Two new items of opinion polling:
• RedBridge Group has a poll of voting intention from Western Australia, encompassing both a federal result and a state one you can read about in the post immediately above. Both are encouraging for Labor, the federal result crediting them with a 55.2-44.8 lead, effectively unchanged on a 2022 election result of 55.0-45.0. The primary votes are Labor 39% (36.8% at the election), Coalition 37% (34.8%), Greens 12% (12.5%) and One Nation 5% (4.0%). Field work dates are not provided, but the sample was 1200.
• Roy Morgan has an SMS poll on politicians’ trustworthiness, and while only scarce detail is offered, we are told three out of twenty-four had net positive results: Penny Wong, Jacinta Price and Jim Chalmers. Anthony Albanese recorded minus three, while Peter Dutton was on minus fourteen. The poll was conducted November 16 to 20 from a sample of 1095.
Preselection latest:
• Varun Ghosh, a Right-aligned barrister at Francis Burt Chambers, has been confirmed as Labor’s successor to the Western Australian Senate vacancy that will be created next month by the retirement of Pat Dodson.
• Steph Hodgins-May, former senior campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, won a Greens preselection vote to fill the Victorian Senate vacancy that will be created when Janet Rice retires in the second half of next year. Hodgins-May ran three times in the inner Melbourne seat of Macnamara, where she came very close to unseating Labor’s Josh Burns in 2022. Broede Carmody of The Age reports the other candidates were “City of Monash councillor Josh Fergeus, former Melbourne lord mayoral candidate Apsara Sabaratnam, former Legislative Council MP Huong Truong, Coburg-based surrogacy lawyer Sarah Jefford and barrister David Risstrom”.
• Nola Marino, who has held the seat of Forrest for the Liberals in Western Australia’s South West region since 2007, announced last week that she will retire at the next election. The West Australian reports former Senator Ben Small is “believed to have the inside track” to succeed her as Liberal candidate. Small is a former logistics manager at Woodside Energy and owner of a Bunbury bar and restaurant. He came to the Senate when he filled Mathias Cormann’s vacancy in November 2020 and failed to win re-election from third on the ticket in 2022.
• Katina Curtis of The West Australian reports Ian Goodenough, the Liberal member for Moore, may face a second preselection challenger in Matt Moran, an Afghanistan veteran, former journalist and former staffer to Malcolm Turnbull and Christopher Pyne. Moran now works in government relations for shipbuilder Luerssen. It has long been anticipated Goodenough will be challenged by RSLWA chief executive Vince Connelly, who held the seat of Stirling before its abolition in 2022 and then run unsuccessfully in Cowan after losing a preselection ballot against Goodenough by 39 votes to 36.
• Paul Sakkal of The Age reports Susan Morris, who runs a vascular surgery practice in Kew, will run for Liberal preselection in Kooyong. She is the second nominee after Amelia Hamer, director of strategy at tech start-up Airwallex.
Jon Cooper reposted CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism
MAJOR BREAKING: Highly confidential information relating to Russia went MISSING under Trump.
A binder containing highly classified information contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents is MISSING.
Why is this a big deal?
The documents included sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, per CNN.
The missing documents raise alarms among intelligence officials who fear the U.S’s closely guarded national security secrets have been exposed.
Who knew that the Morrison government were a bunch of charlatans who used Orwellian language and pea and thimble tricks, dodgy legislation, pork barreling, shoveling taxpayers’ money to mates, and a clown PM doing bread and circus acts in order to distract to disguise their craven venality?
Oh, and memefying, such as we saw @ 1.05am from Irene on the previous thread, who seems to be working out of the Anti Labor stenographer pool at Whitestone Strategies for the Liberal Party. And whose meme theme is that Labor bogeyman, Bill Shorten is on the prowl again.
If you look closely at what she has presented as a bunch of Alternative Facts about Bill Shorten, in 2011 apparently he was pitching to be Prime Minister, not to the Australian people, because Labor were already in power, there was no election on the horizon, and Julia Gillard and Anthony Albanese were #1 and 2.
So I clicked on the Crikey link that Irene put up to prove her bona fides and provide evidence for her claims about Bill Shorten, and all it did was take me to the Crikey home page. Same with the ABC ‘link’. Plus a reference to a couple of headlines, with no other context, from 2011. But they create an impression.
