PHOTOS FRIDAY

joe6pack Uncategorized

During the week there was a very interesting display of Photo,s from Bushfirebill and some discussion about what lenses were used and there respective merits. All over the top of my head but all very informative. It,s Friday so put up your favorite photos no matter what the subject .here are a few of mine taken with disposable cameras with some sort of film.

Bluey Takeoff

bluey-in-flight20170303_172330-1

More  Freeloaders20170303_172812.jpg

The  addition to the rustic pool shack with Ned’s Hill in the background.

20170303_173152

Beat them pics with your fancy 3’2 5″9 Lenses

 

 

491 thoughts on “PHOTOS FRIDAY”

    • @TLBD

      I should add that state referendums are usually only done if the party initiating the referendum is assured of a relatively strong majoritiy in favour of the proposition. If it’s a weak government, then they would simply try to bury the proposition and pretend it never happened. The only chance of a referendum being pushed is if the governing party has a strong chance of their idea being voted for in the affirmative.

      Mainly because if they hold a referendum and their idea is shot down by the electorate, it can dramatically cut short any electoral authority they might have in that term.

  2. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    As a hapless Malcolm Turnbull tries to hold a fragmenting Liberal Party together, commentary focused on individual failures is overlooking that a once in a century political realignment is occurring. Interesting.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/malcolm-turnbull-is-facing-a-oncein50years-upheaval-to-politics-20170308-guu0bo.html
    Andrew Probyn tells us that Turnbull is set to take the lead role in delivering the government’s economic pitch in the lead-up to May’s federal budget, amid concern inside the Coalition that Treasurer Scott Morrison’s efforts are no longer enough. He also looks at what cabinet changes are in the offing.
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/03/09/turnbull-to-take-lead-on-economy-from-treasurer/
    The SMH editorialises its concern that in chasing value for money Guthrie might compromise the ABC’s independence and integrity.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/guthries-abc-shapes-up-but-fears-linger-20170308-guty4u.html
    The Liberal-Nationals governing alliance in Western Australia is unravelling on the eve of -tomorrow’s state election, after an 11th-hour Liberal Party push to “gut” the Royalties for Regions program that has delivered ¬billions of dollars to the bush since 2008. Google.
    /national-affairs/state-politics/wa-election/wa-election-turmoil-for-colin-barnett-as-nationals-revolt-over-regions-cuts/news-story/ccb02546a97d115af97f199262dc5131
    Michelle Grattan says that PHON has blown the WA election but asks, “Will her supporters care?”
    https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-one-nation-blows-wa-campaign-but-will-hansons-supporters-care-74330
    Tesla has thrown down a hell of a challenge here saying that within 100 days it could roll out a battery storage solution for SA.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy/tesla-says-its-batteries-could-fix-australias-energy-problems-in-100-days-20170309-guum3v.html
    There seems to be a lot of uncertainty underlying the UK budget as the country heads towards Brexit.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/britains-budget-driving-blind-into-oncoming-brexit-20170308-gutzzd.html
    Morrison is working on a UK system to kick start the building of affordable housing.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/scott-morrison-examining-new-ways-to-kick-tens-of-millions-into-community-housing-20170308-guu145.html
    John Hewson uses housing to explain that one of the main reasons why the anti-establishment movement is gaining considerable momentum in our politics is that key policy issues have been ignored and just left to drift, some now reaching crisis proportions. He says responses must be milti-faceted.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-risk-is-greater-than-the-gfc-if-we-cant-fix-the-housing-crisis-20170309-guu4sf.html
    Hanson has issued a rather pathetic apology about her remarks on vaccinations.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/i-was-wrong-pauline-hanson-apologises-for-vaccine-allergy-remarks-20170309-guuiup.html

