dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

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The financial corruption scandal roiling the Vatican began over claims of $360m improperly transferred for a building project in London and spread to allegations that money was sent to Australia to adversely affect the sexual abuse trial of Cardinal Pell, a rival of Cardinal Becciu.

To date, there has been no evidence produced to show any Vatican money was transferred to influence that trial.

Cardinal Becciu’s associate Cecilia Marogna has been charged with embezzlement and a broker who organised the London building investment, Gianluigi Torzi, has been charged with extortion and money laundering.

In 2014, Francis appointed Cardinal Pell as the Vatican’s treasurer with the task of cleaning up the Holy See’s finances and making the antiquated system transparent and accountable.

Victoria Police charged Cardinal Pell with two cases of historical sexual abuse in Melbourne.

After two trials in 2018 and 2019 — one hung jury and one guilty verdict — Cardinal Pell was sentenced to six years’ jail and served more than a year in prison before he was acquitted unanimously by the High Court in April.

In October, The Australian reported Vatican investigators were examining at least four transfers from the Vatican secretariat, including two from Cardinal Becciu, between 2017 and 2018 totalling $2m to Melbourne.

In the same month, the Vatican changed its laws to combat money laundering and financing terrorism after a two-week investigation of the Holy See’s finances by the EU’s financial controller, Moneyval.

The COVID-19 pandemic has squeezed the Vatican’s public finances, with recent reports noting a plunge in tourism would likely cut back a large part of the €100m ($161.8m) in ticket sales to the Vatican Museums — closed for months — that the city state uses to keep its budget in surplus.

Cardinal Pell, in an interview with the Reuters news agency earlier this month, warned that the Vatican was “slowly going broke”.

“Now that’s a bit of an exaggeration (but) it’s slowly happening,” Cardinal Pell said. “You can’t go on like that forever … the only thing that I’m keen on is that people, in a very clear-headed way, face up to the situation.”

The Vatican’s newly appointed president of the Financial Information Authority, Carmel Barbagallo, said the changes were “aimed at making the management of Vatican finances ever more transparent, within a framework of intensive and co-ordinated controls”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/vaticans-secret-2bn-flummoxes-australian-church-leaders/news-story/a23f538721b8d15cb06380f57d4972cf

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 22, 2020, 9:41 p.m. No.12142255 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

Cardinal Pell: Why God’s providence will prevail

Cardinal George Pell, Angelus News - Dec 22, 2020

2020 was a year marked by sickness, death, unrest, isolation, and economic difficulty — a year that has challenged the faith of many.

And so, one might ask: What good could come out of a year like this one?

So, for our final issue of 2020, Angelus invited a lineup of writers — some regular contributors, others guests — to reflect on how they've seen God's providence at work in their own lives during this difficult year. Their reflections will be published on AngelusNews.com from Dec. 21-24.

This year, 2020, has not been a good year with the COVID-19 plague raging through the United States and most parts of the world. As well, the economic consequences, e.g., job losses and struggling businesses, will last much longer than the pandemic.

I went against the trend, because this year was better for me than 2019.

On the Tuesday of Holy Week, I was released after 404 days in jail for sex crimes I had never committed, found not guilty seven-to-zero by the judges of the High Court of Australia.

Where was God in all of this? Is there a God, or the one God, who might be watching and interested in our suffering? An enormous amount depends on how we answer this question, because being a monotheist or an atheist, or not knowing, makes a world of difference. Being naturally religious, having a love of nature, does not help much when catastrophe strikes.

I write as a believing Christian and a Catholic. For us the one true God is not only the Creator of the universe, immense beyond our imagining, home to billions, perhaps trillions, of stars, black dwarfs, black holes, blue giants, red supergiants, and our tiny planet earth, but this Creator is the only transcendent mystery outside the universe, and he has clear ideas of how we should live and where we go after death.

He sent his only Son to take on our human nature, live among us, teach us the importance of love and forgiveness, and demonstrate through his life and death that suffering can be used for good, in the next life if not in this one.

God is in charge. As he is good and just, all will be well eventually and the scales of justice will balance out in eternity, where the poor and the unfortunate will be helped by positive discrimination. God’s providence will prevail.

My leading barrister (a lawyer in the English court system) at the trials was an agnostic Jew who observes the basic Jewish seasonal rituals, loves the music of Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion,” and knew the story of Job very well, the first Jewish attempt to wrestle with the problem of innocent suffering, of why bad things happen to good people.

The prison authorities allowed me to keep my breviary, the official prayer book of the Church, from the first night, and readings from Job came up regularly in those early days. My barrister compared my situation to Job’s, and I replied that I was happy with this, because Job’s fortunes were restored in his lifetime. I was not sure that would be my lot.

Job’s sufferings were far worse than mine. His flocks and farms were attacked, he lost all his property, was covered in ulcers, ostracised to live on a rubbish dump, and abandoned by his friends. Even his wife urged him to curse God and die. While he complained to God more than I did, he refused to condemn or curse God.

But I had advantages Job never enjoyed. The Jews then had no clear ideas of a personal afterlife of reward and punishment, of ultimate justice, beyond a shadowy semipersonal existence in Sheol or Hades, and they had no clear ideas on redemptive suffering.

Their Messiah had not been linked to the suffering servant of Isaiah, so their misfortunes remained exclusively misfortunes. In faith, but only in faith, we know better. We hail the cross, our only hope (“Ave crux, spes unica”). This is God’s providence at work, redeeming us through his Son’s suffering.

During my years as a priest many have asked me why this or that disaster, e.g., death, sickness, etc., has happened to them or their family. I don’t know, but I reminded them that Jesus, God’s only Son, did not have an easy life and suffered badly. I, too, remembered this in gaol. And it helped.

+George Cardinal Pell

Rome, 16th December 2020

https://angelusnews.com/faith/cardinal-pell-why-gods-providence-will-prevail/

As churches prove 'fertile ground' for conspiracy theories, some pastors are taking a stand

Joey Watson - 23 December 2020

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During the whirlwind of 2020, Sydney reverend and radio host Bill Crews has noticed a surge in an old foe within his flock — conspiracy theories.

Christian groups have long been susceptible to conspiracy theories, he says, but the rise of the internet, and more recently COVID-19, has exacerbated the issue.

"Churches can become petri dishes of this stuff, particularly if you've got really charismatic people who don't have any ethics," says Reverend Crews.

This increased acceptance of conspiracy theories within church groups is part of a broader social trend, religious leaders say, as people turn to outlandish ideas to make sense of the times.

But some pastors are taking active measures to fight the potential spread of conspiracy theories within their congregations.

The rise of 'the church of QAnon'

Kaz Ross, a researcher at the University of Tasmania, has been monitoring the spread of conspiracy theories online, and says evangelical Christians have been particularly drawn to QAnon.

This theory purports that a figure called Q leaves cryptic clues on internet forums about a "war" being waged between child-abusing global elites and figures within the Trump administration.

According to Dr Ross, the suggestion that people should put their faith in a saviour preparing to rescue the world from evil has similarities to some strands of evangelical thought.

"It's a very parallel structure," she says.

"[There are] a group of people that are in on a secret plan, which is very good, and the secret plan will save you in troubling times.

"The belief framework is that God has a plan, we don't know the plan, God will unfold the plan, and the chosen will be chosen."

Marc-Andre Argentino, a researcher from Canada's Concordia University, has also been studying the connection between religion and conspiracy theories — focusing on the growth of QAnon in North American evangelical groups.

Not only do these churches broadcast QAnon conspiracy theories to huge online audiences, he says, they're also reimagining Christian belief from the Bible to marry the two ideologies.

In fact, he argues, conspiratorial ideas have become so fundamental to the way these groups operate that they can be described as "the QAnon church".

Fringe voices, big impact

While these groups are largely an American phenomenon, similar thinking has taken hold in some fringe Christian communities.

It's something that Pastor Rob Buckingham, the founder of Bayside Church in Melbourne, has noticed both on social media, and in conversations with friends.

"Conspiracy theories are definitely more prevalent in recent times and are one of the symptoms of pandemics," he says.

He says that Christians are more susceptible to some conspiracy theories because "a futurist understanding of Bible prophecy has become very popular".

"This interpretation leads Christians to be on the lookout for the Antichrist, one-world government, and a cashless society," he says.

"They believe the devil is trying to take over the world.

"Seeing the world through such a lens causes them to be susceptible to anything that would indicate these things are imminent."

Christian groups around the world have also been targets for Russian disinformation campaigns, experts say, which may be exacerbating the impact and reach of conspiratorial ideas emanating from online pulpits.

James Der Derian, the director of the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney, says "snake oil has been around a long time", especially in time of insecurity and uncertainty — and foreign states have been known to capitalise on this.

While there is no evidence that Russia has targeted Australian Christian groups, Dr Der Derian says that because social media is intrinsically borderless, the impact of misinformation destined for US audiences can be far reaching.

"This information is not a precision munition, but because of the very nature of social media, it can spread quite rapidly to other communities," he says.

(continued)

>>12142346

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Trusting the government

On Facebook, religious pages apparently based in Australia can attract thousands of followers.

Alongside wisdom from saints and other holy imagery, one page shared claims that the coronavirus vaccine would encourage the Antichrist to take one's soul.

Meanwhile, some religious leaders are drawing support from anti-vaccination groups by using social media to speak out against lockdowns.

Anne Kruger, the director of the Asia-Pacific bureau at First Draft, a non-profit organisation that studies misinformation, says religious leaders with conspiracy agendas do use social media to amplify their views.

But she cautions: "It's worth noting that they most likely represent fringe voices in their communities and do not reflect where their religion stands."

Justine Toh, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity, points out that most Australian Christians are not conspiracy theorists.

She points to data from the National Church Life Survey, which surveys millions of Australian Christians, that indicates people who are more active in their faith and go to church regularly tend to be trusting of government.

"Whereas sometimes Australians might be a little bit critical of the government, people who go to church tend to be more conservative and trusting in the government and the system," she says.

Saving the faith

As the host of a popular Sunday night talkback program on Sydney radio station 2GB, Crews has a unique insight into the thoughts and outlook of Australian Christians.

He says there's been a shift this year to more conspiratorial thinking — perhaps because they've been distanced from positive influences in their lives.

"People feel isolated and have no way of sharing their innermost feelings," he says.

"Instead of looking inwards and emptying themselves out, they're looking to lay blame."

Pastor Buckingham says Christian leaders should be reaching out to those who might be susceptible and trying to help them navigate misinformation.

"Ask questions, stay in touch with people, so they don't isolate themselves, and try and talk about other things to bring them out of their tunnel vision," he says.

His regular blog posts, which attract thousands of readers from with Christian communities, have been part of his response.

He's also using the Bible to actively decry ideas like QAnon. For example, he points to Ephesians 4:25: "So, stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbours the truth."

For Crews, it's important that churches give people the same sense of belonging they are finding in the murky forums of the internet.

"The church has a responsibility to squash itself down, so it ceases being obsessed with power and control and money and gets back to being with the people."

"It's all about people communicating with each other."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-23/christian-churches-fertile-ground-qanon-conspiracy-theories/13006868

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 22, 2020, 10:18 p.m. No.12142551 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2565 >>2527

Trump grants full pardon to Russia probe aide George Papadopoulos

Washington: President Donald Trump granted a full pardon on Tuesday to George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide who pleaded guilty as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, 36, the Dutch son-in-law of Russian billionaire German Khan. Van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $US20,000 for lying to US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators about contacts with an official in Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Their names were included in a wave of pre-Christmas pardons announced by the White House. Trump granted full pardons to 15 people, including three former Republican politicians and commuted all or part of the sentences of five others.

Papadopoulos, 33, was an adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about the timing and significance of his contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials.

His role came to light after he had drinks in 2016 in London with Australia's then-High Commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, and let slip that the Russians had a "dirt file" on Hillary Clinton, which Downer relayed back to Canberra.

“The defendant’s crime was serious and caused damage to the government’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election,” a sentencing recommendation memo from then-US Special Counsel Robert Mueller had said.

He served 12 days of a 14-day sentence in federal prison, then was placed on a 12-month supervised release.

The White House said Papadopoulos was charged with "a process-related crime, one count of making false statements," as part of the Mueller probe, which Trump had denounced as a witch hunt.

"Today’s pardon helps correct the wrong that Mueller’s team inflicted on so many people," the White House said.

The pardons were part of a flurry of such actions expected by the outgoing Republican president before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20. Trump, who has refused to concede, has made unsubstantiated claims of widespread voting fraud and pursued a series of unsuccessful lawsuits to overturn the result.

Late on Tuesday night, local time, Trump threatened to torpedo Congress’ bipartisan $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. In a late-night tweet, he called on politicians to increase direct payments for most Americans from $US600 to $US2,000 for individuals.

Railing against a range of provisions in the bill, including for foreign aid, he told Congress to "get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill.”

Trump did not specifically vow to veto the bill, and there may be enough support for legislation in Congress to override him if he does.

Last month, Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation.

Also receiving pardons were three former Republican politicians, including former Representative Chris Collins of New York. Four former US service members, convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007, were also pardoned by Trump.

Collins, 70, had been the first sitting member of Congress to endorse Trump's candidacy in 2016 and was a strong defender of the president. He resigned in 2019.

"In 2019, Collins pled guilty to the charges of conspiring to commit securities fraud and making false statements to the FBI. Mr. Collins is currently serving his 26-month sentence," the White House said. Trump also issued a full pardon to former Republican Representative Duncan Hunter of California, 44, who pleaded guilty a year ago to conspiring to convert campaign funds to personal use.

Also pardoned was former Republican Representative Steve Stockman of Texas, 64, who was convicted in 2018 of misuse of charitable funds.

The White House said he had served more than two years of his 10-year sentence and would remain subject to a period of supervised release and an order requiring that he pay more than $US1 million in restitution.

Trump also commuted the remaining term of the supervised release of Crystal Munoz, who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Munoz spent years in a federal prison in Fort Worth, with Alice Johnson, who was granted clemency by Trump in 2018 in a case championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-grants-full-pardon-to-russia-probe-aide-george-papadopoulos-20201223-p56prr.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-122220/

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 22, 2020, 10:20 p.m. No.12142565 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2527

>>12142551

George Papadopoulos Tweets

Thank you, Mr. President!!! This means the world to me and my family!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1341536081301291010

—

I lost friends, business associates and even family over the last years. Had my reputation tore up for a while with fake stories and nonsense. But there was one person who stood through it all with me until the end, my @simonamangiante. I love you! We both thank @realDonaldTrump!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1341557502467395584

—

Thank you all for your support! Has been overwhelming. Very grateful

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1341612994736705537

—

Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos Tweet

Thank you from the bottom of my heart @realDonaldTrump for pardoning my husband @GeorgePapa19! I must confess I am crying right now. We were right since day one. The best Christmas present ever ! Thank you

https://twitter.com/simonamangiante/status/1341536752167649280

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 22, 2020, 10:45 p.m. No.12142762 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2770 >>2542

Catholic Church's insurance company in financial trouble over abuse payouts

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The Catholic Church’s private insurer spent more than $58 million paying out the victims of sexual abuse last year and the company is being forced to raise fresh capital and liquidate investments to cover a future compensation bill worth at least another $238 million.

Catholic Church Insurance (CCI) has posted nearly a $250 million loss as it struggles to meet a wave of new claims in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

CCI, which insures Catholic parishes, religious institutions, welfare groups, aged care facilities and schools across Australia for incidents of property damage, loss and injury, has also covered compensation and legal costs for sexual abuse committed in many church organisations since 1969.

The insurer's sexual abuse payouts – known as "professional standards" liabilities – topped $58 million in the financial year 2019-20, according to figures obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

CCI has declined to provide data from earlier years.

However, the group’s annual report shows the number of professional standards claims it received in 2019-20 drove a 74 per cent rise in total insurance claims.

The ballooning current and anticipated costs mean CCI is moving to liquidate investments, to raise capital to meet what it now expects to be at least $238 million in future sexual abuse payouts.

It also stopped paying dividends and distributions to the Catholic organisations that are shareholders in the non-profit, cutting off an important source of income for some of these entities.

Among its shareholders are the Australian Episcopal Conference of the Roman Catholic Church, archdioceses of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and the Jesuits, Marists, De La Salle Brothers and Sisters of Mercy.

"Although it is not certain that these efforts will be successful, CCI has determined that the actions that it is taking are sufficient to mitigate the uncertainty and has therefore deemed it appropriate to continue to prepare the financial report on a going concern basis due to its ability to realise its assets and settle its liabilities in the ordinary course of business at the amounts recorded in the financial statements," CCI’s annual financial report said.

Chief executive Roberto Scenna said the capital management plan "is doing what it was designed to do".

"CCI is now seeking to restore the capital levels to a level that it believes reflects the future risks to CCI," he said.

"The other actions in our capital raising initiative are still in progress and given the nature of the activity and conversations, it is not appropriate for us to make further comment on these initiatives."

(continued)

>>12142762

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Mr Scenna said the nature of the reporting of sexual abuse claims – some of which are decades old – made it difficult to assess CCI’s future liability, which could "ultimately be higher or lower than actual experience as it develops over time".

The Australian church and local religious orders, as well as schools and outreach organisations, have been inundated with compensation claims and lawsuits since the start of the royal commission in 2013 and the establishment of the National Redress Scheme, which is due to run until 2027.

"The introduction of the National Redress Scheme approximately two years ago has resulted in a significant increase in the number of reported claims and significant uncertainty in establishing the potential exposure in order to predict the exposure to abuse related claims," CCI’s annual report said.

In 2015 CCI had estimated it would cost $150 million to settle all outstanding and anticipated sexual abuse claims, but its financial liabilities have continued to grow.

The church and its long-time insurer have also been exposed to a raft of new claims and lawsuits following legal changes and court decisions allowing sexual abuse victims to set aside settlement agreements made decades ago as unjust and to seek new compensation.

Since 2019 the church has also paid a series of landmark settlements worth more than $1 million, compounding the financial pressure.

The conduct of the church and CCI in billing legal costs for processing sexual abuse claims has also recently come under fire from a judicial figure in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

In a lawsuit over abuse suffered at the hands of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale, CCI and the church sought to bill the alleged victim more than $65,000 in costs to respond to a series of subpoenas. They had originally sought up to $151,000.

Judicial registrar Julie Clayton said while CCI and the church were entitled to reasonable costs, she did not consider it reasonable for an argument for costs to be made by three solicitors and two barristers.

"It seems perverse that an organisation [the church] which is prepared to comply with a subpoena, provided its costs are met, will spend more than six times that amount in objecting to the subpoena," Ms Clayton wrote in a decision in September.

The Age and the Herald have previously revealed that only 28 per cent of the $34.27 million the church spent on compensation under the Melbourne Response scheme from 1996 to 2014 went to victims, with the rest spent on legal fees and administrative expenses.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/catholic-church-s-insurance-company-in-financial-trouble-over-abuse-payouts-20201222-p56pg0.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 22, 2020, 11:22 p.m. No.12142993 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3582 >>2463

Perth man charged for advocating terrorism

A 52-year-old Perth man is scheduled to appear before the Perth Magistrates Court today (23 December) charged with terrorism-related offences following an investigation by the Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team (WA JCTT).

The investigation began in February 2020 after the WA JCTT – comprising Australian Federal Police (AFP), Western Australia Police Force and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation – became aware of an online video-sharing platform account hosting content that called for acts of politically-motivated violence offshore.

In April 2020, a search warrant was executed on the home and vehicle of the man believed to own the online account, resulting in a number of electronic devices being seized for evidentiary purposes.

A second search warrant was executed at the man’s residence yesterday (22 December 2020) and the 52-year-old man was arrested and charged with four counts of advocating terrorism, contrary to section 80.2C of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

AFP Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism Scott Lee said extremist ideology that incited violence – onshore or offshore – was a criminal offence.

“The AFP and our partner agencies, through the Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) will arrest and charge Australian-based individuals allegedly involved in engaging in violent, extremist ideologies,’’ Assistant Commissioner Lee said.

“In this instance, it is alleged the individual was intending to incite politically motivated acts in a foreign country.

“I commend our investigators for the hundreds of hours spent diligently gathering and examining evidence to put this matter before the courts.”

Commander Pryce Scanlan from WA Police Force’s Counter Terrorism & Emergency Response Command said the arrest reinforces the need for all community members across Australia to remain vigilant.

“Online content advocating for terrorist acts to be carried out has the potential to reach people anywhere in the world, including our local communities, and it is critical we identify and prosecute those responsible for such incitement. It is also just as important that our investigations and operations prevent those people in our community who are vulnerable to radicalisation from being exposed to such material.

“We have seen the devastating impacts that such online radicalisation and incitement can result in, and everyone in the community can play a critical role in keeping our community safe by reporting concerns about online material, or individuals, to authorities.

“Yesterday’s arrest shows the community that law enforcement and intelligence partners across Australia are working together to protect the community.”

Anyone with information about extremist activity or possible threats to the community should the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400.

Editor's note: images and footage available via hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/fjjmqMcucd

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/perth-man-charged-advocating-terrorism

Facebook removes Pete Evans' page

Celebrity chef and conspiracy theorist Pete Evans has had his Facebook Page permanently removed after he repeatedly breached its misinformation policies with posts about the coronavirus.

A Facebook company spokesperson said the platform does not allow anyone to share misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm, or misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines that has been debunked by public health experts.

"We have clear policies against this type of content and we've removed Chef Pete Evans' Facebook Page for repeated violations of these policies," the spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Facebook has previously removed individual posts by Evans for violating its Misinformation & Harm Policy.

Evans posted on Instagram on Wednesday telling his followers he had been "shut down" on Facebook "for a few days" over his vaccine posts. Facebook says the ban is permanent.

Evans was a judge on My Kitchen Rules between 2010 and 2020. He had over one million Facebook followers.

Evans has repeatedly made posts opposing COVID-19 vaccines and masks, and claimed in a podcast that the coronavirus is a hoax.

Evans' company was fined more than $25,000 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in April after he promoted a device called a 'BioCharger' on a Facebook live stream, claiming it could be used in relation to the coronavirus.

The TGA said the claim had "no apparent foundation".

Evans' publisher ended its contract with him in November after he used a neo-Nazi symbol in a Facebook post.

"Pan Macmillan does not support the recent posts made by Pete Evans. Those views are not our views as a company or the views of our staff," the company said at the time.

Big W, Coles, Dymocks, Kmart and Booktopia were among the retailers to declare they would not sell his products after the post.

Evans later denied he used the symbol intentionally.

Evans' account on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is still active. Evans regularly uses the account to cast doubt on official information about COVID-19, vaccines, and other parts of mainstream science.

Posts that share misinformation but do not violate the letter of Facebook's policies usually have their distribution reduced, rather than being removed.

https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/7067477/facebook-removes-pete-evans-page/?cs=10229

>>12142993

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 23, 2020, 9:39 a.m. No.12147097 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2463

Online powers to silence the trolls

Australia is set to introduce the world’s first trolling take-down scheme, giving the nation’s cyber watchdog new powers to order social media platforms to remove harmful online adult abuse.

The proposed new laws would also widen existing online protections for children by enabling the eSafety Commissioner to remove cyber-bullying material from a broader range of online platforms than social media, including gaming and messaging sites.

The bill would halve the time social media platforms have to remove offensive content from 48 to 24 hours before the commissioner steps in. It also requires platforms to report on how they are dealing with a range of online harms, including “digital lynch mobs” who seek to overwhelm a victim with abuse.

And if a website or app systematically ignores take-down notices for serious cases such as child sexual abuse material, the eSafety Commissioner can require search engines and app stores to remove access to that service, and impose further civil penalties.

Ahead of releasing the new Online Safety Bill for public comment on Wednesday, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said abusive trolling had to stop.

“Too many Australians are victims of vicious, intimidating trolling on the internet,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Too often people feel they can say and do the most atrocious things online with complete impunity. We are giving the eSafety Commissioner strong, practical, speedy tools to go after the really bad trolls, including new powers to require social media platforms to reveal details about the identity of end-users who indulge in this hateful conduct,” he said.

Mr Fletcher said it would be a world first if the government’s eSafety Commissioner was given power to order websites, social media platforms and other online services to take down harmful abuse directed at an adult.

But the new adult cyber abuse scheme would only apply in cases where online content was sufficiently harmful to constitute a criminal act under the Criminal Code. This is a higher standard than current laws allowing the commissioner to issue take down notifications to platforms for cyber-bullying material.

The different standard is a recognition of an adult‘s greater resilience and the need to protect legitimate freedom of speech.

Mr Fletcher said while cyber abuse was confined to a few, it was nevertheless incredibly harmful for those targeted. “By establishing proper protections to help keep Australians safe online, we can, in turn, help Australians to realise the substantial benefits that come from using the internet,” he added.

The government created the world’s first cyber watchdog, the eSafety Commissioner, in 2015 because experience had shown many platforms did not offer the digital safety features required by law, or had failed to appropriately enforce their terms of service.

The new bill will require online services to provide specific information to the commissioner about online harms, such as their response to terrorism and abhorrent violent material, or how they are dealing with digital lynch mobs. Services will be penalised if they fail to report.

The eSafety Commissioner would also be given stronger powers to demand information from the digital platforms to discover the true identities of anonymous or fake accounts used for serious trolling or exchanging illegal content such as child pornography.

And if an online crisis event occurred, such as the Christchurch terrorist attack last year, the commission would be given powers to order internet service providers to block access to terrorist or extreme violent content.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/online-powers-to-silence-the-trolls/news-story/19862b5faf70680710f891460cb17fd1

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 23, 2020, 9:44 a.m. No.12147153 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2463

Cyber spy agency on high alert over hack

The nation’s top cyber spy agency is working with potential victims of the SolarWinds Russian hacking offensive, including some of the most sensitive government departments and agencies, to assess whether their networks have been breached.

The Australian can reveal the departments of Defence, Finance and Home Affairs, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission are users of the network-management software infiltrated by the hackers.

Government tender records show the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, the Bureau of Meteorology, trade promotion agency Austrade and the Department of Education, Skills and Employment are also SolarWinds clients.

It’s understood the Australian Signals Directorate, which also uses SolarWinds software, was unaffected by the attack.

But the agency declined to say if any government systems had installed the “trojanised” updates sent to SolarWinds users as far back as March.

“The ACSC continues to monitor the situation and is engaging with international partners and potentially impacted Australian organisations,” a spokesman for ASD’s Australian Cyber Security Centre said.

The SolarWinds cyberattack is one of the biggest in history, hitting at least 18,000 companies and government agencies including the US departments of State, Homeland Security, Commerce and the Treasury, and big tech firms such as Microsoft, Cisco and Intel.

Infiltrated organisations in Australia include NSW Health, Serco Asia Pacific, and mining giant Rio Tinto.

The attack, first identified by US cybersecurity company FireEye, used a compromised version of SolarWinds Orion — a widely used IT system management platform — to insert a backdoor into computer systems.

Australian-based malware expert Sergei Shevchenko, co-founder of cybersecurity company Prevasio, said the federal government departments and agencies had not shown up in logs he had decrypted revealing 445 affected organisations.

But Mr Shevchenko said all SolarWinds clients should assume they were vulnerable to second-stage attacks.

“The list that we have decrypted doesn’t include everything. It’s just a snapshot, with multiple records fragmented or missing. It’s not a guarantee that if you are not on the list that you are not affected,” he said.

“There were three trojanised updates that were supposed to be rolled out to the software.

“The bottom line is this. If you are a client of SolarWinds, if you run the software in a company, you have to do an instant response. Period.

“They need to look inside their network, look for evidence, look for telltale signs. It’s a good exercise anyway, but they have to do it. Because this software simply means that the attackers have backdoor access.”

Mr Shevchenko’s analysis of data logs revealed the malware transmits information on the infected system’s security software, allowing it to be turned off by the hackers in subsequent attacks.

“In the second stage, the attackers may choose (which systems to penetrate). They might say ‘we infected this network, how are we going to make the money?’.”

An Australian Cyber Security Centre spokesman said users of SolarWinds products should immediately install security patches, or isolate their servers from the internet.

“Australian organisations that have concerns, or believe they may have been impacted, should contact the ACSC for assistance,” he said.

The hack, which US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attributed to Russia, is categorised as a “supply chain attack”, for its use of a trusted third-party vendor to install malware in an organisation’s network.

Thomas Bossert, a former security adviser to Donald Trump, said the size of the attack was “hard to overstate”. He said evidence suggested Russia’s SVR intelligence agency was responsible.

“The Russians have had access to a considerable number of important and sensitive networks for six to nine months,” he wrote in the New York Times.

The attack comes as the Morrison government moves to force key companies and institutions across the banking, finance, defence, communications, food, and higher education sectors, to strengthen cyber defences and co-operate with national security agencies. An exposure draft of the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill, released in November, includes new step-in powers allowing national security agencies to actively disrupt and repel cyber attackers.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/cyber-spy-agency-on-high-alert-over-hack/news-story/a4879aac7be8536b662af8b29f2d3d20

>>12118429

The big ones ended. Been a recent flair up in the last couple of days. Sydney back down to fear and lockdowns. More coming.. Prepare.

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 23, 2020, 11:17 p.m. No.12154945 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2517

Australia signs deals to distribute tens of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses around the country

The mammoth effort of safely distributing tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to all Australians is a step closer to reality after the Federal Government inked several deals to operate and monitor the national vaccine network.

Under new contracts, logistics firms DHL and Linfox will work with the Department of Health to vaccinate people across Australia, while digital security firm Accenture will then track vaccine doses and monitor any adverse effects.

Audit and accounting firm PwC has also partnered with the Department of Health to help roll out the COVID-19 program.

The scheme is due to begin in March next year, with all Australian citizens, permanent residents, and most visa-holders being promised a free jab.

The Federal Government has secured agreements for the supply of three COVID-19 vaccines: from Pfizer, Novavax and Oxford University-AstraZeneca, but of those, Pfizer's vaccine will be the hardest to distribute.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said he did not want to set any expectations that a vaccine would be rolled out earlier than March, even though the process is currently "ahead of schedule".

"Our goal is to make sure that everthing's in line for a safe, effective distribution beginning in March, we always aim to under-promise and over-deliver, but March is our national guideline and expectation," he said.

Pfizer vaccine will require ultra-cold 'eskies'

The Government has opted to buy 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine — enough to vaccinate 5 million people — from overseas in the event it receives approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, rather than produce it in Australia.

That is because the Pfizer vaccine is based on new technology, which has never been successfully manufactured or distributed locally before.

The Pfizer vaccine has already received emergency use approval by health authorities in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

The virus that causes COVID-19 enters healthy cells using the so-called "spike" protein and many vaccines inject an amount of that protein, so the body can produce antibodies and learn to fight the coronavirus.

But Pfizer's vaccine contains genetic material called mRNA, which effectively comes with a DIY kit — instructions to assemble the spike protein, so the body can mount an immune response.

The Pfizer vaccine was shown to be 95 per cent effective in preventing the disease in a late-stage trial, but it comes with complex logistical challenges.

The vaccine must be shipped and stored at -70 degrees Celsius, requiring specialised ultra-cold "eskies" stocked with dry ice.

Under the new agreement, DHL and Linfox will be required to track and report the temperature of the successful vaccine at all times.

They will also be responsible for transporting the vaccines from manufacturers to vaccination administration sites — even in very remote areas.

Accenture will then design, develop, and implement software to enable "point in time" visibility of COVID-19 vaccine doses across the delivery chain.

That will allow those with access to the system to see which health services have received the vaccine, who has had the jab, and whether any adverse reactions have been recorded.

Experts have described the logistics challenge as unprecedented, saying Australia has not faced such a mammoth distribution task since WWII.

But the Government is expecting to vaccinate the entire Australian population within 2021.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-24/australia-signs-deals-to-distribute-millions-of-covid-19-vaccine/13011476

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 24, 2020, 1:48 a.m. No.12155727 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2517

Lieutenant General Frewen Covid Taskforce message

Department of Defence Australia

24 Dec 2020

Commander COVID-19 Taskforce Lieutenant General Frewen spent some time answering questions about the year that has been 2020. This year has seen the largest ever domestic deployment of ADF personnel- and we’ve undertaken all sorts of tasks, some you might not expect as a part of Operation COVID-19 Assist. Lieutenant General Frewen has also shared a Christmas message to our troops who are deployed at home and overseas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAuceza–A8

Climbing the Biggest Landfill in Africa 🇰🇪 Kenya Nairobi!

Africa's biggest landfill is in Nairobi, Kenya. The people of this Nairobi district, Dandora, don't call it a landfill, but a dumpster. And they are 8000 people that depend on this African dumpster to survive: eat, work, and so on… Dandora has one of the biggest landfill in the world!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml5CpvcV7KY

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 24, 2020, 12:38 p.m. No.12160813 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

Kevin Spacey's 2020 Christmas video.

1-800 XMAS

Kevin Spacey

24 Dec 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6_N8uxJQ3g

Download:

https://www.y2mate.com/youtube/w6_N8uxJQ3g

Hillsong slammed for mentioning pervs — but not Jesus — in Christmas email

Scandal-plagued megachurch Hillsong is being crucified for failing to mention Jesus in a Christmas email and instead dedicating the greeting to clarify details about a pastor’s child abuse.

“It’s the only Christmas email I have ever seen that doesn’t mention Jesus. It’s quite bizarre,” longtime Hillsong critic and Australian pastor Bob Cotton told The Post of the internal email, which was shared with him via a current Hillsong member. The letter, signed by the international institution’s board, was sent to church members on Monday, the source told him.

“Dear church,” it begins. “It’s certainly been a year to remember, but the great news is that Christmas, the most joyous time of the year, is almost upon us.” The email then proceeds to dismiss recent reports of members being abused, subjected to “slave labor,” homophobia and a general lack of empathy as “primarily gossip.”

Despite reportedly admitting that at least some of the allegations are true, the holiday letter says “we ignore [the allegations] in the knowledge that we know the truth and God is in control.”

The rest of the email is dedicated to bringing “some clarity” to an ongoing investigation into Hillsong founder and current senior pastor Brian Houston’s failure to report “his father’s abuse of children.” The late Pentecostal pastor and pedophile Frank Houston confessed to sexually abusing a boy in 2004 and was accused of abusing up to eight others. (Frank founded the Sydney Christian Life Centre which, in 1999, merged with a church pastored by Brian to become Hillsong.)

“From the moment Pastor Brian discovered this shocking news, around 20 years ago, he has always been very open and clear about the circumstances around this, and our church has stood with him and his family,” the email reads.

Its final sentence expresses thanks to the congregation’s “ongoing prayers for the Houston family as they continue to deal with the legacy of Pastor Brian’s father with grace, humility and strength.”

Cotton, who is not affiliated with Hillsong, finds the letter to be anathema to Christian values not only for not naming Christ, but also for encouraging members to pray for abusers, not victims.

“Frank Houston repeatedly raped 7-year-old Brett Sengstock. That is not gossip, it is a fact that was well established by the Royal Commission,” said Cotton, a former family friend of the Houstons who now calls Frank a “shameful and evil man” whose real “so-called “legacy’” is being a “child rapist.”

By framing media reports as “gossip,” Cotton added, “the abuse and crimes committed against victims seem intentionally minimized.” He said the victim Sengstock and “the other children who were raped” are the ones who really “deserve our prayers.”

“There is no grace humility and respect to being choked raped & brutalized by Frank Houston,” tweeted Sengstock alongside the email.

Hillsong did not immediately return a request for comment.

https://nypost.com/2020/12/24/hillsong-slammed-for-mentioning-pervs-but-not-jesus-in-christmas-email/

Response to Royal Commission report - from Hillsong Church Board and Elders - 23 November 2015

https://hillsong.com/media-releases/response-to-royal-commission-report-from-hillsong-church-board-and-elders/

Pastor, Hillsong Church Re: Royal Commission – Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - 12 October 2014

https://hillsong.com/media-releases/statement-from-brian-houston-re-royal-commission-institutional-responses-to-child-sexual-abuse/

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 24, 2020, 10:38 p.m. No.12166590 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9676 >>2575

Accused Chinese spy slapped with harsh bail conditions

A Surrey Hills man accused of spying for China in Australia has been banned from contacting foreign intelligence agencies.

A man accused of spying for China in Australia has been banned from contacting any foreign intelligence agencies or elected officials.

The restrictions are part of a host of bail conditions imposed on Surrey Hills man Di Sanh Duong, also known as Sunny Duong, who was last month charged with preparing an act of foreign interference.

Domestic spy agency, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), and the Australian Federal Police swooped on the former Liberal party candidate following a year long probe.

It is understood Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge was the target of the alleged interference.

The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal Mr Duong is barred from contacting any embassy and consulate staff, must surrender his passport and cannot possess any mobile phones while he awaits his next court date in March.

He is also banned from leaving Australia or going near any points of international departure including airports and ports.

Mr Duong was slapped with a total of ten conditions, which were relayed to him via a Vietnamese interpreter during the November 5 bail application.

Federal Agent Paul McDonald, a member of the counter foreign interference and sensitive investigations team, said authorities did not oppose bail and investigators had taken steps to curtail any risks posed by Mr Duong.

“I don’t believe there to be risks to the community in relation to the offending,” Mr McDonald said.

“He has strong ties to the jurisdiction, runs a business and has a young family and sister that live at (his home),” he said.

The Herald Sun last month revealed China was the country behind the alleged plot to target Minister Tudge.

Mr Duong, who has lived in Melbourne for decades, is the first person to be charged under foreign interference laws which went through the Federal Parliament in 2018.

If convicted, Mr Duong could face up to 10 years behind bars.

It is understood the charges do not allege an actual interference attempt, but rather a plan to attempt to influence Mr Tudge, by an organisation linked to the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr Duong ran as a Liberal Party candidate in the 1996 state election for the seat of Richmond.

He was set to be expelled from the party following news of his arrest, but quit ahead of the upcoming party meeting.

The alleged spy has also been stood down from his role at the Museum of Chinese Australian History.

Mr Duong must report to the Box Hill police station twice weekly via phone and will return to court for a committal mention on March 11.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/accused-chinese-spy-slapped-with-harsh-bail-conditions/news-story/3bdd8c17308fa151e35816c91728c7ce#top

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 24, 2020, 10:54 p.m. No.12166696 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

Merry Christmas to all, may your day be filled with love, laughter and wine lol #MerryChristmas2020 #lovelive @pinkPeptobismol #WorldDayofPeace

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1342303415540404225

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 24, 2020, 11:09 p.m. No.12166767 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2463

US Embassy Canberra Tweet

"This holiday season, I hope your heart is filled with the love and joy of your faith, family, and friends. Along with my staff at the U.S. Embassy and Consulates General across Australia, I wish you a safe, happy, and prosperous New Year." - Ambassador Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr.

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1342213461951057921

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 24, 2020, 11:18 p.m. No.12166823 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2463

Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers 2020 Christmas message

7NEWS Australia

24 Dec 2020

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has recorded a Christmas message to Australians:

"If there's one overwhelming feeling we have this Christmas, I think it's one of thankfulness, a sense of gratitude.

For all of us this year has been a time of stress and a lot of uncertainty.

Yet through it all, once again, we have rallied to each other, together.

Australians are an amazing people with an amazing spirit. And this year the Australian spirit has shone brightly again.

My prayer for Australia this Christmas comes from the great verse: "Let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we shall reap a harvest, if we do not give up."

Merry Christmas, Australia."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwtU0W27ENQ

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 25, 2020, 1:26 p.m. No.12173622 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Malka Leifer is due to be extradited from Israel to Australia, but how do you do do that during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Six years after Australia first put in a request for extradition, Israel signed an extradition order last week to send former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer back to Australia.

Ms Leifer is accused of abusing three sisters during her time as headmistress of the Adass Israel School between 2001 and 2008 and faces 74 charges of sexual abuse.

But now that an order has been signed, there are still questions over what happens next in the process and when Ms Leifer is due to arrive in Australia.

Here's what we know.

A quick summary of the case

Ms Leifer, an Israeli citizen, left Australia for Israel in 2008.

Australia lodged an extradition request for Ms Leifer in 2014, but the case has been repeatedly delayed.

Ms Leifer maintains her innocence and the six-year legal battle surrounding her extradition strained relations between Israel and Australia.

What is happening now?

The Israel office of Interpol will liaise with Victoria Police about the "technical" arrangements for the extradition.

These include when it will occur, whether Victoria Police will send officers to pick up Ms Leifer and whether she will have to quarantine and undertake any coronavirus tests before travelling.

When will she be extradited?

We don't know yet. It depends largely on the Australian Government and how quickly those technical details can be arranged.

Israel has 60 days to carry out the extradition but can (and often needs to) seek an extension from the Supreme Court of another 60 days.

These are usually granted without any problems, according to Israeli legal sources.

Will the pandemic complicate the extradition?

It's most likely the coronavirus will disrupt the process, as other extraditions this year have already been complicated by the pandemic.

One particular issue posed by COVID-19 is the lack of commercial flights into Australia.

Another will be quarantining, although Ms Leifer can be quarantined inside the women's prison she is currently in, if Australia wants.

Could anything stop the extradition going ahead?

Yes. Even though her lawyer has said he does not intend to appeal, Ms Leifer can change her mind at any time before the extradition and instruct him to appeal the decision of the Justice Minister to sign the extradition order.

They can no longer appeal the order itself, only that the Minister did not properly exercise his discretion.

Israeli lawyers say these appeals are uncommon and almost always fail.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-26/malka-leifer:-how-do-you-extradite-during-a-pandemic/12999356

Habby Christmas AusFags

Here's wishing you and us all an ebic year ahead.

Onwards to victory.

Midnight Riders

https://8kun.top/midnightriders/catalog.html

Mike Pompeo Tweet

Tonight, we’re freely worshiping Jesus Christ and drinking Australian wine — two things that the CCP does not allow #FightForFreedom

https://twitter.com/mikepompeo/status/134296266284669

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 26, 2020, 5:09 p.m. No.12189244 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2575

>>12188234

Q Research General #15562: Jesus Christ and Australian Wine Edition

https://8kun.top/qresearch/res/12188633.html

Australia fights back against China to build relationship with East Timor

Australia has found a new way to offset China’s relentless billion dollar investment and expansion program in the Pacific.

1/2

Fruit pickers from East Timor arrived in Australia earlier this month on a special Qantas charter to help farmers in Tasmania harvest berries for the season.

They were the first of the up to 150 seasonal workers from the impoverished nation to be brought over to fill worker shortages under the Federal Government’s Seasonal Worker Program. A similar number also went to Bowen in Queensland.

The numbers are small but the COVID-19 related prompt has un-expectantly boosted Australia’s relations with its tiny neighbour and critically somewhat balanced the ledger, offsetting the multi-billion dollars of investment China has put into the country as it continues its relentless Pacific expansion program.

To suggest the Federal Government and its security agencies are concerned about China’s influence in that country, in the vacuum created by the government’s own poor relations handling with Timor, would be an understatement.

Canberra is alarmed and has good reason to be.

Like in many countries across the Pacific and nations such as Papua New Guinea, China has debt-trapped Timor-Leste through loans for what ultimate ends are not fully clear.

But while China has for years sidelined Australia which has struggled with its own missteps and policy failures by successive governments, coronavirus has now opened a backdoor to diplomacy.

China’s early intentions for East Timor were writ clear along the walls of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in capital Dili.

While East Timor has renowned natural landscapes and seas, there running for several metres in the ministry’s main conference hall is a tapestry of the Great Wall of China.

“That was a very interesting signal,” a senior government security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It told us where they were thinking … China has been messing about the Pacific this last year approaching Vanuatu about a military capability, Solomon Islands, Fiji, PNG but more concerningly East Timor.

“Timor is 600km north of Darwin, that’s a 30-minute flight in a jet fighter and if there is any sign of their interest, it’s everywhere.”

With minimal fanfare, China money has built Timor’s foreign ministry, defence department headquarters, military headquarters, the president’s palace, the airport, the main hospital, a sealed four-lane freeway along the south of the country and infrastructure in the capital.

It is also in the midst of this year building a $650 million Tibar Bay deep harbour container port and terminal, by the Beijing Government owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and part of the Tasi Mane “economic hubs” being created on a 155km stretch of the south. As of today, China-state owned firms have 20 projects underway in Timor, an indebtedness many Asian nations cite for quietly pushing to keep East Timor out of an ASEAN bloc it has long sought to join. They effectively own those assets through loans and ultimately the country’s natural assets including potential for oil and gas.

“Strategically that’s the sort of worries we’ve got, ” the security official said. “We’ve got a China now increasingly using coercion bullying, with or without a military presence moving into our strategic space from all sides of Australia including north with East Timor. Like PNG, what their government’s do next is being watched closely.”

(continued)

>>12190547

2/2

Australia has had a fractured relationship with Timor firstly over maritime boundaries then the split of the spoils around the Greater Sunrise oil and gas projects potentially worth $50 billion. In 2012 they were at their low when it was revealed Australian ASIS spies covertly planted listening devices in an office adjacent to the Timor’s Cabinet room where the Timor Gap discussion of Australian negotiations were being held, to seek upper-hand advantage. The controversy went all the way to The Hague’s Court of Arbitration.

Indeed such is the messiness, no-one officially from the office of Foreign Minister Marise Payne, her foreign affairs department, Pacific Minister Alex Hawke nor the Australian embassy in Dili would comment to News Corp Australia on anything to do with East Timor, positive or negative.

ANU’s National Security College Timor expert Andrea Fahey said without a doubt relations were sour but have markedly improved, ironically since COVID-19.

Australia has led foreign aid to Timor since its independence from Indonesia in 2002 and most recently provided a one-off $304.7 million COVID-19 response package for the Pacific and Timor. This has included testing equipment, isolation facilities and associated health crisis programs.

“Because of Covid I think Australia has a chance to go back into improving relations with East Timor,” Ms Fahey who was in the UN Integrated Mission in East Timor in 2007 and 2012 and working locally with an NGO in between.

“Australia I think is seen as having a clear plan for the Pacific and East Timor for vaccination and economic help, even though China sent a few PPE equipment in the beginning it’s nothing compared to what Australia is doing. Just allowing East Timorese the chance to come and work here temporarily with visas for workers that’s actually more important for the East Timorese government.”

Former Australia’s former deputy head of mission in Jakarta David Engel said Australian’s shouldn’t believe they were alone in their concerns about China.

He said Indonesia also look at all the activities of China on their doorstep, from East Timor and surrounds.

“The fact that China has been doing what it has been doing in the South China Sea has obviously struck a nerve in Indonesia particularly around the Natuna archipelago area in the northern part of Asia,” he said.

“They look at the fact that Chinese coast guard vessels are guarding Chinese trawlers that are that fishing in Indonesia’s economic exclusion zone as cause for real concern and real appreciation that just hoping that Chinese will behave themselves in that area is no longer going to be good enough. Timor yes but the rubber hits the road so to speak for Indonesia around Natunas, that’s about fish and hydro carbons, tangible economic issues but also their sense of sovereignty what they consider legitimately what is theirs under international laws.”

Independence hero and former president and prime minister Xanana Gusmao has long courted China’s involvement in East Timor’s progress on a vague promise of jobs and prosperity but his recent departure has allowed for more balance and what security analysts brand a “relations reset”.

“East Timor is just 80km away from Australian territory but dealing with China’s expansion plans anywhere in the Pacific is like playing Whac-A-Mole, they keeping popping up elsewhere to pursue their interests and we just have to deal with that in our own way,” a DFAT source said.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/australia-fights-back-against-china-to-build-relationship-with-east-timor/news-story/7aa101b4d2dd41d1cbd15c32526d4eb7

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 27, 2020, 4:43 p.m. No.12201498 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2463

Repost from Q Research General #15577

>>12200598 (pb)

>>12200523, (pb) >>12200499 (pb) Australia goes to bread 12 - Congrats Mates!

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 27, 2020, 5:02 p.m. No.12201788 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2463

Crackdown on far-right groups opens a Pandora’s box

A new federal parliamentary inquiry into extremist movements will throw the spotlight on a “Pandora’s box” of far-right groups active in Australia, offering them a public voice as MPs consider whether new rules are needed to ban them.

The inquiry, which gets under way next year, will face difficult questions about “what we will and won’t tolerate” in Australia, experts say, and whether groups promoting violent, revolutionary ideologies should be treated in the same way as terrorist groups.

Australia has 27 organisations listed as terrorist groups, none of which is a right-wing outfit.

Peta Lowe, a consultant in countering terrorism and violent extremism, said there were many groups active in Australia espousing far-right extremist views.

But Ms Lowe, who prepared a sentencing report on far-right terrorist Phillip Galea, said determining which groups should be banned was a difficult task.

“It’s like a Pandora’s box. Once you start to look at it, you realise it’s actually a lot bigger and more complex than you previously assumed, and many right-wing and far-right discourses are becoming much more mainstream,” she told The Australian.

“We need to invest in understanding and deciding what we will and won’t tolerate. And then we need to call it out when we see it. I think there will be some groups where we have to say ‘that is outside the bounds of what is acceptable in our country’.”

ASIO told parliament’s intelligence and security committee in September that far-right extremists now made up 30-40 per cent of the agency’s counter-terrorism caseload, compared with 10-15 per cent four years ago.

Galea, who was sentenced in November to 12 years in jail over plans to wage war against “Muslims and lefties”, was a member of extreme-right groups Reclaim Australia and the True Blue Crew.

Other far-right groups active in Australia include the United Patriots Front and the Lads Society — both established by neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell — and the US-based Atomwaffen Division.

Ms Lowe warned the inquiry, by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, would require engagement with some of those groups.

“I think some of them will take the opportunity to make submissions. It will give them the opportunity to publicly air their narrative,” she said.

Under the inquiry’s terms of reference from Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, the committee will consider potential changes to federal laws on the listing of terrorist organisations to ensure they “provide a barrier to those who may seek to promote an extremist ideology”.

Senior criminology lecturer at Macquarie University Julian Droogan said proscribing extreme-right groups would be “tricky” because they were unlike Islamist groups like al-Qa’ida and Islamic State, which were designed to fight for global revolution using terrorist tactics.

“Very few of these far-right groups have clearly articulated violence as a goal,” Dr Droogan said. “But at the same time, they incite hate crimes and potential mass shooter attacks like we have seen in New Zealand.”

Under current laws, extremist organisations can be banned if they are engaged in planning or fostering terrorist acts, or advocate terrorism. But Dr Droogan said involvement in terrorism should not be the criteria for organisations to be proscribed.

“If you use terrorism as your reason for proscribing, you are going to be making it very difficult because they don’t openly proclaim violence and they are not set up in the way international terror organisations are set up,” Dr Droogan said.

All of Australia’s Five Eyes security partners — the US, Canada, Britain and New Zealand — have proscribed some right-wing extremist groups.

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said Australia needed to send a clear message about the sort of conduct that was unacceptable in the community.

“Listing a right-wing group as a terrorist organisation is not a silver bullet, but given our Five Eyes partners have already made this move, the upcoming inquiry is a good opportunity to ensure our laws remain fit-for-purpose in the face of the rising terrorist threat from right-wing extremism.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/crackdown-on-farright-groups-opens-a-pandoras-box/news-story/02f633ab19bfc4f07ea32ed8b27a42cb

International celebrities still call Australia home after COVID closed borders

Overseas-based Aussie stars fled home, while Hollywood stalwarts moved here for work and found themselves putting down roots as COVID took hold.

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Overseas-based Aussie celebrities fled home and Hollywood stars moved here for work and found themselves putting down roots as COVID closed international borders and ravaged the US and Europe.

Some stars like Zac Efron and Kate Walsh initially came for short stays, but have found themselves staying indefinitely.

Take a peek at those who have called Australia home this year.

TOM HANKS AND RITA WILSON

It was a case of bad timing for Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who tested positive for coronavirus the same day it was officially declared a global pandemic.

The 64-year-olds were in Brisbane at the time, telling fans via Instagram, “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches … Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the coronavirus, and were found to be positive.”

While Hanks was admitted to hospital for a period, the Forrest Gump star assured the public he was safe and well, and within weeks the duo returned to their home in the US.

The couple were even able to return to the Gold Coast in September to continue filming Baz Luhrmann’s latest biopic, Elvis, which Hanks is set to star.

ZAC EFRON

What was scheduled as a quiet holiday quickly turned into a full blown love affair for Zac Efron, after the High School Musical star’s three month Australian getaway became an indefinite relocation.

Touching down in June, sources close to the A-lister said Efron simply wanted to ride out the coronavirus pandemic in peace before filming began on his upcoming Stan series, Gold, which is being filmed in Adelaide.

But within weeks of landing Down Under, Efron had struck up a romance with Byron Bay local Vanessa Valladares and extended his visa for a further 12 months.

In the months that followed, the couple reportedly travelled the country together, celebrated his birthday with a lavish party filled with local celebs, and were even looking at purchasing a permanent pad together.

Sadly, things were all over between the two by November, with the romance proving to be just another COVID confinement fling.

LIAM NEESON

He may be Hollywood royalty, but there was no special treatment for Liam Neeson when he arrived in Australia to star in his upcoming movie, Blacklight.

The 68-year-old Irishman underwent two weeks of mandatory self-isolation in Sydney before touching down in Melbourne, where the majority of the upcoming $43 million action thriller is set to be filmed.

Since his November arrival, Neeson has been spotted out and about filming scenes in South Yarra and Noble Park, eating lunch along the Yarra River, taking strolls along South Bank, and hanging out near the Melbourne Convention Centre, which has been turned into a makeshift set for the film.

Neeson, along with the rest of the film’s cast and crew, seems to have embraced the state’s strict mandatory mask policy, with the Taken star seen donning disposable masks between takes and whenever he’s not filming. Talk about leading by example.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 27, 2020, 5:39 p.m. No.12202411 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2447

>>12202375

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NATALIE PORTMAN

It’s not every day you see an Oscar winner at the local Woolworths pushing a trolley, but Natalie Portman seems to be enjoying the quiet – and very regular – life during her life in Australia.

The Black Swan star is currently based in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Double Bay while filming Marvel’s latest instalment, Thor: Love and Thunder, in which she plays Chris Hemsworth’s love interest, Jane Foster.

The 39-year-old vegan is visiting with her husband Benjamin Millepied and their two children Aleph, nine, and Amalia, three.

Prior to filming, the four spent a mandatory two weeks in quarantine before holidaying in Hemsworth’s hometown of Byron Bay alongside a slew of other famous faces.

According to Sydney locals, the super star has been spotted a handful of times in recent weeks dining at local cafes and restaurants, and yes, even doing the grocery shopping.

KATE WALSH

A holiday to WA turned into an indefinite stay for Kate Walsh earlier this year.

The Grey’s Anatomy star was visiting Perth in March when borders closed, and instead of trying to head back to her home in the US, Walsh settled in and began exploring the many wonders of the stunning state.

“There’s so much to explore and see,” Walsh told The West Live podcast. “I’m just in love with it,” she said, adding that Rottnest Island, Broome and Ningaloo Reef have been among her favourite spots.

Walsh, who now has an extended working visa, also kept busy starring in the Freemantle Theatre Company’s latest production, The Other Place.

“As much as I would like to be able to go home and come back, there are surges and different rounds [of COVID] coming. How it’s been handled here … is so exemplary and I feel very fortunate to be able to have a normal life here,” Walsh said.

ISLA FISHER AND SACHA BARON COHEN

If Australia’s latest returns are anything to go by, NSW is in the midst of a mass Hollywood migration.

Having called Los Angeles home for over a decade, Aussie comedy queen Isla Fisher and her British husband Sasha Baron-Cohen appear to have made their recent trip to Sydney a permanent one, enrolling their three young kids into a local school and spending their days scoping out dining spots in the beachside suburb of Coogee.

While 44-year-old Fisher has been spotted working from a laptop at a number of local cafes, Baron-Cohen seems to be taking a break after the global success of his latest mockumentary, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. The 49-year-old has been seen swimming laps of Bronte pool and taking strolls with pals.

And while Fisher may hail from Perth, Sydney is surely a city closer to the couple’s heart given it’s where they first met and fell in love almost 20 years ago.

MARK WAHLBERG

The Hollywood star of Transformers and Boogie Nights avoided local COVID quarantine and choosing a $400,000 private self-isolation stint in Byron Bay to film a TV campaign for the Ladbrokes betting agency.

Super-fit father of four Wahlberg, 49, is believed to have brought in a full gym set-up for the property to keep his health in check.

He flew back to Sydney after quarantine to shoot the commercial.

(continued)

>>12202411

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SARAH SNOOK

A visit home took an unexpected turn for Sarah Snook when she found herself in the nation’s COVID-19 hotspot, Melbourne, and faced months of lockdown.

The Succession star had originally planned to spend just a few weeks in her native country, but with filming for the next season of her HBO drama delayed, the 33-year-old chose to stick it out and make the most of her time off.

Snook joined the 2020 Emmys via Zoom from her lounge room (she was nominated in the Best Supporting actor category for her portrayal as Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy but lost out to Julia Garner) and celebrated the show’s group wins in her bathtub with champagne and a tinfoil statue made by her flatmate.

Speaking to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard on A Podcast of One’s Own in November, Snook said Shiv’s “dubious moral compass” appeals to her as an actor, adding, “I don’t agree with her, but I like to back her.”

NICOLE KIDMAN

A string of Hollywood stars descended on the trendy coastal town of Byron Bay led by Nicole Kidman and the cast of her upcoming Hulu drama, Nine Perfect Strangers.

The Oscar-winner, her husband Keith Urban and the couple’s two daughters Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret moved into a $20,000-a-week eco mansion rental.

The rest of the cast, including Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy and her actor husband Ben Falcone, Beauty and the Beast star Luke Evans, as well as Manny Jacinto and Bobby Cannavale (whose significant other is Australian actor Rose Byrne), joined them in Byron, as did Australian star-on-the-rise Samara Weaving.

Set in fictionalised wellness resort Tranquillum, Nine Perfect Strangers – rumoured to be a $100 million production – was filmed at luxury retreat Soma Byron Bay.

Though the influx of celebrities to the coastal town drew a mixed reaction from Byron locals, some of whom were less than impressed at the disruption.

ADRIAN GRENIER

Entourage star has been in Melbourne most of the year shooting miniseries, Clickbait.

Sightings of the 44-year-old, who played Hollywood star Vinnie Chase on cult HBO series, have dated back to January and the 2020 Australian Open, until as recently as last month in the trendy suburb of Fitzroy, where he has often been spotted in female company.

The enviro activist seems to have taken up woodwork as a hobby while Down Under, crafting a stool at The Shed.

“Thanks The Shed Melbourne for sharing your tools. Check out their studio, a great wood-work-share,” he posted on Instagram.

IDRIS ELBA

British actor Idris Elba touched down in Sydney to star in George Miller’s upcoming movie, Three Thousand Years of Longing.

The Avengers star has been spotted taking a morning stroll in Drummoyne and out with his model wife Sabrina having lunch at Apollo in Potts Point.

The couple have kept a low profile since arriving in Sydney last month, where they went through the mandatory two-week COVID quarantine period.

Elba, 48, is one of the highest profile Hollywood stars to have contracted the virus earlier in the pandemic.

Production on Miller’s film was due to begin in March but was pushed back due to coronavirus.

It is Miller’s first movie since 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road.

MIRANDA KERR

The Australian supermodel returned home last month via private jet.

It was reported that the trip Down Under from her Los Angeles base was for private family reasons, with a report suggesting it was a “mercy dash” due to the health of an older relative.

Kerr, 37, flew in with her sons her sons Flynn, 9, Hart, 2, and 13-month-old Myles, while her husband, Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, joined her in Sydney shortly after.

The couple kept a low profile while in the country. Spiegel avoided hotel quarantine, with NSW police confirming that he was “compliant with the Public Health (COVID-19 Air Transportation Quarantine) Order (No 2) 2020, which states a person can put a proposal forward to acquire independent locations meeting the same standards as NSW Police-managed hotels to be nominated as ‘Quarantine Facilities’ as allowed under the Public Health Order”.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/international-celebrities-still-call-australia-home-after-covid-closed-borders/news-story/8352e24ffaebbc0f26f3a54a7496ae9d

Canberra considers axing Victorian research agreement with China

1/3

The federal government is considering tearing up a research agreement between the Victorian government and China's Jiangsu province that experts say could allow the work of Australian scientists to be used by the Chinese government.

The deal, signed by the Labor state government in 2015 and renewed in 2019, provides grants of up to $200,000 for Victorian companies and universities to share intellectual property and develop new products with companies from the Chinese province.

Two senior federal government sources with knowledge of the review process for foreign agreements, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the Victoria-Jiangsu Program for Technology and Innovation Research and Development was on a list of agreements the Department of Foreign Affairs had identified as potentially contrary to Australia's national interest.

The sources said the deal was among agreements on the list that the government would scrutinise.

Legislation created by the federal government this month allows the Commonwealth to cancel agreements with foreign powers made by states, local governments or universities if the deals are deemed harmful.

Dr Paul Monk, former head of China analysis in Australia’s Defence Department, said the Jiangsu deal could allow firms linked to the Chinese Communist Party to obtain access to Australian intellectual property, and it should be viewed through the prism of President Xi Jinping's recently stated intention, reported by Chinese state media, of increasing military-industrial strength with the aim of winning wars.

“They have a rapidly growing, high-tech military sector that is strongly integrated between private firms and the Chinese government. This deal must be seen in that context,” Dr Monk said.

“For this deal to be getting promoted by the Chinese government, there is likely to be something we can provide that they want – otherwise they would do it themselves. So we must ask: what [intellectual property] do we bring to the table that they are seeking?”

The Jiangsu deal links Victorian businesses and universities with Chinese counterparts, and supports the Australian entities to travel to Jiangsu, a province in China’s east of about 80 million people, for research and development related to innovations in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, biotechnology, medicine, information and communication technology, and environmental protection.

Two previous rounds of the program's grants have funded CSIRO research on manufacturing and materials technology; Walter and Eliza Hall Institute work on a potential cure for hepatitis B;membrane technology for mining wastewater treatment by Deakin University; Swinburne University 3D concrete printing technology; development of bio-organic fertilisers by the University of Melbourne; and a quantum information technology project involving Monash University, Deakin University, the University of Melbourne and the Burnet Institute.

The program guidelines say that at the conclusion of the projects, both the Chinese and the Australian parties receive beneficial ownership of the existing background intellectual property and the fresh intellectual property created during the collaboration.

Dr Monk said a research and development deal with the government of an ally such as the US or Britain would not pose similar risks because it would be clearly apparent whether an Australian company was dealing with a private firm or the government itself.

“Any notion that China is some kind of normal, open, free-market economy is delusional. This is a militaristic, mercantilist country where [strategic] industries are owned by the government and directed to increasing military power,” he said.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 27, 2020, 5:59 p.m. No.12202772 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2785

>>12202755

2/3

The Burnet Institute's deputy director of partnerships, Associate Professor David Anderson, is involved in a project with a Jiangsu biotech company to develop antibody tests to immediately diagnose medical conditions including COVID-19 and measles.

He said his institute struck an agreement with its Chinese partner to ensure background intellectual property would not be transferred as part of the project, contradicting the program guidelines. He said the IP clause in the guidelines was "bad wording" and that no Australian institution would ever sign up to an agreement under which its existing IP, which might have been years in the making, was handed over.

Professor Anderson said the Victoria-Jiangsu program provided significant benefit for Victorian institutions and that the Burnet Institute's Chinese partner would gain a 10 per cent financial benefit but no ownership of the final product. All project applicants must come to an agreement with their Chinese partners on IP arrangements before the project commences.

"The Victoria-Jiangsu relationship is coming up to 40 years, and this deal is an extension of that. The Chinese have a lot of people banging down their door wanting to do things … and the Victorian government should get lots of credit for embracing genuine collaboration," he said.

Professor Anderson said Chinese universities and companies had more capacity to do resource-intensive "big science", such as genomic sequencing and X-ray crystallography, than any other country.

"And Australians, in particular, are great at innovation but we do not fund big science very much, so it's an area we can work together to make better things," he said, adding: "Everything we do with China is about increasing the value of jobs created in both countries."

Western officials have expressed concern for years that China has exploited research collaboration and used subversive tactics to gather IP from other countries. The US IP Commission, a non-government research body, estimated in 2017 that Chinese IP theft cost the American economy between $US225 billion ($296 billion) and $US600 billion each year. The dispute over IP has been at the centre of the trade war between those two countries.

Nathan Attrill, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which is partly funded by the US government, said the Victoria-Jiangsu program illustrated how “hidden” and highly technical clauses in deals with foreign nations could create considerable risk.

“Maybe five years ago, these kinds of deals would have been more common but in the last 18 months, these deals are coming under a lot more scrutiny,” he said.

“There was a little bit of naivete on the Australian side, a desire to just have agreements for agreements’ sake. This is particularly true of the university sector in Australia.”

Mr Attrill said the sectors that featured in the Jiangsu program — including aerospace, information technology, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing — aligned with the fields in which China was attempting to learn from countries with sophisticated economies like Australia.

Dr Monk said China was displaying “blatant aggression” and attempting to “humiliate and subordinate” Australia through trade strikes on exports including coal and beef. Those moves followed diplomatic tussles over an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, human rights and national security.

(continued)

>>12202772

3/3

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been criticised by federal and state Coalition MPs over his government's memorandum of understanding with China on the Belt and Road infrastructure program. The federal government has given Victoria three months to show how the deal accords with Australia’s foreign interests.

Belt and Road deal critics say it is an attempt by China to strengthen its influence through debt diplomacy, but the Victorian government says its involvement in the deal is about trade and jobs for the state.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the Jiangsu agreement was "about driving innovation and creating jobs for Victorians".

“We expect the Commonwealth is providing strong representations to China and all trading partners and advocating for all of our exporters," the spokesperson said.

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said that by signing up to the deal, the Premier had shown he was willing to risk "Victorian jobs, intellectual property and the national interest to pursue his relationship with the Chinese communist government”.

The federal government is also involved in a scientific research program with China, but the program guidelines do not stipulate that background IP becomes mutually owned at the conclusion of projects.

In November, federal Education Minister Dan Tehan quietly announced he was holding back 18 research grants to Australian scientists until they were reviewed by security agencies.

The Australian Research Council grants, often worth several million dollars, are recommended by independent panels of scientists but must be approved by the federal education minister.

Typically this is a rubber-stamping process, but under Mr Tehan scrutiny of the foreign research partners Australian universities pair with has dramatically increased.

The minister announced new voluntary guidelines last year urging universities to examine the background of their research partners and any ties they had to foreign governments.

China, which invests half a trillion dollars in research every year, overtook the US as Australia’s leading research partner this year, with 16.2 per cent of Australian publications involving a researcher affiliated with a Chinese institution.

Alex Joske, a Chinese Communist Party analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said past Australian Research Council grants had been used in projects that collaborated with the Chinese military.

“I hope security agencies are careful in their assessments to ensure grants are used appropriately, but also not to overreach,” he said.

“It’s important for people to understand that this is a relatively small segment of grants that seems to be in line with the level of past grants that raised concerns. If it’s carried out effectively, this process should be a step towards making sure research collaboration is transparent and based on a complete understanding of risks.”

Mr Tehan's office declined comment further on the withheld grants and Universities Australia and the Australian Academy of Science both declined to comment.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/victoria/canberra-considers-axing-victorian-research-agreement-with-china-20201217-p56oiz.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 27, 2020, 6:21 p.m. No.12203088 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2517

Timber crisis after China hit

The nation’s timber industry says it will need government assistance to stave off job losses and mill closures if Chinese trade sanctions continue, after Beijing banned logs from NSW and Western Australia claiming it had found “live forest pests” in earlier shipments.

In the latest blow for Australian exporters, China effectively ended the timber trade between the two countries when it banned imports from those states, two days before Christmas.

Australian timber from Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania was banned earlier this year amid serious trade tensions between Canberra and Beijing, which now has restrictions on wine, barley, beef, lobsters and coal.

An Australian Forest Products Association spokesman said the industry group had already implemented a comprehensive package of reforms to address China’s phytosanitary concerns.

“AFPA is in ongoing discussions with Australian governments on the significant impact the suspension of the log trade is having across the forest industries supply chain,” he said.

“Should the situation continue into 2021, the need for short and long-term assistance to support workers and businesses already impacted, and to avoid further, widespread job losses and mill closures.”

Australia exports $1.6bn of logs and wood chips to China each year.

Former trade minister Simon Birmingham this month launched formal World Trade Organisation action over an 80 per cent tariff China applied to $2.5bn of Australian barley.

China has slapped bans on more than $20bn worth of Australian exports this year, including choking off thermal coal despite winter energy shortages for its people.

On Friday, the South China Morning Post reported almost 9000kg of craft beer exported from Sydney had been stopped at the port city of Xiamen, in southeastern China, because it was incorrectly labelled.

The General Administration of Customs of China extended the ban on Australian timber on Wednesday in line with its sanitary measures and quarantine laws, the agency said.

“Recently, customs in Tianjin, Nanjing, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Huangpu discovered live forest pests in logs imported from NSW and Western Australia,” the notice said.

“In order to prevent the introduction of harmful organisms and protect our country’s agricultural and forestry production and ecological safety, we have hereby decided to suspend log imports from Australia’s NSW and WA states.”

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the government was committed to working with all industries hit by recent trade disruptions including the suspension of log exports to China.

Mr Littleproud said the government had already provided $72.7m to farmers and forestry exporters in a bid to assist them expand the markets they sold to next year.

The timber bans started on October 31 when Chinese customs officials claimed they had found the bark beetle in logs from Queensland. Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian logs were banned soon after on the same grounds.

Senator Birmingham, who was succeeded in the trade portfolio by Dan Tehan in a pre-Christmas reshuffle, accused Beijing of undermining the “letter and spirit” of the China-Australia free-trade agreement and its obligations under World Trade Organisation rules.

Beijing has laid the blame for the increasingly toxic bilateral relationship with Australia, setting out 14 grievances with Canberra including the ban on Huawei from Australia‘s 5G network, new foreign interference laws, and a push for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

It is also angry at forthright comments by Australian leaders about the South China Sea and China’s detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang, and “thinly veiled” allegations of cyber intrusions by Chinese hackers.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released last Wednesday show the trade surplus for goods fell to a two-year low in November hit by a slump in exports to China. It showed a $1.2bn decrease in exports to China, pushing the trade surplus to just $1.9bn compared with $4.7bn in October.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/timber-crisis-after-china-hit/news-story/4e097cd16e9103affee2923dc6fe9fd7

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Keep blaming others, Australia Dec. 28, 2020, 12:49 a.m. No.12206842 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Message to Australians that don’t want to be killed Dec. 28, 2020, 12:54 a.m. No.12206872 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Too fucking late

Inactions have consequences too

Pope formally strips Vatican secretariat of state of assets

Nicole Winfield - December 22, 2020

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has formally stripped the Vatican secretariat of state of its financial assets and real estate holdings following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation.

Francis signed a new law over the weekend ordering the secretariat of state to complete the transfer of all its holdings to another Vatican office by Feb. 4. The law also calls for all donations to the pope — the Peter’s Pence collections from the faithful as well as other donations that had been managed by the secretariat of state — to be held and managed by the Vatican’s treasury office as separate funds that are accounted for in the Holy See’s consolidated budget.

The changes are a response to a spiraling Vatican criminal investigation into years-long allegations of mismanagement of donations and investments by the Vatican’s secretariat of state which has resulted in losses of tens of millions of euros at a time of financial crisis for the Holy See.

Francis had already ordered the transfers in August and followed up in November by appointing a commission to put the changes into effect. The new law makes the changes permanent and sets a firm date for their execution.

Francis said he was making the changes to improve the administration, control and vigilance over the Holy See’s assets and ensure a more “transparent and efficient management.”

Francis moved against his own secretariat of state amid an 18-month investigation by Vatican prosecutors into the office’s 350-million-euro investment into a luxury residential building in London’s Chelsea neighborhood and other speculative funds.

Prosecutors have accused several officials in the department of abusing their authority for their involvement in the deal, as well several Italian middlemen of allegedly fleecing the Vatican of tens of millions of euros in fees.

The scandal has exposed the incompetence of the Vatican’s monsignors in managing money, since they signed away voting shares in the deal and agreed to pay exorbitant fees to Italians who were known in business circles for their shady dealings.

Francis’ decision has been an embarrassing blow to the secretariat of state’s standing as the most powerful Holy See office, reducing it to essentially any other department that must propose a budget and have it approved and monitored by others.

The outcome is essentially what was sought years ago by Cardinal George Pell, Francis’ first economy minister who clashed with the secretariat of state over his financial reforms and efforts to wrest control of the department’s off-the-books funds.

Pell had to abandon those reform efforts in 2017 to face trial for sexual abuse in his native Australia, but he was acquitted and recently told The Associated Press he felt vindicated that the wrongdoing he tried to uncover was being exposed.

The Holy See is facing a major cash crunch as its main source of revenue, ticket sales from the Vatican Museums, evaporated this year due to coronavirus closures. The Holy See last year narrowed its budget deficit from 75 million euros to 11 million euros.

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-pope-francis-europe-laws-3fe8e4aa2a68d8a02dd5f18f64e4026b

—

Communiqué of the Holy See Press Office on the Motu Proprio “A better organization”, 28.12.2020

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2020/12/28/0694/01625.html

Apostolic Letter in the form of a "Motu Proprio" from the Supreme Pontiff Francis concerning certain competences in economic and financial matters

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2020/12/28/0694/01624.html

>>12088267

Ghislaine Maxwell is denied bail by U.S. judge

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday denied bail to Ghislaine Maxwell, citing the risk the British socialite might flee from charges she assisted in the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of girls.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan said federal prosecutors persuaded her that Maxwell “poses a flight risk” despite her proposed $28.5 million bail package, and should remain jailed because “no conditions of release” reasonably assured she would appear in court.

Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan declined to comment.

Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom girls as young as 14 years old for sex in the mid-1990s, and not guilty to perjury for denying her involvement under oath.

She has been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn following her July 2 arrest at her New Hampshire home, where prosecutors said she was hiding out.

The proposed bail package included $22.5 million posted by Maxwell and her husband, as well as home confinement with electronic monitoring and 24-hour guard to ensure Maxwell remained safe and would not escape.

Maxwell said she wanted to stay in New York to clear her name, while her lawyers objected to jail conditions including invasive searches and surveillance by flashlight-toting guards who woke her every 15 minutes to ensure she was still breathing.

But Nathan, who rejected a $5 million bail package for Maxwell in July, said none of the new arguments had a “material bearing” on whether Maxwell was a flight risk.

In opposing bail, prosecutors cited Maxwell’s abilities to hide her wealth and evade capture, and the prospect she might flee to France or the United Kingdom, where she holds citizenships and they said she might elude extradition.

Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Her trial is scheduled for July 12, 2021.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr criticized errors by jail personnel that he said contributed to Epstein’s death.

Nathan described her “bottom line” conclusions in a two-page order. A longer opinion explaining her reasoning will be filed after lawyers for Maxwell and the government propose redactions to account for potentially confidential information.

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2921TV

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.104.0_5.pdf

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 28, 2020, 10:07 p.m. No.12219109 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4171 >>2597

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

Ghislaine Maxwell is sensibly kept under lock & key behind bars, where she belongs @FBI @SDNYnews & all the amazing survivors like @anniefarmer & @ArtisticBlower who have shown what bravery looks like against wealthy tyranny. #DemandJustice - ABC News

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1343773880708517888

—

Ghislaine Maxwell, accused of helping Jeffery Epstein groom girls, denied bail in New York despite bail package offer

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell will remain behind bars after her bail application was denied.

Ms Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to helping Jeffery Epstein recruit and groom girls as young as 14 years old for sex in the mid-1990s, and not guilty to perjury for denying her involvement under oath.

On Monday local time, US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan said federal prosecutors persuaded her that Ms Maxwell "poses a flight risk" despite her proposed $US28.5 million ($37.5 million) bail package.

Judge Nathan said Ms Maxwell should remain in jail because "no conditions of release" reasonably assured she would appear in court.

Lawyers for Ms Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss declined to comment.

Ms Maxwell has been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, following her July 2 arrest at her New Hampshire home, where prosecutors said she was hiding out.

The proposed bail package included $US22.5 million ($29.7 million) posted by Ms Maxwell and her husband, as well as home confinement with electronic monitoring and 24-hour guard to ensure she remained safe and would not escape.

Ms Maxwell said she wanted to stay in New York to clear her name, while her lawyers objected to jail conditions including invasive searches and surveillance by flashlight-toting guards who woke her every 15 minutes to ensure she was still breathing.

But Judge Nathan, who rejected a $US5 million bail package for Ms Maxwell in July, said none of the new arguments had a "material bearing" on whether she was a flight risk.

In opposing bail, prosecutors cited Ms Maxwell's abilities to hide her wealth and evade capture, and the prospect she might flee to France or the United Kingdom.

Ms Maxwell holds citizenships in both countries and prosecutors said she might elude extradition.

Ms Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Her trial is scheduled for July 12, 2021.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Former US Attorney General William Barr criticised errors by jail personnel that he said contributed to Epstein's death.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-29/ghislaine-maxwell-accused-of-helping-jeffery-epstein-denied-bail/13018858

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 28, 2020, 10:45 p.m. No.12219435 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2517

First case of 'more contagious' South African coronavirus strain detected in Australia

An overseas traveller who arrived in Queensland has tested positive for a "more contagious" South African variant of the coronavirus.

The woman tested positive while in hotel quarantine when she arrived in Queensland on December 22 and was immediately transferred to hospital for monitoring.

She is believed to be the first detected case of the overseas strain in Australia.

The new strain is believed to be more contagious than the existing COVID-19 virus.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said there is no risk to the public from the positive case but the new strain being detected showed the importance of the state's mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine.

"This will be the first positive case of the South African variant in Australia," Ms D'Ath said.

"We have seen other jurisdictions record a UK variant, but this is the first time the South African one has been identified in Australia.

"It is important people continue to get tested if they experience any symptoms at all."

Today Queensland reported two new COVID-19 cases, both from returned overseas travellers.

Today's confirmed cases are not linked to the woman's positive result for the new COVID-19 strain.

Viral fragments were also detected in treatment plants in five Greater Brisbane testing facilities, but it cannot be confirmed if these are from previously detected cases or new developing cases.

The facilities are located at Victoria Point, Oxley Creek, Goodna, Fairfield and Redcliffe.

"We are seeing increased cases across the world and increased cases returning to Queensland – with two new variants of the virus being detected in the UK and now South Africa, my advice is that we continue quarantining returned travellers in hotels," Queensland Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeanette Young said.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/first-case-of-south-african-coronavirus-strain-detected-in-australia-in-queensland-returned-traveller/26cb85c6-1fc0-45ad-968d-b5a689dda620

>>12210640

Whole of the Vatican is gonna get wiped off the fucking map

And if the dago wop goombaaahs don’t like it, they will be next

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

No deals

Team Bruce and Sheila

Anonymous ID: 000000 Dec. 29, 2020, 1:49 a.m. No.12220656 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6379

Fake tests, Fake pandemic, Why the fuck are they pushing LOCKDOWNS AND REAL POISONOUS VACCINES? GLOBAL GENOCIDE

"Is the vaccine safe?” Bill Gates would NOT give a straight answer

https://twitter.com/intheMatrixxx/status/1343653323665235970

Coke, a goat, Papaya all have COVID-19, tests show in Austria

https://www.independentsentinel.com/coke-a-goat-papaya-all-have-covid-19-tests-show-in-austria/

WHO Chief Scientist Warns "No Evidence COVID Vaccine Prevents Viral Transmission"

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/who-chief-scientist-warns-no-evidence-covid-vaccine-prevents-viral-transmission

"I don't believe we have the evidence on any of the vaccines to be confident that it's going to prevent people from actually getting the infection and therefore being able to pass it on”, says WHO Chief Scientist @doctorsoumya pic.twitter.com/QdTvzj7Nyd

— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) December 28, 2020

Can't prevent infection

Can't prevent passing on

Still have to wear masks

Fucks with your DNA

A global team of experts has found 10 FATAL FLAWS in the main test for Covid and is demanding it’s urgently axed. As they should

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/508383-fatal-flaws-covid-test/

Cure worse than disease? Some Covid-19 vaccines may increase HIV risk, scientists warn

https://www.rt.com/news/504224-covid19-vaccine-candidates-hiv/

Please explain $2bn, bishops ask Pope Francis

1/2

Australia’s Catholic bishops are working on a direct request to the Pope to investigate and explain how $2.3bn was transferred from the Vatican City to Australia over six years without their knowledge.

The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference is considering the request after they were “astonished at the scale of the transfers” from the Holy See’s secretariat of state between 2014 and this year.

The Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told The Australian on Tuesday that no Australian Catholic, diocese, charity, religious order or church entity had received any of the money.

“In the current atmosphere of dark speculation about money transfers, the lack of transparency and the way in which it was revealed is very unhelpful,” he said. “We are considering asking the Holy See to explain the transfers in a way that provides clarity and transparency.”

Last Wednesday, The Australian revealed that an official report from Australia’s international financial watchdog, Austrac, had found $2.3bn had been transferred from the Vatican City over the past six years.

The Australian Federal Police is investigating some of the transfers from the Vatican to Australia.

These transfers rapidly increased from $71.6m in 2014 to $137.1m in 2015 before doubling again to $295m in 2016 and peaking at $581.3m in 2017, the Austrac disclosures made in response to questions asked at Senate estimate hearings.

More than $422m was transferred in 2018, $491.8m in 2019 and $294.8m this financial year to date — in total more than 40,000 transactions, Austrac found.

Archbishop Coleridge said: “What is certain in the middle of great uncertainties is that Australian bishops did not know about these transfers until the disclosure last week and we were astonished at the scale of transfers.

“I have spoken to other bishops and the Papal Nuncio in Canberra and nobody knew of these transfers and we don’t know of any Australian Catholic charity, diocese, order or agency receiving any of this money from the Holy See.

“We do know that despite some speculation, the money was certainly not used for the church’s costs in relation to royal commissions or for Cardinal (George) Pell’s legal costs. We are baffled.”

Archbishop Coleridge, who served in the Vatican secretariat of state for four years from 1997, said he was aware of claims that “cipher accounts” were being used in the Vatican’s name by people who were not part of the Holy See to make international transfers and investments.

He said cipher accounts and obscure financial accounts were “part of the problem” Cardinal Pell had to confront when the Pope appointed him as his financial controller in 2014.

(continued)

>>12233266

2/2

On Monday in Rome, Francis signed a new law that stripped the Vatican’s secretariat of state of all its financial and real estate assets amid a growing scandal of dubious investments, the removal of charitable funds and a troubled $360m building project in London’s Chelsea district.

The Austrac figures also show $117.4m was sent from Australia to the Vatican, likely part of an annual fund for charities. Those transfers have risen from $17.7m in 2014 to $32.4m in 2019. Only $7.5m had been transferred to date this year.

The Vatican has been embroiled in scandal in recent months over allegations of embezzlement and nepotism levelled against Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a senior member of the church’s bureaucracy until this year who was an opponent to Cardinal Pell’s reforms at the Vatican.

Cardinal Becciu was fired by the Pope in September over the allegations. Cardinal Becciu has denied any wrongdoing.

There have also been allegations to Vatican investigators that money was sent to Australia to adversely affect the sexual abuse trial of Cardinal Pell.

To date, there has been no evidence produced to show any Vatican money was transferred to influence that trial.

After Cardinal Pell’s appointment as the Vatican’s treasurer with the task of cleaning up the Holy See’s finances, Victoria Police investigated and charged him with two cases of historical sexual abuse in Melbourne.

After two trials in 2018 and 2019 — one hung jury and one guilty verdict — Cardinal Pell was sentenced to six years’ jail and served more than a year in prison before he was acquitted unanimously by the High Court in April.

In October, The Australian reported Vatican investigators were examining at least four transfers from the Vatican secretariat, including two from Cardinal Becciu, between 2017 and 2018 totalling $2m to a company in Melbourne.

While Austrac has not disclosed the individual identities of the recipients of the money in Australia, some church sources cautioned it may have been for investment in the Australian bond and equities market.

Archbishop Coleridge said the Holy See, like other governments and sovereign funds, was entitled to invest in Australia and had in the past, “but, particularly given the large amounts, we can’t understand why the bishops here would not be aware of it”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/please-explain-2bn-bishops-ask-pope-francis/news-story/3438eeef29e4357bcf68b9d30ace604c

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 29, 2020, 9:34 p.m. No.12233374 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

>>12210640

George Pell vindicated by Vatican finances clean-up

Tess Livingstone - December 29, 2020

In a humiliation of the Vatican’s most senior department, the Secretariat of State, Pope Francis has removed its role as manager of many of the church’s financial investments and real estate holdings.

The Pontiff’s announcement, dated December 26, takes effect from New Year’s Day. The move comes after decades of corruption, theft, bad investments, incompetence, kickbacks to corrupt associates, nepotism and the squandering of money donated in good faith by churchgoers.

The problems stretch back at least to the 1960s, or even earlier.

The radical change is a vindication of George Pell’s work as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy from 2014 to 2017, when he sought to centralise and professionalise the Vatican’s sclerotic money and asset management systems and introduce professional auditing and transparency to its operations.

His efforts were thwarted repeatedly, by the Secretariat of State, especially its former deputy, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu. While Cardinal Becciu initially enjoyed the confidence of the Pope, revelations over the past two years of secret Swiss bank accounts and the purchase of a London property at an inflated price appear to have changed the Pontiff’s mind. In September, Cardinal Becciu resigned the privileges that are extended to members of the College of Cardinals.

The changes are also a major blow to the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s second most senior official. The Pope told Cardinal Parolin of the changes in a letter in August. The process was then set out by a special “Commission of transfer and control’’.

In his statement, Pope Francis said control and supervision of the economic and financial activities of the Holy See was fundamental in the reform of the Curia “to ensure transparent and efficient management’’.

From January 1, “the ownership of funds and bank accounts, of securities and real estate investments, including investments in companies and investment funds, up until now registered in the name of the Secretariat of State” would be transferred to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, or APSA, the Pope wrote in his statement.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/george-pell-vindicated-by-vatican-finances-cleanup/news-story/1fda6cdc4cf570b1a99007e34863555b

How conspiracy theories led a 'fringe scientist' to escape quarantine

Harriet Alexander - December 29, 2020

1/2

Trapped under quarantine and ravaged by allergies in a Perth hotel room, Jenny D'Ubios slid into an internet vortex of conspiracy theories in the week before her Boxing Day escape.

The self-described "fringe scientist" shared with her Facebook followers articles about the dangers of 5G, a post by an anti-fluoride group that suggested coronavirus was a hoax, a video about the COVID-19 test (which was blocked by Facebook) and support for Reignite Democracy Australia, an activist group that sprang up in protest against the Melbourne lockdown.

Anti-COVID testing, anti-COVID vaccination and heavily populated by COVID-deniers, Reignite Australia was a group that clearly spoke to Ms D'Ubios and emboldened her to take drastic action against her confinement. By her seventh day in quarantine, she was spitting with fury.

"Everyone in the world is lazy and fearful," she said in a video posted to Facebook.

"They're going to use the army to mass vaccinate you for a 0.03 per cent contraction rate of a virus that doesn't exist with a 99 per cent healing rate. I'm done having to suffer because people won't stand up for their rights.

"If they don't let me out of here today I'm going to get back on here and ask someone to do a drive-by, meet me out the front and throw all my stuff in the car."

Later that morning, she walked out of the hotel.

The coronavirus pandemic has sharpened focus on the harms caused by the dissemination of false information, with the internet variously peddling false cures, denialism and rampant speculation about who might have caused outbreaks in particular areas.

Between March and October, Facebook and Instagram removed more than 12 million pieces of misinformation and displayed warnings on 167 million pieces of content. A Facebook spokesman said the group had a clear policy on vaccine misinformation to remove false claims, including conspiracy theories.

Several groups and individuals, including controversial chef Pete Evans, have been banned from Facebook. Most of them moved to other platforms, where they were free to become more radical but lost most of their followers.

But the material posted by Reignite Democracy has stopped short of breaching the tech giant's policies and the group, though its founder Monica Smit has frequently warned that it may be shut down at any moment. Its more than 50,000 members are a loose coalition of anti-vaccination wellness activists and conservative libertarians.

(continued)

>>12233485

2/2

Since it was founded in August, Reignite Democracy has helped advertise protests at testing stations and given a sympathetic forum to federal Liberal MP Craig Kelly to air his concerns about police overreach during the lockdown protests and which coronavirus treatments should be available in Australia.

Extremist researcher Kaz Ross said, like "Digital Warfare", an activist group linked to the far-right conspiracy group QAnon, Reignite Democracy had engaged with the political process in a way that other groups had not. Its tactics were suggestive of a Victorian political connection.

Digital Warfare organised spam sessions among its followers to lobby and troll independent MPs at predetermined times. Reignite Democracy raised thousands of dollars from supporters to charter a bus emblazoned with the words "Sack Andrews" during Melbourne's lockdown protests and has engaged with politicians on legislation.

"Reignite always stuck out as a much different type from the other Facebook groups," Dr Ross said. "They've always had a much bigger game than the lockdown and they've always had their eye on the politics of the situation."

Ms Smit did not respond to a request for an interview. She posted a video on Christmas day, telling supporters that she planned to take a week off because big things were planned for 2021.

Craig Kelly said he met Ms Smit when she contacted him through Facebook. She interviewed him for the Facebook page and later asked him for political advice.

"She said, 'I've never been involved in politics before. Who is on the left and who is on the right and how should I work it all out?'" Mr Kelly said. "I said, 'It's too difficult to explain those things. You describe yourself as libertarian'."

Divisions over the government response to coronavirus had shifted the political landscape, he said.

"A lot of younger people in their 20s and 30s have had a political awakening and realised that they come down probably on the libertarian side of politics, more the right side of politics, whereas before they would have considered themselves swinging voters.

"A few older people have gone the other way and you probably saw that in the Queensland election, the demographic of elderly, retired people like the idea of big government keeping them safe."

Ms D'Ubios' interest in alternative health long pre-dated her interest in Reignite Australia. She began her quarantine in the Pan Pacific Hotel by giving her followers a demonstration in how to renew their body cells by priming their drinking water with a tuning fork.

“Don’t pay any more than $70 for your tuning fork," she said. "You don’t need to.”

By the end of the week, she was worn down by her allergies and exhorted her followers to rise up against the government.

"Dust is my worst enemy, besides the governments of the world and the people running this show," she said.

At the end of her day on the run, she turned herself in at a hospital.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/how-conspiracy-theories-led-a-fringe-scientist-to-escape-quarantine-20201228-p56qhj.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 29, 2020, 10:46 p.m. No.12233968 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2517

Greg Norman praises Donald Trump after detailing harrowing COVID-19 battle

COVID-19 has brought America to its knees but after his scary brush with the virus, Greg Norman has heaped praise on Donald Trump.

Greg Norman has praised outgoing American president Donald Trump’s handling of COVID-19 after detailing his frightening experience of contracting the virus.

The Australian golf legend, who lives in the US, was struck down by coronavirus and forced to spend Christmas Day in the emergency room as he experienced pain “on another level”. Norman was discharged but forced to return to hospital a day later after testing positive again, and is now isolating at home.

More than 330,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and nearly 20 million cases have been recorded. On some days this month, the country has witnessed more than 3000 deaths in a 24-hour period.

The country is still caught in the grips of the pandemic but Norman believes Trump has done a great job dealing with it — and feels the same way about Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“Irrespective of whether you like Trump or not, he did a phenomenal job at warp speed,” Norman told Channel 7.

“I think Prime Minster Scott Morrison down there did a phenomenal job … Yes there’s a few lingering COVID cases down there but it’s not to the tune or magnitude of what’s happening here (in America).”

Norman said the virus “hit me from the top of my head all the way down” and first noticed troubling signs on the golf course, where the 65-year-old was playing in the PNC Championship with his son Greg Norman Jr — who also contracted coronavirus.

“I was getting really bad back pains and I couldn’t swing the golf club and I was wondering what the heck went wrong,” Norman told Seven.

“Just before Christmas Eve I went to walk me dog, I couldn’t even open the door handle with my hands — my hands hurt that much.

“My sense of taste was disappearing. My quad muscles and my hip flexors didn’t want to work.

“I couldn’t remember people’s phone numbers, I couldn’t remember people’s names. I was always cold and shivering.”

Norman is in good health and regularly works out, but admitted the virus “kicked the crap” out of him.

“I am fit and strong and have a high tolerance for pain but this virus kicked the crap out of me like nothing I have ever experienced before,” Norman wrote on Instagram on Monday.

“Muscle and joint pain on another level. Headaches that feel like a chisel going through your head scraping little bits off each time, fever, muscles that just did not want to work.”

Norman has a message for those conspiracy theorists still doubting the validity of the pandemic, telling Seven: “Get a life, understand the facts and reality. This is real.”

Speaking before the US election in November, Norman — who is friends with Trump and has played golf with him — gave a ringing endorsement of the man who will be replaced in the White House by Joe Biden.

“You name me one individual on this planet, one individual that has experienced a pandemic like this — nobody,” Norman said. “It was 100 years ago, right?”

Norman praised Trump for giving “a rudder to millions and millions of Americans that never had a rudder before”, adding the famous businessman turned politician “gave them a voice, he gave them a belief”.

“(From) my business perspective, he’s done a phenomenal job,” Norman told The Australian. “He has pretty much stuck to all his promises he made when he was elected.

“Very few people who are elected as president follow through on their promises.

“Yes, he is bombastic; yes, he has a different style; but to see him actually commit to his word about what he wants to do is actually pretty impressive.”

https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/greg-norman-praises-donald-trump-after-detailing-harrowing-covid19-battle/news-story/63124bb34ef35eb0e5ab0c13e9a911e6

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJO7DQoJytX/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJUEeHSpdJw/

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 29, 2020, 11:09 p.m. No.12234171 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

>>12219109

Geraldo Rivera Tweet

Bullshit She’s denied bail because the judge is afraid of the NYPost

https://twitter.com/GeraldoRivera/status/1343722558131216386

Judge again denies bail for Ghislaine Maxwell, citing flight risk

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/531865-judge-again-denies-bail-for-ghislaine-maxwell-citing-flight-risk

—

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

Shame on you @GeraldoRivera - when you say something stupid like that you are spitting in the face of the countless victims who have spent the last 2 decades trying to hold #GhislaineMaxwell accountable! Show some courtesy please. @ArtisticBlower @anniefarmer #Change #EndTheChaos

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1343815990400847872

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 30, 2020, 12:21 a.m. No.12234671 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4681 >>2575

Taiwanese MP calls for enhanced cooperation with Australia in face of Chinese aggression

A senior Taiwanese politician has called for greater security and economic cooperation with Australia as his nation tries to counter China's increasingly assertive military.

Wang Ting-yu, the co-chair of Taiwan's Foreign Affairs and National Defence Committee, is pushing for closer ties with other democratic states to enhance regional security.

"We need to cooperate with democratic countries," the member of Taiwan's governing Democratic Progressive Party told the ABC.

"If we can have more close cooperation that means benefits mutually for economy, security and capability."

Diplomatically Australia does not formally recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state but has recently increased unofficial cooperation with Taipei in areas such as combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Some kind of cooperation in some areas would be a good direction for these two countries — we need a bilateral relationship," Mr Wang said.

He argued an important step in deterring China would be to allow Taiwan to join security networks such as the Quad which comprises the United States, India, Japan and Australia.

"Your role in this region is increasing — that's good, and we have many chances to have dialogue with Australian officials," Mr Wang said.

Liberal Senator and former army general Jim Molan agrees Australia should increase ties with Taiwan, and also fears a military confrontation with China could soon eventuate.

"I think we can do a lot more with Taiwan apart from trade," Senator Molan told the ABC.

"I think we can encourage the United States and our military and our own foreign affairs and trade people to prepare not just for the easy case, but for the worst case."

On Tuesday, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds acknowledged growing military tensions between China and Taiwan were of concern to the Federal Government.

"Australia is observing very closely what's happening not just around Taiwan but also in the South China Sea," she said.

"We would always call on people to exercise caution and restraint and work together to ensure all nations abide by international law."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-30/taiwan-australia-deter-china-coercion-politician-wang-ting-yu/13019864

>>12234671

Unwise for Australia to play ‘Taiwan card’

Xu Shanpin - Dec 29, 2020

China-Australia relations experienced a downward trend in 2020. This bilateral relationship might have hit the "lowest ebb in decades" as some Australian scholars said.

Meanwhile, as the Trump administration upgraded relations with the island of Taiwan as a direct and defiant challenge to China's sovereignty and core interests, secessionist forces on the island became more active. They meddled with the Hong Kong affairs by smearing the "one country, two systems" principle and the national security law for Hong Kong. This also put cross-Taiwan Straits relations at an impasse.

Now, certain forces in Taiwan are even trying to engage with Australia directly. Indeed, Australia and the island of Taiwan share common interests in terms of attacking the national security law for Hong Kong and creating a negative image of the Chinese mainland. As the Biden administration will probably reverse Trump's dangerous Taiwan policy, but the China-Australia tensions are escalating while cross-Straits relations sour, Taiwan and Australia may get closer in 2021 to cope with the Chinese mainland and the rapid changes in regional environment.

Australia and Taiwan may share information and strategically coordinate to smear China: namely interfering in the Hong Kong affairs, and attacking the Chinese mainland with the excuse of the so-called human rights records. Currently, Taiwan has been active in a bid to counter the mainland. But Australia has remained restrained, except for shrill noises made by a few right-wing members of parliament.

So what "Taiwan card" can Australia play?

Even after China and Australia established formal relations in 1972, Australia has retained close non-official exchanges and economic relations with Taiwan. Australia's Taiwan policy has always been affected by the US. In fact, Canberra sings the same tune as Washington with regards to Taiwan.

Australia has avoided being directly involved in a military collision between major powers across the Taiwan Straits. In particular, it has avoided directly provoking the Chinese mainland and challenging China's core interests and national territorial integrity.

Former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said in 2004 that "other military activity elsewhere in the world… doesn't automatically invoke the ANZUS Treaty." This means Canberra will not make up "two Chinas" policies unless Washington explicitly abandons its "one China" policy.

Australia's policies toward the island of Taiwan are somewhat ambiguous as it wants to keep a proper distance from the US' dangerous Taiwan policy, meanwhile it does not want to harm or weaken the Australia-US alliance. Australia does not want to see a war in the Taiwan Straits, especially one between the US and China.

Canberra wants to maintain some flexibility on whether to intervene in the Taiwan question. Yet it also avoids taking a clear stance on whether it would put up a fight there or not if called upon. Canberra worries that Washington would weaken its security commitments, so it had to back US position on Taiwan question, hoping Washington will not start an actual firing conflict there ever.

The Taiwan regional authority hopes to restore "diplomatic relations" with Australia. It seeks to enhance strategic cooperation and intelligence-sharing mechanisms with Australia for the sake of counterbalancing the Chinese mainland and rejecting reunification by force. Despite these overtures, Australia has expressed a relatively indifferent response considering its national security and diplomatic strategies.

However, Australia's diplomatic posture, especially its China focus, is undergoing an important and dangerous transition. Geopolitical issues are overtaking matters of geoeconomics in its strategic thinking toward China. It is shifting from rational and pragmatic to hard-line and conservative.

With intensifying gravity, it is viewing China as a security threat rather than a partner that brings opportunity of development. Due to the ANZUS Treaty (Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty) signed in 1951, it is possible for Australia to directly involve itself in military conflicts across the Taiwan Straits.

Therefore, China should be on guard against Australia's Taiwan policy and send a clear signal to policymakers in Canberra that China's sovereignty and territorial integrity cannot be challenged and that China is determined to safeguard its core national interests, so as to deter those who seek Taiwan secession and those far-right politicians in Australia. China will never allow Australia to play the "Taiwan card." The bottom line of the "one China" principle cannot be challenged.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202012/1211359.shtml

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Keep blaming China Dec. 30, 2020, 5:49 a.m. No.12236226 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12234681

You’re going to get burnt alive, kike

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 You’re going to get burnt alive, thick cunt Dec. 30, 2020, 6:08 a.m. No.12236379 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12220656

For the fat orange joker 🃏

Year in a word: QAnon

Courtney Weaver - December 31 2020

Rumours of a cabal of satanic sex traffickers plotting to overthrow the US president shifted from far-right fringes to the mainstream

(noun) A far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of satanic paedophiles are running a global sex-trafficking ring while simultaneously working to overthrow US president Donald Trump

In a year punctuated by dark, digitally viral conspiracy theories, QAnon might be the one that trumps them all.

Born on the controversial Reddit message board 4chan, the conspiracy theory was originally put forth by an anonymous individual named “Q” who claimed to have inside knowledge of the supposed sex ring’s existence thanks to high-level government clearance.

QAnon is the ideological successor to Pizzagate, the 2016 conspiracy theory that claimed Democrats were secretly running a human trafficking ring at restaurant establishments, including a Washington pizzeria. But it has proven to have more longevity.

Since it was first propagated in 2017, the movement has quickly shifted from the far-right fringes towards the mainstream. An internal Facebook analysis this summer found that millions of the site’s subscribers followed QAnon-linked groups and pages. The liberal non-profit Media Matters, meanwhile, found that Mr Trump had amplified QAnon followers on his presidential Twitter account on at least 265 separate occasions.

In an August press conference, Mr Trump said he did not know much about the movement other than “I understand they like me very much” and had “heard that these are people that love our country”. In an October town hall with NBC News, the president declined to denounce the group.

What happens to QAnon after the president leaves office? While some followers were apparently shaken by Mr Trump’s election loss, Mr Trump has done nothing to cut ties with the movement, and has praised Marjorie Taylor Greene — a new Republican congresswoman who has publicly promoted QAnon theories.

Few expect Mr Trump to disappear quietly into the night — and they should not expect QAnon to either.

https://www.ft.com/content/ff3fa8fd-2761-4c24-a933-bbf915c6871a

—

Is QAnon a game gone wrong? | FT Film

Financial Times

15 Oct 2020

Izabella Kaminska explains how QAnon stems from the worlds of online gaming and Playboy magazine. It's not a conspiracy. It’s a way to hack reality. Read more at: https://on.ft.com/2Hdmvkw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4vb6UWhf3o

>>12238610

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Some Australian scholars Dec. 30, 2020, 1:24 p.m. No.12241244 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12234681

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Fat orange child raping Jew Dec. 30, 2020, 1:28 p.m. No.12241302 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Is a dead man walking

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Get Tom Hanks* and it all falls down Dec. 30, 2020, 1:31 p.m. No.12241339 🗄️.is 🔗kun

*not really

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d It won’t be safe for them to walk the streets Dec. 30, 2020, 1:33 p.m. No.12241364 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Jews and Americans

Same thing, really.

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Let’s see Martin Geddes crucified Dec. 30, 2020, 1:37 p.m. No.12241405 🗄️.is 🔗kun

In front of the whole world 🌎

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d QAnon is the virus Dec. 30, 2020, 1:57 p.m. No.12241659 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Catherine Austin Fitts || Planet Lockdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1-0XKYAZII

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 30, 2020, 11:53 p.m. No.12249109 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9119 >>2575

>>12090289

China wants Australia relationship back on track 'as early as possible'

1/2

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that the deterioration in China's relationship with Australia is not something Beijing wanted to see and that he would like the relationship back on the right track "as early as possible".

However, Wang also said that the ball was in Australia's court, despite the Australian government repeatedly complaining that calls to Beijing to mend the relationship had gone unanswered.

The comments made during a conversation with former prime minister Kevin Rudd at a private event livestreamed two weeks ago offered hope of reconciliation even as the relationship between the two nations reached a new nadir.

Wang said Australia and China could again be partners, not enemies, on Saturday, December 19 (AEDT), just days after Australia asked the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to investigate the tariffs China had imposed on Australian barley in May.

The complaint to the WTO marked a formal escalation in Australia's year-long $20 billion trade stoush with the superpower, as China also imposed trade sanctions on Australian timber, wine, lobster and coal.

In late November, Prime Minister Scott Morrison extended an olive branch to China in a livestreamed appearance at a UK policy event, saying he was "happy to have a discussion" about the list of 14 grievances Chinese officials released to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

But the relationship soured swiftly after Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian goaded the Prime Minister by tweeting a fabricated image of an SAS soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child.

Wang did not address the faked image or the 14 grievances in his conversation with Rudd, who is the president of the New York think tank Asia Society, which hosted the event.

At a public event streamed live on YouTube, Wang called for better ties with the incoming Biden administration, but in the following private session for 100 online guests, Rudd pressed Wang about China's treatment of Australia.

Rudd, who is fluent in Mandarin, asked if there was "a practical way in which we can also accommodate … a re-stabilisation of the relationship between Beijing and Canberra."

"And is there any role for any informal diplomacy in the meantime so that we can get both sides to put their megaphones away and get back to normal diplomacy?" Rudd asked, according to a transcript of the event obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Wang said Australia needed to decide if China was a threat or partner but struck a more conciliatory tone than his "wolf warrior" spokesman Zhao.

"If Australia sees China as a threat, then the improvement of this relationship would be difficult," Wang said.

"If Australia sees China not as a threat, but a partner, then for the issues between us there are better chances that we find solutions. So I would kick the ball to Australia.

"We hope that the relationship can come back to the right track as early as possible and we would welcome efforts by all who want the relations to improve to make some efforts."

(continued)

>>12249109

2/2

Wang expressed concern about the "largely negative" views about China being expressed in Australia, echoing the message from the list of grievances that criticisms by Australian MPs or news outlets was unhelpful.

"But when they are publicised, they will for sure affect the atmosphere for bilateral relations and that will discourage both sides to engage in further exchanges," Wang said.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister declined to comment, referring to Senator Marise Payne's remarks on December 19 on Sky News where she said: "We would never trade away our national interest. And that is a respectful approach to the relationship [with China], and to any bilateral relationship."

Rory Medcalf, head of ANU's National Security Colleges, warned that Wang's comments should "not be over-interpreted as some kind of positive signal".

"They are at best mild and conditional," Medcalf said. "Of course it’s nice at one level to receive some hint that China too would like a stable relationship, but the bottom line is that Wang’s words still place all the responsibility on Australia.

"There’s no admission that China bears any fault in the deterioration in ties, or even acknowledgement that it is using ongoing coercive measures – economic restrictions or hostage diplomacy – against countries like Australia and Canada.

"And in then end, everything seems to depend on how Beijing chooses to define how Australia treats and perceives China - as if there is a simplistic choice between all threat and all partner. That’s not a healthy starting point for pragmatic and mutually beneficially relations."

Peter Jennings, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, agreed and said there was "nothing conciliatory" in Wang's comments.

"He avoids any substance and simply says this is all a problem of Australia's attitude," he said. "But Australia did not invent China's military annexation of the South China Sea, nor did we invent China's full on cyber and human intelligence spying, or the growth of an assertive Chinese military, or the mass violation of human rights of minority groups in China."

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-wants-australia-relationship-back-on-track-as-early-as-possible-20201229-p56qr2.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 31, 2020, 12:47 a.m. No.12249361 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

'Your lack of candor only solidifies the risk of you fleeing': Unsealed bail document reveals extent of judge's distrust of Ghislaine Maxwell and why she rejected her $28.5M bail bid

Ghislaine Maxwell's attempt to get free from jail on a $28.5m bail package backfired spectacularly after a judge said it 'only solidifies' the risk of her fleeing.

Judge Alison Nathan said the vast sum, including $22.5m from Maxwell and her husband, was so much higher than the $3.5m she claimed to be worth after her arrest in July that it was suspicious.

Judge Nathan wrote that Maxwell was guilty of 'misdirection' to the court by failing to disclose her true worth the first time around.

Maxwell's 'lack of candor is, if anything, stronger now than in July' and her representations back then were 'woefully incomplete', the judge said.

The scathing assessment was part of a 22-page filing to federal court in New York which set out Judge Nathan's reasons for denying Maxwell bail for a second time.

The ruling means that Maxwell will remain in the grim Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until at least July next year when her trial is due to take place.

Maxwell, 58, has been held there since July when she was arrested for allegedly procuring girls as young as 14 for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse.

The British socialite is also accused of perjuring herself in a civil case and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Maxwell's second bail application had included more than a dozen letters from family and friends in support.

The $22.5m in cash and assets from her and husband Scott Borgerson, 44, a tech entrepreneur, was on top of $5m in property from her family and a $1m bond from a private security company.

But in the filing Judge Nathan said that Maxwell's new bail application showed she had 'extraordinary financial resources' she could use to 'flee the country undetected'.

The judge wrote: 'The new information provided in the renewed application only solidifies the court's view that the defendant plainly poses a risk of flight and that no combination of conditions can ensure her appearance'.

Judge Nathan said that Maxwell 'providing incomplete or erroneous information to the court or pretrial services' was a 'significant' factor in her decision.

After her arrest in July Maxwell claimed she had no access to her financial records and was piecing her assets together from memory.

But Judge Nathan said that the difference between $3.5m and $22.5m was so big that Maxwell's explanation stretched credibility.

The judge wrote: 'Even if the defendant was unable to provide an exact number, however, the difference between the number she originally reported to pretrial services and the number now presented to the court makes it unlikely that the misrepresentation was the result of the defendant's mis-estimation rather than misdirection.

'In sum, the evidence of a lack of candor is, if anything, stronger now than in July 2020, as it is clear to the court that the defendant's representations to pretrial services were woefully incomplete.

'That lack of candor raises significant concerns as to whether the court has now been provided a full and accurate picture of her finances and as to the defendant's willingness to abide by any set of conditions of release'.

Judge Nathan noted that Maxwell had leaned heavily on a letter from Mr Borgerson - who she acknowledged as her husband for the first time in the bail application - saying that she would never leave the US and abandon him.

Borgerson wrote that Maxwell was a 'wonderful and loving' person and he believed in her innocence.

Judge Nathan wrote: 'The defendant now argues that her newly revealed relationship with her spouse signals her deep effective ties in the country, but at the time she was arrested, she was not living with him and claimed to be getting divorced.

'Indeed, she does not propose to live with him were she to be released on bail, undercutting her argument that that relationship would create an insurmountable burden to her fleeing'.

Elsewhere in the ruling Judge Nathan said that, contrary to Maxwell's claims, the case against her remained 'strong'.

The allegations from the three accusers would be backed up by flight records and other witnesses' corroborating testimony, the judge said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9100117/Judge-scathingly-shuts-Ghislaine-Maxwells-bail-bid-unsealed-order.html

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.106.0_5.pdf

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 31, 2020, 12:57 a.m. No.12249390 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4435 >>2492

Australia's war crimes commanders to soon learn their fate

Army commanders under whom the Afghanistan war crimes allegedly occurred will not have to wait much longer to learn how the Defence Force chiefs intend to respond to their alleged command failures.

Command-level leaders and Army lawyers who allegedly white-washed earlier investigations were not among the 19 individuals earmarked by criminal charges by Justice Paul Brereton's Afghanistan report, but he did recommend Army undertake administrative actions.

Their fate, along with expected structural and cultural reforms, will become clearer with the release of Australia's full response to the alleged war crimes. That announcement could occur as soon as January, after Defence Minister Linda Reynolds confirmed this week that the independent criminal justice response will begin next month once the Office of the Special Investigator begins operating.

The government put the brakes on the defence force plans to crack down swiftly following last month's release of Justice Brereton's report alleging 39 murders by 25 special forces personnel while on operations in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2013.

The government insisted that decisions and announcements be put on hold until the full implementation plan of the Brereton recommendations, including the delicate and lengthy process for criminal prosecutions, be announced simultaneously.

The three-person oversight panel, led by former inspector-general of intelligence and security Dr Vivienne Thom, is already working with ADF chief General Angus Campbell and Army chief Lieutenant General Rick Burr on the administrative and disciplinary components of the implementation plan. Only the plan for criminal prosecutions is yet to make progress.

Senator Reynolds said the oversight panel has hit the ground running working with defence and her as minister.

"I've been working very closely with the Chief of Defence Force over the last few weeks, and he is working through the recommendations, and he is preparing a draft implementation plan," the minister told reporters this week.

"I'm satisfied that when the implementation plan is released, [it will be] transparent, comprehensive, and it will address all of the matters that have been canvassed to date, and many more in that report."

"There's also in the report, a wide range of issues that the Chief Defence Force and the Chief of Army need to address administratively under Defence Force Discipline processes and Act. Those are the sorts of things that the CDF is reflecting on now, and working through how he deals with those, and all of those matters legal disciplinary and administrative will be contained in the implementation plan."

Justice Brereton identified 19 patrol-level individuals for criminal prosecutions in his report. None of the names have been released publicly, and even the Senator Reynold's copy of the complete report had the name redacted to preserve integrity of any decisions she may have to make.

Additionally, the army sent notices to 13 current serving special forces soldiers asking them to explain why they should not be immediately sacked.

The lack of visible action against the army commanders who were "ignorant" of the actions under their leadership, according to Justice Brereton, has been a cause for concern among current serving ADF personnel and veterans. The Canberra Times understands these issues will be confronted in the implementation plan.

The government has announced senior appointments to fill the Office of the Special Investigator, including moving the secretary of the Attorney-General's Department Chris Moraitis into the top role as Director General.

The role of the Special Investigator will be filled by Justice Mark Weinberg QC, and director of investigations will be filled by Ross Barnett.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7070693/ignorant-war-crimes-commanders-to-learn-fate/

Promise of COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 headlines New Year's message from Scott Morrison

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has delivered a video message to Australians marking the end of 2020, thanking healthcare workers, business owners and others for their sacrifices during the year.

He pledged that COVID vaccinations would be available to all Australians in 2021 and they would be a "key step to our recovery in 2021".

"I want to thank all Australians who have sacrificed so much, served so greatly, and even now continue in their steadfast dedication to their duty at this time," he said.

Filmed at The Lodge in Canberra, the Prime Minister said Australia must stay vigilant "as we continue our comeback".

Twelve months ago Mr Morrison delivered a message at the height of the country's Black Summer of bushfires praising the spirit of Australians.

Today the country faces perhaps an even greater challenge, but he again heaped praise on his constituents.

"Even though I know there are a lot more challenges ahead of us in 2021, I have the hope, and I have the optimism and the confidence in my fellow Australians, in you, about our country," he said.

Recovery flagged

He said that around 80 per cent of jobs lost in the pandemic have already been recovered and 450,000 businesses have graduated from JobKeeper, taking two million Australians off income support.

"That's real signs of progress," he said, declaring the path ahead was "stronger, safer, together".

The Prime Minister's dog Buddy also featured in the video, walking around a fountain behind Mr Morrison.

Mr Morrison concluded by wishing Australians "a very happy, a very safe and a prosperous new year from my family to yours".

"God bless you Australia, and thank you."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-31/prime-minister-scott-morrison-new-years-message/13024312

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 This cunt is to be crucified too Dec. 31, 2020, 1:42 a.m. No.12249577 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12249500

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 God curses Australia, Australians and it’s dopey prime minister Dec. 31, 2020, 1:46 a.m. No.12249589 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12249500

Who is going to get fucking crucified in front of the whole world

And it Aussies don’t like it

Tough fucking shit

You’ll all be killed as irredeemable heretics like the Jews and Americans

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 For following the fat orange joker Dec. 31, 2020, 1:49 a.m. No.12249597 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Dildo army BTFO

Pics related

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Message to commonwealth politicians, military and police Dec. 31, 2020, 11:12 a.m. No.12254409 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Goto Israel 🇮🇱

So the rest of the world can set you thick, disrespectful cunts on fire 🔥

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d China for the win (999) Dec. 31, 2020, 11:13 a.m. No.12254417 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Egg flied lice mother fuckers

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d They are all going to be killed Dec. 31, 2020, 11:15 a.m. No.12254435 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12249390

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 31, 2020, 1:22 p.m. No.12255850 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

Lin Wood Tweet

I am fully aware of the onslaught of attacks being made against me based on my revelations about Chief Justice John Roberts. Before attacking me, maybe fair-minded people would first ask Roberts to tell the truth.

Or ask Jeffrey Epstein. He is alive.

https://twitter.com/LLinWood/status/1344652363861258243

Jon James Pratt (999) ID: 3e62f9 Spot mentally ill patriots online Dec. 31, 2020, 4:57 p.m. No.12258709 🗄️.is 🔗kun

They think ‘we the people’ aren’t the biggest satanists in the world.

And they think that Trump works or speaks for God Almighty

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 31, 2020, 5:09 p.m. No.12258893 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2575

>>12202755

Canberra going further on the wrong track: China Daily editorial

chinadaily.com.cn - 2020-12-29

It has been reported that the Australian federal government will pressure the State of Victoria to cancel its cooperation program with China's Jiangsu province.

Although it was said to be on the list of programs that the Department of Foreign Affairs had identified as potentially contrary to Australia's national interest, the bid to scrap the Victoria-Jiangsu Program for Technology and Innovation R&D, which was agreed in 2015, is obviously intended as an act of revenge by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for China's probes into imports from Australia.

To the disappointment of those who have been hoping for a turnaround in relations, the Australian government is still heading down the road of no return for bilateral relations.

Paul Monk, former head of China Analysis at Australia's Defense Department, said something to the effect that the program should be viewed through the prism of China's intention of increasing its military-industrial strength.

It is such politicization of bilateral relations that has damaged ties between the two countries. Australia has accused China of engaging in "intervention and infiltration" activities in the country. It has even proposed a so-called "independent international inquiry" into the novel coronavirus outbreak in an attempt to lay the blame for the pandemic at China's door.

It has also launched 106 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into imports from China, and imposed unreasonably harsh scrutiny on Chinese investments in Australia.

China-Australia relations would not have worsened to the extent they have today had the Australian government not associated bilateral ties with political ideologies or geopolitics with the intention of stigmatizing and demonizing it.

China has no intention of seeking global hegemony. It pursues a peaceful rise, and seeks to develop reciprocal and equal relations with all countries.

Economic cooperation between China and Australia are in the interests of both countries and both peoples. That explains why China has become Australia's largest trade partner.

However, it seems the current Australian government is unsettled by that. Looking through an ideological and geopolitical prism, it sees a distorted image of China, and perceives it to be a threat. The Australian government is even considering seeking assistance from its "Five-Eye" allies in response to China's reaction to its provocations, naively believing sanctions from the five allies would be able to pressure China onto its knees.

Terminating the Victoria-Jiangsu Program for Technology and Innovation R&D, which benefits both sides in many ways, will be another step astray from the right track of amicable bilateral relations. Canberra should reconsider.

It is high time that the Australian government acquired a clear understanding of the nature of Sino-Australian relations. It will otherwise be impossible for it to adopt the right approach to handle bilateral relations with its largest trade partner.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/29/WS5feb20d0a31024ad0ba9f637.html

Possible Trump Pardon Overshadows Assange Extradition Ruling

A U.K. judge will rule Monday on whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges after weeks of talk about a possible pardon from Donald Trump.

The decision from a London judge will come after President Trump, whose administration brought the charges, issued a plethora of pardons to political allies. And lawyers say the odds of clemency from Trump are better than a judge buying Assange’s arguments that his human rights will be trampled on in America.

“It’s very rare for the magistrates to refuse extradition requests from the U.S.,” said Anthony Hanratty, a lawyer at BDB Pitmans in London, who specializes in extradition cases. “There’s a quite strong presumption that the U.S. will comply with obligations in relation to human rights and legal process.”

Assange, 49, has been in custody or self-imposed exile in London for the better part of a decade. He initially sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 rather than face questioning in a Swedish sexual assault case, which was later dropped. Last year, when he was expelled from the embassy, he faced U.S. charges related to WikiLeaks disclosures.

He’s accused of working with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to get classified documents from databases containing about 90,000 Afghanistan war-related activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related reports and 250,000 State Department cables.

At a pair of extradition hearings earlier this year, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, Assange’s lawyers focused their arguments on allegations that he couldn’t receive a fair trial in the U.S.

But Assange drew praise from Trump during the 2016 campaign when WikiLeaks released emails that undercut Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. And it seems that Assange’s supporters have moved on from the extradition battle to focus on a possible pardon.

Assange’s fiancée, Stella Moris, has spent the last few months making direct pleas to Trump via Twitter and appearances on Fox News.

“I beg you, please bring him home for Christmas,” she tweeted last month.

Officials at WikiLeaks declined to comment ahead of Monday’s ruling and instead referred to Moris’s tweets. The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment.

The prospect of presidential intervention first gained traction early last year when Assange’s lawyers said a congressman and a Trump associate met Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in the summer of 2017 to discuss a pardon if he revealed the source behind the leaked Democratic National Committee emails.

The pardon fever has only grown in recent weeks after Trump issued pardons to more than a dozen people. The recipients were mostly political allies, including Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager, and Charles Kushner, the real estate developer and father of the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Trump would face opposition to a pardon from inside his own administration. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo when he was CIA director described WikiLeaks as a hostile force that threatens the U.S.

Barring a pardon, the extradition process in London will likely drag on no matter how Judge Vanessa Baraitser rules Monday. Appeals could take 18 to 24 months with possible challenges going to the U.K. Supreme Court and even the European Court of Human Rights, Hanratty said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-31/possible-trump-pardon-overshadows-assange-extradition-ruling

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Dec. 31, 2020, 6:17 p.m. No.12259861 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2463

Cabinet papers reveal Howard government's concerns about an independent East Timor

The development of a domestic security force in East Timor was a matter of "fundamental importance" to Australia's strategic interests, newly declassified documents released for the first time on Friday reveal.

Cabinet papers from 2000 outlined post-independence security scenarios in documents marked AUSTEO - "for Australian Eyes Only" - which were considered by the Howard government's national security committee in August of that year.

The passage of East Timor to independent statehood had formally begun a year earlier when the United Nations took over the territory's administration from Indonesia.

Heavily redacted on the grounds it could damage Australia's standing with foreign governments to this year, the submission from Alexander Downer, then Foreign Minister, revealed the government wanted a "substantial strategic relationship" with its northern neighbour.

"An important part of this will be a defence relationship and the future shape of the East Timorese defence force is therefore a key issue for us," he told his cabinet colleagues in documents today released by the National Archives.

"We also need to remain open-minded about East Timor's future security and not assume that the UN will hand over a stable and secure country to self-government."

Cabinet, the papers show, wanted a "modest and affordable" domestic security force which was "disciplined", operated within the rule of law and was subordinate to civil power. It would have between 1000-1500 personnel and lightly armed.

Later that year, John Moore, the Defence Minister, recommended – and cabinet agreed – that 300 M16 rifles with ammunition be supplied to enable the East Timor Defence Force to begin basic training.

Australia's preferred option was a police-based security model but the papers acknowledged this "may not command East Timorese support".

It stipulated that it must promote "constructive relations with Indonesia".

