IndyWatch Bellingen NSW All Topics Summary Archiver

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IndyWatch Bellingen NSW All Topics Summary was generated at Bellingen NSW IndyWatch.

Saturday, 11 March

00:32

Die AfD wollte in einer kleinen Anfrage wissen, wieviel ... "IndyWatch Feed National"

Die AfD wollte in einer kleinen Anfrage wissen, wieviel Honorare die Regierung und Bundesbehrden an Journalisten gezahlt haben. Money Quote:

Nicht enthalten in der Aufstellung sind nach Angaben der Bundesregierung aus Grnden des Staatswohls Honorare, die der Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) an Journalisten gezahlt hat, weil die Kooperationen des BND besonders schtzenswert seien.
*Tusch*

Update: Hier gibt es ein PDF mit einer Liste.

Update: Nur dass wir uns richtig verstehen: Die kleinen Anfragen der AfD sind immer irrefhrende Kackscheie. Hier wollen sie offensichtlich suggerieren, dass alle ffentlich-rechtlichen Journalisten in der Tasche der Bundesregierung stecken. Das ist natrlich vllig absurd angesichts der Zahlen. Das fhlt sich vielleicht beim Rberscrollen viel an, weil es mehrere Seiten sind, aber da sind ja schon auf einer einzelnen Pressekonferenz des Innenministeriums mehr Journalisten im Raum. Wenn man wenigstens annehmen knnte, dass hier halt besonders einflussreiche Journalisten gekauft wrden, aber dafr sehe ich keine Anzeichen.

Dazu kommt, dass typische Journalisten (im Gegensatz zur rbb-Intendanz!) nur knapp ber der Obdachlosigkeit bezahlt werden. Wieso wrde man die bestechen mssen, damit sie die Hand nicht abbeien, die sie am Leben hlt? Das ergibt alles keinen Sinn, lasst euch da mal nicht verarschen.

Die kleinen Anfragen der AfD sind alle so. Lcherliches Brechstangen-Framing von irgendwelchen ideologischen Vorannahmen.

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Friday, 10 March

21:59

Top Dumb "IndyWatch Feed National"

Photo-op Albo. International man of predictability.

21:38

What's wrong with this? "IndyWatch Feed National"

Australian Liberal Senator Alex Antic has been called to withdraw a statement in the Senate after describing Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the little fella from Ukraine, followed by anyway, who cares. For more SBS News videos, visit: https://t.co/92PmLUnWIz pic.twitter.com/lKAgEmWxGp SBS News (@SBSNews) March 10, 2023

19:24

Peak Wimmin's Kumbaya "IndyWatch Feed National"

Equality is no longer enough. Today, on International Womens Day, we need to take it a step further and embrace equity. This means not just giving women the same opportunities but exactly what they need to succeed. We support #IWD by striking the #EmbraceEquity pose. pic.twitter.com/9D7QjoQhJN European Central Bank...

17:41

How Do I Check if a Warrant is Out for My Arrest? "IndyWatch Feed National"


There are many myths about arrest warrants, including when they can be issued and what you should do if you have been issued with one.

So heres some information that may assist if you suspect police could be knocking on your door sometime soon.

What Is an Arrest Warrant?

An arrest warrant is an order issued by a magistrate or a judge which empowers law enforcement agents such as police to lawfully arrest you and bring you before a court.

There are several circumstances in which an arrest warrant may be issued, including when you:

  • Are charged with a criminal offence but cannot be located,


How Do I Know Theres a Warrant for My Arrest?

There is no nationwide, or even state or territory-wide, register of outstanding arrest warrants in Australia. And a national police check will not necessarily reveal the existence of a warrant.

If you believe a warrant may have been issued by a certain court or police station, it is a good...

17:36

The police act like 'sovereign citizens' for decades. "IndyWatch Feed National"

The colony's police forces have been acting like sovereign citizens for quite some time now.

Although the 'sovereign citizen' movement allegedly originated in the United States, is technically an oxymoron, Australia's police forces have been implementing this ideology for quite some time.


A sovereign citizen believes that the law does not apply to him/her where certain aspects are cherry picked from 'ancient' law are put into action whenever it suits, where the Bible can be used often.

So realistically the above headline is technically incorrect, as police take it to the next level above so called sovereign citizens, where they disregarda all law, including the ancient stuff.

Since the Bible is not an 'Act', and the 'Crown' is not bound to it, you cannot do much with it in the Kangaroo "Courts" (you know businesses) of Australia.

In more cases or instances ever published by the mainstream media, Australia's police forces act with impunity without any regards to the Acts (or law) that are in play or even 'Code of Ethics' or so called 'Policy Rules'.

They act with impunity, because the corrupt legal system will indemnify them from any repercusions.

IF the police had to pay out of their OWN pockets, for a crime, they got charged from, like the serfs do, maybe then the results would be different, but that's NOT how the system is designed, and that's on purpose.

It is only through exposure by the public, on social media forums, that more people can be educated on the colony's criminal elite being exposed.

See article from nswcourts.com.au of the headline:

Police Cannot Enter Private Land Without a Warrant If Prohibited by a Trespass Sign
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim

Along with senior constable Rankin, then NSW police acting sergeant Fahey attended a NSW Nor...

15:16

FixedIt: Rapists, murderers and child abusers are not sex pests FFS "IndyWatch Feed National"

Here, for your Friday afternoon entertainment, is a listicle germinated in the fetid bowels of the Murdoch press.

Men who murdered women. Men who raped women. Men who raped children. More than twenty of them, complete with photos and salacious details of their crimes, often against multiple victims.

Sex pests. Thats what the Murdoch goblins call men who rape children and kill women.

Even without the abhorrent headline, this article would contaminate the bottom of a kitty litter tray.

HERES A LIST OF ALL THE PLACES WOMEN SHOULDNT GO!!!! but of course we dont include all the places that sell Murdoch papers or serve Murdochs orc-infested empire.

HERES A COLLAGE OF RAPISTS THAT LOOKS LIKE A MOIVE PROMOTION!!!! hasnt this rapist got lovely blue eyes! Lets put him right in the middle. Aww. Cute.

HERES A SUMMARY OF ALL THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN HE RAPED!!! look at us jernalisming like a bought one.

I need a shower, a bucket of bleach, and a world that has smashed Murdoch and all his malevolent buffoons into a thousand tiny pieces and flushed them into the sewer of history.

_

If youre reading this on social media, links to all the articles are on the post on my website: www.JaneGilmore.com

FixedIt is an ongoing project to push back against the medias constant erasure of violent men and blaming of innocent victims. If you would like to help fund it even $5 a month makes a big difference please consider becoming a Patron

1800 RESPECT
Sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling and support.
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Ph: 1800 737 732
www.1800respect.org.au

Suicide Call Back Service
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Ph: 1300 659 467
www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au

Kids Helpline
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Phone: 1800 55 1800
www.kidshelp.com.au

...

13:26

People in glass houses Joe "IndyWatch Feed National"

PRESIDENT BIDEN: "MAGA Republicans are threatening to default on the national debt." pic.twitter.com/BHGvC3nv18 Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 9, 2023

13:21

People of Biden's Western Civilisation must be VERY proud. "IndyWatch Feed National"

Its a shame some people dont receive psychiatric treatment. pic.twitter.com/YiHjQnCnqE Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis (@DrLoupis) March 9, 2023

12:50

Police attempt to remove forest protector so Gully Giants can be logged "IndyWatch Feed National"

View over Valeries boots at the logging taking place in Doubleduke State Forest. Photo supplied

The magnificent old trees in a grove known as the Gully of the Giants are still standing this morning. They might not be so lucky tomorrow. The trees are part of Doubleduke State Forest, west of Evans Head, being logged under the auspices of the NSW Governments Forestry Corporation.

Logging couldnt go ahead this morning because yesterday, Save Banyabbas Koalas Valerie Thompson, bought teh Gully Giants a reprieve. Logging was unable to commence due to the logging machinery having been captured by the ropes suspending Valeries tree platform.

I relish the opportunity to spend the night in the forest. Im hoping I will hear a forest owl or the screech of a yellow-bellied glider, or maybe the bellow of a koala, said Valerie. 

These animals are why Im here. They depend on the hollows in these old trees to survive. When the trees go, the animals will go...

08:16

Anthony Albanese is going to Washington and he could mention some important issues "IndyWatch Feed National"

Contributed by Joe Montero

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has flown off to India, presumably to talk up trade, and then going to the United States to talk with President Jo Biden and the British Prime Minister, who will also be there.

This could have been a good opportunity to raise some issues of serious concern back here in Australia. They wont be raised, because this will be a meeting between those who command and those who obey. Such is the political clout held over Australian government by Washington.

The meeting is about what is next for AUKUS, the military alliance that Australia has entered with the other two parties. So, we might as well start talking about this.

AUKUS is not an agreement between equals. It is an extension of the presence of the United States Military into Australia and our region, commanded from Washington, with some input from London.

Photo by David Glotzbach/ US Navy parade in Darwin during the closing ceremony of the eighth U.S. and Australian exercise Talisman Sabre in 2019

Part of the deal is to station nuclear submarines here. There is a pretence that they will be Australian submarines. They wont be. The real command will remain with the Pentagon. Australia gets the privilege of paying for them. Billions of Australian taxpayers dollars will go to American arms manufacturers. This is in line with Washingtons  policy of passing on some of the costs of its military to its allies.

The cost is not only about dollars. Australia loses sovereignty, that is, the right to make our own decisions and act independently. By being a cog in superpower military machine, Australia gets to be seen as a puppet, aiding hostile ac...

01:50

US Still Trying To Bury Collateral Murder Video That WikiLeaks Released "IndyWatch Feed National"

This article was funded by paid subscribers of The Dissenter Newsletter, a project of Shadowproof. Become a monthly paid subscriber to help us publish more independent journalism on whistleblowing.

To further their nationwide efforts to restrict access to transgender health care, Republicans in the state of Missouri have deployed a former case worker at Washington Universitys Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrens Hospital, who they claim is a whistleblower.

There is no shortage of activists, journalists, academics, and people of conscience who have some story to share about the impact of the Collateral Murder video.

The U.S. military footage of an Apache helicopter crew shooting indiscriminately at a dozen Iraqi civilians including Reuters journalists Namir Noor Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh, and two young children is widely recognized for exposing the true nature of the United States war in Iraq and for making WikiLeaks and Julian Assange household names.

Three years before WikiLeaks made it possible for the public to watch this video, Dean Yates, Reuters bureau chief in Iraq, learned of its existence. Yates testified about the impact of the video at the Belmarsh Tribunal in Sydney, Australia on March 4, 2023.

Later in the Tribunal, another delegate, Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery, called Yates testimony admissible evidence, which could serve as witness testimony in defense of Assange. (In fact, a statement from Yates was submitted to a British court during Assanges extradition trial.)

It has now been nearly 13 years since WikiLeaks published the video, and nearly 16 years since the attack took place. No one responsible for the attack or the invasion of Iraq has faced even a modicum of accountability.

In contrast, Assange is languishing in Belmarsh Prison under torturous conditions. He sits in legal limbo while the United States continues to pursue his extradition under Espionage Act charges, in a case which poses an unprecedented threat to press freedom.

While WikiLeaks publication of military documents from Iraq and Afghanistan are at the heart of the case, the Collateral Murder video is absent from the 18-count indictment that spans 37 pages.

The U.S. military usually didnt investigate civilian casualties in Iraq. It did in this case because Namir and Saeed worked for a major international news organization, Yates said as he started his speech.

I was shownwithout advance warningless than three minutes of footage from the gun-camera of Crazy Horse 1-8, up...

01:36

Reducing the cost of insulin is big news "IndyWatch Feed National"

An estimated 26.9 million people of all ages (8.2% of the U.S. population) have been diagnosed with diabetes. A further 7.3 million adults ages 18 years or older (21.4 percent of adults) are estimated to have diabetes but are undiagnosed. For people with diabetes, insulin is essential for them to live but in the US, insulin prices have been much higher than elsewhere in the world resulting in crippling costs for users, so much so that some people cannot afford to buy the drug.

One of the major achievements of Democrats and the Biden administration in passing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) at the end of last year was that it allowed Medicare to negotiate down the price of insulin for those over 65.

Effective January 1, 2023, out-of-pocket costs for insulin are capped at $35 per monthly prescription among Medicare Part D enrollees under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). A similar cap takes effect in Medicare Part B on July 1, 2023. An estimated 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries who use insulin would have saved $734 million in Part D and $27 million in Part B if these caps had been in effect in 2020.

Thanks to the pressure exerted on prices by that move, one of the major manufacturers of the drug has announced that they will reduce the price of the drug for everyone.

High insulin prices have not earned any U.S. manufacturer many friends, with list prices increasing 54% from 2014 to 2019.

Most troublingly, an estimated 1.3 million uninsured people with diabetes and patients with inadequate insurance have resorted to rationing their insulin. Skipping doses because of high insulin prices has sometimes had tragic and even deadly consequences.

Part of the problem with the existing system is that some patients, especially if theyre uninsured or have high deductibles, end up paying the list price which can mean spending $1,000 or more a month on insulin. This can be a crushing financial burden.

Lillys new $35 out-of-pocket cap means that privately insured patients and those without insurance requiring insulin will spend no more than that monthly for copays. Its 70% reduction in the list price of two popular name brand insulins, Humalog and Humulin, will bring some financial relief. And the company has also reduced its generic lispros list price to $25 a vial, down from $126.

Lilly has put pressure on its biggest competitors, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, to follow suit.

These lower prices could also make Lillys insulins affordable to cash-paying patients. As a result, these...

......

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Thursday, 09 March

23:02

What is the Delphi Technique? - Questions For Corbett #098 "IndyWatch Feed National"

Peter writes in to ask how we should respond to the Bank of England's rigged survey about CBDCs. James answers by describing the Delphi method and how to anti-Delphi in real life.

21:49

Peace not war - IPAN calls for Aussies to moblilise against war plans "IndyWatch Feed National"

  • IPAN denounces recent rabid media war propaganda
  • Call for all people who want peace to mobilise and force the Australian Government off path to war

The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) believe the recent blatant war propaganda published by the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age under the title of Red Alert and similar propaganda by Murdochs Sky News hour-long Special, titled Are we ready?, represent an appalling misuse of the media ownership. Such media is clearly intended to create fear which it is not in any way justified by facts and has been done so in order to create support for a heavy increase in military spending in preparation for joining the United States in a war against China, alarmingly predicted to occur within the next three years.

Going to war with the United States against China over Taiwan is not Australia's business, nor in its interests. As former PM Paul Keating has stated, "Taiwan is not of strategic value to Australia". Taiwan is a province of China, recognised by the United Nations as such and the relationship between Beijing and Taiwan is a matter to be resolved between Beijing and Taiwan internally without external interference and, hopefully, peacefully.

Australias involvement in a U.S. war against China would be a catastrophic disaster for the Australian people, stated IPAN Spokesperson Dr Alison Broinowski.
 

Hugh White, a respected defence strategist says, servicewomen and servicemen losses in the war would exceed those losses in the Vietnam and Korean Wars. 

In addition, with 90% of Australias fuel supplies imported and the war disrupting this supply, transport would be hit heavily and trucking of essentials including food, stopped.
With 70% of everyday items (apart from food) imported from China, the import of such items would cease, resulting in empty shops. Essential imported medical supplies would be scarce, if available at all and the situation would be far worse than the recent pandemic.

Exports to China would cease and the economy would face a severe down- turn, with substantial job losses.

Community division would be stimulated with an upsurge of racism directed at any who have Asian features and that is 3 million Australians.

Additionally, the massive increase in military expenditure diverts spending from urgent community needs such as bringing our hospitals up to scratch, which according to the Australian Medical Association would require $20 billion. This is apart from the urgent need for affordable housing, increased resourcing of education and addressing the impact of climate change.

Why should Australians suffer catastrophically for the United St...

20:46

Hillsong accused of money laundering and tax evasion by Australian MP under parliamentary privilege "IndyWatch Feed National"

Hillsong accused of money laundering and tax evasion by Australian MP under parliamentary privilege

Andrew Wilkie claims church money spent on the kind of shopping that would embarrass a Kardashian as he tables alleged whistleblower documents.

