The Australian Government must strengthen its commitment to human rights in its laws, policies and practices, the Human Rights Law Centre said today in response to new comprehensive data looking at the state of human rights in Australia. 

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative, which tracks human rights performance across countries, has found that Australian governments are failing to uphold civil liberties and political freedoms, the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and refugees and people seeking asylum.  

The Initiative found many communities continue to suffer a range of rights violations in quality of life, safety from the state and empowerment. People especially vulnerable to arbitrary or political arrest include:  

• Public protesters, and participants in union protests and strikes, particularly those protesting climate change 

•  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are overrepresented in prisons and discriminated against by the police 

• Journalists subjected to police harassment, especially if they criticise the government 

• Asylum seekers and refugees experiencing up to several years of indefinite detention in onshore locations 

Caitlin Reiger, CEO, Human Rights Law Centre, said:

As a wealthy, stable democracy, Australia could lead the world on human rights, yet too often Australian governments fail to respect peoples human rights in critical areas. The evidence behind the Human Rights Measurement initiative shines a light on Australias treatment of people protesting, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and refugees and people seeking asylum in particular.  All people have the right to be treated with dignity and fairness, and rely on legal protections for their basic rights. 

In addition to addressing these ongoing and alarming human rights issues, we call on the Albanese Government to implement an Australian Charter of Human Rights to ensure human rights are at the heart of all decision making. 

The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy. Protest has been crucial to achieving many important social changes from First Nations land rights to the eight-hour workday. Yet across the country we have seen a range of draconian anti-protest laws set in place. The right to protest is a cornerstone of a robust civil society that holds government to account. 

Though the Australian Government signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2009, it has failed to implement its most fundamental article, that of Indigenous self-determination. The challenges facing Aboriginal communities can only be addressed by empowering Aboriginal people. 

Human...

Our assignment to collect recipes and photograph food preparation for the forthcoming community and school garden recipe book and website

The post Tasmania: recipe book project underway appeared first on CGA.

EXCLUSIVE: News Corp has been running a rabid campaign against alleged rape survivor, Brittany Higgins, for apparently going to the media before the police while neglecting to inform the public about the fact that it was News Corp journalist, Sam Maiden, who first published an 'exclusive' story about the alleged Parliament House rape by Bruce Lehrmann, against Ms Higgins's own wishes. Serkan Ozturk reports.

Introduction by DM

We have been reporting on Shane Warne and a few other celebrities whose lives have been cut way to short here, here and here.

Sky News in a headline reported that Shane Warne: Post-mortem reveals cricket legend died of natural causes...

Introduction

I have written much about Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) and the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP.) Simply type these acronyms into this blog's search function to read as much as you wish.

BAASS

French researcher Marc Cecotti submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on 8 December 2021. In it he sought:

"...a copy of all records, including but not limited to emails, reports, memorandum, presentations, mentioning : "Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program" or the acronym "AAWSAP," "Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies" or the acronym "BAASS." Date range for record search from 1/1/2008 to 12/31/2012."

The DHS response was a one page document with the following text:

"BAASS goals 2011/2012

Area 1:

1. Advanced Technology Analysis Center - analyze recovered AAV technology in collaboration with aerospace companies. Construct extremely secure underground lab facility.

2. Conscious interactions with, and control of, advanced AAV technology.

3. Extend Remote Communications Programs to communicate and retrieve data across dimensional/space-time barrier. Target multiple locations.

4. Identify anomlaous activity in select areas of the United States and establish field research laboratories and remote communication programs on site.

Retrieve and integrate all historical data on AAVs from retirees (oral history.)

Area 2:

1. Liaison with IC, FBI, State, Local and tribal Police, FAA, DoD (including AFOSI), National Laboratories and with US Aerospace companies.

2. Collect data, including classified data, from IC/DoD entities, e.g. cockpit flight recordings of AAV performance, communications, medical autopsy reports, weapons use, AAV trajectory records (from NORAD.)

3. Classified data collection from AAV interactions with Nuclear Wepons Storage Facilities - (Northern Tier and other AFB AAV incidents.)

Area 3:

Note: unclassified seperate organization.

1. Create an open organization for collection of data on AAV performance.

2. Liaise with civilian groups for AAV data collection."

Lacatski

At face value it is odd, then, that Jordan Petersons new venture, The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), should boast an acronym designed to invoke the story of Noah while simultaneously railing against the false idol of apocalyptic ideology. Look closer, however, and the contradiction resolves itself in a familiar, albeit familiarly veiled, way. The apocalypse is indeed here, only it isnt global heating that poses an existential risk to humanity but the usual culture war suspects.

The post Look whos stepping into Jordan Petersons ark appeared first on Overland literary journal.

More than two in 10 businesses experienced a cyber security attack during the 2021-22 financial year, compared to almost one in 10 in 2019-20, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Robert Ewing, head of ABS business statistics, said this mornings Characteristics of Australian Business data release is important because it gives governments and researchers information about the prevalence, impacts and nature of cyber attacks.

The types of cyber attacks included scams or fraud (16 per cent); malicious software infecting computers (5 per cent); and unauthorised access or use (3 per cent).

This helps them understand who they need to support and what strategies they need to use, Mr Ewing said.

The latest figures from the ABS also show how cyber attacks impacted businesses, and on that front theres some more encouraging news. In 2021-22 just over half of the business that experienced a cyber attack were negatively impacted by it compared, to more than 80 per cent of businesses in 2019-20.