Cabinet endorsed Mr Downer's view that Australia wanted a secure and stable East Timor, but not one requiring an ADF presence. Should one prove necessary, it should only happen with other international participation.

Cabinet agreed Australia's strategic interests included the safety of Australians in East Timor, border control and resource security, in particular the effective management of the Timor Gap resources.

The contentious Timor Gap negotiations, for joint petroleum exploration of the Timor Sea by the two countries, are among a number of cabinet papers from 2000 concerning foreign affairs that remain closed on the grounds they contain information which could affect relations with the current government of a foreign country.

The issue would erupt in scandal years later, when the Australian Secret Intelligence Service clandestinely planted covert listening devices in a room adjacent to the Prime Minister's Office at Dili, to obtain information in order to ensure Australia held the upper hand in negotiations over the rich oil and gas fields.

A legal case involving an intelligence officer who allegedly revealed details of the bugging is expected to continue in the ACT Supreme Court this year.

In June 2000, Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral Chris Barrie, briefed cabinet's national security committee that serious armed attacks had occurred on a handful of occasions against the ADF personnel serving in operations under the United Nations.

During an attack on June 21 several ADF personnel "had been in grave danger of being killed", notes of the briefing show, and they "appeared to be the work of a small group of pro-integrationist insurgents operating without support from any Indonesian government entity".

The committee agreed to provide more support, including a plan to allow ADF helicopters which were assigned to security to the Sydney Olympic Games to be used if there was no serious detriment to Games security.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/cabinet-papers-reveal-howard-government-s-concerns-about-an-independent-east-timor-20201230-p56qt4.html

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=202981829

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=202981829&T=PDF

Historic change to Advance Australia Fair, Australia's national anthem, in the 'spirit of unity'

More than 140 years after it was first composed and performed, Advance Australia Fair is again being updated in a move the Prime Minister says reflects a "spirit of unity".

From January 1, 2021, the second line of Australia's national anthem will change from, "For we are young and free" to "For we are one and free".

Governor-General David Hurley has agreed to the Commonwealth's recommendation to make an amendment to the anthem for the first time since 1984.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement that the change was being made for all Australians.

"During the past year we have showed once again the indomitable spirit of Australians and the united effort that has always enabled us to prevail as a nation," he said.

"It is time to ensure this great unity is reflected more fully in our national anthem.

"Also, while Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, our country's story is ancient, as are the stories of the many First Nations peoples whose stewardship we rightly acknowledge and respect.

"In the spirit of unity, it is only right that we ensure our national anthem reflects this truth and shared appreciation.

"Changing 'young and free' to 'one and free' takes nothing away, but I believe it adds much."

Composer Deborah Cheetham is a Yorta Yorta woman and says the new wording is long overdue.

"It's an important acknowledgement. The word young has underestimated the lives that have lived on this continent for some millennia," the soprano and educator said.

First Nations Foundation chairman and Yorta Yorta man Ian Hamm also welcomed the change, which was suggested last year by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

"In terms of culture, society, and population, we go back 60,000 years. We're very definitely not young," he said.

"We should regard ourselves as a nation that's bonded, as opposed to being divided, and we should recognise our Indigenous history as part of our Australian history.

"'One and free' looks for what brings us together. It's actually a focal point for that discussion about who we are as a country.

"I think it's a really good change."

Mr Hamm said the symbolism behind the action was important for Indigenous Australians.

"Symbolism is important, real action and change is important. If you do one or the other, you only get half the job done.

"You do need symbolic change, you do need real change.

"This is an important indication to ourselves as a country as to what our expectations are going forward, and to recognise in our national anthem the continued human occupation of this continent from 60,000 years plus to 1 January 2021, and beyond, is an important change."

But Labor Wiradjuri woman Linda Burney, the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the federal House of Representatives, said more needed to be done.

"It flies in the face, of course, of the Government saying that they want to work with Aboriginal people, but the real issue is a constitutionally enshrined voice," she said.

Advance Australia Fair was composed by Peter Dodds McCormick and first performed in 1878.

It was adopted as the country's national anthem on April 19, 1984, replacing God Save the Queen, which had been in place since the time of British settlement.

Prime minister Bob Hawke last recommended a modification of the national anthem to the governor-general in 1984.

The historic change to Advance Australia Fair has involved consultations with state premiers, state governors who have been advised by the Governor-General as well as the Speaker of Federal Parliament and the President of the Senate.

In recent times, leaders from all sides of politics have expressed public support for changing the anthem to better reflect modern Australia and its Indigenous heritage.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-31/advance-australia-fair-national-anthem-historic-change/13024810

Vatican says $2.3 billion transferred to Australia 'like science fiction'

Vatican City: The Vatican and the Australian Catholic Church have both denied knowledge of transfers worth US$1.8 billion ($2.3 billion) which Australia's financial watchdog says have been sent from Rome to Australia in the past seven years.

"That amount of money and that number of transfers did not leave the Vatican City," a senior Vatican official with knowledge of the city-state's finances said on Wednesday, local time.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Vatican would be seeking details from Australian authorities on the specific origin and destination of the money.

"It's not our money because we don't have that kind of money," he said. "I am absolutely stunned."

The figures were made public in December by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) in response to a parliamentary question by Australian Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, and first reported by the newspaper The Australian.

They involved about 47,000 separate transfers, according to AUSTRAC.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane told Reuters the Australian Church was not aware of any such transfers: "I can assure you that no diocese or other Church entity saw any of the money."

Fierravanti-Wells had asked what funds had been transferred to Australia "from the Vatican or any of its entities, or individuals associated with the Vatican or Vatican entities" since 2014.

The official in Rome said the Vatican had around 100 legal entities, including hospitals and the like, "but they don't have that kind of money".

AUSTRAC said the transfers ranged from yearly totals of $71.6 million in 2014 to $581.3 million in 2017.

In an email to Reuters on December 24, AUSTRAC said it had no further comment. On Thursday, in a further email, it said it could not comment on the specifics of this story before next week.

Two Vatican offices handle money transfers - its bank, commonly known as the IOR, and APSA, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See.

The Vatican official said APSA had sent less than €800,000 to Australia since 2014, mostly for payment of salaries and expenses for the Vatican embassy, as well as pensions and travel costs.

Similarly, the money sent to Australia by the IOR for its clients, typically members of religious orders, was nowhere near the amounts listed by AUSTRAC, he said.

"The Holy See's entire yearly budget is about €330 million. The (AUSTRAC) figures are about four times that," the official said. "It seems like science fiction."

He said the Vatican wanted to find out if others had illegally used its name or that of a related entity to move money through banks in other countries.

Archbishop Coleridge said the funds had not been used for financial settlements with victims of sexual abuse or for legal costs related to Cardinal George Pell.

"Given the speculation that is rife, there is a need for clarification," he said.

Pell worked in the Vatican as its treasurer from 2014 to 2017, when he returned to his native Australia to face charges of historical sexual abuse.

He spent 404 days in jail before his conviction was overturned last April, and he is currently in Rome. He did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/vatican-says-2-3-billion-transferred-to-australia-like-science-fiction-20210101-p56r5p.html

Jon James Pratt (999) ID: 3e62f9 Did Assange hurt USA’s feelings too? Dec. 31, 2020, 10:05 p.m. No.12262844 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12259099

Is that why they are angry?

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Bruce and Sheila Dec. 31, 2020, 10:20 p.m. No.12263011 🗄️.is 🔗kun

If you keep on lying to the rest of the world 🌎

You’re going to get killed, like the Jews and Americans

This isn’t a knife, it’s a beam of light 💡 from

God Almighty

And yeah, I love Paul hogan too

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Trump’s spiritual advisor Dec. 31, 2020, 11:27 p.m. No.12263616 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Mark

Another fucking satanic moron, like trump

Pics related

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Too late Scott Dec. 31, 2020, 11:33 p.m. No.12263664 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12261174

You stand behind your whore queen and trump

You get fucking crucified

You get

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 1, 2021, 12:35 a.m. No.12264082 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

2021 can be a year of recovery for US now Trump is gone

PETER VAN ONSELEN - JANUARY 1, 2021

It’s an obvious thing to say that 2020 was a shocker of a year, the pandemic of course being the primary cause. Frankly, it has been a hard year to find positives in, but here is one huge positive from 2020: Donald Trump lost the US Presidential election.

Sure he might still be in denial about that. Sure some of his supporters are too. And between them they won’t make life easy for incoming President Joe Biden when he takes over later this month.

But for all the negatives surrounding 2020, the demise of Trump is one hell of a positive to round out the year. America needed Trump to get booted out the way he did to help ensure 2021 became a year of recovery, notwithstanding how hard that will be.

Not that everyone agrees of course. Many people voted for Trump. Plenty of commentators also defended him. Some of them prematurely claimed victory on election night, unable to understand the US electoral system as the votes were coming in.

It’s not simply a case of pointing to the odd good thing Trump presided over during his presidency to try and justify his time in office, however. That sort of simplistic analysis is what you get from the conga line of apologists who defended Trump over the past four years.

He did some good, it would be hard not to as President for four years. But that’s not the issue. That’s not why it’s such a good thing that he’s about to be shown the door.

It’s the tone Trump set for America. The cultural erosion of decency and respect. The intolerance he stoked, the divisions he perpetuated. The hate he fostered.

The world’s superpower – in decline, yes, but that is what America still is – needed to reset after what Trump has done to the psyche of the nation.

While conservatives have been in thrall to Trump, his approach has been anything but conservative. He has eroded confidence in political and institutional pillars of American society: the congress, the courts and the media just for starters. And now Biden also needs to repair the reputation of the Presidency, both domestically and abroad. Because of the damage Trump has done.

Trump’s schtick is all about undermining others and aggrandising himself. We’ve seen that play out for years with his boosters in the media constantly finding justification in his actions. Or looking the other way when he tries to shame people.

Even now, as Trump continues to claim he was robbed at the election, his callow defenders only peel off one by one very slowly. Many continue to stand with the president, diminishing themselves in the process.

So with a new year ahead, be positive about one thing: Donald Trump will soon be gone. For that we can all look back extremely gratefully.

Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/2021-can-be-a-year-of-recovery-for-us-now-trump-is-gone/news-story/3525a316bb0d36fc3ae60f1d8c7c4258

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 The Vatican (666) Jan. 1, 2021, 2:48 a.m. No.12264899 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12261248

Every single member of the Vatican and the pope

Tossed into a massive bonfire in. The Vatican square live on tv

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Sonny Burgess (Aus) Jan. 1, 2021, 3:33 a.m. No.12265168 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Has been missing for nearly three years

He’s an old bmx friend of mine

We think he has been killed

Locating him would be useful

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Babylon is fallen (999) Jan. 1, 2021, 3:40 a.m. No.12265204 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Royals on this planet are going to get crucified as heretics

Father takes Assange's fight to New York

The father of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has turned his focus from the UK to the US where he hopes a change of president could advantage his son.

Assange is being held at London's Belmarsh Prison, pending a court decision on a warrant for his extradition to the US to face charges.

A judgment is due to be handed down at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, but Assange's father John Shipton won't be there.

Mr Shipton says there's too much uncertainty about his ability to travel amid a series of border closures in the UK due to a mutant strand of coronavirus.

"It's all up in the air like it is for everybody … except the situation is more tenuous for Julian because it's 10 years long," he told AAP.

So instead of London, Mr Shipton will head to the other side of the Atlantic.

He says the change of US leadership offers a chance to secure his son a presidential pardon from Donald Trump with the pro-Trump One America News Network agitating for it.

Mr Shipton also believes there's a possibility of the Biden-appointed Justice Department dropping the case against Assange.

"I have to go to New York and interview members of the new administration and advocate for Julian to return home," he said.

"That's where the battle is, that's who wants him. The case against Julian is weak and Julian's case is extremely strong."

Mr Shipton said if English District Judge Vanessa rules that his son should be extradited it's important to be putting the ground work in at the next stage, which will be in the US.

Assange has been in de facto captivity for a decade, including time under strict bail in regional England and as an asylum seeker for eight years in London's Ecuadorian embassy.

Belmarsh prison, where he's being held on remand, has been locked down since November 18 and he spent Christmas in isolation.

Mr Shipton said Assange had been able to prerecord a message to his wife Stella Morris and infant sons Gabiel and Max.

"So they playback the recording to try to keep the relationship between Julian and his kids going as best they cane," he said.

The uncertainty of the past 10 years has served to prepare Mr Shipton for the year that was 2020, and the unpredictable year ahead.

Mr Shipton remains stoic about the future and determined to fight for his son.

"What you think about is not 'oh s**t this is no good, I'll go an hide under a tree and go to sleep'," he said.

"It's just simply: 'where is the best place to fight the battle now? How do you best fight it?'."

https://www.standard.net.au/story/7072773/father-takes-assanges-fight-to-new-york/?cs=9676

US ambassador Arthur Culvahouse takes parting shot at China

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Outgoing US ambassador Arthur Culvahouse says America, Australia and like-minded democracies need to work together to develop trusted supply chains for critical goods like minerals, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment that don’t rely on China.

Mr Culvahouse said COVID-19 and “malign” Chinese influence required a determined effort by Five Eyes nations, plus key partners India and Japan, to source economic and national security inputs from friendly countries. In an interview with The Weekend Australian in his final days in the job, the Donald Trump appointee said Australia’s global standing had been enhanced during the COVID crisis, and the nation’s treatment by Beijing had opened the eyes of the world to Chinese coercion.

Mr Culvahouse, who will return to the US before Joe Biden’s January 20 inauguration, also urged Australians to have confidence in the US and the “profound and sacred” Australia-US alliance.

The lifelong Republican said the post-COVID era would require new levels of co-operation and a willingness to pay higher prices to guarantee supplies of critical minerals, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. “We are going to have to work creatively in almost a Manhattan Project-way to jump-start some supply chains that were captured by China because they were the lowest-cost producer,” he said in a reference to World War II allied effort to develop the atomic bomb.

“These words don’t come naturally out of my mouth, but we’re probably going to have to do a little industrial policy. If you are going to create strategically reliable supply chains, you have to have offtake agreements.”

He said trust and shared values would be the bedrock of future arrangements for the post-COVID economic and security environment. “Part of doing due diligence today is ‘Can we trust them? Do they believe in democracy? Do they believe in the rule of law? Are their people getting a fair shake?” he said.

“I think the Prime Minister, to his credit, has mapped out the blueprint, which is to build a coalition of like-minded, trusted partners … to be the grouping around which, in the post-COVID world, we have defence, economic and humanitarian co-operation.”

Australian rare-earths miner Lynas sealed a much-needed contract earlier this year with the US Defence Department for a proposed processing facility in Texas — the only source of separated heavy rare earths outside China.

But Mr Culvahouse said an even greater collective effort was needed, noting more than 400kg of minerals were required to manufacture a single F-35 stealth fighter jet. “Whether it’s rare earth, PPE or pharmaceuticals, you need strategically reliable supply chains from the mine mouth or the field, to the lab, to the end user,” he said.

He said the US also needed to share more of its cutting-edge technology, streamlining Cold War-era export controls for trusted partners.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 1, 2021, 2:02 p.m. No.12271854 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2463

>>12271841

2/2

As the incoming Biden administration prepares to ramp up US efforts to tackle climate change, Mr Culvahouse said the benefits offered by nuclear power also needed to be considered to deliver energy security while cutting carbon emissions.

He said it was not his place to recommend nuclear power for Australia, but declared “all options need to be on the table”.

“Nuclear power plants are smaller, safer and environmentally have no carbon footprint,” he said. “We need to get cleaner, quicker. But climate change and economic security go hand-in-hand. You can’t deal with them in isolation.”

Mr Culvahouse said Australia — which has been hit by punitive Chinese trade bans on more than $20bn of exports — was “at the frontlines of the great strategic competition of our times”.

He said Australian and US efforts to stand up to Beijing had created “additional space for other democracies in this region to step in and confront malign activity — and that is what is happening”.

The Chinese embassy’s list of 14 “grievances” with the Australian government — including the Huawei ban, new foreign interference laws, and the push for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 — had also taught the world about the Chinese Communist Party “in a way we couldn’t have”, Mr Culvahouse said.

“What this really says is if you want to get along with China economically you must be subservient. You must do what we (the CCP) say,” he said.

Now the dominant conversation in Canberra’s diplomatic community was, “How can we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Australia?”, Mr Culvahouse said.

He said Australia had “gained so much credit in the world’s eyes with the way it had dealt with the COVID pandemic” domestically, and in its global push for an inquiry into the virus’ origins.

Australia had also shown leadership in its vocal opposition to human rights infringements in China’s Xinjiang region and Hong Kong, and in calling out Chinese claims in the South China Sea to be illegal, he said.

“Australia has a lot of capacity for leadership, and when Australia speaks, people in this region really listen, and people throughout the world listen,” he said.

Mr Culvahouse, whose own appointment as ambassador came after a 2½-year vacancy in the post, said he hoped Australia would not have long to wait to learn who his successor would be.

Despite Mr Trump’s ongoing refusal to acknowledge Mr Biden as the president-elect, and four years of America First disruption to the global order, the ambassador said he remained an optimist and an “American exceptionalist”. “I’m proud of my country. We are a big, messy democracy, but we have self-correcting mechanisms that have worked for almost 250 years,” he said.

“The election of President Trump was a direct response to the fact that the elite in our country had ignored a swath of our population. And that was a significant self-correction.

“But I think we’re a force for good. Our values are strong. And our commitment to Australia is solemn, profound and sacred, and there is widespread bipartisan agreement on that.

“The next couple of years, just like the past two years have been, will be an incredibly important chapter in the alliance. We’re going to go through some tough times. But I’m equally confident the best days of the alliance are in front of us.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/us-ambassador-arthur-culvahouse-takes-parting-shot-at-china/news-story/581b7a2b3678b2329a9f0659ce5b4aaf

https://twitter.com/PiKappaAlpha/status/799296805569724417

George Pell’s Vatican money trail investigation hits home

DENNIS SHANAHAN - JANUARY 2, 2021

Before his 75th birthday in June 2016, Cardinal George Pell went to see Pope Francis to confirm that his appointment as the head of the new secretariat of the economy would extend beyond his birthday.

Pell, the Vatican outsider from Australia who was given the job in 2014 to clean up the Holy See’s antiquated and opaque financial system, needed more than just the formal extension beyond the birthday at which approval is required to keep working.

He was in the middle of a titanic clash of powers within the Curia, he had made many enemies, and he was facing stiff resistance to financial changes and audits.

The revelations in The Australian this week that $2.3bn was transferred from the Vatican to Australia between 2014 and 2020, without the knowledge of the Australian Catholic Bishops — and that it is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police — highlight the need for the reforms.

From his appointment in February 2014, Pell had moved quickly, brusquely and effectively. The Pope signed new financial standards laws, and by April 2015, Pell had found more than €1bn ($1.6bn) “hidden” in Vatican accounts.

The Pope confirmed Pell’s five-year appointment would continue through to 2019 but it was derailed in 2016 when Victoria Police investigated Pell for sexual abuse of minors. He was charged in 2017, faced trial in 2018 and 2019 and found guilty and sentenced to six years in jail.

But after the High Court’s unanimous acquittal in 2020, Pell returned in October to Rome. He was given a ceremonial welcome from the Swiss Guard normally reserved for heads of state. Since then, he has watched as the financial scandal emerged from the dark corners of the Vatican.

The Archbishop of Brisbane and president of the Australian bishops’ conference, Mark Coleridge, told The Australian on Tuesday a lack of transparency and clarity in the Vatican finances and international transfers allowed for “dark speculation”.

The Australian bishops are preparing to ask Pope Francis to investigate and explain the $2.3bn in transfers, which they say was not received by any church entity.

Coleridge, who was posted to the Vatican for four years from 1997, said the deeply rooted Byzantine and antiquated culture of the Curia was one of the “big problems Cardinal Pell faced”.

The Archbishop said the timing of the revelation of the astonishing scale of the financial transfers to Australia — at time of a growing financial scandal at the Vatican — was “very unhelpful”.

In the past five months, Vatican investigators have uncovered the misuse of charitable funds, the overpayment on a $363m building in London’s Chelsea, and suspicious international transfers from the Vatican secretariat of state. They have also suspended Vatican police and heard allegations of payments to Australia to adversely affect Pell’s trial.

During the same time, the Pope has sacked high-powered Vatican insider Cardinal Angelo Becciu in connection with the London building scandal, stripped the secretariat of state of all its financial powers, and signed new financial standards laws.

Becciu, an opponent of Pell’s reforms who said the Australian cardinal was trying to enforce laws and regulations that weren’t enacted, was also the executor on two transfers in 2016 and 2018 totalling almost $2m from the Secretariat of State.

Becciu has denied any wrongdoing or anything illegal, and is suing Italian newspapers over the allegations of sending money to adversely affect Pell’s trials.

(continued)

>>12272002

2/2

In an interview before Christmas with an Italian current affairs program, Pell said everyone who had been appointed to clean up the Vatican finances over the past decades had been resisted, attacked and undermined.

Pell referred to the history of mafia involvement in Vatican finances and said there was a tape recording of a criminal who said: “Pell is out of the game now and we’ve got a clear highway ahead now.” He also said he understood if the mafia was trying to remove him, but hoped it wasn’t anyone within the Church, although there was “a lot of smoke”.

There are two concerns for the Australian authorities: first, that the Vatican is being used as an international “washing machine” to launder money through cipher accounts which are in the control of criminals; and, second, allegations that there were attempts to adversely affect Pell’s criminal trials in 2018 and 2019.

The pattern of transfers detected by Austrac, Australia’s international financial watchdog, and being investigated by the AFP, show a sharp increase in transfers after Pell was distracted by the police investigations and later removed from his post.

Between 2017, when Pell was charged and returned to Australia, and 2020, when the High Court unanimously acquitted him, $1.8bn was transferred from the Vatican City to Australia.

Australian bishops believe the funds sent to Australia could be explained by investments in Australian bonds and equities, which has occurred in the past.

But in the audited accounts that Pell prepared in 2015, there were no “significant Australian” investments and the funds returning from Australia to the Vatican do not reflect an investment of that size.

As well, at least four of the Vatican transfers — including the two signed by Becciu, totalling almost $3m between February 2017 and December 2018 — had a Melbourne company, Neustar Australia, as the beneficiary.

The Austrac reports show transfers from the Vatican to Australia soared from $71.6m in 2014 to $137.1m in 2015 before doubling again to $295m in 2016 and peaking at $581.3m in 2017. More than $422m was transferred in 2018, $491.8m in 2019 and $294.8m in 2020 in more than 40,000 transactions over the six years.

The Vatican investigators have also looked at transfers of charity funds to the Chelsea building project and to Slovenia.

Coleridge told The Australian: “What is certain in the middle of great uncertainties is that the Australian bishops did not know about these transfers until the disclosure last week, and we were astonished at the scale of transfers. We are baffled.”

The Catholic bishops and the AFP are trying to find out who received the money and how it was spent, six years after Pell tried the same thing.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/george-pells-vatican-money-trail-investigation-hits-home/news-story/b56d28fe47ea580015c05eb1118208e5

Soldier drinking from dead Taliban fighter's prosthetic leg in infamous photo is exposed as a highly-respected senior officer - as it's revealed he lectured the entire army on 'good soldiering' just weeks ago

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A senior Special Forces soldier pictured drinking out of a slain Taliban fighter's prosthetic leg recently lectured troops on ethics and integrity in the army's own newspaper.

Warrant Officer Class 1 John Letch, Command Sergeant Major of the Special Operations Command, has voluntarily stood down from his position after a pixelated copy of the photograph was widely published.

A clear version of the image showing WO1 Letch is published by Daily Mail Australia here for the first time.

The highly-regarded 50-year-old veteran of numerous overseas deployments is the most senior enlisted man in Special Forces and one of the most senior soldiers in the entire army.

A source familiar with the photograph - and others showing senior SAS soldiers doing the same thing - said WO1 Letch was still widely respected by the men previously under his command.

'He's leading by example,' the source said. 'That's certainly how it's viewed by the boys.

'He's done the right thing. Yes, he did something in the middle of a war zone ten years ago but he's chosen to be a leader by stepping aside.'

WO1 Letch was pictured drinking from the prosthetic leg at an unofficial Special Air Service bar known as the Fat Lady's Arms at Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province in 2009.

Daily Mail Australia understands drinking from the leg was considered a normal bonding exercise among elite troops who were repeatedly deployed to the war zone.

The photograph was first published earlier this month in The Guardian and WO1 Letch was identified as the solider on Wednesday by The Australian.

Photographs of other Special Air Service officers and senior soldiers drinking from the leg are in circulation. The taking of war trophies from enemy combatants is forbidden.

Last month, following the release of the Brereton report into alleged war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, WO1 Letch extolled the virtues of 'good soldiering' in Army newspaper.

The story appeared under the headline 'Be prepared to harness leadership' in the November 26 issue below a picture of WO1 Letch addressing commandos at a Special Forces training facility last year.

WO1 Letch was quoted saying the army relied on 'good soldiering' as its foundation to achieve character excellence and win the trust of the Australian public.

'Integrity and ethics are central to everything we do and every decision we make,' he told the newspaper.

'Personally, I view loyalty to Good Soldiering and sincerity - or genuineness - as crucial necessities to align our thoughts, words and actions to do what is right and achieve the greatest good.

'You think it, talk it and then walk it.'

WO1 Letch said 'walking the walk' was not easy and senior soldiers had to 'harness leadership over being liked to ensure that standards are applied and maintained.'

'The one-percenters, like dress and bearing and having manners, really do count, because perception is reality,' he said.

Being open to mentoring and having examples to look up were are also important to developing excellent character, according to WO1 Letch.

'A good mentor will advise, guide and train you to live, lead, fight and support better,' he said.

(continued)

>>12272708

2/2

Onetime SAS captain turned Liberal federal MP Andrew Hastie served with WO1 Letch in Afghanistan and described him as a fine soldier.

'We deployed together to Afghanistan in 2013,' Mr Hastie told The Australian. 'He was my squadron sergeant major and looked after our welfare during tough times.'

'John is an honourable man who did the wrong thing more than a decade ago. He accepts full responsibility for it. No one is perfect.'

WO1 Letch was right-hand man to Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) commander, Major General Adam Findlay and his recent successor Major General Paul Kenny.

'SOCOMD'S strategic centre of gravity is trust and we will only protect that trust by displaying integrity and exemplary behaviour,' WO1 Letch said.

'As CSM, I expect everyone in SOCOMD to live the Defence Values and show the strength of character that sets them at the very highest Army standards - no exceptions.

'I also expect them to foster safe workplaces, where everyone is encouraged to come forward and report matters not aligned to Good Soldiering.'

WO1 Letch joined the army in 1988, was initially assigned to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps and has had a distinguished career in the Special Air Service.

He has served in combat units, training establishments, Army Headquarters and most recently Headquarters, Special Operations Command.

WO1 Letch holds the Order of Australia Medal and was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service for operational service in Afghanistan in 2009, the year the photograph was taken.

He has also participated in training exercises and exchanges in Brunei, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

WO1 Letch holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Edith Cowan University in Western Australia.

The Brereton report found evidence of 39 murders of civilians or prisoners by 25 Australian soldiers serving in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2016.

A photographs from 2009 shows the Taliban fighter's leg mounted to a wooden board under the heading 'Das Boot' alongside a German Iron Cross.

The fake leg is believed to have been removed from an Afghan amputee who was gunned down during a raid at Kakarak in Uruzgan in April 2009.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8434661/Special-Forces-soldier-John-Letch-stands-picture-drinking-prosthetic-leg.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 1, 2021, 3:30 p.m. No.12273003 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

The burger bromance between Col Allan and Donald Trump

Andrew Hornery - January 2, 2021

Rupert Murdoch’s most ardent tabloid terrier Col Allan, the former Sydney reporter who rose to be editor of the New York Post and most recently advised on the paper’s coverage of the US election, is tying up loose ends in the United States before he returns to Australia in coming months.

Part of that house-keeping was a very special lunch date indeed: a private audience with one of his closest mates, the outgoing US president himself, Donald Trump.

Allan’s friends report that Trump hosted Allan in the Oval office, where they dined on … wait for it … hamburgers, washed down with a fine bottle of chilled Chateau de Coca-Cola 2020.

Allan’s pals have been regaling each other with tales of their mate’s lunch date, which has amused them greatly given he can apparently recite the gastronomic delights on the menu and wine list at his former haunt Lucio’s in Paddington off by heart. He is not known for being a burger and Coke kind of guy.

They also report that during the lunch Trump presented the retiring newspaperman from Down Under with the keys to the White House.

PS is not sure if that was a reference to an actual key to the building, or the long established “keys” to predicting presidential election outcomes, which have clearly not gone Trump’s way.

And if it is the former, will they still open the locks after Trump vacates the presidential palace in a few weeks’ time? We can only wonder, especially given his very loud rejection of the election results and discredited claims of voter fraud.

As for the lunch menu, apparently Trump has long held an all-consuming passion for hamburgers, requesting the White House chefs to recreate his favoured version: McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with cheese, though apparently with mixed success according to his former bodyguard Keith Schiller, who was often dispatched to the Maccas nearest the White House to pick up Hamburger One.

We can only hope Trump did not serve Allan the same version of the burger on sale at his own Trump Tower Grille restaurant in New York City.

In 2016 Vanity Fair writer Tina Nguyen described it as “a sad little meat thing, sitting in the centre of a massive, rapidly staling brioche bun, hiding its shame under a slice of melted orange cheese”, though given all the whining coming out of the Oval Office in the dying days of his presidency, she could have been writing about Trump himself, metaphorically speaking of course.

In November The New York Times revealed Allan, “the Australian tabloid wizard who was once seen in the Post newsroom wearing a Make America Great Again cap”, was calling an end to his career of more than 40 years at Murdoch papers in New York and Sydney.

Allan, who was the Post’s editor in chief from 2001-2016, rejoined the paper as an adviser in January 2019, just as the presidential campaign was under way, though its blatantly pro-Trump tone has abruptly changed direction since the Biden victory.

“The Post is not perfect,” Allan told the NYT. “But it articulates a view that is not obedient to liberal orthodoxy. Therefore it is dangerous. I know where I would rather be.”

Allan also worked closely with former Sydney columnist Miranda Devine, who joined the Post in time for the 2020 campaign.

Devine has been a zealous supporter of Trump, likening him to “an invincible hero”. Her secondment to the Big Apple has been extended until May, after which she is likely to return to Sydney – unless she lands a gig flipping burgers at Trump Grille.

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/celebrity/burger-bromance-between-col-allan-and-donald-trump-20201229-p56qp4.html

How foreign intelligence services identify targets in Australia

ASIO believes there are more foreign spies operating in Australia now than at the height of the Cold War.

David Hurley - January 2, 2021

1/2

The message dropped into Jack’s inbox on LinkedIn.

The representative of a consulting company had noticed his profile and was impressed.

A virtual meeting was hastily organised on a popular encrypted app and Jack was told he had “a unique and valuable range of skills and experience”.

He was told he was the perfect candidate to undertake very lucrative consultancy work for the company.

Jack was quickly offered an all-expenses-paid trip to discuss the finer details of the role.

He was also told the job would need him to travel semi-regularly for discussions about “the more sensitive components of the role”.

It all sounded too good to be true.

But what Jack, who is an Australian government clearance holder, did not know at the time was that he was in the early stages of a cultivation attempt by a foreign intelligence service.

Jack had been targeted because foreign spies had gleaned information about him from his professional networking profile and deemed him a worthy target.

He became suspicious of the approach and reported it to his agency’s security adviser.

Further investigation identified the consulting firm was linked to a foreign intelligence service.

It is an approach that is becoming more and more common and Australians have been warned to be careful about what information they post about themselves on social media sites such as LinkedIn.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has been at the forefront of the secret war against foreign spies since it was formed almost 72 years ago.

Espionage has changed a lot in that time but the objectives of overseas governments looking to gain advantage at Australia’s expense has not.

Mike Burgess, Director-General of Security at ASIO, has said in the past 12 months multiple countries have tried to carry out foreign interference in Australia.

China is seen as the most active of those countries attempting to carry out espionage here.

In November, a former Liberal candidate who belongs to groups allegedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party became the first person in Australia to be charged under new foreign interference laws.

Di Sanh Duong, 65, former president of the Oceania Federation of Chinese Organisations and deputy chairman of the Museum of Chinese Australian History in Melbourne, was charged with preparing an act of foreign interference.

The charge followed a year-long probe by the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, led by ASIO and the Australian Federal Police.

The alleged target was acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge.

Sources have told the Saturday Herald Sun they expect more people to be charged under the foreign interference laws in 2021.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 1, 2021, 3:43 p.m. No.12273172 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6905

>>12273156

2/2

ASIO believes there are more foreign spies operating in Australia now than at the height of the Cold War.

The proliferation of technology and communications means foreign intelligence organisations can target Australians — and find out information about them prior to making contact — far more easily than before.

Mr Burgess said there had also been an increase in activity with more people working from home during 2020 due to the global pandemic.

“Espionage is the second oldest profession on the planet, perhaps the first and it hasn’t gone away,” Mr Burgess said.

“More activity online of people, spies are constrained on the streets, so the problem hasn’t gone away, in some cases things have got busier, especially in the online space.”

ASIO made international headlines in the 1950s during a Cold War flashpoint.

Vladimir Petrov, a Soviet intelligence officer based in Canberra, defected along with his wife Evdokia in 1954.

Petrov defected following months of development by his ASIO handlers and agents.

The defection led to diplomatic relations with the USSR being cut off and the Russian Embassy in Canberra was closed.

Since then ASIO has been a pioneer in using technology to carry out surveillance.

Decades ago cameras were hidden in books, bags and cigarette cases to observe targets.

The cameras are smaller now, but the purpose remains the same: who are foreign spies looking to target?

ASIO believes anybody who has access to sensitive information or with a position that gives them insight into cutting-edge research and technology, as well as domestic and foreign policy.

The spy agency also regularly engages with Australian universities, tertiary institutions and academia on national security issues, in a bid to protect information foreign governments are actively trying to get their hands on.

One aspect of ASIO’s role also involves working to protect diaspora communities here in Australia.

ASIO is currently in contact with more than 100 different ethnic and religious groups.

The spy agency says foreign governments have interfered in diaspora communities in Australia, often by using threats of violence.

“Australia’s diaspora communities are diverse, and the issues concerning them originate from a variety of sources: longstanding religious and/or ethnic conflicts, international events, social and economic inequalities, perceived political injustices and the difficulties faced by migrant communities with integrating into Australian society,” an ASIO spokesperson said.

“These diaspora groups are often the victims of foreign interference.

“Some foreign governments seek to interfere in diaspora communities to control or quash opposition or dissent deemed to be a threat to their government.

“Such interference has included threats of harm to individuals and/or their families, both in Australia and abroad.

“In some cases, foreign governments will seek to use members of the diaspora community in Australia to monitor, direct and influence the activities of the same diaspora communities.

“ASIO actively works with diaspora communities to help protect them from attempts at foreign interference.”

ASIO, with the help of the AFP and other agencies, has ramped up its battle against foreign interference in the past 12 months.

With the spectre of an ongoing trade battle with China looming large as one of the key issues of 2021 and beyond, the work of ASIO has never been more important.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/how-foreign-intelligence-services-identify-targets-in-australia/news-story/578c3ebb8679ac5e68bdc34b4ee4e2a7

Researchers targeted by foreign actors: ASIO

Universities are bristling against the prospect of more regulation to combat foreign interference, as Australia's domestic spy agency warns the threat cannot be left unchecked.

ASIO has told the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security's inquiry on foreign interference in the university sector it has learnt of researchers and their families who have been threatened or coerced by actors seeking to provide their sensitive research to a foreign state.

The agency said it was also aware that some universities have been threatened with funding cuts should critical research continue, and of academics self-censoring to avoid being punished.

"In ASIO's view, we cannot leave harmful foreign interference unchecked, given the serious nature of the threat and the corrosive impact it can have on our democratic society," their submission reads.

However the Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson told the inquiry Australia risked damaging important research collaborations if it over-reacted.

"The Go8 agrees that foreign interference is a significant risk in the current global environment and must be taken seriously. The consequences of inaction would be detrimental to the operations of Australia's high quality research effort, which is a critical part of our nation's sovereign capability," Ms Thomson said in her submission.

"The Go8 therefore agrees that the threat of foreign interference must be managed effectively. However … effective management will require nuance care and balance. It could impact negatively both economically and socially if there are any policy missteps, regardless of how well-intentioned."

She said while Australia's relationship with China had been the subject of intense media scrutiny in the past year, Group of Eight universities - which conduct 70 per cent of Australian research - collaborated far more often with institutions in Europe, the US and the UK.

From 2015 to 2019, Australia produced around 28,000 co-publications with China. In the same period, the US and China published more than 260,000 joint papers.

The Australian National University said these figures "help put into context the risk associated with international collaboration across the university sector".

"ANU recognises that the foreign influence transparency scheme, the new Australia's Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020, and the Defence Trade Controls Act all individually play a vital role in defending Australia and ensuring that our community does not become subject to foreign interference," their submission said.

"That said ANU does hold concerns that these legislative instruments when taken collectively will create highly regulated environment that may duplicate effort, unduly tie up resources and ultimately not deliver the desired outcome.

"ANU believes that it is imperative that any measures recommended by the PJCIS following this inquiry should support the sector rather than punish it by imposing a deeper regulatory burden."

The inquiry was referred to the committee by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, less than a week after the Morrison government revealed plans to give the Commonwealth the power to tear up agreements struck by governments and institutions that could be a threat to Australia's sovereignty.

A deal between the ANU and the University of South China, where scientists collaborate on fusion energy research, was flagged as one such agreement that could be in the crosshairs.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has previously accused Australian universities like ANU of unwittingly creating major security risks by collaborating with universities in China that operate as arms of China's military, intelligence and political leadership.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7071516/researchers-targeted-by-foreign-actors-asio/

Inquiry into national security risks affecting the Australian higher education and research sector

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Intelligence_and_Security/NationalSecurityRisks

https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=9f0851be-082b-4b56-ac25-873163fb73c4&subId=699731

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Zero mercy of the thick cunts with the skulls Jan. 1, 2021, 8:30 p.m. No.12276891 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Individually crucified live on tv

Dopey, disrespectful mother fuckers

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Threats of violence Jan. 1, 2021, 8:32 p.m. No.12276905 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12273172

Lol

You’re gonna be setting each other on fire, moron

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Anyone involved in jailing assange Jan. 1, 2021, 8:34 p.m. No.12276943 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12271599

Is gonna get set on fire 🔥 too

Regardless of their skin colour

Starting with Donald trump

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Cry me a river of Australian tears Jan. 1, 2021, 8:39 p.m. No.12277017 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Before you get fucking whacked

Disrespectful cunts

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3024f5 You lost Satan Jan. 1, 2021, 11:12 p.m. No.12278801 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Come at me again and your kids will be next

WikiLeaks: UK judge to rule on Monday if Julian Assange can be extradited to US

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will find out Monday whether the Australian can be extradited from the UK to the US to face espionage charges over the publication of secret American military documents.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser is due to deliver her decision at London's Old Bailey courthouse at 10am Monday. If she grants the request, then Britain's home secretary, Priti Patel, would make the final decision.

Whichever side loses is expected to appeal, which could lead to years more legal wrangling.

However, there's a possibility that outside forces may come into play that could instantly end the decade-long saga.

Stella Moris, Assange's partner and the mother of his two sons, has appealed to US President Donald Trump via Twitter to grant a pardon to Assange before he leaves office on January 20.

And even if Trump doesn't, there's speculation that his successor, Joe Biden, may take a more lenient approach to Assange's extradition process.

US prosecutors indicted the 49-year-old Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse that carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the US government said in their closing arguments after the four-week hearing in the fall that Assange's defence team had raised issues that were neither relevant nor admissible.

"Consistently, the defence asks this court to make findings, or act upon the submission, that the United States of America is guilty of torture, war crimes, murder, breaches of diplomatic and international law and that the United States of America is 'a lawless state'," they said. "These submissions are not only non-justiciable in these proceedings but should never have been made."

Assange's defence team argued that he is entitled to First Amendment protections for the publication of leaked documents that exposed US military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan and that the US extradition request was politically motivated.

In their written closing arguments, Assange's legal team accused the US of an "extraordinary, unprecedented and politicised" prosecution that constitutes "a flagrant denial of his right to freedom of expression and poses a fundamental threat to the freedom of the press throughout the world."

Defence lawyers also said Assange was suffering from wide-ranging mental health issues, including suicidal tendencies, that could be exacerbated if he is placed in inhospitable prison conditions in the US.

They said his mental health deteriorated while he took asylum inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for years and that he was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Assange jumped bail in 2012 when he sought asylum at the embassy, where he stayed for seven years before being evicted and arrested. He has been held at Belmarsh prison in London since April 2019.

His legal team argued that Assange would, if extradited, likely face solitary confinement that would put him at a heightened risk of suicide. They said if he was subsequently convicted, he would probably be sent to the notorious ADX Supermax prison in Colorado, which is also inhabited by Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Lawyers for the US government argued that Assange's mental state "is patently not so severe so as to preclude extradition."

Assange has attracted the support of high-profile figures, including the dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and actress Pamela Anderson.

Daniel Ellsberg, the famous US whistleblower, also came out in support, telling the hearing that they had "very comparable political opinions."

The 89-year-old, widely credited for helping to bring about an end to the Vietnam War through his leaking of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, said the American public "needed urgently to know what was being done routinely in their name, and there was no other way for them to learn it than by unauthorised disclosure".

There are clear echoes between Assange and Ellsberg, who leaked over 7000 pages of classified documents to the press, including The New York Times and The Washington Post. Ellsberg was subsequently put on trial for 12 charges in connection with violations of the Espionage Act, which were punishable by up to 115 years in prison. The charges were dismissed in 1973 because of government misconduct against him.

Assange and his legal team will be hoping that developments in the US bring an end to his ordeal if the judge grants the US extradition request.

https://twitter.com/StellaMoris1/status/1344981277976494080

https://twitter.com/StellaMoris1/status/1344770911250034688

https://www.9news.com.au/world/wikileaks-julian-assange-uk-judge-to-rule-on-us-extradition/9bd72f3f-5b24-49f8-be5b-6737ab1c8138

>>12286751

Mother of Julian Assange's children says if a British court sends her fiancé to face life in a US jail, this country's no longer a safe haven for free speech

Stella Moris - 3 January 2021

1/2

A month ago, I would wake up in the middle of the night seized by a recurring nightmare: my little boys, Max, 22 months, and Gabriel, who is three, had been orphaned. I was still here but their father was not.

Their father is Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks. Today, that terrible nightmare is all too close to becoming a reality.

Julian has been on remand in Belmarsh prison in South-East London for almost two years.

He is fighting a political extradition to the United States, where he risks being buried in the deepest, darkest corner of the US prison system for the rest of his life. Julian embarrassed Washington and this is their revenge.

The nightmares came to a sudden stop the week before Christmas, when a groundswell of support from all sides of the political spectrum called for President Trump to pardon him.

A leaked audio recording of Julian talking to the US State Department unmasked the trumped-up nature of the charges against him.

Leading figures, from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to Nobel Prize winners, such as human-rights campaigner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, have been calling for Julian's freedom.

So far, there has been no pardon. But tomorrow, a British magistrate will decide whether to order Julian's extradition or throw out the US government's request.

If Julian loses, I believe that it would not only be an unthinkable travesty but that the ruling would also be politically and legally disastrous for the UK.

That is because Julian's case is not about what some people would have you think it is about.

His role in founding the WikiLeaks website is well known and it is fair to say Julian has angered many government and establishment figures around the world. WikiLeaks has published thousands of sensitive classified documents, many from the US military.

Yet Julian has been acting in the same way as any other journalist would in attempting to hold the powerful to account.

President Obama's administration realised this, and understood that charging Julian would require them to prosecute international media outlets.

After all, newspapers, websites and TV stations had published substantially the same revelations as WikiLeaks. That is why, at the end of his term in office, Obama freed WikiLeaks's US Army Intelligence source, whistleblower Chelsea Manning, from jail.

With Trump, however, the mood has changed dramatically and under his administration, journalistic practices have been pursued as crimes.

WikiLeaks and Julian have been accused of 'endangering national security', but US prosecutors admit they have no evidence to support claims that WikiLeaks publications caused physical harm to anyone. Perhaps that explains why their tactics have become increasingly desperate.

During Julian's extradition hearing at the Old Bailey in September, the court heard evidence that CIA contractors were plotting to kill him with poison while he was in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Agents-turned-whistleblowers, who were granted anonymity by the court due to their fear of reprisals, also admitted targeting our then six-month-old baby to steal his DNA.

They told the court that they had installed hidden microphones to spy on Julian's solicitors' meetings. The offices of his lawyers were also broken into.

It might seem unthinkable that a British court would give its stamp of approval to such rampant, illegal actions by the US.

It might seem equally unthinkable that a man who was practising journalism in this country, perfectly legally according to UK law, could be tried in a foreign land and potentially jailed for life.

But that is what would happen if the UK decides to extradite Julian. It would rewrite the rules of what it is permissible to publish here. Overnight, it would chill free and open debate about abuses by our own government and by many foreign ones, too.

In effect, foreign countries could simply issue an extradition request saying that UK journalists, or Facebook users for that matter, have violated their censorship laws.

(continued)

>>12286782

2/2

Reporters Without Borders and the National Union of Journalists have said that as long as Julian remains in prison facing extradition, the UK is not a safe place for journalists and publishers to work.

The press freedoms we cherish in Britain are meaningless if they can be criminalised and suppressed by regimes in Russia or Ankara or by prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia.

If Westminster Magistrates' Court accepts the US arguments tomorrow, every other country can use them, too. It would place an impossible burden on you, me, everyone, not to violate foreign censorship laws.

Countries such as Azerbaijan are already lecturing the UK about press freedom because of Julian's incarceration. It has become an easy way to score cheap political points against Britain. 'What about Assange?' is the perfect comeback to criticism of human-rights abuses.

The US-UK Extradition Treaty, a relic of the Blair era, is partly to blame. It grants the US privileges the UK does not have: the US can reject an extradition request, as it has done to prevent Anne Sacoolas from facing justice after being charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn following a road crash outside a US military base in Northamptonshire.

There is no prima facie evidence requirement and US claims cannot even be cross-examined in court.

Still, you might say, once extradited, Julian would face a fair trial. You might assume that he would, for example, be allowed to exclude hostile jurors. You might assume that he could defend himself by arguing that it was his duty to expose war crimes, torture and state illegality, and that the public had a right to know. You might assume he would be treated equally according to the law.

In Alexandria, there is a special rule that jury members cannot be excluded because they work for the government. Julian's case could have been tried elsewhere in the US but prosecutors chose to try it there, a state that houses US intelligence headquarters.

The court complex is just 15 miles from CIA headquarters. The state is populated by employees of the very sector that Julian exposed, people who have sworn oaths of allegiance to defend America against all enemies.

The legislation under which Julian is charged does not allow a public interest defence. The US does not dispute that what WikiLeaks published was of the highest public interest – it simply says it is irrelevant and Julian should go to prison regardless.

The Trump administration has argued that because Julian is not a US citizen, he would not enjoy constitutional free-speech rights.

This alone should mean that a UK judge throws out the extradition request. To allow it would expose everyone to the risk of discrimination in a foreign court on the basis of nationality.

In the US, I believe Julian would face a certain and monstrously unjust conviction.

You might think that his case is somehow special. It is not. As far as the precedent is concerned, I believe Julian might as well be a British journalist working for The Mail on Sunday.

The extradition concerns the US and Julian today, but next time it could be Turkey, Saudi Arabia or Russia demanding that we send journalists to stand trial in their courts.

The precedent would make political extraditions permissible. The accepted scope of the Official Secrets Act would radically expand to match the Trump administration's interpretation of the 1917 Espionage Act, under which Julian has been charged on 17 counts.

Even re-reporting information that someone else has already published would be an offence.

Extraditing Julian would be so manifestly unjust that it seems impossible. But it is not. It is precisely at times like these when our rights are most easily taken away from us, while we are distracted with major global issues such as Brexit and Covid.

Tomorrow's ruling comes just four days into Brexit. It could be regarded as a metaphor for Brexit itself: will Britain's values assert themselves against outside interference, or will Britain and its people be pushed around by others?

No matter what happens, we will continue to fight for what we know is right.

It is a fight for our family, to give our sons the right to grow up with their father. But it is also a fight for justice and a fight for everyone's right to live in a free society.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9107069/Julian-Assanges-fianc-e-Britains-no-longer-safe-haven-free-speech-hes-extradited.html

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 You’re going to be setting each other on fire Jan. 2, 2021, 9:54 p.m. No.12290703 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12286782

Until the end of time

Not because you’re Aussies

Because you are satanists with guns

Tbh I never thought Americans were this stupid.

Doesn’t take a genius to figure out who is telling the truth here, does it?

Yet so many of you are still on twitter, pushing the deceitful claim that Donald Trump is anointed by God Almighty himself.

He isn’t. And never will be.

And by refusing to acknowledge the real source of the storm, your dopey disrespectful president has not only betrayed the American people, but God Almighty too.

The royals here will have to give up the two old cunts at the top too.

Or it will be the whole family.

Zero negotiations or deals.

And Bibi is absolutely ruined too.

All of you chose to run the gauntlet.

And all of you have allowed this situation (killer virus and impending martial law) because all of you have put being English above being human.

Be truthful.

Those 650 or so members of Parliament are some of the biggest cunts in the world, and have betrayed all of you.

And by the mass media (((twitter))) framing a global holy war as an essentially American affair, highly polarised too, you have all been screwed by an essentially Jewish media.

The special talent of yours truly is to reduce the whole global power structure to a beam of light.

And that’s what the big pdf is..

And no, I’m not a prophet like Jesus (777), I’m God Almighty manifest in a human being. (999)

That’s why I’m completely separated from my knowledge.

The big 2,238 page pdf

Just two rituals hold the whole global power structure in place.

Divine in design, obviously.

The original mandate for 11.11.18

(The shot heard around the world)

Obviously scrubbed from (((twitter))) now.

Was for yours truly to align the Commonwealth with Russia, USA and Israel. (90% of the world’s nuclear weapons) (the ‘winners’)

Dawkins and Hillary as the offering.

A return to nation states too.

With the kings and Queens being the losers.

And Israel being both the winner (Bibi) and the loser (mass media) .

With the prize being world peace and the knowledge of other worlds.

The eternal life mentioned in the bible. Yes.

But instead, as a direct consequence of playing at online light workers, the vile and deceitful cunts here, with the undying assistance of two violent and deceitful geriatrics (parents) thought it was without consequences to lock yours truly up for 3 weeks, then 7 weeks, force feed him medication and leave an extremely fit and tough (violently abused as a child) 48 year old former professional Bmx freestyler with a broken back, a heavily lacerated stomach and prone to shakes and fainting fits.

If you are so blind to not see the truth when it is staring you in the face, then you deserve to be locked up and forcibly vaccinated by your politicians..

Because that is exactly what is going to happen if you continue the charade on twitter.

You will all get further and further away from the truth.

Knowingly too.

That’s what makes it worse.

You see, I may have been born in England, but I had to relinquish my nationality when I was given a guided tour around 13 pizza ovens on the 1st January 2017.

The real pizzagate. Yes.

These politicians represent none of you and never have done. Ever.

But because it was deemed more important to fake an American holy war rather than acknowledge the real winner in the global holy war, Team Israel, Team USA and team Britain have already dug a hole for themselves, that they will never get out of.

Sure many of you feel cheated.

You’re not the only one.

And yes, I have been to America many times, have many cousins there, been to Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida and California.

Always had an amazing time. Been for bmx competitions too. Been in the Appalachian mountains and south central LA too. Eaten cold beans out of a boat on the swamp. You get the picture.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format. 2,238 pages

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. 130 Mb

Every single entry date and time stamped.

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

Kills the poor hurt feelings and opinions of individual humans dead.

Jon James Pratt (999)

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 You betrayed Assange, Australia Jan. 2, 2021, 9:59 p.m. No.12290761 🗄️.is 🔗kun

To protect the royals

Who are going to get hunted down by 8bn people anyway

Lol 😂

At least you saved* the negative entities and the mole children before you were killed

*not really lol 😂

Justice served

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Kill yourself, Bruce Jan. 2, 2021, 10:03 p.m. No.12290811 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12273527

You like my freedom boner?

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Instant global Holocaust of Jews and Americans Jan. 2, 2021, 11:36 p.m. No.12291842 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Justice served (999)

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f889f5 Big fan of Jewish mysticism Jan. 3, 2021, 1:16 a.m. No.12292544 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Jews not so much lol 😂

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f889f5 Quote of the day Jan. 3, 2021, 1:31 a.m. No.12292599 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Lol 😂

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 3, 2021, 9:42 a.m. No.12295885 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2610

Pamela Anderson makes 11th-hour pardon plea for WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange

Pamela Anderson is making a last-ditch attempt to snare a presidential pardon for friend and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on the eve of a turning point in his espionage case — and she wants her fellow Americans to help.

The former “Baywatch” star, 53, thinks the US is risking the most basic tenet of democracy by accusing Assange of leaking classified information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And she is speaking out — yet again — before Britain rules Monday on whether to extradite Assange to Washington to face federal charges.

“The case is simply a criminalization of a free press,” Anderson told The Post. “Julian is being charged with journalism. Documents that have exposed war crimes and human rights abuses. Now the US wants to punish him for exposing crimes.”

Assange, 49, faces 18 criminal charges tied to the public release of hundreds of thousands of secret papers handed over by already convicted ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. If found guilty, the Australian — awaiting trial in a London prison after being kicked out of his hideout of almost seven years, the Ecuadorian embassy — could spend up to 175 years behind bars.

“If this extradition is successful, it will mean that no journalist is safe from prosecution,” said Anderson, who also is an AIDS and animal-rights activist. “This will set a precedent where any US journalist can be charged and sent to any country that requests their extradition. … And don’t think ‘it won’t happen to me,’ because it absolutely could, and countries will use it to silence whatever they don’t like the sound of.”

If Assange isn’t extradited, he won’t necessarily go free, according to legal experts. He could be prosecuted by Britain under its Official Secrets Act or perhaps by another US ally.

Like Anderson, Assange insists his prosecution strikes at the heart of the First Amendment — and is political retaliation for his role as a whistleblower.

But prosecutors allege the publisher is guilty of putting countless others at risk, from service members to dissidents to reporters, with his indiscriminate hacking.

Anderson, a Canadian who is now a US citizen, has lobbied President Trump for months to pardon Assange, even though Trump’s Justice Department brought the charges. In early December, she tweeted two photos of herself holding Assange posters — one in a string bikini — and tagged Trump’s official presidential handle “@POTUS please #pardonjulianassange.”

“Everyone should be asking Mr. Trump to pardon him,” she told The Post. “Anyone with influence should speak up for his freedom because it is our freedom, too. Take to Twitter and start a storm of requests.”

Assange caught Anderson’s attention a decade ago when he posted military footage of a 2007 Apache helicopter airstrike near Baghdad that killed a dozen civilians, including two Reuters journalists, and injured two children. Today, the “Collateral Murder” video has more than 17 million views on YouTube.

“It is horrific to watch,” she said, “and then to think that this is a daily and unnecessary war-time occurrence.”

The two met in 2014 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, introduced by mutual friend and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. In March 2019, speculation swirled that the pair were romantically involved.

Anderson last saw Assange more than a year ago — before the coronavirus outbreak — at the maximum-security HM Prison Belmarsh in southeast London, where he is being held in solitary confinement.

Assange’s lawyers and doctors maintain the months of isolation have left the journalist underweight, limping and so unfocused that he can’t even assist with his defense. They’ve repeatedly requested bail because of his poor health and vulnerability to COVID-19.

“It’s madness. He is … crammed in amongst murderers in a prison that is rife with COVID,” Anderson said. “It’s the middle of winter and it’s freezing in there and his winter clothes haven’t been delivered. The whole thing is a medieval madness.”

The ex-Playboy model told The Post that she won’t stop working on Assange’s behalf until her friend is out of prison and no longer accused of wrongdoing.

“Drop the charges. Stop this persecution of a man who was brave enough to stand up for the right thing,” she said. “We can be a part of setting him free. We just need to have the courage he had and speak up.”

https://nypost.com/2021/01/02/pamela-anderson-makes-11th-hour-pardon-plea-for-julian-assange/

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 3, 2021, 9:48 a.m. No.12295959 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

‘Cipher accounts’ hijack Holy See’s good name

DENNIS SHANAHAN - JANUARY 3, 2021

It is becoming increasingly likely the transfer of $2.3bn to Australia since 2014 from the Vatican City is not money that belongs to the Holy See or even the Catholic Church.

It seems more likely the transfers from “the Vatican City, its entities or individuals” are being used in the name of the Vatican but not for its benefit or even with its money.

“Cipher accounts”, Vatican City accounts in name only, have been detected previously in the opaque financial management of the Holy See.

So, too, has involvement by organised crime in Vatican investments.

Since The Australian revealed details of the transfer — with a peak of $541m in one year —transparent, legitimate explanations have diminished.

First, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference declared it had no knowledge of the transfers and none of the money was received by dioceses, charities or other Catholic entities.

The scale of the transfers, a lack of evident returns from investment, and not notifying Australian church leaders suggests the money wasn’t used to buy Australian bonds or equities.

The bishops are asking the Pope to investigate and explain the transfers. Now word is coming from the Vatican that it’s not aware of the transfers Austrac has identified as coming from Vatican City.

Unnamed officials are saying they are stunned by the report; the Vatican simply doesn’t have that sort of money to spend or invest, and they are seeking details from Australian authorities.

Legitimate and accountable transfers to Australia from the Vatican are minuscule compared to the sums Austrac has identified.

No one has suggested there has been any illegal activity or wrongdoing in the transfers — although the Australian Federal Police is still investigating some.

After Cardinal George Pell was appointed to clean up the Vatican finances in 2014, there was evidence of cipher accounts being used by people outside the Vatican and the financial council was warned of “leakage” from Holy See accounts.

As Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge has said, the lack of clarity and transparency allow for “dark speculation” which “is very unhelpful”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/cipher-accounts-hijack-holy-sees-good-name/news-story/ad44805f2552cdca55dfdac1fd50bd91

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 3, 2021, 9:55 a.m. No.12296038 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

Bishops want answers from Austrac

Catholic bishops are considering asking Australia’s international financial watchdog to reveal whether any of the $2.3bn sent from the Vatican City since 2014 went to Catholic organisations in Australia.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, told The Australian that asking Austrac if any of the recipients were designated as Catholic dioceses, charities or religious orders was an option.

The bishops are already working on a direct request to the Pope to investigate and explain how $2.3bn was transferred from the Vatican City to Australia over six years without their knowledge, amid a global financial scandal engulfing the Holy See.

In Rome, however, Vatican officials have also said they did not know where the money came from and denied it was from the Vatican or Vatican bank, and are also planning to ask Austrac to provide details of where the money went.

Vatican officials, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters that amount of money did not leave the Holy See after the Austrac investigation was exclusively revealed by The Australian.

Officials also said they were “absolutely stunned” by the amount of money reported and the transfers amounted to three or four times the Vatican’s annual budget.

One Vatican official told Reuters: “It’s not our money because we don’t have that kind of money.”

The official said the Vatican would be seeking details from Australian authorities on the specific origin and destination of the money.

Austrac and the Vatican have refused to comment to The Australian on the $2.3bn transfers.

The Australian Catholic bishops were already formulating a request to Francis after they were “astonished at the scale of the transfers” from the Holy See’s secretariat of state between 2014 and this year.

The Australian revealed that an official report from the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, Austrac, had found $2.3bn had been transferred from the Vatican City over the past six years. The Australian Federal Police is investigating some of the transfers from the Vatican to Australia after a referral from Austrac. According to a report to the Senate, transfers from the Vatican to Australia rapidly increased from $71.6m in 2014 to $137.1m in 2015 before doubling again to $295m in 2016 and peaking at $581.3m in 2017.

More than $422m was transferred in 2018, $491.8m in 2019 and $294.8m in 2020.

Bishop Coleridge said: “What is certain in the middle of great uncertainties is that the Australian bishops did not know about these transfers until the disclosure and we were astonished at the scale of transfers.”

Archbishop Coleridge said he was aware of claims of the use of so-called “cipher accounts” where organisations or individuals were allowed to use Vatican City accounts for their own foreign investment and transfers.

Archbishop Coleridge, who served for four years from 1997 in the Vatican’s secretariat of state, said much of the organisation and finances of the Holy See were “obscure and Byzantine” without clarity or transparency.

“So much of this confusion is rooted in a deep culture at the Holy See and it is one of the problems Cardinal (George) Pell faced when he was appointed to the Vatican in 2014,” Archbishop Coleridge said.

In the past six months, Vatican investigators have found misuse of charitable funds and suspicious international transfers, have arrested individuals linked with Vatican investments and heard allegations that money was sent to Australia to adversely affect Cardinal Pell’s sexual abuse trial to derail his financial reforms as the Vatican’s treasurer. On Boxing Day, the Pope stripped the Vatican’s most powerful office of its significant financial assets, the secretariat of state, after having sacked Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was an opponent to Cardinal Pell’s financial reforms.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/bishops-want-answers-from-austrac/news-story/65bdc471fea63718e49de1c57b9797d9

>>12085985

Yea been digging on Jon James???? Anyone care to explain.. ‘ the storm’ Ppears to be after trump???

'A dangerous precedent': British judge to hand down Julian Assange decision

London: Julian Assange will learn within hours if he is to be extradited to the United States to face charges relating to WikiLeaks publications of a decade ago.

The 49-year-old Australian will hear his fate at London's Old Bailey on Monday evening (AEDT). He has been held in prison at Belmarsh Prison since September 2019.

His Australian lawyer Jennifer Robinson, of London's Doughty Street Chambers, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that the decision would be a verdict on Britain's commitment to freedom of the press.

"This case has huge implications – for Julian Assange and his young family – and for journalists and publishers everywhere," Robinson said.

"If Assange is extradited, it will set a dangerous precedent for press freedom."

But the US government says they are prosecuting Assange, not for publishing the cables but for how they were obtained, alleging he conspired with Chelsea Manning, then an army intelligence officer, to hack into government systems to steal three-quarters of a million secret and classified cables.

He faces 17 charges and a total sentence of 175 years if convicted of all counts in the United States.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser will hand down her decision on whether Assange is to be extradited to the United States to face a grand jury. Assange, who attended every day of his hearing in September and October last year, is expected to attend the hearing in court two.

Regardless of her ruling, it will almost certainly be appealed as both sides have said they will appeal if the decision does not go their way.

Stella Moris-Smith Robertson, Assange's fiancee and mother of their two children, Max and Gabriel, has begun directly pleading with US President Donald Trump, via his favoured medium Twitter, for a pardon for Assange, before Trump leaves the White House.

The Obama administration did not bring charges against Assange – they were only brought by the Department of Justice under the Trump Administration. Trump, who benefited politically from WikiLeaks' publication of the emails obtained by Russians who hacked into the Democratic National Committee's servers, has held views in favour and also critical of WikiLeaks.

Britain's National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said if Assange was extradited to the United States, it would "chill the media worldwide".

"Whatever you think of Assange, he clearly brought important information to wide attention," the NUJ's general secretary Michelle Stainstreet said.

"Now he faces prosecution for actions that are commonplace for investigative journalists.

"If this prosecution is successful, it will chill the media worldwide."

Monday's ruling is a major development in the 10-year saga involving the Australian who spent nearly seven years holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London to escape being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.

He was kicked out by his hosts in dramatic scenes in April 2019 when they invited Scotland Yard to enter the embassy and arrest their long-term resident.

Assange has been held in custody ever since.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/british-judge-to-hand-down-julian-assange-extradition-decision-20210104-p56ri5.html

—

Q Post #3764

Dec 28 2019 13:23:27 (EST)

DNC server(s).

Crowdstrike.

Did Russia 'break-in' to DNC server(s)?

Why did FBI accept 'indirect' evidence re: DNC server(s) 'hack''break-in' by Crowdstrike [Ukraine]?

Why didn't FBI 'directly' investigate DNC server(s) [in-hand]?

Download speed internal data DL vs remote? [1]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/01/02/assange_to_hannity_our_source_was_not_the_russian_government.html

[1]

How does one provide content to WL?

>comp-to-comp

>person-to-person [1]

Personal comms [secured] prior to release? [1]

The (Source(s)):

>Feeder [1]

>Recipient [1]

Interning for the DNC can be deadly.

Does Crowdstrike possess 'gov_capablity' to trace 'break-in' route(s)?

Does Crowdstrike possess 'gov_capability' re: foreign intercepts?

Possible to layer/insert code [Crowdstrike] to designate intruder [intended target]?

NSA data_bridge DNC-Crowdstrike [bulk data collection]

Matters of National Security [Highest Levels].

FISA is only the beginning.

The hole is DEEP.

Q

>>12303339

Assange To Hannity: Source For WikiLeaks Was Not Russian Government

Ian Schwartz - January 2, 2017

In an exclusive interview with FOX News Channel's Sean Hannity the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange said Russia was not the source for the DNC and John Podesta hacks.

HANNITY: Can you say to the American people, unequivocally, that you did not get this information about the DNC, John Podesta's emails, can you tell the American people 1,000 percent that you did not get it from Russia or anybody associated with Russia?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Yes. We can say, we have said, repeatedly that over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party.

Hannity's full interview with Assange will air Tuesday night at 10pm ET. More from the interview:

ASSANGE: Our publications had wide uptake by the American people, they're all true. But that's not the allegation that’s being presented by the Obama White House. So, why such a dramatic response? Well, the reason is obvious. They’re trying to delegitimize the Trump administration as it goes into the White House. They are trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate President…

ASSANGE: Our source is not a state party, so the answer for our interactions is no. But if we look at our most recent statement from the US government, which is on the 29th of December, OK, we had five different branches of government, Treasury, DHS, FBI, White House presenting their accusations to underpin Obama’s throwing out 29 Russian diplomats. What was missing from all of those statements? The word WikiLeaks. It’s very strange.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/01/02/assange_to_hannity_our_source_was_not_the_russian_government.html

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 3, 2021, 7:28 p.m. No.12303606 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2610

>>12303455

Hannity Julian Assange FULL INTERVIEW - Fox News HD 1/3/17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gps0BYjXxac

>>12271841

Christopher Pyne: Vital US ambassador must be bold

The US ambassador is one of the most crucial roles Joe Biden will appoint for Australia, Christopher Pyne says – and we need someone to speak their mind.

Christopher Pyne - January 3, 2021

1/2

From Australia’s point of view, one of the most important first acts of the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden will be the early appointment of a high-calibre US ambassador to Australia.

The 2½-year wait that Australia endured before the most recent ambassador was appointed was unacceptable. Although I hasten to add, then charge d’affaires James Caruso did an outstanding job, acting in the role and ensuring a seamless transition from previous ambassador John Berry.

Not every US ambassador to Australia has a significant impact on the Australia-US relationship.

After only around two years in the job, the outgoing US ambassador to Australia, Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr, is one who can lay claim to leaving a legacy.

Former US ambassador Jeff Bleich is another.

Even to the extent that Bleich lent his name and financial support to the creation of the Jeff Bleich Centre for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security and Governance at Flinders University.

It’s establishment is a real coup for our state and Flinders University vice-chancellor Colin Stirling.

One of the positive acts of President Donald Trump was the appointment of Mr Culvahouse.

Mr Culvahouse is a well-connected Washington DC lawyer with impeccable Republican Party credentials.

He is so well regarded that he has been asked more than once to oversee the nomination process for Republican Party presidential candidates’ vice president selection.

Culvahouse quickly identified the number one issue that would dominate his tenure in Canberra and guided US policy in most areas around that – the relationship between Australia and the US in an era of great power rivalry between China and the US.

Refreshingly, Mr Culvahouse didn’t seek to gloss over the complications in this thorny issue.

He stated boldly that he would “make an assessment of efforts of third countries, third parties, to undermine (the US-Australia) relationship, and if there are such efforts, including (by) China, I will not refrain from forthrightly … speaking publicly if and as required”.

This he has done. Mr Culvahouse may well have been helped by not being a career diplomat and therefore not becoming used to the diplomatic language that often attends those who make a career in the foreign service.

(continued)

>>12303833

2/2

Mr Culvahouse reminded Australians that we have a very good reason to be proud of our history in defending democracy and liberty throughout the world and that, in the continuing contest between totalitarianism and freedom, we have significant assets that we could exploit more. One of these assets is our abundance of critical minerals.

These are minerals that are used in the creation of vital products that are critical to the economic wellbeing of a society, especially in national security, but are in short supply for various political or trade reasons.

They are minerals like tantalum, manganese, tungsten, cobalt, magnesium, platinum and chromium.

You might find them typically used in mobile phones, fighter jets, special kinds of steel used in the military, 3D printing of critical parts of engines and spare parts, satellites and solar power panels. There are a myriad uses for these critical minerals. They are sometimes referred to as rare earths.

Mr Culvahouse has repeatedly pointed out that the two most abundant sources of supply of rare earths are Australia and China.

Yet Australia has exported the mineral product only to have it altered and returned to us in the form of finished products.

This is an incredible opportunity for Australia.

The Five Eyes nations – US, Great Britain, New Zealand, Canada and Australia – are desperate to find a source of rare earths and processing of the base minerals that doesn’t include China in its supply chain.

So are our like-minded friends like France, Germany, the rest of the European Union, Japan, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and many others.

Australia could become the sole supplier of such expensive rare earths to the Western world.

It would strengthen the West militarily and economically and remove the West’s reliance on China for what in times of tension, as we are experiencing now, is a product with national security implications.

China has made it clear in the past few months that, when wounded, they will pull the public policy lever of trade to pressure a country like Australia.

Mr Culvahouse argues, and he is dead right, that Australia is perfectly placed to be that reliable supplier of critical minerals, making us an even more valuable partner and supporting our economy at the same time.

He argues that we should go a step further and use government policy to ensure that Australia and the US has the processing plants in place to refine such minerals and then use them in our production chain.

While it isn’t the free-market economic policy that the centre right of politics is usually known for, in these almost-post-COVID times, when China is using its economic might to squeeze others, pragmatism should be the order of the day to protect our national interests.

Christopher Pyne was the federal Liberal MP for Sturt from 1993 to 2019, and served as a minister in the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments. He now runs consultancy and lobbying firms GC Advisory and Pyne & Partners and writes a weekly column for The Advertiser.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/christopher-pyne-vital-us-ambassador-must-be-bold/news-story/c3af1b0176dfbb025e724f47e6f6fab6

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 3, 2021, 8:05 p.m. No.12304027 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

My accuser has her eye on Jeffrey Epstein payout, says Ghislaine Maxwell

Ghislaine Maxwell has launched a “vicious” attack on one of her key accusers, claiming she fabricated allegations about Maxwell’s involvement in child sex abuse because of a “desire for cash”.

Lawyers for the British socialite have sought to cast doubt on the credibility of Annie Farmer after it emerged she could receive “millions of dollars” from a compensation fund for victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the American pedophile financier and former boyfriend of Ms Maxwell.

Ms Farmer, who claims she was abused by the couple when she was 16, is one of three women preparing to testify against Ms Maxwell this year in her criminal trial on charges of child sex trafficking and perjury. Ms Maxwell denies all the charges. She faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted.

She also intervened recently in the Briton’s failed attempt to seek bail by providing US prosecutors with a written statement in which she described Ms Maxwell as “a psychopath” who would flee the country if released.

Ms Farmer’s lawyers say Ms Maxwell, 59, is blocking any possible compensation “in retaliation” for helping to keep her behind bars.

The row has surfaced in court papers in a civil lawsuit for damages that Ms Farmer has brought against Ms Maxwell and the estate of Epstein, who killed himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for child sex offences.

Ms Farmer, who has waived her right to anonymity, claims she was ordered to strip and had her breasts groped by Maxwell during a visit to the financier’s ranch in New Mexico in 1996. The couple are said to have “lavished her with gifts” before Epstein allegedly assaulted her in a bedroom.

The court filings reveal that Ms Farmer, 41, a psychologist, agreed in October to an offer of payment from the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program. It has received more than 100 claims from Epstein’s alleged victims and has reportedly paid out more than $US30m. To receive her payment, Ms Farmer is required to drop her civil claim for damages against the estate.

However, Ms Maxwell — a joint defendant in that case with Epstein’s executors — is refusing to have the action thrown out of court in New York and is demanding to know how much money Ms Farmer will receive, despite the fact the sum is meant to remain confidential.

In a letter to the court on December 23, Sigrid McCawley, Ms Farmer’s lawyer, wrote: “It is readily apparent that Maxwell is … focused on delaying Ms Farmer’s receipt of her compensation. It appears this conduct may be in retaliation for Ms Farmer’s recent submission in the bail proceedings pending before judge (Alison) Nathan as evidenced by her counsel’s statement: ‘Your client has been vocal in asking that Ms Maxwell be kept in custody.’ ”

Judge Nathan rejected Ms Maxwell’s $US28.5m bail application in the criminal proceedings last Monday. Two days later, Ms Maxwell’s lawyer, Laura Menninger, filed a missive in the civil case. “The amount of money plaintiff obtains from the Epstein program is very much a matter of public interest and will go to the very core of plaintiff’s credibility during the … criminal trial,” she wrote.

Ms Menninger said there were discrepancies in Ms Farmer’s claims, including a diary she kept of the 1996 New Mexico incident that made “zero” reference to Ms Maxwell: “The fact that plaintiff seeks money from the estate and from Ms Maxwell in the millions of dollars at the same time she is a government witness in an upcoming criminal trial on the same topic is reason enough to suspect that her newly asserted memories of abuse — without corroboration — are not based on truth or a desire for ‘justice’ so much as her desire for cash … The motive for fabrication could not be clearer.”

Last Thursday, Ms McCawley accused Ms Maxwell of “vicious victim-blaming” and said her client stood by all her allegations and “intends to testify truthfully if called in any future proceedings”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/my-accuser-has-her-eye-on-jeffrey-epstein-payout-says-ghislaine-maxwell/news-story/3dc05529ce37ec1238e61130252167dc

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16454550/farmer-v-indyke/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.526309/gov.uscourts.nysd.526309.109.0.pdf

ASIO red-flags Liberal Party donor Huifeng 'Haha' Liu over foreign interference risks

1/4

A Melbourne-based Chinese businessman who has aligned himself to prominent Liberal Party MPs is facing deportation after being assessed by ASIO as a national security risk, an ABC investigation can reveal.

The businessman, Huifeng "Haha" Liu, is a Liberal Party donor and former soldier in China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) who developed links with federal Liberal MP Gladys Liu and Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar.

Mr Liu is contesting the deportation order after the Federal Government rejected his application for permanent residency when security concerns were raised.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has also confirmed it is investigating Mr Liu as part of the joint ASIO-led Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, but declined to comment further.

Mr Liu told the ABC he believed ASIO had assessed him as a security risk because he was the president of a popular Australian-Chinese neighbourhood watch organisation which had an agreement to take instructions from the Chinese consulate in Melbourne.

The group, the Australian Emergency Assistance Association Incorporated (AEAAI), acts as a middleman in police incidents and legal cases involving Chinese speakers.

The association has promoted itself as a grassroots community platform to its more than 55,000 members from the Chinese diaspora in Australia on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

It has more than 1,000 volunteers who promise to race to the scene of incidents across Australia in a matter of minutes.

According to confidential documents obtained by the ABC, the AEAAI was promised funding from the consulate and agreed to report back on criminal incidents, emergencies, accidents and "security risks" involving Chinese citizens deemed to require consular assistance.

The AEAAI was promoted publicly by Gladys Liu (no relation), who has close links to Mr Liu.

Ms Liu helped the 52-year-old develop a relationship with Victoria Police and, by Haha Liu's account, translated for him at events with MPs and business leaders.

He also watched from the public gallery in the House of Representatives as Ms Liu delivered her maiden speech in July 2019 as MP for the federal seat of Chisholm in Melbourne's east.

Mr Liu has also ingratiated himself with Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, the MP for the neighbouring seat of Deakin, who invited him to Parliament House to join him at his table for the 2017 Budget night dinner.

Mr Sukkar posed for photos, embracing and drinking with the political donor at a series of exclusive events between 2016 and 2018.

The Assistant Treasurer sent a Christmas card thanking him for his "friendship and support" in 2017, six months after the consulate announced its agreement with Mr Liu.

Geoffrey Watson SC, a former counsel assisting for the NSW Independent Commission for Corruption (ICAC), called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to crack down on what he described as foreign influences within the Liberal Party.

"This shows that a person who's now thought maybe to be a person of malign influence has got access to government at the highest level, to Mr Sukkar, a minister," he said.

Mr Watson said it was time for Mr Morrison to sack Gladys Liu in response to the revelations.

"Gladys Liu has now been tied to several instances of inappropriate influence," he said.

"I am stunned that she still holds the confidence of the Prime Minister and that there haven't been actions to separate her from the Government and even from the Liberal Party itself."

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has called on the Government to investigate the report about Mr Liu's donations to the Liberal Party and his links with the two MPs.

"The Liberal Party needs to explain the connections which are clearly there and why it was that a senior minister of the Crown seems to have a relationship with this gentleman," Mr Albanese said on Monday.

"Michael Sukkar is a rolling problem for the Government. The only time he gets a run is in various forms of scandal …"

(continued)

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 3, 2021, 9:09 p.m. No.12304809 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4835

>>12304790

2/4

Close contact with Liberal Party figures

The allegations about the nature of Mr Liu's activities come as he mounts a Federal Court challenge against the Immigration Minister and ASIO in a bid to remain in Australia.

The court granted him a stay on his deportation order after the minister rejected his application for a significant investor permanent residency visa on character grounds in September.

"I've done nothing wrong or against Australian law," Mr Liu told the ABC at his Melbourne home. "The decision to revoke my visa was extremely unfair."

Mr Liu has lived in Australia since at least 2014.

Sources close to Mr Liu have told the ABC he has been on ASIO's radar since at least 2016, when he had one of several meetings with the agency.

The same year, he founded the AEAAI and appeared in a photograph attending the launch of a new Australian association for Chinese PLA veterans.

The visa decision and the ongoing ASIO-AFP investigation raise questions over whether the Liberal Party and some of its MPs developed a mutually beneficial relationship with Mr Liu.

Gladys Liu and Mr Sukkar gave the Liberal Party donor access to the corridors of power, in Federal Parliament and at events with Cabinet ministers and government MPs.

In April 2017, Mr Liu and Mr Sukkar attended a private function hosted by a Liberal Party fundraising association called the Deakin 200 Club, of which the Assistant Treasurer is one of the founding members.

The Liberal Party's 2015-16 public records show that in the lead-up to the July 2016 election, Mr Liu donated $20,000 to its federal Victorian division.

In June 2016, he attended a series of pre-election fundraising events headlined by then-foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop and former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott.

The same month, he officially launched the AEAAI and flooded his social media profile on the Chinese platform Weibo with photographs and posts about his encounters with senior Liberals.

He posted photos of the politicians autographing samples of products he was exporting to China. One photo shows Mr Sukkar and Mr Liu brandishing an autographed box of "hyaluronic acid collagen face masks".

In another of the photos, former prime minister John Howard is seen autographing a box of "ultra anti-wrinkle face serum" at a function organised by the Liberal Party's fundraising arm Enterprise Victoria at the exclusive Athenaeum Club.

In his Weibo posts, Mr Liu thanked Gladys Liu for translating for him with Mr Abbott, Ms Bishop and business leaders.

"Under the simultaneous interpretation from sister Liu, my speech was full of emotion," he wrote. "Tony and I talked about the election, refugees, immigration policy, and security [issues]."

In 2018, Ms Liu attended a meeting with Haha Liu in Melbourne between the AEAAI, Victoria Police and Monash City Council to discuss community safety.

It was one of a series of meetings and community forums involving the AEAAI and Victoria Police in 2018 and 2019.

And in a gesture of her ongoing support, Gladys Liu has attended and spoken at the AEAAI's annual conferences, including after her election as an MP.

Mr Liu also posted photos of events and dinners between 2016 and 2018 with Mr Sukkar, including while the MP was chair of Parliament's Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

"Tonight, I was invited to attend a private dinner hosted by the Assistant Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia Michael Sukkar," Mr Liu said in a post dated April 27, 2017. "He kept telling others that I was his old friend …"

In a statement provided to the ABC, MP Gladys Liu said her only dealings with Mr Liu were in his capacity as president of the AEAAI.

"Outside of this we have no relationship," her statement said. "Allegations made against Mr Liu are concerning and should be thoroughly investigated."

She said she had never received "financial support" from Mr Liu and was unaware of the allegations against him until contacted by the ABC.

A spokesperson for Mr Sukkar said that although the minister and Mr Liu had attended a number of the same "local events", this had not happened "in the past two- to three-year period".

He declined to answer questions about specific fundraising events.

"Mr Sukkar has never had a private meeting or conversation with Mr Liu, who is known locally not to speak English," the spokesperson said in a statement given to the ABC.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 3, 2021, 9:10 p.m. No.12304835 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4853

>>12304809

3/4

The statement also said that the card received by Mr Liu was one of about 5,000 "personalised Christmas cards" sent by Mr Sukkar each year.

Mr Liu also donated $1,125 to the NSW Liberals for tickets to a Premier in Conversation event featuring Gladys Berejiklian in November 2017

It is not known if Mr Liu made any other donations to the party.

The director of the Liberal Party's Victoria division, Sam McQuestin, said Mr Liu's "financial contribution … was disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission in accordance with our obligations under the Commonwealth Electoral Act".

Under federal electoral laws, donations under $14,300 do not have to be declared.

Mr Liu was also feted by the Victorian Labor Government, when Premier Daniel Andrews handed him an award at the 2018 retirement banquet for the outgoing parliamentary secretary for multicultural affairs, Hong Lim.

"MPs from all political parties are invited to numerous community and multi-cultural events where they are often asked to be photographed with attendees," a spokesperson for Mr Andrews said.

Street crime fears

In 2016, Haha and Gladys Liu shared a common goal to mobilise large groups from Melbourne's Chinese community on WeChat.

They both spread stories about street crime targeting the Chinese community.

At that time, Gladys Liu was a campaigner and prodigious fundraiser for the Liberal Party's Victorian division.

Haha Liu, who started with a small fashion business in Melbourne in 2014, was building a profile as a well-connected leader and protector of the Chinese community.

According to a senior member of the AEAAI leadership committee interviewed by the ABC, Haha Liu often boasted of a close connection to Gladys Liu "to give other people the impression that he is a big guy".

The ABC is protecting the committee member's identity because he fears reprisals from the Chinese Government.

"He mentioned they were old friends for a long time," he said. "He used to mention, 'we have dinners together'. Sometimes, for some events, she would invite him."

In 2016, Ms Liu told a journalist that Chinese Australians unhappy with Labor's policies were flocking to the AEAAI's groups on WeChat.

"People are so frightened about safety — and they relate that to immigration policy," she said.

"People blamed Labor for letting immigrants — especially refugees — in. So, in response to the worsening of safety, people set up WeChat groups to scare the robber away. People are scared …

"They see that police are not protecting them."

Mr Liu was beating the same drum, including in an article on local Chinese news site Yeeyi, the AEAAI's official media partner.

"Mr Liu told reporters there are incidents happening every minute in Victoria …" the article said. "However, the police force in each Melbourne jurisdiction has only a few people."

In an interview with SBS Mandarin, Mr Liu said, "we provide the police with the function of [assistance] because the police force is really limited right now."

Gladys Liu's anti-Labor campaign is credited with helping the Coalition to a razor-thin win in the 2016 federal election, held just days after the AEAAI was launched.

She targeted voters in the Melbourne electorates of Deakin and Chisholm, where the Liberals' Michael Sukkar and Julia Banks won their seats.

When the Coalition's election victory was close to being declared, Mr Liu attended media events and posed for photos with then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, Julia Banks, Mr Sukkar and Gladys Liu in Melbourne.

"The Australian news broadcasts were full of me and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull," Mr Liu posted on Weibo on July 9. "Congratulations to the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for his second term in office."

A deal with the Chinese consulate

In November, Mr Liu stood down as president of the AEAAI after a fractious dispute with some of the association's leadership team, who accused him of concealing his interactions with ASIO.

"I feel betrayed, I feel angry, I feel used," said the AEAAI committee member interviewed by the ABC. "I think everybody, our normal members, have a right to know the truth behind this."

In the four-and-a-half years since it was launched, the AEAAI has built its profile as a 24/7 community service where volunteers can be reached on WeChat, over the phone, on a new mobile app and in person.

(continued)

>>12304835

4/4

Chinese citizens and Chinese Australians have been willingly giving the association's volunteers sensitive and personal details about their lives.

The group, which is registered as a non-profit with charitable purposes, assists Chinese-speaking residents to cooperate with Australian police, judiciary and emergency services in criminal incidents, emergencies, accidents, disasters and disease outbreaks.

The AEAAI has gained coverage in the mainstream media recently with stories about its army of volunteers responding to missing persons cases, robberies, and delivering supplies to residents in home quarantine during the COVID outbreak.

But what the news stories didn't say was that China's Melbourne consulate had announced the AEAAI as its official "consular protection assistance agency" in July 2017, assisting in cases where Chinese citizens needed to deal with Australian authorities.

In the announcement of the deal, Mr Liu reportedly promised to "communicate closely" with the consulate.

Confidential documents obtained by the ABC reveal the AEAAI agreed to take instructions from the consulate, report to it on incidents involving Chinese citizens and provide "security risk information".

A letter of appointment signed between the AEAAI and the consulate stipulated that "the association assigns volunteers in accordance with the Consulate-General's authorisation and clear requirements on a case-by-case basis".

It said volunteers should "assist the Consulate-General by going to the scene of an incident to understand the situation of the case, provide assistance within its capacity to Chinese citizens … and promptly report the case to the Consulate-General."

The document, which also required volunteers to abide by Australian laws, was signed in July 2017 and renewed until at least July 2020, according to members of the AEAAI leadership committee.

As part of the arrangement, the consulate agreed to fund the AEAAI's activities.

Internal communications obtained by the ABC show Mr Liu told the committee that the consulate instructed the AEAAI to establish a third-party entity to receive consular funds.

While the agreement deals with citizens living in Victoria and Tasmania, the AEAAI operates localised WeChat groups and volunteers in every state and territory.

Swinburne University China specialist Professor John Fitzgerald says Beijing sees its consular activities extending to all Chinese descendants, not only its citizens.

"While these consular offices have a duty to protect citizens from China, they have no duty and no right to interfere in Chinese-Australian community affairs," he said.

"If they're supporting an organisation which is setting out in effect to protect Chinese Australians, not just Chinese citizens, one has to ask why?

"That could be considered consular overreach … That's the business of the federal or local police forces."

The letter of appointment also stated the AEAAI should "provide security risk information to the Consulate-General in a timely manner, pass on relevant security warnings issued by the Consulate-General through WeChat groups, and assist the Consulate-General in carrying out preventive publicity activities".

The agreement stipulated that designated contact persons at the AEAAI and consulate were to "communicate and report on each case" and "report to their superiors".

Each night, an on-call night-shift volunteer "writes a formal report to be archived for future reference", according to a 2019 AEAAI document.

The terms of the arrangement with the consulate have split the AEAAI community.

"He's saying white but he is doing black," claimed one committee member who did not wish to be identified.

"Haha has been telling everyone, especially the committee members, never take a political line, never choose your side, stay away from politics.

"But it seems like he's maintaining a very good relationship with the Chinese Embassy and some local politicians."

Mr Liu told the ABC he had not committed any crime.

"I have not harmed Australia and I have not broken any laws," he said.

"If I have done anything wrong, I can accept this result, but I didn't. I believe the law will give me the justice I deserve."

China's Consulate-General in Melbourne and Embassy in Canberra did not provide a response to questions sent by the ABC.

The AEAAI also declined to respond to the ABC's questions.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-04/asio-red-flags-liberal-donor-over-foreign-interference-risks/13018938

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 3, 2021, 9:52 p.m. No.12305407 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

Ugliest spectacle of Trump era looms

CAMERON STEWART - JANUARY 4, 2021

“I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world,’ says Republican Senator Mitt Romney. “Has ambition so eclipsed principle?’

It is a fair question for any moderate Republican to ask ahead of what promises to be one of the ugliest spectacles of the Donald Trump era in Congress this week (AEDT).

At the president’s urging, a group of at least 11 Republican Senators seeking to curry favour with Trump and his voting base will seek to block what should have been a routine certification of Joe Biden’s election win. They will be supported in the House by at least 120 Republicans.

The move, due to unfold in Congress on Thursday (AEDT) is, at its core, an attempt to override the will of American voters because they voted for Biden over Trump.

Luckily it will fail because Democrats and a group of more principled Republicans will combine to shoot it down in both the House and the Senate.

But this is the sort of damage that Trump’s unproven claims about a voter fraud have wreaked.

Trump’s false claims have led one third of Americans to believe that fraud helped Biden win the November election. At each turn in recent months, Trump has acted inappropriately in pressuring states such as Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin to overturn Biden’s win.

On Monday (AEDT) a recording emerged of Trump bluntly telling the Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to ‘find’ enough votes to overturn his defeat in that state.

This week a group of Republican Senators led by Ted Cruz will vote against certifying Biden’s election win unless an Electoral Commission is set up to conduct an emergency 10 day audit of the election results.

Never mind that in more than 50 cases, courts across the country have rejected all of Trump’s claims of voter fraud and that every state has now certified their results, confirming Biden’s 306 to 232 victory.

Under archaic Congressional rules, the decision to challenge the election results will force each Senator and Congressman to choose sides, placing Republicans in the position of publicly choosing between support for Trump or for the democratic process.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who has acknowledged Biden’s victory, warned Republicans against going down this road. But many Republicans are more fearful of angering the president and his support base than doing what is right by acknowledging the will of the people.

‘A dangerous ploy’

As Republican Senator Ben Sasse put it, the move to challenge the Biden win is ‘a dangerous ploy’ which is ‘designed to disenfranchise millions of Americans simply because they voted for someone in a different party.’

Former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said it was difficult to “to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act.’

‘The fact that this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy,” he said.

Some Republicans fear that Trump’s claims of electoral fraud may dampen the turnout of Republicans in two run-off crucial elections in Georgia on Wednesday (AEDT) which will determine what party controls the US Senate.

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal said “Republicans should be embarrassed by Mr. Trump’s Electoral College hustle,’ warning that if Congress overturned the results of the election ‘riots in the street would be the least of it.’

But there may be riots anyway. Trump is calling for his supporters to gather in Washington on the day of the vote for what he promised would be ‘wild’ protests.

Far-right groups like the Proud Boys, white nationalists and militia members have said they will also attend, all but guaranteeing clashes on the streets of the capital.

The drama that unfolds in Washington on Thursday — both inside and outside the capitol building — will mark Trump’s last stand before Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

It won’t come a moment too soon for many. Trump has wasted his final months in office by acting like a sore loser rather than a president.

Cameron Stewart has been The Australian’s Washington Correspondent covering North America since early 2017. This is his second US posting, having previously been The Australian’s New York correspondent during the late 1990s. He was previously an Associate Editor combining investigative reporting on foreign affairs, defence and national security with feature writing for the Weekend Australian Magazine. He is a former winner of the Graham Perkin Award for Australian Journalist of the Year.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/ugliest-spectacle-of-trump-era-looms/news-story/6ccc964263316a970836deb2bfb8107f

More institutions sign up for National Redress Scheme

Football NSW and the Presbyterian Church of WA are among 135 new institutions to register for the National Redress Scheme.

Swimming Australia, Tennis NSW and the Seventh-Day Adventists are among 135 new institutions to have signed up to the National Redress Scheme.

More than 440 survivors of institutional child sex abuse will have their applications for compensation processed now that the organisations have joined the scheme.

Football NSW, Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Presbyterian Church WA and Missionaries of God’s Love also registered before their December 31, 2020 deadline.

“The significant increase in the number of institutions participating in the scheme means more applications can be progressed and survivors will not face unnecessary delays as they seek the redress which they have already waited so long to receive,” Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said.

The scheme has received more than 9100 applications for redress, with 4530 payments, totalling about $377 million, made so far.

However, 77 redress applications from survivors of institutional abuse remain unable to be processed because three institutions refuse to participate.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kenja Communications and Fairbridge Restored Limited were “named and shamed” in July last year for not registering for the scheme.

The institutions’ failure to join within six months of being notified of the obligation will now make the groups ineligible for government grants.

They will also face losing their charitable status.

About 450 institutions have now registered for the National Redress Scheme.

Senator Ruston said the scheme had worked with a further 11 institutions that had taken the necessary steps to join but did not meet the legislated requirements.

“The scheme and Ministers Redress Scheme Governance Board will work through how we can best support survivors with applications related to these institutions,” she said.

The board is also considering who should pay redress if a non-government organisation is defunct, the application process and the delivery of support services.

At least 540 redress offers made to survivors are awaiting confirmation from the applicant.

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/more-institutions-sign-up-for-national-redress-scheme/news-story/d9f03224bee2a491520e449eab84cae7

—

National Redress Scheme

About the National Redress Scheme

The National Redress Scheme has been created in response to recommendations by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse listened to thousands of people about the abuse they experienced as children. The abuse happened in orphanages, Children’s Homes, schools, churches and other religious organisations, sports clubs, hospitals, foster care and other institutions.

What is the National Redress Scheme?

The National Redress Scheme:

• acknowledges that many children were sexually abused in Australian institutions

• recognises the suffering they endured because of this abuse

• holds institutions accountable for this abuse, and

• helps people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse gain access to counselling, a direct personal response, and a Redress payment.

Would you like support?

Call the National Redress Scheme on 1800 737 377

https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/about/about-scheme

Ten former Pentagon chiefs warn Donald Trump against involving military in pursuing election fraud claims

In an extraordinary rebuke of President Donald Trump, all 10 living former secretaries of defence have cautioned against any move to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud.

The 10 men, a mix of Democrats and Republicans, said it would take the country into "dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory."

They signed on to an opinion article published in The Washington Post that implicitly questioned Mr Trump's willingness to follow his Constitutional duty to peacefully relinquish power on January 20.

Following the November 3 election and subsequent recounts in some states, as well as unsuccessful court challenges, the outcome is clear, they wrote, while not specifying Mr Trump in the article.

"The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived," they wrote.

The former Pentagon chiefs warned against use of the military in any effort to change the outcome.

"Efforts to involve the US armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory," they wrote.

"Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic."

A number of senior military officers, including General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said publicly in recent weeks the military has no role in determining the outcome of US elections and their loyalty is to the Constitution, not to an individual leader or a political party.

The 10 former Pentagon leaders also warned in their Post article of the dangers of impeding a full and smooth transition at the Defence Department prior to Inauguration Day as part of a transfer to power to president-elect Joe Biden.

Mr Biden has complained of efforts by Trump-appointed Pentagon officials to obstruct the transition.

Without mentioning a specific example, the former defence secretaries wrote that transfers of power "often occur at times of international uncertainty about US national security policy and posture," adding, "They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation."

Tensions with Iran represent just such a moment. Sunday marked one year since the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general; Iran has vowed to avenge the killing, and US officials said in recent days that they are on heightened alert for potential Iranian attack on US forces or interests in the Middle East.

In a further sign of US-Iranian tension, the acting secretary of defence, Christopher Miller, announced Sunday evening, local time, he had changed his mind about sending the Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, home from the Middle East and instead will keep the vessel on duty.

Just last week, Mr Miller announced that he was sending the Nimitz home, a decision that had been opposed by senior military officers.

In reversing himself, Mr Miller cited "recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other US government officials." He did not elaborate, and the Pentagon did not respond to questions.

The opinion article in the Post was signed by Dick Cheney, William Perry, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Ash Carter, James Mattis and Mark Esper.

Mr Mattis was Mr Trump's first defence secretary; he resigned in 2018 and was succeeded by Mr Esper, who was fired just days after the November 3 election.

The Post reported that the idea for writing the opinion piece began with a conversation between Mr Cheney and Eric Edelman, a retired ambassador and former senior Pentagon official, about how Mr Trump might seek to use the military in coming days.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-04/warning-to-trump-by-10-former-pentagon-chiefs-on-election-fraud/13030236

>>12305994

All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory

Opinion by Ashton Carter, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, Leon Panetta, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld

Jan. 3, 2021

Ashton Carter, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, Leon Panetta, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld are the 10 living former U.S. secretaries of defense.

As former secretaries of defense, we hold a common view of the solemn obligations of the U.S. armed forces and the Defense Department. Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party.

American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy. With one singular and tragic exception that cost the lives of more Americans than all of our other wars combined, the United States has had an unbroken record of such transitions since 1789, including in times of partisan strife, war, epidemics and economic depression. This year should be no exception.

Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.

As senior Defense Department leaders have noted, “there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election.” Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.

Transitions, which all of us have experienced, are a crucial part of the successful transfer of power. They often occur at times of international uncertainty about U.S. national security policy and posture. They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation.

Given these factors, particularly at a time when U.S. forces are engaged in active operations around the world, it is all the more imperative that the transition at the Defense Department be carried out fully, cooperatively and transparently. Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates — political appointees, officers and civil servants — are each bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration, and to do so wholeheartedly. They must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team.

We call upon them, in the strongest terms, to do as so many generations of Americans have done before them. This final action is in keeping with the highest traditions and professionalism of the U.S. armed forces, and the history of democratic transition in our great country.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/10-former-defense-secretaries-military-peaceful-transfer-of-power/2021/01/03/2a23d52e-4c4d-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html

>TRAITORS EVERYWHERE.

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f889f5 Too fucking late Jan. 3, 2021, 11:02 p.m. No.12306075 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12306000

This is you

Jon James pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f889f5 Wrong answer lol ???? Jan. 4, 2021, 12:08 a.m. No.12306848 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Anonymous ID: d2e22e Jan. 4, 2021, 1:54 a.m. No.12307656 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2610

Julian Assange Extradition Hearing - Outside the Old Bailey

Subject Access

4 January 2021

We are Live outside the Old Bailey for the extradition hearing of Julian Assange, there are many here in support.

Julian Assange, an Australian Journalist has been held on remand in HMP Belmarsh since he was ejected from the Ecuadorian Embassy on 11/04/2019 and is awaiting a verdict on his extradition the the USA where he is wanted for 18 computer related charges. If Extradited, he faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for each Charge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddaJE_qfDvI

Julian Assange will not be extradited to the US on espionage charges

1/2

London: A British judge has rejected a Trump administration bid to extradite Julian Assange to face charges relating to WikiLeaks’ publication of classified diplomatic cables a decade ago, saying that he would be a suicide risk.

Assange was present in the courtroom in the Old Bailey on Monday evening (AEDT) to hear the ruling. He wore a dark suit, a tie and white shirt and dark face mask covering his mouth but not his nose. He sat in a glass-enclosed dock with his hands folded, resting on his left thigh.

District judge Vanessa Baraitser accepted that Assange suffered from depression and had Asperger's. She said the conditions under which he would be held if sent to the United States would not "prevent Mr Assange from finding a way to commit suicide".

"For these reasons I have decided that extradition would be oppressive by reason of Mr Assange's mental health and I order his discharge," she said.

The US government immediately said it would appeal the decision in the High Court. Assange will remain in custody until a bail hearing set for Wednesday evening (AEDT).

Asked if he understood the new arrangements, Assange responded: "Yes."

Assange's mother, Christine, called for a presidential pardon.

"I implore President Trump and President-elect Biden to order them to stand down," she wrote on Twitter. "The decade long process was the punishment. He has suffered enough."

The US government had argued it was not prosecuting Assange for publishing the cables but for how they were obtained, alleging he conspired with Chelsea Manning, then an army intelligence officer, to hack into government systems to steal three-quarters of a million secret and classified cables.

The Obama administration did not bring charges against Assange – they were brought by the Department of Justice under the Trump administration.

Trump had benefited politically from a separate publication by WikiLeaks of the emails obtained from the Democratic National Committee's servers after a Russian hack. Trump is on record speaking both in favour of and against WikiLeaks.

Baraitser did not read out her written judgment but rejected key arguments made by Assange's lawyers that his actions were justified because he was acting as a journalist when he encouraged Manning to hack into US systems. The cables were later published them on the internet, unredacted.

"In the modern era, where 'dumps' of vast amounts of data onto the internet can be carried out by almost anyone, it is difficult to see how a concept of 'responsible journalism' can sensibly be applied," she said.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 4, 2021, 9:53 a.m. No.12311650 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2610

>>12311626

2/2

In her judgment, Baraitser pointed to the condemnation of WikiLeaks issued at the time by former mainstream media partners, including The Guardian and The New York Times, which had both originally collaborated by publishing information deemed to be in the public interest. They had, however, redacted sensitive information.

"In my judgment, Mr Assange’s alleged activities went beyond the mere encouragement of a whistle-blower," Baraitser ruled.

"Free speech does not comprise a 'trump card' even where matters of serious public concern are disclosed and it does not provide an unfettered right for some, like Mr Assange, to decide the fate of others, on the basis of their partially informed assessment of the risks."

She accepted that his conduct was capable of constituting criminal offences in England and Wales, a blow for those who have argued that Assange's actions were those of a free press and therefore should not be prosecuted.

Assange had claimed he was being politically prosecuted by US President Donald Trump but the judge found "little evidence" of this.

She had also rejected his claims that his human rights would be violated if he were sent to the United States to face judicial proceedings and said that he would get a fair hearing.

But she accepted one crucial plank of Assange's case, relating to the near-solitary conditions in which he would be held in a US prison if extradited and the effects on his mental health, noting the Australian's family history of suicide and upholding evidence that he was depressed.

"The overall impression is of a depressed and sometimes despairing man who is generally fearful about his future," she said.

The judgment was published online immediately after she delivered her verdict, and can be read in full here.

https://www.scribd.com/document/489732759/USA-v-Assange-Judgment-040121

The 49-year-old has been held at Belmarsh prison since September 2019. The US wants to try him on 17 charges that carry a total 175 years' jail.

Stella Moris-Smith Robertson, Assange's fiancee and the mother of their two children, Max and Gabriel, was in court to hear the ruling and wept as it was delivered.

She was comforted by WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, with whom she had arrived at the Old Bailey.

The judge had earlier rejected pleas to consider the impact his extradition would have on his young family saying it was "sadly nothing out of the ordinary in the context of extradition proceedings."

A small throng of supporters chanted "free Julian Assange" as the pair arrived.

Monday's ruling is a major development in the 10-year saga. Assange spent nearly seven years holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London to escape being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.

He was kicked out by his hosts in dramatic scenes in April 2019 when they invited Scotland Yard to enter the embassy and arrest their long-term resident. Assange has been held in custody ever since.

If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/julian-assange-will-not-be-extradited-to-the-us-on-espionage-charges-20210104-p56ri6.html

Julian Assange extradition ruling: what happens now?

Decision is another milestone in 10-year fight but focus now shifts to US appeal

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Monday’s ruling is not the end of a decade-long struggle by Julian Assange against extradition to the US – but it heralds the beginning of the end.

Over recent weeks, supporters and those close to the WikiLeaks founder had lobbied and pinned some hopes on Donald Trump granting him a pardon in the final days of his time in the White House, but no Christmas reprieve came via the US president’s Twitter account or elsewhere.

After the ruling at the Old Bailey by district judge Vanessa Baraitser that Assange cannot be extradited from the UK, the focus now shifts to a US appeal, for which leave is expected to be granted in a few weeks time.

After the appeal to the high court, the case could technically go to the supreme court though British legal experts caution that a specific legal point would have to arise for the latter to become involved.

Another option further down the line, for Assange’s defenders rather than lawyers for the US, would be the European court of human rights.

In the event of legal rulings continuing to go his way, he will ultimately be discharged from prison, although the long arm of the US would limit his travel prospects beyond the UK for the rest of his life.

Yet more scenarios – based on more than a few hypotheticals and a disconnect with how the British legal system works – meanwhile continue to hover into view. Mexico’s populist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, told reporters at his daily press conference that he would ask foreign ministry officials to approach their UK counterparts about “the possibility of Mr Assange being freed” so he could accept a Mexican offer of asylum.

A somewhat more realisable prospect however would involve the incoming White House incumbent pardoning Assange, although Joe Biden’s description of Assange in 2010 as a “hi-tech terrorist” looms large in some memories.

An intervention by Trump cannot still be ruled out, although he would be an unlikely saviour given the role in which Assange’s lawyers sought to cast the president over the course of extradition proceedings at in London last year.

(continued)

>>12311717

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It is almost exactly 10 years since Eric Holder, then serving as US attorney general under Barack Obama and in an administration containing Vice-President Biden, disclosed that he had authorised “significant” actions aimed at prosecuting the WikiLeaks founder over the release of thousands of diplomatic cables from US embassies.

By then, an international arrest warrant had been issued at the request of Swedish authorities who wanted to question Assange about allegations – one of rape and one of molestation – made by two women in Stockholm. He has denied those claims.

After losing an appeal against attempts to extradite him to Sweden, Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012. He was subsequently granted political asylum amid claims by his supporters that his removal to Sweden could be followed by a possible onward extradition to the US on potential espionage charges.

A total of 2,487 days inside the embassy passed – during which time Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, described Assange’s arrest as a priority. Suspicions that he had been charged in secret were bolstered when the US Department of Justice inadvertently named him in a court document.

A diplomatic stalemate between the UK and Ecuador came to an end in April 2019, however, when British police forcibly dragged Assange from the embassy after Ecuador revoked his political asylum. Soon after, a US criminal indictment charging him with conspiring to hack into a secret Pentagon computer network was unveiled.

The first courtroom jostling over a US extradition request brought an extraordinary claim – that Trump had offered Assange a pardon if he would say Russia had not been involved in leaking Democratic party emails.

Months later, Covid-19 was wreaking havoc across the globe when proceedings resumed in earnest at the high court, with evidence being largely delivered by witnesses across often fragile remote links.

What has been unquantifiable meanwhile is been the personal toll on individuals involved, with Assange’s partner, Stella Moris, accusing the US of tearing their family apart as four weeks of hearings were adjourned at the start of October.

She was inside court 2 of the Old Bailey on Monday as Baraitser remarked in her ruling that the “inevitable impact” any extradition would have on her and their children “is sadly nothing out of the ordinary in the context of extradition proceedings”.

But she wept tears of joy when the extradition request was denied. Irrespective of one’s view of Julian Assange, the day when his two young sons will be able to spend unlimited time with their father may have been edged closer.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/04/julian-assange-extradition-fate-remains-unclear

Morrison says Assange could come home if all charges were dropped

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London: Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Julian Assange would be allowed to return to Australia if all charges were dropped.

Overnight, British district judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected the United States' bid to extradite Assange on espionage charges, reasoning that the Wikileaks founder was likely to commit suicide if sent to an American supermax prison.

Speaking on 3AW radio, Morrison said: “If that all turns out, he’s like any other Australian, he would be free to return home if he wished. That would be a matter for him when those proceedings and processes end.”

Morrison said that consular support had consistently been offered to Assange, but made clear the government were "not parties to those set of proceedings".

Earlier, Geoffrey Robertson, QC, who unsuccessfully defended Assange against extradition proceedings in 2010, called on the Australian government to throw its weight behind the campaign to get the US Department of Justice to drop their appeal.

"The Australian government should ratchet up their support from the occasional consular visit up to the diplomatic level," Robertson told Radio National.

"It should use its diplomatic facilities to urge a pardon [from US President Donald Trump]", he said, or petition the incoming Biden administration to drop the appeal.

Former US soldier Chelsea Manning, who worked with Assange to acquire confidential diplomatic cables, had her sentence commuted by former president Barack Obama in January 2017.

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has already said he will offer Julian Assange political asylum and supports the decision of a British judge to deny extradition of the WikiLeaks founder to the US.

"Assange is a journalist and deserves a chance. I am in favour of pardoning him," Lopez Obrador said. "We'll give him protection."

Assange's team did not immediately comment on the offer and restated calls for Trump to issue the WikiLeaks founder a pardon.

Assange escaped extradition to the US when a British judge on Monday night AEDT agreed he was a suicide risk if sent to a US supermax prison and held in solitary confinement.

It is not the first time he has avoided being extradited. In 2012, Assange escaped being extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations by seeking political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he remained holed up for nearly seven years.

He was kicked out by his hosts in 2019, prompting the US government to request his extradition to face 17 spying charges relating to his publication of hundreds of thousands of secret US documents hacked by former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

Baraitser agreed with all of the US government's arguments, including that Assange's conduct went beyond that of a journalist or whistleblower, and that his human rights would not be violated if he faced trial in the US.

But she agreed with Assange's lawyers that the conditions the 49-year-old was likely to be held under while in prison would make him a suicide risk, noting his family history of suicide and that he is diagnosed with Asperger's as well as suffering depression.

Her ruling is a blow to free speech campaigners, but at the same time a huge victory for Assange, who attended Monday's hearing dressed in a dark suit, tie and light-coloured shirt and wearing a face mask that covered his mouth but not his nose.

The US government is appealing in the High Court and Assange will face a bail hearing on Wednesday. He remains in custody at Belmarsh prison.

(continued)

>>12321965

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Stella Moris, the fiancee of Julian Assange, said the decision not to extradite him was only a "first step" towards justice. Moris, the mother of their two children Max and Gabriel, wept in court as the extradition request was denied.

Outside the Old Bailey, she pleaded with US President Donald Trump to pardon the Australian WikiLeaks founder.

"Mr President, tear down these prison walls. Let our little boys have their father. Free Julian, free the press, free us all," she said.

"Today is a victory for Julian. Today's victory is the first step towards justice in this case."

But she said there would be no celebrations until her fiance was home. "I ask you all to shout louder, lobby harder until he is free," she said.

WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson said, while the ruling was a win for Julian Assange, it was "not necessarily a win for journalism".

Alan Rusbridger edited The Guardian when it collaborated with WikiLeaks' earliest publications. The masthead and others fell out with Assange and condemned the unredacted publication of the cables at the time.

Critically, the judge pointed to this statement in her judgment, saying of the dumping online of the unredacted cables: "it is difficult to see how a concept of 'responsible journalism' can sensibly be applied."

"The judge’s reasoning was hardly a ringing endorsement of either Wikileaks or the function of journalism," Rusbridger said.

"But the extradition outcome is the right one and I hope the US will now drop the pursuit of Assange (and Edward Snowden) and let them get on with their lives."

Human rights campaigners both welcomed and criticised the decision.

"The fact that the ruling is correct and saves Assange from extradition does not absolve the UK from having engaged in this politically motivated process at the behest of the USA and putting media freedom and freedom of expression on trial," said Nils Muižnieks from Amnesty International.

"It has set a terrible precedent for which the US is responsible and the UK government is complicit."

But national security hawks were outraged.

Conservative MP Tobais Ellwood, who chairs the Commons defence committee, said he hoped the US government would win on appeal.

"If the US can satisfy the appeal court that Assange will be responsibly treated given his condition, then I believe there’s every reason to believe he will finally face justice and finally answer the charges that he aided and abetted the theft [of classified documents] and disclosure of US security personnel, thus endangering lives," Ellwood told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Support is available for those who may be distressed by phoning Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/mexico-to-offer-julian-assange-asylum-after-us-extradition-bid-fails-20210104-p56rq9.html

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Morrison on a fucking cross Jan. 4, 2021, 9:24 p.m. No.12322100 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12321965

Pigs in blankets (666) for the Australian police.

Shoved into a building, and set the cunts on fire 🔥

No deals lol 😂

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 4, 2021, 9:29 p.m. No.12322151 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2610

Scott Morrison won't ask Trump to pardon Julian Assange

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will not be appealing to Donald Trump to pardon Julian Assange following a British court's decision to reject the US bid to extradite the WikiLeaks founder.

Assange supporters are calling on Mr Morrison to lobby the US President to free the 49-year-old Australian, but government sources confirmed there was no intention to raise the matter with either the Trump or the incoming Biden administration.

Former American soldier Chelsea Manning, who leaked Mr Assange the confidential diplomatic cables that are the subject of espionage charges against him, had her sentence commuted by then president Barack Obama in January 2017.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia was "not a party to the case and will continue to respect the ongoing legal process, including the UK justice system's consideration of applications for release, or any appeals".

Senator Payne said the Australian government has made 19 offers of consular assistance to Mr Assange since 2019 which had all gone unanswered.

British district judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected America's bid to extradite Mr Assange, finding he was likely to self-harm if sent to an American supermax prison.

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has already said he will offer Mr Assange political asylum and supports the decision of a British judge to deny extradition of the WikiLeaks founder to the US.

"Assange is a journalist and deserves a chance. I am in favour of pardoning him," Mr Lopez Obrador said. "We'll give him protection."

Labor MP Julian Hill said the decision not to extradite Mr Assange was welcome, although "made for poor reasons".

"The fight to save his life goes on," Mr Hill said.

"Scott Morrison should defend him and demand he return home and promise not to extradite him to the US.

"I never thought I'd say this, but Trump should pardon him."

Crossbench senator Rex Patrick said the Morrison government "should immediately indicate whether they will seek a pardon" from Mr Trump, adding the "humanitarian case is clear".

Nationals MP George Christensen said the prosecution would appeal the extradition denial and a pardon from Mr Trump would "ensure the Deep State and a potential Biden administration cannot pursue further action against Assange".

He called for the British government to immediately release Mr Assange and return him to Australia.

"He is being held without any charge in the jurisdiction where he is being held, so there is no justification for him to stay in Belmarsh Prison for a moment longer," Mr Christensen said.

"Furthermore the Australian government should ensure that when he is returned to Australia, there is no avenue for an extradition from his home country to the United States."

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said the court's judgment confirmed the "terrible personal toll on Julian Assange and the grave risk to his life should he be extradited to the United States.

"But regrettably it fails to address central issues like freedom of speech, media freedom and the US claim to extraterritoriality," he said.

"Julian Assange must now be freed and allowed to return to Australia. And the Australian government must rule out any possibility of his extradition from this country should he return home.

"I also call on President Trump and President-elect Biden, to let this be the end of the matter. Julian Assange should be lauded as a hero, not a villain."

Mr Morrison said Mr Assange would be free to return to Australia once the appeals process is finished.

"If that all turns out, he's like any other Australian, he would be free to return home if he wished," he told 3AW.

"That would be a matter for him when those proceedings and processes end."

Mr Morrison said that consular support had consistently been offered to Mr Assange, but made clear the government was not a party to the legal proceedings.

Prominent barrister Geoffrey Robertson, who unsuccessfully defended Mr Assange against extradition proceedings in 2010, called on the Australian government to throw its weight behind the campaign to get the US Department of Justice to drop its appeal.

"The Australian government should ratchet up their support from the occasional consular visit up to the diplomatic level," Mr Robertson told Radio National.

"It should use its diplomatic facilities to urge a pardon [from US President Donald Trump]", he said or petition the incoming Biden administration to drop the appeal."

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-won-t-ask-trump-to-pardon-julian-assange-20210105-p56rtl.html

Anthony Albanese’s demand for a rollout now of COVID vaccine ‘very dangerous’, Scott Morrison says

Scott Morrison has hit out at claims from Labor over the COVID-19 vaccine saying Anthony Albanese’s comments were “dangerous”.

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Scott Morrison has slammed Anthony Albanese’s call to fast-track the COVID-19 vaccine as “very dangerous”, warning Australians don’t want the jabs rolled out “willy nilly” before imported batches are tested.

The Prime Minister has issued a detailed explanation this morning of the vaccine timetable, insisting that we have “choices” that the United Kingdom doesn’t have.

The UK is rapidly rolling out the jabs as an emergency response to the devastation of some 58,000 coronavirus daily cases. Britain today entered a snap six-week national lockdown.

The current timetable for Australians to receive the vaccine is from late March onwards, despite the fact that the vaccine could be approved and imported several weeks earlier.

Mr Morrison told 3AW this morning that even after the vaccine is approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australia still needs to complete a fortnight of “batch tests” to check dosages and adverse reactions.

“Those processes don’t just end when the TGA approves the vaccine. You then need to go and test the batches that are coming in that will be administered across the country,’’ the PM said.

“And so, these suggestions that I’ve heard about trying to rush the process I think can be very dangerous. We should let the health officials do their jobs here.

“I mean, I don’t think Australians would want us to just willy nilly to be sending out vials of vaccine that haven’t had their batches tested which is the normal process.”

Labor is calling for the process to be rolled out faster as modest outbreaks in NSW and Victoria spark border chaos and leave thousands locked out of their home state.

But the PM said there’s no need to take “unnecessary risks” given Australia has largely got the COVID-19 situation under control.

“There were 58,000 cases in the UK the other day. If you look at the UK, they are in the early stages of that and they have had quite a few problems,’’ he said.

“They are doing it on an emergency basis, they are not testing batches of vaccines before they are disseminated across the population, is my understanding. They are the processes that we have in Australia.

“Now, we have our scheduled timetable. We are moving this as swiftly as it safely can be done.”

(continued)

>>12322724

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In a later interview on 2GB, the PM also said Mr Albanese’s views were “misinformed” and claimed the Opposition knocked back an offer of a briefing on the vaccination strategy.

Mr Morrison also said Labor’s health spokesman Chris Bown hadn’t attended a COVID-19 briefing since November.

Rubbishing the Prime Minister’s claim that his vaccine strategy puts Australia at the “front of the queue” Mr Albanese said this week the rollout wasn’t happening fast enough.

“Well, quite clearly, we’re not at the front of the queue,’’ Mr Albanese said.

“The fact is that it makes no sense for the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) to have recommended, as it is likely to do, in January, the approval of the Pfizer vaccine, but then for the rollout to not occur until March.”

Hospitals in the United Kingdom have started offering the vaccine after the UK government approved the COVID-19 jab and thousands of citizens have been vaccinated in Israel.

But Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly insisted on Monday that safety must be paramount as officials observe the rollout in the United Kingdom and the United States and learn the lessons of any potential adverse reactions or logistic issues.

“We have zero people in intensive care and no-one, of course, therefore on ventilation. That is, again, a major difference between us and the rest of the world,’’ he said.

His warning was echoed overnight by Victoria’s deputy chief medical officer Allen Cheng who is also intimately involved in the vaccine rollout as the chair of the Advisory Committee for Vaccines.

“An example of side effects only picked up later are the cases of anaphylaxis that have been reported in the UK and the US,’’ he said.

“We want to know that there is the correct amount of vaccine in each dose. We want to know they are free from contamination. That there are no differences between different batches or those made in different factories. We need to know the shelf life under different conditions.

“That’s not all – there are questions about toxicology of the vaccine or its components (such as the lipid layer used in mRNA vaccines, or adjuvants used in protein vaccines).

“Whether they can be used safely in pregnant or breastfeeding women. Whether they can be given with other vaccines such as the flu vaccine.

“For COVID vaccines, we have published papers that report that the vaccines appear to be effective and generally safe. Many people think that published papers are the gold standard in evidence, but they just scrape the surface of what we want to know.”

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/anthony-albaneses-demand-for-a-rollout-now-of-covid-vaccine-very-dangerous-scott-morrison-says/news-story/6bd31c6d62cbca321c3a766805c338c3

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 5, 2021, 9:21 p.m. No.12338886 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2610

Assange poised for bail application

WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange is set to discover if he will be allowed to taste freedom after years of self-incarceration and jail time.

The decision, one way or the other, follows victory in his battle to avoid extradition from Britain to the United States on Monday.

A British judge rejected a request from US authorities for Assange, 49, to be sent across the Atlantic to face 18 criminal charges of breaking an espionage law and conspiring to hack government computers.

The charges relate to the release by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables officials say put lives in danger.

Although Judge Vanessa Baraitser accepted the US legal arguments in the case, she said Assange's mental health issues meant he would be at risk of suicide if extradited.

The US Department of Justice says it will continue to seek his extradition and appeal against her verdict.

In the meantime, Assange, who is currently in the top-security Belmarsh Prison in east London, will seek to be freed on bail at a hearing on Wednesday.

If Baraitser grants his request, he will be able to enjoy freedom for the first time in more than eight years.

Admirers hail Australian-born Assange as a hero for exposing what they describe as abuses of power by the United States.

But detractors cast him as a dangerous figure who has undermined the security of the West and dispute he is a journalist.

WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables that laid bare often critical appraisals of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family.

Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified US military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad.

In June 2012, Assange fled to London's Ecuadorean embassy after losing his bid to prevent extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over alleged sex crimes.

He remained in the embassy, in confined conditions, until dragged out in April 2019.

Although the Swedish case against him had been dropped by then, he was jailed for breaching British bail conditions and his supporters forfeited sureties of 93,500 pounds ($A163,700).

He has remained behind bars after completing his jail term pending the outcome of the extradition case, which would include any appeal by the United States.

Baraitser has previously refused him bail, saying he remained a flight risk.

Assange's partner Stella Moris, with whom he had two children while holed up in the embassy, said they could not celebrate as long as he was still in prison.

"We will celebrate the day he comes home," she said.

Assange's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said on Monday the extradition ruling cast a new light over the bail decision.

However Nick Vamos, former head of extradition at Britain's Crown Prosecution Service, said he expected his bid not to succeed.

"To do so, he would have to point to some change in circumstances, for example the COVID-19 risk in Belmarsh, other than the extradition judgment in his favour," Vamos said.

"I expect his bail application to fail."

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7076342/assange-poised-for-bail-application/

>>12321965

Julian Assange’s lawyers fear offer to return to Australia would result in extradition

Julian Assange’s legal team have rejected Scott Morrison’s assertion that the WikiLeaks founder could return to Australia.

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Lawyers for Julian Assange have rejected Scott Morrison’s claim he can simply return to Australia if a final legal attempt to extradite him on espionage charges fails, warning the United States could promptly launch new legal proceedings here.

There are fears the US could simply reopen attempts to extradite Mr Assange from Australia if he ever travelled home to the country where he was born and that would leave him again facing charges that carry a maximum penalty of up to 175 years in jail.

Australian officials also confirmed to news.com.au that there was nothing in the US extradition treaty to stop the US from extraditing him as soon as he sets foot in Australia.

The long running legal saga relates to the WikiLeaks founder’s involvement 10 years ago in the 2010 publication of secret diplomatic cables and files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq including a US military video showing an Apache attack helicopter killing civilians.

A British court ruled this week that Mr Assange will not be extradited to the US after a judge found his mental health was so fragile he was likely to kill himself if he is sent overseas to face espionage charges.

But the United States immediately confirmed they will appeal this decision, in a last-ditch attempt to force Mr Assange to face the US justice system.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed on Tuesday that the Australian could simply return home “like any other Australian” if that US appeal over the decision overnight fails.

“Well, the justice system is making its way and we’re not a party to that,’’ Mr Morrison said.

