@ChrisMayLA6
Spain… #democracy in action. Which goes to show there is no need to *fear* minority govt (in fact it seems quite a democratic necessity) because govt changes are easier to effect when it doesn’t deliver on its electoral promises.
#PowerToThePeople #Spain #Housing #Politics
RaymondPierreL3
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@skua
The flaw in ABC reporting is a conflation of *balanced reporting* and *both-sidedism*. As a result we get shit reporting norming with corporate media turning into a not so beige colour of the political divide.I pick and choose what I read (I don’t view it anymore) from the #ABC. It’s getting less and less as time goes by.
I guess it reflects the right-wing bias in our #Labor govt.
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“Our leaders fly around the world making all sorts of bold statements about meaningful climate action, then they return home and approve devastating projects like this. It's "say one thing, do another".
Today, Prime Minister Albanese is travelling to Fiji for the climate talks. But, as former Kiribati President, His Excellency Anote Tong asked so clearly in The New Daily today: "if climate talks cannot end coal and gas, what are they for?"
If the PM truly wanted to respect our Pacific Island neighbours, the path forward is clear: reject the extension of the Hunter Valley coal mine, along with its 800 million tonnes of climate pollution, and stop all new gas and coal approvals.” (Source: Noah Schultz-Byard - The Australian Institute )
#COP #ClimateCrisis #CoalMines #AusPol #CoalMineExtention #Environment #JanusFacedAustralianGovt
#TwoFacedAlbo -
The short editorial by #CatrionaJackson for #PearlsAndIrritations introduces three leaders it will be keeping an eye on in the coming weeks. In that editorial, there is a quote that I am reproducing here:
“*Italian Marxist politician and philosopher Antonio Gramsci, who was writing from one of Mussolini’s prison cells before the Second World War. Gramsci said: “The old world is dying, and a new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.*”
That world ending period, which #Gramsci talked about, extended from just prior to WW1 in 1914 and ended, arguably, with the end of the cold war in 1991. And that is just from a #WesternWorld perspective. It is often said that post-WW2 the world enjoyed a extended period of peace but that is contradicted by history which shows there were wars waged throughtout the period, just not world wars.
I would contend that *a time of monsters* does not depend on world conflagration. We’ve had **monsters** about all along. And for the last 80 years or so, they’ve mostly been #Oligarchs working the #Markets and #Financial systems to plunder the earth. Warmongers are amongst us as well, but never forget the end goal for them is also *plunder* at whatever cost to *Others*. #Psychopaths and deranged minds are fervently at work to this day, whether warring or selling snake oil it makes no difference.
And so it is that in our *free world* our salvation from *monsters* lies with our political leaders. And quite frankly, I don’t see any in the current crop of world leaders with the required *determination, resolve and fortitude* to deliver us from *monsters*. Perhaps it will take another kind of *monster* to birth this new world I’m longing for… but the costs frightens me so.
#WorldOfMonsters #EconomicRationalism #Warmongers #Grifters #History #WorldWars #Leadership #WorldLeaders #UNAssembly
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@jimbob
Purely from a personal interest perspective, I found your post quite enlightening — scary stats. You’ve also restored some of my faith in *Journal publication* because of the trouble you went through to validate aspects of your rejection process (something that appears lacking for many publications if recent reporting of retractions is any guide)Thanks for putting your blog out on Masto.
#LLM #GenAISlop #JournalIntegrity #AcademicPapers #PeerReviews
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@JediSoth
I apologise. I know it’s nary likely for writers not on the best selling lists to make a living out of it. Hence, I understand your perspective. I am fortunate enough *not* to be an author, I just write when I please (if there is to be any distinction between a writer and an author). Therefore, I do not buy books from #TechBros or businesses that treat workers like shite (when I’m aware of those atrocious behaviours).I buy my books from local bookshops —such as they are — because I’ve been reading translations from Japanese, Chinese and Korean authors for the last few years and I do not have access to the authors directly.
I wish you success as an author and, more importently, much sales.
Be well and keep writing.PS. I don’t know why I used the word *nary* here, I was obsessing about its spelling before I typed this toot, so when I found out, I just had to use it, Not very effectively in this case though.
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@shermozle
Oh I totally agree with you. No matter what govt agency is involved, #Accountability and as much #Transparency as is possible ought to be the *baseline*. Unfortunately, our successive govt(s) instead of divulging as much as is possible while balancing the risks of such diclosures tend to kep their mouths shut (out of fear? Ie. Official Secrets Act, etc.). However more transparency is not impossible if Departmental heads are included in the decisions to divulge information and if there is a willingness to account to the public. Standard stuff really. Take #MikeBurgess the #ASIO Director. He plies a fine line when informing the public between transparency and #GuardedInformation by assessing the risks (not on his own I’d wager), while still informing the public into the workings of the department he leads. Defence is notorioulsy *Black*, unnecessarily so imho. So is #PMC and Intelligence agencies.There are of course independent #Institutions (legal and public) as well as #Inspectorates for the *black* stuff and having seen =some of them in action during my working life, they do a decent job of keeping everything legal, above board and appropriate — we just don’t see it done but the polies that have been briefed for it do and *they should tell us so*.