...

17:08

Australian Media Are Outright Telling Us They Are Feeding Us War Propaganda About China "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Caitlins Newsletter, 8 March 23

The mass media in Australia have been churning out brazen propaganda pieces to manufacture consent for war with China, and whats interesting is that theyre basically admitting to doing this deliberately.

Australians are uniquely susceptible to propaganda because we have the most concentrated media ownership in the western world, dominated by a powerful duopoly of Nine Entertainment and the Murdoch-owned News Corp. Both of those media megacorporations have recently put out appalling propaganda pieces about the need for Australians to rapidly prepare to go to war with China in defense of Taiwan, and in both of those instances have straightforwardly told their audiences that theres an urgent need to effect a psychological change in the way all Australians think about this war.

Nine Entertainments Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have been busy flooding the media with testimony from a panel of war machine-funded experts who say Australia must hasten to get ready to join the United States in a hot war with China in the next three years. Yesterdays dual front-page propaganda assault featured imagery of Chinese war planes flying straight at the reader, awash in red and emblazoned with the words RED ALERT to help everyone understand how evil and communist China is.

Todays Sydney Morning Herald and Age front-page stories on Australias supposed war risk with China represents the most egregious and provocative news presentation of any newspaper I have witnessed in over 50 years of active public life, former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating opined in response to the publications.

Apart from the outrageous illustrations of jet aircraft being shown leaving a profiled red-coloured map o...

16:25

Alkane Resources [ASX:ALK] Grabs Extra Tenements in NSW "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Gold production company Alkane Resources [ASX:ALK] has managed to acquire an extra two packages of exploration tenements in the Macquarie Arc, New South Wales.

By entering into an agreement with Sandfire Resources for the swap of $1.9 million worth ALK shares, Alkane will become the 100%-owner of two highly prospective projects world-class gold deposits.

ALK shares were trading for 66 cents at the time of writing, inching up 1.5% by the early afternoon.

Also today, competitor Ramelius Resources [ASX:RMS] was moving down even as the gold miner said it has earned 75% interest in the Mt Finnerty Joint Venture with Westar:

ASX:ALK stock chart

Source: TradingView

Allkane swaps shares for projects

Alkane has managed to acquire an extra two exploration projects in the Macquarie Arc, NSW by entering into an agreement with Sandfire Resources.

The agreement involves a swap of 2,781,438 ALK shares, a transaction worth $1.9 million at the issue price of the 10-day VWAP leading up to the agreement signing.

All being well, the projects will soon be 100% owned by Alkane with no royalties or liabilities to worry about.

As part of the deal, Alkane will also acquire all pre-existing data on the tenements and four exploration licenses for all their area in the Central West and Riverina regions of NSW.

The company will possess extensive geological knowledge, which will mean it will not have to spend too much of its expense evaluating the area.

Alkane says both projects are considered highly prospective for world class Au-Cu porphyry deposits, which are named the Comobella North Project (EL8338) and the Southern Junee Porphyry Project (SJPP).

Comobella North lies adjacent to the NMPP tenement group and covers 64km of the same volcanic area as Boda and Kaisers inferred resources. Being an extension of the tenure covering the entire 15km prospective northwest of for the Boda Kaiser corridor, Alkane believes Comobella will make a signifi...

16:15

5 Reasons to Upgrade to Motorised Blinds "IndyWatch Feed National"

Are you looking for a way to upgrade the look and feel of your home without breaking the bank? Motorised blinds are an easy, affordable solution that can add both convenience and style to any room.

From improved energy efficiency to enhanced safety features, motorised blinds offer numerous benefits that make them well worth considering. In this blog post, well explore five reasons why upgrading to motorised blinds is a smart move for anyone looking for an easy way to update their space.

Improved Convenience

Motorised blinds are a great choice if youre looking for convenience in window coverings. No more struggling with heavy curtains or winding strings with motorised blinds, all you have to do is press the button and watch your blinds go up and down as you please. These fantastic window coverings come with various options such as timer settings, voice commands, and more, which makes it easy to adjust your blinds accordingly even when away from home.

Motorised blinds can also be synced with other smart systems in the house and provide optimal light control and improved energy efficiency. All in all, you can upgrade to motorised blinds today for hassle-free convenience all day, every day.

Energy Efficiency

Homeowners looking to save money on energy costs should consider installing motorised blinds. They are an effective way to reduce the amount of air conditioning used in summer and heating in winter, while also helping to insulate the house from sunlight and other exterior elements.

With just a click of a button, you can easily open or close the blinds depending on the time of day or season for maximum energy efficiency. Installing motorised blinds will reduce your energy bills and create a more comfortable living environment all year round.

Increased Safety

diy Motorised Blinds

Upgrading to motorised blinds can be a great way to increase your familys safety in the home. Motorised blinds are operated remotely and allow for easy control, meaning no need to fiddle with cords or rods that can pose a risk to young children and pets that can get tangled up in them.

Motorised blinds also give you better control over the amount of sunlight and privacy coming into your home, he...

16:05

The Debt Crisis What Really Falls to Dust? "IndyWatch Feed National"

QUESTION: The sales pitch seems to be that there is this $2 quadrillion in global debt that overhangs everything. Paper assets, therefore, will all implode!  They seem to be saying that everything has risen due to this debt bubble and it was all created with Zero interest rates. Now that they are going up, the debt bubble will burst and everything will decline. The story seems to be that this decades-long Boom Bust cycle was created over and over by the Federal Reserve. 

This seems to be like you have said, they try to reduce everything to a single cause and effect.

What really happens?

PCJ

ANSWER: These people seem to keep preaching the same story b...

15:52

Albanese Government must act to end a decade of offshore cruelty "IndyWatch Feed National"

This week, the Federal Government had the opportunity to end a decade of cruel, inhumane treatment of 150 people stranded in offshore detention. Instead, the Albanese Government voted with the Coalition and One Nation to block Greens senator Nick McKims Evacuation to Safety Bill that would remove the last refugees from Nauru and Papua New Guinea. 

The vote came after the Senate committee examining the bill pushed the Albanese Government to urgently consider all options to evacuate the refugees remaining in offshore detention, but inexplicably stopped short of support for the legislation to require it.  

In its submission to the inquiry, the Human Rights Law Centre outlined the dysfunction of current processes for transfers to Australia and the ongoing impact of family separation caused by offshore detention.  

While in opposition, the Labor government supported the former Medevac legislation, and committed to improving processes for medical transfers and oversight of healthcare. The Albanese government has not acted on those commitments and has declined the opportunity offered by the bill to carry them out.   

Scott Cosgriff, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre said:  

Offshore processing is a failed policy that has cost far more in human suffering than can be measured by the billions of dollars wasted on it.  

Successive governments have sought to normalise the ongoing atrocity of offshore detention by prolonging the mistreatment of people who remain there year upon year, under the pretence that they are engaged in a resettlement process.  

The Albanese government cannot evade responsibility for people in offshore centres by pretending that it no longer controls peoples lives or medical treatment. With or without legislation, the Albanese government is directly responsible for the futures of the people trapped offshore, and has the power to act on that responsibility. 

The Albanese Government needs to evacuate the 150 people stranded in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, shut down offshore detention, and end this cruel, inhumane and heartless chapter in Australias history once and for all. 
 
Read the Human Rights Law Centres submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on the Evacuation to Safety Bill

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

15:08

The Valdai meeting: Where West Asia meets multipolarity "IndyWatch Feed National"

March 04 2023 At Russias Valdai Club meeting the easts answer to Davos intellectuals and influencers gathered to frame West Asias current and future developments. By Pepe Escobar The 12th Middle East Conference at the Valdai Club in Moscow offered a more than welcome cornucopia of views on interconnected troubles and tribulations affecting the region. []

13:30

We're on a path to war. How can we stop it? National Zoom Meeting "IndyWatch Feed National"

<p><div class= "field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even"> <p><strong>Were on the path to war. How can we stop it? Implications of the government reports on AUKUS, nuclear submarines, war powers reform & the Defence Strategic Review. National Zoom Meeting, Sunday 26 March, 6.30pm AEDT. Free registration details inside.

  <strong>National Zoom Meeting</strong><br>  <strong>Sunday 26th March, 6.30pm AEDT</strong></p> <p><a class="twitter-timeline-link" href= "https://rlexye.clicks.mlsend2.com/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjMyOTM0MCxcImxcIjo4MjEyNzg3NTU0OTk1NjAwNCxcInJcIjo4MjEyNzg3NjMwNTk3OTI4Mn0iLCJzIjoiYjljYmNkNGZjMjU4MjQ1MCJ9" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Register here</a></p> <p> </p> <p>Speakers</p> <p><strong>Dr Alison Broinowski AM:</strong> President, Australians for War Powers Reform. Formerly an Australian diplomat, Alison is the author or editor of 14 books about Australias dealings with the world, Asian countries in particular. Her PhD is in Asian Studies at ANU. She has researched and taught there, at Macquarie University, and at the University of Wollongong.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Dr Alison Boinowski</strong> will speak on the implications of the Inquiry into War Powers Reform</p> <p><strong>Brian Toohey</strong> was a columnist with the <em>Australian Financial Review</em> who has also written for <em>The Nikkei Asia Review, The West Australian, The Sunday Age</em> and other publications. He was editor of <em>The</em> <em>National Times</em> and a Canberra and Washington correspondent for <em>AFR</em>. He is the author or co-author of four books: <em>Oyster: The Story of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service</em>;<em> Tumbling Dice: The Story of Modern Economic Policy</em>;<em> The Book of Leaks</em> and <em>The Winchester Scandal</em>. Among other subjects, he has written extensively about national security policy since 1973. Brian currently writes for The Saturday Paper and Pearls & Irritations.

Brian Toohey </strong>will speak on the implications of the report on Aukus and the Nuclear Submarines</p> <p><strong>Dr Vince Scappatura</strong> teaches Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. He has a recently published...</p> </div> </div> </div></strong></p>

12:33

January 6th A Citizens Guess as to What Happened "IndyWatch Feed National"

(L) Costumed protestor untouched by armed guards in Capitol (C) People using rods and sticks to whack someone (not visible) (R)  Senator McConnell, Photo: C-Span

by Mary W Maxwell, LLB

There are many conspiracy theories about wrongdoing by government. A typical one is The CIA deliberately arranged for JFKs motorcade to be in a place where he could get assassinated. It remains only a theory no member of the motorcade team ever swore in court, or on a TV news show, that they had been instructed to let the assassination happen.

Of course, there could be a general investigation in which eyewitnesses or expert witnesses tell whatever they know and a panel of judges draws a conclusion, for example, that The CIA knowingly contributed on November 22, 1963, to the...

12:24

Eastern Kuku Yalanji People #2 Native Title Claim "IndyWatch Feed National"

The Eastern Kuku Yalanji Peoples native title claim group is comprised of those Aboriginal persons who are descended by birth or by adoption in accordance with the traditional laws and customs of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji People from one or more of the following ancestors:

Register extract is here
External boundary description is here
Map of the application area is here

1. Siblings Wawuyilkinga, Lily Kajakaja, Ulurban, Kurlur, Juwalkji, Jinabaji;
2. Kilkil (Gilgil) and Yougie (Emera);
3. Ngamubaralba;
4. Jimmy Johnson Snr and his brothers Toby King and Peter King;
5. Brothers Billy King, Willie King 1 and Willie King 2;
6. Siblings Nambaji, Bijun (Dangara) and Jimmy (Mandilba) Rossville;
7. Old Man Jimmy and Sarah;
8. Kurukuna and Nellie;
9. Bluja King Kunarra and his three wives Ngingkibaji #1 and Ngingkibaji #2, and Baral-Baral;
10. Dimbanga and Mara Baril Baril;
11. Sisters Mujala and Rosie;
12. Brothers Dickie Springvale and Mundy Nunn;
13. Jilngarr;
14. Burradi and Wawu Dimbi;
15. Siblings Jimmy, Polly (Jukura), Nellie (Wuynkul-baka), Charlie (Junjurr or Munjurr), Lily (Jabi or Chubby) Blanket;
16. Rosie Gurrmurragudgee;
17. Brothers George Doughboy, Toby Bloomfield and Peter Bloomfield (Kalka Jurungu);
18. Brothers Charlie Ball (Dirrakari) and Billy Collins and Davey Douglas and Sandy Peterson;
19. Isabella Henderson (Wawu-kuwa)
20. Ginny Bamboo;
21. Siblings Archibald (Bauly) Mossman, Jessie Mossman (Bawanya) and Billy Mossman;
22. Siblings Jessie Buchanan (Babi Milbija or Narrijinya) and King Charlie Diamond;
23. Henry Bloomfield;
24. Yangki and Buji;
25. Willy Ngamu-Darrba and his two wives Molly Kalumba and Yimaday;
26. Kalkamanangu and Duraja;
27. Kalkaymba;
28. Rosie Maund Jankarji and her husbands Tommy Jinjarrba Lefthand, Tommy Ngangkun Johnson (Buchanan), Barney Lunn (Lund), Billie Lunn (Lund) and Tommy Jindalman Hide;
29. Big Friday Ngamu-Ngulmbay and Ruby;
30. Leslie Yerry;
31. Brothers King Toby and Old Man Toby (Jinjirrba);
32. Maggie Queen;
33. Siblings Miliji, Kalkabinda, Kuruwuja, Peter Smith (Marray-Marray or Murranb...

11:50

Tesla Dumps Rare EarthsShould You do the Same? "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Last week we witnessed a dramatic turn for companies tied to rare earths elements (REEs).

Australian producer Lynas Rare Earths [ASX:LYC] fell 11% last Friday, while Arafura Rare Earths [ASX:ARU] shed around 10%.

Chinese producers, accounting for around 90% of global production, also fell hard.

So, what drove the commodity-wide sell-off?

At its much anticipated investor day presentation in Texas, Tesla revealed that it was looking to remove rare earth metals from its next-generation vehicles.

The market viewed this as a big deal in terms of the outlook for REEs

You see, neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) are two REEs used in permanent magnets for electric vehicles (EVs).

At first glance, Teslas announcement puts a major dent in the demand outlook.

But dig a little deeper, and things may not be so bad for this poorly understood commodity.

Ill get to that point in a moment.

But first up, whats at the root of Teslas change in strategy?

The answercost cutting.

According to Tesla, theyre looking to reduce manufacturing costs by up to 50% while also scaling up its global vehicle sales from 1.3 million to 20 million vehicles by 2030.

Its all part of the grand plan to get EVs into the hands of the mass consumer.

However, the company was light on detailsengineers outside Tesla ranks have little idea how the company is set to revolutionise its EV motor without rare earths magnets.

You see, NdPr magnets are the superior choice when it comes to EV production.

They offer significant performance benefits, enabling the development of compact, torque- and power-dense electric motors.

According to some experts, though, replacing rare earth magnets from its next-generation fleet will inevitably compromise efficiency.

In EV design, theres a fine line between cost and performance.

But Tesla looks to be shifting dramatically toward the cost saving sideslashing production expenditure to deliver low-cost EVs for the mass market.

Its even looking to skip the critical step of building a prototype model in the name of saving cash and fast-tracking its newest model into production.

Theres valid reason car manufacturers build prototypes before going into mass production, and it goes beyond glossy magazines and marketing

Its a critical step that allows engineers to iron-out faults under normal driving conditions.

Any major failings could have a profound impact on the companys long-term outlookits PR could be shattered thanks to overreaching on cost cutting and expediating production.

That would pave the way for other manufacturers to capitalise on Teslas potential flaws and claw back market share in the EV mass-market race.

But with Teslas stock price capitulating almost 75%...

11:34

Australia has been selling China 'doped' gold for years, could be forced to return up to $9 billion, Perth Mint also faces separate fraud investigations "IndyWatch Feed National"

Up to $9billion worth of gold that the Perth Mint sold to China could be recalled after it was discovered some bars were diluted with other metals. The WA government-owned mint, which is the largest refiner of newly mined gold in the world, started 'doping' its gold in 2018 - a process which involves mixing in silver or copper while still keeping the purity above 99.99 per cent. While the product met widely accepted standards on the global gold market, up to 100 tonnes of bullion shipped to China potentially falls short of the more stringent standards of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE). Some of the gold the SGE tested from Perth Mint exceeded the allowable silver content.

