Tag: Media

Trumpland Revealed, Uncategorized

Donald Trump is Putting Every Journalist in Every Country at Risk | The Nation

Trump with arms crossed

The globally renowned journalist was writing about the circumstances in his homeland, and in other Arab states. But he could have been writing about much of the world, where freedom of expression, and the democratic promises that extend from it, are under murderous assault. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calculates that 57 journalists who were employed by media outlets (including six in the United States) have been killed so far this year, along with 10 citizen journalists and four media assistants. At the same time, 167 journalists, 150 citizen journalists, and 19 media assistants are imprisoned—including 28 Saudi Arabians.

via Donald Trump is Putting Every Journalist in Every Country at Risk | The Nation

Alt-Right

“UnTrump the World”: Hundreds of Thousands March in Berlin Against the Far Right

Will we see this reported in Murdoch and Fairfax media in Australia? Do we only hear about the growth of the right wing? (ODT)

Hundreds of thousands of people marched Saturday afternoon demonstrating against racism and calling for solidarity against the rise of the far-right across Germany and Europe.

via “UnTrump the World”: Hundreds of Thousands March in Berlin Against the Far Right

Australia's Shame

Australian Complicity: Nauru and Silencing Journalism – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Over the last few years, the small island state has insisted on controlling the journalistic pool.  A conspicuous target here has been the ABC itself, which was banned from entering the country to cover the Pacific Islands Forum in September.  In a government statement posted in July, “It should be noted that no representative from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation will be granted a visa to enter Nauru under any circumstances.”

Elevated to the levels of high secrecy under the term Operation Sovereign Borders, “operational details” in dealing with boat arrivals, as they are termed, have been a matter of clandestine value. The degrees of control have also extended to covering camp conditions, a matter policed by such brutish little laws such as the Australian Border Force Act 2015 (Cth). Under that bit of legislative nastiness, those who obtain “protected information” in the course of their employment in the border force apparatus can be punished for two years for disclosing such information except to authorised personnel.

Prior to the passage of the ABFA, the Australian government made it its business to hound a number of Save the Children employees working in the Nauru Regional Processing centre. Their sin had been to disclose information on the lamentable conditions in the centre.

The levels of media management regarding reporting on the conditions in Nauru has been extreme. Amnesty International has called this a veritable “wall of secrecy”, designed to conceal “a system of deliberate abuse”. The Nauru government has periodically limited access by journalists to the island, a process made craftier by the hefty visa application fee. In 2014, the non-refundable fee of $200 jumped to $8000.

via Australian Complicity: Nauru and Silencing Journalism – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

The ABC, Rupert Murdoch and how to fix a media landscape in crisis

So what should be done about the rolling crises washing over what remains of the Australian media? Rupert Murdoch has been up to his neck in the elevation and removal of Australian prime ministers for the better part of a decade. The ABC has seen the conservatives politicise its board, demolish its funding and pressure its management to get rid of troublesome journalists. And now we face the prospect of the disappearance of Australia’s longest, independent print masthead (Fairfax) as it is consumed by a television company (Nine) which is chaired by Peter Costello.

If ever there was a case for a full royal commission into the abuse of media power in Australia, it is now. A free media is the lifeblood of a democracy. But media freedom in Australia is now under structural threat from a combination of extreme ideological conservatism, fuelled by rampant commercial interests.

via The ABC, Rupert Murdoch and how to fix a media landscape in crisis

Women

How the Australian media play a pivotal role in the bullying of women

Unless and until Australian media takes responsibility for its own role in bullying women, and in particular for slut shaming us, the answer to Baird’s question will be, sadly, “No”. Nobody can stop Australia’s slut shaming as long as the media is willing to engage in that vile practice.

And no journalist can honestly claim to be seeking a truthful answer to the question posed by Baird unless she or he is prepared to analyse the role of their own profession and their own complicity, whether through silence, denial, or their more active engagement in a practice that is guaranteed to destroy a woman’s career.

