Australia created the ABC as an Independent Statuary Body yet the LNP has censured, beaten, and financially bruised the ABC to become a shadow of itself over the past ten years. They did it to gain the quid pro quo support of dominant private media and other corporately controlled sectors in this country and they will continue to do so should they regain power.
“In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government.”
Events in the USA suggest the Trump era may be ending, but not before hundreds of thousands of Americans have died unnecessarily, as Alan Austin reports.
Unfortunately, it’s not only in America where Trumpians rule despite their moral and character flaws. Think of Berlusconi, Putin, and Netanyahu the Middle East and then simply compare the leaders of the world in general and you will find that Trump is just one among many.
Trump just happens to prefer the global ratings and he isn’t the first celebrity to have turned to politics for ego-driving money and power. But, he also had Murdoch’s global PR empire behind him in a quid pro quo rating relationship dance. Good bad or ugly made no difference to Murdoch or Trump as long as they had the attention. Adding FB, and Twitter, to the mix and influence for mutual gain is easier to see than the algorithms and bots doing their work for him.
Has Trump come to attention deficit? Has Murdoch really turned it off yet?
His diabolical slipperiness does more than keep him in the news and in the public eye. Nearly everything surrounding the man is grimly hypnotic. I’ve been covering politics for just over 50 years, and I cannot recall another American politician who has proved more spellbinding in the way he lives his personal and public life, not to mention the way he has sold himself, with his New York accent, multiple ex-wives and mistresses, business scandals and all the rest of it to the American public, or to 74 million members of it, anyway.
We are being led in our anti-China hysteria by the United States which is not concerned that China will attack us, or even the United States, but is concerned that its world hegemony is being challenged.
A new congressional report commissioned by Bernie Sanders finds that the 1 percent now own one-third of all wealth, while the bottom half of Americans hold only 2 percent. It’s another sign of the slide into oligarchy that Sanders has warned about for years.
Recent episodes of purposeful and accidental truth-telling brought to my mind the latest verbal lapse by George W. Bush, the president who hustled this country into war in Afghanistan and Iraq after the 9/11 attacks. He clearly hadn’t planned to make a public confession about his own warmongering in Iraq when he gave a speech in Texas this spring. Still, asked to decry Russian president Vladimir Putin’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine, Bush inadvertently and all too truthfully placed his own presidential war-making in exactly the same boat. The words spilled out of his mouth as he described “the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified invasion of Iraq — I mean of Ukraine.”
Can a nation survive as a democratic republic without an honest and trusted news ecosystem? Is it an actual fact that truthful and reliable news — combined with the kind of cultural trust people have in both government and each other as the result of a shared reality — are both historic and necessary preconditions for a democracy to work at all?
The link between film and the military-industrial complex has never been more evident than in the ‘Top Gun’ movies— a relentless advertisement for the U.S. defence sector, writes Dr Binoy Kampmark.
“The main downside of Biden pushing Saudi-Israeli normalization is mistaking that for doing something useful,” said Marc Lynch, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. “The downsides really lie in further enabling Israel to ignore the Palestinian issue, which most Arabs really do still care about and which is likely to erupt in repeated crises as long as it goes unsolved. It actually makes such eruptions more likely because it emboldens Israel to push faster and harder in its appropriation of land and homes in the West Bank.”
It’s the business of “Cash For Comment”. In Murdoch’s world “Show Me Your Money” comes first, last , and is the determinator of the long term policy.
As the country reels from yet another horrific mass shooting, right-wing media outlets like Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News are doing all they can to halt any progress on reforming the country’s gun laws. But a totally different story is being told in Australia — the original home of the Murdoch family’s media empire — where Murdoch outlets have instead touted the importance of gun safety, and are now highlighting the dangerous conditions of gun proliferation in the United States.
Murdoch’s news channel in Australia has celebrated the country’s gun control laws — and expressed hope that the U.S. would adopt similar ones
The lesson here is straightforward: Everyone who wants their country to improve should feel free to engage in sincere, accurate criticism of their government’s actions. It is both inevitable and irrelevant that it will likely end up sounding similar to criticism of their country by foreign “enemy” governments. And those who claim the similarity discredits the internal critics should be ignored like the propagandists they are. To keep this in mind, you can memorize this article, or just keep a copy of this chart handy:
Given Australia’s L-NP is little more than a carbon copy of GOP policies Putanism is also breeding in their heart. Surveillance of Australians has never been greater than the degree to which it has under Peter Dutton and he wants it increased. He wants politician’s parliamentary privilege extended beyond Parliament to be able to defend and sue defamation cases at will and taxpayers’ expense.