And serve as a launching pad for an excoriating final paragraph that condemns the current Labor government in no uncertain terms and by spewing a shedload of garbage about them such as: (Labor)Who can’t find the money for cost of living support, or more than one large water bombing aircraft as more widely spread fires increase, global warming only given token support, housing is at the back of the queue as is violence against women and children, when Labor have done more about these issues, and gotten it through parliament despite staunch opposition from an Opposition determined to live up to their name and who, in government, did none of it, in fact, did the opposite.
Yet, according to Irene the stenographer from Whitestone Strategies on behalf of the Liberal Party:
Labor is obsessed with supporting the US military- financially as well as with personnel. And seen as aggressive towards our major trading partner, China, without which our finances would be dire.
Can’t blame the LNP, it is a Labor government now.
Labor, who’ve done more to repair the Trading relationship with China, and repair the Budget, than any other recent government, but because we also are concerned about the sovereignty of nations we should not work with America, because that would lead to our finances becoming ‘dire’? But down the memory hole any feelings about the previous Coalition governments should go, because of that old chestnut, ‘Labor are in government now’.
Pull the other one, Irene, it plays ‘Jingle Bells’! Maybe this stuff works on WeChat but it’s not going to work on PB.
A credible report out of India suggested that the all-powerful BCCI and its secretary Jay Shah are deep into discussions of an expanded Indian Premier League, to be played in the September and October window, and potentially held in another format such as T10 or The Hundred. The proposed competition may add to the list of franchises based in India, bringing new life to the long-threatened prospect of the BCCI and IPL owners carving out ever more space in the calendar and dominating cricket’s finances as a result. According to the report, the new tournament may be ready to launch as soon as September and October 2024: a major annual cricket event in India in what is known as the festival or holiday season has the prospect of attracting even greater advertising spends for broadcasters.
God no! Not MORE cricket! 😯
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says falling inflation in the US could foreshadow interest rate cuts in Australia as he declared a strategy of responsible economic management would be the centrepiece of the government’s pitch ahead of the next election. Dr Chalmers said he was encouraged by Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell leaving rates on hold this week and indicating that America’s inflation crisis had peaked and cutting rates had “now come into view”
“My goal is to make it front and centre and I want economic management to be something that we build our whole pitch for re-election on,” he said. “For as long as I’ve been knocking around here, I’ve wanted to change economic management from something that we manage and mitigate politically, to something that becomes a defining core strength of Labor.” Achieving this would include delivering a second successive surplus this financial year.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/us-rate-cuts-could-aid-labor-election-strategy-chalmers-20231214-p5ermu
UK voting intention via We Think, 14th-15th Dec 2023 :
Lab 46% (+1) Con 25% (NC) LD 10% (-1) Ref 9% (NC) Green 5% (NC) SNP 3% (+1)
Home Affairs Minister, Clare O’Neil’s opinion of Peter Dutton:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/o-neil-takes-aim-at-dutton-s-tough-guy-legacy-in-home-affairs-20231215-p5err7.html
#weatheronPB
Washed out endless blue,
after the storms of the night,
spent their wet fury.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
Laura Tingle explores the conundrum the Albanese government faces over the Stage 3 tax cuts.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-16/stage-3-tax-cuts-should-they-cost-of-living-government-question/103234474
Jim Chalmers can see the sunlit uplands. There’s fog in the air, there are menacing clouds – inflation, high energy prices, weak growth and elevated interest rates – but there’s a road through to a better economic future in the mid-year budget review this week, writes Paul Kelly who lays out what he thinks is Labor’s plan for political recovery.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/jim-chalmers-road-to-political-recovery/news-story/7bacf48ea17854a3e2fad1f371301cfc?amp=
This week’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook belled the cat on the government’s political strategy as it counts down to an election in 12 to 18 months. It is an economically contradictory approach, but Labor strategists believe they can sell it politically to voters, and they probably are right, says Peter van Onselen.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/where-is-paul-keating-when-you-need-him/news-story/71b63033f6e2b23cf0ce28a9d1827816?amp=
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil says she is on a mission to end the hierarchical “command-and-control” culture that has dominated the sprawling department she leads following the departure of controversial former secretary Michael Pezzullo. Matthew Knott tells us that, in an end-of-year interview, O’Neil also spoke about her testy relationship with Peter Dutton, claiming that the opposition leader seems “visibly bothered” by her in private national security meetings.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/o-neil-takes-aim-at-dutton-s-tough-guy-legacy-in-home-affairs-20231215-p5err7.html
Peter Hartcher also examines Clare O’Neil’s ministership. He says O’Neil is no soft target, and now she has to demonstrate that the immigration system isn’t either.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/this-young-minister-has-arrived-but-other-arrivals-will-be-her-burden-20231215-p5erup.html
