Welcome To Q Research AUSTRALIA

In anticipation of FISA DECLAS and SPYGATE revelations, a new thread for research and discussion of Australia's role in The Great Awakening.

Previous threads

>>10099681 Q Research AUSTRALIA #9

mirrored @ qanon.news

Q Research AUSTRALIA #8 - https://qanon.news/archives/x/9062489

Q Research AUSTRALIA #7 - https://qanon.news/archives/x/7994433

Q Research AUSTRALIA #6 - https://qanon.news/archives/x/7355098

Q Research AUSTRALIA #5 - https://qanon.news/archives/x/6576586

Q Research AUSTRALIA #4 - https://qanon.news/archives/x/5945347

Q Research AUSTRALIA #3 - https://qanon.news/archives/x/5443913

Q Research AUSTRALIA #2 - https://qanon.news/archives/x/4899520

Q Research AUSTRALIA #1 - https://qanon.news/archives/x/4520

Q's Posts made on Q Research AUSTRALIA threads

Wednesday 11.20.19

>>7358352 ————————————–——– These people are stupid.

>>7358338 ————————————–——– All assets [F + D] being deployed.

>>7358318 ————————————–——– What happens when the PUBLIC discovers the TRUTH [magnitude] re: [D] party corruption?

Tuesday 11.19.19

>>7357790 ————————————–——– FISA goes both ways.

Saturday 11.16.2019

>>7356270 ————————————–——– There is no escaping God.

>>7356265 ————————————–——– The Harvest [crop] has been prepared and soon will be delivered to the public for consumption.

Friday 11.15.2019

>>7356017 ————————————–——– "Whistle Blower Traps" [Mar 4 2018] 'Trap' keyword select provided…..

Thursday 03.28.2019

>>5945210 ————————————–——– Sometimes our 'sniffer' picks and pulls w/o applying credit file

>>5945074 ————————————–——– We LOVE you!

>>5944970 ————————————–——– USA v. LifeLog?

>>5944908 ————————————–——– It is an embarrassment to our Nation!

>>5944859 ————————————–——– 'Knowingly'

Q's Posts referencing Australia

https://qanon.pub/?q=AUS

https://qanon.pub/?q=australia

https://qanon.pub/?q=koala

https://qanon.pub/?q=boomerang

https://qanon.pub/?q=45HarisonHarold

Q's Posts referencing Australian citizens

Malcolm Turnbull (X/AUS)

https://qanon.pub/?q=X%2FAUS

Alexander Downer

https://qanon.pub/?q=Downer

Cardinal George Pell

https://qanon.pub/?q=Dark%20to%20LIGHT

https://qanon.pub/?q=pecking

Julian Assange

https://qanon.pub/?q=assange

https://qanon.pub/?q=JA

https://qanon.pub/?q=Threat%20is%20real

Q's Posts referencing The Five Eyes intelligence alliance (FVEY)

https://qanon.pub/?q=FVEY

https://qanon.pub/?q=Five%20Eyes

"The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an anglophone intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes

''"Does AUS stand w/ the US or only select divisions within the US?"''

Q - 11/25/18.

https://www.qmap.pub/read/2501

Notables

are not endorsements

#9 - Part 1

>>10099807 Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert transferred to ‘worst female prison in world’

>>10104103 Video: Foreign affairs and Defence Ministers meet US counterparts | 9 News Australia

>>10109918 Defence Minister Linda Reynolds Tweet: Today’s #AUSMIN2020 meeting is underway with an ambitious agenda

>>10109998 AUSMIN 2020: US praises Australia for not 'bowing' to China

>>10110039 Australia backs US bid to rally democracies against China

>>10110133 AUSMIN a thrilling, unexpected triumph for White House

>>10110632 Sydney man accused of sexually exploiting New Zealand girl

>>10115695 Video: AUSMIN 2020 - Secretary Pompeo Holds a Joint Press Availability

>>10122402 Melbourne earthquake felt by hundreds of people across the eastern suburbs

>>10122856 Federal Government seeks access to jailed Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who's been moved to new prison in Iran

>>10122876 Influential UK MP lashes ‘hostage takers’ over detained academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert

>>10123114 John Patrick Casey: Catholic priest’s sexual assault appeal fails in Supreme Court

>>10123153 Video: Alexander Downer - Australia must keep America 'fully engaged' in Indo-Pacific region - Sky News Australia

>>10123307 US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper Tweet: We and our allies will fly, sail, & operate wherever international law allows. #AUSMIN2020

>>10123307 US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper Tweet: Even in dark days, America will never lose the ability to dare greatly.

>>10123369 Video: Australian Federal Police - Stop human trafficking happening in plain sight

>>10123418 Border Force officers seizing large number of lifelike child sex dolls ordered online

>>10135836 China hits back at Australia-US statement on South China Sea, Hong Kong

>>10136626 Biden presidency could put Australia back in ‘naughty corner’ over lack of climate action

>>10136706 Kylie Moore-Gilbert granted meeting with Australian ambassador to Iran

>>10136821 Google and Facebook to be forced to share revenue with media in Australia under draft code

>>10142926 Australia backs India over deadly border clashes with China

>>10146828 TikTok: President Trump announces US ban of popular video app

>>10156088 Resignation of James Murdoch ‘does not absolve him of the blood on his hands’

>>10156246, >>10156261, >>10156272 'The US enterprise is up for grabs': why the Trump-Biden race is so important for Australia

>>10157518 Australian intelligence agencies investigate Chinese-owned TikTok over security concerns

>>10158011 Modern slavery rife in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands, charity claims

>>10158011 PDF: Murky Waters - A qualitative Assessment of Modern Slavery in the Pacific Region - Minderoo Foundation, 2020

>>10167430 (2018) FBI Focuses on Millions of “Mishandled” $$$ Funneled from Australian Gov to Clinton Foundation

>>10167460, >>10167466 Daniel Andrews has significant ties to Chyna/CCP going back to 2013 prior to his election as premier in 2014

>>10167481 Australia's MP Daniel Andrews and Hillary Clinton

>>10167481 Daniel Andrews Tweet: I met @HillaryClinton earlier in the week.

>>10167767 Video: Barnaby Joyce casually name drops George Soros during interview with Channel Seven’s Sunrise

>>10167767 QMAP.pub - Players in the Game - George Soros - Billionaire "philanthropist" and investor

>>10176846 Family of jailed Australian academic 'reassured' by ambassador's visit

>>10177085 Part-time Labor staffer John Zhang challenges investigation into possible foreign interference

>>10177186 Video: Modern day slavery occurring in Australia - 7NEWS

>>10177186 Australian Federal Police lift the lid on 'modern-day slavery' in Australia's suburbs

>>10177348 Video: Satan's Children (1989) Teresa's daring escape from brutal satanic cult and bizarre rituals | 60 Minutes Australia

>>10229949 Video: Satan's Children Part 2 - Servants of Satan (1989) - follow up by Australian 60 Minutes journalist Ian Leslie

#9 - Part 2

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Bun - Part 1

>>10122961 'FLIGHT RISK' What is the conspiracy theory about Tom Hanks being arrested in Australia?

>>10136594 As US cases soar, Trump says Australia has 'tremendous problems'

>>10137789 Coronavirus: COVID-19 vaccine developed by Adelaide scientists clear for more volunteers

>>10155115, >>10155141, >>10155156 The threads that don't connect: Covid gives Australian conspiracy theorists a common home

>>10155779, >>10155789 Hydroxychloroquine is a poor coronavirus treatment but a perfect parable for our times

>>10157800 Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declares a STATE OF DISASTER and introduces an 8pm curfew for Melbourne

>>10158200 U.S. Department of State Tweet: We are lucky to count Australia as a close partner through it all. #USwithAUS

>>10158895 Q Research General #12999: CV PANIC in Melbourne, WAKE UP Australia! Edition

>>10167665 Liberal MP Craig Kelly’s ‘dangerous’ hydroxychloroquine claim asks if Vic premier should be jailed

>>10167809 President Trump Tweet: Big China Virus breakouts all over the World, including nations which were thought to have done a great job

>>10167952 Video: INVESTIGATION: Hotel quarantine security breach causes COVID-19 second wave | 60 Minutes Australia

>>10170026 State of emergency vs state of disaster: What’s the difference?

>>10174955 Video: Victorians face $4957 on-the-spot fine for breaching isolation orders - Sky News Australia

>>10187191 Promising antibody response in Australians given Novavax COVID-19 vaccine

>>10209323 Australia pledges to share coronavirus vaccine: PM

>>10238919 The hidden fallout of the pandemic: Fears lockdown linked to jump in child abuse material arrests in WA

>>10239291 Video: Ivermectin treatment is a ‘real killer of coronavirus’: Professor Thomas Borody - Sky News Australia

>>10239610 Marines complete quarantine in the Northern Territory

>>10250589 Ex-Bachelorette Ali Oetjen shares false conspiracy theory, coronavirus pandemic is a 'cover-up for widespread child sex trafficking'

>>10262267 Coronavirus: All parties eager to sign up for a new national forum (National Cabinet)

>>10304251 Daniel Andrews says Victoria may never eliminate COVID-19

>>10306643 Taking Hydroxychloroquinine in Queensland as a preventive for COVID-19 is a $1334 fine and 6 months prison

>>10315234 Australia could have a COVID-19 vaccine within six months

>>10336102 Scott Morrison expects a successful coronavirus vaccine would be mandatory in Australia

>>10337972, >>10337978 Lieutenant-General John Frewen, the head of the Defence COVID-19 Taskforce, pulls rank on Premier's quarantine claims

>>10338193 Coronavirus vaccine should be mandatory in Australia: PM

>>10339491 Q Research General #13230: No Compulsory Vaxxes for Aussies or Anyone Else! Edition

>>10343294 AstraZeneca to be exempt from coronavirus vaccine liability claims in most countries

>>10343567 List of "conspiracies" proven to be real - Big Pharma

>>10343915 Coronavirus vaccine: Australia rules out mandatory immunisations

>>10369123 Aussie tennis great Pat Cash promotes conspiracy theory coronavirus film

>>10369282 St Vincent’s Melbourne trials Trump-spruiked malaria drug hydroxychloroquine

>>10388884 60 Minutes Australia: Dr Fauci’s virus message for Australians

>>10388884 Video: SUNDAY on #60Mins: Dr Anthony Fauci’s message of hope: we will get through this

>>10396970, >>10396979 60 Minutes Australia: Dr Anthony Fauci reveals Australia is a ‘global leader’ in coronavirus fight

>>10397835 >>10397841, ASIO working to prevent foreign spies from stealing Australian coronavirus vaccine research

>>10410995 Video: Dr Anthony Fauci's 2018 interview on flu dangers and future virus pandemic | 60 Minutes Australia

>>10436864 Australia to send 55 firefighters to the US to battle wildfires amid the pandemic

>>10480915 Black market cat drugs being studied as COVID-19 treatment

>>10491426 Melbourne anti-lockdown protest organiser calls coronavirus a ‘scam’

#9 - Part 3

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Bun - Part 2

>>10491438 Video: Anti-lockdown ringleader calls coronavirus a "scam" | A Current Affair

>>10491693 Detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei authored Facebook posts about Wuhan coronavirus cover-up

>>10499142 SHOCK REPORT: This Week CDC Quietly Updated COVID-19 Numbers – Only 9,210 Americans Died From COVID-19 Alone

>>10499184, >>10499961 A Doctors’ Open Letter to Daniel Andrews re: government’s management of the COVID-19 viral pandemic

>>10499240 Greens deliver despot Dan 6 more months of emergency powers - michaelsmithnews.com

>>10499543 Victoria's Births, Deaths and Marriages - deaths registered per month - - michaelsmithnews.com

>>10500441 Open Letter to Health Minister About Ivermectin — “One Dose is Normally Sufficient for Recovery”

>>10500546 Breakthrough Drug: Ivermectin Shows 'Astounding' Results Against Coronavirus

>>10501605 Tony Abbott rails against Victoria's coronavirus response - 'Health dictatorship'

>>10501610 Video: Australia and the Coronavirus Crisis, PolicyExchangeUK - With Hon Tony Abbott AC, Health dictatorship reference @ 8:35

>>10501615, >>10501618 'Unaccountable experts': Tony Abbott calls for end to lockdowns, travel bans

>>10501618 Stewart McDonald, Scottish National Party MP questions Tony Abbott about "health dictatorship", a term also used by QAnon conspiracy group

>>10501635 Video: Stewart McDonald - "Are you familiar with Qanon, Mister Abbott?" Tony Abbott - "Look, I'm afraid I'm not. But I'm sure you'll enlighten me."

>>10501671, >>10501674 Pregnant woman arrested in Ballarat for creating anti-lockdown protest event on Facebook

>>10504219 Snr Sgt Tim Argall, 'authorising Officer' on the search warrant for pregnant protest inciter from Ballarat, had affair with Lawyer X

>>10508924 Victoria Police are trained to issue summonses rather than arrest where possible - why was this pregnant mum handcuffed?

>>10509221 >The (alleged) Facebook post that got pregnant mum Zoe Lee arrested today

>>10523738, >>10523747 The bodybuilder conspiracy theorist behind a group pushing COVID-19 checkpoint breaches

>>10534097 Coronavirus Australia live news: Anti-lockdown protesters gather across Australia, arrests made in Melbourne and Sydney (Q WWG1WGA sign in Perth)

>>10535023 Sharon McGowan Tweet: Anti-lockdown protesters are now walking down Albert Park towards St Kilda. (WWG1WGA sign in Melbourne)

>>10535035 Wake up Australia Tweet: The crowd is kind of shy, Beautiful, Full of hope and joy, Chanted, Free Victoria (Q sign in Brisbane)

>>10535045 Morgans Tweet Freedom Day Byron Bay wwg1wga (WWG1WGA sign in Byron Bay)

>>10535053 JayTeePee Tweet: Almost 10,000 West Australians stood together at Parliament House for FREEDOM DAY (#WWG1WGA T-shirt in Perth)

>>10535070, >>10535082 WeareMaximus Tweets: Brisbane / Chant of the day… Free Victoria / Free the children chant (Q WWG1WGA T-shirts in Brisbane)

>>10535235 No arrests as hundreds protest in Brisbane (Q Make Australia Great Again sign in Brisbane)

>>10535606 Tommyblues Tweet: Small one in Cairns but good to see numbers none the less (The Great Awakening sign in Cairns)

>>10535729 6% Jo Tweet: It was excellent. Brisbane protested with them (Q / WWG1WGA / Children / Human Trafficking signs in Brisbane)

>>10535808 N.Marsters Tweet: Oh Yes, we here in Brisbane, Australia. #freevictoria #FreedomDay (Q sign in Brisbane)

>>10536615 UN Forced To Admit Gates-Funded Vaccine Is Causing Polio Outbreak In Africa

>>10542825 Chanting for 'freedom' and shouting of Fascism, a city's fringe erupts in anger

>>10553790 Protesters Clash with Police While Rallying Against Australia’s COVID Restrictions

>>10575094 Coronavirus Victoria: Brett Sutton says he did not recommend Melbourne curfew

>>10575404 Coronavirus vaccine setback a headache for Trump

>>10578919 Video: Coronavirus: Victoria exposed in ADF assistance documents | 9News Australia

>>10579104 Parliament of Australia - Select Committee on COVID-19 - Answers to Questions on Notice - EMV Commissioner Andrew Crisp

>>10586484 Tom Hanks accused of getting special treatment after returning to Australia amid coronavirus quarantine

>>10587164 Annastacia Palaszczuk slams Scott Morrison and Queensland opposition over 'disgusting' border bullying

>>10588476 Was Australia's crippling lockdown based on a MONUMENTAL stuff-up?

>>10625777 Peter Dutton says Tom Hanks should not be treated differently

>>10626007 Second round of anti-lockdown protests flop in Melbourne gloom

>>10627663, >>10627678, >>10627695 Violence erupts as hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters chanting 'freedom' storm Queen Victoria Markets

>>10643198 Outrage over Victoria Police officer filmed stomping man's head

#9 - Part 4

>>10186848, >>10186858 Scott Morrison vows to tackle Chinese interference

>>10186881 Australian PM Scott Morrison urges US and China to respect international law, resolve disputes peacefully

>>10186905 'Buyer beware': Prime Minister says there is no case to ban TikTok

>>10186977 NSW man Justin Radford hit with 80 new child abuse charges

>>10187001, >>10187014 Operation Arkstone – Wyong man faces further 80 charges

>>10187149 Police ‘suspect Shaoquett Moselmane staffer John Zhang spied for China’

>>10191152 NSW police officers charged with attempted rape, production of child abuse material

>>10197616 Australia takes paedophile hunt online with 100 cyber detectives

>>10197633 Peter Dutton confirms Australia could spy on its own citizens under cybersecurity plan

>>10197753 We're waiting to take your call: Prime Minister Scott Morrison to China's President Xi Jinping

>>10197785 Global Times Tweet: If you want peace, don't just talk the talk. Walk the walk: Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin #HuSays

>>10197814, >>10197817 Trump administration's probe of the Russia investigation may be nearing conclusion

>>10208724 Trump issues orders banning TikTok and WeChat from operating in 45 days if they are not sold by Chinese parent companies

>>10208842 British paedo monster carried out sick sex attack on Tinder date’s nine-year-old daughter in Australia

>>10208990 Change of command for Australia's special forces ahead of explosive war crimes report

>>10209217 War crimes report will make uncomfortable reading, says Linda Reynolds

>>10209400 Senior Westpac contingent pushes for bank to settle Austrac legal case

>>10209489 South Australian man charged with online child abuse offences after Canadian tip

>>10209606 International tip-off leads to arrest of Sydney man on child abuse charges

>>10228782, >>10228790 South China Sea: Trump card Australia has over China - RARE-EARTH MINERALS

>>10229176 Report: Ex-CIA Chief Brennan Has Been Told He Is Not Target Of Durham Probe

>>10236191 SHOCKING VIDEO - MAN WHIPS A TERRIFIED HALF-NAKED CHILD WHO IS SUSPENDED UPSIDE DOWN, HANDS AND FEET BOUND.SEE SOMETHING. SAY SOMETHING.

>>10237675 Kyle Daniels: Child to give evidence in swim coach sexual abuse trial

>>10237919 Mass Surveillance being installed throughout Melbourne using the COVID-19 Lockdowns and Curfew as Cover?

>>10238194 Afghan prisoner swap likely to free Hekmatullah, rogue soldier who murdered three Australians

>>10238328 Foreign forces ‘spying on diaspora’, says ASIO

>>10238835 “Offshore Punch” - Australian Federal Police will bust cyber crims in their lairs

>>10239098 City of Sydney councillor Robert Kok advising 'pro-Beijing' group linked to Chinese Communist Party

>>10239411 Scott Morrison’s plea to Donald Trump over Diggers’ killer Hekmatullah

>>10245266 Video: Justinian Deception - GNOSTIC-CONTROL

>>10250659 PM seeks clarity after Trump cans G7 summit

>>10250704 'Put up or shut up' says Labor MP raided in Chinese influence investigation

>>10250763 Alexander Downer criticises Chinese diplomacy

>>10250880 U.S. Space Force unveils doctrine explaining its role in national security

>>10250887 Space Force releases 1st doctrine, defines “spacepower” as distinct form of military power

>>10250887 PDF: Space Force Capstone - SPACEPOWER - Doctrine For Space Forces

>>10250950, >>10250953 Defence to probe special forces’ cultural and leadership flaws

>>10250766, >>10251258 Tunnels being exploded in MELB? Fire at battery recycling factory in Campbellfield causes smoke alert for nearby suburbs

>>10258181 Kamala Harris pick is safest road for Joe Biden and will hurt Donald Trump

>>10258181 Joe Biden Tweet: Let’s go win this, @KamalaHarris

#9 - Part 5

George Papadopoulos Tweet Bun

>>10146088 “This was a UK-Australia spying operation, the Israelis helped too”—me in the Washington Post Magazine in 2019

>>10146088 My prediction on which countries had a heavy involvement in working with our intel, willfully or coerced, came true

>>10197666 I reported the Australian “official” to US officials for his brazen spying and bizarre behavior at my “meeting” with him

>>10303421 The indictments of numerous Obamagate players coming will sway moderates to Trump…Boomerang!

>>10303421 Prediction: Clinesmith flipped on Bill Priestap…He was also involved with the Australian set up meeting in London with Alexander Downer

>>10303421 He needed a useful idiot like Alexander Downer and the Australian government complicit to try and divert attention from Steele

>>10303421 Obama administration was illegally spying on my legitimate business ties…Downer, Mifsud, Halper, FBI, Mueller, DIA, CIA all probed that

>>10314736 We have to ask what was the Australian government actively doing trying to sabotage the campaign with fake info

>>10314736 Mueller’s team made it clear that Downer was in on whatever operation they were pulling against the campaign

>>10337615 A professional like Durham investigating the traitors behind this massive scandal that our own government and “allies” set up

>>10377484 Things to watch as a result of the Durham-Brennan interview:…2) UK and Australian intelligence used against the campaign

>>10303421 Don’t mess with our democracy, and if anyone did, hold them accountable. Boomerang!

>>10303421 Prediction: Clinesmith flipped on Bill Priestap…He was also involved with the Australian set up meeting in London with Alexander Downer

>>10303421 He needed a useful idiot like Alexander Downer and the Australian government complicit to try and divert attention from Steele

>>10303421 The bizarre allegation I was an “Israeli agent”. Downer, Mifsud, Halper, FBI, Mueller, DIA, CIA all probed that

>>10542962 Can’t wait for it to be revealed that the meeting with the Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer, was recorded and a set up.

>>10564023 The fraudulent and baseless “investigation” was launched as a FARA case, not CI….It explains why Downer…was probing me in a bizarre manner

>>10564023 Downer had connections to wood side and halykut and provided the perfect cover to go in and try and set me up

>>10564023 Storm Montpelier Tweet: The Spectator…in May 2018 talks about Brennans group at Langley and says it started in April 2016

>>10564023 The same month I met “Putin’s niece,” Joseph Mifsud and a bunch of odd Australian and UK “diplomats” who I later reported to US authorities

>>10564036, >>10564040 spectator.org - John Brennan’s ‘Exceptionally Sensitive’ Issue (2018)

>>10665334 Dr Russell McGregor Tweet: Aussie WHISTLEBLOWER INSIDER gives first-hand EVIDENCE of #Spygate origin prior to Candidate Trump running!

#9 - Part 6

>>10258375 U.S. Marines Tweet: The Sunlight Hurts My Eyes - The Marines practiced direct & indirect fire missions to maintain their readiness

>>10261695, >>10261699, >>10261705, >>10261715, >>10261728, >>10261731 Anons better buckle THEEE fuck UUUPPP. Some insight about how and where things are going

>>10261813 SAVE THE CHILDREN. I am a victim of child abuse. Never sexual, but violence and torture and all kinds of psych abuse and threats. THIS IS PERSONAL FOR ME.

>>10269155 What happens during a national cyber emergency? Government wants to take over if things get out of hand

>>10269155 PDF: Australian Government Consultation Paper - Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Systems of National Significance

>>10269358 China warns of long-lasting feud with 'toxic' Australia

>>10282969 'Lack of clarity': Laws to be changed to deploy the Australian Defence Force domestically

>>10283199 Matty Kelly Tweet: In a small country town in S/W Victoria Australia. #WWG1GWA #Qanon

>>10293459 Wayne Daniels Tweet: #WWG1WGA from the Gold Coast Australia...patriots rise up and spread the word it’s ubiquitous and can’t be stopped

>>10302477, >>10302533, >>10302551, Video: Christ’s Cross helped me avoid bitterness: Cardinal George Pell

>>10304143 Defence Department warns that 'highly active' spies pose 'extreme threat' to Australia's shipbuilding plan

>>10314125 Scott Morrison plans trip to meet Shinzo Abe in Japan

>>10314460 Boris Johnson Tweet: 75 years ago, brave men and women from many nations stood together in the Far East to bring an end to the Second World War

>>10314624 Peter Dutton releases new accountability guidelines for ASIO

>>10314624 PDF: Minister’s Guidelines to be observed by ASIO in performance of its functions and the exercise of its powers

>>10315185, >>10315193, >>10315198 Covert war crimes inquiry compromised by former AFP chief Mick Keelty

>>10315280 Federal Police join global assault on the ’ndrangheta — powerful Calabrian mafia clans linked to some of Australia’s biggest drug importations

>>10315326 Google says draft ACCC news code will hurt search, YouTube functions

>>10315902 Video: Department of Defence Australia - Information Warfare

>>10324877 Video: Interview with His Eminence, George Cardinal Pell, Interviewed by Marilyn Rodrigues, Journalist for The Catholic Weekly

>>10325392, >>10325414 The obscure graph that shows how Trump could steal the US election - QAnon swells during pandemic

>>10325968 Video: United Collective Millions rise up Australia

>>10328330, >>10328335 Video: (2019) Biden accused of inappropriate touching | Nine News Australia - "So today, Cue (Q) the President"

>>10335997, >>10336010 Exhaustive Bipartisan Senate Investigation Finds ‘No Credible Evidence’ for Seth Rich Conspiracy Theory

>>10336010 Q Post #4016 - Was the DNC was hacked by Russia? CIA [BRENNAN] FORCE? Seth Rich internal DL hand-to-hand pass USA?

>>10336656 Innocent: Cardinal George Pell’s private prison journal to be released

>>10336680 Cardinal George Pell's Prison Journal - Innocent! Donate to Support this Project

>>10336885 Bendigo paedophile, Peter Raymond Hartland, who would buy a 12-year-old boy ice-cream after raping and abusing him

>>10337102 Too fat for jail: Paedophile teacher, Peter John O'Neill, won't be locked up for sexually abusing six students because he is morbidly obese

>>10338955 Video: The Plot Against the President (Trailer) by Amanda Milius

>>10338955 Pro-Trump Russiagate Doc in the Works From Daughter of Hollywood Legend

>>10354697 Video: Department of Defence Australia - National science week - cyberspace warfare

>>10354951 'What are you planning to say?' Pope quizzed whistleblower priest, book claims

>>10355825, >>10355829 40-year fight for justice - Professional Australian Rules footballer repeatedly raped his two stepdaughters

>>10355957, >>10355963 Sexual abuse redress scheme taking years to deliver compensation for victims who've already waited decades

>>10369382 U.S. Naval Institute Tweet: #OTD 1908, 500,000 Aussies turned out to welcome the arrival of the Great White Fleet to Sydney

>>10369382 Great White Fleet - United States Navy battleships which completed a journey around the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February

>>10369579, >>10369592, >>10369602 ASIO has never acknowledged its chamber of secrets exists. Here's what's inside

>>10369713 Brisbane man charged with online child abuse offences after tip from the United States

>>10377032, >>10377041 The Trump Effect: What Trumpian Politics Mean for Australia

#9 - Part 7

Dassi Erlich / Malka Leifer Extradition Bun

>>10122611 Dassi Erlich Tweet: “Some of the things that happened with this case have never taken place in the history of the...state of Israel".

>>10122611 Latest Malka Leifer appeal in Israel heard in secret

>>10122630 Dassi Erlich Tweet: Even head judge Yitzhak Amit told the defence that the number of appeals was unprecedented

>>10122630 Dassi Erlich Tweet: This statement from a Supreme court judge felt validating

>>10422558 #LetUsSpeak: Victoria blocks sexual assault victims from using real names

>>10423279 Dassi Erlich Tweet: I am aghast and bewildered...How was this allowed to happen in Victoria??

>>10423279 Dassi Erlich Tweet: Our lawyers tell us this could impact us too from this point forward

>>10423279 Dassi Erlich Tweet: It appears it's now a culpable offence for a survivor to speak up at various points in the legal process

>>10423279 Dassi Erlich Tweet: This is a bizarre discovery and we hope that this is just a legislative error

>>10436289 Dassi Erlich Tweet: We have been silenced. We are no longer able to use our voices to speak up. We hope this is fixed quickly.

>>10436289 Dassi Erlich Tweet: We can no longer comment on our case. Last night, @DanielAndrewsMP called and reassured us our voice is important

>>10436289 Dassi Erlich Tweet: We spoke to Attorney-General @JillHennessyMP and she acknowledged that this law creates an unintended barrier

>>10436289 Dassi Erlich Tweet: Our lawyer Nick Mazzeo has commenced the application process to lift this gag

>>10436289 Dassi Erlich Tweet: LET US SPEAK #LetUsSpeak

>>10449920 Dassi Erlich Tweet: Update on our application to lift our enforced silence

>>10449920 Dassi Erlich Tweet: We need to gain a courts permission to share our truth

>>10449920 Dassi Erlich Tweet: Not every survivor will be in the same position as us who are fortunate enough to be helped

>>10456757 Lawyers Movement Australia Tweet: Thank you Dassi. The courage of you and your family changes the world.

>>10456757 PDF: Media Release - Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy: Urgent Changes To Ensure Victim-Survivors Can Speak Up

>>10491267 Dassi Erlich Tweet: Spent weekend writing Affidavits. Applications to speak our truth (again)filed in Magistrate's court Mon

>>10501251 Finalising a process that should have never began, but we hope will pave the way for others cases like this

>>10501251 Three high-profile abuse survivors in Victoria are fighting to keep advocating under real names

>>10501251 Dassi Erlich Tweet: Our choice to speak has been restored! Judge Metclaf heard us. We have our voice back!

>>10501251 Hugely relieved and empowered to continue advocating for the rights of all sexual abuse survivors!

>>10501251 Brave survivors of alleged predator principal win right to be heard

>>10512571 Dassi Erlich Tweet: BREAKING NEWS FROM ISRAEL: The Supreme court has rejected the appeal on Malka Leifer’s mental fitness to stand trial!

>>10512571 Dassi Erlich Tweet: The order to let us speak came just in time! Imagine if we couldn't share this huge step forward

>>10512571 Israel's Top Court Clears Way to Extradite Accused Pedophile Malka Leifer to Australia

>>10512571 Dassi Erlich Tweet: During this tumultuous journey there were moments that this did not seem possible!

>>10586729 Dassi Erlich Tweet: Last steps…..not long to go now. #bringleiferback

>>10586729 ‘A victory for justice’ - alleged victims...wait until September 21 for a judgement on whether their former principal will be extradited

>>10679123 Dassi Erlich Tweet: 2011 we gave our statements to SOCIT....72 court hearings & it has all come down to this!

>>10679123 A Current Affair Tweet: These three women are survivors of sexual abuse...the only survivors in Victoria that are legally allowed to speak out

>>10691907 The Jerusalem Post’s 50 Most Influential Jews Of 2020 - #31 - Exposing sexual abuse: The Sapper sisters - Waiting for justice for Leifer

#9 - Part 8

>>10377333 Video: California fighting 560 wildfires, requests help from Canada and Australia

>>10380483 President Donald Trump Tweet: AMERICA FIRST! #MAGA

>>10388708 ‘This election is critical’: Meet the US citizens in Australia working to defeat Donald Trump

>>10398187, >>10398200 Christchurch court hears graphic account of mosque killings on first day of Australian gunman Brenton Tarrant's sentencing hearing

>>10399734, >>10399740 Swapping Biden for Trump wouldn't make much difference to Australia - Alexander Downer

>>10411081 Mission impossible: Andrews' emergency power play looks doomed

>>10411371, >>10411386 Religious leaders question ethics of Oxford University developing coronavirus vaccine using cell lines from aborted foetus

>>10411386 PDF: Joint letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison from Anglican, Catholic and Greek Orthodox Archbishops

>>10411405 Sydney’s Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP responds to concerns from the faithful about a potential COVID-19 vaccine

>>10411490, >>10411522 ASIO issues alert to universities over China links

>>10411522 PDF: UNITED STATES SENATE - PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS - CHINA’S TALENT RECRUITMENT PLAN CONTRACTS

>>10411837, >>10411842 Mosque victims urge life without parole for Brenton Tarrant

>>10422558 #LetUsSpeak: Victoria blocks sexual assault victims from using real names

>>10422586 Mystery seeds arrive in Australia from Asia sparking scary warning

>>10423498 Thousand Talents ‘spreads sunshine’ on China ties, Deputy ambassador Wang Xining claims

>>10424801 New law a ‘major victory for paedophiles’

>>10428059 Q Post #4627 - One party discusses God. One party discusses Darkness.

>>10428059 President Donald Trump Tweet: Two Democrat Caucus Meetings removed “UNDER GOD” from the Pledge of Allegiance.

>>10428059 Magnanimous Tweet: Watching the DNC last night, I noticed their logo.... now, where have I seen that uneven star before?

>>10436555, >>10436562 Christchurch shooting: Mosque attack gunman Brenton Tarrant jailed for life without parole

>>10436621 Coalition to pursue power to block deals such as Victoria's belt and road agreement with China

>>10436864 Australia to send 55 firefighters to the US to battle wildfires amid the pandemic

>>10436864 NSW Rural Fire Service Tweet: We're returning the favour...55 Australian firefighters will travel to the #USA to assist

>>10449351 Video: Catching a monster: Australia’s worst paedophile Peter Scully | 60 Minutes Australia

>>10449816 Vatican told Whistleblower priest Father Glen Walsh to be a hostile witness: friend

>>10450014 Peter Dutton to consider any request for deportation of Brenton Tarrant

>>10450040 Minister accuses foreign governments of meddling in multicultural communities, exploiting 'proud Australians'

>>10450093, >>10450096 Daniel Andrews’ eyes wide shut on Chinese spy threat

>>10450145 Australian Vanessa Pappas takes the top job at TikTok

>>10450272 US Embassy Canberra Tweet: Thank you, @NSWRFS, for returning the favor in our time of need. #USwithAUS

>>10457947, >>10457964 Chinese military links inside University of Technology Sydney

>>10468277 WA Police arrest 18 alleged members of ‘paedophile ring’ during investigations under Operation Timing Belt

>>10468564 'More organised, sophisticated and security conscious than before': Right-wing extremist threat growing

>>10480585, >>10480589 Morrison government to hold inquiry into secretive uni deals with China

>>10480773 Adelaide man allegedly caught with child abuse material after suspicious transactions

>>10481133, >>10481142 Christopher Pyne: The world needs Biden to defeat the cult of Trump

>>10481572 MP Anne Webster weeps in court over conspiracy theorist’s ‘evil’ pedophile posts

>>10491101 Facebook will stop news sharing in Australia if new regulations become law

>>10491128 Australian Signals Directorate: ASD chief’s terrorism warning

>>10491182 Video: Long histories - short memories: the Transparently Secret ASD in 2020

#9 - Part 9

Virginia Roberts Giuffre / Prince Andrew / Ghislaine Maxwell / Jeffrey Epstein Bun - Part 1

>>10109324 Courtney Love Cobain Tweet: Hey. About my name in Epstein’s address book…I didn’t know him, never met him, didn’t know who he was.

>>10109324 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Hmmmm From what #Epstein told me its a completely different story.

>>10109324 Courtney Love says she hopes Jeffrey Epstein “burns in hell” after her name is found in his address book

>>10123223 Ghislaine Maxwell loses late bid to block deposition's release, quickly appeals

>>10136761, >>10136776 Ghislaine Maxwell had 'continuous' orgies with girls as young as 15 on pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's Caribbean island

>>10145477 PDF: Virginia Giuffre Complete 2016 Deposition

>>10145567 Interesting. (Virginia Giuffre's) lawyer won't let her answer WHO gave her the records of her employment at Mar A Lago

>>10146197 Alan Dershowitz calls Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre a 'serial liar' while once again denying he ever had sex with her

>>10156632 >>10156663 Prince Andrew 'spent two days alone at Epstein ranch with the tycoon's sex slave'

>>10156663 Unsealed Jeffrey Epstein Documents on Documentcloud

>>10156766 Met Police destroyed records for the night Prince Andrew allegedly had sex with teenager in London, says former Royal protection officer

>>10157429 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Hey #GhislaneMaxwell just sitting outside, taking some time to de-stress after you & your lawyers shenanigans

>>10167879 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Let the awakened no longer be silent- let us be heard from every corner of earth

>>10176973, >>10176982 'I WAS THERE' Prince Andrew WAS at club with Jeffrey Epstein ‘sex slave’ Virginia Giuffre – not Pizza Express, new witness claims

>>10177046 Heidi Klum 'Never' Traveled on Jeffrey Epstein's Private Jet, Says Her Lawyer: 'Totally False'

>>10187041 Donald Trump: Jeffrey Epstein might have been killed

>>10238057 NO HAPPY ENDING - Virginia Roberts brands Prince Andrew an abuser and ‘not the prince from the fairytales’

>>10238057 Video: Surviving Jeffrey Epstein - Extended Teaser

>>10250857 Attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell ask to halt release of sealed documents in civil case after learning of 'critical new information'

>>10251007, >>10251008 Court ruling could lead to more Jeffrey Epstein secrets being spilled

>>10258436 LETTER from Sigrid S. McCawley re: Response to Maxwell Request for Stay of Unsealing Process

>>10268932 Judge Hands Ghislaine Maxwell Another Loss in Fight over Sealed Epstein Documents

>>10283011 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Cheers to a new lease on a new life & victory over one of my predators on the front page of New York Post!!

>>10303800 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Twitter Thread: I am holding an online fundraiser on August 22nd to raise awareness…and start a new movement #kidstoo

>>10355380 Billionaire Aussie Trucking Magnate Hosted Ghislaine Maxwell & Jeffrey Epstein on Sydney Harbour - 1995 Sydney Morning Herald archive

>>10355462 Old Newspaper Clipping Claims Epstein and Maxwell Partied with Australian Billionaires

>>10355759 Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffery Epstein in Australia, 1995 - HI RES SCANS - Sydney Morning Herald - 24 Dec 1995 - Page 85

>>10356031 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: He didn’t stay long…Aussie Girls are pretty blue eyed blonde haired surfer looking and he wanted to see if it was true

>>10356031 Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's 'tour Down Under': Untold story of infamous pair's trip to Australia

>>10388481 Alan Dershowitz Tweet: Guiffre is now crediting Wexner. But she has claimed she had sex with Wexner multiple times…I challenge her to respond. She won’t!