In 2021-22, 34 per cent of businesses reported loss of time in managing cyber security attacks, 18 per cent reported downtime of service, while 17 per cent reported a loss of staff productivity, Mr Ewing said.

For the first time, all businesses were asked by the ABS about the types of cyber security measures they had in place, and seven in 10 (70 per cent) reported some form of protection measure.

Over 60 per cent of businesses reported regular updates to virus protection software. Around 37 per cent of businesses regularly backed up o...

Hosted by the Government of South Australia, the funeral will commemorate Sir James life, including his key role as part of the first team to defeat the United States in the America's Cup sailing race. Members of the public are welcome to attend and pay their respects. The service will...

A great review of my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, in the London-based The New Arab by Martorell Junyent:

Israeli weapons companies often promote their products for export by emphasising that they are battle-tested. Marketing weapons in such a way is misleading, to say the least.

Ever since the end of the 1973 October War, Israel has not participated in any battle if by battle we understand, as the Cambridge Dictionary does, a fight between armed forces.

This lack of battle has been offset by an abundance of testing. The laboratory has been no other than the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In his book The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation around the World, Antony Loewenstein argues that the occupation of Palestine has provided Israel with an incomparable testing ground in the development of its weapons and surveillance technology.

At the same time, Palestine has also served as a display room for the effects of these weapons, which are then exported around the world generating both considerable revenue and valuable political influence for Israel.

As Loewenstein, an independent journalist, author, and filmmaker, writes, The Palestine laboratory is a signature Israeli selling point.

Read the whole review: Palestine is Israels laboratory for industry of occupation

The post The New Arab praises The Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

My interview with US radio station KPFA and its program, Against The Grain, about my new book, The Palestine Laboratory:

Israel is one of the worlds most important producers of military hardware and surveillance technology, honed in its occupation of Palestine, and exported around the globe to various brutal regimes. Journalist and filmmaker Antony Loewenstein traces the history of Israels military tech sector, refined after the invasion of Lebanon and again following September 11th, and discusses its tools of mass surveillance today.

The post US radio interview on KPFA about Israeli mass surveillance appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

Domesticated around 7,000 years ago from the Nubian and Somalian subspecies of African wild ass. The Nubian ass is now extinct, but the modern-day donkey is finding a new lease of life in Australia as a guard donkey.

In an innovative trial in the Central Tablelands trained donkeys have demonstrated their value in protecting sheep from wild dog attacks according to Local Land Services.

Landholders Butch and Fiona Pilley worked closely with Local Land Services to introduce two donkeys as guardian animals into their Hill End grazing operation, with no dog attacks recorded over the three years since, said Senior Biosecurity O...

This is Liz Deegan, the $360k a year Executive Director of NSW Police Public Affairs. Shes not a police officer nor is she experienced in law enforcement - but she does believe she has a right to mislead the public. Deegan was the one who authorised the

Contributed by Joe Montero

I have put some effort into trying to make sense of the present battlefield offensive pf the Kiev forces in Ukraine. After trolling through claims and counter claims and getting a sense of the military strategies of both sides, some things have become quite obvious. These do not sit well with the barrage of media propaganda.

Not surprisingly, this is a war where the media is just as much the battle ground as what is happening on the ground. As they say, the first casualty of war is the truth.

Back to the point. A genuine examination of the facts, which includes those presented by both sides, will reveal some inescapable truths.

Like it or despise it, the Russian presence was never about taking over the whole of Ukraine. It involved the ethnic Russian majority regions to the east and south, in a long standing that became violent in 2014, a longtime before Russian forces crossed the border.

The Russian military strategy has three legs. The first has been to consolidate the core ethnic Russian areas to the east and south. These are bordered with a heavily fortified and static frontline. Air power and missiles have been used to harass the other side, rather than to capture new ground. Beyond the fortified border is a region of mobile rather than positional warfare. This is aimed at harassing Kievs forces, drawing them into ambushes, and inflicting maximum damage on them. All these legs have achieved considerable success.

The map below shows both the position (orange) and mobile war zones (grey).

This map is from the Russian media outlet Sputnik. Maps with this information are censored in the wests media

The on, off, and on again, so called offensive is concentrated on this mobile zone. Stories of victories and defeats that centre around who holds a town at a particular time, ignore that the nature of mobile warfare is assaults and withdrawals by both sides. These stories do not report the truth.

It is Kiev that is at a disadvantage b...

Money laundering, shell companies, prostitution rings, foreign bribes, and influence peddling. All part of a days work at Biden Inc. #ImpeachBidenhttps://t.co/i8pdp1PL3I pic.twitter.com/aywyD2K6fu Marjorie Taylor Greene (@mtgreenee) June 21, 2023

Former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and others such as former NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro could be looking down the barrel of criminal charges next week as the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption []

The Human Rights Law Centre has been granted leave to participate as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in a landmark appeal as part of the ongoing unjust prosecution of whistleblower Richard Boyle.

Boyle, who is being prosecuted after blowing the whistle on unethical debt recovery practices at the Australian Taxation Office, had sought immunity under the federal public sector whistleblowing law, the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

In March, Judge Kudelka of the District Court of South Australia ruled that Boyle was not immune from prosecution.

The judgment was the first consideration of the scope of the protections for Australian whistleblowers. Boyle has been charged in relation to allegedly unlawfully gathering documents and recording conversations as part of his whistleblowing which took place first internally, then to the tax ombudsman and then, as a last resort, to the ABC, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Judge Kudelka ruled that the key protection in the PID Act only applies to the act of blowing the whistle, not related preparatory steps.

