gambling

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has had the gambling industry in his sights for more than a decade. But then, the industry has also had its sights set on him.

The former soldier-turned-spy — who first came head-to-head with the government in 2003 when he blew the whistle on the flawed intelligence case for the Iraq War — is no stranger to conflict. But, he admits, when he took on the gambling industry in 2010, he wasn't prepared for the bloodbath that followed.

"I underestimated the power of the poker machine lobby," Wilkie says.

"At the end of the day, even at the highest level, [Australia's major parties] were running a protection racket for the gambling industry."

desperate fascist

We have protested against the Vietnam war. We have protested against nuclear ships armed with nuclear weapons entering Sydney Harbour. We have protested against the imprisonment of Julian Assange. We have protested against fascism, walked for freedom, and against Rupert Murdoch trying to destroy the Rabbitohs. We have protested against police brutality and imprisonment of Aboriginal people that have led to deaths in custody. We have protested against gas-fracking that destroys farmlands and pollutes waterways… We have protested against racism, against misogyny and we have marched with the Aboriginal elders to commemorate the Aboriginal soldiers who gave their lives in the stupid whitey World Wars.

true

The Prime Minister has been forced to backtrack after telling Parliament that Labor leader Anthony Albanese was "fully aware" he was headed to Hawaii during the catastrophic bushfires in late 2019. 

matt

Matt Canavan is a National Party senator from Queensland and such an outspoken voice for conservatism in Australia, he is even frequently at odds with the Morrison government.

Fitz: Who’s your political hero?

MC: Winston Churchill because he so effectively stood up for what he believes in and also his malleability: I suppose he was in every party basically for 50 years and was successful in them all.

Fitz: Okay, but when you vaunt Churchill’s malleability that makes it sound like you’re not totally wedded for the next 30 years to the Nats?

MC: I think I’ve used up my metamorphoses in that regard. I was a communist at uni, then I joined the Liberals, and then when I went to work for Barnaby Joyce, I got to know the National Party and really liked their outlook.

covid

The NSW government imposed harsh lockdown restrictions on the poorest areas of Sydney’s west and south-west despite Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant advising that the rules should be implemented consistently across Greater Sydney.

Emails sent between health officials and Health Minister Brad Hazzard in mid-August have revealed Dr Chant recommended that “consistent measures” be implemented across all of Sydney.

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/kerry-chant-urged-consistent-lockdown-restrictions-across-all-of-sydney-emails-reveal-20211121-p59aq4.html

Meanwhile in Germany:

flag

Gus: The French would read AUSJAPINDUKUS with a sarcasm beyond a Voltairian laugther tells me my friend, Jules Letambour. The sounds as you say them aloud ARE RUDE.

Expanded US co-operation with its partners is causing China “heartburn,” the White House Indo-Pacific coordinator says.

Kurt Campbell said the Quad group — made up of the United States, India, Japan and Australia — aimed to expand co-operation and that Japan had agreed to host a meeting of the group in 2022.

Speaking to the US Institute of Peace think tank, Mr Campbell also said the so-called AUKUS pact, under which the United States and United Kingdom have agreed to help Australia acquire nuclear submarines, was one of “open architecture” that he expected other countries, in Asian and Europe, would participate with over time.

garlic

Beyond its efforts to frustrate action at the Glasgow climate summit, Australia has been using international forums to ensure there will still be foreign funding for fossil fuel projects.

Australia’s climate change interference

By Mike Seccombe.

Call it by its proper name: methane. It is the stuff that fuels our gas stoves and much else, often under the non-threatening euphemism natural gas, although it is no more or less natural than coal and it is a far bigger threat to the world’s climate than we long appreciated.

There is now two-and-a-half times as much methane in the Earth’s air as there was in pre-industrial times, and while it has a far shorter life in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, over 20 years its global warming potential is 86 times greater.

flying

As the world pivots to reduce its carbon output, responsible travel becomes the biggest reckoning for the tourism industry. For us as individuals, isn’t our sustainable contribution just to stop flying? Surely, we have to sacrifice our sojourns on exotic palm-fringed beaches in favour of a bit of wild camping closer to home? No? Well, not necessarily. Can tourism be a force for positive environmental change? Yes! And when done right, it’s vital, says Rebecca Cox. 

liar

As Alan Kohler, a respected economist, tells us we must not let Scott Morrison get away with do-nothing climate plan. We support this statement, and the only way to do this is to boot ScoMo out of political existence. Anything less, and this pest, Scomoturdus oftheshireeii, will come back to further white-ant this great country’s reputation. 

As demonstrated by his own behaviour on the international and national stage, Scott Morrison, the politican, is a liar, a fudger, a prevaricator, an annoying righteous sexist bigot, a deceitful idiot, amongst his best qualities. And we have not mentioned blind trusts, sports rorts and a single car-park...

scomology...

Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews has unloaded on the Prime Minister, accusing him of "chasing the votes of extremists" after his comments about the Melbourne protests. 

flush 

Meanwhile, in yesterday's Daily Poopograph, Andrew Bold had a go at Rudd and Turnbull United for trying to bring the Murdoch media down to earth. The rant starts with the heading and the sub-head:

"Hatred most foul — Turnbulls and Rudds engage in falsehoods in the name of pitiful revenge”

Bolt begins and finishes his piece with: "There is a Chinese proverb : Let those who seek revenge dig two graves…”

warren...

Oh please, please… Warren, your cartoon yesterday in the Daily Telegraph is loaded with right-wing mischief, so I had to rectify it to bring a bit of middle-ground sense into it.  First your "head of whoever it is", possibly the Labor leader, does not look anything like Albo. I am sure you can do a better caricature of him if you tried.

Second, we all know that the Obeids are in the clink, not for being “Labor", but for being liberal capitalists that have infested the Labor party for a while. ICAC did its duty. And pay attention as to why the Gladys saga is in front of ICAC…

dawkins...

As you might have already known, the year 2009 is also the "Darwin Year." It is the bicentennial of the birthday of the great British naturalist, and sesquicentennial of publication of his famous book "The Origin of Species." Hence we hear a lot these days about evolution, its history and, most important of all, its meaning.

By Mustafa Akyol

mcc3

Is Murdoch’s Terry Mccrann really that dumb? He clearly wants us to believe he is. Not only he does not seem to understand the difference between a Senate committee and "the parliament” which enacts legislation, far less "the government” he aggressively broadcast his embarrassing ignorance to the nation at large.

The Mccrann article in today’s Daily Telegraph (and The Australian) is an awful rant — and there is really no other word for it, as it lacks all reason, fact, logic, or just even the most basic of knowledge — while promoting the stupid Senate Inquiry launched into a very narrow aspect of the ABC. Mccrann’s spew was a cocktail of hysteria and stupidity.