  3. Section 2 . . .

    And Richo says to Hanson, “Ignorance isn’t bliss once you blurt iy out Pauline!’ Google.
    /opinion/columnists/graham-richardson/ignorance-isnt-bliss-once-you-blurt-it-out-pauline-hanson/news-story/d56610830ee4fbc5a41609e63f454a26
    David Crowe says that the Turnbull government is launching a belated defence of the controversial Fair Work decision to scale back Sunday penalty rates, as cabinet ministers meet today to hatch a political strategy to convince voters of the need for job-creating changes. They are going to need evidence! Google.
    /national-affairs/industrial-relations/coalition-to-come-out-swinging-on-penalty-rates-as-howard-heckled/news-story/be40865707c37a7c28533ced157c8026
    Andrew Street, recent new father, uses his experience to make some points about parenthood.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/how-parenthood-taught-me-the-importance-of-safe-abortion-20170309-guu6rn.html
    Eight of the world’s largest oil companies are responsible for as much of the climate-damaging pollution spewed into the atmosphere as the entire US, according to a study by a London-based researcher.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy/study-shows-eight-fossil-fuel-companies-seen-polluting-as-much-as-the-entire-us-20170308-gutxaj.html
    A bit more trouble for Gladys.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/catherine-cusack-resigns-as-parliamentary-secretary-20170309-guun8m.html
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/completely-untrue-staffer-contradicts-mp-accused-of-bullying-20170309-guu56b.html
    And on top of this Sean Nicholls writes that Berejiklian is hiding in plain sight and needs to show the public what she really stands for.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/invisible-premier-gladys-berejiklian-needs-to-show-the-public-what-she-stands-for-20170308-guu3am.html
    A deal to block foreign donations in Australian politics has broken down over the inclusion of activist groups, with no agreement between the Coalition and Labor expected in a parliamentary report to be issued on Friday.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/nationals-call-for-foreign-donations-ban-to-exempt-those-with-genuine-involvement-in-australia-20170308-gutaxa.html
    At last realisation seems to be dawning on Turnbull (and his string pullers?) that the energy crisis is not being solely caused by renewables.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-calls-energy-crisis-talks-amid-gas-shortage-blackout-warnings-20170309-guualc.html
    Meanwhile the CEO of Environment Victoria writes that Turnbull needs a reality check and that he’s already lost the war on renewables.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/reality-check-malcolm-youve-already-lost-the-war-on-renewables-20170309-guu4fq.html

  4. Section 3 . . .

    Here’s Laura Tingle’s take on the energy crisis. Google.
    /opinion/columnists/laura-tingle/malcolm-turnbull-climate-policy-and-the-policy-race-to-keep-the-power-on-20170308-gutqyp
    Childcare peak bodies, the key beneficiaries of $1.6 billion in funding under the government’s omnibus bill, have slammed the government for tying its funding boost to savings from “vulnerable Australians”.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/childcare-industry-slams-governments-omnibus-bill-20170309-guu9nk.html
    Centrelink’s indiscriminate use of a 10% recovery fee on welfare debts could be unlawful, welfare rights groups believe.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/mar/09/centrelinks-use-of-10-debt-recovery-fee-could-be-unlawful-welfare-groups-say
    Michael Clanchy on the atmospherics of the Centrelink robo-debt debacle.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-atmospherics-of-the-centrelink-robo-debt-debacle,10094
    And Tudge is getting quite precious over criticism.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/mar/09/centrelink-critics-have-philosophical-objection-to-welfare-compliance-checks-says-minister
    And just to add to Tudge’s woes public servants at Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support will start an “open-ended” campaign of strikes to force an end to their marathon industrial dispute with the Department of Human Services.
    http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/centrelink-medicare-and-child-support-workers-will-take-fresh-strike-action-20170308-gutgtc.html
    The much-heralded appearance of the JSF at the Avalon aviation show was quite a flop.
    https://independentaustralia.net/article-display/disaster-at-avalon-the-f-35-strikes-out,10093
    Prominent Adelaide northern suburbs lawyer Anthony Perre — the son of NCA bombing suspect Domenic Perre — has been charged over the discovery of an elaborate underground drug-growing bunker hidden at his home. Nice family! Google.
    /news/law-order/prominent-lawyer-anthony-perre-son-of-nca-bombing-suspect-dominic-perre-charged-after-drug-raid-on-bunker-under-home/news-story/b84829058376e2e82d34d509e7a86509
    Lucy Turnbull’s Greater Sydney Commission faces an uphill battle to convince Sydney councils of the merits of its vision for the city. They want infrastructure, not just more housing.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/councils-push-greater-sydney-commission-for-infrastructure–not-just-houses-20170309-guu5iz.html
    Republicans have been telling a white lie, but nothing about it is little. Specifically, it’s a lie to poor white voters that Republicans have their best interests at heart – and crucially, that theirs is the party that will best protect those interests.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/09/republicans-healthcare-poor-voters-representation-jason-chaffetz