“And like any Australian, they’re offered consular support and should, you know, if the appeal fails, obviously he would be able to return to Australia like any other Australian. So that consular support continues to be offered and that’s the situation as we understand it right now.”

But lawyers for Mr Assange told news.com.au that Australia should push for the US to drop the case entirely.

“It is not enough for the Prime Minister to simply say he is free to come home if he wins the appeal,’’ barrister Jennifer Robinson said.

“The Australian government should express concern about Mr Assange’s wellbeing in light of the judge’s findings about his medical condition and support our bail application. The Australian government should also be making representations to the US to close this case down altogether, given the judge’s ruling on his health and the grave freedom of speech implications, to ensure Mr Assange can safely return home.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 5, 2021, 9:54 p.m. No.12339299 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0239

>>12339138

2/2

The existing judgment is a hollow victory for free speech advocates, with Judge Vanessa Baraitser effectively upholding all of the US arguments that Mr Assange would secure a fair trial in the US.

His legal team has also confirmed they are seeking bail so the Australian can be reunited with his young family while that legal appeal is heard.

“We welcome this important decision from the UK court to bar Mr Assange’s extradition to the US and that the judge has agreed with our arguments that his extradition would be oppressive,’’ Ms Robinson told news.com.au.

“However, it is not over yet: the US government has indicated they will appeal. We are now seeking bail for Mr Assange, pending any appeal, so that he can finally be reunited with his young family, have time to recover from this decade-long ordeal and the harsh prison conditions he has faced, and be protected from the COVID outbreak in his prison.”

He will remain at London’s Belmarsh prison until Wednesday, when the application for him to be released on bail until the appeal is heard will be heard.

In September, a British Court heard Assange was preparing to take his own life, in expert evidence provided by a leading psychiatrist.

“He’s made various plans and undergone various preparations,” Professor Michael Kopelman told a UK court, revealing the 49-year-old had confessed his plans to a Catholic priest, written a will and drafted farewell letters to friends and family.

“Various preparations are in place,” the King’s College Emeritus Professor said, adding that Assange’s ideations could be triggered by the “imminence of extradition and or an actual extradition.”

Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said the case should be dropped and had dragged on for long enough.

“Given his ill health it is now time for this long drawn out case against Julian Assange to be brought to an end,’’ he said.

“While the US has the right to appeal the court’s decision, we call on the Morrison Government to do what it can to draw a line under this matter and encourage the US Government to bring this matter to a close.”

https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/julian-assanges-lawyers-fear-offer-to-return-to-australia-is-a-legal-trap/news-story/6da5f3637e1ba377c84440c31323d3cf

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 5, 2021, 10:27 p.m. No.12339676 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2575

>>12166590

>>12304790

Liberal MP Gladys Liu the target of foreign interference plot

Liberal MP Gladys Liu was named in search warrants made out for the prominent Melbourne community figure who became the first person charged under new foreign interference laws.

Di Sanh Duong, the president of the Oceania Federation of Chinese Organisations, was charged in November after an investigation by national security agencies alleged that he attempted to influence figures in the Liberal Party’s Victorian division.

Both Ms Liu and the Liberal Party were specifically noted on the warrant, as investigators looked for material that referenced them — and what plans, if any, had been made to influence them — sources briefed on the matter told The Australian. There is no suggestion Ms Liu had any role in the alleged offences.

Instead, investigators went on to focus on whether Mr Duong sought to influence Education Minister Alan Tudge, then the acting immigration minister.

Mr Tudge, who appeared at a press conference with Mr Duong, who presented a $37,000 cheque to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, is not accused of wrongdoing.

The Australian Federal Police allege Mr Duong, who goes by the name “Sunny”, is connected to a foreign nation’s intelligence agency, although which nation has not been publicly confirmed.

The revelation that Ms Liu was potentially a target comes after another Melbourne-based businessman with links to the Liberal MP and to other Coalition figures was assessed as a security risk by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

Huifang “Haha” Liu, a Liberal donor who has had a long association with Ms Liu (no relation) and who was in parliament to watch her maiden speech in July 2019, now faces deportation.

The ABC first reported those claims on Monday, with Mr Liu telling the broadcaster that he believed he had been assessed as a security risk because he ran a neighbourhood watch organisation which agreed to take instruction from the Chinese consulate in Melbourne.

Mr Liu is not the subject of any investigation being conducted by the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, the organisation which pursued Mr Duong.

Asked about Ms Liu being referenced on a search warrant related to Mr Duong, an AFP spokeswoman said: “As this investigation is ongoing, it is not appropriate to comment.”

The ease of access to federal politicians has alarmed some national security officials, while the revelation that investigators had an interest in what Mr Duong’s relationship was with Ms Liu provides further confirmation that the unnamed foreign power is China.

Mr Duong resigned from the Liberal Party after he was charged with foreign interference in November.

The Australian reported in December that he is prevented under his bail conditions from having any contact with Australian politicians.

He must not contact “any Australian elected official except through a legal representative”, “any consulate or embassy or any staff member of any consulate or embassy”, or “any foreign intelligence agency or staff member of any intelligence agency”, according to a transcript of Mr Duong’s bail hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, obtained by The Australian.

Mr Duong has denied any wrongdoing and insists he has “nothing to hide”. He told The Guardian Australia that he was “a very popular person” who held “a lot of positions”.

“I’ve been here 42 years … I didn’t (ever) live in China,” he said after he was charged.

The Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, which is led by ASIO and the AFP, carried out search warrants across Melbourne on October 16 after a lengthy investigation into Mr Duong’s relationship with a foreign intelligence agency.

Mr Duong, who was a Liberal Party candidate in 1996, also uses the name Yang Yisheng, and is due in court in March.

But the Victorian Liberals are not the only political organisation which Australian security agencies say has been targeted by overseas intelligence organisations.

The AFP in August raided the house of a NSW Labor staffer, John Zhang, after becoming concerned he was collaborating with the Chinese government’s spy agency to influence Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane.

Mr Zhang has denied any wrongdoing and has lodged a constitutional challenge to the validity of foreign interference laws and the search warrants relied on by AFP agents to raid his home and businesses.

Documents lodged as part of the legal action show he is accused of failing to disclose to Mr Moselmane that he was acting on behalf of, “or in collaboration with”, the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/liberal-mp-gladys-liu-the-target-of-foreign-interference-plot/news-story/25ff5ca2b07798bf7b336a24f481411e

World’s eyes on Australia to see if we can resist China

CLIVE HAMILTON - JANUARY 6, 2021

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Before the pandemic shut down international travel, Australia had been receiving a steady stream of visitors from Western civil services, intelligence agencies, think tanks, universities and parliaments, all interested in one thing: what measures had Australia taken to protect its institutions from interference and infiltration by the Chinese state?

Experts have been explaining over and over what Australia has done and the circumstances that turned this country into the global leader pushing back against the Chinese Communist Party’s interference.

Two important factors persuaded the Turnbull government to introduce these and other policies. First, public alarm was rising following a series of media reports about donations by CCP-linked people to political parties, centring on the Dastyari affair. Second, the evidence in a series of secret intelligence briefings describing the extent of Beijing’s campaign to win friends among Australia’s elites became overwhelming.

The responses have included outlawing foreign interference, banning Huawei from the 5G network, excluding Chinese investors from buying up critical infrastructure and working behind the scenes to shake institutions such as universities out of their cash-induced complacency.

Today, Australia has become a model for other nations concerned about China’s influence. Some have introduced foreign interference legislation mirroring Australia’s.

During the past nine months, Beijing has subjected Australia to an escalating program of punishment, mainly by the use of economic coercion but also by a diplomatic freeze backed by a barrage of insults and threats emanating from the highest levels of the party in Beijing.

The Canberra embassy issued 14 demands we must satisfy if we wanted China to back off, including abolishing our foreign interference law, allowing Huawei into our 5G network, permitting unrestricted Chinese investment and limiting media criticism of the regime.

The trigger event for Beijing was Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s call in April for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.

But the retribution follows growing annoyance in the CCP, reaching up to general secretary Xi Jinping, that China’s attempts to break our resistance to its domination are failing. For Beijing, and for democracy, the geopolitical stakes could hardly be higher.

If Australia refuses to be intimidated, sticks to its position and takes the pain then Beijing must realise sooner or later that its campaign can’t succeed and grudgingly will resume normal relations with Australia.

That outcome would send a powerful message to the rest of the world: it’s possible for medium-sized nations to maintain their independence in the face of severe pressure from Beijing. A decisive blow would be dealt to Beijing’s goal of gaining global supremacy, if not by its United Front strategy of co-opting elites, then by economic blackmail.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 5, 2021, 10:34 p.m. No.12339768 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0179

>>12339752

2/2

On the other hand, if Australia’s resolve weakens under pressure and we give way to Beijing’s demands then it would represent a stunning victory for the CCP’s tactic of bullying and economic retribution.

The message to the rest of the world would be shattering. In the corridors of power, those urging resistance to the CCP would be told: “Australia tried but was forced to back down. China is too powerful. Only the US can resist and who knows for how long.”

This would pave the way for China to rapidly become the dominant power in the world from where the CCP would spread its malign influence.

Party documents are unequivocal: the CCP is hostile to free speech, a free media, religious freedom, independent courts and civil society.

So the stance being taken by the government in Canberra has world historical significance.

The vital question is: who in this unequal contest will win?

The Morrison government has made it very clear that Australia’s principles are not negotiable. But Beijing believes that if it imposes enough economic pain on Australians then we will be forced to trade our principles for higher growth.

The crucial factor in this fight is Australian public opinion. Communist Party bosses tend to believe that winning over powerful elites is enough. In pursuing that tactic they have been very successful. There are powerful voices in Australia urging the government to capitulate to Beijing’s pressure.

Certain former prime ministers, premiers, mining magnates, vice-chancellors, strategic analysts and Sinologists are all telling the government to appease Beijing. And some of the leaders of the industries being squeezed by China’s trade bans have become, in effect, mouthpieces for Beijing, calling on the government to “fix the relationship”, as if it’s all our fault. This is exactly what Beijing planned.

But in democracies political parties want to win elections above all else. Most Australians have been woken from their slumber and now see China as a serious threat to the democratic practices that for too long they had taken for granted.

With an election due at the end of this year or early next, the public must therefore watch both sides of politics closely for any signs of wavering. If our leaders go weak at the knees then the rest of the world is imperilled.

Clive Hamilton is a professor at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and co-author with Mareike Ohlberg of Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World (Hardie Grant).

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/worlds-eyes-on-australia-to-see-if-we-can-resist-china/news-story/497695d8da3a4467b7d40d30f86a90f4

Anti-vaxxers are now as big a threat as climate deniers

Both like to phrase their denialism as ‘questioning’, which is a smart but morally bankrupt PR manoeuvre

It seems hopeless when so many take the word of Pete Evans over scientists but there is a cure to the anti-vax disease, writes Tory Shepherd.

Tory Shepherd - January 6, 2021

1/2

Imagine if we still haven’t knocked this thing on the head by next summer. Imagine if we’re still talking about coronavirus clusters after winter.

Vaccines are set to roll out from March. Huzzah! It’s the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. The long, dark tunnel of this still-unfurling pandemic.

The national program should be finished by October. The Pfizer jab will go to health workers and the vulnerable first, and will then cascade through the population, offering a 95 per cent success rate. The AstraZeneca vaccine will also be available from March.

In heartening news, government research has found eight in 10 Australians will take the vaccine. Compared to California, where apparently only a minority of frontline workers are willing to take it, 80 per cent is pretty good.

As tempting as it is to bask in those sunny statistics, though, we should gird our loins for an uptick in action on the anti-vaxxer front.

We’ve seen how a tiny minority can sow the seeds of confusion to paralyse action. It happened with cigarettes, with the World Health Organisation reporting that the industry still denies smoking causes lung cancer.

It’s happening with climate change, where denialism is still evident in policy stagnation.

Don’t let it happen with vaccines. Anti-vaxxers are peeved at being called anti-vaxxers in the same way climate-change deniers don’t like being called denialists. Both like to phrase their denialism as “questioning”, which is a smart but morally bankrupt PR manoeuvre.

The thing is, it can become a Facebook death spiral if you start arguing with friends and family about vaccination. You have science, they have a pretty picture of Pete Evans with a mangled word salad about microchips underneath his grinning face.

It can seem hopeless when so many people want to take the words of a former celebrity chef over actual evidence.

But there is hope, and there is a way to talk to people who are worried about the vaccination without resorting to calling them steaming carbuncles.

Because the steaming carbuncles, and their pustulant offshoots, and others they’ve deliberately infected with the anti-vax poison, are only a tiny minority and can probably ultimately be ignored.

Hardcore anti-vaxxers are only about 3 per cent of the Australian population. So, if we subtract that from the 20 per cent who told the government they wouldn’t vaccinate, we have 17 per cent of the population we can put in the “vaccine-hesitant” box.

(continued)

>>12339980

2/2

Do a quick test. Does your het-up Facebook friend also believe in QAnon, chemtrails, a flat Earth and the Bill Gates microchips? If so, you can put them in the too-borked basket.

If not, they’re hesitant, not anti. That means they’ve been caught up in the almighty swirl of information, misinformation, and heinous confusion that has roiled all through this cursed pandemic.

Our collective brains have suffered from the maelstrom of inconsistent advice, puzzling border decisions and the bewildering need for the Sydney Cricket Ground to host the Test.

No wonder more than four million Australians are struggling to decide the best course of action. It’s in our interests to help them make the right one.

The facts are clear: vaccines save lives. They’re being marched through all the proper processes in Australia, where they aren’t being given “emergency approval”, but actual general approval (and cheers to the Poms for being a huge human clinical trial).

The vaccines definitely don’t have microchips in them. The Federal Government has already committed to a $24m education program to assuage those fears – but that won’t get everyone on board.

As clear as the facts are, research consistently shows they are not what will sway people’s minds. In the vaccine-hesitant crowd (as opposed to those who are irredeemably lost in the anti-vaxxer woods), there are other barriers. Fear. Access. Ambivalence.

Clear communication is a start and it has to be backed up by seamless logistics to slide everyone towards the jab.

But the vaccine hesitant will still be beset by “what-iffery”. What if something goes wrong? Alongside the science, we need to make sure they understand the other what-ifs. What if there are still clusters next summer, and lockdowns? What if I get really sick? What if someone dies just because I trusted my fears over the experts? And what if that someone is my child?

Tory Shepherd writes a weekly column on social issues for The Advertiser. She was formerly the paper's state editor, and has covered federal politics, defence, space, and everything else important to SA.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/tory-shepherd-both-like-to-phrase-their-denialism-as-questioning-which-is-a-smart-but-morally-bankrupt-pr-manoeuvre/news-story/17e90a2a06b360be8d188078cdfe9d66

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Pigs in blankets (666) Jan. 5, 2021, 11:10 p.m. No.12340179 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12339768

For all Australian police .

All locked in hi rise buildings and set the cunts on fire 🔥

For jewanon, trump and the dopey disrespectful Oxford polymath.

Great awakening, isn’t it?

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Do you think Assange Jan. 5, 2021, 11:15 p.m. No.12340239 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12339299

Hurt the USA’s feelings too?

See what filthy irredeemable cunts you are Aussies?

Betrayed Assange for a fat orange child raping Jew.

You’re going to be setting each other on fire 🔥 until the end of time

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 5, 2021, 11:30 p.m. No.12340388 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

Trump hopeful Pence will overturn election

Sky News Australia

6 Jan 2021

US President Donald Trump is hopeful Vice President Mike Pence will overturn the election result when Congress meets tomorrow.

In a statement, Mr Trump said "our Vice President has several options under the U.S. Constitution".

"He can de-certify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification. He can also de-certify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for the one vote for one state tabulation."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87BzkKRXVGI

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

AG Bill Barr questioned Epstein’s cellmate after suicide: Will we ever know what happened? #Epstein victims deserve an answer! #TruthMatters @pinkPeptobismol @ewarren @SDNYnews @CourtneyWild13 @MichelleLicata8

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1346680094559928321

—

Attorney General William Barr personally questioned Jeffrey Epstein’s cellmate after his suicide: source

1/2

Attorney General William Barr personally questioned the last inmate to share a cell with Jeffrey Epstein before the perv died by suicide, a source told the Daily News.

The multimillionaire sex offender was found hanging from cloth tied to a bed frame early on Aug. 10, 2019, rocking the highest levels of the Justice Department. Investigators’ attention turned to Efrain “Stone” Reyes, who had been transferred out of a cell he shared with Epstein the day before the shocking suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan.

Reyes’ niece and other sources previously told the Daily News that Reyes was moved to the privately run Queens Detention Facility, which holds cooperating witnesses.

Following Epstein’s death, Reyes was pulled from the privately run jail for frequent meetings with authorities, according to a source. Following one of the meetings, Reyes told the source that the attorney general himself had asked questions about the staff at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

“Barr wanted to know about what was going on in there. Barr told him, ‘I owe you a favor, thank you for telling us the truth,’ ” said the source, who became close friends with Reyes while they were both held at the Queens jail.

“He said [Barr] was a good guy. Barr was nice about it. He just wanted to know if [inmates] were being mistreated. What [Reyes] believed happened. Just basically that. He told them everything. He cooperated with Barr.”

The unusual sitdown between the country’s former top law enforcement official and the cooperator who confessed to participating in a drug ring at Bronx housing projects illustrates the significance of the feds’ failure in the Epstein case.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. The New York Times reported weeks after Epstein’s death that Barr was personally overseeing four inquiries into Epstein’s suicide. Barr has said he was “livid” after the death.

“If in fact the attorney general personally interviewed Jeffrey’s prison drug-dealing roommate that would be a real jaw dropper … there are only a million levels between the a.g. And the fbi agent who should have done the interview (I am exaggerating but only by a little),” Epstein’s attorney Reid Weingarten wrote in an email to the Daily News. “If it is true the question is why in the world was Barr so personally interested in what happened to my client?”

Two Metropolitan Correctional Center officers, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, have pleaded not guilty to sleeping on the job and falsifying records the night of the suicide. An attorney for Thomas, Montell Figgins, told The News he wouldn’t be surprised if Barr directly questioned Reyes, given how the case was handled by the Justice Department.

(continued)

>>12340879

2/2

The News exclusively identified Reyes as Epstein’s final cellmate last month. The 51-year-old caught coronavirus at the Queens Detention Facility last year, was released this past April and died in November at his mother’s Bronx apartment.

The source contacted The News seeking to dispel conspiracy theories that Reyes’ death had something to do with Epstein. The source said Reyes was deeply troubled by the suicide and did not hesitate to help investigators.

“With the Epstein thing, he was dealing with it. He was having nightmares,” the source said.

“He thought if he would’ve stayed a little longer maybe he wouldn’t have did what he did. The whole time, he would tell [Epstein], ‘Don’t do that in the cell. I don’t need you doing that. Don’t need that on my conscience.’”

The source recalled a conversation between Reyes and Epstein.

“Stone would be like, ‘What’s it like having all that money?’ ” the source said.

“[Epstein] just said he’s had a good life. He was very blessed.”

The Bronx drug dealer and the Coney Island-born sex offender worth $634 million overcame their differences.

Reyes struggled with sleep due to drug addiction. Epstein preferred to be asleep by 10 p.m., the source said. So, the financier supplied Reyes with drugs that cost $500 a pop to put him to sleep. The source believed the drug was Suboxone.

“What do you need, how can I help you so you go to bed and turn the lights out?” Epstein said, according to the source close to Reyes.

“He paid for stuff for him to keep him occupied, you know? He’s had his problems with drugs. He had bragged that Jeff spent $500 — and another $500 — so he’d go to bed early.”

The Metropolitan Correctional Center has a well-established reputation of being overrun with contraband.

The source, who also came down with COVID at the private jail, had no doubt Reyes’ demise was connected to the effects of coronavirus.

“With Stone, he would constantly say, ‘I don’t feel the same, I don’t feel right, I don’t move the right way no more,’ ” the source said. “You see people saying conspiracy things. No — he got COVID. He was having lung issues. He would cough all the time.”

As coronavirus ravaged the Queens Detention Facility last year, jail staff gave inmates, including Reyes and the source, takeout from Popeyes chicken and expanded the number of channels available on television, the source recalled. At one point, Reyes and the source watched a documentary about Epstein, the mysterious pervert who was able to cultivate relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world while allegedly running an international child sex trafficking scheme.

“[Reyes] was like, ‘I just didn’t see that from him. I didn’t see that side of him. I never pictured him being with young girls. Some guys like that are creepy,’ ” the source recalled. “He said he never really got that side of Epstein — like he was someone who took advantage of girls. But we all have our secrets, you know? You never know.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-barr-questioned-epstein-cellmate-20210104-uyez4izqabg2bowemxpsp3hlom-story.html

Julian Assange is a 'comedy of court cases' as UK blocks extradition order

Sky News Australia

5 Jan 2021

Former Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says Julian Assange has “always been trying to escape the law” as UK courts block America’s extradition order on the basis of mental health.

“The Julian Assange case publishing all of those documents, the so-called WikiLeaks documents, was hugely damaging not only to America but more broadly western interests,” he told Sky News host Chris Smith.

Mr Downer also said there was a “comedy of court cases” surrounding Julian Assange, pointing to allegations of sexual assault and later extradition orders to face charges from Sweden, the almost seven years he spent in an Ecuadorian embassy and the year he had done in a UK jail.

“It’s a sort of comedy of court cases that he’s always trying to escape the law.”

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6220266834001

I demand answers.

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweets

Our friendship with Australia has flourished. An unbreakable alliance. Thanks for the mateship, @MarisePayne!

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1346599862217879552

The U.S. and Australia: The Unbreakable Alliance

SPEECH - MICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE

STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES - SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

AUGUST 4, 2019

https://www.state.gov/the-u-s-and-australia-the-unbreakable-alliance/

—

U.S., Australia and Japan are working together to give Pacific Islands the chance to partner with free nations, not Communist China. Just one example: built a new, much-needed undersea cable to Palau. More to come. go.usa.gov/xA5vN

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1346614978212749313

Australia, Japan, Palau, and the United States Announce Digital Connectivity Project

29 Oct 2020

At the 2020 Virtual Indo-Pacific Business Forum, Australia, Japan, and the United States announced a new digital connectivity project for Palau. The announcement was made through a pre-recorded video of President of Palau Thomas Remengesau, Jr., Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Ann Payne, and U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_3IIVjWcsA

The United States Partners with Australia and Japan to Expand Reliable and Secure Digital Connectivity in Palau

OCTOBER 29, 2020

The United States, in partnership with the governments of Australia, Japan, and Palau, will finance the construction of an undersea fiber optic cable to the Republic of Palau valued at approximately $30 million. The project will connect to a new U.S. International Development Finance Corporation-financed undersea cable, the world’s longest, spanning from Singapore to the United States. The new spur cable—Palau’s second—will help ensure reliable, secure digital connectivity in Palau, and marks the first project to be delivered under the Trilateral Partnership for Infrastructure Investment in the Indo-Pacific between the United States, Australia and Japan.

https://www.state.gov/the-united-states-partners-with-australia-and-japan-to-expand-reliable-and-secure-digital-connectivity-in-palau/

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 5:24 p.m. No.12361796 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2610

'An incentive to abscond': Julian Assange denied bail by UK judge

London: A British judge has denied WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange bail, saying there was a risk he might flee justice while the US tries again to secure his extradition.

It comes just two days after Judge Vanessa Baraister ordered his discharge from extradition to the US to face spying charges.

The US government is appealing the ruling and on Wednesday evening (AEDT) successfully argued that the Australian be kept in Belmarsh Prison while the High Court challenge take place.

"Mr Assange still has an incentive to abscond from these, as yet, unresolved proceedings," she said.

"Mr Assange has already demonstrated that he has been willing to flout the order of this court.

"I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he would fail to surrender to court to face the appeal proceedings," the judge said. "The remand therefore, is in custody."

Clair Dobbin, a lawyer for the US government, told Westminster Magistrate's Court that Assange had the "resources, ability and sheer wherewithal" to flee the country.

She reminded the court that Assange, in 2012, had evaded extradition to Sweden by entering the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he lived for seven years until he was kicked out by his hosts.

Dobbin said Mexico's offer of political asylum to Assange this week made him a flight risk.

"I make that point simply to illustrate that there are countries that are sympathetic to Mr Assange," she said, noting that Mr Assange would only need to enter the Mexican embassy to escape the legal processes.

"The history of his attempts to evade extradition to the United States demonstrates that he is capable of going to almost any length to avoid that possibility," she said.

The US wants to try Assange over the publication of hundreds of thousands of secret and diplomatic cables on the WikiLeaks website a decade ago.

It requested his extradition from the United Kingdom but Judge Barrister denied this on Monday, saying Assange would be a suicide risk if held in a US supermax prison.

Assange's QC Edward Fitzgerald said that ruling meant Assange should reclaim his liberty and that his mental health would be better served if he were able to live under house arrest, with a GPS tag at a London residence provided by one of his supporters as surety.

"The grant of bail would allow actual physical contact with his family, that would not only alleviate mental distress but it would anchor him to his family and to his community," Fitzgerald said.

"For the first time, this is a new factor … which totally changes the position [from] 2012.

"One cannot continue to rely on the events of 2012, it's a totally different situation now."

But the judge was not persuaded and said the US government had the legal right to challenge her extradition ruling and that the publisher's decision to make himself a "fugitive of justice" in 2012 showed he could not be trusted not to abscond again.

"As far as Mr Assange is concerned, this case has not yet been won," she said.

Assange's fiancee said the decision was a "huge disappointment".

"Julian should not be in Belmarsh Prison in the first place, I urge the Department of Justice to drop the charges and the President of the United States to pardon Julian," she said.

WikiLeaks said the bail decision would be appealed, possibly "within days".

Support is available for those who may be distressed by phoning Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/julian-assange-denied-bail-despite-earlier-extradition-win-20210106-p56s81.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 5:29 p.m. No.12361909 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

Vatican debunks $2.3bn Austrac transfer allegation

DENNIS SHANAHAN - JANUARY 7, 2021

Vatican investigators have established that the Australian international financial watchdog’s report of $2.3bn transferred from the Vatican City to Australia in the past six years is “significantly” over-estimated.

The Holy See’s financial intelligence unit is working closely with Austrac to establish accurate figures for money transfers between the Vatican, Vatican entities and individuals after the financial monitor reported the $2.3bn figure to a Senate estimates committee.

Despite the “significant” miscalculation in the transfer data, the Vatican Financial Intelligence Unit and the Australian Federal Police are still investigating substantial, suspicious transfers to Australia since 2014.

Austrac has confirmed to The Australian that it is working with the Holy See’s financial intelligence unit over “anomalies” in the evidence given to the Senate and expects a revised figure to be released soon. Before Christmas, Austrac told Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells there was $2.3bn sent from the Vatican to Australia between 2014 and 2020 but did not reveal recipients.

Australian Catholic bishops were “baffled” by the figures and had no knowledge of such transfers. They sought an explanation from the Pope and wanted Austrac to give the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference details of any money supposedly received by Catholic Church entities.

Last week, Vatican officials, who did not wish to be identified, said the scale of the Austrac report was astonishing and they doubted the accuracy. Officials also told Reuters that they were “absolutely stunned” by the amount of money reported and the transfers amounted to three or four times the Vatican’s annual budget.

One Vatican official said: “It’s not our money because we don’t have that kind of money.”

Austrac has previously referred suspicious transfers to the AFP for investigation.

According to Austrac’s report to the Senate, transfers from the Vatican to Australia increased from $71.6m in 2014 to $137.1m in 2015 before doubling again to $295m in 2016 and peaking at $581.3m in 2017. More than $422m was transferred in 2018, $491.8m in 2019 and $294.8m in 2020.

The Vatican has been embroiled in scandal in recent months over allegations of embezzlement and nepotism levelled against Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a senior member of the church’s bureaucracy.

Cardinal Becciu was an opponent to Cardinal George Pell’s reforms at the Vatican when the latter was appointed in 2014.

Cardinal Becciu, who has denied any wrongdoing, was fired by the Pope in September over the allegations in relation to a troubled $360m building in London.

Vatican investigators have also probed allegations that money may have been sent to Australia to adversely affect the sexual abuse trial of Cardinal Pell.

After two trials in 2018 and 2019 — one hung jury and one guilty verdict — Cardinal Pell was sentenced to six years’ jail and served more than a year in prison before he was acquitted unanimously by the High Court in April.

In October, The Australian reported Vatican investigators were examining at least four transfers from the Vatican secretariat, including two from Cardinal Becciu, between 2017 and 2018 totalling $2m to a company in Melbourne. To date, there has been no evidence produced to show any Vatican money was transferred to influence that trial.

The Pope in late December signed a new law that stripped the Vatican’s secretariat of state of all its financial and real estate assets.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/vatican-debunks-23bn-austrac-transfer-allegation/news-story/e17d2774ff537a75e255e64e5b639d79

QAnon Is Trumpism Now

The sprawling conspiracy theory is dying—and being reborn as the new normal of the Republican Party.

JUSTIN LING - JANUARY 6, 2021

1/3

Q is dead. Long live QAnon.

From one viewpoint, the conspiracy movement-cum-mass delusion exits 2020 in shambles. Its shadowy leader is in the wind. Two elected members of Congress who once praised the movement now insist they want nothing to do with it. Its chosen presidential candidate went down in flames on Election Day. Its kooky name has become a household punchline.

And yet, the underlying ideas behind the movement may be more influential than ever. QAnon believers have toiled away, on the anonymous message board 8chan and on the far-right social media platforms Parler and Gab, to make 2021 their year. With just weeks to go before Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, the conspiracy club has worked feverishly to supply the faulty research and nonsensical allegations allowing President Donald Trump to keep claiming a false victory.

Last year was massive for the once-fringe conspiracy theory. Even as the general public has woken up to the grandiose theories of QAnon, from belief in Democratic Party-run child trafficking rings to deep-state Satan worship, its adherents have been ascendant. Michael Flynn, who briefly served as national security advisor to Trump, has gone all-in on the movement. Polls have shown that the secretive leader Q’s followers are likely not in the thousands, but the millions. And it has gone global: You can spot the iconic Q flag at far-right rallies throughout Europe, QAnon followers have tried to perform citizen’s arrests of Canada’s easily accessible politicians, and a close friend of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is a prominent QAnon influencer. At the center of it all was Q, the anonymous figure who has spent years showering their followers in a deluge of innuendo and coded messages.

But as the Nov. 3, 2020, election came and went, and the results began to show Trump—who has coyly encouraged QAnon—was the loser, Q grew quiet. The only information “drop” on the message board 8chan in the past month has been a glowing propaganda video of the president that has now racked up 1.5 million views.

The QAnon gang has always been a self-motivated bunch, but they have relied on the titular Q to provide clues and direction. In their posts, Q rarely offers new intelligence but often confirms or remixes theories already percolating on 8chan. With little to go on from their de facto leader, the followers of QAnon had an election result to flip all on their own.

And while their research is, nearly without fail, unserious and fantastical, it has formed the bedrock of tossed-out lawsuits from QAnon-linked lawyers Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, padded the daily broadcasts on One America News and Newsmax, and formed the basis of Trump’s own demands to overturn the election. Nearly every piece of supposed evidence cited by Trump’s merry band of election thieves—the so-called Kraken that was supposed to dazzle the courts into flipping states from blue to red—was concocted, augmented, or at least boosted by his legion of QAnon faithful. And Trump himself has been enthusiastically boosting them.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 5:50 p.m. No.12362545 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2591

>>12362512

2/3

Take the complex network of conspiracies around Dominion Voting Systems. Going back to 2018, the QAnon message boards on 8chan have claimed the Toronto-based election company is tightly linked to George Soros and the Clinton Foundation, evidence of the company’s complicity in a satanic deep-state plot. On Nov. 2, on the eve of Election Day, a user posted to 8chan, reporting that they had just heard from a “well known intelligence analyst,” imploring them to look into Dominion. “They don’t have to win the election. They just need to create distrust in our elections,” the user wrote, supposedly quoting the unnamed intelligence analyst.

On Nov. 8, Powell appeared on Fox News to tout the theory that Dominion machines switched votes from Trump to Biden—a suggestion that has since been debunked by multiple states’ auditing of the tabulations. A few days later, the president was tweeting about Dominion’s supposed involvement in the theft. That theory, for which there was never any concrete evidence, has now become intrinsic to Trump’s claim of fraud. (Trump actually won many counties that use Dominion systems.)

Sometimes it can be tough to trace the provenance of these conspiracies, from 8chan to the president, but sometimes they make it easier. Both Wood and Mike Lindell—CEO of My Pillow, a backer of One America News, and a prominent supporter of Trump—recently tweeted out a direct link to 8chan, which pointed to a report on supposed electoral fraud that warned “Americans Prepare for War.”

On the recently leaked call between Trump and Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Trump voices all manner of theories pushed by QAnon. From a supposed “professional vote scammer” to selectively edited videos claiming to show fraudulent ballots arriving, the president regurgitated repeatedly debunked conspiracies that largely originated on 8chan and the Gateway Pundit, a far-right conspiracist site.

It is a new legitimacy for QAnon. It, however, leaves the movement in an awkward bind. On one hand, it has become a sort of opposition research body for the Republican Party—or, at least, the party of Trump. On the other, it is still esoteric in many ways, promoting all manner of kooky beliefs around mass child kidnapping and satanic ritual that are too much even for the Republican Party of 2021. Baked into QAnon is long-standing nonsense around British conspiracy theorist David Icke’s belief in lizard people and anti-Semitic theories lifted from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as well as newer delusions around 5G towers causing COVID-19 and anti-vaccination propaganda.

On New Year’s Day, those sorts of theories appear to have pushed Anthony Quinn Warner to detonate a bomb in downtown Nashville, killing himself and wounding eight others. While it’s not clear if Warner was a QAnon follower, there are already established examples of the theory leaking from the online world into real terrorism.

QAnon’s belief in nonsense hasn’t stopped it from reaching the president thus far, although it does likely limit its popular potential. Q also faces a more pressing problem, in that they have asked QAnon followers to “trust the plan” one too many times. As various predictions have come and gone without action—Hillary Clinton still walks around, unshackled; no widespread deep-state child trafficking ring has ever been uncovered; John F. Kennedy Jr. did not reappear—one prediction has been crucially important: that Donald Trump would be reelected president to carry on the mission. When Biden takes office, Q’s credibility as messenger of the forces for good may be irreparably damaged among their followers.

It seems Q may have realized that built-in expiration date.

(continued)

>>12362545

3/3

As Foreign Policy has written previously, there is a Q behind the curtain. Ample evidence points to the idea that Jim Watkins, the owner of 8chan, is the main set of hands behind Q, manipulating the movement to his own ends. Why, exactly, he would want to give up his perch at the forefront of the growingly influential mob is an open question, but some clues may rest with his son: Ron.

Amid the calamity of Election Day, Ron Watkins—who moderated the main QAnon message board on 8chan and verified that Q posts were from the real Q, whatever that means—announced his sudden retirement from his moderating duties.

Within days, however, Watkins reemerged as a preeminent conspiracy theorist in his own right. He boasts more than 500,000 followers on Twitter, and his musings on electoral fraud have been picked up by One America News, the Gateway Pundit, and other right-wing media outlets. The president has retweeted Watkins five times since Election Day—most recently, a slew of tweets on Jan. 3 that mused Trump could push back Biden’s inauguration to buy more time to overturn the results.

Watkins went from verifying Q’s posts to becoming an integral part of Trump’s post-election messaging in just weeks.

QAnon, as it exists now, may be done for. But, in many ways, that doesn’t matter. QAnon’s conspiracies, pseudo-research methods, imaginary connections forged in corkboard and string, and belief in an omnipresent deep state will live on. QAnon has infected a constellation of media outlets, which run information that doesn’t need to be true so much as it needs to feed the Kraken. A caucus of congressional and Senate Republicans will refuse to accept the results of the election, predicated on claims that do not stand up to a moment’s scrutiny. Millions of Americans have bought the notion that a wide-ranging conspiracy altered the outcome of the election. They all may as well embroider the letter Q on their coats.

It’s a terrifying turn of events for American democracy, but it is great news for the Watkins clan, which appears to have turned in their nom de plume and come out of the shadows, building more influence and power than they had in anonymity.

Ultimately, QAnon has become superfluous because Trump himself has gone all in on the movement. While the mass delusion has always obsessed over lizard people and Jewish families who secretly control the world, the core of their mission involves defending the president. In that crusade, many have openly wondered if Q is, in fact, Trump himself. With the outgoing president now signed up for the mission himself, it may be one prophecy that the movement has gotten right: Trump is, for all intents and purposes, the new Q.

Justin Ling is a journalist based in Toronto.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/06/qanon-q-trump-republican-party-election/

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 5:56 p.m. No.12362727 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

Twitter locks Trump, Facebook pulls video

Elizabeth Culliford - 7 January 2021

Twitter says it has temporarily locked the account of US President Donald Trump for 12 hours over "repeated and severe violations" of the social media platform's civic integrity rules and threatened permanent suspension.

It comes after Facebook and YouTube on Wednesday took down a video from President Donald Trump that continued to make the baseless claim the election was fraudulent as he told protesters who had stormed the US Capitol to go home.

Twitter said it required the removal of Trump's tweets "as a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C".

It said if the tweets, in which the president pushed baseless claims about the election, were not removed then the account would remain locked, meaning the president would be unable to tweet from @realDonaldTrump.

Twitter also said in a tweet that future violations of its rules, including its civic integrity or violent threats policy would result in the account's permanent suspension.

Facebook's vice president of integrity Guy Rosen tweeted the social media company believed the video "contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence", saying the action was part of "appropriate emergency measures".

Google-owned YouTube said the video violated its policy against content that alleges "widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Election". YouTube spokesman Farshad Shadloo added the company does allow copies that include additional context.

Twitter restricted users from retweeting the video "due to a risk of violence", as hundreds of protesters sought to force Congress to undo the president's election loss to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

Twitter also restricted a later tweet from Trump, again falsely alleging he had won the election.

Social media companies have been under pressure to police misinformation on their platforms around the election. Trump and his allies have continuously spread unsubstantiated claims of election fraud that have proliferated online.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Anti-Defamation League called for social media companies to suspend Trump's accounts, saying the events at the Capitol resulted from "fear and disinformation that has been spewed directly from the Oval Office".

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to researchers and public postings, violent rhetoric and advice on weaponry ramped up significantly in the past three weeks on many social media platforms as multiple groups planned rallies for Wednesday, including Trump supporters, white nationalists and enthusiasts of the wide-ranging conspiracy theory QAnon.

https://thewest.com.au/technology/internet/facebook-takes-down-trumps-protest-video-ng-s-2044453

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 6:31 p.m. No.12363833 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

Republicans have 'deserted the President' en masse

Sky News Australia

7 Jan 2021

Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume says President Donald Trump's post-election conduct has not only "led us to this point" of rioters storming the Capitol, but has also split the Republican Party.

"There is a sea change now in the Republican Party as a result of this," he said.

President Trump held a rally in Washington on Wednesday (local time) reiterating claims the election was stolen.

Some of the president's rally-goers then took to the Capitol building as Congress was certifying the election result.

The mob breached the building and continued rioting, whilst one Trump supporter was shot and later killed in the violence.

Mr Hume said President Trump's claims were "utter nonsense" but he and his large force of supporters believed it.

"He[Trump] got them to believe it and believing that, they did what they did today".

He said the president's actions after his election lost has "split him off" from more than half of his voting base.

"His voting base has two elements; the hard-core Trump supporters who will do whatever he wants, believe whatever he says, never desert him no matter what," Mr Hume said.

"The rest of them are everyday Republicans who sort of signed up to trump because they liked what he was doing.

"They may not have liked what he said all the time, they may have been put off by his manner by his vulgarity, but they were with him and they voted for him.

"Those people, now, have almost certainly deserted him. If the election were held tonight, he'd lose by far more than he lost the last time."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDYIfs94AOU

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 6:32 p.m. No.12363862 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

World leaders respond to violent scenes at the US Capitol

Sky News Australia

7 Jan 2021

Current and former leaders from Australia and overseas have taken to Twitter to express their concerns at the situation unfolding at the United States Capitol.

Prime Minster Scott Morrison said, “we condemn these acts of violence and look forward to a peaceful transfer of Government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition.”

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese called the “violent insurrection” on Capitol Hill an “assault on the rule of law and democracy”.

Malcolm Turnbull said Trump supporters in the GOP and media should “reflect on what they have enabled,” and Kevin Rudd laid the blame at “extremist statements” of political leaders who attacked the election results.

British Prime Minster Boris Johnson called the scenes “disgraceful” and said it is “vital” the transfer of power is “peaceful and orderly”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdrqIXBbVUo

Prime Minister Scott Morrison Tweet

Very distressing scenes at the US Congress. We condemn these acts of violence and look forward to a peaceful transfer of Government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition.

https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1346949911237914625

—

Malcolm Turnbull Tweet

Today’s mob violence at the Capitol is the culmination of Trump’s sustained assault on American democracy. The President should call on the mob he incited to disperse and go home. And Trump’s supporters in the GOP and the media should reflect on what they have enabled.

https://twitter.com/TurnbullMalcolm/status/1346919266751193088

Governor Phil Murphy @GovMurphy

We are witnessing one of the darkest days in American history.

The President must immediately condemn the attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol and deploy the National Guard to keep Members of Congress safe and allow a peaceful transition of power.

https://twitter.com/GovMurphy/status/1346916458492784640

—

Kevin Rudd Tweet

This is a physical attack on the institutions of democracy by a far right mob.All because of extremist statements by political leaders attacking the legal results of a democratic election,echoed faithfully by a cancerous far right media.This affects us all

https://twitter.com/MrKRudd/status/1346913554117525509

'''Pro-Trump mob storms Capitol as former DC police chief denounces 'coup attemp'

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/jan/06/georgia-election-latest-news-senate-ossoff-warnock-democrats-republicans-trump-biden

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 6:47 p.m. No.12364272 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

>>12341214

Alexander Downer Tweet

@realDonaldTrump behaviour since the election cost the Republicans control of the Senate as I predicted.

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1346819346434125830

Kylie Moore-Gilbert posts photo with Iranian ex-detainees

Melbourne academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has met up with fellow Australian ex-Iranian detainees in one of the first pictures posted of her since being freed in a prisoner swap nearly two months ago.

Dr Moore-Gilbert tweeted: “Sinister undercover meeting of evil ‘Mossad agents’ plotting world domination (please note- no drones were harmed in the taking of this picture!)” as she stood alongside Jolie King and Mark Firkin beside a river.

Ms King and Mr Firkin, travel bloggers from Perth, were detained in Iran for three months in 2019 accused of flying a drone near an Iranian security installation. They were held in Evin prison in Tehran along with Dr Moore-Gilbert.

While the two vloggers were released in October 2019, Dr Moore-Gilbert spent two years in Evin prison as well as the notorious women’s prison Qarchak, before being released on November 27 last year in a prison swap for three convicted terrorists held in Thailand.

Dr Moore-Gilbert has described her time in Iran as a “never-ending, unrelenting nightmare” which began when she was arrested at Tehran airport about to board a flight home to Melbourne after an Iranian study tour in 2018.

“I honestly do not know where to start or how I can ever thank you for all of your incredible efforts to campaign for my release,” she said, thanking her supporters after her release.

Another ex-Iranian detainee, British-Iranian Ana Diamond, who has helped families of Iranian hostages and who worked behind the scenes on Dr Moore-Gilbert’s case, responded to the tweet, saying: “This is lovely, thank you for sharing Kylie! You all look healthy and radiant, may it continue that way xx hugs.”

Dr Moore-Gilbert also responded to another follower who commented about the bush landscape in the background that “yes it’s a lovely spot and it’s great being back”.

https://twitter.com/KMooreGilbert/status/1346789823823052807

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/kylie-mooregilbert-posts-photo-with-iranian-exdetainees/news-story/a4e09555600c7f9058f917d0553da6d5

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 7:18 p.m. No.12365187 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

Prince Andrew to Miss Birthday Tribute That Caused Jeffrey Epstein Backlash

Prince Andrew's birthday bell ringing tribute has been cancelled due to COVID—as Britain's most famous royal church avoids a post-Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Newsweek can reveal.

Westminster Abbey holds a special place in history as the venue for Queen Elizabeth II's wedding, Princess Diana's funeral and Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton.

However, there was criticism last year after its bells were rung on February 19 to mark Prince Andrew's 60th birthday even though he had stepped back from royal duties in disgrace.

Just three months earlier, the Duke of York had given a car crash interview to the BBC's Emily Maitlis in which he failed to say he regretted his friendship with the convicted pedophile.

There were discussions within the Abbey over the summer about slimming down the bell ringing schedule so that it would only include Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince George' birthdays, a source told Newsweek at the time.

However, coronavirus restrictions have now ruled out all bell ringing until at least March—meaning no decision on whether to cancel Andrew's birthday bells will need to be taken until the schedule for next year is produced.

An Abbey source told Newsweek: "There won't be any bell ringing at least until March and even then it would be very dubious I would have thought."

Britain was yesterday plunged into a full national lockdown with cabinet minister Michael Gove today saying restrictions may not be eased until March, later than Andrew's birthday on February 19.

Quoted on Sky News, Gove said: "I think it's right to say that as we enter March we should be able to lift some of these restrictions, but not necessarily all."

The strictest lockdown rules will be reviewed on February 15 but even a partial relaxation would not enable Andrew's birthday tribute.

Sources close to Prince Andrew's legal team told Newsweek in October: "It is his intention to return to public duties."

As a "royal peculiar," the Abbey comes under the direct jurisdiction of the Monarchy meaning any future decision on whether to ring the bells for Andrew will have to be taken in consultation with the Royal Household.

However, when his birthday bell ring was initially included in a schedule over the summer it triggered negative publicity from organizations ranging from Vanity Fair to Fox News.

In the summer Nigel Cawthorne, author of biography Prince Andrew, Epstein and the Palace, told the Daily Express: "There was an enormous uproar at the beginning of the year when the Government requested that local councils celebrate Prince Andrew's 60th. In the end it didn't happen, though the bells of Westminster Abbey did ring.

"Although the Queen is the supreme governor of the Anglican church, she cannot tell the churches what to do on her own.

The exception is Westminster Abbey, which falls directly under her responsibility. It would be a major sign of displeasure if she failed to ring the bells again for his 61st birthday."

Back in February last year, there were also plans to fly the flag for the prince at council buildings across Britain.

Graham Smith, chief executive of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, said at time: "This is crass and offensive, and even at the best of times it is nonsense to be flying flags for Andrew's, or anyone else's, birthday."

An Abbey statement, reported by Reuters in February, said: "Westminster Abbey is a Royal Peculiar and the bells are rung for the birthdays of HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh; their children; and … The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children."

The Abbey website states: "Following the latest guidelines from the Church of England and the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, ringing at the Abbey by our volunteer bell ringers is currently suspended during the coronavirus outbreak."

https://www.newsweek.com/prince-andrew-westminster-abbey-birthday-bell-ringing-tribute-cancelled-jeffrey-epstein-backlash-1558925

https://www.westminster-abbey.org/events/bell-ringing-days

>>12363958

Brett Mason Tweet

Does Donald Trump bear some responsibility for undermining democracy and inciting some of the chaotic scenes we've seen in the US Capitol Building overnight? "I'm not here to offer a running commentary on what should be happening in the United States" @ScottMorrisonMP #auspol

https://twitter.com/BrettMasonNews/status/1347013628260536327

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 7:59 p.m. No.12366319 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

>>12341574

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweets

The storming of the U.S. Capitol today is unacceptable. Lawlessness and rioting here or around the world is always unacceptable. I have travelled to many countries and always support the right of every human being to protest peacefully for their beliefs and their causes.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1346958766701424641

—

But violence, putting at risk the safety of others including those tasked with providing security for all of us, is intolerable both at home and abroad. Let us swiftly bring justice to the criminals who engaged in this rioting.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1346958767586488320

—

Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet

Very concerned by scenes at the US Congress. I condemn any violence to interfere with democratic processes. This will not impede the transfer of power, US institutions are robust & its democratic strength resides in the full breadth of its people who are no part of this violence.

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1346962576568041473

Australia 'not for turning' in dispute with China, UK envoy George Brandis says

The high commissioner in London offers sharp observations on the dispute between Canberra and Beijing

Australia is “not for turning” in its dispute with China and must cut its reliance on supply chains “over which we had little to no sovereign control”, the country’s top envoy to the UK has said.

George Brandis, Australia’s high commissioner in London, argued the situation “must change” as he called for a trade deal between Australia and Britain to be completed by the end of this year.

In an oped published by London’s Daily Telegraph, the former senior Australian government minister offered sharp observations on the significance of the dispute between Canberra and Beijing that intensified over the course of 2020 and saw China restrict a raft of Australian exports.

Without directly naming China, Brandis wrote: “In 2020, we made clear that our sovereignty, institutions and political systems were not for sale and our independence non-negotiable. To borrow from the late Lady Thatcher: Australia was not for turning.”

The comments are a toughening of prime minister Scott Morrison’s repeated declarations that Australia would not “trade away” its values or bow to economic pressure from China.

The relationship between Australia and China had already been strained before Canberra called for an independent global Covid-19 inquiry, which triggered the latest round of tensions.

Brandis called for deeper engagement with “trusted partners”, arguing that was “critical to prosperity and security”.

“In an interconnected world, it became easy to forget that many of our most critical goods came via supply chains over which we had little to no sovereign control. That must change.”

Brandis pointed to the Morrison government’s announcement of investments in critical supply chains “to enhance resiliency to future shocks”.

The government’s manufacturing package, announced in the budget, includes a $1.3bn co-investment fund for large projects in priority sectors. These include resources technology and critical minerals processing, food and beverages, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence and space.

But Brandis said increasing attention on the availability of essential goods did not mean Australia would embrace trade protectionism, and he saw no reason why Australia and the UK could not wrap up an ambitious free trade agreement this year.

Brandis told Daily Telegraph readers that such a deal would demonstrate “how two like-minded partners can diversify trade, strengthen supply chains and help jobs come back”. His piece for the Brexit-backing newspaper added that the agreement would also be “an early post-Brexit dividend for Britain”.

Amid increasing international pressure on Australia to take stronger action on the climate crisis, Brandis also sought to highlight Morrison’s recent comments about the need to achieve net zero emissions “as soon as possible”.

He said coal last year played “the smallest role in our national electricity market this century”.

The UK is hosting the next international climate summit in Glasgow at the end of 2021 and has been pushing countries to increase their level of ambition.

But in a document submitted to the United Nations last week, Australia opted against increasing its 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels.

“This target is a floor on Australia’s ambition,” the update to Australia’s UN pledge – known as a National Determined Contribution (NDC) – states.

An increasing number of Australia’s trading partners, including the UK, Japan, South Korea and the European Union, have committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 while China has set 2060 as its deadline.

After the US presidential election – when Joe Biden prevailed with a platform that included returning the country to the Paris agreement and setting the nation on a course to net zero by 2050 – Morrison said he aspired to get there “as quickly as possible”. The prime minister was denied a speaking slot at a recent climate ambition summit co-hosted by the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/05/australia-not-for-turning-in-dispute-with-china-uk-envoy-george-brandis-says

>>12366671

An Australia-UK deal will turbocharge our economies

As the world emerges from the Covid pandemic, free trade can boost prosperity and security

GEORGE BRANDIS - 4 January 2021

1/2

Twenty-twenty – and how liberating it is to consign it to past tense – was the year we mobilised to meet the greatest peacetime challenge of our lives. Once we emerge from that immediate response, it will be time for us to be big and bold in plotting Britain and Australia’s comeback from Covid-19. We all know recovery will take time – and the lessons of the pandemic highlight some core principles for achieving it.

First, in having a sustainable recovery we can leave no one behind. Boris Johnson talks passionately about “building back better” and “levelling up”. We Australians emphatically agree.

Advances in technology mean we can now produce and power the things we need more cleanly and efficiently than ever before. As our prime minister said at the Policy Exchange think tank: we firmly believe the world must achieve net zero emissions as soon as possible and, by building back with better technologies and cleaner practices, we can achieve that goal together. Australia saw the dividend of that approach last year, with coal playing the smallest role in our national electricity market this century. We have undertaken to implement a clean technology road-map, mobilising at least $50 billion in green investment to achieve ambitious targets in the next decade, taking us toward net zero as soon as possible.

Both our nations knew that, left unchecked, the economic damage of Covid-19 could outlast the virus itself. Nobly, both our countries expanded government support to prevent that – and now, getting both young and old back into the workforce is our most pressing task. Be it through a free trade deal, our clean technology partnership or the other areas in which we work together, Australia-UK collaboration will supercharge our recovery and ensure more jobs come back. Levelling up our international engagement in 2020 – by supporting a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific and protecting our interests in multilateral bodies – also made clear that being out in the world, standing up for our values and protecting our prosperity, is the best way to shape the international order to our national interests.

Secondly, greater liberalisation to, and deeper engagement with, trusted partners are critical to prosperity and security. In an interconnected world, it became easy to forget that many of our most critical goods came via supply-chains over which we had little to no sovereign control. That must change.

(continued)

>>12366808

2/2

In 2020, we made clear that our sovereignty, institutions and political systems were not for sale and our independence non-negotiable. To borrow from the late Lady Thatcher: Australia was not for turning. We backed that up with key investments in critical supply chains to enhance resiliency to future shocks. Yet while we are increasingly conscious of the availability of essential goods, Australia makes no case for protectionism. Just as we enjoy bipartisan consensus on the centrality of our sovereignty, Australians and their political leaders share a decades-long commitment to the benefits of free trade.

We see a comprehensive and ambitious free trade deal between the UK and Australia as central to making the global case for free trade, and demonstrative of how two like-minded partners can diversify trade, strengthen supply chains and help jobs come back. We have the political will. There is no reason it can’t be wrapped up this year. Not only will it bind our two nations even more closely together; it will be an early post-Brexit dividend for Britain. It will more closely connect Britain with the world’s most economically dynamic region, the Asia-Pacific: the heartbeat of the world economy in the 21st century.

Finally, and most importantly, we believe the things which mattered most to us in the world before Covid-19 – our friends and family, our love of adventure – are the essential elements of our old normal which must come back. While Australia took early action to protect Australians from the virus by closing our international borders, the affection we have for our friends in Britain remains undiminished. We want to see young Britons living and working in Australia again and our best and brightest travelling freely between us, linking up ideas and industries that supercharge economies. Australia is working toward having borders that are open once more – and while that will take time, we have the skill set to do it.

Britain and Australia got through 2020 by standing as one in safeguarding our sovereignty and protecting our prosperity. In 2021, we can take the lessons of that trying year, apply them together and truly make this the year of our comeback.

George Brandis QC is the Australian High Commissioner to the UK

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/04/australia-uk-deal-will-turbocharge-economies/

Australia says China should allow in WHO Covid investigators 'without delay'

Foreign minister Marise Payne issues mild statement, but opposition parties attack China’s ‘unacceptable’ actions and ‘paranoia’

1/2

The Australian government has called on China to allow a visit by World Health Organization experts investigating how the coronavirus pandemic started, insisting the country should grant them visas “without delay”.

Canberra raised its concerns on Wednesday over reports that Chinese authorities had blocked the arrival of a WHO team investigating the early cases of Covid-19 in Wuhan.

With China arguing the team’s visas had not yet been approved, even as some members of the group were on their way to the country, the development has heightened fears among Australian politicians about whether the WHO mission will be able to uncover answers needed to better prepare the world for the next pandemic.

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, said she hoped “that the necessary permissions for the WHO team’s travel to China can be issued without delay”.

Speaking after months of rocky relations between the two countries, partly triggered by Australia’s calls for such an investigation, Payne said Australia had “consistently sought transparency in relation to the origins of, and responses to the coronavirus, as have other countries”.

“The WHO-convened scientific study is an important part of this work and we look forward to the findings from the international field mission to China,” she said.

“During this global pandemic that has affected all countries, international cooperation and partnerships will maximise our ability to respond, and to equip us for the next pandemic.”

The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, was direct in his criticism of China’s actions on Wednesday, saying the country would be wrong to block the entry of the WHO investigators.

“Well, the fact is that it’s unacceptable,” Albanese told reporters in Sydney.

“Not just Australia, but the whole world needs this investigation to happen. And it should happen openly and transparently. And that should be facilitated by China.”

Rex Patrick, the independent senator for South Australia, said the obstruction of the WHO investigators reflected the Chinese Communist party’s “paranoia about international scrutiny”.

“I’m disappointed but not surprised by China blocking access to WHO officials investigating coronavirus. Openness and transparency is not in the CCP’s DNA,” Patrick said.

He said all good global citizens should be supporting the WHO’s investigation, which was not about blame but learning the lessons from a pandemic that was having a “massive global impact”.

But the independent senator also took a swipe at the Morrison government for “improperly cloaking our own Covid response in cabinet secrecy”, saying that had undermined Australia’s ability to press China to display the required openness.

Comment has been sought from the Chinese embassy in Canberra.

(continued)

>>12366988

2/2

The government attracted China’s ire over its early public calls for a global coronavirus inquiry, with Beijing later taking a series of trade actions against Australian exports and rebuffing calls for talks between ministers.

Last week Guardian Australia reported Australia was planning to use its final months on a top World Health Organization board to press for the investigation to remain “robust, independent and comprehensive”.

But the NSW Coalition senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells – a China hawk who has long argued the inquiry had been watered down – said no amount of “monitoring” by Australia would “preclude this ending up being a Sir Humphrey exercise”.

“The latest move by the communist regime in China to block the WHO team is not surprising,” she said on Wednesday.

“China would not have voted for the watered down World Health Assembly motion unless it was able to ‘manage’ the process and ‘control’ the outcome. It was never going to be ‘robust’ or ‘independent’.”

China ended up joining with most nations to support an “independent evaluation” motion drafted by the European Union and co-sponsored by Australia in May.

The consensus motion allowed for an independent evaluation to be launched by the WHO director general and to focus on lessons learned from the handling of the outbreaks, rather than the origins of the coronavirus.

The independent evaluation panel, co-chaired by the former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is due to provide an interim report to the WHO’s executive board this month before finalising its work in May – just before Australia’s current term expires.

The WHO has separately convened a global study of the origins. An Australian health department spokesperson said 10 international experts – including Prof Dominic Dwyer, an infectious diseases specialist from the University of Sydney –was “working on this scientific study in collaboration with Chinese scientists”.

China has rejected claims aired by the Trump administration that the coronavirus could have leaked out of a laboratory in Wuhan. China has also denied claims of cover-ups soon after the outbreak was first detected in Wuhan.

Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer and citizen journalist who was arrested in May while reporting from Wuhan, was last week sentenced to four years in jail.

Morrison has repeatedly said Australia would not “trade away” its sovereignty or yield to economic pressure from the country’s largest trading partner.

Apart from calling for a global investigation in April – a proposal he described as “unremarkable” – Morrison also floated the idea of giving the WHO weapons inspector-style powers. In October the foreign affairs department secretary, Frances Adamson, told Senate estimates she had first heard about that idea “when it was said in public”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/06/australia-says-china-should-allow-in-who-covid-investigators-without-delay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqFWTbspofQ

>>12162897

Hillsong Dallas Pastors, Who Helped Start NYC Location with Carl Lentz, Resign

The lead pastors of Hillsong Dallas church have resigned, adding to two months of transition and turmoil in the global megachurch.

On Sunday (Jan. 3), Reed Bogard announced his and his wife’s resignation in a prerecorded message that aired during the church’s streaming worship service.

“The last 10 years of being in church planting mode has really taken a bit of a toll on Jess and I and our family,” Bogard said. “We just really feel like it’s time to transition off of our staff and take some time. Remain healthy, get healthy, and really see what this next season holds for us.”

The announcement, which was preceded by worship music, was relatively short, with no further explanation for their resignation.

Bogard’s departure follows the November firing of Hillsong New York City’s lead pastor, Carl Lentz, and Lentz’s admission to an extramarital affair. Lentz’s ouster prompted a firestorm of tabloid coverage of Lentz’s relationship with a jewelry designer, who talked about their relationship on “Good Morning America.”

Since Lentz’s admission, some of the more famous of his congregants, most notably Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, reportedly cut ties with Lentz and Hillsong. Bieber recently announced on Instagram he is now attending Churchome, led by pastor Judah Smith.

Bogard, 38, and his wife, Jess Bogard, 35, were part of “the teams on the ground” that started the New York City Hillsong church in 2010 alongside Lentz.

Like Lentz, Bogard met his wife at Hillsong International Leadership College in Australia. After taking various roles on Hillsong’s headquarters staff while in Australia, the couple moved back to the U.S. to plant churches. In addition to helping with the NYC launch, Bogard and his wife also helped start a Los Angeles branch of the megachurch, according to their profile on the Dallas church’s website.

After Bogard’s announcement, Hillsong co-founder Brian Houston addressed the Dallas congregation, saying about Bogard’s departure: “I’m not sure whether that comes as a shock.”

Houston went on to praise the work the Bogards did, saying the couple “gave their heart and soul to the pioneering of Hillsong Dallas.”

“Reed and I have been talking now over a period of time and we both agreed it would be a perfect time for them to come to a new season in their life, which means a new season also for Hillsong Dallas,” Houston said, adding church leaders would take their time to find the right replacement for the couple.

Bogard, for his part, also expressed gratitude for Houston and his wife and church co-founder, Bobbie, during his resignation, calling them “the greatest cheerleaders” and saying he’d “never met two people who believe in people so much.”

Houston did not mention the situation at the Manhattan outpost, where Hillsong is conducting an independent investigation to review the “inner workings” of the church after Lentz’s termination and after Hillsong NYC leadership “heard from a number of people about their experiences and concerns.”

In a late November audio call with global church leadership and top donors, Houston accused Lentz of narcissistic, manipulative and untrustworthy behavior. Houston went on to describe the global megachurch network as “one house with many rooms,” but he said Lentz always seemed to be doing his own thing with Hillsong East Coast.

Since Lentz’s firing, the megachurch has come under scrutiny for its celebrity culture. Besides Gomez, Bieber and his wife, Hailey Baldwin Bieber, Kevin Durant, Chris Pratt and the Jenner sisters have attended Hillsong NYC. Former volunteers have spoken out about a hierarchy that takes advantage of volunteer labor and treats pastors as “royalty.”

The Houstons founded the original Hillsong Church in 1983 in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. It now has locations in 28 countries and, pre-pandemic, saw an average 150,000 attenders each week, according to its website.

The various global churches all report to Houston and a board of all-male elders.

Hillsong global did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/hillsong-dallas-pastors-who-helped-start-nyc-location-with-carl-lentz-resign.html

Anonymous ID: 1b0681 Jan. 6, 2021, 8:58 p.m. No.12367475 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7907

What we do in life? Echoes in Eternity! MAGA!

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 6, 2021, 9:06 p.m. No.12367636 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2587

>>12366671

>>12366988

Australia needs to recalibrate its China policy to optimize national interests

Tian Jingling - Jan 06, 2021

With the end of 2020 and the start of 2021, media outlets and research institutes across the globe are busy summarizing and anticipating the future. Various negative and positive opinions define China-US ties. This is not the case for China-Australia ties, which many believe will be dour.

Hu Dan, deputy director of Australian Studies Center of Beijing Foreign Studies University, published an article in December 2020 noting, "China-Australia relations [are] doomed." Paul Kelly, editor-at-large of The Australian in September said in his op-ed, "Our [Australia's] China relationship needs help before it's too late." Jim Molan, former Australian Army major-general, in December even expressed his concern that Australia's "trade war" with China could soon step up to military conflict - he said that China had been "priming for war for a long, long time."

The writing on the wall seems clear for the pessimism. But whether and how can they be mended? Historically, despite spats between Beijing and Canberra, their cooperation and friendship have been generally smooth. Whereas the two countries have established diplomatic ties for over four decades, they have accumulated rich experiences with bilateral coordination efforts. Beijing and Canberra do not have any historical grievances or direct conflicts of interest. Instead, they confront with various common problems and threats on a unique cooperative basis. Chinese and Australian economies are complementary, and they also encounter common issues including trade protectionism and anti-globalization.

In recent years, Australia's domestic partisan fights and political factional differences have become more open and white-hot. Against this backdrop, the Australian government has to adjust its foreign policies - including its ever important China policy.

It is understandable that senses of insecurity and anxiety have been triggered again when the international and regional situations are profoundly changing. In this context, Australia's China policy has remarkably shifted in the opposite direction of China.

The scope of the concept "security" for China-related issues now is expanding. In Australia's strategic cognition, China has suddenly turned from a partner to a "threat" to its sovereign security. The assumption that China is a rival is emerging, and confronting China has become a new political correctness in Australia. As a result, even Chinese Australians have to constantly prove their loyalty to Australia. As former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd was quoted as saying by Reuters on September 4, 2020 that "The atmosphere in Australia does not lend itself to a reasoned discussion on the China relationship, because you are automatically defined as either a hawk or a panda hugger."

High-level visits between the two sides have almost been halted. Economic cooperation is also hampered. Chinese investments in Australia have often been labeled threats to the country's national security. The number of investment projects thus decreased and the range of so-called sensitive fields is growing.

Chinese students, media, businessmen and immigrants are viewed by paranoid pundits and politicians of Australia as tools of the Chinese government to "intervene," "infiltrate in" Australia. In their eyes, there seems to be no difference among interacting, lobbying, influencing, and intervening. Any move could be a threat to Australia's democratic system and sovereign security.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in December asked Australia to "consider seriously" what China means to it: Is China a threat or a partner to Australia? He further asked, "If Australia sees China as a threat, how can China-Australia relations improve?"

If China-Australia relations are to return to the normal track of development, Australia needs to think the above mentioned two questions seriously and rationally. It also needs to realize the changes in the regional and global landscape and where its interests lie.

Australia also has to consider whether its mind-set of hostility will alleviate its strategic anxiety. If Australia's China policy is to return to a normal, professional and constructive track, the Australian government should invite those who really understand diplomacy, China and China-Australia relations and those with a global vision to take part in policymaking. Those who blindly hype up the "China threat" and talk of war should not be included.

The author is a deputy director of South Pacific Research Study, Institute of Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1212024.shtml

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Gonna get burnt alive cunt Jan. 6, 2021, 9:18 p.m. No.12367907 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12367475

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

COVID-19 vaccination on track to start in February: Scott Morrison

1/2

Australia could start vaccinating vulnerable groups of the population next month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed, saying approvals for the Pfizer vaccine were hoped to be finalised by the end of January.

After pressure from the federal opposition and some scientists to speed up the process, Mr Morrison said he was hoping to receive data from Pfizer this month to allow the vaccine's approval and "we are now in a position where believe we will be able to commence vaccinations of [vulnerable groups] in mid to late February".

The previous timeline was to begin the vaccination program in March. Mr Morrison said the aim would be to vaccinate 80,000 people each week to begin with, and for that to build over the next four to six weeks.

He said the government was working towards having four million people vaccinated by the end of March.

"Vaccination in 2021 is a key component of how we're dealing with the pandemic here in Australia," he said.

The vaccination timeframe will, however, be dependent on Therapeutic Goods Administration approval and the delivery of the vaccine from suppliers.

The government aims to register the Pfizer vaccine later this month, and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in February.

Professor Brendan Murphy, secretary of the federal Health Department, said nearly half the Australian population would be included in one of the priority groups to receive the vaccine in the first half of this year.

The rest of the general adult population could expect to receive the vaccine from the middle of the year onwards.

The first priority group will receive the Pfizer vaccine from one of 30 to 50 hubs to be established across the country to administer the vaccine. The two vaccines will eventually be administered from different hubs. Their locations will be determined by the states and territories, in partnership with the Commonwealth.

"Assuming all those things go well, in mid to late February we can start our phase one rollout," Professor Murphy said.

This will be for the priority group, and they will receive the Pfizer vaccine: quarantine and border workers, health care workers, aged care staff and aged care residents.

Professor Murphy said the majority of the population would get their vaccines from respiratory clinics established by the federal government or general practices that chose to participate.

They will also be able to be vaccinated at special clinics that state health departments will establish, or at sites set up by Aboriginal community-controlled health services.

Pharmacies might also be able to administer vaccines during the second half of the year.

(continued)

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Shut the fuck up, Aussies Jan. 6, 2021, 9:20 p.m. No.12367961 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12366988

You protect your whore Queen against a king of kings

You fucking die

>>12367956

2/2

Professor Murphy said there will be "significantly" more vaccine doses available when the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is approved, as it will be manufactured on shore, guaranteeing a supply line.

"That will enable a rapid rollout. We will expand that to a significantly broader range of the at-risk population," he said.

That includes those of advanced age, Indigenous Australians, those over 55 at higher risk of disease, other people with clinical conditions that make them at higher risk, and other high-risk workers more likely to be exposed to COVID-19.

Professor Brendan Murphy confirmed the vaccine would be free for all Australians.

"We can guarantee the vaccine will be free, and it will be delivered free," he said. "We do not want there to be any barrier whatsoever."

He defended the time his department had taken in co-ordinating the country's vaccine response, saying health officials had been working around the clock on one of the most complex public health exercises of their careers. "This time is not being wasted," he said.

Asked why the vaccination roll-out couldn't happen even sooner, the Prime Minister said a two week delivery wait time was required after the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

"The vaccines don't turn up before the TGA approval. They turn up after. And after that, there is about a week involved in batch testing [before they are administered]," Mr Morrison said.

"It is moving considerably faster than normal vaccination processes would in Australia, but without skipping a step."

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government's approach had been to "under-promise but over-deliver", and he was confident about the new time frame.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he and select other members of the government would be willing to be vaccinated in the early stages live on television, as United State President and Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did, saying it is important to build public confidence in the vaccine.

But he said it was very low priority compared to ensuring the most vulnerable populations were vaccinated.

"I don't think we need to line the whole cabinet up … I think there are more important people who need to get vaccinated," he said.

"But I think it's important for a show of public confidence."

He said there was a "discussion that needs to be had" to ensure people opted to receive the vaccine, considering it will be voluntary.

"So we will have that discussion," he said. "It needs to be had with state and territories who are principally responsible for public health."

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/covid-19-vaccination-on-track-to-start-in-february-scott-morrison-20210107-p56seb.html

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Kill the mother fucker Jan. 6, 2021, 9:22 p.m. No.12368015 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12367956

That is a fucking order

Hammer and nails for this cunt

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Satanic headlines (666) Jan. 6, 2021, 9:50 p.m. No.12368658 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12367369

Australian national flag spotted among the crowd of Trump protesters that stormed the US Capitol

ALANA MAZZONI - 7 January 2021

Australians have expressed their disgust after Donald Trump supporters waved the national flag while storming the US Capitol in a bid to stop the transition of power to president-elect Joe Biden.

Right-wing Republican protesters clashed with police and security while breaking into congress in Washington DC on Wednesday afternoon local time.

One female protester died after a gunshot hit her chest in the Capitol building, allegedly fired by a Capitol Police officer.

Among the sea of confederate and American flags, a lone Australian flag was seen being waved by a protester outside the Capitol building.

Australians took to social media to slam the Trump supporter who proudly displayed our flag at the violent rally, which has drawn widespread criticism.

'Ashamed to see our flag in this disgraceful protest,' one woman said.

'A Union Jack storming US congress? Does this guy know any history?' Another man added.

'An Australian flag at a Trump riot. I need to sit down for this one.'

'Why would anyone think that is out of place. We have our fair share of right-wing people right here,' said a third person.

The attack saw flag-waving Trump supporters break down barricades outside the iconic white-domed building and swarm its halls, sending sessions of the House and Senate into an emergency recess.

In extraordinary images, armed security personnel were seen barricading the chamber with weapons drawn, while lawmakers huddled inside wearing gas masks.

Trump ordered National Guard and federal forces to deploy to the Capitol after his supporters overran U.S. Capitol Police and gained illegal entry into the building on Wednesday.

The building had been overrun for more than an hour when White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany made the announcement on Twitter.

'At President @realDonaldTrump's direction, the National Guard is on the way along with other federal protective services. We reiterate President Trump's call against violence and to remain peaceful,' she wrote.

A mob of his angry supporters had breached the building and even entered the House and Senate chambers.

The Senate was evacuated at 2.30pm.

There were more than 2,000 Capitol Police officers with special jurisdiction on Capitol Grounds. But they were overrun as protesters smashed through a window and penetrated the building.

Capitol Police were seen absorbing violent lunges by Trump supporters on the first floor of the Capitol building.

Trump - after remaining silent for much of the afternoon - posted a video telling his 'very special' supporters inside the Capitol that he loves them and understands their pain but urged them 'to go home'.

He had initially encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol after a rally earlier in the afternoon before asking them only to remain peaceful when violence broke out.

But just before 8pm lawmakers who had been whisked to safety when the siege kicked off began arriving back at the Capitol to resume the Joint Session to certify the Electoral College count of the presidential election.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9121021/Australian-national-flag-seen-crowd-Trump-protesters-stormed-Capitol.html

>>12370152

Why The Australian Flag Was Flown By Pro-Trump Rioters Who Stormed The US Capitol

Australia's national flag is hardly unique to patriotic appropriation, experts said.

Carly Williams - 07/01/2021

When an Australian flag was spotted amongst the Trump-supporting mob that violently stormed the US Capitol and clashed with police, some Aussies were left scratching their heads.

Why would the blue Australian flag with the Union Jack and Southern Cross constellation be flown with the hundreds of alt-right rioters?

The Trump supporters also clutched Make America Great Again flags and the Confederate flag as they breached legislative chambers on Wednesday local time in an effort to derail the joint congressional session where the 2020 election results were to be formally certified.

Twitter users posted snaps of NBC News footage and pointed out the lone Australian flag.

Experts said it’s not entirely surprising to see as some Australians have shown support for Trump and his presidency, notably in specific libertarian movements suspicious of government overreach.

“The coalition of online groups planning an Australia-wide action ‘Day of Freedom’ on September 5 was very Trumpian in inspiration: anti-masks, against stay at home orders, fearful of a suppression of liberties and warning of stage five lockdowns,” Dr Binoy Kampmark, Senior Lecturer in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT told HuffPost Australia.

“These groups also, in part, believe in the 5G conspiracy and, in some cases, the Deep State theory that Trump is actually fighting operatives keen to suppress revelations of child abuse rings at the highest levels of government - the so-called QAnon group.”

In regards to the national flag in the crowd of extremists in Washington DC, Kampmark suggested the person holding the flag may simply be a fellow sympathiser, showing solidarity against measures that have been taken in their country.

The blue Australian flag is hardly unique to patriotic appropriation, Kampmark said.

He added: “It has been used politically by right wing movements, including Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, and is easily grafted onto more extreme nationalist movements which fear immigration and racial supplanting.

“This dovetails with the rise of cells of neo-nazi groups in Australia fearful of being displaced by non-white groups.”

As rioters in Washington DC clashed with law enforcement officials and broke windows, scaled walls and pushed through barricades, the Capitol office building went into lockdown and members of Congress were evacuated.

Four people are dead. At least one was shot dead, though the circumstances of the shooting are unclear. DC police said three others died due to “medical emergencies”.

Trump shared a video message on Twitter late in the afternoon in which he asked protesters to “go home in peace”, though erroneously repeated the election was stolen from him.

“We love you,” he told the rioters in the clip, adding, “You’re very special”. Earlier in the day Trump told his supporters at a rally on the National Mall that President-elect Joe Biden stole his victory.

After removing several posts from Trump, Twitter has since locked his account for 12 hours due to repeated and severe violations of its policies. Future violations, it said, could result in the account’s permanent suspension. Facebook and Instagram have reportedly blocked the president for 24 hours.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the riots as “very distressing scenes”, while the country’s Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese urged Trump to “call on his supporters to stand down”.

https://twitter.com/ryrowe27/status/1346908775379329032

https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/australian-flag-flown-by-trump-rioters-stormed-us-capitol_au_5ff69e4ec5b6ef6b15837212

Mehreen Faruqi Tweet

Why is a violent far-right mob flying the Australian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol?

The white supremacy & misinformation that fuels fascism in the U.S. is rampant here. Some of our own politicians and media have promoted it, even today.

https://twitter.com/MehreenFaruqi/status/1347047936182505478

How Australia Helped Pave The Way For The US Insurrection

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/01/how-australia-helped-pave-the-way-for-the-us-insurrection/

>>12370833

How Australia Helped Pave The Way For The US Insurrection

Cam Wilson - January 7, 2021

1/2

During the storming of the US Capitol Building, keen-eyed broadcast viewers were surprised to see an Australian flag hoisted high by one rioter amid a sea of US flags and Trump banners. This flag, however, is not as out of place as it may seem. Australia played a part in creating the mess in the US.

This morning’s protest-turned-riot-turned-coup attempt did not come out of nowhere.

It was made possible by a symbiotic relationship between a political movement, a media environment and an online ecosystem that has spent months spewing false claims that the election was stolen from US President Donald Trump.

These delusions laid the groundwork for people to break into the Capitol Building to try and take back an election that many of them believed — without factual basis — belonged to ‘them’.

And some in Australian media and politics are complicit.

There are sections of Australian media that have repeated lies and unproven accusations that there was widespread voter fraud in the US. This is despite Trump’s own Attorney-General admitting in December that the administration could find ‘no voter fraud that could overturn election’.

Sky News Australia is undeniably the biggest proponent of misinformation about the US election here in Australia. The channel itself is owned by the Rupert Murdoch-led News Corp. Murdoch’s Fox Corporation also runs Fox News, a major source of election misinformation and conspiracy theories in the US.

The outlet — which has cultivated a massive online, international audience through its sensationalist and misleading content — has published dozens of pieces of content claiming there was widespread voter fraud. This has been seen by millions of people worldwide.

Former senator and Sky News host Cory Bernadi baselessly claimed that voter fraud has been “quite extensive” in one segment that’s been viewed 728,000 times.

A YouTube video of former radio shock jock and Sky News host Alan Jones falsely claimed postal votes were “magically materialis[ing]” for Joe Biden has also been viewed 759,000 times.

Beyond that, it has repeatedly published false claims from Trump and his lackeys without qualification, i.e. letting audiences know that their claims have been widely debunked.

On one occasion, former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon was invited on to share numerous unproven allegations about Joe Biden and the upcoming election. It’s been viewed many millions of times on YouTube, Facebook and elsewhere across the internet, and syndicated to publications like news.com.au.

But it’s not just Sky News Australia. Other media played a part, too.

(continued)

>>12370888

2/2

The very same media members who spoke about vote fraud were quick to blame anyone but Trump and his MAGA media ecosystem.

Australian columnist for the New York Post and The Daily Telegraph and Fox News contributor Miranda Devine has used her numerous Australian and international platforms to pedal (sometimes easily disproven) accusations of election fraud.

She responded to the riots by pointing the finger at Black Lives Matter protestors.

“I guess we really shouldn’t be surprised at what’s happening in the Capitol after the way leftist violence was condoned most of last year. You let the genie out of the bottle, there’s no telling where it goes,” she tweeted.

Many parts of Australian media initially promoted Trump’s electoral misinformation without qualification that it was entirely unproven.

Similarly, Australian politicians also promoted these false beliefs.

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts — the guy who toasted Trump’s win with champagne in front of Parliament House and lobbied Australian diplomats for tickets to Trump’s inauguration — posted that “Democrats are willing to do anything to steal the election”.

He did so literally while rioters were in the Capitol Building.

Similarly, George Christensen has spread US election misinformation on his professional Facebook Page. This is not to be confused with his personal account where he followed white nationalist and conspiracy content.

At the time of publishing, these posts remain live. And Christensen took to Facebook to protest Twitter suspending Trump and to share an unproven claim that Antifa infiltrated the rioters, while ignoring the violence.

The internet changed the rules about how information spreads. Unlike the before times, we’re all now in the same information ecosystem. Even Down Under.

That means when Australians promote bullshit, they’re responsible when someone believes it — whether it’s here, or halfway across the world.

On Thursday morning the soon-to-be former President lied to his supporters at a rally in Washington D.C.

As he had done hundreds of times before on social media, in the media and at rallies, he told supporters that the election was stolen and demanded that his vice president overturn the election.

At the end of the speech, he told his supporters to go to the Capitol.

From there one person was shot dead and more than a dozen were arrested. Property was looted, lawmakers terrified and irrevocable damage has been done to the idea of a peaceful transition of power and democratic norms.

This violent pathway to the Capitol Building was paved, in part, with the contributions of Australians.

https://twitter.com/cameronwilson/status/1346932978262310921

https://twitter.com/mirandadevine/status/1346912392882630657

https://twitter.com/cameronwilson/status/1323919173676756993

https://twitter.com/arielbogle/status/1346970714016870402

https://twitter.com/cameronwilson/status/1346958176072077313

https://twitter.com/jaopkist/status/1346714844985131008

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/01/how-australia-helped-pave-the-way-for-the-us-insurrection/

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Start spreading the news Jan. 7, 2021, 12:26 a.m. No.12371379 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12370400

Australian Labor Tweet

It's the company you keep.

https://twitter.com/AustralianLabor/status/1346961344214417412

—

Joel Fitzgibbon Tweet

Replying to @AustralianLabor

I’m a proud member of the Labor Party and remain committed to its ideals and objectives but I do not want to be associated with this tweet

https://twitter.com/fitzhunter/status/1347093430107660288

Elise Thomas Tweet

This is profoundly sad. QAnon may be ridiculous, but it is not a joke. We will probably never know how many lives have been ruined because of it.

https://twitter.com/elisethoma5/status/1347002542761287680

—

Travis View @travis_view

If true, the woman who was shot dead in D.C. today used the QAnon phrases "the storm" and "Dark to light" in a tweet yesterday.

Which would mean she was a QAnon follower.

https://twitter.com/travis_view/status/1346996244648841217

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Too fucking late Jan. 7, 2021, 11:59 a.m. No.12381921 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12371401

You roll the dice, you pay the price

Death to all Australians over 18

For saying or doing nothing

For two fucking years

A combination of high level information warfare based on Gregory Bateson’s ‘theory of types’ , Lots of meditation and some incredible luck.

Seven weeks meditation with these bad boys.

http://www.973-eht-namuh-973.com/Alchemy/ADVENT%20INDEX.htm

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

You’ve been duped by all your politicians and twitter too. Who collectively thought 💭 it would be a wise move to conceal, threaten and judge the true source of the storm ☔️.

Don’t take it personally. All our politicians are shameless cunts. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, does it?

And fixating on national identity is a recipe for disaster.

And yes, we are definitely all created equal.

And the dumb Jews do pay a price to handle the money too. Lol 😂

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format. 2,238 pages

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. 130 Mb

Every single entry date and time stamped.

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

Kills the poor hurt feelings and opinions of individual humans dead.

Jon James Pratt (999)

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Humbly blessed as the world’s top intellectual and philosopher

Never lies and is never violent. Ever

Aka 'the storm ☔️'

Aka ‘cosmic lol 😂’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 7, 2021, 10:25 p.m. No.12393689 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

Bizarre moment crowd of protesters waving American flags march down a street in MELBOURNE chanting 'Donald Trump, four more years' as chaos breaks out in Washington DC

CHARLOTTE KARP - 7 January 2021

Protesters carrying American flags in Melbourne have pledged their allegiance to the US president by marching down the street chanting 'Donald Trump, four more years'.

Trump supporters breached security and stormed US congress in Washington DC on Wednesday afternoon American time to stop the transition of power to president-elect Joe Biden.

One female protester died after a gunshot to the chest in the Capitol building, thought is it not clear who opened fire.

In a bizarre display of American patriotism, furious Australians took to the streets of St Kilda on Wednesday to show their loyalty to the armed Republicans.

Impassioned Melburnians from a range of ethnic backgrounds took to the streets in a demonstration they claimed would stave off communism.

A Facebook live stream of the protest showed Australians born in China standing among the group, spurred on by their disdain for the Chinese Communist Party.

They claimed Joe Biden has a 'close relationship with the Chinese regime' and, along with speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New York Times, is a threat to the US democracy and Australia by extension.

Vietnamese nationals also joined the rally to protest against the ruling communist party, which has led the south-east Asian nation since 1975.

'Stop the steal!' one supported yelled, pointing to a conspiracy theory Mr Biden is 'stealing' the presidency and did not actually win the election.

A man sporting a red MAGA hat and megaphone proudly carried a sign that read: 'Never socialist #Trump 2020', emblazoned with the US flag.

He laughed as he told the cameraman it was important to support Australia 'and Trump' as he marched down road.

Other signs read 'Stop Biden stealing the election' and 'no socialism, no communist, no Biden'.

The cameraman claimed they could add Victorian premier Daniel Andrews' name to the signs 'and the message would be sound'.

Confused social media users took to the comments sections to question why Australians would protest an election in another country.

'Don't drink and Facebook kids. You'll end up squishy brained like these muppets,' one user joked.

'If you're pro protectionist and nationalist, why are you concerning your self with the affairs of other states?' another user asked.

'What is it about certain Australians that makes them adopt American political culture as though it were our own?' someone else wrote.

'This will never make sense to me. Are these the same people that dial 911 in an emergency?'

But among the commenters were hundreds of supporters who congratulated the group on their demonstration.

'This is brilliant…..Good on you guys…TRUMP 2020,' one woman wrote with a series of US and Australian flag emojis.

'Go you good thing. Well done guys. The gatekeeper to democracy Trump,' another added.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted: 'Very distressing scenes at the US Congress.'

'We condemn these acts of violence and look forward to a peaceful transfer of Government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition.'

Dozens of police were also reportedly injured in the violence and at least one suspected explosive device was found.

As protesters continued to occupy the Capitol hours after the violence unfolded, President-elect Joe Biden called for the 'mob to pull back' and said the uprising bordered on sedition.

Trump - after remaining silent for much of the afternoon - told his 'very special' supporters inside the Capitol that he loves them and understands their pain but urged them 'to go home'.

As the protesters broke down police barricades and stormed into the Rotunda, Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders were whisked to safety.

Lawmakers cowering inside the House Chamber were urged to put on gas masks as tear gas was fired in the Rotunda.

Officers at the front door of the chamber had their guns drawn as a protester tried to break down the door.

Eventually, the Capitol was cleared and a curfew was imposed banning people in Washington DC from the streets.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9120311/Protestors-waving-American-flags-march-MELBOURNE-chanting-Donald-Trump-four-years.html

Why were the Capitol rioters so angry? Because they’re scared of losing grip on their perverse idea of democracy

Jordan McSwiney - January 7, 2021

1/2

Hundreds of pro-Trump rioters today charged into the US Capitol, where Congress was set to certify Joe Biden’s presidency. Four people have reportedly died in relation to this protest, including a woman who was shot.

The protesters included “Proud Boys”, QAnon supporters and those who aren’t necessarily affiliated with a group but have engaged with these far-right ideologies.

The riot marked a disturbing escalation in the willingness and ability for the far right to mobilise against liberal democratic institutions, inspired by baseless claims peddled by the president: that this has been a stolen, fraudulent election.

It culminates years of President Donald Trump’s incitement and endorsement of these groups. Recall his endorsement of neo-Nazis in Charlottesville (“there are very fine people on both sides”) and his refusal to condemn the Proud Boys (“stand back and stand by”). He even affirmed the Capitol building protesters, calling them “very special” and “great patriots”.

Certainly the way Trump is responding has only served to embolden the protesters and inflame the situation.

While there’s no doubt that some of the protesters were individual citizens, members of far-right extremist groups played an important, visible role in the riots. So who are the far-right rioters, and why are they so angry?

Violence is their bread and butter

The Proud Boys are one of the significant groups driving the protests, known for using violence to achieve their political ends. They describe themselves as a men’s fraternity of “Western chauvinists”, but are effectively a white nationalist gang predicated on violence.

As Proud Boys founder Gavin McGuinnes described in 2017, to reach the highest level of the organisation’s hierarchy a member must “kick the crap out of an antifa” (anti-fascist).

However, the most direct antecedent to what we’re seeing today is the storming of the Michigan State House last month by armed men involved in militia groups and other Trump-supporting protesters.

The events in Michigan followed a series of tweets by Trump, one of which urged his followers to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” in response to stay-at-home orders issued to combat rising numbers of COVID-19 infections.

What’s fuelling their anger?

The general appeal of groups like the Proud Boys is the retaliation to a perceived loss of white male supremacy and the erosion of privileges that were exclusively for the white man.

More specifically, in relation to what’s happening in Washington, their anger is fuelled by Trump’s claims of election fraud and a stolen election, including the baseless “Dominion” theory — a QAnon-related conspiracy about voting machines from Dominion Voting Systems involving Hugo Chavez and George Soros.

There is a wide spectrum of messaging from Trump’s supporters in today’s riots in Washington and outside other statehouses around America, from the comparatively banal claims of election fraud to dangerously unhinged calls for violence.

For example, Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist podcaster and “Groyper” (a network of “alt-right” figures), yesterday called for his followers to kill legislators during a live stream.

But behind their anger is almost a perverse democratic sentiment. Many no doubt genuinely believe their democratic rights have been subverted by liberal elites and “traitor Republicans” who don’t buy into Trump’s messages.

And so along with anger, there is also a sense of fear: fear that American democracy has been overturned at the hands of their “opponents”, even as they themselves actively undermine liberal democratic values and institutions.

(continued)

>>12393716

2/2

Misinformation, conspiracies and false flags

Already, conspiracy theories and misinformation about today’s protests are being widely disseminated online. In particular, the riots are being spun as a “false flag”, with claims the rioters were actually antifascist provocateurs wanting to make Trump look bad.

Crucially, this isn’t just fringe internet conspiracy, but one being pushed by people with institutional clout. For example, Lin Wood, an attorney who until recently was embedded in Trump’s legal team, has spread this particular theory on Twitter, while alternative news outlets such as Newsmax repeated this line in their live coverage of the protest.

Misinformation plays a huge role in garnering extremist right wing views, and is being distributed widely across Facebook and other social media, as well as in mainstream press. And it’s not only in the US. Sky News in Australia, to give a local example, has been repeating without any clarification Trump’s lies of election fraud.

Unfortunately, tech companies have shown they’re unwilling to address this tidal wave of misinformation in a meaningful way.

Twitter will now slap a warning on a Trump post, and recently suspended his account for 12 hours — a temporary move followed by Facebook and Instagram. But countless white supremacists are still on there. For example, American white supremacist and founding figure of the “alt-right” Richard Spencer is still active on Twitter.

This a real danger, not only for the US, but for liberal democracies around the world, as misinformation continues to erode trust in institutions and stoke violent action.

So how do we begin addressing the far right?

To start, news and social media outlets must begin to take misinformation and hateful and extremist content seriously. This could be through more serious investment in content moderation for social media platforms, and refusing to uncritically publish patently false information, such as claims of voter fraud, for news media.

Similarly, a president who refuses to endorse organised white supremacists or conspiracy communities like QAnon would help reduce their legitimacy. As long as Trump continues speak of a “stolen election” and “very fine people”, the far right will feel validated in their violent actions and words.

While it is important security agencies take the very real threat of far-right violence seriously, we should look to other approaches to address and disrupt the far right beyond policing.

In Germany, for example, there has been some success with intervention at the interpersonal level. Educating role models for young people such as teachers and sports coaches to act as circuit breakers in the radicalisation process will help stem the flow of new recruits.

Young people are often targeted by far-right groups for recruitment. So role models like teachers are given skills to identify early signs of radicalisation, such as certain symbols or even fashion brands. They can engage with an individual who may be on the precipice of extremism, and offer them another path.

Given the very real danger posed by the far right, there needs to be a more rigorous approach to combating the allure of far-right extremist misinformation.

https://theconversation.com/why-were-the-capitol-rioters-so-angry-because-theyre-scared-of-losing-grip-on-their-perverse-idea-of-democracy-152812

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 7, 2021, 10:30 p.m. No.12393756 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2377

'We want blood': How warnings of the Washington riot had been circulating online for weeks

Warnings of violence against politicians have been circulating online amongst Trump supporters for weeks. Experts say Thursday's events are the culmination of the online chatter.

RASHIDA YOSUFZAI - JANUARY 7 2021

For months, Donald Trump’s supporters have been warning about violence, civil war, and "taking back the election".

On Thursday, Australian time, Trump supporters stormed Washington's Congress building - some with guns and other weapons - forcing the building into lockdown and prompting the emergency evacuation of politicians. One woman died.

The signs of an event like this have been circulating online for weeks, according to Advance Democracy, a US-based non-partisan group that conducts public interest research.

In the last few days, there have been “unprecedented” calls for violence among Trump’s biggest supporters on the web, the group said.

“The increasingly hostile online rhetoric was bound to lead to real world violence,” the group’s president Daniel J. Jones told SBS News.

“The violence on Capitol Hill today was previewed on online forums for weeks and could have been prevented.”

Advance Democracy found more than 1480 posts from QAnon-related accounts on Twitter from a week ago referencing 6 January and containing terms of violence.

In online forums like TheDonald, a subgroup previously banned by Reddit, and fringe social media sites like Parler, there were also threats of violence against politicians.

Messages such as “WE WANT BLOOD” and “murder Pelosi” - a reference to Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - were posted on TheDonald forum, according to Advance Democracy.

Others openly called for civil war in the lead up to Thursday’s events.

“It is time for war, no more talking, no more peace #1776 #january6 #civilwar2,” said one user on Parler, on 4 January.

Advance Democracy found the moderators of some forums were ignoring and, in some cases, promoting calls for violence during Thursday’s protests.

One of the top comments on a trending post stated: “Start shooting patriots. Kill these ####ing traitors".

Timothy Graham, a senior lecturer in digital media at Queensland University, who tracks misinformation online, says the writing's been on the wall for not just the past few weeks since the presidential election, but years.

“I think some of the key things that we're seeing play out now over the last few hours, both on social media and also on the ground in the US and the Capitol, I really think that this is a logical conclusion to what we've been seeing over the last months and years,” he told SBS News on Thursday.

"We can trace a timeline of how the social media and media ecosystem fostered and provided a space in which this kind of movement could grow."

Some, including right-wing media outlets and commentators, sought to blame Antifa for the violence, claiming some of those behind the riot were actually in disguise.

One of those who was pictured breaking into the Capitol building was Trump supporter and Qanon adherent Jake Angeli, wearing a viking hat and face painted with the American flag.

His appearance as a counter-protester at a previous Black Lives Matter protest sparked chatter on social media that anti-fascists had infiltrated the protest group, a claim which was quickly debunked by Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes.

Some of those who attended the protest were identified as supporters of conspiracy movements like QAnon, while members of the Three Percenters militia group, and hard-right group The Proud Boys conducted live streams of the event.

A group of protesters were also seen making the “OK” hand gesture - which is associated with white supremacists - in a live stream of the protest provided by Reuters.

Photographers also captured the image of a noose near protesters on the west side of the Capitol, an apparent references to the "day of the rope", a statement which had been circulating on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/parlertakes/status/1346987132536033281

https://twitter.com/gorskon/status/1346960201778229252

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/we-want-blood-how-warnings-of-the-washington-riot-had-been-circulating-online-for-weeks

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Top class star map (999) Jan. 7, 2021, 10:38 p.m. No.12393849 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Wins every single time

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d You’re gonna get set on fire, Aussies Jan. 7, 2021, 10:39 p.m. No.12393861 🗄️.is 🔗kun

For jewanon and the fat orange joker 🃏

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d The penny drops Jan. 7, 2021, 10:39 p.m. No.12393868 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Pmsl 😂

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Sexy aren’t they? Jan. 7, 2021, 10:40 p.m. No.12393884 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Tasty

Victorian Liberal MP Bernie Finn posts Trump election conspiracy theories to Facebook

Elias Clure - January 7 2021

1/2

A conservative Victorian MP has published pro-Trump conspiracy theories on his private Facebook page, falsely claiming the United States' President has been "improperly" removed from office.

On the morning of chaotic scenes at the US Capitol, the private Facebook page of Western Metropolitan region Liberal MP Bernie Finn also shared a quote from former United States president Ronald Reagan that calls on citizens to fight for freedom.

Mr Finn is a supporter of Mr Trump and his private page, from which the two recent posts were published, often shares conspiracy theories supporting him.

As riots unfolded across the Capitol campus, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pulled down social media posts by Mr Trump, in which he repeated his baseless claims of election fraud.

On Wednesday, before the planned congressional confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden, Mr Finn wrote on his private Facebook page that Donald Trump would make history within the next 12 hours for one of two reasons.

He would either "fight off a concerted effort by globalists, big corporations, big media, the Washington Establishment and the mad Left to improperly remove him from the Oval Office", or he would "succumb to … Deep State forces — but not before exposing the massive corruption undermining the American political system".

The Braybrook-based MP, who holds shadow assistant ministerial positions and is the Liberal whip in the Victorian Upper House, ended the post by saying Americans would be grateful to the President.

"He set a wonderful example to every other national leader by putting America first," Mr Finn said.

On Thursday morning, while Trump supporters were storming the congressional building in Washington, the Capitol, Mr Finn took to his private Facebook page again urging his followers to read a quote of former Republican president Ronald Reagan.

"The people of the United States would be well advised to remember these words of a very wise man and great President," he wrote above a picture of Reagan and an excerpt from a speech delivered in 1967.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction," the quoted extract begins.

"We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

The ABC is not suggesting Mr Finn supported the violence or rioting at the Capitol.

(continued)

>>12393910

2/2

Later on Thursday, Mr Finn's account shared an article from far-right fringe publication The Washington Times which claimed antifa activists had "infiltrated" the protesters who stormed the Capitol.

"This shouldn't surprise anyone. This is far more Antifa than Trump," Mr Finn's post read.

The claims, which have been repeated by some of Mr Trump's Republican allies, have been described as "evidence-free" by NBC News and declared false by the New York Times's fact-checking coverage.

Mr Finn has been contacted for comment.

Colleagues slam Mr Finn's 'fruitcake' commentary

Senior Liberal sources suggested Mr Finn was irritating swathes of his own party with his social media posts and questioned whether Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien could continue to support him.

"Instead of pushing and pursuing wild conspiracy theories, Bernie should go back into his office and try and help us in the western suburbs," one senior Liberal source said.

Another Liberal colleague described him as "a fruitcake".

When asked about his comments at an Opposition press conference, Shadow Minister for Tourism Cindy McLeish said she had not seen the posts but made clear she did not support baseless conspiracy theories about the "fair and square" US election result.

"I haven't seen Bernie's post today, the situation that we have in the USA is just … there's no words for it, it's an appalling situation," she said.

"I think it's very embarrassing for America … Biden needs to just, you know, take hold of the White House."

Ms McLeish said she wanted to see Mr Finn's posts for herself and the party would be able to speak to him about the matter "at the appropriate time".

In the aftermath of the election in November last year, federal Nationals backbencher George Christensen promoted claims of electoral fraud and cheating on his Facebook account.

Today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked whether he condemned the promotion of those views in light of the US riots.

"Australia's a free country," Mr Morrison replied.

"There's such a thing as freedom of speech in this country. And that will continue."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-07/victorian-liberal-bernie-finn-donald-trump-election-posts/13039040

>>12393910

Victorian Liberals condemn pro-Trump conspiracy theories posted by colleague Bernie Finn

Senior Victorian Liberal MP David Davis says his party will be speaking to its Upper House MP Bernie Finn, after he published false pro-Trump conspiracy theories to his private Facebook page.

The posts were shared both before and after rioters stormed the US Capitol Building in an effort to prevent the democratic transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden.

In an early post before violence erupted in the United States, Mr Finn's private account falsely claimed that "Deep State forces" were "improperly" removing President Donald Trump from office.

After the riots erupted, Mr Finn shared an article from far-right fringe publication The Washington Times, which claimed antifa activists had "infiltrated" the rioters who stormed the Capitol.

"This shouldn't surprise anyone. This is far more Antifa than Trump," Mr Finn's post read.

That claim, which was repeated by some of Mr Trump's Republican allies, has been described as "evidence-free" by NBC News and declared false by the New York Times's fact-checking coverage.

When asked about the comments on Friday, Mr Davis, who is the shadow minister for transport infrastructure, said he "fundamentally" disagreed with them.

"I don't know why Bernie has made those comments," he said.

"My view is that they are wrong, I think that the election result is very clear and I think the fact is that there's been a series of terrible events in America in this recent period and I think the community is horrified by what they've seen."

He said the Liberal Party would "certainly be talking to" Mr Finn about the comments, but did not outline what action, if any, might be taken.

Mr Finn, who is a member for the Western Metropolitan region, is also the shadow assistant minister for autism and small business.

"The truth of the matter is, I think, people across the community disagree with his view," Mr Davis said.

"People are allowed to speak, but having said that, I think it's incumbent on us to say when we think they're wrong."

Liberal MP and shadow tourism minister Cindy McLeish said on Thursday she had not yet seen the posts but did not support conspiracy theories about the "fair and square" US election result.

Mr Finn has been contacted for comment.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-08/victorian-liberals-condemn-bernie-finn-pro-trump-facebook-posts/13042470

Joe Biden certified by Congress as next United States president after deadly riot in Capitol

1/2

US Congress has formally validated Joe Biden's presidential election victory on a day that saw a time-honoured ceremony become a nightmare of unprecedented political terror.

The House and Senate certified the Democrat's electoral college win early on Thursday local time, after a violent throng of pro-Trump rioters spent hours running rampant through the Capitol.

Vice-President Mike Pence, in declaring the final vote totals behind Mr Biden's victory, said this "shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice-president of the United States".

After claiming he would "never concede" during a rally hours earlier, President Donald Trump admitted defeat in the November 3 election for the first time, following the vote count.

The outcome had never been in doubt, but had been interrupted by rioters who forced their way past metal security barricades, broke windows and scaled walls to fight their way into the Capitol building.

A woman was fatally shot, windows were bashed and the mob forced shaken members of Congress and aides to flee the building, shielded by Capitol Police.

The rampage began shortly after Mr Trump repeated his unfounded claims of election fraud to thousands of rallying demonstrators he'd invited to Washington.

Thirteen Republican senators and dozens of GOP representatives had planned to force debate and votes on perhaps six different states' votes.

The assault on the Capitol made some Republicans squeamish about trying to overturn Mr Biden's win, and challenges were lodged only against Arizona and Pennsylvania. Both efforts lost overwhelmingly.

Mr Biden defeated Mr Trump by 306-232 electoral votes and will be inaugurated January 20.

Mr Biden has announced Merrick Garland as his pick for attorney-general, saying the federal appeals court judge and three others he has selected for senior Justice Department positions will "restore the independence" of the agency and faith in the rule of law.

The four lawyers are to be introduced by Biden at an event on Thursday afternoon local time in Wilmington, Delaware.

Judge Garland held senior positions at the Justice Department decades ago, including as a supervisor of the prosecution of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

His nomination will force Senate Republicans to contend with someone they spurned four years ago — refusing even to hold hearings when former president Barack Obama nominated him for the Supreme Court.

(continued)

>>12394209

2/2

Trump says there will be an 'orderly transition'

Mr Trump said there would be an "orderly transition on January 20th".

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th," Mr Trump said in a statement posted to Twitter by aides.

His personal account was locked by the social media company for posting messages that appeared to justify the assault on the seat of the nation's democracy.

He added: "While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!"

Mr Trump on Wednesday had encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol to protest politicians' actions, and later appeared to excuse the violent occupation of the Capitol by the mob.

Authorities said four people died during the violence.

"These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long," Mr Trump wrote in a message that was later deleted by Twitter. He added, "Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!"

In an earlier video, he had praised the protesters as "special" people and said he understood their pain.

Social media giants ban Trump posts

Twitter later locked his account for the first time as it demanded he remove the tweets and threatened "permanent suspension".

Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat followed suit.

Mr Trump's response to the violence underscored his long obsession with trying to overturn the results of the election.

He has spent the final days of his presidency angrily stewing and lashing out at Republicans for perceived disloyalty while refusing to acknowledge his loss or concede.

A White House official said most of Mr Trump's attention was consumed by his ire at Vice-President Mike Pence, who had announced he would not overturn the will of voters in the congressional electoral count.

Impending mass resignations

In a sign of growing frustration, a number of White House aides were discussing a potential mass resignation, according to people familiar with the conversation, although some harboured concerns about what Mr Trump might do in his final two weeks in office if they were not there to serve as guardrails when so few remain.

Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's chief of staff and a former White House press secretary, submitted her resignation, but declined to say what prompted her move.

Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, White House social secretary Rickie Niceta and deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews also resigned, according to officials.

More departures were expected in the coming days, as other aides indicated they were staying to help smooth the transition to Mr Biden's administration.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-07/joe-biden-certified-by-us-congress-as-next-us-president/13039966

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Cat in the hat (999) Jan. 7, 2021, 11:10 p.m. No.12394246 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Sure thing you fucking retard Jan. 7, 2021, 11:11 p.m. No.12394272 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12393910

Usa 🇺🇸 stole the land in the first place

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 7, 2021, 11:14 p.m. No.12394298 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2391

Trump commits to an orderly transition of power

Sky News Australia

7 Jan 2021

Donald Trump has released a statement confirming there will be an orderly transition of power following the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election win by United States Congress.

President Trump released the statement via an intermediary, saying there “will be an orderly transition on January 20th.”

It comes after Congress certified Joe Biden's election win following a tumultuous day of riots in the American Capitol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3_wX2vrvWk

>>12365577

George Christensen Is Openly Peddling MAGA Bullshit & Scott Morrison Is Refusing To Intervene

David Adams - January 7, 2021

One of Australia’s pre-eminent MAGA types has spouted total bullshit online, entertaining the idea that the 2020 US Presidential election was shonky. Unfortunately, he also happens to be a federal politician.

Coalition MP George Christensen today echoed the conspiracy theory that US President Donald Trump‘s election loss was illegitimate, just hours after violent Trump loyalists stormed the US Capitol for a ramshackle coup attempt.

Taking to Facebook Thursday afternoon, the Liberal National Party MP commented on the chaotic scenes in Washington D.C., claiming “it is a dumpster fire at the moment… all because no one dared audit the vote.”

Despite Trump’s continual claims of election interference, and Christensen’s hand-wringing about vote audits, there is no evidence of wide-scale voter fraud.

Christensen, who is outspoken about social media’s perceived bias against conservative politicians, also claimed that Twitter’s removal of three recent Trump tweets could incite more violence.

“Will censoring the leader of the free world pacify or enrage his supporters?” Christensen said.

“This seems like pouring fuel on the fire to me!”

If you thought there’d be some kind of public reprimand for broadcasting such a dodgy take hours after the US Capitol siege, you’d be mistaken.

Although Prime Minister Scott Morrison today condemned the scenes in Washington D.C. and called for a peaceful transition of power, he refused to speak against his own MP for spreading baseless and incendiary rumours.

“Australia’s a free country,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

“There’s such a thing as freedom of speech in this country, and that will continue.”

(We don’t actually have a constitutional right to free speech, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Opposition MPs, including Andrew Giles and Josh Wilson, have challenged Morrison and Christensen over the latter’s claims.

All of this comes a day after a handful of Australian Trump supporters marched down Melbourne’s busy St Kilda Road, indicating that a non-zero number of locals are swept up in Trump’s paranoid, conspiratorial bullshit.

How bloody good.

https://twitter.com/andrewjgiles/status/1347016776060555266

https://twitter.com/Josh4Freo/status/1347014379187834881

https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/george-christensen-shares-us-election-conspiracy/

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 7, 2021, 11:36 p.m. No.12394540 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2391

>>12365577

>>12394486

Morrison needs to counter Australian and American disinformation too

Anthony Galloway - January 7, 2021

Australia has taken strides to defeat disinformation from authoritarian states but Prime Minister Scott Morrison must be able to counter it from his own MPs and Australia's allies too.

Like cyber attacks, fake news narratives represent a growing threat to our way of life.

A report by the European Commission last year found foreign actors and countries, led by Moscow and Beijing, had carried out targeted disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining democratic debate and stoking confusion about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australia has been particularly concerned about the effect China's disinformation campaigns are having in our near region.

The nation's competition regulator has also criticised social media companies including Facebook for failing to deal with the proliferation of fake news on online.

But Australia needs to be consistent.

A number of Coalition MPs, including George Christensen and Craig Kelly, have been repeatedly spreading misleading claims about the United States election since November.

As we now know after this week's events in Washington, the promotion of such claims can have serious and deadly consequences: the US Capitol Building ambushed by a mob and four people dead.

Kelly has also consistently posted in support of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug touted by some – including Trump - as a possible coronavirus treatment despite Australian medical officials disputing the claims.

Asked on Thursday about Christensen's promotion of conspiracy theories, Mr Morrison said "Australia is a free country. There's such a thing as a freedom of speech in this country, and that will continue".

The Nationals MP's reckless dishonesty should have been called out by the leader of the government.

Christensen is a Coalition backbencher who has repeatedly claimed that the US election was stolen from President Donald Trump with "dodgy votes". Facebook has rebuked him for his misleading claims.

Morrison's failure to rebuke Christensen sends an inconsistent message to the rest of the world. Is China now allowed to claim "free speech" in peddling disinformation campaigns about the origin of the coronavirus?

Of course, disinformation from authoritarian state actors is harmful. But so are propaganda campaigns from Western politicians aimed squarely at sowing doubt about a country's democratic institutions.

In the same way that a cyber attack from a local criminal syndicate can be just as harmful as a major hack from a state actor, a locally-grown disinformation campaign can be as equally pernicious as one backed by an authoritarian state.

Last year, the Morrison government set up a new taskforce to counter online disinformation to stop countries like China and Russia using social media to sow division in democracies.

The new Countering Foreign Interference unit - which is within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - was needed. But we clearly need to do more to counter all types of disinformation, including from our allies.

Just look at the Trump administration's efforts last year to lean on its intelligence community to hunt for evidence to support the theory that the coronavirus leaked from a Wuhan laboratory.

News Corp Australia tabloid The Daily Telegraph ran a lengthy front-page story about a 15-page "dossier" that laid "the foundation for the case of negligence being mounted against China". The dossier was in fact an openly sourced "non-paper" authored by the US State Department, which contained no classified information from intelligence agencies.

As reported by the The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age at the time, there were widespread suspicions within senior ranks of the Australian government and the intelligence community that the document was leaked to The Daily Telegraph by a staff member in the US embassy in Canberra.

The Trump administration's promotion of the Wuhan lab theory did immeasurable harm to Australia's efforts to push for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus. It allowed Beijing to claim the inquiry was part of a US propaganda bid to discredit China, leading to relations between Canberra and Beijing to deteriorate to their worst levels in decades.

While you should always watch out for your adversaries, sometimes you need to keep a close eye on your friends.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-needs-to-counter-australian-and-american-disinformation-too-20210107-p56sgh.html

OPINION: There's a lot of blame to go around for the chaos in the Capitol, but some belongs to Australia

Emma Shortis - January 8, 2021

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Australians woke on Thursday to an unfolding coup attempt in the United States. One by one, leaders from across the world condemned what was happening in the US Capitol and called for peace. From Ireland, to Greece, even Boris Johnson in Britain, governments expressed their horror and dismay.

Our own government took a little longer to react. We shouldn’t pretend we don’t know why.

There is a lot of blame to go around for what is unfolding in the United States. Aided and abetted by extremists in the White House and in Congress, and white supremacists across the nation, Trump is orchestrating nothing short of an attempted authoritarian takeover of what we have been taught to believe is the greatest democracy on earth and the guardian of peace in our world.

But some of that blame also lies here, with us.

The Australian government’s relationship with Donald Trump got off to a rocky start. But once Scott Morrison assumed the leadership, Australia went all in with the man trying to steal the presidency.

In September 2019, Morrison told President Trump that "Australia will never be accused of indifference in our friendship to the United States". He was right.

Morrison made those remarks at a rare state dinner hosted in his honour in Washington, DC. He was one of very few world leaders to receive such a prestigious invitation from the President. It came to him when it did because the Trump administration, with so few friends in the world, knew that the Australian Prime Minister would provide the President and his administration with valuable international credibility and support, and the photo op that he wanted. And that is what he got.

Australia’s former ambassador to the United States, Joe Hockey, was widely praised for his diplomatic skill in facilitating the invitation and for how close he had managed to get to Trump. And while Hockey played golf with the President, Australian parliamentarians gleefully wore MAGA hats and appeared on conservative television, expressing their unqualified support for the white supremacist in the White House and spreading his misleading theories. There was no rebuke from their leader.

The links between the Australian government and our right-wing media ecosystem are clear. While Sky News monetised and spread American conspiracy theories, Hockey went on Australian radio to say that Biden's margin in Washington DC, for example, was "hard to believe", and MP George Christensen posted on Facebook about "Democrat vote fraud".

Elsewhere, leaders from across the world called on Donald Trump to concede defeat and ensure a peaceful transition of power. Asked to comment, Scott Morrison said only that American democracy was "great" and dismissed calls for him to say something meaningful as "divisive". Called on at the time to condemn members of his own government for spouting conspiracies, he said nothing.

A few weeks later, Morrison was awarded a Legion of Merit for his trouble. The Prime Minister was "honoured" to receive the award that recognised how he had "strengthened the partnership between the United States and Australia".

(continued)

>>12394706

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Australians cannot avoid the truth of our complicity. Morrison’s warm friendship with the President, our conservative media ecosystem’s promulgation of American conspiracy theories and giving a platform to US white supremacists – all of it helped Trump and the fascism he encouraged and unleashed. That can’t just be put back in the box.

Yesterday, Trump supporters flew Confederate flags in the Capitol. Even during the Civil War, that symbol of white supremacy didn’t make it to Washington, DC. But it has been held up, in similar fashion, by Australian soldiers serving alongside Americans in Afghanistan.

Australians are told that having such a close relationship with the United States is essential to the maintenance of our national security. But what kind of security is this? And what damage has it done to our relationship with the incoming Biden administration? There was never any security or strategic justification for the closeness of the Trump administration and our own government. The only reason for it was ideological.

It is only through an honest reckoning with that ideological closeness, and with our complicity in Trumpism, that Australians might be able to re-consider our place in the world. We did not have a binary choice between subservience to an anti-democratic white supremacist and abandoning the alliance. There were – and still are – other options.

Once, an American President assured us that the United States only wanted to make "the world safe for democracy". Perhaps we should try to think about making our world safe from America.

Emma Shortis is a research fellow at the Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/there-s-a-lot-of-blame-to-go-around-for-the-chaos-in-the-capitol-but-some-belongs-to-australia-20210107-p56sfg.html

Trump proves he was never fit to rule

As power seeps from Donald Trump he has become the enemy of US democracy, its constitution and the will of the people. His populist quest is ending in ruin.

PAUL KELLY - January 8, 2021

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The Trump presidency is dying in futile violence, constitutional sabotage and a comprehensive victory for the Democrats.

The insurgent rampage through the Capitol and its legislative chambers was triggered by Donald Trump’s reckless campaign of incitement and his fraudulent accusation of a “stolen election”.

As power seeps from Trump he has become the enemy of American democracy, its constitution and the will of the people. His populist quest to “Make America Great Again” is ending in violence and ruin.

The mob assault on the Capitol exposes a fractured nation and Trump’s rebellious challenge to incoming president Joe Biden. Trump’s rage is that of a loser: he lost the White House, lost in the courts, and has now lost in the congress.

His final fate is the resort of the demagogue.

By refusing to accept the legitimacy of his defeat at the ballot box, Trump reveals his unfitness to have been US president. The president’s most sacred oath is to defend the constitution, not sabotage it; to accept defeat with honour, not attempt a dishonourable revolt.

Despite mob violence, the institutions stood resilient. The congress reconvened to certify Biden’s election victory. Republican congressional leader Mitch McConnell repudiated Trump, warning anything less meant a “death spiral” for democracy.

Vice-President Mike Pence chaired the sitting, rejecting Trump’s intimidation and declaring that the violent agitators “did not win”.

The growing bipartisan stand against Trump — morally and politically — will taint his brand forever and diminish his support. A threshold has been crossed: many Americans will feel shock at the Trump-inspired assault on their democratic institutions.

But Trump remains unleashed, an agent of grievance, stoking public anger and resorting to the big lie — the method of autocrats throughout history. The ominous signal came with his unrepentant message after the rampage through the Capitol, when Trump, speaking with a forked tongue, told his supporters to “go home” while steeling their belief that this was a “stolen election”.

While asking his supporters to be peaceful, Trump insisted he won the election in a “landslide” and declared “love” for the rioters who stormed the building, saying their election victory had been “viciously stripped away from great patriots”.

Trump’s political wreckage is spreading across the land. His narcissistic campaign against democracy has helped to deliver the Democrats the two critical seats in the Georgia runoffs. This means the Democrats will have the numbers in a Senate that is split 50-50 courtesy of the vote of Kamala Harris, as vice-president.

Trump has not just wrecked the Republican Party. He has sabotaged its control of the Senate. He turned the Georgia elections into a campaign about himself. He has helped to deliver control of the US government — lock, stock and barrel — to the Democrats.

Was this deliberate, or just recklessness? Did Trump calculate that it would suit him for the Republicans to lose?

Depending on how Biden exercises his authority, the way now lies open for the Democrats to legislate a progressive agenda on tax, spending and climate change. The US will move decisively to the left, risking entrenched polarisation. A broken Republican Party, split between the need to defy Trump but aware this jeopardises its base vote, will be thrown on the defensive.

(continued)

>>12394863

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The US now sits on a psychological knife-edge. This crisis, which has seen four fatalities, can either provoke a public retreat towards common ground. or trigger even deeper confrontation. Biden’s skill as a unifying agent will be tested to the limit.

The confrontation on Capitol Hill was driven by Trump’s longstanding fixation. He always declared that if he lost the election, it would prove the system was “rigged”. Trump was never going to accept defeat. But a childlike inability to accept a loss becomes, in the hands of a defeated president, a path towards sedition.

It was Trump who urged his supporters to march on Capitol Hill, declaring: “We will never concede.” After their incursions into the chambers, legislators huddled behind benches and were than evacuated.

Pence had earlier released a statement rejecting Trump’s demands that he invalidate Biden’s election victory, saying: “My oath to support and defend the constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”

The Wall Street Journal editorialised, supporting Pence: “Mr Trump’s vision of loyalty consists of loyalty only to himself.”

During the debate, veteran Republican senator and Trump backer Lindsey Graham called for the results to be certified. “Trump and I, we have had a hell of a journey,” Graham said. “All I can say is, count me out; enough is enough.”

Majority leader McConnell was emphatic: “We are debating a step that has never been taken in American history: whether congress should overrule the voters and overturn a presidential election. I have served 36 years in the Senate. This will be the most important vote I have ever cast.”

Trump is an agent of betrayal. He is betraying the 74 million people who voted for him. They deserve the truth, not fabrication. Now is the time for more Republicans to speak out.

The political reality from these events is writ large: Trump is a liability for Republicans, for America, for the world. Once a champion of law and order, Trump is now the agent of disorder.

This is a dark moment in American history, with the great democracy humiliated before the world. But it will recover. Biden said the scenes “do not reflect the true America”. He called on Trump “to end the siege”, saying the chaos “borders on sedition”.

Biden’s position in terms of institutional power has strengthened each day. Trump’s only resort against him is mob incitement, which comes at the ongoing erosion of Republican support.

In a vital test of the core issue, the Senate voted 93-6 to put down a demand from a Republican minority to invalidate the Arizona presidential vote.

In the House, however, the vote was 303-121 — extraordinary evidence of a significant effort, both morally bankrupt and politically futile, to overrule Biden’s election and repudiate the public’s vote.

Paul Kelly is Editor-at-Large on The Australian. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of the paper and he writes on Australian politics, public policy and international affairs. Paul has covered Australian governments from Gough Whitlam to Scott Morrison. He is a regular television commentator on Sky News. He is the author of nine books including The End of Certainty on the politics and economics of the 1980s. His recent books include Triumph and Demise on the Rudd-Gillard era and The March of Patriots which offers a re-interpretation of Paul Keating and John Howard in office.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/demagogue-donald-trump-proves-he-was-never-fit-to-be-president/news-story/ba36ade45e6bb2fe3b792c0d5599722a

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 8, 2021, 12:15 a.m. No.12394918 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2391

Donald Trump lit fuse to a riot and burned down his house

CAMERON STEWART - JANUARY 8, 2021

Donald Trump has waited until the very end to make one of his biggest mistakes. No one who was in the crowd hearing him speak outside the White House, as I was, could possibly misinterpret what he wanted his supporters to do.

He fired them up for more than an hour with conspiracy theories about why a great electoral fraud had been perpetrated upon them, then told them to march to the Capitol building, urging them to “fight like hell … this is a time for strength”.

Maybe Trump didn’t actually expect them to break into the building, but when you whip an enormous crowd into an angry frenzy, you can hardly throw your hands in the air when things get out of hand.

Tens of thousands of Trump supporters from around the country, including militant far-right groups such as the Proud Boys, were hardly going to be satisfied with listening to a speech and then going home quietly.

Although Trump has refused to condemn what he calls the “great patriots” who stormed the Capitol, he will quickly realise the damage he has done to himself. Trump may have torpedoed any hopes he had — if, indeed, he had them — of running for president in 2024. He may even have surrendered his hopes of remaining a kingmaker in the Republican Party. While a hard core of loyalists will love this Trump-driven insurrection, the rest of America will be aghast. This does not just include Democrats but also a vast portion of Republicans and other conservatives who will draw a line on Trump’s two-month war on democracy that culminated in this deadly riot in Washington.

Look at the roll call of Republicans who directly or indirectly condemned Trump, from former president George W. Bush to a raft of once pro-Trump senators and congressmen. “You are done and your legacy will be a disaster,” representative Adam Kinzinger tweeted as he escaped the Capitol.

Ever since it became clear Joe Biden won the election, Republicans have tried hard to back Trump’s unproven claims of massive election fraud. This was partly through loyalty and partly because of fear of alienating a powerful president. But as the courts progressively stripped those claims of any validity, and as states certified their results, Republicans have increasingly struggled to keep up the charade of fraud Trump demands.

The President’s response has been to burn everyone in his party who eventually disagreed, no matter how loyal they have been.

Take Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who stood faithfully by Trump for four years but who Trump now says has failed him because he had the audacity to admit Biden won the election.

And what about Vice-President Mike Pence? No person has been more loyal to Trump. But when Trump realised Pence was his last hope of overturning the election result — through an unconstitutional act of rejecting the electoral college vote in congress — he was happy to throw his most loyal henchman to the wolves.

In front of the huge crowd outside the White House he called on Pence to do the unthinkable — unilaterally overturn the democratic will of the people. Pence, to his credit, refused to do so, only to be attacked by Trump afterwards for lacking courage.

How does Trump think he will maintain sway over Republicans or run for president in 2024 when he has betrayed many of his most loyal supporters, including the party’s leadership group? Does he think Americans will just forget the sight of their beloved Capitol building being stormed by Trump disciples? And now every congressional Republican has lived through the frightening experience of having an angry mob rampaging through the halls of congress after being incited by a Republican president.