#9 - Part 10

Virginia Roberts Giuffre / Prince Andrew / Ghislaine Maxwell / Jeffrey Epstein Bun - Part 2

>>10411667 Virginia Roberts says duke played a 'guessing game' with Ghislaine Maxwell about her age when she was 17-years-old before comparing her to his daughters

>>10411717 Video: Surviving Jeffrey Epstein: Virginia Giuffre Tells Her Story

>>10411734 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Unfuckingbelievable!!!! A major honour for a major participant in a sex trafficking op!

>>10411734 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: I could get out of Australia I would show up at his ceremony and ask the audience why, why would you celebrate this man?

>>10411734 Prince Andrew to Receive a Major Royal Honor After Epstein Scandal

>>10423611 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: I am his victim & survivor & I have a vendetta for those with power whom...take advantage of vulnerable girls

>>10423611 Change.org petition - Do not award a new honor to Prince Andrew

>>10423660 Ghislaine Maxwell's request to be moved to the general prison population denied by judge

>>10436714 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Victoria's New 'Gag-Law' Protects Pedophiles And Rapists - My fellow Aussie’s we cannot allow this to happen

>>10436714 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: I 1000% back #LetUsSpeak campaign and so should every other Aussie who knows what this means

>>10450332 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Virginia Giuffre Retweeted Preciosa17 @Preciosa172: Prince Andrew and Courtney Love

>>10450332 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Baffling law is passed that could see rape victims thrown into JAIL just for telling their stories

>>10450332 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: “They” are coming at us from all directions- you know what that means? We’re rattling some nerves

>>10457517 Ghislaine Maxwell docs may not be released for years after judge lets dozens of her ‘abuser’ pals to appeal one by one

>>10457668 Spinky @Spinky363 Tweet: Replying to @VRSVirginia - I am going to start bugging all the Q people on twitter. We know who is on the flight logs

>>10457668 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Hallelujah!! Follow the money & read the flight logs and notebooks!!

>>10581077 Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating's daughter Katherine 'was at Jeffrey Epstein's lair' (2019)

>>10587277 Ghislaine Maxwell's privacy does not justify keeping deposition sealed, Epstein accuser says

>>10587316 Alan Dershowitz Loses Bid to Access Secret Jeffrey Epstein Files

>>10627735 Jeffrey Epstein was ‘bankrolled by “pimp” Ghislaine’s father Robert Maxwell’

>>10641784 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Just in case #JeanLucBrunel thought he wasn’t on our radar any longer here’s a throw back from 1988

>>10641784 Video: Jean-Luc Brunel CBS 60 minutes 1988 Karin Models friend of Jeffrey Epstein

>>10641784 Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Dark to light my friend. They think we are going away but we are fighters and stronger up against the wall banding together!!

>>10678764 Q Post #4727 - EBpXUniVUAAou98.jpg

>>10678764 Victoria's Secret reportedly continued to work with a modelling agency after it was accused of supplying underage girls to Jeffrey Epstein

>>10678776 Q Post #4728 - Roberts_Giuffre_with_Prince.jpg

#9 - Part 11

>>10491577 'We don't respond to coercion': Frydenberg rejects Facebook news boycott threat

>>10491684 Prominent Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei detained in China 'without charge'

>>10491693 Detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei authored Facebook posts about Wuhan coronavirus cover-up

>>10491722 AFP consider Ben Roberts-Smith a suspect in war crimes, court told

>>10495009 Australia risks backsliding into a poor country in Asia Pacific - globaltimes.cn

>>10498841 Who is Q FAQ - https://qanon.news/Archives/x/10472611#10472992

>>10501740 José Ramos-Horta urges Australia to drop Witness K and Bernard Collaery prosecution

>>10501793 Australia in the US Tweet: #OTD in 1951, (Australia, New Zealand and the United States) signed the #ANZUS mutual defense treaty

>>10501813 Pacific Marines Tweet: After fighting together in World War II, the U.S. remains committed to our mutual defense treaty with #Australia

>>10506023 Q Post #4629 - CORRUPT. CONTROLLED. ENEMIES OF THE REPUBLIC.

>>10506023 Q Post #4634 - Why did it take a political outsider to [finally] confront China?

>>10508278 Daniel Andrews’ Belt and Road deal with China rejected by Victorian voters

>>10512833 Alleged Adelaide paedophile Jadd William Brooker intends to infect children and adults with HIV, court told

>>10512938, >>10512953, >>10512966 Australian special forces Instagram account mocks war crime allegations, calls to 'Make Diggers Violent Again'

>>10513223 Pacific Air Forces Tweet: BREAKING: US & Australian militaries demonstrate rapid long-distance air strike capabilities #B2 Spirits

>>10524154 Cyber attacks on Australia blurring the lines between peace and war, Defence Minister says

>>10524154 PDF: Inaugural ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report: July 2019 to June 2020

>>10524698 'I will fight to the end’: Australian writer Yang Hengjun's message from behind bars in China

>>10524749 Video: Ambassador Culvahouse Commemorates the 75th Anniversary of the End of World War II - US Embassy Canberra

>>10533827 Federal liberal MPs push for investigation into South Australian MP Jing Lee over alleged China links

>>10534202 Q Research General #13481: Aussies Fight Back! Edition - https://8kun.top/qresearch/res/10533922.html

>>10539776 Video: Pedos Down Under Radio Episode #4 with Laurence

>>10539782 Video: VIP Abuse Ring - Australian Survivor Speaks #2 - "This content is not available on this country domain due to a defamation complaint."

>>10540210 Video: Sacha Stone - Message to all Australians

>>10543689 Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Tweet: #Marines and #YourADF are able to work together in any environment, day or night

>>10544589 Foetal cells are used to make the Oxford coronavirus vaccine. But they came from a foetus in 1973

>>10553877 ACCC stand against Facebook and Google backed by international media

>>10554450 Defence Minister Linda Reynolds Tweet: Looking forward to meeting personnel from #YourADF and @USMC with US Ambassador to Australia, Arthur Culvahouse Jr

>>10559397 Video: The Truth goes Mainstream as the boot clamps down (Beast System Reveals itself)

>>10562981 Man attacking the Police during the Melbourne protests. Agent Provocateur?

>>10563323, >>10563337 Parents warned about shocking suicide video on TikTok that may be hidden in other content

>>10563752, >>10563761 OPINION: Kevin Rudd - Scott Morrison is yearning for a Donald Trump victory

>>10563843, >>10563846, >>10563852 Australian correspondents Bill Birtles and Mike Smith pulled out of China after five-day diplomatic standoff over national security case

>>10564187 Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Tweet: Low light live fires train #Marines to be #ready to execute, even in the dark. #MRFD #freeandopenindopacific

>>10567685 Queensland passes law to jail priests for not reporting confessions of child sexual abuse

>>10574893 Scott Morrison issues stark warning to TikTok over suicide video

>>10574945 Prime Minister Scott Morrison Facebook Post - Keeping kids safe online - The laws and standards of behaviour from the real world must also apply online

>>10574945 Video: Prime Minister Scott Morrison - No child should be exposed to horrifying content like the video which has been circulating on TikTok

>>10575446 Man in custody after incident near ASIO building

>>10575494 Paedophile crackdown will see sick perverts jailed for 20 YEARS for owning a child sex doll

#9 - Part 12

Qanon "Conspiracy Theory" Hit Piece Bun - Part 1

>>10122782, >>10122790 QAnon: The online cult that is a danger in the real world - David Aaronovitch - theaustralian.com.au

>>10137641 Nine News Australia Tweet: Conspiracy theories involving a child sex-trafficking ring, a pizzeria and Hillary Clinton has gained momentum

>>10137641 A baseless US conspiracy theory found a foothold in Europe. New research shows how - 9news.com.au

>>10158806 >>10158815, >>10158815, >>10158821, >>10158830 QAnon Has Gone Global - Mack Lamoureux - vice.com

>>10167571, >>10167576 Under the influence: Peddling conspiracy in a pandemic - Lydia Khalil - The Interpreter / Lowy Institute

>>10251170, >>10251173 Reddit community QAnon Casualties share stories of conspiracy cult - Jack Gramenz - news.com.au

>>10269756, >>10269765 QAnon followers are hijacking the #SaveTheChildren movement - Kevin Roose - New York Times

>>10273883, >>10282908 Bizarre, yes. Crazy, maybe. But the media ignores QAnon at our peril - Jack the Insider (Peter Hoysted) - theaustralian.com.au

>>10291603 Video: President Donald Trump dodged questions Friday about his thoughts on QAnon during a White House briefing - Associated Press

>>10302798 >>10302822, How the QAnon Conspiracy Theory Went Global - Masood Farivar - voanews.com

>>10315622 Elise Thomas Tweet: Some QAnon conspiracists in Melbourne believe the US Army is helping to secretly excavate the tunnels full of abused children under the city

>>10325970, >>10326000 Someone Made A New Bananapants 'Satanic Pedo Cabal' QAnon Pizza Map, Looks Legit - Robyn Pennacchia - wonkette.com

>>10355349 ‘People that love our country’: Donald Trump praises QAnon conspiracists - newdaily.com.au

>>10355898 Former Australian Idol winner Natalie Gauci promotes bizarre and baseless conspiracy theories - Demeter Stamell - dailymail.co.uk

>>10368701 Facebook’s latest purge of QAnon conspiracy theory pages unlikely to affect growing Australian following - Christopher Knaus - theguardian.com

>>10368701 Marc-André Argentino Tweet: Australian Q research board...lerge (sic) focus on pedophilia in Australia and in the Catholic Church

>>10368701 Genesis of a Conspiracy Theory: Key trends in QAnon activity since 2017 - Institute for Strategic Dialogue - Aoife Gallagher, Jacob Davey & Mackenzie Hart

>>10368986 Qantas denies it's part of flying conspiracy after disturbing Freemason and NWO symbols spotted on engines of national carrier plane

>>10396643 Ariel Bogle Twitter Thread: QAnon is filtering through Australia's existing conspiratorial communities

>>10396658, >>10396666, >>10396673 How the QAnon conspiracy theory is tearing family and friends apart in Australia - Ariel Bogle - abc.net.au

>>10411182, >>10411189 Why QAnon is attracting so many followers in Australia — and how it can be countered - Kaz Ross - theconversation.com

>>10423422 US Congress introduces resolution to condemn QAnon conspiracy theory - David Morgan - smh.com.au

>>10423457, >>10423468 QAnon looms behind child trafficking protests and viral #SaveOurChildren hashtags - Brandy Zadrozny & Ben Collins - 7news.com.au

>>10436350, >>10302822 The Global QAnon Conspiracy Theory - Voice of America / Learning English - Masood Farivar & Susan Shand

>>10436368 Liberal senator Gerard Rennick launches grenades at super. Labor senator Tim Ayres: "it feels like I'm sort of at a Qanon cell meeting"

>>10436448 Celebrity chef Pete Evans makes wild claims that Australia 'is run by paedophiles', reiterates QAnon conspiracy theory - Demeter Stamell - dailymail.co.uk

>>10450489 Elise Thomas Tweet: Through tempest, storm and darkest night, QAnon followers will.... sit inside their houses making memes

>>10456998 Australian MP takes on conspiracy theorist in court but experts don't know where to begin with online battle - Michael McGowan - theguardian.com

>>10457266 COVID conspiracy theorists declare 'digital warfare' on media - Noel Towell - theage.com.au

>>10466141, >>10466217 EXCLUSIVE: Despite Reports, FBI Does Not Label QAnon Group a ‘Terrorist Threat’ - Marisa Sullivan - celebmagazine.com

#9 - Part 13

Qanon "Conspiracy Theory" Hit Piece Bun - Part 2

>>10466217 Exclusive: FBI document warns conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorism threat (2019) - Jana Winter - news.yahoo.com

>>10466217 Trump praised the supporters of QAnon, a conspiracy theory the FBI says is a domestic terrorism threat - Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin & Amanda Seitz - chicagotribune.com

>>10481398, >>10481410,, >>10481424 QAnon: Conspiracy theory takes hold in Cairns - Pete Martinelli - cairnspost.com.au

>>10481665, >>10481669 QAnon Australia: Explaining The Absurd And Dangerous Conspiracy Theory Down Under - Cam Wilson - gizmodo.com.au

>>10491351, >>10491362 Victorian MPs hit with tsunami of vile anti-lockdown abuse from conspiracy theorists - Josh Butler - thenewdaily.com.au

>>10501359, >>10501361, >>10501370 Donald Trump, QAnon and the limit of Twitter's crackdown on conspiracies - Ted O'Connor - .abc.net.au

>>10501618 Stewart McDonald, Scottish National Party MP questions Tony Abbott about "health dictatorship", a term also used by QAnon conspiracy group - Latika Bourke - smh.com.au

>>10501635 Video: Stewart McDonald - "Are you familiar with Qanon, Mister Abbott?" Tony Abbott - "Look, I'm afraid I'm not. But I'm sure you'll enlighten me."

>>10512673, >>10512678, >>10512685, >>10512692 'Stop the cabal': What is the conspiracy movement QAnon? - John Buckley with Simone Fox Koob - smh.com.au

>>10501618 Stewart McDonald, Scottish National Party MP questions Tony Abbott about "health dictatorship", a term also used by QAnon conspiracy group - Latika Bourke - smh.com.au

>>10501635 Video: Stewart McDonald - "Are you familiar with Qanon, Mister Abbott?" Tony Abbott - "Look, I'm afraid I'm not. But I'm sure you'll enlighten me."

>>10512673, >>10512678, >>10512685, >>10512692 'Stop the cabal': What is the conspiracy movement QAnon? - John Buckley with Simone Fox Koob - smh.com.au

>>10532456 Video: Joe Biden has a suggestion for QAnon supporters - Yahoo News

>>10532456 Biden tells QAnon followers to seek mental health counseling before the Affordable Care Act is repealed - David Knowles - au.news.yahoo.com

>>10532738, >>10532745, >>10532756 The other virus: distrust rides high on the back of COVID-19 - Jewel Topsfield - smh.com.au

>>10533251, >>10533267 QAnon is here to stay. Is it the future of our politics? - Kishor Napier-Raman - crikey.com.au

>>10533310 Pandemic linked to rise of conspiracy theories - Anna Patty - brisbanetimes.com.au

>>10535408 Marc-André Argentino Tweet: Tonight I want to share some of the research I have been doing on what I am calling "Pastel QAnon"

>>10535408 Marc-André Argentino Tweet: 8kun QAnon worries me less than Pastel QAnon

>>10535408 Elise Thomas Tweet: I think they're different kinds of risk, because of the different demographics

>>10535408 Elise Thomas Tweet: For extremist violence, 8kun is more of a worry; for social movements, holistic light-worker crystal healing QAnon is more of a concern

>>10553714, >>10553730 Australia's conspiracy theorists are increasingly energised, but police crackdowns may be counterproductive - Elliott Brennan - theguardian.com

>>10575201 New Zealand election TV debate: fears inclusion of fringe party may 'legitimise conspiracy theories' - Charlotte Graham-McLay - theguardian.com

#9 - Part 14

Qanon "Conspiracy Theory" Hit Piece Bun - Part 3

>>10575345, >>10575371 The ‘highly sophisticated’ religious movement trying to brainwash Australians - Cait Kelly - thenewdaily.com.au

>>10575371 Twisting the truth: ongoing inauthentic activity promoting Falun Gong, the Epoch Times and Truth Media targets Australians on Facebook - Elise Thomas - ASPI

>>10586831 Twitter permanently suspends QAnon account belonging to friend of Australian PM for 'harmful activity' - Christopher Knaus and Josh Taylor - theguardian.com

>>10587482 Video: How should the media cover conspiracies like QAnon? | The Drum - ABC News (Australia) - Ruby Cornish

>>10614940 Michael McGowan Tweet: WA Liberal Party MP Andrew Hastie is joining the - partly Qanon driven - outrage about new Netflix program Cuties

>>10614940 Lyle Shelton Facebook Post: I’m on WA Liberal MP Andrew Hastie’s email list. This is what he sent out this afternoon. What a champion

>>10625463, >>10625496 QAnon spreads across globe, shadowing COVID-19 - Chris Mills Rodrigo - thehill.com

>>10625663 Celebrity chef Pete Evans ‘health coach’ title under fire from AMA - Jane Hansen - geelongadvertiser.com.au

>>10628572 Elise Thomas Tweet: There are already at least 3 other sites providing basically the same service Qmap did

>>10628753 The Project Tweet: QAnon is the rapidly growing conspiracy movement that defies all logic, and it’s spreading online like wildfire

>>10628757, >>10628926 Video: Why Is QAnon Spreading So Rapidly? | The Project

>>10641237, >>10641248 What lies beneath: tunnels for trafficking, or just a subterranean service? Time to rescue these spaces from the conspiracists - Victoria Kolankiewicz - theconversation.com

>>10641391, >>10641398 ‘Unholy Alliance’: Conspiracy Theorists Are Circulating Russian And Chinese Disinformation About Covid-19 On Social Media - Eden Gillespie - sbs.com.au

>>10641442, >>10641446 Disaster planners warn conspiracy theories pose a security threat - Anna Patty - smh.com.au

>>10654596 Elise Thomas Tweet: QAnon's rapid advance into wellness and spiritual community groups has been one of the striking features of the conspiracy explosion we've seen during this pandemic

>>10654596 Elise Thomas Tweet: @_MAArgentino has done great work on 'Pastel QAnon' and the shift in aesthetic of this particular tentacle of the QAnon

>>10654596 Elise Thomas Tweet: The trend away from QAnon's more traditional hashtags to more ambiguous hashtags like (#)Savethechildren as documented by @Shayan86 is likely to contribute as well

>>10654599 Elise Thomas Tweet: The Australian conspiracy scene is downstream from the MAGA-binfire and the US conspiracy industry…So many "real Aussie patriots" praying for Trump to save them

>>10664744 Ben Lee Joins Fight Against Batshit QAnon Conspiracy: “I’ve Been In A Cult Before” - Emmy Mack - musicfeeds.com.au

>>10664744 Ben Lee Tweet: Hi QAnon I’ve been in a cult before and from experience I can see you are one love Ben

>>10664744 Ben Lee Tweet: If you are a QAnon believer, I’d like to gently suggest picking up the book “Combatting Cult Mind Control” by Steven Hassan

>>10664744 Ben Lee Tweet: For the record, I’m a big NO to conspiracy theories, spiritual/self-help gurus, racism, paranoia and unchecked capitalism. Have a nice day!

>>10679652 Elise Thomas Tweet: Ironically, the Qanon movement is beginning to damage real anti-child trafficking efforts, including flooding hotlines with bogus reports

#9 - Part 15

>>10575515 ASIO questioned Chinese journalist in Australia

>>10575548 HIV-positive alleged paedophile Jadd William Brooker granted bail – but prosecutors plan to appeal

>>10586638 Australia's raid on Chinese journalists shows ugly duplicity on press rights - globaltimes.cn

>>10586963, >>10586972 Salvation Army to re-examine claim against serial paedophile James Michael Brown

>>10587215, >>10587225 Barred scholar Chen Hong thought ASIO’s visa missive was ‘fraud’

>>10587239 Barred scholar Chen Hong’s deep connections to Australia

>>10600911 Salvation Army to re-examine claim against serial paedophile James Michael Brown | 7.30 - ABC News (Australia)

>>10601009 Online child sexual exploitation reports in Australia have surged under coronavirus lockdown, AFP say

>>10601023 Bundaberg man charged with distributing child pornography overseas after lengthy AFP investigation

>>10601086 Western Sydney University provided letter of 'support' to ASIO for banned Chinese PhD Student

>>10601161 Rogue Afghan soldier Hekmatullah sent to detention in Qatar

>>10601384 Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation Tweet: No matter what your job is, it’s your job to protect kids

>>10608651 Q Post #4668 - https://kion546.com/news/2020/09/07/woman-accused-of-intentionally-starting-fires-on-highway-101-arrested/

>>10608651 FBI Portland Tweet: Reports that extremists are setting wildfires in Oregon are untrue

>>10608651 FBI Portland Tweet: SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE LOREN CANNON - Federal Bureau of Investigation

>>10608651 Throughout his career, Mr. Cannon has held leadership positions…and as the assistant legal attaché in Sydney, Australia

>>10608737 Video: FBI Portland Issues Statement on Unrest and Requests Public Tips - FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation

>>10608737 Video Transcript - FBI Portland Issues Statement on Unrest and Requests Public Tips - Renn Cannon, FBI Portland office

>>10611373 Charges increased five-fold, bail denied following analysis of accused paedophile Jadd William Brooker's electronic devices

>>10612001 >>10612025 Man charged after ‘sextortion’ campaign against underage girls

>>10623152 Q Post #4682 - Attempts to 'normalize' will fail. Who will be next?

>>10623152 Q Post #4683 - You. Have. More. Than. You. Know.

>>10627016 Australia Burned Under a Haze of Misinformation Earlier This Year. The U.S. Is Next. - Ketan Joshi - gizmodo.com

>>10627331, >>10627349 Ex-SCECGS Redlands teacher Gary Featherstone avoids jail as nudist camp victim’s transcript revealed

>>10628421, >>10628433 AFP to seize paedophiles’ cars, cash and homes for the first time

>>10628458 AFP says Facebook’s security upgrade gives child molesters a platform to groom kids online

>>10632397 Q Post #4686 - EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW [AS WRITTEN]….Did Kevin set his alarm?

>>10632397 Kevin Corke Tweet: Remember when I said, wake me when there are indictments and or arrests?

#9 - Part 16

Julian Assange Indictment and Extradition Bun

>>10292284 Lawyers for Julian Assange say '11th hour' decision by US government to lodge new charges against him is 'astonishing and potentially abusive'

>>10368354 Crowdfund appeal launched for Julian Assange

>>10368361 Stella Moris: Join my fight to free Julian Assange and stop US extradition

>>10423178 Partner says Assange 'in a lot of pain'

>>10542765 Mother of Assange's two children tearfully warns of the WikiLeaks founder's fate as the US begins its Old Bailey extradition bid

>>10563657 Julian Assange's new friend Bob Carr fights his US extradition

>>10563697, >>10563701 Julian Assange ‘a suicide risk’, says defence

>>10575174 'This is nonsense': Julian Assange interjections earn stern warning

>>10586571 Trump is targeting Assange because he dislikes Obama, court told

>>10600877 Assange's extradition hearing delayed by lawyer's wife's COVID scare

>>10653978 Julian Assange extradition delayed by further tech, coronavirus issues

>>10664636 Assange defence questions why Obama didn't seek to prosecute him

>>10664658 Julian Assange, like Jeffrey Epstein, may not be safe in US prison

>>10679059 Julian Assange interrupts extradition hearing again

>>10691837 Julian Assange aimed for 'stringent redactions', extradition court hears

>>10611062 UK extradition hearing for Assange to resume Monday after negative COVID test

#9 - Part 17

Australian / Regional Resignations Bun

>>10122451 Labor Senator Penny Wong's chief of staff, Marcus Ganley ‘quit after sex claim’

>>10143641 James Murdoch resigns from News Corporation board of directors

>>10176837 David Hutchinson resigns as Queensland LNP president

>>10176837 SANFL CEO Jake Parkinson announces resignation

>>10197874 iCare review brought forward as CEO John Nagle quits

>>10197874 AMP Australia boss Alex Wade exits over 'internal matter'

>>10220297 ‘Inappropriate photos’ behind sudden exit of AMP executive Alex Wade

>>10398399 AMP chairman David Murray resigns, top exec Boe Pahari stands down

>>10491765 QBE CEO Pat Regan to depart following probe

>>10587369 Besieged icare chief and deputy, Michael Carapiet and Gavin Bell, to step down

>>10587369 Queensland Natural Resources and Mines Minister Anthony Lynham announces resignation

>>10601128 Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques resigns amid ancient Juukan Gorge rock shelter blast crisis

#9 - Part 18

>>10637131 Australia is a Full Scale Pilot Test For The New World Order

>>10641501 China two steps ahead on cyber, says former NSA director, Admiral Michael Rogers

>>10641562, >>10641566 Politicians’ families ‘targeted by China spies’

>>10641932, >>10641937, >>10641949, >>10641952 Not a ‘Victimless’ Crime: How Child Sex Abuse Dolls Facilitate Crimes Against Children

>>10652576 Q Post #4709 - Julian Assange

>>10652576 Q Post #4710 - Seth Rich

>>10653948 Ron / CodeMonkey Tweet: Huge ddos ongoing the past couple hours. Sorry if there is a bit of downtime or slowdown as attacks are mitigated

>>10654134, >>10654137 Banned Chinese scholar says guilty of emojis, not security risk in Australia

>>10654345 Leaked Chinese database show company's interest in Australia's space and science sector

>>10654454 Australian Signals Directorate Tweet: “Every organisation in the #FiveEyes relationship contributes uniquely to the greater endeavour.”

>>10664820, >>10664829 Spread of fake news around US fires 'strikingly similar' to Australian summer, researchers say - James Purtill - abc.net.au

>>10665260 Australian police accessed Chinese diplomats' emails and messages as part of foreign political interference investigation

>>10665334 Dr Russell McGregor Tweet: Aussie WHISTLEBLOWER INSIDER gives first-hand EVIDENCE of #Spygate origin prior to Candidate Trump running!

>>10665435 Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Tweet: The Last Stand. #Marines establish a hasty defense to protect critical locations during Exercise #Koolendong

>>10678764 Q Post #4727 - EBpXUniVUAAou98.jpg

>>10678764 Victoria's Secret reportedly continued to work with a modelling agency after it was accused of supplying underage girls to Jeffrey Epstein

>>10679353, >>10679361 China responds furiously to consul being named in Australian foreign interference investigation

>>10679556 Patchouli Tweet: At the beach in byron bay Australia today. "NO STOPPING Q ANON"

>>10682663 VIC based coffee company Bean Around Town. Logo: 3 pedo swirls, 3 pentagrams.

>>10688603 Carthage’s Cathedral in Lismore fire deemed suspicious

>>10692018, >>10692028 'Blue murder': Why Morrison is 'praying' for a Trump election win

>>10692229 Queensland childcare worker accused of child rape among 104 charges

>>10692395 Arthur Sinodinos Tweet: Lively discussion on US engagement in the Indo-Pacific & on supply chains with trusted allies and House members

>>10692556 Fiona Patten MP Tweet: This arrived in the mail this morning no return address to thank them - Satanic Network Victoria Certificate of Appreciation

>>10692556 The Church Of Satan Tweet: Looks like something put together by a fanatical Christian based on their bigoted assumptions of what Satanism is about

>>10692556 Fiona Patten MP Tweet: Indeed!

PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED NOTABLES

Q Research AUSTRALIA #9

https://pastebin.com/qp5MXKCp

Q Research AUSTRALIA #8

https://pastebin.com/hBYe3Rw5

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https://pastebin.com/s0S4vp4V

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https://pastebin.com/iLEFtwAA

Q Research AUSTRALIA #5

https://pastebin.com/xjZwJ2Yz

Q Research AUSTRALIA #4

https://pastebin.com/C4iL3ubL

Q Research AUSTRALIA #3

https://pastebin.com/kUJFL7HP

Q Research AUSTRALIA #2

https://pastebin.com/0BfaKkYm

Q Research AUSTRALIA #1

https://pastebin.com/WiJa8rE0

THREAD ARCHIVES

Q Research AUSTRALIA #9

https://archive.vn/zxQ2e

Q Research AUSTRALIA #8

http://archive.vn/xYtqT

Q Research AUSTRALIA #7

http://archive.vn/YT76p

Q Research AUSTRALIA #6

http://archive.ph/DGknZ

Q Research AUSTRALIA #5

https://archive.ph/vlHWs

Q Research AUSTRALIA #4

https://archive.is/B0Z4l

Q Research AUSTRALIA #3

http://archive.fo/xznbY

Q Research AUSTRALIA #2

http://archive.fo/hlJ0W

Q Research AUSTRALIA #1

http://archive.fo/vJ8oH

CURRENT DOUGH

https://pastebin.com/nBN0MhWm

Trump administration offered Assange pardon, Australian lawyer claims

London: Jennifer Robinson, the Australian lawyer representing Julian Assange, has told his extradition hearing the Trump administration offered the Australian a pardon over the WikiLeaks publications if he outed the source of the 2016 Democratic National Convention email hack.

The emails, which US agencies say were obtained by Russian hackers, were published by WikiLeaks to the benefit of Donald Trump's campaign.

Robinson gave the sensational testimony at Assange's extradition hearing in London.

She said the offer was made by Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Trump associate Charles Johnson, who visited Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2017.

Assange had sought political asylum there to prevent his extradition to Sweden where he faced allegations of sexual assault.

It is not the first time Assange's legal team has made the claim, which has been denied by both the White House and Rohrabacher.

Rohrabacher, a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said his visit was a "fact-finding mission".

"At no time did I offer Julian Assange anything from the President because I had not spoken with the President about this issue at all," Rohrabacher said in a statement in February, when the claims were first made.

"However, when speaking with Julian Assange, I told him that if he could provide me information and evidence about who actually gave him the DNC emails, I would then call on President Trump to pardon him."

But Robinson, who attended the meeting, said a direct offer was made and the pair explicitly stated that they were acting on behalf of the President.

"They said that President Trump was aware of and had approved of them coming to meet Mr Assange to discuss a proposal," she said.

She said Rohrabacher described the offer as a "win-win solution" in which Assange would be given a "pardon, assurance or a commitment" preventing an indictment in return for giving up the source, allowing the 49-year-old to "get on with his life".

"He said the ongoing speculation was damaging to US-Russia relations, that it was reviving old Cold War politics and that it would be in the best interests of the US if the matter could be resolved."

She said they were told that the source of DNC emails "would be of interest, value and assistance to President Trump". At the time, Robert Mueller was investigating Russian interference in the US election and any connections between Trump associates and Russian officials.

Significantly, James Lewis, the QC representing the US government, did not cross-examine Robinson who read from a pre-prepared statement.

"The position of the government is that we don't contest, challenge those things were said, we obviously don't accept the truth of the contents of what was said by others," Lewis said.

Assange's legal team claims his prosecution is political and that his human rights would be violated if he was extradited.

Earlier, the court was told that Assange was "just an Aussie guy" who had devoted himself to making the world a better place by providing classified information in the public interest.

The United States Department of Justice wants Britain to extradite Assange so he can face 18 charges, mostly relating to computer hacking and conspiring with former army analyst Chelsea Manning to hack Pentagon systems.

The DoJ is also prosecuting Assange over the publication of informants, including in Afghanistan and Iraq whose names were published on WikiLeaks, potentially putting them in great harm.

Nicky Hager, an investigative journalist from New Zealand, said that when he travelled to the United Kingdom to work with Assange on the cables in 2010, Assange had wanted to redact the names of informants from documents before they were published on the WikiLeaks website.

The court has previously heard that Assange insisted on stringent redactions and that software was created to scrub all non-English words from the files in the hope that all foreign names would be removed.

The investigative journalist, who relied heavily on the WikiLeaks cables and worked with Assange and WikiLeaks in 2010, blamed "very bad fortune" and "bad luck" for the documents eventually being published online in full.

"I think it was subsequently through very bad fortune and perhaps partly the fact that these kinds of leaks and people of all sorts aren't used to being engaged in them, that the information got out and it shouldn't have," he said.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/trump-administration-offered-assange-pardon-australian-lawyer-claims-20200918-p55x59.html

How Victoria’s Covid lockdown protests are galvanising Australia's right

Liberal MP Craig Kelly and other figures stoking overtly political outrage at the restrictions are finding a thriving audience

Michael McGowan - 19 Sep 2020

1/4

When police in Victoria arrested a 28-year-old pregnant woman named Zoe Buhler at her home near Ballarat over a post on social media two weeks ago, John Roskam’s phone wouldn’t stop buzzing.

“I must have had something like 100 texts and emails that night saying ‘have you seen this?’” Roskam told Guardian Australia this week.

“I think, like everyone, I initially just thought, ‘Gee, that looks bad. I wonder what she’s done?’”

Then, about 11pm, Roskam, the executive director of rightwing thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs, received a phone call from the Liberal party backbench MP Craig Kelly.

“He said, ‘John, have you seen this? We have to do something about it.’”

Buhler was one of a handful of Victorians arrested and charged with incitement in the lead-up to the so-called “freedom day” protests held across Australia on 5 September, a demonstration organised in defiance of lockdown restrictions, mandates on mask-wearing in Victoria, 5G, vaccinations and “child trafficking and pedophilia”.

Victoria police have continued to arrest people associated with the movement in the weeks since, but it was Buhler who sparked a wave of outrage. Footage of the arrest taken by her husband showed her wearing pyjamas as she was placed in handcuffs in front of her children. Within hours of being posted online, the video had attracted more than 1m views.

The arrest was criticised by the president of the Victorian Bar, Wendy Harris QC, who said it appeared to be “disproportionate to the threat she presented”, and even the Victorian police assistant commissioner, Luke Cornelius, who, while defending the arrest, conceded that officers had “absolutely stuffed” the “optics”.

Amid increasing pushback against Daniel Andrews’ government in Victoria, Buhler’s treatment by police has galvanised sections of the right in Australia. Two days after her arrest, conservative columnist Janet Albrechtsen wrote a sympathetic piece about Buhler under the headline “One mum’s desperate voice silenced by fascist behaviour”. On Thursday, Liberty Works, the organisation behind the Australian version of the Conservative Political Action Conference, launched a fundraiser for her legal defence. By Friday afternoon it had raised about $37,500 of its $290,000 goal.

Andrew Cooper, the Liberty Works president, told Guardian Australia he’d been drafted by the Institute of Public Affairs to help with Buhler’s legal case, saying he thought her arrest was “pretty abhorrent”.

“It seems crazy that a Facebook post is something that would lead to an arrest,” he said. “If it was exhorting people to conduct a bombing, then maybe we could have an argument that it’s a criminal matter, but we’re talking about protesting, which I think is fundamental to a democracy.”

But no one has been louder in their criticism than Kelly. Following Buhler’s arrest, the outspoken backbencher shared the footage with his ever-growing Facebook following, describing it as “what you’d expect to see in Nazi Germany”.

“Every politician that voted for laws that allows a pregnant mother to be handcuffed for a Facebook post (that criticises government policy) stands condemned for eternity,” he wrote at the time.

Kelly and Roskam moved quickly to draft Melbourne lawyers Stuart Wood QC and Stephen Andrianaki to act for Buhler pro bono in her case against the Victoria police, and Kelly boasted – again on Facebook – that it was “conservatives standing up to protect Zoe’s rights” while “Labor Luvies” remained silent.

“Zoe’s arrest was completely shocking,” Kelly told Guardian Australia.

“What we are seeing in Victoria is a severe breakdown of the social licence police in Australia enjoy. As politicians, we might want to create laws, but we have to think through how police are going to have to enforce those laws and what the consequence of that might be.”

(continued)

>>10706258

2/4

Encrypted message calls for ‘crowbars and baseball bats’

Those concerned with over-policing in Australia might be forgiven for feeling a sense of ideological whiplash watching conservatives prosecuting the issue.

As recently as June, Albrechtsen, for example, tutted at Black Lives Matter protestors for “ignoring laws that millions of Australians have dutifully followed in an effort to contain a pandemic”. Kelly, too, blasted BLM demonstrators for “threatening yet another street protest in our main streets of Sydney, even though we have the Covid restrictions in place”.

Roskam explains the apparent change in position by saying conservatives feel as though a “double standard” has been applied to anti-lockdown protests after a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Victoria went ahead prior to the stage-four lockdown.

He also argues that, in the same way that figures on the left in New South Wales have expressed concern about the state’s police commissioner, Mick Fuller, and his close relationship with the state’s Liberal government, Victorian conservatives feel senior police are too closely tied with Daniel Andrews’ state Labor government.

But he is also clear-eyed about the rhetorical shift. A former academic and political staffer who writes for the Australian newspaper, Roskam is the type of conservative who uses phrases like “political elites” while citing frequent “discussions with MPs” and invoking the allegory of Plato’s cave during conversations.

He concedes that much of the outrage is overtly political. As the Victorian government stays the course on its harsh Covid-19 restrictions, targeting concern about the role of police in enforcing the lockdown is a way to “pushback against the whole package”.

“It is a vehicle to talk about the program as a whole,” Roskam says. “That’s where the left are struggling with this. They can’t criticise one part of the package without starting to unpick it as a whole.”

But by joining the anti-lockdown chorus, members of the right in Australia are walking a thin line.

The event Buhler created specifically called for a “peaceful protest” which would help give “a voice for those in stage-four lockdowns”. Footage from the arrest showed her telling officers she did not realise creating the event was potentially in breach of the state’s laws.

But others associated with the protests that have broken out in Victoria are less benign.

The anti-lockdown protests in Victoria have been actively driven by a loose coalition of conspiracy groups that in some cases have links with the far-right in Australia. At protests held on 5 September, some demonstrators held anti-semitic signs while others were associated with the baseless conspiracy theory QAnon.

In August, one of the leaders of the 99% group, which organised an anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne in May at which attendees chanted “arrest Bill Gates”, appeared on the Unshackled, an Australian far-right podcast. Guardian Australia has previously revealed that one of Kelly’s Liberal party colleagues, the Victorian MP Anne Webster, installed security cameras at her home because she feared being physically attacked after a conspiracy theorist falsely accused her of being “a member of a secretive pedophile network” in a series of vicious social media posts.

On encrypted messaging apps associated with the movement, some members now explicitly advocate using violence against journalists and the police. In one group this week, a member wrote that protestors “will need to start arming themselves with crowbars and baseball bats”. Another posted a video of themselves using a bow and arrow, while someone else posted photos of bullets, writing “these go thru Kevlar and armor plate vests”.