  5. Section 4 . . .

    Just another example of Trump’s madness as doctors warn of the dangers of deregulation of the pharmaceutical industry.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/donald-trumps-fda-plans-could-affect-drug-regulation-in-australia-leading-medic-warns-20170308-gutgfq.html
    Trump has a self-defeating and dangerous obsession with Obama. Google.
    /opinion/columnists/laura-tingle/malcolm-turnbull-climate-policy-and-the-policy-race-to-keep-the-power-on-20170308-gutqyp
    Insurers are deliberately using medical disclosure forms to deny claims from customers, experts have warned, as the CommInsure scandal heightens fears that many policies could be worthless.
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/money/your-budget/2017/03/09/insurance-tactic/

  6. Section 5 . . . Cartoon Corner Part 1

    Ron Tandberg really hits the mark with this one on housing affordability.

    Alan Moir with a political malady sweeping through Canberra.

    Cathy Wilcox on yesterday’s call for the reintroduction of bible studies into public schools.

    More lovely contributions from Mark David.


    David Rowe and some interesting plumbing.

    More from Rowe as he gives us the Deplorable Snowman.

  8. Here’s the correct link to the story of Trump’s Obama obsession. Google.
    /news/politics/world/donald-trumps-selfdefeating-and-dangerous-obama-obsession-20170308-gutz49

  9. Around lunch time, an announcement was made that the flight from Amberley had been cancelled due to thunderstorms and the JSF had not yet been fitted with lightening protection. Are you kidding me? It sounded like BS, so I checked Brisbane weather radar — guess what, not a storm in sight.

    The storms weren’t over Brisbane (if only…) – they were over northern NSW.

    The F-111 was heavily criticised – and they weren’t stupid enough to make a VTOL version. The carrier version didn’t go ahead, but it turned out to be a great strike aircraft. The F-35 has some wrinkles to iron out, but it’s not the flop some want it to be (the Russians?)

  11. It’s all Labor’s fault, according to Tudge.

    Fran questioned that and all the other rubbish Tudge claimed.

    Tudge lied his arse off throughout in a disgraceful performance.

    Download it here.
    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/alan-tudge-defends-centrelink-robodebt-program/8338292

    • Wow, Alan Tudge is unrepresentative swill who lives in a parallel universe devoid of empathy. One of the LNP who believe there are 50,000 Australians and all the rest are livestock

      In this interview he lies
      1. 1800 number
      2. length of wait time
      3. releasing personal file to journo – he did

      He still calling 100s and 100s and 1000s welfare recipients liars and thieves

    • Don’t forget Centrelink reserves the right to trawl welfare recipients files multiple times, ie you think you paid the debt then they come back for a second bite of the cherry as they [centrelink] promise to review individual tax returns ( that will go well)

  12. The Russian Scare

    Full disclosure: I’ve met with Russians. I met with a Russian this morning. She brought me coffee. Such crazy and dangerous things can occur in Moscow. I am afraid the CIA and NSA could take notice of this meeting, and then it can be used – even against you. “You have perused an article by Israel Shamir. Were you aware he had Russian contacts?”

    Though I am not too young, this is the first time I have witnessed such a witch-hunt. In Russia, there are many foreigners, Europeans and Americans as well, and Russians mingle with them freely, with no fear. The Russians are not afraid to meet with the US Ambassador; they are rather proud of the occasion. When the US Ambassador throws a party or holds a reception, all who-is-who in Moscow come to Spaso-House, the residence.

    Even in Stalin’s days, the Russians went to the reception, and Mikhail Bulgakov depicted such a reception as Satan’s ball in his Master and Margarita. In recent years, all Russian opposition figures have visited the US ambassador and had had hearty chats with him…

    The US political class has brought this calamity upon itself. If whoever met the Russian ambassador or a Russian government minister, or the Russian president (God forbid) is unsuitable for governing, the whole top layer of American politicians would be disqualified. Last year even Jill Stein, the super-kosher woman of the US politics, the Green Party candidate for president, visited Moscow and had a place at the table with Putin, before flying back and asking to recount the Wisconsin vote.

    http://www.unz.com/ishamir/

  13. The liberal roots of Islamophobia

    Today’s worst Islamophobes are not hailing from the ranks of the far-right movement, instead they claim to be liberals.

