216 thoughts on “SA Labor Academy Viewpoints.”

1. If you are missing the Sixties, and Jane Fonda, SBS is showing Barbarella at 7:30 tonight.

2. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/aug/04/adani-i-dont-want-to-say-i-told-you-so-but-actually-yes-i-do-i-told-you-so-ntwnfb

3. Bibi has released his latest disc.

4. 

5. Attorney-general Deb Frecklington told estimates “nearly half of all juveniles sentenced for an adult crime … are now spending time remanded in custody before their case is finalised”.

   We are starting to see more young people sentenced to more intensive sentences, detention and probation, with a corresponding drop in less intensive sentences, like good behaviour orders and community service orders.

   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/05/australia-news-live-sydney-harbour-bridge-palestine-gaza-march-protest-fog-wong-minns-albanese-ley-ntwnfb#top-of-blog

   I don’t suppose they even know what “recidivism” means.

7. The West Australian: Independent senator Fatima Payman set to rename party after herself, blames "Australia’s Voice" name for failure at the election. Also, she has parted ways with “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery and is on the hunt for a WA-based chief of staff. archive.is/xpKHZ #wapol #auspol

   — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-08-05T09:55:10.342Z

   Absolutely the best ship’: Japan wins $10bn contract to grow Australia’s war fleet. Three Mogami-class frigates part of wider deal to replace ageing Anzac-class frigates and give navy a more lethal surface combatant fleet. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... #ausdef

   — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-08-05T08:42:01.019Z

   Qld Premier David Crisafulli & Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie have set the scene for the most hated Olympics games in the world's history. Once the world realises it's a giant property grab of Indigenous land we are going to see athletes boycotting. #qldpol http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

   — David Marler (@qldaah.bsky.social) 2025-08-05T07:10:14.596Z

   Had a good chat with with @arielbogle.bsky.social and @cameronwilson.bsky.social on their new book. Apart from examining the dangers, it's also a compassionate look at why some are drawn down the rabbit hole. #FullStory @australia.theguardian.com http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

   — Reged Ahmad (@regedahmad.bsky.social) 2025-08-05T00:24:06.961Z

   so great that crikey dot com dot au is running an exclusive excerpt from CONSPIRACY NATION about Australia's local version of the Epstein Files, the "List of 28" … and how One Nation senator Malcolm Robert emerged as an unexpected crusader trying to debunk it!www.crikey.com.au/20…

   — CAMERON WILSON (@cameronwilson.bsky.social) 2025-08-04T03:17:52.000Z

8. 

9. An article from the US of A but exactly the same thing has been happening here in our press and very frequently with our pollies. 😦 It was grimly funny at times to see some of the language used to avoid saying the (apparently) unsayable. Rupert’s scum crew were of course leading the pack.

   How did John Oliver become the moral compass of the US?

   Arwa Mahdawi

   I have seen long articles handwringing about the desperately complicated situation of starving kids which don’t mention the word “Israel” once.

   I have lost count of the number of articles talking about “starvation stalking Gaza” that circle endlessly around exactly how this starvation has come about.

   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/05/how-did-john-oliver-become-the-moral-compass-of-the-us

10. Rockliff has been speaking to reporters in Hobart. He said:

    I believe that through sensible communication, everyone working together, pragmatism, working together on policies, working together in the best interests of Tasmanians. This is a government and a parliament that will last the full term.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/06/australia-news-live-albanese-macron-gaza-palestine-queensland-teachers-strike-esafety-apple-youtube-google-nsw-victoria-labor-coalition-ntwnfb#top-of-blog

    If wishes were fishes …

11. NSW moves to hike illegal tobacco fines and prison sentences

    Some day, politicians will realize that increasing penalties is no deterrent.

    They could make it on pain of death and it would make no difference.

    I rather suspect they know and are just doing it for gullible voters.

12. Ah yes,politicians and their bipartisan enthusiasm for getting their piggy snouts in the trough. I just can’t understand why their ‘profession’ is held in such low regard by the peasantry 😦 .

    ‘Jobs for the boys’? Labor slashes wait times for ex-MPs to join WA government boards

    The Cook government has halved the waiting period former members of parliament must serve before being appointed to boards, paving the way for recently retired politicians to earn tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars from next month.