The Republican Party has traded away all it once stood for — from balanced budgets, to free trade and immigration — to accommodate Trump and his populist brand of politics. Only a small cabal of Republicans, driven by fear and ambition, is still backing Trump’s claims of electoral fraud by taking the undemocratic step of challenging Biden’s win in congress. History will not treat them kindly, nor will it treat Trump kindly for his role in what unfolded in Washington on Thursday.

If Trump wants to return to the world of real estate and forget politics after Biden becomes president on January 20, he may not care much about the turmoil he has created. But if Trump wants to remain a Republican kingmaker — or one day return to the White House — he has done himself enormous harm by being so cavalier and disrespectful to America’s democracy.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/donald-trump-lit-fuse-to-a-riot-and-burned-down-his-house/news-story/6c939652fef92f9d1a2881c47f061acb

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 8, 2021, 1:08 a.m. No.12395291 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2639

QAnon and the storm of the U.S. Capitol: The offline effect of online conspiracy theories

Marc-André Argentino - January 7, 2021

What is the cost of propaganda, misinformation and conspiracy theories? Democracy and public safety, to name just two things. The United States has received a stark lesson on how online propaganda and misinformation have an offline impact.

For months, Donald Trump has falsely claimed the November presidential election was rigged and that’s why he wasn’t re-elected. The president’s words have mirrored and fed conspriacy theories spread by followers of the QAnon movement.

While conspiracy theorists are often dismissed as “crazy people on social media,” QAnon adherents were among the individuals at the front line of the storming of Capitol Hill.

QAnon is a decentralized, ideologically motivated and violent extremist movement rooted in an unfounded conspiracy theory that a global “Deep State” cabal of satanic pedophile elites is responsible for all the evil in the world. Adherents of QAnon also believe that this same cabal is seeking to bring down Trump, whom they see as the world’s only hope in defeating it.

The evolution of QAnon

Though it started as a series of conspiracy theories and false predictions, over the past three years QAnon has evolved into an extremist religio-political ideology.

I’ve been studying the movement for more than two years. QAnon is what I call a hyper-real religion. QAnon takes popular cultural artifacts and integrates them into an ideological framework.

QAnon has been a security threat in the making for the past three years.

As social media researcher Alex Kaplan noted, 2020 was the year “QAnon became all of our problem” as the movement initially gained traction by spreading COVID-related conspiracy theories and disinformation and was then further mainstreamed by 97 U.S. congressional candidates who publicly showed support for QAnon.

Crowdsourced answers

The essence of QAnon lies in its attempts to delineate and explain evil. It’s about theodicy, not secular evidence. QAnon offers its adherents comfort in an uncertain — and unprecedented — age as the movement crowdsources answers to the inexplicable.

QAnon becomes the master narrative capable of simply explaining various complex events. The result is a worldview characterized by a sharp distinction between the realms of good and evil that is non-falsifiable.

Trump validated theories

The year 2020 was also Trump finally gave QAnon what it always wanted: respect. As Travis View, a conspiracy theory researcher and host of the QAnon Anonymous podcast recently wrote: “Over the past few months …Trump has recognized the QAnon community in a way its followers could have only fantasized about when I began tracking the movement’s growth over two years ago.”

Trump, lawyers Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, and QAnon “rising star” Ron Watkins have all been actively inflaming QAnon apocalyptic and anti-establishment desires by promoting voter fraud conspiracy theories.

Doubts about the validity of the election have been circulating in far-right as well as QAnon circles. Last October, I wrote that if there were delays or other complications in the final result of the presidential contest, it would likely feed into a pre-existing belief in the invalidity of the election — and foster a chaotic environment that could lead to violence.

Hope for miracles

The storming of U.S. Capitol saw the culmination of what has been building up for weeks: the “hopeium” in QAnon circles that some miracle via Vice-President Mike Pence and other constitutional witchcraft would overturn the election results.

Instead, QAnon followers are now faced with the end of a Trump presidency — where they had free rein — and the fear of what a Biden presidency will bring.

We have now long passed the point of simply asking: how can people believe in QAnon when so many of its claims fly in the face of facts? The attack on the Capitol showed the real dangers of QAnon adherents.

What will happen now? QAnon, along with other far-right actors, will likely continue to come together to achieve their insurrection goals. This could lead to a continuation of QAnon-inspired violence as the movement’s ideology continues to grow in American culture.

https://theconversation.com/qanon-and-the-storm-of-the-u-s-capitol-the-offline-effect-of-online-conspiracy-theories-152815

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 8, 2021, 1:22 a.m. No.12395383 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2639

Qanon cultists believe the final showdown between light and darkness is upon us

DAVID AARONOVITCH - JANUARY 8, 2021

If the storming of the Capitol was part tragedy and part farce, its enduring symbol was the bare-chested man in buffalo horns. This was Jake Angeli, a voiceover artist from Arizona, also known as the QAnon Shaman.

QAnon is a conspiracy theory-turned-cult whose followers believe that there is a deep-state plot run by a paedophile sect whose leaders include the Clintons and Obamas. This plot was “revealed” online a few years ago by someone calling themselves “Q”.

Q has also let it be known that there is a counterplot by freedom-loving Americans led by none other than Donald Trump.

Q supporters believe that the final showdown between the forces of light and darkness is upon us. When the world is seen through such a warped lens, it is little wonder their belief in democracy, votes cast and the rule of law, has been abandoned.

Last summer researchers estimated that online Q sites were followed by about 1.4 million people, mostly in the US. What starts online does not always stay there, and for the past couple of years Trump and Republican rallies have featured people wearing Q merchandise and waving placards with QAnon slogans on them.

Marjorie Greene, a Q supporter from Georgia, was elected to the House of Representatives in November. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, who has urged the president to declare martial law and rerun the election in some states, has embraced the conspiracy theory and suggested deep-state assassins have him in their sights. Mr Trump has retweeted Q supporters, as have other leading Republicans.

QAnon rhetoric leads supporters to justify violence. In 2016 a man with an assault rifle went to a pizza restaurant in Washington after online fantasists claimed children were being held as sex slaves in a (non-existent) basement. He was disarmed but there have been other incidents since then.

It appears that the pandemic has encouraged a sense of the approach of the final battle, not least among underemployed people forced to stay at home due to Covid-19. They believe that they are in a life-and-death struggle with evil forces.

Inside the Capitol on Wednesday, Mr Angeli was not the only Q supporter. One man who chased a black police officer up the stairs was wearing a Q T-shirt and a woman was pictured holding a Q placard that said “Justice for the Children”.

It is thought that the woman shot dead was wearing a QAnon T-shirt. Outside the Capitol, protesters waved placards claiming that Joe Biden was a paedophile and Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was Satan. This is no metaphor and this cult is no joke.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1107417060244668427

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/qanon-cultists-believe-the-final-showdown-between-light-and-darkness-is-upon-us/news-story/88a1eca0ea9f3b5c06abcd6ff751ec6a

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 8, 2021, 2:04 a.m. No.12395712 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2391

Both sides should 'calm down' and 'move on' following Trump's election concession

Sky News Australia

8 Jan 2021

Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says both sides should “calm down” following President Donald Trump’s concession of the election and “move on” instead of introducing impeachment measures.

“My reaction to his address is positive because that’s what he should have said straight after the election which he clearly lost,” Mr Downer told Sky News.

“I think our view would have to be tempers on all sides should now calm down and let the transition take place on January 20.”

Mr Downer said the speech has come “late”, but President Trump’s comments were “appropriate” and would hopefully calm emotions.

He told Sky News calls to force the President to stand down should also be “toned down” because the country “just needs to move one”.

“My guess is going down that path would only raise passions again and the task now is to try to dampen those passions down,” he said.

“President Trump has raised passion to an appalling level, and his behaviour since the election has been unconscionable really.

“Nevertheless, he has moved today to calm those emotions and I think it’s important the Democrats keep calm as well.

“I think President Trump if anything must have learned his lesson”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQZgi12WWM

Malcolm Turnbull says US Capitol violence 'incited by the president' who has 'sought to exacerbate and exploit divisions'

Natalie Oliveri - Jan 8, 2021

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Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has pointed the finger of blame at US President Donald Trump for inciting violence by refusing to accept the results of the November election.

Scenes of chaos and destruction descended on the US Capitol in Washington yesterday, with President-Elect Joe Biden calling the event "one of the darkest days in our nation's history".

Speaking on Today, Mr Turnbull said Mr Trump had a lot to answer for.

"It was incited by the president. This has been building up for a while. Trump, supported by his enablers in the Republican party and right-wing media, particularly Murdoch, have been assaulting democracy and the rule of law in America for years," Mr Turnbull said.

"Leaders have an obligation to bring their communities, their countries together. Trump, on the other hand, has sought to exacerbate and exploit divisions.

"He sought to turn Americans against each other to advance his own political interest, and in doing so, he has been supported by powerful voices in politics and in the media.

"And while Trump, I have no doubt, will be gone on the 20th of January, if not before, it is important that we hold responsible those people who enabled him to do the damage that he has done to America and the cause of democracy and freedom around the world."

Those sentiments were echoed by Bill Shorten who said Mr Trump "has no respect for the truth or the rule of law".

"It was unfathomable. But it is not unexpected," Mr Shorten said.

"For the last two months, Donald Trump has been encouraging these people, this mob, to run riot, but, in fact, it is part of his last four years of presidency where he and his supporters have basically been engaged in an assault on the rule of law and on American democracy.

"I think a lot of people right around the world are shocked, and they hold Trump responsible. He was the one who, for two months, as told the American citizens and his supporters that the election was stolen from him. It was not."

(continued)

>>12395753

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Mr Trump's actions have been condemned by leaders around the world, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison stopped short of criticising Mr Trump for sending mixed messages when the president asked his supporters to leave the Capitol.

Mr Turnbull said Mr Morrison should have come down harder on the US President.

"I think it should have been stronger," Mr Turnbull told Today.

"I think Scott should have really condemned Trump's actions. I see Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom has done that. I mean, at some point, you have got to call a spade a spade.

"I know from experience, you are always reluctant as an Australian PM, to get involved in or commentate on political affairs in other countries.

"But this was different. This was not an issue of domestic American politics. This was the President of the United States inciting a mob, many of whom were armed, to attack and lay siege to the country's Parliament.

"This is staggering stuff. It is insurrection and sedition."

Mr Shorten agreed with Mr Turnbull that the prime minister's response was "weak and tepid".

"I think we have to call that out. You do no favours to your allies by simply ignoring the real problem. The real problem here is that America is the democracy to which we are allied with, upon which our security relationship reside," he said.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/malcolm-turnbull-blames-donald-trump-for-us-capitol-violence/6c7a7047-2613-43a3-b3ab-f528e0e93213

Soon, like a miracle, toxic Donald Trump will disappear

JACK THE INSIDER (Peter Hoysted) - JANUARY 8, 2021

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“He’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — he will disappear.”

Those are Trump’s words, slightly paraphrased. He uttered them in March of last year, one of almost 40 instances where he predicted COVID-19 would simply vanish. It hasn’t, of course. The pandemic continues to smash the continental United States. It is far more likely that it will be Donald John Trump who disappears.

If you listened closely around nine o’clock on Wednesday night Australian Eastern Time, while the votes were still being counted in the Georgia senate run-offs with Democrat candidate Raphael Warnock declared winner over Kelly Loeffler while his colleague, Jon Ossoff took the lead over David Perdue, you could hear the rattle of Trump’s long, slow political death.

It isn’t the Democrats who will deliver the coup de grâce. Pelosi’s babbling about the 25th Amendment being invoked, or the threat of impeachment count for little. There is no time for the Democrats to vanquish Trump from the Oval Office. In less than two weeks, Joe Biden will be inaugurated the 46th President of the United States of America. In the meanwhile, Trump will remain not as a lame duck but a dead one.

Trump’s concession issued last night AEDT, predictably laced with empty boasts and dishonest claims, was issued over the telephone from a staffer because his beloved Twitter account, his megaphone to the world had been shut down.

In the wake of the MAGA protests in DC and the storming of the Capitol, Trump’s few political allies now grow fewer by the hour. There was talk of mass resignations in the White House. Some did. others remain with a watchful eye on the calendar. Trump’s ultimate gambit, a betrayal of his loyal deputy, Mike Pence, which led to the Vice President’s family receiving death threats, was the last straw.

Trump is the best advertisement for voter turn-out in American history. The simple fact is that the polarising figure of Trump drags people out to vote in numbers not seen in the US before. The majority of those are not necessarily endorsements of Biden-Harris or the Democrats. They are never again Trump votes.

When Trump won spectacularly in 2016, the GOP held the Oval Office and enjoyed majorities in both houses of Congress. That led to more than a little ebullience from then President-elect Trump who told the faithful: “We’re going to win so much that you’re going to be sick and tired. You’re going to say, ‘Please, please, Mr. President, we’re sick and tired of winning. Please let us have at least one loss. It’s no longer exciting to win.’ And I’m going to say, ‘No way, we’re going to keep winning, and I don’t care if you like it or not.’”

In the 2018 mid-terms, Trump lost the House. The Democrats picked up 41 seats. Voter turnout was 50.3 per cent of all eligible voters, up from 37 per cent in 2014. The GOP successfully defended their majority in the Senate, snatching two seats from the Dems.

That was the only electoral success Trump enjoyed in his four years in power.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 8, 2021, 2:49 a.m. No.12396094 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2391

>>12396075

2/2

On November 3, 2020, Trump lost the White House and just two days ago, the last vestige of Republican power, a majority in the Senate, was lost too. The numbers in the Upper House are paired 50-50 with Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris able to cast tie-breaking votes and thus guarantee at least two years of one-party control by Democrats.

Trump is a walking magnet that draws Democrats out to vote in huge numbers. The two run-off elections in Georgia confirmed this. Georgians voted in record numbers in the dual run-offs, more than 4.4 million cast a vote being a full 60 per cent of the state’s eligible voters, eclipsing the previous record for turn out in run off elections from 2008 almost two fold. The number was just half a million votes short of the 4.99 million Georgians who flipped the state to the Democrats back on November 3.

Voter registration in Georgia for the presidential election ended on October 5, 2020 with a final total of 7,223,584 active registered voters, an increase of 1,790,538 since the 2016 election and 805,503 new voters since the 2018 mid-terms.

Of those new voters, 44 per cent were Democrats, 42 per cent Republican with the remainder independent. That edge has delivered the state to the Democrats for the first time in 28 years and two senators for the first time in living memory.

Much of the credit belongs to Stacey Abrams, the Democrat former state minority leader and voter activist, whose work drove big numbers of new voters and got registered voters out to vote. But this can’t be done in a vacuum. The major reason for the big uptake in new registrations and voter turnout is opposition to Donald Trump.

In Georgia as well as across the Midwest and in the South West, too, Trump has drawn big numbers to the ballot box with the majority of those voting against him.

That is why Trump is finished, and why a tilt in 2024 won’t happen. Trump looks exhausted and I doubt has the energy to run again. But whether he has the vim or the money to do a Grover Cleveland is not really the question. Trump is electoral poison. And his compatriots in the GOP know it now, too.

The Trump experiment is over. He’s going to disappear – like a miracle – with perhaps the only sightings of the 45th President of the United States taken from long-lensed cameras of Trump plodding around the golf course.

Peter Hoysted is Jack the Insider: a highly placed, dedicated servant of the nation with close ties to leading figures in politics, business and the union movement.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/soon-like-a-miracle-toxic-donald-trump-will-disappear/news-story/9d2b3b18d3a17538c75c8a985f84b21f

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Too late Aussies Jan. 8, 2021, 1:46 p.m. No.12406518 🗄️.is 🔗kun

You roll the dice, you pay the price

Don’t tell me 🤦‍♂️

You’re a sovereign, anon

Sure thing lol 😂

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

>>12364617

Kylie Moore-Gilbert Tweets

Rev guards’ obsession with peddling conspiracy theories starts at the very top. Supreme leader bans entry of UK and US-made covid vaccines, because he “doesn’t trust them”

https://twitter.com/KMooreGilbert/status/1347505296264941568

—

Free Massud @FreeMassud

Replying to @KMooreGilbert

A vaccine made in Ghom is probably more trustworthy …

https://twitter.com/FreeMassud/status/1347510448988499971

—

Replying to @FreeMassud

There’s no need for a vaccine at all really, as this covid thing’s just a conspiracy

https://twitter.com/KMooreGilbert/status/1347511891568967682

>>12395753

>>12395767

Bill Shorten Tweet

Looking forward to President-Elect Joe Biden returning dignity and altruism to liberal democracy

https://twitter.com/billshortenmp/status/1346976089483091968

@realDonaldTrump

Account suspended

Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

—

Q Post #4414

Jun 4 2020 18:49:59 (EST)

EAM LOYALISTS:

RED1: POTUS twitter removal

RED2: Central communications blackout [continental US]

RED3: CLAS movement PELOSI or PENCE

RED4: Movement of MIL assets [10th Mountain_1st Marine_CPSD_Marine_QVIR] to central locations under guise of citizen riot control.

RED5: NAT MIL COM CEN

RED6: SEC OF DEF _instruct1

USSS

CASTLE_ROCK

Q

https://qanon.pub/#4414

>>12409733

Donald Trump's Twitter account 'permanently suspended'

Olivana Lathouris, Nick Pearson - 10:38am Jan 9, 2021

Twitter has announced the permanent suspension of Donald Trump's account following a number of temporary locks on his account this week.

"After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," Twitter said in a statement.

The announcement comes after a historic week in United States with Democratic candidate Joe Biden officially announced as the winner of the election and violent protests at the US Capitol in Washington.

"In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action," the statement from Twitter said.

"Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open."

"However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things."

Twitter cited two tweets sent in recent days as against its glorification of violence policies.

"On January 8, 2021, President Donald J. Trump tweeted:

"The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!"

"Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted:

"To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th."

"Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President's statements can be mobilised by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behaviour from this account in recent weeks."Mr Trump has also been banned from posting on Facebook and Instagram for the remaining 11 days of his presidency.

One of Mr Trump's top advisers Jason Miller took to Twitter to criticise the platform."Disgusting. Big Tech wants to cancel all 75M @realDonaldTrump supporters," he tweeted.

"If you don't think they're coming for you next, you're wrong."

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1347684877634838528

https://twitter.com/Ninecomau/status/1347687513863847936

https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-twitter-account-permanently-suspended-after-capitol-hill-riots/7a1c646f-4f4a-44a5-994a-90c50608e3e3

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d This is you (666) Jan. 8, 2021, 4:34 p.m. No.12410882 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12408044

A mentally ill satanist (patriot) with a flag and a gun

Think 🤔 mirror

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Fat orange fuck (666) Jan. 8, 2021, 4:35 p.m. No.12410912 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12410594

Is a dead man walking

>>12408871

small dick energy

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 8, 2021, 5:44 p.m. No.12412908 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2391

Miranda Devine Tweets

Inevitable. She and her mate Lin should stop spouting Qanonsense and get off social media

https://twitter.com/mirandadevine/status/1347591522024349704

NEWS MAKER @NEWS_MAKER

DOMINION SUES TRUMP LAWYER SIDNEY POWELL FOR DEFAMATION, SEEKS $1.3 billion

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/dominion-sues-trump-lawyer-sidney-powell-defamation-seeks-1-3-n1253464

https://twitter.com/NEWS_MAKER/status/1347590176172867589

—

You have to get your facts straight and not promise a “Kraken” that never eventuates.

https://twitter.com/mirandadevine/status/1347595085899304961

—

With the damage Q has done to MAGA I would not be surprised if the Lincoln Project or some equally malevolent anti-Trump group were behind its recent incarnation.

https://twitter.com/mirandadevine/status/1347595955487563777

>>12409733

Twitter permanently suspends Donald Trump

Sky News Australia

8 Jan 2021

Twitter has permanently suspended US President Donald Trump’s account due to the “risk” of “further incitement of violence”.

In a tweet, the social media platform said “after close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence".

The social media giant explained, “in the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.

"We made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence among other things.

The outgoing president was temporarily suspended by Twitter earlier this week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJjqNdg11Uo

>>12409733

Shem Horne Tweet

Internet Archive of POTUS Tweet thread Twitter just deleted grab it and spread it far and wide

https://twitter.com/Shem_Infinite/status/1347718518276583427

President Trump on Twitter: As I have been saying for a long time…

Archived 9 Jan 2021 01:30:50 UTC

https://archive.is/a55nX

—

President Trump

@POTUS

As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great…

…patriots who voted for me. Twitter may be a private company, but without the government's gift of Section 230 they would not exist for long. I predicted this would happen. We have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while we…

…also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future. We will not be SILENCED! Twitter is not about FREE SPEECH. They are all about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely…

…STAY TUNED!

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1347717008394248195

https://archive.is/a55nX

https://twitter.com/POTUS/

Suspended Twitter Accounts

Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules

https://twitter.com/KillAuDeepState

https://twitter.com/awakeinaus_

https://twitter.com/1_Drop_Of_Q

https://twitter.com/QTheWakeUp

https://twitter.com/SeekretAgent

>>12365577

>>12394486

OPINION: From QAnon to climate denial, Australia has a ‘Ratbag Government’

Michael Pascoe - Jan 8, 2021

In December 1648, England had the Rump Parliament – the House of Commons purged of dissenters to clear the way for disposing of Charles 1. In 2021, Australia has something very different, the Ratbag Government, whereby all manner of members’ madness is championed to maintain Scott Morrison as Prime Minister.

It has been obvious since August 2018, but it was made official by the PM in a media conference on Thursday.

Reporter: “Will you condemn conspiracy theories being promoted by members of your own government?”

Morrison: “No.”

That’s it. Let a hundred ratbags bloom and a hundred schools or nonsense contend.

Mr Morrison added to his straight “no” with: “Australia’s a free country. There’s such a thing as freedom of speech in this country. And that will continue.”

Those words filling the space after “no” are an irrelevant distraction – he was not asked if he would pass laws banning ratbaggery, restricting freedom of speech, but whether he would condemn conspiracies promoted by members of the government he is supposed to lead.

This is not a question of free speech, it’s a matter of responsible government and leadership, or lack thereof.

The so-called “no d*ckheads” rule has become accepted sporting club lore – successful teams don’t tolerate bad influences that may bring the team into disrepute, who aren’t team players. The Federal Government does not have that rule.

The Thursday question was sparked by one of the government’s Trump supporters, George Christensen, posting a not-untypical conspiracy theory link, but the issue is always current, whether it’s Matt Canavan rabbiting on about coal or, most obviously, Craig Kelly being a professional Craig Kelly.

Christensen and Canavan are on the National Party side of Queensland’s LNP, so are half a step removed from Mr Morrison’s direct responsibility.

Craig Kelly is another matter altogether, being a Liberal from the electorate adjoining Mr Morrison’s and a “captain’s pick” by both Mr Morrison and Mr Turnbull for pre-selection against the wishes of Mr Kelly’s own branch – those who should know him best.

Crazy Craig was at it again on Friday, getting attention for himself with Trumpy conspiracy theory rubbish on Facebook.

No, Craig, they weren’t “neo-fascists and Marxists” trashing the Capitol, they were Trump supporters whipped up by Trump and his entourage. You’d have to be thick and reality-denying as Craig Kelly to think otherwise. Oh, that’s right, you are.

Whether it’s his standard climate denialism schtick or continuing to promote Trump’s hydroxychloroquine COVID treatment after the medical establishment had disproven it and even the febrile president had dropped it, Mr Kelly can be relied upon for spreading disinformation and untruths of one kind or another.

And all without a word of criticism from his supposed leader.

Malcolm Turnbull has tried to excuse his support of Mr Kelly’s pre-selection as being the result of “political terrorism”. Mr Kelly was threatening to blow the government up if he didn’t keep his sinecure.

Mr Morrison has not explained his intervention to keep Mr Kelly in government – whether it also is a matter of caving in to terrorism or if he has a kindred spirit in his neighbour.

It’s one thing to accept a bad smell in the party room for the sake of retaining government, but it’s another to refuse to even hint at criticism of Trumpy conspiracy theories, of lies and crackpottery.

Which again leads to the not unreasonable question of what Mr Morrison actually believes, to what extent he doesn’t mind a little QAnon on the quiet himself, whether he is a Trump true-believer, rather than mere Trump-lite.

In any event, the Ratbag Right is officially free to do what it likes in this government – baselessly question the integrity of the Bureau of Meteorology (Senator Rennick, LNP, Qld), spread COVID misinformation (Kelly), lie about climate change (various members and senators).

Curious thing though: I haven’t noticed any supposed liberal Liberals prepared to go out on a limb, haven’t heard of any moderate MPs or Senators prepared to turn political terrorists on a matter of principle, such as the treatment of the Biloela family or the Medevac Bill.

Maybe Mr Morrison doesn’t tolerate all free speech.

(OK, a couple of government members did buck up about the live sheep export trade two years ago, but soon fell back into line when told to.)

https://twitter.com/lukehgomes/status/1347369074913800192

https://twitter.com/markdreyfusQCMP/status/1347316926624661504

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2021/01/08/australia-morrison-ratbag-government/

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Fake news tells the truth Jan. 8, 2021, 8:29 p.m. No.12417313 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12413284

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Why spread it ‘far and wide’? Jan. 8, 2021, 8:33 p.m. No.12417385 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12414979

OPINION: Australia is not an island when it comes to the forces that fostered Trump

Sean Kelly - January 8, 2021

1/3

In July 2019, Scott Morrison was asked what he admired about Donald Trump. He answered, “He's a strong leader, who says what he's going to do and then goes and does it. I mean, I can always rely on President Trump to follow through on what he says.”

At the time, this seemed either blandly meaningless or slightly sycophantic. After this past week, it is a useful reminder: we all knew where Trump’s presidency would end, because he told us.

First, Trump has been encouraging violence for a long time. Last August, after a seventeen-year-old Trump supporter killed two men during the Black Lives Matter protests, Trump defended him. At one rally, Trump said of an anti-Trump protester, "I'd like to punch him in the face.” There are many examples. Unsurprisingly, several violent criminals have referred to Trump as an inspiration for their violence. This has been going on for years, not months.

Second, since the election in November, Trump has been saying that he would overturn the official results, because they are fraudulent. On his first appearance after the vote, he said, “We will win this, and as far as I'm concerned, we already have won it." This, too, stretches further back: for months before the election Trump was warning it was rigged.

After Joe Biden’s victory, these two trends began to merge, as representatives and election officials in several states, having refused the President’s invitation to tamper with the results, faced threats of violence. And so nobody should be even slightly surprised by the fact that, on Thursday morning our time, Trump finally succeeded in encouraging a mob to attempt to violently overturn his election loss.

Sudden, dramatic events are rarely as sudden as they seem. Usually, they come after multiple signs, often explicit warnings, which are dismissed on grounds that seem reasonable enough if taken one by one: this was a harmless joke, that a rhetorical device, that can be explained by the specific circumstances. Yes, details matter. Too often, though, they serve as weak excuses for missing the bigger picture.

Australia is a very, very long way from what is happening in America. But there are three concerning elements of the Australian political landscape that are too often given only mild attention, ignored entirely, or dismissed as sideshows.

The first is the overtone of racism in much of our public debate. For years, Pauline Hanson was given prime television spots on both Channel Nine, which owns this masthead, and Channel Seven. Alan Jones was officially found to have incited violence in the lead-up to the racist Cronulla riots, perhaps the most prominent act of political violence in our history – and he is a powerful broadcaster still, feted by politicians. In 2020, people with dark skin who broke COVID-19 rules were named and shamed in the national media, while white people from rich suburbs had their identities protected.

The promotion of racism is one problem. The failure to cover the damaging effects of racism is another. In 2019, a terrorist massacred 51 people – all Muslims - in New Zealand. He was Australian, and actively engaged online with Australian far-right groups. Somehow, though, we have largely managed to ignore the possibility that he might have drawn, to some extent, on the discussions of these topics in the country of his birth.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 8, 2021, 9:08 p.m. No.12418024 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8036

>>12418007

2/3

Second, there is the increasingly concerning social media reach of Sky News. Its TV viewership is tiny. But, as journalist Cameron Wilson recently reported, their YouTube videos have been seen 500 million times, “more than any other Australian media organisation. Facebook posts from their page had more total interactions last month than the ABC News, SBS News, 7News Australia, 9 News and 10 News first pages”. And these posts are seen overseas, not just in Australia. What are they broadcasting? Often enough, far-right talking points, among them a number of conspiracy theories.

Finally, there is our own Prime Minister’s contemptuous attitude towards the conventions of our democracy. In 2017, Morrison named Donald Trump as a political model, along with British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Both, he said, had taken “on the role of the authentic outsider; challenging a system that many voters did not think was serving them any longer”. Sure enough, once he became Prime Minister, Morrison began positioning himself in opposition to that system. In the space of weeks he attacked government at a federal level (his party was a “muppet show”), state level (COAG was a waste of time), and international level (climate meetings were “nonsense”).

These were only words; but his actions suggest similar. He has a cavalier approach to Parliament, several times having misled the House – which, before he came to power, was regarded as a very serious offence, even a sackable one. He has twice misled the House to defend his ministers, and been forced to correct the record. Most concerningly, he has twice given highly questionable – arguably misleading – answers to the House on sports rorts– a scandal which itself raised concerns about his attitude towards accountability. And after those rorts came to light, the body which discovered them – the Audit Office – had its funding cut.

What matters is not just these individual events – some of them may, on their own, seem small. The story of the past few years in America, and increasingly here, is their overlap, the way that they collide in dangerous ways and fuel each other. Bit by bit, our politics is becoming vulnerable to a loose, and often unintentional, alliance of fantasists, racists, and politicians willing to disregard convention. In other words, a gradual accumulation of exactly the same factors that bled into this week’s violence in America.

It’s worth briefly mentioning a few of these combinations. The Coalition MP George Christensen has amplified Trump’s conspiracy theories about the US election. On Thursday, one journalist asked Morrison if he would condemn this – the Prime Minister responded, “Australia's a free country”. This is understandable, because Morrison himself, during the bushfires, was happy to wink at false conspiracy theories rather than talk about climate change.

Then there is the regular appearance of the Canadian far-right figure Lauren Southern on Sky TV. As journalist Jason Wilson has pointed out, Southern is fond of the “Great Replacement Theory” beloved of neo-Nazis, which holds that white people are slowly being replaced by non-whites. So is Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch massacrist. And one of our former prime ministers, Tony Abbott, has praised the Hungarian Prime Minister, a great fan of the theory, while seeming to echo some of its rhetoric.

(continued)

>>12418024

3/3

On Thursday, the headline across The New York Times website read, “MOB INCITED BY TRUMP STORMS CAPITOL”. It was the type of headline you might not have seen a few years ago, and not just because of the absence of such craziness – the Times would have been more shy about connecting the President so directly to what had happened, however clear the facts.

That was because the assumption of the media was that both sides of any issue had to be reported. In politics, that meant reporting what both sides said as though each had a reasonable claim on truth, and steering clear of outright condemnation. This works fine, until one side abandons any relationship to the truth, or to decency. Donald Trump abandoned both. Gradually, the media realised that the only way it could stay faithful to the facts was to report what was actually happening – Trump was lying, and endangering democracy – rather than a bland and balanced account of what Trump said and what his opponents said.

One result, it seems, is that some people – encouraged by Trump – simply turned away from mainstream media, and towards social media channels, with the same result: they were not getting the facts. What, then, is the solution?

The sad truth is that by the time a figure like Trump is elected, there may not be a solution. The Times made the right adjustments; but made them too late.

Which brings us back to Australia.

American exceptionalism may be dying a slow death. Australian exceptionalism, on the other hand, seems at an all-time high. We came through the financial crisis; we came through COVID. How good is Australia? But Australia is prone to the same dangers as any other country. Our island status might offer some protection from a virus; it cannot protect us from hatred, fantasy, or inflammatory rhetoric.

Sure, Scott Morrison isn’t Donald Trump – nor will he morph into Donald Trump. And Australia is not America. But that is no great boast – it merely means we still have time, if we don’t want a Trump-like figure to emerge here.

What the American media learned, too late, was that they had to adjust their conventions to a new era. It is past time for our media to begin a similar adjustment. For some, it will mean rethinking the guests they invite on air. Most will have to change the way they respond to racial issues. More attention will have to be given to the interactions between social media, racism, and politics. It will mean accurately describing not what politicians say they are doing, but what they are actually doing – with particular attention given to actions that undermine our democratic institutions.

One of our advantages over those who don’t care much for democracy is that they tend to give us fair warning – just like Donald Trump did. They say what they intend to do, and then they do it. Their great advantage is that the rest of us, including the media, tend to ignore those warnings in the blind hope we can just carry on as though nothing at all has changed.

Sean Kelly is a columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and a former adviser to Labor prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard

https://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-is-not-an-island-when-it-comes-to-the-forces-that-fostered-trump-20210107-p56sio.html

OPINION: US on hold as deranged President makes unpredictable decisions

Geoffrey Robertson - January 9, 2021

1/2

January 6 was announced to be the day of reckoning by US President Donald Trump as he exhorted his followers to come to Washington where it will be wild. Rudy Giuliani, his legal lickspittle, urged the mob that turned up to engage in trial by combat.

For the next 11 days, Americans will instead undergo a trial by ordeal, as a deranged President, with his finger on the nuclear trigger, makes unpredictable and unaccountable decisions. He pardons those he loves, so may well give amnesties to the insurrectionists and to their enablers and first and foremost to himself. But how should those who have violently attacked a democratic government be treated?

The main argument for accepting the United States as world leader has always been advanced by making comparisons with the alternatives. True it is that if a mob like this had invaded the politburo in session in Beijing, all its members would have been shot dead. So, for all the astonishment at the failure of congressional security to predict and prepare for the obvious risk of riot from Trump and Giuliani’s incendiary pronouncements, there is some small comfort to be taken in the minimal bloodshed on the Capitol steps (even if a Black Lives Matter protest in the same place would have been met by immediate police force).

Another crumb of comfort comes from the CCTV and television close-ups of the mob that stormed the citadel. There were hundreds, not many thousands. Some wore neo-Nazi insignia, others were bearded yahoos from the average bikie gang and hare-brained QAnon conspiracy theorists, but many looked like befuddled right-wingers amazed that they had found such easy entry to the Capitol, and were more interested in taking selfies than in committing acts of domestic terrorism. This rag, tag and bobtail crowd was not attempting a coup, namely a violent overthrow of government, and calls to charge them with treason (still punishable in America by death) or seditious conspiracy carrying up to 20 years in prison, are over the top.

President-elect Joe Biden’s attorney-general, the careful and cautious jurist Merrick Garland, is likely to use the law (40 USC s5104) that provides up to five years in jail for violent entry and disorderly conduct and injury to property on US Capitol grounds. Rioters are readily identifiable and clearly guilty, and there is no possibility of any sort of political defence. These great patriots, as Trump calls them, should be hunted down and brought to a court where their stupidity will afford no excuse.

But what about Trump, Trump jnr and Giuliani? They are, in theory, guilty of seditious conspiracy because they urged the crowd to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States – in this case to ratify the results of an election. They would doubtless argue that their incendiary words were protected by the First Amendment, although this freedom of speech is unavailable for those who shout fire in a crowded theatre which is pretty much what they did when addressing the mob. However, with more than 70 million Trump voters, any show trial in a year or so could be a timebomb for future divisiveness.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 8, 2021, 9:11 p.m. No.12418069 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9162

>>12418060

2/2

Garland is old enough to remember the Chicago Conspiracy Trial of 1968, where the organisers of an altogether more peaceful protest, provoked by a real crime - the US policy in Vietnam -turned the proceedings against them into a spectacle (now re-enacted by an all-star cast on Netflix) which put the government on trial. The Democrats’ preference will be to keep Trump as quiet as possible, not give him a soapbox from which he can rev up his supporters once again. There are other crimes – fraud and tax evasion – which are better ways of putting him in the dock.

So what will happen over the next 11 days? Trump, as Commander in Chief, bears in law what is called command responsibility for his supporters running amok, not only by inciting them but by refusing to call the National Guard after they had forced entry to the Capitol (they were eventually brought in by Mike Pence). It would obviously be best for the country if Trump acted responsibly and resigned, but you cannot expect an irresponsible man suddenly to accept responsibility.

Trump’s behaviour certainly amounts to a high crime and misdemeanor which is ground for impeachment and this would have the advantage of disentitling him to stand again for the presidency. However, the procedure would take some time, drawn out by legal arguments and by the rump of pro-Trump senators and congressmen led by the insidious Ted Cruz.

The 25th amendment of the US Constitution allows the Cabinet to replace Trump with the Vice President if they deem him unfit to serve. It was passed after the Kennedy assassination, in fear of a brain-damaged head of state. Trump is certainly – and probably certifiably – paranoid and delusional. But it is difficult to believe that the people he has put in high office will make that judgment unless the unpleasant Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose ambitions for Republican leadership have thus far ridden on Trump’s coat tails, decides they would be best advanced by tripping him up.

The likelihood, therefore, is that Trump will remain in power, a President banned from Twitter but holding the nuclear codes. Retribution can wait – like Al Capone, Donald Trump will probably be prosecuted for tax evasion and hopefully sent to a prison where his orange day-glow jumpsuit will match his fake tan. But until January 20, he could do anything. Perhaps he will decide to spite his disliked intelligence community by pardoning Julian Assange. Perhaps he will decide to bomb Iran. We will just have to hold our breath.

Geoffrey Robertson is a London-based Australian human rights barrister and author of Rather His Own Man: In Court with Tyrants, Tarts and Troublemarkers.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/us-on-hold-as-deranged-president-makes-unpredictable-decisions-20210108-p56slu.html

Ghislaine Maxwell might make new bid for bail, lawyers say

Jeffrey Epstein cohort Ghislaine Maxwell is mulling a third bid for bail with “even more stringent and restrictive” conditions — after a federal judge rejected her $28.5 million bail package last month, new court papers revealed.

In a letter to US District Judge Alison Nathan, defense lawyer Christian Everdell asked for a 30-day extension to appeal the latest bail decision to “give Ms. Maxwell the opportunity to research whether and to what extent these additional conditions are legally and practicably available.” Prosecutors have objected to the extension, the filing says.

In a Dec. 28 decision denying Maxwell’s release to home confinement on the multimillion-dollar bail package, the judge criticized the British socialite for misleading the court on her marriage and the extent of her wealth.

After Maxwell’s July bust, the same judge refused to spring her on a $5 million bond calling her a flight risk who had been evasive about her finances.

Maxwell has been locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since her arrest on a six-count indictment accusing her of recruiting three girls to be sexually abused by Epstein in the 1990s. She has denied the allegations.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/08/ghislaine-maxwell-might-make-a-new-bid-for-bail-lawyers/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.109.0_2.pdf

>>12418036

If you think you are ‘exceptional’ like the thick disrespectful Americans, you’re going to get burnt the fuck alive.

It’s not my fault that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

It’s yours.

>>12418036

To protect Israel 🇮🇱

Because trump is a child raping Jew

It’s not my fault that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

It’s yours. >>12418069

Jon James Pratt (999) ID: f1797d Spot the mentally ill online jews Jan. 8, 2021, 10:47 p.m. No.12419475 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Or satanists

I can’t spoon feed each one of you, can I?

You can’t even be trusted to tell the truth, Aussies.

Let alone have families and run governments

Spend three years trying to kill the person writing this

Worst plan of all time

Lol 😂

New plan to tackle scourge of modern day slavery

DAVID HURLEY - January 9, 2021

Small businesses in Australia would be accredited in a new push by the federal government to stamp out the scourge of modern day slavery.

The Morrison Government has launched a five-year plan to put Australia at the forefront of the battle to eradicate modern slavery.

According to one of the federal ministers leading the initiative, one of the next phases is set to involve getting more small businesses involved.

The plan includes looking at criminally low wages in Australia and overseas for the manufacture of products destined for our market.

It also includes criminal offences in Australia – in 2019-20, there were 223 reports of modern slavery cases, with 92 of those forced marriage, 40 sex exploitation, 29 labour exploitation and 28 human trafficking.

Victims often have Australian citizenship or residency but are also frequently from India, Afghanistan and Fiji.

The federal government’s fight against modern slavery is concentrated overseas and includes holding Australian businesses – big and small – accountable for what happens at various points in their supply chains.

The federal government has already ploughed $10.6m into its plan, including $4.4m for civil society organisations, peak bodies and academic researchers to work on projects to combat modern slavery in Australia.

Jason Wood, Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs, said modern slavery was a devastating crime that had no place in Australia’s supply chains or communities.

“Giving small businesses accreditation will serve as a badge of honour and show they are doing the right thing,” Mr Wood said.

“When you go to a store and buy something, you want to know that the money you spend is going towards everyone involved getting paid a fair wage.

“We want to lead by example. Most people don’t know how far and how wide modern slavery goes.

“If somebody is getting paid a pittance for slaving away for 16 hours a day – here or overseas – it is a serious crime.”

The four areas highlighted as the most likely to involve modern slavery are investments, textiles procurement, overseas construction and cleaning and security services.

Part of last year’s funding will go towards reaching out to big businesses including Woolworths, Coles, BHP, Country Road and Audi to identify modern slavery risks in their supply chains.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/new-plan-to-tackle-scourge-of-modern-day-slavery/news-story/ca2c50ce5a24af97f94dad929bc39533

Obituary: RIP @realDonaldTrump, gone but not forgotten after 57,000 tweets

Aamer Madhani and Jill Colvin - January 9, 2021

1/2

Washington: @realDonaldTrump, the Twitter feed that grew from the random musings of a reality TV star into the cudgel of an American president, died on Friday. It was not quite 12 years old.

The provocative handle was given birth by a New York real estate tycoon who used it to help him become the 45th US president. It began with a May 4, 2009, tweet promoting Donald Trump's upcoming appearance on David Letterman's show.

It died more than 57,000 tweets later, with Trump using some of his final postings on the powerful platform to commiserate with a pro-Trump mob that besieged the halls of Congress in a deadly assault as lawmakers were set to certify his defeat.

The account met its demise when Twitter announced Friday it was pulling the plug permanently on @realDonaldTrump, citing concern that Trump would use it for “further incitement of violence.” Trump retorted that he'd be "building out our own platform in the near future. We will not be SILENCED!"

Trump, a novice politician but seasoned salesman, realised the power of social media in ways that few other politicians did. And he wielded it with never-before-seen power to diminish his opponents, shape elections and mould reality – at least in the eyes of his supporters.

Early on, @realDonaldTrump seemed innocent enough. Its owner, who had prolific experience in marketing casinos, real estate and even Oreos, used the platform mostly to promote his books, media appearances and give friendly plugs to friends.

But as Trump began seriously toying with a White House run, it became a tool to scorch opponents and give shape to his nationalist, “America First” philosophy.

He deployed its venom equally, whether insulting celebrity enemies (Rosie O’Donnell was “crude, rude, obnoxious and dumb”) or using xenophobia to malign a country (Britain is “trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem”).

Peter Costanzo, then an online marketing director for the publishing company putting out Trump’s book, “Think Like a Champion,” helped bring Trump to the platform.

Twitter was still in its infancy at the time, but Costanzo saw the then-140-character-per-message platform as a new tool that the real estate mogul could use to boost sales and reach a broader audience.

Costanzo was given seven minutes to make his pitch to Trump – “Not five minutes, not 10,” he recalled in a 2016 interview.

Trump liked what he heard.

“I said, ‘Let’s call you @realDonaldTrump — you’re the real Donald Trump,’” recalled Costanzo. “He thought about it for a minute and said: ‘I like it. Let’s do it.’”

(continued)

>>12421761

2/2

Other than Trump’s family, no one seemed off limits from his Twitter tirades. Trump attacked Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, 2016 political rivals, current administration staffers, former administration staffers, the Republican Party and cable networks.

@realDonaldTrump was prolific: On days when its owner was particularly agitated, such as in the midst of impeachment proceedings, it pushed out more than 100 tweets.

In its most popular tweet, on October 2, 2020, @realDonaldTrump announced that Trump and first lady Melania Trump had contracted the coronavirus. The post got 1.8 million likes and nearly 400,000 retweets, according to Factba.se, which tracks the President’s social media habits and commentary.

The account was used to announce firings. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson learned of his ouster in a tweet.

The account threatened adversaries in the most colourful terms. Before Trump “fell in love” with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un through secretly exchanged letters, Trump used Twitter to dub him “rocket man” and vowed to respond with “fire and fury” if the authoritarian dared attack the United States.

@realDonaldTrump frequently spread misleading, false and malicious assertions, such as the baseless ideas that protesters at Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings were paid by the liberal philanthropist George Soros and that November’s election was beset by voter fraud.

Trump often tweeted well past midnight and before dawn, a cathartic outlet for grievances (Witch hunt! Crooked Hillary, Russia, Russia, Russia, FAKE NEWS, and so on.) For the most part, @realDonaldTrump and its 280-character posts effectively allowed Trump to work around the Washington media establishment and amplify the message of allies.

Sometimes @realDonaldTrump stumbled. Trump deleted 1166 tweets and, in his final months on the platform, had 471 tweets flagged by Twitter for misinformation, according to Factba.se.

In one of his most memorable Twitter stumbles, Trump in May 2017 sent (and later deleted) a cryptic post-midnight tweet that read “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”

The gibberish set the Twitterverse afire with speculation. Theories included that the tweeter-in-chief had fallen asleep mid-message and that the man who once bragged of having “the best words” was adding a new word to the lexicon to properly describe collusion between Democrats and the press.

The mystery was never solved.

Sam Nunberg, a longtime – and now former – Trump adviser, said that in the summer of 2011, after Trump announced he wasn’t running in 2012 but wanted to remain relevant, his team decided to start using social media to boost his profile.

They chose to focus on Twitter, where he already had an account and several hundred thousand followers. Nunberg remembers sending Trump daily reports on his follower growth. Trump would sometimes hand it back with hand-written notes – “Why not more?” “Why so slow?”

They celebrated when they hit the million mark.

“Twitter definitely played a pivotal role in building Donald Trump as a political figure within Republican politics and he also greatly enjoyed it,” said Nunberg. “Remember he used to say: ‘I wanted to own a newspaper. This is great, it’s like a newspaper without the losses.’”

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump jnr took to Twitter shortly after the platform banned @realDonaldTrump to note that it continues to allow Iran’s supreme leader “and numerous other dictatorial regimes” to use the platform, but cannot abide his father.

“Mao would be proud,” Trump jnr scoffed.

In the end, @realDonaldTrump offered an in-the-moment peek into Trump's state of mind over more than a decade, a period in which the “Apprentice” TV star transformed into the 45th American president.

Down the road, when historians look for a glimpse into Trump thoughts on the issues of his time – anything from actress Kristen Stewart's treatment of co-star Robert Pattinson to the President's views on Russian meddling in the 2016 election – the first stop may inevitably be one of the many digital archives that have preserved the tweets of @realDonaldTrump.

With Trump, whatever the topic, there's always a tweet for that.

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1347698165030346752

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/rip-realdonaldtrump-gone-but-not-forgotten-after-57-000-tweets-20210109-p56sw0.html

Donald Trump’s Final Days

WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD - JANUARY 8, 2021

1/2

The lodestar of these columns is the US Constitution. The document is the durable foundation protecting liberty, and this week it showed its virtue again. Despite being displaced for a time by a mob, Congress returned the same day to ratify the Electoral College vote and Joe Biden’s election. Congratulations to the President-elect, who will be inaugurated as the Constitution stipulates at noon on Jan. 20.

That still leaves Wednesday’s disgrace and what to do about the 13 days left in Donald Trump’s presidential term. Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are demanding that Mr. Trump be removed from office immediately—either by the Cabinet under the 25th Amendment or new articles of impeachment. There’s partisan animus at work here, but Mr. Trump’s actions on Wednesday do raise constitutional questions that aren’t casually dismissed.

In concise summary, on Wednesday the leader of the executive branch incited a crowd to march on the legislative branch. The express goal was to demand that Congress and Vice President Mike Pence reject electors from enough states to deny Mr. Biden an Electoral College victory. When some in the crowd turned violent and occupied the Capitol, the President caviled and declined for far too long to call them off. When he did speak, he hedged his plea with election complaint.

This was an assault on the constitutional process of transferring power after an election. It was also an assault on the legislature from an executive sworn to uphold the laws of the United States. This goes beyond merely refusing to concede defeat. In our view it crosses a constitutional line that Mr. Trump hasn’t previously crossed. It is impeachable.

Mr. Trump’s many opponents are crowing in satisfaction that their predictions have been proven right, that he was never fit to be President and should have been impeached long ago. But Mr. Trump’s character flaws were apparent for all to see when he ran for President.

Sixty-three million Americans voted to elect Mr. Trump in 2016, and that constitutional process shouldn’t be easily overruled as Democrats and the press have demanded from nearly his first day in office. You don’t impeach for anticipatory offenses or for those that don’t rise to the level of constitutional violations. This week’s actions are a far greater dereliction of duty than his ham-handed Ukrainian interventions in 2019.

The related but separate question is whether impeachment or forced removal under the 25th Amendment now is in the country’s best interests. The latter seems unwise unless Mr. Trump threatens some other reckless or unconstitutional act. After Wednesday he has promised to assist an “orderly transition” of power. A Cabinet cabal ousting him would smack of a Beltway coup and give Mr. Trump more cause to play the political victim.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 9, 2021, 3:47 a.m. No.12421979 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2391

>>12421815

2/2

Impeachment has the virtue of being transparent and politically accountable. If there were enough votes to convict in the Senate, it would also seem less partisan. The best case for impeachment is not to punish Mr. Trump. It is to send a message to future Presidents that Congress will protect itself from populists of all ideological stripes willing to stir up a mob and threaten the Capitol or its Members.

But impeachment so late in the term won’t be easy or without rancor. It would further enrage Mr. Trump’s supporters in a way that won’t help Mr. Biden govern, much less heal partisan divisions. It would pour political fuel on Wednesday’s dying embers.

All the more so because Democrats aren’t likely to behave responsibly or with restraint. They are already stumping for impeachment articles that include a litany of anti-Trump grievances over four years. Mrs. Pelosi’s ultimatum Thursday that Mr. Pence trigger the 25th Amendment or she’ll impeach also won’t attract GOP votes.

Democrats would have more impeachment credibility now if they hadn’t abused the process in 2019. A parade of impeachers that includes Russian-collusion promoters Reps. Adam Schiff and Jerrold Nadler would repel more Americans than it would persuade. The mission would look like political revenge, not constitutional enforcement—and Mr. Trump would play it as such until his last breath. Mr. Biden could gain much goodwill if he called off the impeachers in the name of stepping back from annihilationist politics.

If Mr. Trump wants to avoid a second impeachment, his best path would be to take personal responsibility and resign. This would be the cleanest solution since it would immediately turn presidential duties over to Mr. Pence. And it would give Mr. Trump agency, a la Richard Nixon, over his own fate.

This might also stem the flood of White House and Cabinet resignations that are understandable as acts of conscience but could leave the government dangerously unmanned. Robert O’Brien, the national security adviser, in particular should stay at his post.

We know an act of grace by Mr. Trump isn’t likely. In any case this week has probably finished him as a serious political figure. He has cost Republicans the House, the White House, and now the Senate. Worse, he has betrayed his loyal supporters by lying to them about the election and the ability of Congress and Mr. Pence to overturn it. He has refused to accept the basic bargain of democracy, which is to accept the result, win or lose.

It is best for everyone, himself included, if he goes away quietly.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/donald-trumps-final-days/news-story/67b1c5bc6a82a9b9992e6b06220823de

Police crack down on Brisbane residents not wearing masks

Police have intercepted dozens of people on their way to an illegal protest in Brisbane’s CBD and handcuffed others not wearing masks in a crackdown on those not following the Chief Health Officer’s strict lockdown rules.

Police are cracking down on attempts to flaunt tough lockdown restrictions, with a planned protest foiled and footage showing officers taking a man not wearing a mask into custody in the CBD.

Dozens were turned away from an anti-vaccination group’s protest action at the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane’s CBD on Saturday afternoon.

Today’s protest action appears to have been a part of a larger national action organized by the Facebook group “Aussie Patriots Roll”.

The group, which labels themselves as a “lawful rebellion”, called the protest public action against “abusive governments”, alleged “paedophile politicians” and “lying mainstream media” outlets.

Event organizer Karen Brewer said the gatherings were for “everyone” during a livestream about the protests earlier this week.

“Scott Morrison coming out yesterday saying there would be 4 million vaccinations by March – we do not comply! Everyone has the right to choose,” Brewer yelled during a livestream earlier this week.

“We will not tolerate lockdown and border closures; we will not tolerate our fellow countrymen being suppressed in this fashion,” she added.

“We do not bow down to rules and regulations handed down to us by paedophile protecting politicians.”

The group also lists Chemtrails, abortions, and 5G as other issues they fight against.

The action also took place across the Tasman in New Zealand, with another group member saying the kiwi action was being done in solidarity “just like the good old days with the ANZACS”.

“What exactly is going on, we don’t know, people just unite and that’s all I can says,” the member added.

Action was organized across eight locations in Queensland, including the Gold Coast, Ipswich, Caloundra, Gladstone, Yeppon, Townsville, Cardwell and Cairns.

In the livestream, Brewer said early sign ups to the protests were “absolutely staggering”, however its not confirmed just how many attended Brisbane’s event.

She encouraged attendees it was essential to “shake hands, introduce yourself to people, make friends and share phone numbers”

Protests also took place in New South Wales, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and The Northern Territory.

Queensland Police said that there were no arrests in relation to a protest in the CBD today, however there were dozens intercepted.

When asked by officers if there was any lawful reason why he was out in the city with no mask, a protester said “it is important to send a message.”

“I want to go protest - We’re the ones who pay your bills for you.”

Another man confronted police from the back of his ute, hurling abuse at officers while filming on his phone.

“I’ll see you in court, not a problem officer” the man yelled at one point.

In another incident, footage posted by Channel 9 shows a man screaming “take your hands off me” as two officers attempt to take him into custody.

A police spokesman said they were aware of planned protests in the CBD on Saturday, however police conducted patrols and no one was actually arrested in relation to protest activity.

The Queensland Health website outlines that protests are strictly prohibited during the three-day lockdown of Greater Brisbane.

In another image of a separate event, believed to be taken along Brunswick Street in New Farm, officers can be seen placing handcuffs on a woman not wearing a face mask.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/coronavirus/expect-to-be-stopped-cops-swoop-on-lockdown-escapees/news-story/cf3d61431e44a8fe8d76c9fa2b7fc293

Am I rite?

Lol 😂

Ryan ID: 6cd340 Tunnels Jan. 9, 2021, 4:41 a.m. No.12422386 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6236

Why did Adelaide only lock down for 3 days? We have tunnels, pedo houses, forces corrupt with traffickers.

Jon James Pratt (999) ID: f1797d Totally irreversible zombie apocalypse for team Australia (666) Jan. 9, 2021, 7:24 p.m. No.12436236 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12422386

Like the Americans

Because inactions have consequences too

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

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Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

Dragon Slayer (999)

What was your legacy, team Australia ?

Jon James Pratt (999) ID: 3e62f9 Spot the mentally ill online satanic jew (666) Jan. 9, 2021, 8:38 p.m. No.12437541 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Easy, isn’t it?

Lol 😂

Jon James Pratt (999) ID: 3e62f9 If you don’t give up your military, police and intelligence (lol) assets Jan. 9, 2021, 8:45 p.m. No.12437647 🗄️.is 🔗kun

100% zombie apocalypse

Just like the USA 🇺🇸

Lol 😂

Pics related

Pic related

When you go full retard (666)

Money and celebrity

Jon James Pratt (999) ID: 3e62f9 Don’t cry Bruce and Sheila Jan. 9, 2021, 9:01 p.m. No.12437888 🗄️.is 🔗kun

I could be Jewish

Lol 😂

Payne’s Beijing blast after arrests of 55 Hong Kong activists

The arrests were made under Beijing’s new national security law and are seen as China’s latest crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.

Australia has joined with the US, UK, and Canada to condemn the arrests of 55 politicians and activists in Hong Kong on charges of “subversion,” a new national security crime that carries up to life in prison.

The arrests were made under a new national security law imposed by Beijing, and were seen as China’s latest crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong after millions took to the street in protest last year.

In a joint statement, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her counterparts said it is “clear” the national security law “is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political views” in Hong Kong.

“It has curtailed the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong,” the joint statement said.

Hong Kong police arrested the activists last week in an operation involving 1000 officers.

Most of those arrested, including law professor Benny Tai and members of The Democratic Party in the country, have since been released.

Ms Payne and her counterparts expressed “serious concern” at the arrests of political activists and called for free elections to take place in Hong Kong including “candidates representing a range of political opinions”.

Addressing condemnation of the arrests last week, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying accused other countries of “wanton criticism”.

“Hong Kong affairs are entirely China‘s domestic affairs,” Ms Hua said.

She said those arrested were “suspected of breaking the national security law with a view to paralysing and subverting the (Hong Kong) government”.

The joint statement condemning the arrest was issued by four nations comprising the Five Eyes security alliance. New Zealand – the fifth Five Eyes member – was not represented in the statement.

A NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said the country “has serious concerns about the situation in Hong Kong”.

“On this occasion, Foreign Minister (Nanaia) Mahuta expressed New Zealand’s concern independently on 7 January,” the spokeswoman said.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings welcomed the statement but said the wording “probably could have been firmer”.

“I think the only chance that the world has to shift Beijing’s behaviour is for Beijing to see that this is widely condemned,” he said.

Mr Jennings said that under new laws in place in Hong Kong, “we’ll see the erosion of anything that’s not towing the Chinese communist party line, and that is immensely regrettable”.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/paynes-beijing-blast-after-arrests-of-55-hong-kong-activists/news-story/b3dd177cf1c67db2fd9d87369990a23f

—

Joint statement on arrests in Hong Kong

Joint Statement

• Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Australia

• The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada

• The Rt Hon Dominic Raab, MP, First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, United Kingdom

• Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, United States

10 January 2021

We, the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, and the United States Secretary of State, underscore our serious concern at the mass arrests of 55 politicians and activists in Hong Kong for subversion under the National Security Law.

The National Security Law is a clear breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and undermines the 'One Country, Two Systems’ framework. It has curtailed the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong. It is clear that the National Security Law is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political views.

We call on the Hong Kong and Chinese central authorities to respect the legally guaranteed rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong without fear of arrest and detention. It is crucial that the postponed Legislative Council elections in September proceed in a fair way that includes candidates representing a range of political opinions.

https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-release/joint-statement-arrests-hong-kong

Liberal MP Craig Kelly attacks Facebook for warning him over unproven Covid treatment post

Stoush comes as market research suggests 80% of Australians willing to take coronavirus vaccine

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Federal Liberal MP Craig Kelly has accused social media companies of attempting to “purge” comments about unproven Covid-19 treatments after he received a warning from Facebook over his claims regarding the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin.

Labor’s health spokesman, Chris Bowen, seized on the controversy, arguing the social media giant had “called out ‘Conspiracy Craig’s’ medical disinformation campaign” after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and federal health minister, Greg Hunt, failed to do so.

The stoush between Kelly and Facebook comes as Australia approaches the rollout phase of voluntary vaccinations from mid-February, with the government’s leaders appearing unwilling to contradict misleading claims from within its ranks.

On Sunday, Hunt released market research suggesting four in five Australians are likely to be willing to get a Covid vaccine. He also revealed details of a $24m advertising campaign to boost take-up.

Migrants, Indigenous Australians and young women will be targeted after a Quantum Market Research survey of 1,000 people found women aged 30 to 39 were the most likely to hold concerns about the vaccine’s safety.

According to the Sun Herald, Quantum found that 27% of respondents had concerns about the vaccine’s safety, rising to 42% for women in their 30s. The results suggested there was “a need to dispel some specific fears held by certain cohorts of the community in relation to potential adverse side effects”.

Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, told reporters on Sunday the government aimed to “build confidence” in the vaccine through its advertising campaign, including providing the message in “an appropriate language”.

“We know there are some parts of the community who are more hesitant about vaccines – we need to definitely address them directly … that is important,” he said.

Kelly said that seeking alternate views was “part of democracy” but Australians “have enormous trust in the official views”.

Throughout 2020, Craig Kelly championed the use of hydroxycholoroquine to treat Covid despite the most reputable global studies finding it was ineffective as a treatment, and could have severe and even deadly side effects if used inappropriately.

The Morrison government has shut down attempts by Labor to censure the MP over the comments and Kelly stands by his advocacy for the drug.

In more recent posts, Craig Kelly has spruiked the use of Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medicine that has some effect on infected cells in-vitro in studies.

NSW Health has said there is insufficient data to supports its use to prevent or treat Covid with the evidence “mixed”. In December, it warned “the necessary concentrations for in vivo effect are unlikely to be attainable in humans”.

“While a more recent systematic review found a statistically significant effect on mortality and symptoms, the quality of evidence was very low,” it said.

(continued)

>>12439588

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Kelly revealed on Sunday he had “received a call from a representative of Facebook ‘requesting’ that I remove a post that contained comments … made by Australia’s Prof Tom Borody commenting about Ivermectin as a treatment [for] Covid – otherwise my Facebook would have ‘restrictions’ placed upon it”.

“I have since removed the post containing Prof Borody’s comments under protest,” he said. “We have entered a very dark time in human history when scientific debate and freedom of speech is being suppressed.”

He attempted to post a link to a YouTube video which has since been removed for violating its terms of service.

“Ivermectin poses a threat to the ideology of ‘we must inject everyone with the vaccine’ – perhaps that’s why there is such extraordinary suppression of free speech to shut this down,” Kelly claimed.

Kelly told Guardian Australia there had been 29 studies into Ivermectin. He accused Facebook of censoring “peer-reviewed science” on the basis the drug was not currently recommended by the World Health Organization.

Kelly rejected claims it was irresponsible to push the treatment as an alternative to Covid vaccines, arguing it had shown “superior results to the vaccines” from Pfizer and Astra Zenica which are rated 70%-95% effective.

He cited one Argentinian study that was not reviewed by NSW Health that found 58% of 400 health workers not given Ivermectin contracted the virus compared with none of the 788 given the drug. But Bowen accused Kelly of promoting “disinformation”.

In September, the Australian Communications Media Authority warned that social media content harmful to public health, including misleading claims about Covid treatments, should be taken down under new proposed codes of conduct.

On Thursday, Morrison defended his MPs’ right to “freedom of speech” in the context of misinformation about the US election result, including MP George Christensen’s claims president-elect Joe Biden benefited from “dodgy votes”.

Christensen and Kelly are both incensed that Twitter first applied warning labels and then suspended the account of US president Donald Trump over claims the election was “fraudulent” and the US capitol mob were “very nice people”.

In a sign outspoken rightwing MPs will continue to challenge social media companies, Christensen has revealed on Facebook he will push for laws to “stop social media platforms from censoring any and all lawful content created by their users”.

“Twitter, Facebook and Google/YouTube’s cultural purge is in full swing with the tech tyrants banning, silencing, fake ‘fact checking’ and censoring conservatives and others they do not agree with,” he posted on Saturday.

Guardian Australia contacted Hunt and Facebook for comment.

https://twitter.com/Bowenchris/status/1348020186855575552

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/10/liberal-mp-craig-kelly-attacks-facebook-for-warning-him-over-unproven-covid-treatment-post

How an anti-mask firebrand fans the right's flames against Dan Andrews online

Monica Smit’s campaigning Reignite Democracy website has attracted conservative MPs’ interest and used mainstream media to amplify its message

Anne Davies - 10 Jan 2021

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After she failed to find fame as a Survivor contestant in 2017, Monica Smit has found another high-profile career: as a firebrand of the anti-mask-wearing movement and a ferocious critic of the Victorian premier, Dan Andrews.

According to her website, Reignite Democracy Australia (RDA), the 31-year-old Smit was motivated by her personal outrage at restrictions imposed by Andrews in July as the Covid-19 infections surged in the state. But there is much more to Reignite Democracy and Smit than meets the eye – and certainly more than is disclosed on the site.

In 2017 Smit was selling project home designs. In late 2019 she restyled herself as a hobby journalist and by mid-2020 had become an activist and wannabe YouTube celebrity.

She is part of a cabal of mainly far-right activists who are leading the charge against mask wearing, mandatory testing for those in quarantine or isolation, and vaccination. Their claims vary from concerns about civil liberties and health fears to conspiracy theories involving Chinese influence.

What is not so apparent is RDA’s links with the conservative wing of the Liberal party and how it uses the mainstream media to amplify the message and gain notoriety. While many of these activists have relatively small followings, they play a key role in fanning the sparks on social media, which are then wittingly or unwittingly amplified by conservative politicians and by the mainstream media, notably Sky News and the Murdoch press.

Smit came to prominence in October as the main promoter of a bus that drove around Melbourne calling for Dan Andrews to be sacked. She is the sole director and shareholder of a $1 company, Reignite Democracy Australia, that sprung up in September during the Melbourne lockdown and which now claims 50,000 members.

The Guardian tried multiple times to contact Smit though RDA’s social media platforms, but she did not reply to requests for interviews.

According to her website, RDA’s mission is to provide a “real alternative to the mainstream media” and deliver “honest, timely and truthful information”.

Readers can judge Smit’s content for themselves. It includes links to papers that dispute the efficacy of wearing masks, including one Danish study that was rejected by the Lancet, the American Medical Association Journal and the New England Medical Journal. The site also takes aim at the accuracy of PCR testing and claims that infection rates in Australia are overblown because of oversensitive tests.

Alongside the campaigning material are more dubious dossiers from other groups such as the Concerned Lawyers Network, a group comprised of a handful of Melbourne family law practitioners, which claims Covid-19 is a global plot to subjugate the world’s citizens. And there is merchandise including bumper stickers and T-shirts.

The site also includes a disclosure that it is harvesting data, which is being passed to politicians: “We collect your postcode so we can collate the data into electorates and send personalised data to your local MP, lower and upper house.” But there is no information on funding apart from a facility for making a donation.

‘Sack Dan’ bus fuels rise

Smit’s main schtick is to attend protests and then film herself debating with the Victorian police over her rights as a journalist, her right to assemble and her right to not wear a mask. Sometimes the YouTube video crews appear to outnumber the participants at these events. In one clip, Smit is photobombed by ultra-right YouTuber Avi Yemeni, who jumped in to promote his own channel, Rebel News.

The posts, and the complaints about their treatment by police, are then picked up by a small group of conservative politicians. The Victorian MPs David Limbrick, a Liberal Democrat, Liberal Bernie Finn and independent Catherine Cummings are regular interviewees on the site and have spoken about Smit’s organisation in parliament.

At the federal level, the Liberal MP for Hughes, Craig Kelly, is also a regular on Smit’s channel. He now appears to be sharing the same material as Smit on mask wearing.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 9, 2021, 11:11 p.m. No.12439948 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9977

>>12439937

2/3

But it was the “Sack Dan” bus that catapulted Smit into the mainstream media. The genesis of the anti-Andrews bus is indeed real. It was the work of Laurie Pincini, of Rockleigh Tours and a fellow Victorian small businessman who runs a signage company in Campbellfield, Melbourne.

Pincini told the Guardian that having seen his bus charter business decimated by Victoria’s lockdown and vehicles repossessed, he was moved to turn his last remaining bus into a protest vehicle. “Under Dan Andrews’ lockdown a union worker could go to work but if you’re a small business, no. The CFMEU was still working on building sites and public servants were working from home – they even got a pay rise,” Pincini said. “It’s just the frustration.”

At that point, someone introduced him to Smit.

Pincini said that as a journalist, Smit enjoyed a work exemption from lockdown laws that prevented movement around Melbourne, so she decided to use the bus as her transport. The bus was on the road for 15 days and garnered plenty of attention in the media.

Sky, Seven News, Daily Mail and the News Corp wire service ran video that Smit and a fellow YouTuber, Real Rukshan, had filmed and posted. Their desired narrative of a major uprising against Andrews had gone viral. A few days later a banner was towed over Melbourne. It was again promoted by Smit, though Pincini said he had nothing to do with this second action. The Guardian has not discovered who was behind it.

Jim Penman, the millionaire franchise operator of Jim’s Mowing, has also been a loud and furious critic of Andrews and the lockdowns. In August the Murdoch media reported on his plans to sue the Victorian government for millions. Penman argued that most of his franchisees in lawn mowing and cleaning businesses worked alone and the premier had failed to show how they would contribute to the spread of the virus.

Penman joined forces with Reignite Democracy to co-brand anti-lockdown T-shirts carrying the slogan “Let Victoria Work”, which were sold through the RDA website and from the Sack Dan bus, raising questions about whether he may have been financially backing the organisation. But he told the Guardian he was not funding Reignite Democracy or any other similar organisation.

“Nor would I, as they have many views I object to. such as being anti-vaxxers,” he said. “I objected strongly to the state government barring lone traders, which brought unnecessary suffering on tens of thousands of Victorians who posed no danger to public health.

“But I have strongly and vocally supported all sensible measures to control infection, including the wearing of masks and the banning of mass gatherings.”

‘They begin on the fringe but are building a persona’

So who is behind Reignite Democracy? “Sack Dan” was not Smit’s first foray into political campaigning against Andrews. In May 2020 she and another “freelance journalist”, Stephanie Bastiaan, worked together on videos for Victoria Forward, an online organisation that claims to be bipartisan but whose primary purpose appears to be attacking Andrews.

Stephanie Bastiaan is married to the former Victorian Liberal party operative Marcus Bastiaan and was employed in federal MP Michael Sukkar’s office as an electorate officer. But after Nine Media aired allegations of branch stacking linked to Marcus Bastiaan and Sukkar, Marcus Bastiaan was forced to resign from the Liberals. Sukkar survived the incident. Both Sukkar and Bastiaan denied the allegations.

As Cam Wilson revealed on news website Gizmodo, Victoria Forward founder Edward Bourke is a vice-president of the Liberal party’s Sunbury branch and also a wannabe political operative. While he claims Victoria Forward is bipartisan, he describes himself as personally conservative.

“Edward decided enough was enough and he founded Victoria Forward to give a voice to those Victorians who felt left behind by political opportunism,” he says on Victoria Forward’s website. Since its creation in January 2020 it has campaigned relentlessly against Andrews, criticising the brumby cull in the Alpine National Park, Covid-19 restrictions, the Belt and Road agreement and more.

Using website analytics, Gizmodo reported Victoria Forward had spent more than $1,000 on Facebook advertisements, reaching more than a million Australians.

(continued)

>>12439948

3/3

Unsurprisingly, Sukkar too has been a loud critic of Andrews’ lockdowns, as has his senior colleague Josh Frydenberg. Sukkar’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

The libertarian anti-mask movement appears also to have gained a hold up north. Smit has been interviewed on Goodsauce News, a rightwing conservative Christian media site established by David Pellowe in July last year. Pellowe, a digital marketing strategist and conservative Christian, has previously worked on state and federal election campaigns for the Liberal National party in Queensland. However, he told the Guardian he had let his membership lapse.

Regular commentators featured on his website include Lyle Shelton, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby; George Christensen, the federal MP for Dawson in northern Queensland; and Karina Okotel, a former vice-president the federal Liberal party.

Okotel was suspended from a key party committee in August over allegations related to branch stacking, but remains an influential figure in the Victorian party. Her brother worked on Sukkar’s staff.

While Smit appeared on Bernard Gaynor’s show, Pellowe has used his own social media presence, Pellowe Talk, to push out the anti-mask wearing memes.

In an interview with the Guardian, Pellowe insisted he was not against wearing masks but was questioning the logic of some of the health decisions being made. He said his concern was that the science was not settled and that restrictions were often politically-based rather than science-based.

Goodsauce was about giving voice to conservatives, Pellowe said. Audiences were small at this stage, with a monthly reach of around 30,000, but he expected them to grow rapidly.

With small audiences, it might be easy to say: who cares? But that ignores the role some social media activists play in weaponising material.

A group of researchers at Queensland University of Technology recently released a paper on their analysis of two interrelated anti-Dan Andrews hashtag campaigns, #DictatorDan and #DanLiedPeopleDied, and one supportive hashtag, #IStandwithDan, in response to the Victorian lockdowns in mid-to-late 2020. The group revealed how a small number of hyper-partisan pro- and anti-government campaigners were able to mobilise ad hoc communities on Twitter, and – in the case of the anti-government hashtag campaign – co-opt journalists and politicians to amplify their message.

In Victoria, MP Tim Smith appeared to lead the anti-Andrews campaign, running a Twitter poll in May on whether the name Dictator Dan or Chairman Dan for the premier was preferred. But the academics say he may not have been the originator of the attacks.

Their study, which analysed tweets from 1 March to 25 September 2020, found the language targeting Andrews had begun though coordinated and apparently inauthentic accounts some time earlier. They found that sockpuppet accounts – anonymous accounts, often with fabricated profiles using images taken from the web – played a major role in driving both pro- and anti-Dan hashtags’ early genesis.

The first tweet containing the #DictatorDan hashtag was authored on 3 April 2020 by an anonymous fringe account (@CCPIsWatching, 2020) but received no engagement. Smith’s success with the viral Twitter poll gained social and news media attention and effectively established the epithet, the researchers say. It was subsequently used regularly in the Herald Sun and on Sky.

“What these commentators are doing is trading up the media chain to garner a form of notoriety,” said Associate Prof Timothy Graham, one of the researchers on the study. He points to Milo Yiannopoulos, an alt-right commentator and former editor of Breitbart News, who was picked up by the Murdoch media and catapulted to fame.

“They begin on the fringe but they are are building a persona, often for personal gain,” Graham said. “What we need to be cautious about is how much we are responsible for giving oxygen to them.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/10/how-an-anti-mask-firebrand-fans-the-rights-flames-against-dan-andrews-online

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 9, 2021, 11:34 p.m. No.12440182 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

What can we do?I get asked many times. I’m just 1 person my daughter says to me innocently. I tell her the smallest stone can make the biggest ripples in a pond.Use your heart & you will find a way, see something-say something. #COMMITTED #complicit #CrimesAgainstHumanity #4kids

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1347921412233646081

As in losing?

Jon James Pratt (999) ID: f889f5 To the cunts sliding this thread Jan. 9, 2021, 11:51 p.m. No.12440367 🗄️.is 🔗kun

You’re gonna get fucking torched alive

Democrats drafting articles to impeach Donald Trump

CAMERON STEWART - JANUARY 10, 2021

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House Democrats are preparing to introduce articles of impeachment against Donald Trump this week as calls grow for him to resign immediately after the invasion of the Capitol building.

Democrats and several Republicans are also stepping up pressure on Vice-President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment declaring the President unfit for office in order to remove him from power.

Mr Trump “has done something so serious — that there should be prosecution against him,” Democrat House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she on Sunday AEDT called on the President to resign “‘immediately”.

House Democrats are preparing to introduce articles of impeachment against Donald Trump this week as calls grow for him to resign immediately after the invasion of the Capitol building.

Democrats and several Republicans are also stepping up pressure on Vice-President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment declaring the President unfit for office in order to remove him from power.

Mr Trump “has done something so serious — that there should be prosecution against him,” Democrat House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she on Sunday AEDT called on the President to resign “‘immediately”.

The death of Capitol policeman Brian Sicknick, 42, takes to five the number of those who died during the storming of the Capitol shortly after Mr Trump urged his supporters to march upon it last Thursday AEDT.

Twitter said it was permanently suspending Mr Trump’s account, robbing him of his favourite means of communication.

“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said.

Shortly before the suspension, Mr Trump tweeted: “The 75,000,000 great American patriots who voted for me, America FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any shape of form.”

One of the President’s last tweets was to say he would not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, making him the first president since Andrew Johnson in 1868 to refuse to attend the inauguration of his successor.

“To those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20,” he tweeted.

(continued)

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A growing number of house Democrats are pushing for Mr Trump to be impeached for his role in inciting protesters who stormed the Capitol despite, the fact he has just over a week left as president. House majority whip James Clyburn said that “the sentiment of the caucus is moving” towards impeachment. “The American people have seen enough, and they are ready for us to do the job of impeaching this man,” he said.

So far, 185 of the 222 Democrat caucus in the house have co-sponsored articles of impeachment charging Mr Trump with inciting an insurrection and having “gravely endangered the security of the US”.

Ms Pelosi has not decided whether to formally push ahead with the impeachment process which, under Senate rules, could not begin until January 19, Mr Trump’s last full day in office.

“It is the hope of members that the President will immediately resign,” she said. “But if he does not, I have instructed the rules committee to be prepared.”

Joe Biden appears cool on the idea of impeachment, although he has not formally repudiated it, and has said the Democrats need to focus on the new agenda of his administration. “If we were six months out, we should be moving everything to get him out of office — impeaching him again, trying to invoke the 25th Amendment, whatever it took to get him out of office,” he said. “But I am focused on us taking control as president and vice-president on the 20th and get our agenda moving as quickly as we can.”

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found that 57 per cent of Americans want Mr Trump to be removed immediately from office.

More Republicans have joined calls for Mr Trump to resign immediately, with senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska saying “I want him out. He has caused enough damage. He’s either been golfing or he’s been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice-president.”

Republican senator Ben Sasse said he would “definitely consider” impeachment because the President “disregarded his oath of office.”

Although Democrats would have the numbers to impeach Mr Trump in the house — for the second time — it is unlikely they would win the votes of 17 Republicans they would need in the Senate to convict him. Although Mr Trump would already be out of power, if the Senate convicted him, he would be barred from running for president again.

Mr Trump is said to have told aides he wanted protesters to only march upon the Capitol, not break into it. His decision to release a video a day after the riots in which he condemned the protesters and called for a peaceful transfer if power came after his lawyers warned him he might face legal jeopardy for inciting a mob.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/donald-trump-faces-rushed-impeachment-process-next-week/news-story/f063cf62fd0ba6ad53f91cdb32cd3846

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 10, 2021, 12:57 a.m. No.12440940 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0956 >>2542

>>12305780

Kenja Communications refuses to join National Redress Scheme for victims of child sexual abuse

Alexis Carey - JANUARY 10, 2021

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Australian survivors of child sexual abuse have been dealt a major blow after three organisations – including one labelled cult-like – refused to participate in a compensation program.

The National Redress Scheme for victims of child sexual abuse was established in 2018 in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

It helps people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse access counselling, a direct personal response from the institution in question, and a payment of up to $150,000.

However, three organisations failed to meet the December 31, 2020 deadline to join the scheme, Fairbridge Restored Limited, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Kenja Communication, which means survivors will be locked out of compensation.

Of the three, Kenja – a communications training group consistently described as a “cult” by ex-members and critics – is the only one to deny sexual abuse occurred within its ranks.

“Kenja has decided not to join the National Redress Scheme because we are firmly of the belief that no child sexual abuse has ever taken place at Kenja,” co-founder Jan Hamilton told news.com.au in a statement.

“Whilst we agree with the objectives of compensating child sex abuse victims, it is not appropriate in our view where genuine claims do not exist.

“One of the co-founders, Ken Dyers, fought false allegations of child sexual abuse over many years and was exonerated by the courts.”

Ms Hamilton has also repeatedly denied that Kenja is a cult.

While the decision has sparked public anger, it’s just the latest in a series of high-profile scandals to hit the secretive organisation over the years.

WHAT IS KENJA COMMUNICATIONS?

Described as a “training facility for people who want to develop their ability to be more effective or ‘cause’ over their lives”, Kenja was founded in Australia in 1982 by Ken Dyers and his partner Jan Hamilton.

There are centres in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, and the group’s website emphatically denies it is a religious group or cult, instead insisting “Kenja training views self-determinism as an imperative for personal growth”.

Among Kenja’s most controversial practices are “energy conversion meditation” and “Kenja klowning”, with the former described online as “the spirit in action” which involves “viewing the physical world with spiritual detachment and experiencing energy in its various forms”.

But a number of former members have claimed the sessions with Ken Dyers were one-on-one, with participants – including women and children – fully naked.

“Sometimes we’d be processed naked in one-on-one sessions – Ken said it helped energy flow freely through the body. Once, when I woke from the fog of a naked processing session, Ken was lying on top of me with his trousers and underpants around his ankles. But my Kenjan mind-training kicked in and I immediately dismissed the idea he’d acted inappropriately, reasoning I could trust Ken and, if he’d touched me, I’d remember it,” former member Annette Stephens wrote in a 2012 article published by news.com.au.

According to Kenja, in a Klowning class, “exercises provide an opportunity for each person, through the non-threatening avenue of laughter and humour, to locate and let go of behaviours which are self-destructive and often unconscious”.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 10, 2021, 12:59 a.m. No.12440956 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0970

>>12440940

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KEN DYERS

The co-founder faced a string of child sexual abuse charges over the years, although he was only convicted of one charge, which was then overturned after appeal.

In 1992 Liberal MP Stephen Mutch described Dyers in Parliament as “a seedy conman selling mumbo-jumbo garbage” and in 1993, Dyers was charged with 11 counts of sexual assault against four girls before being acquitted.

In 2005 Dyers was charged with another 22 counts, but the case was deferred after the NSW District Court ordered a mental health assessment.

Dyers took his own life in 2007 at the age of 85 after being informed by police that new allegations had been made against him.

Ms Hamilton then attempted to sue the state of NSW for damages, alleging a letter sent to her husband by police amounted to “misfeasance in public office”.

However, her claim failed in June 2020, with the NSW Supreme Court declaring it was not satisfied that the sending of the letter was “conducted with an intention to cause harm.”

CORNELIA RAU

In 2005, Kenja was in the spotlight again after mentally ill former member Cornelia Rau was detained by the Australian government for 10 months due to a bizarre misunderstanding.

Authorities assumed the German-born Australian resident was an illegal immigrant and did not realise her mental health struggles, which led to her detention.

Ms Rau was eventually released in 2005, and in the same year her sister Christine told The Age she blamed Kenja for her sibling’s decline.

“It was while she was with them that she started getting sick,” she told the publication, adding Kenja “seemed very secretive” and “wouldn’t talk” to her about her sister.

RICHARD LEAPE

Sydney schoolteacher Richard Leape is another mentally ill Kenja member who vanished and sadly, has not been seen since 1993.

Mr Leape was being treated for schizophrenia during his involvement in the organisation, and his family also shared concerns about its methods.

In a 2005 Daily Telegraph article, Mr Leape’s sister Annette said her brother’s case was reminiscent of Ms Rau’s.

“I’m appalled to read this organisation is still in existence and have grave concerns that there may be many other persons who have had contact and so-called therapies with this organisation, and developed very serious mental illnesses,” she said at the time.

MICHAEL BEAVER

Yet another tragedy linked to Kenja involves Michael Beaver, who was a member for two years and who was also diagnosed with schizophrenia.

He later took his own life, alleging in a suicide note that Kenja was “partly to blame”.

(continued)

>>12440956

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KENJA RESPONDS

In a statement sent to news.com.au, Jan Hamilton insisted Cornelia Rau, Richard Leape and Michael Beaver had “participated with great joy and happiness in the Kenja activities”.

“Due to personal circumstances they left Kenja,” she said in a statement.

“However there was no animosity at the time of their departure. In no way was Kenja responsible for the personal difficulties which they encountered, years after they left Kenja.

“It is reprehensible that people are blaming Kenja for these individuals’ personal difficulties to further their hostile agendas against Kenja.”

Ms Hamilton also denied that Kenja was a cult.

“Over many years Kenja has been subjected to attack by some people who have referred to it as a ‘cult’ and ‘dangerous’. These attacks began with a hostile Liberal Member of parliament, Mr Stephen Mutch, in 1992 who described Kenja as a ‘dangerous cult’,” she said.

“Mr Mutch now operates a business called Cult Consulting Australia. Since that time a handful of disgruntled people, along with so-called anti-cult organisations, have attempted to discredit and disparage Kenja, Ken Dyers and myself.

“Many thousands of people however have participated in Kenja and speak highly of its benefits and contributions to the improvement of their lives. These people come from many walks of life and we would be happy for you to meet with some of them to talk to them about their experiences in Kenja over decades.”

Ms Hamilton claimed that Kenja had spent decades helping people.

“A particular focus of Kenja’s activities over 40 years has been the positive development and fulfilment of the lives of young people,” she wrote.

“Kenja fosters an environment of caring and humanity, which many people who spent their childhoods participating in Kenja can testify to.

“Regrettably, over the years we have had a small number of disgruntled people who have sought to vent their hostility towards our organisation, which has given rise to false sex abuse allegations. Those allegations which were contested in rigorous legal proceedings were thrown out by the Courts.

‘ALL ABOUT CONTROL’

Tore Klevjer, a registered counsellor specialising in religious abuse, extremism and control who assists former cult members, told news.com.au cults were typically defined by the power they exercise over members rather than a particular belief system.

“Cults are all about control,” he explained, adding there was not a particular personality type that was more susceptible.

He said people were more vulnerable to cults at particularly needy points in their lives, such as when they faced a “crossroads”, and said when a person was initially drawn to a cult, they were usually “love bombed” at first.

“They are treated like they are very special, which is very welcome if you’ve spent your life not feeling very special,” he said.

“It’s a big drawcard, and from here control slowly starts to take place.

“People are asked to renounce certain things, to disengage from their family and friends, they often give excessive amounts of money to the group and their time is (managed) so they have less time to spend with other people.”

Mr Klevjer said cults tend to alienate people from their loved ones, and said those who left cults often experienced symptoms such as post traumatic stress, anxiety, depression and phobias and had difficulty readjusting to normal life.

He urged those affected by cults to seek professional support and recommended Cult Information and Family Support Inc (CIFS) as a valuable resource.

http://www.cifs.org.au/

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/kenja-communications-refuses-to-join-national-redress-scheme-for-victims-of-child-sexual-abuse/news-story/fc737c9dbec73d03f9496ecb2ddfe15c

Ask Martin

He’s been kicked off twitter.

Lol 😂

WHAT IS FRIENDSHIP??? THEY SAY SHOW ME YOUR FRIENDS AND I WILL TELL YOU WHO YOU ARE, TOO MANY FRIENDS ATTRACTS MORE PROBLEMS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8xqm2xl0As

Worth the watch!

https://rumble.com/vcj0hh-military-inteligence-has-exposed-the-operation-to-take-over-the-united-stat.html

Have faith anons!

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Trump/Bibi/Boris/Morrison fans Jan. 10, 2021, 6:53 p.m. No.12456123 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Gonna get fucking torched

I’m Lao Tze the Chinese philosopher (999)

Even though I’m white and not Chinese .

Funny 😆 old world, isn’t it?

Egg flied lice mother fuckers

With Trump Presidency Winding Down, Push for Assange Pardon Ramps Up

Supporters of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have enlisted a lobbyist with connections to the president and filed a clemency petition with the White House.

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WASHINGTON — Allies of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have ramped up a push for a last-minute pardon from President Trump, enlisting a lobbyist with connections to the administration, trying to rally supporters across the political spectrum and filing a clemency petition with the White House.

The effort comes at a delicate moment for Mr. Assange and during a period of tension between the United States and Britain over a case that his supporters say has substantial implications for press freedoms.

The Justice Department announced last week that it would appeal a British judge’s ruling blocking the extradition of Mr. Assange to the United States to face trial on charges of violating the Espionage Act and conspiring to hack government computers. The charges stemmed from WikiLeaks’s publication in 2010 of classified documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. Assange’s supporters had been optimistic about the prospects of a pardon from Mr. Trump, who has issued dozens of contentious clemency grants since losing his re-election bid. But they now worry that pressure over his supporters’ ransacking of the Capitol last week could derail plans for additional clemencies before he leaves office on Jan. 20.

As unlikely as the prospect of a pardon from Mr. Trump might be, Mr. Assange’s supporters are eager to try before President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes office.

As vice president, Mr. Biden called the WikiLeaks founder a “high-tech terrorist.” Some of his top advisers blame Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks for helping Mr. Trump win the presidency in 2016 by publishing emails from Democrats associated with Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which U.S. officials say were stolen by Russian intelligence to damage her candidacy. Mr. Trump has long downplayed Russia’s role in the 2016 election.

For Mr. Assange’s supporters and press freedom advocates, though, the issues at stake transcend him or politics.

“This is so much bigger than Julian,” said Mark Davis, a former journalist who worked with Mr. Assange in Australia, where they are from. If Mr. Assange is prosecuted, “it will have a chilling effect on all national security journalism,” Mr. Davis said, adding: “If we can get Julian off, then the precedent hasn’t been set. If Julian goes down, then it’s bad for all of us.”

Mr. Davis, who is now a lawyer specializing in national security and whistle-blower cases, is on the board of Blueprint for Free Speech, an Australia-based nonprofit group that advocates for press freedoms and whistle-blower protections. The group, which was started by Suelette Dreyfus, a former journalist who is an old friend and collaborator with Mr. Assange, signed a pro bono contract on Saturday with the lobbyist Robert Stryk to seek a pardon for Mr. Assange.

During Mr. Trump’s presidency, Mr. Stryk, who is well connected in Trump administration circles, has developed a lucrative business representing foreign clients in precarious geopolitical situations.

He has worked for a jailed Saudi prince who had fallen out of favor with his country’s powerful de facto leader, as well as the administration of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, which the Trump administration considers illegitimate. Mr. Stryk also worked for Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former president, who is accused of embezzling millions of dollars from a state oil company she once headed, as well as the government of the former Congolese president Joseph Kabila, which had faced American sanctions for human rights abuses and corruption.

Mr. Stryk said that he was representing Blueprint for Free Speech to seek a pardon for Mr. Assange without pay because of his belief in free speech, and that he would continue pushing for the pardon in the Biden administration if Mr. Trump did not grant it.

“This is not a partisan issue,” Mr. Stryk said.

The contract, which he said he had disclosed to the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, calls for his company, Stryk Global Diplomacy, to “facilitate meetings and interactions with the president and the president-elect’s administrations” to “obtain a full pardon” for Mr. Assange.

(continued)

>>12458233

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Mr. Davis said Mr. Stryk had been chosen partly because of his entree into Mr. Trump’s administration, which the group sees as its best chance to secure a pardon.

Mr. Davis noted that Mr. Assange, 49, was indicted during Mr. Trump’s presidency. “We are unabashedly reaching out to the Republican Party on this issue in the final weeks to correct something before it’s too late, and before it become part of Trump’s legacy,” Mr. Davis said.

He said, “If Joe Biden is sympathetic, that’s well and good, and we certainly hope he is.” But, he added, “it’s a far simpler process for an outgoing president than an incoming president.”

Mr. Assange’s cause has been taken up by a range of media freedom and human rights organizations, public officials and celebrities, including the actress Pamela Anderson.

Blueprint for Free Speech is working to harness some of that support, including from Ms. Anderson, a friend of Mr. Assange, who said in an interview that she had been trying to connect with Mr. Trump to plead the case. “I just hate to see him deteriorate in jail right now,” she said of Mr. Assange, describing the pardon push as “a last-ditch effort for all of us who are Julian Assange supporters.”

Asked about the effort by Blueprint, Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer representing Mr. Assange, said he “is encouraged by and supports efforts” by a variety of prominent supporters around the world.

Mr. Davis stressed that Blueprint’s push was independent of parallel efforts by Mr. Assange’s family and his lawyers, though Mr. Stryk has been in contact with Barry J. Pollack, Mr. Assange’s Washington-based lawyer, who is representing him against the criminal charges.

Prosecutors have argued that Mr. Assange unlawfully obtained secret documents and put lives at risk by revealing the names of people who had provided information to the United States in war zones.

Mr. Assange’s lawyers have framed the prosecution as a politically driven attack on press freedom.

Last month, Mr. Pollack filed a petition for a pardon with the White House Counsel’s Office, which has been vetting clemency requests for Mr. Trump, arguing that Mr. Assange was “being prosecuted for his news gathering and publication of truthful information.”

Mr. Pollack declined to comment on the petition, which was obtained by The New York Times, except to say that it was pending.

The petition appears to be geared toward appealing to Mr. Trump, who has wielded the unchecked presidential clemency power to aid people with personal connections to him or whose causes resonate with him politically, including a handful of people ensnared in the special counsel’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and ties to his campaign.

The petition highlighted that the charges against Mr. Assange stemmed from WikiLeaks’s publication of material that “exposed misconduct committed in Iraq and Afghanistan during wars initiated by a prior administration.” And it notes that the Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks in 2016, which showed some in the party apparatus conspiring to sabotage the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont and Mrs. Clinton’s rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, resulted in the resignations of party officials.

The petition does not address the United States government’s findings about Russia’s role in the theft of the emails as part of its effort to undermine Mrs. Clinton, which has long been a sore spot for Mr. Trump.

The petition notes that the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who provided the military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks that led to the charges against Mr. Assange, was commuted by President Barack Obama in the final days of his term.

Like Mr. Assange’s lawyers in Britain, Mr. Pollack’s petition raises concerns about Mr. Assange’s health, noting that the prison in which he is being held has been under lockdown after a coronavirus outbreak.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/assange-trump-pardon.html

>>12440436

Pelosi: House 'will proceed' to impeachment of Trump

Darlene Superville, Alan Fram and Mary Clare Jalonick - January 11, 2021

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Washington: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House of Representatives “will proceed” with bringing legislation to impeach President Donald Trump to the floor.

Pelosi made the announcement in a letter late on Sunday (Monday AEDT), to colleagues, saying the House would first vote to push Vice-President Mike Pence to invoke the powers of the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office.

After 24 hours, she said, the House would proceed with legislation on impeachment. Trump could become the only president to be impeached twice.

"In protecting our constitution and our democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both," Pelosi wrote to House Democrats. "As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action."

More than 200 House Democrats have signed on to co-sponsor an impeachment resolution accusing Trump of "incitement of insurrection" and saying he engaged in high crimes and misdemeanours by "wilfully inciting violence against the government of the United States" in connection with the storming of the Capitol in Washington last Wednesday (US time), by throngs of his supporters.

On Monday, Pelosi's leadership team will seek a vote on a resolution calling on Pence and cabinet officials to invoke the 25th amendment.

With the House not in session, there is likely to be an objection to its consideration. Pelosi would then put the resolution before the full House on Tuesday. If it were to pass, Pence and the cabinet would have 24 hours to act before the House would move towards impeachment.

With impeachment planning intensifying, pressure was mounting for Trump to leave office even before his term ended, amid alarming concerns of more unrest before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.

Cut off from the social media channels that have been the lifeblood of his presidency, Trump will nonetheless try to go on offense in his last 10 days, with no plans of resigning.

Instead, Trump is planning to lash out against the companies that have now denied him his Twitter and Facebook bullhorns. And aides hope he will spend his last days trying to trumpet his policy accomplishments, beginning with a trip to Alamo, Texas, on Tuesday to highlight his administration's efforts to curb illegal immigration and border wall construction.

Trump's decision to travel to Alamo — named after the San Antonio mission where a small group of Texans fighting for independence against the Mexican government were defeated after a 13-day siege — served as a symbol of his defiance as he faces the most volatile end of any presidency in modern history.

Trump has not taken any responsibility for his role in inciting Wednesday's violence amid a rebellion from members of his own party and ongoing efforts to remove him from office.

Two Republican senators have now said they want the President to resign immediately following the deadly riots at the Capitol by Trump loyalists trying to overturn the election results. The President whipped up the mob that stormed the Capitol, sent lawmakers into hiding and left five dead.

Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania on Sunday joined Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in calling for Trump to “resign and go away as soon as possible”.

“I think the President has disqualified himself from ever, certainly, serving in office again,” Toomey said. “I don’t think he is electable in any way.”

A growing number of lawmakers want to prevent him from ever again holding elected office.

(continued)

>>12459203

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House Democrats were expected to introduce articles of impeachment on Monday. The strategy would be to condemn the President's actions swiftly but delay an impeachment trial in the Senate for 100 days. That would allow Biden to focus on other priorities as soon as he is inaugurated.

Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat and a top Biden ally, laid out the ideas on Sunday as the country came to grips with the siege at the Capitol.

“Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running,” Clyburn said.

Murkowski, who has long voiced her exasperation with Trump’s conduct in office, told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that Trump simply “needs to get out”. A third, Senator Roy Blunt, did not go that far, but on Sunday warned Trump to be “very careful” in his final days in office.

During an interview on 60 Minutes aired on Sunday, Pelosi invoked the Watergate era when Republicans in the Senate told President Richard Nixon, “It’s over.”

“That’s what has to happen now,” she said.

Corporate America began to show its reaction to the Capitol riots by tying lawmakers to campaign contributions.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association's chief executive and president Kim Keck said it would not contribute to those lawmakers — all Republicans — who supported challenges to Biden's Electoral College win. The group “will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy", Keck said.

Citigroup did not single out lawmakers aligned with Trump's effort to overturn the election, but said it would be pausing all federal political donations for the first three months of the year. Citi’s head of global government affairs, Candi Wolff, said in a Friday memo to employees, “We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law.”

House leaders, furious after the insurrection, appear determined to act against Trump despite the short timeline.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said an impeachment trial could not begin under the current calendar before Inauguration Day.

While many have criticised Trump, Republicans have said that impeachment would be divisive in a time of unity.

Senator Marco Rubio said that, instead of coming together, Democrats want to “talk about ridiculous things like ‘Let’s impeach a president’ ” with just days left in office.

Still, some Republicans might be supportive.

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said he would take a look at any articles that the House sent over. Illinois lawmaker Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic, said he would “vote the right way” if the matter were put in front of him.

The Democratic effort to stamp Trump's presidential record with the indelible mark of impeachment had advanced rapidly since the riots.

Democrat David Cicilline, a leader of the House effort to draft impeachment articles accusing Trump of inciting insurrection, said on Sunday that his group had 200-plus co-sponsors.

The articles, if passed by the House, could then be transmitted to the Senate for a trial, with senators acting as jurors to acquit or convict Trump. If convicted, Trump would be removed from office and succeeded by the Vice-President.

Potentially complicating Pelosi's decision about impeachment was what it meant for Biden and the beginning of his presidency. While reiterating that he had long viewed Trump as unfit for office, Biden on Friday sidestepped a question about impeachment, saying what Congress did “is for them to decide”.

A violent and largely white mob of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows and rampaged through the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to scatter as they were finalising Biden’s victory over Trump in the Electoral College.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/pelosi-house-will-proceed-to-impeachment-of-trump-20210111-p56t5g.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 10, 2021, 10:05 p.m. No.12459400 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2391

>>12459203

Why Democrats should think twice before impeaching Donald Trump

CAMERON STEWART - JANUARY 11, 2021

The Democrats should think twice before they rush headlong into a second impeachment process against Donald Trump.

Trump’s reputation is in free fall since last week’s Capitol riots and the desire to try to hold the President to account for his actions is palpable among Democrats and even a handful of Republicans.

Around 195 House Democrats have now co-sponsored articles of impeachment against the president.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi says there will be moved in the House of Representatives on Tuesday AEDT a motion calling for the cabinet to remove Trump as unfit for office under the constitution’s 25th amendment.

If Vice-President Mike Pence does not agree, and he’s not likely to, the House would then introduce the articles of impeachment.

There is no doubt that Trump’s behaviour in inciting his supporters to march upon the Capitol and “‘fight like hell” was reprehensible and it qualifies for an impeachment far more than the Ukraine controversy did.

But the question that Democrats need to ask themselves is what a second impeachment of Trump would achieve and at what cost, given that he has only just over a week left in office.

Democrats argue that if Trump was convicted by the Senate he would be unable to run for president in 2024 which makes the process worthwhile.

They are also attracted by the idea of having Trump impeached by the House for the second time, making him the only president in history to be impeached twice.

But neither of these reasons justify launching such a divisive and distracting spectacle at the same time as Joe Biden is sworn in as president and is trying to settle in his new administration.

Even if the House Democrats delayed for a few months sending articles of impeachment to the Senate, it would still be distracting for a new president.

Any impeachment of Trump would likely succeed in the Democrat-led House, but it would almost certainly fail in the subsequent Senate trial which requires a two-thirds majority to convict.

The means that Democrats would need to persuade 17 Republican Senators in the new 50-50 Senate to convict Trump. So far, just two Republican Senators have called for Trump’s resignation and while many Republicans are furious at Trump’s role in the Capitol riots, it is highly unlikely that 17 would vote against him.

Therefore the impeachment process would not result in banning Trump from running in 2024.

An impeachment process may actually help revive rather than hurt Trump’s standing by turning him into a victim in the eyes of his supporters.

The potential cost of impeachment proceedings for Biden is substantial. He has said he will be a president who reaches across the aisle and works with, rather than against the Republicans.

A divisive and heated impeachment process would surely undermine his hopes of a new era of bipartisan co-operation in Washington. The bottom line is that a second impeachment of Trump would serve no practical purpose and would come at a cost.

The reality is that Trump has done more damage to himself that the Democrats could ever inflect. He is now unlikely to run in 2024 because his legacy has been so badly tarnished.

The Democrats would serve themselves and the country better by looking to the future rather than looking backward to settle old scores with a president who will leave office in ignominy anyway.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/why-democrats-should-think-twice-before-impeaching-donald-trump/news-story/cffb1fe783e3f8b07bef9b640f105380

Arnold Schwarzenegger compares Capitol attack to Nazi Germany

AGENCIES, AFP - JANUARY 11, 2021

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has appealed for unity after the violent attack on the US Capitol, which he described as an attempted coup by President Donald Trump, drawing comparisons to Nazi Germany.

In a video posted on Twitter that quickly went viral, the Hollywood star compared the attack by Trump supporters to Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass,” when Nazis carried out pogroms in Germany in 1938 that included breaking the windows of Jewish-owned stores.

“Wednesday was the Day of Broken Glass right here in the United States,” said Schwarzenegger gravely, sitting at his desk between the US and California state flags.

“The broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol.

“Growing up, I was surrounded by broken men, drinking away their guilt over their participation in the most evil regime in history,” continued Schwarzenegger, who was born in Austria in 1947.

“I have never shared this so publicly because it is a painful memory, but my father would come home drunk once or twice a week and he would scream and hit us and scare my mother.”

The actor, known for his roles in the “Terminator” franchise and “Conan the Barbarian,” did not explicitly say his father had been a Nazi, but said “my father and our neighbours were misled also with lies, and I know where such lies lead.

“President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election and of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies,” Schwarzenegger said.

“President Trump is a failed leader. He will go down in history as the worst president ever. The good thing is that he soon will be as irrelevant as an old tweet.

“No matter what your political affiliation is, I ask you to join me in saying to President-elect Biden, ‘President-elect Biden, we wish you great success as our President. If you succeed, our nation succeeds,’” Schwarzenegger concluded.

“And to those who think they can overturn the United States Constitution, know this: you will never win.”

https://twitter.com/Schwarzenegger/status/1348249481284874240

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/arnold-schwarzenegger-compares-capitol-attack-to-nazi-germany/news-story/618c30cc121e299595c27d7d2c1ded36

>Does POTUS have the goods on most bad actors?

>You are watching a movie.

>Enjoy the show!

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 10, 2021, 10:45 p.m. No.12459879 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

Acting PM pans Big Tech for banning Trump

Daniel McCulloch - 11 January 2021

Australia's acting prime minister Michael McCormack has blasted social media giants for kicking Donald Trump off their platforms.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has also voiced his discomfort, raising concerns about freedom of speech.

The US president has been removed from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after posting messages the technology giants said could encourage violence, following an insurrection by a mob of his supporters.

Asked if Mr Trump helped incite a riot at the US Capitol on January 6, Mr McCormack said the president's social media comments were unfortunate, as was his refusal to accept the outcome of the US election.

But Mr McCormack also likened the riot to Black Lives Matter protests last year and said it should not be up to Big Tech to decide whose voices were heard.

"I don't believe in that sort of censorship," he told ABC radio on Monday.

"There's been a lot of people who have said and done a lot of things on Twitter previously that haven't received that sort of condemnation or indeed censorship."

However, the acting prime minister acknowledged social media companies were within their rights to close accounts.

"That's a matter for Twitter, they've made that call, they've got a company, they've got a business to run, and they've made that decision," he said.

The treasurer said he felt "pretty uncomfortable" about the action taken against Mr Trump.

"Freedom of speech is fundamental to our society. As Voltaire said, 'I may not agree with what you say, but I defend your right to say it'," Mr Frydenberg told reporters.

"Those decisions were taken by commercial companies, but personally, I felt uncomfortable with what they did."

Australia's competition watchdog has called for clearer rules to determine what content is acceptable on social media.

Queensland MP George Christensen is among several federal government backbenchers using social media to peddle misinformation being spread by supporters of Mr Trump.

But Mr Frydenberg, a senior member of the leadership team, refused to censure him.

"George Christensen will make decisions he is accountable for."

Mr Frydenberg said the prime minister spoke for the government and the whole country in expressing disgust about the storming and ransacking of Congress in Washington DC.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese called on the prime minister to condemn Mr Christensen and his coalition colleague Craig Kelly, who has also been spreading discredited conspiracy theories about the riot.

Mr Albanese defended social media companies shutting down Mr Trump's accounts.

"It's about time that people weren't given a platform to spread hatred, to spread lies," he told Sydney radio 2SM.

Mr McCormack would not be drawn on whether Mr Trump should be removed from office before his term ends on January 20.

But he did apply a distinctly Australian lens to the "unfortunate events" at Capitol Hill and the dying days of the Trump presidency.

"Many people don't remember how you rode the horse, they remember how you dismount the horse," Mr McCormack said.

https://thewest.com.au/politics/acting-pm-pans-big-tech-for-banning-trump-ng-s-2044881

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 10, 2021, 11:01 p.m. No.12460029 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0081 >>2542

Investigators tasked with viewing the 'worst aspects of humanity'

Laura Chung - January 10, 2021

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In the middle of an ordinary looking office lies a large room with frosted glass. It houses the eSafety Commission's investigators who are tasked with viewing the worst aspects of humanity. Their work can involve anything from child sex abuse, to bestiality and sadism.

Sometimes, investigators will watch children grow up through abusive material.

Since the head of investigations Toby, who along with his team cannot give his last name for privacy reasons, joined the commission, he has seen child sexual abuse material evolve into a "global catastrophe".

"The number of images that are produced and shared every year is on the rise," he said. "But we still have just under half the world's population to come online. And we are not prepared for that eventuality.

"On the other side of the ledger, we've got some smart tools, smart people working for us and we are making an impact."

'There's so much out there to do'

The commission is the first of its type in the world. Since it was established in 2015, it has tripled in size and its remit has shifted from young Australians to ensuring the safety of all, investigating thousands of complaints and providing educational resources.

While the commission doesn’t prosecute - it leaves that to law enforcement - it does work with police and online platforms to ensure content is removed.

"The more we instil in the [technology] industry a sense that they need to harden their systems against misuse and abuse, the closer we'll get to something that looks like victory," Toby said.

The investigation unit is made up of three teams: the Cyber Report team deals with illegal and harmful content including child sex abuse material, the Cyberbullying and Cyber Abuse unit investigates serious cyberbullying targeting children and the Image-Based Abuse team covers the non-consensual sharing of intimate images or videos, or threats to do so.

The investigators come from a range of backgrounds including police, military or intelligence.

When a complaint is lodged, it is sent to the relevant unit and reviewed by an investigator who will seek to remove the material, often working with the country that hosts the website or the online provider.

"There's so much out there to do and we can always be doing so much more but it is seeing the results and seeing that this site's been taken down [that makes it worthwhile]," cyber report senior investigator Kate said. "Sure another will pop-up, but they will find that and we'll get onto that."

(continued)

>>12460029

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Helping to make the online world a better place

In the last financial year, investigators handled about 14,500 reports of child sexual abuse material. This year, the numbers are expected to be worse. The pandemic has led to a steep rise in complaints, with a 123 per cent increase year-on-year in the average number of monthly reports across all areas from March to September.

The work is not without its challenges.

"We've all encountered content that has just torn the guts out of us and might have left me crying at my machine," Toby said. "Those are the moments when you have to pause and take stock of your self-care process and talk to your colleagues, which is something we absolutely encourage - it's a fundamental part of our response.

"It's important for us all to remind ourselves, and our peers as well, that what we see is a very small slice of the things that happened to children. Outside of this small slice are all the wonderful things that happen to children - the growth, the joy, the exploration, the play, the love, the nurturing and sense of security that comes from being within a loving family and community environment. That's the experience of just about all kids, what we're seeing here is a very small slice of malice."

The investigators are encouraged to take regular breaks, keep an eye on peers and speak to a psychologist every three months. For eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, ensuring the psychological wellbeing of her investigators is fundamental.

"[They] literally wake up every day and subject themselves to the absolute worst aspects of humanity," she said.

"Day in and day out, for no overt recognition but only in the knowledge that they may be able to help these victims suffer less over the long term by removing imagery of their devastating abuse.

"They do take some satisfaction out of disrupting these paedophile networks and know they are helping to make the online world a better place but few people in the world are willing to subject themselves to this kind of darkness."

Despite the thousands of videos and images investigators remove, some of it will inevitably emerge. But knowing that a child is being abused and the investigators are able to minimise the number of people who view it, keeps the team going.

"It's really impactful and distressing," manager of the cyber report team Dave said of the job.

"The volume of content that we see is extreme and may appear insurmountable to the wider community, but it's a fight that you can't give up on, and you're fighting for survivors of this abuse and looking to identify these children from these abusive situations and rescue them."

It's been a huge five years since Ms Inman Grant first stepped into the role. She's overseen sweeping changes in image-based abuse, new educational programs, new responsibilities following the Christchurch massacre and draft legislation which would see individuals and companies fined thousands of dollars if they fail to take down abusive content from the internet within 24 hours.

"It's been challenging … there is no precedent, we're kind of creating the precedent as we go," she said.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/investigators-tasked-with-viewing-the-worst-aspects-of-humanity-20201231-p56r1y.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 10, 2021, 11:33 p.m. No.12460327 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0341 >>2463

'They ruled our lives': What impact has slavery had in Australia?

Many Australians might think that slavery never reached our shores but the history books tell a different story. So what did slavery look like in Australia?

Ella Archibald-Binge - JANUARY 10, 2021

1/4

Waskam Emelda Davis was sitting in her favourite orange armchair in her loungeroom on a cool winter's day when her phone rang.

"Did you just hear this?" came her friend's voice down the line.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison had just been on radio, her friend informed her, claiming there was no history of slavery in Australia.

"I was enraged," says Davis.

The comments in June 2020, which the Prime Minister later apologised for and clarified, prompted a fresh examination of Australia's colonial history at the height of a reinvigorated global Black Lives Matter movement.

The debate over the history of slavery in Australia is one that resurfaces on a regular basis, much to the chagrin of the tens of thousands of Indigenous workers who have been fighting for decades to reclaim wages that were withheld from them under discriminatory laws until the 1970s.

Each time, Davis dredges up the painful stories from her family's past in a bid to set the record straight about a struggle stretching back more than a century.

The 58-year-old has spent her life advocating for the rights of Australian South Sea Islander people – the descendants of men, women and children known as "sugar slaves" who were taken from the Pacific islands and forced into hard labour in Australia. She chairs the Australian South Sea Islanders Port Jackson organisation in Sydney.

"Slavery is slavery. You can't dress it up or dress it down," Davis says. "The kidnapping, the coercing, the stealing and the serious abuses that happened to our people … this is something that's handed down through generations.''

So how did slavery operate in Australia? How long did the practices continue? And how has it made a lasting impact on the nation?

''A warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: this article includes images of deceased people.''

What forms of slavery were in Australia?

Article 1 of the United Nations Slavery Convention defines slavery as "the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised".

Around the time of colonisation in Australia – the First Fleet arrived in 1788 – an anti-slavery movement was growing in Britain. The British Parliament abolished the Atlantic slave trade in 1807 and passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.

As such, there was to be no slave trade in Australia. However numerous historians, legal experts and government officials have found that the controls imposed on Pacific Islander and First Nations peoples essentially amounted to slavery.

"It is true that Australia was not a 'slave state' in the manner of the American South," writes Stephen Gray in the Australian Indigenous Law Review.

"Nevertheless, employers exercised a high degree of control over 'their' Aboriginal workers who were, in some cases, bought and sold as chattels … Employers exercised a form of 'legal coercion' over their workers in a manner consistent with the legal interpretation of slavery."

What was blackbirding?

Emelda Davis says her grandfather was 12 when he went for a swim at the beach near his home on the island of Tanauta (formerly Tanna) in Vanuatu and never returned.

He was kidnapped in the late 1800s, she says, and taken to Bundaberg, in north Queensland, where he was put to work in the cane fields.

At least 50,000 people, mostly men, from 80 Melanesian islands were brought by boat to work in Australia's agriculture, maritime and sugar industries. Some went voluntarily but many were coerced or kidnapped. Their wages were less than a third of other workers.

The practice, known as blackbirding, was sanctioned by various Queensland laws from the mid-1860s to 1904. Several members of parliament grew wealthy through this system.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 10, 2021, 11:35 p.m. No.12460341 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0348

>>12460327

2/4

Those who chose to leave the islands signed three-year indenture agreements, explains University of Queensland historian Professor Clive Moore, but few knew what awaited them in Australia.

He says the indenture system has often been called "a new form of slavery".

"Just think, you're a capitalist in the 1830s and 1840s and they've just abolished slavery and you want cheap labour, so you scratch your head and you say, 'Well, how can I get cheap labour?'.

"[Islanders] were legally indentured, but then you've got to ask, did they understand the indenture system? Often no, they wouldn't have had a clue what it really was … therefore you might say the contract's invalid," he says.

Moore estimates 15,000 South Sea Islander people – around a third of the workforce – died from common diseases during their first year in Australia due to low immunity levels.

"The mortality figures are horrific," he says. "The government must have known and yet it did absolutely nothing to try to stop it."

When the White Australia policy was enacted in 1901, the government ordered the mass deportation of all South Sea Islander people, sparking outrage among those who had built lives on the mainland and wished to stay.

Ultimately, around 5000 workers were forcibly deported. In a cruel twist of fate, their deportations were funded by the wages of deceased South Sea Islanders, whose estates were controlled by the government.

Those who remained were subject to racial discrimination and embarked on a long journey to carve out their own place in Australian society.

How did 'protection' usher in a new form of slavery?

It could be argued that what happened to South Sea Islander workers was a precursor to the systematic wage controls imposed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups from around the 1890s, notably in the pearling and cattle industries.

In the late 19th century, every mainland state and the Northern Territory enacted laws, known as the protection acts, to control the lives of Indigenous people. Prior to this, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers were routinely exploited.

Historian Dr Ros Kidd says there is evidence that women were used as sex slaves, children were kidnapped and Aboriginal stockmen were encouraged to form opium addictions to make them reliant on their employers, who supplied the drug.

Kidd says the protection acts were largely introduced to ensure industries remained profitable rather than to protect the welfare of Indigenous people.

"Part of the problem, as the authorities saw it, was the rise of inter-racial children and the fact that we, as the whites, needed to assert some authority and regulation over all of this," she says.

Under the protection acts, most Aboriginal people were removed from their homelands and forced to live on missions or reserves run by the church or government, respectively. Some South Sea Islander people were subjected to the same controls.

Aboriginal people were forbidden from speaking their native languages or practising their cultures, and children were separated from their families and placed in dormitories.

Employment laws varied from state to state but, for the most part, the wages of Aboriginal people were diverted to government-managed trust funds, while local protectors managed the residue as legal trustees. Official documents reveal protectors habitually defrauded Aboriginal workers for much of the 20th century.

For most Queensland workers, the minimum monthly wage was set at five shillings (around $24), less than one-eighth of the non-Indigenous wage.

Sometimes, the worker would receive a small portion of that amount as pocket money but, in many cases, they received nothing. Workers could, in theory, withdraw from their trust account for necessities but only with permission from the local protector. Requests were often refused, or workers were falsely told they had no money.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 10, 2021, 11:37 p.m. No.12460348 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0361

>>12460341

3/4

Roy Savo is a former stockman who spent a decade working on Queensland cattle stations from the age of 13. He says he didn't see physical money until he was almost 20.

"When we wanted to go to the shop, they'd just write us a note and say, 'Take that to the shop'," he says. "That's how we got through life."

The 80-year-old says the bosses would not call the Aboriginal workers by their names, referring to them only as "boy".

"They made you feel so low. When I think back, we were just no one, nothing. We had no chance against the white people, they just ruled our lives. We were one step from being an animal. In some places you were told to sit out and eat with the animals anyway, out in the wood heap."

When he was about 19, Savo ran away from his "job". Dodging authorities, he continued to work at various cattle stations and railways across far north Queensland and the Torres Strait, before meeting his wife and starting a family in Silkwood, south of Cairns.

In Western Australia, most employers weren't legally required to pay Aboriginal workers at all until the 1940s, so long as they provided rations, clothing and blankets.

Many workers in the Northern Territory died from starvation in the 1920s and '30s due to poor rations, records show. One anthropologist reported that on one station, only 10 children survived from 51 births during a five-year period. The government declined to intervene. The chief protector in the Northern Territory said in 1927 that Aboriginal pastoral workers were "kept in a servitude that is nothing short of slavery".

Those who absconded from a work contract could be whipped, jailed or arrested and brought back in chains.

Aboriginal children were routinely indentured to work, with boys sent to farms and pastoral stations and girls to domestic service for non-Indigenous families.

Their wages were supposed to be administered similarly to the adults' but there was little to no regulation to ensure employers complied with the law.

Protectors themselves described Queensland's Aboriginal wage system as a "farce" in the 1940s, says Kidd, with workers "entirely at the mercy of employers who simply doctored the books".

She notes the broad lack of oversight prompted one protector in the Northern Territory to remark: "I think it is about time that slavery is put a stop to among the natives of Australia."

When did this kind of slavery end?

The protection acts were gradually amended and replaced throughout the second half of the 20th century but some controls endured until at least 1972 – the year Gough Whitlam was elected prime minister.

And yet when the laws were repealed, the money held in trust was never returned to Aboriginal workers. The unpaid funds have become known as the stolen wages.

In Queensland, Aboriginal trust funds were used to cover government revenue shortfalls. Millions were spent on regional hospitals. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were used to facilitate the forcible removal of Aboriginal families from their traditional lands.

In today's money, Kidd conservatively estimates the missing or misappropriated funds to total $500 million in Queensland alone.

"The government made a lot of money exploiting the savings accounts for its own profit," she says. "This is while people were starving and dying in need of these payments."

For decades, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been fighting to get that money back.

In Queensland, thousands joined a class action to sue the government. In 2019, the state government agreed to a landmark $190 million settlement. It was the largest settlement for Indigenous people outside native title and the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australian history.

But it was less than half what the workers were owed and by the time the settlement was reached, more than half of the claimants had died.

Similar class actions are being investigated in NSW and the NT while one has been launched in WA. Australian South Sea Islanders are also fighting for reparations for an estimated $38 million in misspent wages of deceased workers.

(continued)

>>12460348

4/4

A year after Queensland's class action was settled, Roy Savo still doesn't know when, or how much, he will be paid for a decade's hard labour. He fears it will be much less than he had hoped.

"I wanted to buy a home," he says. "But looking at what I'm going to get now, I'm thinking it would be better putting it into some trust or something for my funeral. I come in with nothing, go out with nothing, I suppose."

What is the legacy of slavery in Australia?

As fate would have it, Emelda Davis' housing unit in the inner-Sydney suburb of Pyrmont looks out to the refinery where the raw sugar harvested by South Sea Islanders was once processed.

It's widely acknowledged much of Australia's wealth across the sugar, pastoral and maritime industries was built on the backs of Indigenous and South Sea Islander labour.

"The contribution of the 60-odd thousand [South Sea Islanders], coupled with our First Nations families, is quite significant in establishing what we call today the lucky country," Davis says. "Our legacy is what people are thriving off today."

At the Redcliffe Hospital, north of Brisbane, there is a plaque to acknowledge that it was built, in part, with a $1.7 million loan from Aboriginal trust funds in the 1960s.

Similar plaques have been installed across Queensland, at the recommendation of a 2016 taskforce, to recognise the labour and financial contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Yet many within these communities still live in poverty. Disparities in health, education and employment between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are well documented.

Ros Kidd says this disadvantage is "inextricably linked" with historical practices.

She says Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were excluded from the capitalist society.

"They trapped people in what I would call engineered disadvantage – because it didn't happen by coincidence, it didn't happen through an unfortunate set of circumstances. All of these conditions and this poverty was specific government policy and practice."

Australian South Sea Islanders, too, have inherited generations of trauma and disadvantage. The community was officially recognised as a distinct cultural group in 1994, but without targeted policies Davis says they often "fall through the cracks", missing out on support programs tailored for Indigenous Australians.

"We're at a point where it's completely desperate. There's no hope in looking to our government for anything. It's just constant hoop-jumping and lining up against everybody else in the queues for rations," she says.

The legacy of trauma is also felt in the Pacific Islands.

On a beach in Vanuatu, there's a spot called Howling Rock, where mothers would mourn their husbands and children who disappeared. There are songs, passed through the generations, warning not to go to certain beaches for risk of being taken.

But new generations in Australia have inherited something else from their ancestors, too: strength.

Queensland artist Dylan Mooney, 24, has Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander heritage. His paternal great-great-grandparents were blackbirded from Vanuatu. His great-great-grandfather worked on sugar plantations in northern NSW while his great-great-grandmother, Fanny Togo, was sold as a house servant in Sydney.

Mooney says knowing what his ancestors went through has only strengthened his sense of identity and pride.

"I carry that with me every day – that strength, that resilience, that story of survival."

https://www.smh.com.au/national/they-ruled-our-lives-what-impact-has-slavery-had-in-australia-20200630-p557ht.html

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweets

The Five Eyes partnership is stronger than ever. @FP_Champagne, @DominicRaab, @MarisePayne, @winstonpeters = force multipliers for freedom.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1348268359922552833

—

#EffectiveMultilateralism means a reinvigorated Quad: like-minded values-based partnership among the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan, advancing a free & open Indo-Pacific.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1348313657734811654

—

Thanks to our Quad diplomacy, India invited Australia to its annual Malabar exercises in the Indian Ocean. Would've been unthinkable only a year ago. #ResultsNotRhetoric

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1348321204646526976

Explainer: What is QAnon? How a wild conspiracy theory led to the storming of the US Capitol

Emily McPherson - Jan 11, 2021

1/2

Q-Anon banners were unfurled and hoisted high last week as the US Capitol was breached by a violent mob that left five people dead.

Several prominent supporters of the extremist movement were spotted inside the building.

Allegedly among those was "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Anthony Chansley.

Chansley was arrested yesterday. Authorities believe he is the man wearing a painted face, fur hat and horns; whose picture has since become synonymous with the riots.

So, what is QAnon?

QAnon all stems from a completely unfounded conspiracy theory about a global "Deep State" cabal of satanic pedophile elites.

