BBBruce @Didaho@qoto.org

Thousands out in the streets right now in #SanFrancisco in support of #Palestine.

Australian Greens member Jo Clay MLA has sought to table legislation to ban fossil fuel advertising in the Australian Capital Territory https://greens.org.au/act/news/media-release/you-dont-make-friends-fossil-fuel-sponsorships #greenwashing #advertising #promotion #sponsorship #auslaw #auspol

Catastrophic is the word I would use here.

https://www.sciencealert.com/its-confirmed-a-major-atlantic-ocean-current-is-verging-on-collapse

#auspol

Today at 12:30 on ABC, tax coal and gas on export, oil and diesel on entering #australia & economists show Australia BY ITSELF could reduce GLOBAL emissions by 6-9% AND become a super power while compensating every household! Doesn’t say anything about cooling, but it’s a step forward. Working for this is really important. Globally. And
Ross Garnaut doesn’t do things by halves, right?
#climate #climatechange #climatecrisis #fossilfuels #tax #auspol
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-14/economists-call-for-carbon-levy/103461496?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

Australian fossil fuel tax could raise $100bn in first year alone, Rod Sims and Ross Garnaut say

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/14/fossil-fuel-tax-australia-revenue-economists-ross-garnaut-rod-sims

Note that, for whatever their reasons, the Guardian goes on to say "veteran Australian economists", no slur there at all.

#auspol

"Climate Scientist Michael Mann Wins $1 Million Defamation Case Against Right-Wing Climate Deniers" | My segment this morning on Democracy Now @democracynow
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/13/climate_scientist_michael_mann_defamation_lawsuit

Mozilla lays off 60 people, wants to build AI into Firefox

Memo details layoffs, "strategic corrections," and a desire for "trustworthy" AI.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/mozilla-lays-off-60-people-wants-to-build-ai-into-firefox/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"
Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:
"A few things spring to mind.
Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.
For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever.
I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.
Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.
And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.
Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.
He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.
He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.
That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.
There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.
So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.
God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.
He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.
In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.
And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clump-fuls of hair and scream in anguish:
'My God… what… have… I… created?
If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

Israel’s far right National security minister tells WSJ that if Trump were in power the US attitude toward Israeli condict of the war in Gaza would be different. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/the-israeli-firebrand-driving-netanyahu-further-to-the-right-dd9e8113

Small modular nuclear reactors: a history of failure by Dr Jim Green | Jan 17, 2024

Context: Australian conservative Liberal and National Parties will take a pro-nuclear power policy to the next Australian election as the large part to their climate policy, including advocacy for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).
Green itemises the history of failure and massive cost and construction time over-runs in SMRs and current western conventional nuclear power construction.

#Australia #nuclear #SMRs #Auspol #ClimatePolicy

https://www.climateandcapitalmedia.com/small-modular-nuclear-reactors-a-history-of-failure/

🌅 Good morning.

New #research from Consumer Reports offers a rare look into the scope of Meta's online surveillance.

It goes way beyond what most may expect—Meta can know many of the websites you visit and even what you’re doing IRL.

@jonkeegan with the details: https://themarkup.org/privacy/2024/01/17/each-facebook-user-is-monitored-by-thousands-of-companies-study-indicates

#auspol #abc #democracy #humanrights #palestine #palestine_genocide #israel #australia

The wrongful dismissal case against the ABC of Antionette Lattouf is gathering momentum - and so it should.
She’s done nothing wrong but speak the truth - and the ABC has buckled to outside interference from Israeli political influence to ‘sack her’.
This is an outrageous decision by ABC management in trying to silence the truth where it is badly needed to shine a light on the crimes of Israel’s govt

Now would be a good time to cancel #AUKUS and ally ourselves with a less moronic country
#auspol #USA https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/16/trump-wins-iowa-caucuses-cementing-frontrunner-status-in-2024-race

Moms are heroes from day one.

Brotherhood of St Laurence charity refuses to take further work-for-the-dole 'volunteers' saying it, 'Pushes people into even greater hardship.'

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/brotherhood-of-st-laurence-cuts-ties-with-work-for-the-dole-program/yrniey6h0

#Centrelink #AusPol #GeneralNews

If ABC (Australia) staff don’t go on strike they’re just accepting more of the same from management.

The staff need to lead. It’s time.

#auspol

In which planet has Albanese been living?

Which 'political solution' can Australia achieve against Israel's determination to erase Palestinians????

He's a joke.
Dutton is even worse.

"Anthony Albanese has suggested court cases will not help achieve peace between Israel and Palestine, declaring that the Australian government won’t participate in International court of justice (ICJ) proceedings initiated by South Africa."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/15/albanese-australia-un-icj-genocide-trial-israel-south-africa-wont-participate

#Gaza #WarCrimes #FreePalestine #ICJ #auspol

A bunch of #unaustralian losers seeking to divide our nation for their own personal gains. Let’s hear it for the #conservatives
#AusPol
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/17/conservative-politicians-stoking-australia-day-debate-online-with-paid-ads-analysis-finds

Surrender.

My @smh @theage cartoon.

21:30 - "Genocides are never declared in advance, but this Court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts."

- Adila Hassim SC

https://youtu.be/MJzf_52xBJk?si=pdCmEUgRK06aKxLg #Israel #ICJ4Israel