Karen Middleton explains how apandemic-related visa class devised and extended by the previous government created an enormous pool of unskilled workers who were left open to exploitation and overwhelmed the immigration system.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/immigration/2023/12/16/the-morrison-era-visa-that-flooded-the-immigration-system
John Hewson praises Labor’s credible plan for immigration. He says that, in keeping with its destructive intentions, the opposition has become overtly defensive about the immigration and refugee system that collapsed under previous Coalition governments, as noted in the findings of the recent review by Dr Martin Parkinson, who declared Australia’s migration program “not fit for purpose”.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2023/12/16/labors-credible-plan-immigration
Millie Muroi writes that NAB chief executive Ross McEwan said he expected a rebound in economic growth by the second half of next year but that the economy would continue to slow into 2024. He made the point that the Australian dream of home ownership probably feels further away for many, warning that a shortage of homes is one of the biggest problems facing the nation.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/nab-boss-warns-on-housing-affordability-as-house-prices-rise-20231215-p5err0.html
The third week of evidence in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten has highlighted the ugly collision of media and politics, writes Rick Morton in quite a detailed description of some of the exchanges at the trial.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/media/2023/12/16/please-dont-make-me-sound-cheap-tabloid-journalist
Lurking in the background, Higgins’ partner is now in the spotlight, writes Harriett Alexander after yesterday’s sitting of the Lehrmann defamation trial.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/lurking-in-the-background-higgins-fiance-now-in-the-spotlight-20231215-p5ertd.html
Jim Chalmers has said Australians could receive more help with cost-of-living relief in the budget next May and confirmed the government is working up new policy measures to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions, writes Katharine Murphy about an end-of-year interview with him.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/16/australia-next-budget-when-may-cost-of-living-inflation
Deborah Snow writes that the reanimation of claims and counter-claims about a cover-up by the Morrison government is one of the more absorbing aspects of the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case, now about to enter its fifth week before the Federal Court in Sydney.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/key-questions-about-cover-up-claims-dominating-lehrmann-case-20231214-p5ernf.html
Victoria’s local councils say they would relinquish some of their planning powers if the state did the same, as they called for a new metropolitan planning body to guide the development of Melbourne. Royce Millar reports that, in a break with its traditional strident defence of council planning authority, the Municipal Association of Victoria says both levels of government need to concede ground and work together to address the challenges of population, housing and environmental crises, and minimise corruption risks.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/councils-ready-to-give-up-some-planning-powers-if-the-state-does-the-same-20231215-p5erqf.html
Here’s Tory Shepherd’s weekly media roundup.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2023/dec/15/ita-buttrose-rallies-abc-staff-in-christmas-message-while-murdochs-annual-party-goes-missing
Nick McKenzie, who must have a bundle of exposés in work at all times, now lifts the lid on the unconscionable behaviour of the now defunct company, Phoslock.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/from-top-of-the-world-to-bottom-of-the-lake-inside-the-fraud-and-bribery-that-sank-1bn-company-20231207-p5eptk.html
Australians are being short-changed billions of dollars in interest on their $1.4 trillion in savings as banks deliberately woo new depositors at the expense of loyal customers, a damning report by the nation’s competition watchdog has found.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mortgages-up-but-australians-miss-out-on-interest-on-deposits-accc-20231215-p5erqp.html
In the final two months of 2023, the Australian political landscape was plagued by negative bias campaigning tactics similar to those of Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. It is unsurprising, considering that negativity is a core element of their political philosophy. They appear incapable of recognising any positive aspect of their opponents’ policies whatsoever. Regrettably, political negativity can be a highly effective tool. If enough mud is thrown, some of it will eventually stick. Today’s hard right does not settle for merely a handful of mudslinging; they go for bucketfuls, writes John Lord.
https://theaimn.com/negativity-bias-what-is-it-and-how-its-used-in-politics/
In this essay, Julia Baird spears the myth that men hunt, women gather.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/gender/men-hunt-women-gather-right-no-let-s-spear-this-myth-20231215-p5errk.html
Almost 7 million Australians suffer from a long-term mental health condition, according to research that shows the prevalence of chronic health conditions has reached the highest level since records began. Euan Black reports that, based on responses from about 13,100 households, the National Health Survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found the share of Australians suffering from a chronic mental or behavioural condition increased from 20.1 per cent in 2017-2018 to 26.1 per cent last year.