According to the believers, President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against the Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.

QAnon believers have been anticipating a day of reckoning led by Mr Trump, when thousands of members of the cabal will be arrested, including prominent Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Hollywood celebrities

QAnon followers have also falsely claimed Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 US election was really an elaborate cover story so he and Mr Trump could work together to expose paedophiles.

How did it all start?

In October 2017, someone put up a post on the message board 4chan.

The user claimed to have a level of US security approval known as "Q clearance" and signed off with the letter Q.

Q claimed to have access to classified information involving the Trump administration and its opponents in the US.

Three people then took the original Q post and spread it across multiple media platforms, according to NBC News.

What does Trump have to say about QAnon?

QAnon adherents began appearing at Trump re-election campaign rallies in August 2018.

While Mr Trump has never officially endorsed the conspiracy theory, he has described QAnon activists as "people who love our country" and said he appreciates their support.

"I know nothing about it," Mr Trump said of QAnon movement in a televised Town Hall event last October.

"I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard, but I know nothing about it," he added.

The president's response was met with jubilation online from QAnon followers who saw it as a ringing endorsement.

Mr Trump has, whether knowingly or not, retweeted QAnon supporters many times.

Before the election his son Eric Trump posted a QAnon meme on Instagram.

(continued)

>>12461541

2/2

More wild QAnon conspiracy theories

To delve into the world of QAnon is to go down a rabbit role of outlandish, and often contradictory, conspiracy theories.

Many of the prophecies put forward by QAnon followers never came to pass, but that has seemingly done little to dissuade the true believers.

The Atlantic executive editor, Adrienne LaFrance, wrote an in-depth analysis of the movement called "The Prophecies Of Q."

LaFrance said many QAnon believers were obsessed with John F. Kennedy Jr. - who was killed in a plane crash in 1999.

"One idea is that he didn't actually die in a plane crash but rather that Hillary Clinton had him killed because she was a political opponent," LaFrance said.

"Another idea is that he faked his own death and is actually alive and a secret Trump supporter.

"For a while, people were saying that he was going to reveal himself as Trump's running mate in this presidential election."

Unsurprisingly, layer upon layer of fabrications have been weaved into QAnon's messaging around the coronavirus.

At one point, many QAnon believers were fixated on a yellow tie Mr Trump wore to some of his coronavirus briefings, LaFrance said.

"(At) one of President Trump's daily briefings in the spring at a time when the death toll was really spiking, President Trump wears a yellow tie.

"And people seize on this in the Q crowd and say that yellow is a colour that, in maritime flags, signifies an all-clear. And therefore, the yellow tie is a signal that everything is OK and the virus isn't real."

How many people believe in this stuff?

While the conspiracy theories forming the basis of QAnon may sound ridiculous and far-fetched, its audience is growing rapidly.

As Corncordia University academic Marc Andre Argentino - who has studied the group for the past two years - pointed out in a piece for The Conversation, the 2020 pandemic has provided fertile ground for QAnon.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has played a significant role in popularizing the QAnon movement," Mr Argentino wrote.

"Facebook data since the start of 2020 shows QAnon membership grew by 581 per cent — most of which occurred after the United States closed its borders last March as part of its coronavirus containment strategy."

Emily McPherson is a multi-award winning and nominated journalist. In 2017, she was named the Mumbrella Journalist of the Year and also won the Kennedy Award for Outstanding Online News Breaking.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/explainer-what-is-qanon-how-a-wild-conspiracy-theory-led-to-the-storming-of-the-us-capitol/b8f114ed-f44b-4684-914b-1914b2d1111a

Tom Hanks recalls the Australian creature that terrified him during filming in Queensland

Natacha Maloon - January 11 2021

Tom Hanks is still haunted after multiple encounters with an Australian creature in Queensland.

The Forrest Gump actor, 64, called beach worms the "scariest animal" that "look like something that the Mandalorian has to flee from."

"That would be a type of worm that lives in the sand of beaches in Australia. I'll send you a picture. It'll haunt your dreams," Hanks said in an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

"They're these things and they come up and they have these heads that if you look at them closely, they honestly look like something that the Mandalorian has to flee from out of the Tatooine."

Giant beach worms are long and thin and they can grow up to 300 cm long. They live under the sand and only rarely come up to feed on dead fish, seaweed and pipis.

Hanks is currently based on the Gold Coast where he's filming Baz Luhrmann's biographical drama about Elvis Presley.

The shoot was postponed when Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive for COVID-19 in March last year. Six months later, he returned to pick up filming for the project.

The movie is expected to be released in November 2021.

https://celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/tom-hanks-australian-animal-petrified-queensland-elvis/0ae1e94c-1f85-492b-9fb3-887d4beeecc7

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 11, 2021, 1:49 a.m. No.12461589 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2475

>>12461567

Tom Hanks Takes "The Colbert Questionert"

9 Jan 2021

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

"The Colbert Questionert" is a collection of 15 questions that reveals who a person is. In this brand new segment, Stephen administers the first "Questionert" to the one and only Tom Hanks! Does he prefer a ham and Swiss sandwich or a BLT? Find out! #Colbert #TheColbertQuestionert #TomHanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9zFo8MO9Qk

>5:41

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Gonna get burnt alive, cunts Jan. 11, 2021, 3:46 a.m. No.12462545 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12461191

Pics related

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Trump, Bibi and Boris fans Jan. 11, 2021, 3:52 a.m. No.12462588 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Gonna get crucified in front of the whole world

For bringing a Jewish media monopoly to a real life storm ☔️

Lol 😂

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Trump ‘I didn’t do nuffin’ Jan. 11, 2021, 3:54 a.m. No.12462610 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Australia: crickets

Enjoy your zombie apocalypse, Aussies.

Yep, you’re thick as fuck too.

Like the Jews and Americans

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Mad max for real Jan. 11, 2021, 3:55 a.m. No.12462613 🗄️.is 🔗kun

For the Bruce and sheilas that are a little slow

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Get the make up on Morrison Jan. 11, 2021, 3:59 a.m. No.12462635 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Cunt us gonna get fucking crucified anyway

For hiding behind the fat orange joker 🃏

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Think mirror (666) Jan. 11, 2021, 6:33 a.m. No.12464003 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Dat’s rite

Satan’s mirror

Lol 😂

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 McLovin gets it Jan. 11, 2021, 10:41 a.m. No.12467742 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Lol 😂

>>12439410

China’s tells Five Eyes nations to stop ‘intervening’ in Hong Kong affairs

Australia’s move to condemn the arrests of Hong Kong politicians and activists has heightened tensions with Beijing.

China has fired a warning shot at Australia after it joined Five Eyes nations raising concerns about a mass arrest of politicians and activists in Hong Kong.

Australia joined Canada, the UK and US in condemning the largest crackdown yet under Hong Kong’s controversial national security law.

The joint statement alleged the laws were being used to “eliminate dissent and opposing political views” and called on authorities to respect the rights and freedoms of Hongkongers.

But China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Monday slammed the claims and issued a warning to stop meddling in their internal matters.

“Relevant countries are confusing right and wrong, misleading the public and blatantly intervening in China’s Hong Kong affairs,” Mr Zhao said.

“(They) should face squarely the reality that Hong Kong has returned to China.”

Mr Zhao said the clampdown on criminal activities under the national security laws were safeguarding China’s sovereignty and security.

“This is beyond reproach and cannot be slandered,” he said.

“Peace and tranquillity has been restored and justice upheld in the Hong Kong society, and the legal rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents have been better protected in a safer environment.

“This is an undeniable fact.”

At least 55 pro-democracy politicians and activists were arrested last week under the laws, which have made crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism activities and collusion with a foreign country attract penalties of up to life in prison.

Four of the Five Eyes nations have also demanded that Hong Kong’s Legislative Council elections – rescheduled for September after being postponed last year due to COVID-19 – include candidates representing a range of political opinions.

New Zealand did not contribute to the joint statement, saying it aired its concerns individually on January 7.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/chinas-tells-five-eyes-nations-to-stop-intervening-in-hong-kong-affairs/news-story/f77eb563402e5290998ddcec804b0990

—

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on January 11, 2021

Bloomberg: Over the weekend, a joint statement from the governments of Australia, Canada, the UK and the US underscored their serious concern over the arrest of over 50 people in Hong Kong for subversion under the national security law. Does the Foreign Ministry have any comment on this statement?

Zhao Lijian: Relevant countries are confusing right and wrong, misleading the public and blatantly intervening in China's Hong Kong affairs. We strongly condemn and firmly reject that.

The Chinese government governs Hong Kong in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law, not the Sino-British Joint Declaration. No country has the right to meddle in Hong Kong affairs under the pretext of the Joint Declaration. The Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR only targets criminal activities that seriously undermine national security, which fills in a national security legislative gap in the HKSAR. With the national security law in place, peace and tranquility has been restored and justice upheld in the Hong Kong society, and the legal rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents have been better protected in a safer environment. This is an undeniable fact.

China is a country under the rule of law and, Hong Kong is a law-based society where all is equal before the law. Laws must be complied with and offences must be prosecuted. This is the basic connotation of rule of law. The relevant departments of the HKSAR crack down on criminal activities in accordance with the law, uphold the rule of law, fairness and justice, and safeguard China's sovereignty and security. This is beyond reproach and cannot be slandered. Hong Kong affairs, including individual cases and elections in the HKSAR, are China's internal affairs. No foreign government, organization or individual has the right to interfere. Relevant countries should face squarely the reality that Hong Kong has returned to China, abide by international law and basic norms governing international relations, discard double standards, earnestly respect China's sovereignty, respect the rule of law in Hong Kong, and immediately stop interfering in China's Hong Kong affairs in any form.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1845634.shtml

>>12461541

'QAnon Shaman' demanding organic food in jail after US Capitol arrest

9News Staff - Jan 12, 2021

The "QAnon shaman" arrested after taking part in the storming of the US Capitol building last week is reportedly demanding organic food in jail.

Arizona man Jake Angeli, 33, is facing federal misdemeanour charges after being photographed wearing a buffalo headdress and tricolour facepaint amid the mob of Donald Trump zealots who attacked the government building.

He is accused of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

US outlet ABC15 claimed Mr Angeli had not eaten since Friday as the guards would not serve him organic food.

Mr Angeli has previously claimed he had not broken any laws, saying he only walked through already-open doors.

He had his first court appearance via phone today, where the judge directed the public defender representing him to work with the prison guards on Mr Angeli's dietary issues.

Mr Angeli has been widely reported as a QAnon conspiracy theorist, who had previously attended Mr Trump's rallies.

Five people died in the riots, which saw representatives of the US government evacuated and taken into hiding by security forces.

The mob attack followed a speech by Mr Trump, who had repeated his false claims that last November's election was "stolen" after he lost to Democratic rival Joe Biden.

The US Democrats have now resolved to impeach Mr Trump for the second time in his administration, alleging that he sought to incite insurrection.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/us-capitol-riots-qanon-shaman-jake-angeli-not-eating-in-jail-demands-organic-food/9695dc58-d644-4493-968c-202f8525eb24

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 11, 2021, 9:42 p.m. No.12477097 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2639

Amazon is removing products promoting the QAnon conspiracy

Jonathan Shieber - 12 January 2021

Amazon has begun the process of removing QAnon-related products from its platform.

A spokesperson for the company said that the process may take a few days. Any sellers that attempt to evade the company's systems and list products will be subject to action, including a blanket selling ban across Amazon stores.

News of the ban was first reported by The New York Times.

The company is shutting down the nation's newest favorite conspiracy theory by removing products sold by QAnon adherents from its platform after supporters were prominently on display at the riot in the nation's Capitol last week.

Amazon's ban of Q-related products follows the company's decision to remove Parler from its web servers and cloud services platform.

The ban applies to any self-published books that promote QAnon or any clothing, posters, stickers, or other merchandise related to the Q conspiracy theory.

Amazon has policies that prohibit products that "promote, incite, or glorify hate or violence toward any person or group," the company said.

A cursory search of the company's platform on Monday revealed that the ban isn't being applied to all of the Q-related products for sale.

Seven pages of Q-related products were surfaced under the search for "WWG1WGA" an acronym for the Q-related phrase, "Where we go one, we go all."

The widely discredited Q conspiracy theory was born from a stew of different conspiracy theories that emerged from the 4chan message boards back in 2017.

Since its emergence, the conspiracy theory has grabbed the attention of conservative activists, and its supporters were highly visible among the group of rioters that stormed the Capitol building last week – even as at least one Q-believer joined Congress the same week.

Amazon's decision to ban the sale of Q-related goods comes many, many, many years after the movement was first linked to violence, as TechCrunch previously reported.

Criminal acts committed by believers have included the fatal shooting a mob boss in Staten Island and blocking the Hoover Dam bridge in an armed standoff.

The conspiracy’s followers have also interfered with legitimate child safety efforts by hijacking the hashtag #savethechildren, and exporting their extreme ideas into mainstream conversation under the guise of helping children. Facebook, which previously banned QAnon, limited the hashtag’s reach in late 2020 because of the interference.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-removing-products-promoting-qanon-025950924.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 11, 2021, 10:07 p.m. No.12477345 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2639

>>12415634

Twitter suspends 70,000 QAnon accounts

AAP - 12 January 2021

Twitter Inc has suspended more than 70,000 accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content after last week's violence in Washington when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol.

"Given the violent events in Washington, DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon", Twitter said in a blog on Monday.

"These accounts were engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service", the company said.

QAnon backers have pushed conspiracies on social media that include the baseless claim that Trump secretly is fighting a cabal of child-sex predators, among them prominent Democrats, figures in Hollywood and "deep state" allies.

Twitter had said on Friday it would permanently suspend accounts pushing QAnon content, banning prominent right-wing boosters of its conspiracy theories.

The storming of the Capitol building last week by Trump supporters delayed the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.

Lawmakers were forced to flee, as the building was mobbed by the president's supporters who overwhelmed security forces.

Five people died in the violence including one Capitol Police officer who was beaten as he tried to ward off the crowds.

https://thewest.com.au/technology/internet/twitter-suspends-70000-qanon-accounts-ng-s-2045055

https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2021/protectingthe-conversation-following-the-riots-in-washington.html

>>12439588

OPINION: Sydney MP Craig Kelly's job is to represent Hughes but he's pushing manic fringe craziness instead

Jenna Price - January 12, 2021

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Tom Kristensen is a landscaper, artist and just owner-built a house in Hughes. But sometime in 2019, he turned his mind to local politics. Not to stand for election, no way, he’s never been a member of any political party, too sceptical.

But his local member had started to use Facebook to spread messages which the ecology graduate knew were not based on any kind of scientific evidence. Kristensen got busy. He decided to note and analyse every single Facebook post on Craig Kelly’s page, its topic, its style of writing and its image.

This isn’t for academic research. It is to save the nation from his dangerous conspiratorial and anti-science influence. His job is to represent his community. What he is actually doing is misleading his constituents, misrepresenting science, endangering lives.

As of Monday and since April Fool’s Day 2019, Kelly, who represents the southern Sydney seat of Hughes, has delivered 2130 posts on Facebook, directed at his local electorate. Of those posts, Kristensen recorded, just 16 were strictly about his local community: five scenic shots of his electorate, three notices for the Rural Fire Service, three calls for social distancing, two for flu vaccines, one weather report and one Anzac Day announcement and one delivery of flags to schools. That last one deleted, possibly because there were children in shot.

The page is mostly filled with manic fringe craziness. Just last week he said on Facebook that Marxists engaged in a highly co-ordinated "false flag" operation on the Capitol and relied on a later retracted story in notorious Trumpist rag The Washington Times. He has touted ivermectin as more effective than all the COVID vaccines and for months and months boosted hydroxychloroquine. I asked Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the Kirby Institute, to talk me through Kelly’s claims. She said neither of Kelly’s preferred drugs had the appropriate randomised controlled clinical trials to support his assertions. And did I know that in some cases hydroxychloroquine could make the illness worse?

This is a man saved from preselection challenge by prime ministerial intervention. Worse than that, his colleagues in the Liberal Party have simped out on critiquing him. Scott Morrison even said, when asked last Friday if he would “condemn conspiracy theories being promoted by members of your own government” replied “You know, Australia is a free country. There’s such a thing as freedom of speech in this country and that will continue.”

(continued)

>>12477449

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It is such a shame we don’t have a code of conduct for parliamentarians, or an Australian Federal Integrity Commission, which perhaps could punish behaviour like this and send those responsible to Siberia (looking forward to the debate in parliament this year).

That’s precisely what some of the constituents of the seat of Hughes are trying to do now. Linda Seymour has lived in Hughes for 20 years. Now she and a bunch of others are working together to bring about the enduring miracle Cathy McGowan pulled off in Indi, Zali Steggall wrought in Warringah.

“I cannot support this man. There are lots of Liberal voters who are disgusted,” says Seymour, an architectural consultant and part of the We Are Hughes grassroots movement, who is frustrated Kelly is permitted to enter schools and deny climate change when the science is settled.

Have they picked a candidate yet, especially since the election could be far sooner than later? Not yet.

“We have someone with extreme views representing us,” says Louise D’Arcens, another resident of Hughes and a professor of medieval literature at Macquarie University. She’s all over extreme views and points out contemporary extremists are attracted to the Middle Ages, as a period of time representing White Christian conservative values.

“My hunch is that people here don’t realise they are voting for an extremist.” She also wants to tell outsiders Hughes is more than Kelly country.

Is it possible to persuade local Liberals to show some spine and back in a locally chosen candidate? Can a decent Labor candidate do something to stop Kelly? Chris Wallace, associate professor at the University of Canberra and author of How to Win an Election, says a Labor candidate would have to be compelling (and also resist the dullness of Labor’s current iteration).

“More likely is an ‘independent’ insurgency of the kind that dislodged Abbott from Warringah. An attractive centrist candidate suited to Hughes’ distinct demographic could dislodge enough disaffected Liberal voters to, in conjunction with a good preference deal, beat Kelly,” she says.

Zali Steggall, who heroically unseated climate sceptic and former prime minister Tony Abbott from the seat of Warringah, has some advice: “I would encourage [voters in Hughes] to think about the issues that matter to them and how it is best for those views to be represented in Parliament." She reminds voters their member reflects on the electorate and the people who vote him in.

“The time of just blindly following parties should be over. MPs have a duty to their electorates and put those views and needs first.”

University of Newcastle researcher Kurt Sengul says Kelly’s posts are typical of far-right actors: conspiratorial, anti-science, anti-expert, evidence-free rhetoric.

“That’s typical of what we see on the far right,” says Sengul.

But instead of taking Kelly to task, the Prime Minister gives him a cosy rub between the ears. Sengul observes that this isn’t some kooky minor party. It is the ruling party.

“If Scott Morrison doesn’t send a message, it reveals Kelly and his views have a home in the Liberal Party.”

Just as those views became part of the Republican Party.

Jenna Price is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a regular columnist.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/sydney-mp-craig-kelly-s-job-is-to-represent-hughes-but-he-s-pushing-manic-fringe-craziness-instead-20210110-p56t1j.html

Murdoch cannot whitewash his role in the most destructive presidency in US history

Donald Trump may have lit the match that sparked the violence in Washington DC, but Murdoch planted the explosives, writes Kevin Rudd.

KEVIN RUDD - JAN 12, 2021

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Donald Trump may have lit the match that caused his country’s turmoil, but it was Rupert Murdoch who crammed the joint full of explosives.

His systematic manipulation and radicalisation of the American right-wing polity at large, and the Republican Party in particular, should ring alarm bells throughout our nation, including in the office of the prime minister.

Over the past 25 years, Murdoch has used his Fox News network to unite American conservatives under his banner and shift them from the centre right to the far right with an intoxicating diet of grievance-driven, race-fuelled identity politics.

By the time Trump announced his presidential campaign, these voters had been indoctrinated into a universe of “fake news”, “alternative facts” and elaborate conspiracy theories. The operational definition of fake news, in the eyes of the Trump presidency, became anything other than Fox News.

After some initial disagreements, Murdoch backed Trump all the way to the White House. And they kept in lockstep throughout the Trump presidency.

Trump would often repeat publicly the talking points he’d picked up from Fox. Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker, recommended booking interviews on Trump’s favourite shows as among the most effective ways of communicating directly with the Oval Office. And nothing delighted Murdoch’s swaggering ego, hard-right ideology and business tax interests more.

Fox covered up for Trump’s mistakes, trying desperately to keep track with his shifting claims about the mildness or severity of the coronavirus.

When Fox’s news reporters found nothing newsworthy in documents relating to Joe Biden’s son Hunter, Murdoch’s New York Post (under the watchful eye of his leading Australian henchman Col Allan) swooped in by pressuring junior reporters to put their names to its dubious front page story.

Like Trump, Murdoch’s news outlets also gave succour to the dangerous QAnon cult, with the devastating consequences witnessed in Washington last week.

It is now beyond time for Scott Morrison to stand up and denounce QAnon before it can fully take root here in Australia. Even if it strains the prime minister’s personal friendships with members of the far right, he should send the sort of crystal-clear signal that Trump proved himself unable to before it was too late.

Fox News was also buoyed by its reputation as the president’s favourite network. In 2020, six of the seven top American cable programs were on Fox News.

Murdoch’s gamble also paid off personally with Trump’s tax cuts delivering him a US$2 billion gift courtesy of American taxpayers.

Make no mistake: Trump may have been inaugurated as president, but Murdoch was never far off — always seeking to influence and ventilate Trump’s increasingly deranged worldview. Nothing can erase that fact, no matter how much Murdoch tries to dissociate himself from the outgoing president. Murdoch cannot whitewash his central role in the single most destructive presidency in US history, including to America’s critical alliance relationships.

(continued)

>>12477533

2/2

Meanwhile, Murdoch is working on taking Australia down the same path. Sky News Australia, once dismissed as a niche outlet with a tiny viewership of right-wing nut jobs, is spreading its wings online. Its YouTube channel has 1.1 million subscribers, and its content is also broadcast free-to-air across 30 regional markets in every state and territory.

If you watched Sky News’ coverage of last week’s siege of the Capitol, it hit the same overall themes as Fox News: namely, that although violence is, of course, to be condemned, let’s be honest, it’s the fault of the meddling elites who refused to hear the truth about Trump’s fraudulent electoral defeat.

In Murdoch’s hands, Sky News represents a dangerous tool able to amplify the power of his print monopoly. He will use it to further radicalise the Liberal and National Party base and increase his capacity to guide future preselections and leadership contests. The Coalition is at risk of becoming a fully captured subsidiary of the Murdoch organisation as he pushes them further and further to the far right.

The Liberals would do well to learn the lessons of the Republicans, who were so intoxicated by Fox News’ short-term political usefulness that they didn’t care if it radicalised their base. Over time these voters became detached from long-standing Republican values and slid into a culture of grievance, “all government is evil”, ethnic tribalism, identity politics, and the conspiratorial world of QAnon.

The core problem in this country is that the political class, and most journalists, are too frightened to engage in a full and frank debate about the issue. In public life, Murdoch is he who shall not be named.

This is partly why more than 500,000 Australians signed a national petition last year calling on the parliament to establish a Murdoch royal commission, which would gather evidence and make recommendations at arm’s length from politicians who are too vulnerable to Murdoch’s wrath.

Off the back of that petition, the Senate will soon begin conducting hearings — an inquiry that, as of Tuesday, is still accepting submissions.

I am separately urging Australians to join me in taking direct action against Murdoch’s cash cow in Australia, realestate.com.au, by pledging to say no to its services until News Corp ceases its climate change vandalism.

More than 5000 Australians have already joined me in that pledge. The numbers are growing fast.

This year will be crucial in the campaign to establish a Murdoch royal commission to preserve our democracy by tackling monopolies wherever they exist in our news media. Australians observing what has happened in America have detected the whiff of gunpowder, and they haven’t a moment to lose.

https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/01/12/kevin-rudd-rupert-murdoch-donald-trump/

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 11, 2021, 10:44 p.m. No.12477633 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7643 >>2407

Opinion: Australian conservatives go to extraordinary lengths to deny the reality of rightwing extremism

After the Capitol violence, ‘bothsiderism’ from politicians such as Michael McCormack is genuinely dangerous

Jeff Sparrow - 12 Jan 2021

1/2

“It is unfortunate that we have seen the events at Capitol Hill, that we’ve seen in recent days – similar to those race riots that we saw around the country last year.”

That was Michael McCormack – Australia’s acting prime minister, no less.

Conservatives in Australia, like their co-thinkers in the US, have long performed extraordinary gyrations to avoid acknowledging the reality of rightwing extremism. Consider the reaction to a 2019 speech in which Mike Burgess, the director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, warned about the danger of fascist terrorism.

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, reacted to Burgess’s description of extremists meeting “in suburbs around Australia … to salute Nazi flags, inspect weapons, train in combat and share their hateful ideology” by telling journalists he was equally focused on leftwing extremists – a category not even mentioned in Asio’s report.

After the Capitol protest, this instinctive “bothsiderism” has become genuinely dangerous.

McCormack’s use of “unfortunate” implies, on face value, that the invasion of America’s chamber of government by fascists might be attributed to bad luck.

Just one of those things, apparently. Could have happened to anyone – and definitely bears no relationship to Donald Trump’s longstanding cultivation of a white nationalist fringe.

More importantly, the whataboutery of McCormack invocation of Black Lives Matter obscures the obvious point that the significance of the Capitol invasion lies not just in the actions of the Trump supporters but also in their rationale. Yes, other historical protests might have been violent too – but in Washington DC a crowd led by genuine fascists used force in an attempt to void an election.

Far-right extremists, some of them dressed in tactical gear with bulletproof vests and holstered guns, occupied the legislature on the behest of a defeated presidential candidate: a demonstration terrifying not just because of what they did but because of why they did it.

To put the issue bluntly, BLM mobilises against racism, whereas the Trump mob rallied in favour of it. The Capitol rampage was, to use McCormack’s terms, a “race riot”, a protest populated by a guy in a T-shirt celebrating Auschwitz, men waving Confederate flags, members of the white supremacist Proud Boys, and sundry neo-Nazi thugs.

The acting PM’s strange half-condemnation reflects the increasingly close relationship between American and Australian politics. If Trump refashioned the Republican party in his own image, he also reshaped conservatism in this country, fostering a new brashness in both the mainstream right and on the edges.

Let’s not forget how Scott Morrison received a medal after lauding the president as “a strong leader who says what he’s going to do and then goes and does it” – a description that perhaps sounds a little different after recent events.

(continued)

>>12477633

2/2

Cory Bernardi launched his own party seeking to emulate The Donald, while Pauline Hanson saw the 2016 presidential election as vindication of her own program. Noisy backbenchers such as George Christensen and Craig Kelly enthused about the Trump campaign, while former PM Tony Abbott described Trump as a “very good president”.

In the media, Trumpism became de rigueur for shock jocks and trollumnists, with Sky News broadcasting a special show (the notorious Outsiders program) seemingly made for “Trump’s Aussie mates”. Even supposedly serious commentators such as the Australian’s Greg Sheridan came out as more than slightly Trump-curious.

On the far right, the effect was even more electric. Trump’s victory, coming just after the Reclaim Australia movement, emboldened the extremists of the United Patriots Front and spurred an imitative local “alt right”. Even the bizarre delusions of QAnon found a hearing (with one of Morrison’s family friends revealed as a key Q influencer) while the anti-lockdown derangement most evident in Victoria relied on the rhetoric of American conspiracies about a “plandemic”.

Most disturbingly, the perpetrator of the Christchurch massacre used his pre-murder manifesto to praise Trump as a “symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose”.

That’s why facing up honestly to the evolution of US politics and its local effects matters so much.

Since 2016, we’ve seen the mainstream and the fringe of the American right engaged in a mutual radicalisation, with the extremists emboldened by rhetoric from Fox News and Republican lawmakers, and the party as a whole pushed to the right by its genuinely fascist elements.

In the short term, the fiasco of 6 January might have demoralised those who participated in it, with several prominent rightists now facing years in jail.

But Trump still retains millions of supporters – and, on platforms like Gab and Parler, you can now find many of them talking increasingly openly about violence. The minority drifting closer and closer to over fascism have found, in the supposedly fraudulent victory by Joe Biden, their own “stab in the back” myth and the death of Ashli Babbitt, the QAnon supporter shot by police, a contemporary Horst Wessel.

The turmoil in the US is not over. It’s barely begun.

Extremists in Australia remain much more isolated and disorganised than their American counterparts. But, in the current context, their relative isolation might even make them more dangerous by fostering a belief in individual terrorism as their only political option.

The New Zealand royal commission into the Christchurch massacre attributed the perpetrator’s radicalisation to YouTube and 8chan, platforms on which he absorbed the ideas of the American fascist right. But it also made clear just how closely the shooter followed developments in Australian politics.

The mass murders committed in New Zealand by a young Australian fascist back in 2019 prompted remarkably little reflection. That’s why it’s all the more urgent for a genuine assessment of Trump’s influence here.

Jeff Sparrow is a Walkley award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/12/australian-conservatives-go-to-extraordinary-lengths-to-deny-the-reality-of-rightwing-extremism

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 11, 2021, 11:23 p.m. No.12477873 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7893 >>2407

Alexander Downer Tweet

It seems very unwise for US Democrats to fuel divisions already exacerbated by president Trump. @JoeBiden is right not to endorse impeachment. Time for healing

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1348777940436152321

>>12477873

Opinion: For the real threat to democracy look to China, not the US

Despite the hysterical headlines, US democracy will survive Donald Trump. It's the bullying hardline authoritarian President Xi Jinping who is truly damaging his nation's international standing.

Alexander Downer - Jan 10, 2021

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Watching the scenes on television of Donald Trump supporting thugs bursting into the US Congress, breaking windows and smashing furniture brought back a distant memory.

In 1996, there was a similar attack on the Australian Parliament. It was certainly disconcerting to have an uncontrollable mob wielding iron bars and baseball bats just metres from your own office. Still, order was restored and democracy survived. Mind you, 90 people were injured.

In America they do things more violently and on a bigger scale. The only real long-term damage will be to Trump‘s legacy. He incited the riot and has rightly been condemned for it. But American democracy will survive, the administration will change on January 20 and the United States will move on.

Hysterical media stories about the damage this has done to American democracy will just pile up in the recycling bins of US homes.

There is no doubt, though, that this incident will have done some temporary damage to America’s reputation and standing in the world. But then, America is not the only country to commit reputational self-harm over the past year. China has trashed its own reputation in what has been the poorest display of diplomacy that I can ever remember.

Let’s consider China’s leaders’ performance. Their refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak in the first place and their early reluctance to listen to their own scientists in Wuhan was bound to be poorly received by the outside world.

Then once COVID-19 had broken loose and its damage to the health of humanity and to the global economy became apparent, the Chinese leadership reacted with horror to a perfectly reasonable and understandable suggestion from Australia that there be an international investigation into the pandemic and to examine lessons that could be learned to protect the world in the future.

The World Health Organisation duly set up the investigation but over the past week we heard that Chinese leaders were delaying issuing visas to the investigating team. This kind of decision is deeply damaging to China’s reputation.

Ironically, COVID-19 could have been an opportunity for China. They could have acknowledged publicly the risks of the initial outbreak in Wuhan, they could have drawn in the international scientific community as quickly as possible to help manage it, and they could have played a collaborative role with the rest of the world including through the distribution of PPE equipment and masks.

They did belatedly try to do the latter but by then the damage had been done.

Xi Jinping’s management of the diplomacy of COVID-19 was bad enough. That kind of environment calls for the best kind of personal diplomacy. Yet China chose the opposite: it adopted so-called warrior wolf diplomacy. Senior diplomats have dished out threats and insults like children in a primary school playground. That’s been deeply damaging to China’s standing in the world.

Recently there have been signs that they have woken up and recognised this. The Foreign Minister may not have changed policy, but his tone has been more measured in speaking about Australia, the United States and Europe.

And China has tried to conclude an investment agreement with the European Union. The EU should put geopolitics and human rights before money and hold back on this agreement. It isn’t timely with a country as uncollaborative as China.

(continued)

>>12477893

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Soft power

Then there is China’s attempts to use hard power to get its way. Imposing trade sanctions, declaring trade war on a country such as Australia, using warships to threaten other nations in the international waters of the South China Sea, attacking the Indian army on the Sino Indian border … How do they think this is all playing out in the outside world?

Australia is a country with a lot of soft power. It has a well-earned reputation for stability, high-quality governance, and a society that respects the rights of individuals. In material terms, it is one of the most successful countries in the history of humanity.

Declaring a trade war on Australia and, in particular, linking it to Australia’s complaints about human rights abuses and Australia’s advocacy of an international investigation into the causes of the COVID-19 outbreak has done further harm to China’s reputation worldwide.

People like Australia, Bullying Australia is not helping China and its standing in the world. Only the most slavish economic colonies of China will take China’s side in this dispute.

And then there is Hong Kong. On the same news services reporting the thugs attacking the US Congress were reports of the Chinese rounding up political dissidents and democracy advocates in Hong Kong. It was a distressing scene.

I personally represented Australia at the Hong Kong handover in 1997 when the one country, two systems formula seemed to have such promise. And now there has been an authoritarian crackdown by the regime in Beijing, which has destroyed trust and confidence in Hong Kong’s future. It just makes me sad to see this sort of behaviour.

So yes, all that commentary about Trump’s mob attacking the Congress is damaging to America. But then these are the thugs I’ve had to put up with for four years threatening to do everything from banning me from America to killing me. I know these people. And it is true, they are the most fervent supporters of Trump.

In international relations there are two sorts of power: hard and soft power. Hard power is the power a state can yield over others through military force or economic might. Soft power is the capacity to persuade others through the strength of reputation.

Soft power comes from respect for a country’s institutions but also the quality of its education, the credibility and reach of its media and arts, successful innovation and invention and so on. At the top of the soft power charts are countries like the UK and France but clearly the US exercises substantial soft power as well.

But in 2020 and into 2021, the country which has lost the most soft power and now has almost none is the People’s Republic of China. Its leaders have trashed its reputation with the outside world. If they have any sense, they will use the change of administration in Washington as a pretext to change their diplomatic behaviour and the nature of their engagement with the outside world.

That is, if Xi Jinping can bear to part with his hardline authoritarian instincts.

Alexander Downer was Australia's longest serving foreign minister, from 1996 to 2007, and most recently Australian High Commissioner to the UK.

https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/for-the-real-threat-to-democracy-look-to-china-not-the-us-20210110-p56t07

>>12136390

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 12:33 a.m. No.12478312 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8322 >>2407

>>12477533

‘Freedom of speech must never mean freedom from responsibility’

Rupert Murdoch's Fox News pushed and extolled the presidency of Donald Trump. It must now be brought to account, writes Malcolm Turnbull.

MALCOLM TURNBULL - JAN 12, 2021

1/2

True to their tradition of wielding power without responsibility, the Murdochs, pere et fils, have not commented on the sacking of the Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters. Yet this catastrophe could not have occurred without the hatred, division and madness Murdoch’s media have promoted for years within the United States and beyond.

Murdoch knew Trump very well and did not regard him as a serious or suitable person to be president. But he was persuaded he could win and so threw all of the power of Fox News behind him. Until a few weeks ago Fox News’ relationship with Trump was like that of a state-owned broadcaster in a dictatorship: flattering the great leader, supporting his friends, denouncing his allies, covering up his failures.

Fox News has promoted and exacerbated America’s deep social and racial divisions, supporting Trump’s exploitation of them at every turn.

When COVID-19 arrived, Fox and Murdoch’s other media outlets were in the forefront denying the reality of the virus, questioning social distancing and mask wearing. In other words denying the epidemiology of the virus just as they have denied the physics of global warming.

And when the election result was clear, Fox was once again in the forefront supporting Trump in his claims of election fraud, undermining Americans’ faith in their electoral system.

America is weaker, sicker and more divided today than it has ever been, probably since the Civil War. America’s adversaries in Beijing and Moscow are delighted, beside themselves with schadenfreude as they see the Confederate flag carried in triumph through the Capitol, congressmen and senators chased through the corridors by a mob sent by the president.

Murdoch did not directly dispatch the mob as Trump did, but his media, more than any other, amplified the narratives of hatred, division and denial that made the mob possible.

I have been with Trump and Murdoch and the power relationship was all too obvious. Trump was deferential, almost obsequious, to Murdoch. In fact when Trump and I first met he wanted Murdoch to join our bilateral discussion. I told him I wouldn’t do that — something Murdoch did not appreciate no doubt.

Russian interference in US politics was designed to foment division between Americans, mostly on racial lines, and to undermine trust in the US electoral system. Those objectives have been achieved, spectacularly, but it’s hard to give the Russians much credit for it. The heavy lifting was done by Americans — Murdoch above all, followed by other right-wing media and of course the craziness on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms favoured by the lunatic right, like Parler and Gab.

(continued)

>>12478312

2/2

Many of Murdoch’s employees, such as Paul Kelly, try to explain the extremism on Fox, Sky News or The Australian as being the consequence of the craziness of social media corrupting traditional mainstream media. (See page 480 of my book A Bigger Picture.)

There is some truth in that, but it does not absolve the owners and editors of mainstream media from responsibility for what they have wrought. Mainstream media has to compete with social media for eyeballs and dollars, but it has enormous reach and credibility that a Facebook post or a Twitter thread does not.

Murdoch’s Australian media has evolved into a version of Fox News. Readers don’t need to be reminded of their consistent climate denialism and the way they cover for their political mates and denounce their opponents.

All of us have to accept responsibility for the consequences of our actions — especially if they were foreseeable. The prerogative of the harlot is how Rudyard Kipling described the press barons’ power without responsibility. Pretty tough on harlots I have always thought.

The Murdochs have said they are simply running a business. So the craziness of Fox News is not propaganda, it’s just giving the market what it wants.

That is no defence. When a drug company poisons its customers, it is no defence to say that the poisoning was unintended — that the directors just wanted to boost their earnings.

The time has come to hold powerful people in the media responsible for the damage they have created or enabled. This doesn’t mean newspapers or broadcasters should be censored, but it does mean that the public and media who report the news accurately and fairly should hold the propagandists to account.

It means businesses that advertise with Murdoch should be asked to explain how they justify supporting platforms that have done so much damage to democracy. It means journalists who do their masters’ bidding should be asked to explain how they justify their complicit collaboration with such destructive political propaganda.

When I made these points to Paul Kelly on Q+A recently he responded with “how dare you?”, indignant that I would seek to hold him to account. Well just as we hold politicians to account, it is about time we hold powerful media voices to account.

Freedom of speech must never mean freedom from responsibility.

https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/01/12/freedom-speech-never-freedom-responsibility/

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 12:50 a.m. No.12478426 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2499 >>2587

National security concerns thwart Chinese bid for major builder

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has rejected a takeover bid for one of Australia's largest builders from a Chinese government controlled company over concerns it could give foreign intelligence services access to information about the nation's critical infrastructure.

China State Construction Engineering Corp launched the bid last year for a major stake in Probuild, the Australian subsidiary of a South African-owned company, in a deal understood to be worth more than $200 million.

The deal required the approval of both the Treasurer and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

South African company Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) confirmed late on Monday the proposed sale of its 88 per cent stake in Australian-based Probuild would not proceed on national security grounds.

"The company in June last year received the indicative proposal from a major international construction company to acquire the Probuild shareholding, but the buyer has advised that the deal would be rejected by the relevant federal government on the grounds of national security," WBHO said.

"This [is] despite all other due diligence having been completed and commercial terms having been materially agreed between the parties."

Government and industry sources confirmed the Treasurer had contacted both parties late last year to inform them he would not be approving the deal.

The decision was based on concerns about a Chinese government controlled conglomerate holding contracts with government agencies and critical infrastructure service providers, they said.

The company withdrew the bid before it was formally knocked back by the FIRB.

The decision, first reported by The Australian Financial Review, risks further inflaming tensions between Canberra and Beijing after relations between the two countries descended to their worst levels in decades in 2020.

China slapped billions of dollars of tariffs on Australia last year after the Morrison government pushed for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.

Mr Frydenberg did not comment on the decision.

"The government does not comment on the application of the foreign investment screening arrangements as they apply or could apply to particular cases," he said.

FIRB's guidance to the industry points out that construction firms often hold contracts with government agencies and providers of critical infrastructure. It notes that commercial construction firms that develop assets for these clients might have significant access to sensitive information, such as building blueprints and supply chains.

"Such information may be of value to foreign intelligence services," the FIRB says.

"Foreign intelligence services may also pre-position for future intelligence activities – such as by building surveillance equipment into the premises during construction, in order to gather information on intended sensitive tenants."

According to Probuild, more than 90 per cent of its work in the past has been for private sector clients.

The company, which has an annual turnover of more than $2 billion, last year completed the build of Melbourne CBD's tallest apartment building, Aurora Melbourne Central.

This masthead last year revealed the FIRB was bracing for Chinese takeover bids of distressed Australian assets during the global pandemic.

The concerns sparked Mr Frydenberg to slash a key takeover threshold from $1.2 billion to zero in order to ensure any overseas bid could be blocked at his discretion after scrutiny by federal officials.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/national-security-concerns-thwart-chinese-bid-for-major-builder-20210112-p56tez.html

>>12408871

Bill Shorten Tweet

The Trump v. Twitter stoush is a good reminder that not everything you read on the internet is true. #auspol

https://twitter.com/billshortenmp/status/1348779092905086976

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 9:44 a.m. No.12482499 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2587

>>12478426

Beijing accuses Australia of politicizing business as Chinese bid for major builder is blocked for 'security concerns'

China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday told Canberra it was a mistake to politicize commercial cooperation after Australia's treasurer blocked a takeover bid for one of the largest builders from a Chinese company.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg rejected a takeover bid launched by China State Construction Engineering Corp last year for a major stake in Probuild, the Australian subsidiary of a South African parent company Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO).

The deal, which required the approval of the treasurer and Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board, was rejected over concerns it could give foreign intelligence services access to information about the country's critical infrastructure.

The purchase was reportedly worth AU$300 million ($232 million), but the potential buyer had been told the deal "would be rejected by the federal government on the grounds of national security," and the Chinese company had to drop the bid.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Tuesday accused Canberra of violating market principles. "Such actions have disrupted the sound momentum in practical cooperation between China and Australia and hurt the image and reputation of Australia itself," he said. "It is a mistake to politicize normal commercial cooperation and seek political interference in the name of national security."

Zhao also expressed hope that Australia will adhere to the principle of open market and fair competition.

Probuild's executive chairman, Simon Gray, also sees "more politics than anything else" in the treasurer's decision. "No one can give us a real reason why we're a national security risk. It's a joke," he noted.

Chinese investment in Australia's economy has already fallen as the two states are at loggerheads over Canberra's foreign interference laws, its ban on Huawei's 5G equipment, and disputes over China's policies in Hong Kong and its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan.

https://www.rt.com/news/512273-china-australia-business-security/

—

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on January 12, 2021

Global Times: Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has reportedly shot down a 300 million AUD offer made by China State Construction Engineering Corporation to acquire Australian-based construction giant Probuild on the grounds of national security. Does China have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: I have taken note of relevant reports. This is the latest example of how the Australian government has been politicizing trade and investment issues, violating market principles and the spirit of the China-Australia free trade agreement, and imposing discriminatory measures on Chinese companies. Such actions have disrupted the sound momentum in practical cooperation between China and Australia and hurt the image and reputation of Australia itself.

I would like to stress again that China-Australia trade and investment cooperation is mutually-beneficial. The Chinese government always asks Chinese companies to abide by international rules and host country laws and regulations when conducting international cooperation. It is a mistake to politicize normal commercial cooperation and seek political interference in the name of national security. We hope Australia will adhere to the principle of open market and fair competition and provide a fair, open and non-discriminatory business environment for foreign companies including Chinese ones.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1845846.shtml

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1349126595563413505

Jack Posobiec Flag of United States

@JackPosobiec

The NY Times just backed up the

@OANN

report that Capitol barricades first breached 20 minutes before Trump speech ended

It is nearly 1.5mi from the Ellipse to the Capitol, at least 30-40 min walk

4:50 PM · Jan 12, 2021

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 10:14 p.m. No.12494947 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2517

Malcolm Turnbull slams Scott Morrison for failing to take tough line with MPs

A former PM has slammed Scott Morrison for failing to take a tougher line with MPs promoting “dangerous” crackpot COVID-19 cures.

Malcolm Turnbull has slammed Scott Morrison for failing to take a tougher line with MPs promoting “dangerous” crackpot COVID-19 cures including hair lice treatments and the use of the antiseptic Betadine.

The former prime minister has warned it’s time to “call out” Liberal MPs, including NSW MP Craig Kelly, who are developing huge social media followings by promoting wild claims about the virus.

Mr Kelly’s Facebook account now has an army of followers who are reading up to three posts a day promoting controversial theories and claims that asking children to wear face masks was “child abuse”.

“Well, look, the very least the Prime Minister and the Health Minister, Acting Prime Minister, should call it out for what it is,’’ Mr Turnbull said.

“I mean, you know, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from responsibility.

“Morrison and McCormack and Hunt and others should be saying – at the very least – is that Craig Kelly is wrong and that it is reckless and irresponsible to be misleading the Australian public on matters of public health.”

Mr Turnbull said it was “hard to think of anything more important” than public confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine.

“And if you have got a member of parliament pedalling misleading and dangerous information, then that, at the very least, needs to be called out and condemned and contradicted by the Government,’’ he said.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly has promoted a range of theories on COVID-19 on his page but has attacked claims he’s promoting misinformation about the hair lice treatment Ivermectin after posting another study overnight.

“For all those ignorant ill-informed Ivermectin deniers out there, piling on the abuse and claiming Ivermectin is all ‘conspiracy theory’ stuff and ‘misinformation’ (Chris Bowen, Jenna Price @SMH, The Guardian, etc) – read it and weep, wash the blood off your hands and apologise for your ignorance and prejudice,’’ Mr Kelly said.

“And then join my call for the National COVID Evidence Task Force to IMMEDIATELY reverse their recommendation against using Ivermectin to fight COVID.

“And I wonder if the ABC or any MSM media report this story tonight?”

Mr Kelly has also posted links to studies suggesting that the antiseptic Betadine could reduce hospitalisations by 84 per cent.

“I have not ‘DECLARED’’ anything about Betadine,’’ Mr Kelly said.

“What I did, was post the details of a study published in the journal Bioresearch Communications, Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2021 – by the lead author Assistant Professor Iqbal Mahmud Chowdhury MD – in which they ran a randomised controlled clinical trial, the results of which were those taking the Betadine treatment in the study had a 84 per cent reduction in COVID infections compare to those in the placebo group.”

Mr Turnbull also rubbished the Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack’s suggestion that Twitter should not ban US President Donald Trump.

“Let’s be quite frank about this – Donald Trump incited a mob, many of them armed, to attack the Congress of the United States.

“To attack and besiege it. I mean, this is one of the most humiliating, devastating moments, blackest days, in American history and Trump incited it,’’ he said.

“So I think – I think that, you know, Twitter and Facebook have been acting responsibly.”

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/malcolm-turnbull-slams-scott-morrison-for-failing-to-take-tough-line-with-mps/news-story/26688eebb37cf4f77b3d38ad0cd1823c

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Too late Aussies Jan. 12, 2021, 10:25 p.m. No.12495084 🗄️.is 🔗kun

You’re going to be setting each other on fire 🔥 until the end of time

Like the dopey disrespectful Americans

A combination of high level information warfare based on Gregory Bateson’s ‘theory of types’ , Lots of meditation and some incredible luck.

Seven weeks meditation with these bad boys.

http://www.973-eht-namuh-973.com/Alchemy/ADVENT%20INDEX.htm

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

You’ve been duped by all your politicians and twitter too. Who collectively thought 💭 it would be a wise move to conceal, threaten and judge the true source of the storm ☔️.

Don’t take it personally. All our politicians are shameless cunts. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, does it?

And fixating on national identity is a recipe for disaster.

And yes, we are definitely all created equal.

And the dumb Jews do pay a price to handle the money too. Lol 😂

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format. 2,238 pages

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. 130 Mb

Every single entry date and time stamped.

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

Kills the poor hurt feelings and opinions of individual humans dead.

Jon James Pratt (999)

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Humbly blessed as the world’s top intellectual and philosopher

Never lies and is never violent. Ever

Aka 'the storm ☔️'

Aka ‘cosmic lol 😂’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 10:59 p.m. No.12495517 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5543 >>2587

The secret plan for countering China: Trump should have followed his own strategy

Anthony Galloway - January 13, 2021

1/2

A highly sensitive document outlining the United States' strategy for the Indo-Pacific represented a strong blueprint for the region but Donald Trump never followed it.

The declassified document outlines how the US and its allies, including Australia, should defend against the threat of a rising China.

Dated February 2018, the strategy was previously classified "secret" and "not for foreign nationals".

It was supposed to be released in 2043 but instead was declassified by the Trump administration last week and released on Wednesday afternoon Australian time.

The 10-page document commits the US to being able to deny China sustained air and sea dominance inside the first island chain - which includes Kuril Islands, the Japanese Archipelago, the Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan - in the event of a military conflict.

It says the US should "accelerate India's rise and capacity to serve as a net provider of security", create "a quadrilateral security framework with India, Japan, Australia, and the United States" and deepen "trilateral cooperation with Japan and Australia".

So why did a few senior officials in the Trump administration decide to release it?

One reason is that these officials clearly want to be recognised for the work they were doing in re-orienting American foreign policy over the past four years in an administration marked by chaos and disruption. While Trump himself was devoid of a strategy, his bluster and assertive rhetoric allowed these officials to develop an Indo-Pacific strategy that was more in line with countries such as Australia and Japan and recognised the existential threat of a rising China.

Secondly, they also want to encourage the incoming President, Joe Biden, to stay engaged in the Indo-Pacific and send a message to regional allies that there will be a strong degree of policy continuity.

Although this has been the most bitter and unusual transition in history, the one area where there has been dialogue between the Trump administration and the Biden camp is on national security. These Trump officials clearly hope the release of such a document will provide cover for the Biden administration to continue with the strategy.

It is notable how instrumental Australia was in the US devising this strategy. The Turnbull government's banning of Chinese vendors in the rollout of 5G and introduction of legislation to counter foreign interference were a major impetus. The Americans also took note of a report written by then-national security advisor John Garnaut on China's intelligence and interference operations in Australia.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 11:02 p.m. No.12495543 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2587

>>12495517

2/2

While the strategy aims to maintain US "diplomatic, economic, and military preeminence" in the region, it calls for the US to "align our Indo-Pacific strategy with those of Australia, India and Japan".

Where Trump was most successful in following this strategy was the forging of deeper relationships with Australia, India and Japan and the reformation of the Quad alliance. This is where Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, Shinzo Abe and Narendra Modi deserve a significant amount of credit.

It must be said that the US's pivot to the region and conception of the "Indo-Pacific" did not begin under Trump. And China's actions over the past four years - crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, more artificial islands in the South China Sea and a border stoush with India - would have resulted in a more assertive posture from the US no matter who was president.

The Trump administration did get a lot right on China: calling out Beijing's currency manipulation and unfair trading practices; pushing back against the militarisation of the South China Sea; elevating critical technologies to the sphere of strategic competition; and the consolidation of the "Quad" alliance.

But its Indo-Pacific strategy was constantly derailed by the nativist instincts of Trump and some of those around him.

While the declassified document aims for "a strengthened Association of Southeast Asian Nations", Trump regularly snubbed ASEAN summits. Despite the document calling for the US to deepen its connections in the region, Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and threatened to pull troops out of Japan and South Korea.

As Turnbull remarked on Wednesday, the document was a "very clear-eyed thoughtful statement of America's strategic priorities in the Indo-Pacific", but the strategy was "not always consistently followed through by President Trump who was a very erratic operator on the international stage".

So let's not pretend Australia and the Trump administration were always pursuing the same goal over the past four years.

Australia's Indo-Pacific strategy for a number of years has been aimed at transitioning to a multipolar region where Beijing is accommodated but counterbalanced by a number of regional powers including India, Indonesia, Japan and the US. Trump, and particularly his last Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, often appeared to be pursing a misguided policy of maintaining US hegemony throughout the whole region.

The strategy outlined in this document is closer to Australia's foreign policy than Trump's. Australia is now hoping Biden follows the blueprint better than his predecessor.

https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20449107-us-strategy-document-on-indo-pacific

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-secret-plan-for-countering-china-trump-should-have-followed-his-own-strategy-20210113-p56tpb.html

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 11:18 p.m. No.12495681 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2517

>>12143488

Pete Evans’ podcast dumped from Spotify

Former reality star Pete Evans has had his podcast dumped from the popular streaming service for spreading misinformation about coronavirus.

Phoebe Loomes - JANUARY 12, 2021

Controversial chef Pete Evans has had his podcast removed from Spotify.

The former reality star turned conspiracist said in an Instagram post his “podcast channel has been removed” from the popular streaming service on Tuesday.

Evans, who routinely shares misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines, has previously vowed he’d free himself from “being censored”.

But a spokesperson for Spotify has told news.com.au in a statement they prohibit any content that promotes “dangerous, false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19”.

“Spotify prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous, false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health,” the spokesperson said.

“When content that violates this standard is identified it is removed from the platform.”

Evans suggested in a post on Instagram he’d been silenced for interviewing “doctors” about dangerous “medicine”.

“Could it have something to do with the many brave doctors and scientists that we interview, that are warning people about these poisons that’s disguised as medicine,” Evans asked in an Instagram post.

He urged his followers to subscribe to his paid subscription website, which he promised will “will always be uncensored for you all”.

Evans encouraged his fans to subscribe to his online community, which costs $10 a month, or $100 a year for access to his paleo recipes, videos and 30 minute podcasts.

A subscription to Spotify, which gives you access to millions of songs and podcasts wherever you go, is $11.95 a month, or free if you can handle the ads.

Evans has recently used his podcast to spread the views of QAnon conspiracists from X22 report, calling for the overturning of the US election, as well as anti vaccine advocate and COVID-19 denier Dr Charlie Ward.

Julia Mancuso, a US Olympic skier who won a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympic commented on Evan’s post. “Wow. That’s insane,” the champion skier wrote.

Bali-based Crossfit athlete Dave Driskell wrote, “It’s all happening”.

The former pizza chef had already been kicked off Facebook late last year, after posting false claims about coronavirus and vaccines throughout the pandemic.

A spokesperson for Facebook said at the time, “We don’t allow anyone to share misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts.

“We have clear policies against this type of content and we’ve removed Chef Pete Evans’ Facebook Page for repeated violations of these policies.”

Before having his page removed, Evans claimed he was quitting the platform and moving to far-right social media site Parler.

His comments came after he shared a neo-Nazi cartoon online, and was swiftly dumped by his publisher Pan Macmillan Australia.

Evans was also set to appear in the current series of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here on Channel 10, but he was removed from the cast.

Evans also parted ways with his coconut water company Natural Raw C, which said it was “horrified and saddened by the religious and anti-Semitic undertones” in the cartoon. Cookware company Baccarat also sought to distance themselves from Evans.

Retailers Big W and Dymocks also announced they’d removed his books from their stores, as did Readings.

“To all the amazing fb community we have built over the years … yes the 1.5 million of you,” Evans wrote in November.

“For me It is time to say goodbye to this platform and thank you all for sharing your stories of beautiful health transformations and for giving me a bloody good laugh and cry along the way.”

Evans did not stay true to his word, and continued posting on Facebook up to ten times a day.

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/pete-evans-podcast-dumped-from-spotify/news-story/ad64727386267aae6bf648136caa5bab

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 11:40 p.m. No.12495910 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5923 >>2639

Opinion: QAnon and ‘Stop the Steal’ rioters will be in a world of hurt as the law crashes down on them

Storming the Capitol was a next-level event, revving up the country’s national-security forces.

Nicholas Grossman - Jan. 12, 2021

1/3

To the QAnon community, and others involved in storming the Capitol:

The Deep State is real, but it’s not what you think. The Deep State you worry about is mostly made up; a fiction, a lie, a product of active imaginations, grifter manipulations and the internet.

I’m telling you this now because storming the Capitol building has drawn the attention of the real Deep State — the national security bureaucracy — and it’s important you understand what that means.

You attacked America. Maybe you think it was justified — as a response to a stolen election, or a cabal of child-trafficking pedophiles, or whatever — but it was still a violent attack on the United States. No matter how you describe it, that’s how the real Deep State is going to treat it.

The impact of that will make everything else feel like a LARP.

The real Deep State

I’ve been teaching college students about the Deep State for years, and have interacted with it on occasion. By “Deep State,” I’m referring to executive branch agencies populated with unelected officials, especially those involving national security, law enforcement and intelligence. The non-nefarious name for it is “the federal bureaucracy,” with the subset that includes the military, Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation known as “the national security state.”

In 2017, conservative writer David Frum quipped that if you replaced “Deep State” with “rule of law,” you’d have a better understanding of Trumpist complaints.

There’s some truth in that. Federal agencies and their mandates were created by law, their annual budgets are determined by law, and they’re overseen by elected officials. Their main job is executing U.S. law, and one reason they’ve clashed with the White House is being asked to do things outside their legal abilities, or to not do things that are legally required.

So rule of law is part of it, but it’s not that simple.

The president appoints, and the Senate confirms, top officials, from the secretary of state to the five members of the Arctic Research Commission, over 1,200 in total. Every other executive branch employee — over 4 million if you include the military, over 2.7 million if you don’t — is hired or recruited, not elected or appointed. This means that the departments of State, Defense, Justice, the intelligence community and federal law enforcement are staffed with people the agencies hired themselves.

Their mandates are broad. For example, the FBI is supposed to “investigate federal crimes and threats to national security.” While there are laws giving the FBI certain powers (e.g., to arrest people) and limits (needing warrants), a lot is open to interpretation, especially regarding national security threats.

It’s fair to say the FBI, CIA, Internal Revenue Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other federal agencies have, to some extent, taken on lives of their own. So has the military, and the larger defense-industrial complex. They’re under control of elected and appointed leaders, but also not, acting according to established laws, established regulations (many of which they wrote themselves), and individual judgment calls. You could call that “the Deep State.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 12, 2021, 11:41 p.m. No.12495923 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5933

>>12495910

2/3

National security

If you want to understand the real Deep State, the biggest thing you need to know is it’s institutional, impersonal and operates on a national scale.

The law enforcement-intelligence-national security bureaucracy doesn’t really care about a lot of the little things people think it cares about. It’s mostly focused on terrorists, serial killers, narco-traffickers and foreign governments — threats to the nation.

Previous QAnon activity wasn’t on that scale, but the Capitol attack is. I don’t think this has sunk in yet. It wasn’t 9/11, but it was bigger than, for example, Benghazi.

Americans storming the Capitol to prevent Congress from carrying out election law hasn’t happened before. When four Puerto Rican nationalists shot at congressmen from the House balcony in 1954, they were rightly called terrorists, convicted in federal court and imprisoned. And that was just four attackers, no one died, and it wasn’t encouraged by a losing presidential candidate to disrupt the peaceful transition of power.

The Capitol attack was a unique event in American history, something they’ll teach about in high school. National security analysts are comparing it to last year’s FBI-thwarted plot to kidnap and execute Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, which came a few months after armed demonstrators forcefully stopped business at the Michigan statehouse. There have been armed post-election demonstrations at multiple statehouses, and reports of plots to storm them next week.

It’s a pattern. And after the Capitol attack, the Deep State is going to take it seriously.

U.S. code defines “sedition” as using “force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States.” That’s what you did. And the legal process you tried to stop is one of the most important in American democracy.

Five people are dead, and it could’ve easily been more. You beat a police officer to death and injured others. You set up a gallows and chanted “hang Mike Pence.” While some goofy attention-seekers attracted the most focus at first, it’s increasingly clear that some who stormed the Capitol, likely members of far right militias, were searching for Vice President Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other national leaders, and would’ve killed them if they had the chance. That’s terrorism, fortunately thwarted by Capitol security and luck.

Compare that to, for example, riots this past summer. Looting is bad, but it’s a problem for police and insurance companies. Trying to burn down a police station or courthouse is worse, but that too is a law enforcement problem, perhaps one requiring federal assistance. Storming the Capitol, forcefully hindering the execution of U.S. law, and trying to kill top elected officials is a national security problem.

What you did was on another level, and the reaction will be too.

(continued)

>>12495923

3/3

After the Capitol attack

By “you,” I don’t mean you personally (unless you were there), but your movement as a whole. QAnon’s fingerprints are all over this.

A 35-year-old woman named Ashli Babbitt, shot by Capitol police as she climbed through an opening near where elected officials were hiding, was a QAnon believer who thought she was taking part in the prophesized “storm.” The guy in the horns who traipsed through the Senate chamber is known as the “Q Shaman.” QAnon slogans and hashtags, such as “where we go one we go all,” can be seen on shirts and signs at the riot, and on tons of related social media posts.

This means that, for the first time, the Deep State cares about you.

No matter what anyone’s told you, Deep State operatives weren’t spending their time messing with your internet discussions. That’s below their radar. It wasn’t until May 2019 that an FBI intelligence bulletin warned of the potential for terrorism from “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists,” using QAnon and Pizzagate as examples. But it didn’t become a law enforcement or counterterrorism priority.

I should know — I’ve been trying to get them to take QAnon more seriously. This past August, after Trump publicly acknowledged the movement, I warned of the potential for election violence in a national security publication called Defense One:

“Win, lose, or too close to call, Trump will be in a position to activate the violent subsets of QAnon, deliberately or inadvertently. The president has been insisting, without evidence, that the election will be rigged, blaming an ambiguous “they” or a rotating cast of villains. The conspiracy-minded QAnon community makes for a receptive audience.

“If Trump starts tweeting things like “RIGGED! They’re trying to take your country. Don’t let them! THIS IS IT! Second Amendment!” — let alone if he uses QAnon lingo like “the Storm is upon us” — there’s a risk that some violence-embracing QAnon followers decide to act. And if some do, it could encourage others.”

That’s basically what happened. If anything, I think I guessed low.

But now that QAnon was involved in violent sedition, the national security state is paying attention. Arrests of people caught on camera storming the Capitol have already begun. Prosecutions will follow. Big tech companies — which, while powerful, are weaker than, and have a healthy fear of the government — are now treating QAnon almost like how they treat ISIS. A giant federal apparatus built to fight al Qaeda will shift some capacity to fighting you, especially the white nationalist and anti-government militias in your orbit.

You cheered on lawyers who said they’d release the Kraken. But now you’ve poked Leviathan.

This is what you need to absorb: QAnon and “stop the steal” are forever associated with a violent attack against the United States. Maybe that’s not what it’s meant to you, maybe you think that’s a misread of last week’s events, but that’s how the real Deep State, a lot of elected officials, and much of the public sees it.

If that isn’t what you signed up for, now would be a good time to get out.

Nicholas Grossman is a political science professor at the University of Illinois and senior editor of Arc Digital. Follow him on Twitter @ngrossman81.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/qanon-and-stop-the-steal-rioters-will-be-in-a-world-of-hurt-as-the-law-crashes-down-on-them-11610475743

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 13, 2021, 12:02 a.m. No.12496115 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

>>12418233

Maxwell appeals bail rejection in US case

The UK socialite awaiting trial on charges that she recruited girls in the 1990s for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse is appealing a US judge's order that she remain jailed.

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell notified a trial judge on Monday of plans to appeal her decision two weeks ago to reject a $US28.5 million ($A36.8 million) bail package for Maxwell.

The notice of appeal was posted publicly on Tuesday in the Manhattan federal court record.

In late December, a federal judge in Manhattan said the bail package proposed by defence lawyers only strengthened her confidence that her decision over the northern summer to keep Maxwell incarcerated until the July trial was correct.

The bail package included $US22.5 million that lawyers said amounted to all of Maxwell and her husband's assets.

They also said she would be under 24-hour guard and restricted to a New York City apartment where she would wear an electronic bracelet.

Prosecutors opposed bail, saying Maxwell remained a threat to flee in part because she had access to considerable wealth and connections abroad.

They also noted that she is a citizen of the US, the UK and France.

Maxwell, housed at a federal lockup in Brooklyn, pleaded not guilty after her July arrest to charges that she recruited and groomed girls for Epstein, including one who was 14 years old.

https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/maxwell-appeals-bail-rejection-in-us-case-ng-s-2045136

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.113.0_2.pdf

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 13, 2021, 12:30 a.m. No.12496290 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2475

US moves on setting up key multimillion dollar military fuel storage facility in Darwin

THE United States’ combat logistics support agency is moving on plans for a multimillion dollar fuel farm facility in Darwin for its fighter jets and warships.

The fuel reserve is being established in Darwin to ensure US war machines are not left stranded if fuel supply lines are disrupted.

DLA Energy has issued a Request For Information (RFI) for fuel operations in the Port of Darwin.

The RFI is a precursor to the tender process.

In the RFI notice DLA Energy is seeking information on “industry capabilities/interest/potential sources for the receipt, storage, and issue 1.2 million barrels of aviation turbine fuel, grade JP5 (fill capacity), and 700,000 barrels of commercial jet fuel, grade jet A-1 (fill capacity), in the Port of Darwin, Australia.”

The RFI stipulates all product must be held at a single location.

The estimated annual throughput is 400,000 barrels for each 12 month contract period.

As the nation’s combat logistics support agency, DLA manages the global supply chain for the US Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, 11 combatant commands, other federal agencies, and partner and allied nations.

The RFI seeks information for the potential lease/rental of fuel storage buildings, other warehousing and storage.

It also seeks information from interested companies on their service capabilities for receiving and shipping US government-owned product via an ocean-going tanker or barge on a 24-hour per day, seven-day per week basis.

Interested companies are asked to provide a Capability Statement that includes the firm’s capabilities to “provide contractor-owned/operated fuel storage facilities, equipment, tools, materials, supplies, and supervision necessary to receive, store, issue, maintain quality, account for petroleum products, maintain the associated fuel facilities and to provide qualified and experienced personnel.”

The United States and Australia began talks about establishing a US-funded military fuel reserve in Darwin last July. Australia’s Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said a Darwin fuel reserve farm is an incredibly important project, not just for the US, but also for Australia.

“This will be a very, very large fuel reserve,” she said.

The federal government’s plan to increase onshore diesel stockholdings and protect the nation’s fuel supply stepped up a notch last week with applications opening to be a part of the $200m program.

https://www.ntnews.com.au/business/us-moves-on-setting-up-key-multimillion-dollar-military-fuel-storage-facility-in-darwin/news-story/84ef3d2bddda2e6b103a0f83d30af56a

—

DEPT OF DEFENSE - DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY (DLA)

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION SPE603-21-R-5X01

FUEL OPERATIONS SUPPORT IN THE PORT OF DARWIN, AUSTRALIA

DLA Energy is seeking information on industry capabilities/interest/potential sources for the Receipt, Storage, and Issue 1,200,000 barrels of Aviation Turbine Fuel, Grade JP5 (fill capacity), and 700,000 barrels of Commercial Jet Fuel, Grade Jet A-1 (fill capacity), in the Port of Darwin, Australia.

https://beta.sam.gov/opp/c459bd5298094ba98f070df9adbdb4dd/view

Australian accused of running world's biggest darknet marketplace arrested

An Australian man accused of running the biggest illegal marketplace on the darknet has been arrested in Europe.

The site, known as DarkMarket, was shut down today, German prosecutors said.

Drugs, forged money, stolen or forged credit cards, anonymous mobile phone SIM cards and malware were among the things offered for sale there, prosecutors allege.

The suspected operator, a 34-year-old Australian man, was arrested near the German-Danish border.

Prosecutors said a judge has ordered him held in custody pending possible formal charges, and he hasn't given any information to investigators.

Australian police assisted German investigators in their months-long probe, alongside US, British, Danish, Swiss, Ukrainian and Moldovan law enforcement.

An Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesperson said it was "working closer than ever" with European authorities to tackle dark web and and organised crime threats impacting Australia.

"Our message is clear," the AFP spokesperson said.

"If Australians are considering using a dark net marketplace to conceal criminal activity, your anonymity is not guaranteed and you are not outside the reach of law enforcement."

The takedown of DarkMarket was significant, the spokesperson said, "with impacts around the world on thousands of Dark Market vendors and users".

DarkMarket had nearly 500,000 users and more than 2400 vendors, German prosecutors said.

They added that it processed more than 320,000 transactions, and Bitcoin and Monero cryptocurrency to the value of more than 140 million euros ($219.8 million) were exchanged.

More than 20 servers in Moldova and Ukraine were seized, German prosecutors said. They hope to find information on those servers about other participants in the marketplace.

The darknet is a part of the web accessible only with specialised identity-cloaking tools.

Prosecutors said the move against DarkMarket originated in an investigation of a data processing centre installed in a former NATO bunker in southwestern Germany that hosted sites dealing in drugs and other illegal activities. It was shut down in 2019.

That centre hosted DarkMarket at one point.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/dark-market-australian-accused-of-running-worlds-biggest-darknet-marketplace-arrested/edbd3269-4c4a-4f1b-998c-b77ef33a4ae5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRnUSNCVPDs

Our $2bn Vatican mistake: Austrac

DENNIS SHANAHAN - JANUARY 13, 2021

International financial watchdog Austrac has told the Senate it over-estimated bank transfers from the Vatican City to Australia for the past six years by more than $2bn.

Austrac told a Senate estimates committee before Christmas that $2.3bn had been transferred to Australia from the Vatican City in an answer to questions about money laundering and allegations that funds were transferred to adversely affect the trial of Cardinal George Pell.

It was calculated that $2.3bn was transferred in more than 40,000 transactions between 2014 and 2020, with a peak of $581m in 2017.

After weeks of working with the Holy See’s financial intelligence unit, Austrac has confirmed there were only 362 transfers from the Vatican to Australia during that time, with a total value of $9.5m.

The original Austrac figures also showed $117.4m was sent from Australia to the Vatican, likely part of an annual fund for charities, during the same period. The revised figures show that between 2014 and 2020, there were 237 transfers from Australia to the Vatican totalling $26.6m.

“Austrac has worked with the Holy See and Vatican City State Financial Intelligence Unit as part of the process,” the agency said in a statement to The Australian on Monday.

A computer coding error is believed to be the source of the miscalculation, with financial transfers to Italy included in transfers to the Vatican City State.

Austrac also confirmed to The Australian that despite the massive miscalculation on the transfers total, investigations were continuing into specific suspicious transfers from the Vatican to Australia.

Austrac reaffirmed its confidence in the original financial intelligence about suspicious money transfers, which are being probed by Vatican prosecutors examining hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud and money laundering.

The Vatican has been embroiled in scandal in recent months over allegations of embezzlement and nepotism levelled against Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a senior member of the church’s bureaucracy until this year who opposed Cardinal Pell’s reforms at the Vatican.

The focus for the Australian Federal Police and the Vatican’s financial unit are four transfers to Australia from the Vatican secretariat, including two from Cardinal Becciu, between 2017 and 2018 totalling $2m to a company in Melbourne.

Cardinal Becciu was fired by the Pope in September over allegations relating to a troubled $330m building project in London. Cardinal Becciu has denied any wrongdoing.

When Austrac’s original estimate of $2.3bn was revealed, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Vatican officials said they were baffled and astonished at the figures.

The bishops were considering a direct request to the Pope to investigate and explain how $2.3bn was transferred from the Vatican City to Australia over six years without their knowledge.

After Cardinal Pell’s appointment as the Vatican’s treasurer, Victoria Police investigated and charged him with two cases of historical sexual abuse in Melbourne. After two trials in 2018 and 2019, he was sentenced to six years’ jail and served more than a year in prison before he was acquitted unanimously by the High Court in April.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/our-2bn-vatican-mistake-austrac/news-story/5a1cfc8fe9e2498b61c2ec66dc111033

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Team Satan’s safety concerns Jan. 13, 2021, 8:29 p.m. No.12510620 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12500560

9d chess bro

Pics related

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

Why the far-right and white supremacists have embraced the Middle Ages and their symbols

Helen Young - Lecturer, Deakin University - January 14, 2021

1/2

Medievalist references littered the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th.

Rudy Giuliani called for a “trial by combat”; the “Q Shaman”, Jacob Chansley (also known as Jake Angeli), was covered in Norse tattoos; rioters brandished a flag with a Crusader cross and the Latin words Deus Vult: a Crusader war cry meaning “God wills it” that has been taken up by the far-right.

These far-right appropriations of the European Middle Ages are important reminders that recent violence has a long history and global scope. Medievalist symbols were displayed at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto referred to Norse and Crusading medievalisms.

There are many other examples.

Extremists misinterpret and appropriate medieval culture to suit their own purposes. They add new modern meanings to historical images and ideas and put them in new contexts. To understand why and how, we need to look to the modern world, not the Middle Ages.

Medievalism and whiteness

The association of the European Middle Ages and white identities reflects modern racisms more than medieval realities.

In the late 18th century, nations like England, Germany and France needed new origin stories that accounted for the emerging pseudo-science of race and the support imperialist claims of superiority over peoples they sought to subjugate. The roots of social and cultural institutions were linked to ideas of biological descent.

In the 1700s, the Germanic “Gothic race” was understood, especially by the English and Germans who claimed descent, as having an inherent love of freedom, capacity for violence and respect for women. These supposed qualities were said to have led to the feudal system of government, chivalry and particular cultural aesthetics.

In architecture, academia, literature, language and art, whiteness was associated with the Middle Ages in ways that still resonate in 21st century society and culture. Pre-Raphaelite art created a white medievalist aesthetic reflected in modern TV shows like Game of Thrones (2011-19) and The Last Kingdom (2015–).

This association of white racial and cultural identity with the European Middle Ages is still strong in mainstream culture, as well as among extremists. We only need to look at controversies, such as the black British actor Jodie Turner-Smith playing Anne Boleyn.

(continued)

>>12512250

2/2

Why do white supremacists use medievalist symbols?

White extremists take up existing ideas to legitimise their ideologies and false claims about the past. A rigidly structured feudal society ruled through violence by a king and nobility is appealing to fascists.

Most Western nations, including Australia, understand the European Middle Ages as part of their heritage. A copy of the Magna Carta, an English royal charter from 1215 often said to have enshrined trial by jury and other legal freedoms, hangs in Parliament House in Canberra. This makes medievalist symbols useful in allowing extremists to reach across national borders.

Medievalism is everywhere in contemporary Western culture, from entertainment like Vikings (2013-20) and the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise, to home loan and credit card advertisements, political discourse, themed restaurants and much more.

This helps make extremist associations deniable. Hate symbols can be hidden in plain sight when their meaning is open to question.

Popular culture medievalisms contribute to this deniability and provide opportunities for radicalisation through shared interests.

Former Ku Klux Klan member Derek Black started a section dedicated to Lord of the Rings and fantasy (a major area of popular medievalism) on the white supremacist site Stormfront in the early 2000s specifically to recruit people to white nationalist ideology. He told the New York Times he thought people who liked the “white mythos” of Lord of the Rings could be “turned on by white nationalism”.

More recently, video games and gaming websites — where medievalist material is common — have become major sites of concern for anti-radicalisation practitioners and policy makers because of activity by the far right.

Awareness is needed

Recent years have seen an increase in white extremist violence, including — but not limited to — mass-murderous terror attacks. It is increasingly important that we are aware of hate symbols.

Medievalist symbols like those displayed at the Capitol have been linked to white European identities for centuries. Their use by violent extremists means that this connection can not be denied, ignored, or thought of as a neutral choice. We must deliberately, actively, and explicitly reject hateful meanings and the violence that goes with them in all aspects of our medievalist modern world.

https://theconversation.com/why-the-far-right-and-white-supremecists-have-embraced-the-middle-ages-and-their-symbols-152968

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 13, 2021, 11:16 p.m. No.12512278 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2285 >>2639

>>12512250

US Capitol riot: the myths behind the tattoos worn by ‘QAnon shaman’ Jake Angeli

Tom Birkett - Lecturer in Old English, University College Cork - January 12, 2021

1/2

The defining image of the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 was undoubtedly that of a bare-chested man posing resplendent in a horned fur hat and face paint. Images of him in his weird costume have been shared across the globe – he seems to perfectly encapsulate the absurdity of the mob takeover of America’s sacred seat of power.

The individual in question has since been identified in the media as a far-right activist from Arizona by the name of Jacob Chansley (also known as Jake Angeli). He was quickly alleged to be an adherent of the QAnon conspiracy theory – though not before fake rumours spread that he was actually an antifa “plant”.

One thing that should make it very clear where Angeli’s politics lie are his tattoos. On his torso he has a large Thor’s hammer, known as Mjölnir, and what appears to be an image of the Norse world tree, Yggdrasill.

Mjölnir is one symbol we can be pretty sure was used by the original adherents of the Norse belief system, perhaps to summon the protection of the god Thor. Yggdrasill is the giant ash tree that supports the Norse cosmos, its branches reaching into sky realms inaccessible to humans, and its roots to the subterranean realm of the dead. Unlike Thor’s hammer, it was only rarely depicted by the Vikings, and representations such as the one below are modern interpretations.

Above these tattoos with a central place in Norse mythology is one that is more contentious. It depicts a valknut – an image that appears on two Viking-Age stones from Sweden carved with scenes from Norse mythology, including the Stora Hammars I stone on the island of Gotland.

The symbol’s original meaning is unclear, but it appears in close proximity to the father of the gods, Odin, on the stones. As Odin is closely connected with the gathering of fallen warriors to Valhalla, the valknut may be a symbol of death in battle.

Snorri Sturluson, a medieval Icelandic collector of myths, tells us in his “Language of Poetry” that a famous giant called Hrungnir had a stone heart “pointed with three corners”, and so the valknut is sometimes also called “Hrungnir’s Heart”. Whatever its original meaning, it has been used in more recent times by various neo-pagan groups – and increasingly by some white supremacists as a coded message of their belief in violent struggle.

(continued)

>>12512278

2/2

Borrowed symbols

Many people have similar tattoos which express their neo-pagan belief, Scandinavian heritage, or interest in the myths. But there is no doubt that these symbols have also been co-opted by a growing far-right movement. A hint at where Angeli lies on this continuum is in a tattoo that is less visible on his left shoulder, but which several academics including archaeologist Kevin Philbrook Smith have pointed out seems to be a version of the Sonnenrad, or sun-wheel.

This is a symbol listed by the Anti-Defamation League as “one of a number of ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis in their attempt to invent an idealised Aryan or Norse heritage”. Often it contains a swastika or other hate symbol – but worn with nothing inside, it is very easy for other white supremacists to fill in the blank.

Dog whistles

There is, of course, a long history of the co-opting of Norse imagery by the far right. Beloved of Himmler, the runic script inspired the insignia of the SS, while the swastika is another of those “ancient European symbols” that features in various forms on picture stones and runic inscriptions.

One of these is the Othala runic letter – its name means “inherited land”, and so it frequently appears in the emblems of white nationalist groups from Ukraine to the US.

These “coded” symbols, and others newly borrowed from Norse myth, are even harder to spot and condemn. Sky recently cancelled a reality TV show after viewers complained one contestant was covered in tattoos – including on his face – that could be seen as having far-right connotations. But if certain symbols are hard for the general public to spot, they are certainly dog whistles to members of an increasingly global white supremacist movement who know exactly what they mean.

Many scholars argue that the best way to counter far-right misuse is to drown it out with positive and accurate representations of Norse myth – the position I took in my recent retelling. But in the wake of the mass shooting in Norway in 2011 by Anders Breivik, who named his guns after weapons of the Norse gods, as well as the 2019 Christchurch mass shooter Brenton Tarrant, with his allusions to Valhalla, and of this latest poster-boy of far-right insurrection, we have to think very hard about whether this is the right approach to counter a truly global extremist movement. At the very least, academics – and anyone else with a genuine interest in Norse mythology – need to be far more involved in countering these abuses of our subject on the ground.

Otherwise, we run the risk of ceding the field to those who see the vague concept of “Norse heritage” as a way to further unite an international fraternity of violent white supremacists.

https://theconversation.com/us-capitol-riot-the-myths-behind-the-tattoos-worn-by-qanon-shaman-jake-angeli-152996

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 13, 2021, 11:25 p.m. No.12512347 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

Second impeachment may be least of Trump’s problems post-presidency

PETER VAN ONSELEN - JANUARY 14, 2021

The odium attached to being impeached twice is now something Donald Trump will carry for life. Of course that may well be the least of his problems in life after the presidency.

While the President can pardon himself (with dubious yet-to-be-tested constitutional authority) from federal laws, state laws are something he can’t get around so easily. Unless Trump hides out in favourable red states and avoids being extradited to those states with warrants out for his arrest state laws just might catch up with him.

Or he can flee the country in total ignominy.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Trump hasn’t been charged with anything just yet and the Senate is highly unlikely to convict off the back of this second impeachment. Nonetheless, the fact a gaggle of Republicans crossed the floor to back the impeachment is significant. Liz Cheney no small figure among them.

It speaks to the concerns within sections of the party about what Trump has done to it. About the lack of leadership shown in standing up to him before now. About how far the President has gone (too far) and just how dangerous he has become.

And let’s not forget we all knew these aspects to his character before now. Long before now. Apart from anything else, the aspects to his character that lent themselves to the way Trump has acted since his trouncing at the election fit almost perfectly with the clinical diagnosis of the man by his niece and PhD in psychology, Mary Trump. Detailed in her recent book about her uncle.

Hang their heads in shame

Yet so many Republicans and so many conservative commentators defended and even campaigned for Trump for years. They should now hang their collective heads in total shame.

The whole point of conservatism is to defend the status quo and defend institutions. Trump has done neither. He has torn at the fabric of American society and he has undermined institutions throughout his presidency.

Now the rebuild must start for Republicans. The once great establishment party of America needs to find its philosophical soul in the wake of Trump’s demise. It wont be easy. Populists have stormed its ranks. So too extremists like Qanon. All spurred on by the capitulation of the Republican establishment as Trump rose.

The only pathway to redemption is to acknowledge the mistakes of the recent path. In a strange way Trump losing it as badly as he now has should help with that. It makes it easier to walk away from his craziness. That’s why we have seen editorials in newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post so scathing of Trump and what he is doing.

But we need to always remember the collective stupidity and lack of decency that saw so many people who should know better puff up this president long before now.

We all make mistakes, but unleashing a demagogue on the White House was a big one.

Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/second-impeachment-may-be-least-of-trumps-problems-postpresidency/news-story/2bf527ed80e77ff9144a32ca7351b5d8

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 13, 2021, 11:39 p.m. No.12512436 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

Opinion: Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack has started limply echoing racists by saying ‘all lives matter’

Donald Trump is fanning the flames of far right extremism but don’t expect Scott Morrison’s government to hold a hose, writes Tory Shepherd.

Tory Shepherd - January 13, 2021

Donald Trump is fanning the flames of far-right extremists, while the Morrison Government is refusing to hold a hose to those flames as they rise in Australia.

None of our senior politicians have gone as far as the US President, who seems to have incited an insurrection. But several of them are fluffing for him and his neo-Nazi followers.

Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly played down the riots and linked them to a much-debunked claim that anti-fascists were involved (as opposed to fascists. Nice try).

National Party backbench colleague George Christensen has echoed fake claims about fraud in the US election and also tried to pin the January 6 Capitol Building invasion on left-wing groups.

And now acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack has started limply echoing racists by saying “all lives matter”. He’s practising whataboutery, pretending the Black Lives Matter movements were somehow equivalent to the armed invasion of the Capitol.

As with “It’s OK to be white”, “All lives matter” is a racist slogan – a too-clever-by-half way of undermining minorities protesting against racism. A whistle so loud, it’s more AFL umpire than dog.

“It’s OK to be white”, which One Nation senator Pauline Hanson famously moved as a parliamentary motion, came out of white supremacist and neo-Nazi chatrooms.

And since 2016, people have been explaining that saying “All lives matter” is a way to dismiss the persecution of people of colour. BLM protests – most of which were peaceful, with any violence often instigated by the police or armed thugs – were against police brutality. The riot in Washington was a bunch of neo-Nazis and fascists trying to stop democracy. Not quite the same thing.

The FBI knew it was coming. There are reports that some pro-Trump politicians aided and abetted the rioters.

This organised mob took pipe bombs, guns and a noose. They had assault rifles and handguns. One guy had 11 jars of homemade napalm. Another boasted of having armour-piercing ammunition.

They discussed for weeks what weapons they were going to take. They threatened to kill politicians, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It has been reported most of them were Republican Party members, the Proud Boys, far-right militants, fascist and conspiracy groups, and believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory. Some wore Nazi slogans.

Trump was chumming the water for these guys. For weeks he was telling his supporters to converge on Washington. They did. On the day, as the crowd grew, he told them to walk to the Capitol. And they did. He even gave them street directions.

While Trump keeps chumming, our leaders remain chums. All the big players – Merkel, Johnson, Trudeau – condemned his words and the actions that followed. Not Scott Morrison. He just said the events were “distressing”, “concerning”.

Reports are emerging that those who instigated the storming of the Capitol are preparing for a bigger, more violent insurrection in the lead- up to Joe Biden’s inauguration next week. The FBI is warning that there could be armed protests in every state.

These militants have taken strength and reassurance from Republicans who egg them on – most publicly, Trump.

But Mr McCormack – standing in for Mr Morrison, who is on leave – won’t condemn Trump, and instead doubled down this week on equating the Capitol insurrection with Black Lives Matter.

He attacked the BLM protests before briefly saying the Capitol attack was “unsavoury”. He said groups such as Amnesty International were “being bleeding heart” about the riot and should acknowledge people died during BLM protests. “All lives matter”, he said. Maybe he hasn’t done his homework, and doesn’t know the origin of the phrase.

Maybe Mr McCormack doesn’t know that Trump famously used the phrase in 2016 in the lead-up to his election victory, while he was copping flak for accepting the support of former Ku Klux Klan boss David Duke.

Let’s hope the acting PM didn’t realise that phrase is just the sort of populist propaganda – with a sprinkle of plausible deniability – that won Trump the support of the far right and the neo-Nazis who are now undermining democracy.

Tory Shepherd writes a weekly column on social issues for The Advertiser. She was formerly the paper's state editor, and has covered federal politics, defence, space, and everything else important to SA.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/tory-shepherd-acting-prime-minister-michael-mccormack-has-started-limply-echoing-racists-by-saying-all-lives-matter/news-story/231500b417d6592c7861f4d8a4ec6ef5

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 14, 2021, 12:26 a.m. No.12512775 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3241 >>2475

>>12461191

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweets

We helped create the International Maritime Security Construct & #CTFSentinel to secure the Strait of Hormuz & Persian Gulf from Iran's illegal acts. Started with 7 partners; now up to 14. #EffectiveMultilateralism

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1349453667292876806

—

Thank you Bahrain, UK, Albania, Lithuania, Australia, UAE & KSA for protecting one of the world's most critical shipping lanes from Iranian #PiratesOfHormuz.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1349454785544646657

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 14, 2021, 12:44 a.m. No.12512886 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8560 >>2542

Nicolas Pierre Faivre, charged with sending sex message to a child on Pinterest, worked as a 000 operator

A civilian NSW Police officer facing allegations that he sent sexually explicit messages to a child via Pinterest has been freed on bail.

Nicolas Pierre Faivre, 42, was arrested and charged when Australian Federal Police raided his Blue Mountains home on Monday following a tip-off from US authorities.

Mr Faivre, a triple-0 operator with the NSW Police and a former Mormon Bishop, has been charged with two counts of using a carriage service to transmit indecent communications with a person under 16 years.

Police have accused him of engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a child and if found guilty, he is facing a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The Katoomba man was on Thursday released on 11 strict bail conditions, including that he not access the internet or social media, when he successfully applied to the Penrith Local Court.

He was granted bail by Magistrate Bree Chisholm after the police prosecution did not oppose his release.

His defence lawyer Jasmina Ceic told the court that he should be released because he needed to support his family, including his wife from whom he is separated, and was responsible for their mortgage repayments.

Ms Ceic said that he was a triple-0 operator and that he could be fired because he is facing serious criminal allegations.

“It’s likely he will lose his job and will have to look for other employment,” Ms Ceic said.

NSW Police said in a statement that Mr Faivre had been suspended from duty.

Mr Faivre is also a former bishop with the Leura Ward of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

In a 2017 interview with the Guardian he talked of the healing power of religion.

“In the past 10 years I’ve had two stepbrothers and one aunty take their own lives because of mental illness, namely depression,” Mr Faivre said at the time.

“ … I sometimes wonder if they suffered in silence. I often wonder what would have happened if they would have opened their hearts (to the church).”

On Thursday, Ms Ceic conceded he was facing serious allegations but said any concerns about Mr Faivre offending while released on bail could be minimised by strict conditions which he had agreed to.

She said that he had agreed to live at Guildford with his mother, who had offered to sever her house’s internet connection while he was living there.

His bail conditions include that he does not access the internet or social media.

He is also prohibited from using any computer or electronic device, including a mobile phone, which can access the internet.

As well, he must not contact any person under 16 years or go within 100 metres of a playground or school.

The AFP raided his Blue Mountains home on Monday, seizing a mobile phone and two tablet devices after officers received a report from the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

Police said they received the tip-off about an Australian-based Pinterest user allegedly lying about his age when interacting with children online.

Mr Faivre will next appear before the court in March.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/nicolas-pierre-faivre-charged-with-sending-sex-message-to-a-child-on-pinterest-worked-as-a-000-operator/news-story/b6eea17996329dbfd8165f256706ac1e

—

Keeping the faith: religious diversity in Australia – photo essay

For his project The Devoted, photographer Michael Wickham made portraits of religious leaders and spoke to them about their faith’s relevance in modern society

4 Aug 2017

Mormonism

''Nicolas Faivre, bishop of the Leura Ward – Leura Church of Latter Day Saints''

In the past 10 years I’ve had two stepbrothers and one aunty take their own lives because of mental illness, namely depression. I feel that they each lived on their own private island. They did not have much involvement with our church and were very private in their lives. I sometimes wonder if they suffered in silence. I often wonder what would have happened if they would have opened their hearts. Would their situations have been different? I know I tried to share hope with them but somewhere inside of me I feel I didn’t do enough. It hurts to know that I had something special that could have changed their lives but either it was dismissed as simply “one’s religion” or that they felt that this message of the gospel simply did not apply to them in their lives.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/04/keeping-the-faith-religious-diversity-in-australia-photo-essay

Pompeo is laying ‘landmines’ in U.S.-China relations before Biden takes office, ex-Australian leader says

Yen Nee Lee - JAN 11 2021

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s latest move on Taiwan could upend a major foundation underpinning the U.S.-China relations — further complicating a tense bilateral relationship just before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, said former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

“What Pompeo is doing is laying a whole series of landmines for the incoming Biden administration … salting the earth in the U.S.-China relationship in general, and laying landmines on Taiwan in particularly,” Rudd told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.

Over the weekend, Pompeo announced the lifting of all “self-imposed restrictions” in U.S. relations with Taiwan — a democratic and self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory.

Pompeo said in a statement on Saturday that the U.S. had unilaterally limited contact between its officials and their Taiwanese counterparts for several decades “in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing.” He then declared all those restrictions are “no more.”

The move could mark the end of the “one China policy,” said Rudd, who’s now president of Asia Society Policy Institute.

The one China policy is the principle in which the U.S. and the international community recognize that there’s only one Chinese government — under the Communist Party of China in Beijing.

“That has been the mainstay of strategic stability for the last 40 years or so,” said the former Australian leader.

“I think we need to understand that we are moving to the end of the ‘one China policy.’ And what does that mean for markets? What does that mean for the international community? It means a new period of real strategic instability given this is a fundamental item of faith in Beijing,” he added.

The communist party has never governed Taiwan, but Beijing considers the island’s reunification with the mainland an eventuality and so Taiwan has no right to participate in international diplomacy of its own.

China and Taiwan react to Pompeo’s move

China reportedly slammed the U.S. decision to lift restrictions on Taiwan, while the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked Pompeo on Twitter.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman from Chinese foreign ministry, said China opposed Pompeo’s move and will resolutely fight back attempts to sabotage its interest, reported Reuters.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Pompeo’s removal of U.S. restrictions on contact with Taiwan is a “big thing,” the news agency reported.

“Taiwan-U.S. relations have been elevated to a global partnership. The foreign ministry will not let our guard down and hope to continue to boost the development of Taiwan-U.S. ties,” Wu reportedly said.

Rudd said Pompeo may be motivated to harden U.S. stance on China now so that he can attack Biden as “having gone soft” on China should the new administration make any policy changes. Some media reports have named Pompeo as a potential 2024 presidential candidate.

Nevertheless, the Biden administration is unlikely to shift away from the “strategic ambiguity” that has long been U.S. foreign policy on Taiwan, said Rudd.

The ambiguity helps maintain “sufficient doubt” that the U.S. would immediately defend Taiwan should the island embrace any “reckless policy” such as a unilateral declaration of independence from China, explained Rudd.

The other dimension of the U.S. stance involves challenging any assumption by Beijing that Washington will not react if the mainland takes any military action on Taiwan, added Rudd.

“That’s the strategic ambiguity up until now. I don’t see that as changing.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/11/pompeo-is-laying-landmines-in-us-china-relations-for-the-biden-administration-says-e-australian.html

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Kill this fucking Jew Jan. 14, 2021, 1:43 a.m. No.12513236 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12513009

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Kill yourselves Jan. 14, 2021, 1:44 a.m. No.12513241 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12512775

Anonymous ID: 27ee9d Jan. 14, 2021, 9:11 a.m. No.12517095 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

>>12500806

Holy See Communiqué, 13.01.2021

The Holy See acknowledges the results of the audit requested by the Holy See, carried out jointly by ASIF and AUSTRAC, and of the significant discrepancy reported today by an Australian newspaper, regarding the data previously published on the financial transactions made by the Vatican to Australia between 2014 and 2020: 9.5 million as opposed to 2.3 billion Australian dollars. The figure is attributable, among other things, to a number of contractual obligations and the ordinary management of resources. The Holy See takes this opportunity to reaffirm its respect for the country's institutions and expresses its satisfaction for the collaboration between the entities involved.

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/01/13/210113c.html

Google's 'experiment' was 'clearly a threat' to Australian media

Sky News Australia

13 Jan 2021

The Australian's Adam Creighton says he believes tech giant Google's "experiment" - where it buried selected news articles from various media publishers - was "clearly a threat" to major news organisations about the future of Australia's media landscape.

Mr Creighton claimed he could not find any articles written by his colleagues when he used the Google search tool, but was able to locate those same articles when using Microsoft search engine "Bing".

"Google did concede yesterday, for one per cent of their users, they decided to remove access to news stories.

"They said it was a random one per cent, or they certainly implied that, but it's very surprising it was a number of journalists who had it removed.

"I think it's very unlikely it's random… of course, they do it to journalists, so we tweet about it as is happening now."

The company said the move was part of a "short term experiment" using an algorithm to hide news stories from commercial media outlets.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hit out at the move which came amid a push - via the media bargaining code - to force Facebook and Google to pay news outlets for featuring their work.

"The timing of this is very obvious. They're obviously firing a shot across the bow in advance of these negotiations," Mr Creighton said.

"You can see from Google and Facebook's point of view. They do not want a precedent set in Australia… whereby they have to pay for news.

"If this happened in other countries, it would be very expensive for them. It's worth stressing they would still make an absolute fortune. Their profits would still be in the billions."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFAP9GoLPV8

Anonymous ID: 672d98 Jan. 14, 2021, 1:47 p.m. No.12521162 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

>>12517142

Originally General Research #15983 >>12518539

Google ‘Experiment’ Hid Some News Sources from Consumers

Tech giant Google is under fire after it revealed that it blocked some Australian news sites from search results as part of an “experiment.” Critics call it a “chilling illustration” of the company’s stranglehold on internet search.

Business Insider reports that the Silicon Valley tech giant Google is facing major criticism after it was revealed that the company removed some local news content from its search results in Australia as part of an “experiment.” Critics have called the situation a “chilling illustration” of the power that Google holds over the internet.

The incident is the latest in an ongoing battle between Google and the Australian government, which is currently considering a proposal that would force tech firms such as Google and Facebook to pay local news providers for their content.

Google added a notice to its site last year after the law was proposed, warning that “the way Aussies search every day on Google is at risk.” The Silicon Valley giant said on Wednesday that it had been “running a few experiments that will each reach about 1% of Google Search users in Australia.”

The Australian Financial Review first reported that Google had tweaked its algorithm to bury links from major Australian news providers. Google confirmed the tweak and downplayed it, adding that it conducts “tens of thousands of experiments” every year.

Nine, the publisher behind the Sydney Morning Herald, told the Guardian in a statement: “Google is an effective monopoly and by withholding access to such timely, accurate and important information they show clearly how they impact what access Australians have to that. At the same time, Google are now demonstrating how easily they can make Australian news providers who fall out of their favour effectively disappear from the internet – a chilling illustration of their extraordinary market power.”

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters: “The digital giants should focus on paying for original content, not blocking it. That’s my message to those digital giants. We have again introduced legislation that’s now before a Senate committee to put in place a world-leading mandatory code to see those digital giants pay traditional news media businesses a fair sum of money for generating original content.”

A company spokesperson commented: “Every year we conduct tens of thousands of experiments in Google Search. We’re currently running a few experiments that will each reach about 1% of Google Search users in Australia to measure the impacts of news businesses and Google Search on each other. In 2018, the value we provided to publishers through referral traffic alone was estimated at $218 million dollars.”

Google reportedly plans to end the experiment in February.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/01/14/google-experiment-hid-some-news-sources-from-consumers/

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Death to all Aussies over 18 Jan. 14, 2021, 9:38 p.m. No.12528464 🗄️.is 🔗kun

For not giving up your whore queen

And for jewanon and WWG1WGA

And the fat orange joker 🃏 with nuclear weapons

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

>>12512886

Anyone not on my side since the 1st January 2017 will be killed

Team Jew and team USA for starters

Lol 😂

Or be killed

Cardinal Pell: 'Clear headed' women will help 'sentimental males' clean up Vatican finances

Hannah Brockhaus - Jan 14, 2021

1/2

Cardinal George Pell welcomed Thursday Pope Francis’ inclusion of lay women on the Vatican’s economy council, saying he hopes “clear headed” women will help “sentimental males” do the right thing concerning Church finances.

In August 2020, Pope Francis named 13 new members, including six cardinals, six lay women, and one lay man, to the Council for the Economy, which oversees Vatican finances and the work of the Secretariat for the Economy.

Speaking during a Jan. 14 webinar about financial transparency in the Catholic Church, Pell praised the appointees as “highly competent women with great professional backgrounds.”

“So I’m hopeful they will be very clear headed on the basic issues and insist that we sentimental males get our act together and do the right thing,” he said.

“Financially I’m not sure the Vatican can continue losing money the way we’re losing money,” the Australian cardinal continued. Pell, who was prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy from 2014 to 2019, pointed out that “on top of that, there are very real pressures … from the pension fund.”

“Grace won’t exempt us from these things,” the cardinal stated.

Pell, who was acquitted this year after becoming the highest-ranking Catholic cleric to be convicted of sexual abuse, was the guest speaker at a webinar entitled “Creating a Transparent Culture in the Catholic Church,” hosted by the Global Institute of Church Management (GICM).

He addressed the question of how to have financial transparency in both the Vatican and in Catholic dioceses and religious congregations.

He described financial transparency as letting “the light in on these things,” adding, “if there’s a mess, it’s good to know about it.”

A lack of transparency about missteps just makes the Catholic laity disconcerted and worried, he warned. They say they need to know about things “and that’s got to be respected and their basic questions answered.”

The cardinal said he is strongly in favor of regular external audits for dioceses and religious congregations: “I do think some form of audit is possible in nearly every situation. And whether we call it accountability or whether we call it transparency, there are different levels of interest and education among the lay people about wanting to know about the money.”

Pell also posited that many of the Vatican’s present financial troubles, especially the controversial purchase of a London property, might have been prevented, or “would have been recognized earlier,” if an external audit by Pricewaterhouse Cooper had not been canceled in April 2016.

About recent changes to finances at the Vatican, such as the transfer of management of investments from the Secretariat of State to APSA, the cardinal noted that when he was at the Vatican, he said it was less important who was controlling certain sections of the money, than that it was being managed well, and that the Vatican was seeing a good return on investments.

The transfer to APSA needs to be done well and competently, he stated, and the Secretariat of Economy needs to have the power to be able to stop things if they need to be stopped.

“The pope’s plan to set up a board of experts to manage the investments, coming out of Covid, coming out of the financial pressures we are presently experiencing, that will be absolutely vital,” he added.

(continued)

>>12530042

2/2

According to Pell, the pope’s charitable fund, called Peter’s Pence, “faces a gigantic challenge.” The fund is intended for the charitable activities of the pope and to defray some of the costs of running the Roman Curia.

The fund should never have been used for investments, he stated, noting that he has “fought for years for the principle that if donors give money for a specific purpose, it should be used for that specific purpose.”

As financial reform continues to be enacted at the Vatican, the cardinal emphasized the importance of having the right personnel.

He said having competent people in charge of financial affairs is an essential first step toward changing the culture to one of more accountability and transparency.

“There’s a close connection between incompetency and being robbed,” Pell commented. “If you have competent people in place who know what they’re doing, it’s much harder to be robbed.”

In a diocese, one important aspect is having a finance council made up of experienced people who “understand money,” who meet often, whom the bishop consults, and whose advice the bishop follows.

“One hazard of course is if your finance council doesn’t understand that you’re a Church and not a business.” The first priority is not financial profit, but care of the poor, the unfortunate, the sick, and social assistance, he said.

The cardinal praised the contribution of lay people, saying, “at every level, from diocese, to archdiocese, to Rome I’ve been impressed at the large number of competent people who are willing to give their time to the Church for nothing.”

“We need lay leaders there, Church leaders there, who do know the basics of management of money who can ask the right questions and find the right answers.”

He also encouraged dioceses to not wait for the Vatican always to lead the way on enacting financial reform, even if it should.

“We’ve made some progress in the Vatican and I agree the Vatican should be taking the lead – Pope Francis knows that and is trying to do that. But just like any organization, you can’t always make everything happen as quickly as you want,” he opined.

Pell warned that money can be “a tainting thing,” and fascinates many clerics. “I had been a priest for decades when someone pointed out to me the dangers of money being about hypocrisy,” he said. “It’s not the most important thing we’re doing.”

“For the Church, money is not of first importance or of every importance.”

Pell was initially convicted in Australia in 2018 of multiple counts of sexual abuse. On April 7, 2020, Australia’s High Court overturned his six-year prison sentence. The High Court ruled that he should not have been found guilty of the charges and that the prosecution had not proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Pell spent 13 months in solitary confinement, during which time he was not permitted to celebrate Mass.

The cardinal still faces a canonical investigation at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, though after his conviction was overturned, several canonical experts said it was unlikely he would face a Church trial.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-pell-clear-headed-women-will-help-sentimental-males-clean-up-vatican-finances-28128

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 1:06 a.m. No.12530066 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

Austrac’s reputation harmed by $2bn Vatican discrepancy, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells says

DENNIS SHANAHAN - JANUARY 14, 2021

Australia’s international financial watchdog has been warned the $2bn discrepancy on its reporting of Vatican money transfers has “reflected badly” on its international reputation and raised further questions about allegations of money laundering and corruption.

NSW Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has asked Austrac to “ensure full disclosure and transparency” of bank transfers from the Vatican City to Australia for the past six years that it had overestimated by more than $2bn.

Austrac told the Senate legal and constitutional committee before Christmas that $2.3bn had been transferred to Australia from the Vatican City in answer to questions about money laundering and allegations that funds were transferred to adversely affect the trial of Cardinal George Pell. It was calculated that $2.3bn was transferred in more than 40,000 transactions between 2014 and 2020, with a peak of $581m in 2017.

After weeks of working with the Holy See’s Financial Intelligence Unit, Austrac confirmed there were only 362 transfers from the Vatican to Australia during that time, with a total value of $9.5m. The peak year was still 2017 with $2.6m transferred.

“Austrac’s ‘discrepancy’ regarding the reporting of the transfer of Vatican funds reflects badly on its international reputation,” Senator Fierravanti-Wells told The Australian on Thursday. “The revised information provided to the Senate committee bring more clarity to the main issue: where did the Vatican funds go, and for what purpose?”

“Serious allegations relating to alleged use of funds in the Pell matter remain extant and all relevant law enforcement authorities need to expedite full investigations of the matter,” she said.

The original Austrac figures also showed $117.4m was sent from Australia to the Vatican, likely part of an annual fund for charities, during the same period. The revised figures show that between 2014 and 2020, there were only 237 transfers from Australia to the Vatican totalling $26.6m.

“Austrac has worked with the Holy See and Vatican City State Financial Intelligence Unit as part of the process,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

A computer coding error is blamed for the miscalculation, with many financial transfers to Italy being included in transfers to the Vatican City State.

Austrac confirmed to The Australian that investigations were continuing into specific suspicious transfers from the Vatican to Australia.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/austracs-reputation-harmed-by-2bn-vatican-discrepancy-concetta-fierravantiwells-says/news-story/75620e74578b0049629763971b225690

US Capitol rioter Jacob Chansley asks for presidential pardon, saying he was 'answering the call' of Donald Trump

Wires/ABC - 15 January 2021

1/2

The lawyer for the US Capitol siege rioter known as the "QAnon shaman" has asked for a presidential pardon for his client, as another member of the mob who stormed the building faces court for allegedly planning to take hostages using zip-tie handcuffs.

The FBI has identified more than 200 suspects and more than 100 people have been arrested in relation to the Capitol riot, with charges ranging from curfew violations to serious federal felonies related to theft and weapons possession.

The violence, which left five dead including a Capitol Police officer, led to the impeachment of President Donald Trump by the House of Representatives on a charge of inciting an insurrection.

Jacob Chansley — who is known as the "QAnon shaman" for following the QAnon conspiracy theory and being photographed wearing a fur hat, face paint and holding a spear — has been charged with unlawful and violent entry of the Capitol building, as well as "active participation in an insurrection" to overthrow the US Government.

But his lawyer Albert Watkins told CNN Mr Chansley was not a violent person and should be pardoned as he felt "he was answering the call" of Mr Trump by entering the building.

"My client did not break into the Capitol, my client had the doors of the Capitol held for him by Capitol police," Mr Watkins said, adding Mr Trump invited him to enter the Capitol during his speech prior to the riot.

Mr Watkins said Mr Trump "needs to be accountable" for encouraging the rioters, "and the only honourable thing for him to do for those who were peace-loving, for those who did go there with peace in mind, who weren't going there to be violent" was to "own" those protesters and pardon them.

Mr Chansley was in the military and had no criminal history, Mr Watkins said, adding that his client was a "genuine shaman".

"The guy is wearing a fur, he has horns on, he's a shaman, he practices yoga, meditates all day long, he couldn't be a more gentle, soft-spoken human being," Mr Watkins said of Mr Chansley, who is also known as Jake Angeli.

But a court filing from the US Justice Department claimed Mr Chansley left a threatening note for US Vice-President Mike Pence, warning "it's only a matter of time, justice is coming".

"Strong evidence, including Chansley's own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States Government," prosecutors wrote.

They also suggested he suffers from drug abuse and mental illness, and told a judge he poses a serious flight risk.

"Chansley has spoken openly about his belief that he is an alien, a higher being, and he is here on Earth to ascend to another reality," they wrote, asking for Mr Chansley to be detained.

(continued)

>>12530158

2/2

Air Force officer accused of planning to take hostages

The FBI has been investigating whether some of the rioters had planned to kidnap members of Congress and hold them hostage.

In a Texas court, a prosecutor alleged a retired Air Force officer who was part of the mob that stormed the Capitol carried plastic zip-tie handcuffs because he intended "to take hostages".

"He means to take hostages. He means to kidnap, restrain, perhaps try, perhaps execute members of the US Government," Assistant US Attorney Jay Weimer said of retired Lieutenant Colonel Larry Rendall Brock Jr, without providing specifics.

The prosecutor had argued that Lieutenant Colonel Brock should be detained, but Magistrate Judge Jeffrey L Cureton said he would release him to home confinement.

Judge Cureton ordered Lieutenant Colonel Brock to surrender any firearms and said he could have only limited internet access as conditions of that release.

"I need to put you on a very short rope," Cureton said.

"These are strange times for our country and the concerns raised by the government do not fall on deaf ears."

Before his arrest, Lieutenant Colonel Brock told The New Yorker magazine that he found the zip-tie cuffs on the floor and that he had planned to give them to a police officer.

"I wish I had not picked those up," he said.

Retired firefighter accused of hurling fire extinguisher at police

The Justice Department has brought more than 80 criminal cases so far since the Capitol riot on January 6, which attempted to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the US presidential election.

The acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia said that while many of the initial charges may seem minor, he expects much more serious charges to be filed as the Justice Department continues its investigation.

A federal judge ordered a retired firefighter in Pennsylvania to be detained pending trial, after prosecutors filed charges alleging he hurled a fire extinguisher at police during the attack.

In sworn statements, investigators said the object ricocheted multiple times and struck three officers, one of whom was not wearing a helmet.

Prosecutors said in court that a search warrant executed at 55-year-old Robert Sanford's Pennsylvania home uncovered paraphernalia referencing the far-right Proud Boys group.

Mr Sanford's lawyer told the judge his client is not a member of any extremist group and has no criminal history.

FBI using videos and images to identify riot participants

Many of the people arrested so far were captured on social media bragging about taking part in the assault, and the FBI has been combing through more than 100,000 videos and photographs.

Prosecutors say a Delaware man photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag during the riot has been arrested after authorities used the image to help identify him.

Both Kevin Seefried and his son Hunter Seefried entered the Senate building through a broken window, according to prosecutors.

They were charged with unlawfully entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and degradation of government property.

Court documents say the men were identified after the FBI was told by a co-worker of Hunter Seefried's that he had bragged about being in the Capitol with his father.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-15/qanon-shaman-asks-for-presidential-pardon-for-us-capitol-raid/13061998

Lol 😂

>>12530042

Hiding behind your whore queen

Guess who (999) ID: 3e62f9 All the kings horses and all the kings men Jan. 15, 2021, 1:34 a.m. No.12530199 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Couldn’t put little Donnie back together again

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 1:45 a.m. No.12530250 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2542

Operation Arkstone update: Sydney man arrested in large-scale investigation into an online network of child sex offenders

A large-scale Australian Federal Police (AFP)-led investigation into an online network of alleged child sex offenders has led to the arrest of 17th man under Operation Arkstone, with a 26-year-old NSW man due to face Hornsby Local Court today (15 January 2021).

The Lane Cove man was arrested in his home by the AFP yesterday (14 January 2021) and is facing child abuse material offences, a bestiality offence with one animal removed from harm and one charge of allegedly committing an act of indecency.

The nationwide investigation, known as Operation Arkstone, began in February 2020 and has now led to the arrest of 11 men in NSW.

The 26-year-old arrested yesterday has become the 17th man charged in Australia as part of Operation Arkstone.

The investigation was initially announced in June 2020, and late last year, the AFP revealed Operation Arkstone had resulted in 828 charges laid and 46 child victims identified to date as of November 2020.

AFP investigators from Eastern Command Child Protection Operations arrested the first man in February 2020, following a report to the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) from the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Evidence analysed from the arrest in February 2020 revealed an online network of alleged child sex offenders producing and sharing child abuse material with their peers on social media forums.

Since the first arrest, AFP investigators and forensic specialists have been examining the evidence from each arrest and identifying more alleged offenders linked to this network of online child sex offenders.

Through this evidence, a 26-year-old Lane Cove man was identified and subject to further investigation.

AFP officers executed a search warrant at the man's residence in Lane Cove yesterday, seizing and examining a mobile phone allegedly containing child abuse material.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with:

• Three counts of possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service contrary to section 474.22A of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth);

• Two counts of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material contrary to section 474.22 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth);

• One count of bestiality contrary to section 79 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW); and

• One count of wilful and obscene exposure in a public place contrary to section 5 of the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW).

The maximum penalty for these offences is 15 years' imprisonment. AFP Detective Superintendent Ben McQuillan said the horrific acts committed in the child abuse material shared amongst this network of alleged child sex offenders is something no child should ever be subjected to.

"Our investigators have been combing through every image, video and communication since Operation Arkstone began, to find and bring to justice those who carelessly abuse and forever traumatise our children," D/Supt. McQuillan said.

"We are continuing to examine the evidence seized throughout the investigation and have not ruled out the possibility of further arrests."

The 26-year-old Lane Cove man was bail refused and remanded in custody to appear in Hornsby Local Court today.

Members of the public who have any information about this network or people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

You can also make a report online by alerting the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation via the Report Abuse button - https://www.accce.gov.au/report

Note to Media:

Use of term 'CHILD ABUSE' MATERIAL NOT 'CHILD PORNOGRAPHY' The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims. Use of the phrase "child pornography" is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and

• conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.

Editors note: Vision of arrest available via Hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/BPkGzdmLVM

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/operation-arkstone-update-sydney-man-arrested-large-scale-investigation

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 2:37 a.m. No.12530507 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

Generations will discuss Trump’s descent into madness

Schoolchildren, decades from now, will ask their teacher: What went wrong with him at the end?

CAMERON STEWART - January 14, 2021

The impeachment of Donald Trump for the second time is the climax of an astonishing post-election meltdown which will be discussed by presidential historians for generations.

Trump’s trajectory from election night on 3 November, where he seemed the likely winner in early counting to the ignominy of his current predicament is a riches to rags tale.

Trump’s impeachment is the direct result of an appallingly misjudged speech that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

But that speech and the crowd’s violent response to it at the Capitol building was also the culmination of months of bad behaviour by Trump which has bordered on loopy and deranged.

There will be so many questions that historians will try to answer as they seek to piece together why it was that Trump behaved as he did during these few months, all but squandering his legacy during the lame duck period of his presidency.

Did he really believe in his heart that the election was rigged? Did he really not understand how mail ballots would impact on the result? Did he really think that it was all the co-ordinated work of crooked Democrats? Did he really expect that Republican officials in Georgia would overturn that state’s result for him? Did he really believe that Americans would accept Vice President Mike Pence unilaterally overturning the election vote to install Trump for a second term? Did he really believe that the US Supreme Court would help overturn the election result to repay him for appointing three conservative judges to it? Or was all of this an elaborate cover to hide a bruised ego and to project the image of a wronged martyr to his supporters?

What can be said for certain is that losing the election caused Trump to lose his judgment and common sense in a way that we hadn’t seen before despite his volatile presidency.

It makes you wonder whether the advisers surrounding him also failed him badly. After all, they were the B-Team, having been the replacements for a longline of predecessors who Trump sacked. Were they also yes-men and women who told him the delusions that he wanted to hear? His decision to keep conspiracist Rudy Giuliani to spearhead his election fraud fight and, for awhile, the truly loopy lawyer Sidney Powell, suggests Trump was living in a parallel universe on the issue of election fraud.

Trump’s misjudgements on the fateful day of the Capitol siege went far beyond his fiery speech in which he urged people to march on the Capitol and fight for America.

Even when the mob stormed the building, Trump is said to have just stared at the TV screen in ‘borderline excitement’ refusing all requests to call for peace or to call in the national guard.

Where were Trump’s advisers at that critical moment – were they forcefully warning him of the gravity of the situation? Or did they try and he ignored them?

There is so much that historians will want to learn about the mystery of Trump’s mind in these past few months. How did a president, for all his faults, suddenly turn into King Lear?

The looming Senate trial may uncover a little more about what Trump was really thinking as he descended into these few months of madness.

When the history of the Trump era is written, the great mystery will be the final chapter. Schoolchildren, decades from now, will ask their teacher the simple question: What went wrong with him at the end?

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/generations-will-discuss-donald-trumps-descent-into-madness-and-impeachment/news-story/d05440b3a1efcb1cce7021ebb5849e18

George Papadopoulos Tweets

Breaking: the President will have all declassified Obamagate files released to the American public as early as tomorrow

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1349883993580335112

—

I have been contacted by media of 7 different countries for comment on the impending declassification, and the msm. It’s clear the rush to impeach was to try and distract from the avalanche of documents being released today that will shock the conscious of a nation

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1350142355949694976

>>12539059

Graham releases Russia probe docs, slams original investigation as 'incompetent, corrupt'

EXCLUSIVE: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham on Friday released a slew of additional documents and transcripts related to his panel’s investigation into the origins and aftermath of the Trump-Russia probe, calling the original probe "one of the most incompetent and corrupt investigations in the history of the FBI and DOJ."

The first investigation – which looked into whether members of President Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the election – was called "Crossfire Hurricane" Graham, the senior Republican senator from South Carolina, released transcripts of interviews with FBI and Justice Department officials conducted by the committee, between March 3, 2020 and October 29, 2020.

"I consider the Crossfire Hurricane investigation a massive system failure by senior leadership, but not representative of the dedicated, hardworking patriots who protect our nation every day at Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice," Graham said in a statement Friday, saying his committee has released "as much material as possible," but noted that "some classified material has still been withheld."

Calling the "Crossfire Hurricane" operation "one of the most incompetent and corrupt investigations in the history of the FBI and DOJ," Graham also said he "appreciates all those who participated in the depositions and their candor. "They have charted a path to allow us to reform the system."

"The FISA court was lied to. Exculpatory information was withheld on those being investigated. The investigators, with some notable exceptions, were incredibly biased and used the powers of law enforcement for political purposes," Graham said. "The subjects of the investigation had their lives turned upside down. It is my hope that counterintelligence investigations will be reined in and this never happens again in America."

Graham slammed the leadership of the FBI under former Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, saying it was "either grossly incompetent" or said "they knowingly allowed tremendous misdeeds."

"There was a blind eye turned toward any explanation other than the Trump campaign was colluding with foreign powers," he continued. "At every turn the FBI and DOJ ran stop signs that were in abundance regarding exculpatory information."

Also receiving the ire of the four-term senator was the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which issued warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Graham called that acting "a travesty" and noted that former DOJ officials who signed those warrants, such former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, "have acknowledged that if they knew then what they know now, they would not have signed it."

Ultimately Graham said of Crossfire Hurricane, "There was no ‘there’ there," and contends that the "investigation was pushed when it should have been stopped and the only logical explanation is that the investigators wanted an outcome because of their bias."

Graham said he would continue to pursue reforms of counterintelligence investigations and warrant applications, and said he hopes his "Democratic and Republican colleagues can find common ground on these matters," while also urging FBI Director Wray to "continue the reforms he has started."

"It is hard to believe that something like Crossfire Hurricane could have happened in America," Graham said. "The bottom line is that going forward we must have more checks and balances when it comes to political investigations. We must have more meaningful sign-offs on warrant applications, and we need to restore the trust to the American people in this system."

Meanwhile, former Attorney General Bill Barr tapped U.S. Attorney from Connecticut John Durham as special counsel to ensure he could continue his investigation into the origins of the Russia probe through the Biden administration.

Durham was appointed by Barr last year to investigate the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe, shortly after special counsel Robert Mueller completed his yearlong investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller’s investigation yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 election.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/graham-to-release-russia-probe-docs-slams-probe-as-one-of-the-most-incompetent-corrupt-in-fbi-doj-history

>>12540178

Judiciary Committee Releases Transcripts of Interviews Conducted During Oversight of Crossfire Hurricane Investigation

JANUARY 15, 2021

WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), today released transcripts of interviews conducted during its inquiry into the origins and aftermath of the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation.

“I consider the Crossfire Hurricane investigation a massive system failure by senior leadership, but not representative of the dedicated, hardworking patriots who protect our nation every day at Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice.

“As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have decided to release all transcripts of depositions involving the committee’s oversight of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. We have released as much material as possible, but some classified material has still been withheld.

“I appreciate all those who participated in the depositions and their candor. They have charted a path to allow us to reform the system.

“I believe that Crossfire Hurricane was one of the most incompetent and corrupt investigations in the history of the FBI and DOJ.

“The FISA court was lied to. Exculpatory information was withheld on those being investigated. The investigators, with some notable exceptions, were incredibly biased and used the powers of law enforcement for political purposes. The subjects of the investigation had their lives turned upside down. It is my hope that counterintelligence investigations will be reined in and this never happens again in America.

“The leadership of the FBI under Comey and McCabe was either grossly incompetent or they knowingly allowed tremendous misdeeds. There was a blind eye turned toward any explanation other than the Trump campaign was colluding with foreign powers. At every turn the FBI and DOJ ran stop signs that were in abundance regarding exculpatory information.

“The FISA warrant applications against Carter Page were a travesty, and those who signed them have acknowledged that if they knew then what they know now, they would not have signed it.

“It is hard to believe that the senior officials at the FBI did not know that the Steele Dossier had been disavowed by the Russian subsource. It is equally hard to believe that the warnings from the CIA and other agencies about the reliability of Christopher Steele and the dossier were not known to senior leadership. It is my hope that the Durham report will hold those accountable for the travesty called Crossfire Hurricane.

“There was no ‘there’ there. The investigation was pushed when it should have been stopped and the only logical explanation is that the investigators wanted an outcome because of their bias.

“Former FBI Director Comey and his deputy Mr. McCabe, through their incompetence and bias, have done a great disservice to the FBI and DOJ, and the senior DOJ leadership who signed off on the work product called the Crossfire Hurricane investigation have created a stain on the department’s reputation that can only be erased by true reform.

“I hope that the media will look closely at what happened and examine these documents, but I am not holding my breath.

“I appreciate the hard work of Inspector General Horowitz who uncovered the massive abuses of Crossfire Hurricane. His team should be proud of the work they did, as it will be used over time to reform the DOJ and FBI.

“I’m proud of the Judiciary staff and the work product produced by the Senate Judiciary Committee. I am disappointed that Democrats did not take it more seriously, but I do believe what the committee did will pave the way for much-needed reforms regarding future investigations.

“I will be pursuing reforms of counterintelligence investigations and warrant applications, and hope that my Democratic and Republican colleagues can find common ground on these matters. I also hope and expect that FBI Director Wray will continue the reforms he has started. It is hard to believe that something like Crossfire Hurricane could have happened in America.

“The bottom line is that going forward we must have more checks and balances when it comes to political investigations. We must have more meaningful sign-offs on warrant applications, and we need to restore the trust to the American people in this system.”

The committee released 11 transcripts of bipartisan staff interviews conducted from Tuesday, March 3, 2020 to Thursday, October 29, 2020.

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/fisa-investigation

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/judiciary-committee-releases-transcripts-of-interviews-conducted-during-oversight-of-crossfire-hurricane-investigation

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 3:53 p.m. No.12540246 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2527

>>12540206

FISA Abuse Investigation

January 15, 2021

Chairman Graham released 11 transcripts of interviews conducted during the Senate Judiciary Committee's inquiry into the origins and aftermath of the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation.

