The West Australian had a poll on Tuesday from Painted Dog Research that put the exact question to be featured on the ballot paper at the Indigenous voice referendum found a 60-40 of its WA-only respondent base coming down in favour, with sharp distinctions by age (71-29 in favour among 18-to-34, 63-37 in favour among 35-to-54 and 53-47 against among 55-plus) and gender (69-31 for yes among women compared with 51-49 among men). The poll was conducted over the weekend from a sample of 1052,
The only other poll news unrelated to Aston that I have to hang a new open thread off is the regular Roy Morgan result, which has Labor’s two-party lead at 57-43 from primary votes of Labor 35.5%, Coalition 32% and Greens 13%. The poll was conducted last Monday to Sunday, so may have picked up static from the New South Wales election, with an unreported sample size.
Aston – could we see the boil over Dutton deserves?
We seem to be having a substantial number of one in a thousand year floods lately…..
MABWM says:
Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 11:51 pm
Aston – could we see the boil over Dutton deserves?
We seem to be having a substantial number of one in a thousand year floods lately…..
____________
I’m hoping for the electoral equivalent of a Barnyard 1 in 3500 year flood…
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/morning-shows/barnaby-joyces-onein3500year-nsw-flood-comment-slammed-on-sunrise/news-story/5d24b6dbc275f4baf8ad67360058a732
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/30/taiwan-president-protests-us-new-york-stopover-china-central-america-trip
Yes, making threats about peaceful meetings happening is something that non threatening perfectly reasonable countries do.
I did like the gag about how ironic it is that China stooges CAN protest about Taiwan in the US.
RIP Uncle Doug 🙁
https://youtu.be/MhOe3C6cg30
Strange that men are less inclined to support the Voice compared with women. I wonder what’s going on there.
Aston will probably be like the NSW election (feels like a similar electorate to Terrigal to me). Lots of wealthy Tradies and Retirees. Labor may do well on the day but be reeled in by postals, absents and the pre poll. 🙁
Russian war crimes in Bucha remembered, one year on…
“On March 25, 2022, Russian occupying forces shot dead 69-year-old pensioner Valentyna Zen in the yard of her house in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. Her dead body lay there until the town was liberated by the Ukrainian army a few days later, on March 31. … Some neighbors saw what happened to Valentina Zen and later told her daughter how she had gone to fetch water in Sklozavodska Street, precisely where some Russian soldiers were stationed. These reportedly entered the yard later the same day and simply began shooting.”
“The situation was similar for Serhiy, whose father Oleksandr Yaremych was also killed by the Russians on March 25, 2022. He had distributed some food to Bucha residents, not far from the Russian checkpoints. He was shot dead when his house was searched, two weeks after eight of his friends had met the same fate on Yablunska Street. Serhiy said that the Russian soldiers found a cellphone on his father and after searching him, they led him into the woods and shot him.”
https://www.dw.com/en/bucha-one-year-on-slow-progress-in-war-crime-probes/a-65182829
I do wonder sometimes whether the political journos read Poll Bludger? Maybe it’s just a spooky coincidence but for the first time that I can remember, David Crowe has referred to Peter Dutton as ‘the Invisible Man’. Hmm. :}
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/as-dutton-flounders-bandt-moonlights-as-the-real-opposition-leader-20230330-p5cwmw.html
Anyway, it’s a good column and this was my reply:
‘I wonder if Peter Dutton realises that his absence from an important vote, to go speak to a shock jock, was noted this week?
I wonder if Peter Dutton realises that his MPs scarpering from the House to avoid a vote and injuring an attendant, was noted this week?
I wonder if Peter Dutton realises that his silence in Question Time, was not the smart tactical move he thought it would be, and was noted?
Because the absence of someone or something, doesn’t mean that people won’t notice.’
It’s an interesting premise from David Crowe. That Adam Bandt has become the de facto Opposition Leader because he is willing to negotiate with the PM, as opposed to Dutton, who is like the computer who just says, ‘No’.