11:01

CCC: Heres how the UK can get reliable zero-carbon electricity by 2035 "IndyWatch Feed National"

The UK can build a reliable, secure and cost-effective electricity system that is decarbonised by 2035, says the governments advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC).

The CCCs new report is based on new hour-by-hour modelling of the countrys electricity system out to 2035, which includes stress-tests of how it could ride out extended wind droughts.

In effect, the report is a 131-page answer to the question often posed by those sceptical of climate action: But what about when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine?

The CCC sees cheap  but variable  wind and solar meeting 70% of demand. While nuclear and biomass might meet another 20%, they are relatively inflexible. Therefore, the final 10% is key.

This 10% will largely come from flexible low-carbon solutions, such as batteries, compressed air storage and responsive demand. Crucially, however, gaps lasting days to weeks at a time will be filled by gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and/or hydrogen power.

As an additional source of security, the committee endorses a small remaining role for unabated gas power in 2035. This would meet up to around 2% of annual demand, down from 40% today.

The importance of hydrogen is clear, given nearly one-quarter of the report is given over to its role. 

However, the committee stresses the risks of medium-term scarcity in hydrogen supply, which would be even larger if the government prioritises using hydrogen to heat homes.

Overall, the CCC says the flexible, secure and decarbonised electricity grid of 2035 is within sight, but only with urgent reform.

Its 25 recommendations for government include easing the planning and regulatory regimes, so that energy infrastructure can be built at the speed necessary.

...

10:51

Safe to Fly? Pilots and Flight Attendants Who Recently had Cardiac Arrests In-Flight and Died Suddenly "IndyWatch Feed National"

by Dr. William Makis MD
COVID Intel

There has been an increasing number of stories of pilots and flight attendants suffering cardiac arrests and sudden deaths in-flight, and here are some that made it into mainstream media:

UK Pilot Instructor, age 57, died suddenly in-flight (Jun.2022)

...

10:50

Safe to Fly? Pilots and Flight Attendants Who Recently had Cardiac Arrests In-Flight and Died Suddenly "IndyWatch Feed National"

by Dr. William Makis MD
COVID Intel

There has been an increasing number of stories of pilots and flight attendants suffering cardiac arrests and sudden deaths in-flight, and here are some that made it into mainstream media:

UK Pilot Instructor, age 57, died suddenly in-flight (Jun.2022)

...

10:12

Safe to Fly? Pilots and Flight Attendants Who Recently had Cardiac Arrests In-Flight and Died Suddenly "IndyWatch Feed National"

by Dr. William Makis MD
COVID Intel

There has been an increasing number of stories of pilots and flight attendants suffering cardiac arrests and sudden deaths in-flight, and here are some that made it into mainstream media:

UK Pilot Instructor, age 57, died suddenly in-flight (Jun.2022)

...

10:09

"IndyWatch Feed Nthamerica" "IndyWatch Feed National"

<p><p>Welcome to <a href= "https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/daily-wrap-up/" rel= "nofollow noopener" style="color: #ff0000;" title= "This link will take you away from steemit.com">The Daily Wrap Up</a>, a concise show dedicated to bringing you the most relevant independent news, as we see it, from the last 24 hours (3/8/23).<br> As always, take the information discussed in the video below and research it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Anyone telling you what the truth is, or claiming they have the answer, is likely leading you astray, for one reason or another. Stay Vigilant.<br> (<a href= "https://www.rokfin.com/TLAVagabond">https://www.rokfin.com/TLAVagabond</a>)(<a href="https://www.bitchute.com/channel/24yVcta8zEjY/">https://www.bitchute.com/channel/24yVcta8zEjY/</a>)<br> https://rumble.com/embed/v29p1qw/?pub=2q643<br> <br> <br> Video Source Links (In Chronological Order)<br> <br> <a href= "https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/tn-anti-trans-bill-independent-palestine-testing-contradicts-epa-lab-leak-last-resort/"> TN "Anti-Trans Bill", Independent E. Palestine Testing Contradicts EPA & The Lab "Leak" Last Resort
(30) The Vigilant Fox on Twitter: "Dr. Robert Redfield: "There's No Doubt That NIH Funded Gain-of-Function Research" Ms. Malliotakis: "Is it likely that American tax dollars funded the gain-of-function research that created this virus?" Dr. Redfield: "I think it did not only from NIH but from the State https://t.co/OqsTsb1hFg" / Twitter</a><br> <a href="">New Tab</a><br> <a href= "https://twitter.com/remarks/status/1633269275019423744?s=12&t=QZjhwQnW81iyM5uOBlF0HQ"> (31) Remarks on Twitter: "JUST IN: Maryland Democrats seek to prohibit anyone under the age of 25 from being charged with felony murder, citing that 'their brains arent fully developed.'" / Twitter</a><br> <a href= "https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/debate-continues-on-bill-preventing-youth-under-25-from-facing-1st-degree-murder-charge"> Debate continues on bill preventing youth under 25 from facing 1st degree murder charge | WBFF</a><br> <a href= "https://www.cf.org/news/democrat-lawmakers-introduce-bill-preventing-anyone-25-under-from-being-charged-with-felony-murder/"> Democrat Lawmakers Introduce Bill Preventing Anyone 25 Under from Being Charged with Felony Murder</a><br> <a href= "https://marylandreporter.com/2021/03/16/carter-proposes-legislation-that-would-prohibit-minors-from-being-convicted-of-felony-murder/"> Carter proposes legislation that would prohibit minors from being convicted of felony murder - MarylandReporter.com</a><br> <a href= "https://twitter.com/TLAVagabond/status/1633513002900103168">(35) LastAmericanVagabond on Twitter: "So if a pe...

08:38

How the Interpersonal Model Explains, and Heals, Mental Pain | James Barnes "IndyWatch Feed National"

From Aeon: When I was studying philosophy years ago, I had what felt like a nervous breakdown. I wasnt able to think clearly or articulate my thoughts, and sometimes stuttered. I thought something had gone wrong in my brain. I went for brain scans but found no answers. I ended up with a psychologist who turned out to be a relational psychoanalyst. That term didnt mean too much to me at the time, but it was life-defining. Through my therapy, I came to realise that there was, in fact, nothing wrong with my brain. It was in my relationships, especially early ones, where the issue lay. As my mind gradually came back to me, I trained to be a relational psychotherapist myself, and became fascinated by the ideas and theories behind it. What I found was nothing short of revolutionary.

Id already been deeply interested in the limitations of Western models of mind, especially in terms of the enduring influence of Ren Descartess dualism between mind and body, mind and world, which set the West into modernity in the 17th century. But this had been a very academic and abstract pursuit. In relational theory, however, I found not only the answers to the problems that our dualistic heritage bestowed upon us, but also to my own suffering, and the roots of much psychological and emotional distress in general.

Prior to Descartess time, mind and world had been understood as entangled, interpenetrating, open to each other. But in the inexorable march of the physical sciences and the mechanistic explanation of the world during the scientific revolution, mind (and soul) were mortally threatened. This led Descartes to split the mind off from the world (and the body that was unarguably part of the world) in order to save it from reduction to physical mechanism. All experience, meaning and purpose once of mind and world both  were withdrawn from the world and put solely into Descartess new mind-substance, something that had not existed before.

When the new scientific discipline of psychology separated off from philosophy in the mid- to late 19th century, it adopted an essentially the present day, certainly in mainstream psychology, psychiatry and psychotherapy. Instead of seeing mind as a separate substance, this neo-Cartesian perspective assumes that the mind is somehow identifiable with the brain, brain states and brain functioning. Much like Descartes, however, it maintains the very same vision of mind as an experientially private interior, categorically cut off from the world and others outside.

For Descartes and for modern neo-Cartesian models alike, our experience of the world and others occurs on the inside in our individual minds or brains. For modern psychology, this meant that mental life could be studied and measured in isolation, lending itself to empirical and qu........

08:30

Reform needed to strengthen Queensland's whistleblowing laws "IndyWatch Feed National"

Queenslands public sector whistleblowing laws are in need of an urgent overhaul, a coalition of organisations have told an independent review into the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010 (Qld) being undertaken by former Supreme Court judge Alan Wilson KC.

In the submission, the Centre for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University, Human Rights Law Centre and Transparency International Australia have called for significant reform to ensure Queenslands public sector whistleblowers are protected and empowered in speaking up. 

The Wilson review was commissioned by Attorney-General Hon Shannon Fentiman following the Coaldrake Review into culture and accountability in Queensland government and the Commission of Inquiry into the Crime and Corruption Commission. 

Queenslands public sector whistleblowing laws were once world-leading; they now lag behind other Australian jurisdictions. To better protect Queensland whistleblowers, the joint submission identifies four central reform priorities: 

  1. The establishment of an independent body to oversee and enforce the PID Act, and provide support to whistleblowers; 

  2. Accessible and practically-enforceable remedies, given shortcomings in the current law; 

  3. A positive duty on Queensland government agencies to protect whistleblowers; and 

  4. Careful reform to exclude personal work-related grievances from the laws scope. 

The Wilson Review is expected to report in late April. 

A J Brown, Professor at Griffith University and Board member at Transparency International Australia, said: 

Queensland once led Australia in protecting whistleblowers, becoming only the second jurisdiction in the world with dedicated whistleblower protection laws following the first Fitzgerald Inquiry. But Queenslands PID Act has not kept pace with subsequent legislative innovation domestically and internationally, and is now out of date. 

Recent inquiries and reviews have underscored the importance of whistleblowers to upholding an accountable, transparent and pro-integrity culture within the Queensland public service. The reforms we propose would ensure Queensland is once again the leading Australian jurisdiction in empowering whistleblowers to speak up about government wrongdoing. 

Kieran Pender, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said: 

When whistleblowers speak up about government wrongdoing and human rights violations they make Queensland a better place. But too often, their whistleblowing goes unheeded or they face retaliation at work for doing the right thing. We are encouraged by this important review and the Queensland government...

07:50

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria and Nicaraguas 1972 experience "IndyWatch Feed National"

Contributed by Glen Davis

Around the world people are stunned, horrified, at the scale of the recent earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. The death toll continues rising, the damage to infrastructure, and the economy, almost immeasurable.

Syria is in the middle of a long running bloody war. There is the government of Bashar-al-Assad, supported by Russia. Against his forces are Islamist opponents, who have attracted some limited support from the United States and its

Turkey is recognised as a constitutional republic overseen by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an autocratic leader who sees current day Turkey as a modern contemporary of the Ottoman Empire. His government is only too quick to crack down on any sign of dissent, let along give any acknowledgement to the needs of groups like the Kurds.

Photo by sin Akgul/AFP: Turkish soldier walks among destroyed buildings in Hatay

With the wide scale collapse, destruction, of built structures, people are wondering why these buildings collapsed so easily, killing, trapping thousands. Fingers are being pointed at planning, or lack of proper planning, involved in the building processes. The government appears complicit in these actions, actions that exacerbate this human tragedy.

Turkey, Syria, neither are bastions of democracy as in both places the bulk of the populace remain poor, disenfranchised from the real power in their nations. The impact of these devastating earthquakes can only increase the prevalent inequality.

Anyhow while were on earthquakes lets go back in time to the 1970s to another severe earthquake. In Nicaragua 1972 saw a serious earthquake magnitude 6.2. This particularly hit the capital Managua and claimed the lives of over 10,000 of its population of 400,000. Over 80,000 of Managuas commercial buildings were destroyed. Devastation meant a massive rebuilding program.

...

07:45

The 15 Minute City - A Good Life or an Infringement on Freedoms? "IndyWatch Feed National"

 

The 15-Minute City: a term to describe compact, mixed-use neighborhoods, has become a political football, where critics believe the idea could result in an infringement on personal freedoms. 

On this Upzoned podcast, host Abby Kinney and special guest Kevin Klinkenberg, talk about this contentious topic and answer the question: Are the concerns people have about 15 minute cities warranted, or is this something that we should all be rolling our eyes at and moving on from? 

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

 
  

07:42

The Right to Be Let Alone: When the Government Wants to Know All Your Business "IndyWatch Feed National"

<p><blockquote> <h5><a href= "https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="color: #003366;">By John & Nisha Whitehead | The Rutherford Institute | March 7, 2023

There was a time when the census was just a head count.

That is no longer the case.

The <a href= "https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/legal_features/constitutional_qa_american_community_survey">American Community Survey</a> (ACS), sent to about 3.5 million homes every year, is the byproduct of a government that believes it has the right to know all of your personal business.</p> <p>If you havent already received an ACS, its just a matter of time.</p> <p>A far cry from the traditional census, which is limited to ascertaining the number of persons living in each dwelling, their ages and ethnicities, the ownership of the dwelling and telephone numbers, the ACS contains some of the most detailed and intrusive questions ever put forth in a census questionnaire.</p> <p>At 28 pages (with an additional 16-page instruction packet), these questions concern matters that the government simply has no business knowing, including questions relating to respondents bathing habits, home utility costs, fertility, marital history, work commute, mortgage, and health insurance, among other highly personal and private matters.</p> <p>For instance, the ACS asks how many persons live in your home, along with their names and detailed information about them such as their relationship to you, marital status, race and their physical, mental and emotional problems, etc. The survey also asks how many bedrooms and bathrooms you have in your house, along with the fuel used to heat your home, the cost of electricity, what type of mortgage you have and monthly mortgage payments, property taxes and so on.</p> <p>And then the survey drills down even deeper.</p> <p>The survey demands to know how many days you were sick last year, how many automobiles you own and the number of miles driven, whether you have trouble getting up the stairs, and what time you leave for work every morning, along with highly detailed inquiries about your financial affairs. And the survey demands that you violate the privacy of others by supplying the names and addresses of your friends, relatives and employer.</p> <p>The questionnaire also demands that you give other information on the people in your home, such as their educational levels, how many years of school were completed, what languages they speak and when they last worked at a job, among other things.</p> <p>Individuals who receive the ACS must complete it or be subject to monetary penalties.</p> <p>Although no reports have surfaced of individuals actually being penalized for refusing to answer the survey, the pot...</p>

07:00

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sacks Freedom of Information Commissioner Leo Hardiman by constructive dismissal "IndyWatch Feed National"

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has forced Freedom of Information Commissioner Leo Hardiman to resign from his position by making it impossible for him to do his job properly which is a textbook []

06:57

Credibility of alleged victims defended as sex abuse trial of former principal Malka Leifer draws to a close "IndyWatch Feed National"

These ladies, sisters, have been fighting for justice for a long time. I hope they are suitably rewarded.

Ive always believed them.

...

06:55

Dozens of countries condemn interference in Beirut blast probe "IndyWatch Feed National"

Dozens of countries condemn interference in Beirut blast probe

Rights groups and family members of victims have accused Lebanons political establishment of undermining the probe into the explosion
MEE staff Wed, 03/08/2023 - 19:55
Lebanese demonstrators lift placards demanding top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat be held accountable for the 2020 port blast, during a rally in the capital Beirut, on 28 January 2023 (AFP)

Thirty-eight countries at the UN Human Rights Council have condemned the obstruction and interference in a Lebanese judicial probe into 2020 Beirut port explosion, which killed more than 200 people and destroyed swaths of the capital.

A joint statement delivered by Australia before the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday called on Lebanon to to take all necessary measures to safeguard, in law and in practice, the full independence and impartiality of the Lebanese judiciary and to ensure that a swift, independent, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation into the explosion be carried out.

We urge Lebanon to abide by its international human rights obligations to take all necessary measures to safeguard, in law and in practice, the full independence and impartiality of the Lebanese judiciary, the letter stated.

'It's time for answers': Victims of Beirut port blast file complaint in US court
...

06:44

Meeting Climate Pledges Could Reduce Future UK Flood Damage By Up to 20%, Study Finds "IndyWatch Feed National"

Does it matter if countries meet their existing climate pledges, even if they currently arent enough to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels?

For the UK, the answer is definitely yes, according to a new study from the University of Bristol and flood risk modeler Fathom. The researchers found that flood damage in the country could be limited to less than five percent above recent levels if the nations of the world met their COP26 climate promises through 2030 as well longer-term net zero pledges. 

