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Wednesday, 31 May

23:16

Stevie Ray Vaughan Tin Pan Alley (with Johnny Copeland) "IndyWatch Feed National"

In the late 80s to 90s I used to take my kids skiing at the Snowy Mountains in Australia. En route Id play Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and other music from the 70s to 80s I liked. So my kids grew up with an appreciation of The Blues and Rock and Roll.

22:07

How Israeli phone hacking tool conquered the world "IndyWatch Feed National"

Israeli intelligence company Cellebrite is not well-known and yet its ubiquitous around the world. One of its main products is used to hack mobile phones, deployed by repressive regimes like Russia and China and countless Australian and US government departments.

A section of my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, investigates Cellebrite. Declassified Australia has just published an edited extract along with my new research on the corporations presence in Australia:

From the provision of spyware and equipment, to electronic hardware and training programs, Israeli technology company Cellebrite is an integral part of Australias security infrastructure.

A look at the AusTender website, where federal government contracts are listed, details 128 contracts between Australian government agencies and the Israeli company since 2011.

Cellebrite is an Israeli digital intelligence company, staffed by former Israeli military and intelligence officers, that is now commonly used by law enforcement across the globe to hack and access data   yet barely anybody in the public has heard of it.

During the writing of my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, it was a firm that featured heavily. The most infamous Cellebrite spyware tool, the Universal Forensics Extraction Device (UFED), has been deployed by some of the most repressive states in the world, such as Russia and China, and across virtually all levels of the US government. A former Cellebrite employee...

15:36

Yeah Nah Pasaran! #164 w Sin Norris on Bodies Under Siege: How the FarRight Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global : June 1, 2023 "IndyWatch Feed National"

This week on Yeah Nah Pasaran! we talk to Sin Norris [Twitter]. Sin is a writer and the author of Bodies Under Siege: How the FarRight Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global (Verso, 2023): Think todays anti-abortion ideas are rooted Continue reading

13:39

The feminist bullies have erupted. "IndyWatch Feed National"

Bruce Lehrmann has been demonised from one end of the country to the other. He has never been found guilty of anything and barely given the benefit of the doubt. Brittany Higgins has been turned into a saint and gets book deals, guest speaking engagements, and a whopping secretive payout...

13:09

EXPOSING SILENT VOICES "IndyWatch Feed National"

Richard Boyle is being prosecuted for trying to prevent yet more ATO murders

TAKE NOTE: Richard Boyles actions were completed justified because the deaths caused by unlawful abuses of public office are secretly classifed as confidential and the Federal Parliament does not want any of these murders, which may now exceed 100,000, to be exposed and investigated.

This postings short link: https://wp.me/p1n8TZ-3k5

...

12:37

Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement far from gold standard, fails on climate action "IndyWatch Feed National"

May 31, 2023: The Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement (A-UK FTA), negotiated and signed by the Morrison Coalition government, came into force today, with the lazy media reporting about its apparently wonderful benefits. Two Melbourne University academics, Professor Margaret Young and Georgina Clough, analysed its impacts on climate change policy in The Conversation, and found it wanting.

The A-UK FTA does refer to the net zero Paris Agreement but does not commit parties to specific interim carbon emission reduction targets, or other measure to reduce climate change. This contrasts with the UK FTA with New Zealand, and with the FTA Australia is currently negotiating with the European Union.

The academic analysis showed that the UK-New Zealand trade deal, for example, signals that in some circumstances, it may be justifiable for climate action to affect trade. The European Union has proposed such action, in its plan to impose reporting - and potentially, a financial charge on emissions-intensive imports.

The UK-NZ agreement also takes steps to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, in recognition that government support for the coal, oil and gas industries distorts prices and discourages climate action.

And the pact between the European Union and Canada requires the development of climate-friendly labelling and certification standards on products.

Young and Clough acknowledge that the exclusion of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) from the agreement will prevent fossil fuel companies from suing both governments over climate change policies. They suggest that a working group required under the A-UK FTA to review and monitor environmental provisions relating to marine pollution from ships, ozone-depleting substances, illegal logging and the wildlife trade should extend its work to better integrate the climate and trade goals of both nations by connecting agricultural trade with land management...

12:25

Not to be outdone, Mehreen Faruqi jumps on the "I've experienced The Greens' racism" bandwagon "IndyWatch Feed National"

"I have experienced racism in the Greens": Deputy Leader Mehreen Faruqi has spoken out about racism, just days after Independent senator Lidia Thorpe, announced she'll lodge a racism complaint against her former party. Read more: https://t.co/oZKbUADnWT pic.twitter.com/52DbGGM1mY SBS News (@SBSNews) May 31, 2023

12:05

Letter to Richmond FC from a supporter over the club's support for Albanese's Vanity Voice "IndyWatch Feed National"

Hi Michael. I hope you are well. Not sure if you're interested in this, but I wrote a letter to the Richmond Football Club explaining why I have discontinued any support for them, based on their public announcement supporting a yes vote in the voice referendum. G Yes mate -...

11:58

In Memoriam: Kenneth Angers cinematic incantations "IndyWatch Feed National"

Making a movie is casting a spell, said Kenneth Anger about his lifelong profession, his unique and spectacular talent, his very own dark magic. That certainly describes how I was lured into his realm. There was a time in my life where I would watch Angers seven-minute film Rabbits Moon basically on repeat, infatuated by its blue-tinted images of a sprightly harlequin dancing around a clearing and calling silently to the moon. It was poetry.

The post In Memoriam: Kenneth Angers cinematic incantations appeared first on Overland literary journal.

11:45

Joint media release: civil society groups condemn passage of anti-democratic protest law "IndyWatch Feed National"

Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Civil society groups have responded to the passage through the upper house of the South Australian Governments anti-protest bill. The Bill passed the upper house with a minor amendment after a Tuesday night sitting that ran into the early morning, and its expected to pass the lower house today.

11:31

Musk and the Global Owners "IndyWatch Feed National"

Introduction by DM

I was called the other night by someone who has a source in the US who spoke of one of the AI systems controlling much of the planet. It was asked a question and stated that Elon was on the dark side. Anyhow these fascinating emails arrived from G5 yesterday.

by G5

Musk is funded through Rotschild and Saudi MBS. The Tesla vehicles are complex data gatherers concerning the owners and traveling occupants.

Musk is linked to US owners through US Intel concerning funding for Tesla, SpaceX, and AI. None of which are long-term via...

11:11

Israels democracy deficit on crack "IndyWatch Feed National"

Last month, the Australian Book Review published a story about Israels eroding democracy. In the June edition, I responded in a published letter:

Dear Editor,

The state of Israeli democracy is indeed dire, as was eloquently explained by David N. Myers in his article in the May 2023 edition.

It is worth stressing that the Jewish state has never been a democracy for all its citizens but a self-described democracy for Jews alone. Ever since Israels birth in 1948, non-Jews within Israel have never been treated with equal rights. For those Palestinians residing in the West Bank and Gaza, now suffering under the longest occupation in modern times, the concept of Israeli democracy is a cruel joke.

A key question remains. The world knows that Israel is accelerating its path towards a fundamentalist Jewish ethno-state. Mass protests within Israel are unlikely to seriously challenge this trajectory. It is therefore up to the international community and civil society to respond accordingly. Just as the world finally turned against apartheid South Africa (Israel, notably, was a key defence and ideological ally of this nation until its end in 1994), it is time for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions to be applied against Israel. It would be a non-violent and wholly legitimate response to the unsustainable status quo.

Antony Loewenstein

The post Israels democracy deficit on crack appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

11:02

ABC Adelaide talks The Palestine Laboratory "IndyWatch Feed National"

Last night I was interviewed on ABC Adelaide radio by host Peter Goers about my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, Jewish identity, Zionism and dissent.

The interview starts at around 1:30.

Ive appeared on this show many times before talking about Palestine and the drug war.

The post ABC Adelaide talks The Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

09:53

Labor's $845,650 p.a. stooge who can't recall how much she's paid. "IndyWatch Feed National"

Meet Employment Department Secretary Natalie James. A Labor Party favourite and a big money public servant. She has a key job in tough times, tinkering with the labour market and dancing the dance with the unions. Yet she struggles answering a straight question ... like this today in a Parliament...

08:38

A blow for democracy as Malinauskas government passes anti-protest laws "IndyWatch Feed National"

The Malinauskas Governments anti-protest laws have passed the South Australian Legislative Council after an all night sitting. The laws, which were rushed through the Lower House of Parliament without any public consultation, will undermine the ability of everyone in South Australia to exercise their right to peacefully protest. 

The Summary Offences (Obstruction of Public Places) Bill 2023 (SA) could see people hit with fines of up to $50,000 and three-month jail terms for obstructing a public place. Only one amendment to the Bill, by the Hon Connie Bonaros MLC, was successful. The amendment removed the element of recklessness in the Bill which would have disproportionately criminalised peaceful protests and could have seen people jailed, for instance, for handing out pamphlets about gambling harm in front of a shop in Rundle Mall, or workers gathering on a footpath to demand better pay and conditions.  

South Australia is the latest jurisdiction to impose severe penalties on people for engaging in peaceful protest, joining New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland who have passed anti-protest laws in the last five years. South Australias anti-protest laws carry the harshest financial penalties in Australia. 

The Bill is excessive and will have a chilling effect on the right to protest in South Australia. The Bill is also potentially unconstitutional and in clear breach of well-established principles of international human rights law. 

David Mejia-Canales, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre said:  
Australias democracy is stronger when people protest on issues they care about. The Malinauskas Governments new laws are not only anti-protest, but they are also anti-people. I thank the cross bench for their tireless work, all night, to amend the Bill.

The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy. Protest has been crucial to achieving many important social changes from First Nations land rights to the eight-hour workday. Under these new laws, the people who stood up for our rights would be locked up behind bars. 

"We consider it highly likely that this law will end up in the High Court given the significant chilling effect it risks having on advocacy and democratic participation across the state. 

Media contact:
Thomas Feng, Media and Communications Manager, 0431 285 275, thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au

Michelle Bennett, Engagement Director, 0419 100 519, michelle.bennett@hrlc.org.au

07:00

AFP Detective Scott Moller committed perjury at the ACT Inquiry trying to conceal aiding and abetting Bruce Lehrmann "IndyWatch Feed National"

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller has blatantly committed perjury at the ACT Police Corruption Inquiry when he gave evidence on Tuesday the 23rd of May and the 2 key witnesses are Bruce Lehrmanns []

06:52

Afghanistan whistleblower MacBride continues to be prosecuted "IndyWatch Feed National"

Paul Gregoire tells the story about the story behind what is happening to whistleblower David McBride (Sydney criminal Lawyers 18 May 2023). David, a former Australian Defense Force (ADF)lawyer who served two tours of Afghanistan witnessed murder and other human rights violations there and decided that he must speak out. The decision to go public was made after being ignored by the military brass. Since then, he has faced ongoing persecution in Australia, been charged with violating national security, and faces the prospect imprisonment. This is a landmark case with serious implications for the right to speak out in Australia.

The AFP arrested former SAS officer Oliver Shultz on 20 March, following a joint investigation with the Office of the Special Investigator. The 41-year-old was charged with the war crime of murder, making him the first serving or ex ADF member to face a war crime under Australian domestic law.

Schultz has been charged in relation to the shooting death of Dad Mohammed, which occurred in a field in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan in May 2012. And the incident appears as the 33rd in a list of ADF serious misconduct allegations reported in the Central Asian country over 2005 to 2013.

The Schultz arrest follows the November 2020 release of the Brereton report, an inquiry into Australian special forces in Afghanistan, which recommended the AFP investigate 39 unlawful killings of either Afghan civilians or prisoners with 19 ADF personnel implicated.

Soldier who shot an unarmed Afghan man suspended from duty by Australian Army.

...

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Tuesday, 30 May

23:38

DeSantis may have misjudged the tide "IndyWatch Feed National"

Ron DeSantis finally made his big announcement about running for the Republican nomination for president and the reviews about his launch were decidedly negative. As Susan Glasser writes, apart from the technical glitches which plagued the process that he chose to do on Twitter along with Elon Musk, DeSantis did not even give a clear indication of what he was hooping to achieve as president.

The start of the Twitter Spaces event featuring DeSantis and Twitters billionaire owner, Elon Musk, was delayed by more than twenty-five minutes while Musk audibly struggled to get his new platform to work. But just as wretched was what DeSantis had to say once he started talking, both on Twitter and in a subsequent interview on Fox News, which boiled down to a lot of complaints about the legacy media and little rationale for his candidacy.

The really vital question posed by DeSantiss official entry into the 2024 race was not, after all, whether Twitter could handle a large crowd in its Spaces feature without crashing. (Answer: no.) It was whether DeSantis could revive his Presidential prospects and actually emerge as the Republican to take out Trump.