The L-NP wants criticism stifled by putting restrictions in place on social media for individuals, disallowing the ABC and Independent media a source of income but ensuring the corporate MSM has theirs. Basically guaranteeing their quid pro quo relationship is in tact and will continue. Lets face it, Murdoch is currently Putin, the GOP’s and the Australian Liberal Party’s biggest supporter and Murdoch is Putin’s in the West. Fox News is even being dubbed and replayed on Russian State Media.
Make no mistake: Putin’s authoritarian neo-fascism has rooted itself in America. It may be possible to prevent Putin’s aggression from spreading to the rest of Europe. But it is not possible to win a cold civil war inside America without destroying the United States – another of Putin’s objectives when he ordered his spy agencies to help Trump.
Biden has been wedged by neo-Nazis and a Russian Imperialist in a face-off. Who does he side with. Putin has false flags in place in the Southern Donbass region of Ukraine to justify his invasion. Biden can’t for a moment justify he’s even saving a Democracy.
While Senate Democrats consider a way forward to send Ukraine hundreds of millions of dollars so it can buy new weapons, some of the most influential advocates are neglecting measures to make sure they don’t wind up with the country’s notorious neo-Nazis.
The Republicans demand stricter Voting ID and like good camp followers Australia’s LNP suggest the same. Republicans demand stricter education measures Australia’s LNP fight for the same. Morrison is against Lockdowns anti-mandates all Republican Trump decrees Morrison adopts the same plan. It looks like a game of Simon Says. Does the Morrison government have any original policies?
The assault on teachers in this country by Republicans continues as a new bill proposed by Florida State Rep. Bob Rommel would allow cameras in the classroom as well as put microphones on teachers to monitor what they say.
This week, the Senate voted down a resolution that would have blocked a defensive weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. The measure attracted support from senators of both parties for its potential to pressure the kingdom to end the war in Yemen. Intercept reporters Sara Sirota and Ken Klippenstein join Ryan Grim to discuss what the politics surrounding Saudi Arabia look like with a Democrat back in the White House. Transcript coming soon.
Singapore: Australian cattle farmers and abattoirs lost half a billion in exports to China in the last two years, cotton producers were down $870 million, copper exporters $1.5 billion.But the Chinese importers did not miss those products. Australia’s great Indo-Pacific ally, the United States, was happy to make up for the shortfall.The same happened with timber and coal. As Australia’s coal exports fell by $11 billion, the US added $1.8 billion to its usual load over the same period. Russia, Canada and Indonesia also sent more.Markets are unsentimental; when there is a gap they fill them. The US and Australia have made much of their united front on China’s economic coercion, but the truth is American exporters have been eating Australia’s lunch.
Previously America said jump and Australia’s LNP sent our boys wherever we we were told, Vietnam, Afghanistan Iraq and Syria. Today we not only did a massive one-way trade deal double crossing the French who are our Pacific neighbors but we have handed our sovereignty over to America and become their foremost base in the region. Yes ,the yanks are hers and we have to set up that base to accommodate them. That will make us the single most target in the region for technological and tactical attack long before we even have a single submarine.
Meanwhile America is cooperating with China on Climate, trade and taking the commerce we once had with China. Trade in wine,beef, diary and education have slipped away. Good one …Scott Morrison Marketeer where is any Quid Pro Quo? We are now China’s fully fledged enemy and an American vassal.
There is an unabashed encouragement of greater U.S. garrisoning and military presence in Australia. Australia would commit to investing in and expanding naval facilities in Darwin and on the west coast. This, in turn, ‘could be matched with a greater U.S. naval presence at these facilities, for the purpose of joint activity through the Indian Ocean and up into Southeast Asia’. The authors take issue with conservative U.S. troop numbers that had been present through Marine Corps rotations in Northern Australia during the Obama era. It was time to roll up the sleeves and co-opt Australian real estate and resources to advance Washington’s agenda. The report said: ‘Specifically, the United States should forward deploy Navy surface, subsurface and uncrewed vessels to Australia; expand the Air Force rotational presence to include larger numbers and more frequent presence of high-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms; and increase both Marine and Army presence to facilitate greater training and integration within the alliance.’
What we have been witnessing with Fox News, News Max, OAN, and the privatized media is that their business models have made them the Organ Grinders Monkeys. Driven by the need for the dollar they have sacrificed truth for the Autocratic Capture of the American narrative, the “Big Lie” and Right-Wing messaging. Yes, they have done a Trump, become ratings-driven, and are now anybody’s for a price. As we know money flows from the top down, not up, is generally reactionary, and is in the hands of an oligarchy. Trump knew that, but couldn’t really manage it as he’s just an old-school grifter, and not really a politician. However, now darker forces are at play and working on the Autocratic Capture of the very electoral process state by state trying to turn America away from Democracy to a single party-run Autocracy the likes of Hungary, Russia, and Turkey. Who claim to be Democrcies because they have elections too!!
