Thank you baker.
We waz kangz .. kek
Merck Created Hit List to "Destroy," "Neutralize" or "Discredit" Dissenting Doctors
Merck made a "hit list" of doctors who criticized Vioxx, according to testimony in a Vioxx class action case in Australia. The list, emailed between Merck employees, contained doctors' names with the labels "neutralise," "neutralised" or "discredit" next to them.
http://archive.is/QA0EY
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/merck-created-hit-list-to-destroy-neutralize-or-discredit-dissenting-doctors/
>Merck Created Hit List to "Destroy," "Neutralize" or "Discredit" Dissenting Doctors
both sourced from QRes#8397
"The Australian:
The court was told that James Fries, professor of medicine at Stanford University, wrote to the then Merck head Ray Gilmartin in October 2000 to complain about the treatment of some of his researchers who had criticised the drug.
"Even worse were allegations of Merck damage control by intimidation," he wrote, … "This has happened to at least eight (clinical) investigators … I suppose I was mildly threatened myself but I never have spoken or written on these issues."
The allegations come on the heels of revelations that Merck created a fake medical journal – the Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine – in which to publish studies about Vioxx; had pop songs commissioned about Vioxx to inspire its staff, and paid ghostwriters to draft articles about the drug."
Brothers speared by marlin that crashed onto inflatable fishing boat off NSW coast
Sourced from QRes#8399
Two brothers have been seriously injured after being speared by a marlin that crashed onto their inflatable boat north of the NSW Central Coast.
The men, aged 46 and 48, were out on the ocean as part of a fishing trip with another 46-year-old man in a five-metre-long rigid hull-inflatable boat in the Solitary Islands Marine Park off Wooli around midday when the incident occurred.
The trio told NSW Police the marlin, which they estimated to have weighed between 80 and 100 kilograms, crashed onto the small vessel while they were travelling back to shore at a speed of about 21 knots.
The animal’s sharp snout sliced open the 46-year-old man’s lower right arm and caused a fracture, and also caused a deep cut to his brother’s right shoulder.
The third man in the vessel was not injured, while the fish then scrambled off the boat and back into the water.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/news-nsw-brothers-speared-marlin-ocean-central-coast-rescue-animals-australia/2a85b352-feef-45e4-830e-5cb2b87408af
Assange Faces Death Penalty As DoJ Files Espionage Act Charges
Sourced from QRes#8399
The worst fears of Julian Assange's legal team have just been realized.
Just as Wikileaks' editor in chief anticipated, the DoJ has unveiled a slate of new charges against Assange including 17 new counts of violating the Espionage Act stemming from his role in publishing the classified documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, per the New York Times.
In addition to significantly raising the punishment threshold (from a maximum of 5.5 years under the previous indictment to the prospect of a death sentence for violating the Espionage Act), the new charges will raise serious first amendment issues as Assange will become the first journalist charged under the Espionage Act.
Though it's not a guarantee, Espionage Act violations carry the prospect of a death sentence.
The Justice Department’s decision to pursue Espionage Act charges signals a dramatic escalation under President Trump to crack down on leaks of classified information and aims squarely at First Amendment protections for journalists. Most recently, law enforcement officials charged a former intelligence analyst with giving classified documents to The Intercept, a national security news website.
Legal scholars believe that prosecuting reporters over their work would violate the First Amendment, but the prospect has not yet been tested in court because the government had never charged a journalist under the Espionage Act.
Though he is not a conventional journalist, much of what Mr. Assange does at WikiLeaks is difficult to distinguish in a legally meaningful way from what traditional news organizations like The New York Times do: seek and publish information that officials want to be secret, including classified national security matters, and take steps to protect the confidentiality of sources.
Per the NYT, the Obama administration considered bringing the Espionage Act charges against Assange, but balked because it didn't want to raise the First Amendment issue. While Wikileaks had warned of this possibility, they suspected that the US would wait until Assange was on American soil before bringing Espionage Act-related charges.
Remember, the UK and Ecuador promised that no serious harm would befall Assange - ie that Assange wouldn't be put to death in the US. Now that the death penalty is a possibility, whether this helps or hurts Assange's chances of successfully battling extradition remains to be seen.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-23/assange-faces-death-penalty-doj-files-espionage-act-charges
Sourced from QRes#8399
For clarification, it's really 18 charges. He is facing 17 MORE charges in addition to one charge that was unsealed shortly after Assange was arrested in London in April.
50 children saved after police bust online pedophile ring: Interpol
Sourced from QRes#8401
International police group Interpol said Thursday that nine people had been arrested in Thailand, Australia and the U.S. and 50 children had been rescued after investigators took down an online pedophilia ring. More arrests were expected as police in nearly 60 countries pursue investigations stemming from an Interpol operation launched two years ago into a hidden "dark web" site with 63,000 users worldwide.