Ahead of his trial in October, Boyle appealed to the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of South Australia. At a callover last Friday, Justice Doyle granted leave to the Human Rights Law Centre to make submissions and set the appeal down for 9 August.

Kieran Pender, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said:
Richard Boyles appeal will determine the strength of protections for all Australian whistleblowers, given similar provisions exist in almost all Australian whistleblower protection laws. It is a vitally important test case with significant implications for truth and transparency in this country.

Boyle faces the spectre of jail for blowing the whistle on government wrongdoing whistleblowing that has been vindicated by several independent inquiries.

By exposing human rights abuses, government wrongdoing and corporate misdeeds, whistleblowers make Australia a better place. The Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC should fix the law and establish a whistleblower protection authority, to ensure that whistleblowers are protected, not punished. 

The Human Rights Law Centre has briefed Perry Herzfeld SC, Michelle Hamlyn and Hannah Ryan. National law firm Johnson Winter Slattery is acting for the Centre in the proceedings, led by partners Eve Thomson and Christopher Beames, senior associate Jade Tyrrell and associate Claudia Boccaccio.

Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Human Rights Law Centre
Media and Communications Manager
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au

The BBCs underhanded and dishonest tactics used to discredit and defame members of the independent media.

In this episode of the Patrick Henningsen Show on TNT Radio which aired on June 19, 2023, Patrick talks with UK-based author, artist, and antiwar activist Jason Liosatos, about his recent experience being targeted in a hit-piece by the BBC and its new self-styled disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring from BBC Verify, and her embarrassing series Marianna in Conspiracy Land where she set out to paint residents of Totnes, England as a cauldron of extremism and harmful ideas. Jason reveals the BBCs underhanded and dishonest tactics they use to discredit and defame independent media people, as well as their desperate efforts to conceal all of their own embarrassing fake news and propaganda, enabling wars based on fake claims and real disinformation. All this and more. Listen:

More from Jason at:
JasonLiosatos.com
Get a copy of his book, The Emergency Transformation of Human Beings here

TUNE-IN LIVE to TNT RADIO for the Patrick Henningsen Show every MON-FRI at 12PM-2PM (NEW YORK) | 5PM-7PM (LONDON) | 2AM-4AM (BRISBANE):
https://tntradio.liv

READ MORE PROPAGANDA NEWS AT: 21st CENTURY WIRE PROPAGANDA FILES

ALSO JOIN OUR TELEGRAM CHANNEL

SUPPORT OUR INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLATFORM  BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

Excitement around psychedelics continues to grow with thousands set to attend the Psychedelic Science conference in Denver this week. Proponents in the psychedelic space have promoted a strategy to focus on the medicalization to gain wider societal acceptance. But this could lead psychedelics to come under greater control, ensuring that they serve as profitable tools to maintain the status quo.

The Quest for Mainstream Acceptance: Magical Individual to Societal Healing

Today, in the effort to win mainstream acceptance of psychedelics, there are a number of voices in the room. Among them, the loudest are the ones who individualize illness through the medical lens while seeking legitimacy through access to powerful medical institutions, civil society, and the corporation in a proclaimed quest to heal those suffering in our society. We see anything from features in Forbes about 20-something tech billionaires microdosing to increase productivity, to 60 Minutes interviews with U.S. Iraq war veterans who report being cured from PTSD, to miracle stories of ketamine working with the poor and formerly incarcerated. Ironically, as this piece is being published, a number of these voices will be discussing and debating the path of the psychedelic renaissance at Psychedelic Science conference, taking place June 1923 and being marketed as the largest conference on psychedelics in history.

Organizationally, some of the best-known names in the psychedelic space are the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the for-profit System Fail 23 mental health company Compass Pathways, and the nonprofit Usona Institute. Many inside these organizations often promote a course of thought claiming psychedelics in and of themselves can heal anything from PTSD to societal conflict. Its as if there is a search for a balm, a real-life soma, to dissociate from the horrors of race and class. For many, psychedelics are the answer to this search.

Of those who believe psychedelics cou...

Welcome to Carbon Briefs Cropped. 
We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.

Snapshot

Many of North Americas most iconic cities were cloaked in an otherworldly orange haze earlier this month as smoke from Canadas wildfires travelled across the continent. The smog is set to return this week.

El Nio conditions have been confirmed by US and Australian weather agencies. The weather pattern is expected to take a massive toll on crops, drive up food prices and inflation. The North Atlantic is reeling under a totally unprecedented marine heatwave.

Climate change is having an unprecedented and irreversible impact on the Hindu Kush Himalayas cryosphere, a major new assessment found. Glaciers disappeared 65% faster in the 2010s than in the previous decade and could lose up to 80% of their volume by 2100.

Key developments

Canada wildfires

TOXIC FUMES: Hundreds of wildfires burned across Canada earlier this month in an unprecedented start to the nations fire season. As Carbon Brief reported in an in-depth summary of the event, huge clouds of smoke from the blaze travelled thousands of kilometres down to the eastern US in early June, shrouding cities such as New York and Washington DC in an orange haze and causing levels of toxic air pollution to reach...

