Always the preferred method.

Senator Price makes a good point. https://fb.watch/jbBXn7gTCg/?mibextid=qC1gEa Penny Wong - still a mean piece of work.

Jill sees all! Albanese takes hypocrisy to a whole new level. #YouJustCouldntMakeThisStuffup #TopDumb *ping @mpsmithnews pic.twitter.com/4OpyWyyFhI JILL (@1Swinging_Voter) March 10, 2023

Albo and his photo ops #auspol pic.twitter.com/j5jGDUNALU KELLIEI SEE DUMB PEOPLE (@kelliekelly23) March 9, 2023

by G5

The next time you are fed, Russia is losing in Ukraine: start here.

NATO-US have suffered massive losses of both personnel and material. They are losing at the rate of twenty to one. As I have previously written concerning individual theatres and engagements.

When CIA Zelensky was shouting for tanks, he had already lost over 2,000 in the first few weeks of engagement in 2022.

Now...

Photo from Christianity.com

by Mary W Maxwell, LLB

I am here to propose a Jubilee Year in 2026. We have thirty-three months to get it ready the rest of 2023, plus 24, and 25. Not long enough, but it will keep us focused on the positive.

A biblical jubilee year is one that occurs every 49 years and has to do with preserving the land. Thats not what Im proposing, though I did get my idea from that tradition.

What I want us to do is to focus on the future.  At the moment, its only an intellectual exercise. Lets inventory the good possibilities for human life. Sure, the bad stuff will also come into focus, as the counterpoint. But the project is intended to be positive. We are tired of horrors.

Searching

I dare nominate only my home country, the US, for a jubilee.  But its patent that this country interacts with many others. I shall make it a rule that the jubilee search for a better life in US cannot include taking advantage of other nations.

In the 1960s, when in college, I read Ruth Benedicts 1934 book, Patterns of Culture. She was in the pioneering group of anthropologists who visited primitive societies. When asked which societies are happy, she said the ones in which the reward for a...

THE DEADLY TOLL CONTINUES TO RISE

4 months ago on the 9th November, there were 15,808 reported COVID-19 deaths, but as of the 3rd March 2023, i.e., 8 days ago, the last reported COVID-19 death toll was 19,459, which is an increase of 3,651 in the last 4 months.

READ MORE AT TOTT NEWS 

Australias central bank intends to analyse 14 different Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) use cases in collaboration with our Big Four banks.

Photo-op Albo. International man of predictability.

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

.... well.... finally! T.M. spotted this one and passed it along, and it's another one of those articles I've got to blog about and bring

The post PEER-REVIEWED AUSTRALIAN STUDY OF THE JABS: THEYRE NOT SAFE appeared first on The Giza Death Star.

Families of the victims have called for a renewed search after the findings of a US-based marine robotics company emerged. Malaysian authorities are being asked to launch a new search for flight MH370, nine years after it disappeared from radars over the South China Sea. The request comes after US marine robotics company Ocean Infinity claimed to have found new evidence of the plane's possible location. The Boeing 777 was en route from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing with 239 passengers on board on March 8, 2014, when it vanished from the grid less than an hour into its journey. For three years, Malaysia, China, and Australia searched for the plane in the Indian Ocean, where it was believed to have crashed, only to come up empty-handed. The search was officially called off in January 2017, with no conclusion made about what could have happened to the mystery flight.

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...

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,

• Fail to attend court as required by law (in which case, a bench warrant may be issued),
• Have breached a condition of bail or an apprehended violence order,
• Have been convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment but cannot be located,
• Have breached a condition of a sentence, such as one contained in a community correction order or intensive correction order, or 
• Have breached a condition of parole. 

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...

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.

1.00 AUD = 0.00003 BTC
0.00010 BTC = 3.00 AUD
Converter

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.

THIRD GENERATION Liverpool Plains farmer Rosemary Nankivell has been active for more than a decade trying to save the top NSW food bowl, the Liverpool Plains, and the surrounding Pilliga nature reserve and State Forest, from coal and coal seam gas mining. The campaign united farmers, environmentalists and the Gomeroi people to successfully stop proposed []

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

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

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...

THE very first objects taken from Australia by the British are finally coming home.

When James Cook and his crew first made contact with Aboriginal people in 1770, the British soldiers took dozens of spears from their camps at Botany Bay. 

More than 250 years later, only four of those spears remain and they will soon be permanently returned to the Aboriginal community of La Perouse. 

The historic announcement was made last Thursday at Bare Island in Botany Bay, which is known as Kamay in the local Indigenous language. 

