With a suicide rate of 10.4 per 100,000 people, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, we rank about 18 out of 36 among OECD countries. And in terms of gambling, we are among the worst, experiencing the biggest losses per capita. The two can be linked: studies show gambling is the cause of an estimated 400 suicides annually.
Source: ‘Gamble responsibly’ message is a cop-out. Regulators must step up
Australians are no better informed about what will be Australia’s most expensive-ever defence project – equipping the Navy with US or British nuclear-powered submarines – than they were a year ago when the Morrison government announced the deal a year ago.
Yet while the Albanese government shows little sign of serious engagement to the increasingly heavy load of domestic criticisms of the globally-unprecedented project, its most serious and effective opposition may be a new and wide-ranging Chinese attack in the global legal nuclear arena.
The Chinese government has dramatically shifted the diplomatic attack against the AUKUS partners with an unprecedented and savagely worded submission to the International Atomic Energy Agency on the illegality of the AUKUS transfer of military nuclear-propulsion technology.
“Should such attempts prevail’, the Chinese paper states, ‘the Agency would be reduced to a “nuclear proliferation agency.”’
Australia and its elder partners did the IAEA head no favours by hiding behind his assertions of ‘AUKUS transparency’, and have provided China with another stick to beat Australia with.
Once again, an entirely an Australian own goal for China.
In Australia you simply have to be Indigenous and strangely enough death in custody occurs
Having locks of hair peak out over the forehead is referred to by Iran’s Shiite hardliners as “bad veiling” (bad-hejabi), and is a crime. Popular protests among activist women against the veiling requirement in recent years have caused Iran’s theocratic government to crack down on women more fiercely than ever before.
New revelations show that the CIA secretly took control of the security company hired by Ecuador’s government to guard Julian Assange during his exile in London. The agency’s spying on Assange and his visitors constitutes a major breach of civil liberties.
Source: Secret Documents Have Exposed the CIA’s Julian Assange Obsession
Still, the money is a far cry from justice.
I don’t know about you, but if I were waking up every morning and writing checks to lawyers — even super PAC checks — I wouldn’t be a happy camper. At this point, I’m thinking that maybe what they call a global plea deal made by Trump, to wrap up all his federal and state criminal investigations in return for not running for president, might be his best bet. Right now it looks like if he doesn’t make such a deal, he might lose his golf, his money and his freedom.
Source: They have him surrounded: Trump now faces legal troubles in three states, plus D.C. | Salon.com
The fifth circuit’s action points to another threat posed by Trump. Many of his judicial appointments were to appeals courts, which have an even greater influence in shaping public life in the US than district courts. He placed six judges on the fifth circuit – more than any other president before him – in a move which effectively neutralized moderate conservatives on the panel and gave extreme rightwingers the controlling hand. He managed to seat a similar number on the 11th circuit, which is likely to play a critical role in hearing appeals arising from Trump’s battle with the justice department over the Mar-a-Lago search.
Australia’s new defamation laws should stop criminals like Lachlan Murdoch and Kerry Stokes from abusing the law to silence journalists By Shane Dowling on September 18, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )
The UK isn’t the only one “looting” trained professionals from third-world countries Australia is too,
Meanwhile, the voice of Andrew Bolt can be heard crying ” don’t allow our medical professional’s to volunteer” in the case of Ebola in Africa.
While Cuba at times of need sends their professionals to where they are needed most. While our Australian Medical Association retains a post-WW2 attitude that cries out ” don’t let these Imports into practice because how do we know they are sufficiently trained?
Self-interest is reflected over and above the “common good” in our not so “Free Market Place” What’s left is fear, confusion and disrespect for practitioners.
The looting of artistic and religious objects from Africa and Asia by British invaders in the 19th century causes much rancorous debate about whether the artefacts should be returned to the countries they were originally stolen from. But the discussion is much more muted about equally acquisitive expeditions launched by Britain today that may ultimately cause more suffering than those imperialist ventures long ago.