“What Steve and Jonah did in giving up compensation and a high visibility post was to put their money literally where their mouth is,” Stirewalt said, adding, “What Fox allowed in Tucker Carlson’s documentary, which said that January 6 was potentially a false flag operation undertaken by the federal government and that Americans were being put in Guantanomo over pictures of waterboarding, was beyond reckless and is another mile-marker down the road to the kind of Alex Jones-ian, Infowars-ian garbage that makes it impossible to have any kind of conversation.”
Coal baron Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has succeeded in blocking the part of President Biden’s Build Back Better bill that would have moved the U.S. electricity grid quickly to green energy. This development is very bad news for the earth, since human beings burning coal, petroleum and natural gas contribute the bulk of the 6.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide that the United States farts out into the atmosphere every year, and which is causing the earth rapidly to heat up to uncomfortable levels. Although the U.S. only has 4% of the world’s population, it is responsible for 20% of global CO2 emissions. And that is just today. Through modern history, only Britain has been more of a carbon hog than America.
But while many Australians have seen uniformed officers enforcing COVID restrictions as an overreach, especially in poor and culturally diverse communities, some Americans are more outraged than we are. Just as Australians don’t understand the American psyche when it comes to things like gun rights, many freedom loving Americans just do not get why most Australians have tolerated such harsh limits on their liberty during the pandemic. That’s despite the huge disparity in infection and death rates between the two countries.
Forty years ago, on August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers and barred them from ever working again for the federal government. By October of that year, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, or PATCO, the union that had called the strike, had been decertified and lay in ruins. The careers of most of the individual strikers were similarly dead: While Bill Clinton lifted Reagan’s ban on strikers in 1993, fewer than 10 percent were ever rehired by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The LNP in Australia & Greg Hunt MP see the American model of healthcare the best model for Australia. Americans certainly don see it as such.
Five of the most profitable health insurance companies in the U.S. brought in over $11 billion in profits in the second quarter of 2021, it was reported on Friday—an outrageous amount of money, especially during a pandemic, that progressives said provides further evidence of the need for Medicare for All. Between April and June of this year, UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, and Humana reported profits of $4.37 billion, $2.78 billion, $1.8 billion, $1.47 billion, and $588 million, respectively. Health insurance companies’ second quarter earnings contrast sharply with the hardships faced by many Americans.
Renewables overall increased 9% between 2019 and 2020. About half of US clean energy now comes from solar and wind, and the other half from hydroelectric power.
They call this the world’s best Intel. First, it was the Russians cyber attacking the West with Putin’s blessing. Now it’s the Chinese. It’s never the Americans alone throwing out these accusations but also a ‘coalition of allies’ a lap dog chorus doing what they are told with Putin now less important. No wonder Dutton is saber-rattling like the organ grinder’s monkey.
The United States and a coalition of allies have accused China of a global cyber hacking campaign that employed contract hackers, specifically attributing a large Microsoft attack disclosed earlier this year to actors working on the country’s behalf. Opening a new area of tensions with China, the United States is joined by NATO, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Canada to level the allegations.
Conservatives in Australia refuse to even address issues of this nature in Australia. Why was a population of 700k reduced to half in less than 200 years? Instead crying that any attempt to investigate these matters is necessary to do so is regaled as a form of “Black Racism”, an effort to “Cancel and tarnish White Culture”, and some form of “Race Replacement”. Andrew Bolt, who is obsessed with matters of race rales against any critical assessment let alone discussed in our classrooms. British Colonialism arrived on these shores with a mindset well and truly established and practiced in other settler colonies and it certainly wasn’t one with human rights in mind.
“The Final Solution” is a term coined by the Nazi party, describing their plan for the genocide and murder of Jews during the second World War. It represented a policy of deliberate and systematic genocide which culminated in the Holocaust. The type of genocidal actions witnessed during World War 2, and in many other parts of the world, is something that also occurred in North America prior to the Second World War. Some Scholars have estimated that prior to the ‘discovery’ of the Americas by Europeans, the pre-contact era population could have been as high as 100 million people. We are taught in high school that the mass disappearance and depopulation of the indigenous was due to disease brought over by the Europeans, but recent history involving the Canadian residential school system may be a catalyst for many to question this narrative. There were most certainly other factors.