Why De Santis is cooked. He’s just a flim flam man.
https://resolutesquare.com/articles/7uDULNHucccf0xzVhyZ6sM/desantis-is-the-great-red-wave-of-the-2024-gop-primary/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=sub_cta
‘fess,
Sounds like Scotty from Marketing. 😀
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
David Crowe reckons that, as Dutton flounders, Bandt is moonlighting as the real opposition leader.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/as-dutton-flounders-bandt-moonlights-as-the-real-opposition-leader-20230330-p5cwmw.html
Josh Butler writes that the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has given the clearest details yet of how the Indigenous voice would work as the words to alter the constitution were presented to federal parliament. He also points out that Dutton was a no show for the bill’s introduction.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/30/indigenous-voice-referendum-bill-introduced-to-standing-ovation-but-peter-dutton-fails-to-show
Australian voters have collectively risen up and overthrown practically all traces of blue from the mainland, including in five states, two territories and at the federal level, with Tasmania now the solo Lib state. It’s a significant political coup for the Australian Labor Party and a monumental rejection for the Coalition parties. It is also a proverbial finger to the Murdoch-led mainstream media obsession with all things conservative, says Michelle Pini.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/all-traces-of-liberal-blue-wiped-off-mainland,17377
The government and Coalition have struggled to reach common ground since last year’s election, but there are hopes on both sides for an agreement on RBA reform, reports Shane Wright.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/chalmers-seeks-bipartisan-approach-to-any-rba-overhaul-20230330-p5cwqr.html
There is a lot riding on the outcome of the Reserve Bank decision on rates next week. Already more than one-quarter of those with a home loan are at risk of mortgage stress, and this number will rise to almost one-third if April yields another rise, writes Elizabeth Knight who says borrower stress is reaching levels not seen since the GFC.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/borrower-stress-reaches-levels-not-seen-since-gfc-20230330-p5cwrc.html
Hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers should receive inflation-linked pay rises, the Albanese government has urged, as business warns the economy risks being plunged into recession if unions succeed in their push for a 7 per cent increase for 2.6 million workers, reports The Australian’s Ewin Hannan.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/bosses-warn-granting-actu-pay-claim-risks-recession/news-story/1015af03e12dd44f155667945a0b43e3?amp
Increasing the GST, axing negative gearing, a carbon price and land taxes? Unless we reform the system, Australia won’t be able to pay for the essentials, argues Danielle Wood. As more and more bring this up it is apparent the penny is dropping that Australia has a revenue problem.
https://www.theage.com.au/money/tax/time-for-some-big-bang-tax-reform-and-yes-that-includes-negative-gearing-20230329-p5cwfl.html
Michelle Grattan says, “We need more tax revenue, but don’t ask the major parties how we’ll get it”.
https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-we-need-more-tax-revenue-but-dont-ask-the-major-parties-how-well-get-it-202954
A tax rise on the soaring profits of gas producers looms as soon as the May federal budget, as the energy industry braces for the Albanese government to raise billions of extra dollars from the petroleum resource rent tax, says the AFR’s John Kehoe.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/labor-puts-gas-tax-rise-on-budget-agenda-20230329-p5cwbx
A climate policy that actually cuts emissions? It’s the reality that fossil fuel bosses and News Corp commentators can’t see, says Graham Readfearn.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/30/australia-finally-has-a-policy-that-will-cut-emissions-and-thats-a-cold-hard-fact
Phil Coorey writes that new data compiled by Treasury shows Australia’s banks are well in excess of their capital adequacy requirements and sufficiently regulated, leaving them well-placed to keep lending and ride out global volatility in the sector.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australian-banks-in-better-shape-now-than-before-the-gfc-chalmers-20230330-p5cwjp
The erosion of the Medicare rebate is hitting the most vulnerable Australians hardest, with new analysis revealing almost $4bn was denied to patients in rebates under years of freezes. That comes on top of decades of paltry indexation that has led healthcare subsidisation to fall behind the cost of living. Mark Butler has said “nothing is off the table” in this year’s budget but is refusing to show his hand on whether the government will move to increase rebates as pressure grows to take decisive action, with the general practice sector failing to meet patients’ needs for access to doctors and affordable healthcare.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/rebate-freezes-have-ripped-38bn-out-of-medicare/news-story/bf1ff7b6ae7ab6f5a2110984c7e9e7be?amp
Australia’s biggest polluters face a combined carbon offset bill of between $2 billion and $9 billion by 2030 under the government’s new climate policy, but major manufacturers say their lower emissions reduction target under the safeguard mechanism will spare consumers from significant flow-on costs.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/safeguard-mechanism-has-multibillion-dollar-price-tag-for-industry-20230330-p5cwmv.html
Alan Kohler argues that Australia’s emissions reduction target is not enough. He says that if delusions and lies were solar panels, we’d be safe.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/science/environment/2023/03/30/climate-change-safeguard-alan-kohler/
Adam Morton reports that Greens senator Nick McKim has urged Australia’s climate and environment movement to “collectively get its shit together” and adopt a model for bringing about rapid change that does not involve “sitting in Labor ministers’ offices having cups of tea”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/31/greens-senator-nick-mckim-blasts-climate-groups-after-divisions-over-safeguard-mechanism
Monday’s emissions pact struck by Chris Bowen and Adam Bandt has hit shares in Beetaloo Basin gas frackers Empire and Tamboran. Yet confusion reigns. Bandt says the deal has “derailed” the Beetaloo and Barossa gas projects. The frackers say it’s business as usual. Callum Foote reports.