After DeSantiss nineteen-point relection victory, last November, he looked to be the Republican Trump-beater at last, Presidentwithout the nasty Twitter habit and all the legal troubles. Subsequent exposure suggests hes also Trump without the charm. In recent months, DeSantis has been sinking rather than surging in the polls, as his many missteps, from thuggishly retaliating against Disney to signing an unpopular six-week abortion ban into law, have given Trump and his allies much to feast upon. DeSantis doesnt look like so much of a Trump-beater anymore. The ex-President, whose lead in the G.O.P. primary is back up into double digits over DeSantis, remains an overwhelming front-runner. DeSantis, meanwhile, will go into the history books for one of the worst and least competent campaign launches ever. Ouch.

As I have said many time before, I think that DeSantis has misjudged the moment. By entering the race now, he is necessarily going to be involved in a bare-knuckle fight with serial sex abuser Trump (SSAT). He simply cannot avoid it because SSAT has already started to savage him and if he does not respond in kind, he will look like a wimp in the machismo-adoring world of Republican primary politics. SSAT has already accused of DeSantis of crying and begging him for his support when he ran for governor in 2016. But if DeSantis retaliates against SSAT in kind (as he has tentatively started to do already), he risks losing SSAT l...

23:21

Supposed Russophobic statements by US Senator leaves many questions unanswered "IndyWatch Feed National"

By Lucas Leiroz | May 30, 2023

US Senator Lindsey Grahams name has been trending on social media in recent days. As exposed in a video circulating on the internet, on May 26, during a trip to Ukraine, the Republican allegedly said that killing Russians was a good investment. Obviously, the statement generated controversy and all sorts of reactions, including state measures on the part of Russia. However, the lack of clarification on the case leaves many questions unanswered.

In the aforementioned video, the senator seems to say: And the Russians are dying its the best money weve ever spent. At the time, Graham was personally speaking to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. It is known that Lindsey led an American delegation on an official trip to Kiev, in which topics of interest to both countries in the context of the current conflict would have been discussed. The meeting at which the controversial phrase was allegedly voiced took place during this trip.

There are no means to prove the veracity of the video. Some analysts have claimed that there is a media editing connecting Grahams words. According to some experts, the mention of the death of Russians and the comment about money were not originally in the same sentence. However, as well as there is no proof to actually said by the Senator. Therefore, there is no certainty about what happened at the meeting.

Graham responded to the allegations circulating on the networks by classifying them as Russian propaganda. He said in a letter to Reuters that he told Zelensky that it has been a good investment by the United States to help liberate Ukraine, with no mention on the murder of Russians. However, despite possible video editing, it is evident that at some point in the conversation there was such a mention, and Graham failed to clarify what he really thinks about killing Russians.

Regardless of the veracity of the video, Grahams accusations that the case is related to some kind of Russian propaganda are absolutely unsubstantiated. The edited video was shared on the internet precisely by Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidents office. So, if there is any propaganda intent around the case, it is on the part of Kiev, not Russia. Russians just reacted to something that was posted on social media and generated outrage amo...

23:02

Prophets of Doom: Henry Kissinger and the Intellectual Decline of the West "IndyWatch Feed National"

It is unclear why 100-year-old Henry Kissinger has been elevated by the Western intelligentsia to serve the role of the visionary in how the West should behave in response to the Russia-Ukraine war.

But does the centenarian politician have the answers?

Every major global conflict that involved the US and its NATO allies in the past had its own state-sanctioned intellectuals. These are the people who usually explain, justify and promote the Wests position to their own countrymen first, then internationally.

They are not intellectuals in the strict definition of the term, as they rarely use critical thinking to reach conclusions that may or may not be consistent with the official position or interests of Western governments. Instead, they advocate and champion stances that are dominant within the various strands of power.

Quite often, these intellectuals have the privilege of time. In the case of Iraq, for example, neoconservative intellectuals, the likes of Bernard Lewis, worked tirelessly to promote war, which ended in the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Though the neocons continued to strongly support greater involvement in Iraq and the Middle East through military surges and the like, they were eventually though not permanently sidelined by a different group of intellectuals who supported a stronger American military presence in the Asia-pacific region.

The West also had its own intellectuals who dominated news headlines during the so-called Arab Spring. The likes of French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy played a disruptive role in Libya and labored to shape political outcomes in the whole Middle East, posing as a dissident intellectual and a great advocate of human rights and democracy.

From Lewis to Levy to others, the powerful Western intellectual practiced more than mere intellectualism. They have traditionally served a fundamental role in politics without being politicians per se, elected or otherwise.

Kissinger, however, is an interesting and somewhat different phenomenon.

He is the quintessential US-western politician who defined a whole era of realpolitik. Such notions as human rights, democracy and other moral considerations were rarely factors in his hawkish approach to politics throughout his stints as a Secretary of State,...

22:54

Another traumatised victim of Tracey Spicer goes public, his trust and confidentiality horribly betrayed "IndyWatch Feed National"

I've exchanged correspondence with James and have spoken with other media industry figures who confirm his story. Tracey Spicer has a lot to answer for. Reading about the recent Phillip Schofield ITV scandal in the UK has stirred up deep emotions. Its eerie familiarity has been deeply triggering - as...

21:40

Second deadly shark attack this year recorded in New Caledonia "IndyWatch Feed National"

A 42-year-old man killed by a shark while spearfishing in New Caledonia has brought renewed attention to a spate of shark attacks gripping the French Pacific territory. The incident marks the fourth shark attack, and the second fatal one, in the French territory this year, just months after Australian tourist Chris Davis died after being bitten by a shark while swimming at a popular Noumea beach. Authorities are puzzled by the growing number of attacks but have responded by introducing strict measures, including a ban on swimming at the beach in Noumea, and an extensive shark culling campaign.

21:04

13-year old girl dies from 'chroming,' latest alarming social media trend "IndyWatch Feed National"

Esra Haynes' parents called for less toxic deodorants and CPR lessons in schools. The family of a 13-year-old Australian girl who died from "chroming" has urged action to prevent similar deaths from occurring. "We want to help other children not fall into the silly trap of doing this silly thing. It's unquestionable that this will be our crusade," Paul Haynes, the girl's father, told Australian outlet the Herald Sun. "No matter how much you lead a horse to water, anyone can drag them away. It's not something she would have done on her own.

20:36

Traders Act Fast As Binance Australia Unveils Bitcoin Discount For Limited Period "IndyWatch Feed National"

In an intriguing development for crypto traders, Binance Australia has introduced an exclusive Bitcoin discount, offering a unique opportunity for savvy investors. The platforms recent announcement comes in the midst of a countdown to a significant payment deadline, adding a sense of urgency to the offer.

While Bitcoin (BTC) currently trades above $27,000 on several exchanges, it traded at a price of AUD34,863 on (USD22,670) Binance Australia lower than its current price on exchanges. The limited period that comes with the discount has made some traders act fast so as to take advantage of the reduced price.

Bitcoin Trading At A Discount

Recent market data has revealed an intriguing trend on Binance Australia, with Bitcoin and other digital tokens trading at a discount compared to rival exchanges within the country.

CryptoCompare data shows that Bitcoin traded at A$34,863 ($22,670) on Binance Australia, significantly lower than the average price on platforms like Independent Reserve and CoinJar. Notably, discounts of around 20% were also observed for popular tokens such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL).

The discount on Binance Australia is closely linked to impending changes in the platforms payment withdrawal options. Starting from 5 p.m. on June 1, users will no longer be able to withdraw Australian dollars to their bank accounts using the popular PayID service.

This follows the platforms earlier loss of access to certain Aussie dollar deposit services, creating a series of challenges for cryptocurrency enthusiasts. 

Industry experts have weighed in on the situation, shedding light on the motivations behind the discounted Bitcoin prices. Richard Galvin, the co-founder of fund manager Digital Asset Capital Management, explains that Australian clients are selling Bitcoin at a discount to ensure they can withdraw their Australian dollars before the payment deadline. This urgency has created a unique opportunity for investors looking to acquire Bitcoin at a reduced price.

Furthermore, to ease the withdrawal process for users, Binance Australia has devised a solution. Following the payment deadline, Australian dollar balances can be converted into the Tether stablecoin, facilitating both withdrawals and trading activities.

The platform is actively seeking alternative providers to restore AUD deposit and withdrawal services, underscoring its commitment to offering a seamless user experi...

20:36

Please bear with us as I work with Typepad to fix our comment problem "IndyWatch Feed National"

I'm going to give the tried and trusted old comment system (ie where you can reply to others) another go. I'd really appreciate any feedback on how it goes. Thank you, Michael UPDATE The plot thickens. In my location in Indonesia all comments are showing properly. In London, all comments...

19:00

Climate Alarmists FAIL to Garner Support in Melbourne "IndyWatch Feed National"

Avi Yemini hits the streets of Melbourne as Extinction Rebellion protesters attempt to shut down city in the name of science.

18:43

Tim-berrrr: Building approvals lowest in 11 years "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Tim-berrr...

Building approvals continued to crash in April, with unit approvals soft all year in Sydney and Melbourne.

Unit approvals were -35 per cent lower than a year ago, with Sydney and Melbourne leading the plunge.


House approvals are also declining across the board, with only the strong Adelaide market holding the line. 


Overall, building approvals fell to the lowest level in the 132 months since April 2012, and are trending sharply lower. 

16:33

Cardano DEX Minswap Sees Volume Jump Driven by SNEK, BANK Meme Coins "IndyWatch Feed National"

Volumes on Minswap are rising as meme coins catch on. (Adi Goldstein/Unsplash)

16:30

DESTINATION BYRONS ANNUAL TOURISM SYMPOSIUM "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Ballina Byron Gateway Airport presents the 2023 Annual Destination Byron Tourism Symposium

WHEN: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Thursday, 15 June 2023

WHERE: Brunswick Picture House

Tickets are available now. Price held at $59pp. Group discounts apply.

The Annual Tourism Symposium is Destination Byrons hallmark event. The event brings together local, national, and international speakers, panellists, and guests to discuss visitor economy trends, opportunities, and challenges and network.

Simon Kuestenmacher of The Demographics Group will be the keynote speaker once again. If you missed him last year, the feedback we received from his presentation was incredible possible the best yet!

Aviation What do the airlines see in our region.

Paul Hammond from STR will give an overview of the hotel market performance in key
Australian destinations incl. the Northern Rivers.

Panel discussion Where to from here?

Destination Byron is looking forward to hosting its 2023 Symposium at The Brunswick Picture House.

 

The post DESTINATION BYRONS ANNUAL TOURISM SYMPOSIUM appeared first on Byron Bay Blog.

15:50

Bitcoin selling for $5K cheaper on Binance Australia as fiat ramp closes "IndyWatch Feed National"

One Bitcoin can be bought for the equivalent of $22,000 on Binance Australia if paid using Australian dollars. The problem is getting the funds there.

15:42

Larry Perkins to renounce Motorsport Australia membership over its support for The Voice "IndyWatch Feed National"

Thanks to motoring publication V8 Sleuth - and reader Paul F for the tip. https://www.v8sleuth.com.au/perkins-to-renounce-motorsport-australia-membership/

14:35

Thunderous Affidavit From British Army Insider "IndyWatch Feed National"

(L) Former Canadian G-G, David Johnston, (C) King Charles' equerry Major Johnny Thompson, (R) Kevin Annett(L) Former Canadian G-G, David Johnston, (C) King Charles equerry Major Johnny Thompson, (R) Kevin Annett

by Mary W Maxwell, LLB

I have just received an email from Republic of Kanata, related to the innovative work of Kevin Annett of Canada. Annett has, for 24 years, been running tribunals peoples tribunals against officials of church and state. He is also a leader in the fight against satanic rituals, in which children are sometimes killed.

Today, 29 May 2023, Annett announced that an insider has come forward with testimony that the then Prince of Wales, in late December 2010, ordered the murder of a whistleblower named William Combes in Canada. Combes had stated that back in 1964 he saw Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip choose, and take away, 10 kids (7 boys, 3 girls), from a residential school for indigenous kids in Kamloops, British Columbia.

The dramatis personae in the Insiders affidavit are as follows:

King Charles (at the time, Prince Charles);

William Combes, th...

14:04

Berkshire Hathaway: CEI Score 0 "IndyWatch Feed National"

Berkshire Hathaway managed to score a total of zero imaginary woke points on the Corporate Equality Index. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) investigates how woke a business has become, solely on LGBTQ+ policies, and assigns it a woke credit core (CEI). I mentioned in another post how this score has become increasingly harder to obtain, with the organization making obscene demands regarding employer-funded healthcare and practices. So is Warren Buffett secretly homophobic to receive the lowest possible CEI score? No.

Buffett simply declined to report Berkshire Hathaways business to the Human Rights Campaign. The company did not suffer as a result. No one is forced to report their companys policies to this agency, and yet nearly all Fortune 500 companies do. The HRC states it has over 1,200 participants, meaning companies are choosing to pander to the woke agenda.