Source: Luring Doctors From Poorer Countries is the UK’s Quiet Scandal – scheerpost.com
The Timor-Leste secret spy trials are not over, with costs already $5m and rising, Rex Patrick writes the Government will be back in court spending more public money trying to censor one of the former Chief Justice’s decisions to keep secret the finding of the Court that the spying operation took place.
Source: Michael West Media – investigative journalists – always independent
Is this a call to commoditise carbon pollution? Isn’t it the “regulated” free market that created the fucking problem in the first place? So this is really a call for “more regulation”? So why the illusion that it’s still a free market? Oh, I see to hide the need for a major change when major change is what’s needed more than ever and on a global and not just local scale.
Placing a value on the environment through formal well-regulated markets is a better way to effect climate action and change the behaviours destroying our planet, writes Mike Berwick.
Source: Put a price on pollution or we’ll keep cooking the planet
In Australia, as in Britain and the United States, professional mass media are part of the Establishment. This status even has its own name: the fourth estate. So at times like the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the pressure to conform to political and social expectations is intense.
Source: Media coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s death began well, but quickly descended into farce
Right to protest is forever being restricted while Fake Advertising and media propaganda is increasingly tolerated
As oil companies push to criminalize dissent, they’re also making the case that climate denialism is protected speech, not fraudulent advertising.
Source: Fossil Fuel Industry Wants Free Speech for Corporations but Not Citizens
Trumping Trump by applying Rendition Tactics on Asylum-Seekers DeSantis’s Action isn’t a “Stunt” it’s the Federal Offence of Kidnapping across state lines
Stunts like Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s program of rounding up and flying to Martha’s Vineyard Venezuelan and Colombian asylum-seekers, who are in the country legally awaiting the adjudication of their asylum status, have definite downsides. DeSantis helped run an explicitly racist Facebook page before he was governor of Florida, and continues to be the KKK in a business suit. DeSantis, who wants to be president in 2025, is a publicity hog seeking to make a national name for himself. He thought Florida is the perfect terrain for the politics of racial fear, since the state
Source: Top 6 things wrong with DeSantis’s Stunt of Flying Asylum-Seekers to Martha’s Vineyard
Most political colonies have come to an end. But a colonial mind set continues in the media .That colonial media mind set in turn promotes a ‘colonisation of the mind’. The US Department of Defence maintains, in its own words ‘full spectrum dominance’ throughout the world. Legacy media in the US and the UK has the same dominance. It frames and influences how we think and particularly how governments act.
In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army’s performance in the Kremlin’s ongoing Ukraine “special military operation” ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal. The question is: Why? The answer in American policy circles, both civilian and military, appears all but self-evident.
“Putin’s options for the future are bleak, particularly as he increasingly feels the heat of domestic opposition,” the first intelligence official said. Per Arkin, the official also noted “the impact of 60,000-plus Russian casualties and as well as the bite of sanctions and the controls on travel as challenges to Putin.”
Source: The Smirking Chimp | News And Commentary from the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
My thought for the day
In the recipe of exemplary leadership there are many ingredients. Popularity is but one. It however ranks far below getting things done for the common good. (John Lord )
Universities are too important to Australia’s education system to be thought of as corporate enterprises, writes Graham White.
ITA and the ABC the Monthly Women’s Magazine is back
Is this the madness that comes with monarchy – or is it the disdain that’s over the top? by Mark Sawyer and Callum Foote | Sep 16, 2022 The ABC’s has sent its big guns to London for the funeral of the Queen. Is this a wise use of taxpayer dollars – or entirely justified by the event’s historic nature?
Source: Michael West Media – investigative journalists – always independent
Crimes and misdemeanours in the Royal House,
Graham Smith, CEO of the activist group Republic, also filed a complaint against Charles along the same lines: that both he and his close aide and former valet, Michael Fawcett, had allegedly breached the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. In the peculiar world of royal family relations, Fawcett made himself indispensable as chief squeezer of toothpaste onto the royal toothbrush when required. “I can manage without just about anyone, except for Michael,” Charles once stated.