Convicted under the Espionage Act for having shared a classified document on threats to election security with the media, Winner has been released to home confinement but wears an unwieldy ankle bracelet. It beeps even if she strays too far within her family’s yard. Not wanting her to miss out, a high school friend showed up on a recent day with a kiddie swimming pool and some sand. “Mom, I’m going to the beach today,” Winner said, her mother Billie Winner-Davis recalled. The pair filled the kid’s toy and Winner waded in. Winner’s family and friends are thrilled to have her home after four years behind bars — a stint that took miserable turns as her release date neared. She contracted Covid-19 as part of a mass infection in her prison, filed a sexual assault complaint against a guard, and went thirsty and cold when her facility lost heat and water in February during Texas’s deadly winter storm.
The lack of a police response to the nighttime looting stood in stark contrast to the New York Police Department’s deployment of its riot squad, the Strategic Response Group, or SRG, to suppress political protests during the day. When a peaceful march reached Manhattan’s Bryant Park earlier that night, the police were ready: The SRG formed a line to block their advance. When the protesters knelt in the street, SRG officers struck with batons and made arrests. It was one example of many where the NYPD moved swiftly against demonstrators. The previous day, police mounted a “level three mobilization” against a protest in Brooklyn and responded in well under two hours, according to city records. NYPD data reported that at least 108 people were injured by police during last summer’s unrest. The NYPD was roundly criticized by elected officials and in three government reports for using violent riot tactics against political protesters. It was a double-dip failure in public safety: Not only did the city brutalize protesters exercising their First Amendment right to assemble, but it also stood by as throngs of nonpolitical actors rampaged the city’s storefronts. Risks to residents and pro
An Intercept and SITU reconstruction of an incident in North Carolina last June shows police intentionally trapped and tear-gassed hundreds of peaceful protesters.
“This is a battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century and autocracies,” he told reporters at his first news conference as president. “We’ve got to prove democracy works.”
Among the biggest tasks of his presidency, Biden seemed to be arguing, is to prove anew to a skeptical world that both American democracy and its model of democratic capitalism still works – and that it is superior to the very different system Xi is ruthlessly enforcing at home as he tries to extend China’s influence around the world.
A pro-Trump organizer who helped plan the January 6 “March to Save America” rally that led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is now planning a “MAGA sellout” bus tour targeting Republicans who did not side with former President Donald Trump’s efforts to steal the election.
On October 14, Donald Trump held a rally attended by several thousand in Iowa, despite White House guidelines that gatherings in the state should be limited to 25. Trump visited Iowa numerous times in 2016, a political outsider promising he would “give working people a voice for the first time in a very, very long time”. He won the state by nine points.
Michelle Obama has observed that being president does not change who you are. It reveals who you are. The same could be said of the nation: that its president does not change who we are but reveals who we are. And what Donald Trump has revealed about America has taught us sobering lessons about ourselves.
Australian politics is now a corrupt mess and the more the government get away with the more emboldened they become. We have seen such a decline in the practice of government that it wouldn’t surprise me if circumstances might prevail that would give the conservatives a long period of power that might entrench them. So good has the propaganda been. Add to it the lack of interest the public has in politics and you have a situation where maintaining the status quo is but a few lies away. Our current Christian Prime Minister copies the Trump methodology of only pleasing those that will help you win. How bitterly dispiriting it is when the hearts and minds of our politicians are so utterly corrupted by this virus of political lies, but more demoralising it is that ordinary people catch the same infection. So emphatically poor of political morality is the U.S. now that there is a distinct possibility that an ill of mind billionaire entertainer in Donald Trump might trump a second-grade movie actor to become the next president. How a man of such ill repute, threatened by two countries to be disallowed entry, could even be nominated beggar’s belief. It even questions the sanity of those who would contemplate his election. To think that the Republican Party could ever consider a megalomaniac like Trump as a nominee to run for the presidency illustrates just how low the GOP have fallen. That he wanted to exit the hospital after treatment for COVID-19 wearing a Superman t-shirt under his suit so he could dramatically reveal it upon leaving hospital last week confirms his mental state. The New York times says that “he ultimately decided against the stunt, thus depriving the world of what would have been a… memorable moment in a year of memorable moments.” Continued tomorrow… My thought for the day The Office of the American President was once viewed by its people as an office of prestige and importance. Trump has reduced it to one of ridicule and contempt.
When I talk to local people, like a city council or a schools’ committee, I say, “What cost are you willing to accept for being wrong? What is an acceptable cost to you?” Frankly, we got lazy, and we’re not prepared for something like this. Even people like me and my colleagues, we would look at the data and kind of think, can it really be that bad? It’s hard to admit to yourself that it really can be that bad, but you have to know in the back of your mind that it may well be.
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