The HRC has been cracking down on businesses for over 20 years and the requirements have become completely ridiculous. We get surveys all the time on all kinds of things, and we basically dont answer them, explained Buffett in a 2014 interview, and added its Berkshires practice not to respond to surveys. Furthermore, Buffett does not dictate policies for the companies under Berkshire.

So yes, it really is that simple. Companies need to come together and agree to refrain from reporting to the HRC and giving any credit to this social score. The HRC, backed by Soros, has turned human rights into a culture war that is destroying companies (see: Anheuser Busch). It has taken numerous failed marketing campaigns for companies to realize that the woke agenda is bad for business. I know a gay man who said he detests rainbow ma...

14:01

Police criminality hidden in all court cases, right to a 'fair hearing' impossible! "IndyWatch Feed National"


The system is broken, no its not, its functioning perfectly the way it was designed.

The legal system is stacked against you (the serf) even before you enter the premises of a court, let alone a court room.

The colonys police forces are organisations that commit criminal activities every single day, but the general population is blissfully oblivious to this fact, and with the help of the media, their crimes are kept from the public eye. 

If police are committing criminal offences, then its up to the people to catch them out, just like motorists are criminals and its up to the police to allege this before a court, but you (the motorist/serf) will never get a fair hearing, in this case being Victoria.

Keeping in mind that Victorian premier Dan Andrews' vehicle struck a cyclist where no criminal offence has been recorded by police. 

Police acting under dictation?

According to the law motorists commit criminal offences and not civil ones.

In criminal law, the burden of proof is on the accuser, where first and foremost there is a presumption of innocence.

Not so lucky, when youre a motorist, as you're guilty until proven otherwise under strict or absolute liability, at law which is unlawfully enacted.

Absolute liability is that youre guilty and a penalty will be enforced,

Strict liability is that youre guilty and you must prove otherwise.

Another unlawfully enacted piece is something called owner onus, where the scope of this is outside of this post.

Many aspects of law come under an action called a question of law, but that is generally kept from the 'client' by the legal profession if you're represented, i.e. a mute in the eyes of the court. 
...

14:00

Australian Dollar and Bitcoin "IndyWatch Feed National"

1.00 AUD = 0.00002 BTC
0.00010 BTC = 4.30 AUD
Converter

13:52

Mad Albos corrupt Indian visas to create giant underclass "IndyWatch Feed National"

READ MORE AT XYZ Leith van Onselen Last week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and...

13:02

The Misery Olympics "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

In Fridays news was this update from CNBC: Inflation rose by 0.4% in April and 4.7% from a year ago, according to key gauge for the Fed:

Inflation stayed stubbornly high in April, potentially reinforcing the chances that interest rates could stay higher for longer, according to a gauge released Friday that the Federal Reserve follows closely.

The personal consumption expenditures price index, which measures a variety of goods and services and adjusts for changes in consumer behaviour, rose by 0.4% for the month excluding food and energy costs, higher than the 0.3% Dow Jones estimate.

On an annual basis, the gauge increased by 4.7%, 0.1 percentage point higher than expected, the Commerce Department reported.

Inflation is going up, not down!

The misery olympics

Many years ago, economist Arthur M Okun came up with a Misery Index by combining inflation with unemployment. Alone, each is a nuisance. Together, they are, well, misery.

Since then, other economists have added their fillips connecting interest rates and GDP growth to the index. And then, Steve Hanke at Johns Hopkins computed the index for the rest of the world, as well as the US.

This gives us another measure to answer Ed Kochs old question: how are we doing?

10 years ago, the US was in the 18th positiontrailing nations in the Far East and Scandinavia. Ireland was in the middle of the pack, at #45 from the top (out of 89 nations).

In the latest version, the US has slipped down a few notchesbut not catastrophically. It is still in respectable company along with France, Russia, Portugal, and Austria, neither good nor bad.

Ireland has moved much higher up. It is now one of the least-miserable nations in the world along with Switzerland, Japan, and the Nordic countries.

We have indices of lifespan, GDP/capita, earnings, fatness, and so forth. By most of these measures, maybe all of them, Ireland has gone upwhile the US has been failing for many years.

Of course, these numbers are just averages and are frequently misleading. In a big country such as the US, its hard to generalise. The quality of life is very different in the hills and hollows of East Tennessee than it is in the canyons of Manhattan. And put Warren Buffett in a poor neighbourhood, and average earnings will shoot up. Statistically, everyone will be rich.

Silent battles

In Baltimore, many people lead lives that appear to be as miserable as any on the planet. They have very low incomes based either on government handouts, petty crime or menial labour. Neighbourhoods are uglytrashyand dilapidated. There are no sidewalk cafes. No restaurants. No shops. No artisans. And the schools are horrible.

Five people were shot in Baltimore on Friday.....

12:27

Talking Palestine with the South China Morning Post "IndyWatch Feed National"

My interview with Alex Lo from the South China Morning Post newspaper about my new book, The Palestine Laboratory. Many interesting conversations here but particularly about Chinas potentially growing role in the Middle East and how this could impact the Israel/Palestine conflict.

The full interview transcript is below:

Israel has occupied Palestinian territories for more than half a century. During this time, a militarily enforced system of repression has been refined with new technologies of surveillance and spying. As a result, according to investigative journalist and bestselling author Antony Loewenstein, the country has developed a hi-tech surveillance industry whose technologies are being sold to autocracies and democracies alike.

What happens in Palestine does not stay in Palestine, he warns, and the never-ending occupation not only concerns Palestinian human rights and self-determination, but has implications for the right of privacy of citizens around the world.

1. Lets start with the title of your new book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. What do you mean by laboratory? And what kinds of surveillance and control technologies have been selected for export to other countries?

After running the longest occupation in modern times, 56 years and counting in Palestine, Israel has developed a variety of tools an...

12:23

Burst main forces temporary water supply cut in Lennox Head "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Ballina Shire Councils crews are attending to a water main break that has occurred on Allens Parade in Lennox Head this morning.

Water supply will be temporarily unavailable to properties on Allens Parade, Dress Circle Drive, and Pinnacle Row while repairs are underway.

Allens Parade, Lennox Head, where a burst main has forced a temporary cut to the water supply this morning. Image: Domain.com.au

The Council says it is making every effort to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

It has apologised for the inconvenience and will continue to provide updates via Councils website.

It has provided the following tips to assist locals during the outage:

  • During any water disruption its important to leave your taps off as the water may return at any time.
  • When water returns it may be discoloured. This is due to sediment. Please run the tap until your water runs clear.
  • Your water may appear milky. This is caused by small air bubbles. Dont be alarmed it is not harmful, and will settle in a short period.

Those with enquiries are asked to contact councils Water and Wastewater Section on 1300 864 444.

The post Burst main forces temporary water supply cut in Lennox Head appeared first on The Echo.

12:02

Will Byron kids help to regenerate public land? "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Byron school students could take part in regular community tree plantings on land owned by Byron Council as a way of learning about bush regeneration and acting on climate change.

But the initiative is facing a funding challenge, with Council needing support from the community or government for maintenance of any tree planting project.

Last weeks Council meeting heard that a planting event last year on Council land at Azalea Street, Mullumbimby saw 800 trees planted by around 50 school students.

Students and a teacher from Byron Bay Public School taking part in a recent tree planting day on Council-owned land in Mullumbimby. Image supplied by Regeneration.

Initiated by the organisers of the Regeneration group, which has run a series of seed propagation workshops in schools over the past year, the event was a huge hit with students and the school community more broadly.

To be able to put a tree in the ground and get your hands dirty is really satisfying when youre finished, nine-year-old Louis Moynihan-Burne told the meeting during public access.

And even more satisfying in 10-15 years time when youre able to look at the forest and say I planted that tree or that forest.

The Council agreed to explore what parcels of land it owns that might enable further school tree planting activities in the coming years.

This includes possible sites on Valances Road and Riverside Drive in Mullumbimby.

...

10:58

How to Take Your Photography to the Next Level "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Improving your photography involves a blend of artistic insight, technical expertise and a willingness to push your creative boundaries. Even if youre just starting out or an experienced photographer seeking fresh inspiration, this post offers valuable tips on how to help you capture great images and unlock your full artistic potential.

1. Master Your Technique and Gear
Start by familiarising yourself with the manual adjustments accessible on your camera, including aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Engage in the exploration of diverse combinations to discern their impact on the ultimate composition of an image. Acquire knowledge concerning principles of composition such as the rule of thirds, leading lines, and symmetry, as these can significantly augment the visual allure of your photographic endeavours. Dedicate time to study and engage in deliberate practice of these techniques until they assimilate effortlessly into your creative process. Additionally, strive to attain a comprehensive understanding of your photography apparatus.

2. Take a Photography Course
If youre determined to advance your photography skills, taking a reputable program in photography can help. Whether it entails participating in a local workshop, enrolling in an online course, or pursuing a comprehensive curriculum at a reputable institution, structured learning experiences can equip you with invaluable knowledge and expert guidance.

Photography courses on the Gold Coast present an extensive reservoir of information encompassing a diverse range of topics, encompassing both technical expertise and the nuances of artistic composition. Such courses provide the opportunity to glean wisdom from seasoned photographers who can readily share their profound insights and expertise.

3. Diversify Your Lighting
While the allure and versatility of natural light remain unparalleled, delving into diverse lighting methodologies bestows an added dimension of profundity and innovation upon your visual creations. Start by experimenting with artificial luminous sources, encompassing studio lights, flashguns, or even unassuming household lamps. By attaining a comprehensive understanding of how to manipulate light, you acquire the ability to sculpt the ambia...

10:42

Australia must let go of reliance on a declining United States to secure our future "IndyWatch Feed National"

Contributed by Joe Montero

The elite that dominates the United States is running scared. Two prominent issues reveal this. One is the fear of the rise of China, and the other is what is the future of the economy and politics at home. The second one is at present being fought out in the battle over the government debt ceiling. Both are signs of the new uncertainty.

Australia is caught up in this. There would be no massive expenditure on nuclear submarines and military participation in the South China Sea and the Pacific. there would be no trade skirmishing with China otherwise. Julian Assange would not be languishing in prison, nor would Australian citizen, Daniel Duggan, be languishing in a Sydney cell waiting for extradition to the United States, to be accused of training Chinese pilots. He faces the prosect of 60 years imprisonment.

Australia would not be still mimicking American economic policy. A change of government from the Morrison Coalition to Albanese Labor has brought about little change. Australia is treated like a vassal and our on political elite enthusiastically accepts it, even if it comes at considerable economic and political cost.

We are being dragged down an abyss because the United States finds itself to be a declining power. This is the outcome of self-made failures and not the fault of an imagined enemy.

Economically, the United States has for too long and too heavily depended on debt created by being the worlds lender. It has overextended itself, and the engine of its past growth is slowing down. Part of this is transforming from a nation to which the world once owed a huge sum, into one that now owes the world. The United States owes the governments of other countries around $US6.9 trillion. Its debt to the private sector, mainly big business, is $US24.64 trillion. There is no way this can be paid this back. The financial system shows signs of increasing instability.

The following image by Julie Peasley shows how many one-dollar bills it would take to stack up to the total U.S. debt of $31.4 trillion. This help to visualise how serious this debt is.

...

10:14

Mark 'I Am A Total Rockstar' McGowan's glowing self-assessment. "IndyWatch Feed National"

Today, I am announcing that I will be stepping down as Premier and as the Member for Rockingham I was elected as Premier of Western Australia in March 2017 more than six years ago now. Prior to that, I served as Opposition Leader for more than five years. All...

10:00

Weed Control "IndyWatch Feed National"

Several different approaches are needed for weed control since eradication is difficult and can be expensive. Preventing weeds from establishing

This content is for Member, Friends of Sustainable Gardening Australia (FOSGA), and GIFT MEMBERSHIP Members and Friends only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.
The post Weed Control first appeared on Sustainable Gardening Australia.

10:00

Prevent Pests in Your Garden "IndyWatch Feed National"

If you can prevent pests in your garden and you will save time, resources and money as well as helping

This content is for Member, Friends of Sustainable Gardening Australia (FOSGA), and GIFT MEMBERSHIP Members and Friends only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.
The post Prevent Pests in Your Garden first appeared on Sustainable Gardening Australia.

09:02

We Bury Our Mistakes "IndyWatch Feed National"

Boris Karloff

J.G. Olsen / Financial Expositor

Weve all heard so much about Long Covid lately, the blood clots and heart problems associated with Long Covid, the excess deaths and so forth attributed to this controversial disease which seems to have mutated from a respiratory virus to mostly exhibiting as a type of thrombosis, it has the experts deeply puzzled, they seem to have moved on to other things. The new combined Covid-Influenza mRNA treatments do not appear to treat the existing Long Covid with blood clotting symptoms, but wearing the paper mask and getting more boosters is highly recommended.

