despite the cheating, and a degree there’s always been a far more influential alternative to success. Who you know is by far the easier path far easier than what you know or merit, and that has been clear. Its effect is an influence way before the entrance to a university. Simply take a statistical look around you. 50 k untenured, educated higher degree staff suffering short hours wage theft are employed to teach each new crop of suckers chasing a false promise. Simply ask taxi and uber drivers what they do for a living and don’t be surprised that they’re looking for a “real” job having got a degree and now doing an MBA. Meanwhile, Lachlan Murdoch, James Packer, and the Trumps having squandered billions sit at the top of the tree by no means self-made.
A PROBLEM LABELLED “industrial scale cheating” is presenting a mortal threat to universities with students now routinely commissioning a proliferating range of online services to do their assignments. Has it yet got bad enough to jeopardise learning and standards, the quality of research and ultimately knowledge itself?
Source: Industrial scale cheating taking over from learning in Australian universities
Most former prime ministers made it back to Canberra for the tribute. Scott Morrison, John Howard and Paul Keating were all there. There were apologies of absence from Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull who are in New York, and Julia Gillard in London.
So where was Australia’s arch monarchist Tony Abbott? The man who destroyed his whole prime ministership over an attempt to give Prince Philip a knighthood appeared to have skipped Thursday’s solemnities.
Shut your mouth you’re committing an offence in the UK
This is hardly a satisfactory state of affairs, showing, yet again, that the Sceptred Isle can hardly be counted as an impregnable bastion of free speech and public dissent. “If people are not allowed to quietly, if offensively, protest against the proclamation of a king,” reflects O’Neill, “then clearly our country is not as free as we thought.”
On a recent interview with the Useful Idiots podcast, Noam Chomsky repeated his argument that the only reason we hear the word “unprovoked” every time anyone mentions Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the mainstream news media is because it absolutely was provoked, and they know it.
After Putin announced mandatory military service, demonstrators called the mobilization a “burialization” — and more than 1,000 were arrested in cities across Russia.
Source: Russians Return to Streets to Protest Widening of Putin’s War on Ukraine
Ray McGovern reviews key pieces of background that — thanks to the media — few Americans know about the widest war in 77 years that is now on our doorstep.
Putin’s supporters running from the front to the back of the line and beyond
The son of a top Kremlin official revealed in a prank call that he had no intention of being called up for Vladimir Putin’s war mobilisation.
Nikolay Peskov, 32, son of the president’s spin-doctor and war spokesman Dmitry Peskov, believed he was talking to a military call-up officer.
He fell for the phone sting and made clear he would pull strings in the Kremlin so he did not have to obey the mobilisation order.
The call evidently showed that the entitled sons of the Russian political elite do not expect to be sent to the front, unlike hundreds of thousands of other Russians from ordinary backgrounds who will get no exemptions.
Source: Entitled Son Of Putin’s Press Secretary Pranked By Fake Mobilization Call | Crooks and Liars
Trump actually did the interview at a time when he should be exercising his right to remain silent. It has been only a few days since Trump’s legal team said that they wouldn’t provide any specific details because they anticipate Trump will be criminally indicted over the stolen documents.
“If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking it,” Mr Trump told Fox News on Wednesday.
If you are a political fanatic, you’ve surely heard the old saying that when fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. That’s been proven true in this fraught year of 2022 as Christian nationalism rises to our extreme right, but no one predicted this:
That U.S. authoritarianism would also come with a bat-guano crazy musical soundtrack—music that sounds like a Bible Belt altar riff but is actually tied to the weirdly popular QAnon conspiracy theory whose legion of followers believe there’s an elite global cabal of child-trafficking, baby-blood-drinking liberal politicians and movie stars.
This terrifying crossing of some kind of autocratic Rubicon happened—where else?—at a Donald Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Saturday night.
The Australian Wars is a new three-part TV series directed and produced by Arrernte and Kalkadoon nations filmmaker Rachel Perkins.
Perkins travels across vast territory to capture key aspects of a war that lasted more than 100 years, from the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 until the 1920s.