For the first time this flood model gives us a more accurate and detailed picture of the impact of climate change on the risk of flooding in the future across the UK, study lead author, University of Bristol Professor of Hydrology and Fathom Chairman Paul Bates said in a university press release. The results are a timely warning to the countrys political leaders and business sector that global commitments to significantly reduce carbon emissions must be taken very seriously, and ultimately take effect, in order to mitigate increased losses due to flooding.

Flooding is considered the UKs No. 1 environmental hazard, according to the study published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Science Tuesday. The research team looked at potential flood damage in...

05:57

Lowland Snow Flakes in March Plus Does Global Warming Contribute to Cold Waves "IndyWatch Feed National"

 My new podcast (see information below) not only talks about the current weather situation but answers a question many of you are asking:

Has Global Warming/Climate Change contributed to increased numbers and intensity of cold waves...and particularly cold waves over the western U.S.?

The answer is definitively no, something noted by statistics provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a number of peer-reviewed articles (see EPA graphic below).

Graphic courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

And then there is the current chilly situation.  Unbelievably, forecast models show two situations with the potential for light lowland snow (with little accumulation).

The accumulated SNOWFALL through 10 AM Thursday is shown below.  Nothing major, but southwest Washington and northeast Oregon may get some flakes. Light snow over the eastern slopes of the WA Cascades.


...

05:43

Shockwaves rocking the 'cosmic web' connecting galaxies seen for the 1st time "IndyWatch Feed National"

"We are seeing emissions from the shockwaves in the largest structures in the universe." Scientists have discovered the first evidence of shockwaves rippling through the "cosmic web," a massive network of interweaving filaments that represents the largest structure in the universe. The discovery represents tantalizing evidence of magnetic fields weaving through the gas, dust, and dark matter tendrils which link galaxies together. Scientists first began to think that on the largest scales, the universe is ordered in a web-like pattern with filaments that cross vast voids in space and pull galaxies into clusters in the 1960s. Two decades later using computer modeling, researchers were able to determine what this vast universal network might look like for the first time. Astronomers have since mapped the cosmic web with actual observations in the process answering questions about its structure. One element has remained frustratingly shrouded in mystery, however: The magnetic fields...

04:51

Baseball Fans Can Now Instantly Receive Bitcoin After Perth Heats Most Exciting Plays "IndyWatch Feed National"

A new Lightning partnership will let Perth Heat fans scan QR codes after stolen bases and home runs, rewarding them with bitcoin instantly.

The Perth Heat, the Australian Baseball Leagues most successful baseball team, has announced a new partnership that rewards fans in bitcoin every time a player from Perth Heat steals a base or hits a home run.

The partnership with Bitrefill, Wallet of Satoshi and IBEX will allow fans to Steal Sats by scanning a QR code displayed on the game stream or on the team's social media channels when a player makes an impressive play. Fans will receive their reward instantly after scanning the code with a Lightning-enabled wallet, introducing a novel fan interaction system that brings further excitement to thrilling moments in games.

"We are thrilled to be launching Stealing Sats in partnership with Bitrefill, Wallet of Satoshi, and IBEX," Steven Nelkovski, CEO of the Perth Heat, said in a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. "This is an innovative way to engage with our fans and offer them something new and exciting. We believe this program will further enhance the fan experience and incentivize our players to push themselves to achieve their best on the field."

The baseball team made headlines in 2021 when they adopted a Bitcoin standard and integrated Lightning, becoming the first professional sports team to do so. Afterwards, the Heat proved their desire to further integrate Bitcoin, widely introducing Lightning services to their stadium and fan experiences. The team then announced sats4stats, which is a way to boost fans favorite players through the Lightning Network.

The latest introduction of Stealing Sats is simply another innovation for the team using Bitcoin and Lightning.

Ry Sterling, business development at IBEX, described how they seek to play a role in revolutionizing fan engagement, saying, At IBEX our focus is spreading innovation via the Lightning network and with the lead from Perth Heat, #stealingsats and #satsforstats has opened our eyes to a whole new market of global fandom that we had not considered before.

Chris Pavlesic, Bitrefills Australia manager, said that "With Stealing Sats, fans can now participate in the game in a whole new way, and we are excited to see how this will continue to evolve over time."

Daniel Alexiuc, CEO at Wallet of Satoshi added, "The whole team at Wallet of Satoshi is really excited about Stealing Sats with Perth Heat It's such an innovative way to demonstrate that Bitcoin is easy and it is for everybody.

03:48

'Wrinkles' in time experience linked to heartbeat "IndyWatch Feed National"

How long is the present? The answer, Cornell researchers suggest in a new study, depends on your heart. They found that our momentary perception of time is not continuous but may stretch or shrink with each heartbeat. The research builds evidence that the heart is one of the brain's important timekeepers and plays a fundamental role in our sense of time passing - an idea contemplated since ancient times, said Adam K. Anderson, professor in the Department of Psychology and in the College of Human Ecology (CHE). "Time is a dimension of the universe and a core basis for our experience of self," Anderson said. "Our research shows that the moment-to-moment experience of time is synchronized with, and changes with, the length of a heartbeat." Saeedeh Sadeghi, M.S. '19, a doctoral student in the field of psychology, is the lead author of "Wrinkles in Subsecond Time Perception are Synchronized to the Heart," published March 2 in the journal Psychophysiology. Anderson is a co-author with...

03:00

Fixing The Incentives: How Fiat Money Broke The World "IndyWatch Feed National"

The global history of fiat money and U.S. world reserve status has incentivized many countries to abandon their own cultures and sovereignty.

This is an opinion editorial by Jimmy Song, a Bitcoin developer, educator and entrepreneur and programmer with over 20 years of experience.

In the first three parts of this series, I examined the different ways that fiat money has led to terrible incentives at the individual, corporate and national levels. We are more isolated than ever, we are less satisfied with our work and we work under tyrannical, authoritarian governments as a result of fiat money. In this article, I go through the ways the entire world is incentivized by fiat money.

The previous articles spoke more generally about how individuals, companies and nations are affected by fiat money. This article will be a lot more specific as there's only the one world we live in and we don't need to speak generally. Thus, I will start this article with some historical context as that will give us a better understanding of why the financial incentives in the world are the way they are.

Bretton Woods

We start the analysis of global fiat money incentives with one of the major historical events that precipitated the world we live in today and that's the Bretton Woods Agreement from 1944.

Bretton Woods is a small town in New Hampshire where government bureaucrats from all over the world came to establish what they called "a new monetary world order." If that sounds ominous and sinister, that's because it is.

The idea of the conference was to fix the problems from World War I (WWI), where reparation payments and loopholes around the then re-established gold standard wreaked havoc over so many economies and eventually led to World War II (WWII). Returning to the pre-WWI gold standard was too difficult to square with the central banking monetary control that every country had gotten used to, so the conference was a way to figure out how to establish some other monetary order.

The main problems were that every country wanted the legitimacy of gold but also the stealth taxation of central bank fiat money. The solution they came up with was to add a level of indirection to gold redemption.

Prior to WWI, gold was convertible directly at banks. In the U.S., you could exchange $20.67 for one ounce of gold. In the U.K., you could exchange 4.25 for one ounce......

01:33

Death in the metaverse: Web3 aims to offer new answers to old questions "IndyWatch Feed National"

As contemporary society continues to digitize, life in the metaverse raises the same timeless questions about what happens after death.

01:32

Speech by Kellie Tranter: Australia - Silent Collaborator against Assange "IndyWatch Feed National"

Previously 7 March 2023 on Consortium News and on 4 March 2023 at : At the Belmarsh Tribunal for Julian Assange, held at Sydney Universitys Great Hall on Saturday 4 March, Kellie Tranter (), a lawyer, researcher, and human rights advocate, in a 7:40 minute speech, reported that despite private and public requests for diplomatic assistance for the WikiLeaks publisher, Canberras policy shown by FOI documents has been one of complicit inactivity in the face of his persecution:

The significance of the Belmarsh Tribunal could not be greater, and not only for Julian Assange and his family. We have reached a critical point in history for press freedom, and for all human rights intertwined with it.

Julian Assange once said:

I understood this a few years ago. And my view became that we should understand that Australia is part of the United States. It is part of this English-speaking Christian empire, the centre of gravity of which is the United States, the second centre of which is the United Kingdom, and Australia is a suburb in that arrangement.

And therefore we shouldnt go, Its completely hopeless, its completely lost. Australian sovereignty, we are never going to get that back. We cant control the big regulatory structure which were involved in in terms of strategic alliances, mass surveillance, and so on.

No, we just have to understand that our capital is Washington. The capital of Australia is D.C. Thats the reality. So when youre engaging in campaigns, just engage directly with D.C., because thats where the decisions are made.

And thats what I do, and thats what WikiLeaks does. We engage directly with D.C. We engage directly with Washington, and thats what Australians should do.

Julians proposition is validated by the Freedom of Information documents Ive obtained and examined over almos...

01:31

Wenn ihr mal sehen wollt, wie eine Kleinstadt aussieht, ... "IndyWatch Feed National"

Wenn ihr mal sehen wollt, wie eine Kleinstadt aussieht, nachdem die russische Armee durchgerollt ist: Hier gibt es Nachher-Fotos aus Mariinka.

Update: Zum Vergleich: Wesel 1945, Berlin 1945, Grozny 1994. Krieg ist Scheie.

01:19

Hillsong founder the child rapist Pastor Frank Houston. Part One. Frank Houstons pedophile activities. "IndyWatch Feed National"

The pedophile Frank Houston founder of Hillsong. Pictured here in the 1940s when he was sexually abusing boys in New Zealand Salvation Army orphanages.

Donald Elley of Bellingen

...

01:11

War Over Taiwan: Australias Gang Of Five "IndyWatch Feed National"

Australia remains a satellite of the US imperium, and its officials seem obligated to pave the way for a conflict with China.

The post War Over Taiwan: Australias Gang Of Five appeared first on OrientalReview.org.

00:33

Sanctions on Syria: Australias Complicity in Policide "IndyWatch Feed National"

In 1998, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Denis Halliday, resigned in protest against UN Security Council sanctions on Iraq, using the term genocide when he explained reasons for his resignation.

Before Hallidays resignation, the US ambassador to the UN, Madeleine Albright had been asked if she thought the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children from US sanctions were worth it. She replied: I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.

Australias strategic allies in the UNSC America and Britain had voted for the sanctions on Iraq, while Russia, France and China abstained: no country used its veto power to oppose them, so they became law.

People walk past damaged buildings at the Yarmouk refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Damascus Reuters

Sanctions on Syria are quite a different matter. They are unilateral coercive sanctions imposed by individual countries, including Australia. It means, basically, that we contribute to any suffering in Syria that results from the imposition of sanctions.

In a 2021 interview, Denis Halliday explained: We kill people with sanctions. Sanctions are not a substitute for warthey are a form of warfare.

If we accept this as a truth, then Australia has been involved in a war on Syria and its people since 2011 when Julia Gillards government imposed sanctions on Syria. According to DFAT: Australia has imposed sanctions in relation to Syria to reflect Australias grave concern at the Syrian regimes deeply disturbing and unacceptable use of violence against its people.

But what do we know about the truth of events in Syria?

We have come to accept lies were told to enable a war on Iraq. For those of us who are aware of US and UK interference in Syrian affairs over decades, we can safely assume lies have been told to enable the war on Syria.

Today, for a broade...

00:15

RBA Governor Lowe set to meet with Suicide Prevention Australia after indications that there is a surge in people reporting elevated distress over cost-of-living pressures "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

 

The 10th consecutive cash rate rise announced by the Reserve Bank of Australia has low income and middle income Australia reeling.


Post, adaily newsletter from The Saturday Paper, from the pen of the Emails Editor, 8 March 2023, excerpt:


RBA governor Philip Lowe has announced a record 10th consecutive interest rate rise, but signalled the run may be coming to an end amid concerns the hikes are hurting wellbeing.


What we know:


  • The RBA increased rates by 25 basis points at the board's March meeting, to 3.6% the highest interest rate since May 2012 (Nine);


  • Mortgage holders with a balance of $750,000 will pay an extra $121 a month and are now likely paying about $18,900 more in repayments annually since May (realestate.com.au);


  • Lowes language softened on the prospect of future rate rises however, with economists suggesting there might only be one or two left (AFR $);


  • He is set to meet representatives of Suicide Prevention Australia, the peak body that has raised the alarm about a surge in people reporting elevated distress over cost-of-living pressures (The Age);


  • ...

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Wednesday, 08 March

23:59

PODCAST: The Bulga Plateau story by Tessa Campisi #SaveBulgaForest "IndyWatch Feed National"

No Fibs coverage of the Elands communitys campaign to end native forest logging in NSW. My very long Twitter thread starts here https://twitter.com/margokingston1/status/1612289978830327808?s=20 The time is NOW to stop Forestry NSW logging our native forests. #SaveBulgaForest the #NSWVotes frontline + a divinely beautiful legal campsite with lots of room beside a swimming river & close []

22:00

Ob-gyn loses PhD after committee finds he made up research "IndyWatch Feed National"

It was dj vu last month when a university in Belgium stripped Egyptian physician Hatem Abu Hashim of his doctorate after he was found to have fabricated data in his thesis. 

Just weeks earlier, another Egyptian doctor, Ahmed Badawy, lost the PhD degree he had earned at a Dutch university in 2008. Abu Hashim and Badawy are both professors in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Mansoura University in Egypt.

According to an investigation by the Vrije Universeit Brussel (VUB), which awarded Abu Hashim his PhD in 2013, the researcher was in serious violation of scientific integrity based on overwhelming evidence of fabrication of statistical outcomes and clear lack of statistical proficiency. 

Ben Mol of Monash University in Australia, a researcher turned data sleuth who alerted VUB and Utrecht University to problems with Abu Hashim and Badawy s research in 2021 and 2020, respectively, told Retraction Watch by email, The good news is obviously that there is a firm conclusion from both universities after a robust process independent of the complaint. 

Mol also laid out his concerns in a study published wit...

21:45

Virgin Australia Flight from Adelaide to Perth Forced to Make Emergency Landing as First Officer Suffered Heart Attack 30 Minutes After Departure on March 3, 2023 "IndyWatch Feed National"

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the authors name (desktop version)

To receive Global Researchs Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and

The post Virgin Australia Flight from Adelaide to Perth Forced to Make Emergency Landing as First Officer Suffered Heart Attack 30 Minutes After Departure on March 3, 2023 appeared first on Global Research.

20:23

How good are these women - particularly the last one! "IndyWatch Feed National"

I traveled back in time to ask the women of 1979 what International Women's Day meant to them. [THIS VIDEO HAS A TRIGGER WARNING] #InternationalWomensDay #womenleaders #WomeninBusiness pic.twitter.com/oeK7l1rP3J (@realnickholt) March 8, 2023

20:07

Mt Druitt man Alexis Punnett pleads guilty to possessing child abuse material on Apple iPads (Western Sydney, Australia) "IndyWatch Feed National"

Source: Alexis Punnett of Mt Druitts Facebook photos

Documents tendered to the court reveal Punnett possessed child abuse material from January 1 2017 up until the date of his arrest on January 10 2023.

The material was contained on multiple devices, police facts reveal, including on two separate Apple iPads and an Oppo brand mobile phone. Daily Telegraph article below

...

19:13

COVID Origins Riddle: Is the Answer as Simple as ABC? "IndyWatch Feed National"

Now that the US government has all but admitted that COVID is a bioweapon, will Patreon and YouTube restore my accounts and pay damages?

19:10

Wanting War over Taiwan: Australias Gang of Five "IndyWatch Feed National"

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the authors name.

To receive Global Researchs Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to

The post Wanting War over Taiwan: Australias Gang of Five appeared first on Global Research.

17:20

A GLOBAL BAN FOR SINGLE USE PLASTICS "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Single-use plastics are increasingly being seen as a major problem.  Over the years Australia has done very poorly in disposing of used plastic with various failed exporting programs and limited local recycling programs.  The continuing problem has recently been highlighted by the collapse of REDcycle, the company contracted to around 2000 supermarkets to collect soft plastic returned by consumers for recycling.