La Perouse Aboriginal Land Council chairwoman Noeleen Timbery described the return of the artefacts as unimaginable. 

These spears are the markers of when our shared history began, she said. 

Theyre important objects for all Australians, because they tell the story of what happened

TRADITIONAL Owners from Murujuga on Western Australias Burrup Peninsular have travelled across the continent to protest outside the Sydney office of Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. 

The protest follows a community campaign launch held in Redfern on February 26 where Murujuga Traditional Owners teamed up with Gadigal Traditional Owners to escalate their fight for better protection of sacred Murujuga rock art from ongoing industrial threats. 

Murujuga Traditional Custodians, along with local supporters and allies, addressed the media outside Ms Pliberseks office on March 2. 

We are here this morning on Gadigal Country to stand with Traditional custodians around the country in opposition to the Federal Government continuing to allow industry to desecrate our culture, our communities and our Country, Mardudhunera woman and former chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation Raelene Cooper said. 

The minister has just made international headlines announcing the World Heritage values of our sacred Murujuga rock art, but shes allowing Woodsides Burrup Hub to continue pumping out massive emissions

ABORIGINAL communities, service providers, public servants, elected officials, philanthropists, business leaders, activists, inspiration thinkers, academics and local community came together last week for ChangeFest 2023 in Lutruwita (Tasmania). 

More than 500 people attended. 

Ideas, inspiration and real examples of making positive social change, as well as obstacles and challenges were discussed during the three days. 

ChangeFest is dubbed a movement. It has grown from four Logan (southeast Queensland) organisations banding together to assist community-driven social change, celebrating grassroots leadership and practical partnerships. 

ChangeFest organisers observed the discomfort of First Nations leaders at the 2018 gathering and so, in a statement, agreed on the importance of putting First Nations first. 

There is now a strong emphasis on empowering First Nations people, and the gatherings are attracting lots of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation. 

National gatherings have since been held in

ALICE Springs Town Council has made the extraordinary decision to ban an annual community club Aussie rules football competition. 

The council last week was presented with a motion to follow- through on the proposal, which passed despite strong opposition raised by two other councillors. 

The successful motion means Alice Springs Town Council will withdraw its support for the Community Cup competition which has teams from remote Aboriginal communities in and around Central Australia travelling to Alice Springs for games each weekend during the football season. The council said its decision was based on the town experiencing high levels of social unrest. 

The move will impact the senior mens Alice Springs-based Central Australian Football League. The five teams in the CAFL rely on players from those communities which are now banned. 

The Community Cup is played on Sundays with the CAFL on Saturdays. Community footballers are permitted to play for their community teams while also playing in the CAFL

Lions mane mushrooms (Hericium erinaceus) have a long history in traditional medicine. A 2023 study¹ from the University of Queensland found an extract from the mushroom demonstrates the ability to promote neuron projections and connect those to other neurons.²

Lions mane mushrooms are named for their unique white and shaggy appearance that resembles a lion's mane. They are also known by several other names, including bearded tooth, monkey's head, bearded hedgehog, satyrs beard and pom pom mushroom.³ The mushroom traditionally grows on hardwood trees and has played a role in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Asian culture for centuries.

According to TCM practitioners, lions mane supports the liver, spleen, heart, kidney and lung function.⁴ Buddhist monks traditionally used lion's mane mushroom tea to enhance brain function and heighten focus. The Chinese began cultivating lion's mane mushrooms in 1988 to meet demand. Today it's becoming a popular functional food in Western cultures.

Lion's mane mushrooms tend to grow in a single clump of dangling spines.⁵ In the wild, the mushrooms appear in late summer and early fall on dead and dying hardwood trees. The young mushrooms are pure white and tend to turn yellow and brown as they age.

Lions Mane Mushrooms Dramatically Improve Brain Cell Growth

In recent years, fungi have attracted scientific exploration for the potential to improve cognitive function. Lions mane mushrooms have had a long reputation for mental health benefits, prompting a research team from the University of Queensland to delve deeper into how extracts from the mushroom may improve nerve growth and enhance memory.⁶

The researchers acknowledged the mushroom's ability to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration by targeting nerve growth factors. The hope was to identify bioactive compounds that could help regulate the growth of neurons.⁷ In the lab, the researchers purified biologically active compounds and tested them against cultured brain cells in a Petri dish. The cells were then evaluated under a super-resolution microscope.

According to study scientist Frdric Meunier, Ph.D., we found the mushroom extract and its active components largely increase the size of growth cones, which are particularly important for brain cells to sense their environment and establish new connections with other neurons...