“Several of my mates are refusing to participate in these protests because they don’t want their firearm licence taken off them,” one member wrote. “That said, they believe the use of them may be necessary if this shit escalates.”

The same person wrote that protestors “should start going after the journalists”.

“They are the vehicle that have allowed this to occur. They have become an enemy of the people,” they wrote. “They all have names and addresses.”

(continued)

>>10706267

3/4

Craig Kelly denies spreading ‘dangerous disinformation’

As the pandemic stretches on, no one has walked the line between criticising the Victorian government and openly nodding to this audience like Craig Kelly. He has long been known for speaking to the beliefs of his party’s right flank, and has made a career out of mocking climate change “exaggeration”, denying its link to last summer’s bushfires and accusing the Bureau of Meteorology of falsifying weather data.

But the Liberal party backbencher has expanded his repertoire during the Covid-19 pandemic to include advocacy for the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine in treating Covid-19, a campaign against what he calls “health bureaucrats”, and a barrage of criticism against the Victorian government. In videos for an online streaming site called the Cave, Kelly has called for the removal of Daniel Andrews from office, saying Victoria was “being run by a megalomanic [who is] getting his totalitarian kicks out of keeping 5m people in captivity”.

Founded by Australian filmmaker Simon Hunter, the executive director of the Sydney Film School, the Cave also promotes videos from the likes of Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens and Gavin McInnes, the founder of the far-right Proud Boys group.

Kelly’s tireless online campaigning has undoubtedly found him a new and thriving audience. His Facebook following has grown by almost 37% since June, and of Australia’s federal MPs only the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has enjoyed more “interactions” on posts shared to the social media site. Kelly’s posts are also regularly among the most shared social media posts on the site from Australia.

His posts are regularly shared by groups associated with both the far right and individuals connected to the ever-mutating conspiracy movement. Earlier this month, the US conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer David “Avocado” Wolfe encouraged his 16,000 Telegram subscribers (he has more than 12m followers on Facebook) to sign a petition supporting Kelly over his advocacy for hydroxychloroquine.

Similarly, in August, the former celebrity chef Pete Evans shared a speech by Kelly promoting the drug to his 1.5m Facebook followers. Evans regularly posts favourably about a range of discredited ideas including risks of 5G exposure, while platforming anti-vaxxers and pushing content aligned to Qanon.

Hydroxychloroquine, which has also been pushed by Donald Trump, has been shown to be ineffective and potentially harmful when used to treat the virus. The Therapeutic Goods Administration, the federal health body responsible for evaluating and approving medicines for use in Australia, recommends the drug not be used to treat Covid-19 outside of clinical trials and has restricted its use outside of the conditions for which it is approved.

The acting chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, has said simply that “it doesn’t work”.

Kelly’s advocacy for the drug has prompted significant criticism. Last month the shadow health minister, Chris Bowen, accused Kelly of spreading “dangerous disinformation” for continuing to push the use of the drug, and the usually staid deputy chief health officer Nick Coatsworth has rebuked his advocacy for it. “I think Australians are very clear which Kelly should be listened to in Covid-19, and that is Paul Kelly,” he previously said.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Kelly denied engaging in misinformation, saying he was not intimately familiar with online conspiracy theory groups including QAnon. In online videos, he’s also railed against criticism he has received for promoting hydroxychloroquine, accusing the media of “implying I was engaging in peddling conspiracy theories, defunct facts [and] dangerous facts. All I’ve been doing is reporting what the medical experts are saying around the world”.

(continued)

>>10706277

4/4

Kelly is insistent and ferocious in his advocacy for the drug. In two interviews with Guardian Australia, he quoted from dozens of medical papers which he says show the evidence for the drug is “overwhelming”.

“Is it any wonder, when you’ve got medical doctors around the world speaking out and saying this drug works, and yet the chief medical officer of the country is saying it doesn’t work, is it any wonder people on the fringes of conspiracy theories are saying hang on a minute, what’s going on?” he said.

Kelly says his support for the drug is based on a belief that the government is interfering with the relationship between patients and doctors. In videos for the Cave he’s argued that much of the opposition to it from mainstream health organisations is a result of Trump’s advocacy for it, saying it has “resulted in hydroxychloroquine becoming, I think, the first drug in history to become politically incorrect”.

Asked by Guardian Australia why he believed health officials would block access to the drug if it did work, Kelly said he didn’t know, suggesting they were either “overwhelmed” by the task of combatting the virus or that they were “subconsciously” biased against it both because it had been promoted by Trump and because it was “off-patent”.

“It is a mystery to me,” he said. “A lot of this started in the US, and that’s a factor because as soon as Trump said it would work, a lot of people were determined to show it wouldn’t. He’s the worst advocate for the drug.”

“There’s also the factor that hydroxychloroquine is off-patent … there’s no money in it for anyone. I don’t know whether that’s affecting anyone but it has got to be one of the considerations that are weighed up. Maybe it’s a subconscious close of the eye.”

In the main, Australia conservatives continue to support him. Last month the Coalition blocked Labor’s attempts to rebuke Kelly over the drug, and, indeed, Roskam says he sees Kelly as a model for future conservative politicians.

“I give a lot of speeches to young conservatives and young Liberals and I say you can be a cabinet minister for 10 years and achieve nothing or you can be Craig Kelly,” he said.

Andrew Cooper said he hadn’t followed the debate around hydroxychloroquine, but that broadly he supported Kelly.

“In general I think democracies needs your Craig Kellys, I really do, because what we’ve learned through this period is there’s a consolidation of everyone’s mindset into one, and you do need those outliers to stir it up,” he said.

“Surely we’re big enough to work out whether we agree or disagree with Craig Kelly.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/19/how-victorias-covid-lockdown-protests-are-galvanising-australias-right

Just like Australia, disinformation is thriving during the US fire crisis

In both countries, fake news about arson proliferated while the role of climate change was obscured

Jason Wilson - 19 Sep 2020

1/2

Disinformation successfully obscured the real causes of Australia’s catastrophic bushfire season. Now the same thing is happening around me, as I report on a disastrous wildfire season in the American west.

In both countries, the response to a pandemic is also being complicated by disinformation, as conspiracy theorists refuse isolation, refuse masks, and ready themselves to refuse vaccines.

A lot of the fundamental problems are the same, but there are differences in detail.

In the western United States in recent days, backroads vigilantism has seen civilians set up armed road blocks, and journalists held at the point of loaded assault rifles.

Australia does not have the complication of American gun culture, which is itself one marker of the clash of ideologies and identities in a deeply divided nation, and also raises the stakes on every other social conflict.

Many Australians like to congratulate themselves on their highly restrictive gun laws, figuring that it is the mark of a more civilised society.

That may be, but it’s easy to forget that one of the major stumbling blocks to stricter gun laws in the United States is a bill of rights.

We can argue whether the right to bear arms is a sensible thing to constitutionally enshrine, but Australia has no such constitutionally defined individual rights, beyond those that the high court has seen fit to torture from the document.

The absence of such rights also contains the real world effects of conspiracy theories – the people recently arrested for incitement in Victoria over the promotion of Covid conspiracy theories and anti-lockdown protests would likely enjoy first amendment protections in the US. Whether or not people ought to have the liberty to promote ideas which are, frankly, insane, and a threat to public order, is beyond the scope of this article.

In other ways, Australia is worse off. It is easy to make the mistake of thinking that Fox News, or other skewed or tabloid media, is representative of US media as a whole.

But America’s media is vast. Conservative media is mostly enjoyed by those who have already committed the necessary cognitive self-mutilation to mistake its output for information, and, speaking very generally, although other corporate and local media may be excessively narrow, and TV networks such as Sinclair do skew right, the country does not suffer under the hegemony that News Corporation has achieved in its country of origin.

With its stranglehold on daily newspapers and online news, News Corp in Australia has created the most rightwing media culture in the English speaking world, and they aren’t really accountable to anyone.

Their columnists, and even their news writers, played a big, unconscionable role in pushing horse-hockey about arson and hazard reduction burning. In the western United States, it’s simply inconceivable that local mainstream media outlets would deliberately mislead their audience in this way. (Fox News has, but those who take the network seriously are already lost.)

News gave the conspiracy theories momentum, while other outlets such as Seven also entertained the idea that vandals, greenies, or anything but climate change might have set the country on fire.

If there is a posterity to judge them, it will damn them all.

(continued)

>>10706380

2/2

The last, and biggest point of difference is that Australia’s bushfires struck at the beginning of 2020. As we draw to the end of September, the conspiracy culture that fuels wildfire denialism has had nine more months to incubate in the bowels of its principal host, Facebook.

Facebook is also the place where we see the two disinformation crises overlap.

That website is now nothing short of a threat to civilisation. But the nature of that threat is not easy to see for those who simply use it to keep up with family and friends, post pictures of their dog, or monitor old flames.

In 2016, the Facebook newsfeed was flooded with fake news. Scandals followed when it emerged how easily the newsfeed had been manipulated by propagandists like Cambridge Analytica (much of that was first revealed by reporting in the Guardian).

In response, Facebook first tweaked its algorithm to de-emphasise content from publishers except where it sparked interest from users’ friends. Then, last year, it tweaked its app to emphasise groups.

Ask anyone who professionally monitors the far right, as I do, or conspiracy culture, as I do, and they’ll tell you that the action is all happening in private groups – either those associated with movements like QAnon, with anti-lockdown or anti-mask or anti-vaccine protests, with far right street protests, and lately, with localities affected by natural disasters.

To a large extent, now, all of these form one big gumbo of conspiracy culture, anyhow. Facebook will tell you that they have cracked down on QAnon, the Boogaloo movement, and wildfire disinformation. To the extent that they have tried, they have failed. Conspiracy culture continues not only to survive, but thrive on the platform.

In the last week, the idea that antifa activists were starting fires was bedded down as settled fact and common sense in rightwing groups, and those associated with many affected rural communities. The idea was impervious to attempts by federal and local law enforcement authorities to debunk it.

That’s the most proximate reason that armed men were sticking up journalists, and setting up roadblocks in rural Oregon.

There will be future bushfire seasons like 2020’s in Australia, and the American west. The Covid crisis has a long way to run, and it may worsen, and give way to future pandemics which are even more unforgiving.

The disinformation will also likely be worse, as will its consequences, because those whose safety is threatened by disinformation cannot, and those who could will not deplatform the conspiracy theorists producing lies at an industrial scale.

In Australia, and the US, the prospects of facing up to the underlying cause of longer, more severe, more catastrophic fire seasons – climate change – will be remote unless regulators act against the websites where truth goes to die.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/19/just-like-australia-disinformation-is-thriving-during-the-us-fire-crisis

Prince Andrew under immense pressure after Jeffrey Epstein's chef speaks to FBI

EXCLUSIVE: Jeffrey Epstein's former chef Adam Perry Lang catered for Prince Andrew and also flew alongside him on the billionaire financier's private jet on two occasions

Prince Andrew is under intense pressure to speak to US investigators after his paedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein’s chef began “fully cooperating” with the FBI.

Adam Perry Lang, who opened the Barbecoa restaurant with Jamie Oliver in London in 2010, is being quizzed about the time he worked for depraved billionaire Epstein, from 1999 to 2003.

Lawyers for Epstein’s victims welcomed Perry Lang’s cooperation. Attorney Arick Fudali said: “We certainly hope that this may inspire other witnesses to come forward and help shed some light on Epstein’s dark scheme.”

American Perry Lang, 52, not only catered for the Duke of York, 60, but flew alongside him on board Epstein’s private jet.

According to court documents, he joined Andrew on two flights in February 1999 and one in May the next year.

Sources told the Mirror Perry Lang “has been or will be” quizzed about his time with Andrew as US prosecutors have “grown increasingly annoyed” at being stonewalled by the royal.

A source said: “The gloves are firmly off. Perry Lang holds information on what took place.

“They will get as much detail as possible that will help shape any interview they may one day have with the Duke.”

Perry Lang volunteered himself to the FBI after Virginia Giuffre, 37, who claims Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, wrote to him, saying: “Please don’t be an enabler. Be a hero to me.”

The Duke and his legal team vehemently deny her allegations.

Perry Lang’s lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, confirmed the chef was helping the FBI, who arrested Epstein’s ex Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, on suspicion of child sex offences in July. She denies the charges and faces trial in New York next July.

Mr Lustberg said: “Mr Lang has begun a course of fully cooperating with the federal authorities investigating this case. He, like them and like the victims, wants only that justice be done.”

The chef himself added: “We have absolutely always been available to the attorneys for the lawyers representing victims.”

Perry Lang said previously of Epstein: “I was unaware of the depraved behaviour and have great admiration for the brave women who have come forward.”

Several victims of Epstein have described Perry Lang as a decent man. Giuffre said: “He used to talk to me like I was a person.”

Epstein, 66, committed suicide last year while in jail awaiting trial for underage sex trafficking.

A spokeswoman for Prince Andrew declined to comment.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/prince-andrew-under-immense-pressure-22707068

Coronavirus Australia: Victorian Chief Health Officer slams COVID-19 conspiracies

Victoria’s top doctor has slammed virus conspiracists, taking aim at those who believe “coronavirus doesn’t exist and doesn’t kill people”.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton has smacked down common and “absurd” coronavirus conspiracy theories that are circulating in the community.

Fronting the media on Saturday morning, Dr Sutton said the most aggravating conspiracy was that “coronavirus doesn’t exist and doesn’t kill people”.

“That is just off the scale in terms of absurdity,” he said.

“The idea that this illness that we know kills one in three people over the age of 80, you know, to say that it is mild or just the flu or doesn’t exist at all is really offensive to everyone who has lost a loved one.”

But despite the widespread misinformation, Dr Sutton said he believes the overall health message is sinking in.

Meanwhile, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also took aim at “selfish” anti-lockdown protesters in today’s media conference, telling participants to “go home” and insisting the coronavirus fight was “a human life exercise” and not about civil rights and civil liberties.

He said those taking part in rallies were putting lives at risk along with jeopardising to roadmap our of lockdown.

“I would have thought that the … primary concern at the moment amongst the Victorian community is to get these numbers down and keep them down,” he said.

“Go home and follow the rules. That is a very simple message. There is no need to protest about anything … it is not safe.

“It just doesn’t make any sense. You are potentially putting the strategy at risk. No-one should be doing anything to contribute to the spread of this virus.

“Victoria Police are not mucking about and they will deal with these people because it is a selfish act, it is an irresponsible and unlawful act.”

Mr Andrews also stood by the controversial decision not to fine members of five families behind Melbourne’s Casey cluster, which is believed to have occurred after family members broke virus rules to visit each other.

While he acknowledged the decision might not be supported by everyone, the information provided by those involved in the cluster was far more valuable than fines would be and that if fines were threatened, it may stop people from being “full and frank” in interviews.

The comments come as case numbers continue to fall in Victoria, with just 21 new coronavirus cases confirmed overnight in the state.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-australia-victorian-chief-health-officer-slams-covid19-conspiracies/news-story/a771756c188d152ca36e5d73ca9a3981

US election headed for chaos and courts — what price President Pelosi?

JOE HOCKEY - SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

1/2

What are the odds of Nancy Pelosi being sworn in as president on the steps of the Capitol on January 20? Not as remote as you may think.

Last week voting for the next president started in seven US states – two weeks before the first presidential debate that will be watched by almost 100 million Americans.

It is the beginning of the most complicated national election in the world, one almost certain to have no final result on election day, November 3.

The already confusing voting system across the US is slower and more open to manipulation than ever. On top of the political bias involved in its logistics, foreign interference is inevitable particularly in the days after November 3 when social media will be inundated with accusations, innuendo and outright deceit designed to undermine the integrity of the result.

It will be hard to avoid controversy no matter who wins. You can bet your house that the losers in this race will not take defeat graciously.

Already, both major parties are allocating more money to lawyers for the pre and post-election legal battles than they are spending on the campaign in a number of states.

It is certainly conceivable that the famous legal battle over hanging chads that decided the 2000 Bush-Gore election in Florida will be superseded by new types of litigation in perhaps 12 states if the result is close.

All the problems start with the more than 10,000 election authorities that are responsible for the rules of the presidential ballot.

Every jurisdiction seems to have authority for setting the rules — except for the US government that is being elected. The US Senate even shot down limited federal powers, under the 1965 Voting Rights Act to protect minority communities, earlier this year. In a nutshell that means there are different rules on how, where and when you can vote.

Take the case of our everyday voter, Mary Milwaukee. If Mary lives in Reno, Nevada she’ll receive a postal ballot paper in the next few weeks even if she never applied for it. Moreover, according to the US Postal Service, 223,000 ballot papers will go to the wrong homes in Nevada because people moved and forgot to change their address. No risk of ballot fraud here, right? And Nevada is a swing state.

If Mary lived in Jackson, Mississippi, she would have to register to vote no later than 29 days before poll day, and if she were born outside the US, would have to prove her naturalisation. After registering, she could apply for a postal ballot paper only if she had a good excuse. One justification for a postal ballot is if Mary contracted COVID-19. However, if she contracts it less than a week out from the election, unless she soldiers down to the ballot box on November 3, her vote won’t count.

But let’s say Mary does live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has not made up her mind until the eve of the election. Mary is allowed to cast a vote only at her local polling booth. She is unable to vote further down the road or across the country. And if Mary does get to vote after she finishes her working shift at Walmart, the queue to vote could be three hours long or worse. She had better rug up because the outside temperature is about 4C that time of year.

(continued)

>>10723064

2/2

Apart from setting their own rules, almost every county and city also sets their own budget for the ballot.

If you want to deter voter turnout then simply make the queues longer by having fewer electoral staff and fewer voting places. Some counties may have invested in electronic voting while others require a written ballot paper, which is slow and costly.

On top of all this the states further influence the process by setting their own electoral boundaries for federal congressional districts every decade. The rules that govern boundaries in Australia are a dream.

Even though US boundary manipulation cannot be compared with the Queensland Bjelkemander of 1972, when Joh Bjelke-Petersen won office with 20 per cent of the primary vote, US maps often lack coherence or common sense. That is a substantial advantage for one party over another. While this does not directly impact the presidential race, it does have an impact on the resources allocated to a state campaign.

Whatever the process, the two campaigns will spend a conservative estimate of $3.7bn on their crusades – an average of $31 per voter compared with the usual non-Palmer election here, where parties would spend about $11 per voter. In addition to all that spending, outsiders known as SuperPacs (political action committees) will pour extreme amounts of money to back their candidates. Mike Bloomberg announced he will toss in a lazy $140m in Florida alone just to see the end of Donald Trump.

These mind-blowing numbers would usually matter but for the fact Trump defied gravity and beat Hillary Clinton with half her budget in 2016.

Whatever the confused process throws up, we are now on track for a crazy election night.

It’s conceivable that Trump will look like he is the winner that night because Republicans are more likely to vote on the day. However, that’s when most states will only start counting postal ballots. They are not only expected to heavily favour Joe Biden but because of COVID-19, half of all ballots will be absentee, the highest number recorded.

For example, in North Carolina, requests for mail-in ballots are 14 times higher. A final count will take days, perhaps weeks. Then the litigation will kick in and the spin, smear and allegations will dominate domestic and global media.

It will be ugly. And if there is no clear winner by noon on January 20, then the 1947 Presidential Succession Act kicks in and Pelosi, at 80 years of age, becomes president. If she can’t make it then next in line is Senator Chuck Grassley aged 87. We are living in crazy times.

Joe Hockey is a former federal treasurer and ambassador to the US. He is president of advisory firm Bondi Partners

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/us-election-headed-for-chaos-and-courts-what-price-president-pelosi/news-story/fc34b7037200aa76f53242b303179df1

Six fined, two arrested over Chadstone anti-lockdown flash mob

Samantha Dick - Sep 20, 2020

A bizarre anti-lockdown flash mob at Chadstone shopping centre in Melbourne’s south-east quickly fizzled within minutes on Sunday.

About 50 demonstrators formed a makeshift choir outside Coles supermarket and sang You’re The Voice by John Farnham at 1pm.

But before they had a chance to belt out an encore, the group quickly dispersed over fear of being caught by police.

Five police Public Order Response vans arrived on the scene at 1.15pm, but by then most of the demonstrators had split up.

Victoria Police arrested two people and issued six fines to singers.

“It is only a very small number of people that still choose to put the rest of the community at risk through their selfish behaviour,” a police spokeswoman said.

“We will continue to take the same swift and firm action against those who choose to blatantly ignore the CHO directions.”

Victoria Police said it would continue investigating the people who attended the protest.

They’ve got the voice, but we don’t understand it

Speaking to the Herald Sun after the rally, one demonstrator accused the Victorian government of “protecting paedophiles and taking our rights away”.

His words echoed that of QAnon, a far-right group pushing conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and paedophile rings.

“Innocent people want to protest for freedom against our government – Black Lives Matter is OK, but it’s not OK when you want to speak up against the government,” the woman said.

“It’s disgusting. Our freedom of speech and human rights have been violated, so we’re going to stand up for Victoria.”

Another anti-lockdown supporter told the Herald Sun he wanted to “expose the lies that are going on and the trans-human agenda that’s coming next”.

On Saturday, Victoria Police arrested 16 people and issued 21 fines to anti-lockdown protesters in the Elsternwick area.

Punishment hypocrisy

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been accused of hypocrisy for allowing anti-lockdown protesters to be fined, but not any of the people in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs who spread COVID-19 after illegally visiting other family members’ homes.

The group behind the outbreak, which has grown to 40 virus infections, is largely from the Afghan community in Casey. Two of those infected by the virus are in hospital.

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien seized the opportunity to slam Labor for “double standards” that were “as toxic as this virus”.

“It’s a disgrace that Labor has locked up innocent Victorians under a curfew while those who break the law and spread the virus get off scot free,” he said.

“This is the same Andrews hypocrisy that saw teenagers fined for learning to drive while 10,000 Black Lives Matter protesters were ignored.”

However, on Sunday Mr Andrews defended his decision not to fine the families in Casey for breaching lockdown because it might stop them from being “full and frank” in crucial contact-tracing interviews.

“If people are going to get fined for telling the truth … well then, I think we know what happens,” he said.

“People won’t tell the truth, and we won’t know where they’ve been, who they’ve infected, and we won’t be able to pull up an outbreak at 40 [cases]. It’ll be hundreds.”

He said he was “frustrated that people were doing the wrong thing”, but said the “truth was worth everything”.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2020/09/20/chadstone-lockdown-protest-coronavirus/

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: False rumours spread online about former Supreme Court Justice

She’s been dead just days, but a sick and misleading claim about the Supreme Court Justice has been given new fuel online.

Benedict Brook - SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

1/2

False claims about the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg have begun doing rounds on social media in an apparent bid to smear her reputation.

Ginsburg, otherwise known as RBG, died on Friday from pancreatic cancer.

She was one of the nine justices of the United States’ highest court that has ruled on some of the country’s most contested and contentious legal issues. She was considered to be from the liberal wing of the bench.

Her death has set up a political battle in the US with President Trump keen to install a new conservative judge despite the election being just weeks away.

RBG ‘EXTREMELY LIBERAL’

Spurious posts, that have multiplied on social media since her passing, have said that Ms Ginsburg supported lowering the age of consent to just 12 years old and didn’t see a problem with paedophilia.

A quote, purportedly from the late Justice, has appeared on online saying: “The age of consent for sexual acts must be lowered to 12 years of age.”

Facebook has taken to labelling the claim “false information”.

That led one person to respond: “It isn’t false. It is on congressional record.”

But the person then added “She didn’t say it OUT LOUD but it is what she supports.”

Other social media users appeared to have taken the claims as being entirely true.

Certainly, a similar quote did appear on the congressional record, the official record of proceedings in the US Congress, similar to Australia’s Hansard, but it wasn’t from Ginsburg.

In the record dated August 2, 1993, when Ginsburg’s proposed nomination to the Supreme Court was before the Senate, submissions were taken from various parties as to whether she should take on the role which is a lifetime appointment.

One submission, from a lawyer, argued that Ginsburg has proved herself to “extremely liberal” and gave examples which he said provided a “compelling basis for senators to vote against her nomination”.

Among her “extremely liberal” positions, Ginsburg is said to have a “social vision” which is interpreted as ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, allowing women to serve in combat roles and “lowering the age of consent for sexual acts to 12 years”.

Other submissions made similar claims about Ginsburg’s view on the age of consent.

All of the claims appear to stem from a 1977 report co-authored by Ginsburg called Sex Bias In The US Code, published by the US Commission on Civil Rights. The paper did not call for the age of consent to be lowered.

Rather, the document called for gender neutral language to be used in US laws.

At the time, the use of gendered language meant some offences could potentially go unpunished simply due to the gender of the person accused of committing them.

For instance, one US law at the time said: “It is a crime for a person to have carnal knowledge of a female not his wife who has not reached 16 years of age.”

Effectively, that meant only men could commit rape and only women could be victims of the crime.

Ginsburg’s co-authored paper said the definition failed to recognise that men and boys could also be rape victims.

“In the case of statutory rape, the immaturity and vulnerability of young people of both sexes could be protected through appropriately drawn, sex-neutral proscriptions.”

(continued)

>>10729596

2/2

FALSE CLAIM

As an example of how a law could be drafted without referring to gender, the report quoted from a proposed Senate bill from 1973 which didn’t use terms like “male” and “female”.

This is where the consent claims come in.

The wording of the 1973 bill said a person would be guilty of an offence if they forced someone else to take part in sexual act by force or threats, by drugging or intoxicating them, or if “the other person is, in fact, less than 12 years old”.

Ginsburg did not push for the bill to become law, it didn’t become law and the oft-quoted line is not from the late judge.

Several fact-checking sites and legal experts have said that Ginsburg was advocating just for the use of gender-neutral language, not for lowering the age of consent.

Over the years, the passage from the Senate bill has been misinterpreted as Ginsburg herself calling for the lowering of the age of consent.

An even more damning line has been circulating on social media where Ginsburg purportedly said, “Paedophilia is good for the children.”

There appears to be no evidence Ginsburg ever uttered those words.

RUSH TO FILL COURT VACANCY

On the weekend, US President Donald Trump confirmed he would seek to replace Ginsburg “without delay”.

“We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court justices,” the President tweeted.

“We have this obligation, without delay!”

Supreme Court judges are nominated by the President and then scrutinised by the Senate. The Republican Party has a majority in the Senate which potentially means it could ram through an appointment in just the few weeks before the November polling day.

However, when a right-leaning judge passed away in February 2016, nine months before election day, then-president Barack Obama eventually gave in to Republican demands to delay any Supreme Court appointment until after election day.

That allowed Mr Trump to install conservative judge Neil Gorsuch soon after he came to office.

Democrats have accused the Trump administration of hypocrisy for now pushing ahead with a nomination.

Several Republican senators have said they will not support a rushed nomination but the party may still have the numbers to install a new judge heavily swinging the Supreme Court to conservative justices.

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-false-rumours-spread-online-about-former-supreme-court-justice/news-story/9e468d678e97d347c5ddd4cd5888cab5

>>10729596

>>10729607

Clearnet jpg test

>>10729596

Q Post #2653

Jan 6 2019 12:32:35 (EST)

[RBG]

Why was she 'selected'?

Who appointed her?

Remember [her] history.

Ref: 230-page book called Sex Bias in the U.S. Code, published in 1977 by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Highlights:

>Called for the sex-integration of prisons and reformatories so that conditions of imprisonment, security and housing could be equal. She explained, “If the grand design of such institutions is to prepare inmates for return to the community as persons equipped to benefit from and contribute to civil society, then perpetuation of single-sex institutions should be rejected.” (Page 101)

>Called for the sex-integration of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because they “perpetuate stereotyped sex roles.” (Page 145)

>Insisted on sex-integrating “college fraternity and sorority chapters” and replacing them with “college social societies.” (Page 169)

>Cast constitutional doubt on the legality of “Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as separate holidays.” (Page 146)

>Called for reducing the age of consent for sexual acts to people who are “less than 12 years old.” (Page 102)

>Asserted that laws against “bigamists, persons cohabiting with more than one woman, and women cohabiting with a bigamist” are unconstitutional. (Page 195)

>Objected to laws against prostitution because “prostitution, as a consensual act between adults, is arguably within the zone of privacy protected by recent constitutional decisions.” (Page 97)

>Ginsburg wrote that the Mann Act (which punishes those who engage in interstate sex traffic of women and girls) is “offensive.” Such acts should be considered “within the zone of privacy.” (Page 98)

>Demanded that we “firmly reject draft or combat exemption for women,” stating “women must be subject to the draft if men are.” But, she added, “the need for affirmative action and for transition measures is particularly strong in the uniformed services.” (Page 218)

>An indefatigable censor, Ginsburg listed hundreds of “sexist” words that must be eliminated from all statutes. Among words she found offensive were: man, woman, manmade, mankind, husband, wife, mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, serviceman, longshoreman, postmaster, watchman, seamanship, and “to man” (a vessel). (Pages 15-16)

>Wanted he, she, him, her, his, and hers to be dropped down the memory hole. They must be replaced by he/she, her/him, and hers/his, and federal statutes must use the bad grammar of “plural constructions to avoid third person singular pronouns.” (Page 52-53)

>Condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling in Harris v. McRae and claimed that taxpayer-funded abortions should be a constitutional right.

http://humanevents.com/2005/08/23/senators-overlooked-radical-record-of-ruth-bader-ginsburg/

Who are the doctors 'currently' treating [RBG]?

What other political [former/current] sr. political heads are they affiliated w/?

What 'off-market' drugs are being provided to [RBG] in order to sustain minimum daily function?

What is the real medical diagnosis of [RBG]?

Who is managing her care?

Who is 'really' managing her care?

The clock is ticking.

PANIC IN DC.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#2653

—

Senators Overlooked Radical Record of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

By Phyllis Schlafly on August 23, 2005

https://humanevents.com/2005/08/23/senators-overlooked-radical-record-of-ruth-bader-ginsburg/

>>10729596

>>10729636

Sex Bias in the U.S. Code - A Report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp66290

https://www2.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/documents/cr12se9.pdf

—

>Called for the sex-integration of prisons and reformatories so that conditions of imprisonment, security and housing could be equal. She explained, “If the grand design of such institutions is to prepare inmates for return to the community as persons equipped to benefit from and contribute to civil society, then perpetuation of single-sex institutions should be rejected.” (Page 101)

>Called for the sex-integration of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because they “perpetuate stereotyped sex roles.” (Page 145)

>>10729744

>Insisted on sex-integrating “college fraternity and sorority chapters” and replacing them with “college social societies.” (Page 169)

>Cast constitutional doubt on the legality of “Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as separate holidays.” (Page 146)

>Called for reducing the age of consent for sexual acts to people who are “less than 12 years old.” (Page 102)

>Asserted that laws against “bigamists, persons cohabiting with more than one woman, and women cohabiting with a bigamist” are unconstitutional. (Page 195)

>Objected to laws against prostitution because “prostitution, as a consensual act between adults, is arguably within the zone of privacy protected by recent constitutional decisions.” (Page 97)

>>10729763

>Ginsburg wrote that the Mann Act (which punishes those who engage in interstate sex traffic of women and girls) is “offensive.” Such acts should be considered “within the zone of privacy.” (Page 98)

>Demanded that we “firmly reject draft or combat exemption for women,” stating “women must be subject to the draft if men are.” But, she added, “the need for affirmative action and for transition measures is particularly strong in the uniformed services.” (Page 218)

>An indefatigable censor, Ginsburg listed hundreds of “sexist” words that must be eliminated from all statutes. Among words she found offensive were: man, woman, manmade, mankind, husband, wife, mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, serviceman, longshoreman, postmaster, watchman, seamanship, and “to man” (a vessel). (Pages 15-16)

>Wanted he, she, him, her, his, and hers to be dropped down the memory hole. They must be replaced by he/she, her/him, and hers/his, and federal statutes must use the bad grammar of “plural constructions to avoid third person singular pronouns.” (Page 52-53)

'Shrouded in secrecy': ASD to be grilled over axed official history

Australia's cyber spy agency will be grilled at a parliamentary hearing over its shock decision to cancel a contract with the Australian National University to write its official history.

The Australian Signals Directorate is in talks with the ANU about how much of the $2.2 million contract it will pay out after military historian John Blaxland worked for more than a year on the project.

The ASD's decision to sever ties with Professor Blaxland, revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Saturday, has embarrassed some senior members of the Morrison government who have been urging the agency to be more transparent.

The development comes at a sensitive time for the signals directorate, with the government looking to pass new laws giving the agency more powers to protect the nation's critical infrastructure from cyber attacks and help federal police go after serious criminals onshore.

Crossbench senator Rex Patrick said the cancelling of the contract without public explanation raised significant concerns including a lack of transparency and a waste of taxpayers' money.

Senator Patrick said the ASD "can expect to be grilled" by him at a Senate estimates hearing next month.

"How much public money has been spent under the contract since the work commenced? For what reason did ASD terminate the contract? What are the plans moving forward? These are just some of the questions that must be answered by ASD," Senator Patrick said.

"It is an organisation shrouded in secrecy, but this cannot apply in relation to public expenditure on and plans related to the writing of its history."

The decision has shocked colleagues of Professor Blaxland, a former intelligence officer with the Australian Defence Force who co-authored The Official History of ASIO.

In a press release in July last year, the ASD said the selection of Professor Blaxland came "after a rigorous tender process" and praised him as "one of Australia’s most experienced and respected military historians".

ASD director-general Rachel Noble, who took over in February this year, made the decision to cancel the contract, sources familiar with the decision confirmed.

Senior security sources said the ASD would still go ahead with an official history but wanted more control over the project. The ASD said the replacement process would take in the work already completed by Professor Balxland and his team.

Senator Patrick said the project would lack credibility if it was produced from within the organisation.

"An attempt to write a history from within will reasonably be met with significant concerns about bias and incompleteness. The words 'secret agency' and 'autobiography' should never be used in the same sentence, ever."

Under the contract, Professor Blaxland and emeritus professor David Horner were to write an exhaustive two-volume history of the agency from its establishment in the late 1940s, but it would not chronicle the last 20 years.

Professor Blaxland, who stepped down as the head of the ANU's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre to undertake the project, was about halfway through the first volume when he was told by the ASD in recent weeks the contract would be cancelled.

A spokesman for the ASD said it remained committed to delivering an account of its history in time for its 75th anniversary in 2022.

"ASD has commenced a replacement process, consistent with Commonwealth procurement guidelines. This process will leverage the existing work compiled under the ANU contract," the ASD spokesman said.

"As the contract was terminated early by mutual agreement, full payment was not made.

"It would not be appropriate to discuss final payments as these are subject to commercial settlement."

An ANU spokesman said the university "enjoys a productive and strong relationship with ASD and looks forward to continuing to work with the agency on this matter".

"Details of contracts are commercial in confidence and as such are not discussed publicly," the ANU spokesman said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/shrouded-in-secrecy-asd-to-be-grilled-over-axed-official-history-20200921-p55xkb.html

Dassi Erlich Tweet

BREAKING NEWS

LEIFER WILL BE EXTRADITED TO AUSTRALIA!!

(appeal is expected)

A victory for justice!!

A victory for all survivors!!

Exhaling years of holding our breath!

We truly value every person standing with us in our refusal to remain silent!

Today our hearts are smiling!

https://twitter.com/dassi_erlich/status/1307940167810834432

—

Malka Leifer, alleged paedophile, should be extradited to Australia, Israeli court rules

A court in Jerusalem has ruled the former principal of Melbourne's Adass Israel school, Malka Leifer, can be extradited to Australia to face 74 charges of sexual abuse.

Ms Leifer allegedly fled to her native Israel in 2008 when she learned three of her former students planned to file a complaint with police.

Australia lodged an extradition request in 2013 and she was arrested by Israeli police the following year.

The decision in the Jerusalem District Court comes after six years of legal wrangling and can be appealed to Israel's Supreme Court.

After that, the country's Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn must also sign the extradition order, something that can also be appealed.

The long-running battle over extradition

This was the 71st hearing over whether Malka Leifer should be sent to Australia.

Ms Leifer was mostly allowed to live under house arrest after her 2014 arrest.

Her lawyers told various extradition hearings that she could not go to Australia because she suffered from panic attacks and was too unwell to leave her home.

However, she was jailed in 2018 when private investigators obtained more than 200 hours of video showing Ms Leifer living normally in an orthodox Jewish settlement, shopping and socialising.

She has been examined more than 30 times by mental health experts, many of whom have declared her competent.

In January, an expert panel concluded not only that Ms Leifer was well, but that she had been perpetrating a "fraud" to avoid justice.

Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled earlier this month that Malka Leifer is mentally fit to stand trial on the charges she faces in Victoria.

Melbourne sisters say they were abused by authority figure

Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper grew up in the Adass Israel community, a Hasidic Jewish group in Melbourne's inner south.

They allege when they were teenagers, their headmistress Malka Leifer groomed and then abused them over several years.

The sisters say they did not realise they had all been abused until 2007 when Dassi Erlich spoke to a therapist, who encouraged her to come forward.

Ms Erlich described the ruling in the Jerusalem District Court as a "victory for all survivors".

"We truly value every person standing with us in our refusal to remain silent. Today our hearts are smiling," she wrote on Twitter.

Malka Leifer has denied the allegations against her.

But during a July hearing, her lawyer Nick Kaufman questioned whether some of the alleged abuse was a crime under Israeli law.

He said even if the allegations were true, two of the victims were no longer children at the time, and could have rebuffed the sexual advances.

"The fact that there was so much discussion around the issue of consent when it comes to sexual abuse was very disheartening that this is still happening in 2020 in the courts," Nicole Meyer said.

The case has strained relations between Israel and Australia.