 How the Australian media play a pivotal role in the bullying of women

and

‘Bullying, betrayal and backstabbing’: Can the Liberal Party survive?

Asylum Seekers

New Zealand journalist Barbara Dreaver detained by Nauruan police while interviewing refugee – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A portrait shot of a smiling woman with dark hair.

Who orchestrated this? Chris Kenny Murdoch media was safe media he was News Corp and Dutton or Morrison approved. (ODT)

The New Zealand reporter detained for talking to refugees during the Pacific Islands Forum says she did not break the rules of her visa.
Key points:

TVNZ journalist Barbara Dreaver detained by police while interviewing refugee at a camp

Nauruan Government says Dreaver breached terms of visa and did not ‘gthrough proper channels’ to visit camp

Dreaver says talking to refugees was relevant to reporting on Pacific Islands Forum

TVNZ’s Barbara Dreaver said media accreditation allowed for reporting on the forum, and asylum seekers had become an issue at the meeting.

via New Zealand journalist Barbara Dreaver detained by Nauruan police while interviewing refugee – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Renewable energy

In Epochal Shift, California Votes for 100% Green Electricity by 2045

Murdoch Media tells Australia it’s too difficult too expensive too painful. It seems we are being scammed. (ODT)

Since California if it were a country would have the world’s fifth largest economy, and since so many other states are economically integrated with it, this plan, if signed by governor Jerry Brown, could help transform the entire country.

The goal is less difficult than it seems on the surface. California had already committed to getting one third of its electricity from renewables by 2020, and reached that goal in 2017. It committed to getting 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, and in fact will likely reach that goal 10 years early, in 2020.

Europe just reached a milestone of one million electric vehicles on the road. Chinese bought 600,000 or so just last year. California is set to become a leader in this area, as well.

California is showing us where the whole country is going, even if some states will take longer to get there. But likely it also will be a big influencer for the whole Pacific Rim. Can Japan really continue its natural gas + nuclear electricity mix once California has shown how easily renewables can supply all our needs? Moreover, California’s efforts will synch with those of China, in ways that will create synergies and thwart Trump’s fossil fuel obsession.

California will save enormous amounts of money by going to green energy, but more importantly, it will rapidly reduce carbon dioxide emissions and show others how to do it, putting a brake on the runaway greenhouse gases that threaten the stability of our natural ecosystems on earth. California is one of the more vulnerable states to the climate crisis.

via In Epochal Shift, California Votes for 100% Green Electricity by 2045

Trumpland, Uncategorized

Don ‘The Con’ Trump Say Flipping Should Be ‘Almost Illegal’ | Crooks and Liars

When truth is just relative in the game of personal interest justice irigged against the elite according to Trump. “It’s not a fair thing” in Trumpland (ODT)

Donald Trump doesn’t like flippers, you know, people who cooperate with law enforcement to uncover crimes.

“It’s called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal … they go from 10 years to they’re a national hero. They have a statue erected in their honor. It’s not a fair thing.”

via Don ‘The Con’ Trump Say Flipping Should Be ‘Almost Illegal’ | Crooks and Liars

Australia's Shame, Uncategorized

Australia is deplorably racist, as people of colour are reminded when they speak up | Jack Latimore | Opinion | The Guardian

A banner of the Reclaim Australia group

There can be no reconciliation until politicians acknowledge the harmful impacts of race baiting

via Australia is deplorably racist, as people of colour are reminded when they speak up | Jack Latimore | Opinion | The Guardian

Royal Commission

Banking royal commission: The ‘super scam’ that is unfolding in plain sight

While News Corp boosts Sudanese “crime gangs” that don’t exist. Lebanese mafia, and bikies,. While it focuses on dole bludgers and pilfering of petty cash it ignores the systematic damage and criminal theft done to all of us by what they revere as our fundamental and respected institutions that reflect the foundation of how a neoliberal society should operate. We have become the 51rst state of America and out of sync with the values of the rest of the world. We are drowning but not even waving (ODT)

The biggest financial swindle in Australian history was not masterminded by a smooth-talking shyster in silk tie and fancy loafers.