    Today, the world attention is rightly drawn to top Islamophobes like Stephen Bannon and Sebastian Gorka or the conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney and their ilk, all and more congregating around Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

    Hidden from sight under their disguise is a far more pernicious version of the illness in the far more popular liberal circles best represented by the mass-media manufactured court jesters like Bill Maher and his sidekick Sam Harris.

    If you were to ask me who is the single most pestiferous American Islamophobe alive today I will not say Bannon, Michael Flynn, Stephan Miller, or even Gorka, all of them now chief among the career opportunist zealot Crusaders cheering Trump on.

    I would say, without a moment of hesitation, Maher and Harris, and before he passed away that careerist Christopher Hitchens, are far more dangerous Stormtrooper lieutenants of Islamophobia.

    These liberal Islamophobes are finagling their hatred of Muslims with smiling faces, silly jokes, phony arguments, forced laughter and manufactured consent – with the full cooperation of otherwise perfectly respectable outlets.

    Masses of millions of Americans are out demonstrating against those notorious racists gathered around Trump. Maher and Harris are snake oil charmers selling their hate on prime time television.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/03/liberal-roots-islamophobia-170302152226572.html

  14. Imperialist wars and interventions fuel refugee crisis in Africa

    Large numbers of persons fleeing war and famine in sub-Saharan Africa are transiting through Libya in a desperate effort to reach Europe, UNICEF reported last week…

    There are 5.5 million Africans currently refugees in other countries, while 11 million Africans are displaced within their home countries, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) reported in January. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says 18 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of becoming refugees in the coming year.

    The tide of refugees comes predominantly from countries where the United States and its European allies have intervened most heavily. In Africa, just as in the Middle East, decades of imperialist warfare have shattered entire societies and turned large sections of the population into refugees. This is the most important factor underlying the huge exodus of dispossessed people now struggling to reach European shores…

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/09/refu-m09.html

  15. Is It Better to Be Poor in Bangladesh or the Mississippi Delta?

    Angus Deaton studies the grand questions not just of economics but of life. What makes people happy? How should we measure well-being? Should countries give foreign aid? What can and should experiments do? Is inequality increasing or decreasing? Is the world getting better or worse?..

    Better, he believes, truly better. But not everywhere or for everyone. This week, in a speech at a conference held by the National Association for Business Economics, Deaton, the Nobel laureate and emeritus Princeton economist, pointed out that inequality among countries is decreasing, while inequality within countries is increasing. China and India are making dramatic economic improvements, while parts of sub-Saharan Africa are seeing much more modest gains. In developed countries, the rich have gotten much richer while the middle class has shriveled. A study he coauthored with the famed Princeton economist Anne Case highlights one particularly dire outcome: Mortality is actually increasing for middle-aged white Americans, due in no small part to overdoses and suicides—so-called “deaths of despair.” (Case also happens to be Deaton’s wife. More on that later.)

    Deaton sat down with me after his speech. We talked about whether poor people are better off here or in low-income countries, the moral ambiguities of companies making money off of Medicaid-financed OxyContin prescriptions, which is the nicest conservative think tank in Washington, what is going on with white people and mortality, and the charms of former-President Obama. The transcript below has been edited for concision and clarity.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/03/angus-deaton-qa/518880/

  16. Lynne Stewart, Lawyer Imprisoned in Terrorism Case, Dies at 77

    Lynne F. Stewart, a radical-leftist lawyer who gained wide notice for representing violent, self-described revolutionaries and who spent four years in prison herself, convicted of aiding terrorism, died on Tuesday at her home in Brooklyn. She was 77…

    A former librarian and teacher, she had taken up the law in the cause of social justice after seeing the squalor in the area around the public school in Harlem where she taught. She built a reputation for representing the poor and the reviled, usually for modest, court-paid fees.

    Believing that the American political and capitalist system needed “radical surgery,” as Ms. Stewart put it, she sympathized with clients who sought to fight that system, even with violence, although she did not always endorse their tactics, she said.