https://michaelwest.com.au/drowning-or-waving-will-beetaloo-gas-frackers-survive-greens-labor-safeguard-deal/
The federal government watchdog has torn apart the Home Affairs Department’s defence of itself after a scathing audit report revealed serious deficiencies with a troubled $2.6 billion surveillance contract. Labor committee chair Julian Hill colourfully added the Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo’s arguments were a “classic diversionary tactic” from valid criticism of his department.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8141462/a-classic-diversionary-tactic-audit-committee-scraps-home-affairs-boss-defence/?cs=14329
The barrister investigating the conduct of authorities during the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann has expressed frustration about the difficulty his inquiry has faced obtaining important police documents. “I have to finish this inquiry by the 30th of June, and I can’t do it if I don’t know when crucial documents are coming,” board of inquiry chairman Walter Sofronoff KC said at a preliminary hearing yesterday. Hark! Is that the sound of wagons circling?
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8141916/i-cant-do-it-lehrmann-inquiry-boss-laments-trouble-obtaining-crucial-documents/?cs=14329
And Josh Gordon tells us that the Australian federal police has not handed over evidence from the investigation into the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins to an inquiry into how police handled the case. Documents published by the board of inquiry after a preliminary directions hearing yesterday reveal the AFP is yet to hand over thousands of documents to the inquiry.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/30/australian-federal-police-fails-to-hand-over-evidence-from-investigation-into-alleged-of-brittany-higgins-to-inquiry
Paul Osborne reports that the Albanese government has announced five union-linked appointments to the industrial umpire in a bid to “restore balance”. The former Coalition government made 27 permanent appointments to the Fair Work Commission – 26 coming from an employer background. As a result, there are now 29 commission members with an employer background and nine members with a worker background.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/03/30/government-appoints-five-union-figures/
Annika Smethurst reckons Dan Andrews’ secret China trip is among his most flagrant acts of arrogance.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/andrews-secret-china-trip-is-among-his-most-flagrant-acts-of-arrogance-20230330-p5cws3.html
Royce Millar tells us that the public row between the Andrews government and former IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich has sparked concern top candidates will shy away from putting their hand up to be the anti-corruption chief.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-high-powered-500-000-a-year-job-that-no-one-wants-20230328-p5cw39.html
An AEC form reveals Optus made questionable political “donations” after Gladys Berejiklian was appointed a senior executive to the foreign-owned telco last year. Anthony Klan reports.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/exclusive-optus-political-donations-made-under-berejiklian-sketchy,17374
Lucy Hamilton describes Victorian Liberal MLC Moira Deeming as the pretty face of a scary ideology.
https://theaimn.com/victorian-mlc-moira-deeming-the-pretty-face-of-a-scary-ideology/
New obesity treatments offer hope, but can we afford them, asks John Dwyer who looks at the condition.
https://johnmenadue.com/new-obesity-treatments-offer-hope-but-can-we-afford-them/
Plans are under way to develop Australia’s first ethanol biofuel refinery to produce sustainable aviation fuel under a new partnership between Qantas, Airbus and the Queensland government, reports Amelia Maguire.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/plans-are-taking-off-for-australia-s-first-green-jet-fuel-refinery-20230330-p5cwly.html
“I loved the US. Now, I wouldn’t take a Green Card if it came with a bag of cash and a date with George Clooney”, writes Kerri Sackville who says, “America, like Bill Cosby, has become a fallen hero”. A good read.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/america-like-bill-cosby-has-become-a-fallen-hero-20230329-p5cwfv.html
Israel hasn’t been a democracy for a long time. Now, Israelis need to face this fact, says Joshua Leifer.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/30/israel-hasnt-been-a-democracy-for-a-long-time-now-israelis-need-to-face-this-fact
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
Cathy Wilcox
Jim Pavlidis
Marija Ercegovac
Matt Golding
John Shakespeare
Peter Broelman
Simon Letch
Mark Knight
Leak
From the US
I see unfunny American cartoonist, Gary Varvel, is back in the Dawn Patrol. This time attempting to humiliate US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. I honestly don’t see the point of including his cartoons in the Dawn Patrol. They’re certainly not enlightening. Or humorous. Are they included for the RW Lurkers? To inform us of just how nasty a place America is? I think we already know that. And don’t need to be regularly reminded of the fact.