A published email from Fawcett to an aide of bin Mafouz, written in 2017 as chief executive of the Dumfries House Trust, promised, “In light of the ongoing and most recent generosity of His Excellency… I am happy to confirm to you, in confidence, that we are willing and happy to contribute to the application for Citizenship.” An effort would also be made to apply “to increase His Excellency’s honour from Honorary CBE to that of KBE in accordance with Her Majesty’s Honour’s Committee.”
Charles, for his part, denies having any knowledge of the scheme, something considered risible by Baker. “The idea that Fawcett was running a rogue operation without telling [Charles] is simply unbelievable.” The issue of royal money and its inscrutable mysteries is unlikely to go away.
Source: Royal Money: Charles III and the Wealth Dimension – » The Australian Independent Media Network
This report proves that we still haven’t a clue what’s happening and simply waiting to be told. However in not so many words. When Michael West doesn’t know nobody does.
Australia controversially scrapped a French submarine deal in favour of the AUKUS agreement, with a leaked confidential document revealing officials were kept in the dark about the cancellation.
The leaked note was written by former Department of Defence deputy secretary Kim Gillis and first published by the ABC.
Mr Gillis wrote he did not believe any more than a handful of people within Defence knew the French submarine contract was being dumped.
He also canvassed reopening discussions with the French about buying nuclear-powered submarines in the future.
Source: Australia looks to plug nuclear subs gap – Michael West
War fuels rape, sexual torture, and sexual exploitation of women and girls by male soldiers and civilians. Every documented war holds accounts of this acute sexual injustice, including the current Russia-Ukraine war. “For predators and human traffickers, the war in Ukraine is an opportunity – and women and children are their targets,” states UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Taras Berezovets is a Ukrainian analyst and reporter, now serving with one of his country’s special forces outfits, who keeps his hand in at his old gig with a lively feed on the socials. On the ninth of September, in the early days of the current offensive, he published a letter from an enemy soldier, V.V. Tarasenko, to his wife Valeria. Tarasenko is dead.
Hewitt: I do. That’s what I wanted people to understand. That would not take you out of the arena.
Trump: It would not. But I think if it happened, I think you’d have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before. I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it.
Hewitt: What kind of problems, Mr. President.
Trump: I think they’d have big problems, big problems. I just don’t think they’d stand for it. They will not, they will not sit still and stand for this ultimate of hoaxes.
Source: Analysis: Trump on what would happen to the U.S. if he were indicted | CTV News
The News Most Recent Threads The Blogs Most Recent Threads The Forums Most Recent Threads Home » blogs » Robert Reich’s blog Trump’s Latest Threat Is a Doozy Robert Reich’s picture Robert Reich Article Tools E-mail | Print Comments (0) FB comments (1) Donald Trump by Robert Reich | September 16, 2022 – 7:28am — from Robert Reich’s Blog Yesterday, Donald Trump threatened that if he is indicted on a charge of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, there would be “problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before,” adding “I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it.
” These words followed on last month’s threat by Senator Lindsey Graham that if Trump is prosecuted, there would be “riots in the street.” Trump appeared to endorse Graham’s threat, sharing a video link on his Truth Social platform.
Trump’s latest threat requires four responses:
Source: Trump’s Latest Threat Is a Doozy | The Smirking Chimp
Albanese and Dutton could cooperate to remove King Charles as our head of state in favour of a republic. Instead, early indications signal we will continue bowing to the monarchy for many more years, writes Stephen Saunders.
Source: Australia the royal doormat: Time to give the Palace the boot
So forget about the time for reflection, the possibility of making the monarchy more democrat friendly. You have been awe-bombed by a family which relies 100% on our ability to quiet our inner voices, which naturally know the absurdity of a ruling family placed above the populace.