It didn’t involve complex money shifting to the Bahamas, the establishment of sham companies or falsified documents.

The biggest financial scam ever perpetrated against ordinary Australians unfolded – and continues to unfold – in plain sight.

The government knows it’s happening. Regulators know it’s happening. The people responsible for safeguarding the money being effectively stolen know it’s happening.

And no one is doing anything significant to stop it.

via Banking royal commission: The ‘super scam’ that is unfolding in plain sight

Informed Comment

30 plus reasons why you shouldn’t vote for an incumbent government who couldn’t govern a kindergarten – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Two things stood out during the by-elections. Firstly the importance they made of the constant flow of polls, and secondly, the “Kill Bill” campaigns.

Murdoch news continued to push them as though they were God’s gift to determining the winner – and they didn’t.

Again, despite having run the same course many times the “Kill Bill” campaign by Newscorp and others, yet again fell flat because Australians don’t like “playing the man.” The naming of Bill Shorten as a liar every day by the PM doesn’t cut with a lot of people, and he would be well advised to stop.

The importance of reporting factually what was said, or the truth or otherwise of it, seemed to take second place to whatever controversy could be manufactured.

The media do it because they like to think they alone have the power to elect governments, forgetting that it is the public that votes them in or out.

Finding the truth and reporting it should be more important than creating a narrative where controversy matters more.

But Newscorp has started its pre-election propaganda in earnest. Not even the failure to influence will stop them.

So the average punter would be well aware of the many national issues that the country faces. The first question they might ask is:

via 30 plus reasons why you shouldn’t vote for an incumbent government who couldn’t govern a kindergarten – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Conservative Media, Media

Nine takeover of Fairfax Media welcomed by Malcolm Turnbull

Cutting the ABC and Concentration of Private MSM spells the era of Fake News is growing, Australia needs teh ABC more than ever (ODT)

“This proposed merger means it is about to get even more concentrated,” Ms Rowland said, declaring it “beyond belief” for Senator Fifield to proclaim his government supported media diversity.

“Democracy suffers if you have too few media voices, workers suffer when mergers inevitably lead to job losses and citizens, consumers and communities get less diversity, less coverage and less choice.”

via Nine takeover of Fairfax Media welcomed by Malcolm Turnbull

History

#NineFairfax deal end of an era for Australia’s media titans

Now, following last year’s changes to media control and diversity rules, Nine and Fairfax Media have “merged”. It seems more like a takeover, with 51.1 per cent of equity to be held by Nine. The CEO, Hugh Marks and chair of the board, another former Treasurer, in this case Liberal Peter Costello, will come from Nine. The new company will be known as NEC (Nine Entertainment Co.).

If shareholders and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approve the transaction, the Fairfax name will be gone from the Australian media.

Two companies, with very different histories and cultures, will be forced to work together in the never-ending search for efficencies and revenue in a brutal landscape for newspapers, magazines and television.

Frank and Kerry Packer (whose 1990s attempt to gain control of John Fairfax & Sons was stymied) are no doubt dancing a jig in heaven (or in hell), as the television company they founded is on the cusp of gaining control of the press assets they envied. Rupert Murdoch remains Australia’s last media titan.

via #NineFairfax deal end of an era for Australia’s media titans

Uncategorized

EXCLUSIVE: The curious case of Kevin Rudd, Newscorp, ABC and the contract

I believe Rudd in this instance. News Corp wants to see Sky as Fox News is in the USA, So does the IPA and the Conservatives in the LNP government. Australia is fast becoming embarassment to itself allowing all our current public institutions to become politicized by the appointment of heads as in Treasury recently. Murdoch and the IPA are the voices of Corporate lobbyists. They make mistakes at times and regret the Royal Commission into Banks but are calling to socialize the energy sector.