Thanks BK!
So, THIS is what Peter Dutton was talking to Ray Hadley about while he purposefully missed the Voice vote in parliament:
The Liberal party is the only party in parliament to not have settled its position on the voice. Dutton continued his criticisms of the voice in a 2GB interview, raising concerns it would “disrupt” the working of government.
He questioned whether it would lead to “years and years” of court challenges, or cost “billions”.
“I think they’re proper questions to be answered by the government and I think the prime minister’s playing a dangerous game here,” Dutton said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/30/indigenous-voice-referendum-bill-introduced-to-standing-ovation-but-peter-dutton-fails-to-show
😡
C@t
I attempt to show as much of the political spectrum as possible when it comes to cartoons. Hence the likes of Leak, Spooner and Varvel are often poxted.
BK @ #16 Friday, March 31st, 2023 – 6:58 am
I get that. Which is why I say nothing about the Ramirez cartoons. But sometimes plain nasty isn’t in the purview of what a cartoon should be. In my books anyway. To me it’s the equivalent of an article from Breitbart, just obvious propaganda for the lying RW. And vilification of groups and people who don’t deserve it and suffer enough already. Sort of like the equivalent of Mark Latham’s Tweet about Alex Greenwich yesterday. However, I can see the point about being aware of such things.
Cheers, BK.
#weatheronPB
Hazy filaments,
stream in a washed-out cool sky.
Pale pinks enter blue.
Leak appears to have confused the Prime Minister with the Opposition Leader. And what’s with Mark Knight? Is saying that Aunty Joy bullied Obama? Both are pathetic excuses for cartoonists. They’re even pathetic as propagandists. I wouldn’t pay them if I was a right-winger wanting someone to put out propaganda.
Peter Dutton is hiding now , just wait and see if the voice gets up and if there is any referrals to the nacc , there will be a need for a search party to find Peter Dutton
Thanks BK
Everything about Dutton’s actions in relation to The Voice say No but he’s too much of a coward to say so publicly because he knows again that his view is out of touch with the majority of voters.
Good morning, all.
Thank you, BK.
From last night:
‘Barney in Cherating says:
Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 10:32 pm
Any half competent Government would be unlikely to come into conflict with the Voice.
By engaging with them constructively during the policy and legislative development phase would minimse any likelihood of this.’
————————————-
I imagine that the Voice will, if it works as it ought, cause a great deal of discomfort to any government of the day.
The Voice will channel a huge amount of frustration and anger that is currently dissipated into silence.
Governments of all stripes will run into difficulties but for different reasons. Left governments will face cognitive dissonance as well as internal difficulties because their members will expect more to be done in the face of the words of the Voice.
Right wing governments will face difficulties because their default setting is assimilation, small government and with a side of racists.
Impotent but pure minor parties of the far right and the far left will use the Voice as a fulcrum for giving the majors a public pizzling at any and every opportunity.
Talking of cartoons, what is the point of the Marija Ercegovac one?
I noticed Bridget Archer again went missing
She abstained from voting in the safeguard mechanism legislation
It has been another excellent week for the Albanese Labor Government.
Inflation down.
Real climate action enacted.
National Reconstruction fund enacted.
Greens climb down on new coal and gas mines.
Voice legislation introduced.
Of course Blocker is Blocking the $10 billion housing fund. (This housing funding is on top of all the other Commonwealth transfers to the states that address housing issues). Blocker is blocking 4,000 houses that will be earmarked for victims of domestic violence. I imagine that Blocker is warm and comfy in his inner city pad.)
Meanwhile LOTO Skulker is busy trying to help Thorpe and Price sink the Voice with his backdoor antics on 2GB.
McKim is, IMO, rather demonstrating a symptom rather than seeking a fix, as he thinks he is doing.
As often noted, the reds are in charge of the Greens. One of the consequences is that the Greens seem to have lost touch with the environment other than when they can be used for campaigning. No new coal or gas. Windmills? NIMBY! Koalas? Extinction!