So since academic conclusions about Long Covid are at a dead end, lets look at something much older and more common to see how the authorities and experts handle that.

One in six Australians experience back pain, so what is the medical establishment recommending?

We can go to a well-respected authority, Johns Hopkins University, a much-cited major medical research organisation operating an hour drive from Washington DC...

08:13

Search and rescue exercises in Ballina this weekend "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Marine Rescue NSW will take part in the first of three regional Search and Rescue Exercises (SAREX) on the NSW North Coast at Ballina this weekend (June 3 and 4).

Marine Rescue NSW Northern Zone Commander Mal Jeffs said the exercise is vitally important to ensuring Marine Rescue NSW volunteers are rescue ready.

We exercise our skills, our training and our coordination, which in this case is with the Marine Area Command, part of the NSW Police, in the work that we do to support them, Commander Jeffs said.

The SAREX will be held across Saturday and Sunday and see Marine Rescue NSW volunteers work alongside multiple Emergency Services agencies.

This two-day exercise will involve Marine Rescue NSW, Surf Life Saving NSW and the NSW Police particularly the Marine Area Command.

Our main goal is to test our capabilities to see how we perform at a high level looking for missing people.

We coordinate our searches and our search patterns to try and get positive outcomes for locating and recovering missing vessels, missing people and the like.

Commander Jeffs said a variety of vessels and craft will be used during the exercise including rescue boats, rescue water craft and a helicopter.

We run them (SAREXs) in the area regularly, not necessarily of this size but we test all our capabilities, vessels and personnel including radio operators, he said.

Marine Rescue NSW members from the Point Danger, Brunswick, Ballina, Evans Head, Iluka Yamba, Wooli, Coffs Harbour and Crowdy Harrington units will take part in the exercise.

Regional SAREXs are held annually with exercises planned for the Hunter/Central Coast and Batemans Bay later this year.

Marine Rescue NSW is a volunteer based not-for-profit professional organisation dedicated to keeping boaters safe on the water and supporting local communities.

The post Search and rescue exercises in Ballina this weekend appeared first on The Echo.

08:04

New initiative to enliven Lismores CBD "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Lismore City Council, the Lismore Regional Gallery and vacant shop owners, have announced the launch of the Lismore City ArtVenture.

The program is designed to revitalise Lismores business centres by transforming empty shop front windows into vibrant art exhibition spaces, showcasing the local arts sector and supporting local businesses.

Shining light for Indigenous artists Albert (Digby) Morans, Growing up on the Island exhibition installed at Lismore Regional Gallery, 2018.

Mayor Steve Krieg said works from Lismore Regional Gallerys permanent collection would be reproduced and displayed on the windows of empty shops to help eliminate the negative visual impact of vacant premises.

This initiative is designed to entice people back into our business c...

07:45

Ballina council votes against investment handicap for fossil-free ventures "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

Ballina Cr. Jeff Johnson. Photo David Lowe.

Independent Ballina Shire Councillor Jeff Johnson has lost a last-ditch effort to reinstate a council investment policy clause in favour of diverting from fossil fuels.

The council last year voted to get rid of a clause directing staff to invest council funds in non-fossil fuel aligned accounts when the expected yields shown were better, the same, or no worse than 0.05% less, compared to fossil fuel aligned accounts.

The vote came after 53 of 56 public submissions on the councils proposed investment policy showed support for reverting back to the 0.05% preferential margin or strengthening the policy for non-fossil fuel aligned investments.

The preferential margin was expected to represent around $9,000 in potential annual foregone profits, council staff said at the time.

Staff recommended dropping the preferential margin and a council majority of 6-4 voted accordingly.

More than one way to invest in fossil free projects

...

07:38

Which Australians are more equal? "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

The Constitution gives some Australians more rights than others. Or in the words of George Orwell borrowed by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, some Australians are more equal than others. They are called Tasmanians.

Why is that so? Because the founders thought that the smaller colonies would not have a reasonable say in the affairs of the Commonwealth. They could be silenced or squeezed out.

So, the founders provided that each colony on becoming a state in the federation would have a minimum of five members and each would have an equal number of senators, irrespective of the size of their population.

In the first House Tasmania got the five minimum members and has had them ever since even though its population would warrant fewer.

The inequality between the states was part of the federal compact a nation for a continent and a continent for a nation, as it was expressed at the time.

That federal compact, of course, completely left out some of the people who lived on the continent the indigenous population, who were expressly not counted for the purposes of determining how many members of Parliament each state would get.

That was rectified somewhat in 1967 when the Constitution was changed to count them.

But that did not acknowledge that since 1788 Europeans have come to Australia dispossessing Indigenous people of what was their land. That process only stopped in 1993 with the recognition of native title.

And still there is no recognition of the prior occupation and ownership and continuous connection with the land.

With what we know now, it is surely time to bring Indigenous people into our federal compact and go beyond recognition, and to give a voice to Indigenous people, in an equivalent way to which the people of the smaller colonies got an extra constitutionally guaranteed extra voice.

No one says that it unfair that Tasmanians get one senator for every 45,000 people, but in NSW it is one for every 680,000 people. No one says it is unfair that Tasmania gets one MP for every 108,000 people, but in NSW it is only one for every 175,000 people.

And even with that more equal electoral advantage, Tasmanians are behind people in other states on just about every socio-economic measure. Just like Indigenous people. The Voice is the very least we can do. Yes, a truth commission and a treaty would be better. But unless the Voice is approved, they will never happen.

The Tasmanian example is instructive because Tasmania could well be the decisive state. If Queensland and Western Australia vote No and the overall majority is for Yes, the Tasmanian vote will decide: their Yes means Yes wins; their No means No wins.

Tasmanians should reflect on this and reject Duttons specious, narrow, self-serving argument that if Yes wins Indigenous people will be more equal. Just as it has been rec...

07:25

La Stampa interview (English version) on Greek gvt refugee policy, Greeces economy, MeRA25 electoral setback, the euro, Italys PD and Angela Merkel "IndyWatch Feed National"

In this post you will find my original answers (in English) to La Stampas varied questions (27/5/2023); from the Greek governments shameful policy on refugees and MeRA25s electoral setback, to the future of the Eurozone, my friend Elly Schleins leadership of Italys main opposition party, the PD and, yes, Angela Merkel!

Almost all parties, on the campaign trail during the recent Greek election, were in favour of the governments policy of border controls. A few days before Greece went to vote, a chilling video, published by the New York Times, went around the world: the Greek Coast Guard can be seen abandoning a group of migrant people in the middle of the sea. Are the police turning away migrants, from Evros to the islands,? You, however, were the only leader to have asked a parliamentary question to the Mitsotakis government, accusing him of hiding these inhumane practices.

Mr Mitsotakis government is actively and consciously violating international law by pushing vessels with vulnerable refugees back into the stormy Aegean Sea. It is a deliberate policy to make our men and women of the Greek Coastguard commit acts which, according to the Law of the Sea and basic human decency, can be described not only as shameful but also illegal. We now have solid evidence that, not only are they pushing flimsy boats back in mid-sea but, even worse, they force refugees that have already landed in Greece back into boats which they then tow back out to sea where they are abandoned.

MeRA25, the party that I lead, exposed these crimes in Parliament and, besides, put forward the real reason behind Mitsotakis inhumanity: He has chosen to dominate Greek politics through a combination of, on the one hand, cozing up to Big Business and the Greek oligarchs while, on the other hand, pacifying the masses of the imp...

05:45

When they said pathetic, posturing little wimp I thought they were talking about me "IndyWatch Feed National"

Lawrence Krauss, of all people, defended Geoff Marcy on the pages of Quillette last week.

Well, thats a sentence that probably killed all further interest.

That Richard Dawkins then waded in to accuse people who oppose the abuses of power of being pathetic, posturing little wimps probably doesnt help.

I went ahead and barreled right in, and even compared their defense of sexism to the revelations that emerged from the recent documentary, Secrets of Hillsong. The good ol boy network is often deployed in the name of god, but sometimes its fired up in the name of science.

Transcript coming up!

This weekend I watched a Netflix documentary, the Secrets of Hillsong, about the evangelical/pentecostal church that was founded in Australia. It was immensely popular for a time; Justin Bieber was a follower, they were influential in promoting a youth message for a conservative denomination of old fogies, the Assemblies of God. One of the reasons an awful lot of churches now have pop-rock bands in front of the congregation is Hillsong it was a powerful tool for drawing in attendees, and was the rock upon which many megachurches were built. It grew from a regional Pentecostal church under Frank Houston, into an international network of megachurches under his son, Brian Houston.

The documentary begins with the story of Carl Lentz, a dynamic, charismatic preacher who trained at Hillsong, who led their first church in the United States in New York. While the new church grew phenomenally, it was also the beginning of the end. While it was a popular church among Black communities, it was noticed that very few Black people had prominent roles. It was the usual story: white leaders spoke a good game, talking up the importance of the Black community, while not following through.

The end of Lentz, though, was the discovery that he was burying stories of abuse in the church, and was cheating on his wife. Brian Houston denounced him and Lentz was dismissed.

Then it was revealed that Brian Houston had also been engaged in inappropriate behavior. Its hypocrisy all the way through.

Brian Houston eventually resigned as evidence of two affairs was revealed, and even worse, his fat...

02:59

So this Australian Winter was expected to be drier and warmer than the median mark, but now it seems twice as likely a rainfall suppressing El Nio event will also start this year "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"


During the multi-year Millennium Drought from 1997 to 2010, south east Australia experienced its lowest 13-year rainfall record since 1865 over the years 2006 to 2010.


Temperatures were also much hotter than in previous droughts and temperature extremes peaked during the heatwave and bushfires in early 2009. This culminated in the loss of 374 lives in Victoria and many more over the larger southeast in the heatwave leading up to Black Saturday. There were 173 lives lost in the fires.


The years 2015 to 2016 saw El Nio combined with a positive Indian Ocean Dipole in the second half of 2015 further suppressing rainfall, so that rainfall was the equal fourth-lowest on record for Australia during September, Tasmania had its driest Spring on record and mean temperatures were also highest on record for October to December 2015. This El Nio also contributed to an early start to the 2015-16 southern fire season.


By 2017 Australia was again in the grips of a multi-year drought. Very dry conditions in the cool season were followed by only a limited recovery in the OctoberDecember period in 2017 and 2018. This meant record-low rainfalls over various multi-year periods.


By June 2018 more than 99% of NSW was declared as affected by drought. The most extreme rainfall deficiencies over multi-year periods occurring in the northern half of New South Wales.


In June-July 20...

01:10

#BradfieldVotes PODCAST: Nic Boele and Carey Francis on the Bradfield for Yes campaign for The Voice "IndyWatch Feed National"

ON JUNE 19 last year at the Lindfield Football Club debrief for volunteers, Nicolette Boele announced that Voices for Bradfield had re-endorsed her as its candidate for the next federal election. After all, an all-volunteer campaign on a tight budget in the Indi Way tradition had achieved the biggest swing against a sitting Liberal MP []

01:00

394. Creating an environmental market "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

There are many different bits and pieces that need to be sorted out when creating a new environmental market. What are the key things that need to be done?

In PD392 I outlined some reasons why environmental markets have not emerged spontaneously but markets for some other things have: lack of property rights and high transaction costs of various types. Obviously, these issues have to be addressed when creating a market, but there are some other requirements as well.

The creation of the market for irrigation water in the Murray-Darlin Basin is a good example because it has been so well documented and studied (e.g., National Water Commission, 2011; Rolfe 2008). Here are some of the key things they had to do to get the new market working well.

  • Establish a cap on extractions. This was a step in the creation of tradeable property rights. Previously, farmers in aggregate had the right to extract more water than existed in the rivers.
  • Separate water rights from land rights. Previously the only way to buy water was to buy the land it was assigned to. As a result, the value of irrigation water was built into the price of land and the ability to trade water was severely inhibited.
  • Define specific property rights (ownership, volume, reliability, transferability) and establish those rights in law. In the case of water, the way that property rights are defined needs to allow for the fact that there is a different amount of water available each year.
  • Create water registers and accounts. For a product like, say, wheat grain, there is no need to keep track of who in the world owns all the existing wheat. It is really obvious who owns it, as it is sitting in their silos. For goods that would otherwise be public goods, like water, converting them into private goods so that they can be traded requires a system to keep track of who owns which water rights at any point in time.
  • Install meters. This is another requirement to convert water from a public good to a private good: be clear about how much water is being provided and consumed.
  • Ensure compliance and enforcement. People who cheat the system need to be identified and punished so that people have an incentive to buy the product rather than steal it.
  • Create trading platforms. There needs to be an efficient, inexpensive way for buyers and sellers to find each other, to find out the prices of other trades, and to reach agreement on the price for a new trade. For water, this all happens online.
...

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20:37

Henningsen: Identity Politics Has Gone Bonkers "IndyWatch Feed National"

Another tell-tale sign that Western civilization is in terminal decline.