In February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Israel's President Reuven Rivlin that Australia had a strong desire to see justice in the long-running case.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-21/israeli-court-rules-on-malka-leifer-extradition/12684138

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweets

As I sit here in my office reading this article, my heart gave a shudder of excitement knowing how truly scared “They” all should be. #JeffreyEpstein #PANIC #PrinceAndrew #GhislaineMaxwell #ChildTrafficking

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1307975080421384194

Names of EVERY passenger to have flown on Jeffrey Epstein's aircraft 'to be revealed "sparking panic among the pedophile's wealthy friends"'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8754807/Names-passenger-Jeffrey-Epsteins-aircraft-revealed-sparking-panic.html

—

Not to mention that #Epstein main pilot #LarryVisowski lived it large up until his boss was dead. Larry was responsible for carrying 100’s if not 1000’s of underage minors across state borders and internationally. This is HUGE!Watch them scatter like cockroaches. #DarkToLight

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1307975083349037056

—

Names of EVERY passenger to have flown on Jeffrey Epstein's aircraft 'to be revealed "sparking panic among the pedophile's wealthy friends"'

Jeffrey Epstein's flight logs on his aircraft, including his 'Lolita Express' jet, have been subpoenaed, sparking fear among the rich and famous who partied with the pedophile.

The Attorney General in the US Virgin Islands, where the billionaire had a home and is said to have carried out many of his horrific crimes, has demanded to see the logs which document the passengers on his aircraft.

The logs on his four helicopters and three planes span from 1998 until his suicide in prison last year.

Attorney General Denise George has filed a lawsuit against his estate alleging 22 accounts including human trafficking, aggravated rape, child abuse, neglect, forced labour and prostitution, The Mirror reported.

Ms George is also requesting to see any 'complaints or reports of potentially suspicious conduct' as well as personal notes made by the pilots.

The subpoena demands the names and details of anyone who worked for the pilots, interacted with Epstein and passengers who travelled with him.

Pilot David Rodgers has previously revealed logs from 2009 which showed Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey and Naomi Campbell were among those who flew on his jet.

It is not suggested they were aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.

A source said: 'The records that have been subpoenaed will make the ones Rodgers provided look like a Post-It note.

'There is panic among many of the rich and famous.'

Lawyers for the victims said the logs released in 2009 did not include the flights of chief pilot Larry Visoki who had flown Epstein for more than 25 years.

It comes as a celebrity chef has been quizzed by detectives 20 years after he worked for Epstein - prompting renewed calls for Prince Andrew to speak to the FBI.

Adam Perry Lang, 51, opened the Barbecoa restaurant with Jamie Oliver in London in 2010 - and worked for Jeffrey Epstein between 1999 and 2003.

He is now 'fully cooperating' with the FBI investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by depraved billionaire Epstein, reported the Daily Mirror.

Attorney Arick Fudali, representing the victims, heaped pressure on Prince Andrew - who has been accused of stonewalling detectives.

Mr Fudali said: 'We certainly hope that this may inspire other witnesses to come forward and help shed some light on Epstein's dark scheme.'

American Mr Perry Lang catered for the Duke of York, 60, and flew with him in a private jet on two occasions - once in February 1999 and in May 2000.

Sources told the newspaper: 'Perry Lang holds information on what took place. They will get as much detail as possible that will shape any interview they may one day have with the duke.'

Mr Perry Lang, who has been described as a decent man by victims, came forward after Virginia Giuffre, 37, wrote to ask him to be the 'hero'.

His lawyer Lawrence Lustberg confirmed the chef was helping the FBI. Mr Perry Lang himself added: 'We have absolutely always been available to the attorneys representing the victims.'

He previously denied being aware of any 'depraved behaviour' during his four-year term as Epstein's chef.

Epstein, 66, killed himself while awaiting trial in a cell for underage sex trafficking last year.

Last month, Virginia Giuffre claimed Prince Andrew played a 'guessing game,' with British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell about her age before comparing her to his daughters.

The accuser spoke out in a documentary series, Surviving Jeffrey Epstein, claiming she met the royal in London, describing him as an 'abuser,' and 'not the prince from the fairy tale stories you read'.

(continued)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8754807/Names-passenger-Jeffrey-Epsteins-aircraft-revealed-sparking-panic.html

Julian Assange removed from Ecuadorean embassy ‘on Donald Trump’s orders’

Julian Assange was removed from the Ecuadorean embassy “on direct orders from the president (Donald Trump)’’, the Old Bailey has heard.

Arthur Schwartz, a high profile Republican political donor close to the Donald Trump administration had advance knowledge the WikiLeaks founder would be removed from the Ecuadorean embassy and charged with an indictment related to Chelsea Manning’s leaks, an American journalist has claimed.

Cassandra Fairbanks, the journalist, is also an activist and personal supporter of Mr Assange, visiting the WikiLeaks founder in January and March 2019 when he was still in the embassy to relay information she received from Mr Schwartz.

She has also provided the Old Bailey with a recording of a conversation she had with Mr Schwartz, who she said was a fixer for Donald Trump junior and who provided communications for the US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell.

She says in the recording Mr Schwarz refers to Mr Assange’s removal from the embassy being carried out by Mr Grenell on direct orders from the president. The recording was not played in court.

The US prosecutors, who are seeking Mr Assange’s extradition, did not challenge the statement, but said they did not accept it. James Dole, for the US, said Ms Fairbanks’ claim in her statement was not within her direct knowledge.

But Mr Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said her statement was reliable and true. He said it indicated the US government’s concerted plan at the top level by Donald Trump and Mr Grenell to take Mr Assange out of the embassy to extradite him, and to compel Chelsea Manning to give evidence against him.

Ms Fairbanks said Mr Schwartz told her during an angry phone conversation on October 30, 2018 that “a pardon isn’t going to f—ing happen’’ and that he provided new details about a future prosecution against Mr Assange that were later made public and which only those very close to the situation would have been aware of.

Ms Fairbanks said Mr Schwartz told her Mr Assange would be charged with the Chelsea Manning case and it would not involve the Vault 7 publication or anything to do with the Democrat files. He said the US government would go into the embassy to get Mr Assange, but that nothing would happen before Christmas.

In another phone call on March 29, 2019 Ms Fairbanks said Mr Schwartz told her there was an inquiry into who leaked information she had then passed onto Assange.

“It was obvious that the US was involved including the State Department and that Schwartz had been made a party to the information,’’ she said in her statement to the court.

Later she added: “I believe it must have been an official US enterprise to spy on meetings in the embassy’’.

She said Mr Schwartz had sent messages that Mr Assange deserved a lethal injection and that both Mr Assange and Ms Manning should die in prison soon after Mr Assange’s removal from the embassy on April 11, 2019.

On September 10, 2019 Ms Fairbanks tweeted that Mr Grenell was involved in Mr Assange’s arrest in response to Mr Grenell’s name being floated as a likely candidate to replace National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Mr Schwartz contacted Ms Fairbanks on that same day and she recorded the conversation.

She said: “Mr Schwartz informed me that in co-ordinating for Assange to be removed from the embassy, Ambassador Grenell had done so on direct ‘orders from the President’. I believed this connected President Trump to those who have been reported as having secured the deal to arrest Assange. I believed Schwartz’s statement to be correct because his close personal ties to both President Trump and Grenell are well known.’’

Mr Assange is contesting the US extradition where he faces 18 counts of spying and up to 175 years in jail if convicted. The trial continues.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/julian-assange-removed-from-ecuadorean-embassy-on-donald-trumps-orders/news-story/8896a270e3f3b3443d1e0abd2a165255

TikTok says it won’t spy on Australians or block content on Chinese orders

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TikTok has denied it would take instruction from the Chinese government to hand over Australians’ data or censor their content, as it prepares to front a federal Senate committee into foreign interference through social media.

“The entire industry has received scrutiny, and rightly so. Yet, we have received even more scrutiny due to the company’s origins,” TikTok’s Australian general manager Lee Hunter said in a submission to Parliament.

The wildly popular video app has come under intense scrutiny in Australia and the United States over claims of censorship and security.

Owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, it counts some 1.6 million Australians among more than 800 million global users, but has faced questions over alleged data harvesting and links to the Chinese government.

US President Donald Trump wants to all but ban the app, forcing its parent company to sell off its international operations for it to continue operating in America.

Federal Coalition politicians have also taken aim at the social media platform, with Jim Molan calling it “a data collection service disguised as social media”, and George Christensen saying it should be banned.

Mr Hunter and other senior TikTok employees are set to give evidence before the Senate’s Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media on Friday.

Before the hearing, and after the company launched an advertising blitz claiming the company was being unfairly targeted, Mr Hunter complained that TikTok had copped more scrutiny than other social media apps because of its links to China.

“Whilst we don’t want TikTok to be a political football, we accept this scrutiny and embrace the challenge of giving peace of mind by providing even more transparency and accountability,” he wrote in a submission to the committee.

Mr Hunter said TikTok did not accept paid political advertising – unlike platforms like Facebook – and sought to distance the company from the Chinese government, claiming there had been “misinformation” spread about its dealings.

“The personal data we collect from Australian users is stored on servers located in the United States and Singapore. We have strict controls around security and data access,” he said.

“TikTok has never shared Australian user data with the Chinese government, nor censored Australian content at its request.”

Further, he claimed any request from China for Australian user data would have to be approved by the federal government, under the mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) process between the two countries.

“The Chinese government or law enforcement would need to send the evidence disclosure request through the relevant MLAT process,” Mr Hunter said.

“To date, we have not received any MLAT requests in respect of Australian user data, nor have we received requests to censor Australian content from, the Chinese government.”

(continued)

>>10738679

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In rebuffing claims about alleged data harvesting, Mr Hunter said TikTok was providing “qualified government personnel” access to the app’s source code, “for testing and evaluation”.

Mr Hunter said TikTok had recently introduced a third-party fact-checking program for Australia, as well as upgrading systems to allow users to report misinformation more easily, and working with Australian authorities on sector-wide codes of conduct.

“If the information is confirmed to be false or misleading, we take proactive steps to remove the content in line with our community guidelines,” he said.

“We welcome collaboration with Australian industry players and regulators. This includes working with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) towards the development of a draft industry code of conduct on misinformation”.

The Senate committee’s chair, Labor senator Jenny McAllister, said national security and tech experts had raised concerns about TikTok.

“There have been credible reports that TikTok takes more data than its users would expect, and moderates content for reasons that its users may not be comfortable with,” she told The New Daily in July.

Mr Hunter said the app had been working on its global strategy to combat misinformation, including partnering with organisations like the World Health Organisation and Red Cross.

Specifically on the COVID pandemic, he said TikTok was focusing on removing medical misinformation, and what he called “conspiracy theories” about the virus.

“We limit the distribution of conspiratorial content that may allege that the COVID-19 was intentionally developed by a person, group or institution for nefarious purposes,” Mr Hunter wrote.

“We remove content that suggests a certain race, ethnicity, gender or any member of a protected group is more susceptible to have and/or spread coronavirus.”

In ending his submission, Mr Hunter noted that due to TikTok’s business dealings in the US, “that may result in a change to the TikTok business in Australia”.

“We would be happy to provide the Select Committee updates on such changes as and when appropriate,” he said.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2020/09/21/tiktok-denies-spying-australians/

—

Parliament of Australia - Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Interference_through_Social_Media/ForeignInterference

Submissions

Submissions received by the Committee

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Interference_through_Social_Media/ForeignInterference/Submissions

26 - TikTok Australia

https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=5d03a4b9-1844-43bb-b545-304e3734f424

>>10738701

Clearnet jpg / pdf test

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

“The only criminal activity that can result in the loss of a certificate is using an aircraft to transport illegal drugs and flying while intoxicated,”so exporting & importing minors for the explicit use of being abused doesn’t result in loss of licence?Drugs matter more than us?

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1308208135404838917

Lisa Tait @lisapodcasts

Have you read this? The lady who wrote it is an aviation journalist. The FAA has a responsibility here.

https://christinenegroni.com/should-epsteins-pilots-have-foiled-his-child-sex-trafficking-ring/

https://twitter.com/lisapodcasts/status/1308186463847116800

—

Should Epstein’s Pilots Have Foiled His Child Sex Trafficking Ring?

Christine Negroni - September 7, 2019

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As new reports emerge about the various ways the late convicted pedophile Jeff Epstein procured and pimped young women to some of the most influential men in the world, the public has heard little from the pilots who greeted the VIPs and the underaged girls as they boarded Epstein’s private jets. Larry Visoski and David Rodgers flew for Epstein for nearly two decades. How could they be unaware of what the boss was up to?

Still, Visoski and Rodgers, both of Florida, remain free to work as commercial pilots with no enforcement actions taken against them from the years Epstein pled guilty to those activities.

Virginia Roberts Guiffre, seen in the photo below with England’s Prince Andrew, says as a teenager, Epstein repeatedly ordered her to have sex with the prince. They are listed as having traveled together on Epstein’s planes on multiple occasions. Guiffre told the Miami Herald the planes were called the “Lolita Express” because they were used to “have sex with underage girls.” If true, this would be a crime and if the flights crossed state or national borders as many of them apparently did, it would be a federal crime. Even so, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, it is not behavior that will cause a pilot to lose his or her license.

“The only criminal activity that can result in the loss of a certificate is using an aircraft to transport illegal drugs and flying while intoxicated,” said FAA communications manager Lynn Lunsford. “There is a provision for good moral standing, although it is nebulous.”

Neither Visoski nor Rodgers have been subject to agency enforcement actions in the past, according to Lunsford. The agency policy is not to comment on whether an investigation is presently underway. (Florida pilots Robert Gary Roxburgh, Pete Rathgeb, Bill Hammond and Bill Murphy also worked for Epstein, though less frequently.)

You may be baffled that transporting illegal drugs is a more significant threat to one’s pilot license than human trafficking. But more may be at play here.

Of the six pilots who flew for Epstein, only Rodgers appears to have kept detailed notes about his passengers. His handwritten logs are a mind-boggling list of names including Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, Colombia’s former president Andres Pastrana, New York hedge-fund operator Glen Dubin and model agency owner Jean Luc Brunel to name just a few. The flights were both within the United States and international. Rodgers describes trips that hopscotched across Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Rodger’s logs corroborate some of the claims of Guiffre – who said she was not only Epstein’s sex slave but was repeatedly ordered by him to perform sex acts on Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and Brunel as well as Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew and Dershowitz have both challenged her story.

Perhaps federal investigators are squeezing Rodgers and Visoski, holding the “good moral standing” clause over their heads to encourage them to tell what they know or risk losing their tickets to fly.

“If the government can make a compelling case that they knew the conduct was occurring and that they aided Epstein or helped hide it from the authorities, the FAA may make a case that their licenses should be suspended or revoked,” said Justin A. Marchetta a New Jersey lawyer representing aircraft owners, operators and pilots with the New Jersey firm, Inglesino, Webster, Wyciskala & Taylor

(continued)

>>10739184

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>>10739184

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Just last year, New Jersey private pilot Stephen Bradley Mell, surrendered his license and three aircraft he owned after making a plea deal with federal prosecutors on charges he used his airplane to cross state lines with a minor for purposes of engaging in sex with a 15-year old.

Mell met the teen when her mother brought her to Mell for flying lessons. Prosecutors claimed that Mell took the girl out of state. On one occasion according to the indictment, the 51-year-old married father of three, put his plane on autopilot to have sex with his victim on a flight from Massachusetts to New Jersey.

“The case of the pilots of Epstein’s planes, it is more nuanced,” Marchetta told me. Visoski and Rodgers “may or may not have known this was going on or that the girls were underage.“

Perhaps, but Rodgers saw a lot. From 1995 until 2013, he wrote a detailed entry for each trip he flew for Epstein. Rodgers testified in a 2016 deposition that “people get on the airplane and I see who the people are, and I put them down there,” he said of the log. While Rodgers said he tried to be as accurate as possible, some passengers got more attention than others. There are repeated instances when Rodgers noted the traveler not by name but by gender, even on international flights.

This raises the question of whether he complied with immigration and Homeland Security requirements.

Rodgers and Visoski were well acquainted with Epstein’s “sex slaves” and young companions. Both men had apartments in the same New York building at 301 East 66th Street as Epstein’s unindicted co-conspirator, Global Girl celebrity pilot Nadia Marcinko who was herself reportedly an early victim of Epstein. On her social media feed, Marcinko posted photos and videos of herself flying right seat with Visoski.

Rodgers testified that the girls flying with Epstein into New York often stayed in other apartments in the same building, all of which were owned by Epstein. If “she’s on the plane with us on multiple trips then most likely she probably stayed there,” Rodgers said of the girl travelers. (Business Insider has an interesting investigation into the building on 66th Street which you can read here.)

https://www.businessinsider.nl/the-nyc-building-at-the-center-of-jeffrey-epsteins-web-2019-8/

Pedophilia and human trafficking are serious crimes but Epstein did not commit them without help nor is that the likely limit of his nefarious activities. As various news accounts show, over the course of decades, Epstein orchestrated an international network of wealthy, powerful and influential people who my Uncle Maurice would call “no-good-niks.”

Just because Epstein is dead, other scoundrels should not be able to get away with their crimes, including the pilots who appear to have enabled a lot of bad behavior without encountering a single unpleasant consequence. No investigation into Jeffrey Epstein should be considered complete without getting the full story from the pilots. And maybe the FAA should consider if Rodgers and Visoski met the “good moral standing” expectation attached to their pilots’ licenses.

https://christinenegroni.com/should-epsteins-pilots-have-foiled-his-child-sex-trafficking-ring/

>>10739218

Clearnet jpg test

FORCED TO STARVE Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sex slaves ice tea and fruit to keep them ‘prepubescent-thin’, Virginia Giuffre reveals

CONTROLLING Jeffrey Epstein fed girls fruit platters while they paraded naked around his mansion, it's been claimed.

The twisted paedophile is said to have kept an eye on the diets of his "victims" as he wanted them to look skinny and "prepubescent."

Epstein "sex slave" Virginia Giuffre also claims Ghislaine Maxwell monitored what they were eating.

The Brit socialite has been accused of being Epstein's so-called madam although she denies the claim.

She is awaiting trial for her alleged role in his sex trafficking operation but has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.

Giuffre - also known as Virginia Roberts - told the 'Broken: Seeking Justice' podcast: "We would lay out completely naked… Jeffrey did not like tan lines.

"He wanted tanned bodies, petite bodies, prepubescent bodies.

"Jeffrey had us on these ridiculous diets. It was all organic… It was never like carbs, you can't just fill up, they wanted you to look a specific way."

Giuffre went onto claim Epstein's girls were given iced tea and fed fruit platters leaving them feeling "starving."

She also alleged Epstein's former chef Adam Perry Lang saw her and other girls walking around naked.

However, Lang told the podcast he never saw sexual activity or nudity and was not aware of any depraved acts committed by Epstein.

There is absolutely no suggestion of wrongdoing by Lang.

The chef reportedly volunteered himself to the FBI after Giuffre, 37, pleaded with him: “Please don’t be an enabler. Be a hero to me.”

His lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, confirmed he was now working to help the FBI with their investigation into Epstein - who killed himself in his New York jail cell.

A lawyer for Lang told the Daily Beast: "We have absolutely always been available to the attorneys for the lawyers representing the victims — indeed, we reached out and spoke to one of them many months ago.

"Although we invited a meeting with Adam in no uncertain terms, those attorneys have literally never gotten back to us (although we did hear from other counsel this week).

"That said, we are in current contact with the federal prosecutors in the Southern District of NY and are fully cooperating with their investigation and remain more than happy to, in coordination with the prosecutors, cooperate with counsel for the victims as well."

Last week, we reported how an insider told how Epstein spent an hour every day watching videos of naked teens "for inspiration" on his paedophile island.

The billionaire sex fiend ogled explicit episodes of Girls Gone Wild while pedalling on an exercise bike on private Caribbean isle Little St James - where he raped victims as young as 12.

Epstein - who reportedly demanded sex three times a day - was said to have been "transfixed" by the videos of college girls flashing their breasts in nightclubs.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12728807/epstein-maxwell-sex-slaves-fruit-prepubescent-thin/

—

BROKEN: Seeking Justice

Investigative Reporter Julie K. Brown exposed Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes to the world. Now his survivors are fighting for the truth. This season, host Tara Palmeri follows the women who are making their own justice.

The Enablers

There was a whole world of people around Jeffrey Epstein—his staff. Virginia Roberts Guiffre wants them to speak up.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-enablers/id1478460758

Western Australia space tracking station to cut ties with China

Decision will impact the expansion of Beijing’s space exploration and navigational programs

China will lose access to a strategic space tracking station in Western Australia when its contract expires, the facility’s owners said, a decision that cuts into Beijing’s expanding space exploration and navigational capabilities in the Pacific region.

The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has had a contract allowing Beijing access to the satellite antenna at the ground station since at least 2011. It is located next to an SSC satellite station primarily used by the United States and its agencies, including Nasa.

The Swedish state-owned company told Reuters it would not enter into any new contracts at the Australian site to support Chinese customers after its current contract expires. However, it did not disclose when the lease runs out.

“Given the complexity of the Chinese market, brought about by the overall geopolitical situation, SSC has decided to focus mainly on other markets for the coming years,” the SSC said in an emailed response to questions.

The site is owned by SSC subsidiary, SSC Space Australia.

The Australian government did not immediately respond to questions on Monday.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The expansion of China’s space capabilities, which includes the growing sophistication of its Beidou navigation network, is one of the new frontiers of tension between the US and China, who are clashing on everything from technology and trade to Chinese activities in the disputed South China Sea.

Australia has a strong alliance with the United States, which includes working together on space research and programs, while Canberra’s diplomatic and trade ties with Beijing have also been fracturing.

China last used the Yatharagga Satellite Station, located about 350 km (250 miles) north of the Australian city of Perth, in June 2013 to support the three-person Shenzhou 10 mission which completed a series of space docking tests, SSC said.

The SSC said the current contract supports Chinese scientific space missions within its program for manned-space flights for telemetry, tracking and command services.

Ground stations are a vital part of space programs given they create a telecommunications link with spacecraft. While stations have different capabilities, they can be equipped to co-ordinate satellites for civil-military Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as Beidou, Russia’s GLONASS, the European Union’s Galileo system and US-owned GPS.

China’s space program has been increasing its access to overseas ground stations in recent years in line with the expansion of its space exploration and navigational programs.

“Generally speaking anywhere you put a GNSS monitoring ground station will improve the accuracy of positioning for that region,” said Joon Wayn Cheong, a senior research associate at the University of New South Wales’ School of Electrical Engineering.

Christopher Newman, professor of Space Law and Policy at Northumbria University in Newcastle, England, said China wants to remove its dependence on GPS as part of broader plans to expand its global influence.

“GPS could be made unavailable to them in a military conflict. An independent secure system is crucial for the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army in respect to targeting, weapons, navigation,” Newman told Reuters.

Beijing last year re-established diplomatic ties with the small Pacific island nation of Kiribati, where it has a mothballed ground station in the central Pacific Ocean

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/21/western-australia-space-tracking-station-to-cut-ties-with-china

>>10739544

Clearnet jpg test

Resignations in the news

Australian judge James Spigelman resigns from Hong Kong court

Australian judge James Spigelman has resigned from Hong Kong's top court months after Beijing tightened restrictions on the legal system and imposed new national security laws on the former British colony.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in a government gazette published on Friday that she had "revoked the appointment" of Spigelman.

A Hong Kong government spokeswoman confirmed Spigelman had tendered his resignation on September 2, but no further reasons for the termination were given.

The former ABC chairman has been contacted for comment through the Lowy Institute where he is a board member.

The 74-year-old has served on Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal since April 2013 as a non-permanent judge. The former lieutenant-governor of NSW was one of four judges from Australia on the court, which was established after the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, to continue the British common-law system. There are also nine British judges and one Canadian judge on the court.

Former Australian High Court chief justices Murray Gleeson and Robert French along with former High Court judge William Gummow have not had their appointments publicly revoked.

The court has never had jurisdiction over acts of state, such as defence and foreign affairs, but the imposition of the new national security laws by Beijing in July raised questions about its future. The laws prevent, curb and punish dissent, threats to the Chinese state, pro-democracy or independence sentiment. They have been condemned by the Australian, British and US governments.

British MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the future of Commonwealth judges on the court needed to be examined.

"That is the question – to what degree will these independent judges just give cover to what is a totalitarian regime," he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

The former leader of the Conservative Party said the current situation was "exposing decent people to intolerable structures" that do not exist in the UK or Australia where the judiciary "are free to reach decisions without fear or favour".

"This is not the case in Hong Kong," he said. "I think this is a question that now needs to be dealt with."

The Chinese government maintains the laws are necessary to restore law and order after more than 15 months of protests over Beijing's influence in the territory.

The former chief justice of NSW has never spoken publicly about the Hong Kong protests or the new national security laws, which give courts the power to hear trials in secret and send dissidents to the mainland China for prosecution.

Spigelman, who was born in Poland to Jewish parents that survived the Holocaust, was vocal about his belief in social justice in interviews with the Law Society of Hong Kong in 2016.

"I always understood the importance of social tolerance in the community," he said, adding his background made him "particularly sympathetic to groups who suffer discrimination or are otherwise oppressed".

He also defended the principles of open justice as "the foundation of judicial accountability", arguing it was "essential to maintain public confidence in the judiciary and the administration of justice".

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/australian-judge-kicked-off-hong-kong-court-20200918-p55x0p.html

Nurses have a role in protecting victims of human trafficking

For every one victim of human trafficking and modern slavery in Australia, another four go undetected.[1] Nurses are on the front line and can potentially help identify and protect vulnerable people who are being exploited and harmed.

Today the Australian College of Nursing is releasing its Human Trafficking Position Statement in a bid to raise awareness of what tonight’s ABC Four Corners program called the “staggering scale of modern slavery across the world” and help protect victims here in Australia.

It is estimated that as many as 1,900 people were the victim of human trafficking and slavery in Australia in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Individuals from Asia, particularly Thailand, Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia are primarily targeted for human trafficking into Australia (APF 2020).

“Nurses play a key role in detecting and protecting victims and vulnerable populations from human trafficking. As frontline health care workers, nurses in the acute and primary health care settings are well placed to identify signs in suspected human trafficking,” Australian College of Nursing CEO, Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN said.

“More so, nurses have a duty of care to protect suspected victims of human trafficking and to report to the authorities.”

The ACN Human Trafficking Position Statement provides nurses with key indicators which will alert them to potential victims enabling nurses to provide safe advice and sensitively support people they believe may be victims of human trafficking.

“Nurses are advocates for their patients and this means they speak up and help those who are victims of abuse,” Adjunct Professor Ward said. “Nurses must be supported in this role and therefore ACN believes nurses should be provided with appropriate professional development to enable them to recognise and report human trafficking. The Australian College of Nursing would welcome working with governments and key stakeholders to develop and provide access to education that addresses the specific health, mental well-being, cultural, and social needs of vulnerable populations to prevent human trafficking.”

[1] Australian Institute of Criminology Statistical Bulletin 16, February 2019: Estimating the dark figure of human trafficking and slavery victimisation in Australia, Samantha Lyneham, Christopher Dowling and Samantha Bricknell.

https://www.acn.edu.au/media-release/nurses-have-a-role-in-protecting-victims-of-human-trafficking

—

Australian College of Nursing - Human Trafficking Position Statement

https://www.acn.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/position-statement-human-trafficking.pdf

>>10739927

Clearnet jpg / pdf test

>>10739927

Panorama, The Hunt for Britain’s Slave Gangs

The hunt for Britain’s slave gangs: the investigation that exposed a predatory network of human traffickers

“People need to know that in the 21st-century people can be used for money and treated like animals. That story needs to be told.” Witness for the prosecution

In a small police interview room, victim after victim came forward to give alarming accounts of being exploited by a predatory family crime gang that turned them into modern day slaves.

“We realised from the intelligence information we were gaining from the victims that behind all this was an organised crime group. A very organised crime group.” Undercover slavery investigator

Police and anti-slavery investigators were on the trail of a large family group who were trafficking hundreds of desperate and vulnerable people.

“It’s quite vindictive really, to do that to people from your own country. But she was making money. So I think it’s just a greed issue.” Investigating officer

Over three years, police tracked the family crime group who kept their victims in squalid conditions and stole wages to fund their own lifestyle. The trial that followed unmasked the family as the operators of Britain’s largest modern slavery ring.

“It’s the largest human trafficking, labour exploitation case in Britain ever… and it is taking down a very large organised crime group and gouging out its heart.” Anti-slavery barrister

With exclusive access to both the police investigation and the court case, the BBC’s Panorama program captured the dramatic events as they unfolded.

“I’m never confident… what the verdict will be, I have no clue. Because who knows what goes on in the room?” Barrister for the prosecution

The case provides an insight into the staggering scale of modern slavery across the world.

“It is everywhere. We probably touch, receive, buy, something that has gone through the victim of human trafficking every day.” Lead investigator

Investigators and lawyers say this case stands as a powerful warning of how exploitative behaviour can take place in plain sight, and how much more needs to be done to stamp it out.

“We can’t stop this, not immediately, but we can try. And we can educate and we can make a change and we can send a message and the message is we will not tolerate this behaviour here.” Anti-slavery barrister

The hunt for Britain’s slave gangs: A BBC Panorama special, goes to air on Monday 21st September at 8.30pm. It is replayed on Tuesday 22nd at 10.00am and Wednesday 23rd at 11.20pm. It can also be seen on ABC NEWS channel on Saturday at 8.10pm AEST, ABC iviewand at abc.net.au/4corners.

https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/the-hunt-for-britain%E2%80%99s-slave-gangs/12671216

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSIhx5b2HUQ

Assange's fiancee asks Scott Morrison to guarantee family's safety

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London: The mother of Julian Assange's children is seeking Australian citizenship for their sons and has called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to promise the family would be safe to live in Australia if the WikiLeaks founder escapes being extradited to the United States.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Stella Morris said she would love to live in Australia but only if the family's safety was guaranteed.

Morris said she planned to wed Assange by Christmas outside Belmarsh Prison on London's outskirts, where the 49-year-old is in remand while he fights his extradition to the US.

The WikiLeaks founder is resisting an application to send him to the US to answer an 18-count American indictment. Assange has been formally rearrested on a new US indictment, which updates and broadens previous charges. All but one are for violations of the country’s Espionage Act.

The pair began a relationship inside the Ecuadorian embassy in 2015, four years after they first met. Assange had been living in the embassy since 2012 after seeking refuge to avoid arrest and extradition to Sweden.

At the time, the South African-born Morris had joined his legal team to help fight his extradition to Sweden, where he was accused of sexual assault. Swedish authorities dropped the investigation in 2019.

The pair had two children — Gabriel, 3, and Max, 18 months — keeping their relationship and family a secret from the outside world until earlier this year.

Morris said she and Assange had thought having a family together would be impossible but began dreaming of the idea and finally pursuing it after former US president Barack Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning, the former soldier and whistleblower who was convicted of espionage.

"The trajectory was that he [Julian] would be free and also the Department of Justice had announced that it would not prosecute him for the Manning disclosures," she said.

"It was a rational decision, I was 33 at the time and I knew I wanted children and it was faith in our love for each other and the certainty, a feeling that this was right."

But while the children speak to Assange daily, they have never known life with their father at home.

Morris knows there is now the possibility her sons will not see their father again. They last saw him in prison about a month ago, the first time since March.

"I tell my kids that Julian’s a hero and I make him very present, we watch videos of him, they’ve been to the prison."

"I don’t want Julian to become a martyr. We’re a family, he’s not a symbol to us. He’s part of … he’s Daddy. So I just tell them that Daddy’s coming home."

The family's hopes of a life together plummeted on April 11 last year, when Assange was sensationally arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge, after his hosts of seven years terminated his political asylum.

British police were invited into the embassy to arrest him for skipping bail in 2012 when he first sought asylum.

The images of Assange being dragged out of the Knightsbridge enclave looking years older with an overgrown straggly grey beard, moustache and long hair, shocked the world.

"He had wanted to shave for days," Morris recounts. Assange, knowing his time inside his diplomatic fortress was coming to an end, had requested a razor to shave and asked for a hairdresser but his hosts denied both pleas.

"He was aware that if he came out soon, he wanted to look good because he knew he would be dragged into court and people would see him.

"He's very unhappy that that is how the world saw him for the first time in many months," she says.

Denying Assange the chance of some personal grooming before he was dragged out was a reflection of how the relationship between guest and hosts had broken down.

Soon after Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno evicted the embassy's rent-free tenant he told the BBC the Australian had become unmanageable, even smearing his own faeces on the walls in the time leading up to his arrest.

"It never happened," Morris says of the claim. "It’s outrageous what Ecuador put out and the whole faeces story is an absolute lie."

"It's the most predictable and nasty, dirty, smear – literally a smear."

The Ecuadorian embassy in London refused to comment. No video evidence to back the claim has ever been provided, despite Assange's quarters being under video surveillance.

(continued)

>>10740241

2/2

The dramatic expulsion of the eccentric hacker may have always been predictable, given the long line of people who have worked with Assange and left with a bitter tale to tell.

But this too, Morris says, is a myth.

"He's very direct and he's opinionated and so, yes, he has disagreements with people but he also has lots of friends, lots of people who have stood by him, people who like to argue with him and don't get their feelings hurt because it's an intellectual exchange.

"There's another aspect which is Julian is an unusual character. So he's a bit difficult, people don't get him at once. I always found him very intriguing but I think, having understood and met people with Asperger's, it's clear to me that he has Asperger's."

Assange's health has often been cited as a factor by his legal team in opposing his detention and extradition.

The United States has sought his extradition and wants to put him on trial on 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act. The charges relate to the publication of more than half a million unredacted military and diplomatic cables on the WikiLeaks website a decade ago.

"They're going to pluck him out of the UK and put him in the deepest, darkest hold of the US prison system. They want to bury him alive and for him to never be able to speak again or work again or see his children," Morris says.

Assange is arguing that his prosecution by the Trump administration is political and that extraditing him to the US would violate his human rights.

Morris says Assange is not losing hope because he is driven by his desire to uphold freedom of speech through "whatever means possible".

"People say he's an anarchist. He's not. It's the opposite, he's almost like a democracy extremist," she says.

The US argues that Assange is not a journalist because he allegedly coached Manning into breaking the law to steal the cables, including hacking a password hash, to conceal Manning's tracks.

But Morris says just one of the 18 charges relate to computer intrusion and it carries just five years' jail, compared to the 175 years Assange faces if the maximum sentence was awarded.

"When you break it down in terms of the years that he faces, the true nature of the case comes forward," she says.

Asked if Assange's team has asked presidential candidate Joe Biden to drop the case if the Democrats prevail in the November election and oust President Donald Trump from the White House, Morris says: "I don’t want to go into…" before trailing off.

But she says it will be "hard for Biden not to drop it" given he was Obama's vice-president.

"Does he follow the Obama legacy or does he follow the Trump legacy?"

But what if Assange prevails in court? Is a peaceful life even possible for the Assanges?

"I'd love to go to Australia, I'd love to live in Australia," she says, joking that Assange enjoys teasing her — an arachnophobe — about the spiders.

"I'll live wherever he is safe and that's why I want Australia to tell us that he will be safe there.

"I want to take my children to Australia and I want Julian to show them Australia."

Assange has children from other relationships, including an adult son, Daniel Assange, in Australia and, according to an open letter he wrote to Le Monde in 2015, a child who lives in France with his mother.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed last year that it had issued Assange with a new passport but Morris said this was not enough.

"What he has asked for and what I have asked for directly to Scott Morrison is for political intervention, for a political intervention because this is a political case," she said.

"They haven’t said they won’t protect him from extradition and frankly it’s been very disappointing."

But she said she feared it was part of a widespread pattern of increasing attacks on free speech across the Western world that had ensnared her fiance, describing the raids on the ABC and a News Corp journalist over a national security report it published, as "frightening".

"This is not something that the Australian government can just hide its head in the sand and say 'nothing to do with us'."

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/assange-s-fiance-asks-scott-morrison-to-guarantee-family-s-safety-20200921-p55xhz.html

>>10740252

Clearnet jpg test

Ron / CodeMonkey Tweet

New bug with media uploads sometimes failing. Investigating.

https://twitter.com/CodeMonkeyZ/status/1308262556084047874

ASIO's case load jumps as pandemic fuels far-right extremism

Violent right-wing extremists are increasingly catching the attention of Australia's domestic spy agency, with the threat now accounting for about a third of its counter-terrorism cases.

The Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation has also revealed it is looking "very closely" at listing right-wing extremist groups on Australia's terror register after the significant jump in its caseload over the past four years.

The coronavirus pandemic has also fuelled far-right extremism, with more extremists finding each other online amid anti-government sentiments in response to lockdowns.

Appearing before a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday, ASIO Deputy Director-General Heather Cook confirmed right-wing violent extremism now accounted for between 30 and 40 per cent of its current caseload in counter-terrorism work. This compared to between 10 and 15 per cent prior to 2016.

"There's always a combination of factors which contribute to an attraction to a particular ideology at a particular point in time," she said.

"Some of the circumstances of COVID have contributed to an increase in radicalisation, in particular because of the amount of time individuals are spending in isolation or working from home or not in school I suppose, working remotely, the amount of time individuals are spending online.

"I think it [the pandemic] also makes it much easier to be finding like-minded individuals, there is a much wider variety of what I would call chat groups or areas where individuals with these views can coalesce and discuss and I guess promote these views more widely."

Ms Cook said anti-government sentiment being expressed around the world in response to lockdowns and other public health measures was "amplifying some of the extreme views", while speculation about the origins of COVID-19 was fuelling racist views.

She said the way in which extreme right-wing extremists were using the internet to recruit the "young and vulnerable" was similar to the methods deployed by Islamic State at its peak, adding the strategy was being used "to good effect".

But Ms Cook cautioned there was a "significant leap" from holding extreme right-wing views to wanting to carry out violence and some of the ASIO investigations find the person does not intend to commit violent acts.

"I don't think it would be accurate to say that everybody ASIO is currently looking at is about to carry out a terrorist attack," she told the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

Australia is now the only member of the Five Eyes intelligence partnership without any far-right extremist individuals or groups on its terror list after New Zealand last month put the Christchurch mosque killer on its register.

