Fossil fuel giants and other foreign multinationals are again the biggest tax dodgers in Australia. Callum Foote and Michael West unveil the un-prestigious Michael West Media Top 40 Tax Dodgers awards.
Watching Bruce Lehrmann’s terrible, horrible, no good very bad days in the witness box at the start of his defamation case against Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson last week, one wonders if he was fully prepared for the difference between a cross-examination by Dr Matt Collins KC and a chequebook chat on Spotlight?
Source: Lies exposed in Bruce Lehrmann’s case against Lisa Wilkinson – The Shot
whatever the horrors and damage done, there hasn’t been another world war, there has been and continues to be a war on the world, a slow-motion global Gaza that will only grow worse unless we put our energy into moving ever faster to transition from coal, natural gas, and oil to alternative energy sources. In truth, that is the war we should all be fighting, not the ones that distract us from the worst dangers we face.
In fact, it’s past time to start talking about World War III, even if this time it’s a war on the planet itself.
History shows Israel is the peace-breaker never the peace-maker and has always been the denier of a Palestinian Homeland
Israel has been widely condemned for its brutal response to the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas. With the coming expiration of the ceasefire, this will only become more vociferous. But many U.S. supporters of Israel have responded to the criticism with a question: What else is the beleaguered country supposed to do?
The answer is simple. Israel should do what it has never done before: agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state, based on international law.
Source: All the Times Israel Has Rejected Peace With Palestinians
Why has Israel killed so many journalists and UN employees well over 230. Why have they so tightly embedded the Corporate Mainstream Western media to report only the Israeli side of this war? Why is the IDF feeding and vetting all reports being made? Even Israelis aren’t witnessing the carnage being handed out to Gaza in their name? We are about to witness a blitz of horror stories about how badly hostages were treated by Hamas despite witnessing people actually waving goodbye to their Hamas captors. Stories telling us how well-behaved the invading IDF is. However, the truth always gets out just look and it’s there in alternate media sources who are calling out “We are Julian Assange”
Using U.S.-made bombs that weigh 2,000 pounds “that can flatten [apartment towers],” Israel has killed “roughly 10,000 women and children” according to the Times. Women and children make up almost 70 percent of all deaths reported in Gaza.
“In past clashes between Israel and Hamas, for example, about 60 percent of the reported deaths in Gaza were men,” according to the Times.
Further, “U.S. military officials often believed that the most common American aerial bomb — a 500-pound weapon — was far too large for most targets when battling the Islamic State in urban areas like Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria,” according to the Times. As the Times reported:
“‘It’s beyond anything that I’ve seen in my career,’ said Marc Garlasco, a military adviser for the Dutch organization PAX and a former senior intelligence analyst at the Pentagon. To find a historical comparison for so many large bombs in such a small area, he said, we may ‘have to go back to Vietnam, or the Second World War.’”
It is an invitation to drown in blur and induced confusion. I put this down in part — in large part — to the derelictions of those reporting what is called — incorrectly, a case in point — the Israel–Gaza war.
I have watched recently a goodly number of videos recorded in Gaza and seen many photographs taken on the ground there. Here is a video of Gazans fleeing for their lives, published two weeks into the bombing by Al Jazeera. Here are some photographs shot by Mohammed Zaanoun, a Palestinian photographer, and published on Nov. 23 by The New Humanitarian, which was founded at the U.N. in the mid–1990s.
This kind of material, produced by professional journalists, various kinds of nongovernmental organizations, relief agencies and the like, is readily available. How differently would people think, how much clearer would their understanding and conclusions be, were our major media to make it available.
It is no longer enough to tether correspondents to the perspective of the military from whose side they report. We appear to be on the way to having wars fought — huge, bloody, consequential wars — without any witnesses. By Patrick Lawrence Special to Consortium News The practice of “em
If journalism’s goal is to just appear impartial it strikes me its ambition then isn’t delivering news. I was under the impression journalists were there to evaluate fact from fiction in search for truth and inform their audience of it. Muller in this article seems to suggest that the current debate within the profession has weakened it. Peer group debate about facts I would have thought strengthened not weakened the profession. Isn’t that the methodology applied to secular rational thinking?