In this episode of the Patrick Henningsen Show on TNT Radio which aired on May 24, 2023, Patrick explains why the identity politics game is getting out of control, and a total farce in the increasingly insane culture wars. More marginalised groups are now popping up everywhere. Whether its Trans rights or the rights of those who identify as Furries, or human rights laws for AI and robots it seems that Western civilization is in terminal decline. All this and more. Listen:

TUNE-IN LIVE to TNT RADIO for the Patrick Henningsen Show every MON-FRI at 12PM-2PM (NEW YORK) | 5PM-7PM (LONDON) | 2AM-4AM (BRISBANE):
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20:32

INTERVIEW: Kevork Almassian What Was Zelensky Doing at The Arab League? "IndyWatch Feed National"

NATO-backed chutzpah: Zelensky criticized Arab leaders for not condemning Russia enough.

In this episode of the Patrick Henningsen Show on TNT Radio which aired on May 22, 2023, Patrick talks with Kevork Almassian from Syriana Analysis about NATOs little green action man, Volodymyr Zelensky jetting down to Saudi Arabia for the Arab League summit, where the Ukrainian comedian turned President proceeded to berate Arab leaders for not condemning Russia enough, as well as begmanding for their support in the Wests proxy war against Russia. What did Zelensky and the West hope to gain? And what was Zelensky then doing at the G7 afterwards? All this and more. Listen:

More from Kevork:
Twitter Kevork
Twitter Syriana Analysis
SyrianaAnalysis.com
YouTube

TUNE-IN LIVE to TNT RADIO for the Patrick Henningsen Show every MON-FRI at 12PM-2PM (NEW YORK) | 5PM-7PM (LONDON) | 2AM-4AM (BRISBANE):
https://tntradio.live

READ MORE UKRAINE NEWS AT: 21st CENTURY WIRE UKRAINE FILES

ALSO JOIN OUR TELEGRAM CHANNEL

SUPPORT OUR INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLATFORM  BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

...

19:48

Exploring the Differences: Bluestone VS Travertine Pavers "IndyWatch Feed National"

In Australia, bluestone and travertine are two of the most popular natural stone pavers used for both residential and commercial homes. Both of these stones are often used for outdoor paving, indoor flooring, stepping stones, and sometimes wall cladding.

Since both have amazing functional and aesthetic qualities, it can be difficult to choose between the two.

To help you make a choice, were going to take a look at the main features of each of these stones. Well go through each important characteristic, from thermal resistance to ease of maintenance. By discussing all the main advantages of these two stones, hopefully we can help you decide which product is more suitable for you and your property.

What is Bluestone?

Bluestone Pavers Melbourne

In Australia and New Zealand, bluestone is the commercial term used to describe basalt. Basalt is a fine-grained igneous rock made from low-viscosity lava. It is mainly composed of oxides from silicon, magnesium, iron, potassium, aluminum, calcium and titanium.

Since it has a high concentration of augite and dark pyroxene minerals, basalt typically has a dark bluish hue. However, due to varying mineral composition, sometimes basalt has a much lighter tone.

Basalt typically has vesicles (small holes), which are created by the dissolved gasses released by the lava. These vesicles often leave a subtle texture on the surface of the finished paver. Basalt has also high density as well as a decent thermal resistance.

Benefits of Bluestone Pavers

  1. Durable and DenseThe density of basalt ranges from 2.8 3.0g/cm3. By comparison granites density is measured at 2.5 2.8g/cm3.

    Because of its high density, basalt is often used as an outdoor paver. The density of the stone will protect your pavers from minor surface scratches, moisture damage (including stains) and heat.

    Bluestone pavers are perfect for pergola flooring, outdoor stepping stones, front yard pathways, fireplaces, and so on. Essentially, any area that is exposed to the outside elements and extreme temperatures would benefit from high quality bluestone pavers.

  2. VersatileNot only is bluestone versatile functionally, it is also ve...

19:40

ABC presenter "I'll leave that there...." yeah, because Warren's talking for the 'NO' case "IndyWatch Feed National"

Thank you Underminder. Warren Mundine has accused the ABC of bias during a fiery interview over the Voice to Parliament. pic.twitter.com/cvVIB1ZGzI Clown Down Under (@clowndownunder) May 29, 2023

17:05

Breaking news: His Majestys Government is not going to investigate excess deaths "IndyWatch Feed National"

Tom Jefferson Trust the Evidence Substack.com May 27, 2023

A while ago, we stated that there were MPs who were doing the job they were elected to do.

One of them is the Right Hon. Esther McVey MP, who continues to ask questions prompting now routine escape and evasion answers from HMG. They must have taken a master class from the Great Houdini or undergone SAS selection, where you must withstand interrogation if caught.

Here is the latest example answered by no less than the MP who openly persecuted us on a website because, amongst other peccadillos, we dared to question the rules of six (remember that?).

HMG and Mr OBrien MP announced that they have absolutely no intention of investigating the causes of excess mortality in England and Wales. Instead, they ran for cover behind the usual waffle of F&C words and sundry conditions and will set out a strategy. A bit too late for those who have left us; the Minister, however, was careful not to mention statin starvation and lack of BP monitoring, so at least they have stopped making fools of themselves. Maybe.

But there you have it, young or old, black or white, poor, very poor or very very poor, hot or cold, you can die before your time, and its ok with HMG.

A truly democratic set of principles.

Despite the official attitude, we will continue to keep this public health drama in the public eye, but we need your help, all of you, your friends and your contacts.

Think of what we have been through in the last three years and what the families of those who died must feel.

Trust the Evidence is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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16:50

THE VOICE OF REASON "IndyWatch Feed National"

The manner in which the Albanese Government is conducting The Voice referendum is just as unlawful as the way in which the Liberal-National Coalition under Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison ran the appallingly lethal Robodebt scheme.

Posting shortlink: https://wp.me/p1n8TZ-3jA

At the present time, thanks to the strident criticism and vilification of people who are opposed to this $100 million waste of taxpayers money, which does very little except disenfranchise 96.8% of voters, the one-sided debate is little more than a media-hype talkfest (with slagging on the side) that has no relation whatsoever to the correct way to run a constitutional referendum, which should be based upon community education and debate, and  objective facts, instead of the biased, vested interest drivel that we are being hit with.

QUESTION #1: Where is the local community public education about the issues and informed community debate, which is a core requirement for determining the community views for and against the referendum proposal?

Heck How many people in Australia have a copy of the referendum poposal that is stuck on the fridge with a magnet?

ANSWER:  No fridge magnet and no copy of the proposed change, goes hand-in-hand with no objective informed community-involvement in the debate.

Why is this so?

Could it be because of the fact that during the last election Anthony Albanese promised the referendum  without apparently bothering to either read the Constitution or ask the Australian Electoral Commission what is proper process is when conducting a constitutional referendum, e.g., Can I just throw bags of taxpayers money at the mass media, and slag anyone and everyone who has the nerve to disgree  with my proposal, or do I have to have informed community involvement?...

16:27

North Carolina bus driver sacked after shooting attacker armed with a pistol "IndyWatch Feed National"

Sacked because he didn't 'de-escalate' a man with a gun. *We originally reported this mistakenly as happening in Chicago, thank you to Seeker of Truth for pointing out the error. Other passengers were caught in the crossfire. https://t.co/B0RQZJNFRL ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) May 28, 2023

16:25

US Senator Lindsey Graham gloats to Zelensky "Russians are dying, it's the best money we've ever spent" "IndyWatch Feed National"

"The Russians are dying...it's the best money we've ever spent." Imagine what the United States response would be if Russia was saying this about American citizens! pic.twitter.com/cIAIah3ju0 Jackson Hinkle (@jacksonhinklle) May 27, 2023

16:23

IPEF supply chain agreement announced but no text available "IndyWatch Feed National"

May 29, 2023: Trade Ministers from the 14 member countries of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) announced in Detroit on May 27 that they had substantially completed negotiations to create more diverse, secure and fair supply chains amongst themselves, known as Pillar II of the four Pillars of IPEF. They are continuing negotiations on the other three Pillars.

IPEF is an initiative of the United States to diversify supply chains away from China. IPEF members include the US, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Fiji and Vietnam

After further consultation and legal review, the Pillar 2 text will be signed and only then released for review by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT).

There have been reported disagreements between IPEF members, especially about the inclusion of labour rights as requirements for supply chains, which have delayed the completion of the agreement. It is not clear how the agreement will be enforced. The incentives for developing countries appear to be technical assistance and possible investments from business.

AFTINET recently coordinated a letter from 28 diverse community organisations asking the Australian Government to support strong and enforceable human rights, labour rights and environmental standards in all IPEF agreements.

The Statement says the agreement will seek to enable IPEF partners to:

  • Exchange information of significant supply chain risks, and improve crisis coordination, response to supply chain disruptions and respond to minimise them, and identify, manage, and resolve supply chain bottlenecks, including by strengthening supply chain logistics and infrastructure;
  • facilitate cooperation, mobilize investments, and promote regulatory transparency in sectors and goods critical to national security, public health and safety, or the prevention of significant or widespread economic disruptions;
  • respect, promote, and realize, in good faith, labor rights in IPEF partners supply chains, in recognition of the essential role of workers in achieving greater supply chain resilience;
  • ensure the availability of a sufficient number of skilled workers in critical sectors and key goods, incl...
...

14:27

Climate morons - how good's the boom camera operator!!!! "IndyWatch Feed National"

Camera 1 - Climate Loons.. pic.twitter.com/dH9tSpVE9t Timjbo (@Tim_jbo) May 29, 2023

14:18

The jungle, Chicago "IndyWatch Feed National"

Today, on the first day beaches were opened for the season in Chicago, a shooting takes place at the popular North Avenue Beach as about 80 to 100 teenagers gathered. pic.twitter.com/tEJeSW0kNj Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) May 26, 2023

14:00

Australian Dollar and Bitcoin "IndyWatch Feed National"

1.00 AUD = 0.00002 BTC
0.00010 BTC = 4.25 AUD
Converter

12:37

Pushing-Up for mental health in June "IndyWatch Feed National"

The Push-Up Challenge is set to go for 2023.

Australias largest fitness-based mental health event, The Push-Up Challenge, is back in 2023, encouraging Australians to push for better mental health.

Participants will take on 3,144 push-ups across 23 days in June, putting the spotlight on the tragic number of lives lost to suicide in Australia in 2021.

Thousands of Australians from all ages and walks of life participate in the event which engages people in mental health through connection, physical activity and education.

Founder of The Push-Up Challenge, Nick Hudson, said The Push-Up Challenge is a great way to get fit, connect with your community and do something positive for your mental health, all while honouring lives tragically lost to suicide.

Everyone will likely experience a mental health issue

Its likely everyone will experience a mental health issue at some point in their lives, so by pushing up and learning about mental health, we hope to break down the stigma attached to mental illness so that Australians dont think twice about reaching out for help.

The Push-Up Challenge is a free event, and participants can choose to fundraise and support beneficiary partners Lifeline or Movember, or the charity which runs the event, Push for Better Foundation.

Fundraising is an optional part of the event.

With our focus on men...

12:34

Recommending The Palestine Laboratory "IndyWatch Feed National"

My new book, The Palestine Laboratory, is out in Australia and New Zealand on 30 May.

It was released in the UK and US last week.

Every week, the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age write an email about the latest news and views in the literary world and this weeks edition features the highlights of June. My book was the top title listed:

In his provocative new book, the Australian journalist, who lived in East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020, argues that Israel exports around the globe the techniques and technologies it has deployed during the Israel/Palestine conflict. Palestine, he says, has been a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance, and Israel has become a global leader in their development.

The post Recommending The Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

12:30

Universities as tools of apartheid "IndyWatch Feed National"

In his new book Boycott Theory and the Struggle for Palestine: Universities, Intellectualism and Liberation (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023), Nick Riemer mounts a comprehensive argument for the institutional academic boycott of Israel. This edited extract outlines the central rationale for the boycottIsraeli universities institutional role in enabling apartheid, occupation and anti-Palestinianism.

The post Universities as tools of apartheid appeared first on Overland literary journal.

12:10

Joint media release on proposed new anti-protest laws: undo 22 minutes of bad lawmaking "IndyWatch Feed National"

Monday, 29 May 2023

It took only 22 minutes for anti-protest legislation to pass one of the two houses needed for it to become law - and now a number of SA's leading civil society groups are calling for the SA Government to spend another 22 minutes or even less this week to send the bill to committee for proper review.

11:44

A gem among the many incredible natural wonders of the Northern Rivers "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

The view over Bean Creek Falls a place that Janelle Saffin MP calls A gem among the many incredible natural wonders of the Northern Rivers. Photo supplied.

The Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin called a local tourist spot is a gem among the many incredible natural wonders of the Northern Rivers as she announced two reserves in the Lismore region will be upgraded.