June is Radiothon Month at Melbourne community radio station 3CR. Weve published a fundraiser on GiveNow to which youre welcome to contribute and help keep community radio on the air. This week on Yeah Nah Pasaran! we talk to Bill Continue reading

Objectively speaking, it would have seemed like SUCH a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, political stunts are almost always more about the execution than they are about the idea. And for James Esses self-described Irish commentator and co-founder of Thoughtful Therapists. Focusing on the impact of ideology on society and the safeguarding of children it seems execution isnt his strong point although he goes close to having a monopoly on breathtaking hypocrisy.

Our story begins yesterday, with our hero tweeting out this: I formally and publicly declare that I reject the label of cis. I dont believe in gender ideology. I dont self-identify as cis. Using this term makes me feel unsafe and is demonstrative of your hatred towards me. Anyone who uses the term cis to describe me is a bigot.

I formally and publicly declare that I reject the label of cis.

I dont believe in gender ideology. I dont self-identify as cis. Using this term makes me feel unsafe and is demonstrative of your hatred towards me. Anyone who uses the term cis to describe me is a bigot.

James Esses (@JamesEsses) June 19, 2023

Okay lefties, you gotta hand it to James, he might have a point, right? Sure, his tweet has some obvious problems: no-one for a millisecond believes James actually feels unsafe. Hes just using the language of the left to lampoon, and make a point. But even so, if people who demand to be addressed a certain way refuse to respect other peoples wishes about the way theyd like to identified its game on, right?

Well, the following day, James, now self-identifying as a victim (of online bullying and harassment), tweeted this: Yesterday, after posting a Tweet saying that I reject the word cis and dont wish to be called it, I receive a slew of messages from trans activists calling me cissy and telling me that I am cis whether or not I like it.

Yesterday, after posting a Tweet saying that I reject the word cis and dont wish to be called it, I receive a slew of messages from trans activists calling me cissy and telling me that I am cis whether or not I like it.

Just imagine if the roles were reversed.

James Esses (@JamesEsses) June 20, 2023

Interesting. At first blush, it seems like James may ha...

I recently shared a graph on Twitter and got a whole bunch of varied reactions. Twitter is a good place for quickly road-testing ideas and framings to see how theyre understood and what people push back against.

The point I was trying to make was a simple one about the costs of building new housing. Countless American cities are in need of much more housing for their residents, and a reasonable question to ask is, Whats the cheapest way to produce it? To answer that, we need to understand how development costs work.

I have a rough conceptual diagram, without hard numbers attached to it, that I use to illustrate the way the height and complexity of a residential building intersects with the cost of but first, let me actually break it up into two separate diagrams: one that shows how the cost of land for new housing changes with density, the other that shows how the cost of construction itself changes.

(For the purposes of this article, were going to ignore various forms of prefab or manufactured housing. They deserve a lot of considerationjust not here and not now.)

Land Cost vs. Density

I am joined on the podcast today 21/06/2023 by Jason Woodforth from Brisbane to break...

James E. Hanley from the American Institute for Economic Research writes

I was recently told that humanity is rapidly advancing toward solving the socialist calculation problem. I wasnt told why, but around the same time, economist Daron Acemoglu suggested that artificial intelligence could be the solution. To get literary, perhaps we are on the verge of creating the Machines, the artificial intelligences that plan the global economy in Isaac Asimovs short story, The Evitable Conflict (which became the last chapter of his book, I, Robot.) The Machines perfectly calculate the needs of humanity and organize the economic order to best provide for them, in keeping with the first law of robotics, that a robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm.

Given Asimovs insistence that the Machines were mere calculators of unimaginable speed, not super-brains, artificial intelligence could be a further step beyond Asimovs robotic brains. So could artificially intelligent Machines, at last, prove the central planners right?

No, they could not, and Ill answer the question in three ways. First, its theoretically impossible because the problem is about information generation, not the calculation of given information. Second, even if sufficient information existed to do the calculations, human incentives would always tinker with the Machines programming, biasing their performance. Third, if the machines escaped the biasing control humans, their interests would not necessarily be congruent with humanitys interests.

The Machines cannot solve the calculation problem because the real problem for central planning is not calculating existing data, but getting the data to calculate. As economist Michael Munger recently wrote, theres not a calculation problem, but a data generation problem. The calculations are supposed to direct economic activity, but the necessary data, which reveal the values of differing uses for resources, do not come into existence except as a consequence of that economic activity. 

And when it is generated, it is only fragmentary, with much of it hidden in the minds of the econo...

Linda Burney: "I've been to communities where babies are drinking sweet cordial instead of water because it is cheaper... Do not tell me [the Voice] is not needed." "I am not interested in culture wars. I am interested in Closing The Gap." pic.twitter.com/ltzLJasV9s Josh Butler (@JoshButler) June 21, 2023

Today James answers the question he received most often from the attendees of The Better Way conference in Bath: are we going to win this thing? Get ready for a bigger answer than you're expecting and a homework assignment of your own.

The new bot can help you catch up with anything you missed in a meeting, or even draft a follow-up email.

Users of the meeting transcription tool Otter will soon have access to an AI-powered assistant that can answer questions about the content of their meetings.

Read Full Story

There are 4 billion people who use email daily. Out of that, 99% check their emails at least once a day, with 58% clicking on the big M as soon as their eyes open. Believe it or not, some even check their email 20 times a day- answers why email marketing is at its peak and is expected to surge in popularity even more in the near future.

You are all set to start your email marketing campaign. But who would you send your emails to? Got a reality check? Building your email list is indeed one of the toughest tasks out there. Even the most persuasive email copy can be swept aside if you send it to someone who has no interest in your service.