    The change drew accusations of “jobs for mates” from across the aisle, with a string of former colleagues and one-term MPs elected under Mark McGowan being appointed to powerful, influential or lucrative roles.

    https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/jobs-for-the-boys-labor-slashes-wait-times-for-ex-mps-to-join-wa-government-boards-20250805-p5mkmd.html

    TLBD

    Yes but the main thing is to give the great unwashed the appearance of them ‘doing something’. Minns needs a win after his risible showing over the Harbour Bridge march. It is also great news for the NSW Rump Corp and bureaucrat communities. Their fees for tobacco ‘Gaze Aversion’ will go up enormously.

    Tobacco and ‘getting tough’ was also a front page item over here in the Wild Wild West. They worry about current tobacco prices. Gosh I wonder what making it contraband will do to prices.

    WA wants to ban smoking in prisons. Authorities fear it will lead to riots
    In Western Australia.

    ……………..Tobacco is a currency and a scourge – especially when cigarettes are horrendously expensive,” he said.

    Smith warned tobacco prices often exceeded what inmates could earn in a week, leading to coercion, bullying and debts.

    https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/terrifying-male-inmates-still-permitted-to-light-up-in-wa-prisons-despite-fire-death-20250805-p5mkm8.html

13. I believe the conflict about Isreal and Palestine is a simple one. Until both sides learn to love their neighbours’ children as their own, and learn to love their own children more than they hate each other, peace will never happen.

    If I am accused of playing the both sides card, then I agree.

    Both sides need to sit down and say to each other, ‘We, as mothers and fathers will not be here forever, we are mortal. What do we want for your children and my children. When we are gone, how will they live?

    That brings me to the issue of fake propaganda. Isreal set up fake news by filming clearly set up scenes in basement rooms with baby bottles etc to prove hostages had been kept there. It is not the only time, either.

    But….while there is hunger, and babies without life saving formula in Gaza, the photos of emaciated starved children are not authentic.

    You tell me why a ‘starved’ child is with a fat mother? Why a Palestinian child with a genetic health tragedy flown with help by Isreal to Syria for treatment is presented as starvation?

    Because these children have a genetic disorder, that is why.

    And their terrible situations have been weaponised to cause righteous outrage. Other photos are of starving children in Yemen, not Gaza.

    Be careful what you react to, and rewarding untruths.

    Food aid has to get through, yes. Hungry children must be fed and given medicine. Isreal, Palestine and the world must ensure this. The world does the children no good by taking sides based on fake propaganda. It simply prolongs the pain.

    There has to be talks, negotiations and a genuine wish for peace. The rightwing government of Isreal needs to be replaced by genuine peacemakers, and for the Palestinians, the same.

    If I am to march, and protest, it will be to pressure both sides to resolve this without violence.

    The truth is, no matter history or past wrongs or rights, Palestine is never going away, Isreal is never going away.That is a reality that will never go away.

    And from that, both need to work this out, on the premise that their children will live in peace, as neighbours and not enemies.

    Otherwise, no matter how much we in the West protest, this conflict will still be fought generations from now.

    That is why I will not march for Palestine, nor Isreal.

    • PTMD, I’ve been off-line for a few days with a new computer and installing Windows 11, combined with internet outage.

      So, thank you for your excellent thread starter, and for your thoughtful and beautifully written post above. You’ve made me think more carefully than just the ‘black and white’, ‘us and them’ ideas.

      My blog introduction was quite a few years ago, when I found Margo Kingston’s blog on the SMH. That eventually led me to Pollbludger and the eventual seamless transition to The Pub.

      We might be small and sometimes quiet, but since its beginning it has been my home page on Firefox and its predecessors and regular postings and links by Pubsters are always worth exploring. Over the years, when anyone shares something more personal, it is a genuinely felt privilege, as it is with a friend in real life.

      Thank you, Puffy, and thank you also to the other Pubsters (including lurkers) and those who keep The Pub open.

