The link is tightening between America’s move toward theocracy and its slide toward autocracy.
Source: The Republican Party: God, Guns, Forced Birth, and Strongmen | The Smirking Chimp
Tag: Warning
WEAR MASKS AUSTRALIA
Australia’s COVID rules wound back – despite surging cases “The findings reinforce the need to provide adequate resources and support for ICUs, particularly during times of unusually high demand,” Dr Begum said. There were almost 50,000 COVID-19 cases and 82 deaths across Australia over the weekend. There are about 227,000 active cases nationwide, the highest mark since June 7. There are also over 3100 patients in hospital care, the most in five weeks
The message for the new government is clear: keep giving big business what it wants – weak merger and competition laws, plus prohibitions on union activity – and the economy will continue performing poorly. Profits will keep growing while household income shrinks.
Source: Why Albanese needs to protect capitalism from the capitalists
Advertisers and Funders BEWARE
As Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin wages a brutal war against Ukraine and its people, the Kremlin has made a point to single out Fox News for praise. Russian state media and government accounts have promoted commentary from the network and its personalities; a leaked memo even instructed such outlets that it was “essential” to feature programming by Fox host Tucker Carlson.
Source: Fox News is Kremlin approved | Media Matters for America
The United States presents itself as the beacon of democracy in contrast to the autocracies of China and Russia. Yet American democracy is in danger of succumbing to the same sort of oligarchic economics and racist nationalism that thrive in both these powers.
lmagine if those in the anti war community, or those advocating “Black Lives Matter” even attempted such an action at the Capitol Building. There likely would have been a mass slaughter. Government forces would have opened fire like never before. lmagine the outrage by those very Republican officials, the ones who were cheering the insurrection last 6 January, if the shoe was on the other foot.
Washington: Hospitalisations of US children under five with COVID-19 soared in recent weeks to their highest level since the pandemic began, according to government data released Friday on the only age group not yet eligible for the vaccine. The worrisome trend in children too young to be vaccinated underscores the need for older kids and adults to get their shots to help protect those around them, said Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Source: US COVID: Hospitalisations of kids too young for vaccines soar
Warning from the field “look straight at it”
We also need stories that show humanity responding rationally to the crisis. A lack of technology isn’t what’s blocking action. Instead, humanity needs to confront the fossil fuel industry head on, accept that we need to consume less energy, and switch into full-on emergency mode. The sense of solidarity and relief we’d feel once this happens – if it happens – would be gamechanging for our species. More and better facts will not catalyze this sociocultural tipping point, but more and better stories might.
Good luck to Mr Biden. Let us hope that he will sacrifice popularity for peace and that he will bear in mind the words of his illustrious predecessor President Eisenhower, sixty years ago, that “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Indeed it has risen. But the world would benefit enormously if Joe Biden terminated its ascent by coming to terms with China and Russia. The problem for the world is that the military-industrial complex will continue to profit if confrontation continues.
Source: The Military-Industrial Complex Needs Perpetual Confrontation | The Smirking Chimp
Morrison’s Plan is Gaslighting Australia Singapore is the Canary in in the coalmine not the answer 80% will continue to produce a strain on our Public Health system.
Dr Leong said 80 per cent was “not good enough because it can still burden the hospital system very significantly and there will be too many excess deaths”. “The numbers are mind-boggling, given what’s possible over the next few weeks,” he said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison set a vaccination target as part of his four-step opening plan for Australia, with phase C triggered when double vaccination reached 80 per cent.
Source: Singapore reaches 80 pc double-vaccination rate but life is not returning to normal – ABC News
As denialism becomes a growing problem around the world, one only needs to consider the Afghanistan situation as a potential warning for our future, writes Robert Niven. THE PRECIPITOUS COLLAPSE in Afghanistan compels all of us in the West to contemplate Athena, the Greek goddess of war, also the goddess of wisdom in science and the arts.
This IPCC report brings together the most comprehensive expert evidence from across the world, with 234 top scientists from 60 countries drawing on over 14,000 climate papers. The case for more ambitious action could not be more urgent – or more clear.”
Adherents of the bizarre conspiracy theory may target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement’s false prophecies don’t come true.
Source: US Intel Warns Of More Violence From QAnon Followers | HuffPost
Australia’s electricity market is unsustainable. Texas shows us why. A week ago Texas experienced a bout of severe weather as arctic air reached deep into the state, driving temperature down to levels that had not been experienced for 30 years. The full human toll is yet to be counted, but 20 deaths have so far been associated with motor accidents, from fires lit for warmth and from carbon-monoxide poisoning after residents used their cars to try to warm their homes. At the peak, 4.5 million people were without power in many cases for extended periods. The Texas Poison Centre received 450 calls about carbon monoxide poisoning.
Texas was a warning. Australia needs to rethink the design of its electricity market
If Trump wins, expect to see dangerously unqualified ideologues in charge of the FBI, CIA, Pentagon and other key posts. There will be kangaroo court trials of Clinton, Obama, Biden and anyone else on the Fox News target list. There will be more comprehensive purges across government of career civil servants in favor of culture war inquisitors. The intelligence and immigration services will likely be converted into a secret police persecuting liberals and protesters (even more than they have been historically), and Trump will do all he can to use the full might of the military against civilian opposition.It is an unthinkable nightmare from which it would take generations to awaken–and America has just nine days left to stop it.
Trump Plans A Series of Saturday Night Massacres If He Wins | Washington Monthly
Warning of the very real chance of a “nightmare scenario” in which President Donald Trump misleads the American people over the results of the November election—or refuses to leave office voluntarily if voted out—Sen. Bernie Sanders is raising the alarm and mobilizing his army of supporters to be aware of just how dangerous a game the president is now playing.
‘Nightmare Scenario’: Sanders Warns Nation That Trump Is Laying Groundwork for Election Result Mayhem | Common Dreams News
As tyrants take control of democracies, they typically do these 15 things
Source: Robert Reich: 15 warning signs of impending Trump tyranny – Salon.com
French journalist Nicolas Hénin, who was held by Mohammed Emwazi, begs international community not to bomb Islamic State
Source: Former Isis hostage says airstrikes on Syria are a trap | World news | The Guardian
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