https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/nearly-half-of-australians-chronically-sick-20231215-p5erqi
Mike Seccombe writes that the government has been accused of giving in to pressure from Santos – as revealed by a series of emails from its chief executive.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/environment/2023/12/16/emails-reveal-labor-caved-santos
The Department of Defence has engaged a former Defence Deputy Secretary as a highly paid consultant to find a place on Defence land to store submarine nuclear waste. Rex Patrick takes a look at a search for the impossible.
https://michaelwest.com.au/nuclear-waste-fifty-years-of-searching-still-nowhere-to-dump-it/
Two abuse survivors have won the first major challenge to the Catholic church’s use of permanent stays since a high court decision in October. Earlier this year, two survivors, one of whom is dying, were blocked from suing the Armidale diocese over abuse they allege they suffered from alleged prolific paedophile priest David Joseph Perrett.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/dec/15/two-alleged-abuse-survivors-win-first-challenge-against-australian-catholic-churchs-legal-tactics
The federal government is under pressure to follow its closest international security partners by imposing targeted financial sanctions on an alleged mastermind of the shocking October 7 attacks in Israel and other senior Hamas officials. Matthew Knott reports that the United States and United Kingdom announced a fresh round of sanctions against Hamas fundraising officials this week, prompting questions about why Australia was not joining with its AUKUS partners in a co-ordinated effort to punish members of the listed terror group.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-accused-of-being-missing-in-action-on-hamas-sanctions-20231215-p5ersk.html
Labor’s ‘policy shift’ on Gaza may have been inelegant, frayed and contested, but was in no way incoherent, writes Katharine Murphy who says that, as adversity increases and polarisation reasserts itself as the national default, everything gets harder for the incumbents.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/16/labors-policy-shift-on-gaza-may-have-been-inelegant-frayed-and-contested-but-was-in-no-way-incoherent
Paul Bongiorno writes about Albanese taking the front foot on the Israel–Hamas war. He says that the conflict has seen an exponential rise in anti-Semitism in this country – all the more reason to be grateful for the measured and strong leadership shown by Albanese, Trudeau and Luxon in their statement.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2023/12/16/albanese-takes-front-foot-israel-hamas-war
The decision to back a United Nations resolution on the Israel–Hamas war cane after lobbying from key cabinet ministers, say Karen Middleton and Jonathan Pearlman who take us inside Albanese’s ceasefire position.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/world/middle-east/2023/12/16/inside-albaneses-ceasefire-position
The Australian government has warned that violent acts by Israeli settlers are “terrorising Palestinian communities” in the occupied West Bank, joining with western allies to denounce an “environment of near complete impunity”. Two days after voting in favour of a UN general assembly resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the Australian government has strengthened its objections to violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, writes Daniel Hurst.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/15/australia-denounces-israeli-settler-attacks-on-palestinians-in-occupied-west-bank
There’s only one way out of this Gaza war and Netanyahu is blocking it. Joe Biden must force him from power, argues Jonathan Freedland who says the Israeli leader opposes the viable way forward and now acts only for himself.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/15/gaza-war-benjamin-netanyahu-joe-biden-israel-us
When he was stopped from wearing shoes with a message of solidarity for Gaza, Usman Khawaja did something better. His black armband says so much more than a slogan and gives the ICC a new problem, opines Malcolm Knox.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/khawaja-may-let-black-do-the-talking-but-words-are-never-just-words-20231214-p5erma.html
Prince Harry has scored a rare victory against the British tabloids after the High Court ruled he was the victim of unlawful information gathering by Mirror Group Newspapers, awarding him substantial damages. Rob Hariss tells us that Harry has now called for a criminal investigation into the papers and individuals involved after the court found there had been the “widespread” use of unlawful practices by the publisher to gather information, including phone hacking.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/prince-harry-was-a-victim-of-phone-hacking-by-mirror-newspapers-court-rules-20231215-p5erw8.html
Cartoon Corner
David Pope
Alan Moir
Matt Davidson
Mark David
Jon Kudelka
Jim Pavlidis
Fiona Katauskas
John Shakespeare
Michael Leunig
Leak
From the US
O’Neil would better off getting on top of her portfolio rather than engaging in a slanging match with Dutton.
That’s how she came unstuck last time. Too busy worrying about the previous govt and not enough time worrying about her current role.
Taylormade @ #10 Saturday, December 16th, 2023 – 7:41 am
And, in the experts’ opinion, not yours obviously, she has done a good job:
Clare O’Neil looks pretty youthful, and for someone in her job, she is. At 43, the federal minister for home affairs is the youngest member of Anthony Albanese’s cabinet, responsible for everything from counter-terrorism to asylum seekers.