    One such client was Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric who was found guilty in 1995 of leading a plot to blow up New York City landmarks, including the United Nations, after some of his followers had driven a powerful bomb into a garage beneath the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six people. Ms. Stewart would visit him in prison, where he was serving a life sentence in solitary confinement. Her death came less than three weeks after his: He died in prison on Feb. 18.

    Ms. Stewart was convicted in 2005 of helping to smuggle messages from the imprisoned sheikh to his violent followers in Egypt. Her prison sentence, initially set at 28 months, was later increased to 10 years after an appeals court ordered the trial judge to consider a longer term.

  17. The High Court has finished a recount of the WA’s Senate vote and it seems Rod Culleton’s brother-in-law Peter Georgiou has officially been named as his replacement as Senator.

    http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/peter-georgiou-to-replace-rod-culleton-as-wa-senator-20170309-guv1mp.html

    I wonder, has anyone found any information on what Georgiou is like? Will he be loyal to Hanson? Or is he more inclined to back his brother-in-law and eventually sit as an Independent?

    • I don’t think relations between Georgiou and Hanson would be at all cordial after the things she said about Culleton.

      There was this comment, a month ago –

      But behind the scenes, Coalition, Labor and Greens strategists were quietly calculating the odds that Mr Georgiou could also “go rogue” and whether any lingering family loyalty to Mr Culleton’s pet causes – like his noisy anti-bank campaign – could be capitalised in the 45th parliament.

      The 42-year-old son of Greek migrants, Mr Georgiou, and Mr Culleton agree on a lot of issues.

      Months before Friday’s High Court decision to have a recount and distribution of Mr Culleton’s now in-eligible votes, Mr Georgiou told Fairfax Media that Australia should do its part to receive migrants regardless of their religious views, so long as any skilled migration program gave Australian workers first preferences for local jobs.

      He also told Fairfax Media in November he was quite “fond of Paul Keating”

      http://www.afr.com/news/politics/election/pauline-hanson-happy-at-senator-upgrade-as-peter-georgiou-replaces-rod-culleton-20170202-gu4jos

      I’m hoping he decides to go independent. Don’t forget, Culleton ‘went rogue’ because Hanson lied to him. Before the election Hanson told her senate candidates they would be able to vote n whatever way they thought best, but after the election it became ‘do as you are told’. Culleton didn’t agree with some of Hanson’s views and so he quit the party.

  18. Jaeger

    The carrier version didn’t go ahead, but it turned out to be a great strike aircraft.

    Ours had both the wings and landing gear from the ditched carrier version.

  20. I should think that it should now make clear that “a vote for PHON is a vote for the Libs” …

    One can only hope that the sheer chaos and confusion that Ms Hanson seems to have created in her own party will lead to a much smaller return of votes to her claque (because it surely cannot be termed a party any more?)
    Mind you, I’m not counting an ALP win until next week when the counting is finished. As others have learnt in the last year, relying on the press to predict the outcome can be a bit of a let down.

  23. There will be quite a lot of WA candidates and their terms keeping a very close eye on what One Nation does tomorrow. They will be looking for any breaches to electoral laws that might allow a challenge to results.

    The other day we had reports of One Nation how to vote papers breaching the electoral laws because they didn’t have the name of the printer on them.

    Last night Hanson held a meeting where she offered to shout a beer for the first 100. Free pizza was also provided.This could have been in breach of the Electoral Act 1907. The event went ahead, I don’t know if the freebies did or not.

    One Nation’s Perth pub event ‘unacceptable and unlawful’
    http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/wa-election-2017/one-nations-perth-pub-event-unacceptable-and-unlawful-20170309-guugoc.html

    It’s clear Hanson and her team have taken no notice of the rules and instead have just been doing their own thing. It would be quite a hoot if this lack of attention was their undoing.

  25. Without wishing to be unkind to Bill Leak, I’m wondering whether his death won’t be at least in part attributed to the stress of fighting his 18c case.

    It’s the sort of thing The Australian would do. Renowned for accusing others of politicising personal tragedy, Holt St. will have someone who’s thinking how they can spin this, right now.

    Odds-on they’ll portray him as a martyr to the cause of freedom of speech.