How obvious is this. Abbott destroyed the NBN, tried to do the same to the ABC and wants to kneecap Renewables and News Corp and the IPA have been behind this American business model and Dream all the way currently ranking us the worst in the world on Climate inaction (ODT)

In October last year, he suggested the Coalition government was deliberately hamstringing the NBN at the behest of Rupert Murdoch, who he said wanted less competition for his cable television network.

Then in November, Rudd used the Saturday Paper to call for no less than a Royal Commission into what he called the News Corporation “cancer” and its impact on democracy — in spite of the fact, as writer Karen Middleton pointed out, that the company had backed his rise.

via EXCLUSIVE: The curious case of Kevin Rudd, Newscorp, ABC and the contract

Independant reviews, Uncategorized

On Disruption: An insider’s view of the collapse of journalism

essay On Disruption lays out for the reader a useful insider’s view of how the news industry and journalism are struggling to cope with the changes wrought by digital technologies and collapsing business models.

If you have any interest in understanding how the news establishment sees itself and its prospects for surviving the crisis of profitability and trust it is worth reading this pamphlet.

via On Disruption: An insider’s view of the collapse of journalism

Trump

No Trump, Germany doesn’t Get 70% of its Energy From Putin; it gets 41% from Renewables

https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/480b133b-1ac6-4f43-ba84-3b7437a51eea.png

Trump just made the claim that Germany gets 70% of its energy from Russia (via imports of natural gas). It is being pointed out that this assertion, like most things that come out of Trump’s mouth, is completely untrue.

via No Trump, Germany doesn’t Get 70% of its Energy From Putin; it gets 41% from Renewables

Fox News

Lachlan: the unlikely winner from the Murdoch family’s latest saga

‘Fox’ will be home to Fox News, the 24-hour cable news channel, which for better or worse, (mostly worse) has had a bigger impact on the world than anything else the Murdochs have done.

Fox News has dominated conservative politics in the US for the better part of the past two decades. It’s also widly profitable.

The new Fox (which also will house the Fox Business and Fox Sports cable channels, plus the Fox free to air broadcast network in the US) is expected to spit out $US10 billion in annual revenue, and $US2.8 billion in earnings (before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation).

But almost all of those earnings, or $US2 billion of them, according to Credit Suisse, will come from Fox News.

via Lachlan: the unlikely winner from the Murdoch family’s latest saga

Universities

The Australian starts new culture war over Ramsay Centre and threatens academic independence

Image may contain: 1 person, suit and text

THE FAILURE of negotiations between the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation and the Australian National University has ignited a culture war in the opinion pages of The Australian. One that has seeped into Federal politics and now poses a threat to the independence of universities.

The Ramsay Centre was launched back in 2017 with a $3 billion bequest from healthcare-magnate and top Liberal party donor Paul Ramsay. The half lobby group, half trust is staffed by Liberal party giants John Howard and Tony Abbott, among others.

To create this pro-Western degree, the Ramsay Centre advocated the establishment of new institutions and methods in breach of academic independence. Abbott said the group will form a committee inside ANU that will make staffing and curriculum decisions. The group’s CEO, Professor Simon Haines, reportedly said they would pull their multi-million dollar donation if the degree wasn’t sufficiently pro-Western, which would include not hiring academics who have been critical of the West. The group also wanted to send representatives to sit in on courses to carry out “health checks” on the teachers and removed “academic independence” from their memorandum of understanding with the university.

via The Australian starts new culture war over Ramsay Centre and threatens academic independence

Israel, Uncategorized

Press gives Israel pretext to attack Gaza | The Electronic Intifada

Australian Press needs inclusion here as well just read Andrew Bolt’s cooentaries but even more the lack of commentary on Israel. We can imagine just how much attention kites and balloons would get at International arms shows when they are portrayed by Israel’s IDF as deadly. Israel is no doubt copying them to sell commercially. (ODT)

Journalists in Britain and Ireland often refer to the summer months as the “silly season.” Little of consequence is happening, the media apparently decide, so we can treat trivia as newsworthy.