If we ask why do they continue to ‘serve’ we note their lack of political weight, their potential capture by those lucky enough, or devious enough to hold prime ministerial power.
The only ‘sweetener’ in this for a British sovereign seems to lie in the need to satisfy the personal mission of service, and the vast wealth and prestige attached to the office. In a month or so, as the novelty of a new king wears off, he will probably tail off in his relentless efforts to legitimise the existence of a hereditary monarchy, and simply continue the family tradition of opening things.
Source: A quick grab for power? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The romanticism and dazzle of royal pageantry are keeping Australia from becoming a republic, writes Dr Stuart Edser.
Source: Royal glamour holding Australia back from becoming a republic
Truth-telling, truth-listening and treaty are the ways to heal Australia, not a day of mourning for a far-off monarch
So how many people has the ABC sent to the UK to cover the death and funeral of Elizabeth II? It’s 27, according to the ABC — plus two extra journalists or former journalists who were coincidentally in Europe at the time, who have been roped in to help, including veteran correspondent Phil Williams, who though he retired from the ABC last year can’t seem to stay away from the joint.
Source: Just how many ABC staff have gone to London to see the queen?
The ABC is beginning to look like The Woman’s Weekly why would that be?
“I suspect the ABC has misread its audience. If you want wall-to-wall royalty you can get it elsewhere in spades. The ABC is better when it offers an alternative to populism,” ABC veteran journalist and former Insiders host Barrie Cassidy tweeted this week.
Source: ABC criticised for massive coverage of Queen’s death
The risk of a weak carbon trading market
We can expect industry to continue to lobby for a weak safeguard mechanism and carbon credit rules.But if the Labor government is genuine about wanting to reduce Australia’s emissions, our biggest polluters cannot be allowed to carry on emitting as usual.
And there is no role for a carbon trading policy that excuses big emitters from making clean energy transition plans.
Ukrainian authorities have found a mass grave of more than 440 bodies in the eastern city of Izium that was recaptured from Russian forces, a regional police official said on Thursday, adding some of the people had been killed by shelling and air strikes.
Source: Russia-Ukraine war: mass grave found in recaptured city of Izium
On Wednesday, the first teams of war crimes prosecutors, both Ukrainian and international, gained early access to begin investigating the vast swathes of recently liberated territory.
They said initial indications were that widespread atrocities appear to have taken place.
Nigel Povoas, a British lawyer who went to the newly recaptured territory as part of an international team helping Ukraine with war crimes investigations, said the long Russian occupation of such a large area meant atrocities there were likely to have reached “an unprecedented level of horror”.
Source: Ukrainian officials warn Russian forces are digging in after retreat
King Charles’s history of support for environmental projects and sustainable development has drawn the many conspiracies about his family into the Great Reset horror. The very people most keen to display their respect for the crown are torn by their climate denial loathing of anyone promoting policy to address the crisis. It will be interesting to see how they reconcile their ambivalence.
Source: The Right Wing disinfosphere and the King – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Prominent right-wing commentators are condemning Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) proposed national abortion ban. But their concern isn’t that they oppose threatening doctors with up to five years in prison if they perform an abortion on a patient who has been pregnant for more than 15 weeks. It’s that they know Graham’s bill endangers the GOP’s chances of gaining power and thus having the opportunity to ban abortions.
A few days ago, I received an email from an associate producer at the Dr Phil Show. They recently came across my film Inequality for All and wanted to know if I’d be “interested in joining Dr Phil as an expert guest for an upcoming episode”.
Hey, why not? The Dr Phil Show is the No 1 rated daytime TV talkshow in America. It has over 2 million viewers. I have lots to say to those viewers about the perils of widening inequality.
Then I read the rest of the email:
For this conversation we will be asking questions like: do college admissions enroll minorities over prospective Caucasian students? Are Caucasian teachers and professors being laid off to “make up for past discriminations” against minority educators, as seen in Minneapolis?