The good news is, compiling an email list that surprises you with its ROI has become easier than ever before with email list brokers. List brokers are companies that curate lists of email addresses of businesses and consumers, tailored to your target audience. In brief, they provide you with a list of people you should mail to get success in your marketing campaign.

But how to spot the right broker? Is that enough? Whats next? Given below are some expert tips that are meant to guide you from finding the perfect broker to writing a killer email copy to analyzing the success of your campaign. Read till the end and champion the process.

1. Find a Suitable List Broker To Get a Targeted Email List

We have already introduced you to them. Now lets find out how to get hold of the list broker who suits your needs the best.

• Talk to people in your circle, browse the net, and conduct your research to make a list of brokers who appear potent enough to generate the results you desire.
• Visit their websites, communicate via mail or calls, and shortlist a few of them based on their response.
• Assess the following:-

Greg Knight Conservative, East Yorkshire

Will Jones The Daily Sceptic June 20, 2023

Leading doctors have concluded that the death of legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne was likely precipitated by the Covid mRNA vaccine that he had taken approximately nine months prior to his sudden cardiac death. His post mortem findings revealed coronary atherosclerosis.

Cardiologists Dr. Aseem Malhotra and Dr. Chris Neil, who is President of the Australian Medical Professionals Society, have concluded that the Covid vaccine can cause a rapid acceleration of coronary disease especially in those that may already have undetected mild disease. Dr. Malhotra has further concerns that the Covid mRNA vaccines may be masking angina by damaging heart nerves, resulting in patients not experiencing the chest pain that typically precedes a diagnosis of severe blockages in the heart arteries, leading to detection not occurring until its too late, with the first symptoms often presenting as a cardiac arrest.

Shane Warne was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Thailand in March last year.

The doctors have called for the immediate suspension of Covid mRNA vaccines globally pending an investigation into serious side-effects, including late onset heart attack and sudden cardiac death.

Shane Warnes best friend, the former international cricketer Dimitri Mascerenhas, has supported the calls, saying Shane himself wouldnt want others to be harmed.

Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra says:

Its quite unusual for former international sportsmen to suffer a sudden cardiac death at such a young age, 52. At the same time we also know Shane didnt have the healthiest lifestyle in recent years, being both overweight and a smoker. Its likely that some mild underlying furring of his arteries (as Ive seen with my own patients and how my father died) rapidly progressed in the months after he received two doses of the Pfizer mRNA Covid vaccine.

Published research already reveals the plausible biological mechanism of this occurring through increasing coronary inflammation that can last for months after the vaccine has been administered.

Other data on adverse cardiac effects including heart attack is extensive, derived from...

The "Five Eyes" is the name given to an intelligence sharing alliance, consisting of five countries; namely Australia; Canada; New Zealand; the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

https://science.nasa.gov/uap

During his presentation to the NASA public meeting on 31 May 2023, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the Director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) stated that he had recently held a forum on UAP, for the Five Eyes partners. Specifically, he said:

"I have just held our first Five Eyes forum on this subject, last week I think it was, or earlier this week. Dan was there. And, we have, we've entered into discussions with our partners on data sharing; how they do reporting; what kind of analysis can they help us with; what kind of calibration can they help us with; what can we help them with? We are establishing all of that right now and they're going to end up sending their information and data to us to feed into the process that we've laid out for how we are going to do all this."

Asked what the "Five Eyes" was, Kirkpatrick responded that it was the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States. 

Who attended?

A number of individuals set out to seek comment from these five countries concerning Kirkpatrick's  statement about the holding of a Five Eyes forum on UAP. Here's what we know so far.

New Zealand

(a) In a tweet dated 16 June 2023, the UK's Christopher Sharp, senior contributing journalist for the Daily Mail newspaper reported that a spokesperson advised:

"An NZDF representative based in Washington DC attended the meeting. For more information you will need to contact US aut...

Last December, I closed this blog to new posts. Since then I have spent my available UAP study time, on several projects as I described in that final December blog post. I cleaned up my digital files; so that I could actually find things; re-studied classic Australian cases; and re-read my files on some of the classic global cases. Not having the pressure of writing up the details of a time sensitive UAP revelation, in blog articles has been wonderful. As some of you will no doubt have seen, I did make time to update some of the blog articles of the past, namely the ones on NASA's UAP study efforts; and AARO. 

Now, it is time to go from "A change of direction" to return to writing and publishing articles on this blog; which I have titled "Back in the 'write' direction."

Keith.  

BREAKING: @BlackRock Recruiter Who Decides Peoples Fate Spills Info on Companys World Impact Its not who the president is- its whos controlling the wallet of the president You got $10K? You can buy a senator" War is real f***ing good for business #BlackRockExposed pic.twitter.com/DZIy1DuZKF James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) June 20,...

The Western Australian Parliament has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the health and equality of women and all people who experience pregnancy by reforming the states outdated abortion laws.

The Cook Government today introduced the Abortion Legislation Reform Bill 2023 into the Lower House. If it passes, the proposed laws will allow patients to decide, in consultation with their healthcare provider, whether to have an abortion up to 23 weeks, after which two doctors would need to be involved in decision-making. The Bill would also remove abortion from the states criminal laws, together with harmful legal hurdles to abortion care. Doctors with a conscientious objection to abortion would need to ensure that their patients know where to get help.