You might be tempted to think she’d be a soft target. In fact, the ambitious former McKinsey’s management consultant from Melbourne is emerging as one of the tougher members of the government.
She’s delivered major new policy on cybersecurity, and she’s recast national immigration in the first half of the government’s term. “She’s got steel,” says a cabinet colleague. “She’s a purposeful reformer.”
O’Neil acted this week with a plan to cut the net intake from an estimated 510,000 last year to 250,000 within two years. That would return it to its pre-COVID level.
…
One indicator that O’Neil’s new policy is well crafted is that all the major constituencies, from the Business Council of Australia to the ACTU, have endorsed it. Only the perpetual whining sound from the university sector persists.
In the expert opinion of Andrew Markus, the policy is a well judged and an essential element in resuming control of immigration and reassuring the public: “It is a real challenge for the government to get it under control – it’s not panic stations – but if they can, I think people will move on.”
O’Neil is no soft target, and now has to demonstrate that the immigration system isn’t either.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/this-young-minister-has-arrived-but-other-arrivals-will-be-her-burden-20231215-p5erup.html
Also, this meme about Labor ‘worrying too much about the previous government’, shouldn’t be allowed to get legs. Of course they should remind the electorate about the failings they have uncovered! The previous government, as most of them are still in parliament on the Opposition benches, especially Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton, want to be the next government, and it behoves the current government to remind people what they would be like.
“At Saturday night I got married
Me and my wife settled down
But me and my wife have parted
I’m gonna take another stroll downtown
Irene goodnight (goodnight Irene)
Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I’ll get you in my dream
Stop your ramblin’
Stop your gamblin’
Stop stayin’ out late, late at night
Go home to your wife and your family
Sit down by your fireside so bright
Irene goodnight
Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I’ll get you in my dream
I love Irene and got new I do
Still the sea runs dry
And if Irene ever turns her back on me
I’m gonna take morphine and die
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I’ll get you in my dream
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I’ll get you in my dream
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I’ll get you in my dream”
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Huddie Ledbetter / John Lomax
Goodnight Irene lyrics © O/B/O Apra Amcos
frednk,
Thanks very much for that. I was planning on looking at the data anyway.
You contribution sounds very sensible, and hopefully submissions will be taken on board.
One thing that is important, is how do things look if CCS is left out of the equation?
Are they improving?
Michael Mann, the American climatologist is sounding warnings about the people who are loudly saying we are doing so little to bring emissions down that there is no hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change.
According to Mann, a lot of this talk is coming from the fossil fuel industry, and is meant to muddy the waters, convincing your average person that trying to do anything about climate change is pointless.
We are finally making progress in Australia, and it will be a tragedy if we end up going from a government actively supporting renewables, to Dutton and Angus Taylor, who will subsidise coal fired power stations, and reverse the changes that have made Australia favourable again to renewables investment.
Convincing people that no progress is being made is a great way to defuse the issue for the Coalition.
I still remember P1 advocating on Pollbludger before the last Federal election that as “Labor and the Coalition are same/same on climate action” people should preference the Coalition above Labor, because they would be personally be better off with a Coalition government (couched as “Because P1 thinks the Coalition will win, and you want your local member to be a part of the government”).
Dutton was an incompetent minister who shouted loudly and carried a big stick. He did a pig of a job.
Who knew?
The Department of Defence has engaged a former Defence Deputy Secretary as a highly paid consultant to find a place on Defence land to store submarine nuclear waste. Rex Patrick takes a look at a search for the impossible.
_____________________
Point Wilson in Marles own electorate of Corio would be an ideal location.
Shouldn’t need a highly paid consultant for that decision.
There has been a fair bit of foundation myth making surrounding the term ‘settler’ and ‘settler societies’. The context in Australia is ‘Invasion Day’.
Fundamental elements of the myth go to concepts such as whether those being settled accepting the settling process, whether they have a say in the settling process, and whether the settling process is peaceful.
‘Settler violence’ is a contradiction of terms.
‘settlers’ = putting lipstick on a pig. ‘Invaders’ is calling a pig a pig.
‘Taylormade says:
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 7:59 am
The Department of Defence has engaged a former Defence Deputy Secretary as a highly paid consultant to find a place on Defence land to store submarine nuclear waste. Rex Patrick takes a look at a search for the impossible.
_____________________
Point Wilson in Marles own electorate of Corio would be an ideal location.
Shouldn’t need a highly paid consultant for that decision.’
================================
Littleproud and Dutton are going to build dozens of nuclear reactors all round Australia and a nuclear waste dump in every regional city.