      Helen

14. Tasmania Labor leader says motion of no confidence in premier to come on first day of new parliament

15. https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fmlptcjdonq52cfgttjr3blb/bafkreieqmpo3y6o22p4uefhy4dmcia67wg7garj2rh5r4egj4sauptbbdi@jpeg

    • https://www.threads.com/@texasjchristian/post/DM_crKCxjKM/media

16. Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for productivity, is bringing together a high level group of economic thinkers .…Leigh is conveying a roundtable for academics and think tanks, “to consider ways to support a more dynamic and competitive economy, mobilise investment, develop Australia’s human capital, and facilitate innovation.”……………housing expert Peter Tulip from the Centre for Independent Studies,

    JEEBUS ! WTF is Labor thinking ? The CIS is a ‘Menzies fan club’ affiliated with The Atlas Network in ‘Murica’. Yeah, think Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged. Atlas Network by the way were formally endorsed by F.A. Hayek, Margaret Thatcher, and Milton Friedman. So you can guess what CIS wants when it comes to economics. Although I’m sure they know enough to not look too threatening and sound oh so reasonable as they advocate for policies that ensure the share of wealth possessed by the ‘1%’ continues to increase.

    • Andrew Leigh is a long, long way from Randy An.

      I’m guessing the Tulip is only there for decoration.

      It’s one less comeback (why weren’t the RWNJs invited?!) when the report, if any, comes out.

17. True. When it comes to Leigh I’d like to see him have free reign. I’ve long suspected that Labor Right and so called ‘hard heads’ have very much ‘cramped his style’ when it comes to what he’d like to do.

    As for no RWNJs complaints . Apart from the Rupertariat SFA would give a tinkers cuss about the lack of RWNJs. Certainly not we plebs. No use playing nice with the bustards, they’ll still shit on you from a great height at the first opportunity.

18. 

19. Labor has cast doubt on the possibility of the Trump administration transferring an Iranian-born man from US immigration detention to Australia, saying it has no knowledge of the case.

    The US government is threatening to deport Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old recruiter from Maryland, to either Australia or Romania.

    Zavvar is being held in detention, despite holding a US immigration green card, due to a historical conviction for marijuana possession which dates back to the 1990s.

    Zavvar cannot be sent back to Iran due to risk of persecution there, and his lawyer Ava Benach says he has been told he could be sent to a third country.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/07/australia-news-live-nsw-deepfake-gareth-ward-mp-expulsion-acoss-property-tax-break-ntwnfb#maincontent

    A good opportunity for Albo to tell Trump, ever so nicely, to get stuffed.

20. Independent MP Kate Chaney calls for the implementation of a “progressive GST model” as the federal government looks for ways to reinvigorate Australia’s languishing productivity and strengthen the budget at an economic roundtable.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/07/australia-news-live-nsw-deepfake-gareth-ward-mp-expulsion-acoss-property-tax-break-ntwnfb#maincontent

    Making the regressive progressive? Really?

21. The Quinceland government showing its true (lack of) colours

    12 judges resigned from the panels governing a Queensland writers’ award after First Nations writer Karen Wyld was stripped of a fellowship over tweets about the war in Gaza.

    State Library of Queensland chief, Vicki McDonald, revealed about a third of its 34 Black and Write writing fellowship judges had resigned after it was directed to withdraw the win by the minister, in May.

    …

    Estimates also heard that the Queensland Performing Arts Centre board had recommended naming its new $184m theatre after an Indigenous Queenslander, particularly Indigenous poet and activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Instead the state government put the decision to a public vote, with five options: Glasshouse Theatre, Lantern Theatre, Watershed Theatre and Russell Street Theatre, or suggest an alternative.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/07/australia-news-live-nsw-deepfake-gareth-ward-mp-expulsion-acoss-property-tax-break-ntwnfb#maincontent

22. Interesting essay that I’ve been thinking about for the past few days regarding the spread of the global fascist movement.

    Boiling Water: The corrosive damage cause by forcing people to defend their own lives by debating ideas that have already been defeated.

    https://www.the-reframe.com/boiling-water/

    Imagine you have a friend. Let’s call him Rick Reasonable.

    Now imagine you have an enemy. Let’s call your enemy Bart B. Oilingwater.

    Bart is a real piece of crap. Whenever he sees you, he throws boiling water at you. Usually you dodge it, but every once in a while, he catches you with a bit. You have some bad scarring on one arm, and a few places on your face and neck. And you have to constantly be on the lookout for Bart, because if you let your guard down, it’s scalding water time!