...

10:15

Imagine waking up to this "IndyWatch Feed National"

Warning: loss of IQ points ahead pic.twitter.com/mfmJMbN45j Matrix Memez (@MatrixMemez) March 12, 2023

10:09

WHO do you think you are? Outrage over 'unprecedented land grab' that 'could see World Health Organization force Britain, the U.S. and Australia into lockdowns in future pandemics' "IndyWatch Feed National"

WHO do you think you are? Outrage over 'unprecedented land grab' that 'could see World Health Organization force Britain, the U.S. and Australia into lockdowns in future pandemics' --The WHO could order governments to impose rules in future disease outbreaks --Tory MPs have called for a block on powers that would dictate UK health policy | 28 May 2023 | New powers could potentially plunge Britain, the US and Australia into lockdown measures at the whim of the World Health Organization, it was claimed today. The UN agency -- heavily criticised for how it [mis]handled Covid [by killing as many people as possible, per Gates and Schwab] -- is considering 300 amendments to its legally binding rulebook. One measure floated, MPs and campaigners fear, opens the door for member states to be made to comply with any advice orders issued during future pandemics, such as enforcing vaccine passports and border closures. It states that countries vow to "undertake to follow WHO's recommendations in their international public health response." Critics today described the proposal -- which still has to be voted on before ever cropping up in real-world policy -- as an "unprecedented land grab."

10:08

Vale George Davidson OAM former Tweed Shire Councillor "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

George Davidson OAM. Photo supplied.

A funeral will be held today for George Davidson OAM who was once a Tweed Shire Councillor and a passionate advocate for the Tweed.

Mr Davidson passed away in Brisbane on May 12, where he has lived in recent years following 16 years of community involvement in the Tweed. He was 85.

Mr Davidson received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)  in the General Division in 2010 for his service to the Tweed community through a range of local government, sporting and veterans organisations.

Mr Davidson served the Tweed as a Councillor from 1999 to 2004. He was Deputy Mayor in 2002 and 2003.

Active in the community

He was active in the Tweed Coast community in particular and was president of the Cabarita Beach/Bogangar Residents Association from 1997 to 1999.

Mr Davidson will also be remembered by many for his role as chairman of the Cabarita Beach Sports Club for a number of years in the 1990s.

Current Councillor Warren Polglase served on Council with Mr Davidson, he said George was very professional in his dealings in local government, reliable and sincere, with a good sense of humour. He supported growth and opportunities at that time. He also strongly lobbied for improvements to Les Burger Field at Bogangar and was instrumental in its rejuvenation and the facility we see there today.

Former Tweed Shire Council General Manager Mike Rayner who was Director of Engineering during Mr Davidsons time as a Councillo...

09:46

Mayor Alexander-Basta lays wreath at the Bolingbrook Time War Memorial (Fiction) "IndyWatch Feed National"

Bolingbrook Mary Alexander-Basta laid a wreath at the Time War Memorial to honor those who died before the Men in Blue erased the invaders from the timeline. Some of the formally deceased watched the ceremony.

The Bolingbrook Time War occurred in 1984 when a military force from the year 3000 appeared and attacked Bolingbrook. Despite facing a force with far superior technology, the Village of Bolingbrook repelled the invasion. After a Martian Colonial gunship delayed the invaders, then Mayor Ed Rosenthal sent a team of Men in Blue were sent to the future to destroy their time machine prototype. The MiB succeeded, and time 

I still get a weird feeling attending my memorial, said Jessie X. Armstrong, who was a police officer. Still, it beats being a ghost. Its more like I got a second chance at life.

Alexander-Basta delivered a short speech after the ceremony, praising them for their temporary inconvenience.

Some of you willingly made the ultimate sacrifice. Some of you were caught off guard. But thanks to all of you, Bolingbrooks residents can enjoy our newest eatery, Afternoon!

After reading a poem composed by the villages secret AI, BrookBot, she looked down at her phone, then smiled. Florida just banned the poem I just recited. That means it must be good.

She concluded her speech by saying, Twitter users want to know how to win a time war. The answer is in front of me. All of you are the reason Bolingbrook won the time war.

After her speech, a veteran recited Mark Twains War Prayer, then walked offstage.

Also in the Babbler:

Village rejects Trumps ultimatum to move the Golf Club closer to OHare Airport.
Editorial: Good bye Turkish Democracy
Canadian billionaire offers to buy Bolingbrook for $1 million
God to spare Bolingbrook during Memorial Day week

Note: This is a work of fiction. All opinions expressed are my own. They do not reflect the views of any organization I work for or of my employer. 

Want to support my creative work? Check out my Urban Fantasy series, the Bolingbrook Babbler Stories....

09:31

Voir Dire, Part 2: Judge Clare Demands Name Suppression! "IndyWatch Feed National"


Canva.com shows you how to pixelate a donut

by Mary W Maxwell, LLB

Dear Reader, if you are following the child-trafficking business, please check this out. Its about a judge asking for suppression of info on the Internet.  Looks to me like a major screw job and we ought to be doing something about it

The business of suppression of names has a rightful place. If someone rapes Angela Smyth-Jones, over age 18, and is on trial for it, Angela has a right to privacy.  After all, the description of the rape in open court could be pretty gory; it could harm her dignity forever. The court case can omit her name; just call her the victim or Ms X.

When the victim is a child, the standard way to handle it is by giving pseudonyms to the various players. In my May 12, 2023 article, at GumshoeNews.com, I showed the case of Argyle v Thomas, the mum and dad in a custody dispute.  That is not their real names at all, but it helps give privacy to their k...

09:09

Conflict of interest means the AFP should not be investigating the PwC tax scandal "IndyWatch Feed National"

Contributed from Victoria

The scandal engulfing consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia and its misuse of confidential government data to help clients avoid tax is escalating, and a week ago, senior management agreed to stand down those who were alleged to be directly involved in doing this. This appears to be way to for the company extricate itself from a sticky situation through putting the blame on these individuals. But it is unimaginable that such behaviour could take place without a conspiracy and approval. If not direct participation from the top.

We know that PwC has been advising a range of major corporations on how to avoid paying tax and could have misused information it was not entitled to have for leverage. Former tax expert at PwC, Peter Colins, was deregistered by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) for failing to act with integrity and for sharing confidential government briefings in January. He played a major role for a decade in securing government contracts. since then, Tom Seymour, the corporations CEO, has stepped down over the matter.

Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty: CEO Tom Seymour stepped down over the scandal

After the scandal broke out, Treasury referred the matter to the police. It is obvious that the misuse of government data could not have happened without the involvement of people on the inside of the contrasting out department.

Last week, the close association between the NSW Police Commissioner Reece Matthews and PwC partner Mick Fuller was revealed during question time in the Senate.

Another revelation has been to the extent that the public service has become short...

09:07

3.8ML earthquake hits Melbournes northern suburbs "IndyWatch Feed National"

The town of Sunbury is about 41 kilometres north west of Melbourne. Image Geoscience Australia

Residents in Melbourne and the northern suburbs were woken in the middle of the night as a magnitude 3.8 earthquake shook the darkness radiating out from the town of Sunbury, about 41 kilometres north west of the city.

Reports came from across the region from residents saying they had been shaken awake by the tremor. The governments Geoscience Australia website at 9am had almost 24,320 felt reports, most of those between Sunbury and Melbourne this figure continues to rise.

...

03:45

Anti-abortion meme: Crystal bellies? "IndyWatch Feed National"

A couple of days ago, I ran across a pro-life (as in, anti-abortion) meme on Facebook:

For those of you who cant see it, its a picture of a crystal statue of a pregnant woman in the hand resting on belly pose. In her abdomen, curled into fetal position, there is what appears from the development level and general cleanliness to be a baby from some point after birth but which I full-term fetus. The caption reads: Imagine a world where a mothers belly is made of crystal. Would this make a difference? (No, I dont quite get what the deal is with the random emphases.)

My first thought, as always on seeing the transparent abdomen meme, was Well, if getting naked together meant getting a good look at a womans internal organs, then there would probably be less heterosexual sex happening, hence fewer unplanned pregnancies, so I suppose in that sense thered be a difference. Because this meme specified crystal as opposed to non-specific transparent material, I went on to have a few more thoughts:

  • But crystal cant stretch. Wouldnt pregnant people all just end up miscarrying somewhere early in the second trimester, when the fetus had no room to grow?
  • Also, for this meme to work at all, we have to hypothesise that part of the pregnant persons uterus would be crystal as well. Crystal cant contract either. Wouldnt this end up with either the crystal being shattered by uterine contractions, or the rest of the uterine wall ripping away from the crystal segment and causing a uterine rupture? Neither sounds like a good thing to have happening inside someones abdomen.
  • Also holy crap, are pro-lifers actually passing around a meme aimed at getting us to picture women as fragile ornaments who literally have no internal existence other than gestating? Seriously?

But, yes, yes, I know; none of this is addressing the point the author of this meme actually wanted to make. So lets rewrite it in a way that gets at the point a little better, then answer that.

If pregnant people could somehow see exactly what the embryo or fetus within them looked like, at every point throughout gestation how would that affect the chances of them seeking abortion?

Im not sure this would work out quite the way that the pro-lifers passing along this meme would like to think.

First of all, of course, theres the fact that a lot of the people seeking abortion are desperate enough that knowing wha...

01:07

The USAF Chief Said That F-16s Wont Be A Game-Changer For Kiev So Whys The Kremlin So Upset? "IndyWatch Feed National"

BY ANDREW KORYBKO | MAY 28, 2023

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko recently warned that the Wests possible shipment of F-16s to Kiev is fraught with colossal risks for that de facto New Cold War bloc, shortly after which his boss Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described this scenario as an unacceptable escalation. The Kremlins assessment clashes with the Pentagons, whose Air Force chief Frank Kendall claimed last week that its not going to be a dramatic game-changerfor their total military capabilities.

Bidens support at the G7 Summit for training Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16s and some countries like the UKs plans to assemble a so-called jet coalition for their Eastern European proxy suggest that these opposite predictions will be put to the test after some time unless a ceasefire is reached first. Considering this possibility, its timely to weigh the merits of each sides assessment in order to get a better idea of whether the Kremlins or the Pentagons will more closely reflect reality in that scenario.

Sky News explainer that was published on Sunday provides a good starting point for answering this question. According to military analyst Sean Bell, Kiev will likely receive old F-16s that are heavily dependent on spares and urgently in need of being updated with modern equipment. Anything less than Modern air-to-air missiles married to a modern F-16 radar, which he said would pose a credible threat, risks emboldening the Russian Air Force.

Before reaching his conclusion, Bell also informed readers that In addition to radar, modern fighters also need state-of-the-art electronic warfare, defensive aids, infrared sensors, link-16 datalinks, and a computer system to programme and deliver the latest generation of high-tech air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, not to menti...

00:15

Single mega complex for Murwillumbah public schools gone for good as Saffin fulfils her election promise of demerger "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"


The Echo, 26 May 2023:


The significant issue of a merger of several Murwillumbah schools has been ongoing since 2020 when the then State Government announced via Sarah Mitchell MP that four public schools would be amalgamated into a single Kindergarten to Year 12 campus at Murwillumbah High.


It was clear from the outset that this was not something that any of the school communities wanted, yet the government continued to foist it upon students, teachers and families in the Murwillumbah area, but the government was determined to push ahead saying there was plenty of support for the project.


An election promise


Murwillumbah High School the site of the mega campus.
Image supplied
...

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23:13

Henningsen: Another Pandemic for the 2024 Presidential Election? "IndyWatch Feed National"

Will the Democrats repeat their winning formula from the 2020 presidential elections?

In this episode of the Patrick Henningsen Show on TNT Radio which aired on May 23, 2023, Patrick asks the question: How can Joe Biden win in the 2024 election? It seems that the only logical answer has to be for the Democrats to repeat their winning formula from 2020: election rigging and declaring another pandemic. Patrick works with his science team in the TNT listeners Chat Room to figure out which virus could be marketed as an anointed microbe choice to allow Democrats to ramp up mail-in voting again in 2024. All this and more. Listen:

TUNE-IN LIVE to TNT RADIO for the Patrick Henningsen Show every MON-FRI at 12PM-2PM (NEW YORK) | 5PM-7PM (LONDON) | 2AM-4AM (BRISBANE):
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22:39

Australians shiver through the coldest May EVER as temperatures plunge across the country "IndyWatch Feed National"

Australians have woken up to freezing temperatures, with some towns recording their coldest May morning on record. Widespread frost was reported in parts of Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Western Australia on Sunday morning. The Bureau of Meteorology recorded minimum temperatures as low as to -2.7 degrees at Injune Post Office in Queensland. Records were broken in Hughenden, Queensland, where residents woke up to -1.4 degrees, while Bankstown and Penrith each had their coldest May temperature ever, hitting 0.7 degrees and 0.6 degrees respectively. Tamworth also recorded its coldest May morning with -4.8 degrees.