One of the consequences is that the Greens seem to have lost conceptual awareness of environment issues. They are ardent supporters of a Big Australia, population-wise while resolutely avoiding the question where, and in which endangered species distributions the additional million people over the next seven years will live.
Politically, one of the consequences is that genuine environmentalists are leaving the Greens. The single biggest hit this fortnight was the ACF parting company from the Greens’ on climate policy
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/31/greens-senator-nick-mckim-blasts-climate-groups-after-divisions-over-safeguard-mechanism
Morning all. Thanks for the roundup BK. Calling Dutton the invisible man is accurate but too kind. Dutton is a coward, wanting to oppose the voice, but lacking the courage to show up in parliament and argue the case. Why? Because he has no case, just blind obstructionism.
Dutton’s form over recent weeks shows it is steady as she sinks for the LNP. There is no difference in values or policy between the Dutton and Morrison factions. It is nothing more than a conflict between two far right religious factions over who has control of a party.
By contrast Albo has had (another) great week in parliament. Tabling the Voice wording is an achievement. So is getting the Safeguard deal done and voted into law. I put aside any other policy disagreements to compliment the Greens and Teals on both. Those inner city seats aren’t returning to Blue any time soon.
“We made a deal but I just want everyone to know its a terrible deal and its everyone else’s fault there is a deal and if it goes wrong its nothing to do with me and I really wish we were still impotent and pure.”
How very on-brand for the Greens.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/31/greens-senator-nick-mckim-blasts-climate-groups-after-divisions-over-safeguard-mechanism
Cronus, Boerwar
Snap. We are in close agreement on Dutton.
He is as cowardly as those MPs who ran for the doors and pushed the female staffer out of the way. Only he is worse: to avoid a repeat of that disgrace, he avoided showing up entirely.
I don’t know if Labor will win Aston, but anything less than the average 5% anti- government swing in bi-elections will be a failing on his part.
I wonder if those opposing the voice have a different version of Dorothy’s poem !
” I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror-
No brown land for me!”
by Duttothy MacDickson
‘McKim said “the unions back in Labor, big business backs in the Liberals, but significant parts of the environment movement don’t back in the Greens”.’
Not all unions back Labor. Not all big business backs the Liberals. But all parts of the environment movement have to back the Greens, apparently.
The whole article reeks of ‘my way or the highway’.
Whilst I support the Greens policy objectives, I really wish they would face reality more. The 43% target isn’t just a case of the perfect being the enemy of the good. The impossible is also the enemy of the possible.
When you look at how long it will take to make up for the decade of Liberal climate corruption, some targets are impossible.
For example, major grid upgrades are needed to get domestic power to net zero. Palaszczuk just put out a well developed plan to modify the QLD grid to support net zero GHG power that will also power Gladstone smelters etc. Yet that new grid will take ten years to build. Zero emissions before then is impossible.
Likewise with transport. At one million new light vehicles per year, it will take 20 years to replace our 20 million car fleet with EVs. Note this is twice as long as it takes to upgrade the grid, highlighting that the grid is not the constraint. In fact extra revenue from powering EVs will incentivise grid upgrades and renewable power generation.
All that means we should work towards net zero by 2050. Net zero by 2035 for Australia is a delusion.
”
C@tmommasays:
Friday, March 31, 2023 at 6:26 am
It’s an interesting premise from David Crowe. That Adam Bandt has become the de facto Opposition Leader because he is willing to negotiate with the PM, as opposed to Dutton, who is like the computer who just says, ‘No’.
”
C@tmomma
Dutton is following Abbott strategy by saying ‘No’ to everythingALP does because he saw it worked for Abbott.
Although Abbott was toxic at that time he was not as toxic as Dutton is now. Why? 3 things
1. Abbott was a middle level minister in Howard government whereas Dutton is a Senior minister in Abbott -Turnbull-Morrison LNP government (s), whether as Health Minister, Immigration minister, Home Affairs minister or Defence Minister and whatever he handled stunk and based on rabble rousing. Abbott was not in spot light like Dutton when it came to toxicity.
2. When Abbott was LOTO the Murdoch was fully behind him and other MSM was not against Abbott. Also, RGR government was in turmoil which suited Abbott and media in supporting Abbott. At that time media reputation is not trashed as it is now.