This only my opinion of course, and I’m not briefed :)
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@danielbowen
In my observations, no one, *no one* who is *briefed* on #Defence and #Intelligence matters would say what #Shoebridge is reported as saying by the #Age here.There is a lesson to be learned here that every aspiring leader ought to learn straight off the bat. I you don’t have access to the facts of a matter, avoid making policy speeches about it.
Instead, concentrate on matters that are well known and have been experienced by your electorate, and propose policies that will fix the problems that are commonly encountered. That will get you elected.
Harping on thing you have limited to no knowledge of purely based on some idealism you hold will enventually make you *take it all back* should you find yourself elected to a decision-making position in that particular matter. And that’s not a good look in politics, might actually be fatal to a political career.
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WIth the #greenparty leader(s) election and what seems to be a renewal of the party’s *combative* stance, I am left wondering whether #Shoebridge can pull the party out of the *also ran* percentile and into the 30% range to win government. I have my doubts.
IMO the only way out of our mess is to elect a truly left-leaning #Labor party. But that can only happen if Labor is **pushed** back into its grass-root constructed *Box* which, in turn, can only happen if the *small L* liberals somehow manage to coalesce into a functioning party able to hive-off its #RWNJ factions, return to the center-right of politics and push Labor leftwards. There are a lot of *ifs* here and a multitude of changes required to achieve the goal of a *center-left* social democratic govt to put an end to this mad #EconomicRationalism.
Alternatively, the *sacking* #AlboPM and his Parliamentary faction to bring about a #LaborGreenCoalition govt might prove just as effectively optimistic.
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@sajilicious @openvibe
That *profit* was made simply because #DefenceHousing has been **privatized** as #NeoLiberal decision-makers are wont to do. Stupidest thing ever to have done. It’s **Not** looking after our diggers in the least.#StateCapture #TheftOfStateAssets #AusPol #privatisationfailed
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@MorpheusB
Imo, all education institutions ought to be *Public* owned & operated and *Secular* in nature. Religious education ought to be kept out of secular education altogether and go back to the *Sunday School* model to teach their *Dogmas* without any State subventions. If their adherents believe in what their religions imparts, let them pay for it themselves.It doesn’t help that polies carry their religious beliefs into Parliament nor that a prayer is said at the opening of each Parliament, what a stupid thing to do in a multicultural society FFS. Religious bigotry has had a lot to answer for over the centuries. Humans can be cruel enough without the added baggage of religion imo.
PS. I make no excuses for my religious profanities, and if I offend, please know that I support your right to be religious and to express it.
#EducationFunding #EducationCurriculum #SecularEducation #ReligiousSchools #AusPol #SundaySchool #PublicEducation #Secularism
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@John
You know, we have the technology to build better #roads with built-in water drainage (this was successfully trialled in the ACT ) but these were vulnerable to heavy truck traffic. In other words, we have to build roads that are resilient to heavy haulage because our rail system is inadequate. Such heavy-duty roads are bloody expensive and vary in costs with the underlying geology.
I wonder if railroads are in fact cheaper to build and for moving freight (most likely) which could then be coupled with smaller lorries for last mile(s) deliveries less damaging to our roads. But I guess the #FossilFuel lobbies are not big fans of rail.It’s not like we don’t have answers to #potholes. And while any form of haulage is expensive, the real issue here is *where the money ends up*. Follow the money, as they say.
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#YanisVaroufakis screams the *Obvious* in this Guardian Article. The #RBA decision to hike up the #CashRate ‘is not an anti-inflation policy. It is a cynical transfer of income from people who did not cause the problem to people who are, in fact, profiting handsomely from it.’ (Souce: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/04/yanis-varoufakis-australia-interest-rate-rise )
Not only are the #Oil importers fleecing all and sundry while the #US-Israeli war on #Iran and the #Russian war on #Ukraine provide the excuses to raise the price of a barrel, but the #GasExporters are racking it in because of increased demand worldwide. And in Australia, these gas #Grifters are profiting from minimal tax to no export tax whatsoever allowing #Japan to buy the Gas more cheaply and onsell it (some of back to Australia now and again) for a #profit (another cause of inflation). Meanwhile, every Australian #mortgagee is paying for it. Hence Varoufakis’s righteous indignation:“No plausible rise in the cash rate will open up the strait of Hormuz, or convince Gulf insurers to lower their premiums, or compel a barrel of Brent crude priced in a global market to come down because a Melbourne mortgage holder is stressed. What it will do is suppress Australians’ spending, wages, their ability to keep a roof over their heads, ultimately their economy’s capacity to invest and to produce. It is a little like treating a broken leg by amputating the healthy one.”
No *wage earner* should put up with this vile economic trickery or the politicians who complicitely enable the #plunder of our #resources and our meagre, hard-earned income. It’s time to put **real representatives** in Parliament and not *stooges* for the #RentierClass
Is it any wonder that #PHON appeals to the *Plebs* when #Poorlean taps into this kind of #Injustice ?
#AusPol #EconomicRationalism #WealthTransfers #UnDemocracy #RapingTheEconomy #ScroogesGalore #TaxGas #TaxTheRich #TaxReform #RBAreform #NeoLiberalism #NoMoreWars #Rentiers #StateCapture #EconomicTheft #NoMoreBillionaires #ClassWar #FossilFuelScam #GreedFlation #2028FederalElections #JoinYourUnion #inUnity