The letters have actually shone a light on the disjunct between journalistic ideals and the desired product that Institutional employers want them to deliver. A product that in general is a distortion of the journalistic ideal of news. At a time when journalism needs to be its strongest that open letter is just a much-needed clarion call against the truth being blocked by organizations like Ch9, News Corp, Ch7 and sadly a corrupted ABC wanting something quite different they falsely call impartiality or Trump’s equivalency but that’s definitely not news.
While the Western world is subjected to Israeli paid-for propaganda to be sold on our MSM in decibels. Reality leaks to the surface via alternative media sources. Any news of hostages being treated well by Hamas will be obliterated and news of how Israelis treat women and children blocked. However, the truth always finds a way out.https://twitter.com/i/status/1729660701700993424
This brief temporary ceasefire has given people in Gaza a small reprieve from the ferocious carpet bombing, murdering and destruction unleashed by Israel since Oct 7th. But in spite of the millions and millions of people taking to the streets across the world in protest at Israel’s war crimes, the killing of women and children in horrific numbers, the sinister quiet silencing of dissent both in Israel and across the world has not ceased.
Source: A sinister, quiet, silencing of dissent – Pearls and Irritations
A Jacobin investigation explores Israel’s practice of using the bodies of slain Palestinians as bargaining chips, refusing to return them to their families. Denying the right to bury loved ones, this policy inflicts the anguish of mourning without closure.
Murdoch Media was found guilty of Phone Hacking (UK). Found Guilty of knowingly spreading false news (USA). Found guilty of actually fabricating fake news like this. Why is News Corp allowed to continue operating freely in Australia and be our largest media company? One in fact that doesn’t even pay but avoids paying taxes here?
Fox News falsely reported last Wednesday that a car accident at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara, New York, was an act of terrorism. Much of the network’s coverage was based on reporting from correspondent Alexis McAdams, who attributed her information — later debunked — to anonymous law enforcement sources. A close look at Fox’s treatment of this event shows how the network manufactured a terrorist event out of thin air, and then blamed it on Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, and their supporters.
Having left the Australian Public Service Code in tatters, Pezzullo will undoubtedly find himself on the board of a defence or security company and take his place in the military-industrial complex. He might finally get a chance to join a thinktank. His sacking, however, was the culmination of a culture long in the making. Over the decades, the major parties have made political appointments a matter of course, subordinating expertise and fearless advice to party loyalties. Perversely enough, Pezzullo was a perfect exponent of that tendency: a political civil servant. The result: Canberra is awash and sinking with officialdom terrified to take a different stance to the political agenda of the day. Agree with those in government, or risk languishing, demotion or worse.
Source: Rot in the Civil Service: Farewelling Mike Pezzullo – » The Australian Independent Media Network
How the Israel lobby moved to quash rising dissent in Congress against Israel’s apartheid regime.
Source: A Big-Money Operation Purged Critics of Israel From the Democratic Party
Money walks and talks to silence anti-Israeli Protest
Dylan Saba, an attorney with Palestine Legal, on the censorship of those who defend Palestinian rights and condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Source: Chris Hedges Report: Zionist Anti-Palestine Censorship Is Surging w/ Dylan Saba – scheerpost.com
Dagan emphasized to Porat that none of the hostages had been intentionally killed by the Hamas fighters. “There were no executions, or anything like that. At least not the people with her,” Porat said.
In a separate interview on October 15, Porat insisted the Palestinian militants “did not abuse us. They treated us very humanely.”
