wef

The World Economic Forum, the exclusive talk shop that meets yearly in Davos, is at it again, this time looking to drive a wedge between the races. This begs the question: Why are capitalists so gung-ho about ‘Marxist’ ideology?

Once upon a time, in some mythical ‘golden age’, the only thing common folk had to fear whenever the robber barons met for a weekend of cocktails at some remote resort was that a further deterioration of living standards would quickly ensue. Those happily predictable days are over.

win...

Rules-based order? What the F**k is Blinken talking about? The US makes its own rules.

Sometimes the hypocrisy of the US government, especially when it comes to foreign affairs, is just too much to let pass.

The latest example of this is the Ukraine crisis, where the US pretty much stands all alone (unless you count Britain’s embattled and embarrassed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who parrots US policy like a trained bird), accusing Russia not just of preparing for an “imminent invasion’ of Ukraine, but of violating international law and “rules-based international order,” as Secretary of State Antony Blinken likes to put it.

reagan

The deal was that NATO would not go East...

But the US media, especially in Europe are rewritting history:

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Some myths go back millennia.

This myth, if it is one, goes back to 1990 -- and just over three decades later, it continues to form a central grievance in Russian President Vladimir Putin's testy narrative about Moscow's ties with the West.

It's the question of NATO expansion -- an unhealed scab that, with Russian-Western relations at their lowest ebb since the Cold War, has been picked off yet again and is now bleeding into public view.

ratings

Apparently, the Channel 9 sixty minutes special on Scott Morrison as a very ordinary family guy did not rate very well. It was beaten in the ratings by a repeat(?) of Vera on ABC/TV. TV execs pour over this data, which means nothing much to ordinary mortals, with a fine toothcomb for advertising moneys allocation. Despite saturation press and advertising to make you salivate at the prospect of seeing sausages being burnt, the sauce was stale. 

Not only Scott Morrison is a very very very ordinary family guy, he is a dangerous politician as well. 

Jenny, Scott and the kids didn't rate as well as Nine would have hoped, beaten by a world-weary British cop and some very cute dogs.

sink

It looked for all the world like a “kitchen sink” strategy to throw everything at Albanese to see what might stick – and a calculated response as the Prime Minister’s standing and character has declined (according to published polls) over a sustained period of time.

The free-ranging assessments of Albanese are also an attempt to define the small-target Opposition Leader in the minds of voters.

In appearing alongside his wife, Morrison’s media minders will be hoping this is the interview that begins to smooth the Prime Minister’s sharp edges and flaws – which have been on full display over the past few months – and humanise him ahead of a budget in March that will springboard into a poll expected in May.

bugs

Raised by Wolves centers on "two androids, Father and Mother, tasked with raising human children on Kepler-22b after the Earth was destroyed by a great war. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task."[7]

Is this biblical?

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pope 

Rod Dreher hollifully panics with beatitude...

That’s okay… Here he goes:

As important as it generally is to vote conservative, we are not going to vote ourselves out of this crisis. The core of it is cultural. Do you see American conservatives producing a vital culture today?

sov

As the last of the skeleton staff abandoned Australia’s embassy in the Ukraine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned the border standoff with Russia is reaching boiling point.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the government has directed the departure of embassy staff to a temporary office in Lviv with the build-up of Russian troops on the border.

“The situation is deteriorating and is reaching a very dangerous stage,” Mr Morrison said on Sunday.

“I want to send a very clear message on behalf of Australia … that the autocratic, unilateral actions of Russia, to be threatening and bullying Ukraine, is something that is completely and utterly unacceptable.”

higgs

In philosophy we often travel with circular arguments at the start of which we have to make assumptions. The elasticity of these arguments make for the ebbs and flows of the questions that plague human nature and our busy-ness. We’re curious. But we don’t like not knowing. If we have no way of knowing, we invent a story, a reason, a purpose, a decree, a religious system. Science is a work in progress, and as explained in the attached comment, is an honourably self-correcting endeavour. 

dumb...

Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline takes diplomatic center stage as tensions continue to mount over Ukraine. RT’s Ben Swann explains why the US isn’t too keen on the project’s completion. Wirtschaft Aktuell publisher Dr. Eike Hamer discusses how Germany is caught in the crossfire and is weighing alternative energy suppliers in case Russia decides to turn off the spigot.

koalas

The Australian Koala Foundation has called for a koala protection act and legislative action to curb land clearing.

It warns koalas are also in danger in Victoria and South Australia.

“This change in status, unfortunately, is nothing but a token gesture that results in no legislative change to save the koala,” foundation chair Deborah Tabart said.

“Behind all the photo opportunities and political rhetoric they (the federal government) continue to approve the destruction of koala habitat.”

Ms Ley pointed to chlamydia vaccines for koalas, the use of drones to surveil populations and habitat restoration as ways governments were working to protect the marsupial.

rot

Sometimes it is hard to keep up, so let's just quickly recap the political week.

It started with revelations that the Deputy Prime Minister thought the Prime Minister was a "hypocrite", "a liar" and that he had "never trusted him".

jenny

ScoMo is very nice

Like a rat poison called Morrison

To a packet of mice

After some French saucisson.

Howard had his Janet

Jenny is Scomo's biggest asset,

Because he’s got a tin ear

She’ll convince us he can hear.

Now the Jenny godly-goody charm

On the sixty-minutes offensive,

Will require some haemorrhoid balm

For us to stay on the defensive.

Hazel was steely,

Julia was ballsy,

Loony Abbott had Margie

Turnbull had Lucy,

ScoMo has lucky Jenny.

ScoMo does not lie

But tells massive porkies,

wages

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s recent declaration – that wage-restrained workers need simply participate in the so-called “Great Reshuffle” to find better-paid jobs – underscores just how disconnected the federal government is from the harsh realities facing many Australian workers.

ukulele

What does Scott Morrison stand for? He would say he stands for freedom of religion. But this week he proved incapable of delivering a legal protection for it.

He would say he stands for the protection of school kids from discrimination. But this week he showed he was prepared to allow transgender kids to suffer discrimination.

He would say he stands for a united government. But this week the government suffered a mutiny when five Liberal MPs crossed the floor of the House of Representatives to vote with Labor and the crossbench.