  26. As predicted…

    Not having pay subscription TV myself, I’ll post a comment from Shellbell over the road…

    Shellbell
    Friday, March 10, 2017 at 1:59 pm

    Started already – Chris Smith eulogised Leak in the company of Rowan Dean – hounded to his grave was the theme – which is completely at odds with the CIS knees up promoting his cartoons with Les Patterson and Anthony Morris QC talking and Leak relishing the attention of his fellow travellers.

    Chris Smith reminisced over the good old days. Presumably those days were when you could go the feel at an office party or expose the old fellow and no one complained or you could forge a signature to get a person released from prisonm

    Bolt was involved too, apparently. Sky News was the outlet.

  29. Another day in paradise

    Another mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef, caused by warmer ocean temperatures, has been confirmed after just one day of aerial surveys.

    The first survey for 2017 was conducted on Thursday by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), over the area between Cairns and Townsville in northern Queensland.

    The agency’s David Wachenfeld said that had given him enough information to “regrettably” confirm another mass bleaching occurred.

    “We also have quite a few reports through our early warning system, the eye on the reef program,” Dr Wachenfeld said.

    Warmer water temperatures resulted in the widespread bleaching of large areas of coral in the northern reef last year.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-10/great-barrier-reef-mass-bleaching-event-2017-confirmed/8342174

  30. I’m sorry if this offends anyone, but my first reaction on seeing Bill Leak had died was ‘Good!’.

    One less hate-filled grub, one less smart-arse trying to defend his appalling work by telling us people really want to be offended by cartoonists.

    Leak seemed very well and happy just a few weeks ago when he addressed a senate inquiry. He was actually boasting about his concern over human rights abuses and what he saw as the value of his work.

    The fall that contributed to his brain damage probably had a lot more to do with his demise than stress over his 18C case but it’s most likely he choked on his own bile.

  31. Dean Alston , cartoonist for the RW Worst Australian newspaper, none too subtle today. Nats leader Brendon Grylls is talking to a farmer with Grylls sporting a “Colin is a Wanker” t-shirt.

    • I think I am gob-smacked! The West Australian actually suggesting that the ALP should be given a turn at the wheel of state?!

      Still not counting my chickens before next week though …

  35. Egyptian who is world’s heaviest woman loses 100kg in 3 weeks

    Egyptian Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, reputed to be the world’s heaviest woman has begun losing a lot of weight three weeks after she was admitted to an Indian hospital. At the time of her admission, she weighed over 500kg.

    The Hindustan Times reported that 36-year-old Eman who is currently on a liquid diet that contains proteins and dietary fibers lost 100kg over the period. She is expected to lose 200kg in six months as a result of the surgery and her present diet.

    She was admitted to the Indian hospital in February after a Mumbai-based surgeon, Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, raised funds to have her flown over for treatment.

    Reports indicate that her weight is due to gland imbalance which caused an accumulation of liquids. Her family says she has not been able to leave home for 25 years.

    According to the Indian surgeon, he believes Eman suffers from obesity-related lymphoedema which causes swelling of her legs.

    It took the intervention of the surgeon who tweeted to India’s foreign minister before the Indian embassy in Cairo agreed to issue her a visa. The Hospital built a special facility to enable the weight reduction surgery.

    The BBC reports that the facility at the Mumbai Saifee Hospital has an operating theatre and an intensive care unit. She was flown out of Cairo to Mumbai on a chartered flight.

    http://www.africanews.com/2017/03/08/egyptian-who-is-world-s-heaviest-woman-loses-100kg-in-3-weeks/

  36. The WikiLeaks revelations and the crimes of US imperialism

    For months, news programs have been dominated by hysterical allegations that Russia “hacked” the Democratic National Committee in order to subvert the 2016 election. As the print and broadcast media were engaged in feverish denunciations of Russia, the US and its NATO allies moved thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks to the Russian border.

    Not content to allege interference only in the American election, the US media and its international surrogates have alleged Russian meddling in elections in France, Germany and other far-flung countries. Prior to the current furor over Russian “hacking” of the election, the Obama administration used allegations of “hacking” and “intellectual property theft” to justify the trade sanctions and military escalation against China that accompanied its “pivot to Asia.”…

    For months, news programs have been dominated by hysterical allegations that Russia “hacked” the Democratic National Committee in order to subvert the 2016 election. As the print and broadcast media were engaged in feverish denunciations of Russia, the US and its NATO allies moved thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks to the Russian border.