It is impossible to know if the standoff between Israeli and Hamas forces at the Dagan home could have been resolved without bloodshed. But it is clear that the Israeli decision to shell the home with tanks wound up killing almost everyone inside, including the child who has become a centerpiece of Israel’s international anti-Hamas propaganda campaign. All the Israelis left behind, Porat said, was “a house full of corpses.”
Source: Israeli October 7 Poster Child Was Killed by Israeli Tank, Eyewitnesses Reveal – scheerpost.com
ALP Government Shames Us!
Australian-equipped Israeli Air Force F-35 Joint Strike Fighters are being used to commit what amounts to war crimes in Gaza by bombing civilians and providing aerial support for a murderous ground invasion.
In the 60’s Che was that face on every young person’s wall and T. He became a cult hero and is still spoken of reverently today. Will Hamas replace Che thanks to Netanyahu who’s certainly not anybody’s hero and is acting like a Philistine.
ISRAELI BREAK CEASEFIRE “As a result of a clear violation by the enemy of the truce agreement in the northern Gaza Strip today, field friction occurred and our mujahideen dealt with this violation. We are committed to the truce as long as the enemy has committed to it, and we call on the mediators to pressure the occupation to adhere to all the terms of the truce on the ground and in the air.”
But Hamas can’t be ended by force. There are reports that its popularity is rising in the West Bank, where it had been banned by the PA. Chants for Hamas have been heard all this week in the West Bank, and in Arab countries.
Things don’t always go according to plan when colonial powers strategize with heavy firepower.
Israel calls this a deal and holds the world to ransom
Israeli Intelligence Minister, Gila Gamliel, is the latest to suggest voluntary resettlement of displaced Palestinians in Gaza. “Instead of funnelling money to rebuild Gaza or to the failed UNRWA, the international community can assist in the costs of resettlement, helping the people of Gaza build new lives in their new host countries,” she wrote in the Jerusalem Post, leaving out the part that Israeli colonisation would benefit from a complete expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza. There is no voluntary resettlement in colonialism, only the replacement of the indigenous Palestinian population.
Source: A Humanitarian Pause or a Surge in Human Rights Violations?
Don’t accept that what’s happening
Is just a case of others’ suffering
Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
The turning away . . . .
Just a world that we all must share
It’s not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there’ll be
No more turning away? (Pink Floyd)
In the process of watching Gaza burn, it would be good to remember that we’re also turning the whole planet into a Gazan-style catastrophe. It’s just happening in relative slow motion.
Source: Opinion | A Slow-Motion Gaza as We Destroy Planet Earth | Common Dreams
Put a face to Hamas and we might be witnessing Israel’s making the second coming of Che. The youth of the world seems to think so and are wearing symbols of Palestine.
On 7 October Israel vowed to destroy Hamas. To eradicate it as an organization. To neuter it as a military force, political movement, and governing entity. More recently Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in true mob boss style, stated that he had given Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, orders to assassinate all Hamas leaders residing in exile.
Fifty days into this war, how close is Israel to achieving its objectives? The short answer is that it requires zero knowledge of military affairs to conclude that 1) Israel’s proclaimed objectives are unattainable, and 2) Israel has additionally failed to significantly degrade either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Wasn’t he the Israeli who declared Gaza was one massive “Concentration Camp” and all Palestinian inmates deserve to be there?
Giora Eiland is one of the “thinking officers” in the Israeli Defence Forces. He has an idea – epidemics in Gaza are good for Israel. “After all, severe epidemics in the southern Strip will bring victory closer and reduce fatalities among IDF soldiers.” One only has to wait for the daughters of Hamas’ leaders to contract the plague, and we’ve won.