Labor has been calling for a review of Australia's proscribed list of terrorist organisations to ascertain whether right-wing groups should be on the register.

Ms Cook said ASIO was "always evaluating whether or not groups meet those thresholds for proscription".

She said there was difficulty in defining right-wing extremists as a group because they often acted as a "loose coalition of like-minded individuals talking to each other and plotting".

"We are definitely looking at what our partners overseas are doing, but again circumstances are always different," she said.

ASIO has been on alert for extremists who could have been inspired by the Christchurch mosque killer and other massacres overseas, as small far-right cells across the country are becoming more organised and sophisticated than ever before.

The concern is being heightened by extreme right-wing groups increasingly attracting people from a military background who know how to use weapons, as well as a younger membership who aren't displaying obvious signs of their extremism.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/asio-s-case-load-jumps-as-pandemic-fuels-far-right-extremism-20200922-p55y4d.html

Conspiracy theorist ordered to pay $875,000 for online posts about Nationals MP Anne Webster

Federal MP Anne Webster, her husband, and the not-for-profit organisation they founded to support young mothers, have been awarded a total of $875,000 in defamation payouts over a series of "vile" and "unjustifiable" online posts made to Facebook earlier this year.

Dr Webster, the Nationals member for the regional Victorian seat of Mallee, sued online conspiracy theorist Karen Brewer in the Federal Court over a series of posts and videos published on the social media site across a two-week period in April and May.

In her judgement today, Justice Jacqueline Gleeson found the posts claiming that the Websters and Zoe Support were "participants in a secretive criminal network involved in child sexual abuse" were false and untrue.

She said the defamatory publications "spread along the grapevine into the Mildura community" — where Dr Webster's husband, Phillip, is a GP — via her Facebook page and its several thousand followers.

While the judge found reasonable people would dismiss Ms Brewer's rants as "deranged and lacking in credibility", she accepted that "suggestible members of the Mildura community may have considered them credible".

Justice Gleeson, who said the Websters had "suffered intensely", awarded Dr Webster aggravated damages of $350,000, her husband damages of $225,000 and Zoe Support damages of $300,000.

Taking a stand

Speaking after today’s judgment was handed down, Dr Webster said she was interested in exploring legislative changes that could lead to publishers, such as Facebook, being made more accountable for material published online.

"It’s not an unknown world — but it is a bit of a scary world — where people can share whatever they like and it’s only by going through legal cases that things can change," she said.

"I wasn’t so aware of the whole conspiracy theory at the time — for me, it was an issue of justice and it was to make a stand."

Dr Webster, a former social worker with a PhD in sociology, said she hoped that people who used social media to falsely attack others would realise that their actions were not only harmful but could have costly ramifications.

Claims 'wholly indefensible'

Ms Brewer, who the court previously heard was based in New Zealand, did not file any defence to the defamation claim, made no attempt to justify her posts in court, and had not retracted her statements.

"It should have been obvious to Ms Brewer, at all relevant times and if she were capable of rational consideration on the subject, that her defamatory statements were wholly indefensible," Justice Gleeson said.

She said Ms Brewer's conduct — including posting another video targeting the Websters in late August — justified awarding aggravated damages against her.

"This evidence tends to confirm that Ms Brewer is obsessive and defiant, and may not be deterred by this proceeding from further defamatory publications concerning the applicants," Justice Gleeson said.

Deterrent to young mothers 'most harmful'

The court heard some of the posts were shared hundreds of times, including by one Mildura business, and that monthly referrals to Zoe Support had dropped since one of the posts in late April.

Zoe Support helps more than 150 mothers aged from 13 to 25 and their children to access education and medical appointments each week, and Justice Gleeson said any effect the untrue posts had in deterring young women from seeking support was "perhaps the most harmful aspect" of Ms Brewer's offences.

Several witnesses, including Mildura state MP Ali Cupper, former federal Liberal MP Chris Crewther and Mildura Mayor Simon Clemence, gave evidence attesting to the Websters' integrity.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-22/mp-anne-webster-awarded-defamation-payout-over-online-posts/12689178

—

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Webster v Brewer (No 3) [2020] FCA 1343

https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2020/2020fca1343

>>10741209

Clearnet jpg / pdf test

US involved in major Bathurst granny flat raid over alleged international drug and firearm crimes

A major NSW police operation involving US Homeland Security hit a granny flat in Bathurst today, with a man arrested over alleged international firearm and drug crimes.

Teams from multiple agencies searched the home on Violet and Prospect Streets, and a specialist Hazmat unit was called in after police said a "suspicious substance" was found inside.

The alleged suspicious substance was approximately one litre of an unspecified drug-related chemical, police said, which began to mysteriously crystallise during the search.

Both homes either side of the property were evacuated, and a 50-metre exclusion zone was set up.

The man, aged 36, was known to NSW police and will face a lengthy prison sentence, if convicted.

Last month police received information over the alleged importation of firearm parts and drug manufacturing equipment into Australia from the US, Hong Kong, China, Germany and Japan.

Those items allegedly included trigger mechanisms and gun barrels. The ABF alleged at least 10 importations had been tracked coming into Australia.

Bathurst police commander Peter O'Brien said information had initially been flagged up by "various intelligence sources" around the world.

NSW Police footage of the raid showed authorities speaking to the arrested man, who wore dark sunglasses, a gold watch and a gold chain.

Australian Border Force Inspector Tony Wheatley did not rule out the suspect and raid could be connected to a wider criminal syndicate.

"The bulk of the imports have come through air cargo or our international mail stream," he alleged.

The investigation, which began in August, was conducted by NSW Police in tandem with Australian Border Force and US Homeland Security.

Inspector Wheatley called it a "fantastic example" of joint agency work.

"This goes to show the power of a global focus on illegal firearms."

NSW Police Detective Inspector Rob Bevern, with Western Region Enforcement Squad, said a hazmat unit was called soon after police executed a warrant.

"Officers located a suspicious liquid in a container that had started to crystallise."

Specialist officers from the Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit and the Drug and Firearms Squad's Chemical Operations Unit were called out to examine the substance.

Detective Inspector Bevern said it was "not unusual" for US agencies to in Australia and be part of the raid.

The man was served with firearms and weapons prohibition orders before he was arrested and taken to Bathurst Police Station, where he is expected to be charged.

The ABF said a charge on the firearms offences alone would carry at least a 10 year sentence.

By mid-afternoon, roads around the property remained closed.

The operation is ongoing.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/bathurst-police-operation-us-homeland-security-alleged-illegal-firearm-and-drug-arrest/7dd9103c-3fd5-41e3-80ef-14923c6e3f2a

Depressed Julian Assange ‘at risk of suicide’

Julian Assange has made preparations to end his life, including writing letters to family and friends and writing a will. He has also been visited by a Catholic priest for absolution, the Old ­Bailey heard on Tuesday.

The WikiLeaks founder, contesting his extradition to the US, was also involved in “a recent incident’’ at Belmarsh prison that caused concern.

Assange has told medical staff of two other incidents in the jail, such as being found with a razor blade hidden in a pile of underwear for which he was punished with four days’ solitary confinement, and claimed that on ­another occasion he was found with cords, but this evidence is contested.

Neuropsychiatrist Michael Kopelman, who has visited Assange on 20 occasions during his time in Belmarsh prison, gave in-depth details of his medical conditions and history, saying the detail of his testimony would cause Assange “some embarrassment’’ as he only reluctantly revealed his medical conditions to others.

Professor Kopelman said Assange was at a high risk of suicide because he had severe clinical depression and psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations.

Another medical expert has diagnosed Assange as having ­Asperger’s.

Professor Kopelman said if Assange were extradited, “my prediction is that he will deteriorate substantially, have a particularly severe depression, suicidal ideas and severe psychological suffering and harm’’.

He said depression, which carries a suicide risk, in addition to his Asperger’s diagnosis and the situation in which he would find himself, were only part of a long list of risks and he could not make a mathematical prediction of the risk.

“All I can do is note there are an abundance of known risk factors in Mr Assange’s case,’’ he said.

He added: “Confronted with imminent or actual extradition in this context, it remains my view that Mr Assange will act upon his suicidal impulse, driven by his psychiatric disorders.

“I say that the risk is ‘very high’ because of the reported high rates of suicide in US single-cell, segregated facilities; because of the abundance of risk factors in Mr Assange’s case; because of the intensity of his suicidal preoccupation, and the extent of his planning and preparation; and also because of his acute awareness of the prospect he faces.’’

Professor Kopelman said of the latest prison incident: “It doesn’t take me by surprise in light of everything I have said.’’

Assange’s psychiatric history includes hospitalisation in Melbourne for a week when he was in his 20s and treatment for depression between 1994-95 and 2003 and 2005.

Professor Kopelman said when Assange was in the Ecuador embassy in London, there was a deterioration in his depressive state, and in 2019 he was severely depressed. He said his condition improved at the beginning of this year where he was moderately depressed, but then deteriorated again during lockdown.

Assange, 49, had a genetic predisposition to clinical depression as two members of his family had killed themselves, he said.

James Lewis, the US prosecutor, said Professor Kopelman’s opinion was premised upon speculation as to variables such as the length of sentence that Assange would receive and the conditions of his detention, which might or might not eventuate.

In cross-examination, the court heard Assange regularly read the British Medical Journal and didn’t want to see a psychiatrist until after he had discussed it with his legal team.

Assange is contesting extradition to the US, where he faces 18 spying charges.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/depressed-julian-assange-at-risk-of-suicide/news-story/8896a270e3f3b3443d1e0abd2a165255

>>10752687

Assange extradition: Key medical witness ‘failed in duty to court’

A key medical witness for Julian Assange has admitted “not doing his duty to the court’’ when he omitted information about Mr Assange’s partner Stella Moris and their children and the impact this may have on his mental state, the Old Bailey has heard.

Professor Michael Kopelman, a neuroscientist who has observed and treated Mr Assange since May 30, 2019, said instead of assisting the court he was “trying to be diplomatic’’ by not mentioning Ms Moris in his first written testimony to the court.

Prof Kopelman said he had consulted with Mr Assange’s legal team and decided not to put details about Ms Moris and the two young children she had with Mr Assange because it wasn’t in the public domain when he wrote the court report and ‘’she was very concerned about privacy so we decided not to put it in’’. He added that when Ms Moris went public about her relationship he submitted a second report.

However the US prosecutors said that all Prof Kopelman said in that report was that Mr Assange began a close relationship with a woman, this woman remained very supportive and helped his morale; she has two children.

James Lewis, for the US prosecutors said: “It’s astonishing … you didn’t lead with that she was his partner and mother of his two children.’’ He said the judge might not have known about Ms Moris’ relationship with Mr Assange and Prof Kopelman’s duty as an expert witness to the court overrode any embarrassment or vow of confidentiality to Mr Assange. Prof Kopelman replied: “I didn’t do my duty to the court, I was trying to be diplomatic.’’

Mr Lewis suggested such family factors would be relevant to a diagnosis and assessment of suicide risk.

Ms Moris went public about her relationship with Mr Assange and their two children, Gabriel, three and Max, 18 months, in April this year. At the time Ms Moris was supporting a bail application during a peak in the coronavirus pandemic when said she feared Mr Assange could die and their lives were on the brink. The couple started their relationship inside the Ecuadorean embassy in 2015 where Ms Moris, 37, was on his legal team.

During cross examination Prof Kopelman said there was only one medical diagnosis of Mr Assange’s depressive episodes because most medical records had been destroyed in Victoria, Australia under a seven year rule. Instead he relied on interviews with Mr Assange’s parents and a former colleague, Suelette Dreyfus, as well as a doctor colleague known as Professor Mullen.

Prof Kopelman said he had not meant to deceive anybody when his report referred to Ms Dreyfus as a “doctor’’ and that she had confirmed a diagnosis of depression, even though she had not met him until two years after his first depressive episode.

“When I said she confirmed, I meant she was consistent with what he and others had told me; she corroborated. I did not intend to imply she was a medical doctor who confirmed medical depression. She was friends with Assange when he was 23, a couple of years after the first depression,’’ he said.

Both the prosecution and the defence have asked the court not to release Prof Kopelman’s written court testimonies to the media, which is being contested by media representatives.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/assange-extradition-key-medical-witness-failed-in-duty-to-court/news-story/45bb5633c7a6c4a258fb0d425c18f5eb

>>10729992

Malka Leifer extradition promise ‘illegal’, claims defence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an “unlawful promise” to Australian political elders including John Howard and former deputy PM Wayne Swan to speed the extradition of accused sex predator Malka ­Leifer, her defence will claim in a last-ditch bid to scuttle her return to Melbourne to face trial.

The gambit turns on a meeting last October in Mr Netanyahu’s Jerusalem office where he told the high-powered delegation that Israel’s government would not stand in the way of Ms Leifer’s ­extradition if and when it was ­approved by local judges.

Following the granting of Australia’s longstanding request for her extradition on Monday by the Jerusalem District Court, one of Ms Leifer’s lawyers, Nick Kaufman, said Mr Netanyahu’s alleged commitment to send her on her way breached due process.

If Israel’s peak Supreme Court rejects Ms Leifer’s foreshadowed appeal against the extradition order, the final decision rests with Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn, whose approval is required to put her on a plane.

Mr Kaufman told The Australian that the Justice Minister’s pledge to “work to expedite” the process reflected the “undue influence” of Mr Netanyahu on the back of his illegal promise to the Australian dignitaries.

“The minister’s discretion to extradite is only exercised after an appeal procedure is exhausted and after he has heard submissions from the accused,” the lawyer said. “When the Justice Minister welcomes the decision of the District Court and announces prior to the appeal that he will do all in his power to speed up Malka Leifer’s extradition to Australia, then he is not, I submit, acting in accordance with accepted principles of administrative propriety.”

Neither office of Mr Netan­yahu or Mr Nissenkorn would comment.

Ms Leifer, 55, faces 74 charges of sexual abuse including rape against sisters Nicole Meyer, 35, Dassi Erlich, 32, and Elly Sapper, 31, committed in 2003-07 while she was principal of Melbourne’s Adass Israel ultra-Orthodox Jewish School. She fled home to Israel in 2008 when the first allegations against her emerged.

The October 29, 2019, meeting with Mr Netanyahu was arranged by Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler, heading the delegation of former prime minister Mr Howard, Mr Swan, former Liberal foreign minister Alexander Downer, another former federal Liberal opposition leader Brendan Nelson and former federal Labor minister Stephen Conroy.

Mr Leibler asked Mr Netan­yahu whether his government would be bound by a public commitment by former justice minister Ayelet Shaked to sign the extradition order once the court process was completed.

This was in the context of her sacking by Mr Netanyahu in June 2019 in what was seen as a pre-election power play, and revelations police had recommended criminal charges against then deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman, a leader of the ultra-­Orthodox religious right, over alleged witness tampering on Ms Leifer’s behalf. “I don’t recall him (Mr Netanyahu) specifically saying the justice minister would sign the order, but he said his government would not do anything to interfere with or further delay the process once judicial hearings had been completed,” Mr Leibler said.

Mr Kaufman had since asked that he forward any notes or documentation from the meeting, a request Mr Leibler rejected.

In ordering Ms Leifer’s extradition, judge Chana Miriam Lomp of the Jerusalem District Court on Monday demolished a defence ­argument that Australian jails could not cater for the needs of a strictly Orthodox Jewish woman.

As Ms Leifer was not resident in Israel at the time of the alleged sex offences, she should serve time in Australia if found guilty, the judge said.

Saluting her alleged victims, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday said the sisters were “heroes” for fighting for ­justice.

“The courage, grace and dignity of those Victorians is quite amazing,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/malka-leifer-extradition-promise-illegal-claims-defence/news-story/8f9e1dfa054b84d999ecf71965842440

>>10739389

TRAPPED Ghislaine Maxwell said she ‘hated’ Jeffrey Epstein but she ‘couldn’t leave’ him, perv’s ex-housekeeper claims

A FORMER housekeeper of Jeffrey Epstein has claimed that Ghislaine Maxwell told him she hated the disgraced financier but could not leave.

Juan Alessi made the claims during an interview with Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre for the podcast Broken: Seeking Justice.

Alessi said Maxwell had opened up to him about her connection with Epstein, and so he asked why she was so close to the convicted sex offender.

According to Alessi, 70, Maxwell said: “I hate him but I can’t leave.”

The housekeeper said he then pushed Maxwell, 58, asking her, “Why? You have money. Why are you not leaving?”

Alessi worked for Epstein from 1991 to 2006 – first as a maintenance worker at his homes, and then as a driver and housekeeper in Palm Beach, Florida.

His interviewer, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, in allegations the prince has denied.

Alessi said that Andrew visited Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, two or three times while he was working there.

The 70-year-old said Andrew was memorable because he was polite and the only one of Epstein’s guests to leave him a tip.

Mum-of-three Giuffre, alleged that she was procured by Maxwell, 57, as a teenage “sex slave” for Epstein.

Alessi and Giuffre last saw each other in 2002, when Giuffre left for Thailand to train as a masseuse.

Giuffre, 37, claims that Epstein had asked her to carry a baby for him and Maxwell, who is currently housed in a Brooklyn, New York, jail awaiting trial in July 2021.

AWAITING TRIAL

Prosecutors allege that between 1994 and 1997 Maxwell helped Epstein to groom girls as young as 14.

Maxwell has been charged with six counts of perjury and sex trafficking offenses.

The 17-page indictment against Maxwell accused her of grooming and befriending victims, normalizing inappropriate behavior, being present during abuse to put victims at ease, encouraging victims to accept Epstein's help, and encouraging victims to engage in sexual activity and taking part herself.

One accuser, Jennifer Araoz, said Maxwell was at the "centre of his sex trafficking ring."

She faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty and denies all accusations.

Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell in August 2019 in an incident that was ruled suicide by hanging.

He met Maxwell in the early 90s – around the time her father, Robert Maxwell, a newspaper tycoon, died in mysterious circumstances after falling from his yacht.

Maxwell and Epstein dated for some time before later breaking up.

They remained good friends, with Maxwell going on to manage Epstein's properties.

A 'CONFUSING' RELATIONSHIP

In his interview with Giuffre, Alessi addressed the pair's relationship.

He said: "That relationship between Epstein and her, I never understood.'

Alessi added: "I told her many times. I said, 'Ghislaine, why are you doing this? Why are you staying with this guy?'

"[She said] 'I hate him, I hate him but I can't leave.' I said, 'Why? You have money. Why are you not leaving?"

Giuffre said that she found their relationship "confusing."

It is this relationship that will likely form the case against Maxwell in her upcoming trial.

Alessi said that there was a code of secrecy inside Epstein's home, and that he "was not supposed to talk to the guests."

He added: "I was not supposed to talk to Virginia. Nothing. No talking."

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/broken-seeking-justice/id1478460758

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12742606/jeffrey-epstien-housekeeper-claims-ghislaine-maxwell-couldnt-leave/

—

BROKEN: Seeking Justice

Investigative Reporter Julie K. Brown exposed Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes to the world. Now his survivors are fighting for the truth. This season, host Tara Palmeri follows the women who are making their own justice.

Witness

Some people saw more than others. But will they admit it?

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/witness/id1478460758

Paul Keating’s daughter Alexandra dating Hollywood director Rupert Sanders

It’s been revealed the youngest daughter of former Australian prime minister Paul Keating is dating a controversial Hollywood director, and the pair has appeared in an Archibald Prize entry.

The youngest daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating is dating controversial Hollywood director Rupert Sanders.

Confidential can reveal Alexandra Keating and Sanders are an item, and have appeared in a double portrait that was entered in the Archibald Prize, whose winner is announced on Friday.

The portrait, titled Alexandra Keating and Rupert Sanders on a Yacht in Sydney Harbour, is by artist Oliver Watts who is friends with both Alexandra and her sister Katherine Keating. Katherine was drawn into the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal when she was filmed farewelling Prince Andrew at the front door of Epstein’s New York mansion when he was staying there in 2010.

There is no suggestion Katherine Keating, who was reportedly friends with the Duke, knew of any wrongdoing by Epstein.

Rupert Sanders is controversial in that he made international headlines when he and actor Kristen Stewart were photographed in an intimate embrace in 2012.

Sanders was at the time married to model Liberty Ross, with whom he has two children. The couple divorced in 2014.

Stewart was in a relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson. Both Stewart and Sanders issued separate public apologies after the images were printed.

Oliver Watts told Arts Editor Elizabeth Fortescue that he joined Sanders and Alexandra on a boat at Rose Bay in January or February this year.

The couple had agreed to let Watts paint them, and Sanders stepped in to direct what sort of pose they should take for their portrait.

“Obviously Rupert is very creative,” Watts said.

Sanders directed Snow White and The Huntsman in 2012, which starred Kristen Stewart. He also directed the film adaptation of the sci-fi manga franchise Ghost in the Shell, starring Scarlett Johansson.

Watts would not comment on whether the boat in the painting belongs to Paul Keating, or whether the former PM was on board that day. But he did reveal his admiration for Alexandra.

“She’s really a special person — very clever, very charismatic,” Watts said.

“She is happy that Rupert is her boyfriend.”

The painting is “a tender conversation piece of a couple”, Watts said.

Alexandra’s father was himself the subject of a very handsome painting by Brian Westwood which won the Archibald in 1992 when Keating was PM.

While Watts’ painting of Keating’s daughter and her boyfriend was not selected as a finalist for the $100,000 Archibald Prize, it was chosen for the Salon des Refuses. The Salon is the “alternative Archibald” exhibition, chosen from among the Archibald rejects and shown at the S.H. Ervin Gallery in The Rocks.

The Archibald Prize will be announced on Friday at the Art Gallery of NSW. Both the Archibald and Salon des Refuses open on Saturday.

Notables in the running for the Archibald this year include broadcaster Adam Spencer (painted by Samuel Rush Condon), documentary star Dujuan Hoosen (by Blak Douglas, aka Adam Hill), journalist David Marr (by Nicholas Harding), journalist Annabel Crabb (by Jane Guthleben), chef Adam Liaw (by Yoshio Honjo), ALP leader Anthony Albanese (by James Powditch), writer Bruce Pascoe (by Craig Ruddy) and Magda Szubanski (by Wendy Sharpe).

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/arts/paul-keatings-daughter-dating-hollywood-director-rupert-sanders/news-story/80d015022dec8d36e102bce2cca70581

INTERNATIONAL STING AGAINST DARK WEB VENDORS LEADS TO 179 ARRESTS

22 September 2020 - Press Release

Today, a coalition of law enforcement agencies across the world announced the results of a coordinated operation known as DisrupTor which targeted vendors and buyers of illicit goods on the dark web.

This operation follows the takedown in May of last year of Wall Street Market, the world’s then second largest illegal online market in the dark web. Led by the German Federal Criminal Police (Bundeskriminalamt) with the support of the Dutch National Police (Politie) Europol, Eurojust and various US government agencies, this takedown provided investigators with quantitative data and materials to identify suspects behind dark web accounts used for illegal activity.

As a result, 179 vendors who engaged in tens of thousands of sales of illicit good were arrested across Europe and the United States. Over $6.5 million were seized in both cash and virtual currencies, alongside some 500 kilograms of drugs, including fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, MDMA, and medicine containing addictive substances; and 64 firearms.

The arrests were carried out in the United States (121), Germany (42), the Netherlands (8), United Kingdom (4), Austria (3), and Sweden (1). A number of investigations are still ongoing to identify the individuals behind dark web accounts.

A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT TO TACKLE THE DARK WEB

Operation DisrupTor was composed of a series of separate but complementary joint operations coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, all aimed at making a global impact on the sale of illicit goods on the dark web.

This operation was the result of a collaborative effort between the law enforcement and judicial authorities of Austria, Cyprus, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Commenting on this operation, the Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), Edvardas Šileris, said:

Law enforcement is most effective when working together, and today’s announcement sends a strong message to criminals selling or buying illicit goods on the dark web: the hidden internet is no longer hidden, and your anonymous activity is not anonymous. Law enforcement is committed to tracking down criminals, no matter where they operate – be it on the streets or behind a computer screen.

THE DARK WEB IS NO FAIRY TALE

The golden age of dark web marketplace is over. Operations such as these highlight the capability of law enforcement to counter encryption and anonymity of dark web market places. Police no longer only takes down such illegal marketplaces – they also chase down the criminals buying and selling illegal goods through such sites.

Thinking of buying illegal goods anonymously on the dark web?

These are the dangers you are exposed to:

• Putting your life in danger: dangerous illegal drugs such as fentanyl or counterfeit substances could kill you.

• Become a victim of cyber scammers who are only after your money.

• Exposing your device to damaging malware.

Law enforcement can also trace back illicit transactions to both the buyer and seller. An individual who purchased illicit goods from hidden sites is at risk of prosecution in a number of countries.

The dark web is not a fairy tale - vendors and buyers are no longer hidden in the shadow.

The following authorities took part in this operation:

Austria: Federal Investigation Bureau (Bundeskriminalamt)

Cyprus: Cyprus Police (Αστυνομία Κύπρου)

Germany: Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt), State Criminal Police Offices (Landeskriminalämter), the competent local police forces and Customs Investigation Offices (Zollfahndungsämter)

The Netherlands: National Police (Politie), Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (Koninklijke Marechaussee)

Sweden: National Police (Polisen)

Australia: Western Australia Police Force, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission

Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

United Kingdom: National Crime Agency; Dark Web Intelligence, Collection and Exploitation (DICE)

United States: Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Department of Defense (DOD)

https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/international-sting-against-dark-web-vendors-leads-to-179-arrests

>>10738679

Facebook suddenly refuses to appear before foreign interference committee

Facebook has suddenly refused to appear before a parliamentary committee into foreign interference, asking instead for its evidence to be rescheduled after the US election in November.

The chair of the inquiry, Labor Senator Jenny McAllister, was disappointed at the social media giant's about-face given the publicity surrounding its platform being used for disinformation campaigns in the past.

Facebook was pencilled in to appear on Friday before the Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media, alongside executives from popular video-sharing app TikTok.

But Senator McAllister said the company advised the committee on Tuesday it would no longer make senior staff available for questioning.

She argued it was "disappointing" Facebook had not adopted the same constructive approach as TikTok, and said it appeared "unwilling to participate in our processes of democratic accountability".

"Facebook's platform has been used by malicious actors to run sophisticated disinformation campaigns in elections around the globe," Senator McAllister said.

"Eighty-four per cent of Australians are on Facebook. We use it to connect with other people and debate ideas that are important to our community.

"The Australian public deserve to know how Facebook manages the risks their platform presents to our democracy and public discourse."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Facebook said the company still planned on attending the committee.

"We are committed to cooperating with the Senate committee on this inquiry and answering the questions they may have," they said.

"Due to a scheduling issue we’ve requested to appear at a later day."

Facebook has been widely criticised for failing to stop manipulation of posts on its platform ahead of the last US election, allowing Russian meddling in the poll.

Millions of people had their personal data harvested from Facebook by Cambridge Analytica ahead of the 2016 presidential ballot, which was then used to influence the election.

In July this year, Facebook announced it would start labelling content that violated its policies ahead of this year's election.

Social media companies have drawn the interest of Australia's intelligence agencies, with TikTok facing scrutiny over its ties to the Chinese Government.

The company denies any personal data is handed over to authorities.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-23/facebook-suddenly-refuses-appear-foreign-interference-committee/12692014

—

Parliament of Australia - Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Interference_through_Social_Media/ForeignInterference

Media Releases

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Interference_through_Social_Media/ForeignInterference/Media_Releases

23 Sep 2020

https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=0df446be-5fe0-4e97-be93-fc4746438cdc

Shane Andrew Lunnay, who streamed himself having sex with a child-like sex doll, jailed for importing child exploitation material

A YouTuber who once streamed himself having sex with a child-like doll “for the shock value” was caught by police with some very disturbing images.

A ponytailed gamer who streamed video of himself having sex with a child-like doll will spend a year behind bars.

Adelaide man Shane Andrew Lunnay was also caught with drawings of children and adults engaged in acts of bestiality, and imported animated child pornography.

Sentencing him in the District Court on Wednesday, Judge Geraldine Davison said Lunnay admitted he had a sexual interest in children.

Over time, the 35-year-old developed an addiction to the animated material known as hentai.

“It is clear, looking at the materials on the file and, in particular, the photographs of your bedroom and living area, that this addiction to a fantasy way of life was all-encompassing for you,” she said.

“Sadly, however, it was not just material that was animated that you were found with.”

Judge Davison said Lunnay was also found with a number of images of real children and real child abuse material.

In May and June of 2019, the Australian Border Force detected several consignments addressed to Lunnay that contained child abuse material and “objectionable material”.

In June, the ABF executed a warrant at his home address.

Among the material seized was 650 hentai publications suspected of containing child abuse material, a computer tower and mobile phone.

The hentai publications depicted adults and or children under the age of 18 years in sexual poses and in sexual activity, including drawings of children aged between three and 12.

There were also drawings of adults and children under 12 engaging in acts of bestiality.

Lunnay later told police the material was “just drawings”, and he had been selling the anime to rid himself of his addiction.

“You also admitted conduct that involved having sex with a child-like doll and streaming this to people online,” the judge said.

“Those people included children.

“You did this for the shock value and to see people’s reactions to your conduct.”

Judge Davison said Lunnay had not been charged over the act and was not sentenced for it, but it confirmed his sexual interest in children.

Lunnay had previously posted hundreds of videos of himself playing video games on a YouTube channel called “Radical Dreamer Shane-O”.

He also talked about items he has collected, including stuffed toys and figurines.

Judge Davison said he lives with his parents and has used the internet as a way of making friends and socialising.

She added that Lunnay had now recognised the need for lifestyle changes, including applying for a gym membership, but the offending was very serious.

He was ordered to serve one year behind bars and another 18 months on parole.

Lunnay pleaded guilty to a number of Commonwealth and state offences including aggravated possession of child exploitation material and importing prohibited goods.

https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/shane-andrew-lunnay-who-streamed-himself-having-sex-with-a-childlike-sex-doll-jailed-for-importing-child-exploitation-material/news-story/77b2497ad47f68c7bf1ce342525c4ea6

Perth escape artist and children's entertainer facing string of child sex charges

A Perth entertainer who runs magic workshops for children has been charged with a string of child sex abuse charges.

Dewald Venter, 26, was first charged in May with sexual offences alleged to have been committed against a boy between 13-15 years old. They are alleged to have happened in 2014 and 2016.

Mr Venter, who performs under the stage name 'Ghupi', is alleged to have arranged to meet the boy online, and was charged with six counts of sexual penetration, five counts of indecent dealing, attempted sexual penetration, procure a child to do an indecent act, and persistent sexual conduct with a child.

He first appeared in Joondalup Magistrates Court on these charges on June 8 and is next due to appear in the same court on October 5.

Continuing investigations by child abuse officers uncovered further alleged victims, a boy and a girl who were aged between 12-15 years old at the time of the reported offences, which are alleged to have happened between 2012 and 2016.

Mr Venter, who has appeared on Australia's Got Talent, and who holds world records for his escape routines, has since been charged with 15 counts of indecent dealing with a child, three counts of sexual penetration, and two counts of persistent sexual conduct with a child.

He appeared in Joondalup Magistrates Court on these additional charges on Monday and will reappear on October 5.

Police will also allege during the course of their investigation Mr Venter was found with two unsupervised children, which was not permitted under his bail conditions.

He was subsequently charged with breach of bail.

Mr Venter was refused bail and appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on August 15. He is next due to appear in the same court on Wednesday.

Mr Venter, who performs at private parties and corporate events, has also worked at a summer camp in the USA teaching children magic.

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-escape-artist-and-children-s-entertainer-facing-string-of-child-sex-charges-20200922-p55y3t.html

Alyssa Milano's long haul COVID-19 battle | 60 Minutes Australia

Published on 22 Sep 2020

Alyssa Milano is one of the ever-growing cohort of coronavirus survivors being crippled by the condition’s unexpected after effects. Like so many coronavirus sufferers, she’s discovered that when you’re supposed to have got better, things actually can get worse, and has been documenting the ongoing side effects, like hair loss, in online video diaries. She tells 60 Minutes in this extended interview that the hardest part of dealing with the long term effects of COVID-19 is not having the answers to what’s wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAxufz3476o

US Embassy Canberra Tweet

One year ago this week: The United States hosted Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny Morrison for an incredible state visit, including dinner under the stars in the @WhiteHouse Rose Garden #USwithAUS

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1308646621979144192

Tom Hanks is out of quarantine as filming begins on Elvis biopic on the Gold Coast

The Hollywood superstar at the centre of Queensland’s border exemption controversy is now out of quarantine and set to begin work on the Gold Coast.

Tom Hanks touched down two weeks ago to begin filming for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, which was originally slated to begin filming in March but was suspended when the star contracted COVID-19.

Luhrmann and the Queensland Government spent months formulating a COVIDSafe plan which would allow filming to resume, tipped to inject $100 million into the local economy.

As a result, Hanks was allowed to fly into Australia while thousands of Australians remain stranded overseas.

It prompted a woman stranded in London, desperately waiting to return home to Australia, to pen a letter to Hanks, expressing how “disheartening” it was to see celebrities head to Australia while she had been waiting months to return home.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk came under fire for allowing the movie star to enter the state, even copping criticism from the Prime Minister, amid a heartbreaking case of a Canberra woman denied approval to attend her father’s funeral.

On Sydney radio on Thursday morning, before border restrictions were eased to allow ACT residents into the sunshine state, Mr Morrison said he didn’t expect special treatment to enter Queensland.

Mr Morrison accused the state of “double standards”, after 400 AFL executives were also allowed to enter the state while ordinary Australians remained locked out.

“Well I don’t think there should be double standards, I mean it’s not like I’m a Hollywood movie star or in the AFL or anything,” he told Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa.

In a press conference on Wednesday morning, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said he was “shameless” in supporting jobs on the Gold Coast, including in the film and TV industry.

“It’ll be great to see how people around the world talk about the fact that it was filmed on the Gold Coast,” he said.

“I’m sure it will encourage other film producers to come here… we’re one of the few places that can be fully open for film production.

“It really goes to underline how some people want to make this a choice between health and the economy, but it’s not a choice.

“You have to get the health response right first, and then we can get on with creating jobs, just as we have in the film industry.”

CHO Dr Jeannette Young revealed part of the reason why Hanks and his cast and crew mates were allowed to enter Queensland was for monetary reasons, namely that it would provide a well-needed boost for the state’s struggling economy.

“I have given exemptions from people in entertainment and film because that is bringing a lot of money into this state,” she said in a press conference earlier this month.

Mr Morrison said he understood why people were “frustrated” to see the “double standards.”

“Queenslanders are fair-minded people. I know, I’m sure the vast majority of Queenslanders would support the border being in place. That’s why it’s not about that, it’s about – you know, Queenslanders are very fair-minded people too, and I think this is what would offended them, the double standards that are there,” Mr Morrison said on September 10.

Hanks, alongside co-star Austin Butler, will begin filming at Village Roadshow Studios on Wednesday.

While Hanks was spotted at Pacific Fair on Tuesday, castmate Butler, who will play Elvis, was also spotted at Broadbeach.

Initial reports suggested Hanks was quarantining in a lavish Gold Coast hinterland estate, but that was later denied by Ms Palaszczuk who said the star was staying in a “government approved hotel”.

“My advice is that he is staying in a hotel, so I am told that he is not staying in a house,” she said on Sunday.

“There are other people who have flown in from LA into Sydney and are staying in New South Wales now obviously they would have had to get the exemptions and border force checks as well … but unfortunately we’re not hearing anything about that in New South Wales, all we are hearing is about Queensland.

“Scott Morrison flew up here a few months ago and talked about more incentives to get more movies here, so that’s okay, we put in on the table more incentives to get movies here as well, and I’ll tell you what they want to come to Queensland and film and that means keeping people on the Gold Coast in employment and I’ll fight for those jobs.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/tom-hanks-is-out-of-quarantine-as-filming-begins-on-elvis-biopic-on-the-gold-coast/news-story/bff2e6326dc0e65f9699fa1c17a9be29

Assange could crochet and play bingo in supermax prison, US prosecutor claims

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London: The US government has suggested that Julian Assange would not be held in solitary confinement and would be able to crochet and play bingo if he is extradited and jailed on spying charges.

The revelation emerged at Assange's extradition hearing underway at London's Old Bailey which has this week been focussed on Assange's mental health.

His defence team has called witnesses to testify that he has Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger's, anxiety, hears voices, is depressed and would take his own life if he loses his legal battle.

The court has heard that Assange has withheld telling doctors his true mental state while detained in Belmarsh Prison because he fears being placed in solitary confinement.

Assange remains in custody while he fights his extradition arguing that his human rights would be violated.

Psychiatrist, Michael Kopelman, emeritus professor of neuropsychiatry at King's College London, has previously told the court that if Assange is extradited there is a "very high" risk the father of four would take his own life rather than serve out any sentence in a US supermax prison.

But Seena Fazel, a professor in forensic psychiatry at Oxford University, who interviewed Assange earlier this year said that he found the prisoner to be "moderately depressed," an improvement on the severely depressed state he accepted Assange was in as recently as December last year.

Fazel appeared for the prosecution. He disagreed with a psychiatrist called by the defence on Tuesday about the likelihood of Assange committing suicide.

He said the 49-year old had shown himself capable of managing his own suicide risk, by taking medication, undergoing counselling and accessing support from the Samaritans - a British mental health charity.

On Tuesday the court was told that Assange has made preparations for death, including writing farewell letters, receiving absolution from a Catholic priest and preparing a will.

However, Fazel said that millions of people experience suicidal "ideations" at points in their life.

"But a minority of those people actually act on those and even less die from suicide.

"Suicidal ideation is quite [a] common experience and in a lifetime many people will experience suicidal ideation at one point or another."

Fazel also said that Assange was only on the "mild end" of the autism spectrum.