I’m not sure if hot weather is to blame but much recent coverage of Gaza is quite silly. Perspective has been discarded as kites and balloons have been depicted as major threats.

These are “weapons that are designed to kill,” according to an Israeli military spokesperson quoted in a Financial Times feature. Fixated on these high-flying incendiary devices, the feature omitted a pertinent fact: nobody has actually been killed by them.

Silly reporting of this nature serves Israel well. An aggressive state that has committed a number of massacres this year alone is cast as a victim.

Intentionally or not, the press is offering pretexts for Israel to launch another major offensive against Gaza. Any such attack would then be presented as an act of retaliation – or even of self-defense.

While every form of Palestinian resistance gets maligned, Israel’s weapons industry is treated with the greatest imaginable respect.

Dozens of Israeli firms took part in a Paris fair earlier this month. Eurosatory – as the event is called – was jointly organized by France’s defense ministry and arms lobby.

via Press gives Israel pretext to attack Gaza | The Electronic Intifada

Food for Thought

Something is Rotten – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

There is a foul stench emanating from planet earth. The noxious smell emanates from a single destructive paradigm. That festering greed is known as capitalism. On a single planet with finite resources, the philosophy of capitalism is terminal for the planet and all who reside on it.

Something is Rotten – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Israel

Israel’s Solution to Global Condemnation of War Crimes? Punish Anyone Who Documents Them

 

“We reiterate our call to Israel’s Parliament to oppose the bill, which would constitute a serious breach of press freedom,” said the International Federation of Journalists

Israel’s Solution to Global Condemnation of War Crimes? Punish Anyone Who Documents Them

Trump, Uncategorized

After Bragging About Vanquished North Korean Threat, Trump Declares Nation’s “Biggest Enemy” Is Journalism He Doesn’t Like

“Free Press America” is Trump’s “greatest enemy” except for Fox News of course also according to Donald Trump himself. Have you heard of “fake news”? It’s been his most useful idea to date. (ODT)

After triumphantly boasting in a tweet on Friday that North Korea is “no longer a nuclear threat” following just a few hours of vague discussions, an absolutely “bonkers” video presentation, and several photo ops with Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump declared that the “biggest enemy” of the United States is now “fake news”—otherwise known as journalism Trump doesn’t like.”They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea,” Trump tweeted, apparently referring to journalists who have highlighted the fact that the “deal” reached with North Korea is thin on substance, non-binding, and just the first step in a long diplomatic process.”Our country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!” Trump added.

Source: After Bragging About Vanquished North Korean Threat, Trump Declares Nation’s “Biggest Enemy” Is Journalism He Doesn’t Like

Israel

Gaza’s health sector near collapse | The Electronic Intifada

Israel claims it kills and wounds those supported by Hamas only but is full aware what is doing to the uninvolved citizens of Gaza ensuring their Hospitals and Health systems collapse. Basically they are intentionally killing the sick elderly and children and that is  their intent when they use dum dum bullets while pleading they have no other choice (ODT)

The number of injuries resulting from Israeli attacks against unarmed protesters on the eastern boundary of the Gaza Strip nearly broke the back of an overstretched and under-resourced sector, exacerbating the pressure on health professionals and straining provision.

Medics even found themselves in the crosshairs, and two – Razan al-Najjar on 1 June and Mousa Jaber Abu Hassanein on 14 May – were killed while carrying out their duties.

The highest casualty count of the Great March of Return came on 14 May, and was followed by more protests – and more wounded – on 15 May. Both days brought with them shocking scenes at Gaza Strip hospitals.

With a huge number of wounded – more than 3,100 over those two days alone – there were no available beds and people were being treated in hallways or even at hospital entry gates.