Filmmaker Craig Leeson, who attended COP27 in Egypt where plastic pollution was discussed, left there wondering if humanity could address this problem.  In a recent article in The Saturday Paper he pointed out that humans are still manufacturing and throwing away more single-use plastics than ever before because of convenience, habit and a lack of government regulation.

Leeson said, We have been sold the lie that we can keep using plastics as long as we consumers recycle them.  But recycling doesnt work.  It never did and wasnt designed to. Its a con.  We have been conned by big companies and governments.

Currently more than 12% of oil goes towards making plastics and over the next 20 years the oil industry is planning to build more plastic production plants globally. According to Carbon Tracker, BP expects plastics to represent 95% of the net growth in demand for oil from 2020 to 2040.

Leeson says the obvious solution is a global ban on single use plastics.  Some bans on specific items have been introduced in Australia and elsewhere by governments and by organisations in their operations.   Importantly, there is considerable community support for a global ban.  However, any ban will be strongly opposed and likely undermined by the plastic-producing companies.  These are the same companies who have extensive experience in cozying up to politicians and publicly undermining action on climate c...

16:51

Bulli again to remember the horrific colliery explosion that killed 81 men and boys in 1887 "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

THE Black Diamond Heritage Centre will again host the annual commemoration of the 1887 Bulli Mine Disaster at St Augustines Anglican Church this month.

A massive methane gas explosion at the Bulli Colliery killed 81 men and boys at 2.30pm on March 23 1887.

The annual service is open to the public and will again be held at Bullis Anglican Church in Park Road where many of the victims were buried, and where a memorial garden has been dedicated to the victims and families.

After the service, a gathering will lay flowers at the nearby disaster monument.

Black Diamond District Heritage Centre president, Kerrie Anne Christian said the event time this year will be one hour earlier than past events due to other commitments of the Reverend Michael Williamson, who will conduct the service. The memorial service begins at 12.30pm on Thursday, March 23. All are welcome.

For a history of the Bulli Mine Disaster visit the website: ...

16:18

An Ounce of Truth in A World of Lies "IndyWatch Feed National"

Sourced from https://sesgo.org/hacia-un-mundo-fragmentado/

Introduction by Dee McLachlan

Where do you start? A brief article to ignite comments.

Almost nothing from the government is truthful. Almost nothing from the media is truthful. Everything is an orchestrated setup in this matrix designed to fragment the mind; fragm...

15:38

Malcolm, things I'd rather do include.... "IndyWatch Feed National"

Its out! Join me on my new podcast series. Can liberal democracies prevail against authoritarian populists at home and dictators abroad? @LiSTNRau #auspol https://t.co/iQo6Cpma87 pic.twitter.com/H0EZTXmmr5 Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 6, 2023

15:07

Lidia Thorpe asks, "What kind of person do you think I am?" Help her out. "IndyWatch Feed National"

Senator Lidia Thorpe has been cleared of contempt of parliament after an investigation into a relationship with a former bikie leader. During her speech, she called out her critics, gestured towards Pauline Hanson, and demanded an apology. Read more: https://t.co/94F5vp13Cg pic.twitter.com/QpYBq5yxbd SBS News (@SBSNews) March 8, 2023

15:01

Zelensky "IndyWatch Feed National"

is he going to Ukraine?pic.twitter.com/m8ZDpeisJS Rob (@_Rob_Ware) March 8, 2023

13:47

Woonona disability worker named Keira Woman of the Year "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Director of Frame Running Wollongong Renee Jurgielan (right).

WOONONA resident Renee Jurgielan has been named as the 2023 Keira Woman of the Year.

Renee, who is the director of Frame Running Wollongong, helps lead a small team and successfully works with members of the community and stakeholders to enrich the lives of children with a disability or impaired balance by participating in the sport frame running. Frame Running is all about inclusive sporting fun, playing games, making friends and feeling the freedom of movement.

Renee works passionately with Sian Napper and Suzy Lock to help make a difference for children with a disability. Renee has also worked with her team to set up a sibling program.

State MP for Keira, Ryan Park said Renee is a passionate advocate who works tirelessly to help en...

13:30

ABC junior complaining about occasional "long hours" that people who pay her way (taxpayers) do often "IndyWatch Feed National"

This is ABC junior business reporter Emilia Terzon complaining about how much she's paid for the work she does. By community standards, ABC journalists are well paid - and substantially more than many Australians who actually do work bloody hard ... like cleaners, nurses, police officers, and soldiers. But she's...

13:23

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words..... "IndyWatch Feed National"

I know for a fact that a couple of blokes were saying pretty shitty things about me half-tanked in the back of a cab the other day. Where do I register and publish my outrage? Or maybe best that I ignore it and get on with life. Id like to...

12:48

Byron Bay: Search for missing swimmer called off "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

A joint search and rescue operation was called off for a swimmer last seen off Byron Bay. Photo Marine Rescue NSW

The search for a man seen struggling in the surf of Main Beach on 1 March has been called off.

Two people saw a man struggling in the surf about 30m offshore of Main Beach about 5.30pm on Wednesday 1 March 2023. They reported the incident to the police and a search and rescue was launched. 

A 22-year-old man attempted to assist the swimmer but was overwhelmed by the prevailing conditions.

Personal items were located on the beach. 

An extensive marine and land search resumed at 7am on Saturday 4 March 2023, again involving resources from Tweed/Byron Police District, Marine Area Command, NSW Police Divers, Surf Life Saving, Fire and Rescue NSW, Brunswick Heads Marine Rescue, and Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA) members, said a NSW Police spokesperson. 

At 12.30pm that day, the search was suspended with no sign of the missing swimmer, since he was last seen in difficulties at 5.30pm on Wednesday 1 March 2023.

The coordinated search has...

12:45

Why doesnt EA divest from crypto? "IndyWatch Feed National"

After Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was arrested for massive fraud in November, there has been a reckoning in the EA movement to which SBF belonged. Ive linked to several critics discussing how SBFs actions could have been attributed to EA philosophy and practices, and even offered my own humble commentary.

Of course, its very easy to get distracted by philosophical arguments, and miss whats staring in our face. The much more obvious takeaway from the whole affair is: EA was overinvested in cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is evil, why were they invested in it at all?

Yes, fraud can come from any sector, and no, not every person involved in crypto is fraudulent to the same degree as SBF. No, SBF is not proof of the depravity of crypto. What SBF proves, is that EA has been supportive of, and dependent on crypto. EA insiders must have already known, and maybe some readers already knew, but I didnt know! I didnt know EA had so much crypto in it! Why is that? And why dont they stop?


The most likely and obvious answer is that many people in EA are convinced that crypto is good, or at least not convinced that its bad. And if any EA folks are anti-crypto, they are either unable or unwilling to do anything about it.

In general, I am pessimistic about ever persuading people in EA of anything, because theyre the sort of people who demand conformity to their own rigorous style of argument. No, I dont have any new arguments as to why crypto is evil. Instead, I observe that crypto-skepticism is curiously muted in EA. Rather than expecting someone like me to supply a criticism of crypto, EA should be spending its own damn analytical, educational, and institutional resources to learn how to invest ethically.

Lets look at what people have said about crypto in the EA forums.

Crypto as a cause area

From February 2021, The Transformative Potential of Cryptocurrencies. This is an article proposing that crypto as a possible cause areathat is to say, something EA could donate to in order to produce good in the world. Among other things, they make the absurd argument that crypto is good for the world because some people get rich from it.

2) Smart individuals (or lucky early-adopters) can become, or have become quite rich by utilizing the enormous growth of the crypto market which...

12:24

2023 election Tweed: Susie Hearder "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Susie Hearder

Susie Hearder is a bush regenerator and animal lover. She is running for the seat of Tweed in the upcoming state elections for the Animal Justice Party (AJP).

What is your big number one issue that youre looking at going into this election?

My main focus for the election is koalas and getting them on the agenda for this election as they are facing imminent extinction, and cannot afford another term of this Government who refuse to protect their habitat. 

What is your background what did you study or train for? What skills do you bring to this? What is your current job?

I studied horticulture and am a bush regenerator although spend more time volunteering for animals and the environment. 

Why is it important to you that youre in Parliament?

Animals need a voice in parliament so that is our main focus, but the Animal Justice Part...

12:19

Wanting War over Taiwan: Australias Gang of Five "IndyWatch Feed National"

Diligently, obediently and with a degree of dangerous imbecility, a number of Australian media outlets are manufacturing a consensus for war with a country that has never been a natural, historical enemy, nor sought to be. But as Australia remains the satellite of a Sino-suspicious US imperium, its officials and their dutiful advocates in the press seem obligated to pave the way for conflict.

The latest example of this came in articles run in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age of Melbourne. The premise is already clear from the columnists, Peter Hartcher and Matthew Knott. Australia faces a Red Alert, and, to that end, needs a warring fan club. Not since the domino theory bewitched strategists and confused military planners have Australians witnessed this: a series of articles featuring a gang of five with one purpose: to render the Australian public so witless as to reject any peaceful accommodation.

First, the provocative colouring for the article, How a conflict over Taiwan could swiftly reach our shores. The Australian continent is shown bathed in a sea of red. Various military bases and facilities are outlined. For good measure, there is a picture of Australian soldiers firing an artillery piece in military exercises in 2018 at Shoalwater Bay, Queensland.

Then, the blistering opening lines of terror. Within 72 hours of a conflict breaking out over Taiwan, Chinese missile bombardments and devastating cyberattacks on Australia would begin. For the first time since World War II, the mainland would be under attack. The authors already anticipate a good complement of US troops to occupy the Australian north, some 150,000 seeking refuge from the immediate conflict zone.

The Red Alert panellists, anointed as defence experts, brim with such scenarios. All, as they state in a joint communique, agree on one thing: Australia has many vulnerabilities. It has long and exposed connections to the rest of the world sea, air and undersea yet is incapable of protecting them.

Leading the gang of five is Peter Jennings, who has had an unshakeable red-under-the-bed fantasy for years. A former deputy secretary for strategy in the Australian Defence Department, and steering the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) for a decade (thats Canberras revolving door for you), Jennings is adamant and steely. As I think of a conflict over Taiwan, what Im thinking about is something that very quickly grows in scale and location.

There is no reason at all why such a growth in scale or location should happen, but this is not the purpose of the exercise. The point of the Red Alert fantasy is to neutralise the....

12:01

Lismore Womens Festival launches today, International Womens Day "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Lismore Womens Festival 2023 launches today. Photo supplied

International Womens Day came into being as women fought for their rights: rights to vote, to have fair working conditions, to be equal, to have self-determination. In New York in 1909, 15,000 women took to the streets to demand shorter hours, better pay, and voting rights. 

In 1910, Clara Zetkin, the leader of the Womens Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany tabled the idea of an International Womens Day at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen.

In 1911 in NY 146 young women died in a fire in less than 20 minutes at the Triangle Waist Company because they were trapped inside the workshop and could not escape. That tragedy galvanized workers around the world and helped to further unite the womens equality movement to the struggle for workers rights. By 1913, socialist organizations and labor unions in various countries began to celebrate Internat...

11:26

Acclaimed artist Hiromi Tangos latest work brings joy to the Rainbow Region. "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Activities led by artist facilitators every Thursday. Artist facilitator Sigrid Macdonald will lead activities in Auslan for the Deaf community. Please check the gallery website for details.

Hiromi Hotel: Rainbow by acclaimed Japanese Australian artist Hiromi Tango is a sensory art installation that takes inspiration from the rainbow, drawing on the colours and symbology of this natural wonder. The rainbow is a recurring theme in Tangos work, however, it has particular significance for Lismore. Lismore is in the Rainbow Region of Northern NSW and its ever-changing weather means residents enjoy the regular privilege of seeing these beautiful arches of colour. The significance of the rainbow to Lismore is so pertinent that the Auslan symbol for Lismore is the sign rainbow, expressed through an upward arching motion of the hand. Importantly, the rainbow is a symbol for the LGBTIQA+ community, a key part of Lismores cultural identity.

Hiromi Hotel: Rainbow
Hiromi Tango
11 March 15 April, 2023
Lismore Regional Gallery pop-up space
46 Magellan Street, Lismore
www.lismoregallery.org

One of the central works in the exhibition is a rainbow garden. Applying Tangos fun and engaging techniques, visitors and the local community will be contributing to this collaborative piece, tucking in flowers, foliage and colourful twisted, abstract forms created from upcycled fabric and yarn. Some of the more specific iconographies in the work include the lilly pilly, the bleeding heart tree, echinacea and the she-oak.

People viewing Hiromi Hotel: Rainbow can experience it as they would any exhibition, or they can get actively involved. This gentle engagement and Tangos artistic processes that encourage movement and uncomplicated human interaction, have known therapeutic benefits. Tango has done a lot of work with the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and mental health researcher Dr Emma Burrows, applying theories about how colour, playful spaces, and movement can influence mood.

Artist facilitators are on hand to help lead activities every Thursday during the exhibition. Artist facilitator Sigrid Macdonald will lead activities in Auslan for the Deaf community.

Hiromi Tango is an old friend of Lismore, having been introduced through her partner, Craig Walsh (also a respected artist) who has family connections to the town. In 2014 Tango created Hiromi Tango: Remnant, a major project and exhibition at Lismore Regional Gallery inspired by subtropical rainforests in the region.

Tango and Walsh were among the first people to come to Lismore Regional Gallery to help after the flood inundated the gallery on 28 February 2022. They brought everything includ...

11:21

Ron DeSantis to Biden on his "misguided, unscientific, and out-of-date Covid policies" "IndyWatch Feed National"

Thanks to reader Julie who writes: Idiots everywhere, not just here. No fair play for Djokovic. DeSantis letter to Biden today: "The only thing keeping Djokovic from participating in this tournament is your administration's continued enforcement of a misguided, unscientific, and out-of-date Covid vaccination policy for foreign guests seeking to...

11:19

Motherdaughter protesters face court over tree-sit at Yarratt State Forest "IndyWatch Feed National"

Juliet and Luca Lamont. Photo supplied

It is symbolic that on International Womens Day (IWD) that the non-violent, motherdaughter protesters who sat in a tree to highlight the danger that continued logging of NSW native forests, particularly in high-quality koala habitat, face court.

Juliet Lamont, and her daughter Luca, will face court today for their attempt to highlight the unsustainable forestry practices in Yarratt State Forest.

...

10:55

Human Rights Commission calls for a Human Rights Act "IndyWatch Feed National"

Contributed by Jim Hayes

The Australian Human Rights Commission has taken aim at the robodebt program, indefinite detention and Covid policies in a new report setting out a model for a federal Human Rights Act.

Its solution is for the Australian parliament to pass vote a human rights act into legislation. The argument is that this would provide a safeguard against abuse. Perhaps it would make life somewhat more difficult for politicians and bureaucrats to do harm. But it will not stop it, if the intention of those who would violate the intention is strong enough.

This does not mean that there shouldnt be a Human rights Act. There should be, at least if the content does provide some clear rules, compensation for the victim, and a penalty for the abuser. An act with no teeth is useless.

The proposed act would enshrine into law the concepts of equality before the law, the right to life, protection of children and families, freedom of movement, association, and expression; freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief; rights to education, health, an adequate standard of living, access to social security, and a healthy environment.

This was revealed by the Commissions president Rosalind Croucher, who told a press conference on Tuesday (7 March):

A Human Rights Act is the central missing piece of government accountability in Australia.

Photo by Paul Braven/AAP: Rosalind Croucher the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission

The fact that ensuring these rights is being talked about suggests that they exist only partially and conditionally in Australia. To change this, we need more than passing a law and to know why human rights are not properly protected.

...

10:20

Human Rights Law Centre welcomes Commissions push for Human Rights Act "IndyWatch Feed National"

The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) release of a position paper calling for a Federal Human Rights Act. 

The AHRC paper, Free + Equal endorses the clear calls made by the Human Rights Law Centre and a coalition of over 80 organisations urging the Federal Government to follow the examples set by Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory and adopt a legally enforceable Federal Human Rights Act or Charter. 

A Federal Human Rights Act or Charter will help prevent human rights violations, provide a powerful tool to challenge injustice, and foster understanding and respect for human rights. 