    Rick is a good friend. He thinks it is really bad that Bart throws boiling water on you. He tells you this all the time. He’s written some letters to the newspaper about how bad Bart is for throwing boiling water on you. Sometimes he’ll even go out with you to watch your back. He’s got a popular TV show, and he’s gone on the record a few times that Bart is in the wrong for always trying to hit you in the face with boiling water.

    Then one day you turn on the TV at the end of the day, and you see Rick has Bart on as a guest. Rick is arguing with Bart about whether or not it is good to douse you with boiling water at every available opportunity. Rick is … parsing things a little more than you’d like.

    He wants to know if the water has to be boiling, if it can’t just be very hot. Bart says, no, no, it really does have to be boiling. But does it have to be water, Rick asks. Could it be something a bit easier to dodge, like molasses or tar? Bart thinks about this, and decides he isn’t sure. He’ll have to get back to Rick on that one—but really, he prefers water.

    Rick wants to know if there can’t be days Bart could promise to not throw boiling water at you. Bart doesn’t really want to set that sort of precedent.

    Rick would like to know why it needs to be you every time. Bart is shocked that Rick would suggest such a thing. He insists he doesn’t have a throwing-boiling-water-on-you-specifically bone in his body. He just believes in throwing boiling water, and you happen to be the one that’s there every time. He’d like to know why, if you apparently hate being struck with boiling water, you insist on being in areas where you know he will be throwing it. He suggests that Rick is really the one singling him, Bart, out, by being so intolerant of his rich cultural heritage of throwing boiling water on people. He hints that Rick’s constant scolding makes Bart want to seek you out specifically now, to throw boiling water on you, for daring to suppose such a thing of him.

    Rick appears to have conceded that Bart absolutely does have a right to walk the streets carrying as much boiling water as he wants, in the long-standing tradition of our country. Bart appreciates Rick’s stance on the matter, and compliments him on his willingness to find common ground.

    At the end of the segment, he and Bart agree to disagree on whether or not it is good to attempt to douse you with boiling water every day. Bart still thinks it is very good—though he insists it is not directed at you, but only at spaces that you happen to inhabit. He wonders, again, why you choose to inhabit those spaces. Rick continues to insist that throwing at the space that you inhabit is tantamount to throwing it at you, and that it is quite rude indeed. They shake hands. Then there is a commercial for Pepsi.

    The next day, you confront Rick about this and he shrugs. “Man, I hate that bastard Bart,” he says, “but you have to hear both sides.”

    How are we feeling about Rick?

    • The same way I feel about the Stockholm syndrome.

    • All you have to know is Rick is a talk show host and as such his show is ALL about ratings. It ain’t the place to go expecting any wisdom.

23. It is well and truly overdue for Israel to be declared a pariah state. Bibi’s name needs to be put in the same file as names like Pol Pot. Just the latest in a long series of war crimes from the $%@^^#!

    ———————————————————————-

    Only 1.5% of Gaza cropland left for starving Palestinians due to Israel’s war, UN says

    Israel has targeted food sources – orchards, greenhouses, farmland and fishers – since the beginning of its siege on Gaza in October 2023…………………….Last week, Israeli forces partially demolished a seed bank in Hebron, in the West Bank, destroying tools and equipment used to used to reproduce heirloom seeds.

    UN experts, agencies and aid groups have been warning since early 2024 that Israel is orchestrating a campaign of deliberate mass starvation in Gaza by systematically destroying local food production and blocking aid, in violation of international law….

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/israel-gaza-war-palestinian-cropland-starvation

25. Oh good, I see Israel’s ruling War Crimes-R-Us party have worked up a new euphemism for their ethnic cleansing crimes , it is now called “enforced displacement orders“.

26. I think I’ll make that Boiling Water essay an article here next weekend.

    • Good

27. 

28. Even the zionists are turning ‘antisemitic’. When Murican groups are getting bolshie then Genocide Man Nutty Yahoo’s days must be numbered.

    J Street head says he’s now convinced Israel committing genocide in Gaza
    Jeremy Ben-Ami explains he has been ‘persuaded rationally’ by legal and scholarly arguments,

    In a newsletter Sunday marking Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning to commemorate catastrophes throughout Jewish history, Ben-Ami recalled his parents’ experience with the Holocaust and laid out Hamas’s crimes against Israel, including the Palestinian terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people, resulted in 251 hostages and triggered the ongoing war.