21:44

"IndyWatch Feed Enviro" "IndyWatch Feed National"

<p><div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_45540" style= "width: 268px;"><a href= "https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/5C8B41B5-AF5E-4820-9D86-87B4BB6F330C.jpeg"> <img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-45540" height="188" src= "https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/5C8B41B5-AF5E-4820-9D86-87B4BB6F330C.jpeg" title="5C8B41B5-AF5E-4820-9D86-87B4BB6F330C" width="268"></a> <p class="wp-caption-text">Over 40,000 fish killed over essentially the entire length of Dunkard Creek</p> </div> <strong>Remembering the 40 Mile Dunkard Creek Fish Kill of August 2009 in WV & PA

From the Blog of Betsy J. Lawson, Monongalia County, WV, May 31, 2019

Dunkard Creek wanders above and below the Pennsylvania-West Virginia state line for much of its forty-three miles, seeming to taunt the rigidity of man-made boundaries. It was one of the most ecologically diverse streams in either state. But in August of 2009, people who lived along the stream witnessed an unimaginable sight: thousands of fish were trying to leap out of the water.

During the next month, about 22,000 fish washed ashore, many bleeding from the gills and covered in mucous. Some estimates say as many as 65,000 died. Three-foot long muskies washed up along the riverbanks. The die-off marked one of the worst ecological disasters in the regions history. <strong>Some 161 species of fish, mussels, salamanders, crayfish and aquatic insects were wiped out.</strong></p> <p><a href= "https://betsyjaeger.com/f/dunkard-creek-fish-kill">Department of Natural Resources officials from both states arrived at the crime scene to find answers.</a> Golden algae bloom was the cause. The algae releases a toxin that ruptures the tissue cells in the mouths and gills of fish, depriving them of oxygen and suffocating them. Algae bloom only lives in very salty waters.</p> <p>The DNR found that Consol Energy had been discharging acid mine drainage directly into Dunkard Creek for decades. In the spring of 2010, one of Consols primary contractors, Allans Waste Water Service, a wastewater hauling company, was charged with multiple counts of illegally dumping toxic waste, including Marcellus Shale-produced wastewater into Dunkard Creek and its tributaries. Wastewater from fracking is ten to twenty times more saline than sea water.</p> <p>In more recent years, hydraulic fracturing wells had been removing huge quantities of fresh water from the stream and dumping the wastewater back into the stream. Low water levels, high salt content from fracking wastewater, and especially high sulfate levels, typical of AMD, led to the algae bloom. Such a bloom had never been seen north of Texas and Florida before. How did the golden algae get to the temperate freshwater of West Virginia and Pen...

21:09

Come as you art "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

 

Today I had an "open" studio for the Art Trail around Leeton Shire

I'd installed my Organ Donor sound sculptures in the front yard and could overhear a few comments from people passing on the street.

It was a last minute decision to set up a studio, since I wasn't sure I'd have any visitors.

A couple of people came to have a look and I amused myself by recording this cover of Nirvana.

17:45

Fantasy Farming "IndyWatch Feed National"

Bucolic fairytales are a threat to life on Earth.

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 26th May 2023

No issue is more important, and none so shrouded in myth and wishful thinking. The way we feed ourselves is the key determinant of whether we survive this century, as no other sector is as damaging. Yet we can scarcely begin to discuss it objectively, thanks to the power of comforting illusions.

Food has the extraordinary property of turning even the most progressive people into reactionaries. People who might accept any number of social and political changes can respond with fury if you propose our diets should shift. Stranger still, theres a gulf between ultraconservative beliefs about how we should eat and the behaviour of people who hold such beliefs. I have heard people cite a rule formulated by the food writer Michael Pollan Dont eat anything your great-great-great-grandmother wouldnt recognise as food while eating a diet (Thai one day, Mexican the next, Mediterranean the day after) whose range of ingredients no ones great-great-great-grandmother would recognise, and living much the better for it.

Something is blocking us, a deep repression that stands in the way of honest conversation. It pushes food writers, celebrity chefs and some environmentalists to propose answers to the planetary crisis that are even more damaging than the problems they claim to address. Their solutions, such as pasture-fed meat, with its massive land demand , are impossible to scale without destroying remaining wild ecosystems: there is simply not enough planet. What is this inhibition and how does it arise?

Its now a year since I published Regenesis, a book that has incited levels of fury shocking even to me. Ive spent much of this time trying to work out what makes people so angry. I think its because the book challenges what the cognitive historian Jeremy Lent calls a root metaphor: an idea so deeply embedded in our minds that it affects our preferences without our conscious knowledge.

The root metaphor in this case is exemplified by King Charles IIIs love affair with Transylvania, explored recently in the ...

14:00

Australian Dollar and Bitcoin "IndyWatch Feed National"

1.00 AUD = 0.00002 BTC
0.00010 BTC = 4.20 AUD
Converter

13:40

McGoohans Blues sunbathing in the rain "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

All along the ancient wastes the thin reflections spin
That gather all the times and tides at once we love within
That build the edges round the shrouds that cloud the setting sun
And carry us to other days and other days to one

Roy Harper, The Same Old Rock

It mustve been May 1969. A cold, wet and windy day in Hull, Yorkshire. Id hitch-hiked from Reading in Berkshire to London and then northwards on the A1 to visit an old school chum in the Humberside port city. And it is there, in a student share house that I first dropped Mescaline, a derivative of peyote, an hallucinogenic psychotropic favoured by Mexican shamans of yore. In our circles, it was prized for its visual and aural delights rather than the more head trip, mood-manipulating and psychologically unpredictable and potentially unsettling lysergic acid. And that evening, headphones on, I first listened to McGoohans Blues.

This eighteen minute digression from the concept if not the plot of an iconic if indecipherable sixties television series (thats the featured picture), was the penultimate track on Folkjokeopus, the third album of English folk singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist extraordinaire Roy Harper. The song was indeed the whole point of Folkjokeopus its raison dtre- the rest of the album was  predominantly light-weight, comedic psychedelia with the exception of the bleak and bitter but nevertheless captivating love gone wrong song Shes The One.

...

10:53

Hip Hip Hooray! "IndyWatch Feed National"

Graduation-caps-congrats-5047671By Cathy Jameson

With all five kids home after my daughters college graduation, we enjoyed some extra family time.  Sitting in the living room together one evening, my youngest asked, Mommy, when would Ronan be graduating college?  I looked at her but didnt answer right away.  Ronans not been in a classroom setting for quite some time now.  Even though she doesnt remember some of the struggles Ronan faced while he was enrolled in school, she knows we took him out of the special education system for several reasons, to include seeing seizure activity increase. 

Every now and then I wonder if taking him out, and keeping him out, was the right decision.  I dont dwell on that thought for too long because we provided many meaningful opportunities for him while he was out of the classroom.  But questions like the one Ronans youngest sister asked brought up things Id long forgotten. 

Do I miss the IEP meetings?

Do I miss the worry I sometimes felt after dropping him off?

Do I miss the phone calls from the school nurse telling me of another seizure?

No.  I dont miss any of that. 

I do miss some of the hope that some of Ronans teaching staff shared with us.  I do miss the thought of a someday graduation for him, even if it wasnt going to be the same kind of diploma his siblings would receive.  But I dont miss the stress that school was causing my son.  I didnt need to share all of that or any of that in my reply to my daughter, so I focused simply on what shed asked.  She just wanted a date, even if random, that Ronan would be graduating.

It would be next year.  Think about when Charlie would be graduatingwhatever year he is in school is when Ronan would also be in school, I told her.

A friends typical son, I had always hoped that Ronan would one day be mainstreamed with typical peers like Charlie.  Hes a great kid doing really great things.  I dont see him much anymore because hes off to school in another state, but when I get updates from his parents, I cant help but smile.  Ronan wont experience any of what Charlie will, but I dont begrudge him or any other kids who find success in school. 

School isnt for everyone.  It can be an enormous struggle.  Without proper supports, simple tasks can become frustrating.  Th...

09:53

08:57

Pan-African News Wire "IndyWatch Feed National"

Officials: UN Chief Shocked by Letter from Sudans Military Ruler Demanding Removal of UN Envoy

By SAMY MAGDY

People gather at the home of a volunteer, where they can charge their mobile phones, in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, May 25, 2023. The fighting between Sudans military and a powerful paramilitary force has displaced more than 1.3 million people, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday. (AP Photo)

CAIRO (AP) The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was shocked by a letter from Sudans military ruler, demanding the removal of the U.N. envoy to the country, Sudanese and U.N. officials said Saturday.

The letter by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, Sudans top military official and head of the ruling Sovereign Council, comes as Sudan plunged into further chaos after worsening tensions between military rivals exploded into an open fighting last month.

The Secretary-General is shocked by the letter he received this (Friday) morning, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The Secretary-General is proud of the work done by (U.N. envoy) Volker Perthes and reaffirms his full confidence in his Special Representative.

Dujarric didnt reveal the contents of the letter. However, a senior military official said Burhans letter asked Guterres to replace Perthes who was appointed to the post in 2021.

According to the official, Burhan accused Perthes of being partisan, and that his approach in pre-war talks between the generals and the pro-democracy movement helped inflame the conflict. The talks had aimed at restoring the countrys democratic transition which was derailed by a military coup in Oct. 2021.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media.

Perthes declined to comment neither on the letter.

Burhan accused Perthes last year of exceeding the U.N. missions mandate and of blatant interference in Sudanese affairs. He threatened to expel him from the country.

The ongoing fighting broke out in mid-April between the military and the powerful Rapid Support F...

08:30

High octane crazy blood! "IndyWatch Feed National"

Blood is life, you know. Thats been the lesson from science documentaries like Dracula and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Remember creepy weird Bryan Johnson, the middle-aged Silicon Valley techbro who want to live forever by gobbling down lots of supplements, slathering on the skin creams, and eating a strangely specific diet? Now he has decided that vampirism is the answer.

An anti-aging zealot who spends $2 million a year in a quest to turn back time has dragged his teenage son into being his personal blood boy.

Bryan Johnson, the 45-year-old tech tycoon who wants to keep his internal organs, including his penis and rectum, functioning youthfully enlisted 17-year-old Talmage to provide blood transfusions, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

At a clinic near Dallas last month, Johnson, his 70-year-old dad, Richard, and Talmage showed up for an hours-long, tri-generational blood-swapping treatment, the outlet reported.

Johnson usually receives plasma from an anonymous donor, but this time Talmage provided a liter of his blood, which was converted into batches of piece parts a batch of liquid plasma and another of red and white blood cells and platelets.

Ugh. This is creepy child abuse although they did it in Texas, where they hate children, so hell probably get away with it. Even if this worked, I wouldnt ask my children to ever do this for me.

I also notice the icky Elizabeth Holmes-style pose. Its all quackery.

07:23

"IndyWatch Feed Nthamerica" "IndyWatch Feed National"

<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 (5/27/23).<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> <br> !function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2q643"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");<br> <br>  <br> <br> Rumble("play", {"video":"v2ntfd6","div":"rumble_v2ntfd6"});<br> <br> Video Source Links (In Chronological Order)<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href= "https://twitter.com/tlavagabond/status/1634578296770908162?s=12&t=BKPUCHXl3vw_NT5xL6Bx8A"> (34) LastAmericanVagabond on Twitter: "So it looks like the deep fake agenda is indeed about to kick off for real. Wonder why it took this long. (In case that is unclear THIS IS A DEEP FAKE & it has some crude comments for those with kids around.) https://t.co/V7vkb3ljSc" / Twitter
(28) discord.gg/falconryfinance COVID MODE on Twitter: "They're all like this It's the only reason anyone plays that game anymore Never should have gone bipedal https://t.co/ZL1jk7rMB0" / Twitter
(28) LastAmericanVagabond on Twitter: "As I have been saying, the age of deep fakes is upon us. Or more accurately, has finally been released upon us. https://t.co/RaYmQEZGRe" / Twitter
(52) Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis on Twitter: "Twitter has destroyed my account with almost half a million followers. It happened over night. My followers cant even change settings to view my posts. And now this. @elonmusk @ellagirwin @twitter you are not answering my e-mails. https://t.co/47PLKOSKN3" / Twitter</a><br> <a href= "https://twitter.com/0rf/status/1661432803785932800?s=12&t=XndyaHXy01WgO-eau7dmtA"> (20) M...

07:00

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw and former NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller set to cover-up the PwC tax dodging scandal "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw and former NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, who now works for PwC, have already had private communication about the PwC tax dodging scandal that is now being investigated []

01:24

NO REFORM without the crash and burn "IndyWatch Feed National"

QUESTION: So you do not think anyone running for office in 2024 will succeed in making any difference?

HC

ANSWER: No. We have crossed the Rubicon on that score. Trump would at least fight hard against them, but our computer does not show that there is anyone coming in on a white horse to save the day. We simply have to crash and burn and then we get to redesign a new form of government. You get NO REFORM without the crash and burn.