The highly paid consultant must recommend Dutton’s seat as the best location for a nuclear waste dump.
Informative profile of Queensland’s new premier:
“It’s issues of substance where he’s going to have it all over them.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/16/hes-a-phd-scholar-and-al-gore-alumnus-but-steven-miles-march-to-power-began-in-the-outer-suburbs
‘… Dutton accusing O’Neil of being “completely out of her depth” and labelling her “very angry and very aggressive”.’
The projection is strong in this one.
Douglas and Milko,
You may be interested in reading this background to Cop28 piece from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/15/fossil-fuels-how-a-huge-gamble-sealed-cop28-deal
It had an interesting insight about CCS:
Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, also played a role in shooting down any reliance on CCS, undertaking research that found it would take about $4tn a year to use the technology to allow fossil fuel companies to continue to operate. CCS was “an illusion, a fantasy”, he told the Guardian, and reiterated to Al Jaber privately.
Really American @ReallyAmerican1·2m
MAJOR BREAKING: Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the election workers who were defamed by Rudy Giuliani, have just been awarded over $100 million in damages, including over $16 million each and $70 million in punitive damages
The jury was in deliberations for a day, and found that the vicious lies spread about the 2 civil servants were damaging enough to warrant such a high amount. Until as recently as 2 days ago, Giuliani expressed no remorse; in fact, he doubled down.
“Of course I don’t regret it. I told the truth,” Giuliani told reporters. “They were engaged in changing votes. … Stay tuned.”
C@t,
Yes, everything I know about CCS suggests that it is a scientific dead-end, and it only gets included in these discussions for political reasons.
Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney·
GRAND TOTAL: Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay about $148 million in damages to Ruby FREEMAN and Shaye MOSS.
THE DECISION:
Defamation
Moss awarded: $16,998,000
Freeman awarded: $16,171,000
Emotional distress
Moss awarded: $20 million
Freeman awarded: $20 million
Punitive damages
Total: $75 million
It’s unclear whether Moss and Freeman will ever see any of the $148 million judgment against Rudy Giuliani, given his well reported financial troubles and struggles to pay his legal bills.
Thanks BK
Nick McKenzie is one of the good investigative journalists going around.
PhoenixRed
Good luck with them getting a cent from Guiliani. Frankly he is an evil piece of crap.
And with respect to Trump taking all those classified docs. I always felt he had taken so many cos he was looking for some particular documents.
I know I have said this ad nauseum. Trump is a traitor and hopefully it will finally be exposed fully
Victoria @ #25 Saturday, December 16th, 2023 – 8:43 am
Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss should bring a case against Donald Trump next.
Morning all. Thanks for the roundup BK. I posted on this article at the end of the previous thread:
“Karen Middleton explains how apandemic-related visa class devised and extended by the previous government created an enormous pool of unskilled workers who were left open to exploitation and overwhelmed the immigration system.”
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/immigration/2023/12/16/the-morrison-era-visa-that-flooded-the-immigration-system
Labor should point this out whenever possible. The current housing crisis started with Morrison’s decisions not Labors: 250,000 “temporary” visas given to low skilled workers and half of 600,000 foreign students not studying explains where the immigrant flood came from. Dutton’s former Department was the cause.
There is a fundamental problem with this story:
“ The Department of Defence has engaged a former Defence Deputy Secretary as a highly paid consultant to find a place on Defence land to store submarine nuclear waste. Rex Patrick takes a look at a search for the impossible.”
What does a former Defence Deputy Secretary know about nuclear waste? More importantly, why only look at defence land? This would be administratively convenient for Defence, but guarantees the best sites will not be considered.
A national approach to nuclear waste disposal is needed. The previous SA RC into nuclear waste disposal, which I worked on, found multiple safe, suitable sites in SA. But the best and most efficient were on former mine sites, not defence land.
Marles needs to direct Defence much more than he does.
Oh dear has labor learnt nothing from Abbott loss? Demonised him into office.The two lefties running immigration have been an electoral disaster for labors vote they need to hide and keep this issue off the news cycle.
Err umm your primary is about 30 unemployment is rising 570,000 on the dole and you imported 500,ooo with work rights.Along with a couple of million renters ,and millions more remembering labors last immigration fiasco you are upsetting a lot of voters.
Ambo sorry Albo is mentioned in the west Australian today sipping 500 dollar bottles of wine earlier this week on a four day holiday at Margaret river.
Political dumbs ,optics are terrible fed labor are tone deaf.