Source: A monstrous Gaza proposal is evil in plain sight – Pearls and Irritations
Peter Dutton’s personal disinformation strategy is welcomed by Peter Dutton, News Corp and 2GB. It’s time and money invested in making even more money by Murdoch and Costello and not paying tax
Editor of scientific journal says fake study linking whale deaths to wind farms is ‘deliberate misinformation’
Source: National Times – 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 Editor of… | Facebook
Howard courted wealthy Christian sects and encouraged them to become part of the LNP. We wound up with 9 Pentacosalists in the LNP government.It’s now been revealed Senator Alex Antic has been making massive expense claims and feeding taxpayer money back into their businesses. Whitestone Strategic is a Christian organization aligned with Advance the “No” campaigners and the ACL Christian lobby bent on prosecuting the LNP’s nope nope nope campaigns. It’s a propaganda business. Religions today are businesses intent on influencing politics and not separating from it and therefore should be taxed. We are a secular Democracy, not a Christian one and that ought not be allowed to be corrupted as it has been in the USA
We’re always told that this is a Christian country, and to enforce that claim, the Christians have been really adept at using that tax exemption most skillfully to tear down the wall between church and state.
Source: Tax the Damn Churches, for Christ’s Sake: A Secular Sunday Sermon | The Smirking Chimp
The corporate regulator ASIC has lost its case against bank victims’ advocate Geoff Shannon putting a large question mark over the role of the Commonwealth Bank in orchestrating the prosecution. Lisa-Jane Roberts with the story.
Where were the LNP ministers at the time? Peter Dutton was actively raising Pezzullo’s image in the public eye withe the number of times he deferred to him when being questioned on Immigration issues and then taking Pezzulo with him to Home Affairs. Who was the Minister?
One of the most powerful figures in the public service has been dumped after leaked conversations revealed the depths of his attempts to influence the government on policy and the shape of government.
“The decision of Nine newspaper editors Tory Maguire, Patrick Elliget, Bevan Shields and David King to gag journalists who have called for balance in media coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the most serious assault on a free press since the Coalition government’s raids on Annika Smethurst and the ABC — but is one wholly self-inflicted.
Source: “The… – The Fiberal Party of Australia – Lies & Misdemeanours | Facebook
Israel declared the Thai hostages are “Not Israeli Hostages” What are they saying? That they weren’t taken hostage in Israel on Oct7th? Or saying they aren’t Israelis so “Keep Them”? Or Simply saying ” We don’t give a fuck about them”? Any way you look at It it sounds as if Israel is fishing for a reason to break the cease-fire! How fucking stereotypical!
More than two-thirds of the Palestinians proposed for release by Israel under the truce have not been convicted of any crimes. Most were arrested as children.
Source: Israel’s Insidious Narrative About Palestinian Prisoners – The Intercept
One of the great lies in the present discourse about Palestine and Israel is the myth of eternal hostility between Jews and Muslims.
Source: It can be another way: Jews and Muslims can live peacefully
Israel is openly carrying out ethnic cleansing inside Gaza and yet, just as during the first “Nakba,” Israel’s lies and deceptions dominate the West’s media and political narrative, writes Jonathan Cook.
Source: Second Nakba; Same Israeli Lies; Same Western Narrative
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which spans over seven decades, serves as a potent illustration of the persistent failures of Western nations, particularly the United States, to facilitate an equitable and enduring resolution.
Across the UK and the US, a wave of repression is muzzling pro-Palestine speech, especially from Muslim and Arab writers and artists. But Palestinian voices refuse to be silenced.
Source: Israel’s War on Gaza Has Unleashed a Wave of Repression Against Pro-Palestine Artists
In 1948, King Abdullah of Transjordan told Golda Meir: “I believe with all my heart that divine providence has brought you back here [to Palestine and the Middle East], restoring you, a Semitic people who were exiled to Europe and shared in its progress, to the Semitic East which needs your knowledge and initiative. Only with your help and your guidance will the Semites be able to revive their ancient glory. We cannot expect genuine assistance from the Christian world, which looks down on Semitic people. We will progress only as the result of joint efforts.”
Source: Never Forget: Jews and Muslims have Often imagined themselves in History as Siblings and Allies
The ratio of CEO pay to worker pay is almost 300 to 1. Are we really supposed to believe CEOs work 300 times harder or create 300 times more value than us?