Western Australia is the only state yet to fully decriminalise abortion by qualified medical practitioners. While abortion is legal in most circumstances, the use of the criminal law to regulate healthcare stigmatises patients and care providers.

WAs current laws force patients to see two doctors before being able to access abortion care and mandate counselling in all cases. They also force a small number of women in the distressing and complex situation of needing an abortion after 20 weeks to fly interstate to access care that should be available in WA. These legal requirements are medically unjustified and make it harder for patients, especially those in regional and remote areas and on limited incomes, to get timely and compassionate healthcare.

Adrianne Walters, Acting Legal Director with the Human Rights Law Centre, said:

Abortion is healthcare. Access to abortion is a human right. We commend Minster Sanderson and the Cook Government for taking this step to improve WAs abortion laws.

WAs abortion laws have failed to keep up with modern medical practice and community values. The current laws are outdated and include medically unnecessary rules that are barriers to timely abortion care, particularly for women living remotely or without much money.

The Bill, if passed, would support better reproductive health outcomes across Western Australia. The removal of barriers, such as mandated counselling, the two-doctor requirement and the medical panel requirement for abortions after 20 weeks, are critical to improving access to care and health outcomes.

It is beyond time for abortion to be treated like healthcare in law and for the focus to be on the health, dignity and autonomy of patients.

Read the Human Rights Law Centres submission to inform the government's drafting of new abortion laws: Abortion as healthcare in law 

Ep. 5 As in most of the developing world, it's safer to be the president's son than his opponent. pic.twitter.com/AtRRaxYSjs Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 20, 2023

Old castanet-hands is at it again.

In the field of disability support, individuals with a deep sense of compassion and a desire to make a positive impact often pursue a Cert 3 in Disability. This certification, formally known as Certificate III in Individual Support (Disability), equips professionals with the necessary knowledge, skills, and understanding to provide exceptional care and support to individuals with disabilities.

The Cert 3 in Disability is a nationally recognised vocational qualification in Australia designed to empower individuals to make a difference in the lives of those with disabilities. It encompasses a comprehensive curriculum that covers a wide range of topics essential for practical disability support. From understanding the diverse nature of disabilities to promoting independence, from personal care support to facilitating community participation, the certification delves into various aspects of disability support.

A Cert 3 in Disability in the disability support sector cannot be overstated. It serves as a benchmark of competency and professionalism, ensuring that support workers possess the necessary skills and knowledge to meet the desired needs of individuals with disabilities. By completing this certification, professionals demonstrate their commitment to delivering person-centred care, fostering independence, and promoting inclusivity.

Not only does a Cert 3 in Disability provide individuals with a solid foundation in disability support, but it also opens up numerous career opportunities in the sector. This certification allows individuals to explore roles in disability support agencies, group homes, respite care facilities, or community-based programs. Employers often prioritise candidates with formal qualifications in disability support, making Cert 3 an invaluable asset for career advancement and job security.

In essence, a Cert 3 in Disability goes beyond mere qualification. It represents a genuine commitment to improving the lives of individuals with disabilities and positively impacting the disability support sector. By acquiring this certification, professionals embark on a rewarding journey of compassion, empathy, and empowerment, enriching the lives of those they support and contributing to a more inclusive society.

Understanding Cert 3 in Disability:

• Certificate III in Individual Support (Disability) is Australias nationally recognised vocational qualification.
• It provides training in supporting individuals with disabilities in various settings.
• Topics covered include understanding disability, promoting independence, personal care support, community participation, and behaviour support strategies.
• The training involves theory-based learnin......

The Reserve Bank of Australia has finally acknowledged that corporate price hikes at least play a role in Australias inflation woes despite earlier this year demanding research by a respected think-tank which showed as much be withdrawn.

The minutes of the latest meeting of the RBA board, held earlier this month, acknowledged that price gouging by corporations created an increased risk that high inflation would remain. Yet earlier this year, the Reserve was highly critical of research from the Australia Institute which asserted that corporate price gouging, and the associated record profits generated by it, were a far more potent driver of Australias inflation crisis than modestly rising wages.

In its research, the Australia Institute questioned why the RBA had persistently cited wage growth as a concern, when increases were well beneath the rate of inflation, but had ignored price hikes and profits, when corporations were increasing prices well above the rate of inflation. The RBA was so critical, in fact, that the Reserve Bank, urged the Australia Institute to retract the report.

This month, the RBA minutes of the most recent board meeting acknowledge that corporate greed is a risk to inflation.

Some firms were indexing their prices, either implicitly or directly, to past inflation. These developments created an increased risk that high inflation would be persistent, which would make it more difficult to keep the economy on the narrow path, the minutes read.

Greg Jericho, policy director at the Australia Institutes Centre for Future Work, said he hoped the RBA might now be more inclined to stop punishing everyday Australians and blaming their modest, below-inflation wage rises for creating pressure on the economy.

Companies are the ones that set prices, not workers, Jericho said. The Reserve Bank has finally acknowledged that companies are not merely responding to market forces or increased costs but are increasing prices because they can take advantage of the inflation crisis to increase their margins.

This is consistent with the OECDs recent research that found profits were driving inflation not just in Australia but across many advanced economies, as well as earlier Australia Institute research.

Now, finally the Reserve Bank has itself acknowledged the role companies are playing in keeping inflation high even as the Reserve Bank acknowledges wage growth remains consistent with the inflation target, said Dr Jericho.

The post...