It was during reexamination, that James Lewis, the QC acting for the US government suggested that if extradited, Assange would be sent to the Alexandria Detention Centre.

"There is no solitary confinement in the ADC," Lewis said.

(continued)

>>10766250

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If Assange were found guilty in a US trial and jailed he could be sent to the supermax prison in Colorado known as ADX - the United State's highest-security prison.

Lewis said each inmate had their own 13-inch television and told the court that Assange would have "ample opportunity" to socialise with inmates and members of the public.

Added to this, Lewis said ADX inmates had access to indoor and outdoor recreation, exercise, wellness programs, weekend brainteaser games and arts and crafts, library and may "paint, draw or crochet."

Lewis said inmates "may participate in a weekly bingo game". However, he prefaced his description of Assange's potential prison conditions by saying that all might not apply to the Australian.

Fazel said he could not judge whether these conditions would reduce the likelihood of Assange committing suicide as it depended on the whether they were implemented as well as their quality.

Assange's team have repeatedly said that the WikiLeaks founder would be held in extreme isolation conditions.

Last week, US attorney Eric Lewis told the court that Assange was at "high risk" of being subjected to Clinton-era special administrative measures where prisoners are subject to extreme isolation and have their legal and family visits monitored.

Assange is accused of violating the Espionage Act relating to the WikiLeaks' disclosures of a decade ago, when more than half a million military and diplomatic cables stolen from Pentagon systems by former army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning were published.

Manning was sentenced but had her sentence commuted by former President Barack Obama.

This week, Assange's fiancee said the Trump Administration wanted to "pluck him out of the UK and put him in the deepest, darkest hole of the US prison system."

"They want to bury him alive and for him to never be able to speak again or work again or see his children," she told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Assange's extradition hearing is expected to continue until next week.

If you are troubled by this report or experiencing a personal crisis, you can call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.

http://lifeline.org.au/

http://beyondblue.com.au/

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/assange-could-crochet-and-play-bingo-in-supermax-prison-us-prosecutor-claims-20200923-p55yls.html

‘We literally jumped for joy’

Malka Leifer has been ordered to be sent back to Australia to face 74 charges of child sex abuse after an Israeli judge on Monday agreed to extradite the former Melbourne principal

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It was just after 5pm on Monday when the long-awaited news from the Jerusalem District Court filtered through to sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper in Melbourne: Malka Leifer, their alleged sexual abuser and former principal of the Adass Israel School, had been ordered for extradition to Australia.

“We literally jumped for joy. It was an incredible moment to hear words that we almost never thought we would hear since 2011,” Meyer told The AJN.

“Nine years [we were] waiting [since lodging statements to police]. It’s still incredible to think about it now.”

Erlich added, “This is the day that we’ve been waiting for. It’s actually happened, and I just can’t stop smiling.”

Leifer fled to Israel when the allegations against her began to emerge in 2008. Six years ago, Australia filed an extradition request in an effort to see her return to face 74 counts of child sexual abuse. Since then, 72 court dates have followed, interspersed between bouts of feigned mental illness and claims of political interference.

In Monday’s decision, Judge Chana Lomp wrote, “I accept the petition and declare the respondent as extraditable to Australia for the offences attributed to her in the extradition request.

“Since I have determined that [Leifer] was not a resident of Israel at the time of the offences which are the subject of the petition, she is not entitled to the protection provided in Section 1A of the Extradition Law, that would have allowed her to carry out her sentence in Israel,” she said, noting that Leifer will remain in police custody until she is sent back to Australia.

Leifer’s lawyers have indicated their plans to appeal the extradition order to Israel’s Supreme Court – an avenue that is available to them for 30 days post-decision – with defence lawyer Nick Kaufman saying, “For those who think that this chapter is now closed, I’m sorry, the process will still last quite a few months more.”

Speaking on the prospect of appeal, Meyer said, “We do have faith that the Supreme Court will uphold the District Court’s decision and it is just a waiting game for us now,” adding that the sisters are hopeful the extradition will occur late this year or early 2021.

(continued)

>>10766423

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In the next procedural step, Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn is required to sign off on the extradition. Signalling his intentions on Twitter, he wrote, “After years of torment, the [alleged] victims of the offence will finally be entitled to justice.

“Leifer [is accused of committing] a serious act and tried to impersonate a mentally ill person in order to evade extradition. I will work to expedite the continuation of the procedure as much as possible in order to carry out Leifer’s extradition to Australia.”

Yet, Kaufman was quoted in The Australian on Tuesday saying, “When the Justice Minister welcomes the decision of the District Court and announces prior to the appeal that he will do all in his power to speed up Malka Leifer’s extradition to Australia, then he is not, I submit, acting in accordance with accepted principles of administrative propriety.”

The article asserted an argument of Leifer’s defence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an “unlawful promise” to a visiting delegation of senior Australian political figures to speed the extradition – and the Justice Minister’s pledge to “work to expedite” the process reflects the “undue influence” of Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, a statement released by the Ministry of Justice on Monday read, “We are very pleased with the outcome of the court’s decision and look forward to the continued and successful cooperation between Israel and Australia.

“Today is an important and significant day for the rule of law, for international cooperation and most importantly, for those who were [alleged] victims of Malka Leifer’s [alleged] crimes.”

Indeed for the sisters, the toll of the saga is not confined to the past, with Erlich sharing, “Every time there is a court hearing, our lives are turned upside down.

“As the case became more high profile, it meant a lot more media, and exposure, and that takes a lot of strength.

“It takes a lot from us.”

Added Meyer, “The mental health struggle is very real, particularly in the spaces that we don’t show on camera because that is more private.

“But we all draw strength from each other and from the wider network of people that continually support us.”

Deeming the extradition decision “a victory for everyone”, Erlich said, “This is a victory for every survivor who has fought so hard to see justice.”

Meyer echoed, “The huge amount of support [we have received] cannot be diminished because that is a huge part of helping us keep going – and bring about justice for ourselves and for many survivors that really don’t have a voice.”

https://ajn.timesofisrael.com/we-literally-jumped-for-joy/

>>10766423

Israeli court rules Malka Leifer should be extradited

The Australian Jewish News

Published on 23 Sep 2020

It was just after 5pm on Monday when the long-awaited news from the Jerusalem District Court filtered through to sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper in Melbourne: Malka Leifer, their alleged sexual abuser and former principal of the Adass Israel School, had been ordered for extradition to Australia.

Dassi and Nicole spoke with The AJN's features editor Rebecca Davis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=616QR3LoRc0

>>10766423

Premier Daniel Andrews: 'Dassi Erlich and her sisters are heroes'

The Australian Jewish News

Published on 21 Sep 2020

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

Former QAnon Followers Explain What Drew Them In — And Got Them Out

Like those leaving cults, some people who believe in conspiracy theories like QAnon and Pizzagate can break free from their beliefs

By EJ Dickson - September 23, 2020

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Jitarth Jadeja is a hirsute man in his early thirties, charming and jovial, speaking with equal effusiveness about economics and his baby niece. He’s an atheist, pro-choice and pro-drug decriminalization, who supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would be deeply invested in a dangerous far-right conspiracy theory involving baby-eating Democrats and Hollywood actors. But for two and a half years, he says, that’s exactly what he was.

“It’s almost like a drug,” he tells Rolling Stone from his parents’ house in Sydney, Australia. “You read a Q drop and he tells you something, and you’re like, ‘Whoa dude, that’s crazy’….a hit of dopamine goes off in your brain, and you have to go in deeper and deeper and deeper in order to get that feeling again. When Q first started posting I felt like, ‘Here is an explanation that, while it doesn’t make sense, if it were true explains the situation better than the current explanations I’m getting.'”

Recently, QAnon has gotten a great deal of attention in the media due to QAnon-promoting congressional candidates such as Republican nominees Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, thus bringing the theory mainstream. It has also been linked to violence, such as the 2019 shooting of a Staten Island mob boss by a QAnon supporter and a Texas woman attacking two strangers with her car earlier this year because she believed them to be child traffickers. President Trump has refused to overtly discredit or reject QAnon ideology, to the delight of believers, whose primary goal is to win Trump’s attention.

“They desperately need a place to put their anger and a way to make sense of the world. Us versus them, the horrible bad guys, is something they all seem to cling to,” says cult expert Diane Benscoter, who has spoken to numerous people whose loved ones are involved in QAnon. “The doctrine makes it easy to say, ‘Clearly we have to make a stand against this,’ and it feels really good to believe you’re on the side of righteousness and saving children.”

The mainstreaming of QAnon has also led to the advent of subreddits like r/QAnonCasualties and r/ReQuovery, for family members of QAnon believers to discuss the impact the ideology has had on their lives. Former believers who’ve extricated themselves have also taken to such subreddits to share their own stories, recounting what drew them in and providing tips and resources for those trying to get their family members out.

Anti-Clinton sentiment stoked by vloggers on YouTube set the stage for him to believe even the most outlandish claims proposed by Pizzagaters. It also helped, he says, that he grew up in an extremely religious Christian Baptist family (He says his father is still an ardent QAnon believer). “[Growing] up 18 years in that household played a role into my being primed believing something that was outlandish,” he says. “[The] fact that you can have that kind of faith in certain things leads you to be open into believing certain things without there necessarily being proof.”

Another common thread among the stories of former believers on Reddit is a history of mental illness. Jadeja had recently disconnected himself from many of his friends; he was isolated and intensely struggling with depression and undiagnosed bipolar II disorder. Because he was in graduate school, he also had a lot of time on his hands. “I was, I guess you could say, a prime candidate for Q to take a hold of me,” he says.

Ivan*, 26, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym for fear of getting doxxed, was struggling with anxiety and depression when he stumbled on Pizzagate in the subreddit r/cringeanarchy in 2016, right before Trump’s election. Though r/cringeanarchy, which would later be banned, was a haven of far-right “edgy” content, “I was politically illiterate,” though alienated and embittered, he recalls. Swapping theories about Pizzagate “wasn’t about politics. It was about team sports. It was about cheering for this side, for Team Right.” Scraping together bits of “evidence” whole cloth to support Pizzagate was not just fun, it was also empowering at a time when he was desperate to feel some semblance of control.

(continued)

>>10766576

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Ivan was conscious enough of how deranged his views sounded that he instinctively knew not to mention them to others — not, he says, that it would have helped. “I distinctly remember that if I read some article about this debunking or fact-checking, I would feel bored. I’d feel like, ‘What am I reading here? They are just probably hiding the truth. It’s not even worth the attention,'” he says. “From my own experience, when you get deep enough, any kind of fact-checking, it just flies right through you and you don’t really capture the information at all.”

Benscoter agrees that fact-checking is essentially useless. As difficult as it may be, she urges, those with loved ones deep into QAnon must refrain. “To try to make rational arguments is not going to work because they’re not going to think rationally,” she says. “You can throw rocks in it and try to make cracks,” for instance, by asking the other person to consider the possibility that Q may not be who they claim to be. But arguing with a person who is not operating according to logic or reason “just makes them stand firmer,” she says.

Instead, she advises people to try to appeal to their loved ones’ “higher selves.” “People who get involved in extremist mentality are usually really good people who care deeply about wanting to use their life for something bigger than themselves,” she says. She urges loved ones of QAnon believers to approach the conversation by saying something like, “I know the reason you care so much about this is because you’re a good person and I know you want to do right, but just consider the possibility that you are being lied to,” or, “It would be a shame if you put all this good sincere energy in something that turns out to be a lie.” “If they don’t immediately argue back fervently, if they stop for a moment, that would be a sign of a crack” in their belief system, she says. It may take a long time for such cracks to emerge, but without them believers can’t do the difficult work of setting off on the process of self-rediscovery and recovery from the false delusion of Q.

It took years for the cracks to emerge for Jadeja, who slowly started to realize that Q drops were laden with logical inconsistencies. A turning point for him was a follower asking Q to get Trump to say the term “tippy top” as proof of Trump’s knowledge of the conspiracy; when Trump did say the phrase during a 2018 Easter egg roll speech, Q believers rejoiced, believing it to be confirmation that Q was real. Jadeja did some research and saw that Trump had said the phrase many times before. “That’s when I realized this was all a very slick con,” he says.

Today he views the rise of QAnon with abject horror, which is compounded by the fact that he’d also managed to rope his own father into the conspiracy. (Like Lem, Jadeja’s father is still a true believer.) “It’s gone out of control. And it continues to grow out of control. And they’re not going away. Even if Trump loses, they’re not going to go away, they’ll just look at it as part of the conspiracy,” he says. He sees speaking out about his own involvement with the cult of QAnon as a form of penance — even as he worries it may be too late to curb its toxic, potentially lethal influence.

“Any time you dehumanize any part or segment of the population to such a low level, to the lowest level you can go, people are happy on the opposite side to do the worst against them,” he says of QAnon believers’ views of Trump’s enemies. “That’s the real danger here — not that [QAnon adherents] will get into the Senate. When you frame your opponents [as subhuman], you won’t just watch them burn. You’ll be happy about it.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ex-qanon-followers-cult-conspiracy-theory-pizzagate-1064076/

FBI offers $15k reward for info on New Zealander facing charges

The FBI is offering more than $15,000 for information about a New Zealand man who fled the United States after he was charged with sex trafficking and child exploitation material.

Michael James Pratt, 37, is wanted by the United States agency for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to recruit young adult and minor women to engage in sex acts that were filmed, and distributed online between 2012 and 2019.

The former Christchurch man, whose alleged offending took place in San Diego, has been on the run since a federal warrant for his arrest was issued last year.

Along with fellow New Zealander Matthew Isaac Wolfe, who was imprisoned in San Diego earlier this year, Pratt owned and operated a pornography production company as well as the websites "GirlsDoPorn" and "GirlsDoToys."

According to the FBI, the websites generated about $26 million in revenue.

The agency said Pratt has ties to, or may visit, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Singapore, Japan, Chile, Croatia, and France.

In January, in a civil case separate to the criminal charges faced by Pratt and Wolfe, a California court ordered the two men to pay $19 million in damages to 22 women, mostly students, aged between 18 and 23.

The court found that through a series of companies, including several registered to Vanuatu, Pratt owned and received 100 percent of the profits from the porn websites.

The judgement found the two New Zealanders - as well as US citizen Rueben Andre Garcia, a porn actor - liable for fraud and breach of contract for lying to women about where the pornographic videos would be disseminated, and how much they would be paid for their work. The judge ordered that videos and photographs of the women be removed from the website.

According to the judgement, the men advertised clothed modelling work on Craiglist in the US and Canada, then convinced young respondents to fly to San Diego to shoot pornographic videos and photographs, promising anonymity and fees of up to $10,500.

"Defendants assure the women that the video will never be seen by anyone they know because it will only be distributed on DVD in a foreign country; it thus will never be available in the United States, and it will never be published online," the judgement reads.

But videos were distributed online, as well as being sent directly to members of the women's communities - in some cases to parents, siblings, sports coaches, employers, and university professors.

Approximately 60 emails were sent to one plaintiff's law school. The women's names and other personal information was also deliberately disseminated.

The criminal charges faced by Pratt are conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; production of child pornography; sex trafficking of a minor and by force, fraud and coercion; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; and criminal forfeiture.

Pratt is described as being six feet tall, with brown hair, and hazel eyes. He is known to use 'Mark' as an alias.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Michael James Pratt is asked to contact the FBI in San Diego on +1 (858) 320 1800. Tips can also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/426831/fbi-offers-15k-reward-for-info-on-new-zealander-facing-charges

>>10766769

WANTED BY THE FBI

MICHAEL JAMES PRATT

Conspiracy to Commit Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion; Production of Child Pornography; Sex Trafficking of a Minor and by Force, Fraud and Coercion; Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion; Criminal Forfeiture

Aliases:

Michael Pratt, Michal J. Pratt, Mark

Reward:

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of Michael James Pratt.

Remarks:

Pratt has ties to or may visit: New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Singapore, Japan, Chile, Croatia, and France.

Caution:

From approximately 2012 to October 2019, in the Southern District of California and elsewhere, Michael James Pratt and others allegedly participated in a conspiracy to recruit young adult and minor women to engage in commercial sex acts by force, fraud and coercion. Pratt and a co-conspirator owned and operated a pornography production company and online pornography websites, "GirlsDoPorn" and "GirlsDoToys." Pratt and his co-conspirators allegedly recruited young women from around the United States by posting advertisements for clothed modeling jobs on the Internet. Pratt and his co-conspirators advised the women responding to the ads that the jobs were in fact for pornographic videos and that they would be paid between $3,000 to $5,000 U.S. dollars for a one-day video shoot. To persuade the women to participate, Pratt and his co-conspirators allegedly convinced the women they would remain anonymous, that their videos ​would be provided to private collectors on DVD, and would not be posted on the Internet. Pratt allegedly paid other young women working at his direction to act as references or provide false assurances to the women that, if they filmed a video, the video would not be posted online. Some ​women were not permitted to leave the shooting locations until the videos were made ​and ​others were allegedly forced to perform certain sex acts they had declined to do. Allegedly, some of the women were sexually assaulted. ​Pratt's pornography websites generated more than $17 million U.S. dollars in revenue. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Pratt in the United States District Court, Southern District of California, on November 6, 2019.

Submit a Tip:

If you have any information concerning this person, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/legal-attache-offices

Field Office: San Diego

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/sandiego

Submit an anonymous Tip online

https://tips.fbi.gov/

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/additional/michael-james-pratt

>>10738679

>>10738722

TikTok not keen to share information about who runs its Australian arm

TikTok is all about sharing content, but the world’s hottest social media firm is not being as open about the mysterious trio listed as directors of it’s Australian arm.

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TikTok’s Australian directors include a Sydney accountant who has more than 50 company directorships to his name, and two mysterious offshore directors about which little can be found online.

The Chinese company has been on a charm offensive in recent weeks, with its video-sharing app facing the threat of being kicked off app stores in the US by President Donald Trump and a controversy over a live-streamed suicide which appeared in the feeds of children.

While the spectre of being thrown off app stores has abated for now, the company is going to great strides to win the hearts and minds of Australians, this week announcing a new aggressive advertising campaign it says will celebrate “everyday Australians”.

General manager Lee Hunter, who is not a director, has been leading the charge to paint TikTok as a harmless, fun platform, saying on his LinkedIn a couple of months ago that “TikTok is a fun, creative, safe and entertaining platform that is, unfortunately, being used by some as a political football’’.

“We’re an open book - We welcome an open and transparent dialogue with policymakers and authorities to ensure TikTok remains a safe, fun and creative platform.’’

But the app has security professionals, and the US Government, concerned with its potential to harvest user data which could then potentially end up in the hands of the Chinese government.

TikTok Australia addressed these concerns in a recent submission to the Senate, saying “We have strict controls around security and data access. As noted in our Transparency Reports, TikTok has never shared Australian user data with the Chinese government, nor censored Australian content at its request.’’

The backgrounds of TikTok Australia’s foreign directors are not particularly transparent however, with its two foreign directors - Chinese-born Canadian citizens whose addresses are listed as in Hong Kong and Singapore - holding other international roles with the company, but keeping a low profile online.

TikTok Australia refused to provide further information about these two directors when contacted this week.

In order to operate legally in Australia, a proprietary company must have one Australian-resident director.

TikTok’s sole Australian director is Nick Barwell of French’s Forest, NSW, who is a chartered accountant and a principal at McBurney’s Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors.

Mr Barwell’s bio says he “is responsible for a large number of family groups looking to protect their wealth and provide for their families in the most tax-effective manner’’, and “also supports a number of Australian and international business clients dealing with monthly accounting, taxation compliance, internal reporting, payment processing and payroll’’.

Mr Barwell does not list his involvement with TikTok, or his numerous other company directorships, on his LinkedIn profile.

Other companies he is involved with include Bushells, Brooks Brothers Australia, and Robert Timms and previously technology firm Mashable.

Overall he is a current director of 58 companies, ASIC records show, however a large number of these companies are related to each other.

Some of Mr Barwell’s other current and former directorships or company secretary roles include:

Brooks Brothers Australia, Bushells, FreshFood Australia, Gubagoo Australia, SASOL Petroleum, Nearwater Capital Australia, Robert Timms, Vita-Mix ANZ, Mashable Australia (former director), NTT Security (Australia) (former director).

(continued)

>>10766826

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TikTok Australia’s other two directors are Ms Tian Zhao, whose address is listed as being in an upscale part of Singapore, and Zhao Liu, who is listed as living in Hong Kong. Both have no other Australian company directorships.

Both directors have a very low profile online, with Ms Zhao having just 59 connections on LinkedIn and little activity on the platform beyond occasionally sharing information about TikTok and parent company Bytedance.

Ms Zhao is also listed online as a director of TikTok Information Technologies UK.

Australian company records show Ms Zhao as being born in Beijing while companies House documents from the UK, lodged in 2017, state that her nationality is Canadian.

Zhao Liu is listed on the Zoominfo website as “Director, Corporate Development & Ir at ByteDance’’.

He is also listed as director and president of TikTok in the US and managing director of TikTok in Germany.

He does not appear to have a LinkedIn profile.

News Corp Australia sent a series of questions to Mr Barwell, asking about his level of involvement in TikTok Australia, however a response from TikTok corporate affairs did not answer these questions, or a query about further information about the backgrounds of its other directors.

“When TikTok Australia Pty Ltd was established as an Australian business entity in November last year, two Canadian citizens and an Australian were appointed as directors, in line with ASIC regulations and Australian company law,’’ a TikTok spokesperson said via email.

“Since then we have founded and significantly scaled our team in the country and brought on Australian leadership. The process is underway to realign our local directorships, as part of our regular reviews of corporate governance structures.”

TikTok Australia Pty Ltd is owned by Chinese company Bytedance Ltd, which is based in the Cayman Islands.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/tiktok-not-keen-to-share-information-about-who-runs-its-australian-arm/news-story/f6af870934336257cfb099c6d838ec35

Scott Morrison’s call with Japan’s Yoshihide Suga catches Beijing's ire

Scott Morrison’s phone call to Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga — the first by a world leader — has raised concern in Beijing about Tokyo and Canberra forming an “iron triangle with Washington” in the Asia Pacific.

An analysis published on the People’s Liberation Army’s news website China Military said there were “deep implications” in Mr Morrison and Mr Suga’s 20-minute-long, Sunday-night call, which it said “drew close attention in the international policy circle”.

In the piece Lyu Yaodong, a Japanese studies research fellow at the influential government think tank Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Mr Suga’s call to Mr Morrison — which was made before a Sunday night call to US President Donald Trump — revealed Japan and Australia’s shared awareness of the decline of American power relative to China.

“As Washington becomes less influential in the Asia Pacific, Tokyo and Canberra have to reaffirm its importance in the region and jointly prevent their alliance with the super power from becoming an empty shell,” wrote Lyu.

The Australian and Japanese governments have repeatedly confirmed the two countries’ close strategic partnership since Mr Suga’s long serving predecessor Shinzo Abe in late August announced he was stepping down as prime minister for health reasons.

Last week Marise Payne was the first foreign minister to talk to her Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, after the English speaker was reappointed as foreign minister.

The Australian on Tuesday revealed Tokyo and Canberra are working on a plan for Mr Morrison to become the first leader in the world to meet Mr Suga, perhaps as early as late November.

That meeting of the two US allies — which could be delayed until January for domestic political reasons and coronavirus travel complications — will be closely watched in Beijing.

Reports in the Japanese media have said Suga will speak to Chinese President Xi Jingping on Friday.

In another sign of the new Suga administration’s desire to project continuity with the Abe era, an in-person gathering of the four foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — made up of the US, Japan, India and Australia — will be held in Tokyo in early October.

Lyu said the summary of the Suga-Morrison call released by the Japanese foreign ministry indicated Japan and Australia would have a “closer and more regular” defence partnership, would be “tough on China over issues related to the East China Sea and South China Sea” and highlighted the “importance” to them “in shaping” the Quad grouping with the US and India.

The Beijing-based research fellow said the call showed Mr Suga’s “intention to form an iron triangle with Washington and Canberra to reinforce the country’s geostrategic control in Asia Pacific”.

With the November presidential election approaching, the Trump administration has become increasingly loud in championing its alliance network as a key strategic advantage over China.

In a rare public appearance, Miles Yu, a Chinese-born policy adviser to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, this week said an “alliance of democracies” was forming to counter China’s threat.

“We have countries like … Japan, Australia, the U.K., Canada, EU, NATO and ASEAN organisation countries. We all share the same values,” the influential state department policy planner said.

“China has none that it can be trusted,” Mr Yu said in an online discussion hosted by Canadian think tank Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

“North Korea is useless for the (Chinese Communist Party) for the most part. Russia is playing a hard-to-get game with Beijing,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/scott-morrisons-call-with-japans-yoshihide-suga-catches-beijings-ire/news-story/a52d794de1e08bf0b3ffcddf2e31883e

Westpac slugged with $1.3 billion fine over Austrac scandal

Westpac will cough up more than a billion dollars in penalties to the financial crimes watchdog for failing to stop transactions that funded child sex trafficking.

The country’s second largest bank has agreed to pay the largest civil fine in Australian history, after admitting to 23 million breaches of financial crime laws relating to international transfers and transactions that funded terrorism and human trafficking for years.

Austrac’s 2019 Westpac investigation revealed programming errors led to five years of millions of suspicious bank transfers not being reported to the watchdog.

The multitude of transfers to and from the bank equated to $11 billion. Westpac had failed to declare the transactions to Austrac within the adequate time frame.

In the statement of agreed facts, which will be presented to the Federal Court, it was revealed one Westpac customer had funded $40,000 relating to child exploitation syndicates in the Philippines from 2014 to 2018.

“Westpac failed to identify activity potentially indicative of child exploitation risks by failing to implement appropriate transaction monitoring detection scenarios,” the statement said.

Westpac chief executive Peter King apologised for its failings relating to the historical transactions, which were not flagged as suspicious at the time.

“We are committed to fixing the issues to ensure that these mistakes do not happen again,” he said.

“This has been my number one priority. We have also closed down relevant products and reported all relevant historical transactions.”

Westpac conceded to the total number of breaches claimed by Austrac.

Austrac was initially trying to sap Westpac of $1.5 billion over the matter, while the bank had set $900 million in its 2020 half-year results in anticipation of the penalty.

The bank had originally admitted to about 19 million of the financial crime violations after an internal compliance probe, instead of the 23 million alleged by the financial crimes regulator.

The breaches were made to four overseas banks, with the processing errors related to a Westpac end-to-end technology system that did not properly record payment information.

Transfer issues also related to the installation of the LitePay payments product within the bank that facilitated overseas money transactions of up to $3000.

Austrac and the Attorney-General’s office have previously warned frequent low value payments to the Philippines could be at risk of being related to child exploitation rings.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said the fine reflected the “very significant” and “serious failures” of Westpac’s compliance regimen.

“The bank has admitted to 23 million breaches of counter money laundering and counter terrorism laws, which includes failing to report international funds transfers,” he said.

“Some of those international funds transfers have been directly linked to the alleged facilitation or funding of child exploitation material in foreign countries.”

After the revelations by Austrac, Westpac’s then chief executive Brian Hartzer and chairman Lindsay Maxsted were forced to depart the bank.

The $1.3 billion fine dwarfs the $700 million penalty that Commonwealth Bank was forced to pay in 2018, after Austrac revealed uncapped deposits on ATMs had allowed arms and drug dealers to launder money into bank accounts.

Mr King said the bank was strengthening its abilities to identify suspicious behaviour, recruiting 200 financial crime employees.

“Westpac has made substantial investments to strengthen its systems, processes and controls to detect and report suspicious transactions,” he said.

“We are determined to continually lift our financial crime standards, comply with our obligations and uphold our customer, community, and regulatory expectations.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/westpac-pays-up-for-austral-scandal/news-story/4161d88925180d6dd70a124b8fafdb8e

—

Westpac and AUSTRAC reach agreement on AML/CTF civil proceedings subject to Federal Court approval

24 September 2020

Westpac Group has today announced it has reached an agreement with AUSTRAC to resolve the civil proceedings commenced in the Federal Court of Australia on 20 November 2019.

https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/media/media-releases/2020/24-september/

https://www.westpac.com.au/content/dam/public/wbc/documents/pdf/aw/media/WBC_asx_release_24-09-20.pdf

Paedophiles Mark Anthony Gray and Dylan McCrossin plead guilty to child exploitation crimes, earn up to 40 per cent off sentences

Two Adelaide men will serve up to 40 per cent less prison time for their child exploitation offences – because they rushed through their guilty pleas before a change in sentence discount laws.

Two child sex offenders – one who used the Kik app, the other a teacher at seven SA schools – have pleaded guilty to secure hefty sentencing discounts that are about to be abolished.

In separate court hearings on Thursday, Mark Anthony Gray and Dylan McCrossin pleaded guilty to possessing material showing children under the age of 14 being exploited.

Both Gray – who also produced and shared the illegal material – and McCrossin are now eligible to receive reductions of up to 40 per cent off their eventual sentences.

While a State Government bill to reduce discounts passed the Lower House earlier this week, it has yet to pass through the Upper House.

The Greens wish to interrogate the terms of the bill, as they are permitted to do so under Parliamentary rules.

An Opposition bill to cut the discounts was introduced in parliament in July but was voted down.

On Thursday, Opposition legal affairs spokesman Kyam Maher said the government was to blame for any leniency shown to Gray or McCrossin.

“Paedophiles are now pushing each other out of the way to plead guilty and take advantage of the government’s inexcusable lack of action,” he said.

“We moved legislation to fix this in July and the government voted against it – we said at the time that, if any more vile offenders got out of prison early it would be on Steven Marshall’s head.

“He must now take responsibility.”

Gray, 56, of Wynn Vale, was the first to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday.

He was arrested in May by SA’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team, or JACET, which is a partnership between SA Police and Australian Federal Police.

At the time, JACET alleged Gray was acting as an administrator of a social networking application for the purpose of dealing with child exploitation material.

On Thursday, by video link, Gray pleaded guilty to multiple basic and aggravated counts of possessing and disseminating child exploitation material.

He also pleaded guilty to one aggravated count of producing child exploitation material.

Under Commonwealth law, an aggravated offence means the child depicted in the material was under the age of 14 years.

Gray also pleaded guilty to multiple counts of acting as a host or administrator of a website used to distribute child exploitation material.

Those charges, relating to his use of the Kik app, and all other offences occurred between November 2018 and May 2020.

The state’s chief magistrate, Judge Mary-Louise Hribal, remanded Gray in custody to face the District Court in November, when a date for sentencing will be set.

McCrossin, 39, of Norwood, faced court later in the day – his case was not scheduled to be heard again until December.

His lawyer told the court her client wanted the matter called on so that he could enter guilty pleas.

McCrossin pleaded guilty to one aggravated count, and two basic counts of possessing child exploitation material.

Those offences were committed at Norwood on January 9 this year.

McCrossin was arrested by JACET in July, prompting the Department of Education to notify parents at seven schools.

Judge Hribal remanded him on continuing bail to face the District Court in November, in order to set a sentencing date.

On Thursday, Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said it was “extremely disappointing” the Greens had “stalled” the bill and not proceeded with it.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/south-australia/paedophile-mark-anthony-gray-pleads-guilty-to-using-kik-to-spread-child-exploitation-material-gets-40-per-cent-off-his-sentence/news-story/fd62421670f6a22752a5801d92de9314

—

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Kyam Maher’s letter to Attorney-General Vickie Chapman

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QiQMfAF-N8-n8s3cgV0dT4wQn4s9sPAJ/view

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

#Help

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1308963535511154688

>>10767066

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

I have not put this out there, please be advised that I may have been hacked. I’m all good, thank you all for your concern!! Best- V

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1309073005662941188

Powerful Vatican cardinal resigns amid scandal

Rome: The powerful head of the Vatican's saint-making office, Angelo Becciu, has resigned suddenly from the post and renounced his rights as a cardinal amid a financial scandal that has reportedly implicated him indirectly.

The Vatican provided no details on why Pope Francis accepted Becciu's resignation in a statement late on Thursday (Friday AEST). In the one-sentence announcement, the Holy See said only that Francis had accepted Becciu's resignation as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints "and his rights connected to the cardinalate".

Cardinal George Pell reportedly had a role in uncovering the scandal.

Becciu, the former No. 2 in the Vatican's secretariat of state, has been reportedly implicated in a financial scandal involving the Holy See's investment in a London real estate deal that has lost millions of euros in fees paid to middlemen.

The Vatican prosecutor has placed several officials under investigation, as well as the middlemen, but not Becciu. Becciu has defended the soundness of the original investment and denied any wrongdoing, and it's not clear why he resigned.

But the late-breaking and tight-lipped news release, the severity of his apparent sanction and the unexpected downfall of one of the most powerful Vatican officials all suggested a shocking new chapter in the scandal, which has convulsed the city state for the past year.

The Catholic News Agency reported late last year that the Vatican's Prefecture of the Economy led by Cardinal Pell first detected "loans off-books" related to the investment in the London property in 2015.

In response, CNA reported, Becciu personally reprimanded Pell. “Becciu summoned the cardinal - summoned him,” according to a senior official quoted by CNA.

“Pell was supposed to be the ultimate authority in monitoring and authorising all Vatican financial business, answerable only to Pope Francis, but Becciu shouted at him like he was an inferior.”

Pell was convicted of two cases of historical sexual assault in 2019 in Australia and sentenced to six years. The case was later overturned by the High Court of Australia.

In the Vatican statement, the Holy See identified Becciu as “His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Becciu,” making clear he remained a cardinal but without any rights.

At 72, Becciu would have been able to participate in a possible future conclave to elect Francis’ successor. Cardinals over age 80 can't vote. But by renouncing his rights as a cardinal, Becciu has relinquished his rights to take part.

Becciu was the “substitute” or top deputy in the secretariat of state from 2011-2018, when Francis made him a cardinal and moved him into the saint-making office. He straddled two pontificates, having been named by Pope Benedict XVI and entrusted with essentially running the Curia, or Vatican bureaucracy, a position that gave him enormous influence and power.

The financial problems date from 2014, when the Vatican entered into a real estate venture by investing over $US200 million ($283 million) in a fund run by an Italian businessman. The deal gave the Holy See 45 per cent of the luxury building at 60 Sloane Ave. in London’s Chelsea neighbourhood.

The money came from the secretariat’s asset portfolio, which is funded in large part by the Peter’s Pence donations of Catholics around the world for the pope to use for charity and Vatican expenses.

The Holy See decided in November 2018, after Becciu had left the secretariat, to exit the fund, end its relationship with the businessman and buy out the remainder of the building. It did so after Becciu's successor determined that the mortgage was too onerous and that the businessman was losing money in some of the fund’s other investments.

The buyout deal, however, cost the Holy See tens of millions of euros more and sparked the Vatican investigation that has so far implicated a half-dozen Vatican employees.

Becciu has insisted he wasn’t in power during the 2018 buyout deal and always acted in the sole interests of the Holy See. In the Vatican prosecutor's initial warrant, Becciu is not named, and it remains unclear if his role in managing the secretariat's vast asset portfolio was connected with the resignation.

His former boss, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, has said the whole matter was “opaque" and needed to be clarified. Francis, for his part, has vowed to get to the bottom of what he has said was evidence of corruption in the Holy See.

(continued)

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/powerful-vatican-cardinal-resigns-amid-scandal-20200925-p55z7o.html

Trump declares 'the best is yet to come'

Sky News Australia

Published on 24 Sep 2020

President Donald Trump has emphatically declared “the best is yet to come” at a campaign rally in Florida.

“We stand on the shoulders of Florida patriots who gave their blood, sweat and tears for this beloved nation,” the president said.

“Won two world wars, defeated fascism and communism, and from here in this beautiful sun-drenched state of Florida we launched American astronauts to the moon.

“We made America into the single greatest nation in the history of the world, and the best is yet to come.

“We are going to keep on winning, winning, winning.”

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

1:24

Julian Assange dramatising about psychotic thoughts, court told

Julian Assange was “self dramatising” about psychotic thoughts and was unlikely to have Asperger syndrome, his extradition hearing has been told.

Nigel Blackwood, a forensic psychiatrist appearing for the US prosecution, told the Old Bailey in London that the WikiLeaks founder suffered from recurrent depression with “some risk of suicide”.

But he said that risk had been carefully managed in London’s Belmarsh prison, and risk factors were “modifiable and he engages with treatments to manage that risk’’.

Dr Blackwood said Assange was “self-dramatising or hyperbolic approach in describing (his medical) symptoms’’, adding it was important to look carefully at the clinical records as well in making diagnoses.

He said if Assange had been severely depressed with psychosis as earlier witness Michael Kopelman had claimed, then that professor should have organised an outside (the jail) referral.

“I do not agree with Kopelman’s approach,” Dr Blackwood said.

“I am objecting that he had Assange at the very severest end of depression … if that was the case (prison doctor) Dr Daley was bound to refer him out to a secure unit so it could be treated. I object to him being put him at furthest end of the depression spectrum.”

Assange is contesting extradition to the US, where he faces 18 spying counts and up to 175 years in jail.

Dr Blackwood, who had examined Assange twice, also said the Australian had some traits that were Asperger-like “but it does not go over the categorical diagnostic line. Even if he has an autistic spectrum disorder … for me he’s at the very mildest end of that diagnostic spectrum.’’

Dr Blackwood said he had anxieties about such a diagnosis in a 49-year-old man where, despite the medical attention he had received in the past, there had never been a historic diagnosis of Asperger’s.

In cross examination, Dr Blackwood said Assange had proven to be a resilient and resourceful man and that he underplayed those traits about himself.

He noted that predictions that Assange would be so depressed that he would not be able to engage in the legal process had not been proven to be the case.

He said that Assange’s warmth, humour, banter, and running a very successful organisation raised doubts about the impact of any Asperger’s disorder on his behaviour.

This is an important part of the trial because in other British cases, the issue of Asperger’s was key to US extradition requests being denied.