The series traces some of the key phases, sites and underlying features of frontier wars here on home soil.
Source: In The Australian Wars, Rachel Perkins dispenses with the myth Aboriginal people didn’t fight back
But it yet has to pledge a Bill of Human Rights
Morrison government refused to sign Leaders’ Pledge for Nature in 2020 but Anthony Albanese signals environment is back as priority
The Australian Energy Market Operator is not the right organisation to be conducting the dramatic overhaul required for the economy, writes Zacharias Szumer.
Source: Zero sum game: questions surround Australia’s electricity transition – Michael West
Amini, 22, a Kurdish young woman visiting Tehran who was arrested for imperfect veiling. Her father said her corpse showed bruising on her legs. Some women have burned their veils in protest. College campuses around the country have seen unrest, but also civil spaces in thirteen cities around the country. Hackers claimed to have gotten hold of her hospital x-rays, showing skull fractures.
Just like that Putin has rewritten the history of the war. How easy it is to become the victim of Ukraine aggression.
On Wednesday in Moscow President Vladimir Putin announced that referenda to decide whether to join Russia would be held in those four places from this Friday until next Wednesday. After that, the Russian Duma must decide whether to accept the results and formally annex those territories into Russia.
All that is expected to happen, and once it does the game on the battlefield will change dramatically. From Russia’s point of view, it will no longer be assisting the militia of independent republics with Russian regular units against attacks by Ukraine. It will now be defending Russian territory, against attacks by Ukraine.
What do you call a country where nearly one in 10 adults have medical debts and a broken bone can boot you into bankruptcy? A country where a city of more than 160,000 residents recently had no safe drinking water for weeks? A country where life expectancy has dropped for the second year in a row and poor people sell their blood plasma in order to make ends meet? A country where the maternal mortality rate of black women in the capital is nearly twice as high as for women in Syria?
You call it one of the richest countries in the world.
Donald Trump and his adult children have been sued for fraud by New York state’s attorney general, who for more than three years has conducted a civil investigation into the former US president’s business practices, court records show.
Source: Donald Trump and children sued in US over fraud allegations
AG Letitia James’ entire press conference read like a criminal’s grocery list from the Trump family.
“Mr. Trump also blatantly ignored legal restrictions at Mar-A-Lago. Mar-A-Lago was valued on the false premise that it sat on unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use. however, Mr. Trump knew that Mar-A-Lago was subject to a host of onerous restrictions and limitations,” James stated..
“Despite these significant restrictions,Mr. Trump valued the property based on the false premise that it was an unrestricted 18-acre plot of land that could be sold and used as a private home,” she said.
“The valuations represent that these restrictions don’t even exist. The club generated annual revenue of less than $25 million and should have been valued at more than — valued about $75 million. However, Mar-A-Lago was valued as high as $739 million,” James said.
Source: LOL: Trump Claimed Mar-A-Lago Was Worth 739M; It’s Worth 75M | Crooks and Liars
While so many nations since the French Revolution have declared themselves Republics it seems strange that Australia needs to be cautioned. Yes, Australia is unique in as much as has it denied the existence of the Indigenous first peoples here as the owners of this land. They had no rights until just over 30 years ago. The colony denied them citizenship as did the Federation. It ignored any need for treaties or recognition like other colonies had. It’s a country that’s Constitution hasn’t even a Bill of Human Rights. Given it’s a nation so uniquely lacking what other nations take for granted why need we be so careful that consequences must be “considered before moving forward as a Republic?
While much has been discussed about electing an Australian president, more consideration is required before moving forward as a republic, writes Professor John Quiggin.
I was arrested at a visit by then Prince Charles to Alice Springs in 1977 for handing out press statements on Aboriginal living standards. I avoided jail, but the less fortunate Albanese government has been imprisoned by royal protocol and constitutional custom.