    “Yet none of that provides any rationale for what Israel is doing now in Gaza,” wrote Ben-Ami. “Denying food and basic necessities of life to civilians. Soldiers shooting at civilians trying to get food. Destruction of the entire infrastructure of Gaza. Forcing the population into intolerably small areas. Hoping to create the conditions under which an entire population will be forcibly displaced.”

    “Until now, I have tried to deflect and defend when challenged to call this genocide,” he wrote. “I have, however, been persuaded rationally by legal and scholarly arguments that international courts will one day find that Israel has broken the international genocide convention.”

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/j-street-head-says-hes-now-convinced-israel-committing-genocide-in-gaza/

29. There is none so blind …

    Alex Hawke, the shadow minister for industry and innovation, told RN Breakfast earlier the opposition maintains Israel’s right to defend itself amid Netanyahu’s plans.

    Hawke laid blame on Hamas for refusing to end the conflict by releasing any remaining hostages, describing the freedom of the people of Gaza as a “long-term problem”. He told RN:

    The biggest problem is Hamas, who had become the government of Gaza and other parts of Palestine, and that’s the issue. We have a terrorist group running a civilian population. … I think until Hamas is removed it’ll be very difficult for there to be a legitimate government in a place like Gaza.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/08/australia-news-live-erin-patterson-sentence-hearing-mushroom-murders-melbourne-e-bike-delivery-riders-ntwnfb

30. Where’s the Australian South Park!

    • South Park is amazing this season, my favourite part was Trump and Vance being depicted as Mr. Roarke and Tattoo from Fantasy Island.

      https://x.com/captainatomIDC/status/1953286215035166782

31. And don’t mention the war!

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/08/dissent-against-chris-minns-spills-into-parliament-as-labor-mp-accuses-party-of-gagging-debate-on-gaza

    An episode of Fawlty Towers famous for coining the phrase “Don’t mention the war!” has become the latest classic British TV programme to be taken down from a BBC-owned streaming service, as broadcasters continue to conduct a reappraisal of old content.

    The episode of the 1970s sitcom – in which John Cleese as Basil Fawlty goose-steps around a Torquay hotel while shouting the phrase – was recently removed from the BBC-controlled UKTV catch-up service.

    A spokesperson for UKTV initially refused to clarify why the programme had been removed or whether the decision was permanent: “We aren’t commenting on individual titles. However, we regularly review our programmes, and make edits, add warnings and make schedule changes where necessary to ensure that our channels meet the expectations of our audience.”

    However, following the publication of this article they confirmed it was under review because the episode “contains racial slurs”.

    The original broadcast included a scene in which Major Gowen, a regular guest at the hotel, uses very strong racist language in relation to an anecdote about the West Indies cricket team. A decade ago many broadcasters began editing out this part of the programme, although the racist language can still be heard on the version hosted by Netflix.

    The Fawlty Towers episode in question, first shown in 1975, also features Cleese’s bigoted character apparently shocked at being treated in hospital by a black doctor.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jun/11/fawlty-towers-dont-mention-the-war-episode-removed-from-uktv

32. Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said on social media that the Israel Defense Forces will prepare to take over Gaza City and to provide aid to civilians outside the areas of fighting.

    The full post on X (translated from Hebrew) reads:

    The Political-Security Cabinet approved the Prime Minister’s proposal for the defeat of Hamas.

    The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/aug/08/israel-gaza-city-take-over-netanyahu-plan-approved-live-updates-latest-news?utm_term=689562afa4362f1e526a53cd17ceb4af&utm_campaign=BreakingNewsAustralia&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=breakingnewsaustralia_email

    When I say “combat zone”

33. There is a disturbance in the force. It’s ever so mildly worded but even such anodyne criticism of Israel from the Rupertarium is rare as hen’s teeth and Sheridan a Mordor Media loyalist of the first order. I take it as an acknowledgement that they feel even their 10th Dan Black Belt skills in bullshit and propaganda can no longer hold back reality.