Handling Agent 1: Interviewed on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Handling%20Agent%201%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Michael B. Steinbach: Interviewed on Friday, June 12, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Michael%20Steinbach%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Stephen C. Laycock: Interviewed on Monday, June 15, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Stephen%20Laycock%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Dana J. Boente: Interviewed on Monday, June 22, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Dana%20Boente%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Bruce Ohr: Interviewed on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Bruce%20Ohr%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Stuart Evans: Interviewed on Friday, July 31, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Stuart%20Evans%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Supervisory Special Agent 1: Thursday, August 27, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Supervisory%20Special%20Agent%201%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Jonathan Moffa: Interviewed on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Jonathan%20Moffa%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Deputy Chief, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, Justice Department: Interviewed on Friday, September 18, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Deputy%20Section%20Chief%20CES%20Redacted%20FINAL.pdf

Case Agent 1: Interviewed on Friday, September 25, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Case%20Agent%201%20redacted%20transcript%20FINAL.pdf

Supervisory Intelligence Analyst: Interviewed on Thursday, October 29, 2020 (Transcript)

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Supervisory%20Intelligence%20Analyst%20Redacted%20Transcript%20FINAL.pdf

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/fisa-investigation

>>12540178

We the people have heard of the investigative work. We the people do not think it will make much difference since no a single Judge will hear the facts, including the DOJ. We the people are thru listening about investigations and want out trafficked children to go free. The system as it stands is a waste of good folks time. Zhit or get off ther frigging pot. Fix it or we will.

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 4:24 p.m. No.12540708 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

Wexner, L Brands Board Sued for Epstein Ties, Harassment Culture

Leslie H. Wexner and other longtime senior leaders at L Brands Inc. were hit with a shareholder lawsuit in Delaware over the Victoria’s Secret parent’s “entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment, as well as ties to Jeffrey Epstein and other egregious mismanagement.”

The board “did nothing” to address decades of sexual harassment by top L Brands executives, while the underqualified Epstein inexplicably managed Wexner’s fortune—and while the billionaire sex offender apparently used Wexner’s home “for liaisons with victims,” the suit says.

Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre has also “claimed that he directed her to have sex with Mr. Wexner,” and another victim has accused Wexner’s wife, Abigail, “of acquiescence while Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sexually assaulted her” at the couple’s home, according to the complaint filed Tuesday.

L Brands didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday or provide contact information for Wexner, who stepped down as CEO and chairman in May.

The derivative suit, filed in Delaware Chancery Court, largely concerns accounts that longtime former L Brands marketing chief Edward Razek—who’s also named as a defendant—spent years harassing women throughout the company, including both fashion models and senior executives.

When the misconduct was reported to Wexner and the board, they quietly settled with the alleged victims and had them sign nondisclosure agreements, according to the complaint.

“Notwithstanding the numerous complaints” to human resources, neither “Wexner nor any member of the board (including the purportedly ‘independent’ directors) took action to protect the company’s employees” or seek damages from Razek, the suit says.

It cites reports of an extramarital affair between an employee and longtime chief financial officer Stuart Burgdoerfer that “spread through the company,” damaging morale. Former top executive Charles McGuigan had a relationship with an employee while he was head of human resources, according to the complaint.

The suit also accuses the Wexners of giving Epstein “access to the company’s facilities, assets, and personnel.”

“Mr. Wexner knew or should have known that Epstein was using his relationship with the Wexners” to “recruit aspiring models,” the complaint says.

It also links the misconduct allegations to the collapse of a transaction that would have seen private equity firm Sycamore Partners buy a majority stake in Victoria’s Secret for $525 million.

After the sale broke down over the Covid-19 pandemic, the parties sued each other in Delaware—Sycamore seeking to exit the deal, L Brands trying to close it by court order—but ultimately agreed to simply walk away from the agreement.

L Brands may have opted not to seek a breakup fee from Sycamore, despite having the stronger litigation position, because the private equity firm used the misconduct allegations “as leverage,” the suit says.

Its claims echo a records inspection lawsuit that a different shareholder filed against L Brands in June and dropped in November.

https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/NancyALambrechtCoTrusteeoftheAmandaGreenfield2012IrrevocableTrust?1610755079

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/esg/wexner-l-brands-board-sued-for-epstien-ties-harassment-culture

>>12540206

This is old news brought out now, meaning less as there is no one to hear the evidence in a position to do anything about it. Who cares about these little papers if they can not be enforced.

Waiting and waiting is not the answer, someday people must put a stop to this corruption. Going to the AI and que folks is nice but they will need help. The people feel helpless and do not want war in DC.

Please dear military soldier, feel free to follow the plan of the Que team so this does not come to a WW blood bath. No more words. Action please or get out of the way.

Wikileaks asks reporters for help in desperate bid to score Julian Assange last-minute pardon

Oliver Darcy - January 15, 2021

New York (CNN)In a last-minute bid to persuade President Donald Trump to pardon Julian Assange, Wikileaks has reached out to several high-profile reporters asking for help in its efforts to rescue its founder from potential life in prison.

The messages sent to reporters over Twitter direct message said that Assange's partner, Stella Moris, had directed Wikileaks to reach out for possible assistance.

"She was hoping that you may have ideas or contacts that could help convince Trump to pardon Assange," said one version of the message sent to multiple reporters.

Another version of the message characterized Assange as someone who faces prison "for journalistic activities."

"He is a free speech hero," the message added.

The messages were sent to reporters, including this one, at some of the nation's top news organizations.

Wikileaks did not respond to a request for comment, but Moris confirmed to CNN that she did ask the organization to "reach out to some of its most influential followers."

Moris said that some journalists, who she did not name, have responded by asking for interviews with Assange. She argued that Assange's case has "major Constitutional implications" and it could essentially "turn investigative reporting into a criminal enterprise."

Moris added that she hopes to make contact with someone in the White House about Assange's case, but so far has not been in contact with anyone.

"I am not in touch with anyone in the White House, hence the effort to ask people who might have contacts to speak to them themselves, and make the principled case for a pardon," Moris said.

Assange was arrested in April 2019 when British authorities entered the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he had been holed up for seven years, and took him into custody on a US extradition warrant.

The Wikileaks founder has been charged under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing classified military and diplomatic cables. He faces up to 175 years in prison.

A British judge last week denied Assange bail, saying that "there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr. Assange is released today he would fail to surrender to court and face the appeal proceedings."

The judge in the case, however, has denied a request to extradite Assange to the US.

Trump has issued a number of controversial pardons as his days in office dwindle. In December, he pardoned longtime ally Roger Stone and former campaign manager Paul Manafort. He also pardoned four Blackwater guards convicted in an Iraq massacre.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/15/media/wikileaks-julian-assange/index.html

>>12421546

Australian companies warned about doing business in China's Xinjiang

Foreign Minister Marise Payne has left the door open to following the United Kingdom and Canada and introducing penalties for Australia companies that source products created using forced labour in Xinjiang in China.

Beijing is facing fresh pressure over its treatment of the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority in the western Chinese region, with Australia's fellow Five Eyes members – the UK, the US and Canada – all outlining separate crackdowns on Xinjiang's labour camps and the goods produced there.

A bipartisan US congressional commission on Thursday (Friday AEDT) accused Chinese authorities of committing crimes against humanity, including possibly genocide. The incoming Biden administration will have to declare whether China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, committed genocide.

The US also said it would ban all cotton and tomato products made in Xinjiang, while Ottawa told Canadian companies they risked losing export-financing support if they were caught knowingly using supply chains that used forced labour in Xinjiang.

The UK government warned it would freeze out companies from its economy if they relied on forced Uighur labour in their supply chains, through a combination of fines, bans on public sector contracts and a review of export controls.

Australia passed its Modern Slavery Act in 2018 but this does not contain penalties that can be levied against Australian companies doing business in Xinjiang.

Instead companies such as retailers that have exposure to countries where there is a high risk of modern slavery have to prepare annual statements outlining the steps they are taking to ensure their supply chains are clean. The statements are published, in effective creating a "name and shame" regime.

Asked whether Australia would follow the UK and Canada by introducing penalties, Senator Payne said the Modern Slavery Act would be reviewed next year.

"Australia shares the serious concerns of international partners, such as the UK, about human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including in relation to forced labour and arbitrary detention," she told AFR Weekend.

"The Australian government is taking a global leadership role in combating modern slavery. There is no place for modern slavery in the Australian community, nor in the global supply chains of Australian goods and services.

"The government urges any Australian company sourcing products from Xinjiang to undertake due diligence into their supply chains and suppliers."

But independent Senator Rex Patrick, who has introduced a private member's bill that would ban imports of goods produced in Xinjiang, said the Coalition government needed to shift gears and take a tougher line of forced labour.

"The only real solution to the repression taking place in Xinjiang is multilateral pressure," he said. "The US and UK have acted. We are talking the talk but not walking the walk."

China's Foreign Ministry has lashed out at London, Washington and Ottawa, saying "'Forced labour' is the biggest lie of the century made by persons and agencies in some Western countries … with an aim to restrict and suppress the relevant Chinese authorities and companies and contain China's development".

The fresh focus on Xinjiang coincides with World Health Organisation inspectors arriving in Wuhan for an on-the-ground probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Senator Payne, whose early call for an investigation triggered a furious reaction from Beijing including trade strikes against Australian exporters, said the focus of the team was transparency and independence.

"We will watch carefully how that transpires and work closely with our international counterparts, as you would expect us to do," the minister said.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australian-companies-warned-about-doing-business-in-china-s-xinjiang-20210115-p56ubs

HIDEN FOOD BANK FOR COVID 19 DISCOVERED BY CITIZEN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_5pj1XXV4U

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 8:04 p.m. No.12544001 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

Cardinal Pell: Vatican financial reform making progress

JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES - January 15, 2021

ROME - While questions remain about dubious financial dealings in the past and about future uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vatican's steady move toward financial transparency is on the right track, said Cardinal George Pell, former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy.

During a Jan. 15 webinar on transparency in the Catholic Church, Cardinal Pell said that Pope Francis' efforts to reform the Vatican's finances, including a recent measure that removed financial assets from the control of the Vatican Secretariat of State, would hopefully bring much-needed accountability.

"There's no doubt that if implemented appropriately and well, it represents massive, massive progress," Cardinal Pell said at the webinar sponsored by the Global Institute of Church Management and the church management program at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

In the new law, published Dec. 28, the pope ordered the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, also known as APSA, to manage all bank accounts and financial investments belonging to the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The pope also decreed that the Secretariat for the Economy would monitor the administration of the funds made by APSA, which handles the Vatican's investment portfolio and real estate holdings.

Among the questionable investments made by the Secretariat of State was a majority stake purchase in a property in London's Chelsea district that incurred significant debt, which Cardinal Pell said could have been avoided.

"A good deal of the present troubles, especially the London troubles, they might even have been prevented," he said. "They certainly would have been recognized earlier."

During his time as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, he added, who was "controlling sections of the money" was a "secondary issue," because what truly mattered "was that it was managed well, that the money wasn't wasted, (and) that we were getting a good return on our investments."

Cardinal Pell said the financial losses on the London property alone were "very, very significant."

"The Vatican is not a big operation by world standards," so the success of "this centralization with APSA depends how faithfully and competently it's done, that it's directly under the supervision and ultimately control" of the Secretariat for the Economy, he said; "the Secretariat for the Economy has got to have the effective power to stop things when they need to be stopped."

He also highlighted the importance of the pope's plan to "set up a single board of highly competent and expert people to manage the investments," emphasizing that after the financial pressures caused by the current pandemic, it "will be absolutely vital."

The Australian cardinal commented on the recent news that the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) overestimated by the equivalent of more than US$1.5 billion the amount of money transferred from the Vatican to Australia between 2014 and 2020.

In December, AUSTRAC had reported that $2.3 billion Australian dollars (US$1.8 billion) in Vatican funds had been transferred in more than 40,000 transactions to Australia from the Vatican.

However, after it was discovered that the number was miscalculated due to a computer coding error, AUSTRAC amended its report and said there were only 362 transfers from the Vatican to Australia during that time, with a total value of AU$9.5 million.

Calling the error made by Australia's financial watchdog "a spectacular error," Cardinal Pell said Vatican authorities "were quite rightfully resistant and rather displeased by the accusation that AU$2 billion went through in that time" and that AUSTRAC's clarification "is good news for the Vatican."

"It looked as though Australia, and to some extent possibly New Zealand, has been a little bit wobbly and weak in their vigilance over money laundering but that's for them to ascertain to what extent that is true. But all is not well there," Cardinal Pell said.

"I must say, I wickedly took a little bit of consolation as a Vatican employee when I was to learn that AU$2 billion wasn't money laundered" during the time he served as prefect of the secretariat, he said. "And also 'schadenfreude' - rejoicing in the misfortune of others - which is not recommended for us Christians."

https://www.catholicregister.org/faith/item/32608-cardinal-pell-vatican-financial-reform-making-progress

Trump and his legacy 'diminished' among Australian conservatives

David Crowe - January 16, 2021

1/2

Donald Trump has always had his supporters on the conservative side of Australian politics, but he is a disgraced and diminished figure after the insurrection at the United States Capitol.

Many Australians who could agree with Trump on some things – tax cuts, most of all – see him very differently after he falsely claimed electoral fraud and incited a violent mob to march on the Congress.

“Trump and his legacy have been severely diminished,” NSW Liberal senator and retired army major general Jim Molan says.

Another Liberal, Andrew Bragg, is especially damning of the US President in the light of the physical damage to democratic institutions in Washington, DC.

“Most mainstream liberals and conservatives would be shocked by the scenes in Washington,” Bragg, also a NSW Liberal senator, says.

“This violence was shocking and very unpopular amongst our supporters. As a movement of ‘institutionalists’ the riots have diminished the President in the eyes of many of our supporters.”

These verdicts show a reassessment of Trump and his populist movement at a time when Prime Minister Scott Morrison reserves public judgement.

Asked if Trump bore responsibility for the riot, Morrison condemned the violence, side-stepped the question and avoided any personal criticism of the President.

Rather than criticise Trump for inciting violence, acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack this week condemned Twitter for suspending Trump’s account.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has rebuked them both for failing to call out behaviour that threatened American democracy. Labor believes Morrison and McCormack are afraid of offending their own conservative base.

Yet the base is shifting. Liberals say support for Trump among conservative Australians has always been a minority view and has shrunk since the November election.

There is no conservative consensus on Trump, of course. There never has been. John Roskam, a Liberal Party member and executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs in Melbourne, believes Trump still has Australian followers in the wake of the Capitol riots.

“No-one would condone what Trump said and did last week, but what occurred is unlikely to have changed either existing favourable or unfavourable opinions of the President,” he says.

Roskam believes Liberals draw a distinction between Trump's policies and personal behaviour. Another Liberal, who declined to be named, believes the crisis has cemented opinion on either side of the argument, leaving a core group of Trump supporters in party branches in Australia.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 8:26 p.m. No.12544322 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4691

>>12544304

2/2

Even so, the size of that group should not be exaggerated. The theory that most Liberals and Nationals love Trump has never held up to scrutiny. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg dismissed him as a “dropkick” five years ago and repeated that verdict a few weeks before Trump won the 2016 election.

Like others, Frydenberg held his tongue once Trump took power. Morrison famously stood alongside Trump at a factory opening in Wapakoneta, Ohio, that had the look and feel of a campaign rally. Yet there was always a scepticism or wariness about Trump and his policies in the Morrison office, just as there was in the office of the previous prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull.

Victorian Liberal senator Sarah Ferguson tweeted her condemnation of the riots last week and called for a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on Tuesday.

Her fellow Victorian Liberal senator, David Van, admired some of Trump's policies, such as his support for Israel, but rejects the way he refused to accept the election result and obstructed the transfer of power.

“I don’t think any of his claims were held up by any court,” Van says. “You have to respect the system and you have to respect the democracy.”

These comments on Trump come at a time when some Liberals and Nationals are speaking up on other fronts. Some are fed up with one of their colleagues, Liberal MP Craig Kelly, for publicising COVID-19 treatments that have not been shown to work.

“We have a duty to our nation to follow the evidence and facts,” says Fiona Martin, the Liberal MP for Reid in Sydney’s west and a child psychologist before she entered Parliament.

So why won't Morrison criticise Trump?

Liberal MP Dave Sharma, the member for Wentworth in eastern Sydney and a former ambassador to Israel, says a national leader should avoid public criticism of another country's head unless their nations are in conflict.

Criticise a country's policies, says Sharma, but not its leader.

Julian Leeser, the Liberal MP for Berowra in northern Sydney, says Morrison made the right assessment of the Washington violence.

“I don’t think he needed to go any further – these are the internal matters of another country,” says Leeser.

“The key thing for us is maintaining the alliance and I think we have done that extremely well.”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/trump-and-his-legacy-diminished-among-australian-conservatives-20210115-p56ufg.html

>>12500560

What is a darknet store and why are people who run them so hard to catch?

1/3

An Australian man has been arrested in Germany, accused of operating the biggest illegal marketplace on the darknet.

Prosecutors allege the 34-year-old sold drugs, forged money, stolen or forged credit cards, anonymous mobile phone SIM cards and malware on the site, known as DarkMarket.

So what is a dark web store and why are people who run them so hard to catch? Professor of digital forensics at Edith Cowan University, Craig Valli, explains.

What do we mean when we say 'the darknet'? What is it?

You've got your internet, which allows us to all connect with each other, and the darknet is a space you can use with what we call a gateway service to connect to what is essentially another network. That network is not apparent to the internet.

The analogy you can draw here is people working from home and using a VPN to connect to work. You can use similar technologies to set up darknets as a protected network for people to set up shop, in this case, or share information

But what enables a darknet to be subversive, apart from offering privacy, is the sorts of things that are traded. We are talking about the usual suspects: drugs, child exploitation material, assassins for hire. Really dark stuff.

Darknet means that you cannot see it; it doesn't mean that dark things happen there. Unfortunately, though, dark things do happen. And that means a whole pile of higher level implications for governments and law enforcement.

How does it work?

Darknet users have to install specialised software that uses countermeasures such as cryptography so it makes it hard for people to trace them.

The IP numbers of people on the darknet don't make sense and you don't even know they're connected. In the darknet, nothing is recorded on the PC; there are no log files written of any chat.

Depending on how paranoid users are, and what they decide to modify further, within that darknet they'll have to use another VPN to connect to the person that they want to transact with.

It's sort of like going down the rabbit hole. You've got layers of obfuscation of someone's IP address, masking who they are and then protecting them as they go.

You'd be stupid not to protect yourself. You're going somewhere that is a known "bad".

What was special about the DarkMarket?

Let's think about it from a cybercrime perspective. Imagine we planned to hatch a plot to take down an Australian politician and we want to buy some cybercrime tools.

We can do the silly way, which is to go on the internet and post on public boards and say, "Hey, we want to buy some malware, can you help us out?" People in the conventional security and intelligence will have eyes on that and catch you.

However, if we go into the darknet, we'll be able to find those same items with very little risk of someone finding out.

Don't think for a second that the intelligence community and security agencies are not operating in those areas, but on the darknet you can choose anonymity.

It makes it easier for people to do really bad stuff. There are high levels of criminality, high levels of harm.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 8:53 p.m. No.12544638 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4668

>>12544620

2/3

What kind of people get involved in these platforms?

They would fit the typical criminal profile for any crime anywhere else on the planet.

And the darknet is an equal opportunity employer. It employees poor people, young people, old people, smart people. What makes you successful? Knowledge, motivation and opportunity. You don't need a lot of knowledge to set up some of these things, but you need the motivation to make money.

The proliferation of cloud services means everyone's becoming more comfortable with virtual private servers. So the info infrastructure is also helping people to be able to do these things.

The other enabler, of course, is the maturation of info-space that allows these marketplaces not to exist in a physical place.

It can exist in multiple places at once. Virtuality helps as well, in terms of the obfuscation.

You can have a piece of software that sits in Perth for the next 30 seconds while a deal is underway: it goes across the network to Melbourne or it goes to Rajisthan or Uzbekistan, all over the place.

In a standard network there is a router on the organisation. That's where you can track and trace.

Technology used on a darknet is designed to just leave remnants, or no remnants at all, so the piece of software may run on a device for the length of the transaction and then not be found again. It destroys and just disappears.

But there must be infrastructure somewhere. How is it hidden?

In the same way that a drug lab may be set up by conventional criminals in disused space, you need to think about a darknet operation in terms of the hard, physical gear required in the same way you would a meth lab. These darknet guys are looking for space to base their operations.

The DarkMarket is said to have set up in a disused NATO bunker in the south of Germany. The reason they use these spaces is that no one goes there and they typically had good power connections.

A lot of them, being ex-military use, aren't that far from large internet connections, or "points of presence", as they are called.

In the same way that traditional dope growers steal electricity from the grid, the same same sort of modus operandi occurs with this.

But there are also going to be darknets flourishing on servers where a particular nation state doesn't really care about what's there. They may think, "Yeah, we'll keep the platform running for you. We don't care what's on it."

In some countries you can't be prosecuted for hosting an illegal website unless it can be proven that you know that it's supporting illegal activity.

A similar example is this: after Cyclone Katrina in Florida, spam on the internet dropped markedly, by 60 or 70 per cent. Why? Because all of the servers were in the US state of Florida, which has amendments to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act, allowing civil forfeiture proceeding for tangible and intangible property.

That's why there's a stereotype of mobsters and dealers living in Florida, with Picassos hanging on their walls. If they eventually get caught there's nothing stopping their partner taking the art off the wall, selling it and walking away with the money.

What's life like if you're constantly avoiding police?

A darknet boss would likely hide in plain sight. He would go to the football, have a few drinks. But he would probably not spend a lot of money (so as not to draw attention to himself and not leave traces). Some criminals are motivated by having lots of money, and by the power or the thrill.

But these people are equally likely to be super paranoid, have different ethical frameworks and decide something we might fight morally reprehensible is perfectly fine.

(continued)

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Too late wikileaks Jan. 15, 2021, 8:54 p.m. No.12544645 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12543869

You’re all going to get burnt alive

Pics related

Tag

You’re

It

Boom 💥

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 8:56 p.m. No.12544668 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2475

>>12544638

3/3

If they're so good at hiding, how do they get caught?

This sort of stuff is a significant disrupter of criminal systems and the way crims do business. Law enforcement and intelligence are disrupting their patterns.

There's a whole retraining that's occurring in the police force and intelligence that's just started to get a handle on that.

But the other thing to question is why we place a mystery status on the darknet.

It's just an alternate use of existing technologies to produce an incredibly private, paranoid place for people to cohabit and do whatever they do. And to bring those people down we've got to be among them.

Following the money trail

Governments and law enforcement are getting better at doing "track-and-chase". In theory it's the same way they got Al Capone: tracking the money.

We've seen a tightening of regulation around transferring large sums of money or money laundering and the Government has mechanisms to control traditional money stuff in traditional currencies. But where it all goes to hell in a handbasket is with the use of cryptocurrency.

One of the favourite ones, of course, is Bitcoin, and also Monero.

But there are hundreds of bitcoins out there. There's one that's actually designed to be completely anonymous, called darkcoin. It's basically used so that you can't trace the transaction. With Bitcoin you can trace some of the transactions, so depending on which currencies are used it's hard to do track and trace to find out where the money's gone.

Bitcoin is rapidly becoming an alternate currency. It means the banks feel like they're missing out, so they're starting to offer Bitcoin trading services.

But again, because of Bitcoin's popularity in Australia, it still hits the $10,000 buffer on how much can be traded. But some of the lesser known cryptocurrencies are further off the radar.

The rise of Silk Road was synonymous with the rise in value of Bitcoin. And we're seeing increases in cryptocurrency values so that's starting to drive these sorts of things.

Exchanging of non-digitised goods like drugs must offer a weak link?

To maintain anonymity when money or hard goods are exchanged, intermediaries can be found and then hired via the dark web. The transferring of the money is a problem. As soon as you do so, you start to leave breadcrumbs. It becomes suspicious.

So they set up all the architecture that we have in our commercial systems inside the darknet.

But anything that's digitised is dynamite. That includes malicious software for sale or cyber criminals to penetrate a network and exfiltrate information, or to generate malicious code that someone might put on your phone to track you, for instance. So lot of that stuff goes down, particularly in marriage bust-ups and stalkers.

Anything you can think of that is unadulterated evil, it will be in a darknet somewhere for a price.

How does a darknet boss trust their customers?

For an operator on the darknet, an important question is how to validate a person that's totally anonymous to them.

With criminal gangs, there are always points in a relationship where people "prove" themselves. With paedophiles, that may be the exchange of child exploitation material.

So that remains one of the big risks for someone operating a darknet: how do they know that the person who's in there, who's observing, is not a "force for good" service? At some point they have to take a risk.

If they get caught they can shut down their site, use technology to make it disappear completely, and set up again somewhere else.

The size of the internet now is vast. The Australian boss of DarkMarket was possibly unlucky.

The problem for law enforcement is that there are still plenty more criminals operating on the darknet and still plenty of places to hide.

Craig Valli is Professor of Digital Forensics at Edith Cowan University.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-16/life-on-dark-web-plenty-of-criminals-places-to-hide/13057560

>>12544322

>Anonymous

In the kill box 📦

Lol 😂

New specialist unit to tackle online child abuse after pandemic

A specialist unit to infiltrate gaming chat rooms to stop kids being groomed online has been launched in Victoria amid a spike in abuse material.

Australia’s first anti-child exploitation unit aimed at gaming has been launched to stop a rise in paedophiles grooming kids online.

The specialist unit uses covert police to infiltrate online gaming chat rooms to hunt and take down offenders who prey on children.

It comes as a shocking explosion in the trafficking and production of child abuse material during the pandemic can be revealed.

Figures released by the Victoria Police show 8.4 million files of child abuse material were circulating on peer-to-peer networks in December 2020, which police said they believe significantly underestimates the level of offending.

Detective Superintendent Jane Welsh, head of the Victorian Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET), said online groomers are operating like never before.

“Children are particularly vulnerable on gaming platforms because they are interacting with strangers, which allows perpetrators to manipulate young people,” she said.

“We have seen an increase recently of children posting explicit images of themselves online as a result of online manipulation. There is a lot of grooming and we have seen adult males contacting kids online encouraging them to meet for sexual activity.”

The Gaming and Peer to Peer Team was established by JACET in Melbourne last year to combat the rise of child groomers operating on video game platforms such as Fortnite and Minecraft.

The team uses cutting-edge technology and undercover operatives to identify and arrest paedophiles.

Figures released by JACET show the number of child abuse images and videos traded online in Victoria almost doubled in the year to August.

There was also a 30 per cent rise in the number of IP addresses seen sharing child abuse material online.

Superintendent Welsh said the pandemic created the “perfect storm for this type of offending” as people, including children, were forced to use the internet to stay connected.

Superintendent Welsh said technological opportunities for groomers to target children were “changing at lightning speed” and that police were quickly adapting but that parents must also keep across their child’s online safety.

Online child abuse can be reported to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

https://crimestoppers.com.au

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts/new-specialist-unit-to-tackle-online-child-abuse-after-pandemic/news-story/b74076511a9974a70e1ea21b9fe83017

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Simple really Jan. 15, 2021, 10:18 p.m. No.12545511 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Great awakening, isn’t it?

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Children in need Jan. 15, 2021, 10:18 p.m. No.12545521 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12545028

>u)

For team Satan

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 10:57 p.m. No.12545789 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5797 >>2407

New president Joe Biden will be a true-blue mate in the White House

ADAM CREIGHTON - JANUARY 16, 2021

1/3

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has met Joe Biden probably more than any other Australian.

“That may well be right,” says Bishop, who first met then vice-president Biden at his official residence in Washington DC in 2012, as shadow foreign minister.

“It happened to be my birthday and he arranged a cake and for the military band to play Happy Birthday,” she recalls fondly. “And almost exactly four years later, when he visited in Australia — in July — he arranged another little cake for me,” she adds, anticipating the same “thoughtful” tone to infuse his presidency.

Everyone I spoke to has nothing but high hopes for, and fond memories of, Biden, set to replace Donald Trump as US president next week.

“Without doubt it’s positive for us: a more orthodox and predictable administration, which is already appointing warm friends to the highest levels,” Bishop, now chancellor of the Australian National University, says.

Jeffrey Bleich, former US ambassador to Australia under president Barack Obama, says Biden “loved going to Australia”.

“And he’d always quiz me about it whenever I visited the White House. He’s predictable, reliable and trusts experts,” he tells Inquirer, in a none too subtle swipe at the incumbent.

“Bruce Reed, who will be Biden’s deputy chief of staff, will be one of the president’s closest advisers and he’s a long-time advocate of US-Australia relations in prior administrations,” Bleich adds, referring to just one of a slew of recent high-level appointments by Biden, including Kurt Campbell as “Asia Tsar”, that should prove favourable to Australia.

Yet for all the histrionics leading up to Trump’s narrow defeat in November, and the despair of his last few ignoble weeks in office, Biden’s impact on Australian policy will be tone and style more than substance.

“The US and Australia have this extraordinary deep and integrated relationship, there’s no single issue that is ever going to divide them,” says Bleich, who was in Canberra until 2013.

Australia and the US will remain entwined militarily, politically, economically, and no doubt socially, as the world continues to shrink.

“The end of the Trump presidency is not necessarily an inflection point in the Australia-US relationship the way it will be for France and Germany because Trump hasn’t presented the same level of irritation to us as to its traditional allies,” says one senior Liberal with foreign policy experience.

On balance, a Biden presidency will mean faster economic growth for Australia, in the near term at least, and the opportunity to wield more influence over US foreign policy.

Kim Beazley, former Australian ambassador in Washington, says the return of Obama-era officials signalled a fuller, more deliberative administration. “The Trump government was always a truncated entity. Trump was his own policymaker, not surrounded by people on a consistent basis of enormous ability,” he says. “Biden is coming in a sense with a traditional post-World War II American agenda, including dedication to liberal-democratic principles, positions which Australia has never abandoned. Biden is not a high-energy bloke on national security and military matters, he places enormous emphasis on coalition-building and international relationships. It’s a challenge for us because the US will be looking for ideas again; we’ll have to sharpen our intellectual tools,” says Beazley, a former Labor Party leader and now governor of Western Australia.

It’s a challenge that should suit the current Australian ambassador, Arthur Sinodinos, known for his keen interest in policy.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 10:58 p.m. No.12545797 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5806

>>12545789

2/3

The biggest immediate effect of Biden’s administration will be the massive experiment in Keynesian pump priming about to unfold, which will, by helping buoy the world economy, take some pressure off other governments.

“The US economy is still the single most important influence on Australia’s,” says Stephen Kirchner, an economist at the US Studies Centre in Sydney. “US monetary policy (and) capital markets have huge effects that put the country ahead of China in its influence on us.”

On Friday, Biden revealed a $US1.9 trillion stimulus plan for the early days of his administration, including $US1400 payments to US households, which will bring the total payment to $2000 following the stimulus plan passed in December.

Michael Thawley, Australia’s Howard-era ambassador in Washington DC, expects a “huge focus on climate change; any infrastructure package will be heavily orientated to spending on subsidies for renewables and electric cars”. “They see it as job creator,” he says.

The first round of Biden-era stimulus, which will follow more than $US2 trillion of federal stimulus under Trump last March, will test the US government’s ability to borrow seemingly without limit.

In 2020 the US federal government alone posted a deficit of $US3.3 trillion, equal to the sum of taxes collected. The stock of debt is well above $US20 trillion and on track to exceed 100 per cent of US GDP.

If any country can run large deficits without implications for credit ratings or interest rates, it’s the US.

So far, all this borrowing — or, for the more cynical, creating money — appears to attract little penalty, interest rates on US debt are barely 1 per cent and inflation, as in Australia, remains dormant.

More left-wing Democrats will push for spending, and more radical economic policy. After all, avowed socialist Bernie Sanders, who just missed out on the Democrat nomination for president, is chairman of the powerful Senate budget committee.

Thawley, now vice-chairman of US fund management giant Capital Group, reckons any policy revolution is very unlikely, however, even in the wake of the Democrats’ surprise victory in the Georgia Senate race run offs on January 5.

“It’s true it’s 50-50 now in the Senate and Kamala Harris will have the casting vote, but moderate Democrats in formerly Trump-held states will be very careful about being seen to be radical, and rebel senators might decide to become independents, which has often happened,” he tells Inquirer from Washington.

“And more Democrats are up for re-election in the Senate in the 2022 mid-terms, which the party of the president typically loses,” adds Thawley, who was Tony Abbott’s secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 2014.

Even the US tax system is on track to revert to Obama norms. Because Trump wasn’t able to secure a 60 vote “super majority” in the Senate to pass his signature 2017 tax reform package, the tax cuts will expire in 2024.

The US relationship with China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, is unlikely to change significantly from the tougher line taken by Trump, although the approach is likely to be more sophisticated. Trump’s obsession with the trade deficit, which didn’t change much despite ratcheting up tariffs on Chinese imports, will give way to a more sophisticated crackdown on technology theft and pressure on China to play by the rules of the multilateral trading system.

“Obama was constantly describing China as a competitor, whereas now it is more often described as potential enemy,” says Beazley. “Biden was point man when I was there when the US was dealing with Xi Jinping, they were both vice-presidents … the Americans perceived Xi as the coming man and they wanted to get quite close to him. The man to do that was Biden.”

(continued)

>>12545797

3/3

Beazley, defence minister in the Hawke-Keating government, remained confident about Australian security in a region increasingly cowed by a more assertive China. “We are easy to defend; getting American commitment to defend Australia is easy, mainly because we can do most of it ourselves, but also because we don’t impose on the US any of the sorts of costs of defending, Japan, say,” he explains.

On trade, little is expected to change too. Trump scotched any US involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Australia signed with 11 other countries in 2016, soon after he was elected. “Talk of the US joining TPP is all pie in the sky, the US is always hard-nosed on trade, it’s not going to change,” Thawley says. In any case, Biden’s authority to negotiate trade deals depends on congress extending the president’s right to negotiate — known as Trade Promotion Authority — beyond June.

The one area where a Biden administration might shift domestic policy, or at least the rhetoric surrounding it, is climate change. Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate change agreement, a decision Biden will reverse.

Australia is the only developed country that hasn’t promised net-zero emissions by 2050. Bleich doesn’t see Australia being isolated by a Biden administration on climate change. “If there are differences about carbon reductions they will be worked out, as they always have been,” he says.

Bishop says she doesn’t expect “massive policy changes” here flowing from a Biden administration. Australia’s prospects should be at least as bright under a Biden presidency as under Trump, whose mercurial style at the very least made the outlook less predictable. At 78, Biden’s age has been a source of constant criticism about his fitness for office.

“People said the same thing about Ronald Reagan, and about Eisenhower in his second term; Woodrow Wilson had a serious stroke. A president doesn’t have to be a micromanager as long as they set broad directions,” says one senior Australian diplomat.

In other words, as long as he’s still capable of baking a cake.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/new-president-joe-biden-will-be-a-trueblue-mate-in-the-white-house/news-story/fa58b0e021c8e4f3c6bc21f359f770e0

when ya got a loose redback or pineapple

https://www.perthmint.com/

https://www.coinspot.com.au/

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 11:28 p.m. No.12546017 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6025 >>2407

>>12098003

Trump deserves ‘maximum constitutional condemnation’ as the republic’s future is at stake

TROY BRAMSTON - JANUARY 16, 2021

1/2

Donald Trump’s disastrous, degenerate and dangerous presidency will come to an end in around 100 hours, at midday on January 20. It could not come soon enough. It is fitting that Trump’s presidency ends in disgrace and dishonour, and shame and humiliation for those who supported him, with a justified second impeachment.

Since Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election on November 3 – winning seven million more votes and a decisive 306 to 232 electoral college margin – Trump has refused to accept the result and tried to overturn it. No previous US president has ever sought to deny voters their democratic right to decide who governs.

This is autocracy not democracy. Votes were cast, counted, audited, recounted and certified. Trump’s claims of widespread electoral fraud were not substantiated. His multiple legal challenges failed. His attempt to intimidate state officials into changing results failed. The electoral college confirmed Biden’s victory.

But Trump failed to concede the election or facilitate a transfer of power for weeks after the election. He continued to claim the election was “rigged” and said he would fight to overturn it. This was a serial undermining of democracy. It was quite evidently a coup – defined as an unlawful seizure of government – that was plain for all to see. It is much worse than Watergate.

Trump’s treason moved into a higher gear ahead of the Congress meeting to certify the electoral college vote. He invited supporters to rally in Washington DC. “Be there, will be wild,” he tweeted. In Trump’s speech outside the White House, he said the election was “stolen” and urged the crowd to “never give up”, “fight like hell” and “take back our country”. He told them to go to the Capitol. When Vice President Mike Pence made it clear he would not, and could not, overturn the election result, Trump said he “lacked courage”.

This is why Trump is responsible for the attack on the Capitol: he encouraged it. While it was happening, Trump was gripped to the television. He refused to condemn the violence and resisted pleas to take decisive action to stop it. Instead, he called the rioters “patriots” and said “we love you”.

Trump’s mob had an objective: overturn the election. They stormed the Capitol with military-grade armour, explosives, zip-tie handcuffs, metal poles and baseball bats, gas masks, flash bangs, pepper spray and mace. They hunted Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, banging on doors and calling their names. Gallows were erected outside. Imagine what horrors would have unfolded if they had captured Pence or Pelosi.

It is the first time the Capitol has been invaded since the British set it on fire in 1814. Rebel troops never made it to Washington DC during the Civil War but last week the Confederate battle flag was paraded through the corridors of the Capitol. The rioters wore Trump hats and T-shirts, and waved flags with his name on it. This was an uprising in Trump’s name.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 15, 2021, 11:29 p.m. No.12546025 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

>>12546017

2/2

The Trump presidency has been an unmitigated disaster. His biggest public policy failure has been his handling of coronavirus. But Trump’s usurping of democracy, in the long run, will be regarded as the most reprehensible aspect of his presidency. The founding generation of true American patriots would be disgusted by Trump.

Some of us have long regarded Trump as the worst president in US history. More commentators should have spoken out these past four years. John F. Kennedy, paraphrasing Dante, once said: “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.”

Days before Biden’s inauguration as the 46th president, Washington D.C. is in lockdown and the Capitol is ringed by fences. It is the first time that troops have been garrisoned at the Capitol since the Civil War. There are more US troops in Washington D.C. than there are in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is all because of Trump and the danger he still represents.

Four years ago, Republicans held the presidency and had majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. After four years of Trump, the Democrats hold the presidency and control Congress. This is the price Republicans have paid for Trump.

It is indisputable that none of the notable Republican presidents – Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, William Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush – ever acted so traitorously against their own government. They would be appalled by Trump. The 43rd president has said as much.

What is at stake is not just the future of the Grand Old Party. What is at stake is the future of the republic itself. It was necessary that Trump be impeached – only the fourth such impeachment and his second – to make it clear that his attempted coup was repudiated. This is humiliating for Trump. But it is not enough.

Trump committed sedition. He sought to overturn an election. His actions are the antithesis of democracy. Yet Trump is defiant, this week saying his speech prior to the Capitol insurrection was “totally appropriate”. He shows no remorse. It would be comical if it were not so brazen and tragic.

That is why Trump deserves to be convicted by the Senate, even when out of office, because his behaviour deserves maximum constitutional condemnation. It cannot be tolerated. It is absurd to argue that an impeachment trial would be divisive; Trump’s entire presidency has been divisive.

Moreover, there is no doubt that Trump violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which says no president “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion … or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” Congress can ensure Trump is prohibited from running for president again by enforcing the 14th Amendment “by appropriate legislation”, as provided for under the Constitution.

It would be a fitting requiem for a truly despicable and utterly disgraceful president. And it is essential to upholding the values of the great American republic.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/trump-deserves-maximum-constitutional-condemnation-as-the-republics-future-is-at-stake/news-story/2cd208ed72020b0fe5b893a0c94d07cc

—

Q Post #22

Oct 31 2017 23:57:15 (EST)

Who controls the NG?

Why was the NG recently activated in select cities within the US?

Can the NG work in coordination w/ the marines?

Do conditions need to be satisfied to authorize?

What former President used the military to save the republic and what occurred exactly?

Biggest drop to ever be provided on Pol. Study and prepare. The masses tend to panic in such situations. No war. No civil unrest. Clean and swift.

https://qanon.pub/#22

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 16, 2021, 1:14 a.m. No.12546801 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2639

>>12143488

Pete Evans: Neo-Nazis plotted to move in on the celebrity chef

It was the neo-Nazi cartoon that cost celebrity chef Pete Evans millions in lost endorsements, but it appears neo-Nazis targeted him to politicise their agenda.

Jane Hansen - January 16, 2021

Pete Evans was targeted by neo-Nazi groups as a person they could ‘red pill’ or politicise for their cause months before the celebrity chef posted his now infamous neo Nazi cartoon.

Dr Kaz Ross — who researches alt right, neo-Nazi and QAnon groups — said she had been leaked screen shots of neo Nazi’s discussing Pete Evans as a person they could swing to their cause in online chat groups.

“They had already identified him as someone they could turn and they were working on that months and months before he posted that cartoon,” Dr Ross said.

The symbol was co-opted by Nazi Germany and remains popular with neo-Nazis. It was used on the cover of the manifesto by the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter Breton Tarrant who killed 51 people.

When it was pointed out to Evans that the symbol was the black sun, he replied: “I was waiting for someone to see that.”

Pete Evans is also a QAnon follower, the conspiracy group that believes the world is run by elites and paedophiles who eat children and Donald Trump is their saviour.

Many high profile QAnon followers stormed the Capitol building in Washington on January 6.

The term ‘red pill’ refers to the movie the Matrix where if you take the red pill you see the truth. The term has been adopted by QAnon followers but it is also a neo-Nazi term.

“If you take the red pill you see the truth, of the alt right and neo-Nazi, they talk about red pilling the QAnon people, meaning getting them more political, rather than just following a crackpot conspiracy they talk about red pilling the QAnon people which means turning them onto politics which in the case of the neo-Nazis means the Jews are behind everything,” Dr Ross said.

“They are always looking out for opportunities. Way, way back they were saying they saw Pete Evans as someone they could work on and low and behold he delivered.”

Evans denied he knew of the cartoon’s meaning.

“Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any more bizarre, the mainstream media have just come out and labelled me a racist and neo-Nazi. The fact that I had to actually Google what neo-Nazi meant is pretty telling,” he said in a post.

Dr Ross said the pandemic had brought together a rag tag coalition of conspiracy groups like QAnon, anti-vaxxers, anti-lockdown and alt right, but neo-Nazis are actively recruiting on new platforms like Telegram which Pete Evans has now moved to. After QAnon groups were removed by Facebook, most are now active on Telegram.

The “QAnon shaman” Jake Angeli, who was part of the pro-Trump mob who rioted at Washington’s Capitol building on January 6, also sports the valknut tattoo above his heart which is pagan symbol adopted by white supremacists.

“There is a big overlap with QAnon and anti-vaxxers, there is the same belief structure, there is a new world order of elites and they are lying to you and using the media to do it, it’s the same narrative structure of anti-vaxxers, neo-Nazis and in their case they say the new world order are Jews, but all of them have the same narrative which is a bunch of powerful, secret, evil people are in control and they are lying to you to exploit you or in the case of the neo-Nazis to eradicate you and using the media to do it,” Dr Ross said.

“The minute the QAnon moved to Telegram, the Nazis have moved in and have been posted anti-Jewish stuff and trying to red pill them and Nazis actually use the term black pill them, to politicise them.”

Mr Evans was contacted for comment.

Jane Hansen - Multi award winning journalist across both broadcast and print platforms. Special interest in vaccination and lead journalist on No Jab No Play/Pay campaign.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/pete-evans-neonazis-plotted-to-move-in-on-the-celebrity-chef/news-story/6ba43844a64ec35eda2869a0dcf3e538

*… yet another repeat… *

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Your brain on trump (666) Jan. 16, 2021, 4:33 a.m. No.12547902 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Lol 😂

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 The big wedding (999) Jan. 16, 2021, 3:21 p.m. No.12555895 🗄️.is 🔗kun

American patriots side with Islamic jihad

Mutual hatred of Jews

Bring the whole world 🌎 together

Lol 😂

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 16, 2021, 6:41 p.m. No.12558907 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

>>12530158

US Capitol rioter Jacob Chansley detained pending trial as prosecutors back away from 'kill-capture' plot claim

Reuters/ABC - 16 January 2021

A US federal judge has ordered the US Capitol siege rioter known as the "QAnon shaman", who allegedly left an ominous note for Vice-President Mike Pence, to be detained pending trial, saying he participated in a "violent insurrection".

At the US District Court in Phoenix, Arizona, Judge Deborah Fine ruled that Jacob Chansley, who was photographed inside the US Senate Chamber wearing horns during the Capitol riots, should not be released from custody.

The Navy veteran and QAnon follower allegedly left a note for Mr Pence warning: "It's only a matter of time, justice is coming."

QAnon is a conspiracy theory that casts US President Donald Trump as a saviour figure and elite Democrats as a cabal of Satanist paedophiles and cannibals.

Judge Fine called Mr Chansley "an active participant in a violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government" and said she feared he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.

As she made her ruling on Friday local time, Mr Chansley interjected and tried to speak, but the judge cut him off, saying he should avoid making statements.

Prosecutors have no 'direct evidence' of assassination plot

Her ruling came shortly after prosecutors in Arizona walked back sweeping statements they made just a day earlier, claiming the Government had "strong evidence" that the "intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States Government".

The top federal prosecutor overseeing the sweeping probe of the riots at the Capitol told reporters that at this stage, they had no "direct evidence" that rioters who stormed the US Capitol had formed "kill-capture teams".

The criminal case against Mr Chansley is just one of a growing number, as investigators in Washington DC scour more than 140,000 videos and photos from the Capitol siege.

As of Friday morning, Michael Sherwin, acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, said his office had brought 98 criminal prosecutions so far and opened investigations into more than 275 people in connection with the Capitol riots, in which Mr Trump's supporters stormed the building, ransacked offices and in some cases, attacked police.

Court filings in the cases suggested some of the rioters came prepared with weapons, gas masks, ballistic vests and zip ties.

The people charged included a retired firefighter who reportedly hurled a fire extinguisher at police, a man accused of attacking police with a flag pole and another suspect who officials said was caught with explosives and firearms in his truck near the Capitol building.

The FBI is also looking for suspects in connection with the death of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick.

Steven D'Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, urged suspects to turn themselves in.

"To those of you who took part in the violence, here's something you should know: Every FBI field office in the country is looking for you," he said.

"As a matter of fact, even your friends and family are tipping us off."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-16/us-capitol-rioter-jacob-chansley-detained-ahead-of-trial/13063844

Trump followers who stormed Capitol could have had a mass psychosis

They stormed en masse and caused chaos but there’s a very strange reason behind why thousands of people acted the way they did.

Jamie Seidel - JANUARY 17, 2021

1/4

Sticks and stones may break your bones … but words can incite you to use them.

The events at the US Capitol were shocking. But not unexpected. Especially to those who have been studying the psychology behind US President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

Leading a force of 100 militia to the US Capitol on January 6 was a serving US army psychological warfare officer.

Captain Emily Rainey is part of the 4th Psychological Operations Group based at strife-ridden Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

She has a specific job: “(To) use the power of influence to shape the global security environment and achieve United States national security goals.

She has a distinct skills set: “Specialise in unconventional capabilities, cultural expertise, language proficiency, military deception and advanced communications techniques encompassing all forms of media.”

Rainey says she was acting as an independent citizen during off-duty hours. But the weapons she wields were in full effect around her.

It was an unlikely convergence of dissimilar extremists sharing a common goal.

Nazis. Orthodox Jews. Evangelical Christians. Followers of the prophet QAnon. Republican MAGA enthusiasts.

All had been convinced – against all evidence – that massive voter fraud had denied Mr Trump a second term in office. All had been incited to impose their delusions on their elected representatives in US Congress.

What resulted was an insurrection: “An organised attempt by a group of people to defeat their government and take control of their country, usually by violence.”

How did it come to this?

AMERICA, WHAT’S GOTTEN INTO YOU?

“Should lawmakers ever again be tempted to argue that social media platforms ought to be no-holds-barred free-speech zones, they would do well to recall the fear and the heartbreak of January 6: The day the internet came for them,” writes Wilson Centre disinformation expert Nina Jankowicz. “The effect of disinformation, conspiracy theories and extremism was on display for the entire world to see.”

It was a colourful sight.

Costumed followers of the internet “prophet” QAnon. Christian crusaders under a blood-red cross. Then there was the Nazi swastikas and white-supremacist symbology.

All proudly paraded on the steps of the US Capitol.

It’s easy to dismiss those we disagree with as being ignorant fools.

Idiots. Jerks. Stupid. Crazy. Clowns. Buffoons.

However, such simplistic dismissive terms can conceal a raging “mind war” playing out in society around us. And such words can be applied to hide an insurrection in plain sight.

It’s a form of psychological warfare.

It’s about offering up an enticing way to make sense of the world. This sense can shape perceptions. It can induce behaviours. The trick is generating a sense that suits a strategic goal.

It can be economic marketing. It can be political motivation. It can be religious fervour. It can be propagandist manipulation.

Or it can be all of the above.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 16, 2021, 7:12 p.m. No.12559355 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9372

>>12559331

2/4

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

“I think it goes back to the basic way that our brain processes information. We can’t even look at clouds and pieces of toast without trying to connect the dots and see faces or elephants or pictures,” says University of Texas psychologist Professor Mary McNaughton-Cassill.

Brains also like stories. It gives context to details – thus reinforcing memory.

It’s why conspiracy myths are so enticing.

“Research shows that if you tell someone a story and you leave out a key component, like you don’t mention how they got across the river, later, people will fill in (their own) details,” the professor adds. “We’re looking for ways to try to make sense, and our brain will connect all sorts of things.”

But emotion also has a decisive role to play in delusion.

“Yes, there is great injury, anger and redirectable energy for hatred, which Trump harnessed and stoked for his manipulation and use,” says forensic psychiatrist Dr Bandy Lee. “The emotional bonds he has created facilitate shared psychosis at a massive scale.”

She told Scientific American that the appeal of militias and myths is a sign of deep turmoil within the United States.

Societal change. Income inequality. Disempowerment. This, she says, has produced an environment ripe for “narcissistic symbiosis”.

“The leader, hungry for adulation to compensate for an inner lack of self-worth, projects grandiose omnipotence – while the followers, rendered needy by societal stress or developmental injury, yearn for a parental figure,” says Dr Lee.

And Trump’s inner turmoil is contagious, she says.

“When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person’s symptoms can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia and propensity for violence – even in previously healthy individuals.”

Such human frailties have been identified by marketers, lobbyists, political campaigners, propagandists – and psychological warfare officers – as useful tools. And social media has given them the means – for the first time – to manipulate masses in real-time.

MASS RADICALISATON

It was a tactic exploited by Islamic State (probably with a little covert help from Russia): To manipulate vulnerable, disaffected followers worldwide and incite them to violence.

It was called radicalisation.

Now, that same process is playing out across all levels of society.

“The conspiracy information ecosystem is highly international, and here in Australia conspiracy groups are often dominated by narratives and content emerging from the US,” warns Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) analyst Elise Thomas. “Ripples are already reaching Australia – and are likely to have implications for our own elections in 2022.”

The dividing lines between mainstream and fringe are shifting dramatically – even vanishing.

And there’s growing unanimity among analysts that profit-seeking social media algorithms are behind the deep penetration of distorted truth.

“Breaking through that echo chamber is critical or else we’ll see more violence,” warns former Department of Homeland Security extremist expert Elizabeth Neumann.

She says the threat of online extreme right-wing “rabbit holes of disinformation” keeps her up at night.

“How do I help people that have, unbeknown to them, become radicalised in their thought?” she asks. “They hold views they didn’t hold 10 years ago because all they listen to is that infotainment. Unless we help them break the deception, we cannot operate with 30 per cent of the country holding the extreme views that they do.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 16, 2021, 7:13 p.m. No.12559372 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9399

>>12559355

3/4

THE SPIDER’S WEB

“The Capitol is our goal. Everything else is a distraction. Every corrupt member of Congress locked in one room and surrounded by real Americans is an opportunity that will never present itself again,” read a message posted to thedonald.win message board. “The final solution is the only solution.”

It was one social media post of millions.

Like the rest, its significance was overlooked – or ignored.

“Social media created this perfect storm,” Ms Jankowicz says. “Recommendation algorithms on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube prioritise engagement over truth, meaning that a search for natural health remedies, for instance, could lead users in only a few clicks to far more dangerous content.”

This, she says, explains how Capitol Hill’s “QAnon shaman” – adorned in furs, horns and Nordic tattoos – can be so obsessed with organic food.

“I monitored an ‘alternative health’ group on Facebook. Soon after I browsed through the group, Facebook suggested I join groups related to white supremacy,” Ms Jankowicz says.

Critics highlight how obscure recommendation algorithm systems (the AI selecting what posts or videos you see) will push viewers toward increasingly extreme content in a quest for clicks.

This presents an opportunity for search engine optimisation experts to “engineer attitudes”.

“The government and social media platforms have for too long refused to take seriously – or worse, embraced – this underbelly of the internet,” Ms Jankowicz says.

“Social media platforms aided and abetted their growth by driving vulnerable audiences to their content. And Republican officials, including Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, legitimised the theories rather than condemned them.”

MIND WARS

“We don’t trust the government. We don’t trust the Congress. We don’t trust the Supreme Court. We don’t trust science. We don’t trust medicine. We don’t trust the media for sure. So, who do we trust? Well, we trust our tribe. We trust conspiracy theories that tell us what we want to hear,” University of Maryland Professor Arie Kruglanski says.

Making matters worse is that people don’t like to change their minds.

Even less admit to themselves they were wrong.

It’s a fundamental problem for those combating radicalisation – be it political or religious, or both.

“People who harbour delusional narratives tend to bulldoze over reality in their attempt to deny that their own narrative is false,” Dr Lee says.

And that denial runs deep.

“Cult members and victims of abuse are often emotionally bonded to the relationship, unable to see the harm that is being done to them,” she says. “After a while, the magnitude of the deception conspires with their own psychological protections against pain and disappointment. This causes them to avoid seeing the truth.”

“Leadership matters,” says Kori Schake, a former senior adviser in the State Department, Defense Department and the National Security Council. “It really matters that the President of the United States is an arsonist of radicalisation. And it will really help when that is no longer the case.”

Dr Lee agrees. To a point.

“When the mind is hijacked for the benefit of the abuser, it becomes no longer a matter of presenting facts or appealing to logic,” she says. “Removing Trump from power and influence will be healing in itself.”

But it’s no magic bullet.

“The danger is that another pathological figure will come around and entice them with a false ‘solution’ that is really a harnessing of this resistance.”

(continued)

>>12559372

4/4

COUNTER-ATTACK

“The events at the Capitol are still a loud wake-up call,” Ms Jankowicz says. “The United States has finally been shocked into understanding that the information people consume online has real-world consequences for public health, public safety and democracy.”

Exposure, Dr Lee says, is the key.

Confrontation isn’t helpful “for it will only rouse resistance,” she says.

“The problem with condemning conspiracy theories is that it plays into the conspiracy theorist’s mind,” adds Viren Swami, a social psychology professor at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.

Persuasion won’t likely work either.

“The problem with conspiracy theories is if your basic premise is that everything you’re being told is false and there is a big secret event happening behind the scenes, then no matter what you’re told, you just assume that that’s propaganda,” Professor McNaughton-Cassill says.

The alternative is to enable believers to discover inherent contradictions for themselves.

Denied outside reinforcement, Dr Lee warns conspiracy adherents will suffer disillusionment, trauma – and anger.

“And this is all right – they are healthy reactions to an abnormal situation. We must provide emotional support for healing, and this includes societal support, such as sources of belonging and dignity.”

But the best defence says ASPI’s Elise Thomas is early – and honest – inoculation.

“It means speaking out swiftly, strongly and publicly against purveyors of conspiracy theories and disinformation about elections – regardless of who they are, or which party they belong to.”

IT’S NOT OVER YET

Fired chief of US cybersecurity Chris Krebs warns it will take years to undo the disinformation surrounding the Trump presidency.

“Over the next couple [of] years, we have to continue chipping away at the disinformation and the propaganda and the lies that have been spread over the last several years to generate and motivate and incite these actors,” he told US media this week. “The narrative’s been set; it’s been ingrained. I’m sure the President will continue to claim that the election was stolen, whether for fundraising opportunities or just to shield his ego.”

“We should consider the President, his followers and the nation as an ecology, not in isolation. Hence, what he does after this presidency depends a great deal on us,” Dr Lee says.

The worst possible outcome is for Trump to establish a “shadow” presidency.

“He will have no limit,” she says.

And new conspiracies are already being manipulated to divisive ends warns Ms Thomas.

“We should probably anticipate that the growing nexus between the fringe right-wing and fringe anti-Chinese Communist Party actors … will lead to particular individuals or groups being falsely accused of being agents of Chinese influence or somehow under the sway of the CCP, or that the election has been ‘hacked by China’,” she warns.

The consequences of such lies are real, including distracting security agencies from actual interference operations.

“You’d hope Australian politicians from all parties would not be so profoundly negligent, or prove to have such a weak commitment to democratic values and processes. However, there are some worrying signs,” Ms Thomas says.

Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/trump-followers-who-stormed-capitol-could-have-had-a-mass-psychosis/news-story/94c8dc3a7bd16e93478558f05f0dc37e

‘Peddlers of hate’: Australia’s growing legion of far-right extremists hail US Capitol invaders

Cait Kelly - Jan 17, 2021

1/2

Right-wing extremists in Australia have celebrated last week’s riots at Capitol Hill, and experts warn the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the threat of far-right white supremacist terrorism here.

Australian-based users on social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and right-wing extremist-friendly Gab have spent the past week peddling conspiracy theories and celebrating the riots that killed five people.

One prominent white supremacist wrote: “King hit these f-rs. Knock them out, drag them away. Keep doing this over and over, until all the shills shut the f-k up while the Men smash the enemy.”

The celebrations came as experts warn the far-right movement has become more visible and grown in membership since the pandemic started.

Human Rights Watch warned this week the scenes at Capitol Hill should come as a “wake up call” for the Australian government to counter the escalating right-wing terrorism threat.

Research has shown that extreme right-wing groups have grown in membership over the past year, with online spaces exploding with Australians looking to connect over their belief that white people are superior.

Dr Julian Droogan is an expert on violent extremism from Macquarie University who has spent countless hours observing these groups.

“It is a very diverse community, and online it is much bigger than the formal groups that exist,” Dr Droogan said.

The groups vary in beliefs and values – some concentrate their hate on Islam, Jews or feminists, while others home in on the LGBTI community or immigrants.

What binds them is a belief that the white race is under threat of extinction and an authoritarian leader is needed to save it.

"They all come back to the idea that white identity is under threat and one of the ways it can be saved is through rolling back of democracy and the leadership of an authoritarian, preferably a white man," Dr Droogan said.

Many believe that Donald Trump is the man for the job, he said.

The extremist movement presents two types of threats to Australia, Dr Droogan explained.

One is that the groups normalise these beliefs and encourage violence to the point where “a man with a manifesto” becomes a terrorist actor, he said, referring to the Australian terrorist who perpetrated the Christchurch massacre after being radicalised online.

The second is that the groups’ extreme beliefs infiltrate mainstream discussions and decisions.

"The much more insidious threat is a non-violent move into condoning racist anti-liberal beliefs in normal society,” Dr Droogan said.

“So the political discussion is moved to the proto-fascist right.”

Proto-fascism describes the ideas and cultural movements that lead to fascist governments.

“Fascists governments have never come to power purely through violent revolution. Before [violent actions] there are long periods where people agitated and moved their far-right beliefs into the mainstream,” Dr Droogan explained.

Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, ASIO, has already sounded the alarm, warning there is a “real and growing” threat posed by the far-right in Australia to the point that they now make up 40 per cent of ASIO investigations.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has faced pressure to discipline government MPs George Christensen and Craig Kelly for peddling right-wing conspiracy theories about the Capitol Hill riot.

Just hours after rioters breached the Capitol building on Wednesday, Mr Kelly promoted via Facebook the conspiracy theory that anti-fascists – not Trump supporters, as was the reality – were behind the riots.

This conspiracy has also been taken up within parts of right-wing groups in Australia.

Dr Droogan said the government refusing to reprimand the two backbenchers was “dangerous”.

“In countries like America and Australia, you have political figures who try to flirt with these ideas, who try to appeal to the movement,” he said.

“But they hate all politicians. It’s not so much that they want conservatives or liberals elected, they distrust and hate elites altogether.

“So it is a dangerous thing to do because of the revolutionary nature of the movement.”

(continued)

>>12559710

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On Wednesday the Australian director at Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, called for Australian authorities “to be vigilant” to the growing threat.

“The Australian government should speak plainly and consistently in condemning the actions of those who undermine democracy, even when it is the president of the United States,” she said.

PhD candidate at ANU Simon Copland is researching Australian extremism. He said the groups operating had already encouraged violence – but not in the way we might think.

“The Christchurch shooter, he wrote in his manifesto one of the reasons he did it was he was frustrated at the lack of progress in the movement here,” he said.

Mr Copland said shutting down social media spaces wasn’t always the answer as it could move groups into more unregulated parts of the internet, where views become more extreme.

“It means law enforcement needs to be more targeted in extremist spaces, identifying participants within them and intervening beforehand.”

100,000 strong

Dr Debra Smith, a Victoria University researcher focusing on violent political extremism, said there had been significant growth in right-wing extremism since 2015 when far-right groups protested the Bendigo Mosque project.

Dr Smith describes the movement as a “leaderless resistance”.

“They operate more like a network than a group,” she said.

"It’s a balancing act, they need to be visible enough to attract members, but not so visible they attract security.”

Although no one can say how big the movement is, Dr Smith came across 100,000 unique users in Australian groups she studied.

Many of those would not be at risk of becoming violent, but the online spaces they frequent encourage it, she said.

“It enables it. It encourages it, and celebrates people committing acts of violence,” Dr Smith said.

A federal government committee has commenced an inquiry into the nature, magnitude, and the threat posed by extremism in Australia and how it has evolved during COVID-19.

But part of the answer has to be changing the political discussion to be intolerant of bigotry, Dr Smith said.

“Our political rhetoric needs to change,” she said.

"We need to stop mainstreaming far-right views and making those people look like they just have another opinion.

“We need to see them for what they are which is peddlers of hate.”

Cait Kelly has worked in newsrooms across print and online, in the UK and in Australia. She worked as a reporter for the Scottish Daily Mail and Daily Mail Australia before joining The New Daily in 2019. You can find her tweeting here: @cait__kelly

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2021/01/17/far-right-extremists-australia/

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 16, 2021, 7:50 p.m. No.12559872 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2639

Go-to platform for neo-Nazis and QAnon attracts new users after Twitter, Parler purge

Queensland MP George Christensen is facing scrutiny after revelations he is using Gab, a self-proclaimed free speech social media network.

Ellen Whinnett - January 17, 2021

Queensland MP George Christensen is using the alt-right social media network Gab, the go-to social media platform for neo-Nazis, QAnon conspiracy theorists and right-wing extremists.

Mr Christensen, the LNP member for Dawson in far north Queensland, appears to have been a member of Gab since 2016 but only began posting this week, highlighting complaints about Big Tech censorship including the de-platforming of US President Donald Trump.

The spotlight has turned on Gab, a self-proclaimed free speech platform developed in 2016 by young conservative Christian tech entrepreneur Andrew Torba, since mainstream sites including Twitter and Facebook purged tens of thousands of accounts, including Mr Trump’s, following last week’s attack on the Capitol building.

Users of another right-wing site, Parler, which was effectively shut down last week, were also heading to Gab.

The site, which has featured a cartoon character strikingly similar to Pepe the frog – co-opted by neo-Nazis as a mascot – as its corporate logo, and still sells merchandise featuring “Gabby the frog,’’ has claimed it was getting 10,000 new users signing up every hour.

Mr Christensen does not mention his LNP affiliation on his Gab profile and instead calls himself a conservative, with links to his podcast.

“Gab has established itself as a free speech social media platform that adequately moderates unlawful content, and for these reasons I am happy to support it as a Member of Parliament,” he told News Corp.

Other Australians using the site include far-Right figure Blair Cottrell. There is an inactive account under the name of the former One Nation Senator Fraser Anning.

QAnon conspiracy theorist Tim Stewart, prominent for his years-long friendship with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, is also on Gab after being booted off Twitter.

Senior politics lecturer at the University of Sydney, Peter Chen, said while there was much talk of “mass migration’’ to sites such as Gab, it remained to be seen if the new users would stay around.

Dr Chen said Gab had fewer than one million accounts and it was not yet clear how many were active.

By comparison, Twitter has more than 340 million accounts and more than 186 million daily active users.

Dr Chen said claims by Gab that it was signing up 10,000 people an hour were “totally unverifiable.’’

“The question is how many will stay around,’’ he said.

“Gab is far more unashamedly aligned with the far Right – the neo-Nazis, white supremacists.

“There are common threads, at the moment QAnon is the major theme.

“Once Trump fades from the public eye with the loss of his position … how long will people be attracted to the Q thing when Trump is out of office?’’

Dr Chen said he thought Gab would be less popular in Australia than in the US, where it appealed strongly to those involved in the US militia culture.

Efforts were made in 2018 to shut down Gab after a man posted his thoughts there before murdering 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Mr Torba, who was just 27 when he founded Gab, posted on Friday that the site had “zero tolerance for threats of violence or illegal activity on our platform.

“The soaring demand of our service is not from extremists joining the platform, but rather from everyday people joining who are tired of the Silicon Valley tyrants controlling speech on the internet,’’ he wrote.

Ellen Whinnett is News Corp Network's investigations editor. A Walkley-award winning journalist, she is a former foreign correspondent and political editor who has been reporting for more than 30 years. She has a particular focus on national security, terrorism, politics and crime. - @ellenwhinnett

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/goto-platform-for-neonazis-and-qanon-attracts-new-users-after-twitter-parler-purge/news-story/9bd1c65ebe22a369a9b92976ea0c03bc

Trump's Twitter ban 'won't necessarily last forever'

Sky News Australia

16 Jan 2021

Image Matrix tech editor Djuro Sen says Donald Trump’s ban from Twitter is a serious precedent considering there a people probably saying a lot worse.

Twitter made the decision to ban President Trump saying he breached the platform’s rules.

“I don’t think that will necessarily last forever,” Mr Sen told Sky News.

“In terms of banning, I can understand why it happened but I do feel a little ill at ease that someone who is a president of a country is banned from a platform that has encouraged open and free debate."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EvZtJOiDms

>Look to Twitter:

>Exactly this: "My fellow Americans, the Storm is upon us……."

>God bless.

Is Morrison ready for a Biden administration?

Anthony Galloway - January 16, 2021

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At the height of the United States presidential election in 2016, then-Foreign Minister Julie Bishop instructed her mandarins to prepare two briefs: one for a Clinton win and one for a Trump win.

There was pushback from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with even its traditionally thorough and uber-cautious officials seemingly of the view that Clinton would easily prevail.

That was not the message Bishop had been receiving on her trips to the US that year, and she insisted the briefs be prepared “equally”.

While things looked rushed from the outside – with Canberra’s then-ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey, famously needing to request a phone number for Donald Trump from Australian golfer Greg Norman on the night of the election – the preparation had been going on for months.

The move allowed Bishop, Hockey and other senior diplomats to begin reaching out to key figures in the Trump camp immediately after his win on November 8, 2016.

"That, I think, was a wise move because when Trump was elected president we were very well prepared in terms of the likely appointees and the people who would take roles," Bishop says.

For a number of reasons, Bishop’s successor, Marise Payne, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have not been able, and have not needed, to move as fast in touching base with the incoming administration. According to DFAT sources with knowledge of the transition, Payne has not been in contact with any senior figures in President-elect Joe Biden’s camp since November’s election.

Four years after the Trump transition team came under scrutiny for its dealings with Russian officials, the Biden transition team has been keen to keep its distance from foreign governments until the inauguration.

But with many of Biden’s top national security appointees former members of the Obama administration, Australian government officials don’t feel as though they're starting from scratch this time.

“The Morrison government is dealing with a different scenario. They have a sitting president but also a president-elect who is very well known to the Australian government through the Obama administration,” Bishop says. “We were dealing with a different scenario from the outset because the election was between two potential candidates, not a sitting president and a former vice-president as candidate."

But after years of navigating the Trump relationship, the government now needs to move on from the most divisive US president in history.

Australia wants to convince the incoming Democratic administration to stay engaged in the Indo-Pacific region and keep a check on a rising China.

While Biden will continue with much of the Trump administration’s agenda for the region, Australia is alive to the risk that the US could – down the track – trade off its geo-strategic goals for other priorities, such as more ambitious action on climate change.

What’s at stake?

For a number of years, Australia and its allies – particularly Japan and more recently India – have been pursuing an Indo-Pacific strategy to deal with a more assertive Beijing.

China’s militarisation of the South China Sea, economic coercion of neighbours to reinforce its dominance, fusion of mass surveillance and artificial intelligence, and repression in Hong Kong and Xinjiang all represent an existential threat to the region and the world.

With the relative strength of the US declining and its ability to maintain its regional supremacy not assured, Australia and its allies want to accommodate Beijing but counterbalance it by building a broad alliance of countries in the region with the help of the US.

The release of the Trump administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy this week revealed how much Australia, Japan and India played a part in informing the US’s shift in foreign policy over the past four years.

While the Asia “pivot” and conception of the “Indo-Pacific” started under the Obama administration, this strategy properly recognised that the US and its allies were in competition with China. The declassified document, dated February 2018, called for deeper multilateral and bilateral engagement in the region – something Trump often ignored.

Bishop believes there will be a strong degree of continuity between the Trump and Biden administrations on Indo-Pacific strategy.

“Although it is a different administration, I don't expect major or immediate changes to policy in relation to the Indo-Pacific. There will certainly be a change in tone and nuance," she says.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 16, 2021, 8:25 p.m. No.12560465 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0492

>>12560442

2/3

Moving on from Trump

Aside from Morrison's appearance with Trump at what was in effect a campaign rally in Ohio, even the Prime Minister's harshest critics have struggled to credibly find fault with how he or his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, managed the relationship.

Canberra avoided the worst of Trump’s bullying of allies, escaped trade tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, and convinced him to honour a refugee deal struck with Obama. Staying close to Trump, it can be argued, served the national interest.

But the Morrison government has created a perception over recent weeks it is being slow to move on from the Trump era.

While Morrison joined other world leaders in condemning the storming of the US Capitol, he stopped short of following British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in directly criticising Trump for inciting the violence. “It is not for me to offer commentary on world leaders,” he said.

Morrison also refused to criticise Coalition MPs such as George Christensen for alleging US voter fraud. A week later, while Morrison was on holidays, acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack repeatedly equated the riots at the Capitol to last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, a comparison Amnesty International labelled “deeply offensive”.

This masthead has also been told by well-placed sources that some senior Democrats who will be serving in the Biden administration believe Morrison at times went too far in cosying up to Trump.

But Dennis Richardson, one of the most distinguished public servants in Australia’s history and a former ambassador to the US, says Morrison’s closeness to Trump would not worry key appointees such as Biden’s pick for secretary of state, Tony Blinken.

“People like Blinken who have been around, they would think it was a good thing that a country like Australia maintained a sensible relationship with the US during the Trump administration,” Richardson says.

“Any suggestion that McCormack’s comments, whatever you think of them, would negatively affect our capacity to work with the Biden administration [is wrong]."

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says the Morrison government’s relationship with the incoming Democrat administration “is thin to say the least”.

“It’s no secret that the Morrison government privately wanted Trump to continue as president, given the extraordinary statements made by people like Hockey and [former British high commissioner Alexander] Downer in the lead-up to the presidential election,” he says.

“Similarly with Europe, this government has always been underdone in its relationship with Brussels as well as the individual EU capitals. These countries will be critical in terms of the success or failure of any multilateral pushback against China over trade.”

Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, says since November’s election, Morrison has “corroded the alliance by prioritising his affinity with Donald Trump and pandering to extremists in his own base”.

“These actions will not go unnoticed in Washington,” she says.

But the Federal Opposition has created its own issues in appearing to want to link Morrison and Trump. A joint press release by Wong and Labor leader Anthony Albanese days after the election calling on Morrison to “urge President Trump to respect the process” left some senior party figures feeling uncomfortable.

Canberra’s links with Biden camp

Regardless, the Australian government is familiar with Biden and most of his key national security appointments.

When she was defence minister, Payne dealt with Blinken, incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Ely Ratner, who is expected to be appointed to a senior Asia-related post.

Canberra was particularly pleased with the appointment last week of Kurt Campbell, one of the most influential minds on Asia in Washington and a friend of Australia, as Biden’s “Indo-Pacific co-ordinator”.

Senior officials in the Australian government, including Payne’s chief of staff, Justin Bassi, and Office of National Intelligence director-general Andrew Shearer, are also known to be close to some of these figures.

In his congratulatory call with Biden in November, Morrison invited the President-elect to Australia in 2021 to mark the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty. Biden is likely to accept the invitation, with preliminary talks already under way, according to senior Australian government sources.

For all his talk of visiting Australia, Trump never came in his four years in office.

(continued)

>>12560465

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Richardson says it is difficult for the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister to reach out to Biden's team during the transition period.

“Unless you knew Tony Blinken personally and had personal dealings with him over a long period of time … you would not be able to just ring him up and start chatting,” he says.

“He wouldn’t do it because officials of incoming administrations who are subject to Senate confirmation are very sensitive to anything that could be seen by the Senate as taking the confirmation process for granted.

“You can’t look back to Hockey and the Trump administration because the Trump administration was unconventional in its approach to the 2016 election.”

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching, co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Australia-United States of America, says Australia should be first in the door with any incoming US administration “because of the alliance, and indeed, our friendship”.

“Our neighbours in the Indo-Pacific region need Australia and the United States to be trusted allies, not only on issues of national security, but also non-state security threats, including health challenges such as the response to coronavirus, and climate change,” she says.

United States Studies Centre chief executive Simon Jackman says there is already a significant amount of dialogue between the Biden camp and Australian officials, as well as the think tank community.

He says a big test for how much the Biden administration values the Australia relationship will be how quickly it moves to appoint a new ambassador in Canberra.

“On the big-picture stuff, there is so much alignment on the strategic priorities in the region and the roles of the respective countries,” Jackman says.

“Having the ambassador here helps with keeping that prominent in the American government. A well-placed political appointee as ambassador is really important at this time.”

Where there could be conflict

Trump was close to a few world leaders – particularly Morrison, Johnson, India's Narendra Modi and former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe – but his alliances in Europe and NATO were left in tatters.

Morrison will be competing with all the leaders of Europe to get the ear of the new president, who has always been a staunch transatlanticist.

Climate change could also be an area where Australia is isolated, with Morrison last month left off the speakers list of a United Nations summit on climate change organised by Johnson.

Biden has highlighted climate action as one of his four top priorities, naming former secretary of state John Kerry as a special presidential envoy.

Jackman says Biden now has the opportunity to pass a significant policy on climate change after the Democrats won both houses of Congress.

“Before it became apparent that the Democrats had the Senate, there was a sense that some of the issues that might be awkward for the Australian government – particularly on climate change – would not come to pass. That’s less the case now,” he says.

Trade-offs with China?

There is always a fear within Canberra that the US could trade off measures to rein in China in return for a grand climate change agreement.

But this is less of a risk under Biden and his key national security appointees than it was with Obama.

In a seminal essay for Foreign Affairs magazine in 2019, Campbell and Sullivan discarded the more optimistic assumptions that underpinned the four-decade-long strategy of diplomatic and economic engagement with China, accepting the US was now in competition with Beijing.

The two key Biden appointees also ruled out the prospect of any kind of "grand bargain" with China, saying it would require "stark and permanent US concessions" including the abrogation of American alliances "or even of the right to operate in the western Pacific, for speculative promises".

They embraced a policy of “competition and co-operation” with China and said the US “needs to get back to seeing alliances as assets to be invested in rather than costs to be cut”.

This sounds like something a lot closer to Australia's foreign policy than Trump’s approach.

Australia just needs to convince the US to stay the course.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/is-morrison-ready-for-a-biden-administration-20210115-p56uee.html

Former Army officer suicides at ADF headquarters in Canberra

A former Army officer working in the Australian Defence Force intelligence unit in Canberra suicided in the car park of the Army headquarters.

An ex-army officer who works in the Australian Defence Force intelligence unit was found dead in his car by colleagues in the Army headquarters car park.

Sources say the man who died on December 21 was an intelligence officer with ASIS and had military experience. It’s the third defence-related suicide in less than a month.

A leading seaman from HMAS Stirling in Western Australia took his own life and an Army member attached to 1st Armoured in South Australia died by suicide on New Year’s Eve.

News of the death of the intelligence officer in the ADF’s Russell precinct in Canberra spread quickly in military circles and on social media defence groups, but in the following days information dried up, prompting veterans advocates to call for better transparency on suicides within the military.

Veterans advocate John Simmons said suicides and attempted suicides were often covered up by the ADF hierarchy.

He said the government’s new independent commissioner should be replaced by a Royal Commission. A Defence spokesman said he was aware of an incident in the Russell precinct on Monday, December 21.

“As the matter is being investigated by ACT Policing, it would be inappropriate for defence to comment, and any inquiries should be directed to ACT Policing,” the spokesman said.

ACT Police confirmed they attended the incident in Russell on December 21 and there were no suspicious circumstances. A report was sent to the ACT Coroners Court.

Mr Simmons, who runs Jesse Bird Welfare Centre in Adelaide, said “sadly too many vets are being told to use services on offer by defence and only them”.

“The ADF breeds a culture of physical, mental and emotional abuse. This abuse is often investigated and hidden from the surviving family and the public. We have been pleading for change and asking the greater community to stand behind those who took an oath to serve. We owe it to all those who have the lost the fight at home to have there story heard.”

A soldier from the 1st Armoured Unit in Edinburgh, South Australia, reached out to Mr Simmons in September last year. Christian Larson, 35, was struggling emotionally but told Mr Simmons he had been warned against seeking help from him.

“He contacted me twice last year, which to me indicates a fairly significant problem. He said if the unit found out he talked to me he would be in a whole lot of trouble.

“That shits me to tears because look how it turned out. They would prefer they go to the RSL, their own support services, that way they can keep under control what they say.”

Another advocate who runs the Pineapple Express Facebook page for veterans said the three suicides are the tip of the iceberg.

“This is just one of the many Defence members that has passed away by their own hands since NYE,” he wrote.

“We haven’t been able to post about them purely because we haven’t gained permission from family.”

Last Sunday Leading Seaman Liam Gould, 24, died and his post on Pineapple Express said: “I understand mental health in the ADF is problematic and it needs work.”

Senator Jacqui Lambie said veterans were killing themselves in record numbers and nobody knows why.

“But instead of calling a genuinely independent Royal Commission into this, the Government is letting Defence create its own investigation into itself … being led by someone who was a part of Defence until she resigned two days before she took the job,” Senator Lambie said.

A defence spokesman said mental health and suicide are issues that affect everyone in the community and there is often no single cause.

“It is a national tragedy that more than 3000 Australians take their own lives each year,” the spokesman said.

“When it comes to ADF and veteran suicide, the only acceptable number is zero and the only acceptable number for the Australian people is zero.

“Addressing the tragedy of suicide is a national priority and Defence is committed to ensuring serving and ex-serving ADF members have access to support, especially those who are vulnerable or at risk.”

Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Minister Darren Chester said the government is committed to putting our veterans, Australian Defence Force personnel and their families first “and continues to invest significantly in mental health”.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/former-army-officer-suicides-at-adf-headquarters-in-canberra/news-story/4dd2b6929968c65e6bf8f0187ecce338

Prince Andrew asked online troll to help discredit his sex accuser: Duke of York's adviser and Sarah Ferguson's aide made a 'desperate' approach to ex-model who claimed damning Virginia Roberts picture was faked… but she then informed FBI

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The Duke and Duchess of York's closest advisers sought help from an online troll in an attempt to discredit the Duke's sex accuser, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The aides hoped that Molly Skye Brown – who attacked Virginia Roberts on Twitter for months – possessed information that might prove the infamous photograph of Andrew with his arm around Ms Roberts, then 17, was manipulated.

Ms Roberts, one of the victims of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, claims she was forced to have sex with the Duke, now 60, on three occasions, allegations he vehemently denies along with any other wrongdoing.

In a bizarre conversation, one of the Duke's team is alleged to have discussed with Ms Brown the possibility of setting up a fake Twitter account to ensnare a woman they suspected of doctoring the photo.

Ms Roberts maintains the picture was taken on the night she claims she had sex with Andrew in 2001.

For months Ms Brown, 42, a former teen beauty queen from Florida, has subjected Ms Roberts to vile abuse on Twitter.

Yet Sarah Ferguson's trusted lieutenant Antonia Marshall – having seen a tweet from Ms Brown stating that the photo was a fake – sent her an email on December 14 asking for a chat and thanking her for her 'online support'.

When they spoke, Ms Brown claims Ms Marshall suggested a meeting with the Duchess as an apparent sweetener and said she could pass on a greeting to the Queen 'as we are all one big family and see each other all the time'.

At one stage, Mark Gallagher, the Duke's PR expert and crisis management specialist, was also drafted in to help woo Ms Brown.

Ms Brown says she provided what she claims was 'some evidence the photo was doctored' but declined to help further. She then passed the email and text exchanges to the FBI.

In response to the outcry over Ms Roberts's claims, the Queen's second son was forced to give up Royal duties and step down from his charitable patronages. With the US authorities still hopeful of interviewing him about the Epstein scandal, his team of advisers is working behind the scenes to try to restore his reputation.

What made Ms Brown turn against Ms Roberts, who is married and called Virginia Giuffre, is unclear.

Ms Brown claims Ghislaine Maxwell tried to recruit her as a masseuse when she was 14 and exercising at a children's gym in Palm Beach, Florida, close to Epstein's mansion.

Ms Maxwell, 58, is on remand in the US after being charged with the sex trafficking of underage girls and the enticement of minors. She has denied any wrongdoing.

(continued)

>>12561565

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Ms Brown's story emerged last October. Since then she has campaigned to bring paedophiles to justice but claims Ms Roberts was an 'enabler' for the sex abuser.

Ms Roberts has publicly denied Ms Brown's allegations and said she 'blocked her [on Twitter] because of her widespread lies'.

The extraordinary overtures to Ms Brown from the Duke's team began with an email from Ms Marshall saying; 'Hi Molly, I work for the Duchess of York and I wondered if you had time at some point for a quick chat re your tweet about the photo of the Duke being edited/doctored. Thank you so much for your online support!'

The pair exchanged WhatsApp messages and emails before having a lengthy conversation, in which Ms Brown relayed her claims about the photo.

Her doubts do not have the support of experts. Hany Farid, professor of digital forensics and image analysis at University of California, Berkeley, has said: 'I don't see any obvious signs of manipulation.'

Even Ms Brown, who maintains the image was 'Photoshopped', believes the advisers' attempts to court her were 'desperate'.

Indeed, the conversation reportedly took an even more desperate turn, with Ms Marshall discussing the possibility of setting up a 'spy' Twitter account to extract information from Epstein's victims.

Ms Brown said: 'Then she [Marshall] said "How are you getting all this information?". And I said "Oh, I made a spy account." She thought that was brilliant and said 'Do you think we should get a spy account?'

It is understood Ms Marshall does not have the same 'recollection' of the conversation with Ms Brown.

Afterwards, Ms Marshall sent a message saying: 'One of the York family advisers called Mark Gallagher would love to speak to you.'

Within hours, he had messaged her on WhatsApp. Ms Brown asked the Prince's aide to brief her on 'what exactly we will be focusing on for our chat,' adding: 'As you know this is much bigger and darker than just a photo scandal. Agreed?'

Mr Gallagher replied: 'Entirely agreed, Molly. I'd like to talk to you in the round about the important distinction you have drawn between survivors and – in effect – enablers. That gets to the heart of this.'

The Mail on Sunday yesterday put a series of questions to the Duke's representatives about their conduct in approaching Ms Brown but they declined to comment.

A source close to the Prince said: 'The exchange with Molly Skye Brown was not out of the ordinary. It would be very easy to over interpret the subsequent conversations.

'The plain fact of the matter is none of this went further than an initial discussion.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9155109/Prince-Andrew-asked-online-troll-help-discredit-sex-accuser.html

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Aussies over 18 (666) Jan. 16, 2021, 11:09 p.m. No.12562142 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Gonna get torched, like the English and Scots

For the fat orange joker and jewanon

Deservedly so, too.

Since the 1st January 2017.

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him.

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war.

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you.

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped.

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks.

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people.

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon.

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already.

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities.

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel.

And for the aberration of QAnon.

Best thing ever, really.

Thick cunts.

Made me invisible.

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews.

And 13 vile and rancid kikes

Disdainful and disrespectful.

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever.

Despite what our politicians say.

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka

Victory of the light.

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context)

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home.

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits.

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages 130mb

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all.

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly.

Never lies and is never violent.

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now?

Jon James Pratt (999)

Aka Christ Almighty

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha

Aka Krishna

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’

Aka ‘the storm’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache

All over 8kun too

ARCHIVED VERSION

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Thank the kind doctors at Homerton hospital Jan. 17, 2021, 12:11 a.m. No.12562568 🗄️.is 🔗kun

For your completely irreversible collective death sentences Aussies

And my dopey family too

Lol 😂

https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1347668440434307072?s=20

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Thank the doctors for your prize Jan. 17, 2021, 4:48 a.m. No.12564619 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Here’s the number of the ward where they refused to even look at my homework and locked me up three times as mentally ill.

Three strikes and you’re out, Aussies

Like Israel, America and England/Scotland

Anonymous ID: bd7cb9 Jan. 17, 2021, 5:52 a.m. No.12565174 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6191

Build a list of down under Telegram channels to follow…

https://t.me/disclosetv

https://t.me/JamesWoodsReal

https://t.me/Steven_Crowder

https://t.me/RightSideBroadcastingNetwork

https://t.me/Breitbart

https://t.me/RealMarjorieGreene

https://t.me/juliansrumchannel

https://t.me/WithLogicChannel

https://t.me/PatrickByrne

https://t.me/jordansather

https://t.me/RayGunMusings

https://t.me/CodeMonkeyZ

https://t.me/NeonRevolt

https://t.me/techno_fog

https://t.me/witzkeforDE

https://t.me/Resignation_Anon

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Devil is in the detail Jan. 17, 2021, 7:23 a.m. No.12566175 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Team Satan

Pic related

Lol 😂

>>12565174

So the rest of the world can track you satanic clowns 🤡 down and kill you

>>12560775

Kill yourselves tough guys

China's Richest Cities 2021 | Top 10 中国最富有城市 2021 添加了中文字幕 Made In China

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqP938FY7zQ

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: d05fa4 Jews outing themselves Jan. 17, 2021, 8:27 p.m. No.12578004 🗄️.is 🔗kun

As the real Nazis

Lol 😂

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 These people are stupid Jan. 17, 2021, 8:29 p.m. No.12578033 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Jews and Americans

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 These people are sick Jan. 17, 2021, 8:30 p.m. No.12578041 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Jews

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 If I was American Jan. 17, 2021, 8:37 p.m. No.12578156 🗄️.is 🔗kun

I would be bloody furious

Wouldn’t you?

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 17, 2021, 9:08 p.m. No.12578596 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

Questions over the Vatican’s $1.1 million cash transfer to Australia remain unsolved

A stalemate in tracking the money has hindered a probe into whether George Pell’s trial was corrupted.

Anthony Dowsley and Mark Buttler - January 17, 2021

A Vatican money transfer of $1.1m to Australia is destined to remain unresolved.

A stalemate in tracking the money trail has left the probe into whether Cardinal George Pell’s trial was corrupted at a dead end, with no investigative body prepared to delve into the mystery cash movement.

The Vatican’s financial transfers occurred the same year Cardinal Pell was charged with historical sex crimes.

Federal financial crime watchdog AUSTRAC, which identified the transfer late last year following media reports in Italy, shared its intelligence with three large investigative bodies — the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and anti-corruption body IBAC.

But none of these bodies has exposed what the money was for or where it ended up.

More recent reports have revealed Vatican transfers of $9.5m to Australia since 2014.

Questions raised with AUSTRAC, Victoria Police and IBAC about the use of the funds have gone unanswered.

The lack of transparency has raised concerns within the Pell camp, which continues to call for a proper investigation into whether funds were funnelled to pay the Cardinal’s accuser, known as Witness J.

Witness J testified that Cardinal Pell sexually assaulted him in 1996 and 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne.

Victoria Police in October played down the significance of the transfer without giving reason, other than to state AUSTRAC had not advised it of any “suspicious activity related to these transactions’’.

While confirming the payments had been wired from the Vatican over a ‘’period of time’’, Victoria Police was not prepared to investigate further without other evidence or intelligence.

The case was also referred to IBAC, Victoria’s underfunded anti-corruption body, which was stifled by its own charter. It dismissed the probe in November last year, stating that the investigative “threshold’’ had not been met.

IBAC told the Herald Sun it would not take the investigation further.

AUSTRAC has also walked away from the probe.

Cardinal Pell protested privately before his trial that he believed he had been set up by his enemies within the Vatican, whom he was investigating over financial corruption.

True or not, there has been little transparency in the money transfer.

Liberal MP Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who has been pursuing the issue in the Senate, said answers needed to be found. “Allegations about transfers of Vatican funds to Australia, including any connection to the Pell matter, are complicated issues involving activities in Australia and the Vatican,” she said.

“Legitimate questions remain unanswered both in Australia and at the Vatican, including from AUSTRAC, the AFP, DFAT and most particularly from Victoria Police, IBAC and judicial authorities.”

Ms Fierravanti-Wells said the allegations were serious and would have significant consequences if true.

The High Court of Australia acquitted Cardinal Pell in April 2020, overturning his 2018 conviction of committing sexual crimes against the two teenagers.

Cardinal Pell has always maintained his innocence.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/questions-over-the-vaticans-11-million-cash-transfer-to-australia-remain-unsolved/news-story/9bab91b9ef236b5a03e4dbb6a1bd228b

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 17, 2021, 9:23 p.m. No.12578795 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

Trump 'not mortally wounded' from election defeat

Sky News Australia

17 Jan 2021

Curtin University’s Professor Joe Siracusa says Donald Trump is not mortally wounded following his defeat which he will use as fuel to go to the next level.

Joe Biden will be sworn in as president on January 20 in a heavily guarded Washington DC.

“He (Trump) still calls the shots, and I’d be paying attention to him,” Professor Siracusa told Sky News.

“When he goes to Mar-a-Lago he’s going to go as the aggrieved, disgraced president. He’s been disgraced a number of times in his life – he seems to use this as fuel to work on his brand and go up to the next level.

“Donald Trump is able to turn these grievances into a sort of fuel for his party. He’s going to be very dangerous going ahead.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATWy1fW_4W8

Joe Biden's inauguration explained : What time it will be on in Australia and how to watch

Stuart Marsh - Jan 18, 2021

1/2

It's been arguably the most tumultuous political landscape America has faced since 1968, with many hoping for calm once President-Elect Joe Biden officially takes office.

Biden's inauguration will mark the official start of his four-year term, and due to COVID-19 and security concerns, will go ahead without much of the pomp and fanfare that is usually carried with such occasions.

If you're interested in following along in Australia, here's what we know about Mr Biden's inauguration:

What day and time will Joe Biden's inauguration be?

As part of US presidential tradition, the presidential inauguration is held at noon Eastern Time Zone on January 20. It has occurred this way since 1937.

Here in Australia, that means it will be held on January 21, at 4am AEDT for the east coast states (Sydney and Melbourne). Due to not recognising daylight savings it will be around 3am in Brisbane.

There are standard pre-inauguration activities, which you can expect to start happening from around 1.30am AEDT.

Curiously, since 1937 there have been three occasions where the inauguration has not occurred on January 20: these were because the dates fell on a Sunday.

On those occasions, the ceremony was held privately before public activities the next day on January 21.

Where can I watch the inauguration in Australia?

You can watch the full livestream at 9News.com.au and follow along on the 9News app.

There will also be a live blog covering the latest events, and explaining the meaning behind traditional ceremonies and activities.

Where is it, and what does it involve?

The inauguration will be held at the Western front of the US Capitol building – the very building that was infamously the scene of the riots almost two weeks ago.

It's the façade of the building that faces the National Mall.

The ceremony itself is quite traditional, although in light of recent events we can expect to see some – or multiple – changes.

Traditionally the ceremony involves Mr Biden taking the oath of office. Most presidents place their hand on a bible when being sworn in, however there is no requirement this be done in the US constitution.

Mr Biden has confirmed he will be sworn in on a family bible that has been passed down since 1893.

Following that, a marine band will play a few tunes while a 21-gun salute is performed.

After this, Mr Biden will likely give his inaugural address, the speech in which a new president lays out their vision for America, and hopes for the future.

(continued)

>>12579024

2/2

Will Donald Trump be there?

No.

Traditionally the outgoing President – and any surviving former presidents – will be in attendance. But Donald Trump has already confirmed in a tweet he will not be attending.

Vice President Mike Pence will be there, as will former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush.

Are they expecting riots and protests?

Yes.

The threat of extremist groups rioting during Mr Biden's inauguration is high, and parts of the Capitol have already been fenced off and boarded up.

There will be massive security coverage, including the National Guard.

The FBI has already performed an extensive risk assessment, with the primary worry being action from domestic terrorists.

What changes will there be for Joe Biden's inauguration?

There are so many factors why Mr Biden's inauguration will look different.

Firstly, there is the recent US Capitol riots by Trump supporters who stormed the very building Mr Biden is to be sworn in at.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, is the ever-present COVID-19 threat.

Mr Biden won presidency on a platform of taking the virus seriously, and as such there will not be the heaving mass of crowds that are traditionally there.

Instead, the live audience for the event has been restricted to members of Congress and one guest each. Everyone present will need to wear a mask.

This will limit total guests to around 3000 people. Normally there can be up to 200,000.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/joe-biden-inauguration-explainer-date-what-to-expect-how-to-watch-everything-to-know/ef3a5c33-a7a7-4e2b-9d77-1471daa33e2a

Anonymous ID: 6166b9 Jan. 17, 2021, 10:54 p.m. No.12579726 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9744 >>2542

Australian man flees child sexual abuse charges in Thailand, denies guilt

Fergus Hunter - January 18, 2021

1/2

An Australian man on the run in Thailand is denying accusations he exploited impoverished children at his home under the guise of providing education and care, claiming the charges are a set-up.

Adam James Fox, 44, was charged by the Royal Thai Police in early 2020 but received bail and did not attend his trial in December. He is being prosecuted in Mae Sot, a city on the border with Myanmar that has a reputation for human trafficking and exploitation.

The case has also raised concerns about corruption among the authorities in the local Tak Province, with accusations he has bribed high-ranking officials to avoid investigation, manipulate charges and receive bail after he was first arrested.

An arrest warrant for Mr Fox, seen by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, was issued at the start of December after he failed to attend court. The warrant specified that Mr Fox was facing charges for sexual offences and not having a valid visa.

Mr Fox is accused of assaulting or violating at least three Myanmar boys aged under 15 at his home, purportedly there to be supported by him and protected from the extreme poverty prevalent in the area.

A business consultant previously based in Melbourne, Mr Fox denies the charges and says he is being set up by locals who are out to get him.

According to an investigator from New Zealand who has been in Thailand working on human trafficking matters, concerns were first raised about Mr Fox by a local school principal because some of the boys had been absent. Up to seven children were drawn into the subsequent investigation.

"All children were interviewed by local social workers from a multidisciplinary team. I can confirm serious sexual abuse was reported, including ongoing sexual violation and indecencies. Boys also report being photographed nude and having access to drugs," the investigator, Daniel Isherwood, found.

The Herald and Age obtained records of messages sent by Mr Fox to an associate on November 23 in which he described, in graphic detail, sexual activities with children.

"And I love it … And no one can do anything about it," he wrote.

In one message, he said he administered methylamphetamine and heroin to one of the boys during a session of abuse.

"Anyway I filmed it and posted it on the dark web," the message said.

The messages, sent over the messaging app Line, were accessed and verified by Mr Isherwood. Mr Fox acknowledged they were authentic but said he didn't mean what he wrote and he had sent them at a time of acute stress and anger.

"All right, I was an idiot to say that but, man, there's plenty of other things I said. I threatened to blow up the court building. I have been flipping out," he told the Herald and Age.

Since October, Mr Fox has been mounting an online campaign designed to combat the allegations, publishing videos and posts claiming he is the subject of false and malicious rumours.

In one video, Mr Fox acknowledged the existence of footage showing a boy masturbating in his presence but said his back was turned and the incident was recorded by someone else as a set-up or prank. A local child welfare organisation reported the video actually shows Mr Fox participating.

In a statement made to local authorities, one of the boys reported that his mother was receiving 4500 Thai baht ($A190) per month to allow Mr Fox ongoing access.

Asked about the payments, Mr Fox said he had paid the kids and families to support their education and wellbeing.

"So of course I'm paying them. I'm not going to go into detailed descriptions of what I paid for and when," he said.

After he was first arrested in March 2020, he was then granted bail and allowed ongoing access with the alleged victims.

Following a press conference about the case by Thai authorities in May, a network of local non-government organisations, the Mae Sot Child Protection Network, released a public statement expressing concern Mr Fox had ongoing access to the children.

The network said authorities should be "immediately separating child victims from the [alleged] perpetrator and bringing them to the government shelter for care and protection". They also said Mr Fox's bail should be revoked given the evidence against him.

(continued)

>>12579726

2/2

In a video posted online, Mr Fox said he had bribed people, including for inside information from government workers and other purposes.

"Corruption in Thailand is at all levels and with enough money you can get people to give you whatever you want, whatever you need," he said.

Mr Isherwood alleges Mr Fox has paid to avoid investigation and charges and shift authorities' attention to others.

"He has only been able to do this by bribing officials and other contacts within Mae Sot," Mr Isherwood said. "This level of corruption appears specific to the Tak province and is not reflective of Thailand as a whole."

There is evidence Mr Fox conspired to bribe officials within the local judiciary to drop drug charges against him and implicate a man called Kyaw Moe Aung, who worked for Mr Fox last year but fell out with him amid the abuse allegations. The man has been imprisoned on a series of charges.

Asked about the bribery allegations, Mr Fox initially denied he had used bribes to influence officials in Mae Sot, saying he received bail "fairly and squarely", but then suggested he had made payments because he couldn't trust a corrupt system.

"Do you think that I'm going to bribe people and then I'm going to talk about it on the public stage? That's suicide. I'm not going to implicate powerful people, who I still need to deal with because there's still a case going on," he said in an email.

Mr Fox said he is in Bangkok and in hiding because he does not believe he will be fairly treated by the court. One boy, who is said to be Mr Fox's "favourite", may still be with him.

"I'm running from a hostile Thai government where a fair trial is no longer possible and the human rights abuses have extended to a point that I have no control over anything any more," he said in a video posted online.

Mr Isherwood, who has been investigating the case on the ground in Mae Sot, said Mr Fox was skilled at muddying the waters with subterfuge in the community and online but the allegations were very clear.

"This case highlights what can occur when [alleged] Western offenders are able to use financial means to both influence the justice system, allegedly abuse boys and manipulate their families," Mr Isherwood said.

The Australian citizen was a foster carer in Melbourne before going to Thailand and holds an active Victorian working with children check.

He is the owner of a company called Eat Your Veggies, which Mr Fox describes as a boutique consultancy. Mr Fox says his business success has allowed him to go into semi-retirement, travel and do charity work.

According to his website, the company has been involved in the development of a school finance app called My School Connect and an online babysitter service called Little Ones.

Sources familiar with Mr Fox's case said the Australian Federal Police, which has officers stationed in Thailand, has been monitoring developments but not actively participating in the investigation, which is being conducted by the Royal Thai Police.

Australians who engage in child abuse and exploitation overseas can be charged under Commonwealth criminal laws. The offences carry penalties of up to 25 years in prison.

In an online video, Mr Fox acknowledged that Mae Sot is viewed by many people as a "paedophile hotspot" but rejected the claims about him.

"Even if all the paedophiles that are caught in Mae Sot are white, foreign men, that doesn't mean that all white, foreign men caught in Mae Sot are paedophiles," he said.

The Royal Thai Police did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

If this article has raised concerns for you, support is available by phoning Lifeline at 13 11 14.

https://www.lifeline.org.au

https://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-man-flees-child-sexual-abuse-charges-in-thailand-denies-guilt-20210105-p56rtz.html

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweets

You can't make good policy without good people. #PersonnelIsPolicy

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1351197663035850771

—

Honored to speak with @ScottMorrisonMP about the unbreakable bond between our two countries and reviewing all that we have accomplished. The U.S.-Australia Alliance has never been stronger and will continue to grow in importance as we work to build a free and open Indo-Pacific.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1351193882558488576

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Why are these satanic faggots Jan. 18, 2021, 9:36 a.m. No.12585861 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Alive still?

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d This fat money worshipping jew Jan. 18, 2021, 6:08 p.m. No.12595326 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Is gonna get crucified too

Like the fat orange joker 🃏

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 18, 2021, 9:10 p.m. No.12598415 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2610

Pamela Anderson pleads with Trump to pardon 'free speech hero' Assange: 'Do the right thing'

Trump is expected to issue 50 to 100 commutations, pardons before term ends

Pamela Anderson made a final appeal to President Trump Monday to show his commitment to free speech by granting a full pardon to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before he leaves office.

The "Baywatch" star, a longtime supporter of Assange, told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that the pardon decision represents a "defining moment for the president."

Trump is expected to issue between 50 and 100 commutations and pardons before departing office this week. Despite an aggressive campaign to secure Assange's freedom, the jailed publisher is not expected to make the list, sources told Fox News.

"The entire world wants, or most want him to pardon Julian Assange," Anderson told host Tucker Carlson. "This is his time to shine and really make an impression on the world. If this goes to trial, that’s the end of the First Amendment."

Anderson urged Trump to "do the right thing" and defend a "free speech hero."

"This is one of those moments in history, in his lifetime, where he can make the right decision," she told Carlson. "He would really gain a huge following and a huge sigh of relief and gratefulness from so many people on the planet."

Carlson devoted an earlier portion of his show to the story, urging Trump to "defend the Bill of Rights" and impart "a lasting historical effect" by pardoning the 49-year-old Assange, who is currently behind bars in London's notorious maximum-security Belmarsh prison.

Trump "can achieve a major victory for the principles that this country was founded on and make it a good place to live," Carlson said. "The first one of those is freedom of the press, freedom of speech. It doesn’t matter. It’s still true and we should pardon Julian Assange."

Carlson also addressed reports that Trump is considering granting a pardon to rapper Lil Wayne, who was convicted of illegal possession of a firearm in 2019.

"Lil Wayne? Don’t degrade yourself," Carlson told Trump. "Don’t degrade your voters. Make a statement. Defend the Bill of Rights."

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/julian-assange-wikileaks-pardon-pamela-anderson-tucker-carlson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoAVdKR1fOY

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 18, 2021, 9:55 p.m. No.12599033 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2639

Could the conspiracy theory QAnon and those that follow it be active in Canberra?

ABC Radio CANBERRA

Mornings with Adam Shirley - 19 Jan 2021

It's a wild, disproven and fringe set of beliefs, but that didn't stop its followers storming the US Capitol.

But that's an American thing right? No way anything like that could come to Australia and its capital Canberra?

Think again. The QAnon conspiracy theory is a leaderless, shapeless and nebulous movement. And that's just the problem.

On ABC Canberra Mornings we spoke with someone whose job it is to track QAnon online and learned how differing beliefs can end a marriage.

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/canberra/programs/mornings/is-qanon-in-canberra/13069928

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:17 p.m. No.12599336 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8742 >>2407

Morrison talks with Pence, Pompeo but not Trump

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has this week reached out to two key members of Donald Trump's administration but has no plans to talk to the outgoing United States President.

Mr Morrison on Tuesday morning spoke by phone with US Vice-President Mike Pence from Longreach as he began his four-day tour of regional Queensland.

It followed a phone conversation on Monday night with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Both Mr Pence and Mr Pompeo could be candidates to be the next Republican nominee for US president in 2024.

Mr Morrison has not spoken to Mr Trump since before November's presidential election and has no plans to reach out, according to government sources.

The Prime Minister on Monday criticised "things that were said" to incite the violent riots on the US Congress without directly naming President Donald Trump.

In his conversation with Mr Pence, the pair thanked each other for their strong partnership over the past four years, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region and agreed there was no more important time for a strong Australia-US alliance.

Mr Morrison and Mr Pompeo spoke about the "unbreakable bond" that exists between the US and Australia and committed to continue working together to deepen and broaden the alliance.

According to a spokeswoman for Mr Pompeo, the Secretary of State thanked Mr Morrison for his "steadfast support in promoting our shared values of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and our common strategic interests, even in the face of economic threats from the People’s Republic of China".

They also spoke about the importance of the "Quad" alliance between the US, Australia, Japan and India to "advance a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region".

Mr Morrison spoke to Mr Pence from a Royal Australian Air Force jet at Longreach Airport.

The Prime Minister will travel throughout western Queensland over the coming days before leaving Queensland on Friday.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-talks-with-pence-pompeo-but-not-trump-20210119-p56v5j.html

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 18, 2021, 11:52 p.m. No.12600224 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2542

Former Adelaide Archbishop dies two years after cleared of concealing child sex abuse

Inga Neilsen - Jan 18, 2021

The Catholic Church is mourning the death of former Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, who died two years after being cleared of concealing child sex abuse.

Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge said on Twitter that Emeritus Archbishop Wilson, 70, had died unexpectedly on Sunday afternoon.

The cause of death remains unknown.

Emeritus Archbishop Wilson became the highest ranking Catholic in the world convicted of concealing child sex abuse.

He was accused of not alerting authorities to the crimes of pedophile priest Jim Fletcher in the Hunter Valley in the 1970s.

After four months of home detention he was cleared on appeal with a magistrate finding doubts he had been told about the abuse.

He stepped down as Archbishop shortly before his sentence was quashed.

Peter Gogarty, a survivor of Fletcher's abuse, says the death of Emeritus Archbishop Wilson is a lost opportunity.

"Philip Wilson could have done a lot to repair a lot of the damage to victims by saying look we did have policy of child abuse, that was a horrendous thing to do," Mr Gogarty said.

"That never happened, and I think that is the missed opportunity."

Those close with him hope Emeritus Archbishop Wilson will be remembered for his reforms and victim advocacy, rather than the allegations he became embroiled in.

A mass was held today at Adelaide's St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, which Emeritus Archbishop Wilson led for 18 years, to mark his passing.

"I honour his work which he's done for god and for the church and for the people," Brenda, a parishioner at the mass, told 9News.

Church leaders will meet tomorrow to discuss funeral arrangements which will largely depend on the impact of COVID travel restrictions on family members in New South Wales.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/philip-wilson-former-adelaide-archbishop-dies-two-years-after-cleared-of-concealing-child-sex-abuse/56973434-0808-4ab6-8df2-9a60f929be86

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 19, 2021, 9:44 a.m. No.12607310 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

>>12371401

Labor leader Anthony Albanese accuses PM Scott Morrison of sucking up to Donald Trump

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been accused of sucking up to outgoing US President Donald Trump along with “Trumpists” in his ranks.

Samantha Maiden - JANUARY 20, 2021

Anthony Albanese has accused the Prime Minister Scott Morrison of pandering and sucking up to outgoing US President Donald Trump along with “fringe dwellers” and “Trumpists” in his ranks.

In a major foreign policy speech to be delivered on Wednesday, the Labor leader will call for a reset for the US-Australia relationship suggesting that the Prime Minister had not done enough to build a relationship with the Democrats and incoming US President Joe Biden.

He also suggests that Australia will be left exposed for not developing a more credible position on climate change policy.

“Let’s call this what it was: Mr Morrison pandering to President Trump and those who follow him in Australia,’’ Mr Albanese says.

“And the Coalition has deliberately run down our diplomatic capability – making Australia weaker in prosecuting our interests.”

Accusing the Trump administration of taking America “close to the brink” in the tumultuous days of early January when Trumpists stormed the nation’s capital, Mr Albanese said US democracy had been forced to demonstrate its resilience.

“Today, Washington time, Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States,’’ he says.

“US democracy has shown its resilience. Attempts to undermine it have failed.

“But America came close to the brink. The images we woke to on January 7 diminished those who seek to harm it.”

In a swipe at the Prime Minister, Mr Albanese said he needed to be stronger in his condemnation of US President Donald Trump for inciting the riots.

“It was so important for all of America’s allies to be utterly unambiguous when President Trump sought to undermine the democratic process,’’ he says.

“The great tragedy of the recent past is that the power of America’s example has been diminished from within.

“It is in Australia’s interests as a US ally to encourage the restoration of that power.”

Mr Albanese’s speech calls for Australia to “be the ally that the United States needs, rather than the ally it wants.”

“If it wasn’t already obvious, Malcolm Turnbull’s difficult first phone call with Donald Trump demonstrated the challenges building a strong relationship between our nations’ leaders would face,’’ he says.

“But Scott Morrison went too far – partly out of his affinity with Donald Trump, partly because of the political constituency they share.

“He remains afraid of the far-right extremist fringe dwellers who make up the bedrock of his personal support – and who he cultivates through the avatars of Trumpists and conspiracy theorists like Craig Kelly and George Christensen.”

Mr Morrison has previously labelled the riots and protests in Washington DC as “terribly distressing” and concerning.

But his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull has also admonished Mr Morrison for ever accepting a prestigious gong from US president Donald Trump.

“Well, look, I think it’s a great pity,’’ Mr Turnbull said.

“I think it’s a great pity that Morrison didn’t let it be known, you know make some tactful diplomatic excuse and not accept it.

“It’s a bit questionable. I think it would have been better not to accept it in the first place.”

The speech suggests that rather than an error, Labor’s recent social media posts attacking the PM as too close to Mr Trump are part of a broader strategy.

Featuring an image of the Prime Minister grinning with outgoing US President Donald Trump and giving the thumbs up to the words “it’s the company that you keep”, the post sparked division in Labor ranks.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/labor-leader-anthony-albanese-accuses-pm-scott-morrison-of-sucking-up-to-donald-trump/news-story/d75d3f7b6b5fc7bd42c1eba34686980a

>>12599336

Worst solicitor in the world

Sternberg reed

100 person company wouldn’t give up two employees.

Phillip Eddowes and Richard Cooper.

Refuses to meet in person or pick up the phone.

For almost a year.

Made 7,7bn people suffer unnecessary.

Thinks it is inconsequential to use a legal system and medical system that only represents 62m people, to crush an individual that speaks for 7,7bn people.

And then for anjuna Khutan to threaten yours truly, because she was called an irredeemable cunt by email.

Offers her poor hurt individual feelings and opinions to someone who has zero interest in individual opinions and feelings.

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Direct link to google drive pdf of illumination route (27 pages)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1if9rCpYtP4PClx7phLG3er7kkMSs3WcW/view?usp=drivesdk

Direct link to google drive pdf of methodology. (37 pages)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15IkbtvPCe49XjXjR4k_E5Iu6G-LxIQen/view?usp=drivesdk

You’ve been duped Americans, Brits and Israelis

By all your politicians and twitter too. Who collectively thought 💭 it would be a wise move to conceal, threaten and judge the true source of the storm ☔️.

Don’t take it personally. All our politicians are shameless cunts. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, does it?

And don’t be too precious about your nationality, it means nothing.

And yes, we are definitely all created equal.

And the dumb Jews do pay a price to handle the money too. Lol 😂

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages

17 year long beam of light from the absolute.

Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

Jon James Pratt (999)

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Humbly blessed as the world’s top intellectual and philosopher

Never lies and is never violent

Aka 'the storm ☔️'

Aka ‘cosmic lol 😂’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

EMERGENCY BACKUP DRIVE

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=ar

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 19, 2021, 9:49 p.m. No.12621873 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

Vatican cash probe exposes $2m gap

DENNIS SHANAHAN - JANUARY 20, 2021

Prosecutors examining money-laundering and fraud allegations at the Vatican have found a gap of more than $2m in legitimate financial transfers to Australia from the Holy See between 2014 and 2020, as the first embezzlement trial connected to the global scandal is set to begin.

Working with the Bank of Italy, the Vatican Bank and Austrac, the investigators can identify legitimate expenses for about $7m of the $9.5m transferred to Australia in the past six years.

After Australia’s international financial watchdog incorrectly estimated there was $2.3bn transferred from the Vatican City to Australia since 2014 a detailed examination has identified $9.5m in transfers.

However, the joint examination can identify only about $7m in legitimate expenses such as travel, wages and pension payments from the Vatican City to Australia since 2014.

Austrac has referred a number of financial transfers between the Vatican and Australia to the AFP as being “actionable financial intelligence” for investigation into potential money laundering and fraud. Vatican investigators have also heard allegations that money was sent to Australia to help adversely affect the investigation and trials of Cardinal George Pell, which began in 2017.

Last October, The Australian reported that four transfers from the Vatican Secretariat of State totalling more than $2m — including two transfers from Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was then in the Secretariat — in 2016 and 2017 were being investigated by Vatican prosecutors. The four transfers, and one earlier transfer for $US150,000 in 2015, were to a Melbourne-based hi-tech and domain registry company called Neustar, since been taken over by a global tech company.

The AFP is continuing to investigate the suspicious transfers, referred by Austrac.

On Monday, the Vatican said the trial of Cardinal Becciu’s assistant, Cecilia Marogna, on charges of embezzlement from Catholic charities and a troubled London building project, would begin soon. In a statement, Vatican prosecutors said Ms Marogna, who was arrested in October in Milan, would be tried for the crime of embezzlement committed “with accomplices” — but no one else was named.

She was paid about €500,000 euros ($784,000) for informal intelligence work for Cardinal Becciu when he held the second-highest ranking position at the Secretariat of State, the most powerful department in the Vatican’s bureaucracy.

Ms Marogna has insisted she was paid by the Vatican for her services as a mediator securing the release of kidnapped priests and nuns in Africa and Asia.

But some Italian media outlets cited evidence she billed the Vatican for €200,000 spent on luxury products, including €12,000 for an armchair.

Cardinal Becciu was fired by Pope Francis in late September and told to give up his cardinal’s rights. He had been a bitter opponent of Cardinal Pell’s efforts to clean up the Vatican’s finances.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/vatican-cash-probe-exposes-2m-gap/news-story/939db89f4170a139cd93b7202191da87

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 19, 2021, 10:48 p.m. No.12622687 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2709 >>2407

‘Battle-hardened’ Trump supporters may pose continued threat as Australia warned to be vigilant

The US is days away from a new president but the extreme violence is only going to get worse - and it’s putting Australia at risk too.

Charis Chang - JANUARY 19, 2021

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“Battle-hardened” Donald Trump supporters may pose an even greater threat in the future despite the change in presidency to Joe Biden, one expert says.

Elliott Brennan, research associate at Sydney University’s United States Studies Centre, has been monitoring the social media accounts of right wing groups for years and said he saw the riots coming.

“You had the President calling for people to come to that (Save America) rally for weeks, advertising it and encouraging people to travel to Washington, highlighting to everyone how important that date was,” he said.

While the chatter online among certain groups was always pretty alarming, Mr Brennan became worried that something would happen when Mr Trump confirmed he would be speaking at the rally, which also attended by groups including Stop the Steal.

The rally in Washington DC was organised to protest the US Congress’s January 6 certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

“I will be speaking at the SAVE AMERICA RALLY tomorrow on the Ellipse at 11AM Eastern,” tweeted Mr Trump, who has refused to concede defeat two months after the November vote.

“Arrive early,” he added.

Mr Brennan said Mr Trump’s appearance was the “firestarter” the community of far right extremists and conspiracy theorists needed.

“The (Trump supporters) are made of up of so many people with different ideological beliefs but they have one thing in common — the idolisation of Donald Trump,” he said.

“He is the factor that energises them and can transform their intent into action.”

He said the US had been dealing with the rise of far right terrorism since at least the election of Barack Obama as US President but debate had been “bedevilled” by politics after Republicans accused Mr Obama of likening party members to terrorists.

The response had been to “quieten down the conversation” about the threat but Mr Brennan said the Washington riots had shown how important it was to monitor these groups.

‘NO WAY WE CAN IGNORE THE DANGER’

During the pandemic, Mr Brennan said militia groups, street gangs like the Proud Boys and far right extremists took advantage of the situation to stir up conspiracy theories.

“Australia dealt with the pandemic well but the US hasn’t had the government assistance and so its people were hit much harder,” he said.

“There was also record internet use, especially among older people who don’t know their way around the internet.

“The picture that painted in 2020 and coming into 2021 is dire.”

Mr Brennan said that ahead of the January 6 riot, groups were providing advice on how to smuggle guns into Washington DC, which has some of the strongest gun laws in the country and requires a permit for each weapon.

On the day, authorities found a truck parked two blocks from the Capitol building packed with 11 homemade bombs, an assault rifle and a handgun. Another man had an assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to CNN.

“This incredible arsenal was brought into the halls of America power and was organised online for a week in public,” Mr Brennan said. “Nothing was done about it even though what was happening was so dangerous.

“The January 6 riot put lawmakers lives at risk. There is no way now that we can ignore what a real and present danger this is,” he said.

(continued)

>>12622687

2/2

RISK FROM ‘BATTLE-HARDENED’ SUPPORTERS

The full legacy of the riots may also yet to be played out.

Mr Brennan said many of Trump supporters drove to Washington in caravans, picking up people in different states on the way.

“They have now returned back home and we have a legion of insurrectionists who now feel they are battle hardened,” he said.

“They are dispersed across the country after also forming physical bonds with those who share their goals.”

Mr Brennan said research had shown people who attended protests were more likely to stay involved in the political process.

“Now that they’ve engaged in political violence, there’s nothing to say that’s where it will stop,” he said. “There’s no reason to think they are just going to go home and accept the election results.

“If anything I think we’ve arrived at a more insidious stage.

“The action on the Capitol was a large coordinated event that took place in nearly perfect conditions, including a misstep from Capitol Police that still demands an explanation.

“Even if the Republican Party distances itself from Trump, that will do nothing to change the view of the people there, or to stop the militia groups, street gangs and far right groups from using the images as propaganda and to recruit in the future.”

AUSTRALIA ALSO AT RISK

Mr Brennan said a lot of people had been radicalised on social media and there were even elected members of the Republican Party who believe in QAnon conspiracy theories.

“We have to look at how that’s become the case, while treading lightly around those who have those beliefs,” Mr Brennan said.

“Unless we do that, efforts to find out how this has come to pass will fail.

“Importantly, prevention is the best cure and I think conspiracy theories need to be looked at as a threat to national security, but also a social health problem.”

Mr Brennan said conspiracy theories were a global issue and the failure in the US to deal with them, would also hurt places like Australia.

Even Australian politicians have posted conspiracy theories, including Liberal MP Craig Kelly, who has been criticised for claiming head lice treatment could cure COVID-19.

While Mr Brennan said conspiracy theories were crazy, he said the thing to remember was that no one starts by believing the crazy part.

“All conspiracy theories start with a seed of truth,” he said.

“But it’s quite clear that if these threats are not taken seriously and laughed off, the situation can get very serious.”

He said during the Washington riot, Trump supporters also protested in Australia and also seemed to be experiencing the same reactions as their overseas counterparts.

“There was a mix of elation among some, while others were calling out (left-wing anti-fascist group) Antifa,” he said.

“Australia is not immune from these forces and while Australia’s democracy is in a lot of ways safer than the US, taking it for granted that this won’t happen in Australia is a very dangerous position.

“Australia has got an opportunity to deal with this at an earlier stage and I think it should take every option to deal with this seriously.”

Last year the director-general of Australia’s national security agency ASIO said up to 40 per of its counter-terrorism workload was now related to right-wing extremism, up from 10 to 15 per cent before 2016.

“There is a threat to Australia posed by conspiracy theories,” Mr Brennan said. “This problem will only grow if not given the full weight and consideration of Australia’s policy makers.”

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/battlehardened-trump-supporters-may-pose-continued-threat-as-australia-warned-to-be-vigilant/news-story/a496defbb151f42dfccb0dd2742977c4

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 19, 2021, 10:58 p.m. No.12622819 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2910 >>2597

Release Ghislaine Maxwell records: Judge

A federal judge has ordered the unsealing and release of dozens of documents in a now-settled civil suit involving Ghislaine Maxwell, the jailed and accused co-conspirator of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

But the judge has afforded the longtime Epstein associate a measure of privacy by ruling that salacious portions of testimony about her sex life will remain private.

The Tuesday hearing presided over by Judge Loretta A. Preska involved the potential release of 156 new documents in a settled lawsuit between Maxwell and Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and the biggest point of contention was a July 2016 deposition by Maxwell.

That deposition was forced on her after she was deemed unresponsive when she sat before Giuffre's lawyers in an April 2016 deposition.

Much of that grilling, made public in October, had to do with her sexual behaviour and that of Epstein.

A first batch of documents released in late July featured an email from 2015 in which Epstein scolded Maxwell, telling her she had "done nothing wrong and I would urge you to start acting like it".

Preska acknowledged that the public thirst for "prurient" details about Maxwell might go unquenched, but determined that Maxwell's sex life was adult consensual behaviour that should remain her private business.

The judge gave all parties until January 27 to unseal and make public a voluminous number of documents.

The documents include the names and testimony of people who until now have been known as Doe 1 and Doe 2, individuals who have talked about their testimony and do not object to it being made public.

One of the two Does is believed to be Juan Alessi, who worked for Epstein since the early 1990s and was butler at his Palm Beach mansion.

He has publicly acknowledged giving testimony, and in a May 2020 interview with Britain's Mirror newspaper called Maxwell "the devil" and said that she "absolutely knew what Epstein was doing".

Also being made public are Palm Beach County police documents and all references in documents to Alan Dershowitz, the celebrity lawyer who represented Epstein and with whom Giuffre alleges she was forced by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex.

Dershowitz strongly denies the allegation and also has duelling defamation suits with Giuffre.

https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/release-ghislaine-maxwell-records-judge-ng-s-2046124

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 19, 2021, 11:07 p.m. No.12622910 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597 >>2639

>>12622819

Ghislaine Maxwell court hearing disrupted by apparent QAnon followers

An unlawful live stream was viewed by numerous followers of the conspiracy theory before being shut down

Victoria Bekiempis - 20 Jan 2021

A court proceeding on documents in civil litigation against the jailed British socialite and accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell was interrupted on Tuesday when the judge became aware of an unlawful live stream being viewed by numerous apparent followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

“Judge, I need to interrupt. I was just informed that apparently somebody is broadcasting this on to YouTube, so I don’t know if you want to give a reminder that that is illegal to do,” the deputy clerk told the Manhattan federal court judge Loretta Preska.