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

Charters of Human Rights are about ensuring that the values we all share like fairness, respect, dignity and compassion are always at the heart of all government decisions, laws and policies. We welcome the Australian Human Rights Commisions position paper that illustrates how to make this a reality. 

Australia is the only western liberal democracy without a Charter of Human Rights or similar in our laws. We see time after time situations where people have their rights violated but they are unable to take effective action, as shown in the Aged Care and Disability Royal Commissions to name two examples. We urge the Albanese Government to adopt the Human Rights Commission position paper so that everyone is free to enjoy their rights. 

"A Human Rights Act or Charter means that government decision making must factor in human rights at the outset, and people can take action when their rights are being breached. 

Learn more about the campaign for an Australian Charter of Human Rights 

Read Free + Equal, Australian Human Rights Commissions model on a National Human Rights Act

Background 

Charters of Human Rights promote respect for human rights and give people power to take action if their rights are breached. 

In Australia, Queensland (2019), Victoria (2006) and ACT (2004) all have protected human rights through charters of human rights. Recently, the 101 Cases report and website highlighted 101 examples of peoples rights being protected by the Charters of Rights that exist in the ACT, Victoria and Queensland. They also highlight the need for a national Charter of Rights. Read the 101 cases here 

Photo by damircudic on iStock

Media Contact:
Thomas Feng,
Media and Communications Manager,...

09:52

Mean Girls on women's day "IndyWatch Feed National"

International Womens Day looks a bit different this year A message from Australias first majority woman Federal Government pic.twitter.com/UjaomLyV05 Katy Gallagher (@SenKatyG) March 7, 2023

09:05

Nullification - #SolutionsWatch "IndyWatch Feed National"

[iframe src="https://www.bitchute.com/embed/gR70qs7Q62L6/" width="90%" height="320" allow="fullscreen"]
Joining us today to discuss the latest wins for the nullification movement is Michael Boldin (NOT Boldrin!) of TenthAmendmentCenter.com. In this jam-packed conversation, James and Michael examine the historical and philosophical roots of nullification and how the idea is being used to derail federal government tyranny.

08:49

Market Talk March 7, 2023 "IndyWatch Feed National"

ASIA:

 

Indias domestic economy is its primary engine of growth and the slowdown in economic activity late last year will only be temporary, said Moodys Analytics on Tuesday. Citing that the private consumption lagging overall GDP for the first time since the Delta wave of Covid-19 struck the economy in the second quarter of 2021, the Moodys Analytics in its report on emerging market outlook said growth slowed substantially on a year-ago basis. Notably, Indian economy grew 13.2 per cent in April-June quarter and 6.3 per cent in July-September quarter. While Indias gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a three quarter low of 4.4 per cent in October-December, 2022, government data said.

 

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

  • NIKKEI 225 increased 71.38 points or 0.25% to 28,309.16
  • Shanghai decreased 36.93 points or -1.11% to 3,285.10
  • Hang Seng decreased 68.71 points or -0.33% to 20,534.48
  • ASX 200 increased 36.10 points or 0.49% to 7,364.70
  • Kospi increased 0.73 points or 0.03% to 2,463.35
  • SENSEX closed
  • Nifty50 closed

 

 

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

  • AUDUSD decreased 0.01366 or -2.03% to 0.65904
  • NZDUSD decreased 0.00819 or -1.32% to 0.61121
  • USDJPY increased 1.25 or 0.92% to 137.160
  • USDCNY increased 0.04449 or 0.64% to 6.99429

 

Precious Metals:

  • Gold decreased 32.13 USD/t oz. or -1.74% to 1,814.72
  • Silver decreased 0.967 USD/t. oz or -4.59% to 20.075

 

Some economic news from last night:

China:

Trade Balance (USD) (Feb) increased from 78.01B to 116.88B

Exports (YoY) (Feb) increased from -9.9% to -6.8%

Imports (YoY) (Feb) decreased from -7.5% to -10.2%

Australia:

Retail Sales (MoM) increased from -4.0% to 1.9%

RBA Interest Rate Decision (Mar) increased from 3.35% to 3.60%

Trade Balance (Jan) decreased from 12.237B to 11.688B

 

Some economic news from today:

China:

FX Reserves (USD) (Feb) decreased from 3.184T to 3.133T

Hong Kong:

Foreign Reserves (USD) (Feb)...

08:19

STRA campaigners gaslighting locals "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Main Beach, Byron Bay. Echo file photo.

The latest action from the short-term rental accommodation (STRA) campaigners is an alarmist email exhorting recipients to Join the fight to protect your right to stay in a holiday home in Byron Bay. This somewhat misleading headline from Byron Bay Holiday Rentals (supporters of the Byron Deserves Better campaign) targets previous or potential visitors to Byron Shire.

Email sent out by holiday rental company seeking support against the 90-day cap.

On 2 March, just a week after the community consultation by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC), the holiday rental agency sent an email out maintaining the 90-day cap on STRA would diminish your enjoyment of Byrons beauty and hospitality and your feedback would help us ensure that your next holiday in this breathtaking town remains affordable and accessible.

Reading it made me angry. What about the rights of locals who purchased in a residential area...

08:16

Seismic Diplomacy: Erdogan and the aftermath of the Turkish earthquakes "IndyWatch Feed National"

President Erdogan may be instrumentalizing what happens in the aftermath to craft his P.R. campaign ahead of the next elections. The setting: a cosy Ossetian restaurant owned by two Ossetian ladies close to Istiklal street, a very busy central area of Istanbul. The players: a smatter of Istanbul intelligentsia - academics, media, liberal professionals, lawyers, highly educated, secular, very critical of the AKP ruling party. The questions: during dinner, I asked the table their analysis of the state's response to the deadly earthquakes in Turkey, and how President Erdogan may be instrumentalizing what happens in the aftermath to craft his P.R. campaign ahead of the next elections. After our conversation, it was still not officially confirmed whether the next presidential elections will be held on May or June 2023. So the stage is set for an unedited exercise in direct democracy, with some stunning answers, and way more enlightening than what Turkish media and think tanks may be...

07:58

At 5 am - 6 am, 8 March 2023 (AEDT) this morning both Lismore and Grafton air quality monitoring stations were not reporting data along with three other regions. "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

 


The NSW Government monitors air quality across the state.


In the Northern River region this monitoring in theory encompasses the northern part of the North Coast planning region from the NSW-Qld border region down to the Clarence Valley.


Air quality in Northern NSW is generally considered to be good.


However there are only two permanent official air quality monitoring stations in the Northern Rivers region, at Grafton and Lismore.


These stations principally monitor fine particles in the air on an hourly basis and publish the hourly average at

Lismore: https://www.airquality.nsw.gov.au/northern-rivers/lismore

and

Grafton: https://www.airquality.nsw.gov.au/northern-rivers/grafton.


Principally the monitoring is of...

07:34

Iron Gates developers roll out the big guns at conciliation meeting at Evans Head. Community says NO "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

The L&EC banned photos at hearings. Locals waiting to speak before the L&EC hearing.

Iron Gates is an approximately 50 hectare site at Evans Head that has been subject to proposed development applications (DAs) since the 1980s. The local community has repeatedly highlighted the flood and fire risks of the site as well as held developer Graham Ingles to account for illegal clearing of the site through the courts.

The site is once again back in the Land and Environment Court (L&EC) for a Section 34 Conciliation Conference following the rejection of a DA by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP)on 7 September, 2022 that highlighted two independent reports stating that the DA should be refused. The conciliation conference was convened at the Iron Gates property at Evans Head on Monday morning (6 March, 2023) to consider the decision of the NRRP to refuse the DA from Goldcoral Pty Ltd for residential development on the property.

...

07:00

Residents devastated by Feros plans to redevelop "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Kate Smorty is one of the residents affected by the Feros Boards decision. Photo Eve Jeffery

With the Feros Care Board announcing to residents and families the closure of Feros Village Byron Bay last Tuesday, questions are being raised around the boards decision to redevelop the large, and valuable Byron Bay land as an intergenerational community.

Plans are now underway to redevelop Feros, located at 29-33 Marvell Street, into a new, state-of-the-art community, purpose-built facility.

It comes just weeks after a damning performance report on the facility; the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) found its elderly residents were subjected to substandard care across every aspect of the service.

The board claimed at the time that the issues had been rectified and that the facility has been reaccredited by the ACQSC.

And while all current residents have been offered relocation to Feros Care Bangalow, or Feros Care Wommin Bay, there are no guarantees by the board that they will be given priority to retur...

05:28

What If There Are No Solutions? "IndyWatch Feed National"

The unencumbered realist concludes that there are no solutions within a status quo structure that is itself the problem.

Realists who question received wisdom and conclude the status quo is untenable are quickly labeled pessimistsbecause the zeitgeist expects a solution is always at hand--preferably a technocratic one that requires zero sacrifice and doesn't upset the status quo apple cart.

Realists ask "what if" without selecting the "solution" first. The conventional approach is to select the "answer/solution" first and then design the question and cherry-pick the evidence to support the pre-selected "solution."

What if all the status quo "solutions" don't actually address the real problems? This line of inquiry is strictly verboten, for there must be a solution that solves everything in one fell swoop.

Examples of this approach abound: a one-size fits all solution that resolves all the systemic problems by itself. All we have to do is implement it.

Replacing fiat currencies is one example that I have explored:

You Want Truly "Sound Money"? A Thought Experiment

Contrarian Thoughts on the Petro-Yuan and Gold-Backed Currencies

I've also explored how real change works: it takes many years (or even decades) of sacrifices and high costs with none of the immediate payoff we now expect as a birthright. Real change pits those benefiting from the status quo against those finally grasp that the status quo is the problem, not the solution, and these political/social battles are endless and brutal because any gains come at somebody else's expense.

The Forgotten History of the 1970s

The 1970s: From Rotting Carcasses Floating in the River to Kayak Races

Fiat currencies contain the seeds of their own self-destruction, but establishing a gold or bitcoin standard creates its own problems. As I explained in the essays listed above, trade imbalances are inherent in a world of scarcity and so exporters of essentials will end up with all the gold / bitcoin and the importers of essentials will end up with no gold or bitcoin, and no means to buy exports. Since the exporting economies are mercantilist by nature, they cannot import enough from their customers to balance trade asymmetries.

The other problem with the gold / bitcoin standard is there is nothing inherently decentralized, equitable or democratic about these standards. In other words, any standard based on wealth distributed by scarcity is inherently neo.....

04:09

Second Ohio Norfolk Southern Train Derailment Escalates Rail Freight Safety Concerns "IndyWatch Feed National"

A month and a day after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio forcing evacuations as it spewed toxic chemicals into the surrounding community another train from the same company derailed in the same state.

The derailment, which took place Saturday, March 4 at around 4:45 p.m. local time near Springfield, Ohio, in the states Clark County, did not release any dangerous chemicals, as company and state officials were quick to reassure residents. But it did raise concerns about the safety of Norfolk Southerns operations.

The railroads got a lot of questions theyve got to answer and they really havent really done it very well yet, Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown said on This Week, as The New York Times reported. 

Saturdays derailment saw 28 of 212 cars derail en route from Bellevue, Ohio, to Birmingham, Alabama. The overturned cars slid along the tracks and knocked over power lines, which shut off power to 1,500 Clark County residents, as NPR reported. The four or five homes within 1,000 feet of the crash were asked to shelter in place for 10 hours after the incident as a precaution. 

For residents, the incident brought up fears of a repeat of what had happened in East Palestine on Feb. 3, where hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxins including vinyl chloride were released from the crash site. Some people there are still complaining of suspicious odors and rashes. Removing contaminated...

03:16

Perth Mint Sold Diluted Gold To China, Got Caught, And Tried To Cover It Up "IndyWatch Feed National"

Via: ABC: The historic Perth Mint is facing a potential $9 billion recall of gold bars after selling diluted or doped bullion to China and then covering it up, according to a leaked internal report. Four Corners has uncovered documents charting the WA government-owned mints decision to begin doping its gold in 2018, and then []

00:23

Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP): Who are they and what their goals are? "IndyWatch Feed National"

In early February 2023, Washington unveiled the US Indo-Pacific strategy. The document repeatedly emphasized the importance of the informal group Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP), established in September 2022 and composed of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom. The purpose of the PBP is to strengthen relations with the 12 small island states located in the South Pacific region for their prosperity and maritime security. In this regard, the appointment of Frankie Annette Reed (US Consul General in Melbourne, Australia) as the first American envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum, an important regional intergovernmental organization founded in 1971 where the heads of South Pacific nations meet annually, was highlighted. The United States Indo-Pacific strategy includes the possibility of recognizing two New Zealand possessions, the Cook Islands (population 15 thousand) and Niue (population just under 2 thousand people), as sovereign states after appropriate consultations.

Such unprecedented American interest in the lives of small island states remote from the world centers of civilization can be explained by the fact that in the 2020s the issue of growing Chinese influence in the South Pacific region, which violates the geopolitical interests of the dominant regional players Australia and the United States. And who will be favored by the South Pacific small island nations will determine who will be the master of the Pacific in the coming years: The US or China.

Chinas Belt and Road trade and economic initiative, in which New Zealand and eight small island states, all of which are located close to Australian shores, have signed participation agreements since 2017, is aimed at more than just improving maritime logistics. However, the placement of Chinese military bases and intelligence equipment in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative over time will pose a serious threat to regional security. So decided Washington, Canberra and London, creating in September 2021 the Anglo-Saxon defense alliance AUKUS for friendship against China in the Pacific.

As part of AUKUS, the US committed to assisting Australia in improving its defense capabilities by providing nuclear-powered boats to the Australian Navy beginning in 2023. Australia then breached a contract with France to build non-nuclear submarines,...

Tuesday, 07 March

21:46

Former Prime Minister Keating lashes Nine newspapers over news abuse in China coverage "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

He said Taiwan was a civil issue for China, and not a vital Australian interest.

We have no alliance with Taipei. There is no piece of paper sitting in Canberra which has an alliance with Taipei, he said.

The New Daily@TheNewDailyAU, Mar 7 23 https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2023/03/07/paul-keating-smh-china/

Former prime minister Paul Keating has unleashed on the Nine newspapers over their coverage of the threat posed by China.

In an incendiary letter, Mr Keating accused the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers of unparalleled bias and news abuse after they splashed on Tuesday with a special feature titled Red alert.

Australia faces war threat with China within three years. Were not ready, read th...

Former Prime Minister Keating lashes Nine newspapers over news abuse in China coverage "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

He said Taiwan was a civil issue for China, and not a vital Australian interest.

We have no alliance with Taipei. There is no piece of paper sitting in Canberra which has an alliance with Taipei, he said.

The New Daily@TheNewDailyAU, Mar 7 23 https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2023/03/07/paul-keating-smh-china/

Former prime minister Paul Keating has unleashed on the Nine newspapers over their coverage of the threat posed by China.

In an incendiary letter, Mr Keating accused the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers of unparalleled bias and news abuse after they splashed on Tuesday with a special feature titled Red alert.

Australia faces war threat with China within three years. Were not ready, rea...

21:40

Darwin, Australia in the forefront for USAs Pacific war against China "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

preparing for possible island battles in the Western Pacific by acquiring additional bases in the area.

The first such installation to be established is the Marine Rotational Force (MRF) in Darwin, Australia. Located by the Timor Sea in Australias Northern Territory, the MRF facility is closer to the southern Philippines and the South China Sea than to, say, Sydney or Melbourne. As a result of an agreement signed by President Obama during a visit to Australia in 2011, the U.S. presence has grown from just 200 Marines in the first rotation to approximately 2,500 today. While in Australia, these troops engage in a six-month stint of training and exercises, usually in conjunction with Australian military personnel. In the event of a war with China, the Darwin facility could also be used to support combat operations throughout the South China Sea area.

Restructuring the Force

With China now identified by the U.S. Department of Defense as the most dangerous, or pacing threat to U.S. national security, all of the military services have been instructed to prepare for a U.S.-China conflict. Accordingly, both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps are restructuring their Asia-oriented forces those committed to the Pentagons Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) to be capable of conducting multiple offensive and defensive operations throughout the Western Pacific. This has generally entailed lightening their arms and equipment to allow for easy deployment and acquiring more forward operating bases in the region. Both also seek new mobile missile systems (often called precision fires) for attacks on enemy ships and land installations.