These were the only questions included in the email. In other words, it would be a show about favoritism to Black people over white people.
The incumbent chief executives of Australia’s top 20 companies enjoyed a pay rise averaging 17.16% over the past year, more than nine times the average raise received by ordinary full-time workers, data compiled by Guardian Australia reveals.
Pressure is growing for Labor to abandon the third stage of the tax cuts, due in 2024, because of pressure on the Budget. The tax cuts overwhelmingly favour high-income earning men and are a piece with the tilt against ordinary workers under the Morrison government, writes Alan Austin.
Source: Workers’ share of the national income pie falls to all-time low – Michael West
Matthew Guy AKA Matt Guy wants to be your Leader. The Premier of Victoria.
The Victorian State Liberal Party Leader proved once again that if anyone can take it to the next level of idiocy, it’s, well, Matthew Guy.
In his tribute to the late monarch, Guy chose Parliament to announce that Queen Elizabeth’s lineage (unbeknown to her) included children’s storybook favourite, “King Arthur” — of the Round Table:
Source: Queen Elizabeth, King Arthur and the knights of the ABC round table
Showing his true colors is Morrison being paid?
Mr Morrison’s register of interests was updated this week to reflect a new position on the board of the International Democrat Union.
The IDU was founded as an international alliance of political parties from the right to centre-right, but the former PM did not respond to questions about what many observers say is its increasing affiliation with populist, Christian anti-immigration parties on the far right of European politics.
Doug Saunders, international affairs columnist for Canada’s largest newspaper, The Globe and Mail, said the IDU had “shifted to the intolerant far right” as it kept Fidesz, the party of Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban, among its members.
Source: Morrison signs on with political network home to ‘intolerant far right’
The utterly inhumane, unconscionable treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is the most visible and horrific example of this, again, bipartisan cruelty. But people are so (rightfully) fixated on it that they tend to overlook the others. We should look at the others, though, because the partner visa is an exercise in cruelty all by itself.
Unless you’ve had the audacity to fall in love with a foreigner, you’ve probably not thought about this blatantly racist and classist bit of fuckery. But it is nasty, and this Labor government has no intention whatsoever to un-fuck it.
Source: Australia’s partner visa is an inhumane travesty, and Labor’s all-in with it | The Shot
Text messages described as repugnant and racist were sent by the officer who shot dead an Indigenous man in the Northern Territory.
Text messages described as repugnant and racist were sent by the officer who shot dead an Indigenous man in the Northern Territory.
The messages were retrieved from the phone of Constable Zachary Rolfe, who was initially charged with the murder of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker during an arrest attempt at Yuendumu in 2019.
Constable Rolfe was later acquitted on all charges after a Supreme Court trial.
At a coronial inquest into Mr Walker’s death on Wednesday, counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer read a number of messages sent some months before the shooting.
In one, Constable Rolfe wrote about being allowed to “towel locals up”.
In another, the officer made reference to a “c—s”, a term Sergeant Anne Jolley, the chief officer at Yuendumu, agreed at the inquest was blatantly racist.
Constable Rolfe also referred to “Neanderthals who drink too much alcohol”, which Sergeant Jolley accepted was disgusting and unacceptable.
Source: Kumanjayi Walker shooting cop sent ‘racist’ messages
Shareholders in US social media giant Twitter have voted almost unanimously to approve a deal struck with Elon Musk earlier in the year to purchase the company.
Based on a preliminary tabulation of the stockholder vote, some 98.6 per cent of the votes cast at the Tuesday special meeting approved the proposal to adopt the deal.
This paves the way for Twitter to attempt to legally compel the Space X and Tesla head to go through with his acquisition of the company after he unilaterally terminated the deal in July.
Source: Twitter shareholders approve Musk deal – Michael West
olddogthoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.