Source: Republican Albanese imprisoned by royal protocol – Pearls and Irritations
Prince Charles, now King Charles 111 and King of Australia wrote to Kerr after the dismissal, ‘what you did last year was right and the courageous thing to do’
A gaggle of Royals all collaborated with Kerr in the dismissal of the Whitlam Government-The Queen,Prince Philip,Prince Charles and Earl Mountbatten of Dieppe fame.
Abbott’s single-minded partisan politics of Nope Nope Nope and internal LNP politics of enforcing Abbott’s poisoned NBN chalice on his potential challenger Malcolm Turnbull was a guarantee the new revolutionised Internet infrastructure would fail. The mainstream news and Telcos were behind him in the hope that some positive outcomes would somehow eventuate out of much-needed system change so they remained silent. Murdoch media was a major voice always in support of Abbott no matter his mistakes. The outcome has been a total fail, a waste of money,that left us in a technological backwater. 60th in the world when it came to speed. Finally, an ex-Telstra CEO has the balls to speak out.
My suggestion was to keep the end goal in place, but make changes to the way how to get there. However, with a Prime Minister such as Tony Abbott at the helm, the national interest was replaced with political interest and there was no way for a compromise or for an open discussion on the topic. Reviews were stacked with those supporting the Government.
Source: Former Telstra CEO regrets silence over NBN disaster
Not Such a Medieval List: Seven ‘Deadly Sins’ in The ‘Modern World’
I referenced some examples above, but it is clear that, despite the church losing its power, the concept of the Seven ‘Deadly Sins’ is by no means dead. These actions, and the emotions behind them, are still taboos enforced by the modern priesthood of corporations, Tories and the media. Not all of the originals are still used: some refinement was necessary. But the concept of keeping the peasants in line remains on glaring display. We cannot tax super profits, reform negative gearing, or challenge the status quo in any way without being accused of one of the Seven. So little has changed in the last thousand years.
Source: Modernising The ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It is a feeling of outrage, with a strong sense of déjà-vu. From the vantage point in the United Kingdom — where inequality and social injustice are in particularly sharp focus — we’re on the brink of yet another social and economic crisis. Even more so than in the rest of Europe, energy prices, and the cost of living are rocketing.
But what is happening at the top? What are our leaders doing? Why are some people, yet again, making eye-watering financial gains while others face destitution and a real fear of being cold and hungry this winter?
We’ve watched the attack on workers’ rights and the right to protest being eroded for decades. Jack Munday AO and the BLF in NSW were the first labour activists who fought for Green Bans as far back as the 70s in NSW. We saw John Howard’s intent on reducing the power of unions and the rights of workers to even associate not for their complaints but rather for their ability to unionise, protest and strike. That ability was a direct political threat to the LNP whose support and funding came from a minority of well-organized wealthy associated corporate sectors of Australia with significantly opposite interests to the wider Australian community.
The mounting social inequality is fueling protests around the globe. The global ruling class is determined to prevent these protests from employing the weapon that can bring them down — strikes.
Source: Chris Hedges: Strike, Strike, Strike – scheerpost.com
Climate scientists are very careful about attribution. But these scientists wrote, “we found that the 5-day maximum rainfall over the provinces Sindh and Balochistan is now about 75% more intense than it would have been had the climate not warmed by 1.2C, whereas the 60-day rain across the basin is now about 50% more intense, meaning rainfall this heavy is now more likely to happen.”
A new forensic analysis proves that an Israeli sniper could see that Shireen Abu Akleh was a journalist before firing the bullet that killed her.
Source: Israeli Forces Deliberately Killed Shireen Abu Akleh
My thought for the day
The Liberal Party has always been a party of elites and would-bes. The idea that economics and society are intertwined is abhorrent to them. Economics is the domain of the wealthy and privileged, and culture belongs to those of class and privilege. ( John Lord )
The stench of Donald Trump’s presidency still lingers around the United States of America, dispersing itself on the populous with a dulling effect. It is a rotten rancid odour that inhabits not only the United States but also the world.
Would-be right-wing dictators are increasingly taking over countries that were once stable democracies. These leaders all have one thing in common: All sought power for themselves under the pretext of improving the lives of the marginalized and the poor.