Pentagon Prepares for Island Combat in the Pacific as US-China Tensions Rise The U.S. has been securing new basing facilities and conducting large-scale combat exercises in the Western Pacific. By Michael T. Klare , TRUTHOUT, February 28, 2023

the notion of another major amphibious campaign in the Pacific has largely evapora...

Darwin, Australia in the forefront for USAs Pacific war against China "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

preparing for possible island battles in the Western Pacific by acquiring additional bases in the area.

The first such installation to be established is the Marine Rotational Force (MRF) in Darwin, Australia. Located by the Timor Sea in Australias Northern Territory, the MRF facility is closer to the southern Philippines and the South China Sea than to, say, Sydney or Melbourne. As a result of an agreement signed by President Obama during a visit to Australia in 2011, the U.S. presence has grown from just 200 Marines in the first rotation to approximately 2,500 today. While in Australia, these troops engage in a six-month stint of training and exercises, usually in conjunction with Australian military personnel. In the event of a war with China, the Darwin facility could also be used to support combat operations throughout the South China Sea area.

Restructuring the Force

With China now identified by the U.S. Department of Defense as the most dangerous, or pacing threat to U.S. national security, all of the military services have been instructed to prepare for a U.S.-China conflict. Accordingly, both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps are restructuring their Asia-oriented forces those committed to the Pentagons Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) to be capable of conducting multiple offensive and defensive operations throughout the Western Pacific. This has generally entailed lightening their arms and equipment to allow for easy deployment and acquiring more forward operating bases in the region. Both also seek new mobile missile systems (often called precision fires) for attacks on enemy ships and land installations.

Pentagon Prepares for Island Combat in the Pacific as US-China Tensions Rise The U.S. has been securing new basing facilities and conducting large-scale combat exercises in the Western Pacific. By Michael T. Klare , TRUTHOUT, February 28, 2023

the notion of another major amphibious campaign in the Pacific has largely evapora...

21:38

UK, US or a hybrid? Intense speculation as Australias $170bn nuclear submarine choice looms "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Tory Shepherd Guardian, 6 Mar 23,

UK and Australian ministers have been hinting at a trilateral design for the eight boats, but all options are still on the table in Australias biggest defence purchase.

Australia is set to within a couple of weeks learn some basic details about a program that could cost more than $170bn and will run for decades.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, this week warned against opting for a new UK design. For now though, the Aukus submarine program is a black box, says Tom Corben, a foreign policy and defence research fellow at the University of Sydneys United States Studies Centre.

Were just speculating until we get the announcement, he says, adding that the secret has been very well kept, considering the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is set to go to the US to announce it in March..

The US is currently building 19 Virginia class submarines (known as SSNs, the US classification code for nuclear-powered attack submarines as opposed to SSBNs, which are nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines).

These are more than 140m long and require a crew of 132. They displace (or weigh) more than 10,000 tonnes and carry Tomahawk cruise missiles.

From the mid 2030s, the Virginia class will be replaced with the next-generation SSN(X). That X means the design hasnt been finalised yet. The US navy has described it as an apex predator that will be faster, stealthier, and bristling with more weapons.

The UKs Astute class also carry Tomahawk cruise missiles, which allow the submarine to hit targets 1,000kms away and send back images of the battlefield. It also has Spearfish torpedos designed to destroy enemy submarines.

It has a crew of about 100, is almost 100m long and has displacement of 16,000 tonnes.

The UK, too, is thinking about the next generation. The SSN(R), which is still being designed, will replace the Astutes..

These are not submarines that can be plucked off the shelf from some global supermarket. The newer ones, still in the design phase, are years away from even starting trials. The older ones are desperately needed by their own navies. ...

UK, US or a hybrid? Intense speculation as Australias $170bn nuclear submarine choice looms "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Tory Shepherd Guardian, 6 Mar 23,

UK and Australian ministers have been hinting at a trilateral design for the eight boats, but all options are still on the table in Australias biggest defence purchase.

Australia is set to within a couple of weeks learn some basic details about a program that could cost more than $170bn and will run for decades.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, this week warned against opting for a new UK design. For now though, the Aukus submarine program is a black box, says Tom Corben, a foreign policy and defence research fellow at the University of Sydneys United States Studies Centre.

Were just speculating until we get the announcement, he says, adding that the secret has been very well kept, considering the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is set to go to the US to announce it in March..

The US is currently building 19 Virginia class submarines (known as SSNs, the US classification code for nuclear-powered attack submarines as opposed to SSBNs, which are nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines).

These are more than 140m long and require a crew of 132. They displace (or weigh) more than 10,000 tonnes and carry Tomahawk cruise missiles.

From the mid 2030s, the Virginia class will be replaced with the next-generation SSN(X). That X means the design hasnt been finalised yet. The US navy has described it as an apex predator that will be faster, stealthier, and bristling with more weapons.

The UKs Astute class also carry Tomahawk cruise missiles, which allow the submarine to hit targets 1,000kms away and send back images of the battlefield. It also has Spearfish torpedos designed to destroy enemy submarines.

It has a crew of about 100, is almost 100m long and has displacement of 16,000 tonnes.

The UK, too, is thinking about the next generation. The SSN(R), which is still being designed, will replace the Astutes..

These are not submarines that can be plucked off the shelf from some global supermarket. The newer ones, still in the design phase, are years away from even starting trials. The older ones are desperately needed by their own navies. ...

21:24

Der Spiegel asks: Is the CIA hunting Assanges supporters? "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

This campaign is inextricably tied to war. Assange is being persecuted for exposing war crimes, under conditions where the US and its allies are preparing even greater horrors through their proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and their confrontation with China.

WSWS, Oscar GrenfellSEP candidate for NSW Legislative Council, 27 February 2023

In a feature article published last Thursday, the well-known German weekly magazine Der Spiegel pointedly asked whether the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was hunting associates and supporters of Julian Assange.

The persecuted WikiLeaks publisher remains in Britains maximum-security Belmarsh Prison while the UK authorities seek to facilitate his extradition to the US. There, Assange faces 175 years imprisonment for exposing the war crimes committed by American imperialism and its allies in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Over recent years, a wealth of material has been published laying bare the scope of the US campaign against Assange and its gross illegality. In October 2021, Yahoo! News issued an article, based on the statements of 30 former and current US officials. It asserted that the CIA and the Trump administration had plotted to kidnap or assassinate Assange while he was an internationally-recognised political refugee in Ecuadors London embassy.

There are well-documented allegations that UC Global, the security company contracted by the Ecuadorian authorities to provide security to the embassy, was secretly collaborating with the US authorities. UC Global whistleblowers have attested to this, and the unlawful surveillance material, including videos of Assanges privileged discussions with his lawyers, has been publicly released.

The Der Spiegel article provides additional information. It paints a picture of a global dragnet established by the US government and its agencies to target not only Assange, but also his collaborators. Much of the material is anecdotal, but the standing of those providing it, together with the context of established US state operations against WikiLeaks, makes for a persuasive case.

Summarising the material it collected, Der Spiegel writes: At one point, a lawyer in London lost her laptop; at another, a journalist researching Assanges case...

Der Spiegel asks: Is the CIA hunting Assanges supporters? "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

This campaign is inextricably tied to war. Assange is being persecuted for exposing war crimes, under conditions where the US and its allies are preparing even greater horrors through their proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and their confrontation with China.

WSWS, Oscar GrenfellSEP candidate for NSW Legislative Council, 27 February 2023

In a feature article published last Thursday, the well-known German weekly magazine Der Spiegel pointedly asked whether the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was hunting associates and supporters of Julian Assange.

The persecuted WikiLeaks publisher remains in Britains maximum-security Belmarsh Prison while the UK authorities seek to facilitate his extradition to the US. There, Assange faces 175 years imprisonment for exposing the war crimes committed by American imperialism and its allies in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Over recent years, a wealth of material has been published laying bare the scope of the US campaign against Assange and its gross illegality. In October 2021, Yahoo! News issued an article, based on the statements of 30 former and current US officials. It asserted that the CIA and the Trump administration had plotted to kidnap or assassinate Assange while he was an internationally-recognised political refugee in Ecuadors London embassy.

There are well-documented allegations that UC Global, the security company contracted by the Ecuadorian authorities to provide security to the embassy, was secretly collaborating with the US authorities. UC Global whistleblowers have attested to this, and the unlawful surveillance material, including videos of Assanges privileged discussions with his lawyers, has been publicly released.

The Der Spiegel article provides additional information. It paints a picture of a global dragnet established by the US government and its agencies to target not only Assange, but also his collaborators. Much of the material is anecdotal, but the standing of those providing it, together with the context of established US state operations against WikiLeaks, makes for a persuasive case.

Summarising the material it collected, Der Spiegel writes: At one point, a lawyer in London lost her laptop; at another, a journalist researching Assanges case...

21:00

Seeding Hope "IndyWatch Feed National"

This story discusses pregnancy loss.

Jocelyn knew only one way to live. Growing up next to the Manombo Special Reserve in southeast Madagascar, his family taught him from a young age to see the forest as a source of income. His grandfather had been a logger, cutting trees for timber and burning wood to make charcoal to sell. His grandfather taught his father, and his father taught him.

It was dangerous work. He risked landing in jail for illegal logging every time he ventured into the protected reserve. I needed to feed my family, recalled Jocelyn, who doesnt use a surname; the vegetables he grew near his house werent enough. He also needed money for health care. Once, when his wife was pregnant and fell ill, he sold all of their plates and pans to pay for treatment at a government clinic. She wound up losing the baby anyway.

Then in 2019, Jocelyn went to a meeting that upended his life. Representatives from an American nonprofit, Health In Harmony, asked villagers who lived around the forest: What do you need from the world as a thank you to continue to protect this precious rainforest that the health of our planet depends on? The answers across 31 villages were consistent: health care, job alternatives and help growing food for their families.

Jocelyns wife, Falinety, holds Kristy as the family gathers for an evening meal.

The following year, representatives from each of those villages gathered in a soccer field to watch as their chiefs pressed inky thumbs onto paper, signing an agreement that affirmed their communities would stop encroaching on the forest. In return, Health In Harmony began providing affordable health care through mobile clinics and teaching residents how to grow more food and support themselves without cutting down more trees.

Founded in 2006 to save rainforests and combat climate change, Health In Harmony may have stumbled upon a way to help prevent the next pandemic.

Researchers have shown that deforestation can drive outbreaks by bringing people closer to wildlife, which can shed dangerous vir...

20:59

The US Trying to Get Israel against Russia is a Tricky Call "IndyWatch Feed National"

In a bid to expand the global alliance against Russia to defeat the latter in Ukraine and eventually bring a regime change in Moscow, the US is proactively seeking to enlist Israels support. Apparently, Washington has met some recent although fragile success. On February 23, the UN General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution demanding from Russia to end its military operation in Ukraine and withdraw its forces. Israel, which previously abstained from voting against Russia, joined its Western allies to vote for the resolution. Some people in Washington felt overjoyed, as Ukraines foreign minister also said the vote showed that the world doesnt stand with Russia.

How did Israels support come about? In exchange for securing Israels support, Washington has been relentlessly trying to pre-emptively defeat an upcoming UN resolution against Israels plans to annex additional parts of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank for the past few weeks.

On February 18, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the Palestinian Authority President Mahmood Abbas to thwart a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate halt to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. On the same day, Blinken called Netanyahu in Israel to update him on his diplomacy.

On February 20, reinforcing the Israeli right to unilaterally annex Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Authority withdrew the resolution. The decision to drop the resolution and the vote came after the Biden administration resorted to its usual carrot and stick policy i.e., offering incentives for dropping the resolution and threatening to block aid in case of going ahead with the vote. Israel reciprocated the US by voting against Russia in the UNGA.

Should we draw the conclusion that Israel now stands unquestionably with the US against Russia? Indeed, the answer to this question is much more complex than meets the eye. To begin with, why would Israel want to destabilise its ties with Russia when it understands that confronting Russia could lead the latter to arm Iran and/or prevent the Israeli ability to carry out strikes in Syria? Russian intervention in both of these cases can directly hurt Israels core security interests, as it will help its arch-rival in the region (e.g. Iran) to ultimately gain power vis--vis Jerus...

16:24

My Most Valuable Advice "IndyWatch Feed National"

What you need to know about stock market trading
What You Need to Find Out About Stock Market Trading Whether youre a seasoned investor or a newbie to the stock exchange, there are some points you must know prior to you enter headfirst. Beginning with cheap online trading supplies can be complicated, so you need to take a while to find out the ins and outs of the market initially. Supplies go up and down everyday, so it is necessary to understand what relocates the market and also exactly how you can make use of that information to your advantage. These ideas will assist you make even more informed choices as well as stay clear of a lot of usual blunders. The NYSE and also Nasdaq are the two most popular exchanges in the U.S. yet there are several others around. They all track a supplys price, so you can see how it has conformed time. You can additionally take a look at the efficiency of certain industries or perhaps individual firms to aid you make more educated decisions. There are a variety of different indices that track the securities market, consisting of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. Generally, individuals refer to these as the marketplace or the market indexes. Indices are an integral part of the securities market since they aid you keep track of just how private buy stocks have actually done. Theyre also an effective method to diversify your profile as well as minimize risk. Which online share trading is best? Generally, a bear market is when supply costs decrease, and also a bull market is when they increase. Both tend to happen at the exact same time, yet one kind normally outlasts the various other. You need to be aware that these markets can move promptly, so its a good concept to have a buffer in your portfolio just in instance. This consists of a healthy and balanced reserve and also 10% to 15% of your revenue channelled right into a pension. A margin account is a device that allows you borrow money from your broker to buy safeties. Take advantage of can enhance your revenues, yet it can additionally create you to shed substantial cash if the profession goes south. Traders frequently utilize utilize in order to enhance their revenues. What is share trading online mean? But leverage isnt for every person. You do not wish to spend greater than 10% of your profile in a single simply stock broking, and you should constantly rebalance the quantity of cash you put in...

16:00

Perth Mint sold diluted gold to China, got caught, and tried to cover it up "IndyWatch Feed National"

Perth Mint is facing the potential $9b recall of diluted gold bars.

15:27

Ballina candidates: social housing "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

With an acute shortage of available housing across the nation, and in Byron Shire, The Echo asked candidates for the March 25 NSW election their social housing policy position.

Social housing is described by the government as, secure and affordable rental housing for people on low incomes with housing needs. 

Those seeking social housing either apply to the NSW governments Department of Communities & Justice (public housing), or to non-government social housing providers (community housing). According to www.nsw.gov.au, There are currently long waiting periods for social housing in NSW.

Affordable housing, on the other hand, can be exploited by developers through loopholes within the State Environment Planning Policy (SEPP). For example, the Housing SEPP stipluates a 15 year sunset clause for affordable housing. After that, the property can be rented at market rates. According to Councils recent submission to the IPCs Short Term Rental Accommodation Planning Proposal, there are 70 people housed in Byron Shire in community housing, and 200 in social [public] housing. There are also 221 rough sleepers in the shire, which is on par with numbers found in Sydney.

Ballina MP Tamara Smith by the Richmond River in Ballina. Photo David Lowe.

Greens Smith

Sitting MP, Tamara Smith (Greens) told The Echo The Greens recently announced their plan to rescue housing in regional NSW through a $1 billion fund which will deliver at least 2,500 public and social homes in regional NSW each year for...

12:30

Election 2023 Tweed: Ciara Denham "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

 

Ciara Denham is running for the seat of Tweed in the upcoming state elections. Photo supplied

Ciara Denham is running for The Greens in the seat of Tweed. As a designer and communications strategist, she has focussed her work on conservation and the environment.

What is your big number one issue that youre looking at going into this election?

The population of Tweed is expected to grow up to 35 per cent in the next two decades. 

Ensuring that this growth is supported by a long-term vision and appropriate planning is a number one issue for the Greens in Tweed.

For example, there are some huge development projects planned for Tweed, and I will continue to advocate that these developments are not built on floodplains and that they include affordable housing options so that the housing crisis is not made worse. 