There was an acute shortage of medicine and supplies, according to Ashraf al-Qedra, a health ministry spokesperson, who said hospitals had used 80 percent of ministry stores during those days.

“This crisis caused a huge deficit in hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Patients who seek public hospitals for treatment, cannot find the medical care they need due to hospitals overwhelmed with injuries,” al-Qedra told The Electronic Intifada.

via Gaza’s health sector near collapse | The Electronic Intifada

Israel

WATCH: What do Israelis think of the violence in Gaza? | +972 Magazine

The Citizens of Israel don’t have the ABC and it shows. The Israeli government relies on an uninformed nation. They even complain about an informed Australia and the ABC (ODT)

In the midst of the Great Return March protests in Gaza, during which Israeli snipers killed well over 100 protesters inside the besieged territory, Social TV asked regular Israelis on the street what they think of the Israeli army’s actions.

via WATCH: What do Israelis think of the violence in Gaza? | +972 Magazine

Climate Change

Peter Ridd’s sacking pushes the limit of academic freedom | Gay Alcorn | Opinion | The Guardian

‘The massive coral bleaching in recent years was no cause for concern, because coral grew back, [Ridd] claimed.’ Bleached coral on the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas, February 2017.

James Cook’s actions are premised on the belief that the University is greater than just the individuals within it and unlike Thatcherites Society does exist and it’s patterns of behaviour are there to deliver an outcome beneficial to everyone in the excercise and methodology of in this case Marine Science. Ridd demands a bigger space and the breakdown of the rules of discourse declaring in doing so that there is no such thing as a university as Thatcher did when she said there is no such thing as Society only individuals and the power they can enforce. He refuses to see James Cook as a Collective and bring down it’s traditions like a  card house. Here we have a conservative fighting for academic anarchy and being supported by the Murdochians of the media. However James Cook isn’t soapbox corner nor does it feel the need to be reduced to it. So they are assisting Ridd in his right to remove himself and find a soapbox to from which to continue his opinions (ODT)

I hate to say it because we know what this is really about. The cause of Ridd has been championed by those parts of the media and certain institutes – well, the Institute of Public Affairs – that have done all they humanly can to stop serious action in this country against climate change.
They have no interest in fair-minded coverage of the weight of scientific evidence, now overwhelming, that human action is causing global warming, and that urgent action is required globally to limit its dangerous impacts. Their interest is ideological, with an endearing lack of self-awareness in their charge that the “warmists” are the ideologues. They leap on the 3% or so of scientists who argue their colleagues have got it all wrong, and would risk everything on those odds.

So, it is not that these Ridd champions – Andrew Bolt, Terry McCrann, the Australian, which now reports as fact that Ridd is a “marine science whistle blower”– have any inherent concern about academic freedom.

via Peter Ridd’s sacking pushes the limit of academic freedom | Gay Alcorn | Opinion | The Guardian

Israel

Sacrificing Gaza: The Great March of Zionist Hypocrisy

What the Israelis have done over the past few weeks—killing at least 112and wounding over 13,000people (332 with life-threatening injuries and 27 requiring amputation)—is a historical crime that stands alongside the Sharpeville Massacre (69 killed), Bloody Sunday (14 killed), and the Birmingham Fire Hoses and Police Dog Repression as a defining moment in an ongoing struggle for justice and freedom. Like those events, this month’s slaughter may become a turning point for what John Pilger correctly calls “the longest occupation and resistance in modern times”—the continuing, unfinished subjugation of the Palestinian people, which, like apartheid and Jim Crow, requires constant armed repression and at least occasional episodes of extermination.

via Sacrificing Gaza: The Great March of Zionist Hypocrisy

Meet the Trumps

Sex Workers Go Mainstream

Stormy Daniels at Erotica Los Angeles 2009. (James Chang / Wikimedia)

Suddenly, the emphasis in the term sex workers has shifted to sex workers.