“Whoever is doing it, you are operating against the law,” Preska said of this stream, which attracted 14,000 listeners. “I suspect there is a way to find out. So I will ask you, most respectfully, to stop doing it.”

“We have had enough of lack of the rule of law around here. Let’s try to observe it.”

The stream shut down shortly thereafter.

The existence of a strong contingent of QAnon supporters listening in was based upon comments in a live chat that ran alongside the stream. The baseless, far-right conspiracy theory maintains that a cabal of Satan-worshipping Democrats and elites control the world while sex-trafficking children.

One commenter remarked, for example, “FREEE OUR CHILDREN NOW.” Another said: “PROTECT THE KIDS FROM THESE WEIRDOS”. There were also references to “National Popcorn Day”, which is a phrase widely used in QAnon circles.

The proceeding, which was held by telephone, was to discuss whether more documents in the Maxwell lawsuit would be unsealed. The public conference call line was full with hundreds of listeners, preventing many reporters from attending.

While Preska is releasing more documents in this litigation, some records involving Maxwell’s “intimate matters” will remain sealed, according to a transcript of the proceeding.

“Although the prurient interest of some may be left unsatiated as a result, Ms Maxwell’s interest in keeping private the details of her sexual relationships with consenting adults warrants the sealing of those portions of her testimony …” Preska said.

The records in question are from Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 civil lawsuit against Maxwell. Giuffre has alleged that Maxwell recruited her to be Epstein’s masseuse at 15 years old, when she was a locker-room attendant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in south Florida.

In this lawsuit, Giuffre claimed that Maxwell had defamed her by publicly remarking that she was a liar in alleging that Epstein and Maxwell engaged in sexual misconduct. While the suit was settled in 2017, Maxwell was arrested in July on criminal charges related to her alleged involvement with Epstein’s sex trafficking of minors.

Epstein, Maxwell’s close friend and a convicted sex offender, was arrested in July 2019 with prosecutors stating that he “sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls” as young as 14. The financier killed himself in jail about one month later.

Records previously unsealed in this case contained bombshell claims about Maxwell, Epstein and Prince Andrew. The Duke of York – whom Giuffre accused of sexual misconduct – was among the many rich and powerful men who had associated with Epstein.

In her unsealed deposition, Giuffre said that Maxwell: “Trained me as a sex slave.”

Prince Andrew has vehemently denied all allegations of misconduct.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/19/ghislaine-maxwell-court-proceeding-qanon

Avril Haines, pick for national intelligence director, says she’ll help with a public threat assessment of QAnon.

Julian E. Barnes - Jan. 19, 2021

Avril D. Haines, President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s nominee to be the next director of national intelligence, told senators on Tuesday that she would assist the F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security with a public written assessment of the threat from QAnon.

The topic came up at Ms. Haines’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, nearly two weeks after the Capitol was infiltrated by a pro-Trump mob, including some followers of QAnon, a wide-ranging online conspiracy movement that has falsely claimed that President Trump is on a crusade to rid the world of satanic pedophiles organized by the Democratic Party and Hollywood celebrities.

Several Democratic senators on Tuesday asked Ms. Haines about the threat of right-wing extremist groups. In her responses, Ms. Haines had to walk a fine line, as the intelligence agencies are restricted in the information they can collect about Americans and American groups.

She said that if she was confirmed, she would make sure the intelligence agencies “look at connections between folks in the U.S. and externally and foreign,” but made clear that the F.B.I. and Homeland Security must take the lead on such investigations.

She also said that she would help establish a foreign malign influence center in the intelligence community.

Senator Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico, asked Ms. Haines about a letter he wrote to the F.B.I. and Homeland Security Department about QAnon’s “spread of disinformation.”

Mr. Heinrich asked Ms. Haines if she would commit to helping with that assessment. She said she would look for answers on how “foreign influence operations” are affecting QAnon.

“The intelligence community is focused on foreign intelligence and on foreign threats,” she said. “But there is a critical role that it can play and does play in supporting the work that’s done by others.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/us/politics/avril-haines-pick-for-national-intelligence-director-qanon.html

—

NBC News Tweet

Director of National Intelligence nominee Avril Haines says, if confirmed, she will work with FBI and DHS to provide a public threat assessment on QAnon.

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1351564833385140229

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 19, 2021, 11:54 p.m. No.12623338 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2475

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweet

Successful diplomacy means fostering close relationships with our partners, not just flying in and flying out to rack up air miles and stats. Blessed to call so many friends.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1351575150060208128

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 12:29 a.m. No.12623632 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3649 >>2688

Who is Q? And who is responsible for the cult of QAnon?

JACK THE INSIDER (Peter Hoysted) - JANUARY 20, 2021

1/2

Roseanne Boyland was a 34-year-old woman who made her way to Washington DC on 6 January from her home in Kennesaw, Georgia. Kennesaw is a suburb in Cobb County, part of the Atlanta Metro area whose support for Biden in the November 3 presidential election helped flip the state from deep red to a pale shade of blue.

While accounts of her death vary, the prevailing view is of a terrible irony. As the mob surged around the Capitol building steps, she was trampled to death while clutching a “Do Not Tread on Me” flag – the yellow ensign bearing a coiled rattlesnake favoured by ultranationalists, the hard right and QAnon cultists.

Her family had urged her not to attend. But Boyland was adamant. She told them she would stand to one side, away from the throng, out of harm’s way.

Boyland had her fair share of personal travails. She had suffered from substance addictions and had racked up a long list of convictions for drug-related offences. But she had been clean for three years. In that vulnerable state, she had veered into the QAnon cult.

Roseanne Boyland was ripe for the cult’s picking: vulnerable, susceptible, gullible.

The cult of QAnon believes that the deep state engages in industrial scale child sex trafficking, of the secret existence of tunnels 10 kilometres below the Earth’s surface where children are transported around the world to be sent off to die in satanic rituals or are tortured and drained of adrenochrome.

They believe that Donald Trump is their saviour, a heroic figure who will take on these dark forces and his General Mike Flynn is leading the righteous into battle deep below the Earth’s surface.

From the outside, the QAnon cult seems bizarre, incredible, entirely implausible. But those on the inside believe its propaganda lies as if they were gospel, clinging to every word, every ‘drop’ from ‘Q’, sometimes referred to darkly as ‘Number 17’, a supposed deep state insider who knew all the state’s secrets.

The question is who is responsible for QAnon? It needs to be answered because these people bear a moral responsibility for Boyland’s death. They bear a moral responsibility at least in part for the vicious hyper-partisanship that burns deep in American society. They bear a moral responsibility for the hundreds of thousands of families who have suffered dislocation, of empty seats at the dinner table, of sons and daughters lost to the cult.

What we do know is QAnon is not a coincidence, not an accident, not a joke or an online hoax that has somehow spiralled out of control.

To understand at a basic level how QAnon finds appeal, we might look at the extreme weirdness of groups like Flat Earthers whose laughable belief system stems from a pre-Copernican view not just of the planet we live on but the solar system and the universe. They’re often perceived as harmless whackos. Some time ago this might have been true, but it is no longer the case now.

If a person believes the sun and the moon orbit around a flat disc and that ‘Thar Be Dragons’ exists on the corners of world maps, then they become receptive to other forms of suggestion and to online manipulation. In this way Flat Earthers became infiltrated by neo-Nazi groups online and now many Flat Earthers believe not only that our spherical planet is a slab floating in the space-time continuum but also that the world is controlled by a cabal of Zionist bankers.

That is a simple A to B exercise in propaganda distribution facilitated by the arcane and clubbish way in which that small group operates. Flat earthers are a small target easily identified by their activity and preyed upon in bulletin board internet sites.

QAnon’s architects reached deeper into demographics and sectors that previously had no political affiliation. Many members of the wellness community, a bunch of organic food gnawing hippies usually of the Left and sometimes from the extremes of it, became immersed in QAnon. It should be no surprise. As a group they tend to view accepted knowledge and science with cynicism and reject mainstream media. Just a few years ago, wellness influencers were content with publishing odd recipes and advocating steel cut oats. Now they publish Nazi tropes, anti-vax disinformation, 5G conspiracies and more recently that the COVID-19 pandemic is a deep state fabrication.

(continued)

>>12623632

2/2

But there is more to QAnon than the mere susceptibility of its adherents. QAnon is large and amorphous with an estimated three million followers. The estimate comes from Facebook analysis. But QAnon is not Facebook friendly, certainly not now where almost all of it has been deplatformed.

There is emerging evidence that QAnon was designed as a psychological operation and specifically targeted at an audience that was open to its monstrous lies with a view to creating a base of Trump supporters so rusted on, so vehement that they would not only vote for their man in droves but would fight to keep Trump in the White House.

There is no evidence that Trump was involved in the creation or perpetuation of QAnon. We don’t want to replace one conspiracy theory with another. But in seeking to establish motive, it is clear that those who perpetrated the cult of QAnon did so perceiving some benefit from a Trump presidency and two terms at that.

QAnon was elaborately contrived, drip feeding its adherents just enough information for them to add their own takes and theories. It is a propagandist’s sharpest tool – not just to spread disinformation but to have it reinterpreted and reshaped by its readers to add to its persuasive power.

It first saw light of day back in 2016 where Q was then known as FBIAnon and peddled on platforms like 4Chan. Promptly banned from there, it shuffled off to 8Chan, later to become 8kun. These are spaces in the net where there are no rules, no curation, no moderation.

It began with Pizzagate and wild and disgraceful allegations surrounding the murder of Democrat operative, Seth Rich. It was promoted by alt-media firebrands like Alex Jones who told his audience during the presidential election campaign of 2016, “When I think about all the children that Hillary Clinton has murdered and chopped up and raped, I have zero fear.”

In its infancy, QAnon propaganda mirrored that of the Trump campaign. Hillary was an evil deep statist who should be behind bars.

I doubt that it changed the result of the 2016 election. American voters were in the mood for change. If it was designed to bolster Trump’s re-election chances, it has failed. But what it did was create a dangerous and burgeoning cult that saw millions lost in it and drove American democracy further to the brink.

It is an evil business and with Trump now gone, how QAnon was established and by whom needs to be investigated comprehensively. We owe it to the memory of people like Rosanne Boyland whose life was ended by it and the millions of others left bereft by it. We need to understand how a small number of people pushing Q propaganda can strike such a blow to America’s democratic institutions. Those involved in its planning and delivery need to be brought to account.

Peter Hoysted is Jack the Insider: a highly placed, dedicated servant of the nation with close ties to leading figures in politics, business and the union movement.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/who-is-q-and-who-is-responsible-for-the-cult-of-qanon/news-story/18893696c42726767b84b96214da8a86

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 1:15 a.m. No.12623985 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2407

WATCH LIVE: The inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris - PBS NewsHour special coverage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4wF0snbC00

Live: The Presidential Inauguration Of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. | NBC News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umsaXWrpgR8

Washington Post - LIVE on Jan. 20 at 8:00 a.m. ET | Inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrJF8Iz-7R8

WATCH LIVE: Inauguration Day for President Joe Biden | ABC News (USA) Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIOizAIqZtc

WATCH LIVE: ABC News Channel (Australia)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ilCy6XrmI

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Immediate shoot to kill on all trump supporters and Jews Jan. 20, 2021, 2:19 a.m. No.12624568 🗄️.is 🔗kun

You mess with the best, you die like the rest

Worst solicitor in the world

Sternberg reed

100 person company wouldn’t give up two employees.

Phillip Eddowes and Richard Cooper.

Refuses to meet in person or pick up the phone.

For almost a year.

Made 7,7bn people suffer unnecessary.

Thinks it is inconsequential to use a legal system and medical system that only represents 62m people, to crush an individual that speaks for 7,7bn people.

And then for anjuna Khutan to threaten yours truly, because she was called an irredeemable cunt by email.

Offers her poor hurt individual feelings and opinions to someone who has zero interest in individual opinions and feelings.

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Direct link to google drive pdf of illumination route (27 pages)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1if9rCpYtP4PClx7phLG3er7kkMSs3WcW/view?usp=drivesdk

Direct link to google drive pdf of methodology. (37 pages)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15IkbtvPCe49XjXjR4k_E5Iu6G-LxIQen/view?usp=drivesdk

You’ve been duped Americans, Brits and Israelis

By all your politicians and twitter too. Who collectively thought 💭 it would be a wise move to conceal, threaten and judge the true source of the storm ☔️.

Don’t take it personally. All our politicians are shameless cunts. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, does it?

And don’t be too precious about your nationality, it means nothing.

And yes, we are definitely all created equal.

And the dumb Jews do pay a price to handle the money too. Lol 😂

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format.

2,238 pages

17 year long beam of light from the absolute.

Every single entry date and time stamped

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

Jon James Pratt (999)

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Humbly blessed as the world’s top intellectual and philosopher

Never lies and is never violent

Aka 'the storm ☔️'

Aka ‘cosmic lol 😂’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

EMERGENCY BACKUP DRIVE

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=ar

AFRICA IS NOT WHAT THE WEST ARE TOLD WATCH THE FULL VIDEO., WE MAY BE SLOW IN DEVELOPMENT AND HEAVY CORUPTION BUT WE ARE NOT WHAT THEY SAY WE ARE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDhsraKgN74

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d You’ve got Covid, Aussies (666) Jan. 20, 2021, 9:05 p.m. No.12644223 🗄️.is 🔗kun

All of you

Like the Jews, English, Scots and Americans

Or online ‘patriots’ for short

A combination of high level information warfare based on Gregory Bateson’s ‘theory of types’ , Lots of meditation and some incredible luck.

Seven weeks meditation with these bad boys.

http://www.973-eht-namuh-973.com/Alchemy/ADVENT%20INDEX.htm

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

You’ve been duped by all your politicians and twitter too. Who collectively thought 💭 it would be a wise move to conceal, threaten and judge the true source of the storm ☔️.

Don’t take it personally. All our politicians are shameless cunts. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, does it?

And fixating on national identity is a recipe for disaster.

And yes, we are definitely all created equal.

And the dumb Jews do pay a price to handle the money too. Lol 😂

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format. 2,238 pages

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. 130 Mb

Every single entry date and time stamped.

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

Kills the poor hurt feelings and opinions of individual humans dead.

Jon James Pratt (999)

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Humbly blessed as the world’s top intellectual and philosopher

Never lies and is never violent. Ever

Aka 'the storm ☔️'

Aka ‘cosmic lol 😂’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 10:43 p.m. No.12645550 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5587 >>2407

Prime Minister Scott Morrison Tweet

Congratulations to President @JoeBiden and Vice President @KamalaHarris on your inauguration.

The Australia-US Alliance has never been more important. I wish you both every success for your time in office and look forward to working closely with your new administration.

https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1351994232106483712

—

Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet

Congratulations President @JoeBiden & Vice President @KamalaHarris on an historic day. The democratic values of (Australia and United States) Alliance are an enduring foundation. We look forward to working closely with you to ensure our shared security, sovereignty & prosperity. #InaugurationDay

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1352022238099193857

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 10:47 p.m. No.12645587 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5642 >>2407

>>12645550

Scott Morrison welcomes new leadership of President Joe Biden, as Opposition figures condemn outgoing president Donald Trump

DAVID ADAMS - JAN 21, 2021

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition leader Anthony Albanese today welcomed the newly inaugurated administration of US President Joe Biden, voicing their optimism for Australia’s ongoing relationship with the US after the looming presence of President Donald Trump.

“Congratulations to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on your inauguration,” Morrison wrote on social media Thursday morning.

“The Australia-US Alliance has never been more important. I wish you both every success for your time in office and look forward to working closely with your new administration.”

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese mirrored that sentiment, telling ABC radio he expects the Biden administration to alter America’s international reputation after the Trump years.

Biden is “determined as well to restore America’s role in the world rather than the retreat from global leadership that we’ve seen in recent years, and that’s a good thing,” Albanese said.

“That’s in Australia’s interests and it’s in the world’s interests to have a strong America.”

Albanese added that Biden will have a “difficult task ahead”, pointing to Trump’s “mishandling” of the coronavirus pandemic which has ravaged America and taken 400,000 lives.

The opposition leader remarked that Trump left a “divided country” and “often made decisions based upon Twitter,” echoing recent disputes between senior Labor and Coalition government figures over Morrison’s friendly relationship with the departing leader.

On Wednesday, Albanese accused Morrison of shying away from criticism of Trump for fear of alienating his own base. Morrison demurred, calling the recent siege of the US Capitol “distressing” and defending his working relationship with Trump.

Greens leader Adam Bandt today provided a simpler and more partisan view of Biden’s inauguration, sharing a photo of Trump shaking Morrison’s hand to social media.

“One down. One to go,” Bandt wrote.

Australia’s embassy in the United States shared a simpler call for both nations to continue their strategic and cultural ties over the next four years.

“We look forward to further strengthening our alliance and great friendship with the United States,” the embassy said in a short statement.

From the US Capitol, Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s ambassador to the United States, tweeted that the swearing in of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris represents “a new chapter commences in this great democracy”.

The inauguration itself was a “day of prayer, song and poetry,” Sinodinos tweeted from the Washington DC ceremony.

“Well done America,” he said.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/australia-leadership-donald-trump-joe-biden-2021-1

https://twitter.com/AdamBandt/status/1351987089307385856

https://twitter.com/A_Sinodinos/status/1351947696265785344

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 10:50 p.m. No.12645615 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

Scott Morrison defends relationship with Donald Trump

Scott Morrison has accused Labor of replacing foreign policy with personal attacks as Anthony Albanese ramps up attempts to link the Prime Minister with Donald Trump and his tumultuous four-year rule.

In a speech at the USAsia Centre in Perth on Wednesday, the Opposition Leader accused Mr Morrison of pandering to Mr Trump during his presidency and diluting the country’s diplomatic capability ahead of new President Joe Biden entering the White House.

“If people are going to have a crack at me because I work with the president of the United States, I think that reflects more on them than me,” the Prime Minister told 4BC radio on Wednesday.

“It’s a foundational relationship we have.

“Whoever the prime minister is and whoever the president, it’s important that both of us steward that relationship to the benefit of both of our countries and anyone who doesn’t understand that just doesn’t get it.”

Mr Albanese and Labor have called on Mr Morrison to take a more strident approach to Mr Trump and his claims of election fraud in last year’s presidential vote, demanding he call on the Republican leader to accept his defeat and condemn Mr Trump for inciting this month’s US Capitol riots.

The ALP has increased its criticisms on Mr Morrison’s relationship with Mr Trump, despite the tactics dividing Labor MPs in recent weeks.

Labor’s official Twitter account attempt to link Mr Morrison and Mr Trump on the day of the US Capitol riots — in which pro-Trump supporters tried to stop congress declaring Mr Biden the election victor — was condemned by former opposition frontbencher and potential future leadership contender Joel Fitzgibbon.

Mr Morrison said on Wednesday that Mr Albanese was replacing political criticism with foreign policy.

“Personal attacks are not foreign policies,” the Prime Minister said in Queensland, where he is touring drought-affected communities.

“The Leader of the Opposition thanks sledging me is some sort of foreign policy — he just does not get it.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said Mr Morrison had placed his personal relationship with Mr Trump above national interest and criticised him for failing to directly call out Mr Trump after his supporters incited deadly riots on the US congress earlier this month.

“I don’t think he stewarded the relationship by refusing to call out people like Craig Kelly and George Christensen, who continue to peddle the same conspiracy theories and lies which were central to that attack on democracy,” Senator Wong told Sky News.

“I don’t believe that is responsible stewardship of the relationship.”

On Monday, Mr Morrison ramped up his criticism of the recent riots, and called out “things that were said” to incite the violent riots on the US congress, although he did not directly name Mr Trump.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/scott-morrison-defends-relationship-with-donald-trump/news-story/7ef65015c872c1575d79b81a9575d9e2

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 10:53 p.m. No.12645642 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

>>12645587

Australia hails Joe Biden’s stance on China

Australia’s Ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos has praised Joe Biden’s “pitch perfect” inauguration and continued pressure on China.

Exclusive: The Australian government has welcomed the Biden administration’s initial stance on China, with US Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos saying it was on track to be “consistent with where we’ve been”.

Mr Sinodinos, who was one of a select crowd of dignitaries invited to Joe Biden’s scaled-back inauguration ceremony at the Capitol, also praised the “pitch perfect” swearing-in.

Mr Biden has pledged to spend his first days unwinding some of Donald Trump’s key policies.

Concerns this may have included the US stepping back its pressure on China were allayed when Mr Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, said on Tuesday he supported Mr Trump’s muscular posture.

“As we look at China, there is no doubt that it poses the most significant challenge of any nation state to the United States,” Mr Blinken said in his Senate confirmation hearing.

“We have to start by approaching China from a position of strength, not weakness.”

Mr Sinodinos welcomed this statement and said it accorded with Australia’s leading role in taking on China over the past year.

“The overall stance from Blinken’s comments and other things that we’ve heard is going to be pretty strong and pretty consistent with where we’ve been,” Mr Sinodinos said.

“On China, what’s happened here in the US, both with the Democrats and the Republicans, in the political establishment as a whole … they’ve been mugged by reality.

“What we all thought was going to happen to China hasn’t happened. It’s taken a more authoritarian turn. And so the system here has now become more focused on the emergence of China in a negative way and the need to compete with China.”

Mr Blinken had said that while he didn’t agree with the former president’s blunt methods: “I believe that President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China”.

Mr Sinodinos said he expected the Biden administration to be “quite strategic” and to continue to support Australia.

“We stood up (to China) because we had to stand up, because of issues that were infringing on our national sovereignty or national interest,” he said.

“The point I’ve always made to the Americans is that we stood up on principle. It wasn’t because we woke up one day and decided: ‘we’re going to poke the panda in the eye’.

“It was because of certain things that were happening, but it was principles-based and what we could see happening with the Biden administration is that they get that, they understand the basis on which we’ve done what we’ve done. And I think they’ll be quite strategic in their approach.”

Mr Sinodinos, whose in-person diplomacy during his first year in office has been limited by social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic, said he had welcomed the opportunity to attend Mr Biden’s inauguration.

Coming three weeks to the day after a violent mob stormed the Capitol after being encouraged to march there by Mr Trump, the event would help to soothe a troubled America, he said.

“The atmosphere was calm, it was dignified,” Mr Sinodinos said.

“I think he would be very satisfied with that speech in terms of summing up his mission, if you like, what he’s dedicated himself to.

“The challenge now, of course, is to translate that into action … addressing those issues which lie at the heart of so much that’s troubling people here.”

Compared to several key allies, Australia enjoyed a strong relationship with the Trump White House and Mr Sinodinos expected this to continue.

“If I look at the relationship between Australia and the US, we did well under the (former) administration, avoided some of the things that perhaps happened to other countries,” he said.

“We were able to advance on a number of our agendas. I think we gave them a bit of a lead on China and they appreciate that without being sort of, you know, arrogant about it.

“I think we actually led on that in many ways with some of the actions we took early on in relation to China.”

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/australia-hails-joe-bidens-stance-on-china/news-story/74678ac7a7a8005c9666d322e2caac5b

Australia should seek policy autonomy, free of US directives

Global Times - Jan 20, 2021

As the US President-elect Joe Biden becomes the host of the White House, how the world's largest economy under the new Biden administration will readjust its role on the global stage is the subject of heated debate and wild speculation, including the Five Eyes member Australia, which has seen internal debate on Canberra's binding its own fate to the gone Donald Trump government.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has attempted to distance Canberra from Trump, and he also expects "there would be a continuation of those policy settings that have so favored the Australian alliance," after Biden is now in charge of America, according to media reports. Local Australian news outlets interpreted this as Morrison's government is clamoring for support from Biden.

As two sovereign states, Australia should develop relations with China independently and constructively. Placing itself in a subordinate position to always listen to the dictates from Washington is clearly not in line with the long-term interests of Australia.

China has been the largest trading partner of Australia for many years, purchasing over 30 percents of Aussie exports, from mineral resources to agricultural products. In spite of having a high economic complementarity with China, Canberra, however, has taken more efforts to disrupt its relation with China, from banning China's 5G developer Huawei to heightening scrutiny of Chinese investments. Such moves have destroyed the momentum between China and Australia and hurt the image and reputation of Australia too.

One of the major external reasons is the impact from the Trump-led US, which has been projecting a cold war mentality and propagating ideological prejudice. To some extent, Canberra has chosen to follow Trump' stubborn anti-China campaign and tie itself to the chariot of US unilateralism, at the cost of its mutually-beneficial relation with its largest trading partner.

The cold-war mentality has already encountered cold shoulders from the international community. After Trump recklessly undermined the US reputation across the world by promoting unilateralism and lies, Biden, as the new president, has repeated his intention to rejoin multilateral platforms.

As for the China-US relationship, though some of the problems will remain, it is expected that the global market may embrace an environment with decreasing uncertainty. If Canberra chooses to continue on the wrong path with its relationship with China, rather than timely adjust its approach to align with the mainstream and dominant development trends, its own long-term interests will bear the damage.

Mutual respect is the prerequisite for cooperation between countries. Canberra should handle bilateral relations following the principle of mutual respect and equality. Essentially, a sound and stable China-Australia relationship will be in the interests of both countries and peoples.

Bilateral relations includes many aspects, from economic to social and cultural cooperation, these should all be taken into consideration when it comes to genuine two-way partnership. Deteriorating China-Australia relations has permeated many aspects of two way ties, including Chinese consumers' losing preferential toward Australian products, to businesses' increasing risk awareness when cooperating with Australian firms or institutions.

It is hoped that the Morrison administration will take action conducive to cooperation with China, so as to provide conditions to bring the frayed bilateral relations back onto the right track, instead of further cloud the prospect.

The article was compiled based on an interview with Liu Qing, vice president at the China Institute of International Studies. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1213420.shtml

>>12645737

Will specter of Trumpism haunt Morrison?

Chen Hong - Jan 20, 2021

1/2

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in recent days has drawn criticism for stopping short of criticizing outgoing President Donald Trump's role in inciting the Capitol riots on January 6. In a Monday tweet, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd accused Morrison of being a "coward." "World leaders like Johnson, Trudeau and Merkel condemned Trump. Morrison hasn't, despite the preservation of US democracy being central to our alliance," Rudd said.

Morrison has indeed made a distinction of himself by not criticizing Trump like other Western leaders. There is a recognizable immaturity in Morrison's handling of Australia's foreign policies, and moreover, he has been a longstanding sympathizer of a series of Trump's policies, especially his China policy.

Rudd lashed out at Morrison, emotionally calling him a "coward." By avoiding denouncing Trump, Morrison has demonstrated a recklessness to defy leaders from nearly every major Western country who unanimously criticized Trump's role.

Morrison has actually flouted basic understandings of Western democracy. He often boasts about Australia's so-called democratic values. But in view of the Capitol riots that almost subverted Western democracy and dealt a heavy blow to the Western system and governance models, Morrison only simply said it was "very disappointing." His disapproval was superficial and symbolic, failing the Australian public's expectations. In no way does he true-heartedly defended Western values.

Morrison is under tremendous pressure at home. He is being accused of getting too close to Trump by the Labor opposition. Morrison on Tuesday praised a host of Trump officials (such as Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper) for supporting Australia over the past four years, without mentioning Trump. This was interpreted as a move to distance himself from Trump at the last moment before the Biden administration comes to office.

Morrison is an opportunist. Two kinds of thinking dominate his diplomacy: One is opportunism, and the other is adventurism. Morrison in fact is indisposed to rejecting Trump and his hawkish ideology. The Morrison government has offered great support to a series of Trump's policies, especially his Indo-Pacific Strategy and China policy. Amid the intensifying US crusade on China, Australia under Morrison's leadership has attempted to take a free ride of the US anti-China chariot to increase its profile as Washington's deputy sheriff in the region. It has stood at the anti-China forefront, acting as a pioneer of the US anti-China campaign.

(continued)

>>12645819

2/2

The unpleasant telephone conversation in January 2017 between former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and Trump a week after the US president assumed office made many people believe cracks appeared between the US and Australia. But since Morrison took office, Australia has acted in step with the US and Morrison has won Trump's high recognition. Trump praised Morrison as "a man of titanium" in September 2019, and awarded him the Legion of Merit, a military decoration honoring "leadership in addressing global challenges" in December 2020.

But now Morrison is in a very awkward position. It's too early to judge whether the Biden administration will bring a major turnaround in China-US relations after it is sworn in. But at least the Biden administration will very likely not take a reckless and irrational approach toward China as its predecessor has done. There is a great possibility that China-US relations will return to normal, while at the same time, China-Australia relations see no sign of significant improvement in the near future.

Because of Morrison's opportunism and adventurism, he completely bets on the US, plunging China-Australia relations to unprecedented low ebb. It's always easier to break than to make. How can we make a broken bowl what it was before things were shattered? Morrison and his administration should take full responsibility for the current deadlock of China-Australia relations.

The US-Australia alliance will continue to be important. After Trump leaves the White House, the specter of Trumpism will still haunt the minds of Morrison and his likes. The question is: How should Australia manage the alliance to avoid it affecting Australia's relations with a third country, in particular China?

Even if the Biden administration might continue to use Australia to suppress China, the Morrison government must consider what's best for Australia's own national interests. Australia is immature and lacks strategic vision to act as a US lackey. Playing such a role, Australia has gained nothing, but spoiled its comprehensive strategic partnership with China, its biggest trading partner. This is a regrettable result of Morrison's failing diplomacy.

The author is a professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre, East China Normal University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1213425.shtml

A ‘last outpost for Trumpism’: How did Donald change #AusPol?

Josh Butler - Jan 21, 2021

1/2

The Trump train is pulling out of Washington DC for the final time, but the legacy of The Donald’s four chaotic years in power could linger over Australian politics for a while to come.

“It will stick around. Even if Trump goes, the forces he unleashed will still exist,” said Dr Emma Shortis, of the Social and Global Studies Centre at RMIT University.

“If even the Prime Minister won’t condemn his own MPs for spreading Trump-esque conspiracy theories, it will continue circulating in Australia.”

As Mr Trump reluctantly leaves office after a decisive election loss, Anthony Albanese ignited a political firestorm on Wednesday.

The Labor leader thundered that Scott Morrison had gone “too far” in his support for the defeated President, claiming “Trumpists” were the “bedrock” of the Prime Minister’s supporters.

While it’s no secret Mr Morrison enjoyed a far better relationship with Mr Trump than most world leaders – feted with a state dinner, lauded as the “man of titanium”, and awarded the Legion of Merit – what is less clear is how the Trump era changed Australian politics.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull suggested Australia could be the “last outpost of Trumpism in the southern hemisphere”.

Labor Party president Wayne Swan, a former deputy PM under Julia Gillard, claimed conservative parties were locked in a contest “over who is the more Trumpian.”

Trump ‘licensed’ Australia’s far-right

Associate Professor David Smith, of the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, said possibly the biggest mark Mr Trump would leave on Australia would be the “language” and encouragement he gave to far-right politicians.

“He licensed a lot of views and postures which would previously have been considered beyond the pale in Australia. A lot of people, aligned with the far- or hard right in Australia, used the language and symbols Trump provided, as part of a global community,” Dr Smith told The New Daily.

“He’ll be a symbol here, of the possibilities of politics which had been previously been marginalised.

“There are politicians who previously would have avoided doing things seen as racist. That’s no longer the case.”

Mr Trump came to power in November 2016, just four months after Pauline Hanson dragged herself and three fellow far-right One Nation senators back into Parliament.

It was two decades since Senator Hanson had been elected to office, and she saw a kindred spirit in Mr Trump.

Her colleagues literally popped champagne bottles on the Parliament House forecourt to celebrate his election, and lobbied for tickets to his inauguration.

One Nation quickly and blatantly copied Trump-esque politics and rhetoric; adopting his catch cry of “fake news”, attacking media reporting, calling for a “Muslim ban”, lambasting multiculturalism, railing against crucial global agreements, and cosying up to far-right groups.

Each of these had been long-term tenets of the One Nation philosophy, but Dr Smith said Australia’s hard right had been emboldened by Mr Trump’s victory.

Perhaps not coincidentally, One Nation and Mr Trump’s electoral fortunes seemed somewhat tied.

As Mr Trump and Ms Hanson were surprisingly elected to seats of power in the same year, the President will leave office just months after One Nation suffered similarly humiliating election failure in its traditional heartland.

“Trump has shown politicians a different way. The true political superpower is shamelessness, an inability to be embarrassed,” Dr Smith said.

“It’s persisting with views that put you beyond the pale, but which you know have a constituency somewhere.”

The sincerest form of flattery

An odd thing happened last week, when Mr Morrison took a week’s leave; even as Mr Trump prepared to leave office, Nationals leader Michael McCormack stepped up as acting PM, and began copying the President.

“There is no reason we can’t make Charters Towers great again,” Mr McCormack said, from the rural Queensland town.

“Facts sometimes are contentious,” he said from Townsville, comments reminiscent of Mr Trump’s former adviser Kellyanne Conway’s infamous “alternative facts”.

He also criticised the Black Lives Matter movement; saying “all lives matter,” a catchcry used by Mr Trump and opponents of the BLM rallies.

(continued)

>>12645940

2/2

Others have gone further in emulating Mr Trump.

Nationals MP George Christensen posts social media graphics featuring red “Make Australia Great Again” caps, regularly tees off against global compacts like the United Nations and Paris agreement, and appears on alt-right media channels.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly took up the hydroxychloroquine crusade after Mr Trump raised it, staying hooked into the disproven treatment long after the President stopped boosting it, and sharing debunked claims about election rigging.

“Fake news” is thrown as an insult, without a hint of irony, by conservative politicians against media reporting.

Dalliances with far-right commentators or talking points are common. Sneering “political correctness” and “wokeness” are standard barbs to rubbish legitimate calls for social reform.

But with Mr Trump dumped from office, other experts say those flirtations with Trump-esque politics may dwindle.

‘A cautionary tale’

“He is seen as the start of a populist wave, and that the way for candidates to maximise their popularity was to mimic his approach as anti-establishment,” Dr Zareh Ghazarian, senior lecturer in politics at Monash University, told TND.

“But I think his approach and performance would now become a cautionary tale for Australian politicians.”

Dr Ghazarian believes Mr Trump’s example of using social media for outrageous comments, inflating small issues into national conversation topics, has “rubbed off” on fringe parties and minor figures in the major parties.

“He opened the door to politicians pushing things further to the edge, pushing the envelope more than they would did before,” he said.

Dr Shortis agreed.

“Our government’s closeness to Trump has given further licence to those forces in Australian politics; people like Craig Kelly, with that very Trumpian disinformation and conspiracy theories,” she told TND.

“With the PM not condemning that, they’re getting licence to keep doing that, from the PM who is close to Trump. It’s a cultural exchange.”

Dr Shortis, a historian whose works focuses on the Trump administration and the Australia-US alliance, believes that type of politics will endure long after Mr Biden takes office.

She pointed to a new wave of Trump acolytes among young Republicans in the US, predicting Australian politicians would – as has occurred for decades – draw influence from American counterparts.

“Trump unleashed and encouraged it, but it’s more than Trump. He just harnessed it for a while, then lost control of it. It’s important to be honest about how deeply connected the stuff happening in Australia is to the US, with our MPs and the arms of some of these organisations,” she said.

“There’s a young guard in the US that sees a path to power through Trump politics. We have a different way of doing politics, but you can see Australian politicians taking their cues from America.

“Biden would have noticed how close we were to Trump. That should be noted. The way we got so close will have consequences going forward.”

It’s a thought echoed by Mr Turnbull. In an interview with Bloomberg, he slammed his former Coalition colleagues for “sycophancy” towards Mr Trump, claiming their support for him could harm future relationships with Mr Biden.

“People in the Liberal Party, many of them felt they were very aligned with Trump on this climate stuff. They are now utterly at odds with the new administration,” he told Bloomberg.

“They’ve got to decide whether they want to be a last outpost for Trumpism in the southern hemisphere. I don’t think that’s a good place to be.”

In his speech, Mr Albanese said Mr Biden’s ascendance to the presidency marked “the cusp of a new chapter in international relations”.

It’s still to be seen whether it will mark a new chapter in Australian politics.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/01/21/trump-morrison-australian-politics/

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 11:31 p.m. No.12645998 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6051 >>2431

>>12645940

Trump Sought to Exacerbate Divisions in U.S.: Turnbull

Bloomberg Politics

20 Jan 2021

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks about the legacy of U.S. President Donald Trump. He also discusses the bilateral relations between his country and China. He speaks with Haidi Stroud-Watts on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EECA0czKoz8

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 11:37 p.m. No.12646051 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

>>12645998

The idea Trump and his tweets incited insurrection is ‘demonstrably false’

Sky News Australia

20 Jan 2021

The relentlessly pushed idea that Donald Trump and his tweets incite insurrection and the overthrow of democracy is “demonstrably false”, according to Sky News host Rowan Dean.

It comes as Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.

“Washington DC has been turned into a police state, complete with its own Green Zone reminiscent of Baghdad at the height of the Iraq war – 26,000 troops prowling the Capitol,” Mr Dean said.

“Even here in Australia the mainstream media are whipping up fear about the threat of bombs, drones and shooters battling it out in the streets of Washington, as if it’s some video game.”

Mr Dean said the justification for this “heavy handed authoritarian approach” is the “vague and unsubstantiated claim of incitement”.

“The idea that’s been relentlessly pushed – since January 6 - that Trump and his tweets incite insurrection, somehow aimed at the overthrow of democracy; a claim that’s as absurd as it is demonstrably false.”

He pointed out the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, while being an absolute disgrace pales in comparison to the “violence and destruction" visited upon America over the last twelve months by the "masked thugs and murderers" who supported Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots.

“A year ago it would have been inconceivable to imagine how easily the freedoms we take for granted could so lightly be frittered away.

“26,000 armed troops prowling the streets because the tenuous claim that Trump incited violence. Really?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRkIWtKWH98

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 11:43 p.m. No.12646106 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

'Worst president in history': John Bolton describes Donald Trump's leadership | Planet America

ABC News In-depth

21 Jan 2021

Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton tells ABC Planet America that Trump goes down as “the worst president in history”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO4FRahjEFw

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 20, 2021, 11:57 p.m. No.12646209 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

>>12366671

>>12366808

UK High Commissioner George Brandis Tweet

Brilliant to see @POTUS return the United States to the #ParisAgreement.

As we head toward @COP26, our shared work to develop and deploy clean technology will sustain ambitious #ClimateAction, create more jobs and drive us toward net zero as soon as possible.

https://twitter.com/AusHCUK/status/1352023484457631744

Leo Hickman @LeoHickman

President Biden has now signed the executive order which means the US is rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Will be deposited with UN later today and take formal effect in 30 days

https://twitter.com/LeoHickman/status/1352017649035866118

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 12:05 a.m. No.12646266 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

>>12459794

Arnold Schwarzenegger Tweet

I’m rooting for you @JoeBiden. Your success is the country’s success.

https://twitter.com/Schwarzenegger/status/1351925880692510726

>>12623240

Avril Haines becomes first woman director of National Intelligence

DUSTIN VOLZ - JANUARY 21, 2021

The Senate confirmed President Biden’s pick to lead the sprawling U.S. intelligence community Wednesday, delivering the newly inaugurated president his first Senate-confirmed cabinet secretary.

Avril Haines is the first woman to become director of national intelligence, a job that oversees 18 intelligence agencies and units, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, which employ hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors.

The Senate voted 84-10 to confirm Ms. Haines, with only Republicans opposing her nomination.

Mr. Biden’s aides have said it is imperative for the new president to have his national security team in place as soon as possible to address pressing threats ranging from domestic extremist violence of the kind that was on display during the storming of the U.S. Capitol two weeks ago to a suspected Russian hack of huge swaths of the federal government. The Senate is expected to act in the coming days on some of Mr. Biden’s other nominees.

“This position is of such critical importance to the country that is only appropriate that it will be the first nomination of the new Biden administration to be confirmed by the Senate,” said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the incoming Democratic leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Mr. Biden announced his selection of Ms. Haines in November, and last week nominated William J. Burns, a former career diplomat, to run the CIA.

Ms. Haines, 51 years old, is a former deputy CIA director and deputy national security adviser under President Barack Obama whose resume includes judo skills, a private pilot’s license and previous ownership of an independent bookstore in Baltimore.

Her confirmation came a day after a largely nonconfrontational hearing in which Republicans and Democrats raised no objections to her confirmation. She committed to keeping politics out of intelligence work while vowing to expand efforts to address foreign interference operations against the U.S.

Ms. Haines was also cautious about expanding the intelligence community’s role in countering threats from domestic extremism, saying the prime responsibility should remain with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security, but committed to working with those agencies on providing a public written assessment of the threat posed by the conspiracy group QAnon.

Breaking from the Trump administration’s recent practice, Ms. Haines said at the hearing she would appear annually before the panel for a hearing on world-wide threats. She also promised to release, as required by law, an unclassified report naming those responsible for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate. Former President Trump declined to release the document.

In addition to grappling with China’s regional aggression, Russia’s efforts to destabilize the West and Iran’s resurgent nuclear ambitions, along with long-term threats such as global pandemics and climate change, Ms. Haines will be confronting a decline in morale among intelligence professionals, current and former officials said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/avril-haines-becomes-first-woman-director-of-national-intelligence/news-story/36d20ada36cb8b54ba51c25aa43b961c

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 12:42 a.m. No.12646649 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2688

QAnon followers reel as Biden inaugurated

Joseph Menn, Elizabeth Culliford, Katie Paul and Carrie Monahan - 21 January 2021

For three years, adherents of the sprawling QAnon conspiracy theory awaited a so-called Great Awakening, scouring anonymous web postings from a shadowy "Q" figure and parsing statements by former US president Donald Trump, whom they believed to be their champion.

On Wednesday, they grappled with a harsh reality check: Trump had left office with no mass arrests or other victories against the supposed cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophile cannibal elites, especially Democrats, he was ostensibly fighting.

Instead, Democratic President Joe Biden was sworn into office, leaving legions of QAnon faithful struggling to make sense of what had transpired.

In one Telegram channel with more than 18,400 members, QAnon believers were split between those still urging others to "trust the plan" and those saying they felt betrayed. "It's obvious now we've been had. No plan, no Q, nothing," one user wrote.

Some messages referenced theories that a coup was going to take place before the end of inauguration day. Others moved the goalposts again, speculating Trump would be sworn in on March 4.

Jared Holt, a disinformation researcher at the Atlantic Council, said he had never before seen disillusionment in the QAnon communities he monitors at this scale.

"It's the whole 'trust the plan' thing. Q believers have just allowed themselves to be strung from failed promise to failed promise."

The anonymous person or people known as Q started posting the vague predictions that would become the basis of the QAnon movement on message board 4chan in 2017, claiming to be a Trump administration insider with top secret security clearance.

The number of followers exploded with the arrival of the coronavirus last year, providing a sense of community missing in many people's isolated pandemic lives by encouraging participants to "do their own research" and contribute findings to the crowd.

Q interpreters have become mini-celebrities in their own right, spreading the gospel on social media before the platforms cracked down late last year.

Among them was Ron Watkins, who was among a small group of movement leaders who stepped up their public activity after Trump's loss in the November 3 election, as the "drops" from Q slowed and then stopped.

The longtime administrator of 8kun, an unmoderated forum where Q posted alongside violent extremists and racists, Watkins adopted the cryptic tone of Q in the past two months on Twitter and then Telegram.

In one of the most jarring apparent reversals on Wednesday, Watkins appeared to admit defeat, posting: "We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution regardless of whether or not we agree with the specifics.

"Please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years."

On pro-Trump website TheDonald.win, users turned on Watkins and accused him of being a "shill" and a CIA plant.

Other fringe groups, including neo-Nazis, said they intended to capitalise on the disarray by stepping up recruitment from among QAnon followers.

https://thewest.com.au/politics/qanon-followers-reel-as-biden-inaugurated-ng-s-2046243

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 12:43 a.m. No.12646665 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6688 >>2688

What Donald Trump's exit from the White House means for the QAnon conspiracy movement

While Donald Trump is leaving office, experts say his departure isn't the end for QAnon. Exactly where the movement goes from here, however, is harder to predict.

EMMA BRANCATISANO - 20 JANUARY 2021

1/2

For QAnon faithful, Donald Trump's presidency was hailed as part of a grand plan that would expose evil within the US government and 'restore' America.

But on Thursday morning (AEDT), Mr Trump's single term as president will come to an end as Joe Biden is sworn in as his successor.

In some ways, that puts the central theory of this baseless and malleable web of conspiracies - that the outgoing president has spent years leading a mission to bring a 'deep state' group of paedophiles, including top Democrats and Hollywood elites, to justice - to bed.

But experts say this doesn't necessarily mark the end of a movement that now has support within the Republican Party, leaving it, the incoming Biden administration, and even Australia, with much to consider.

Elliot Brennan, from the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre, says the movement has reached a "testing moment".

"For all the prophecy that Mr Trump was going to undo this 'deep state', that there was no way he could lose this election and that the election was stolen from him and he would win it back, it just hasn't eventuated," he told SBS News.

"The thing to remember here is QAnon, broadly, has had dozens of prophecies which haven't yet eventuated, and the movement has continued to grow."

What is QAnon?

QAnon is not one conspiracy theory but an umbrella term for a set of theories that have developed across different online forums around the so-called central figure, 'Q'.

"It's immensely broad and also incredibly malleable, which has enabled it to really accommodate the conspiracy theory at large," Mr Brennan said.

QAnon's central theory posits the world is run by an alleged 'deep state' - a cabal of cannibal paedophiles run by America's elite - who are plotting against Mr Trump while operating a global child sex-trafficking ring. According to QAnon lore, Mr Trump was recruited to dismantle this cabal.

That theory arose in October 2017 when a 'drop' appeared on online forum 4chan from an anonymous account that called itself 'Q Clearance Point'. The poster, who became known as 'Q', was a self-alleged American intelligence insider with knowledge of the workings of the US government and the so-called 'deep state'.

'Q' predicted Mr Trump would unmask the cabal and 'restore' America.

Professor Axel Bruns, from Queensland University of Technology's Digital Media Research Centre, describes the evolution of QAnon as a "treasure hunt" that has played out through so-called 'Q Drops' of cryptic information.

"The way it has been organised in some ways has really been to attract people by giving them riddles or incomplete information that can be interpreted in various ways," he said.

"That might be accidental or deliberate, but it has worked to draw people further into the conspiracy. It's gamified, so in a way, it makes those who are part of it to feel special or different from others."

What emerged from the far-right fringes has somewhat reached the mainstream, with its community extending to wellness influencers, anti-lockdown libertarians and hardcore Trumpists. QAnon now also has people who have previously voiced support for the movement in positions of power within the Republican Party and in the US Congress.

(continued)

>>12646665

2/2

Donald Trump, the 'unconventional leader'

What began to emerge on message boards like 4chan and, later, other social media platforms, was the idea that Mr Trump, being an "unconventional presidential candidate", must exist to dismantle the so-called 'deep state', Mr Brennan says.

"People started to imbue him with this God-given role and increasingly the theory merged with Evangelism and religiosity, establishing this 'good versus evil' struggle, with President Trump representing the 'good', and Washington - the 'swamp' - along with Democrats and even Republicans, representing the 'evil'," he said.

As digital media experts analysed online activity, 'Q' paraphernalia started to emerge at Mr Trump's rallies. And as time went on, Mr Brennan says, the bond between support for Mr Trump and support for QAnon started to strengthen.

While there is no evidence that Mr Trump is behind the movement, Professor Bruns said it has certainly positioned the outgoing president as its leader.

"Everything that he has done, and everything that has been done against him, has been interpreted in some way by QAnon followers as part of some grand plan," he said.

"There has also been a lot of re-interpretation of what is going on to give these followers faith that everything is going to plan."

Last August, Mr Trump said at a press conference he didn't "know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate".

"We've seen time and time again, Mr Trump has been offered an off-ramp to condemn QAnon and conspiracy theories, along with right-wing extremism and white nationalism, but every turn he chooses to equivocate and do it in terms that can easily be manipulated into a message of support, Mr Brennan said.

So, what now?

QAnon faithful were told that Mr Trump would be re-elected in a landslide. But he wasn't and is leaving office under the cloud of a second impeachment.

Many prominent QAnon followers have also been arrested for their roles in the 6 January riot at the US Capitol. They're being barred by the thousands from major social networks for spreading misinformation about voter fraud, and US law enforcement is now treating the movement as a domestic extremist threat.

So, where does this leave the movement?

Experts say Mr Trump's departure from office does not spell the end of QAnon, but how the movement evolves from here is harder to predict.

Mr Brennan said it could be moving into a new and more concerning "phase of disenfranchisement" with Mr Biden as president.

"From their [QAnon adherents'] perspective, President Trump - the person who was going to expose the rampant child sex slavery in elite circles in Washington and Hollywood - is being replaced by someone who they falsely think is a paedophile," he said.

"That is a radicalising development for people who feel like their president is being taken away fraudulently and being replaced by someone who represents something they have railed against."

He said this phase could potentially be more dangerous, as members - barred from mainstream social media platforms - move to underground and encrypted messaging apps.

But Professor Bruns says as some members detach themselves from the movement, its future will depend on how remaining QAnon followers spin Mr Biden's presidency.

"It all depends on which sorts of attempts at explanation are going to become prominent within the remaining QAnon community," he said.

"It could become more violent and more threatening if they continue to say Mr Biden is illegitimate, or if they believe he is there for a reason and Mr Trump is letting him be there. They might actually step back because they believe, at the end of it, there will be some kind of reckoning."

But he said at some point, there will come an "end".

"I think generally and genuinely there is now a tendency for the really hardcore adherents to twist reality even further to keep the faith," he said.

"I think for a lot of them, eventually that will come to a breaking point where it is no longer possible to believe in the grand plan."

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/what-donald-trump-s-exit-from-the-white-house-means-for-the-qanon-conspiracy-movement

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 12:56 a.m. No.12646771 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2688

Warren Entsch: Politicians spreading MAGA and QAnon are ‘peddling crap’

Federal MP Warren Entsch has distanced himself from conspiracy theory touting backbenchers as the fallout over the US Capitol riots settles.

Pete Martinelli - January 21, 2021

FEDERAL MP Warren Entsch has distanced himself from conspiracy-theory touting backbenchers as the fallout over the US Capitol riots begins to settle.

Mr Entsch said he paid little heed to the extreme Right views of Craig Kelly and George Christensen, who have peddled MAGA sentiment and misinformation about coronavirus precautions.

“People are starting to see through it; sometimes it is important to shut your mouth and have people think you are foolish rather than open your mouth and have them know you are right,” Mr Entsch said.

He said politicians who spread misinformation were legitimising fringe groups “by peddling their crap”.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has recently accused the Prime Minister Scott Morrison of being afraid of “far Right extremist fringe dwellers” including Mr Kelly and Mr Christensen.

After the attempted insurrection in Washington DC, former independent candidate for Hill Peter Campion publicly mused that the coded gibberish spread by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory – often likened to a cult and repeatedly disproved – had more merit than mainstream media.

“What if they weren’t “predictions” but forecasts based on a detailed plan,” Mr Campion wrote to the Cairns Post earlier this month.

“That’s the part that triggers Leftists; that Q’s coded signals might be intended to reassure the initiates that a plan to bring down the globalists is unfolding.”

He later claimed that coronavirus “was just a flu”, the US election was stolen and the Capitol riots were a “false flag operation” by Antifa activists.

Offenders at the riots had publicly proclaimed that they were in fact not Antifa, as they did not want the movement to be given credit.

Political candidates in the Far North have leapt on QAnon during the state election campaign, notably members of the Informed Medical Options Party.

https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/warren-entsch-politicans-spreading-maga-and-qanon-are-peddling-crap/news-story/eb8d79cf781e137cafd60e260a4ff1bd

QAnon believers grapple with doubt, spin new theories as Trump era ends

The administrator of 8kun, the longtime Internet home of the mysterious Q, says it’s time to move on, and a moderator on Wednesday wiped Q’s 'drops’ from the website

Drew Harwell and Craig Timberg - Jan. 21, 2021

1/3

Followers of the extremist ideology QAnon saw their hopes once again dashed Wednesday as President Trump left Washington on the final day of his presidency, without any of the climactic scenes of violence and salvation that the sprawling set of conspiracy theories had preached for years would come.

As Trump boarded Air Force One for his last presidential flight to Florida, many QAnon adherents — some of whose fellow believers had earlier this month stormed the Capitol in a siege that left at least two QAnon devotees dead and others in jail — began to wonder whether they’d been duped all along.

When one QAnon channel on the chat app Telegram posted a new theory that suggested Biden himself was “part of the plan,” a number of followers shifted into open rebellion: “This will never happen.” “Just stfu already!” “It’s over. It is sadly, sadly over.” “What a fraud!”

Late Wednesday, the movement suffered another blow when the “Q Research” forum on 8kun, QAnon’s online home, was wiped clean by a site moderator, who said in a rambling screed that “I am just performing euthanasia to something I once loved very very much.” Shortly after, the site’s leaders restored the deleted material and demanded the moderator’s death.

But while some QAnon disciples gave way to doubt, others doubled down on blind belief or strained to see new coded messages in the Inauguration Day’s events. Some followers noted that 17 flags — Q being the 17th letter of the alphabet — flew on the stage as Trump delivered a farewell address.

“17 flags! come on now this is getting insane,” said one post on a QAnon forum devoted to the “Great Awakening,” the quasi-biblical name for QAnon’s utopian end times. “I don’t know how many signs has to be given to us before we ‘trust the plan,’” one commenter said.

Over thousands of cryptic posts since 2017, Q, QAnon’s unidentified online prophet, had promised that Trump was secretly spearheading a spiritual war against an elite cabal of child-eating Satanists who controlled Washington, Hollywood and the world. Believers in these false, rambling theories had counted down the hours waiting for Trump to corral his enemies for military tribunals and mass executions in a show of force they called “the Storm.”

But on Wednesday, as reality dawned, QAnon promoters who had gained thousands of online supporters by promising to decode Q’s arcane posts — and profited off their audience, by selling QAnon merchandise or online subscriptions along the way — scrambled to spin the truth of Trump’s election loss or shift the goal posts of a deadline four years in the making.

One QAnon channel on Telegram with 40,000 subscribers noted that the last sentence of Eric Trump’s farewell tweet — “ … the best is yet to come!” — was also a common slogan for QAnon adherents, failing to mention that the phrase is a commonly used cliche. Another QAnon channel with 35,000 Telegram subscribers, devoted to the “Great Awakening,” highlighted Trump’s final remarks as president: “We will be back in some form — Have a good life. We will see you soon.”

“It simply doesn’t make sense that we all got played,” one QAnon channel on Telegram said.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 1:10 a.m. No.12646912 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6924

>>12646898

2/3

Some of the most notable figures in QAnon’s online universe said they were having a change of heart. After Biden’s inauguration, Ron Watkins — the longtime 8kun administrator who critics have suspected may have helped write Q’s posts himself, a charge he denies — said on Telegram that it was time to move on.

“We need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able,” said Watkins, who in recent months had become one of the loudest backers of conspiracy theories suggesting Biden’s win was a fraud.

“We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution regardless of whether or not we agree with the specifics,” Watkins added. “As we enter into the next administration please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years.”

In the mass deletion on “Qresearch” late Wednesday, the anonymous moderator seemed to criticize Ron Watkins and his father, 8kun’s owner, Jim Watkins, as well as a group of QAnon-supporting users, saying, “Q made you do NOTHING … he just kept you calm and sedated … what have you done as of late, beside waiting for things to get better?”

Much of the forum was restored by the site’s leaders shortly after. But it still potentially marked another end of an era, said Travis View, a researcher and co-host of the podcast “QAnon Anonymous," who called it another “sign that QAnon as we know it is collapsing.” Neither Ron nor Jim Watkins responded to requests for comment.

Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which tracks misinformation, said QAnon followers are making increasingly illogical leaps as they struggle to make sense of developments.

“It’s something that has long been true of conspiracy theories: When they don’t come to fruition, they shift their delusions to the next thing,” he said. He noted how some comments posted below Trump’s farewell video suggested that “it wasn’t quite time for the Great Awakening, but it’s coming soon and this is how.”

Researchers said some QAnon supporters appear to be rethinking their commitment due to a range of factors, including Q’s relative silence since the election, Trump’s anticlimactic White House exit, and the Capitol insurrection, which resulted in more than 100 arrests and delayed the certification of Biden’s victory by only several hours.

But several feared that the rising intensity of those still committed to QAnon could create problems for years to come if a die-hard, militarized core persists in their belief that the U.S. government is controlled by evil pedophiles who have successfully subverted the Constitution.

“What we’re seeing is a trend in increasingly bunker-down, apocalyptic language,” said Joel Finkelstein, co-founder of the Network Contagion Research Institute, a research group that studies online disinformation. “It’s gone from [talk of] a revolution to a civilization-ending kind of collapse.”

He and other researchers have also chronicled an increasingly global QAnon movement that could outlast its potential weakening in the United States as events and an aggressive crackdown by social media platforms limit the ideology’s reach among Americans. The QAnon followings in Germany and Japan are particularly strong and growing, said Finkelstein, whose research group tracked a surge in QAnon terms the morning of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, including one that said “qarmyjapanflynn.”

“They’re going to reemerge at some point because they’ve internationalized,” he said. “There’s a metastization of QAnon from a national story to a global revolution.”

(continued)

>>12646912

3/3

QAnon adherents had long anticipated Trump’s military strike against his foes, which they believed would play out like an action movie; the fact that Tuesday was “National Popcorn Day” on mainstream calendars seemed too perfect to be coincidence. Followers in recent days have seen coded messages everywhere: first lady Melania Trump’s black-and-gray coat, worn in her final address, was said to resemble the TV static that would signal the media blackout of Trump’s military takeover.

But on Wednesday, some promoters recognized that believers being confronted with the reality of QAnon’s baselessness were in need of encouragement. One forum offered doubters a “FAT DOSE OF HOPIUM” — their jargon, meaning reasons for hope — and urged readers to “GET IN HERE IF YOU’RE RUNNING LOW.” The thread used a nine-month-old Q post to suggest that Trump had coordinated another subtly brilliant move in his final hours in office: “He is metaphorically walking away in slow motion while the explosions go off behind him.”

One of the forum’s moderators, “God_Bless_America1,” posted a thread counseling that “POTUS has NOT let us down or failed, he has done all he could within his power and it is now going to be handing it to the military to take from here exactly as Q drop forecast.” Uncertainty, the moderator added, would not be tolerated: “ANY dooming or negative comments clogging up the site pertaining to current situation will result in removal and ban if repeated.”

View said Inauguration Day had been seen as “a very special day in the QAnon community,” but that the responses to real-world events have been mixed.

Believers, he said, appear to be splitting between those who see Biden’s ascent to the White House as a sign that the Q’s prophecies were wrong and those who think they were right but need to be recast for a Biden administration in which Trump remains secretly powerful and able to control events unfolding in Washington.

“A minority are facing reality that Biden’s going to be president,” View said. “Others are coming to believe that the storm they were expecting is still going to happen but sometime during the Biden administration.”

The day also highlighted the deepening division between QAnon adherents and other far-right extremists, who have voiced growing doubts about Trump. A channel for the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence, said Trump had thrown Capitol rioters “under the bus” and called QAnon “a bolshevik lie.”

QAnon, as with most online creations, probably will not disappear any time soon. On Tuesday night, a small crowd of picketers rallied with signs urging “Repent or Perish” outside Comet Ping Pong, the D.C. pizzeria at the center of Pizzagate — the 2016 conspiracy theory from which QAnon was born.

View predicted that the QAnon community may shrink in the coming months but also become more fervent in their commitment to its ideas.

“History has taught us far-right movements don’t cool off during a Democratic administration,” View said. “The people who stick with it are going to become even more radicalized and potentially more dangerous.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/20/qanon-trump-era-ends/

Sex abuse victim speaks out after Perth Catholic church consents to pay $2.45m compensation

Keane Bourke and Amelia Searson - 21 January 2021

1/3

A victim who will be awarded $2.45 million in compensation for sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a Catholic priest has spoken out about the "severe" impact the abuse continues to have on his life.

Warning: This story deals with child abuse and rape.

Perth's Catholic archbishop consented to pay the compensation after the victim, who is now aged in his 50s, described being raped by Father Bertram Adderley in the 1970s.

The landmark judgement was approved by a District Court judge last week and is believed to be one of the highest known sums paid by any Catholic church in Australia to a survivor of historic sex abuse.

Peter* spoke to the ABC about the abuse he suffered at the hands of the now-deceased priest, who was a lay teacher at Perth's prestigious Aquinas College in the 1950s, before serving as a priest in the Catholic Diocese in Bunbury.

Adderley also served in Perth at the parish in Hamilton Hill, where he met Peter when he was a nine-year-old altar boy around 1977.

Peter, who did not want to be identified, said it was scary to re-live the worst time of his life in court, but he pushed through because he felt the church's response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was "arrogant".

"As much as it hurt, I steeled myself to pursue this and contacted the lawyers," Peter said.

He said the church had not behaved fairly towards victims.

"You guys have affected so many lives, mine included, and you're just brushing us under the carpet," he said.

"You're not paying any respect to future victims and you're not showing any desire to prevent future victims."

Victim recounts trauma in court

Peter said he felt comfortable talking with those close to him about the abuse he suffered as a boy but when he had to recount the harrowing details in court, it was traumatising.

He said he left the court feeling extremely anxious, with feelings he hadn't felt for years.

"It brought it home to me just how much it still affects me," he said.

"But when you have to delve back into the nitty gritty … it really does rip the scabs open and all the scars were laid bare again.

"I left the court that day in shellshock."

He said relief flooded through him when his legal team advised that not only had the church make a financially acceptable settlement, they had also accepted how traumatic it was for him to relive his abuse.

"I've spent 43 years battling with conditions, I had no idea I had," Peter said.

"PTSD, depressive disorder, major anxiety, and now I can afford to get it all treated properly, I can find the help I've always needed."

He said the impact the abuse had throughout his life had been severe.

"Not being able to hold relationships, my moral compass was completely destroyed by what happened to me as a child, and the people who loved me and have loved me, and I have loved bore the brunt of that," he said.

"I've had anger management issues, which has not only affected my work life, but my love life."

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 1:32 a.m. No.12647047 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7074

>>12647031

2/3

'Church knew of prior abuse'

Peter's lawyer Michael Magazanik said Adderley had "dozens and dozens" of other victims, including boys at Aquinas College where he worked as a lay teacher in the 1950s.

Mr Magazanik said Adderley abused "many boys" in the Bunbury region in the sixties and seventies, and the Church was made aware of these allegations.

Rather than taking action, Mr Magazanik said the Church "shifted him up the road to Perth" where he met Peter when he was an altar boy at the Hamilton Hill parish.

"Adderley abused (Peter) horrifically in 1978 and 1980," he said.

"Really the claim was the Catholic Church knew Adderley was a child abuser, yet allowed him to move up to Perth and serve at the Church where he abused my client.

"We know he abused boys in the Bunbury region, he abused boys in Perth, he targeted boys he met at the beach, school boys, altar boys and he especially targeted boys at Aquinas College in Perth," he said.

"He had many victims and I know some of those victims haven't made it."

Mr Magazanik described the judgement as "enormously significant".

"This is the largest sum of compensation the Catholic Church has paid to an abuse survivor in Australia ever," he said.

'Evil prospers in darkness'

Peter said: "What happened to me should never have happened, because [the Catholic Church] was aware of his sickness, his illness of the mind, before he got to me."

He said this "dereliction of their duty of care" pushed him to bring his case forward.

"The thing that fortified me to go ahead with this process is a firm belief that evil prospers in the darkness," he said.

He said while he did not feel "happy" about the judgement, it has led him to find some closure and relief.

He said every morning when he woke up, the first thing he saw was his abuser.

But he said he took solace in the historic judgement.

"You didn't win, you didn't beat me," he said of his abuser.

Fears for other victims

While Peter survived, he feared what had happened to other victims of Father Adderley.

"I'm so frightful of how many people didn't make it this far in life, I nearly didn't make it a couple of times because of him," he said.

"But I just couldn't let him win and couldn't let [the Catholic Church] win.

Going forward Peter said he wanted other victims to seek help and know it is not their fault.

"Do not feel guilty about it, don't be ashamed of it," he said.

"If you're still with us, if you haven't succumbed to that guilt and shame, go and see a lawyer.

Peter said in the early 2000s, the Church embarked on what it called the Towards Healing process where it acknowledged that some of the priests had "done heinous things to the children in their flock".

He said he received $50,000 in financial regress and was muffled by a legal document stating he could not talk about what had happened to him, which had left him feeling hopeless.

Once ordained as a priest, Adderley served as a priest in the Catholic Diocese in Bunbury from 1959 to 1974.

He died in 1983 before any charges could be laid against him.

(continued)

>>12647047

3/3

Archbishop apologises for 'deplorable history' of sexual abuse against young and vulnerable

The Perth Catholic Archbishop Timothy Costelloe said in a statement he was "glad the survivor of this shocking abuse has had the opportunity to have his story told and believed and has been financially compensated"

"The Catholic Church has a deplorable history in relation to the sexual abuse of the young and vulnerable," Reverend Costelloe said.

"The Royal Commission shone a much-needed light on this dark chapter in the Church's history here in Australia.

"Nothing can justify or cancel out the dreadful mistakes of the past.

"What the Church can do today and into the future is to commit itself to treating those who have been abused with dignity, respect and integrity.

"The Church can and must also take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that, as far as humanly possible, such abuse never again occurs within Catholic settings."

He said the church had established two bodies that were "functionally independent" to ensure the safety of constituents, and ensure complainants were supported when they reported abuse.

He said the church was a full participant in the Commonwealth Redress Scheme, which was set up in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

'Business as usual' despite Royal Commission

But Peter said the Australian Catholic Church's response to the Royal Commission was not enough.

"Their refusal to change the sanctity of the confessional, and their refusal to report paedophiles within their own ranks, when they become aware of it, says to me that they have not changed … to them it's business as usual and this is just a minor inconvenience," he said.

"The hubris and arrogance of the Catholic church in the past had to be accounted for … for there to be any real justice in life.

"The laws are against me, the statute of limitations are against me, so I begrudgingly accepted it and tried to move on with my life," he said.

Peter urged the public to stay vigilant over protecting children, as the Royal Commission found they're commonly abused by people in trusted positions like a priest or family member.

*The victim's name has been changed to protect his identity.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-21/catholic-church-rape-victim-speaks-after-historic-compensation/13077392

If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 9:58 p.m. No.12662430 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2688

>>12623240

>>12646319

John Podesta Tweet

Congratulations to Avril Haines on her Senate confirmation. In an administration full of strong picks, Avril stands out as a superb choice— and the Senate agreed. Our intelligence community and national security are in good hands.

https://twitter.com/johnpodesta/status/1352057472878604291

Senate confirms Avril Haines as director of national intelligence

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/haines-director-national-intelligence-confirmed/2021/01/20/135053ba-5b73-11eb-b8bd-ee36b1cd18bf_story.html

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 10 p.m. No.12662443 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

>>12478538

Bill Shorten Tweet

What a difference a day makes.

https://twitter.com/billshortenmp/status/1352129986170245121

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 10:01 p.m. No.12662454 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2478 >>2431

Bob Carr Tweet

Like a majority of Republicans Joe Hockey believes there was vote fraud. Said it publicly. Oops! Bad move for a fledgling lobbyist wanting access to a Democrat administration.

https://twitter.com/bobjcarr/status/1352060133312921600

—

Now in Nine Media Joe struggles to make good but the new Democrat team weren’t impressed with his crawling to the Ancien Regime now unpacking candlesticks and golf clubs at Mar-a-Largo.

https://twitter.com/bobjcarr/status/1352060135120621570

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 10:02 p.m. No.12662478 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2485 >>2431

>>12662454

America's silo society has to face its racial demons

In past upheavals, Americans at least all shared the same news. Now there is an apartheid of the national spirit that is creating deeper divisions than ever.

Bob Carr - Jan 20, 2021

1/2

As Joe Biden took the oath of office overnight on Thursday (AEDT) a slew of polls confirm that something like 55 million American voters believe his election was rigged. That is, 75 percent of all who voted for Trump believe the election was stolen from them. Yet the chasm is even wider. According to a YouGov poll 45 per cent of Republicans agree with the demonstrators who used violence on January 6 to block the result. That’s a ringing endorsement of illegal political action.

As demonstrators go on trial this wedge of the electorate is going to be told every day on Fox and by Trump they are being victimised because, during the northern hemisphere summer, violence committed by Black Lives Matter went uncondemned or unpunished. Even the more softly committed Trump supporters are being drawn into a steamy underground of grievance and resentment.

Flick between Fox and CNN and witness the new bitterness in Americans' gaping cultural divide.

One day last week CNN was interviewing Kentucky Democrat Governor Andy Beshear with footage of him being hung in effigy outside the governor’s mansion. “It is a battle for America,” he said, vowing to ban “terrorists” from the state capital. At that moment Fox was broadcasting indignant commentary about a group of Harvard staff campaigning to have the university strip degrees from graduates who had denied the validity of Biden’s election. This would include Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

“We’re becoming a one-point-of-view society," one Fox commentator said.

Until recently my instincts were to resist the view that America under Trump was more divided than it had been anytime since the Civil War.

As an amateur historian I was aware of the 1960s urban riots and the 1970 shootings at Kent State. The class war of the 1930s had violence at factory gates. The Smithsonian's collection boasts one of the Gatling guns used by employers to threaten workers in the bitter strikes of the late 19th century. But in previous periods of intense conflict – during the Vietnam war years and Watergate – Americans reverted to common sources of information: a rich culture of newsprint with revered newspaper mastheads, TIME and Newsweek magazines, and the network news bulletins hosted by craggy national icons.

Opinions are now stacked in silos, news segregated as if by an apartheid of the spirit.

The people of this riven land subscribe to separate narratives in which the motives of others are wicked and debauched and a traditional America is swinging in the breeze. The ideology that fuelled the storming of the Capitol, reinforced on Fox every day, finds justification in extreme measures if required to “take the country back.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 10:03 p.m. No.12662485 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2684

>>12662478

2/2

That renders Trump voters warriors fighting for their version of America. The Senate run-offs in Georgia – the election of a Jewish and a black man to become senators – feeds the anxiety that white America is in eclipse. This fear was expressed by Donald Trump – showing his brilliance at capturing the sentiments of his base – when he said: “There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country”.

Fear at what this eclipse foretells brought demonstrators to a fury in which they could chant “hang Mike Pence”. It brought eight Republican senators and 139 members of Congress to vote to block an election outcome. That they cast this vote after the violent demonstration at the Capitol is a symbol of division unprecedented in all the years since 1876.

It’s now commonplace commentary from Democrats, including the new President, that if the demonstrators in Washington had been black there would have been a harsh law-enforcement response – handcuffs and mass detentions, it’s implied, and likely tanks on the streets.

It’s further proof of a descent into rhetorical civil war that Hillary Clinton chose to write an op-ed after the riot more brutal on white supremacy than any leading figure has been, certainly more than Barack Obama allowed himself. Clinton endorsed the pessimistic race-based analysis of America’s divide. She wrote, “If people were given the choice between democracy and whiteness, how many would choose whiteness? Wednesday reminded us of an ugly truth: There are some Americans, more than many want to admit, who would choose whiteness.”

Nothing as candid about white nationalism as a motive force in national life has been jammed in the faces of the American public from a figure of such eminence.

For his part, Trump says the movement he started is only the beginning.

Bob Carr is the longest-serving premier of NSW and a former foreign minister of Australia. He is Industry Professor of Climate and Business at the University of Technology Sydney.

https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/america-s-silo-society-has-to-face-its-racial-demons-20201215-p56nig

Kevin Rudd Tweet

Biden’s team inherits a bucket full of foreign policy wreckage - in declining American power, weaker alliances and a damaged domestic body politic. But with strong and steady leadership, effective strategic competition with Beijing is achievable.

https://twitter.com/MrKRudd/status/1351829206510911488

>>12662485

Timelines change, people keep doing the same ole thing, wait alittle longer, Bad guys have tracking A I good guys have tracking A I and them we have the son-z-a-beaches. Go get the job done boys, these people are trying to save the enitre population when scripture tells us that over 2 bn people will go down. An you are worried about a few thousand? Either way you leaders are the one who are up against the wall. not so much the little people, we have always been here. Nothing will change the coming timeline. The zig zag timelines are running out. No way back. You can not wait another 50 years.

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 10:34 p.m. No.12662800 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2824 >>2688

Malcolm Turnbull Tweet

After the sacking of the US Capitol on Jan 6, the dangers of this cult are very clear especially if it’s adherents are able to influence or win support from leaders in government as they have so shamefully in the US.

https://twitter.com/TurnbullMalcolm/status/1351758982122143748

Jonathan Swan @jonathanvswan

Ezra Cohen: “The administration should have crushed this QAnon stuff as soon as it materialized.” politi.co/2LE01f5 via @politico

https://twitter.com/jonathanvswan/status/1351713653276495873

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 10:36 p.m. No.12662824 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2831 >>2688

>>12662800

‘Are you QAnon?’: One Trump official’s brush with an internet cult gone horribly wrong

Some believed he was “Q,” the mythical figure behind an intricate and sprawling conspiracy theory. Here Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a senior Trump intelligence official, shares the story of his ordeal for the first time.

JOSH GERSTEIN - 01/19/2021

1/3

The deadly insurrection in the nation’s capital this month brought intense public scrutiny to the online conspiracy theory QAnon and shock about its pervasiveness, but one prominent Trump administration official said he’s been battling the movement for years — pleading with his government colleagues and figures in the tech industry to recognize the real-world danger posed by the internet-based fantasy.

Since 2018, many members of the cult-like group have been convinced that its shadowy leader and founder is actually Ezra Cohen-Watnick, an intelligence specialist who worked in various Defense Department jobs before accepting a senior post on the National Security Council staff soon after President Donald Trump came into office in 2017. Cohen, who was brought in under former national security adviser Michael Flynn, became a figure of controversy when his run-ins with other intelligence officials spilled out into the press.

Cohen’s resulting notoriety led many adherents of QAnon to regard him as “Q,” who according to the conspiracy theory’s lore is a Trump administration official working on the inside to expose a deep-state cabal of pedophiles and Satan-worshippers bent on undermining Trump. Q’s cryptic messages, posted in the form of “Q drops” in online forums, have also fueled an obsession with a coming “Storm” — an apocalyptic event that would expose the evildoers, bring the cabal to justice and cement Trump’s hold on power.

“It's clear that the QAnon conspiracy was a core of what was going on at the Capitol and I want to do everything I can to delegitimize this conspiracy,” Cohen, 34, told POLITICO in an interview. “The country deserved better on Jan. 6 — what transpired was appalling and completely at odds with our democratic principles.”

Many of those who stormed the Capitol openly espoused QAnon beliefs and appear to have become convinced that Trump’s drive to overturn his loss in the 2020 election would culminate in some kind of military-led intervention, ousting evil Democrats and ushering in a righteous new era.

Trump fueled the Capitol attack not only with his inflammatory words but through months of public flirtation with the bizarre online obsession — particularly when it seemed to bolster his re-election bid or advance his post-election campaign to challenge the election results.

Asked about the violence at the Capitol, as well as the role that Trump played in stoking it through his speech that day and the conspiracy talk he fomented in the weeks after the election, Cohen said: “The administration should have crushed this QAnon stuff as soon as it materialized.”

In his first public comments on his ordeal, Cohen detailed a nightmarish, two-year-long fight to extricate himself from the QAnon saga. He said he’s speaking out now because he is again a private citizen, wrapping up his service as a Trump appointee at the Pentagon, and because he is outraged over the tragic events of Jan. 6.

Cohen described being caught in a kind of ideological tag team as early speculation by right-wing QAnon followers that that he was Q evolved into left-wing obsession with proving that he was the fraudster behind the postings, in order to demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of a top Trump administration official.

The rumors eventually began to seep into his real-life world. He recalls being approached at a pre-Covid cocktail party in D.C. “Someone came up to me and said, whispering, ‘Are you QAnon?’” he said, calling the incident disturbing.

Online, Cohen faced a slew of social media accounts falsely purporting to be him, tweeting out cryptic messages to QAnon followers. He said Twitter was slow to address the problem.

“Twitter did a horrible job of responding to this,” Cohen said. “Twitter is getting very aggressive about the QAnon stuff now. But for a very long time they allowed this to fester. And it's not like they didn't know about it — we reported it to them.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 10:37 p.m. No.12662831 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2841

>>12662824

2/3

Cohen became so concerned about the proliferation of accounts suggesting links to him that he hired Washington-based lawyer Mark Zaid to investigate and push social media sites to shut them down.

While the first accounts explicitly impersonated Cohen, the next wave were more subtle, set up under vague names like @YourFriendlyE. While those accounts never directly claimed to be Cohen, they would quickly be identified, falsely, as Cohen by other QAnon-focused accounts.

“It was a cat-and-mouse game,” he recalled. “Every time we had an account get shut down, they would re-form and re-gain up to 20,000 followers and even higher within hours. And there would be this chorus of people online saying, ‘This is the new account.’”

The accounts would then send cryptic, ominous messages that allegedly came from Cohen. “It is only at the precipice that true and lasting change will occur,” one tweet said. “In order to fully expose the ‘Invisible Enemy,’ we had to bait them into a very contentious, bright light.”

Cohen said those running the account seemed to have a sophisticated understanding of Twitter’s policies and were skilled at evading them for some time.

“It was very clear that they basically knew exactly what the Twitter impersonation rules were,” he said. “They never came out and actually used my name or put my picture as the profile picture. They knew exactly where the line was, to get taken down as an impersonator account.”

Some of the online activity began to bleed over into Cohen’s physical world in troubling ways. One Twitter account involved posted a close-up photo of his home.

“It wasn't just from Google Streetview. It was as if somebody had been outside my house, and literally took a picture, looking in through my window,” he said. “I took it as a threat.”

Cohen also discovered that someone hacked into an old Hotmail account he no longer used and sought to use it verify other accounts. The intruder then used it to set up a meeting for Cohen with former National Security Agency employee Bill Binney, who has claimed that the hack of the Democratic National Committee in 2016 was an inside job and was not orchestrated by Russia as the intelligence community concluded.

One unusual aspect of the planned coffee-shop meeting was that despite the purported “invite” to Binney, Cohen knew nothing about it.

“The funny thing is, at the time, I wasn't even living in D.C. And I got a call from somebody saying, ‘Hey, you stood up Bill Binney.’ And I said, ‘What are you talking about?’” Cohen recalled. “You can imagine getting your email hacked into and having somebody lure people into coming to meet with you is very alarming.”

Cohen left the NSC in August 2017 and worked at Oracle for a time before returning to the Defense Department last May as a political appointee overseeing special operations. Even after that move, the internet posts continued, with some QAnon followers causing concern for Pentagon security officials by coming by to try to pay him a visit.

A spokesperson for Twitter defended the social media firm’s handling of the QAnon onslaught Cohen faced.

“We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content,” Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy said. “We recently permanently suspended more than 70,000 Twitter accounts engaging in this behavior, including many of the accounts you referenced. We will remain vigilant in our approach of detecting and fighting this behavior, including in reference to this specific individual.”

However, Twitter did acknowledge that it stepped up its approach to QAnon-related accounts after the Capitol riot and found many instances of multiple accounts being run by a single person. The offending tweets Cohen shared with POLITICO are from accounts Twitter has permanently suspended, the firm said, while conceding that it won’t unmask pseudonymous accounts.

Of course, QAnon did not rise to prominence solely based on social media activity, but also won followers by being promoted by high-profile figures in Trump circles.

(continued)

>>12662831

3/3

One person who has emerged as a hero of sorts to the QAnon faithful is Flynn, whose tenure as national security adviser lasted a mere 25 days. QAnon backers rallied behind Flynn during his epic battle with prosecutors over false statements he initially admitted making to investigators, and the retired lieutenant general has returned the favor to the group, tweeting out QAnon memes as well as the QAnon slogan: Where we go one, we go all, or the hashtag #WWG1WGA.

Flynn effectively hired Cohen for the Trump White House in 2017. Cohen tried to reach out to Flynn through intermediaries to urge him to stop tweeting and retweeting QAnon content, a source familiar with the situation said. It didn’t work, and Flynn returned to Trump’s orbit in recent weeks as the president sought to overturn his election defeat.

Trump also gave QAnon oxygen — or at least did nothing to snuff it out.

At a televised town hall meeting on NBC in October, host Savannah Guthrie asked Trump to denounce the conspiracy theory. His muddled response was taken by many QAnon backers as an endorsement.

“I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard, but I know nothing about it,” Trump said.

Behind the scenes, Trump reportedly dismissed the notion that QAnon posed any danger and seemed willing to continue his public dalliance with the group.

“You know, people say they're into all kinds of bad things and say all kinds of terrible things about them," Trump said at a July meeting with top aides and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, according to Axios. "But, you know, my understanding is they basically are just people who want good government."

Trump and aides also embraced fringe Republican candidates who spouted #QAnon theories, such as just-elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. While some GOP leaders denounced Greene, in August, Trump tweeted out a tribute to her, calling her “a future Republican star.” And just weeks before the election, he gave her a shout-out from the stage at a Georgia rally.

Asked about Trump’s role, Cohen responded in general terms, saying that many in the administration treated the conspiracy theory as amusing long after it passed that point.

Cohen, who specializes in countering influence of foreign adversaries like Russia and China, says the persistence and sophistication of some of those involved in QAnon have convinced him of a foreign presence in the movement.

“In my professional opinion, being in the intelligence world, it really appeared to be a foreign state actor or a very organized operation,” he said. “I just don’t see that level of sophistication as just an amateur thing.”

Cohen recently got a verified Twitter account, which he said he didn’t really want, simply in order to make it easier to swat down fake accounts. He knows that some of the fevered QAnon traffic about him has moved to Parler and other forums, but he said he won’t be setting up camp there just to try to drive others away.

“I absolutely refuse to go on these other platforms,” he said. “I mean, I’m just not going to do it.”

Cohen cleared out of his Pentagon office on Friday and says he’s now planning to take some time off. But his attorney noted that — despite Twitter’s crackdown — messages keep appearing on the platform suggesting that Cohen is hard at work pursuing Q goals and is perhaps even behind a coup that will take place on Inauguration Day.

"The two years we have spent trying to successfully disentangle Ezra from the sticky webs of QAnon conspiracists has required incredible efforts both behind the scenes and publicly,” said Zaid, who has sometimes represented POLITICO reporters in Freedom of Information suits. “This is a movement and ideology that needs to be directly confronted by our government and citizenry.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/19/qanon-trump-ezra-cohen-watnick-460520

https://qanon.pub/?q=ezra

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: d05fa4 WWG1WGA (666) Jan. 21, 2021, 10:38 p.m. No.12662852 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Pics related

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: d05fa4 I’m not in a satanic celebrity death cult (666) Jan. 21, 2021, 10:42 p.m. No.12662895 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Oh yes you are.

Now Aussies, Scots, English, Americans and Jews over 18,

Kill yourselves or be killed

Pics related

A combination of high level information warfare based on Gregory Bateson’s ‘theory of types’ , Lots of meditation and some incredible luck.

Seven weeks meditation with these bad boys.

http://www.973-eht-namuh-973.com/Alchemy/ADVENT%20INDEX.htm

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

You’ve been duped by all your politicians and twitter too. Who collectively thought 💭 it would be a wise move to conceal, threaten and judge the true source of the storm ☔️.

Don’t take it personally. All our politicians are shameless cunts. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, does it?

And fixating on national identity is a recipe for disaster.

And yes, we are definitely all created equal.

And the dumb Jews do pay a price to handle the money too. Lol 😂

KNOWLEDGE

Direct link to source document in pdf format. 2,238 pages

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. 130 Mb

Every single entry date and time stamped.

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

Kills the poor hurt feelings and opinions of individual humans dead.

Jon James Pratt (999)

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire

Humbly blessed as the world’s top intellectual and philosopher

Never lies and is never violent. Ever

Aka 'the storm ☔️'

Aka ‘cosmic lol 😂’

#allpointsarereconciled

BREADCRUMBS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

All the Jews. Kids too

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: d05fa4 In your mentally ill mind Jan. 21, 2021, 10:47 p.m. No.12662946 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12662525

Where fat orange jokers save the mole children from the DUMB’s.

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 11:01 p.m. No.12663105 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2587

>>12439410

>>12476959

Family of imprisoned Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong ‘flees to Australia’

WILL GLASGOW - JANUARY 20, 2021

The family of Hong Kong’s high-profile pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has fled the Chinese territory for Australia.

Their dramatic relocation took place as their 24-year-old son serves a 13½-month sentence in Hong Kong’s Shek Pik prison for “organising and inciting unlawful assembly” during an unauthorised protest in 2019.

The Morrison government was tight-lipped on the relocation of the family of a man who Beijing has accused of being a “black hand” who they say colluded with foreign powers to undermine the Chinese Communist Party’s rule over the former British colony.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration has furiously denounced Australia and other countries, including Britain, the US and Canada, for interfering in “China’s internal affairs” by speaking out about the erosion of political rights in Hong Kong.

A fortnight ago, the four countries released a joint statement condemning the mass arrest of 55 politicians and activists in Hong Kong under the sweeping new National Security Law that Beijing imposed on the city last June.

“It is clear that the National Security Law is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political views,” Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her counterparts from Britain, the US and Canada said.

Mr Wong, who as a teenager in 2014 rose to international prominence as one of the faces of leaders of Hong Kong’s “Umbrella Movement”, was one of the 55 charged. The maximum penalty under the national security law is life in jail.

Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily newspaper first reported the relocation to Australia of Mr Wong’s parents Roger Wong Wai-ming and Grace Wong, and his younger brother. It reported that the family had sold their apartment in Hong Kong below the market price at the end of 2020.

Rival paper Ta Kung Pao, which is aligned to Beijing, said that the young democracy protester had been “brainwashed” by his father, a devout Christian.

In 2017, Roger Wong told The South China Morning Post that he had “rarely talked about politics and democracy” with his son.

“Actually, I only care about the religious revival in China and my dream is to see many, many Chinese believe in God,” the retired IT professional said.

“I never expected Joshua to be involved in politics. Rather, I hope that he could have dedicated himself to the work of spreading the gospel,” he said while his then 21-year-old son was completing his first prison sentence.

It is not clear on what visas the family arrived in Australia. The federal government created a new visa option for students and skilled workers from Hong Kong last July, weeks after the national security law was passed by Beijing.

Barring exceptional circumstances, Australia’s international borders have been closed to all but national citizens and permanent residents since March.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Home Affairs both declined to comment.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/family-of-hong-kong-activist-joshua-wong-flees-to-australia/news-story/71169ba6b0b667d509b45d3397082088

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 11:13 p.m. No.12663221 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3237 >>2587

>>12645819

Australia's human rights problem may lead to another 'Floyd tragedy': expert

Xu Keyue - Jan 22, 2021

Australia found itself in hot water again as China and other countries raised concerns over Australia's human rights problems including racism, war crimes overseas, including in Iraq, at a recent United Nation (UN) human rights session.

A Chinese expert warned Australia's long-standing racism could lead to another "Floyd tragedy." The expert said the country's accusations over China's issues including that of Xinjiang and Hong Kong are solely for political purposes as it has turned blind to its home problems and doesn't really care about human rights.

UN Watch tweeted on Wednesday that China reviewed Australia's rights record at the UN and urged Australia to "combat racism and protect minorities, close migrant detention centers, investigate Australian war crimes, eliminate systematic discrimination and stop making baseless charges for political purpose."

Hua Chunying, spokesperson for Chinese Foreign Ministry said at a press conference on Thursday that China hopes that Australia will take the opinions of the international community seriously, face its human rights issues squarely, and take concrete measures to improve its human rights situation and contribute to the sound development of the global human rights cause.

Hua said that China's representative submitted five recommendations for Australia, including taking action "to combat racial discrimination, hate speech and violence and protect the rights of ethnic minorities" and eliminating systematic discrimination against Indigenous Australians.

China called on Canberra to close offshore detention centers for migrants, the report said.

It reaffirmed calls for a thorough investigation into war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan - the issue that was at the center of a tweet by a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson in December.

Some of the recommendations were echoed by other countries attending Wednesday's UN Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights.

Media reports said that one question that stood out is why Australia has delayed a push to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years, which was widely believed to likely result in Australia's high rates of incarceration of Indigenous children.

Canada, France, Germany, Venezuela and Norway were among the 31 UN member states to call on Australia to raise the age, Australian media said.

Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University in Shanghai, told the Global Times on Thursday that the human rights issues raised by the UN countries are deep-rooted, long-standing and critical in Australia.

Discrimination against Asians, especially Chinese, are worsening in the country since the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of cases involving physical and verbal attacks have been reported by local media, he said.

Not only has the international community long called on Australia to reduce the imprisonment of indigenous citizens, but also Australian society has paid attention to some unexplained deaths of indigenous residents on the way to jail and believe the police could be suspected.

The police violence against the indigenous residents remind the public of the African American George Floyd who died after being pinned down by a US police officer who held his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, and the consequent social protests. Chen said the racism and attendant police enforcement in Australia are similar with those in the US, and he's worried it could lead to another "Floyd tragedy" and social conflicts.

"This is not just a social but systematic problem," Chen addressed.

However, despite its serious home human rights issues, Australia turned to hype up China's affairs and smeared China's Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong issues without evidence, which reflects the country's indifference in true human rights issues and craze for political gains, Chen noted.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1213582.shtml

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 21, 2021, 11:15 p.m. No.12663237 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2587

>>12663221

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on January 21, 2021

Shenzhen TV: At the UN Third Cycle of Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights on Australia, China's representative submitted five recommendations. Can you confirm it? What prompted China to raise these recommendations?

Hua Chunying: Representatives from various countries including China made criticism or recommendations at the deliberation of the UPR Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Australia. China's representative proposed that Australia should take actions to combat racial discrimination, hate speech and violence and protect the rights of ethnic minorities; protect the rights of migrants and close offshore detention centers for migrants; carry out a thorough investigation into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces operating overseas, bring perpetrators to justice, end impunity and prevent recurrence of these crimes; eliminate systemic discrimination and violent actions against indigenous Australians; and stop using disinformation and making politically-motivated and groundless accusations against other countries. We hope that Australia will take the opinions of the international community seriously, face its human rights issues squarely, and take concrete measures to improve its human rights situation and contribute to the sound development of the global human rights cause.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1847711.shtml

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 12:04 a.m. No.12663622 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2688

QAnon and targeted abuse require online reform: commissioner

Paul Smith - Jan 22, 2021

Australia's eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has warned big tech platforms that they must do more to tackle the problems caused by anonymous accounts on their services, ahead of the proposed introduction of new powers that could force individuals to be unmasked and see fines levied.

Anonymous social media accounts used by proponents of the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon were prominently cited by members of the mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6. The government, meanwhile, has already opened up consultations on new laws to force tech platforms to take abuse, abhorrent material and trolling more seriously.

In a position statement to be released on Friday, the commissioner lays out the vexed issues that are raised by plans to regulate online anonymity. Although some of the worst online behaviour is propagated by anonymous accounts, anonymity is also a powerful form of protection for victims of domestic violence, whistleblowers and people living under authoritarian regimes.

Facebook and Google are already locked in battle with the Australian government over the proposed media bargaining code, which will see the companies pay publishers for the content they display in their products.

Ms Inman Grant – a former public policy director at Twitter – said she wanted the issue of safety and anonymity to be less acrimonious, but that Google and Facebook had previously shown signs of trying to avoid setting any global precedents with local commitments.

"They initially pushed back pretty hard five years ago when this started, and I think they were worried about the domino effect. I was at Twitter at the time, and I remember [Communications Minister] Paul Fletcher, who was then parliamentary secretary, drafted the legislation, and called us all in to see and comment on the draft, and I was the only person that showed up," Ms Inman Grant said.

"Google and Facebook in particular, weren't willing to voluntarily sign up to our tiered cyber-bullying scheme either, which suggested to me that they just didn't want the precedent of an online safety regulator."

Australia's appointment of an eSafety Commissioner was a world first. Ms Inman Grant said a Canadian minister had told her that country would be copying the Australian model, while new US President Joe Biden has pledged to convene a taskforce looking at issues including cyber exploitation and online harassment.

The proposed changes to Australia's Online Safety Act include potential new powers for the eSafety Commissioner to seek identification or contact information behind anonymous accounts on social media platforms.

Individuals could be fined up to $111,000 for anonymousabusive behaviour, such as posting revenge porn, and content hosts such as social media, dating or games platforms could be slugged with fines up to $550,000.

Concepts such as "digital licence plates", blockchain-based identity management systems and digital signatures are being explored as potential solutions to authenticate people online, without them being publicly identified or even known to the tech companies.

The commissioner's paper calls on tech companies to take greater steps to suspend or remove anonymous accounts that are created to harass users or that violate a platform’s terms of service, and to work together to stop coordinated harassment and intimidation campaigns across platforms.

"I think untrammelled free speech has its limitations when it can be used to incite violence, and to organise like when Magda Szubanski was targeted by the anti-vaxxers and QAnon folks on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, after she helped promote the wearing of masks to stop COVID-19," she said.

"Some responsibility does fall back on the platform to be more actively tackling accounts that they know are being abusive, or, for that matter, spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories, with QAnon being a good example in the role in played in the events at the US Capitol."

https://www.afr.com/technology/qanon-and-targeted-abuse-require-online-reform-commissioner-20210121-p56vvl

https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/tech-trends-and-challenges/anonymity

>>12662525

Murdoch Watch - Fox News & the Amplification of Conspiracies Surrounding the Death of Seth Rich

Kevin Rudd

22 Jan 2021

Our first episode of Murdoch Watch for 2021 & it's a doozy. The story of Murdoch's Fox News & their collaboration with Trump on conspiracy theories surrounding the tragic murder of a young man, Seth Rich. The culture of the Murdoch media empire is foul. #MurdochRoyalCommission

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnCEsqI_QFc

>Those who scream the loudest…

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 12:49 a.m. No.12664013 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4026 >>2475

‘It’s a reality:’ Google threatens to stop search in Australia due to media code

1/2

Google’s threat to cut off search to Australian users and walk away from $4 billion in revenue has sparked warning the digital giants are not bluffing over laws designed to force them to pay for news.

The $1.8 trillion search giant’s local managing director Melanie Silva told a Senate committee hearing on Friday that Google would shut off search in Australia if the government’s proposed media bargaining code becomes law. Experts said the threat is not idle, with Google likely fearful the code could set a global precedent.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia would not respond to the threats as news media companies fired back at suggestions their content did not add value to the platforms.

“Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done in our Parliament. It’s done by our government, and that’s how things work here in Australia,” he said. “People who want to work with that, in Australia, you’re very welcome. But we don’t respond to threats.”

The code aims to force digital platforms to pay media companies for news content, and follows a 12-month review into Google and Facebook by the competition watchdog. The legislation, which was introduced into the House of Representatives in December, comes amid a push by global governments to rein in the power of digital monopolies.

Google’s threats follow similar remarks made by Facebook Australia’s managing director Will Easton in September, who announced plans to remove news articles from the social media’s main app if the media code is passed by Parliament.

Montaka Global fund manager Andrew Macken, whose company owns shares in both Google and Facebook, said he believed they were not empty threats.

“I suspect it is [legitimate],” Mr Macken said. “Google would perhaps rather lose Australia (a relatively small global market) to avoid setting a precedent for its other larger markets.”

Google’s comments marked the first time the digital giant publicly threatened to disable its primary search function to all Australians in its response to the proposed laws.

Hannah Marshall, a partner at Marque Lawyers that specialises in competition law, said the code in its current form left the tech giants with no choice.

“The code now says that Google and Facebook have to pay for the right to supply audience to the news publishers,” Ms Marshall said. “That makes no legal or commercial sense.”

“To avoid the operation of the code, Google and Facebook have no option but to cease linking to news altogether. If Google can’t reliably separate news results from other search results, then logically it may have to pull its entire search service from Australia.”

(continued)

>>12664013

2/2

Concerns about Google’s exit from the market were also shared by Labor’s communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland.

“[Treasurer] Josh Frydenberg and [Communications Minister] Paul Fletcher need to explain why they can’t find a way to support the media without also disrupting the millions of Australians who use Google Search and Facebook every month,” Ms Rowland said.

Ms Silva assured senators the ultimatum was a “worst-case scenario”. “It’s not a threat. It’s a reality,” she said. “If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.”

Ms Silva reiterated Google’s long-running argument the code would “break” Google’s business model by forcing it to pay news outlets to provide links to their news content - a move the trillion-dollar company claims undermines the concept of a free and open internet.

She also revealed that news queries comprised only 1.25 per cent of all Google searches, but under intense questioning from senators, said the company was concerned the proposed Australian code would set an international precedent.

Simon Milner, Facebook’s vice-president for public policy Asia-Pacific, restated the company’s ultimatum - first made in September - that it may resort to blocking news content on its Australian site.

Mr Milner said the move would be “a potential worse case consequence”, adding it was “absolutely not a threat” but designed to inform the policy process.

“The great majority of people who are using Facebook would continue to be able to do so, but we would no longer be able to provide news as part of the Facebook product,” Mr Milner said.

He told the inquiry that having news content on Facebook provided “almost no commercial value to Facebook”.

But Australian media companies disputed the claims of the tech giants and urged the government to legislate immediately. Executives from News Corp Australia, Nine Entertainment Co (owner of this masthead) and Guardian Australia, presented a largely united front at the hearing, arguing the code would help ensure the long-term sustainability of local journalism and disputing claims the tech giants did not receive value from content.

Nine’s chief digital and publishing officer, Chris Janz, said a failure to implement the code would see the tech giants “continue to refuse to pay for the content they’ve used to secure their monopolies or live up to the responsibilities that come with such power”.

Chairman of Free TV Australia Greg Hywood, who speaks on behalf of Nine, Seven West Media and Network Ten, said it would be a “surprising choice” for Google to withdraw from a market where they generate billions of dollars of revenue “just because they are required to pay for content they can readily afford”.

Mr Frydenberg introduced the bill to legislate the code during the final sitting week of Parliament last year, with a vote expected early this year after the committee delivers its report on February 12.

The code requires Google and Facebook to enter mandatory arbitration with media companies if they cannot reach an agreement over the value of their content within three months.

It also requires the platforms to give the news businesses 14 days’ notice of algorithm changes, and non-discrimination provisions have been put in place to stop the tech giants from taking retaliatory action such as removing content or punishing organisations that participate in the code.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/google-threatens-to-disable-search-in-australia-if-media-code-becomes-law-20210122-p56w2h.html

>>12663791

You are gone mate. Howard, Morrison. Abbot , Orange Jumps Suits

Alexander Downer Tweets

After 4 1/2 years of reading on Twitter crazy conspiracy theories about me being a spy and how I was part of a treasonous attempted coup against president Trump and I would be hanged or sent to Gitmo, I guess that’s coming to an end!

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1352227780922994694

—

Mind you, the mad conspiracy theories from the Left are just as bad! As is their extraordinary hate. I must hold the Australian record for allegations on Twitter for crazy conspiracy theories!

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1352228641250283521

—

InMyHumbleOpinion @IMHO1969

Actually Durham was named as a Special Counsel so Biden Admin couldn't end the investigation.

Stay tuned.

https://twitter.com/IMHO1969/status/1352228523482746881

—

For ever! There was no conspiracy involving me as Durham knows!

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1352231684268122116

—

InMyHumbleOpinion @IMHO1969

Perhaps you were just a useful idiot?

https://twitter.com/IMHO1969/status/1352231872579792898

—

Or maybe it’s just nonsense! Which it is!

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1352232761717739524

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 1:23 a.m. No.12664225 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

>>12664164

Biden ‘should stop’ Trump’s impeachment to unite America

Sky News Australia

21 Jan 2021

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says if President Joe Biden wants to unite the country, he should stop the impeachment of Trump and “just move on”.

“I think they should abandon the impeachment process and then just move on and try to win over some of those 74 million people,” Mr Downer told Sky News.

Mr Downer said Joe Biden would need to take the sting of partisanship out of the presidency considering his two predecessors were “extremely partisan”.

“There’s no doubt Donald Trump was a partisan president, so was Barack Obama before him,” he said.

“Joe Biden’s CV suggests he can bring the two sides together, but we’ll just have to see.”

Mr Downer said Joe Biden’s recent signing of an executive order to stop building the wall to Mexico will leave him confronted with people moving from the central America to the United States.

“That’s going to be one of his really big issues early on, how does he unite the country when dealing with issues like that? We’ll just have to wait and see.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGEuwILUWUw

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 1:50 a.m. No.12664403 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

Chief Minister Michael Gunner extends official invite to US President Joe Biden to visit the NT

CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner will officially invite freshly inaugurated US President Joe Biden to visit the Northern Territory – diplomatically offering to protect him with “complimentary crocodile insurance”.

Mr Gunner, in an official letter seen by the NT News , will extend an offer to Mr Biden and First Lady Dr Jill Biden, or Vice President Kamala Harris, to follow in the footsteps of former President Barack Obama and visit the Territory.

“While I recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic currently makes international travel difficult, we would love to host you in this special part of the world, as soon as it is safe to do so,” Mr Gunner said.

The Chief Minister highlighted the Territory’s growing strategic role in the “security of the Asia-Pacific region, the close military relationship of the US and the NT through annual joint-training exercise Marine Rotational Force Darwin (MRF-D), and the ability of Territorians to show him a “bloody good time” as reasons for Mr Biden to visit.

Mr Obama was the last US President to visit the NT, making a pit stop in Darwin as part of his trip to Australia in 2011, where MRF-D was announced alongside then prime minister Julia Gillard.

The NT News famously welcomed the arrival of Mr Obama in 2011 with a front page photograph of the President, offering him free crocodile attack insurance with the Territory Insurance Office.

Sealing the move into tradition, Mr Gunner, in his invitation, reassured Mr Biden that “every President who visits the Northern Territory receives complimentary crocodile insurance”.

But COVID-19 border restrictions mean the trip is likely to be delayed.

“Obviously it would be better to wait until the COVID situation is better, because rules are rules and the safety of Territorians comes first,” Mr Gunner said. “Any overseas arrival to the Territory has to quarantine, even the leader of the free world.”

In his first address to the nation, President Biden called for a lowering of the national temperature and to “end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban. Conservative versus liberal”.

His first day in office included signing three executive orders – a mask mandate on federal property, support for under-served communities, and rejoining the Paris climate accord.

https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/politics/chief-minister-michael-gunner-extends-official-invite-to-us-president-joe-biden-to-visit-the-nt/news-story/5f046f08f2ee38bb5c20d4e2cc3cb164

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 2:21 a.m. No.12664655 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2542

Operation Arkstone: Man who sparked nationwide arrests Justin Radford pleads guilty to child abuse

The man whose arrest helped unravel a nationwide child abuse ring has now admitted his heinous crimes.

Heath Parkes-Hupton - JANUARY 21, 2021

A perverted NSW man whose arrest led to the ensnarement of at least 16 alleged paedophiles across Australia faces years behind bars after admitting his heinous crimes.

Former Nine Network tape library assistant Justin Kenneth Radford has confessed to filming himself sexually violating two children and sharing the sick videos with an online network of creeps.

Radford, of Wyong on the Central Coast, was the first domino that fell in Operation Arkstone – an Australian Federal Police taskforce that has so far laid more than 800 child sex offence charges.

The repulsive files and search history found on devices upon his arrest last February led to the taskforce’s formation and helped detectives unravel the alleged paedophile ring that stretched across state and international boundaries.

Forensic analysis of the devices revealed social media forums where alleged child sex offenders were producing and sharing abhorrent material.

So far, 17 men have been tracked down across NSW, Western Australia and Queensland, with the latest arrest coming on Sydney’s north shore on January 14.

In total, 46 children have been removed from harm, including 16 from a childcare centre in Kendall – the NSW’s mid-north coast town where William Tyrrell went missing – where a former employee allegedly used his access to abuse them.

Almost a year after he was busted, Radford has now pleaded guilty to 18 charges including sexually touching a child, possessing child abuse material, transmitting child abuse material and using a child to make child abuse material.

The most serious of those offences carry maximum 10 year prison sentences.

The 30-year-old appeared before Gosford District Court on Thursday to confirm the pleas he entered before the Wyong Local Court on December 20.

Radford had previously faced 89 charges, including single counts of bestiality and doing a sexual act on a child for the purpose of filming, but most were withdrawn upon his admissions in court.

He is due to face a sentencing hearing before Gosford District Court on May 7.

Operation Arkstone was sparked after the AFP received a tip off in February from the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children about an online user uploading child abuse material.

The man officers identified was Radford.

Investigations under Operation Arkstone continue.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/operation-arkstone-man-who-sparked-nationwide-arrests-justin-radford-pleads-guilty-to-child-abuse/news-story/e300f328330b845ddd1aafba816cf010

As Biden acts, the prime minister stays silent on QAnon (and his family friend)

As the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory faces a crackdown under the Biden administration, questions are once again raised about Scott Morrison's connections to its supporters.

DAVID HARDAKER - JAN 22, 2021

1/2

The threat posed by the extremist right wing QAnon conspiracy movement is set to be targeted by the incoming Biden administration’s top intelligence agency in the wake of the movement’s growing influence in US politics.

The movement was prominent in the January storming of Capitol Hill, where QAnon adherents played a role in attempts to overturn the US election in favour of Donald Trump.

In Australia though, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is still refusing to make any comment on the close friendship that exists between the family of Scott Morrison and a family which includes two of Australia’s leading QAnon followers.

The prime minister’s wife Jenny Morrison is best friends with Lynelle Stewart, whose husband Tim Stewart is a highly visible QAnon proponent in Australia. The Stewarts’ son Jesse, 22, is also a fervent QAnon backer. At the same time Lynelle Stewart has been on the government payroll, drawing a salary as an assistant to Jenny Morrison. In days gone by the families have mixed freely together.

The PMO has maintained a policy of silence on the QAnon question stretching back to Inq’s revelations in late 2019. Back then Inq documented how Tim Stewart claimed to have influence on the prime minister when it came to the wording of Morrison’s 2018 national apology to the survivors of institutional child sex abuse.

In one text message Stewart promised that “disturbing information” he had been given on school sex education would go “straight to Scott”. Stewart had gained a large following among QAnon adherents under his Twitter handle of Burn Notice (@BurnedSpy34), at one point reaching well over 30,000 followers before the platform moved to suspend QAnon accounts.

In the months since Trump lost the US election in November 2020 Tim Stewart and his son have barely taken a backward step in their support for the movement. The conspiracy, which has moved from the fringes of US politics to centre stage during the Trump years, grew around the idea that Trump was placed in the White House by an anonymous official named “Q” to cleanse the world of Satan-worshipping, paedophile elites who allegedly populate the so-called “deep state” and control the levers of power.

A YouTube video shows Tim Stewart and son Jesse (using their pseudonymous Twitter names Burn Notice and Negan_HQ, respectively) in a lengthy discussion with US QAnon supporters on a channel called the “Patriot Transition Voice”. The name is a reference to the “patriot” takeover of the United States being planned by QAnon.

Recorded two weeks after Trump lost the election, the channel displays the QAnon hallmark fusion of esoteric religion, supposed patriotism and revolutionary fervour. It is an article of faith, of course, that the election was stolen from Trump.

“Pray — behold the hand of God as he delivers us from tyranny”, the video says in its introduction over a backdrop of rolling biblical clouds dissolving into a sepia image of the founding fathers huddled over the US constitution. Those words appear to be a portent of the conflict to come. “Believing they could steal our freedom without a fight, again they were wrong” it warns.

At the time the video was made there was much to look forward to. Trump lawyer Sidney Powell would be filing the court actions which they believed would overturn “fraudulent” election results. Tim and Jesse Stewart were welcomed as cherished Aussie brothers before an hour and a half or so of conspiracy banter.

Despite Twitter’s vow to suspend the accounts of QAnon proponents, Jesse Stewart continued tweeting until only yesterday under the name of Negan (@Negan_HQ) — styling himself as a fictional tough guy from the Walking Dead television series. Jesse Stewart also has an account on the far right-wing platform Gab, a platform which appears to be a digital shrine to the glory of Donald Trump.

(continued)

>>12664755

2/2

In the days after the storming of Capitol Hill on January 6 and the failure to stop Congress accepting Biden’s legitimate electoral college victory, Jesse Stewart took to twitter to pass on to QAnon followers that Australia’s PM would be taking “official leave” until January 18, a move which he called “interdasting (sic) timing…”.

This is presumably a reference to the days before Trumps’ departure on January 20 and an imagined role Morrison might have in the Trump/QAnon saga.

On Thursday, Twitter finally suspended the Negan account, and the tweets have since become unavailable.

Stewart senior appears to now be way down the QAnon rabbit hole. When Inq contacted him this week he denied any inference that he might support the kind of violence which took place at Capitol Hill.

“If you print anything about me in that light I will sue you for defamation” he wrote in a text. In any case, he added, the Capitol Hill storming was “also being exposed as organised by Antifa and others and arrests are occurring”.

The proposition that Antifa, a broad left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist movement, is behind the Capitol Hill violence is yet another conspiracy promoted by pro-Trump acolytes to explain the violence which occurred.

The QAnon question has split the Stewart family, with Tim Stewart’s sister Karen having recently gone public with her concerns.

Karen Stewart told Inq that the family has reported concerns to “authorities” about what they believe is a tweet from Tim — under a separate and since-deleted Twitter account Spies Like Us (@RealStealthSpy) — supporting the Capitol Hill action.

The tweet said the riot would be “remembered as one of the greatest days on earth: When the civilians and the military retook control of the republic”.

Stewart has outright denied to Inq that he uses Twitter any more, though said that some Twitter accounts appear to “push out my blogs”. Twitter yesterday cancelled the Spies Like Us account. It is not known whether this is linked to questions which Inq put to the PM’s office earlier this week.

Karen Stewart is anxious about the apparent radicalisation taking place within her family, but the PMO appears to have adopted a strategy of ignoring the story altogether.

In October 2020 — just four months ago — an official from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet told Senate estimates that Lynelle Stewart had a security clearance to work at Kirribilli House. The same official said she knew nothing of an FBI decision at the time to categorise QAnon as a domestic terror threat in the USA. Nor did she know that Tim Stewart had just been suspended from Twitter for “engaging in co-ordinated harmful activity”.

But the QAnon story isn’t going away any time soon and the link may become harder to ignore if — when — it gains further media exposure.

In the United States, QAnon supporters have been grappling with the impact of Trump’s departure from office and have been seeking ways to reinterpret the conspiracy to adapt to the reality that the “Great Awakening” — heralding the mass arrest of deep state paedophiles — has not yet come to pass.

Some saw signs in Trump’s departure that the movement would continue, noting that the 17 US flags framing Trump’s farewell address corresponded to Q being the 17th letter of the alphabet. Others took heart in Trump’s final words: “We will be back in some form. Have a good life. We will see you soon.”

The Washington Post reported that on one QAnon channel commentators seized on the farewell words of Eric Trump that “the best is yet to come!” — a common slogan for QAnon adherents.

“It simply doesn’t make sense that we all got played,” the Post quoted one bewildered supporter as saying.

David Hardaker has an extensive career as a journalist and broadcaster, primarily at the ABC where he worked on flagship programs such as Four Corners, 7.30, Foreign Correspondent, AM and PM. He spent eight years reporting in the Middle East and can speak Arabic.

https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/01/22/australia-qanon-conspiracy-joe-biden/

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 2:48 a.m. No.12664814 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

Trump was a 'demagogue president' and 'sociopath', says former FBI director Comey | 7.30

ABC News In-depth

22 Jan 2021

James Comey became an unwilling central player in the 2016 US election campaign when, as head of the FBI, he oversaw investigations into Hillary Clinton's use of a private server for emails, and subsequently an investigation of the Trump campaign’s links with Russian interference in that election.

Later sacked by Donald Trump, he became a vocal critic of the outgoing US President.

In a new book, he reflects on what is needed to restore trust in America's institutions and politics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wppaGkzIDek

For those keeping track of the arrests

Status: Perp name:

Free…………Rothcshild clan

Free…………George Soros

Free…………George Bush

Free…………Hussein

Free…………"Big Mike"

Free…………Jussie Smollett

Free…………Joe Biden (POTUS)

Free…………Hunter Biden

Free…………Hillary Clinton

Free…………Bill Clinton

Free…………Bill Gates

Free…………John Podesta

Free………..Tony Podesta

Free…………Marina Abramovic

Free…………Nancy Pelosi

Free…………Dianne Feinstein

Free…………Chuck Schumer

Free…………Valerie Jarrett

Free…………Peter Strzok

Free…………Lisa Page

Free…………Andrew McCabe

Free…………Christopher Steele

Free…………Loretta Lynch

Free…………Robert Mueller

Free…………Bruce Ohr

Free…………Susan Rice

Free…………James Comey

Free…………Adam Schiff

Free…………Rod Rosenstein

Free…………James Clapper

Free…………John Brennan

Free…………Prince Andrew

Arrested……..Ghislaine Maxwell

Dead…………Jeffrey Epstein

Dead…………John Mccain

Dead…………RGB clone(s)

I'll keep this list updated and waiting for those arrests.

Any minute now…

AFRICA IS NOT WHAT THE WEST ARE TOLD WATCH THE FULL VIDEO., WE MAY BE SLOW IN DEVELOPMENT AND HEAVY CORUPTION BUT WE ARE NOT WHAT THEY SAY WE ARE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDhsraKgN74

Will deplatforming make QAnon and the far-right fade away or radicalise further?

James Purtill - 23 January 2021

1/3

As President Joe Biden was sworn in this week, QAnon forums descended into despair, confusion and wounded anger.

"It's over and nothing makes sense," read one message thread title on the largest of these forums.

"He sold us out," a believer wrote.

"It's revolution time."

Earlier that day, as Donald Trump departed the White House, another wrote, "It simply doesn't make sense that we all got played."

It's fair to say those who follow the QAnon conspiracy theory, which held that Mr Trump would retain power, bring down the "deep state" and expose a far-reaching child-sex-trafficking ring, are shocked right now.

Believers (who are estimated to number in the millions) are grappling with the reality of President Biden and the very public failure of their prophecy.

But as the new Commander-in-Chief calls for an end to "this uncivil war", there are big questions around what happens to QAnon and the rest of the far-right — where does the pent-up and frustrated energy of that movement go?

This is a political question, but also a tech one.

Having delayed action for years, tech companies were decisive after the Capitol was stormed. They quickly removed, banned or effectively took offline large chunks of the far-right internet. This action is now called the 'Great Deplatforming'.

But will QAnon followers and other Trump supporters linger in an online netherworld of 'alt-tech' chat forums?

Will they vanish or — concentrated in these small private groups — be radicalised further?

Marked decrease in posts inciting violence

Two weeks after the Great Deplatforming experiment, it seems to have had profound, measurable effects.

On January 6, insurrectionists stormed the US capitol and disrupted the confirmation of election results in the House and Senate.

Shortly after, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites announced their removal of President Donald Trump's accounts due to concerns of further incitement to violence.

That same week, Amazon, Apple and Google severed business ties with Parler — a platform that advertises itself as a conservative free-speech platform — to prevent a continued spread of "dangerous and illegal content".

Next, Facebook deleted reams of content alleging election fraud and Twitter banned tens of thousands of QAnon-related accounts.

These actions are part of the reason why Q followers are now lamenting the inauguration of President Biden in out-of-the-way chat forums, as opposed to whipping up a storm on mainstream social media.

Advance Democracy, a Washington-based organisation that combs social media for posts inciting violence or spreading misinformation and conspiracy theory, recorded a drop in these kinds of posts after the Great Deplatforming and in the lead-up to Inauguration Day.

Of note, there were hundreds of thousands fewer QAnon tweets compared to the barrage two weeks earlier.

"Much of the content explicitly promoting violence has been removed from the mainstream platforms online," the head of the organisation, Daniel J. Jones said.

"After actions by Twitter, Facebook and others, there is far-less organising occurring on open channels.

"Deplatforming decreases the chance of further radicalisation and sends a strong signal that the promotion of violence and baseless conspiracy theories is unacceptable behaviour."

But Mr Jones, a former US Senate staffer who led the investigation into the CIA's use of torture, urges caution.

"The possibility of violence being planned on closed channels exists," he added.

"We have seen numerous QAnon accounts move to [social networking platform] Gab and calls for violence on unmoderated and closed channels."

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 6:36 p.m. No.12676283 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6308

>>12676265

2/3

A malaise of distrust and disillusionment

Other experts are noticing a similar trend.

From his office near New York, veteran intelligence analyst Chris Sampson has been patiently infiltrating the private forums and spying on the online conversations of extremist far-right groups for more than a decade.

He said the deplatforming had dramatically limited the ability of far-right groups to reach a mainstream audience, which means some groups would struggle to recruit new members and may dwindle and vanish.

But there's the possibility some have been pushed further into the shadows.

"We have to monitor where these guys go and how it changes their dialogue," he said.

He described an atmosphere of intense distrust pervading the far-right forums.

Suspected traitors and federal agents are being sniffed out and new users asked to verify their identity through sending a copy of their drivers licence.

Calls to attend rallies (including ones around Inauguration Day) are being roundly dismissed as "fedposting" — that is, an attempt by federal agents to get members to gather in one place where they can be arrested.

The relative absence of violence on Inauguration Day was not so much a consequence of deplatforming, but of this general malaise of distrust and disillusionment, Mr Sampson said.

"They're actually suspicious of groups who are calling for action — they believe they're being set up. I think they're confused," he said.

"Mr Trump saying 'let's not have any violence' disappointed a lot of folks — some even called for him to be executed.

"That's incredible when you think that a few days earlier he was their mascot.

"They're kind of leaderless."

Fears of a neo-Nazi recruitment drive

Despite the apparent disarray and loss of faith exhibited on the message boards, there are already signs that groups are reorganising and uniting.

Former Parler accounts have shifted to the encrypted messaging platform Telegram as well as other apps.

Telegram downloads increased 146 per cent between January 5-10, becoming the 5th most downloaded app in the US by January 12.

White supremacist and pro-Trump discussion groups have seen membership balloon to tens of thousands. (In some cases this has made them unworkable, with the rapid sequence of new messages being almost impossible to read.)

Meanwhile, neo-Nazis discuss ways to infiltrate less extremist chat groups and "redpill" or radicalise what they call "Parler refugees".

A recent report describes this process in some detail:

One extremist channel with a large number of subscribers shared a message that laid out a detailed redpilling guide. In short, it proposes mapping "normie Trump" Telegram chats to identify key members in the network, striking up friendly conversations with these individuals followed by a pre-constructed message (which I will avoid providing here) containing links to propaganda, and finally, providing a list of extremist Telegram channels that they should further explore.

https://gnet-research.org/2021/01/18/redpill-the-parler-refugees-white-supremacist-strategies-for-radicalising-trump-supporters-on-telegram/

In effect, neo-Nazis are taking advantage of the fracturing and disillusionment of QAnon to attempt to grow their numbers.

Independent far-right researcher Kaz Ross has watched Telegram go from a "quiet corner of neo-Nazis" to something more frenetic.

"It's kind of crazy over there right now," she said.

"You don't look at a group for a few minutes and then you go back and there's 23,000 new messages."

(continued)

>>12676283

3/3

The whack-a-mole problem

Much of what has happened in recent weeks has been predictable.

Experience shows that when extremist groups lose their platforms they tend to grow more toxic as they shrink.

In late June 2020, Reddit shut down sub-reddit message boards where toxic language had been common, including a notorious subreddit called r/The_Donald. The users regrouped at a separate website, which allowed researchers to observe how the rhetoric of their posts had changed.

They found a marked decrease in the number of followers on the new website, but "substantial evidence" the community had become more toxic. In particular, Trump supporters were increasingly fixated on outsiders.

Several months later, Trump supporters on that separate website played a key role in inciting and organising the storming of the Capitol.

A similar process of concentration and radicalisation appears to be happening now with the broader deplatforming, said Mr Sampson.

Every time a group is deplatformed, it reforms with fewer members, he said.

"It's a whack-a-mole problem — we move them around and each time we do we can get a sense of hardcore numbers," he said.

"If we whack 'em down at 1500, then in 24 hours they create a new one and they have 200."

Participants in these groups compete to be the most radical.

"The more it becomes an echo chamber, the more nodding of agreement there is among participants," Mr Sampson said.

"Then the edge-lording competition goes on and whoever is the most radical gets more follows and more attention."

Why didn't they deplatform earlier?

Some of the most radical, however, have apparently capitulated.

Ron Watkins, the former administrator for the QAnon message board 8kun, who has fanned the flames of the far-right hoax for over three years, posted a note to his more than 100,000 followers: "We gave it our all. Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able."

In these uncertain times, whether that will happen is hard to say.

James Purtill works at triple j Hack in Sydney. Before that he was a digital producer at the ABC in Darwin.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-01-23/will-deplatformed-far-right-qanon-fade-away-or-radicalise/13079822

https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1351704531156029443

https://twitter.com/kevinroose/status/1351948863326674946

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 8:11 p.m. No.12677517 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

Pilot 'flew Prince Andrew in Epstein's private jet' and 'sex slave was on board'

Christopher Bucktin - 22 JAN 2021

This is the pilot who claims to have flown Prince Andrew with Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged teenage sex slave accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Pictured for the first time, David Rodgers refused to talk about the royal, his paedophile financier pal or any of the victims who claim they were abused.

When tracked down by the Mirror in Lake Worth, Florida, the 67-year-old airman said: “I can’t talk.”

He claims Andrew flew at least 10 times on the billionaire’s jet – allegations that have thrust Andrew into the FBI investigation into Epstein.

The Prince has categorically denied ever meeting Giuffre, who claims he had sex with her four times when she was 17.

But Rodgers’ logs provide the most detailed independent testimony to the courts about Andrew’s friendship with the paedophile, placing pressure on the dad-of-two to speak to the FBI.

The Mirror found the pilot living close to the Florida airport from which Epstein flew his victims. His wall of silence mirrors that of other pilots who ferried Epstein and his alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell, 59.

Rodgers’ LinkedIn profile still lists him as an employee of Epstein NES LLC company. Between 1995 until 2013 he wrote an entry on the flight manifests for each trip he flew for the pervert, who killed himself in prison in 2019.