    Gaza is a mess as Bibi embarks on the worst decision of this war … and his life

    By Greg Sheridan

    As traditional allies – Britain, France, Canada and Australia – turn away from Israel, Gaza and Benjamin’s Netayahu’s cause are a mess. And the Israeli PM is about to make it worse

35. Friendlyjordies’ latest on Trump-Epstein.

36. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/aug/08/first-dog-on-the-moons-hottest-100-featuring-songs-that-are-actually-good-by-bands-that-ive-actually-heard-of

37. Did someone say ‘turds’ ? Speaking of which………………..

    Minns says Folbigg ‘free’ to sue his government if $2m not enough for 20 years in jail for wrongful convictions. Minns said $2m was the most the government could allocate to Folbigg “without pulling it away from other important programs”.

    Her name was cleared and convictions quashed in 2023 by the appeals court just months after she was granted an unconditional pardon and released from prison.

38. 

39. Read a poem tonight by WH Auden, titled August 1968. It sums up Trump to a T.

    The Ogre does what ogres can,
    Deeds quite impossible for Man,
    But one prize is beyond his reach,
    The Ogre cannot master Speech:
    About a subjugated plain,
    Among its desperate and slain,
    The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,
    While drivel gushes from his lips.

    • And yet a bigly chunk of the US population came to see him as the ‘solution’ to what ails them. That or him being a big ‘Fcuk You !’ to BAU.

      Easy to point the finger at the ‘dumb voters’ but my vote for responsibility still goes to the US of A’s increasing economic inequality. Business conditions for Demagogues-R-Us Inc. always improves markedly when that inequality ramps up..

40. 

41. The Australian government’s (and our) resident idiot

    Marles reiterates Australia not supplying weapons to Israel

    Richard Marles also repeated the government’s position that “we are not supplying weapons to Israel”.

    He was asked by host David Speers if the government would block the sale of armoured steel and F-35 components to Israel. Marles said:

    Let’s be clear we don’t supply weapons to Israel.

    We’re an F-35 country and we have been that for a couple of decades. That is a multi-lateral arrangement with supply chains that are organised by Lockheed Martin in the United States and have multiple supplies in respect of all of those supply chains. So really that is a very different question. We are a part of that process.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/10/australia-news-live-anthony-albanese-israel-gaza-war-richard-marles-jeremy-rockliff-tasmania-greyhound-racing-ntwnfb

42. And a resident idiot in the US of A (one of many)

    The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, recently shared a video in which several pastors say women should no longer be allowed to vote, prompting one progressive evangelical organization to express concern.

    Hegseth reposted a CNN segment on X on Thursday that focuses on pastor Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist who co-founded the Idaho-based Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), In the segment, he raises the idea of women not voting.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/09/pete-hegseth-video-pastors-women-voting

43. Good article from The Shot.

    https://theshot.net.au/uncategorized/debating-dickheads-doesnt-expose-them-it-empowers-them/

    Debate as entertainment, turns real issues into thought experiments, sometimes with people who aren’t very good at thinking. Over years it slowly decayed discourse while claiming to be doing the opposite.

    Just look at the now cancelled Q&A. A show that started as a program for respectful debate on policy which corrupted to the point where a producer once bragged to me that an episode where Alan Jones just said racist shit at Stan Grant for an hour was great because it successfully led to a bunch of tweets from people disgusted by the racism.

    Debate as a form of content is designed to entertain and enrage, the two main ways to boost social media engagement. This leads to experts getting pushed out because experts are boring and think that debate should be nuanced and fact based. Fucking losers.

    Instead they get ‘controversial figures’. Whether it be influencers, reality stars, journalists, commentators, politicians, failed wannabe politicians, athletes, activists, bigots, or people funded by lobby groups to make rage bait content – all of them are chosen and all are presented as having equally important things to say. Some acting in good faith, some doing it for clout.

    It’s how we end up with viral clips of Mehdi Hasan on Jubilee forced into debating racists and a literal fascist on immigration and ethnic cleansing.

44. Australia’s future nuclear submarines will produce highly radioactive waste, and allies in the UK and the US still don’t have a safe place to store their own.

    Ben Doherty
    Sun 10 Aug 2025 06.00 AEST

    Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
    Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/10/the-lethal-legacy-of-aukus-nuclear-submarines-will-remain-for-millennia-and-theres-no-plan-to-deal-with-it

    😆 Storing the shite is why Australia got invited into the ‘club’.