It has happened in a matter of months.

My friends on the left, and some in academia, will say, oh no, it’s been going on for a long time. It has, in certain segments. But not in the mainstream. Not in the general public. Until now.

Much of the credit has to go to Stormy Daniels

A porn actress is in a dispute with the president of the United States, and the sex worker has more credibility than Trump.

When she appears on television, she is more composed, more coherent and more contained than the petulant, pugnacious president.

His tales are ever-changing. According to him—directly, and through various spokespersons, including Hope Hicks, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Michael Cohen—he never had sex with that woman. Nonetheless, she was paid $130,000. The money came through Michael Cohen, with one of Trump’s pseudonyms on the contract.

via Sex Workers Go Mainstream

Australia's Shame

Australia’s China Syndrome – » The Australian Independent Media Network

China

“I share it with the house because I believe it to be in the national interest. My duty, first and foremost, is to the Australian people and the preservation of the ideals and democratic traditions of our Commonwealth.” The Chinese Communist Party, Hastie claimed, was “working to covertly interfere with our media, our universities and also influence our political processes and public debates”.

While such revelations are delivered with a sense of heavy moral responsibility, much of it is stretched. Trade Minister Steve Ciobo was almost dismissive in claiming that the content was hardly novel. Turnbull dumped some cold water on Hastie’s fire by claiming that “the specific allegations that were made… were not new.” But getting on the China bandwagon of condemnation is all the rage. Parliament has already sought to curb that vague and immeasurable term “influence” with legislation that muddies rather than clears the water. When the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017 was introduced, it signalled a new front in an inchoate war that, on closer inspection, merely looks like a good stab at civil liberties and an attempt to harness paranoia.

via Australia’s China Syndrome – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Israel

Australia’s Shameful Complicity With Israeli Atrocities, And The Media’s Determination To Cover It Up – New Matilda

Move along, nothing to see here… except for more than 100 unarmed protestors shot dead by Israeli snipers and thousands more injured Palestinians, including over 700 children. Michael Brull reviews Australia’s political and media response to Israel’s latest atrocity.

via Australia’s Shameful Complicity With Israeli Atrocities, And The Media’s Determination To Cover It Up – New Matilda

China

Red-tape protest: China’s tactical trade payback

The Chinese read our papers and listen to our public commentator’s opinions.  Andrew Bolt is an active and consistent News Corp China basher and the consequences aren’t just verbal coming back. Don’t forget Murdoch left or was kicked out of China where no love was lost and his style not forgotten.( ODT }

Australian business leaders said Chinese officials had been furious that China had been singled out for criticism and used as a means to score domestic political points.

One chief executive with close China ties said he had no doubt the trade difficulties being experienced by some Australian exporters was a deliberate tactical move by China.

Last year, China decided to boycott South Korea’s tourism industry due to Seoul’s installation of an American anti-missile system. Chinese tourism numbers to South Korea fell by 60 per cent in a matter of months and Korean car sales to China also plummeted.

via Red-tape protest: China’s tactical trade payback

Israel

Second Palestinian journalist dies of wounds from IDF sniper fire | +972 Magazine

Palestinian journalist Ahmed Abu Hussein is seen receiving medical treatment after being shot by an Israeli sniper during a protest on the Gaza border, April 13, 2018.

WHEN SNIPERS ARE VICTIMS OF BAD PRESS

Ahmed Abu Hussein was shot by Israeli snipers during a protest near the Gaza-Israel border two weeks ago. He was standing at a distance from the fence and was wearing a PRESS jacket.
Palestinian journalist Ahmed Abu Hussein is seen receiving medical treatment after being shot by an Israeli sniper during a protest on the Gaza border, April 13, 2018.

Palestinian journalist Ahmed Abu Hussein is seen receiving medical treatment after being shot by an Israeli sniper during a protest on the Gaza border, April 13, 2018.