Dr Blackwood said if US jail conditions previously described to the court included highly limited access to other inmates, lawyers and fresh air, it may have an impact on Assange’s depressive disorder.

Lawyers from both sides have also demanded medical reports be kept suppressed from journalists “as a matter of principle”.

Assange’s legal team and those for the US prosecution, have asked judge Vanessa Baraitser to refuse journalists access to the reports made to the court by various medical experts.

The court has heard three days of medical evidence where various psychiatrists have referred to diagnoses of severe depression with psychotic hallucinations, details of Assange’s medications, and analysis of his medical history. However the written testimonies of these witnesses has not been made available.

Meanwhile, the founder of Cryptome, a website which published unredacted US government diplomatic cables, has testified he has never been asked to remove the files by US authorities.

In a written statement, John Young told the court that he published the unredacted cables on September 1, 2011 after obtaining them from the URL http://193.198.207.6/wiki/file/xyz/z.gpg.

“Since my publication on Cryptome.org of the unredacted diplomatic cables, no US law enforcement authority has notified me that this publication of the cables is illegal, consists or contributes to a crime in any way, nor have they asked for them to be removed,” he said.

The Old Bailey earlier heard how people learned about the presence of mirrored sites containing the encrypted WikiLeaks diplomatic cache and then separately about the passcode that unlocked the encryption, which was the chapter heading in a book co-written by Guardian journalist David Leigh.

Leigh had been one of the journalist partners working with Assange to redact names in the files leaked to WikiLeaks by the US military analyst Chelsea Manning.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/julian-assange-dramatising-about-psychotic-thoughts-court-told/news-story/d6dbc2c5f52ce0949ba41af98d15125b

>>10729596

The Death Of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Pushed Me To Join The Satanic Temple

By Jamie Smith, Guest Writer - 24/09/2020'

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I am a 40-something attorney and mother who lives in a quiet neighborhood with a yard and a garage full of scooters and soccer balls. I often walk with my children to get ice cream and spend weekends hiking through a national park. I am not the type of person who would normally consider becoming a Satanist, but these are not normal times.

Like so many other women in the United States, when I learned of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing, my first reaction was not grief but fear. I fear that American citizens are inching closer to living in a theocracy or dictatorship and that the checks meant to prevent this from happening are close to eroding beyond repair.

When Justice Ginsburg died, I knew immediately that action was needed on a scale we have not seen before. Our democracy has become so fragile that the loss of one of the last guardians of common sense and decency in government less than two months before a pivotal election has put our civil and reproductive rights in danger like never before. And, so, I have turned to Satanism.

Members of the Satanic Temple do not believe in the supernatural or superstition. In the same way that some Unitarians and some Jews do not believe in God, Satanic Temple members do not worship Satan and most are atheists. They are not affiliated in any way with the Church of Satan. Instead, the Satanic Temple uses the devil as a symbol of rebellion.

Just like other faiths, the Satanic Temple has a code that their members believe in deeply and use to guide their lives. These Seven Fundamental Tenets include that “one should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason,” that “the struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions,” and that “one’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.”

Reading through the Seven Tenets, I was struck by how closely they aligned with the unwritten code I had used to try to guide my own life for several years. I realized, happily, that these were my people and that I had been a Satanist for several years without even knowing it. When Justice Ginsburg’s death suddenly made combating the threats to reproductive rights and a government free from religious interference more urgent, I knew it was time to join them and support their conceptual and legal battles.

Even before Ginsburg’s death, the Supreme Court was unwilling to provide adequate protection for a woman’s right to choose and to control her body. The court was unwilling to keep church and state separate. Now, without her voice of reason on the court - let alone her vote - Roe v. Wade is in imminent danger of being overturned not based on legal arguments or scientific reasoning, but because of religious objections to what is a safe and necessary procedure for the women who seek it out after discussion with their physician. Ginsburg’s replacement is all but certain to be vehemently anti-choice, with one of the top contenders belonging to a sect that actually used the term “handmaid” to refer to some women until the popularity of the TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale” gave the term negative connotations.

In the hours after Justice Ginsburg’s death, I sat wondering what the future would hold for my daughters. Their ability to live in a country where the religious beliefs of others would not play a role in their right to assert autonomy over their own bodies was suddenly, starkly, in danger. Traditional means of keeping abortion safe and legal seemed woefully inadequate to protect the rights that women in the generation before me had fought so hard to secure.

(continued)

>>10781303

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Almost immediately I sought strength in the Satanic Temple’s efforts to turn religious arguments on their head by pushing for religious liberty for their members on an equal basis with believers in the dominant Christian faiths. And this is not just a theoretical push. The temple has launched campaigns and filed lawsuits to compel the government to do this in matters ranging from exemptions from legal mandates to cover birth control to the ability to display religious symbols in government buildings or allow religious clubs in public schools. By pointing out instances where the government has favored Christian rhetoric - and filing legal challenges to stop it - the Satanic Temple has transformed belief into action and has demonstrated what freedom fighting truly looks like.

The Satanic Temple hopes to appear before the Supreme Court in a case challenging a Missouri abortion law that requires those seeking to terminate their pregnancy to first receive materials asserting that their abortion would end the life of a separate, unique person. The temple argues that these materials violate the deeply held religious beliefs of one of its members regarding bodily autonomy and scientifically reasonable personal choice. The argument the Satanic Temple is using is the same one the Supreme Court effectively endorsed in the Hobby Lobby birth control case, for which Justice Ginsburg wrote the dissent - that no one should have to follow a law that violates their deeply held religious beliefs. If a Christian should not have to do so based on their religion, a Satanist should not have to either. This is what equality under the law means on a fundamental level.

This is an organization I want standing up for my rights and for my daughters’. While I support more mainstream groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Church and State, my research has shown that the Satanic Temple is truly in line with my beliefs about protecting our First Amendment rights and fighting laws that promote or are based on religious doctrine and that it is willing to use radical, creative and yet legally sound strategies to make its case.

I was able to become a mother when I wanted on my own terms. Throughout my pregnancy, I had access to scientifically accurate information and the ability to make informed choices with my doctor. While I never had an abortion, I want the same opportunities to choose for my own daughters. I am far from certain these rights will exist 10 years from now when they may be deciding when, how or even whether to start their own families.

There is a real chance that the Supreme Court will be lost for a generation or more to justices appointed for their religious beliefs rather than a deep understanding of the Constitution or a desire for justice to be carried out on an impartial basis. Because of this, I believe that the Satanic Temple - and its members’ dedication to fighting for true freedom - represents our best, last defense against anti-choice lawmakers who are seeking to assert power over women’s bodies and take away our right to choose. We need creative, resolute thinkers who are willing to stand up for what they believe in and take concrete action to do so, and the Satanic Temple is full of those kind of people. I am proud to now count myself among their ranks.

Everyone who cares about women having autonomy over their bodies should care about efforts to use religion to chip away at this right. We need to think outside the box to challenge what is coming and what is already here. The Satanic Temple is already doing that, and by becoming one of its members, I believe I have joined a community of people who will stop at nothing to safeguard my family’s rights - and all of our rights - when they are at their most vulnerable.

Jamie Smith is an attorney and mother who cares about civil rights. She can be reached at jamiesmithwrites@gmail.com

https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/rbg-mom-joins-satanic-temple_n_5f6b3565c5b629afbe990c15

>https://qanon.pub/?q=satan

>https://qanon.pub/?q=devil

>https://qanon.pub/?q=evil

Julian Assange's extradition decision won't be made until after the US election

London: The British judge hearing Julian Assange's arguments against extradition to the United States has agreed to a request by his lawyers to delay her decision until after the November presidential election.

The timing will bolster the hopes of Assange and his supporters for the extradition request to be dropped if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ousts President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration wants Assange to be tried in the US on 18 spying charges over cables published by the Australian's WikiLeaks website a decade ago.

Earlier this week, Assange's fiancee Stella Moris, told this masthead that it if the Democrats were to win, it would be difficult for Biden to be seen to follow Trump's legacy and not that of his predecessor Barack Obama. The Obama administration never charged Assange and the former president commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning - the former army intelligence officer who provided the documents published by Wikileaks. Biden was vice-president to Obama.

Assange's legal team argues the prosecution mounted by the US Department of Justice is political and would violate his human rights. Its earlier request to delay the hearing had been denied.

The hearing has already been delayed to the coronavirus pandemic and the district judge deciding his case, Vanessa Baraitser, had previously warned the defence not to count on her granting another extension.

"One way or the other my decision is likely to come after the election in the United States," she said, granting Assange's lawyers four more weeks, the prosecution another fortnight and the defence a final 72 hours to respond.

She said her decision would likely be handed down in 2021. She asked Edward Fitzgerald, a lawyer for Assange, whether the defence would use the extra time to submit new evidence - a move the prosecution successfully complained about on Friday.

"If something really absolutely major happens obviously the court has to look at the situation as it is.

"Supposing Trump said 'I'm going to execute all journalists' or something like that then obviously we'd be entitled to draw that to the attention of the court but we accept it would have to be something fairly dramatic," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald argued the court would have to take into account the result of the US election at any rate.

"We can't really avoid that political fact," he said.

The delay means Assange will remain at Belmarsh Prison for at least the rest of the year having previously been denied bail.

Last year, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks' prison for skipping bail in 2012, when he sought political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he was wanted over sexual assault allegations.

On Friday, Baraitser again reprimanded the 49-year-old during proceedings, this time for talking to Moris while the hearing extensions were being discussed. She told him to sit back down in the dock, which is separated from the well of the court by a glass pane.

"It's just not appropriate, you have lawyers in front of you. If you wish to give instructions, then of course, you can."

Later Assange could be seen speaking to Moris through the glass but in the company of his Australian lawyer Jennifer Robinson.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/julian-assange-s-extradition-decision-won-t-be-made-until-after-the-us-election-20200925-p55zf2.html

>>10780524

Cardinal Pell thanks Pope Francis after Cardinal Becciu resigns

Cardinal George Pell thanked Pope Francis Friday following the dramatic resignation of Vatican Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

In a statement sent to CNA Sept. 25, the former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy said: “The Holy Father was elected to clean up Vatican finances. He plays a long game and is to be thanked and congratulated on recent developments.”

The cardinal issued the statement from Sydney, Australia, where he is living after his acquittal by Australia’s High Court in April on charges of sexual abuse. He spent 13 months in solitary confinement after he was given a six-year prison sentence following a trial in Melbourne, Victoria.

“I hope the cleaning of the stables continues in both the Vatican and Victoria,” Pell said.

Becciu resigned Sept. 24 as prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints and from the rights extended to members of the College of Cardinals.

The cardinal worked previously as the number two-ranking official in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, and has been connected to an ongoing investigation of financial malfeasance at the secretariat.

Pell and Becciu had clashed over the reform of Vatican finances.

CNA has reported that in 2015 Becciu seemed to have made an attempt to disguise the loans on Vatican balance sheets by canceling them out against the value of the property purchased in the London neighborhood of Chelsea, an accounting maneuver prohibited by new financial policies approved by Pope Francis in 2014.

The alleged attempt to hide the loans off-books was detected by the Prefecture for the Economy, then led by Pell. Senior officials at the Prefecture for the Economy told CNA that when Pell began to demand details of the loans, especially those involving the Swiss bank BSI, then-Archbishop Becciu called the cardinal in to the Secretariat of State for a “reprimand.”

In 2016, Becciu was instrumental in bringing to a halt reforms initiated by Pell. Although Pope Francis had given the newly created Prefecture for the Economy autonomous oversight authority over Vatican finances, Becciu interfered when the prefecture planned an external audit of all Vatican departments, to be conducted by the firm PriceWaterhouseCooper.

Unilaterally, and without permission of Pope Francis, Becciu canceled the audit and announced in a letter to all Vatican departments that it would not take place.

When Pell challenged internally the audit’s cancellation, Becciu persuaded Pope Francis to give his decision ex post facto approval, sources inside the prefecture told CNA. The audit never took place.

Becciu held a press conference in Rome Sept. 25 at which he protested his innocence of financial wrongdoing.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-pell-thanks-pope-francis-after-cardinal-becciu-resigns-32104

How British grannies are spreading QAnon conspiracy theory memes on Facebook

Sue Greenwood - September 25, 2020

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A headteacher in Stoke-on-Trent told me that, alongside ensuring a COVID-safe return to school for her pupils this September, she’s having to reassure parents that their children will not be forcibly taken away and isolated in a secret location if they start coughing in class.

The headteacher keeps getting sent a Facebook post warning parents to “wake up” to the threat in the UK’s Coronavirus Act. “Is this true, can you take my child?” she is asked.

The Facebook post those parents had seen began going viral mid-August. It’s one of several similar posts seen in the UK and Australia, and follows a pattern in many posts linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory. These often include a direct appeal to parents, challenging the reader to do their own research to “prove” the veracity of the claim, a call to defend individual rights against big government, elites, or some undefined “they”.

Despite being quickly fact-checked and tagged as false, this and related posts which use the hashtag #SaveTheChildren are still circulating and the phrase “covid act 2020 children in school” still comes up as an autofill option if you search for “covid act” on Google.

The power of memes

For the past five years, my research has looked at how strangers talk with each other about politics on Facebook. I’ve focused on four English constituencies – Stoke-on-Trent Central, Burton and Uttoxeter, Bristol West and Brighton Pavilion – tracking conversations through public pages, posts and public information on people’s timelines and profiles.

Through the 2015, 2017 and 2019 UK general elections, I saw the increased polarisation of those Facebook conversations and with it increased incivility, partisanship and sectarianism. I was struck by the rising use of memes and how a handful of core themes made their way from meme to belief. During the 2019 election, I noticed how memes from far right US Facebook pages were being posted and spread via people in the UK constituencies I was studying.

I recently decided to explore how the upcoming US election might be translating into partisan ideas on Facebook in the UK. I decided to focus on one meme, and the individual Facebook users who cared enough about that issue to share or comment publicly – and see where it took me.

So, in late August, I returned to Facebook after a seven-month gap and picked the meme that happened to be at the top of my timeline – a post from the group Migrant Watch shared by the page of UKIP Brighton & Hove. This was consistently one of the most active meme-seeders among the constituency party Facebook groups I follow.

I’d found links during the last election between the active seeding of anti-migrant, anti-immigration memes by UK users and US far-right organisations and individuals, and so I expected to find similar links through that meme. But what I hadn’t expected to see was for the meme to lead me to UK mums and grandmothers engaging with QAnon conspiracy theories from the US.

(continued)

>>10793340

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QAnon conspiracies

Of the 45 people to comment on this Migration Watch meme shared by Brighton & Hove UKIP – 27 were women and most, from what I could tell from their profiles, were middle-aged grandmothers. When I looked at what other content these women were sharing, I found memes about anti-animal cruelty, anti-Black Lives Matter protests, anti-BBC proms and content in favour of Brexit.

Some of the women were also worried about the threat to “our” children posed by paedophile rings. And in this they demonstrated the next level of political meme sharing – freely interacting with content from both the UK and the US.

For one woman that meant sharing conspiracy theories from Mama Wolf, one of the Facebook accounts circulating QAnon content. One of these was entitled “Epstein Islands frequent flyers” a hotch-potch of unfounded accusations linking Hilary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Madonna, the Queen, and other (mostly black or Jewish) “elites” to the late Jeffrey Epstein, a global child trafficking network, drugs harvested from children’s blood, and secret messages coded into Trump’s press briefings on his plans to save the children.

I found one of the same Facebook users who had shared the Migration Watch meme also sharing a post calling for people to flood the BBC’s Facebook page on August 25 with the #saveourchildren tag. “They won’t cover child trafficking so we will bring it to them. It’s time to take this up a level,” said the meme.

Hidden radicalisation

The bubble communities we inhabit on Facebook shield us from alternative views to our own, while also making it easier for views to be reinforced, enhanced – groomed even – towards more radical positions.

Facebook encourages pools of the like-minded, whether through architecture that encourages what the activist Eli Pariser’s termed “filter bubbles”, or what the psychologist Daniel Kahneman called “cognitive ease” – our willingness to believe ideas that are familiar, comfortable – easy – to believe, and to avoid ideas that would take effort to accept. It’s also possible to game Facebook’s algorithms to manipulate public opinion, as the investigative work of journalists such as Carole Cadwalladr and Craig Silverman has shown.

But seeing a radical meme isn’t enough to trigger more of the same content, it’s how we interact with the content that matters to Facebook. The depth of interest needed to comment and then share a political idea will trigger more of the same and, potentially, take the user through increasing levels of radicalisation.

A slightly racist granny can quickly become groomed towards adopting more radical views. Or a fellow mum be taken from conspiracy theories about the Coronavirus Act to those about Epstein’s island. And then that can lead to thousands of protesters to march in London in late August against mask wearing and in defence of a “truth” only they are being shown.

It can be tempting to dismiss the anti-mask protesters or groups marching to Buckingham Palace to #SaveOurChildren as a few thousand cranks in a sea of sensible people. But we do not know the size of the iceberg – beneath each visible protester may be thousands of partial believers, including an unknown number of grandmothers helping QAnon to grow.

https://theconversation.com/how-british-grannies-are-spreading-qanon-conspiracy-theory-memes-on-facebook-145820

TikTok denies participation in Australia's security probes into possible interference from China

TikTok executives told a Senate committee on Friday that they lobbied Australian lawmakers but did not engage with investigators before the government concluded that the video-sharing app did not pose a security threat.

The executives were questioned by a committee that is examining foreign interference in Australia through social media.

The Chinese-owned app has come under intense scrutiny in Australia after President Donald Trump threatened to ban it from the United States on national security grounds.

TikTok general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Lee Hunter, said the Australian government "recently concluded that there was no reason to restrict us."

Australia's Home Affairs Department and security agencies examined whether the social media company posed a security threat by harvesting users' data.

Committee chair Jenny McAllister, an opposition senator, said the Home Affairs Department should have spoken to TikTok as part of its security investigation. Its failure to do so was "quite incredible to me," she said.

TikTok director of public policy for Australia and New Zealand, Brent Thomas, said the business did not participate in the investigations.

"We reached out to a range of federal politicians, including every member of the Australian Cabinet, and we did have discussions with the relevant ministers' offices who were in charge of those departments, but we were not asked to engage directly with those agencies," Mr Thomas said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison distanced Australia from the United States stance on TikTok last month when he said "there is nothing at this point that would suggest to us that security interests have been compromised or Australian citizens have been compromised."

The move was seen as one that might briefly improve his government's fractious relationship with China.

The TikTok executives said they first heard of the outcome of the investigations from media reports of Mr Morrison's comments, although they had since received government confirmation.

TikTok's owner ByteDance said Thursday it had applied for a Chinese technology export license as it tries to complete a deal with Oracle and Walmart to keep the app operating in the US.

TikTok also asked a US judge to block the Trump Administration's attempt to ban the app from Sunday, suggesting that a deal to partner with Oracle and Walmart to form as US company remained unsettled.

The Australian TikTok executives did not directly answer when Ms McAllister asked if the US deal would make TikTok safer for Australian users.

"The deal is ongoing. Unfortunately I'm not privy to the actual content of the discussions and because it is of such a commercially sensitive nature, I unfortunately don't have information that I can share with you at this time," Mr Hunter said.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/tiktok-denies-participation-australia-security-probe-into-china/f93f91f2-14e8-4878-b051-35a2601d8ae0

Scott Morrison urges sharing of COVID-19 vaccine in his United Nations speech

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told members of the United Nations they have a "moral responsibility" to share any effective vaccine for COVID-19 with the world or face judgement from humanity.

The Prime Minister spoke this morning via video-link to the UN General Assembly, which is being held virtually this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Whoever finds the vaccine must share it. This is a global responsibility, and it's a moral responsibility, for a vaccine to be shared far and wide," Mr Morrison said.

"Some might see short-term advantage, or even profit. I assure you to anyone who may think along those lines, humanity will have a very long memory and be a very, very severe judge."

He added that Australia has pledged to share with the world any discoveries made in its three local COVID-19 vaccine trials.

"If we find the vaccine we will share it. That's the pledge we all must make," he said.

The Australian Government has spent $6 million to help fund the research and development of potential vaccines from the Doherty Institute, the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the University of Sydney.

Morrison defends Australian-led efforts for WHO investigation in China

The Prime Minister also said there is a "clear mandate" for Australian-led efforts to push for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.

"Australia strongly advocated for this review … to identify the zoonotic source of the COVID-19 virus and how it was transmitted to humans," he said.

"This virus has inflicted a calamity on our world and its peoples. We must do all we can to understand what happened for no other purpose than to prevent it from happening again."

Despite its initial objections, China ultimately agreed to co-sponsor the resolution at the World Health Assembly in May this year, calling for an independent review into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

In July, a team of World Health Organisation investigators travelled to the Chinese city of Wuhan, the presumed epicentre for the novel coronavirus.

The WHO probe came amid worsening relations between China and Australia, which saw Beijing impose tariffs on Australian barley, bans on some Australian beef, restrictions on coal and an investigation into wine.

"As we try to control the spread of COVID-19, we also need to shine a spotlight on the dangers of disinformation," the Prime Minister said.

"Disinformation costs lives, and creates a climate of fear and division."

The Prime Minister also delivered pointed comments about China's heavily contested territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific, without mentioning the super-power by name.

"We value rules that protect sovereignty, peace and security, and curb the excessive use of power," he said.

"This includes ensuring that competing territorial and maritime claims are based on, and determined in line with, international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea."

In a letter to the United Nations in July, Australia formerly declared Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea had "no legal basis" and were "inconsistent" with international law.

A UN General Assembly like no other

The UN General Assembly was forced online because of the difficulties in arranging overseas travel during the pandemic.

New York also requires all international visitors arriving in the city to quarantine for 14 days.

The US President Donald Trump, China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin have all delivered their speeches via video link.

Mr Trump praised his handling of the pandemic within the US, and accused Beijing of "allowing flights to leave China and infect the world".

China's President Xi Jinping defended his country's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

He also announced that China aims to see CO2 emissions "peak" before 2030, and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-26/scott-morrison-urges-sharing-covid-19-vaccine-united-nations/12706792

Alarming spike in numbers of online child sex abuse cases

Popular social site TikTok has become a honey pot for predators targeting children with authorities reporting alarming cases of child sex abuse. Here are the warning signs and how you can protect your kids.

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A seven-year-old girl dances naked for a TikTok video.

A sobbing teenage girl is blackmailed to film herself putting a hairbrush into her private parts

Little boys are raped by their own parents for a pay-for-view audience of paedophiles on the Dark Web.

Men pose as kids in online games to trick children into meeting them at a local park.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers have seen it all – arresting 161 predators and rescuing 134 children from harm in the past year.

Detective Sergeant Daisie Beckensall is on the front line of the AFP’s war against vile paedophiles grooming Australian children through social media and online games.

The abuse begins with a “friend request’’ on a game or social media, from a stranger masquerading as another child.

“We see a lot of friend requests from online predators looking for children to follow, and the children will usually follow them back,’’ Detective Sergeant Beckensall said yesterday.

“The predator may be posing as a 14-year-old with a fake photo.

“They start chatting online – they build up a rapport with the child, it starts off as an innocent and friendly chat, then they ask, ‘Send me a photo of yourself’.’’

At first the photos are innocuous – perhaps a picture of the child cuddling a pet – but then the paedophile requests a nude “selfie’’.

Sometimes, a naive or curious child will send the photo – and then the blackmail begins.

News Corp Australia is campaigning for a national register of convicted paedophiles to let the public check if a sex offender is living in their suburb, babysitting their grandkids or dating their daughter.

“The predators start with requests for sexualised photos and images and then it escalates to videos of children doing sexualised acts online,’’ Detective Sergeant Beckensall said.

“Once the predators have the photos, they use them to manipulate and put fear into kids.

“They say, ‘If you don’t keep sending them, I can send these photos to your mum and dad’.

“It’s not something they want to tell their parents.’’

Undercover cops, posing as children and teenagers in online chats and games, have caught paedophiles trying to lure kids to meet them in person at a local park, train station or shopping centre.

Detective Sergeant Beckensall said abuse had increased since the start of COVID-19, with so many children cooped up at home with computers and smartphones, and more adults working at home without supervision.

“There are more children being home schooled, and more adults working from home with technology,’’ she said.

“If they’re at work, using a work computer, they aren’t able to access child abuse material.

“But when they’re working from home they don’t have the scrutiny they get in the workplace.

“Some parents are abusing their own children and taking photos and videos and sharing them with other predators.’’

Detective Sergeant Beckensall said some young children were posting naked photos and videos online without any prompting, “because they’ve seen it and think it’s normal’’.

She urged parents to let their children know they can talk about anything, without getting into trouble.

“If you see a change in behaviour, ask them what’s going on,’’ she said.

“It can really dangerously affect a child’s mental health – they don’t want to tell.’’

(continued)

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NO MORE FAKE SMILES

Annie Jones spent her traumatic teenage years perfecting a “fake smile’’, as her stepfather crept into her bedroom at night to rape her.

“I lived in fear,’’ the 20-year-old survivor of childhood sexual abuse said yesterday.

“I wore a fake smile most of my teenage years.

“I copped it in the night and would wake up and go to school.’’

Ms Jones was 13 when her stepfather started the abuse, and 15 when she finally “blurted it out’’ in front of her horrified mother.

“I was so sick of all the abuse, I was so angry I just snapped,’’ she said.

“My mum kicked him out of the house and I never saw him again except in court.’’

The stepfather was jailed in 2017 in the District Court of NSW for 17 years and nine months for sex crimes including aggravated sexual intercourse with a child younger than 14.

Annie was just six when her mother, Tracey Morris, married the man who became her monster.

“I grew up with him as my father,’’ she said.

“I was trapped with someone I trusted so it was a mental battle as well as the physical things.

“I felt like I was the only one on the planet going through it, but thousands of people are going through it.’’

Ms Jones, who now lives on the Sunshine Coast, is studying criminology and psychology at university and hopes to eventually set up a retreat for sexually abused children.

She and her mother have set up a charity, No More Fake Smiles, which aims to raise $700,000 to provide support to 700 child victims of sexual abuse.

Ms Jones urged victims to confide in police or a teacher, doctor, counsellor or nurse if they need help.

“If something doesn’t feel right in your gut, you need to speak up to someone you trust,’’ she said.

“It’s not always stranger danger – it could be people who you know.’’

Ms Morris said a public register of sex offenders – like the one in Western Australia, the only state or territory which identifies convicted predators – might protect other families.

“We are talking about convicted offenders … innocent people are not being defamed, facts are being made public knowledge, yet another secret that follows a long line of secrets when it comes to child sexual abuse,’’ she said.

BLACKMAILED BOY HELPS CATCH PREDATOR

A brave boy helped police catch an Australian paedophile jailed for more than nine years after posing as a teenager to extort explicit photos and videos of 49 children.

The predator lied about his age and identity to trick the teenager into sending sexually explicit photos – then threatened to share them with friends and family unless the boy sent more.

But the terrified teen told his father, who cannot be identified for legal reasons but said he was glad his son had the courage to speak up.

“We were able to take screen shots and send them to the police and the paedophile was caught,’’ he said yesterday.

“He is a hero for speaking up.

“I have told my son that by speaking up and showing me what was happening he has not only saved himself but he saved all the other kids that would have been victims in the future.

“My son knows it isn’t enough to just delete or block and run when you encounter an online paedophile, you have to tell your parents when it happens.

“They can keep you safe plus get the police to track the person down so he doesn’t do it to other people.

“My son was scared to speak up but he knows that it makes you safe if you speak up, and hiding it makes you less safe.’’

The offender, a 24-year-old man from Manly Vale in Sydney, was arrested at Sydney International Airport after returning from overseas in February last year.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) identified 48 other child victims, and the man was jailed for nine years and four months.

AFP Detective Sergeant Jarryd Dunbar said it was important for parents to make sure children feel comfortable talking about suspicious online activity.

“We are very thankful that in this case the victim was courageous enough to speak up and let their parents know what had happened,’’ he said.

For support call Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800

https://www.ntnews.com.au/technology/alarming-spike-in-numbers-of-online-child-sex-abuse-cases/news-story/8d339383fda124f7920ae875367c4a71

Trinity College student bullied on social media after alleged rape on school trip

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A student at a prestigious Catholic boys' school was tormented and taunted by his alleged rapists and rugby teammates on social media, including while he was away from home in a foreign country.

Warning: this story contains graphic content that some readers may find upsetting.

The young man had travelled to Japan on a rugby tour with Trinity College in April 2017, when he alleges he was held face-down and sexually assaulted with a carrot in his dorm room.

Just days after, someone shared on social media a mocked-up cover of a music magazine featuring a band called "The Carrots" with a new single called "Uranus" which was "a forceful change to the music industry".

Other images distributed on social media in the days and weeks after the alleged incident included carrots and giant radishes, as well as a cartoon of a carrot with the young man's face which was labelled "Carrot Man".

The boys accused of the alleged sexual assault have not faced criminal charges because of the difficulties of prosecuting alleged crimes committed in Japan by juveniles from another country.

But a Perth court has learned much more about the rugby tour during the trial of two of the teachers who supervised it.

The Perth Magistrates Court has heard stories of bullying and intimidation by some students, how some students were threatened with "getting the carrot" and about an anaphylactic student going missing at Singapore airport en route to Tokyo, causing the plane's departure to be delayed three times.

The former Trinity teachers — Ian Francis Hailes and Anthony Paul Webb — lost their jobs following the trip and have both pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to make a mandatory report of suspected child sexual abuse.

If found guilty the maximum penalty is $6,000.

Observers from Trinity College, Catholic Education WA and Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) have been in regular attendance at the trial.

But some of the revelations during the trial have put a spotlight on the culture of one of Perth's most prestigious private schools.

It has also come at a time of many high-profile examples of bad behaviour at boys schools, such as Shore School in NSW and St Kevins in Melbourne, which like Trinity is an EREA school.

Students slept on dorm room floor

Mr Webb chose not to give evidence but Mr Hailes told the court on Thursday about how he had been a teacher for 40 years when he went to Japan with the 28 students — ranging from years 10 to 12 — Mr Webb and another teacher Eliza Knapman.

They stayed in a seaside Japanese-style hotel on the outskirts of Tokyo with students sleeping on the floor of dorms on tatami mats — something he said created problems with a lot of "hijinks", "tomfoolery" and "mucking around".

Over the 10-day trip they played three rugby matches and also took part in some shopping and sightseeing.

Every day they would have what is known as a "fines session", a mealtime meeting run by Mr Hailes and Mr Webb where student misdemeanours would be raised and those responsible would pay a 100-yen fine into a dish.

The court heard that it was at one of these fines sessions that the victim — who cannot be identified but was referred to as AB — said he told the tour group of what had happened to him.

But Mr Hailes, a maths teacher who was in charge of rugby at Trinity, told the court that while he was at this meeting he did not hear what AB said.

He told the court the first he heard of any incident was when Mr Webb told him at rugby training later that morning AB had had a carrot "put in his pants", so he told the other students to stop bullying him.

He thought the bullying stopped after this, he said, and the tour went well with no other incidents.

But he said he only learned that the alleged incident was allegedly a sexual assault when informed by the school's acting principal Peter Norman in September 2017.

(continued)

>>10793950

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Alleged victim raised incident, court hears

The court had previously heard that the school's leadership knew about the allegations for five days before they informed AB's parents, who have been constant observers of the trial.

They were unaware that in the time between the alleged incident and August–September 2017 their son was being continually bullied as stories of his experience were spread around and beyond the school.

In his evidence via videolink AB told the court at the start of the trial in late March that it was an aggressive assault, with a group of about 10 boys bursting into his room as he lay on his tatami mat chatting to a fellow student and playing games on his phone.

He said he raised the incident with teachers at the "fines session" saying: "I would like to nominate everyone in my room last night. You know what you did."

He told the court he then went on to explain exactly what had happened to him — twice.

Bullying part of 'rugby culture'

Both AB and two students who gave evidence in the trial explained how there was a lot of physical violence on the trip, with AB recalling punches being thrown and noise complaints made to hotel management by other guests.

One of the younger students recalled "fight clubs" and being threatened that they would be next to "get the carrot", which scared and intimidated him.

Another student said he did not tell the teachers because the threats and bullying were part of "rugby club culture".

The verdict in the case will hinge on the question of whether the two men formed a belief that suspected child sexual abuse had occurred.

It is believed to be the first time teachers have been prosecuted for charges of failing to make a mandatory report under WA laws.

Defence counsel Julie Condon said she had been unable to find a previous record from any court in Australia of a mandatory reporting case where the defendant had pleaded not guilty.

The trial started in late March and was set down for five days but only wound up last week as coronavirus regulations played havoc with the schedule of the court.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-26/trinity-college-alleged-sexual-assault-case-social-media-bully/12705622

George Papadopoulos Tweets

It was reported yesterday that the source for the fraudulent Steele dossier, which was the entire basis to spy on a presidential campaign (Australia’s actions I exposed are under criminal investigation now) relied on a man the FBI called a “national security threat.” Insanity.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1309449459525398535

—

If you think the Steele dossier info is bad, just wait until Barr and Durham finally reveal the Australian “diplomat” was sent to secretly record my meeting with him and lie about it. The conspiracy against us was global. Bigger than imaginable.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1309497961269792768

—

“We talk about the deep state. There are players now, even ambassadors that are sitting ambassadors that were involved in part of this with the FBI and DOJ.”—Mark Meadows in 2018

Alexander Downer is about to become a household name in America for all the wrong reasons.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1309510079390068736

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweets

100% right! Speak up, now is the time! We have a precious little window where the government has given over $100 million to fight sex trafficking, to those who have yet to find your voice there are over 60 million people living with the same scars I wear, don’t let fear hold u back

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1309606677071556610

Leah Sheffler @LeahSheffler

We need to see more victims speak out, they need to stop living in fear of those with money, they wait to see Virginia's result as Hollywood did with Rose, then it may be too late. HAVE THE COURAGE TO BE HEARD, it will only benefit Virginia's case and aid in a better outcome.

https://twitter.com/LeahSheffler/status/1309602245927870464

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. 60 million people in America alone, the stats world wide are staggering and its only getting worse. We must unite to save more lives. Speak up with me & help end human trafficking & child sexual abuse!! #SaveTheChildren #kids #kidstoo #BillBarr @teresajhelm @elizableu

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1309606678828994562

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Police: Investigate Prince Andrew for the Historic Child Abuse Allegations Levelled Against Him - Sign the Petition! chng.it/yMBygHq6 via @ChangeAUS

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1309623835067523072

Investigate Prince Andrew for the Historic Child Abuse Allegations Levelled Against Him

Recent news coverage and images have revealed that Prince Andrew had been spending time with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in the years prior to Epsteins suicide as he was awaiting trial for child sex allegations. At best this is extremely poor judgement on Andrew's behalf.

Virginia Giuffre, a woman who accused the late financier Jeffrey Epstein of sex abuse has alleged she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew as a 17-year-old, and has urged the UK royal to "come clean" according to a number of news sources, including the BBC.

We would like to insist that the British police investigate Andrew fully for the charges levelled against him, given his longstanding close relationship with Epstein and the allegation from Virginia Giuffre.

Prince Andrew as a member of the Royal family should not enjoy any immunity or protection from criminal investigation due to his Royal status and we demand more action is done from the police to ensure that investigations are opened.

https://www.change.org/p/police-investigate-prince-andrew-for-the-historic-child-abuse-allegations-levelled-against-him

A warrior culture and the murders that followed: What went wrong with the SAS

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A rogue squad of SAS soldiers is accused of murdering multiple bound or defenceless Afghan detainees, according to insiders who have some knowledge of the landmark Brereton inquiry into war crimes which is due to report within weeks.

The report, by senior judge Paul Brereton, has taken four years to complete and is underpinned by detailed confessions by Commando and Special Air Service Regiment soldiers who have admitted that they participated in or covered up the execution of unarmed prisoners and defenceless Afghans. The killings breach the rules of war and Australia's criminal code.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have also obtained a letter written by Australia's former special forces commander, Jeff Sengelman, who blames the war crimes scandal on a "compromised" chain of command, describes special forces' misdeeds and cover-ups as "shameful and embarrassing", and warns a failure to reform would render the SAS and Commando regiments "strategically irrelevant".

"Many have opined to me that the unacceptable behaviours … were somehow justified by operational imperatives, our sacrifice, and the stressors associated with combat operations," Mr Sengelman wrote in the April 2016 letter.

"While I am not insensitive to how this attitude may have arisen and am the first to acknowledge the exceptional commitment and sacrifice that operational service has required; this is not and never will be a satisfactory justification for deviation from standards or unacceptable behaviour. This cannot be in doubt. If it is for you, then we need to speak."

While the contents of the Brereton report will remain classified after Justice Brereton hands it to Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell in coming weeks, some insiders have received general briefings about its findings and it is believed Justice Brereton will identify a small group of rogue SAS soldiers as responsible for multiple murders.

Justice Brereton is expected to send several war crimes referrals to the Australian Federal Police, sparking new police investigations in a move likely to require the AFP to dramatically boost the resourcing of its existing war crimes investigation teams. Those teams have been conducting two war crimes investigations since June 2018 into Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith after referrals by now former defence chief Mark Binskin. Mr Roberts-Smith denies all wrongdoing and is suing Nine Entertainment, the owner of this masthead, for publishing allegations that he is a war criminal, a key target of the Brereton inquiry and that he punched a woman in a domestic violence incident.

Defence has spent months planning its public response to the independent Brereton inquiry report, according to Defence sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The sources anticipate a summary of Mr Brereton's findings will be released to the public.

The Age and Herald have interviewed more than a dozen serving and former insiders who have some knowledge of the findings and defence's anticipated response. The Brereton report is expected to expose:

• a rogue group of SAS soldiers, variously consisting of four to five men, executed multiple bound or defenceless prisoners to boost "kill counts" – a personal tally of Afghans shot dead – with no regard for the laws of armed conflict;

• a small number of commandos and SAS soldiers executed prisoners believing more senior soldiers had given tacit support for unlawful killings; and

• poor leadership and oversight, with some officers blind to warning signs that pointed to a collapse in basic morality among small soldier cliques.