Andrew, 60, has denied “being good friends” with Epstein. But Rodgers’ flight manifests claim to show him at all four locations where the billionaire had homes, including Florida and his private US Virgin Island, Little St James.

He also flew Giuffre, now 37, to London in March 2001, where she claims she first had sex with the Duke.

A source said: “David has complied with the FBI and others investigating those who enabled Jeffrey’s offending. He was trusted with his most prized and high-profile friends not only the Prince but Bill Clinton too.

“He is adamant he didn’t see any wrongdoing as he flew Epstein, his cronies and the girls around.”

Andrew’s first flights on Epstein’s old jet, a Gulfstream, were logged in February 1999. In May the following year, he took a trip from New York to Florida with the American tycoon and others.

On March 31, 2001 Rodgers claims he flew the Duke and Giuffre from New Mexico to Florida. According to court circulars, Andrew had an evening engagement in London on March 28, 2001, and one on April 2 2001.

Rodgers alleges Giuffre was on another flight with the Prince to the Virgin Islands on April 11.

The last trip the royal is said to have taken was on September 1, 2006.

Flight logs do not feature Andrew’s name, but the initials A.P. They had been used for Epstein’s chef Adam Perry Lang.

Buckingham Palace insist court circulars from the time disprove the claims. It refused to comment tonight.

But a friend of Andrew’s said: “David Rogers claims simply don’t stand up to any kind of objective scrutiny. The Duke was elsewhere on numerous occasions that the initials AP appear.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/pilot-who-flew-prince-andrew-23370007

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 22, 2021, 11:58 p.m. No.12679672 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2688

>>12623240

>>12646319

‘Critical’: Biden orders review of domestic violent extremism threat

Eric Tucker - January 23, 2021

Washington: US President Joe Biden has directed law enforcement and intelligence officials in his administration to study the threat of domestic violent extremism in the United States, an undertaking being launched weeks after a mob of insurgents loyal to Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol.

The announcement on Friday, local time, by White House press secretary Jen Psaki is a stark acknowledgement of the national security threat that officials see as posed by American extremists motivated to violence by radical ideology.

The involvement of the national intelligence office, created after the September 11, 2001, attacks with a goal of thwarting international terrorism, suggests US authorities are examining how to pivot to a more concerted focus on violence from extremists at home.

The threat assessment is being coordinated by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, and will be used as a foundation to develop policy, the White House said.

The National Security Council will do its own policy review to see how information about the problem can be better shared across the government.

“The January 6 assault on the Capitol and the tragic deaths and destruction that occurred underscored what we all know: The rise of domestic violent extremism is a serious and growing national security threat,” Psaki said, adding that the administration will confront the problem with resources and policies but also “respect for constitutionally protected free speech and political activities.”

Asked whether new methods were needed, she said: “More needs to be done. That’s why the president is tasking the national security team to do exactly this review on the second full day in office.“

Representative Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said it was “critical” that the Biden administration appeared to be prioritising the threat of domestic extremism.

“In particular, far-right, white supremacist extremism, nurtured on online platforms, has become one of the most dangerous threats to our nation,” Schiff said.

The riot at the Capitol, which led last week to Trump’s second impeachment, raised questions about whether a federal government national security apparatus that for decades has moved aggressively to combat threats from foreign terror groups and their followers in America is adequately equipped to address the threat of domestic extremism.

It’s an issue that has flared repeatedly over the years, with different attacks — including a shooting rampage at a Pittsburgh synagogue — periodically causing renewed debate over whether a law specific to domestic terrorism is needed.

It is unclear when the threat assessment will conclude or whether it will precipitate law enforcement and intelligence getting new tools or authorities to address a problem that officials say has proved challenging to combat, partly because of First Amendment protections.

FBI Director Chris Wray said last fall that, over the past year, the most lethal violence has come from antigovernment activists, such as anarchists and militia types.

Law enforcement agencies are under scrutiny for their preparations for January 6, when a violent mob of Trump supporters overran the police and stormed into the Capitol.

Scores of people are facing charges so far, including a man who was photographed wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” shirt, as well as people identified in court papers as QAnon conspiracy theorists and members of militia groups.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/critical-biden-orders-review-of-domestic-violent-extremism-threat-20210123-p56wd4.html

>>12662525

>>12663791

Kevin Rudd Tweet

Unbelievable that Murdoch media would publish this outrageous cartoon of President Biden calling him “Creepy Joe” - and for what reason? Then suggesting he’s controlled by a non-existent organisation - “Antifa”. All QAnon crap. #MurdochRoyalCommission

https://twitter.com/MrKRudd/status/1352905036305637377

Gold Coast Bulletin, January 22 2021 - Page 23

Julie Bishop, Donald Trump's daughter, and the Australian Government's three-year fight for secrecy

Dan Conifer and Michael McKinnon - 24 January 2021

1/3

In a small room in an exclusive Manhattan hotel, an eagerly sought meeting is finally taking place.

The Chairman's Office inside New York's Palace Hotel has hosted business titans and political powerhouses.

Its walls are lined with books. Its wood panels date back to the 1880s. Atop a mantlepiece, its clock permanently sits at 4:00.

On this occasion, the occupants are the then-United States president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and Australia's foreign minister, Julie Bishop.

"She's charming, delightful, a very intelligent and committed young woman," Ms Bishop said soon after.

It was presented as a chance encounter on the sidelines of the 2017 United Nations General Assembly.

In reality, its manufacture began months before that sunny September day in New York.

Using freedom of information laws, the ABC has obtained a series of documents that reveal an outline of the diplomatic chase that led to that rendezvous.

But four years after that meeting — and with Donald Trump no longer in office — Australia's Foreign Affairs Department (DFAT) continues to fight against the public knowing more.

Ivanka Trump joins the White House, creating an opportunity

It's late March 2017 and Ivanka Trump is officially joining the administration as an adviser to her dad.

This is a family-friendly White House — Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner, is already there as a senior adviser.

The story hits The New York Times website early Thursday morning Canberra time.

Foreign affairs bureaucrats inside their sprawling Canberra headquarters are soon taking note.

Taking a much keener interest, 500 metres away atop Capital Hill, is the office of foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop.

As minister, Ms Bishop has pioneered a previously unheard-of concept in international relations: 'fashion diplomacy'.

"We will promote our stylists, our designers, our manufacturers, our photographers, our magazines, indeed our raw materials — our cotton and leather and wool, precious stones and pearls and gems," she said launching the policy.

"Indeed, I've already charged our overseas embassies and high commissions and posts to host events for our fashion designers during the major fashion shows.

"Already we've held fashion events in our posts in New York, London, Paris, Islamabad, New Delhi and Jakarta."

Now, in the inner sanctum of the United States government was a fashion label owner, 35-year-old Ivanka Trump.

The first daughter's brand was targeted at young women, with its handbags, shoes and dresses sold throughout the United States.

Her brand, also called Ivanka Trump, has its flagship store inside Trump Tower, where she's also worked for the family empire.

Locking down a meeting proves difficult

Within about a month, wheels are in motion. Draft plans for an event involving the pair have been written up.

In early May, a senior adviser in Ms Bishop's office emails the Australian embassy in Washington.

"Hi Paul, wanted to make sure you were fully aware that we have had further contact from Ms Trump's office [this morning]," the email read.

Paul Griffiths heads the embassy's political branch. He is a long-term, senior diplomat, having served in Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea.

Things look promising. A meeting is arranged involving the minister's office, diplomats in Canberra and in Washington.

It's scheduled for 8:30am Canberra time the next day. That's 6:30pm Washington time.

Mr Griffiths is invited, as is the boss of the Americas division, Julie Heckscher. These are senior people. Securing this meeting is a priority.

There's a trip planned for July, where the foreign minister will meet Caribbean prime ministers before flying north to the US. Adding an Ivanka Trump encounter would be ideal.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 23, 2021, 4:10 p.m. No.12688059 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8076

>>12688030

2/3

But hopes are soon dashed. The Ivanka encounter has been ruled out.

"We are focusing on other possibilities," Peter Heyward writes from the Washington embassy.

In his 60s, Tasmanian Peter Heyward has been an ambassador and high commissioner across three continents before landing in the US.

He sends an alternative proposal: a Miami café that serves Australian-style breakfast. He sends a link to a local news article, which raves about the venue's "unique dishes", such as smashed avocado on toast — "unlike any other breakfast dish you've ever tasted".

The July trip passes uneventfully. The café gets its visit. Julie Bishop flies back to Australia.

Within days, Ms Heckscher returns to Operation Ivanka.

The goal now is a meeting that coincides with the minister's US trip in September, which will be centred around United Nations leaders' week.

"I assume the FM [foreign minister] will want to see whether a meeting with Ivanka Trump is possible," Ms Heckscher writes.

"It may be challenging to try to have a bilateral program interspersing with UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] activities given those will be very busy and possibly changing frequently."

Then, on the eve of the UN trip, the approach to Ivanka's team is made by Australia's second-in-command in Washington, Caroline Millar. (Ambassador Joe Hockey is apparently uninvested in Ivanka; his name does not appear in the dispatches.)

Ms Millar's subject line is to the point: "Australian Foreign Minister: request for meeting with Ms Trump during UNGA."

"I am writing to see if Ms Trump will be in New York during UNGA Leaders' Week and available to meet with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop (bio below)," she writes.

"She is the most senior woman in the Australian Government. She has also played a strong role in the Coalition to defeat [Islamic State].

"I regret the short notice but would welcome your early advice on whether a meeting next week would be possible."

The response from Ivanka's office is positive. The last-minute invite works.

New York is the first choice, but a back-up location is enlisted.

"If for any reason the timing doesn't work, we can always try for DC," Ms Millar writes to colleagues.

Finally, success. A chase that has spanned five months is over. And with a week to spare.

The good news bounces from executive to executive within DFAT.

The result is summarised in a two-word email from one executive to Ms Heckscher.

"Ivanka: Happening."

Minister's office keen to photograph meeting

The meeting is pencilled into the minister's schedule as a 30-minute one-on-one.

The department's public affairs man at the United Nations sends a draft media plan the day before.

The encounter is listed as: "Bilateral meeting with Senior Advisor to the President of the United States."

Official photos are to be made available, on request. The minister's office wants more.

"Is there any chance of us getting iPhone video footage for social media use?" Ms Bishop's media adviser writes.

There's some discussion about how many people can attend.

"If it's only one person, I'd prefer [name redacted] go and get some good photos," the minister's press secretary replies.

"I think quality pics would take priority over video."

(continued)

>>12688059

3/3

In the room where it happens

The pair meet, smile for that camera, and then tweet about their meeting.

Ms Bishop tells the Aussie journalists in town about it.

"Yesterday I attended a number of events in relation to the campaign to end forced labour, human trafficking and modern slavery, and I met Ivanka Trump at that meeting," she says.

"We decided to meet again today to see where there are opportunities for Australia to partner with Ivanka Trump and her foundation, to hopefully bring some of the programs to our part of the world.

"Ivanka Trump is also very keen to work with us on promoting female entrepreneurship, and I hope that we will be able to undertake a number of initiatives with her in that regard.

"I am very pleased to get to know her."

Looking back, Ms Bishop says the meeting was worthwhile.

"Ms Trump was regarded as an influential member of the administration," she told the ABC last week.

"A meeting was seen as an important opportunity to obtain valuable insights into the thinking of the president.

"I was able to establish contact with an adviser close to the president and we agreed to share information on policy matters relevant to female empowerment."

Ms Bishop says the diplomatic effort that led up to the brief exchange was nothing but routine.

"DFAT planning for the annual UN Leaders' week began months in advance every year as I typically held more than 60 meetings," she said.

"The meeting with Ms Trump was part of the overall planning for that program, which always entailed complex logistical and scheduling challenges."

The ABC last week asked DFAT what outcomes the meeting achieved.

"The Australian Government has not entered into partnerships with Ivanka Trump or her foundation," a spokeswoman said.

DFAT rejects public disclosure of details

It's April 2018 back at DFAT's RG Casey building, down the hill from Parliament House.

A freedom of information officer clicks send on an email to this journalist. Some emails and documents about the Ivanka meeting will be released. Other details will be kept secret.

The decision maker, executive Greg Wilcock, warns that making public anything more could damage Australia's international relations, including those with strong ally the United States.

Mr Wilcock warned releasing further information risked unleashing a "substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of this department".

It could impede Australia's "ability to facilitate bilateral meetings with senior government officials in future", he added.

This reporter appeals that decision.

Two-and-a-half years later, earlier this month, the appeal reaches the top of a lofty pile inside the office of Australia's Information Commissioner — the nation's overworked freedom of information watchdog.

The department has given no indication it will change its stance.

The commissioner will soon consider the appeal.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-24/julie-bishop-ivanka-trump-federal-government-fight-for-secrecy/13081484

https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump/status/910613975850799105

https://twitter.com/HonJulieBishop/status/638259845972426752

https://twitter.com/HonJulieBishop/status/882033468388950016

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 23, 2021, 4:35 p.m. No.12688373 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2475

>>12500560

AFP executes search warrants in Queensland after the takedown of the world's largest illegal dark web marketplace

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has executed a series of search warrants across Brisbane and the Gold Coast over two days in connection to the shutdown of DarkMarket, the world's largest illegal marketplace on the dark web.

The AFP seized a laptop, four mobile phones, six USB thumb drives and five hard drives, as well as SIM cards and bank cards during search warrants executed on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 January 2021 in Park Ridge, Mount Cotton and at a commercial facility in Molendinar.

The AFP-led cybercrime Operation Futurist was sparked after information was provided by the German State Criminal Police Office.

German police last week arrested a 34-year-old Australian national accused of operating DarkMarket, which was selling drugs, counterfeit cash, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware. Officers shut down DarkMarket’s servers and criminal infrastructure, which were operating in Germany.

The Australian man, arrested near the border of Germany and Denmark on 11 January, is accused of being an administrator of DarkMarket.

DarkMarket had almost 500,000 users, more than 2400 sellers and more than 320,000 transactions. Almost (AUD) $220 million in cryptocurrency was traded on the site.

The AFP is not ruling out arrests as a result of the search warrant activity conducted this week. Cybercrime Operations and Digital Forensic Teams are reviewing evidence seized.

AFP Southern Command Acting Commander Investigations Jayne Crossling said it was likely Australian criminals were purchasing illicit items from DarkMarket.

“Some of these items could have been used or acquired by Australians in Australia. The job of the AFP and its partner agencies is to keep Australians safe,’’ Acting Commander Crossling said.

“If police knew there was criminal activity occurring in geographic location, action would be taken. There is no difference with the dark web, although the anonymising features of the dark web makes it harder for law enforcement to identify perpetrators, who commit abhorrent crimes.”

“The AFP works very effectively with law enforcement globally to combine tools and expertise to reduce the risk of harm to the community. Despite that, too many crimes are being facilitated on the dark web.”

In December last year, a Canberra woman was arrested for allegedly arranging for the contract killing of her parents over the dark web.

Acting Commander Crossling said the dark web was a commerce underbelly used by child sex offenders, organised crime syndicates and those who sought to harm law abiding citizens.

Editor’s note: Images of the seized items are available via hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/OXl3JFjeQ7

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-executes-search-warrants-queensland-after-takedown-worlds-largest

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 24, 2021, 12:12 a.m. No.12693016 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3025 >>2688

QAnon conspiracy theorists embarrassed and in disarray after Joe Biden's inauguration

Brian Fung and Kaya Yurieff - 24 January 2021

1/2

For years, believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory had been waiting for the moment when a grand plan would be put into action.

Secret members of a supposed Satanic pedophilia ring at the highest ranks of government and Hollywood would suddenly be exposed, rounded up and possibly even publicly executed.

They were nearly always sure it was right around the corner, but “The Storm” never came.

The anti-climax sent QAnon adherents into a frenzy of confusion and disbelief, almost instantly shattering a collective delusion that had been nurtured and amplified by many on the far right.

Now, in addition to being scattered to various smaller websites after Facebook and Twitter cracked down on QAnon-related content, believers risked having their own topsy-turvy world turned upside down, or perhaps right-side up.

Members of a QAnon-focused Telegram channel, and some users of the image board 4chan, vowed to keep the faith.

Others proclaimed they were renouncing their beliefs.

Still others devised new theories that purported to push the ultimate showdown further into the future.

One of the ideology’s most visible icons, Ron Watkins - who goes by the online moniker CodeMonkeyZ - told supporters to “go back to our lives.”

“The most hardcore QAnon followers are in disarray,” said Daniel J. Jones, president of Advance Democracy, a nonpartisan nonprofit that tracks extremist groups and misinformation online.

“After years of waiting for the ‘Great Awakening,’ QAnon adherents seemed genuinely shocked to see President Biden successfully inaugurated.

A significant percentage online are writing that they are now done with the QAnon, while others are doubling down and promoting new conspiracies.”

The smattering of reactions underscores the uncertain future now facing the QAnon movement, which tech companies had allowed to metastasize on their platforms for years but didn’t start taking action against in earnest until 2020.

The baseless conspiracy theory has been circulating since 2017.

In addition to alleging a vast child-trafficking conspiracy, those who were drawn in claim that government bureaucrats comprising a “deep state” were quietly working to undermine President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Trump himself fuelled the claims by refusing to publicly denounce them on national television.

And people identifying as part of the QAnon movement were part of the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol earlier this month.

Following the riots, QAnon supporters eagerly anticipated the moment of Biden’s inauguration.

“As the noose tightens around the deep state, some people are becoming more and more desperate to discredit Q,” one 4chan user posted on Wednesday morning.

“I guess what they say is true. The flack is heaviest over the target.”

But after Biden’s swearing-in came and went, panic set in.

“We were promised arrests, exposures, military regime, classified documents. where is it????????” wrote one member of the QAnon-linked Telegram channel, which has nearly 128,000 subscribers.

“I’m scared, feeling sick in my stomach, but I am holding the line still,” said another.

“Well babies are still being raped and eaten, any f*ckin minute now GOD,” said another.

Some began acknowledging the truth.

“Biden is our president,” a fourth user in the Telegram channel said.

“It’s time to get off our devices and get back to reality. If something happens then something happens, but for now I’m logging out of all social media. It’s been fun guys but it’s unfortunately over.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 24, 2021, 12:13 a.m. No.12693025 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0397

>>12693016

2/2

Other believers insisted that the lack of a climax was itself a part of the plan, theorising that Trump merely “allowed” Biden to become president “for appearances” while the former reality show host would be the one pulling the strings.

“Anything that happens in the next 4 years is actually President Trumps doing,” wrote one 4chan user.

“It’s a hot mess, frankly,” said Carla Hill, research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, of the various reactions of QAnon believers.

“Frustration started seeping in. There is some embarrassment, some anger … A range of [new] conspiracies are spinning out of this and they are arguing among themselves.”

The apparent ease with which some QAnon believers have been able to adjust the theory to suit new events underscores how slippery the conspiracy theory can be.

But the proliferation of new theories and beliefs could also lead to a splintering of the movement - and, some extremism experts warn, a potentially new crisis in mental health.

As QAnon believers got pulled deeper into the conspiracy theory, they built a comforting belief system around themselves, said Marc Ambinder, a senior fellow who studies mis- and disinformation at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

“The ‘plan’ was so much more powerful in the abstract than anything you could offer in the real world to counter it,” he said.

But now, as many QAnon supporters are increasingly confronted by reality, the resulting cognitive dissonance could break them, Ambinder said - with potentially devastating consequences.

“This type of event is the kind of thing that can set somebody who is already incredibly anxious, in the time of a horrible global pandemic, feeling like they’re completely pushed to the edge,” Ambinder said, saying he fears more of the type of violence that the country witnessed at the US Capitol two weeks ago.

In recent weeks, CNN has seen Trump supporters embracing the idea of martial law in large numbers on various social networks.

Last week, a Telegram account falsely purporting to be run by General John Hyten, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the moment some supporters had been waiting for - that is Trump finally acting and using the military to crush his enemies - was coming.

A spokesperson for General Hyten told CNN Tuesday morning that the account is “an absolute fake” and added the Pentagon was “actively working” to get it taken down.

Major social networks have stepped up their crackdowns of QAnon as of late.

On Tuesday night, Facebook said that since August it has removed about 18,300 Facebook profiles and 27,300 accounts on its subsidiary Instagram for violating its policies against QAnon.

The company has also removed 10,500 groups and 510 events for the same reason.

Last week, Twitter said it banned more than 70,000 accounts for promoting QAnon.

But that may not be enough.

People who are embedded in conspiracy theories do not listen to authoritative voices, said Ambinder, but rather to the voices they consider to be authoritative in upholding their worldview.

Even though Trump may no longer be president, he and his political allies - some of whom still serve in government - may be some of the only ones who can draw QAnon believers back to the real world, according to Ambinder.

“For the sake of hundreds of thousands of people who are still trapped in the QAnon alternate world and have no idea what to do,” said Ambinder, “this is when Republicans who cynically and willfully spread the false ‘election was stolen’ rumor need to step up.”

https://7news.com.au/politics/world-politics/qanon-conspiracy-theorists-embarrassed-and-in-disarray-after-joe-bidens-inauguration-c-2020269

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: 3e62f9 Too fucking late Aussies (666) Jan. 24, 2021, 3:23 p.m. No.12700397 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12693025

Your thick disrespectful PM hid behind QAnon and trump (666)

China talks only if there are no conditions, Scott Morrison says

GREG BROWN and ROSIE LEWIS - JANUARY 25, 2021

1/2

Scott Morrison says he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping only if there are no conditions for restarting dialogue, as he warned that Beijing’s global outlook had become “more inconsistent” with Australia’s sovereign interests.

The Prime Minister’s warning came as Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia’s and America’s relationships with China would be closely watched as US President Joe Biden began his four-year term in the White House.

Without specifically naming China, Senator Payne declared Australia would “support adherence to international rules and norms, promote transparency and stand against malicious behaviour such as economic coercion, human rights abuses and the use of disinformation’’.

After months of China slapping restrictions on Australian exports, Mr Morrison said he was open to meeting China’s leaders to work through problems in the relationship as long as there were no policy conditions to holding talks.

The Chinese embassy last year released a dossier of 14 grievances Beijing had with Australia, including negative media coverage of China, foreign investment decisions, foreign interference reforms and critical commentary on the CCP by Coalition MPs.

“We are always open to meet,” Mr Morrison said. “We are open to meet whenever but … it is a no-conditions meeting.

“I know what the 14 points are; so does everyone else. If they are the conditions then it will be a while before we meet. But we are happy to meet and work through these issues and discuss them.”

Mr Morrison said there had been a “slow turn” in the relationship with China and rejected claims it had deteriorated last year because of any single decision of his government.

“It has been happening for years,” he said. “The suggestion this has happened all on a dime I think is wrong. And we have seen these changes happen now for some years. The relationship has obviously changed, not over any one thing but over time.

“There have been changes where I think the sovereign position of Australia and the outlook of China, well those things have become more inconsistent.”

Labor has been critical of the Morrison government for leading calls for a probe into the origins of COVID-19 rather than waiting until there was a global consensus on the need for an inquiry.

The World Health Organisation inquiry into the pandemic was supported by more than 120 countries, eventually including China, but Beijing has voiced fury at the Morrison government‘s early demand for the probe.

China has progressively frozen out Australia during the Turnbull and Morrison governments — initially because of the exclusion of Huawei from Australia’s 5G network and the introduction of foreign interference laws — and refused to take phone calls from or meet cabinet ministers despite attempts to establish dialogue.

(continued)

>>12703964

2/2

Mr Morrison said he was confident Mr Biden would support Australia in its handling of the China relationship, in much the same way as the Trump administration backed the government during the push for a probe into the origins of the coronavirus.

Writing in The Australian, Senator Payne appealed to the Biden administration by labelling the US an “indispensable partner” in efforts not only to maintain but to improve security in a region of free, sovereign and resilient states that banded together “when any country resorts to raw power over rules”.

“Australia will benefit in the long-term if there is a network of nations, with the US as a leading participant, that consistently and with strategic sagacity makes clear what constitutes legitimate behaviour under a rules-based system, even one that is evolving to take account of the interests of rising powers,” she said.

Senator Payne said America remained vital ”because of its values and its history of idealism, but also because of its sheer practical advantages. This is America the innovator, the economic powerhouse, diplomatic leader and Australian ally.”

Senator Payne hailed the 2019 “competition without catastrophe” blueprint on the US-China relationship, written by the Biden administration’s new national security council members Jake Sullivan and Kurt Campbell, as a “constructive and intelligent approach”. While Mr Morrison has been criticised by Labor for failing to name Mr Trump as having provoked the Capitol riots this month and of pandering to the former president during his four years in the White House, Senator Payne said the federal government was “not blind to the fact that the US has gone through a difficult political period”. She conceded that the Biden administration had priorities at home as the US coronavirus death toll climbs above 400,000 but welcomed America taking steps to re-join the Paris climate agreement and the WHO. “The evolving set of international challenges – those that arise from the COVID-19 pandemic and those that existed before it and will continue beyond it – means that the way our two countries work together must also necessarily evolve,” she said.

Australian coal, barley, beef, lobster, wine, tourism and education are among exports Beijing has targeted in the past year with tariffs, bans and months-long delays at Chinese ports. While business groups were last year calling on the government to repair the relationship with China, Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox last week urged Australian companies to resist bullying from Beijing.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/china-talks-only-if-there-are-no-conditions-scott-morrison-says/news-story/5ccc2490da78cc2cee8969aa3284f277

>>12703964

As Joe Biden says, this great US-Australia alliance will only grow stronger

MARISE PAYNE - JANUARY 25, 2021

1/2

President Joe Biden’s clear and strong Inauguration Day commitment to seek unity and bipartisanship is reassuring and important, valued by Australia and the world. Australia wishes him, and all political interlocutors in the US, the very best in this endeavour. It is up to Americans to carry that forward, but Australia will be cheering them on.

A united America is a strong America, and a strong US is overwhelmingly in Australia’s interests.

Our values and perspectives align so closely that a future circumstance in which our foreign policy interests diverge to such an extent that our alliance and our close friendship is not of substantial mutual benefit is difficult to envisage. Our alliance is incredibly stable.

However, the evolving set of international challenges means that the way our two countries work together must also necessarily evolve.

The federal government is not blind to the fact that the US has gone through a difficult political period. Those around the world who had confidence in American institutions, and their democracy, have been proved right. There has been a constitutional transition of power to the new administration.

The US will continue to provide strength, stability and leadership to the world as it always has. In doing so it will champion the liberal democratic, market-based values we share.

It is only reasonable, indeed, expected, that Americans should have a long and thoughtful conversation about the role they want to play in a more complex and challenging world. Australia has long made it clear that we do not expect the US single-handedly to uphold the security and prosperity of the region and the world.

We are consistently and constructively playing our part in supporting that vision for our Indo-Pacific region. Through our strong and growing partnerships in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, our proactive support for the role of existing groups such as ASEAN — which in 2019 released its vital Outlook on the Indo-Pacific — and new multi-country groupings such as the Quad, our increased defence spending and development of paths to build greater stability in our region through health and economic recovery measures, Australia is a strong leader and partner.

We want any US administration to be able to point to Australia when an American asks why their nation should be doing the heavy lifting around the world.

We have worked well with the Trump administration over the past four years towards these ends, including one of the most substantive and successful AUSMIN meetings ever held, and two unprecedented ministerial-level Quad meetings. Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo was a forthright, no-nonsense friend and partner, ambitious for the US relationship with Australia and for the cause of democratic freedoms.

We will work positively with the Biden administration, many of whose key team members are well known to us and good friends to Australia — including President Biden himself and, pending confirmation, my new counterpart, Secretary of State Tony Blinken. As Australia’s Minister for Women, I cannot overstate the significance of Vice-President Kamala Harris’s inauguration for women and girls around the world.

(continued)

>>12704138

2/2

We must be prepared for the fact that the Biden administration faces urgent challenges at home — chiefly managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet there is much we can do together. We welcome steps already taken, such as recommitting the US to the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organisation.

We look forward to working closely with the administration to share experiences and deliver practical action on climate change, including on low emissions technologies, on health security, including through COVID-19 vaccine distribution and on issues such as free and open trade, cyber space, critical technologies, supply chain resilience and critical minerals — all of which will be vital to future economic growth and security.

Australia will continue to speak strongly, often in harmony with the US, on issues of common concern, including human rights and the rule of law.

President Biden’s proposal of a global summit of democracies is a strong sign that a 21st century international framework that recognises values in foreign policy will be a welcome part of the administration’s agenda.

Many commentators will keenly observe how we engage in our respective relationships with China. Australia has its challenges in its relationship with Beijing even as we seek to co-operate to our mutual benefit. The US, meanwhile, has entered a period of overt competition with China that will endure throughout changes in administration. The fact that two of President Biden’s key appointments to the National Security Council — Jake Sullivan and Kurt Campbell — wrote in late 2019 a blueprint for what they called “competition without catastrophe”, portends a constructive and intelligent approach.

Australia will benefit in the long term if there is a network of nations, with the US as a leading participant, that consistently and with strategic sagacity makes clear what constitutes legitimate behaviour under a rules-based system, even one that is evolving to take account of the interests of rising powers. We will support adherence to international rules and norms, promote transparency and stand against malicious behaviour such economic coercion, human rights abuses and the use of disinformation.

The US remains the indispensable partner in this project to not only maintain, but modernise and improve security and prosperity in a region of free, sovereign and resilient states that actively seek areas to co-operate, work constructively together and join to respond firmly when any country resorts to raw power over rules.

America remains vital because of its values and its history of idealism, but also because of its sheer practical advantages. This is America the innovator, the economic powerhouse, diplomatic leader and Australian ally.

This government will work with the Biden administration on a vision I know we share. When then vice-president Biden visited Australia in 2016 he said, “the great friendship between our two nations will not diminish. It will grow stronger with every generation.” I couldn’t agree more. We again congratulate President Biden on his inauguration and welcome him to what will continue to be an indispensable partnership.

Marise Payne is Minister for Foreign Affairs.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/as-joe-biden-says-this-great-usaustralia-alliance-will-only-grow-stronger/news-story/cbe788248cb76514e76226bd48438c06

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 24, 2021, 9:49 p.m. No.12704226 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Special Forces soldiers to defend themselves over war crime allegations

Special Forces soldiers issued a “show cause” notice in the wake of the war crime allegations will submitting a defence on why they shouldn’t be sacked from the military.

Adella Beaini - January 21, 2021

A group of Special Forces soldiers issued a “show cause” notice in the wake of the Brereton report’s findings will be submitting their defence on why they shouldn’t be sacked from the military.

The soldiers who received the notices in November are members of the now disbanded Special Air Service Regiment’s 2 Squadrons as well as the regiment’s 3 Squadron suspected of being “accessories” or ”witnesses” of alleged murders carried out by other SAS soldiers.

On Friday the SAS members will individually submit the written response through their lawyers, giving their version of events and justifying why they shouldn’t face administrative action.

But a source close to some of the 13 elite soldiers accused of being dishonest when called to give evidence before the inquiry said the process had “taken its toll” with many members left “distraught”.

“It’s been heartbreaking watching them so distressed, losing weight and relationships breaking down,” a source told The Daily Telegraph.

“They don’t even have the camaraderie that got them through their war deployments as they’ve been commanded not to talk to each other.

“As proud Australians, we are all so confused by our country’s actions.”

A Defence spokesman said they would be considering any written response that soldiers provide as reasons why they shouldn’t be terminated.

“Outcomes of each case could range from termination to no further action, based on the delegate’s consideration of each individual’s response,” a spokesman said.

“This process takes time. Legal, welfare and command support is provided to anyone who is subject to administrative action.”

He said each matter would be considered on a “case-by-case basis”.

“Administrative action can include termination, censure, reduction in rank or formal counselling.”

It follows the release of a report, commissioned by the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force, alleging special forces soldiers were responsible for the murder of at least 39 Afghans.

The Brereton inquiry focused on events between 2005 and 2016 and interviewed 423 witnesses.

Other special forces members may eventually be discharged or face a range of disciplinary sanctions, including formal warnings.

A special investigator has been created within the Australian Federal Police to investigate the allegations from the inquiry, and a special prosecutor has been appointed within the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to handle any court cases.

Any prosecutions of ADF personnel could take years, as some of the evidence gathered by the IGADF is not admissible in a civilian court.

Soldiers were compelled to answer questions in the internal Defence probe, going against the civil principle of the right against self-incrimination.

Anyone who may be feeling distressed can contact the following organisations for support:

Defence all-hours support line: 1800 628 036

Defence Family Helpline: 1800 624 608

Open Arms: 1800 011 046

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/special-forces-soldiers-to-defend-themselves-over-war-crime-allegations/news-story/36b704ca43ee993d25c8cae0a0b7efd3

Sex-charge principal Malka Leifer extradited to Australia

Accused sex predator Malka Leifer has been put on the plane from Israel to Melbourne, capping a near decade-long campaign by the sisters she is alleged to have abused to have her face court in Australia.

The 54-year-old former Jewish school principal was handed over to Victoria police officers in Tel Aviv on Monday after the extradition order her lawyers in Israel fought tooth and nail to avoid was finally executed.

She was escorted on to a commercial flight only hours before a COVID lockdown on air travel in and out of the Jewish state was to come into force.

A spokesman for Attorney-General Christian Porter said the Australian government was aware of reports in Israel that Ms Leifer had been extradited, but it did not comment on the logistics of such retrievals.

Ms Leifer faces 74 charges involving the sexual assault and rape of the three sisters who were students at the Adass Israel ultra-Orthodox Jewish school before she fled home to Israel when her alleged crimes were exposed in 2008.

It is not yet clear where Ms Leifer will complete her 14 days of quarantine on arrival in Melbourne.

Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria said the issue was a matter for Victoria Police, given she will be in police custody.

A spokeswoman for Victoria Police said that with the extradition process underway and the matter before the courts, it would be “inappropriate” to comment.

“All enquiries regarding extradition should be directed to the Attorney-General’s office.”

The Australian has sought a response from Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes.

The young women complained to Victoria police three years later, and in 2014 Australia applied for Ms Leifer’s extradition.

But she was able to drag out the proceedings by feigning mental illness, according to Israeli prosecutors acting on behalf of the Australian government. In 2016, the case seemed dead in the water after a judge in Jerusalem suspended the extradition.

But the fiction unravelled when Ms Leifer was secretly filmed out and about, living what appeared to be a normal life when she had claimed to be unable to leave the house due to her to her mental state.

Israeli Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn signed the extradition order last December, only days after the country’s highest court rejected her final appeal.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/sexcharge-teacher-malka-leifer-on-way-back-to-australia/news-story/13571c3672840da13d4e02abfb6c6527

https://twitter.com/emilygian/status/1353587678915170306

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 25, 2021, 12:54 a.m. No.12705544 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Israel extradites Malka Lefier, wanted for sex crimes, to Australia

Former teacher accused of sexually abusing several former students at a Jewish school in Melbourne set to face 74 charges of child abuse in her native Australia; extradition comes after 6 years of legal battles

Israeli authorities on Monday extradited Malka Lefier, wanted on 74 charges of child sex abuse in Australia, following a six-year legal battle that had strained relations between the two governments.

The former teacher accused of sexually abusing several former students at a Jewish school in Melbourne, had been fighting extradition from Israel since 2014. Leifer maintains her innocence and the protracted court case and repeated delays over her extradition drew criticism from Australian officials as well as the country's Jewish leaders.

Ynet obtained images of Leifer boarding a plane at Ben Gurion Airport early Monday, her ankles and wrists shackled. At the airport, Leifer was met by Australian law enforcement officials, who arrived in Israel to accompany the woman.

She was then taken on a flight to Frankfurt, Germany, from which she would later fly back to Australia to stand trial on 74 charges of child sex abuse.

In December, the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against her extradition, and then Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn signed the order to send her to Australia. "I promised that I would not hinder the extradition order, and that's what I have done. Malka Leifer's victims will finally earn an act of justice," Nissenkorn wrote on Twitter.

Her lawyer, Nick Kaufman, confirmed the extradition. “Preliminary hearings will be held in the coming days, without Malka Leifer physically present, as is required by Australian law. Meanwhile she will be held in a women's detention facility in Melbourne - where I hope her rights and halakhic requirements will be respected.”

Manny Waks, head of Voice against Child Sex Abuse, an organization representing Leifer's victims, said in a statement that "this is an incredible day for justice!"

"We can now truly look forward to Leifer facing justice in Australia on the 74 charges she is facing," he said.

The Magen Association for the Protection of Children, which has been aiding Leifer’s alleged victims, also welcomed the extradition. "We stand by the victims and encourage them ahead of the next fight within the Australian justice system… We will fight with all our might so that Israel ceases to be a refuge for sex offenders and that a similar extradition saga will not be repeated.”

Accusations against Leifer began surfacing in 2008, it was then that Israeli-born Leifer left the Ultra-Orthodox school where she worked as a principal and a teacher, and returned to Israel where she has lived since.

In March 2012, an arrest warrant was issued against her in Australia.

In 2014, Australia filed an extradition request and Leifer was put under house arrest while her extradition proceedings began in Israel. In 2016, the district psychiatrist ruled that Leifer was not fit to stand trial, bringing the extradition proceedings to a halt.

Private investigators, however, later revealed that Leifer was functioning independently. In December 2017, she was documented walking around her residential neighborhood in Jerusalem, shopping and waiting at the local postal office. A court-issued psychiatric panel later concluded that Leifer had faked mental illness to avoid prosecution, renewing the extradition process.

Critics, including Leifer's alleged victims, had accused Israeli authorities of dragging out the case for far too long, while Leifer claimed she was mentally unfit to stand trial.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rJ7fHeh100

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 25, 2021, 12:58 a.m. No.12705574 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Malka Leifer extradited to Australia to face child sexual abuse charges

Former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer has been extradited from Israel to face sexual abuse charges in Australia.

Ms Leifer was escorted out of Israel on Monday morning local time, just before the international airport was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Israeli media reported she would be flown to Germany and then to Australia, where she faces 74 charges in Melbourne.

Ms Leifer is accused of abusing three sisters during her time as headmistress of Elsternwick's Adass Israel School between 2001 and 2008.

She left for Israel in 2008 and Victoria Police first submitted a request for her extradition in 2014.

Six years later, and after years of court proceedings, Israel signed an extradition order in December.

Ms Leifer has maintained her innocence during the drawn-out legal battle.

Nick Kaufman, Ms Leifer's lawyer in Israel, confirmed to the ABC his client was on a plane to Australia.

Dassi Erlich, one of her accusers, said simply on Twitter after hearing the news: "Leifer is on the way back to Australia."

Ms Leifer's case was repeatedly delayed as she fought extradition charges in Israel.

In January 2020, a panel of psychiatrists concluded the 54-year-old was faking her mental illness to avoid extradition. Israel's District Court ruled she was mentally fit to be extradited six months later.

The country's Supreme Court rejected her final appeal against the extradition in December.

The six-year legal battle at times strained relations between Israel and Australia.

Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter, who discussed the case when he travelled to Israel in 2019, said the Government did not comment on the logistics of extradition arrangements until the process was finished.

"Victorian authorities are responsible for the physical return of Ms Leifer to Australia now that the legal extradition process in Israel has concluded and she has been found suitable for surrender to Australian authorities to face the charges against her," Mr Porter said in a statement.

"Both the Attorney-General and Minister for Foreign Affairs have expressed their thanks to the Israel Government for its assistance and cooperation to bring this long-running process to a conclusion to allow for the extradition of Ms Leifer to Australia where she faces serious sexual assault allegations."

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council said it welcomed news of Ms Leifer's extradition "with enormous relief".

"This has been an extremely long journey, and while it is not over yet, progress today has been dramatically gratifying," the council's executive director, Colin Rubenstein, said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-25/malka-leifer-extradited-to-australia-to-face-sex-abuse-charges/13090106

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 25, 2021, 1:02 a.m. No.12705589 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Dassi Erlich Tweet

Leifer is on the way back to Australia.

#leiferonthewayback

https://twitter.com/dassi_erlich/status/1353587091645423616

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Message to the Australian border force Jan. 25, 2021, 11:16 a.m. No.12709703 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12129141

Kill yourselves as mentally I’ll irredeemable satanists

Zombie apocalypse (666) for you thick disrespectful Aussies

Mad max

Anonymous ID: 4f8fe9 Jan. 25, 2021, 11:26 a.m. No.12709747 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1553 >>2542

HSI, Australian Federal Police identify 245 victims of child exploitation by predator posing as popular YouTube star

WASHINGTON — An investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) resulted in the arrest of a 25-year-old Australian citizen who is now facing a total of 247 charges related to 245 alleged child victims in the United States.

In 2019, HSI special agents in Tallahassee, Florida, received information from the Leon County (Florida) Sheriff's Office (LCSO) regarding the exploitation of minors throughout the U.S. by an individual in Australia. The individual was masquerading as a popular YouTube star in order to befriend minor females and gain their trust. He then blackmailed the minor victims and instructed them to film themselves doing various sexually explicit acts, many of which involved physical contact with other minors and/or animals.

HSI reached out to the AFP to help identify the predator in Australia. With the assistance of Western Australia Police (WAPOL), AFP quickly identified the subject in Western Australia and initiated Operation ESK. HSI Canberra provided support to Operation ESK by obtaining subscriber details from YouTube for the offender, and both the previous and potential victims. Forensic examination of the subject’s social media account led to the identification in October 2020 of 112 U.S. victims of online child exploitation and upon continued investigation an additional 134 by January 2021. The subject was arrested by AFP and is currently in custody.

“Child exploitation is a heinous crime that is happening far too often on social media sites used by our children,” said HSI Regional Attaché for Oceania, Adam Parks. “These investigations will continue to be our top priority to ensure that children around the world are protected from sexual predators. Thanks to our close partnership with the Australian Federal Police and Western Australia Police, we were able to identify this predator and protect future children from falling victim to this monster.”

Operation ESK is a joint investigation between HSI Canberra, AFP, and WAPOL, with assistance from HSI Tallahassee, LCSO, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

HSI is the principal investigative arm of DHS and a vital U.S. asset in combatting transnational crime and threats. One of HSI’s top priorities is to protect the public from crimes of victimization, and HSI’s child exploitation investigations program is a central component of this mission set. HSI is recognized as a global leader in this investigative discipline, and is committed to utilizing its vast authorities, international footprint and strong government and non-government partnerships to identify and rescue child victims, identify and apprehend offenders, prevent transnational child sexual abuse, and help make the internet a safer place for children. The HSI International Operations Division is the Department of Homeland Security’s largest investigative presence overseas. Division personnel serve as liaisons to governments and law enforcement agencies across the globe and work side-by-side with foreign law enforcement on HSI investigations.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-australian-federal-police-identify-245-victims-child-exploitation-predator-posing

>>12709747

o7

Anger as offender back on the streets after bail granted

9News Staff - Oct 23, 2020

A 25-year-old man charged with multiple new child sex offences is back on the streets awaiting trial in Perth after authorities did not oppose bail.

Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed was originally bailed in April awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to having sex with a child.

Now an international sting has seen him charged with more than 100 child exploitation offences, and federal police did not oppose bail.

Rasheed is accused of pretending to be a teenage social media celebrity to befriend 112 girls from all over the world online.

He allegedly doctored their messages and threatened to show them to their families unless the girls performed sexual acts on camera.

A police search of his Parkwood home allegedly uncovered more than 2000 images, and the investigation is still ongoing.

His bail conditions include he has no unsupervised access to children and does not use the internet except for banking.

He has also had to surrender his passport.

The state's Shadow Police Minister Peter Katsambanis told 9News it wasn't enough.

"Whilst he's awaiting his time in court and his trial, the safest and best place to have him again is remanded in custody," Mr Katsambanis said.

Police are tonight urging parents to check in with their children.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/perth-child-sex-offender-charged-exploitation-back-on-streets-after-bail/0eedb07f-16eb-4dbc-a731-aea6ee318ac6

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 25, 2021, 2:37 p.m. No.12711575 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2542

>>12711553

Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed is back in court today after allegedly sextorting 245 victims

Daryna Zadvirna - 15 January 2021

A 25-year-old Perth man accused of “sextorting” more than 100 young girls on social media has been hit with an additional 134 charges.

Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed was first charged in October last year, after allegedly pretending to be a 15-year-old celebrity to befriend girls in Australia and overseas, before blackmailing them into sending him sexually explicit photos or videos.

The Western Australia Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team launched an investigation following reports from the United States’ Homeland Security Investigations and Interpol about a suspected Australian who was targeting girls through social media.

One 13-year-old in the United States told police that a person she had met online and thought was a 15-year-old boy, had started asking her sexually explicit questions.

Mr Rasheed first faced the Magistrates court on October 23, but was arrested again four days later after Australian Federal Police allegedly found he was failing to comply with a requirement of his bail conditions and successfully applied to the court to have his bail revoked.

Last year AFP Detective Senior Constable Barry Duman, from WA JACET, said police were working with international law enforcement partners and the social media companies to try to identify all the girls targeted, to check on their welfare and provide them support.

He said some of the evidence seized included text conversations and videos of the girls pleading for the man to leave them alone, detailing their distress, fear and humiliation.

“Online exploitation and abuse is devastating and can cause life-long trauma,” Det Snr Const Duman said.

“We will do everything in our power to ensure children are protected from predatory offending against their innocence.”

An ongoing review of hundreds of social media chats and other data, including sexually explicit images, stored on the man’s devices allegedly resulted in the further charges relating to 133 alleged victims.

As a result, the Parkwood man is now facing a total of 247 charges relating to 245 alleged victims and is due to appear at the Perth Magistrates Court today.

The AFP said the review is ongoing and police have not ruled out laying more charges.

Members of the public who have any information about people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to report it via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.

https://crimestoppers.com.au

https://www.accce.gov.au/report

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/muhammad-zain-ul-abideen-rasheed-is-back-in-court-today-after-allegedly-sextorting-245-victims-ng-b881770170z

https://www.facebook.com/Protect-our-children-from-adult-predators-WA-1666684823648075/

'I lost my virginity to a paedophile': Australian of the Year and rape survivor Grace Tame's powerful speech

Grace Tame, a sexual assault survivor who campaigned against Tasmania's gag laws, gave a powerful speech after being announced as the 2021 Australian of the Year.

"I lost my virginity to a paedophile. I was 15. Anorexic. He was 58," Ms Tame said to start her speech.

She spoke of being groomed and raped by her 58-year-old maths teacher Nicolaas Bester when she was in Year 10 at the exclusive all-girl St Michael's Collegiate School in Hobart.

She was unable to legally speak out about her experience, despite Bester being able to.

Now, Ms Tame is using her voice to make a difference for others - and encouraging all Australians to do the same.

Read the full speech below:

I lost my virginity to a paedophile. I was 15. Anorexic. He was 58.

He was my teacher. For months he groomed me and then abused me almost every day - before school, after school, in my uniform, on the floor. I didn't know who I was.

Publicly, he described his crimes as "awesome" and "enviable". Publicly, I was silenced by law.

Not anymore. Australia, we've come a long way but there's still more work to do in a lot of areas. Child sexual abuse and cultures that enable it still exist.

Grooming and its lasting impacts are not widely understood. Predators manipulate all of us - family, friends, colleagues, strangers, in every class, culture and community. They thrive when we fight amongst ourselves and weaponise all our vulnerabilities. Trauma does not discriminate. Nor does it end when the abuse itself does.

First Nations people, people with disabilities, the LGBTQI community and other marginalised groups face greater barriers to justice.

Every voice matters. Solutions are borne of all of us.

I was abused by a male teacher but one of the first people I told was also a male teacher, and he believed me.

This year and beyond, my focus is on empowering survivors and education as a primary means of prevention. It starts with conversation. We're all welcome at this table.

Communication breeds understanding and understanding is the foundation of progress. Lived experience informs structural and social change.

When we share, we heal.

Yes, discussion of child sexual abuse is uncomfortable but nothing is more uncomfortable than the abuse itself.

So, let us redirect this discomfort to where it belongs - at the feet of perpetrators of these crimes.

Together, we can redefine what it means to be a survivor.

Together, we can end child sexual abuse. Survivors, be proud, our voices are changing history.

Eleven years ago, I was in hospital, anorexic with atrophied muscles, I struggled to walk.

Last year I ran a marathon. We do transform as individuals and as a community.

When I was first reported I was shamed and ridiculed by shame.

But now my truth is helping to reconnect us. I know who I am - I'm a survivor, a proud, Tasmanian.

I remember him towering over me, blocking the door. I remember him saying, "Don't tell anybody."

I remember him saying, "Don't make a sound."

Well, hear me now, using my voice, amongst a growing chorus of voices that will not be silenced!

Let's make some noise, Australia!

Contact 1800 RESPECT, the national sexual assault and domestic family violence counselling service on 1800 737 732, or visit them online here (private browsing recommended). If you are in immediate danger, call Triple Zero.

https://www.1800respect.org.au/

https://www.9news.com.au/national/grace-tame-speech-rape-survivor-opens-up-at-australian-of-the-year-awards/798d3664-1924-4642-b838-0f6d118b59c9

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 25, 2021, 3:19 p.m. No.12712039 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2542

>>12711960

Sexual assault survivor and advocate Grace Tame named 2021 Australian of the Year | ABC News

ABC News (Australia)

25 Jan 2021

The 26-year-old who helped lead the fight to overturn a law preventing sexual assault survivors from speaking out has been named Australian of the Year for 2021. Read more here:

Sexual assault survivor and advocate Grace Tame named 2021 Australian of the Year

https://ab.co/3sXexPU

At 15, Grace Tame was groomed and raped by her 58-year-old teacher at a private girls' school in Hobart.

Her abuser was jailed for his crimes, but Ms Tame was not able to speak about her experience publicly under Tasmania's sexual assault victim gag laws, despite the perpetrator and media being free to do so.

She became the hidden face and catalyst of the #LetHerSpeak campaign, a victim who could not be shown or named in the media.

Family and domestic violence support:

1800 Respect national helpline: 1800 737 732

Women's Crisis Line: 1800 811 811

Men's Referral Service: 1300 766 491

Lifeline (24 hour crisis line): 131 114

Relationships Australia: 1300 364 277

NSW Domestic Violence Line: 1800 656 463

Qld DV Connect Womensline: 1800 811 811

Vic Safe Steps crisis response line: 1800 015 188

ACT 24/7 Crisis Line: (02) 6280 0900

Tas Family Violence Counselling and Support Service: 1800 608 122

SA Domestic Violence Crisis Line: 1800 800 098

WA Women's Domestic Violence 24h Helpline: 1800 007 339

NT Domestic violence helpline: 1800 737 732

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giTvpwh1VDM

Australia Day honours: Former PM Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘significant contributions’ duly recognised

ROSIE LEWIS and ADESHOLA ORE - JANUARY 25, 2021

On the day he resigned as prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull remained “very optimistic and positive” about Australia’s future.

He had just lost the Liberal Party leadership for a second time in his 14-year political career after enough of his colleagues lost faith in his prime ministership following a decade-old ideological divide over energy and climate change policy and an ongoing rivalry with his predecessor, Tony Abbott.

Proving Australia has moved on from those turbulent days in federal politics, Mr Turnbull, who was Liberal MP for Wentworth from 2004 to 2018, will be awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) on Tuesday for his eminent service to the people and parliament of Australia.

It was given because of Mr Turnbull’s “significant contributions” to national security, free trade, the environment and clean energy, innovation, economic reform and marriage equality — he was the prime minister to deliver same-sex marriage.

The 29th prime minister’s business and philanthropic pursuits were also celebrated in the AC, which is typically awarded to former prime ministers.

Former NSW Nationals senator Sandy Macdonald and former Liberal member for Groom William Taylor will be made Members of the Order of Australia.

Former South Australian Labor premier Jay Weatherill will be awarded an Officer of the Order for service to the state and his focus on early childhood and tertiary education.

Since retiring from state politics in 2018 after a 16-year career, Mr Weatherill has campaigned for early learning reform, voiced support for free childcare and called for states and territories to take over commonwealth funding of early learning centres.

The former Labor leader most recently undertook a comprehensive review of the ALP’s 2019 election loss with former federal Labor MP Craig Emerson.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/australia-day-honours-former-pm-malcolm-turnbulls-significant-contributions-duly-recognised/news-story/ba32f1a5c6c36e0c45c2198c2a360ff8

>>12712168

Use Biden agenda to commit to net zero: Malcolm Turnbull

David Crowe - January 26, 2021

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Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has urged the Morrison government to end a policy “vacuum” on climate change by seizing on the new agenda from US President Joe Biden to commit to net zero emissions by 2050.

Mr Turnbull, made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the Australia Day Honours list, named climate change action as one of the main “unfinished” policies of his leadership.

But he said Prime Minister Scott Morrison would “absolutely” face pressure to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions as the new US administration sought more ambitious pledges worldwide.

“Energy and climate policy remains a vacuum at the federal level and that is because of the toxic politics,” he said.

“I’m hopeful that with Biden elected as President the change will make it easier for Morrison to switch to a more rational climate and energy agenda.”

Mr Turnbull was one of 845 people named in an Australia Day list that included scientist and mathematician Cheryl Praeger of Perth, Rabbi John Simon of Melbourne and former tennis player Margaret Court, who were also awarded ACs.

Women received 210 awards, or just under 37 per cent, and Governor General David Hurley said more work needed to be done to achieve gender parity and diversity in other areas.

“I am determined to make sure that the Order of Australia reflects the diversity and breadth of our community,” he said in a statement.

Speaking to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, Mr Turnbull said Mr Biden’s victory meant there was “absolutely” pressure on the Morrison government to commit to net zero emissions by 2050, in line with commitments from the US and other countries.

“Scott does not have strong views on climate, in my experience. I don’t think it’s an issue that particularly motivates him, one way or another. So he views it in a political way, I think, above all,” he said.

“He’s very concerned to not allow the right to undermine him the way they undermined me on this issue.

“So if Lachlan Murdoch would be to switch his views on climate, that would be enough of a leave pass to get on with it.

“It’s about that poisonous combination of right-wing populist politics within the Coalition, right-wing media, principally Murdoch, and the fossil fuel lobby.”

Mr Morrison has talked of achieving net zero emissions some time in the second half of this century but avoided a commitment to 2050, even as Japan and South Korea say they will achieve the target by that date, while China aims for 2060.

“We’re working hard to work out when that can be achieved, not through taxes, but by technology and the smart innovation of companies and researchers and scientists here in Australia as part of our technology roadmap,” Mr Morrison said in Queensland last week.

The federal government’s latest projection, issued last month, said the Technology Investment Roadmap would help cut emissions to 436 million tonnes in 2030, which is 29 per cent below 2005 levels, but critics of the policy have dismissed the assumption and called for stronger action.

(continued)

>>12712187

2/2

While former prime minister and fellow republican Paul Keating declined to accept the Companion of the Order of Australia, Mr Turnbull said the award was an Australian honour that had been separated from the imperial system under Gough Whitlam in the 1970s.

Mr Turnbull noted that he had scrapped the restoration of knights and dames under his predecessor, Tony Abbott, and laughed off the idea that he might have been Sir Malcolm without that change.

“The knighthoods were one of Abbott’s crazier but, in truth, less harmful initiatives,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Australians are just prepared to accept an honours system - just - but it is always invidious because there are always deserving people who are not recognised because they are not pushy enough, or not prominent enough, or not good enough at organising people to nominate them.”

Mr Turnbull backed the effort by the Governor-General to make the honours more representative of the community.

He also said the Australia Day honour owed much to his family, his staff and others in his government.

“Public service at the level I served is a very much a team effort, so it’s not an individual achievement. It’s awarded to an individual, but it represents the efforts of many others.”

Mr Turnbull named the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project as one of his biggest achievements but said he was disappointed more had not been done since he lost office in August 2018 to build the “battery of the nation” hydro scheme in Tasmania.

This project needed an interconnector to be built across Bass Strait as envisioned, as well as more pumped hydro projects in Tasmania to generate renewable energy, he said.

Reverend Court, was awarded an AC despite backlash following a journalist’s decision to leak the announcement last week.

She was awarded the honour for “eminent service to tennis as an internationally acclaimed player and record-holding grand slam champion”, and as a mentor of young sportspeople.

Rabbi Levi received his AC for “eminent service to Judaism through seminal roles with religious, community and historical organisations”, and for advancing interfaith understanding.

Dr Levi was the first Australian to be ordained as a rabbi, and he has been given multiple awards for his service to Australia’s Jewish community.

Professor Praeger was also given an AC for her service to mathematics, tertiary education, and as a champion of women in science and technology careers.

She had previously won the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science in 2019, and is an honorary member of the London Mathematical Society.

Former Socceroo Tim Cahill was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to sport, while former Australian Diamonds netball coach Lisa Alexander was made a Member of the Order of Australia.

There were 571 recipients in the general division of the Order of Australia, including four ACs, and 28 recipients in the military division.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/use-biden-agenda-to-commit-to-net-zero-malcolm-turnbull-20210125-p56wnf.html

Anonymous ID: 52ab58 Jan. 25, 2021, 5:50 p.m. No.12713842 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2431

Angus Taylor talks emissions with John Kerry

Phillip Coorey - Jan 25, 2021

Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor has held a phone hook-up with his new US counterpart, John Kerry, in the first of a series of planned calls between senior ministers in the Morrison government and new members of Joe Biden’s cabinet.

Mr Kerry, a former US Senator, presidential candidate and secretary of state, is a passionate advocate for climate change action and his appointment is expected to increase pressure on the Morrison government to increase its ambitions on climate change.

Immediately on his inauguration last week, Mr Biden recommitted the US to the Paris climate accord, something from which Mr Morrison never withdrew, despite urging from conservatives.

Mr Biden is also an advocate of net zero emissions by 2050, something to which Mr Morrison is yet to commit but could do so before the next election.

According to a read-out of the Monday-morning phone call provided by Mr Taylor’s office, Mr Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, welcomed Mr Morrison’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions “as soon as possible”.

Mr Taylor welcomed the US back into the Paris fold.

Mr Morrison has said previously that he sees opportunities to work with the Biden administration on technologies that will reduce emissions. Mr Taylor and Mr Kerry agreed to establish a joint working group to progress the idea.

“They agreed on the need to enhance international collaboration on technology R&D in order to reduce the cost of new technologies to parity with existing approaches, as well as the need to encourage increased private-sector investment in technology R&D,” the statement said.

Mr Morrison spoke to Mr Biden in November after his election win over Donald Trump.

Mr Taylor was the first minister to touch base with the administration. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds is scheduled to talk to her new counterpart, Lloyd Austin, on Wednesday.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/angus-taylor-talks-emissions-with-john-kerry-20210125-p56wp7

53 Dead in Gibraltar in 10 Days After Experimental Pfizer mRNA COVID Injections Started

Gibraltar is a British Colony at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula attached to the country of Spain. It’s population is just over 30,000 people, and it is best known for its huge “rock,” the “Rock of Gibraltar.”

I have been contacted by residents in Gibraltar stating that 53 people have died in 10 days immediately following the roll out of injections of the Pfizer mRNA COVID injections, and calling it a “massacre.”

Local media reports confirm the deaths, but blame them on COVID, and not the COVID injections.

However, prior to the roll out of the injections, it is reported that only 16 people in total died “from COVID” since the beginning of the “pandemic” about a year ago.

https://medicalkidnap.com/2021/01/24/53-dead-in-gibraltar-in-10-days-after-experimental-pfizer-mrna-covid-injections-started/

>>12088511

>>12113825

EXCLUSIVE: Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre provided key evidence to French police to secure arrest of late pedophile's model agent friend Jean-Luc Brunel, charged with multiple counts of rape

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Jeffery Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre has provided enough evidence to French officials for the late pedophile's model agent friend Jean-Luc Brunel to be charged with multiple rapes, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Virginia Giuffre, 37, is now the key witness in the prosecution of Brunel, 75, after claiming that both him and Prince Andrew, 60, used her as their 'sex slave'.

The two men vehemently deny any wrongdoing, but in December Brunel was remanded in custody in Paris after being charged with multiple rapes of Giuffre and a separate case of sexual harassment against an unidentified complainant.

It followed dozens of women saying Brunel abused them while running an underage sex ring with Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in prison in 2019.

Almost all of the accusations leveled against Brunel are from the 1970s, 80s and 90s, meaning they fall outside the 20-year limit for prosecuting sex crimes in France.

This meant that Brunel was considered 'untouchable' by police who nicknamed him 'The Ghost' as he carried on living and working in the French capital, while frequently traveling abroad on scouting assignments and holidays.

But in November Giuffre responded to an online English language appeal by French magistrates for alleged victims to come forward.

'Ms Giuffre now lives in Australia but responded to the appeal,' said an investigating source. 'She was interviewed remotely, and provided considerable evidence against Brunel.

'She said that she was raped by Brunel in the early 2000s, including in 2001. This was a considerable breakthrough for the enquiry.'

It meant that the alleged crime was well within the statute of limitations, and therefore prosecutable.

Officers were set to arrest Brunel in January following further enquiries, but on December 16 he was intercepted at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris with a one-way ticket to Dakar, capital of Senegal, in West Africa.

'This led to his immediate arrest and he was placed in custody,' said the source. 'The multiple rape charges solely relate to the testimony of Virginia Giuffre, and not any of the other alleged rape victims.

'The sexual harassment indictment is nothing to do with the Epstein case, and instead relates to incidents in 2016 following a complaint by another woman who has not gone public.'

The 'multiple rapes' of Virginia Giuffre – now a mother of three who was called Virginia Roberts before her marriage – were said to have mainly taken place at Epstein's home on the private island of Little Saint James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Giuffre had produced sworn testimonies saying that both Brunel and Prince Andrew attacked her there.

According to French law, a French citizen such as Brunel can be tried in France for offences committed abroad.

Others said to have been involved in the sex ring include Epstein's ex-girlfriend, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, who is currently on remand in the USA after being charged with the trafficking of underage girls and the enticement of minors.

Prince Andrew was, like his friend Maxwell, a regular visitor to Epstein's mansion flat in Paris, where many of the worst crimes against girls are said to have taken place.

(continued)

>>12714217

2/2

A French judicial enquiry into Brunel's conduct and the sex ring was opened in August 2019, when prosecutors first heard allegations that Brunel and the Queen's second son shared a lover.

Giuffre said she was forced to sleep with the Duke after being trafficked to him at least three times when she was 17.

Prince Andrew has consistently denied the accusations levelled by Giuffre, telling the BBC in 2019: 'I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. None whatsoever.'

Giuffre has now told the French she was routinely raped by Brunel between the ages of 16 and 19.

Brunel, who has worked with celebrities including Jerry Hall, Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci, is also suspected of using his contacts in the fashion industry to provide victims to Epstein and his friends.

He is said to have flown 12-year-old sisters from a Paris housing estate to America so they could be abused by Epstein as 'a birthday present'.

Epstein – an old friend of Andrew's and a business associate of Brunel's – committed suicide in his prison cell in New York on August 10 2019, while awaiting trial for a range of offences, including trafficking minors for sex, and multiple rapes.

Brunel was the founder of MC2, the model agency that prosecutors believe was used as a cover for the sex trafficking ring.

The out-of-time evidence against Brunel comes from a number of former models, who – like Giuffre – have waived their anonymity to make their allegations public.

New Zealander Zoe Brock has claimed in statements made to French investigators that she was abused in his Paris home in the early 1990s.

The Dutch model, Thysia Huisman, who was 18 when she first stayed with Brunel, said she was raped by him in 1991.

Huisman is now one of at least four alleged victims represented by Anne-Claire Le Jeune, a Paris barrister, who said Brunel being in custody was a huge relief, because their complaints now 'take on meaning'.

Lawyer Sigrid McCawley said: 'My clients and I are delighted [by the French prosecution]. This is a sign that the investigation by the French authorities is advancing.

'Jean-Luc Brunel played a key role in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring. Virginia Giuffre in particular, my oldest client, made it a personal struggle to hold the people who assaulted so many young girls to account. She is grateful to the French authorities for taking Jean-Luc Brunel's behaviour very seriously.'

Marianne Abgrall, Brunel's lawyer, said: 'My client formally disputes the facts of which he is accused. He is very upset that his name is dragged through the mud without moderation.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9184547/Virginia-Roberts-Giuffre-provided-evidence-secure-arrest-Jean-Luc-Brunel.html

Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr hail Joe Biden as climate change President

GRAHAM LLOYD - JANUARY 25, 2021

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd, former NSW premier and foreign minister Bob Carr and former Dow Chemicals chief executive Andrew Liveris have signed a full-page advertisement in the New York Times calling on Joe Biden to become the “climate change President”.

The notable Australians were included among a group of 153 signatories from entertainment, politics and business.

Mr Biden, the letter said, could be remembered as the climate President who “led humanity off the cliff-edge”.

“You can transform the world’s energy systems from fossil fuels to clean energy, while also creating an abundance of jobs, reducing harmful pollution and tackling economic, racial, and health inequality in the process,” the letter said.

“By rejoining the Paris Agreement on day one, you have moved the US in the right direction.

“But as you have stated, it is simply not enough, and we must ‘Do all we possibly can’,” it said.

The signatories said climate change presented the greatest economic opportunity for innovation, job creation, new business and investment.

“It goes hand in hand with restoring justice and building an equitable, inclusive and just future for all,” the letter said.

It said Mr Biden’s commitment to “build back better with clean energy jobs and tackling the legacy of environmental injustice is the consequential action that science and our future demands”.

The signatories said: “We will work alongside you to realise this ambitious pursuit.”

The letter was organised by Climate Power 2020, which claims to have on its advisory board Mr Biden’s special climate ambassador, former secretary of state John Kerry.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/kevin-rudd-and-bob-carr-hail-joe-biden-as-climate-change-president/news-story/dfd1aa9d492e01bfcd8bfbe68c9276c8

https://twitter.com/MrKRudd/status/1353446416174080000

Controversy as Noosa Satanists celebrate what they say is 'an important win for religious freedom'

ESSAM AL-GHALIB - 19/01/2021

Satanists are celebrating what they are calling, "a small but important win for religious freedom" after succeeding in having the pentagram added among the symbols of recognised faiths displayed at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital’s multi-faith centre.

The Noosa Temple of Satan said it is working with the hospital to have its spiritual leader officially recognised as a minister.

“We think it's important that Satanists can access the right spiritual support during their time of need,” the Temple’s leader, Samael Dema Gorgon, said on Facebook

Noosa Temple of Satan co-founder Trevor Bell, 56, said it wasn't a particularly difficult step to take.

“I think there was already something like seven or eight different faiths that were listed there in the chapel and I don't think it was that hard to get on the list," he said.

"I think they were quite inclusive and quite ready to add Satanism to the list and it was done relatively quickly without a great problem."

A Queensland Health spokesperson told SBS News that its service cares for patients of all religious backgrounds and displays world-recognised religious symbols in its facilities.

“Queensland Health staff care for patients of all faiths in their facilities and these patients are entitled to request and receive support from their faith leader,” Queensland Health said in a statement.

“Facilities may display world-recognised religious symbols as a welcoming gesture for patients and visitors. In 2020, Queensland Health released its Framework for the Integration of Spiritual Care in Queensland Health Facilities."

The hospital did not respond to SBS News’ query about how the hospital would handle reactions of people from different faiths.

In an attempt to put an end to religious studies in Queensland state schools, the Noosa Temple of Satan is requesting the teaching of Satanism in schools, with the same rights as Christian organisations.

The Satanic temple is asking its 5,000 members on Facebook to register their children in school as Satanists.

Mike Hercock is a former Senior Minister of Imagine Baptist Church in Sydney.

He says that Satanism is being used as a method to challenge and disrupt mainstream religious beliefs by those who may have been disenchanted or alienated by organised religion throughout their lives.

“The question I think it raises is about the sense of experience that people who are voiceless or concerned by the power of religion in schools,” Mr Hercock said.

“That sense of voicelessness I suppose as I have mentioned often comes out of hurt and anger over the control and abuse of the church over years, I have some empathy towards that."

Mr Hercock was one of the 100 Revs, a group that comprised of 100 clergy who officially apologised to the LGBTQI+ community of Australia for the attitudes of the Church towards them in 2008.

Muslim Imam Ibrahim Dadoun said he was concerned about Satanism being used as a diversion to prevent people from worshipping God.

John Dickson is a senior lecturer at Ridley College, an Australian Christian theological college.

He said the move by the Noosa Temple of Satan was "a joke".

"It's a joke on the hospital that has accepted this as a faith," he said.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/controversy-as-noosa-satanists-celebrate-what-they-say-is-an-important-win-for-religious-freedom

—

Q Post #3931

Apr 10 2020 14:53:58 (EST)

https://twitter.com/SeekretAgent/status/1248681547827417093

The credibility of our institutions [Constitutional Law that governs our Great Land [Our Republic]], and our ability to regain the trust and faith of the American people, all depends on our ability to restore [EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW] by prosecuting those responsible [Blind-Justice].

Treasonous acts [sedition] against the Republic [the 'People'] of the United States [START - LEAD-IN].

Infiltration [rogue] at the highest levels of our gov, media, corps, etc.

Planned & coordinated [D/ F].

This is not about politics.

Something far more sinister [evil] has been allowed to flourish through all parts of our society.

It has been protected and safeguarded.

It has been camouflaged to appear as trusted.

It has been projected [normalized] by stars.

[CLAS 1-99]

One must only look to see.

[Symbolism will be their downfall]

This is not another [4] year election.

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong."

You are not alone.

We stand together.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#3931

https://qanon.pub/?q=devil

https://qanon.pub/?q=satan

https://qanon.pub/?q=pure%20evil

>>12716336

Whatever and or WHO-eva u r: your 8kun.top posts are tip-top-tippty-TOP:

Thank you.

But(t) given the Hegelian opo-same "choice": i'd rather "hang" with the satanists than the wilfully IGNORANT tards, in the same way i'd rather be a beef cow than a slave-puss dairy cow.

Q: WHY? At least satanists don't take no shit and beef cows have a relatively free life - until that fateful day at the slaughterhouse. (Where do ALL the dairy cows go after being milked and calved to death?what a "life")

BUTT-FUCK ALL THAT Hegelian crap: I, 4 1, take the 3rd (THIRD) WAY: Anarchy is NO MASTERS; NO SLAVES.

Q: Tell us about theNZ Candy-House

Please and 'Hanks!

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 26, 2021, 10:16 p.m. No.12727992 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Vic MP 'very pleased' Leifer to face court

Former Victorian attorney-general Martin Pakula says he is "very pleased" Malka Leifer will soon face an Australian court.

Leifer, an ex-principal of a Jewish girls' school in Melbourne, is close to completing her long-awaited extradition from Israel to face child sexual abuse charges.

She is expected to touch down at Melbourne airport aboard a connecting flight from Singapore as early as Wednesday, Nine News reports.

It will be the first time Leifer has been on Australia soil since 2008, when she fled to Israel after learning three of her former students intended to file a complaint with police.

Mr Pakula on Wednesday welcomed the news Leifer had finally been extradited.

"I'm sure those people who have been agitating and clamouring for her to return will be very pleased that at long last her day in court will come," the racing minister told reporters.

"I'm very pleased that has occurred."

Leifer will go into hotel quarantine for 14 days once she returns to Melbourne.

It is believed she could virtually appear before Melbourne Magistrates Court as early as this week for an initial hearing.

Leifer will be entitled to apply for bail.

The flight is the final leg of Leifer's extradition which started with her boarding a Frankfurt-bound plane at Tel Aviv on Monday, just hours before the closure of Israel's airports due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pictures published by local media showed Leifer about to board a flight wearing handcuffs and legcuffs.

She is wanted in Australia on 74 charges of child rape and sexual abuse stemming from her time as principal at Melbourne's Orthodox Addas Israel School.

The Victorian government on Tuesday welcomed Leifer's extradition.

"Our position has always been clear - Malka Leifer needs to return to Victoria to face these very serious allegations," a spokeswoman said.

"Our thoughts are with the people who have continued to advocate for her return and we acknowledge how significant this next step is for them."

Longtime victim supporter Manny Waks said it was unclear how long her case would take to progress through Victoria's legal system given its COVID-driven backlog.

Israel's Supreme Court approved her extradition order in December and Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn approved the order the following day.

In a tweet, Mr Nissenkorn wrote: "I promised that I would not hinder the extradition order, and that's what I have done. Malka Leifer's victims will finally earn an act of justice."

Leifer's final failed appeal followed 74 hearings in Israeli courts, which have been drawn out on the basis of her mental illness claims.

After fleeing Australia in 2008, she was first arrested in Israel in 2014 only to be freed from house arrest on the condition she undertook psychiatric assessments.

An independent undercover investigation proved Leifer was feigning mental illness and she was re-arrested in 2018.

https://thewest.com.au/politics/law-and-order/malka-leifer-close-to-melbourne-arrival-ng-s-2046927

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 26, 2021, 10:25 p.m. No.12728054 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Former Adass Israel School board president ‘can’t recall helping Malka Leifer flee’

Former Adass Israel School board president Yitzhak Benedikt says he is unable to recall his role in helping accused paedophile principal Malka Leifer flee Australia in the hours after she was sacked amid child sex abuse allegations almost 13 years ago.

His statement came as Ms Leifer was expected to arrive in Melbourne late on Wednesday, having been taken into Victoria Police custody in Israel on Monday after more than a decade of effort from alleged victims, advocates, prosecutors, sections of the Australian Jewish community, diplomats and politicians.

Mr Benedikt, who was found by a Victorian Supreme Court judge to have “appreciated” that Ms Leifer had a case to answer when the school board arranged for her to fly to Israel in 2008, told The Australian on Tuesday he had suffered “a stroke”.

“I don’t remember anything,” he said outside his Balaclava home in Melbourne’s southeast.

In awarding one of Ms Leifer’s alleged victims, Dassi Erlich, $1.2m in compensation in 2015, judge Jack Rush found Mr Benedikt and board member Mark Ernst had organised Ms Leifer’s 1:20am flight hours after she was sacked, despite being fully aware of her alleged crimes.

“At the time of her (Ms Leifer’s) departure, the president of the board, Mr Benedikt, was aware of at least eight separate allegations of sexual misconduct involving Leifer and the girls at the school, in addition to the initial complaints,” Justice Rush found in response to Ms Erlich’s civil case. “The allegations amounted to Leifer being a serial sexual abuser.”

Justice Rush found Mr Ernst had instructed his wife, Hadassa, to buy the ticket for Ms Leifer following a late-night meeting of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish school’s board.

When The Australian approached Ms Ernst on Tuesday, she said: “I have nothing to tell you.”

Victoria Police remained tight-lipped on Tuesday regarding the timing of Ms Leifer’s arrival in Melbourne, but The Australian understands she flew from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt, in Germany, on Monday, and from there was expected to fly to Melbourne, arriving on Wednesday.

She was required to return a negative coronavirus test before she was allowed to board the plane in Israel, and on arrival in Melbourne will immediately be held in Victoria Police quarantine until she can be brought before court via video for the commencement of proceedings.

All new prisoners in Victoria must serve a 14-day quarantine period during which they are tested regularly for coronavirus.

A spokeswoman for the Andrews government said all quarantine arrangements were approved by the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Across the justice system, there are well established processes to manage the risk of coronavirus in custody,” she said.

Former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu — who advocated for Ms Leifer’s alleged victims, Ms Erlich and her sisters Ellie Sapper and Nicole Meyer — said he had exchanged messages with them on Monday. “They’re relieved,” he said on Tuesday. “It’s been an extraordinarily long time and required enormous patience and resilience.”

The sisters have declined to comment on Ms Leifer’s extradition for legal reasons.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/former-adass-israel-school-board-president-cant-recall-helping-malka-leifer-flee/news-story/6e93f549285a1560e936eb0a895f26e6

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Death is coming (666) Jan. 26, 2021, 10:37 p.m. No.12728105 🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>12716336

For all the Jews and Americans on the planet

Thoughts and prayers for Mike Pence

That will never be answered

Jon James Pratt (999) aka the storm ID: f1797d Have to goto work Jan. 26, 2021, 10:39 p.m. No.12728114 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Pay for you cunts

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 26, 2021, 11:12 p.m. No.12728253 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2597

Ghislaine Maxwell asks for case to be dismissed because jurors weren’t diverse enough

Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been charged with recruiting teenaged girls for sex, has asked a judge to dismiss her case because the pool of jurors who indicted her was not diverse enough.

Lawyers representing British socialite argued there weren’t enough black and Hispanic jurors included in the pool.

Ms Maxwell, 59, is charged with recruiting and grooming three teenage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein between 1994 and 1997, and partaking in some of the abuse herself.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, prosecutors opted to use a grand jury empaneled in White Plains to indict Maxwell, instead of jurors from New York City, Ms Maxwells lawyers said in court papers.

“In doing so, the government procured Ms. Maxwell’s indictment using a grand jury pool that excluded residents of the community in which Ms. Maxwell allegedly committed the offences with which she is charged, and in which she will be tried, in favour of a grand jury drawn from a community in which Black and Hispanic residents are significantly under-represented by comparison,” the filing said.

“The fact that Ms Maxwell herself is neither Black nor Hispanic does not deprive of her of standing to raise this challenge,” the lawyers added. They argued that the US constitution “entitles every defendant to object to a [pool] that is not designed to represent a fair cross section of the community, whether or not the systematically excluded groups are groups to which he himself belongs”.

The lawyers also claimed Ms Maxwell was protected by a non-prosecution deal convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein reached with federal prosecutors in 2007.

The terms of that agreement sought to protect Epstein and his closest associates, but Ms Maxwell was not identified by name in the document which was signed as Mr Epstein agreed to plead guilty to state charges in 2008.

The arguments are among a dozen motions Ms Maxwell’s lawyers filed on Monday seeking to dismiss or reduce the federal charges she faces.

Epstein’s lawyers planned to use the non-prosecution agreement in his defence against federal charges filed against him in 2019, before he took his life in his Manhattan jail cell a month after his arrest.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/ghislaine-maxwell-asks-for-case-to-be-dismissed-because-jurors-werent-diverse-enough/news-story/a149fa1d1b39671d9bfb75d3ebeac911

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.126.0.pdf

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 26, 2021, 11:19 p.m. No.12728282 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2542

Cambodian children abused by paedophile Geoffrey Moyle could receive compensation

An Adelaide court is considering whether it can order a paedophile to compensate his abuse survivors in South-East Asia, with the judge suggesting the payments would be an Australian first.

Geoffrey William Moyle, 47, has pleaded guilty to 11 offences, including nine counts relating to the sexual abuse of children in Cambodia between 2002 and 2005.

The court heard the children were "forced to be in brothels".

Moyle is awaiting sentencing in the South Australian District Court, which heard that the Cambodian survivors were seeking compensation from their abuser.

But Judge Paul Cuthbertson said he needed to further examine the law, and the intention of Parliament when laws allowing compensation to be ordered during criminal proceedings were enacted.

He said ordering compensation be sent overseas would likely be an Australian first.

"There haven't been any cases in Australia, so everyone is coming out of this fresh, and there are a number of issues that I'm wondering about," he said.

"I'm not saying there isn't an answer to it somewhere, but I'm not aware of it."

The court was told the Director of Public Prosecutions would not be asking Judge Cuthbertson to order the survivors be granted compensation because they could launch civil action against their predator.

But Judge Cuthbertson questioned how a poor child from Cambodia would do that.

"It would be a big thing for a poor individual in Cambodia to run a civil case in Australia," he said.

He added that if he did make an order for compensation, he was unsure how much to award them given $5,000, for example, could be a "fortune" in Cambodia.

Jonathan Wells QC, who is representing one of the survivors for free, told the court that the reason compensation was being sought was because Moyle had assets, including a house in Adelaide.

He asked Judge Cuthbertson to "freeze" those assets until the issue of compensation had been sorted out.

"It ensures there's not any steps taken to reduce any equity in that property," he said.

Mr Wells also told the court that his client wanted Moyle to be physically present in court when her impact statement was read to the court.

Moyle has sore back, lawyer claims

State laws allow a victim to request their perpetrator attend court to hear their statement, rather than appear via video-link from jail.

But Heath Barklay QC, for Moyle, told the court that his client had a sore back and could not travel from Mount Gambier Prison to Adelaide to attend court in March.

Judge Cuthbertson has requested a report from prison authorities to determine if Moyle can travel in a car, rather than a prison van.

In his online profile, which has since been deleted, Moyle stated he worked in Cambodia for a decade as the South-East Asia director of an international engineering consultancy company.

It stated he was "retained" by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) as a "specialist" under its Aid Advisory Panel.

But DFAT said he had never worked for the department.

Moyle's case will be back before the court tomorrow for argument about whether his assets should be frozen.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-27/victims-of-paedophile-geoffrey-moyle-could-be-compensated/13094642

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 26, 2021, 11:35 p.m. No.12728346 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8349 >>2431

Opinion: What Australia needs from the new Biden administration

Alexander Downer - Jan 26, 2021

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The greatest diplomats have three qualities. First, they understand their own country’s priorities and interests and the moods of their own people. Secondly, they have the intellectual capacity to grasp the history and the zeitgeist of the country to which they’re accredited. And thirdly, through a combination of intellectual prowess and networking, they are able to exercise influence over the government to which they are accredited.

So now we have a new administration coming in to office in Washington. From our chief diplomat – the foreign minister – down, Australia needs to start exercising these qualities and fast.

First and foremost, I’m sure the embassy in Washington, led by the ambassador, is furnishing Canberra with a large amount of information on the likely positions of the Biden administration on issues of significance to Australia. If precedence is any guide, the embassy will be flooding Canberra with cables based on conversations with incoming members of the administration and people who know them well. That is good information to have.

But DFAT and other key departments should be doing much more than that. They should be formulating a strategy document designed to brief ministers and our diplomats in Washington on how to steer the Biden administration in the direction we want, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

Being the foreign minister is no easy job. You can’t just legislate to make things happen. Frequently, you have to use every imaginable legitimate and legal means to try to influence other countries. At this time, our foreign minister and other ministers have to influence the incoming Biden administration, not just wait to hear what they plan to do.

There are three very simple geopolitical initiatives we should be pressing on the Biden team. First, we should make it clear to them that peace in the Indo-Pacific region must be underwritten by a balance of power. That means not just a continuing United States presence in the region but that the United States needs to work with and treasure its allies. Just calling a country an ally is not enough. The Americans need to consult and listen to the advice that, in particular, we and the Japanese may give them.

Part of the commitment by the Americans to their allies must include a continuation of the Quad arrangement with Australia, Japan and India. There must be a commitment to continue to work with those countries on issues as diverse as military training and cyber security.

The big point is, if stability is to be achieved in an environment where China is not just getting stronger but has become arrogant and aggressive, the Americans need to remain strategically oriented towards the Indo-Pacific region and collaboration with their allies.

Secondly, the new administration should be told by Australia that for the Indo-Pacific region to thrive there must be an agreed framework for all countries in the region to collaborate. That framework needs to be underwritten by both the rule of international law and by the institutions of the region. In particular, institutions like APEC, the East Asia summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum all help to provide a diplomatic grid within which the region’s nations are able to work together.

The United States has to show real commitment to these institutions. The President must attend the East Asia summit and the APEC summit, and the secretary of state needs to participate in the ASEAN Regional Forum. These critical institutions cannot be left to their deputies.

(continued)

>>12728346

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Thirdly, the Australian government needs to tell the new administration it needs to recognise the importance of engaging more productively in the economic architecture of the region. In particular, the Americans need to understand the importance, economically and geopolitically, of joining the comprehensive and progressive trans-Pacific partnership – the CPTPP.

For the Americans, being in the CPTPP would be a very clear demonstration of the geopolitical commitment to the region on a lasting basis. But it would also have a more short-term transactional advantage. It would facilitate countries in the region reducing their dependency on supply chains from China. They will start to build alternative supply chains among themselves which will make them less vulnerable to economic bullying by China.

Beyond this geopolitical vision, there are plenty of significant issues which reinforce that vision where Australia can collaborate with the Biden administration. Conversations with them about growing Chinese influence in the South Pacific, about how to encourage infrastructure investment from the US, Australia, Japan and other Western allies in south-east Asia and, above all, conversations about COVID-19 and the distribution of vaccines would all be invaluable.

We could be putting specific initiatives to the Americans, for example on the distribution of vaccines into south-east Asia using the American, Australian and perhaps Japanese aid budgets.

From my experience, the most effective way of exercising geopolitical influence in East Asia and the South Pacific is to demonstrate the value of Australia as a partner. That means helping with security, including cyber security, helping with health challenges, helping with disaster relief, and so the list goes on. The more useful we are, the more our neighbours will embrace and engage us.

There is, though, a tough message for the Americans. Lectures won’t work. They have to demonstrate in practical ways the value they bring to the region.

I’d be frank with the Biden administration. America has lost its glamour as a beacon of freedom and democracy. On the one hand there have been the controversies and verbal ineptitude of the Trump years, on the other there is the obsession among the Democrats with concepts like identity politics and affirmative action. Critical theory isn’t a vision of freedom and democracy which inspires the world. So the Americans will just have to learn to be more practical rather than inspirational.

So there it is. DFAT has to be more than about transactional business and internal management issues. The portfolio needs to try to persuade the new administration to embrace Australia’s geopolitical vision for the Indo-Pacific region. That’s a challenge.

Alexander Downer was Australia's longest serving foreign minister, from 1996 to 2007, and most recently Australian High Commissioner to the UK.

https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/what-australia-needs-from-the-new-biden-administration-20210121-p56vyj

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 26, 2021, 11:43 p.m. No.12728366 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2475

Bernard Collaery: East Timor spy trial delayed after government refused to let barrister Bret Walker SC join defence team

Bret Walker will represent whistleblower lawyer Bernard Collaery in the East Timor bugging case, despite ‘resistance’ from the government

Government bureaucrats tried to “resist” top barrister, Bret Walker SC, from getting involved in the case of whistleblower Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery, a court has heard.

Collaery, a Canberra barrister and former politician, will likely face trial on espionage charges late this year or early next year, accused of divulging information to the ABC about a team of Australian spies bugging East Timorese government offices during high-stakes negotiations over lucrative oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea.

The trial has so far been delayed by a so-called “war” between Collaery and the government over whether the trial should be held in open court.

Collaery’s lawyers have unsuccessfully argued that the public and media should be allowed to attend the trial, and are appealing a decision which will see it heard in closed court under national security laws.

The ACT Court of Appeal on Wednesday heard Mr Walker — often described as Australia’s best barrister — bumped into Collaery before Christmas and volunteered to lead the appeal, but lawyers for Commonwealth Attorney-General Christian Porter refused to sign off on him joining the high-powered legal team.

Attorney-General Department bureaucrats have the power to vet defence lawyers working on national security cases because they have access to top secret evidence.

Justice John Burns said on Wednesday: “What really concerns me is the delay in approving Mr Walker as being a member of the defence.

“There seems to be no excuse or explanation.”

Government lawyer Tim Begbie said Collaery already had a strong legal team, including at least four top barristers, and that the appeal hearing would be delayed if Mr Walker joined the team.

Mr Begbie described Collaery’s case on appeal as a “coverall shotgun style appeal” and “not a scalpel”.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions’s barrister, Chris Tran, said his client didn’t want the case delayed any longer and that the appeal was only about whether the trial would take place behind closed doors.

Ken Archer, one of Collaery’s barristers told the court Mr Walker has unmatched expertise in national security laws, having previously been the independent monitor for national security legislation.

“His involvement should be welcomed by the Commonwealth,” he said.

Justice Burns said the appeal “possibly goes to something which is more significant than the charges itself, that is, whether justice is seen to be done by the public”.

The appeal is set to be heard later this year, likely in April.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/canberra-star/bernard-collaery-east-timor-spy-trial-delayed-after-government-refused-to-let-barrister-bret-walker-sc-join-defence-team/news-story/4bec8ed3d457ed2b9b68815e8a26c2b4

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 26, 2021, 11:54 p.m. No.12728411 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8416 >>2587

Morrison should learn from past for China reset

Global Times - Jan 26, 2021

1/2

Amid strained China-Australia relations, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday he is ready and willing to meet with the top Chinese leader, but only if there are no preconditions to holding the talks. Previously, Dan Tehan, Australia's new trade minister extended an olive branch to his Chinese counterpart, saying he wants "very constructive engagement" with Beijing in a bid to repair worsening China-Australia relationship.

The positive signal from those remarks is that Australia hopes to make a new beginning with China in the new year. However, what is important here is not what Australia has said, but what real actions it will take.

China-Australia relations have fallen off a cliff, reaching the rock bottom since official diplomatic relations were formally established in 1972. The bilateral trade and people exchanges have been impacted severely. But over the past year, we have noticed that some Australian senior officials, including the prime minister, send some signals of hope for dialogue. But at the same time they have been taking actions that have continually hampered China-Australia relations.

Canberra is still stressing that Beijing is to blame for the breakdown of China-Australia relations. On the one hand, Morrison said he is open to talks with Beijing, on the other, he emphasized that he refuses to cede any ground over "Chinese grievances" with Australia in return for restarting diplomatic dialogues. However, the fact is Australia is the culprit for the broken bilateral ties.

Australia was the first country to ban Chinese high-tech company Huawei from the 5G rollout using security as an excuse. It followed the US to declare China's South China Sea claims "illegal," and took the lead to call for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19. These hostile actions toward China have won Australia a label as the vanguard for the US' anti-China campaign.

A long-time diplomatic dilemma facing Australia was how to strike a balance between China, its largest trading partner, and the US, its security ally. But now, Australia regards China's rise its biggest diplomatic challenge. Its diplomatic focus has shifted from maintaining a balance between Beijing and Washington to working far more closely with the US to totally contain China.

Australia's domestic conservative politics have exacerbated the country's hostility toward China. Flourishing right-wing conservative forces, growing domestic populism, and white supremacy have given rise to opportunism in Australian politics. For anti-China politicians, hyping up the "China threat" theory easily attracts public attention. Under such an unhealthy atmosphere, Australia's attitude toward China has deteriorated sharply.

(continued)

>>12728411

2/2

The prospects for China-Australia relations are bleak. James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, said the problem for Canberra now is that, "relatively simple, low-cost options for resetting the relationship have passed us by."

I agree with his view. But, given the complementarity between China and Australia and the significance of the bilateral relations to each country, it's never too late to start on resetting the ties.

The ball is in Australia's court. The prerequisite for a reset in China-Australia relations is that Australia can take actual steps to promote improvements, stopping provoking and smearing China over a string of issues that concern China's core interests. Only in this case can there be a possibility for a proper reset in the China-Australia relationship.

Whether or not a reset can be materialized is a big test for the Morrison administration. First of all, it tests the Australian government's ability to make deep reflections. In fact, there have been many debates and discussions in Australia over the past year. What are Australia's national interests? Is the current China policy in line with Australia's national interests? The Morrison administration has to make serious self-introspections on these questions.

Second, it tests the Australian government's ability to correct deviations. If Australia wants to adjust its China policy, it will face great pressure from both Washington and domestic conservative forces. Can it withstand the pressure to promote a turnaround in relations with China based on Australia's national interests?

It's normal that there are differences between China and Australia. But the point is whether or not the two countries can communicate again in a proper and pragmatic manner to work together and fix the relationship based on common interests.

Morrison on Monday also said he had consulted former prime ministers John Howard and Kevin Rudd on Australia's strained relationship with China, and he is always "open to those who are experienced in these areas." Howard in December urged Morrison to repair relations with China while Rudd in September criticized the Morrison government's "rolling crises" with Beijing. During their tenures, China-Australia relations also witnessed twists and turns, but both of them managed to steer bilateral relations in the right direction because of their pragmatism.

Morrison should learn from his predecessors. He should learn from them how to promote China-Australia relations with a pragmatic attitude, develop bilateral ties based on national interests and mutual respect, and seek common ground while reserving differences.

The article was compiled based on an interview with Guo Chunmei, an expert on Australian studies with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1213961.shtml

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 27, 2021, 9 p.m. No.12739329 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2556

'Conspiracy' claim in Pell contempt case

Karen Sweeney - JANUARY 28 2021

Claims of a "Catholic conspiracy" were partly behind a Melbourne newspaper's decision to publish a story about Cardinal George Pell's child sexual abuse conviction, a court has heard.

The Age newspaper, journalists and editors are facing contempt charges over articles published after Cardinal Pell's now-overturned conviction in December 2018, over alleged breaches of suppression orders.

Australian media were banned from reporting the verdict in the case until February 2019 because Cardinal Pell, who has since returned to Rome, was due to face a second trial.

The Age's then-editor Alex Lavelle, who left the job last year, was called to give evidence in a contempt trial in Victoria's Supreme Court on Thursday.

He defended his decision to publish a story which did not name Cardinal Pell, but made references to the court order prohibiting publication of a story about a "high profile" Australian who had been convicted of unnamed offences.

Lavelle said the decision was in part sparked by readers contacting the paper and reporters questioning why the story was not being run.

The story was published internationally and gained widespread attention on social media.

Among the suggestions was that The Age was choosing not to publish because it was part of a "Catholic conspiracy" to cover up the conviction, the trial before Justice John Dixon heard.

Lavelle said he originally considered running a story on the day of the verdict, but ultimately decided to wait until the news had broken elsewhere.

"My opinion at the time was the news would be published somewhere or spoken about somewhere or leaked out on social media," he said.

That happened overnight and the story was published on December 12.

"It became apparent that it was worth exploring whether we could prepare a story that wasn't going to break any law - suppression or contempt - that would tell the readers why we weren't able to run this story."

Lavelle told the court in his 25-year career as a journalist he had never faced charges for contempt or breaching a suppression order, and that the had a "very low" appetite for taking those sorts of risks.

Ahead of publication he referred to the story in internal emails as "controversial", a remark which he explained on Thursday.

"This was potentially an unprecedented situation where there was a suppression order in place but it was a feeling that the news of the trial would leak out," he said.

The case, which began in April 2019, is continuing.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7103780/conspiracy-claim-in-pell-contempt-case/

Dassi Erlich Tweet

Leifer has arrived in Melbourne.

https://twitter.com/dassi_erlich/status/1354368033926516736

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 27, 2021, 9:33 p.m. No.12739687 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Malka Leifer lands in Melbourne after extradition from Israel, ahead of court appearance today

Malka Leifer has arrived in Australia after being extradited from Israel.

The former school principal was taken into police custody after being escorted from the plane when it landed in Melbourne, two days after she departed her native Israel on Monday.Ms Leifer will face the Melbourne Magistrates' court today, appearing via WebEx from prison to face more than 70 charges of child sexual abuse after a six-year legal battle to extradite her.

Ms Leifer is accused of sexually abusing three female students at the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick between 2001 and 2008.

In December last year the Supreme Court of Israel signed the extradition order for Ms Leifer to return to Australia when it dismissed her final appeal.

It is understood her return to Melbourne has included stopovers at Hamburg in Germany and Singapore.

She will appear before the Bail and Remand Court in what is expected to be a filing hearing.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/former-school-principal-makes-long-awaited-return-to-melbourne/ed325df8-835b-414d-94be-7781336428a3

Ex-principal Malka Leifer faces court charged with sexually abusing students

1/2

Thirteen years after fleeing Australia over sexual abuse allegations, accused paedophile Malka Leifer stayed silent and still as she appeared before a Melbourne court and her three accusers.

Hours after arriving in Melbourne on Wednesday night following her extradition from Israel, Ms Leifer appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, resting her head on her arms.

The 54-year-old remained still and silent throughout the 15-minute hearing as she appeared via a video link, sitting at a wide table at North Melbourne police station.

Ms Leifer faces 74 charges comprising 11 counts of rape, 47 of indecent assault, three of sexual penetration of a child and 13 of committing an indecent act with a child.

Her lawyer Tony Hargreaves told the court Ms Leifer had “significant mental health issues” that required medication and asked that she be transferred to prison “as quickly as possible” from the police cells so her mental health could be better treated.

Ms Leifer’s only movement during her hearing, other than to walk in and out of the room, was to hunch forward and rest her head on her arms and hands on the table. She wore a patterned jacket, head covering and face mask and did not say a word.

A police officer standing nearby confirmed they could hear what was being said in court.

The former principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick is accused of sexually abusing three of her then students between 2004 and 2008.

Charge sheets allege most of the offences were committed in Elsternwick, but also in Elwood, Frankston and Emerald and the regional towns of Blampied and Rawson.

Sisters Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer, the women who allege they were abused as children by Ms Leifer, were among the 30 people watching Thursday’s hearing via video link.

Ms Leifer has long maintained she is innocent.

She fled to Israel in 2008 when the allegations were first aired, but was extradited this week following the decision of the Supreme Court of Israel, which dismissed her final appearance and ordered she return to Australia to face prosecution.

The legal fight to have her return to Australia lasted six years and included more than 70 court hearings in Israel.

Ms Leifer is to remain in custody until her next court appearance on April 9, which is also expected to be held via a video link. She did not apply for bail on Thursday but could do so in the coming weeks.

(continued)

>>12739702

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Prosecutor Phillip Raimondo said Ms Leifer was charged in 2012. Extradition proceedings began in 2014.

Mr Hargreaves told magistrate Johanna Metcalf that Ms Leifer had “significant mental health issues” that needed medication. He did not detail her mental health issues.

He said a prison would have better facilities to treat Ms Leifer than those available in the police cells.

Mr Hargreaves also said Ms Leifer observed “strict religious beliefs” and asked that arrangements be made for those to be adhered to in prison. It is not yet known when the accused will be transferred to a women’s prison.

All new prisoners in Victorian jails must spend 14 days in quarantine to safeguard against the coronavirus infiltrating the state’s prison system.

The flight Ms Leifer boarded in Israel was one of the last to leave the country before airports closed due to coronavirus restrictions.

Ms Erlich, Ms Sapper and Ms Meyer were heavily involved in the push to have Ms Leifer returned to Melbourne but have not commented on her extradition, other than short statements made by Ms Erlich on Twitter, which said Ms Leifer was on her way back to Australia and had then arrived in Melbourne.

Asked about the case on Thursday morning, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews – who raised the matter with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Israel in 2017 – said his thoughts were with the alleged victims.

“This is a matter that will very soon be before the Victorian courts and I don’t want to say or do anything that might compromise justice being done,” Mr Andrews said during a press conference.

“My thoughts are with Dassi Erlich and her sisters. They have shown a dignity and courage that is quite amazing. I sent them a message of best wishes this morning and my thoughts are with them today,” he said.

“We all need to be very careful not to say anything that might call into question that process that is now very much on foot.”

Asked about any custody management issues due to Ms Leifer’s extradition from Israel, Mr Andrews said: “I’d have confidence [Corrections Victoria] would put in a very good system to make sure that any person who was being extradited here was not a risk to public health.”

He said he would not comment on a report in The Age that a government-funded chaplaincy organisation would offer religious services to Ms Leifer in custody.

“I’m very, very focused on not saying anything that will jeopardise justice being done,” he said. “A fair process needs to be run.”

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/ex-principal-malka-leifer-faces-court-charged-with-sexually-abusing-students-20210128-p56xev.html

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 27, 2021, 9:38 p.m. No.12739732 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

Adass defends response to Leifer fallout

Adass Israel School has defended its response to allegations made against former principal Malka Leifer, now charged with child sexual abuse.

Leifer faced Melbourne Magistrates Court via video link on Thursday after landing back on Australian soil 13 years on from allegedly fleeing to Israel.

She did not apply for bail and is due to face court again, also via video link, on April 9 for a committal mention. She has previously denied all allegations.

Leifer, escorted by Victoria Police, completed the final leg of her extradition from Israel on Wednesday night.

She touched down at Melbourne airport aboard a commercial flight from Singapore at 8.44pm and was taken into 14-day quarantine.

Adass principal and chief executive officer Aaron Strasser defended the school's response to allegations originally made against Leifer in 2008 in a staff letter this week, seen by AAP.

Mr Strasser said Adass reached out to former students in Australia, Israel and the US and organised an evening in each locale with a mental health professional.

He also recognised Leifer's presence in Australia "may evoke a range of reactions" for the school community, with further support being offered to former students and parents.

"We want to assure you that Adass Israel School fully supports the legal process in place and will do all that is requested by authorities to assist in the processing of this case," Mr Strasser said in the letter.

Adass president Benjamin Koppel said student safety and wellbeing was the school's highest priority and responsibility.

"We have zero tolerance for abuse of any kind," Mr Koppel said in a statement to AAP on Thursday.

"While this case is currently before the courts, we are unable to comment specifically on the allegations or the details of the case at hand."

Wednesday's flight was the final leg of Leifer's extradition, long-awaited by Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper, who filed police reports in 2011 after she allegedly abused them.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday said the three sisters and former Adass students had shown a "dignity and courage" that was "quite amazing".

He said he had sent a text of best wishes to the sisters on Thursday morning.

Mr Andrews also said he was confident Corrections Victoria had a system in place to ensure Leifer does not pose a public health risk.

Australia's Attorney-General Christian Porter noted Leifer's arrival marked the end of a long and complicated legal battle.

It began with her boarding a Frankfurt-bound plane at Tel Aviv on Monday, just hours before the closure of Israel's airports due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pictures published by local media showed Leifer about to board the flight wearing handcuffs and legcuffs.

Israel's Supreme Court approved her extradition order in December and Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn approved the order the following day.

Leifer's final failed appeal followed 74 hearings in Israeli courts, which were drawn out on the basis of her claims of mental illness.

After fleeing Australia in 2008, she was first arrested in Israel in 2014 only to be freed from house arrest on the condition she undertook psychiatric assessments.

An independent undercover investigation proved Leifer was feigning mental illness and she was re-arrested in 2018.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7102971/adass-defends-response-to-leifer-fallout/

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 28, 2021, 10:13 p.m. No.12752398 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2412 >>2597

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell Forced Young Girls Into an Orgy: Court Records

A witness “watched Maxwell direct a room full of underage girls to kiss, dance, and touch one another in a sexual way for [her] and Epstein to watch,” newly unsealed documents say.

Katie Baker and Allison Quinn - Jan. 28, 2021

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Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell forced young girls into an orgy while she and Epstein watched, according to newly unsealed documents that detail how the British socialite allegedly recruited underage girls to provide sexual favors for the pedophile financier.

A witness to the depraved activity “testified that he watched Maxwell direct a room full of underage girls to kiss, dance, and touch one another in a sexual way for [her] and Epstein to watch,” the records state. The same unnamed man “was in tears as he recounted [Maxwell] bringing a 15-year-old girl to his employer’s home who, in utmost distress, told him that [Maxwell] stole the young girl’s passport and tried to make her have sex with Epstein and then threatened her.”

The disturbing allegations emerged in thousands of court documents that were unsealed in a lawsuit against Maxwell by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who says the duo loaned her out for sex with powerful men, including Britain’s Prince Andrew. (Maxwell and Andrew have denied her claims. Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 after being charged with crimes related to the sex trafficking of minors.) The lawsuit was settled in 2017, and a court has since ordered the release of many of the documents under seal, despite Maxwell’s protestations.

The British heiress was nabbed by the FBI in July 2020 while laying low at a swanky New Hampshire hidey-hole and is awaiting trial for having allegedly facilitated Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring.

The unsealed documents paint a portrait of Maxwell at the center of Epstein’s web of abuse. A second witness testified that Maxwell had “recruited her from her school campus to have sex with Epstein with lies about being her personal assistant.” Another testified that Maxwell would “call him and ask him to bring over young girls that she would provide to Epstein.” And two other witnesses—who were subpoenaed by Maxwell for her own defense—ended up giving testimony to support Giuffre, with one stating “he witnessed [Maxwell] escort young girls he brought over to Epstein’s home to Epstein for sex acts and… that [Maxwell] called him on the phone, asking him to bring over girls to Epstein’s home.”

Lawyers for Giuffre insisted this testimony was a smoking gun pointing to Maxwell’s central role in Epstein’s underage sex ring. “It is not just the flight logs showing Defendant flying with Epstein and Ms. Giuffre over twenty times when she was a minor; it is not just the message pads from law enforcement's trash pulls that show Defendant arranging to have an underage girl come over to Epstein's house for “training,” it is not just the police report; it is not just the photographs of [Maxwell] and other men with Ms. Giuffre when she was a minor,” Giuffre’s team wrote. “Now, there is actual, live testimonial evidence that [Maxwell] was a procurer of young girls for sex with Jeffrey Epstein, with whom she shared a home and a life, thus validating Ms. Giuffre’s claims.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 28, 2021, 10:15 p.m. No.12752412 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2430

>>12752398

2/3

Giuffre has long claimed that Maxwell was central to her introduction to Epstein and other powerful men in his orbit. Maxwell allegedly recruited her to give “massages” to the financier while Giuffre was working at Mar-a-Lago, and a photo of Giuffre with Prince Andrew—the royal grinning as he cradled the girl’s waist—also showed Maxwell smiling in the background. (Maxwell, whose father was a British publishing magnate, knew Andrew socially and introduced Epstein to her glittering circle of elite connections when they started dating in the early 1990s.)

“Ghislaine Maxwell brought me into the sex trafficking industry,” Giuffre asserted during her deposition in the lawsuit. “She’s the one who abused me on a regular basis. She’s the one that procured me, told me what to do, trained me as a sex slave, abused me physically, abused me mentally. She’s the one who I believe, in my heart of hearts, deserves to come forward and have justice happen to her more than anybody. Being a woman, it’s disgusting.”

Giuffre also testified that she had begged an FBI agent to return to her any photos or video recordings of her that the agency had collected in its investigation of Epstein in the late 2000s—emailing the agent to ask him to “assist our case further in [proving] how much pedophilia occurred by Jeffrey and the many other monsters he obliged with underage girls.”

After Giuffre’s bombshell allegations about Prince Andrew first appeared in the press, she says Maxwell launched a smear campaign against her. In a motion for a protective order to keep police reports disseminated by Maxwell confidential, Giuffre claimed that Maxwell “somehow came into possession of police reports depicting the crime of rape [by other, non-related attackers] committed against Ms. Giuffre when she was fourteen years old.” Giuffre claims Maxwell attempted “to twist and contort the facts in these police reports to tell the public that Ms. Giuffre ‘cried rape’ as a fourteen-year-old.” Giuffre asserted that she never went to police about that rape and that “instead, the police came to her based on their investigation and the accounts of third-parties.” Maxwell “is trying to further wound Ms. Giuffre, simply because the sexual crimes committed against her as a child,” the documents state.

The filing includes a screenshot of an email sent to Maxwell in 2015, from a sender whose name is redacted. The email, with the subject line “VR cried rape,” contains the very brief message: “Some helpful leakage…” The filing goes on to accuse both Maxwell and Epstein’s lawyer Alan Dershowitz of “planning another media blitz in an attempt to discredit and defame Ms. Giuffre” and says Maxwell was “teaming up” with Dershowitz in a “frantic attempt” to discredit Giuffre and “humiliate her family.” (Giuffre has also accused Dershowitz of sexually abusing her; he has denied the claims.)

Indeed, in other court records, Maxwell went out of her way to slam Giuffre as “a liar, a person who falsifies claims of sexual assault, and a sexually permissive woman… [with] substantial mental and medical conditions.”

(continued)

>>12752412

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Maxwell denied that she had ever hired underage girls for massages for Epstein, claiming in her own deposition that she “on occasion met with adult, professional women and men who were employed at high-end spas or resorts and asked whether they made home visits for the purpose of massages.” She testified that she did not recall “the names of those persons who ended up making professional, adult home visit massages that occurred between the years 2000 and 2002… Ms. Maxwell has contacted a number of professional masseuses from spas in various locations, including New York, Palm Beach, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to provide professional, adult massages to be given to Jeffrey Epstein.”

The socialite also claimed that she had never “to her knowledge” recruited, hired, or obtained any female “who was not at the time a certified or licensed massage therapist for the purpose of having that female perform a massage on Jeffrey Epstein,” nor recruited or obtained “girls to meet with, or show themselves, to Jeffrey Epstein because he was in some way associated with Victoria’s Secret.”

Epstein’s main client as a financial adviser was Leslie Wexner, mogul of the parent company that owned Victoria’s Secret, and Epstein’s victims have claimed he promised them high-profile modeling gigs as he groomed them for abuse.

The modeling agency also cropped up in testimony from retired Palm Beach detective Joseph Recarey, who was one of the earliest officials to pursue the case against Epstein. In his deposition, Recarey noted that he’d interviewed some 30-33 girls recruited to give massages at Epstein’s Florida mansion, the majority of whom were under 18.

“Each of the victims that went to the home were asked to bring their friends to the home,” Recarey testified. “Some complied and some didn’t.” He added that Epstein’s assistants would call and arrange for the girls to come over to give the massages. When asked to confirm that Epstein was running a scheme by using his assistants to recruit girls under the pretense of giving a massage, Recarey replied, “Correct. Either a [massage] and/or become a model for Victoria’s Secrets and/or connections.”

“Did you ever trace all the way up to the highest level to determine who was it that started this particular chain of Palm Beach girls coming over to Jeffrey Epstein’s home?” Giuffre’s lawyer asked the detective. “I did not,” he replied.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-and-ghislaine-maxwell-forced-young-girls-into-an-orgy-court-records-say

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/giuffre-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1201.22_1.pdf

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1198.3_3.pdf

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1198.7.pdf

>>12714605

He is going down with all his mates!!

>>12712187

Another one for an Orange Jump Suit

>>12560099

If it is hard for you to answer, you are part of the problem. Your on the bus as well. Do you look good in Orange?

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 29, 2021, 2:32 p.m. No.12759610 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2492

We won’t bail out sex case principal Malka Leifer: Adass community

One of the most senior figures in Melbourne’s Adass community has denied funding the legal defence of accused pedophile Malka Leifer, as calls mount for the ultra-Orthodox school to explain its role in her escape from Australia 13 years ago.

President of the Adass Israel Congregation and Adass Israel school board member Benjamin Koppel told The Weekend Australian on Friday that the ultra-orthodox community was “definitely not” paying the former principal’s legal fees.

“Never had, never will,” he said.

Ms Leifer faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, charged with more than 70 counts of sexual abuse, 11 of them rape. She did not apply for bail.

The former Adass principal is represented by high-price defence barrister Tony Hargreaves, who did not return The Weekend Australian’s calls on Friday.

Her arrival in Australia on Wednesday night represented a win for her accusers — sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper — who fought a decade-long battle for her to be extradited from Israel.

Abuse survivor advocate Manny Waks said the reality of the extradition had taken days to sink in but the Adass Israel School still had questions to answer over its role in Ms Leifer’s late-night escape from Australia in 2008.

“There is also the Adass Israel leadership, who have steadfastly refused to publicly apologise for their part, for their role in facilitating Malka Leifer’s escape from justice,” he said from Israel.

“If they had done the right thing and gone to the police when the allegations surfaced in 2008, we would not be where we are today.

“Those sisters would not have had to be re-traumatised by going through an entire extradition process.”

The 54-year-old principal fled Melbourne with four of her eight children hours after a crisis meeting of school board representatives agreed to pay her airfare to Israel knowing of complaints that she had sexually abused nine girls. The allegations were not reported to police.

Victorian Supreme Court judge Jack Rush found in a scathing 2015 civil trial judgment that the Adass Israel School board had sought to cover up her alleged wrongdoing, finding its conduct demonstrated “a complete disregard” for Ms Leifer’s alleged victims and a “disdain for due process of criminal investigation”.

A spokesman for Adass declined to comment as the matter was before the courts, referring to a previous statement that said they were fully supportive of the legal processes in place.

Mount Scopus Memorial College rabbi James Kennard has long supported the sisters and said he believed questions lingered over Ms Leifer’s exit from Australia.

“I think there are questions that must be answered around how and why she was allowed to leave in the way that she left and, yes, there are questions the school must answer,” he said.

Ms Leifer fought against returning to Australian after the government applied for her extradition in 2014. She was declared mentally unfit to face trial in 2016 but was captured on video by private investigators living a normal life in 2017.

Ms Leifer will appear via video link at Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 9 for a committal mention, where she is expected to enter a plea.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/we-wont-bail-out-sex-case-principal-malka-leifer-adass-community/news-story/6dd3795083363ef9a835c01ed423b816

Afghan henchman ‘used ADF troops’, says Dutch journalist

AMANDA HODGE - JANUARY 29, 2021

The Australian military’s heavy reliance for its intelligence in Afghanistan on a notorious strongman led to “unnecessary killings” that should be scrutinised in a broader review that goes beyond the scope of the Brereton inquiry, a former Afghanistan-based investigative journalist says.

Dutch academic Bette Dam, a veteran Afghan war correspondent and author, says while the Brereton report last November focused on the actions of “rogue special forces soldiers”, the Australian Defence Force went into Oruzgan not understanding the complex tribal rivalries that led some leaders to denounce others as Taliban.

“By elevating strongmen with vested interests, their intelligence was compromised from the start,” she writes in The Weekend Australian. “They (ADF) allowed themselves to be used by local allies, who competed with each other for Western military resources to empower themselves as tribal leaders. Some then used those resources to target their rivals.”

The man responsible for much of the false intelligence was Matiullah Khan, Oruzgan’s police commander and a local strongman who — thanks to international intervention — became a powerful and wealthy political player.

“Anyone not with him was an enemy, and he labelled all his enemies Taliban,” Ms Dam says of the former strongman who was assassinated 15 months after Australian troops pulled out of Oruzgan in December 2013.

“This dangerous man — notorious for having tied a man with rope to the back of a car and dragging him around until he died — was ingrained in local deals and local rivalries.

‘‘He was the nephew and henchman of the former governor. And he was Australia’s main ally in Oruzgan.”

Despite his notoriety, Khan is not mentioned in the Brereton report, which probed alleged war crimes by the Special Air Service, specifically the murders of 39 non-combatants in Afghanistan whose deaths were filed under “Taliban” in field reports.

Yet he was considered a key ally of the ADF during its time in Oruzgan, as his dead uncle and former Oruzgan governor Jan Mohammad had been of American forces.

Ms Dam, who teaches at the prestigious Sciences Po in Paris, says, both men routinely directed Australian and US forces against their rivals — not the Taliban but tribesmen from Barakzai and Achekzai, Hotak and Tokhi.

“Today, those leaders are Taliban and their areas are Taliban strongholds,” she says.

Australian soldiers were not the only ones accused of failing to verify intelligence received from local sources in Afghanistan before acting on it with often deadly force.

In May 2009, Australian-born lawyer and UN special rapporteur Philip Alston wrote that international troops were frequently failing to crosscheck information, and that he had been told by many Afghan government officials that false tips had often led to the killing of innocent civilians in targeted night raids.

Counter-intelligence was not listened to, as Justice Paul Brereton also noted in his report. Afghans who complained were discharged as unreliable.

“Most Australian soldiers, no doubt, believed they were killing diehard Taliban”, and not tribesmen who had been antagonised by the sitting Afghan government and the US,’’ Ms Dam says.

She admits the media was also often blinded by the “master narrative” of the war on terror.

She cites mass reporting of the “first Taliban attack on a UN convoy” in 2007, which turned out to be a false-flag attack organised by a local ally, Asadullah Khalid, to prevent the destruction of his poppy fields.

Khalid is now Afghanistan’s Defence Minister.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/afghan-henchman-used-adf-troops-says-dutch-journalist/news-story/dc752c0becc00b5b397cd3bc4d775285

>>12759698

How flawed information created a ‘Taliban’ threat

BETTE DAM - JANUARY 30, 2021

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When is a Taliban not a Taliban? In Oruzgan, where Australian troops served from 2006 to 2013, it was when false intelligence led to avoidable killings.

Australia is investigating alleged war crimes by the Special Air Service, specifically the murders of 39 clear non-combatants in Afghanistan whose deaths were filed under “Taliban” in field reports that too often went unchecked.

The crimes the Brereton inquiry discovered deserve the full glare of legal scrutiny. But a broader review of Australian operations is also warranted because the Australian Defence Force’s reliance on dubious intelligence sources in Oruzgan led to unnecessary killings too.

The Australians were often informed by local allies with vested interests. Counter-intelligence was not listened to, as Justice Paul Brereton also noted in his report. Afghans who complained were discharged as unreliable.

The man responsible for much of this false intelligence was Matiullah Khan, Oruzgan’s police commander and a local strongman who — thanks to international intervention — became a powerful and wealthy political player.

Anyone not with him was an enemy, and he labelled all his enemies Taliban.

This dangerous man — notorious for having tied a man with rope to the back of a car and dragging him around until he died — was ingrained in local deals and local rivalries. He was the nephew and henchman of the former governor.

And he was Australia’s main ally in Oruzgan.

Brereton doesn’t mention this cruel right arm of the special forces in his report, but to understand where the ADF mission veered from the on-the-ground realities in what became Australia’s longest war, it helps to put his role in the larger context of the war.

The US special forces were the first to arrive in Oruzgan after 9/11 and they backed the local governor, Matiullah’s uncle Jan Mohammad Khan, who used his time in power to install allies from his Popalzai tribe in positions across the province’s 10 districts.

The US assumed, since it was paying for these men’s loyalty, that they shared the same ideology: to kill the terrorists or Taliban.

But was that so?

Australian diplomat Fred Smith, who spent several years working in Oruzgan, wrote in his book The Dust of Oruzgan of a conversation with two so-called local “Taliban” who explained to him that “there was no Taliban in the area in 2002”.

In those early years “everyone wanted to join the government”, one of the men recounted. “We even gave up our weapons. But then the government turned people into Taliban. In the second year of Jan Mohammad Khan, my nephew was killed by a police commander.”

That didn’t only happen in Oruzgan. It is still not widely understood that in the first years after 9/11 most of the Afghan Taliban — including their leadership — had left the battlefield and were looking to surrender.

This potential end to the war was ignored by the US, which viewed al-Qa’ida and the Taliban as similar threats, and the storyline was soon dropped by the media. Instead of using diplomacy to set-up an inclusive government, the US and its allies sent troops.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: b3409a Jan. 29, 2021, 2:48 p.m. No.12759719 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9738

>>12759711

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But who did the international troops fight if there was no Taliban?

The US government, and later, the Australians were ill-prepared for the reality behind the “War on Terror”, or the ulterior motives of some they chose to work with, for whom helping coalition forces came a poor second to tribal and sub-tribal affiliations.

They allowed themselves to be used by local allies, who competed with each other for Western military resources to empower themselves as tribal leaders. Some then used those resources to target their rivals.

America’s chief ally in Oruzgan, Jan Mohammad, directed US forces against his rivals — not the Taliban but tribesmen mostly from Barakzai and Achekzai, Hotak and Tokhi. Australia’s ally, Matiullah, did the same thing.

Today, those leaders are now Taliban and their areas are Taliban strongholds.

Deedee Derksen, a former journalist and now consultant for the US Institute for Peace who reported widely from Oruzgan as a journalist and later as a PhD candidate, described the coalition-backed Oruzgan government as “exclusive, predatory and operating with impunity thanks to the support of foreign forces”. Like Smith, Derksen said its actions drove much of the local support for the expanding insurgency in the province after 2004.

The Taliban that eventually re-emerged in Oruzgan weren’t diehard anti-Westerners but locals with tribal grievances who shifted loyalties to latent Taliban commanders to avenge the antagonisms of the provincial strongmen.

When Australian troops arrived in Oruzgan in 2006 with a mission to build security by fighting the Taliban, what the Australian government didn’t say was that they were stepping into the outcome of a neglected local peace effort that had descended into revenge attacks and blood killings.

Most Australian soldiers, no doubt, believed they were killing diehard Taliban that had been antagonised by the sitting Afghan government and the US. One example was that of an Australian commando-led operation in Sorgh Morghab in 2009. Six members of an extended family — including five children — were killed because Australian intelligence was flawed. The wrong man in the wrong house and wrong village was targeted.

One of the only survivors of the Sorgh Morghab incident — Shapiro — told me her husband raised his gun in self-defence and shot at what he believed was a gang of rivals. The SAS soldiers were sure they were being shot at by Taliban so responded with grenades, killing the man.

How many other Afghans died in similar circumstances, whose deaths were filed under Taliban?

This case did not make it into the Brereton report that focused on the killing of non-combatants, a clear war crime. But not checking the intelligence as an intervening country is a grave mistake.

In May 2009, UN special rapporteur Philip Alston, an Australian-born lawyer, wrote that international troops were frequently failing to cross-check information, and that he had been told by numerous Afghan government officials that false tips had often led to the killing of innocent civilians in targeted night raids.

(continued)

>>12759719

3/3

In 2010, US Major-General Michael Flynn, then NATO’s top military intelligence officer in Afghanistan, said allied intelligence officers were operating in an information vacuum, were ignorant of local dynamics and were “unable to answer fundamental questions about the environment in which US and allied forces operate’’.

But those warnings were soft voices in the loud international war against the terrorists.

Once Matiullah became police chief, allegations of people being killed or tortured in the custody of Afghan National Police and Afghan Local Police commanders (Matiullah’s men) were numerous.

On one civilian flight from Tarin Kowt, a coalition forces translator showed me pictures on his phone of one dead body after another. They were taken after fights conducted by Australian and American soldiers with Matiullah’s men.

I asked him about rumours of a mass grave in Shah Wali Kot that occurred in roughly the same area as the famous Battle of Tizak fought by Australians and Matiullah’s men. “How do you know? I can’t talk about Shah Wali Kowt,” he responded nervously. He was amazed I had heard of it. In such remote locations it was relatively easy to keep operations quiet.

When I asked Matiullah about the massacre, he admitted at least 40 boys and men were buried there. “Taliban, man, those guys were all Taliban!” he said.

Australia was hardly the only force to make such mistakes in Afghanistan. In 2002, the US tortured to death taxi driver Delawar after a local ally falsely reported him as Taliban to shift responsibility for an attack the ally had himself organised.

The media also was trapped in the master narrative of a “war against the Taliban”. News organisations reported the “first Taliban attack on a UN convoy” in 2007, only for it to emerge later that the attack was a false flag organised by a local ally, Asadullah Khalid, to prevent the destruction of his poppy fields, but framed as a Taliban strike. Khalid is now Afghanistan’s Defence Minister.

Australian forces went into Oruzgan not fully understanding this situation. By elevating strongmen with vested interests, their intelligence was compromised from the start.

To avoid similar mistakes in the future, a broader review should occur that goes beyond the acts of rogue special forces soldiers to the root of the mission they were sent to achieve.

I would be happy to assist, and I know dozens of Afghans and foreign experts who were active in the field and are ready to set the history record straight. It would be good for future wars if someone would try.

With Amanda Hodge

Bette Dam is a former Afghanistan war correspondent and the author of a book on Taliban commander Mullah Omar: In Search of the Enemy, and on former Afghan president and Oruzgan tribal leader Hamid Karzai. She is a PhD candidate at Vrije University in Brussels and a teacher at Sciences Po in Paris.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/how-flawed-information-created-a-taliban-threat/news-story/b31d76e3b613d227917dd3793568d5b0