Ahmed Abu Hussein, a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza who was shot by Israeli soldiers two weeks ago, died of his wounds on Wednesday at Tel Hashomer Hospital in central Israel. Abu Hussein is the second Gazan journalist to be killed by IDF snipers over the past month, and one of 40 Palestinians killed during the Great Return March protests.

via Second Palestinian journalist dies of wounds from IDF sniper fire | +972 Magazine

corporatism, Uncategorized

Fooled Again? Trump Trade Policy Elevates Corporate Power

Given the Trump administration’s all-out war on working people, a government by billionaires and for billionaires considerably more blatant in its class warfare than the ordinary White House, it has long puzzled me that some activists insist on giving it the benefit of the doubt when it comes to trade issues.

via Fooled Again? Trump Trade Policy Elevates Corporate Power

Meet the Trumps, Uncategorized

Fox News, White House Advisers and Press

Hannity Should Be Fired From Fox News For Being A Presidential Advisor

The next time you hear Donald Trump bluster and harumph about something he’s angry about, you should assume Sean Hannity is his anger translator. Trump doesn’t need speechwriters as long as he can call up Hannity and get his lines for the next day.

 

The Washington Post’s Robert Costa, Sarah Ellison and Josh Dawsey published an excellent story today, outlining just how embedded Fox News personality Sean Hannity is with Donald Trump’s White House.

China, Uncategorized

China-Australia tension as biggest trading partner gives us the cold shoulder

News Corp’s best anti- Australian work

China: The freeze in diplomatic relations between China and Australia is on, despite official denials – and business executives are clearly despondent about it.

via China-Australia tension as biggest trading partner gives us the cold shoulder

Neo conservative

How Iraq War destabilized the world and why the neocons aren’t finished yet — RT Op-ed

How Iraq War destabilized the world and why the neocons aren't finished yet

“The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in the United States as a ‘blunder,’ or even a ‘colossal mistake.’ It was a crime. Those who perpetrated it are still at large. Some of them have even been rehabilitated thanks to the horrors of Trumpism and a mostly amnesiac citizenry.”

via How Iraq War destabilized the world and why the neocons aren’t finished yet — RT Op-ed

Right Wing Christianity

Pastor Rapes Teen, Church Asks Victim To Apologize To Pastor’s Wife

To make matters worse for the young victim, officials at the Columbia Road Baptist Church blamed and shamed the girl, forbidding her entire family from attending services until she apologized to the youth pastor’s wife.

Australian Conservatives believe White Western Christian Culture is definitively Australian and should be in our Constitution. Ex President of Malaysia still believes Australian elite are Europhiles and aren’t an ASEAN nation. Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott agree as do media men like Andrew Bolt. If only 25% of Australians claim to be Christian and they consist of Indigenous, Pacific Islanders, Sudanese, Lebanese and other minorities logic dictates Conservatives are talking BS as they don’t welcome these immigrants or refugees into the country. It seems their 25% falls to much less than  18%. and if one considers their extreme factions as exceptional. These Conservatives have a voice which actually represents less than 3% of Australians. Ergo the are amouse that Murdoch allows to roar and their constituents are made up of Christians that appear as bent as radical Islamists but unfortunately have an easier pathway to guns in America and and advocate in Peter Dutton in Australia who wants our gun laws eased.( Old Dog Thought )

 

via Pastor Rapes Teen, Church Asks Victim To Apologize To Pastor’s Wife

White Privilege

Dutton, Sunrise and the invisible system of white privilege

A white woman may make public threats to run down with her car a brown Muslim woman, simply because she disagrees with her. If you are white and have a platform, you can threaten people of colour with violence, injury and death merely for speaking words you don’t like. There are no repercussions for the white woman. Had it been the other way around, there would have been serious consequences. Indeed, Abdel-Magied was horrifically abused by conservative media for many weeks because they did not like her words. Unlike MacSween, she threatened no one.

via Dutton, Sunrise and the invisible system of white privilege