The sources said they did not believe senior or mid-level officers had direct knowledge about war crimes. The evidence suggests small cliques of soldiers with relatively low ranks either participated in or witnessed war crimes but covered them up from the chain of command.

(continued)

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The letter written by Mr Sengelman in 2016 outlines cultural and systemic failings that Justice Brereton's report exposes. Mr Sengelman wrote that the Special Operations chain of command was "compromised" by weak officer leadership, exacerbated by officers and soldiers who championed a "warrior" culture at the expense of "ethical behaviour, moral outlook, or integrity of character". Mr Sengelman asked commandos and SAS soldiers to write to him directly with allegations of impropriety in 2015, prompting the Brereton inquiry.

Mr Sengelman's letter also champions the SAS and commando whistleblowers who exposed the war crimes even if it meant implicating themselves in wrongdoing. Defence top brass is preparing to highlight the fact that it was special forces' insiders who bravely exposed their own dirty laundry – risking their own careers and even jail time – when a summary of the Brereton report is released to the Australian public.

Defence also intends to highlight the decision by Mr Sengelman and defence force chief Angus Campbell to ensure the whistleblowing was acted on, rather than being covered up. Mr Sengelman was the major general in charge of the commandos and SAS from 2014-17.

Mr Sengelman's letter makes clear that by 2016 he believed shocking behaviour had occurred while special forces were deployed to Afghanistan between 2001 and 2015. It was addressed to whistleblowers inside the Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) who exposed "toxic stories and anecdotes that have circulated unchallenged within Command too long".

"Never again can the SOCOMD chain of command be so compromised … as it directly questioned trust between us all," Mr Sengelman wrote.

His letter warned that further efforts to cover up misdeeds in Afghanistan would make special forces "strategically irrelevant" and shake "the faith of our senior leadership, [overseas] partners and allies have in us to undertake discrete and sensitive missions".

"What it conveys to the rest of our Army and Defence Force is, frankly, shameful and embarrassing. We must never give our senior leadership reason to question their faith in selecting us to prosecute missions in the national interest," he wrote. "Our individual judgment, actions and, importantly, our inaction as leaders and bystanders, are demonstrations of our character and ethos.

"When you see something unacceptable, demonstrate the moral courage to stand up and do something about it."

In March 2020, the senior army officer in charge of Australia's special forces, Major-General Adam Findlay, delivered a private briefing to his troops in which he admitted some elite soldiers had committed war crimes which might have been covered up, and that Australia's special forces would take a decade to recover from the long-running investigation. He blamed the atrocities on "poor moral leadership".

https://www.theage.com.au/national/a-warrior-culture-and-the-murders-that-followed-what-went-wrong-with-the-sas-20200924-p55yxd.html

Grooming, paedophilia and child exploitation on the rise in Tasmania say AFP top cops

Society has “an increasing appetite” for child pornography, one of Tasmania’s top cops says, as he reveals how children are being targeted, and why their disgusting actions are on the rise.

TASMANIA’S most vulnerable are being targeted by depraved predators – and their disgusting actions are on the rise.

Detective Sergeant Aaron Hardcastle, officer in charge of the Australian Federal Police Tasmania, is on the front line in protecting children from child exploitation.

In the 2019-2020 financial year, there were nine arrests and 35 charges made in Tasmania.

However across the country, there were more than 161 arrests, 1214 charges, and 134 children removed from harm.

“Unfortunately society has an increasing appetite for this type of material, particularly in the online space,” he said.

“It’s becoming a real issue with the volume of material. In years gone by we’ve seen in the thousands of files when we’re prosecuting offenders, but these days we’re seeing in the tens to hundreds of thousands of files.

“In the grooming space, we’re seeing a fairly steady growth in that area as well.”

Detective Inspector Hardcastle said predators often approached children online through social media or forums.

Their main method of communication was text, with paedophiles than able to remain anonymous or pretend to be someone else.

“The introduction happens on the site or the app, and generally what will happen is the offenders will start to move the kids off into private chats. That’s when the real offending starts to occur. That’s when you start seeing demands,” he said.

“Once any images are sent, they’re sent forever. The child has no control over that image anymore – that image in control of the offender.”

The coronavirus pandemic has lead to both an increase in grooming and access to exploitation material, with a 280 per cent increase in workload for the AFP since this time last year.

And it isn’t just Tasmanian predators targeting Tasmanian children.

“It’s people from all around the world,” Detective Sergeant Hardcastle said.

“We’ve had cases here where people in Tasmania are grooming children on the other side of the world, and we’ve also had people on the other side of the world grooming Tasmanian kids.

“The internet doesn’t have a boundary.”

Detective Inspector Hardcastle said his role was one of the toughest to take on as a police officer – especially as a proud parent himself.

“But it’s also the most rewarding, because you’re making a real difference to kids and allowing kids to grow up the way they should be able to, to be safe and happy,” he said.

“As part of combating this type of crime we’ve got a joint anti-child exploitation team, between the AFP and Tasmania Police.

“It’s really important for the Tasmanian community to know we’re working tirelessly to combat this type of crime.

“It’s abhorrent, and something no child should be subjected to, and that no police officer should have to witness.”

He said his advice for children was to trust your instincts.

“If something is going wrong, if your instincts are telling you something isn’t right – it probably isn’t,” he said.

“If it doesn’t feel right, tell somebody – somebody needs to know so the situation can be dealt with.

“Not everybody on the internet is who they say they are, or who they may appear to be.

“There are some pretty nasty predators out there who are targeting the vulnerable people.”

https://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/grooming-paedophilia-and-child-exploitation-on-the-rise-in-tasmania-say-afp-top-cops/news-story/7baf899b1c87834cd49c5aa15489c43d

Darwin man charged with exit trafficking his wife from Australia to India

A 28-year-old Darwin man has appeared before Darwin Local Court for allegedly exit trafficking his wife to India in 2019 and stealing more than $60,000 from her and other relatives.

Detectives from Australian Federal Police (AFP) Human Trafficking Operations began investigations in March 2020, following a report from a member of the public in Darwin.

It will be alleged in court the man was physically abusive to his 27-year-old wife and used coercion and threats to garnish her wages, access bank accounts and gain money from her family.

The AFP alleges the man deceived the woman into flying to India in February 2019, under the pretense of organising visas for travel to the United States.

The man did not travel to India and it will be alleged he provided false and misleading information to the Federal Circuit Court, where he commenced divorce proceedings in January 2020.

The 28-year-old man appeared at Darwin Local Court on Friday charged with:

One count of trafficking in persons (exit from Australia) contrary to section 271.2(1A) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) for facilitating the exit of the woman from Australia to India through the use of deception.

The maximum penalty for this offence is 12 years imprisonment.

The woman has since returned to Australia and is receiving ongoing support from the AFP and Red Cross (through their Support for Trafficked People Program).

Detective Superintendent Paula Hudson, of AFP Northern Command said AFP officers worked closely with the Department of Home Affairs, along with non-government organisations to investigate this matter.

“Partnerships are critical to the effective investigation of human trafficking offences and the AFP continues to build strong working relationships to investigate these offences,” Detective Superintendent Hudson said.

“This is a reminder that forcing someone to leave Australia using coercion, threats or deception is an offence under our laws, and Commonwealth human trafficking offences and penalties apply.”

“Human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices are happening here in Australia and it is up to all of us to work together to protect people who are vulnerable to these exploitative crime types. If you or someone you know could be a victim of this crime type, please report it by calling 131 AFP (237).”

The AFP is an active member of the Interdepartmental Committee on Human Trafficking and Slavery and Operational Working Groups.

For the financial year 2019/2020, the AFP received 223 reports of human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like offences.

The AFP works with international partners through the AFP’s international network, Department of Foreign Affairs and other organisations, including the Santa Marta Group, to promote awareness for and combat modern slavery and human trafficking.

Editor’s note: Vision of the arrest and warrant are available via Hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/hJOyuvQdqe

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/darwin-man-charged-exit-trafficking-his-wife-australia-india

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Cocks and Stirrers: Markers on the path to the SAS going rogue

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Looking back, the 2010 “Stirrer’s Parade” was one of the earliest obvious signposts that something was going badly wrong in the Special Air Services Regiment, Australia’s elite fighting force.

It was the best part of a decade into the conflict in Afghanistan, and Special Forces – the SAS and Commandos – had deployed 15 separate rotations and was already weary. But proud too. Multiple honours and awards had come their way. Though worn they were battle hardened and still eager for the fight.

In December that year the SAS Regiment’s annual "Stirrer’s Parade" was three months late. Usually held on the regimental birthdate of September 4, this time it was delayed to await the return of 1 Squadron.

The gathering was meant to get stuff off the collective chest. At its best, it was an opportunity for subtle, take-the-piss feedback to inform future operations. But too readily it could turn nasty. It had happened before.

A perennial problem with Australia’s premier regiment was the power of the Sergeants Mess. Medalled, experienced and often revered, the job of keeping the sergeants in check was tougher than usual for the officers. In contrast to a linear line of command in conventional forces, the Special Forces command structure is more flexible, the requirement for agility giving greater authority and autonomy to those participating in the close fight.

A feature of the Parade was the annual “Cock of the Year” award, which was as rude as it sounds and in 2010 was “awarded” to a young officer who was otherwise respected as an experienced soldier. More to the point though, he was principled in holding his soldiers to account for their moral or ethical failings.

The award was an attack on a junior leader. But what was most telling was the silence from on high. Senior officers let it happen, and by doing so, signalled who was really in charge and reinforced a growing sense of entitlement among the operators.

In future, junior officers would be more than aware of the opprobrium associated with offending the warriors. "Likership" over leadership, an eternal challenge for command, was unleashed. Other junior leaders, such as now Federal MP Andrew Hastie, who also took a stand on doing the right thing, would also cop the brunt of the so-called non-commissioned officer, or NCO "Mafia".

Ethics, morals and integrity

Six years later, in April 2016 Special Operations Commander Major General Jeff Sengelman sent a remarkably prescient letter. It came in response to an earlier request to serving members of the Special Air Service Regiment to speak up truthfully about rumours of rogue behaviour in Afghanistan.

The rumours, in effect, were some of these revered dogs of war had slipped the leash.

"Others have expressed to me that the need to be an exceptional warrior at the pinnacle of the tradecraft and adept at finding, fixing and finishing the enemy is the premier and dominant characteristic that should define who we are and our culture," Sengelman's letter said.

"While I agree this has its place, let me be absolutely clear, there is much more to being a role model for [Special Operations Forces] attributes than martial prowess.

"Given a choice between this and ethical behaviour, moral outlook, or integrity of character, martial prowess will always be secondary."

Weeks after that letter was sent, the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force commenced an inquiry into "rumours of possible breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict". Now, four years later we are on the eve of what many predict will be a harrowing finding, with Sengelman’s words still resonating.

The narrative spun about the Inspector-General's inquiry until now includes a complex maze of interwoven arguments about Australia needing to know the truth and the preservation of moral authority, versus how much do we really need to know about what occurs on the battlefield and that no good can come of second guessing our heroes.

The ingrained secrecy associated with Special Operations and the subsequent clamour of public debate has made for some confusion.

So let's try to peer through the fog of war at where the SAS started to go wrong. And in doing so after tracking this for some time, two incidents stand out as pivotal to us: the Stirrer’s parade of 2010, and one other key moment: the awarding of the Victoria Cross to Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith.

(continued)

>>10795091

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Admired but unpopular

Even before its conferral there was controversy. Although he was not named, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald ran a story in December 2010 stating: "A top brass proposal to award the Victoria Cross to an Australian soldier who has been investigated for bullying in Afghanistan is mired in politics and recrimination".

Roberts-Smith was admired for his martial prowess, but unpopular with some of peers, in particular for his alleged intimidation of and influence over junior soldiers. The VC, the supreme award in Australian soldiering, gave institutional support to his conduct. According to one in the thick of the action: "Success now looked like bullying, lying, murder allegedly, and self-promotion".

There would be a withering impact on impending operations. As already reported, most of the controversy that now burdens Roberts-Smith occurred after he was awarded the VC, when some of his peers came to see the super soldier as a law unto himself.

A litany of occasions have already been reported when, as a Corporal and Patrol Commander in 2012, he was complicit in alleged misconduct. The allegations range from striking a junior soldier to participating in the execution of detainees. Roberts-Smith has denied the latter.

The concern which led to whistleblowing by some of his comrades was the negative influence this exemplar of a soldier had on others.

Some of the men caught up in what the Inspector-General may well find to have been a rogue squad have had trouble living with what they witnessed. We understand a number of participants have given evidence to the inquiry, much of it self-incriminating. The psychological impact on soldiers who wanted to believe they were decent and honourable has been devastating.

Roberts-Smith has vehemently denied the accusations, and there are witnesses who are prepared to testify to his innocence. He is suing this publication for defamation has yet to have his day in any court.

The SAS’s Afghanistan veterans are divided. A heart-to-heart gathering of Roberts-Smith’s 2 Squadron earlier this year saw some members supportive of the Inspector-General's inquiry with others still vehemently opposed. The division worries close observers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

According to one experienced observer, who was not at the meeting but knows those who were, "an ‘us and them' forms within Patrol Commander ranks – those who agree with atrocities and those who don’t".

The ongoing schism helps explain why the inquiry has dragged on for so long. Witnesses have been slow to come forward for many reasons. Chief among them is a view that ratting on a mate is a sin more serious than helping cover up war crimes.

The Australian Defence Force will rightly point out that seven years on from the Australian drawdown in Afghanistan the bulk of the SAS is now composed of newcomers. But there must be concern that an influential cohort still fails to grasp the seriousness of the inquiry and former commander Jeff Sengelman’s entreaty to put integrity and morality first.

Sengelman’s stand was clearly brave. The Inspector-General will also surely attend to the question of command failure within senior Special Forces’ leadership – those who appeared to back the pre-eminence of martial prowess.

As one officer told us, "Afghanistan increasingly became a tactical fight where success was seen as getting results on the battlefield".

Meanwhile the ADF is preparing for the release of a report that Minister Linda Reynolds has already signalled will make for "uncomfortable reading".

Among a range of initiatives Defence has already taken to put the past in the past is the cancellation of the annual Stirrers Parade.

Soon into his tenure as Special Operations Commander Jeff Sengelman killed it dead.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/cocks-and-stirrers-markers-on-the-path-to-the-sas-going-rogue-20200925-p55z4c.html

'Playing with fire': The curious marriage of QAnon and wellness

A far-right conspiracy movement has found a seemingly unlikely home in a space normally known for its gratitude mantras, downward dogs and green smoothies.

Sophie Aubrey - SEPTEMBER 27, 2020

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At first, yoga teacher Emma Moulday couldn’t understand what was happening. Suddenly her peers – people she respected – were filling her social media feeds with anti-mask messages and calling COVID-19 a hoax. Then there were the hashtags to #SaveTheChildren and videos claiming actor Tom Hanks eats children.

“I thought, ‘what the hell is going on?’ It was like watching a really bad accident.”

That’s when Moulday found out about QAnon, a far-right conspiracy movement that has been proliferating around the world.

“I was really surprised that people who I thought were intelligent, mindful and discerning were so far down the garden path and really actively promoting it,” Moulday says.

Up until this year, QAnon largely existed on the internet’s fringes after an unidentified poster named “Q” began pushing coded theories in 2017. The core belief is that there is a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles – made up of global political, business and Hollywood elites – who run the world, operate a child sex trafficking ring and are fighting President Donald Trump from bringing them down.

Today, on a backdrop of the worldwide pandemic, the spread of far-right thinking and crippling global uncertainty, its narratives have trickled into the mainstream on social media, including in Australia.

Lydia Khalil, research fellow at Deakin University and the Lowy Institute, says QAnon has grown louder by attaching itself to scepticism about the pandemic and fears over 5G and vaccination to feed the idea that there are more insidious motives at play.

“Clever movements will pick up on what’s happening currently to fit it into their conspiracies … It gives them a way to legitimise what they’re arguing,” Khalil says. “Over the past few months obviously everyone has been on the internet a whole lot more, so what we’ve started to see is this explosion and spread of QAnon content.”

Khalil says the conspiracy has now found a seemingly unlikely home in a space normally known for its gratitude mantras, downward dogs and green smoothies: the world of wellness – and its infiltration has begun to cause fierce division within the community.

A division in the wellness space

Moulday – who has been a yoga teacher for 20 years and runs a studio, Yoga Flame, in Melbourne’s Moonee Ponds – says the spread of QAnon conspiracies in her industry is “disappointing”.

“The whole thing is really sad,” she says. “It feels all very wrong and feels counter to everything you’d stand for as a yoga teacher. I want to help people, and help them feel steady and calm. They’re the skills that will help people right now.”

Moulday estimates a quarter of people she follows from the yoga community are posting conspiracies, and she says she has been slammed for posting a light comment supporting masks.

“I haven’t seen anything like this before. I know there are alternative beliefs and viewpoints but not people … being so intimidating and aggressive in their viewpoints.”

Vanessa Hollo, a Melbourne yoga teacher who works in community health, has been equally disturbed.

“Beautiful, caring people were suddenly saying that COVID isn’t real,” Hollo says. “Yoga practice can help people deal with stress and isolation and anxiety and instead it’s being hijacked by misinformation and fear.”

Hollo was one of many to last week share a viral statement created by US wellness influencers to come out against QAnon.

“Our hearts are breaking from the rampant misinformation that is dividing our community,” the statement says.

Sarah Wilson, who became an Australian wellness figure off the back of her I Quit Sugar empire, says she has been bombarded by conspiracy thinking on social media, believing it may partially be triggered by Victoria’s second lockdown.

“It’s happening way more than I could have ever anticipated. It’s not just a handful of people,” Wilson says.

“I’ve looked at a lot of them thinking they’re going to be bots. But they’re not. They have large followings … These are people who genuinely believe in this information.”

Wilson, whose new book This Wild And Precious Life explores our increasingly disconnected society, says she is alarmed by how wide-ranging QAnon followers are.

“This is across the spectrum… That’s what’s most alarming. These aren’t otherwise extreme people.”

(continued)

>>10804202

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The emergence of 'pastel QAnon'

PhD researcher Marc-André Argentino, of Canada’s Concordia University, coined the term “pastel QAnon” to describe the phenomenon of lifestyle and wellness influencers adopting QAnon narratives with a soft and pleasing aesthetic, making audiences more susceptible.

He says it's the polar opposite of “raw” QAnon, which began on controversial internet forums 4chan, 8chan and 8kun.

“To an extent [influencers] are making QAnon more palatable as your initial contact with it is not the cesspool that is 8kun with its racism, anti-semitism and pornography, rather it is coming from an influencer that many of their followers already trust for their lifestyle, medical and fitness advice,” Argentino says.

His research shows there was an initial wave of influencers falling into QAnon between March and May when it overlapped with anti-vaxxer or anti-mask narratives, propelled by the viral ‘Plandemic’ video peddling health misinformation.

Argentino says the second wave occurred when QAnon hijacked the hashtag #SaveTheChildren during child trafficking awareness month in July, drawing many influencers – because who doesn’t care about children?

'Ripe' for conspiracy thinking

Queensland University of Technology senior lecturer Dr Timothy Graham views wellness as “a real pivotal point” in QAnon’s evolution.

“There’s this normalisation of QAnon and a rebranding of it as an oppressed underdog movement that is really trying to get to the truth,” Graham says.

Khalil says it's not entirely surprising that QAnon latched onto wellness.

“There is a history within the wellness community which has been anti-establishment, very sceptical of big pharma, so the QAnon conspiracies tend to feed into that.”

Hollo agrees, believing wellness was “ripe” for QAnon’s entry as many in the space are open to exploring alternative therapies and views. It’s why anti-vaxxer sentiment is so rife in this realm.

“Yoga and wellness people are very open-minded, so they can easily go down the rabbit hole,” Hollo says.

Adding to this, QAnon has also co-opted certain sayings or hashtags that will resonate with the community. #TheGreatAwakening is one of the group’s main hashtags and followers often talk about “waking up to the truth”, which are common phrases in new age spirituality practices such as yoga and meditation.

“It’s basically making a conspiracy that is so outlandish become something that is part of your own awakening and awareness journey,” Khalil says.

Derek Beres is an LA-based fitness instructor and co-host of the podcast Conspirituality, which launched in May to discuss how conspiracies seeped into the wellness world. Australians make up the podcast’s second largest listener base after the US.

“This whole QAnon phenomenon is speaking to very base fears that exist in a lot of people, especially people who consider themselves to be more consciously minded,” Beres says.

He adds that social distancing has harmed the connection communities generally lean on in difficult times.

“All we have are these screens that we’re looking at all day. I think that added layer makes conspiracy theories proliferate in a way I know I’ve never experienced in my life,” Beres says.

“It’s a lot easier to spread fear and paranoia than it is to spread credible scientific research.”

Beres and his co-hosts curate a list of wellness industry figures who have shared QAnon-related content.

Celebrity paleo chef Pete Evans gets a mention after sharing posts that express QAnon ideas. Evans, a Trump supporter, has been vocal about being against compulsory vaccination and masks, suggesting the pandemic is a scam and railing against Daniel Andrews and the media. Of course, just because Evans has posted material that supports some QAnon rhetoric does not mean he supports all of the movement's ideas, including its central beliefs, or that he identifies as part of the movement.

The tone of Evans' social media intensified after he was axed by Channel Seven in May, and despite sharing some controversial ideas, Crowdtangle data shows interactions on his Facebook account skyrocketed by about 1000 per cent between April and June, and continue to be significantly higher than before. On Instagram his following has grown by almost 20 per cent since May.

When The Age and Sydney Morning Herald approached Evans to comment on his QAnon stance, he replied with “Who is Q?” and hours later, he shared a post referring to “the great awakening” and reposted screenshots of posts appearing to be from “Q”.

(continued)

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But this goes much wider than Evans. Some wellness influencers post overtly about child sex trafficking by elites, some use the motto “where we go one, we go all”, others focus on vaccine fears or hint they believe the pandemic is a cover-up. Some protect their brand by only sharing conspiracy content on their Instagram stories or highlights.

'Playing with fire'

Khalil says it’s unclear which wellness influencers fully understand and believe what the QAnon conspiracy alleges, or which ones are, perhaps inadvertently, grabbing certain elements that suit their interests. But she believes the latter can be just as dangerous.

“They’re playing with fire … A lot of these people who are ‘QAnon-lite’ are repeating some of the tropes and catchphrases, they think they’re bringing a sense of awareness to their followers but what they’re actually doing is dabbling in really dangerous disinformation,” Khalil says.

“They can almost act as a gateway into more extremist movements.”

Graham stresses there can be real-life consequences to the spread of QAnon, whether it’s undermining democracy, prompting people to commit violence or harming efforts of authorities to curb the virus.

“You now have people who won’t vaccinate themselves because they think they’re getting injected with microchips,” Graham says.

Wilson believes it’s important to try to find some compassion and understanding of why many “good people” are tumbling into conspiracy thinking.

“They fill my feeds begging me to understand,” Wilson says. “It’s a real mistake to think these people are stupid or have got malicious intentions. Most of them genuinely are fearful.”

The Age and SMH approached several Australian influencers to understand their points of view. Most did not reply while one decided “the mainstream media is looking for a hit piece”.

Only one, a Sydney-based shamanic yoga therapist who asked not to be named, was open to sharing her perspective. She made Conspirituality podcast’s QAnon list after alleging child sex trafficking and satanic ritual abuse by elites, describing the pandemic as fake and asking people to “wake up” and “do your own research”.

While her beliefs echo QAnon thinking, she says they derive from her own spirituality and practices.

She discovered QAnon earlier this year and says she doesn’t agree with all its claims. For example, she says if children are being rescued from underground tunnels, she’d like to see evidence.

“Sometimes the execution is a bit sensationalised,” she says.

She explains her posts come from a place of genuine concern and desire to heal society, adding she does not sit politically on the left or right.

“I’m totally aware of people’s health and people’s sensitivities, but I always come from that sense of ‘just question; does that make sense to you?; how does that feel in your body?; trust your gut’,” she says.

“I sincerely hope we can keep showing up with more patience, greater tolerance and deeper compassion.”

'We need to get at the root causes'

The truth is, Khalil says, there have been failures that have eroded people's faith in democracy, expertise and the establishment. Just look at the global financial crisis or even Victoria's hotel quarantine scandal.

“If we try to understand and get at those root causes, it’s a better use of our time,” Khalil says.

She says it's best not to argue logic with someone who believes in a conspiracy theory – both sides consider each other “brainwashed” – and instead engage with what's driving their anxieties.

University of Wollongong wellness industry researcher Dr Nadia Zainuddin believes authorities need to be willing to be more transparent and admit to missteps, or else it feeds distrust, particularly during COVID-19 times.

“When there’s distrust in our leaders, people take it upon themselves to educate themselves so if you read a lot of people’s comments, they’re fond of saying ‘I’ve done my research’.”

Social media algorithms, which continue to surface misinformation, also have a lot to answer for too, Wilson points out.

“If we see more people liking these videos and watching more of these videos and it confirms our bias over and over again,” Wilson says.

Wilson calls for people who work in wellness to use their influence responsibly and make more efforts to critically distinguish between real and fake information.

(continued)

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Zainuddin thinks current events may trigger a bigger split in the wellness space, where one part does their due diligence and presents accurate information, while the other camp holds alternative beliefs because they are so core to their identity.

“There will always be this group that will continue to believe what they want to believe,” Zainuddin says. “They’re being very good marketers.”

For now, Beres believes it's important for wellness influencers to take a public stand against QAnon and for people to find ways to support those who are sliding into it.

“There are going to be a lot of people who will come out of QAnon after being indoctrinated who are going to need help.”

Lydia Khalil's advice on dealing with misinformation

QAnon accounts encourage people to "do your own research". This turns it into a puzzle game and gives the illusion you are an independent thinker who is not beholden to what authorities or experts tell you. As a career researcher and analyst I can tell you that "doing your own research" does not just involve hunting for clues to confirm what you already believe. Real research involves the following:

• Checking sources: Who or what is the source and what is their level of access and accuracy and reliability? Has the source provided accurate information before? What is their mission, their history? Did they give supporting information? Where is this information coming from? Is it old information that is being rehashed?

• Seek experts: See what people who have studied and worked in the field are saying. Look at a fact-checking site. QAnon has promoted conspiracy theories about child trafficking – if you are concerned about child trafficking, seek out organisations and experts who have been working in this field. What do they say about the issue?

• Check in with yourself: Try to understand the difference between impressions, intuition, and reasoning. Try to understand your own patterns of thinking before accepting information as true.

• Not a game: Understand that QAnon is not a game or an "alternative" view of the world. The conspiracy theory has prompted people to commit acts of violence.

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/playing-with-fire-the-curious-marriage-of-qanon-and-wellness-20200924-p55yu7.html

>>10752932

What are the Keating kids up to these days?

The spotlight shone back on the Keating family this week, with news that former PM Paul’s youngest daughter had hooked up with a Hollywood director best known for having an affair with Kristen Stewart. So what are PK’s children up to these days?

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Their father’s relationship with the media was historically so combative he once called for the rewriting of privacy laws to shield his children from scrutiny.

Yet why wouldn’t the media and a nation who elected him prime minister in 1993 scrutinise the glittering lifestyles of the children of former prime minister Paul Keating and his ex-wife Annita, particularly as they’ve been so drawn to fame?

The Keatings’ two youngest daughters, Katherine and Alexandra, have dominated their share of headlines during the past decade, after swapping their comfortable childhood home in leafy Woollahra for Manhattan.

It was there that Katherine, or “KK” as her Sydney friends still call her, fell for the former boyfriend of Cameron Diaz, multi-millionaire New York hotelier Andre Balazs.

And it was he who introduced her to Ghislaine Maxwell, the ex-lover of billionaire paedophile rapist Jeffrey Epstein.

The most gregarious, upwardly mobile and celebrity-loving member of the Keating clan, KK began a relationship with the older and richer Balazs in 2009, inspiring her to pack her bags in Sydney — where she had a run-in with a photographer at the State Theatre that same year — and move to New York.

KK was soon lighting up New York and seemed to be everywhere — including, as chance would have it, on the footpath outside Epstein’s Manhattan house in December 2010, where Prince Andrew was a house guest.

There is no suggestion Keating knew of, or had any involvement in, Epstein’s criminal activities.

Successfully parlaying her status as prime ministerial daughter on arts boards, she later found work in 2015 as a TV producer on Viceland.

But the work was short-lived. In 2016 she was contributing editor to The World Post and by 2018 KK was on the move to LA to work for entertainment management company Maverick, which manages Madonna, among others.

Now 39, Katherine has been subdued since her connection to associates of Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew was made public last year, and sources last week pondered if she might soon be ready to return home to Australia.

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Not so subdued in recent times has been her baby sister Alexandra, or “AK”, who, as it emerged last week, also managed to nab herself a famous boyfriend while living in New York this past decade.

That boyfriend is British film director Rupert Sanders, 49.

Sanders is best known for directing the 2012 feature Snow White And The Huntsman — and for running off with one of that film’s leading ladies, then 22-year-old actor Kristen Stewart, whose mother was played in the movie by Sanders’ own wife, model Liberty Ross.

According to his IMDB biography, Sanders has done little movie work since — although he had plans for a film enigmatically entitled Rub And Tug.

AK was an accomplished 24-year-old who had sold her first tech company at 19 and studied behavioural science at uni when she joined her sister in New York in 2010.

The fashion-obsessed AK worked as a consultant at a boutique creative agency and managed a band, Wim, before raising $14 million and co-founding app builder DWNLD in partnership with angel investor Fritz Lanman.

By 2016 that app was shut down and last year AK was working as an adviser to venture capitalist RSE Ventures.

Across the Atlantic Ocean in London, we find the only son of Paul and Annita, Keating’s firstborn child and heir, Patrick, 43.

Having initially embraced his high-public profile in Sydney, Patrick’s love for the limelight soured in 2011 after his marriage to model Amber McDonald ended.

While McDonald would go on to a more lucrative love match with second husband Aussie John Symond, to whom she was introduced via an arts auction supported by her sister-in-law KK, the one-time UBS finance executive Patrick moved on with Sydney stylist Penny Hunt.

After the birth of son Jax (now seven) with Hunt, Patrick left Australia and moved to the UK.

His two children with McDonald, Avalon and Slade, now call Symond’s Point Piper mansion home.

And, finally, to the sleeper in the family, the Keatings’ second-born child, eldest daughter and shyest child, Caroline.

Caroline, or “CK”, is the only Keating child still living in Australia.

Having worked in administrative roles and customer support during her first decade out of school — as well as studying at TAFE and trying her hand at acting and directing and working for a while at Foxtel — “CK”, 41, found her niche in hospitality in 2011 before moving to work at DreamLab App as a researcher in 2017.

She remains there today, and by all accounts is happy with a life lived away from the spotlight and the shadow of a famous family.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/annette-sharp-what-are-the-keating-kids-up-to-these-days/news-story/888a635a0e638e1a3820fdc1176877c6

Repost from Q Research General #13830

>>10805891 (pb)

This cruelty is so vile I can’t stand it. This happened to thousands of lost and bewildered elderly cut off from their families so #KillerCuomo could play politics with their lives. He should be in prison.

https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1310057476247576577

>https://twitter.com/SineadIreland_/status/1309873641237217280

>https://www.instagram.com/p/CFmqo3Jg9sz/

>https://www.facebook.com/jayson.fyffe/posts/3201487293301071

Triumphant Pell returns to the Vatican amid financial scandal

A triumphant George Pell heads back to the Vatican this week to face enemies who hoped he’d rot in jail. But the shoe’s on the other foot this time, writes Andrew Bolt.

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On Tuesday George Pell flies back to Rome, a challenge to powerful enemies now caught in the Vatican’s worst financial scandal in decades.

Those enemies hoped Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s former corruption buster, would rot in an Australian jail on suspiciously false charges of child sexual abuse.

But Pell returns in triumph, and it’s his nemesis, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who could now face jail instead.

And once again, former Vatican officials ask: is there a connection to this scandal and Pell’s legal nightmare in Australia?

Pell was the Vatican’s fourth most powerful man, overseeing church finances, until Victoria Police charged him in 2017 with 26 charges of sexual abuse against nine different “victims”.

Pell stepped down and returned to Australia in July 2017 to clear his name, only to spend 405 days in jail for a crime he could not have committed.

For some at the Vatican, having Pell disappear was extremely convenient.

He’d been leading an audit of Vatican finances and uncovered extensive corruption, possibly involving even the Mafia.

Pell warned Pope Francis, adding: beware of Becciu, second in charge of the Secretariat of State.

Pell was alarmed by one of Becciu’s property deals – a luxury development in London, bought with loans from a Swiss bank with a record of violating money-laundering and fraud safeguards.

Becciu apparently tried to disguise those loans by cancelling them out against the property’s value.

Other Becciu deals also looked weird, including financial transfers to buy an Italian hospital that then collapsed, riddled with theft and fraud, leaving an astonishing $1.3 billion debt.

Becciu had even placed his niece as the secretary to the church’s representative at the hospital. He’s also accused of steering other Vatican business to his three brothers.

Becciu fought back. In 2016, he unilaterally cancelled an external audit of Vatican departments commissioned by Pell.

Pell asked the Pope to back him up, but Francis refused.

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Pell was now running out of time. Victoria Police had advertised for “victims” who had been assaulted at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral when Pell was Archbishop.

That trawling worked: alleged victims did come forward. All complaints were inherently implausible. All failed.

But one went further than the rest. A man whose name is still suppressed claimed Pell in 1996 sexually assaulted him and a fellow chorister at the same time in the Cathedral after Mass.

The story was absurd. The other supposed victim, since dead, told his parents he wasn’t abused, and the evidence showed neither Pell nor his accuser could have been at the scene of the crime at the only time it could have happened.

But this still kept Pell away from the Vatican for three years and in jail for one until the High Court in April quashed his sentence.

Becciu made use of the time. In the same month that police said they’d charge Pell, Becciu fired the Vatican’s first-ever auditor general, Libero Milone, accusing him of “spying” on him and threatening criminal charges if Milone didn’t go quietly.

But now Pell is free and Becciu has fallen.

Becciu, who’d become head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, was last week forced to resign over financial irregularities.

The Pope said Becciu also resigned his rights as a Cardinal, apparently including the right to vote.

This last time a Cardinal was demoted like this was in 2015, when Scotland’s Keith O’Brien was punished for sexually harassing young priests.

Becciu last week vowed to prove his innocence, but now Pell returns, ostensibly to empty his Vatican apartment.

The Pope has not offered him a job, but many cardinals think Pell may have been right and the Pope should have backed him.

The Pope’s authority has been rocked, and it would make sense to show he’s serious about fighting corruption by giving Pell some role.

Pell, though, does not seem keen on any big job. He’s 79, and told me recently his only ambition now is to plant roses.

All he’s said publicly about Becciu’s sacking is that the Pope was “elected to clean up Vatican finances” and “is to be thanked and congratulated on recent developments”.

He added: “The cleaning of the stables continues in both the Vatican and Victoria.” He’s hinting this scandal may be linked to his persecution in Victoria.

Pell may not want any new role, but his church calls. His Pope is weak.

It is the time for all good men in the Vatican to step up. And Pell – for all the attempts to destroy him in Melbourne – is one of those good.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-bolt/andrew-bolt-triumphant-pell-returns-to-the-vatican-amid-financial-scandal/news-story/4b063f7c50409175f79d8cf6d9b856d5

Why the QAnon conspiracy theory is gaining popularity

An absurd conspiracy theory claiming that a global cabal is abducting and abusing children is gaining traction across the world. What explains its appeal amid the coronavirus pandemic?

Ines Eisele, Mirjam Benecke - 27.09.2020

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In recent days, thousands of protesters have gathered at London’s Trafalgar Square to express their anger at the British government’s measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory were among them. Some protesters were heard shouting "Choose your side," while others held placards reading "Liberty not fear" and "Stop child trafficking."

An amorphous theory

This last slogan is typical of QAnon adherents. The QAnon movement, born and bred on the internet, claims that an international pedophile elite has been secretly abducting and sexually abusing children, and harvesting their blood to make a youth serum. According to the theory, this global cabal includes the likes of Hillary Clinton and US investor George Soros, who are using this drug to control the world.

QAnon supporters think that these figures are part of a sort of secret government, the so-called deep state, controlling US and world politics. US President Donald Trump is seen as a savior, bent on fighting this evil "deep state."

These are the main tenets of the QAnon theory. It is, however, an amorphous edifice that keeps changing, sometimes overlapping with other conspiracy myths, including anti-Semitic ones. "QAnon is like tofu; it can take on whatever flavor you add, depending on which ingredients you add," said Jakob Guhl of London's Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD).

Joining ranks with the alt-right

For example, QAnon adherents have recently united with protesters who believe government efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic are exaggerated, or that the virus is just a ploy to control the population through vaccinations. This could clearly be seen at demonstrations in several countries where QAnon supporters have marched side by side with anti-vaxxers, hippies and far-right extremists.

And indeed, the pandemic has lent further momentum to the QAnon movement, according to a recent ISD study. It found a marked uptick in QAnon-related posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram between March and June this year. And the movement is gaining ground even outside of its place of birth, the United States.

Many Brits are QAnon followers

"Even though most QAnon content is shared in the US, it is gaining an international following," said Guhl, adding that Britain has recently been the country where the second-largest amount of sharing takes place, followed by Canada, Australia and Germany. Guhl said QAnon's popularity in Germany is puzzling, given that most of the content is in English and focused on the US. But he said this could have to do with Germany's relatively active conspiracy theory scene and its Reichsbürger movement, which has certain commonalities with QAnon thinking.