Whereas MSM reputation is trashed now due to their behaviour during 9 LNP years in government but also Albanese government is stable and competent and Dutton is much more toxic now.
3. RWNJ were on some sort of leash during Howard years because Howard was fulfilling most of their wishes.
But RWNJ are unleashed now and LNP is openly aligning with them which people can see. They see that Dutton is not condemning them.
For example, Dutton did not condemn Mark Latham till now regarding his homophobic tweet. It should be an easy thing because even Hanson condemned Latham.
While we’re talking about cartoons, I’ve got about a 50% recognition rate of the characters in the Shakespeare ones. Not a criticism of their inclusion, just an observation.
P.S. Today’s Leak is a glorious combination of Joe Goebbels & psychological projection.
YEAH! Donald is indicted by New York Prosecutor regarding Stormy Daniels issue.
I want to shout the above from roof tops
From the Herald Sun – Bridget MacKenzie of course.
A Nationals senator has blasted the Andrews government’s “incompetence” ahead of a new inquiry into how much taxpayers will be slugged for the regional Victorian event.
Does anyone other than the Murdoch press still pay them any attention?
McKim has completely lost the plot. Has anyone got him on record referring to Scotty and the Coalition in the terms used to abuse the party his party still needs to negotiate with to get any part of what they want?
And the insistence that all environmentalists must mindlessly support the Greens (FWIW, neither big business nor even the unions are as solidly supportive of the Libs and Labor respectively as he makes out) is just eye roll worthy.
Bandt ought to chastise him, not that the guy who couldn’t even stand up to Thorpe on her way out of the party could do that.
Scott @ #24 Friday, March 31st, 2023 – 8:07 am
It’s probably all her leader would let her get away with.
Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a grand jury empaneled by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office — the first time a former president has been criminally charged in the history of the United States.
The indictment is under seal, and the exact charges are unknown. However, they stem from a $130,000 illegal hush payment Trump is accused of facilitating through his former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels, to cover up an affair the two of them had during the 2016 presidential election.
The indictment of Trump comes after a long on-again, off-again investigation by New York prosecutors. Bragg originally declined to press charges against Trump as part of an investigation of his business practices, a move that generated controversy and led to criticism from former prosecutors in the office.
This is not the only criminal investigation of the former president. In Georgia, Fulton County DA Fani Willis is investigating him as part of her probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia — including the effort to seat fake Trump electors and the former president’s phone call with Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger demanding he “find” extra votes to win the state for him.
Meanwhile, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump on two different fronts: his role in the incitement of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his efforts to confiscate and improperly stash highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida. Either of those could result in federal charges.
laughtong @ #37 Friday, March 31st, 2023 – 8:44 am
No mention of how the former NSW Coalition government spent pork barreling the NSW Regions, of course. 🙄
Ven,
Yes, the Coalition under Dutton are so unimaginative that I have already labelled them, Tony Abbott 2.0
Even Michelle Grattan is bored almost to death by their Question Time behaviour:
https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-we-need-more-tax-revenue-but-dont-ask-the-major-parties-how-well-get-it-202954
Ven
“ YEAH! Donald is indicted by New York Prosecutor regarding Stormy Daniels issue.
I want to shout the above from roof tops”
Sweet. Thanks for the excellent news. Not before time.
That Mark Knight cartoon is appalling. Johannes Leak level.
I also have no idea what the Shakespeare one is about.
https://youtu.be/0ak-7jayMg4
Arky @ Friday, March 31, 2023 at 8:44 am
Call me cynical, but I see it differently. The Greens is a traditionally a party of protest. By being pragmatic, they alienate part of their base. I happen to think that Bandt would be in favour of McKim’s speech.
How long before the booking photo of Trump gets leaked? 🙂
C@tmomma
There is another difference between Abbott and Dutton.
I shudder whenever I see Dutton whereas that never happened with Abbott.
Whereasas I felt Abbott can be defeated in an election but when it comes to Dutton I am scared ( maybe just a Paranoia) whether we will have elections to defeat him
Griff @ #46 Friday, March 31st, 2023 – 8:55 am
6 of one, half a dozen of the other. 🙂
Ven @ Friday, March 31, 2023 at 8:56 am
I prefer to see the knife coming. Morrison was the one that scared me.
Ven @ #48 Friday, March 31st, 2023 – 8:56 am
Definitely, Ven. I concur. I just remember back to Dutton’s last, failed attempt to try and control via the courts what anyone could say about him on social media. PB would go down in flames! 😆