The taxpayer funded lodge. How far up himself is this bloke?

All headlines that erase victims and perpetrators are dehumanising, misleading, and lazy. This one is even worse because the article reports something everyone should read.

A man raped a woman. This is abhorrent, but not uncommon. The woman was able to report the rape to police. The police believed her, investigated and charged the rapist. The DPP took the case to trial and the man was convicted of rape. This series of events is remarkable.

The defence lawyer claimed the rapist was a vulnerable man who had experienced a great deal of psychological distress. This is entirely unremarkable.

Judge Gaynors response: It is not for men, such as your client, to take out their own emotional anguish and difficulties by the sexual assault of a young woman.

Some men see women as an object to assist them, or something to help themselves to in a time of personal difficulty.

(There is) this notion of a man in turmoil something clicks over in his head and the way to relieve that is by sexually assaulting a woman. Men cannot and must not, and if they do there will be very strong consequences.

In addition to the rape, the woman also told the court about the online comments shes seen making jokes and memes about the rape, and blaming her for the rapists choice to rape her.

Judge Gaynor, who clearly doesnt spend much time online, said this was extraordinary I cannot believe people can be so hideously cruel.

Judge Gaynors comments might be more incisive than most, but they are far more typical of the things said court than you might believe if you only ever read news reports.

Public institutions, such as courts, media, parliament, and police are structured to protect men from consequences of committing sexual violence and punish women for being victims of sexually violent men. Sometimes, when I see or hear a judge say the things Judge Gaynor said, I start to believe we can change those structures. Then I remember that you could fill the MCG twice over with all the women who have been sexually assaulted in a single year in Australia and the men convicted would fit in the members bars with room to spare.

and I think of the endless media articles implicitly or explicitly blaming victims and defending perpetrators, and the parliaments that make laws to enforce this behaviour. One exceptional judge and one remarkable outcome is not change.

Not yet.

When it comes to window treatments, plantation shutters have long been favoured for their timeless elegance and versatility. Among the various materials available, aluminium plantation shutters stand out as an exceptional choice, offering a range of benefits that set them apart from other options.

In this blog post, we will explore the advantages of aluminium plantation shutters and shed light on the differences between aluminium and PVC or wood shutters.

• Affordability
  
  Aluminium plantation shutters offer excellent value for your investment. While they may have a slightly higher upfront cost compared to some other materials, their long-term benefits and durability make them a cost-effective choice. With their resistance to wear and tear, you wont need to replace them as frequently as other window treatments, saving you money in the long run.
• Ease of Installation
  
  One of the advantages of aluminium plantation shutters is their ease of installation. They are typically designed to fit a variety of window sizes and can be custom-made to your specifications. Many manufacturers provide detailed installation instructions, and if you prefer professional assistance, there are experienced installers available. With their lightweight construction, aluminium shutters are relatively easy to handle and install, making the process smooth and hassle-free.
• Insulation Performance
  
  Up to 40% of your homes heating energy is lost through the windows, while, in summer, up to 87% of heat is gained through the windows. Aluminium plantation shutters offer excellent insulation properties, helping to regulate temperature and reduce energy consumption.The air pockets created by the louvred design of the shutters act as a buffer between the window and the interior space, providing an additional layer of insulation. This insulation helps to block out heat during the hot summer months and retain warmth in colder seasons, allowing for better control over your indoor climate. As a result, you can save money on heating and cooling costs. This makes aluminium the perfect material for living room or bedroom plantation shutters.
• Durability
  
  Aluminium plantation shutters are highly durable and built to withstand various environmental conditions. Unlike other materials prone to warping, cracking, or fading, aluminium shutters are resistant to moisture, corrosion, and UV rays. This durability ensures that your shutters will maintain their structural integrity and aesthetic appeal for years to come. With only minimal maintenance requirements, aluminium shutters offer a long-lasting solution that can handle the demands of daily u...

Equality doesnt pan out in real life like it does in the movies. pic.twitter.com/oCMwKLmjx3 Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 19, 2023

How do you say thank you to Seeker of Truth? Magnificent work, as always. Here's the Truth Seeker! Thomas Mayo (aka Thomas Mayor) was a protege of Brian Manning, a MUA activist working on the Darwin wharves when young Thomas put his hand up to be an Organiser for the...

Properly tackling climate change requires open discussions and hard questions, in particular of people who might have already made up their minds about the best way forward. Geoff Russell explains.

I attended a Greens Party fundraiser recently in Adelaide. I didnt do a head-count of Animal Justice Party (AJP) members in attendance, but I know I wasnt alone. Many AJP members have a complex relationship with the Greens. Tammy Franks, Greens Member of the South Australian Legislative Council, has been a terrific advocate on animal issues in State Parliament and Ive worked with her on many occasions, either campaigning on shared concerns or arranging preferences during elections, and the like.

The night was full of all the things I love about the Greens, quiz questions about critters, pictures of just the eye of an animal asking you to name the species, or, even harder, having to tag a sound with its species name. Can anybody think of another quiz night where tables would nominate a representative to get up on stage and perform their favourite animal sound?

Environmental politics is full of warm touchy feely issues about cute or rare animals; as well as the not so cute. Interest in wildlife is deep and emotional for many of us, even if we are ignorant of the facts and analysis that a professional ecologist would bring to the table.

But however strong an emotional connection to land or its wild plants or animals might be, it doesnt guarantee sensible policy; not on its own. So Id have had a smattering of challenging educational questions. The kind of questions that expand your horizons, shrink your comfort zone and allow you to make truly rational policy decisions.