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...

What do we do if the lights go out in our community? Margaret Killjoy says the answer is simple. The Left must embrace preparedness culture.

A new study led by chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that wildfire smoke particles, which can remain in the stratosphere for a year, can cause chemical reactions that deplete the protective ozone layer. The findings occurred during the megafire in Australia in December 2019 to January 2020.

The study, published in the journal Nature, analyzed the atmospheric chemical composition over the Southern Hemisphere at mid-latitudes, including regions over Australia and New Zealand and parts of Africa and South America. 

The researchers noted that the wildfire smoke particles created chemical reactions in the stratosphere. They estimated that these reactions caused the megafire to contribute to a 3% to 5% depletion in the ozone in the area studied.

The study model also estimated that the wildfires impacted the ozone layer over Antarctica, widening the hole over the Antarctic by 2.5 million square kilometers by the end of 2020, or widening by 10% of its area in comparison to 2019.

The Australian fires of 2020 were really a wake-up call for the science community, Susan Solomon, study author and professor of environmental studies at M.I.T., said in a statement. The effect of wildfires was not previously accounted for in [projections of] ozone recovery. And I think that effect may depend on whether fires become more frequent and intense as the planet warms.

The wildfires analyzed in the study were the worst ever recorded in Australia, burning tens of millions of acres and emitting 1 million tons of smoke into the atmosphere, as M.I.T. reported.

Solomon and her colleagues previously identified a chemical reaction between chlorine-containing compounds, typically chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and fire aerosols that produced chlorine monoxide, which is known to deplete ozone. So the researchers came back to analyze molecules in the stratosphere following the megafire in Australia.

While the team found that wildfire smoke reactions with hydrochloric acid (HCl) in the stratosphere could deplete ozone, they suspect wildfire smoke could react to other chlorine-containing compounds in the atmosphere, especially wh...

PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.

Newly Discovered Enzyme Turns Air Into Electricity, Providing Clean Source of Energy (Maria)

The author writes, Australian scientists have discovered an enzyme that converts air into energy. The finding, published [yesterday] in the journal Nature, reveals that this enzyme uses the low amounts of the hydrogen in the atmosphere to create an electrical current. This finding opens the way to create devices that literally make energy from thin air. The research team, led by Dr. Rhys Grinter, Ph.D. student Ashleigh Kropp, and Professor Chris Greening from the Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute in Melbourne, Australia, produced and analyzed a hydrogen-consuming enzyme from a common soil bacterium.

Trumps Threat of a Third-Party Run Is Undercut by Sore Loser Laws (Reader Steve)

The author writes, Donald Trump hates losing so much that he has suggested he will mount a third-party campaign if he doesnt win the Republican presidential nomination. But he cant win that way either, thanks to sore loser laws in six states he would need to return to the White House. Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, as well as Arkansas and Alabama, have laws that bar a candidate defeated in a major-party primary from running as an independent or on a third-party ticket in the general election. That would put Trump at the general-election starting gate with a deficit of 91 electoral votes of the 270 required to capture the White House.

Inside the Private and Confidential Conservative Group That Promises to Crush Liberal Dominance (Gerry)

The authors write, Leonard Leo, a.....

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...

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...

......

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.

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.

Spot the very odd man out

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

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...

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...

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

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. []

<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>

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...

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.

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, as 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.

These reforms are required to unlock hundreds of billions in investment needed to build a reliable, decarbonised grid by 2035, the CCC says.

• What will power the UKs electricity system in 2035?
• What modelling did the CCC commission?
• Where will the UK get electricity when it is not windy?
• How will the UK use hydrogen in 2035?
• What needs to change to decarbonise UK electricity by 2035?
• .....

<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...

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........

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...

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.

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

• The 15 Minute City - Where Urban Planning Meets Conspiracy Theories, by Chris Standford, The New York Times (March, 2023)

• The Messy City Podcast by Kevin Klinkenberg.

• Abby Kinney (Twitter)

• Kevin Klinkenberg (Twitter)

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom

  
  Cover image source: Irina Iriser/Pexels

<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>

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 []

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

Ive always believed them.

Dozens of countries condemn interference in Beirut blast probe

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

...

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...

 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).

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.

"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...

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.

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...

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......

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

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.

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

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...

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...

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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.

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

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

 https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/perth-mint-sold-billions-doped-gold-china-tried-cover-it-report

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...

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....

[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.

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)...

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...

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.....

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...

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 []

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