Just look at the debt ceiling nonsense. All this is about is reducing the amount of deficit spending. It is IMPOSSIBLE to run a balanced budget or return to some gold standard. You would have to extinguish politics as we know it. There can be no running for office and promising all sorts of free stuff and the NEOCONS could wage their endless wars that never win. Politicians would not know how to even campaign. Anyone who believes the 2020 election was NOT rigged, is just a fool.

Getting rid of Trump was not a Democrat v Republican conspiracy theory, it was a strategic movement to seize control of the state. Why would they even push Biden to run again when his polls have collapsed to 30%? You will see, he will win and the entire world will see how corrupt it has all become. We are living in a Deep State coup of unelected bureaucrats ruling what your life will be. Digital currencies will control every aspect of how you spend. You will not even be allowed to donate to any reform party. Look at Trudeau and the Truckers.

The post NO REFORM without the crash and burn first appeared on Armstrong Economics.

00:44

The US and Never-ending War "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

John Rachel, in his book The U.S. and Perpetual War: Interviews and Commentary (Independently published, May 16, 2023, available at Peace Dividend/Books and Amazon) has compiled a unique, concise and astonishingly compelling collection of leading left, liberal, conservative and heterodox thinkers each answering the same fifteen precisely composed questions. The questions concern the current nature of the US empire, putative US democracy, and, most important, what is to be done.

The distinguished roster of 22 respondents from politics, academia, media, law, and social activism includes Noam Chomsky, Larry Wilkerson, Paul Craig Roberts, Mark Skidmore, Coleen Rowley, William J. Astore, Abby Martin, Dan Kovalik, Lee Camp, Finian Cunningham, Michael T. Klare, Cynthia McKinney, Scott Ritter, Joe Lombardo, Bruce Gagnon, Norman Solomon, Peter Kuznick, Ajamu Baraka, Margaret Kimberley, Matthew Hoh, Garland Nixon, and Dennis Kucinich.

Rachels 15 question topics are: 1. The Atomic Scientists doomsday clock; 2. The US as a force for peace, justice, etc., or not; 3. The reasoning behind Russian and Chinese military action; 4. The US need for empire, or not; 5. US national electoral politics since 2014 and the demonization of Russia; 6. Taiwan and the possibility of war between US and China; 7. Syria and the US occupation; 8. Citizen influence on foreign policy; 9. Democracy and hidden government operations (CIA operations, psyops, regime-change ops, etc.); 10. Government abuses of power and the possibility of legal redress; 11. Who in fact makes foreign policy; 12. The nature of US foreign relations and the US practice of demonizing target countries; 13. Military spending; 14. What changes in US policy and priorities need to be made; 15. What options are there for change if US policy makers are in fact indifferent to what US citizens think.

What makes this book unique is that it departs from the usual organization of such anthologies. Instead of a collection of separate interviews, the responses to each of Rachels fifteen questions are presented together, question by question. In other words, Question #1 is followed by all the responses to Question #1, then Question #2 is followed by all the responses to Question #2, and so on. This lets the reader consider and compare answers. It a...

00:15

Link "IndyWatch Feed Northcoast"

 

It was brief, to the point and supported by Clarence Valley Councils Climate Change Advisory Committee and Council in the Chamber.


Ordinary Monthly Meeting of Clarence Valley Council held on 23 May 2023, Minutes, p.16:


ITEM 07.23.070 NUCLEAR FREE ZONE


SUMMARY

This report forwards a recommendation of the Clarence Valley Climate Change Advisory Committee

requesting that Council consider declaring the Clarence Valley a nuclear free zone.


OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

That Council support the Climate Change Advisory Committee recommendation and declare the Clarence

...

Saturday, 27 May

22:14

You Have 8.6 Years Left Politics of Fools "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

QUESTION: Dear Martin,
DeSantis announced his run for the Republican candidacy. Youve mentioned several times he would be eaten by the career politicians in Washington. What if he becomes Trumps running mate? Would that be a good course?
Sincerely, Martijn

ANSWER: That would be the only way I would see DeSantis as having any real influence. As I have said, I was asked if I would talk Trump out of running and join the advisory team for DeSantis last year. I declined. I replied that everything has changed and that they would just eat him for lunch as they did to Trump when he first walked into Washington.

Washington has declined so much so, that the fools on the Hill now think just switching to a Republican will make it all better. The Biden administration has inflicted so much political damage as well as division among the people, the USA must fall. It cannot stand as one nation with such division. And it is not even Biden who is the real symbol of the Fool on the Hill. He is only the puppet just like the last emperors of Rome.

I do not care that the propaganda claims the election of 2020 was not r...

20:00

Should Everyone Be in Therapy? "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Everyone should be in therapy.

Its a sentiment I heard just about every day when I was in graduate school to become a therapist. But its also something I hear now from friends, acquaintanceseven stand-up comics.

Should everyone be in therapy?

Its a difficult proposition to test. Those who dont think they need therapy, or who dont think therapy is useful, are not particularly likely to go to therapy. Any study of therapys usefulness, therefore, contains only people who need therapy (or think they do) and who already think therapy is helpfulthe very people for whom therapy is probably useful (or for whom the placebo effect is largest, since they expect to improve in therapy). Existing studies generally focus on people with specific psychiatric diagnoses, and usually those who have pretty severe symptoms.

Everyone should be in therapy is a statement that assumes a lot. First, theres the neoliberal assumption that no matter how good youre doing, no matter how content or even happy you are, theres always something you should be working on. And then, even if there is perhaps something you could work on, the assumption that therapy can help. For instance, theres a meme floating around the internet that men will do anything but go to therapy. But has there ever been even a single study testing whether therapy can reduce toxic masculinity or promote healthy masculinity? (Answer: Not that I could find.)

Theres really no evidence base for the idea that everyone should be in therapy. But proponents will also tell you that theres no real downside. Therapy can only help, so why not give it a try?

But is that so? There are some obvious harms: wasting your time and money, of course. But researchers since the 60s have noted that therapy can also cause psychological distress, problems with existing relationships, and even relaxation-induced anxiety and panic. Even our current darlings, like mindfulness, can lead to increased anxiety, pain, and dissociative states like depersonalization and derealization.

Proponents of therapy argue that many of these effects are transient and that the positive effects of therapy overshadow these potential harms. And some of these....

15:59

NATOs military-industrial complex has its sights firmly set on the Asia-Pacific region "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

NATO is rushing towards the Asia-Pacific region

Anticipating the collapse of the Ukraine project, NATOs military-industrial complex is rushing towards the Asia-Pacific region to spark a new conflict in order to satisfy its financial demands.

NATOs post-1991 history is the history of an organization that has outlived its usefulness. The threat of world communism that NATO cited as justification for its 40-year existence isno longer present. NATO was desperately searching for an understandable purpose for its existence to justify enormous expenditures for the military-industrial complex following the fall of the Warsaw Pact. In the late 1990s, NATO found what it believed to be the greatest answer, namely to militarization of human rights in order to utilize this narrative to target the policies of unwelcome states throughout the world. Fancying themselves as the new superheroes, NATOkept its guns and bombs ready to defend the human rights from the tyrants who oppressed them, wherever there was injustice, as stated by Washington propagandists.

Representatives of the US military-industrial complexcould not have been happier. All of the think tanks that they generously fund have finallyfound a win-win solution for keeping money in the pockets of the US and European military industries.

In 1999, the renewed NATO conducted its first test run in Yugoslavia. It was a dreadful, inexcusable tragedy for everyone except Washington and Brussels. Seventy-eight days of bombing a country that did not pose a danger to NATO resulted in the killing of hundreds of civilians, the destruction of infrastructure, and the legacy of depleted uranium weapons that would go on to poison Serbians for decades.

Then, NATO backed the Arab Spring in North Africa and was directly involved in the overthrow of the Gaddafi government in Libya. The Western-controlled press had spread the myth that destroying the country, killing its people, and removing the government would address all of Libyas human rights concerns. As expected, NATO airstrikes have exacerbated rather tha...

07:49

Why the idea of western civilization is more myth than history "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

One weekend, I found my younger son at the kitchen table, carefully writing out everything he knew about the Olympian gods for his school homework. His brow was furrowed, and he trained his eyes on the page with a level of concentration that I wish he would pay to his maths homework. So I asked him casually, I thought why he was so interested in the ancient Greeks. He beamed up at me with an angelic smile and answered, "Because that's what you study, Mama." At this point, my heart nearly burst with parental pride. I am a Professor of Classical Archaeology and the ancient Greeks are, quite literally, my bread and butter. But my heart sank when my son added as an afterthought, "and because the Greeks gave us Western Civilization." Buckle up, kid, I thought, you're in for a lecture. I wanted to tell him that the ancient Greeks did not give us Western Civilization. That there is no golden thread, unfurling unbroken through time from Plato to NATO. That we in the modern West are not...

05:28

Huge hailstorm cut power to 2100 homes after it hit Newcastle, Australia "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

A major regional city has been pounded by hailstones as an intense storm struck, leaving thousands without power and hundreds needing SES help. Newcastle was in the firing line for some of the worst of the storm, with large hail stones raining down over the city's centre and suburbs including Merewether, The Junction, Bar Beach and Cooks Hill. NSW SES received an influx of calls during the storm, with 420 incidents reported. "Over the span of 15 minutes alone, we received 45 jobs for hail and roof damage, with an additional 40 jobs waiting in the queue," the SES said.

02:26

Twitter Files reporter Matt Taibbi was visited by the IRS on the same day he testified before CongressJim Jordan demands answers "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

On Wednesday, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel demanding to know why journalist Matt Taibbi was visited by IRS agents the same day he testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Jordan wrote that in response to a March 27 letter seeking information on the IRS' visit to Taibbi's home, documents obtained through a letter received from the agency on May 6 "raised more questions than they answer."

02:02

Pan-African News Wire "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

Russian Forces Hit Ukrainian Ammo Depots by Precision Strike, Top Brass Reports

It is also reported that Russian combat aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems destroyed over 60 Ukrainian troops, a motorized artillery system and two howitzers in the Krasny Liman area in the past day

Russian Defence Ministry Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. Russian forces delivered a multiple strike by airborne long-range precision weapons against the Ukrainian armys ammunition storage sites in the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

"Last night, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a multiple strike by airborne long-range high-precision weapons against the Ukrainian armys ammunition storage sites. The goal of the strike was achieved. All the designated targets were hit," the spokesman said.

Russian forces destroy 35 Ukrainian troops, howitzer in Kupyansk area

Russian forces destroyed roughly 35 Ukrainian troops and a howitzer in the Kupyansk area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, artillery of the western battlegroup struck the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Dvurechnaya and Kislovka in the Kharkov Region. In addition, the activity of two Ukrainian subversive/reconnaissance groups was thwarted near the settlements of Masyutovka and Ivanovka in the Kharkov Region. The enemys losses amounted to 35 Ukrainian personnel, three motor vehicles and an Msta-B howitzer," the general reported.

Russian forces destroy over 60 Ukrainian troops in Krasny Liman area

Russian combat aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems destroyed over 60 Ukrainian troops, a motorized artillery system and two howitzers in the Krasny Liman area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

In the Krasny Liman direction, army aviation and artillery of Russias battlegroup Center inflicted damage on the enemy units in areas near the settlements of Kuzmino in the Lugansk Peoples Republic and Yampolovka in the Donetsk Peoples Republic, th...

00:55

Powerful words from David McBride at Hyde Park Protest: Julian Assange will be revered for generations to come as Albanese is forgotten "IndyWatch Feed Nsw"

At the Sydney protest for Julian Assange last Thursday 25 May, David McBride, the former SAS officer who exposed the murder of unarmed Afghans by Australian troops, spoke alongside Stella Assange and Scott Ludlum. McBride's speech is included immediately below, whilst Stella Assange's speech is included further below. (These speeches can also be viewed directly on the GongSteve YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com@GongSteve .) Stella Assange, the mother of Julian Assange's two children, flew out to Australia from England to protest against the scheduled visit of US President Joe Biden, which was cancelled. She also tried to speak to the Australian Prime Minister about her husband, but Albanese refused, claiming he had other priorities that he held to be more important than meeting Stella about Julian Assange. Scott Ludlam is a former Greens Senator.

The Albanese government has has chosen to disregard the enormous benefit that has been achieved by the whistleblowing of David McBride and Richard Boyle and has deemed them both to be criminals, for having broken the law against any internal government information being revealed to the public, and has launched prosecutions against both of them. They both face many years of life behind bars if found guilty.

 

David McBride, the second of three speakers

 

 

Stella Assange, the third of three speakers

 

 

Scott Ludlum, the first of three speakers

 

The article above is in response to a question contained in a recent . He asked which whistleblowers are being persecuted by the Albanese g...

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