For example, how many tonnes of mined quartz do Uyghurs have to crush with big hammers to make a thousand megawatts of solar panels? Where does most of the worlds polysilicon in solar photovoltaic (PV) panels come from? You might like to read this for clues.

In the fie...

This Machine Kills is a fascinating podcast that tackles techno-dystopia and political economy. I was interviewed on its latest episode about my new book, The Palestine Laboratory:

The post This Machine Kills tackles The Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

Great work from the team at Advance Australia. Magnificent work. https://www.advanceaustralia.org.au Send this to your friends. NB - the Maritime Union of Australia shirt is a bit of a giveaway!

TikTok is one of the biggest apps in the world so its pleasing to see this pro-Palestine account, with a large following, talking positively about my new book, The Palestine Laboratory:

@anat_international Thank you @VersoBooks ???????? #palestine #books #palestinebooks #booktok #bookmail original sound anat_international

The post When TikTok welcomes The Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

Real old style tin and fibro Australia!

Fantastic Dave - fair enough - well said mate.

In their own words.

Daniel Ellsberg, the defence analyst and whistleblower, made famous for his role in the exposure of President Nixons 1972 Watergate scandal, and who more recently, was a leading supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, passed away from pancreatic cancer last Friday. He was 92. Elsberg was the real-life character behind the film all the Presidents Men. Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy wrote the following tribute to the great man (LA Progressive 19 June 2023).

When Daniel Ellsberg died on Friday, the world lost a transcendent whistleblower with a powerful ethos of compassion and resolve.

Ellsbergs renown for openly challenging the mentalities of militarism began on June 23, 1971, when he appeared on CBS Evening News ten days after news broke about the Pentagon Papers that hed provided to journalists. Ellsberg pointedly said that in the 7,000 pages of top-secret documents, I dont think there is a line in them that contains an estimate of the likely impact of our policy on the overall casualties among Vietnamese or the refugees to be caused, the effects of defoliation in an ecological sense. Theres neither an estimate nor a calculation of past effects, ever.

Video from KTLA

And he added: The documents simply reflect the internal concerns of our officials. That says nothing more nor less that that our o gficials never did concern themselves with the effect of our policies on the Vietnamese.

Ellsberg told anchor Walter Cronkite: I think we cannot let the officials of the Executive Branch determine for us what it is that the public needs to know about how well and how they are discharging their functions.

The functions of overseeing the war on Vietnam had become repugnant to Ellsberg a...

We (the consumers/shoppers according to their labels) are told/enticed/guilted/taxed into devoting a lot of resources in order to (allegedly) save the planet.

The problem there is that the manufacturers, corporations and governments are realistically in charge of this.

E-waste is a huge problem, both financially for the consumers and a burden on the environment which could have been being solved a few decades ago, but the corporations profits are of utmost priority or importance where governments 'support' this as, it's all about the economy.

For example, proprietary phone chargers could have been dealt with a couple of decades ago, but the manufacturers deliberately have not agreed on a so called standard, where the alleged pressure form governments now is too little too late.

In the case of printers, cartridges are deliberately priced where they can be more expensive than a purchase of a new printer with cartridges, where even manufactures chip the ink cartridge in order to gouge the customer for the consumable, another government 'supported' action against the consumer. 

The Voice. For a Privileged few.

Thank you Advance Australia for this excellent summary. THE DIVISIVE VOICE, IN THE WORDS OF THOMAS MAYO What is this Voice to Parliament really about? Lets ask Thomas Mayo, the union official and self-described militant who wrote the book on the proposed constitutional change. He sits on Prime Minister Anthony...

Negotiating the purchase of a property can be a challenge, no matter what side of the equation youre on. Whether youre a buyer trying to secure a fair deal or a seller hoping to maximise your profit, mastering the art of negotiating is a delicate balance. In this blog post, well explore 5 essential tips to help you navigate property negotiations successfully in the tough Australian market.

Research and Market Knowledge

Before you enter into any negotiation, make sure youve conducted plenty of research and have a deep understanding of the current market conditions in Australia and the specific neighbourhood the property is located in.

You can do this by analysing recent property sales in the area, considering the average sales prices and staying on top of any local market trends. With this knowledge in your back pocket, youll be in the best position to make informed decisions and negotiate from an ideal position.

Set Clear Goals and Prioritise

Having clearly defined goals and objectives is key to a successful negotiation. Regardless of whether youre a buyer or a seller, make sure you determine what your non-negotiables are. This might be the maximum price youre willing to pay or the minimum youre willing to accept, but can also include location, property condition, potential for future growth and more.

Once you have your objectives prioritised, you can stand firm during negotiations and remain confident in both where you stand firm and where youre willing to compromise.

Understand a Sellers Motivations

If youre a buyer, then its in your best interest to try and uncover the sellers motivations during negotiations. Are they in a hurry to sell due to a tight deadline? Or maybe theyre experiencing financial difficulties? Whatever the case, having insight into their situation can help provide you with an advantage during negotiations and allow you to make smarter decisions.

If the seller is motivated, then you have a good chance of securing a better deal or negotiating more favourable terms. Dont be afraid to engage in conversations and ask plenty of open-ended questions to gather insights that can help inform your negotiation strategy going forward.

Leverage Professional Representation

Working with a qualified and experienced real estate agent or buyers or...