    • Wonderful to see Starmer’s Inguland had cracked down on ‘terrorists’ . All those extra ‘security’ laws restricting freedom and democracy are really paying dividends. The Tories will be so envious.

      Palestine Action ban protest: half of those arrested were 60 or over, data shows

      All but 10 were under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act

      An age breakdown released by the Metropolitan police on Sunday revealed that nearly 100 of those detained were in their 70s and 15 were in their 80s.

      Hundreds attended the event in Parliament Square organised by Defend Our Juries, which asked participants to hold up signs saying: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

      Among those arrested was Sir Jonathon Porritt, 75, a former government adviser who said he had long been concerned about the erosion of civil liberties under successive governments.

      https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/10/police-arrest-hundreds-london-protest-over-palestine-action-ban

      The face of terrorism and terrorists in Starmer’s England.

      

      Hundreds of people joined the protest holding signs saying, ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action’, in Parliament Square, central London, on Saturday [Chris J Ratcliffe/AFP]

45. Very intriguing! Colossal has previously denied any involvement in similar articles http://www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

    — Jacob Aron (@jjaron.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T10:09:50.626Z

    This is silly from Varadkar. NZ does not "chop and change" governments every 3 years. The party system began in 1891 when John Ballance's Liberal government was sworn in. In the 134 years since, NZ has had just two one-term govts: Walter Nash, 1957–60; Norman Kirk/Bill Rowling, 1972–75 (both Labour)

    — André Brett (@drdrehistorian.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T09:17:55.789Z

    The associated idea that the year before an election is a write-off even if the govt doesn't change is also nonsense, given how many significant policies were introduced in the last year of a term, often expressly with an eye on the election and would've happened more slowly with less frequent votes

    — André Brett (@drdrehistorian.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T09:17:55.790Z

    WSJ: Why the Far Right Hates Churchill The accepted historical narrative of the past 80 years—that it was morally right for the U.S. and the U.K. to fight and destroy the Third Reich—is now under assault. archive.is/217pN

    — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T03:51:57.154Z

    Our story tonight on the drive to stamp out cultish behaviour in Toowoomba Christian churches following the death of an eight year old girl. 630 pm ABC TV #Compass http://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

    — Suzanne Smith (@suzipeep.bsky.social) 2025-08-09T21:41:16.726Z

    The Great Smog of London spurred the British to fight for better air quality in the 1950s. As concerns about air pollution surface in Australia, some say the incident still holds lessons.

    — ABC News Bot (unofficial) (@abcnewsbot.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T22:18:24.169Z

46. Pretty high on the insensitivity and idiocy scale

    Minns says Folbigg ‘free’ to sue his government if $2m not enough for 20 years in jail for wrongful convictions

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/08/kathleen-folbigg-should-sue-minns-government-over-payout-ntwnfb

47. I have two bricks each more intelligent than Dan.

    Tehan told Sky News:

    I hope the prime minister and the foreign minister can clearly articulate what role they see for Hamas in recognising a Palestinian state, and what are they doing to make sure that Hamas will have no role in governing a future Palestinian state, because everything seems to be about a recognition of a Palestinian state. They seem to have forgotten that an internationally listed terrorist organisation, at the moment, is governing parts of Gaza.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/11/news-live-netanyahu-shameful-palestine-state-anthony-albanese-penny-wong-meteor-victoria-marles-papua-new-guinea-ntwnfb#top-of-blog

    Has he not been listening to Penny Wong?

48. Albanese is speaking at Parliament House in Canberra after a cabinet meeting earlier today. He said:

    Today I can confirm that at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, Australia will recognise the state of Palestine.

    op. cit.

    • And, the usual suspects:

      Australian Jewry: “betrayal”

      Well-Done: “too early”

      Greens: “overdue”

    • Suss An weighs in

      Recognising a Palestinian state prior to a return of the hostages and defeat of Hamas, as the Government has today, risks delivering Hamas one of its strategic objectives of the horrific terrorism of October 7.

49. Must read

    https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/11/john-clarke-daughter-lorin-documentary-film-but-also-john-clarke-miff

    • Reading that reminded me of how much I miss him 😦

50. Friendlyjordies’ latest, mostly about AI.