Source: CEO Performance Pay Is One of Capitalism’s Great Myths
Hundreds of protesters in dinghies, tinnies and canoes will lay siege to the world’s largest coal port as they call on the government to stop new fossil fuel projects.
Source: ‘Change is coming’: protesters to block major coal port – Michael West
Taxpayers are paying thousands of dollars a week to a secretive right-wing group to write emails, social media posts and run campaigns for individual conservative federal politicians, documents reveal.
Source: Whitestone Strategic: MP claims thousands a week from firm
If both Bruce Lehrmann and Linda Reynolds hadn’t lied and deceived the court during the rape trial, would it have changed the result? I think the ACT need another Inquiry.
As Bruce Lehrmann’s latest defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson plays out, Michelle Pini examines the hazy world of legal cases surrounding the former Liberal Party staffer.
Source: Bruce Lehrmann ‘lights fires’ in alleged rape cases and assorted legal stoushes
The Diaspora is growing thanks to Netanyahu. Allow Israelis to leave Israel,
I did leave Israel permanently and renounced my Israeli citizenship twenty-two years ago. But my dream was a reminder that I still feel guilty for my collusion with the settler-colonial country in which I was born. I do not need sympathy or protection from my guilt. It is the right thing to feel. Healthy human beings feel guilt when they do something wrong, or when they collude. The Israeli soldiers, pilots, officers, who know precisely what they are doing, and continue to do it without guilt, are not well people. My guilt is a relief. I am not one of them anymore.
Source: You cannot reason with an abuser – Pearls and Irritations
Farmers in the occupied West Bank face near-daily incursions and violence from Israeli settlers, to the point that they live in fear of having their homes and land stolen, they say.
Added to that is the violence they witness in nearby urban areas, like Jenin city and refugee camp that the Israeli army stepped up raids on, killing 10 people and wounding 20 in just one week.
According to the Ministry of Health, at least 237 Palestinians have been killed and about 2,850 others injured by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since October 7.
Farmer Ayman Assad, 45, and his family can clearly hear the attacks from their home just 2km (1.2 miles) from the camp and they have made the past few weeks a nightmare for him, his wife and five children.
Live updates, Israel-Hamas war live: 6 Palestinians killed in Israeli raids in West Bank Israeli soldiers are seen in Balata, a Palestinian refugee camp in Nablus, West Bank, on Thursday, Nov. 23 By Lyndal Rowlands, Usaid Siddiqui and Umut Uras Published On 25 Nov 202325 Nov 2023 At least six Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids in occupied West Bank since last night. Crowds have met 39 Palestinian prisoners – all women and children – in the occupied West Bank while 13 Israeli and four Thai captives have arrived in Israel.
Is this what the ALP Government is doing or are we simply another American State? Did the Uluru Statement consciously align with Palestine? We certainly revisited 19th century attitudes without the costumes watching Peter Dutton and his Native Police troopers Jacinta Price and Warren Mundine in action before the referendum but where are they now? Have they been packed back in the LNP’s fake history box to be used another day?
As Indigenous struggles around the world ally with the struggle of the Palestinians, colonial and neocolonial powers have no other option but to ally with colonial Israel.
Source: Opinion | The War in Gaza Has Galvanized the Global Indigenous Solidarity Movement | Common Dreams
After continuing his characteristic bullying, racism and negativity, there is talk on social media that Peter Dutton is facing an impending Liberal Party leadership spill. Belinda Jones reports.
Denying Indigenous Australians a Voice to Parliament has exposed an absence of compassion that has set our nation backwards in time, writes Dermot Daley.
A new report exposes Australian electricity networks’ supernormal profits of $11B, on top of ‘normal’ profits of $16B since 2014. In 2022 alone, the super profit represented between $80 and $400 annually per customer. What’s the scam?
Source: Consumers made to pay for electricity networks super-profits. What’s the scam? – Michael West
olddogthoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.