‘Pied Piper. says:
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 9:32 am
…’
—————————
‘Tone deaf’… I like it!
How was it that Abbott lost his seat?
A story in the biased West Australian about wines, supposedly costing $500 (source for that claim and proof?), probably provided gratis to the PM by his hosts.
That story is worse than a Penny Dreadful from the 1800s.
PP: “Ambo is mentioned in the west Australian today sipping 500 dollar bottles of wine earlier this week on a four day holiday at Margaret river.”
Redbridge mentions Western Australia today, putting Labor’s 2PP above 55.
You really blow on those pipes, don’t you?
A $500 wine goes exquisitely with a $100 lamb roast.
“Along with a couple of million renters …”
Many of whom might instead be homeowners … if only the tax system subsidised them, rather than ‘investors’.
PP
Let’s face it. The Prime Minister was lucky he wasn’t eating $100 lamb roasts during a stolen weekend in a derelict Whyalla steel factory while being forced to listen to some of Dutton’s racist dog whistling on the balanced ABC radio national.
Oliver Sutton @ #33 Saturday, December 16th, 2023 – 9:42 am
It probably did. I’m amazed the Worst Australian didn’t let its readers know that, OS. 😉
I’m constantly amazed how hard the trolls work on their catastrophising to get it just so. 😐
Err Redbridge poll was before the Ir law passing that means between now and the next fed election mining industry and also media blowback via stokes .Primary around 30 cannot afford more own goals.
Irenesays:
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 1:05 am
Rex Douglassays:
Friday, December 15, 2023 at 5:11 pm
————————————————————————-
You appear to be drawing a very long bow here. Your central premise that Labor is to close to the USA due something Bill Shorten did in 2009 is tenuous to say the least. The whole post was very low calibre but a large bore as LNP supporter defence related posts often are. Obviously the unwritten subtext is we all should vote for the trump flag wielding Dud Dutton because Shorten once presented his credentials to the US embassy in 2009. So in order to distance us from America we should vote for party that is biggest sycophant of the lot. You would have be gullible or very stupid to believe that or even worse Irene.
Pied Piper.says:
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 9:32 am
Oh dear has labor learnt nothing from Abbott loss?
————————————————————————-
Maybe that was because he was in the LNP and not Labor. Are you suggesting that Labor should have set up a review to determine why a LNP Prime Minister was kicked out by his own party?. In order that they could learn whatever lesson were to be learnt from that. It is certainly a radical idea though it does also appear to be quite a silly idea too.
Quote: “on second thought, let’s not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.”
”
Victoriasays:
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 8:43 am
PhoenixRed
Good luck with them getting a cent from Guiliani. Frankly he is an evil piece of crap.
And with respect to Trump taking all those classified docs. I always felt he had taken so many cos he was looking for some particular documents.
I know I have said this ad nauseum. Trump is a traitor and hopefully it will finally be exposed fully
”
Victoria
Giuliani is a ‘mobster’s lawyer’.
PP: “media blowback via stokes”
Will Stokes have any money left after he pays all the bills for the own-goal lawsuits initiated by his stable of bad boys?
the West Australian has Michaelia Cash leading the charge criticising Albanese’s wine tasting.
She says he’s out out of touch with everyday Australians.
Cool from somebody who is so in touch with everyday Australians that she forgot she had bought the house next door to her home for $1.4 million.
On the heels of her massive courtroom victory against Rudy Giuliani, Ruby Freeman said Friday she was not done seeking justice against those who defamed her work as a Georgia poll worker in 2020.
“Today is not the end of the of the road, we still have work to do,” Freeman told the hoard of reporters who gathered to hear her statement. “Rudy Giuliani was not the only one who spread lies about us. Others must be held accountable.”
Freeman issued her warning outside the Washington D.C. courtroom where a federal judge found Giuliani liable for about $148 million in damages to Lady Ruby, as she called herself, and her daughter Shaye Moss.
While Freeman detailed losses that included her home, her sense of safety, her neighbors and her own name, Giuliani muttered outside the courtroom that he “didn’t regret a damn thing.”
When it comes to abortion, it’s the Alito—and Leo—Supreme Court now
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/15/2211956/-When-it-comes-to-abortion-it-s-the-Alito-and-Leo-Supreme-Court-now?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web
“According to new reporting from The New York Times’ Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak,
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/us/supreme-court-dobbs-roe-abortion.html?mwgrp=a-dbar&unlocked_article_code=1.GE0.iZI9.d-D_a1bk6-nE&smid=url-share
the precedent-shattering abortion decision handed down by the Supreme Court in June 2022 was the result of the heavy-handed machinations of one extremist on the court: Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling. The deep dive into the modern court’s sharp departure from the norms and procedures on the issue of abortion shows the extent to which the far right—and Leonard Leo’s dark-money empire—have captured this institution that has literal life-and-death power over Americans.