Democracy is threatened worldwide by authoritarian despots or dictators who deny their people a genuinely democratic vote.
Trump whined on Truth Social about the right-leaning tabloid’s “obnoxious reporter” and her dispatch on his rally’s visibly less-than-sold-out attendance.
The Daily Mail quietly scrubbed its own dispatch from former President Donald Trump’s Saturday rally in Ohio, removing all references to the “uncharacteristically thin crowd” at the event.
The right-leaning tabloid wholesale excised several paragraphs from the story without any editor’s note or update and the reporter’s name was removed and replaced with a generic “DailyMail.com Staff Reporter” byline. The headline was also completely changed to a more neutral framing of Trump’s event.
Source: Daily Mail Quietly Scrubs Article About Trump’s ‘Uncharacteristically Thin Crowd’
His Lawyers are saying that if they reveal that Trump didn’t declassify any documents, that could subject him to legal action for stealing and holding highly classified information. Which he did. And if Trump claims he did declassify documents, then he’ll have to prove that in court, and also be subject to possible charges over failure to follow the law regarding declassification. Plus, there’s the whole perjury issue—and the issue of Trump obstructing an investigation—that comes with lying about the whole thing.
Source: Whoops! Trump’s ‘Special Master’ Is Holding Him Accountable | Crooks and Liars
Voters have given Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a powerful vote of confidence almost four months after the federal election by backing him against Opposition Leader Peter Dutton by 53 to 19 per cent when asked to name their preferred prime minister.
Source: Anthony Albanese preferred PM over Peter Dutton four months after Australian election: RPM data
Constitutional recognition was first touted by John Howard prior to losing the 2007 election, then copied by Rudd, Gillard, Abbott (who swore to sweat blood for it) sponsored by Miners, the AFL and NRL under the banner of “Recognise” and now the new Labor Government is still pushing it, whilst keeping the republic as a separate issue, as if unrelated.
Whose land is this republic supposed to operate on? The King of Britain’s land, or Aboriginal Land?
Source: Talkin’ bout a Treaty Republic – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Information Commission, Angelene Falk, will argue in the Federal Court that she can take forever to handle FOI complaints. Rex Patrick reports
One needs to ask why is IA so readily flailing away at another independent media publisher rather than putting up a united stand against mainstream white man’s media? Why aren’t the other Independents responding and supporting them in their attack on Crikey? They don’t seem to feel Donavan and Pini have an argument worth backing.
Is IA just the sound of a single mouse roaring? Wailing against a competitor in a small Independent alternative market? They seem to have taken their eyes off the ball, the greater Australian media system? Or is this simply the sound of sour grapes? Do you really have to be poor to have both integrity and Independence?
Despite its claims of being small and independent, Crikey uses its cronies in the mainstream media, including ABC Media Watch, to promote itself and its funding campaigns and attack its competitors. Another eye-opening exposé by Dave Donovan and Michelle Pini.
As Queen Elizabeth is laid to rest, only one living person remains who can match her for length of service at the head of a family firm. And while Rupert Murdoch’s publications have caused the royal family plenty of grief, there are many similarities between him and the late monarch, as Crikey founder Stephen Mayne reports.
Source: Queen Elizabeth and King Rupert: seven decades of exercising soft power and hard – Michael West
There is nothing more important than informed perspective, for which it is necessary to step outside the grip of corporate western media.
John Menadue has drawn attention to how our views of the world are dominated by ‘white man’s media’.
This is a listing of other sources of news and commentary, by people of all kinds. I leave it to the reader to assess the quality of these sources, particularly by going to the ‘About’ section of web sites where possible.
There is nothing more important than informed perspective, for which it is necessary to step outside the grip of corporate western media.
Source: A feast of new reading outside the grip of corporate western media – Pearls and Irritations
From these we can see that One Nation and its senators don’t like the way we do things in Australia and that they want change and using Pauline’s logic, doesn’t that mean that Malcolm Roberts should leave the country and go back to India?