With these developments, we need to ensure that local planning powers are with the community and the local council. Weve seen time and time again the great work of our local community and local government be overturned by the State government; this needs to stop.

This includes the new Tweed Hospital at Kingscliff. Now that the Hospital building is in place, we need to have proper planning surrounding public transport and infrastructure, including staff and carer accommodation and hous...

12:30

Anxiety Levels Are Quietly Rising Part Three "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Preparation is the key to success.

Answering the complex question of how safe is my money in the bank? is all about preparing us to successfully navigate the risks posed to our cash from the next and far more destructive global financial crisis.

The majority of people are either blissfully unaware of or dismiss the prospect of another (and more severe) credit crisis. This thinking (or lack of thinking) baffles me.

Since 2008, the world has managed to go US$200 trillion yes, trillion deeper into debt.

Believing you can solve a debt crisis with more debt is an utterly nonsensical proposition. If were going to believe in the unbelievable, why not cure emphysema by smoking more?

When the markets and the economy are shaken to their senses, you can expect fairly nasty repercussions.

As outlined in the two previous articles, the world does NOT come to a grinding halt.

However, the global economy is geared toward growth, so a marked slowdown in economic activity will impact the very heart of the systemthe banking sector.

In late 2008, to restore confidence in our banking sector, the Australian Government legislated into existence the Financial Claims Scheme.

What APRA and the Budget Papers tell ussomething doesnt quite add up

For those of us who need to get a life, have you ever wondered how much money is on deposit with Australian banks?

The exact figure as at 31 December 2022 is $2,824,107,000,000.

For the ease of this exercise, lets call it $2.8 trillion.

How do I know this?

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) publish a monthly report titled Monthly Banking Statistics.

The report for January 2023 was released on 28 February 2023.

Table 4 from the Excel spreadsheet tallies all the deposits held on the books of Australian banks.

From the list of 125 Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs), there are nine holding the lions share of deposits:

...


Australian banks depsit figures

12:11

New exhibitions Marching into the world at Northern Rivers Community Gallery "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

March is an exciting time to visit Ballinas Northern Rivers Community Gallery (NRCG).

Four new solo-exhibitions from local artists will convey changing perspectives on landscape, climate change, metamorphosis of plant species, and migration and transgenerational trauma.

In Separate Realities, Byron Bay local watercolourist, Dave Sparkes, distills and condenses essential elements of the landscape, using nuances of light and shadow, to convey the essence of a place at certain times.

There is no absolute reality, Sparkes says.

There are only different perspectives, and if you alter these, the average, everyday landscape can be transformed into the most magical place.

The Ice Cohabitation exhibition, also at NRCG, will feature images captured by Louise Grayson during an expedition to the Antarctic.

The images explore the natural dance between animals and their environment, as the shadow of human intervention and a warming environment, begins to stretch across this ice wonderland.

The exhibition asks the question, can this ice environment, with its multitude of species, survive in the augmented race by humans for control of natures final frontier?

Mia Forrests BLOOM exhibition features artworks depicting Australian native flowers, hybridize time, technology, and nature.

Surreal stretching flowers bloom upward, embodying re-imagined cosmic forms and shapes, planting botanicals within a digital context using time expanding techniques, immortalizing the otherwise impermanent and ephemeral nature of plants.

As the flowers transform and bloom, they form a DNA-like helix structure, inviting the audience to contemplate how species morph, change, survive, and thrive over time.

Last but by no means least, Tracing Threads: across emotional landscapes of self...

10:13

Die NATO am Pazifik (II) "IndyWatch Feed National"

Partners across the globe

Die NATO hat bereits 2005 begonnen, ihre Beziehungen zu Sdkorea auszubauen. Damals empfing sie in ihrem Brsseler Hauptquartier den sdkoreanischen Auenminister und spteren UN-Generalsekretr Ban Ki-moon, mit dem sie ber eine engere Zusammenarbeit verhandelte. Seit dem NATO-Gipfel im April 2008 in Bukarest stuft das Militrbndnis Sdkorea explizit als einen seiner partners across the globe ein. Von 2010 bis 2013 nahm das Land am NATO-Einsatz in Afghanistan teil; spter eskortierten zeitweise Kriegsschiffe der sdkoreanischen Marine in Kooperation mit der NATO Handelsschiffe am Horn von Afrika.[1] Im Jahr 2012 unterzeichneten Sdkorea und die NATO ein Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme (IPCP), das sie 2017 erneuerten. 2020 nahm Sdkorea zum ersten Mal an einem NATO-Auenministertreffen teil gemeinsam mit Japan, Australien, Neuseeland, Finnland und Schweden. Beim Madrider NATO-Gipfel im Juni 2022 war Seoul erstmals mit seinem Prsidenten, Yoon Suk-yeol, vertreten. Yoon wird auch beim NATO-Gipfel am 11./12. Juli 2023 in der litauischen Hauptstadt Vilnius erwartet. Seit November ist Sdkorea zudem mit einer eigenen Vertretung am Sitz der NATO in Brssel prsent.

Gemeinsame Manver

Um den weiteren Ausbau der Zusammenarbeit zu besprechen, hielt sich NATO-Generalsekretr Jens Stoltenberg Ende Januar zwei Tage in Seoul auf. Nach Gesprchen mit Prsident Yoon und Auenminister Park Jin teilte er mit, man wolle unter anderem in puncto Cyberabwehr enger kooperieren.[2] Bereits jetzt beteiligt sich Sdkorea an den Aktivitten des NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), das in der estnischen Hauptstadt Tallinn angesiedelt ist und die NATO-Mitglieder in der Cyberabwehr untersttzt; eingebunden sind weitere Lnder, darunter die Ukraine und die offiziell noch neutralen Staaten sterreich und Schweiz. Sdkorea nahm auch am NATO-Cybermanver Exercise Cyber Coalition 2022 teil. Mitte Februar besprach eine NATO-Delegation in Seoul eine Beteiligung sdkoreanischer Militrs an weiteren NATO-Manvern.[3] Aktuell dringt das Militrbndnis zudem darauf, dass Sdkorea Waffen in die Ukraine liefert. Seoul hat daran kein Interesse, da es die Spannungen in seinem Verhltnis zu Russland nicht mutwillig verschrfen will. Fr die NATO wiederum wren Waffenlieferungen aus Sdkorea in die Ukraine genau deshalb vorteilhaft: Sie wrden das Land noch enger an das transatlantische Militrbndnis binden.

Universelle Werte

Als wnschenswert gilt aus Sicht des Westens und insbesondere der Vereinigten Staaten neben einer mglichst weit reichenden Annherung Sdkoreas an die NATO auch eine enge Militrkooperation des Landes mit Japan, um eine fest geschlossene Front gegen China aufzubauen. Dem steht schon seit Jahren Japans Weigerung im Weg, fr seine Verbrechen in der Zeit seiner Kolonialherrschaft ber Korea (1905 bis 1945) endlich Entschdigungen zu zahlen; dies gilt fr...

09:14

Time running out to comment on Lennox 4WDs "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

4WD tracks on Seven Mile Beach. Photo supplied.

Tomorrow is the deadline for public comment to Ballina Shire Council on the future of 4WDs on Seven Mile Beach, after a string of complaints about hooning behaviour, dune damage, and other issues.

Council is inviting beach users and other interested parties to contribute their thoughts on their Four Wheel Drive Access to Seven Mile Beach policy, via this survey.

4WD traffic on the beach has increased markedly since the closure of South Ballina Beach to recreational vehicles. After years of wrangling between different authorities, that decision was finally brought on by unacceptable environmental damage and safety issues affecting other beach users.

The updated Seven Mile Beach policy ensures the beach north of Lennox Head will remain open all year round, but replaces the one day permit with a seven day permit. What do you think?

...

08:49

Why Are Ketamine Ads Following Me Around the Internet? "IndyWatch Feed National"

From The New York Times: A few months ago I started noticing that I couldnt open Instagram or TikTok without getting an ad for ketamine. I previously knew ketamine only as an illegal drug that could cause dissociation, taken by acquaintances in the dank basements of my misspent youth, or as the sedative given to my older daughter when her broken arm needed to be reset in the hospital.

These ads promised incredible, groundbreaking mental health outcomes through ketamine tablets offered via telemedicine, with the vast majority of patients purportedly finding relief from their depression and anxiety. Some experts have cautioned that ketamine, which is a Schedule III controlled substance, is not ready for general use, citing a lack of long-term data, potential for troubling side effects and possibility for abuse, as one researcher noted.

I didnt hear about any of these concerns on TikTok. I heard only about the miraculous benefits of ketamine. Few of the social posts served to me disclosed the fact that promoting ketamine tablets in this way was an off-label use of the medication.

Ketamine wasnt the only mental health treatment I would be offered on social media. I was also frequently getting ads that tried to convince me that I had undiagnosed A.D.H.D., listing symptoms like fidgeting (which I do constantly and always have) as a behavioral red flag. While fidgeting could be a symptom of A.D.H.D., it could also be a symptom of restless leg syndrome or a common response to stress, boredom and anxiety that doesnt require treatment. Im certainly not equipped to tell after just seeing a few Instagram reels.

Other posts warned that overthinking and overanalyzing could be other signs of A.D.H.D. (Or they could just be signs of being an opinion journalist.)

The bombardment only got worse when I decided to take a brief quiz offered by one of the ketamine purveyors to see if I was an appropriate candidate for this treatment. I answered these questions honestly: I wasnt pregnant. I havent ever been suicidal or diagnosed with a primary psychotic disorder. I do have a history of clinical depression and anxiety, though I havent had a significant episode since 2012. These days I do fee...

08:07

Local refugee family now complete "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

When Kurdish Syrian refugee, Douaa Mardini and her family left Iraq last year to make a new life in Australia, her excitement was tempered by the disappointment and worry of leaving her mother, Rabiaa,behind.

Rabiaa had not been granted a visa.

Rabiaa and her daughter, Douaa. Image supplied

The young family were the first to arrive in Australia under the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP), and have been supported by Ballina Region for Refugees Ocean Shores Community Support Group.

BR4R President, Marilyn Leeks, said that at the time it seemed uncertain that Rabiaa would be granted an Australian Humanitarian Visa.

However, the decision eventually came down in her favour and last week there were tears of joy when she re-joined her family.

Rabiaa has been welcomed with open arms by her family and the Ocean Shores support group, who have developed a deep friendship with the family.

They are so kind, they are wonderful, Ive never seen anything like them, said Rabiaa.

You can support refugee settlement in our region by donating at www.givenow.com.au/br4r
To find out about establishing or joining a community settlement group in our region please reach out to ruth.henderson@br4r.org.au.

The post Local refugee family now complete appeared first on The Echo.

07:05

Russell Brand on Media "IndyWatch Feed National"

MediaThanks to The Defender from Children's Health Defense for this article on Russell Brand's insight. It seems media has already formed into silos, and that's a big part of the problem we face. No one wants to peek at the other silos. No one believes that the grain over there is as good as the grain in OUR silo. In fact, we think it's rotten. I'd rather see FEWER media channels, but ones that allow independent thought. The pie has been sliced with a razorblade. In the morning, I listen to the POTUS channel on Sirius XM. Mostly for Michael Smerconish, whose theme song is "Stuck in the Middle with You." He allows callers from all walks of life and political POVs, He covers stories from the center out in a radius. It's 2023 and we are more segmented than ever. Do you remember the old CNN show called "CROSSFIRE?" It was fantastic. A Liberal and a Conservative taking on topics. Tucker Carlson was one of the hosts! Is more media the answer?

###

We Need to Create Our Own Media Channels if We Want the Truth, Russell Brand Says

After lambasting mainstream media for its coverage of COVID-19 news, comedian and political commentator Russell Brand said we need to create our own channels, our own media, our own communication so that we can reach truth together.

By

Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D

Mainstream media would have us believe COVID-19 is the only possible explanation for an increase in fatal heart attacks among young people during the pandemic but that explanation didnt sit well with comedian and political commentator Russell Brand.

Brand mocked CBS News and the experts it interviewed about a study that showed the number of heart attack deaths during the first two years of the pandemic was 30% higher than predicted for ages 25 to 44.

The CBS report never mentioned the numerous variables that may have contributed to the increase, Brand said.

They got through the whole report without mentioning...

06:50

Pan-African News Wire "IndyWatch Feed National"

Nations Reach Accord to Protect Marine Life on High Seas

By CHRISTINA LARSON and PATRICK WHITTLE

FILE - A sea turtle swims over corals on Moore Reef in Gunggandji Sea Country off the coast of Queensland in eastern Australia on Nov. 13, 2022. For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty on Saturday, March 4, 2023, to protect biodiversity in the high seas nearly half the planets surface. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas - representing a turning point for vast stretches of the planet where conservation has previously been hampered by a confusing patchwork of laws.

The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea came into force in 1994, before marine biodiversity was a well-established concept. The treaty agreement concluded two weeks of talks in New York.

An updated framework to protect marine life in the regions outside national boundary waters, known as the high seas, had been in discussions for more than 20 years, but previous efforts to reach an agreement had repeatedly stalled. The unified agreement treaty, which applies to nearly half the planets surface, was reached late Saturday.

We only really have two major global commons the atmosphere and the oceans, said Georgetown marine biologist Rebecca Helm. While the oceans may draw less attention, protecting this half of earths surface is absolutely critical to the health of our planet.

Nichola Clark, an oceans expert at the Pew Charitable Trusts who observed the talks in New York, called the long-awaited treaty text a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect the oceans a major win for biodiversity.

The treaty will create a new body to manage conservation of ocean life and establish marine protected areas in the high seas. And Clark said thats critical to achieve the U.N. Biodiversity Conferences recent pledge to protect 30% of the planets waters, as well as its land, for conservation.

Treaty negotiations init...

06:45

Missingham Park flood commemoration event "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Ballina Community Recovery officer Jackson Connellan enjoys an ice cream at Missingham Park. Photo David Lowe

Despite free coffee and ice cream stalls, there was a very small turnout for the flood commemoration morning tea event at Missingham Park on the weekend.

The event was organised by Ballina Shire Council to recognise the flood anniversary, and to give flood-impacted residents the opportunity to talk to recovery officers, but many locals appeared to have no idea it was happening. There was live music and kids face painting on offer, as well as some electioneering, with several Nationals representatives in attendance.

Community Recovery Officer Laura Woolcott opened the proceedings by welcoming the Headliners Chorus, which included 30 singers from across the Northern Rivers (some flood-affected themselves) performing positive Australian songs a capella style, in four part harmony.

...

00:00

Why Bitcoin Mining Needs Stratum V2 "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Bitcoin mining is centralizing, but how real is the risk of network censorship? And can a protocol called Stratum V2 save the industry?

This is an opinion editorial by Federico Rivi, author of the Bitcoin Train newsletter.

Source

Bitcoin mining within everyone's reach: household appliances, wearable devices such as smartwatches and smart glasses, all capable of mining with specialized microchips. This is the future that many Bitcoiners hope for.

While such a scenario might not be so far from the reality that awaits us, today we are still in Bitcoins genesis chapter and the reality is not yet as Antonopoulos predicted. In fact, mining is centralizing.

Last month, Foundry USA coordinated 34% of the hash rate alone. If we add Antpool, whose share is 18.2% of total hash rate, we have 52% of Bitcoin's global computational power in the hands of just two mining pools.

Pointing out the problem with this centralization recently was the well-known Bitcoin developer Peter Todd:

Bitcoin is dead. Mining is over. They will regulate Bitcoin. Censorship will come.

I can hear you already, but we should remain calm. To understand what the implications are and what the solutions are we need to take a step back and review the concept of pool mining.

The Evolution Of Pool Mining

Would you rather receive $100,000 once every five years or $20,000 once a year? The answer to this question by most explains the emergence of mining pools.

In the long run, the payout is the same, what changes is the frequency with which the payment is received. In a highly-competitive environment like mining, this is crucial. It can determine the survival or bankruptcy of mining farms that regardless of the change in the price of bitcoin must keep machines running by paying for electricity, as well as any loans taken out to purchase hardware or other expenses.

A mining pool is a server, usually run by a company, that unites mining farms and individual miners located in different areas, pooling their computing resources and combining them as the product of a single team, participating in the competition that is bitcoin mining. The high comp...

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