Using a variety of anonymous sources, notes, and documents, Kantor and Liptak show how Leo corralled the conservatives and shut Chief Justice John Roberts out of the process. Within 10 minutes of Alito sharing his initial 98-page draft of the decision on Feb. 10, 2022, Justice Neil Gorsuch had signed on. The next day, Justices Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett added their names. Within days, so had Justice Brett Kavanaugh. None had revisions or alterations, as would be the normal process in crafting a decision. They rubber-stamped Alito.
“Justice Alito appeared to have pregamed it among some of the conservative justices, out of view from other colleagues, to safeguard a coalition more fragile than it looked,” Kantor and Liptak write. They go on to explain how Alito engineered the whole process, from when the state of Mississippi first filed a less extreme challenge to abortion rights to keeping the case at bay until Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and was replaced by a Donald Trump nominee. Even then, he didn’t move right away:
Suddenly the Mississippi law had fresh prospects. But instead of discussing whether to take the case, the court rescheduled the matter again and again, for an unusual nine times, through the end of the year. For at least some of that period, Justice Alito was doing the rescheduling, according to two people who observed the process. To some at the court, he appeared to be waiting for his new colleague (Amy Coney Barrett) to get settled.
Once she had settled in, it was a done deal. Roberts was left in the dust after months of effort to rein the conservatives into a less sweeping overthrow of federal abortion rights. With that, Alito and Thomas were effectively announcing that the court was now theirs.
Not just theirs, however, because there’s the man in the background who handed Alito those three Trump justices: Leonard Leo.
CNN host dismantles Ron Johnson’s ‘proof’ of Democratic election interference in 2 minutes
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/15/2211899/-CNN-host-dismantles-Ron-Johnson-s-proof-of-Democratic-election-interference-in-2-minutes?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_7&pm_medium=web
“On Monday evening, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin went on CNN for an interview about the Republican Party’s continuing inability to productively govern our country. When host Kaitlan Collins asked the senator whether or not one of Donald Trump’s fake electors should resign from his position on the Wisconsin elections commission, Johnson made the bold claim that “Democrat electors have done that repeatedly. Democrats have done the same thing.”
When Collins pressed Johnson to back up these claims, Johnson couldn’t, but promised he would send CNN proof of his claims of election interference by Democrats. After his interview, he posted a response on the draining toilet bowl sound that is social media platform X (formerly Twitter). It was underwhelming to say the least. On Thursday, Collins took two minutes during her show to tell the audience that Johnson had “listed the four examples that you see here, none of which proved his point. Democrats have not repeatedly used alternate slates of electors. None even come close to what Republicans did in 2020.”
”
The Irenes, the PPs, the micheals, the FUBARs of this blog are like US Senator and Ron Johnson. Deliberately spreading misinformation and disinformation.
Re Hh @10:04. ”Freeman told the hoard of reporters…”
[Alert: pedantry] “horde”.
But seriously, good to see the good guys have some success.
Taylormade @ #10 Saturday, December 16th, 2023 – 7:41 am
Too late, TailoredMerde. Dutton has been exposed as the incompetent, hate driven hypocrite that he always was, and always will be. He fanned Howard-like anti-Asian racism, while enabling the entry of vast numbers of ‘students’ and ‘au pairs’ to be exploited. The stench won’t go away, no matter how hard you hope it will.
Clare O’Neil will continue to expose his hypocritical incompetence, while getting on with cleaning up the department, and fixing the foul mess he created.
Rossmcgsays:
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 10:04 am
the West Australian has Michaelia Cash leading the charge criticising Albanese’s wine tasting.
She says he’s out out of touch with everyday Australians.
Cool from somebody who is so in touch with everyday Australians that she forgot she had bought the house next door to her home for $1.4 million
———————————————————————
Michaelia Cash who once told parliament “nobody in my office tipped off the media about the AWU raids”. The truth and Michaelia Cash have never been well acquainted.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/michaelia-cash-stretches-credibility-beyond-breaking-point-20171025-gz7r65.html
Quote: “And what sort of lives do these people, who pose as being moral, lead themselves? My dear fellow, you forget that we are in the native land of the hypocrite.” – Oscar Wilde
Barry’s sharing the Grange around?
Bloody socialist!