    Not content to allege interference only in the American election, the US media and its international surrogates have alleged Russian meddling in elections in France, Germany and other far-flung countries. Prior to the current furor over Russian “hacking” of the election, the Obama administration used allegations of “hacking” and “intellectual property theft” to justify the trade sanctions and military escalation against China that accompanied its “pivot to Asia.”

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/09/pers-m09.html

  37. Australia: Young workers speak out against penalty rate cuts

    By our reporters
    9 March 2017

    Last month’s decision by the Fair Work Commission (FWC), the Australian government’s industrial tribunal, to slash weekend and public holiday wages in the hospitality, pharmacy, retail and fast food industries has prompted widespread anger among workers and young people.

    In response, the Labor Party and the trade unions have postured as opponents of the ruling. However, it was a Labor government that created the pro-business FWC and included penalty rates in a list of award entitlements to be “reviewed,” i.e., slashed. And the unions have already established a host of agreements with major employers that cut, or entirely eliminate, penalty wages (see: “Australian unions and Labor Party launch bogus campaign over penalty rate cuts”).

    A number of young workers who spoke to the WSWS said they have never received penalty rates and are victims of union-company wage slashing deals. Others commented on their hostility to Labor, which is widely reviled as a party of big business.

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/09/pena-m09.html

  38. “death threats to Liberal MPs in Western Australia” according to ABC News 24.

    Even if true, what a crock of shit.

  39. Re. the Tassie Devils, researchers used a new technique involving grafting a hormone onto tumour cells to excite an immune response to the presence of the hormone. The patched hormone was virtually yelling, “Look at me! Look at me! Over here! Come and get me!” to the Devils’ immune system. It then over-reacted to the threat, killing not only the hormone-doped tumour cells, but kicking on and nuking the original ones as well. It was a T-cell feeding frenzy.

    Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this had application in other areas of cancer research? Say in humans?

  40. Hanson believes she knows more about Islam than real Muslims.

    FFS!

    “I think you should speak to one of the local imams and just get a little look into women like us, that live in a world like this,” she said.

    “We live freely in Islam, we’re happy to wear the hijab. There’s no issues with us. Get your knowledge a bit more.”

    But Senator Hanson said she was already knowledgeable on the issue, and would keep campaigning against halal certification, female circumcision, multiple marriages and sharia law.

    “If you ever want to live by that way, then I suggest you move to a Muslim country,” she told the women.
    “Then you can live that way of life, not here in Australia, I do not agree with the full burka, you ladies are showing your faces, that’s alright.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-10/pauline-hanson-challenged-by-muslim-women-on-election-trail/8344080

    If Hanson was really ‘knowledgeable’ she would know that female genital mutilation was not a Muslim thing but a cultural practice. It began long before Islam existed and is still practiced in both Christian and Muslim communities in Africa and the Middle East. Hanson, if she bothered to speak with an imam, would also understand that very few women in Australia wear burqas. She would understand that halal certification is no different to kosher certification, which she has no problem with. How does she feel about indigenous Australians who practice polygamy?

    Hanson’s ignorant, racist, bigoted ravings are becoming tedious. If she wants to be taken seriously she needs to get herself some proper education and stop telling lies and making up crap.

  41. India’s parliament has passed a law that increases paid maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks.
    The new law will apply to all organisations which employ more than 10 people.
    Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the law was “a humble gift” to women.
    India now gives the third longest duration of maternity leave in the world, behind Canada and Norway, which give 50 and 44 weeks respectively.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-39227964

  43. A sober look at the “Russian menace” from the Foreign Policy magazine. You get one free article but the Goggle + open in incognito window trick works if you have already used your 1 freebie.

    Vladimir Putin Isn’t a Supervillain
    Russia is neither the global menace, nor dying superpower, of America’s increasingly hysterical fantasies.

    ……………….Western commentary on the Kremlin’s foreign-policy ambitions tends to fall into two opposing camps, each with different starting points: One begins with Russia’s foreign policy, the other with Russian domestic politics. Both are prone to hyperbole in their appraisals and conclusions,…………….I call the first camp “Putler,” a mashup of Putin and Adolf Hitler,………….At the other end of the spectrum from the Putler worldview is the “Dying Bear” camp

    http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/02/vladimir-putin-isnt-a-supervillain/

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