Or as Pauline pointed out, is he allowed to express a view without being told to go back to where he came from because “his skin is white”?
Source: Why Doesn’t One Nation Go Back Where It Came From! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
John Feffer examines what it means that North Korea has been driven ever closer to fellow nuclear powers Russia and China.
Sovereignty was once the king’s prerogative; he was, after all, the sovereign. Today’s autocrats, like Vladimir Putin, are more likely to have been voted into office than born into the position like Kim Jong-un. The elections that elevate such autocrats might be questionable (and are likely to become ever more so during their reign), but popular support is an important feature of the new authoritarianism. Putin is currently backed by around 80% of Russians; Orban’s approval rating in Hungary hovers near 60%; and while Donald Trump could likely win again only thanks to voter suppression and increasingly antidemocratic features baked into the American political system, millions of Americans did put Trump in the White House in 2016 and continue to genuinely believe that he’s their savior. Bolsonaro in Brazil, Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, Narendra Modi in India, Kais Saied in Tunisia: they were all elected.
Yes, such leaders are nationalists who often act like populists in promising all sorts of handouts and feel-good nostrums to their supporters. But what makes today’s autocrats particularly dangerous is their exceptionalism, their commitment to the kind of sovereignty that existed before the creation of the United Nations, the earlier League of Nations, or even the Treaty of Westphalia that established the modern interstate system in Europe in 1648. Both Trump and Xi Jinping harken back to a Golden Age all right — of rulers who counted on the unquestioned loyalty of their subjects and exercised a dominion unchallenged except by other monarchs.
Source: As Falls Russia, So Falls the World – scheerpost.com
The Biden administration laid out its plans to rev up work on completing Donald Trump’s signature project. THE WALL
Source: Joe Biden Resumes Construction of Trump’s Border Wall
*based on what he has said
I’m told you have presidential ambitions, Governor. If so, you might start acting like a statesman rather than doing stunts that make you a cynical clown.
Trump is pissed crying out “they stole my idea”
“Luring asylum seekers under false pretenses and then abandoning them on the side of the road thousands of miles away is not the solution to a global challenge — in fact, those are the kinds of tactics that smugglers are arrested for.” According to UC Berkeley associate history professor Hidetaka Hirota, the goal is to “embarrass pro-immigration politicians and create the appearance of chaos to justify cruel policies.” It is a pandering gimmick, photo-op and political statement to score political points with Trump’s cruel constituency and burnish “presidential” credentials. All at the expense of tragically vulnerable people, who’ve traveled 1000’s of miles with hope as their only capital and currency.
Source: DeSantis and Abbot are Traffickers in Human Misery, Pranking Asylum-Seekers
There are still many questions surrounding Scott Morrison’s ill-starred time at the helm of Tourism Australia, writes Jommy Tee. Newly released documents confirm KPMG did not undertake a probity audit in 2005 into the assessment and evaluation of shortlisted tenderers for Tourism Australia’s advertising contracts.
So when should we trust science? The view that seems to emerge from Popper, Oreskes and other writers in the field is we have good, but fallible, reason to trust what scientists say when, despite their own best efforts to disprove an idea, there remains a consensus that it is true.
Source: Why should we trust science? Because it doesn’t trust itself
Meanwhile, Tertiary Institutions are rolling in dough and cutting tenured staff.
Since when has Australia stopped investing in Education? Sixty Years ago you could work in a bank having passed 3rd form. Today you need a degree to meet and greet customers? Branches are being closed at a rapid rate and telephone contact with a branch is nigh on impossible. Everyday banking has become increasingly online.
Selling and designing a matrix of connected products and debt creation is the main goal along with hidden fees extracted from systems that maintain ever-increasing flow from were to syphon fees. Gone are the days when bankers came to primary schools and handed out piggy banks, Now it’s more likely credit cards but even they are being done away with for mobile phones you buy yourself on a plan.
People who choose to study are carrying larger debts – and for much longer than ever before
olddogthoughts 
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