Fifty children were rescued following the arrests. Police are trying to identify an additional 100 in images that had been shared on the internet's uncharted corners. Interpol said its Operation Blackwrist began after it found material that was traced back to a subscription-based site on the dark web, where people can use encrypted software to hide behind layers of secrecy. Dark web sites can't be found through search engines, and users need to have the specific URL address to land on a site. Interpol enlisted help from national agencies worldwide, with the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department eventually tracking the site's IP address, where new photos and videos were posted weekly. The first arrests came in early 2018, when the site's main administrator, Montri Salangam, was detained in Thailand, and another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was captured in Australia.
'Child's worst nightmare' Salangam, whose victims included one of his nephews, was sentenced in June last year to 146 years in prison by Thai courts, while an associate, a pre-school teacher, got 36 years. Tokputza was handed a 40-year prison term at his trial in Australia last Friday, the longest ever for child sex offences in the country.
The Australian Associated Press reported that Tokputza, 31, pleaded guilty to 50 counts of abuse of 11 babies and children – one just 15 months old – between 2011 and 2018. "You are a child's worst nightmare, you are every parent's horror, you are a menace to the community," Judge Liesl Chapman said in Adelaide. Interpol did not identify the others arrested.
The HSI's regional attache in Bangkok, Eric McLoughlin, said in the statement that "numerous arrests" had been made in the U.S. Some held "positions of public trust," he said, and one individual was abusing his two-year-old stepbrother. "Operation Blackwrist sends a clear message to those abusing children, producing child sexual exploitation material and sharing the images online: We see you, and you will be brought to justice," Interpol's Secretary General Juergen Stock said.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/50-children-saved-after-police-bust-online-pedophile-ring-interpol-1.4433757
Krass bros banned permanently from Twitter.
Sourced from QRes#8401
Ryan Saavedra
Verified account @RealSaavedra
BREAKING: Twitter has permanently banned prominent anti-Trump brothers Brian and Ed Krassenstein, alleging that two of the biggest stars of Resistance Twitter had broken the site’s rules about operating fake accounts and purchasing fake interactions
Such sad news .. kek
'Modern fascism is breaking cover': Journalists react to Assange Espionage Act charges
Sourced from QRes#8401
The US government's indictment of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange on 17 additional charges under the Espionage Act has shocked and horrified journalists who are calling it an unprecedented attack on press freedom.
The new indictment claims Assange endangered the lives of individuals working for the US government when Wikileaks published leaked documents received from intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010. Under the draconian Espionage Act, which has never before been used against a journalist publishing classified information, Assange faces up to 10 years in prison for each charge.
"Assange was complicit with Chelsea Manning…in unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defense," the Department of Justice said in a statement, while National Security Division head John Demers insisted "Julian Assange is no journalist."
Actual journalists, however, were horrified by the "unprecedented assault on the First Amendment."
More
https://www.rt.com/news/460123-assange-espionage-act-charges-reactions/
More Papa D Tweets
Sourced from QRes#8403
George Papadopoulos
@GeorgePapa19
The president knows he and his campaign were set up by the UK and Australia as well as a rogue FBI/CIA. The UK/Australia were in on it voluntarily, not by accident. When he takes the unprecedented step to declassify the FISA materials, he will be doing it for America’s honor.
George Papadopoulos
@GeorgePapa19
May 21
Replying to @JohnBrennan
Oh, John: all the weaponized assets you sent my way [Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer, Stefan Halper] are all being outed from London, Rome and Canberra. Those governments are now actively cooperating with the Trump administration and have flipped on you. Your role will be exposed
Papua New Guinea's PM is forced to deny being Australian after his citizenship is called into question
Sourced from QRes#8406
Papua New Guinea's prime minister has told a court he's never been an Australian citizen amid questions about his eligibility to hold office.
Attorney-General Alfred Manase this week launched a probe into the citizenship of all 111 sitting members of PNG's parliament after outspoken opposition politician Bryan Kramer alleged PM Peter O'Neill held dual Australian citizenship through his Melbourne-born father.
Dual citizens are not eligible to serve as members of the Pacific country's parliament.
O'Neill's lawyers on Thursday submitted an affidavit saying he had never been an Australian citizen and did not hold an Australian passport.
The prime minister has also asked for a court order preventing Kramer from continuing to make what he calls defamatory statements.
Kramer has said he will only provide proof in court or parliament next week.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7065599/Papua-New-Guineas-PM-forced-deny-Australian.html
Global paedophile ring bust leads to the rescue of 50 children amid fears of hundreds of abuse cases
Sourced from QRes#8408
A global police operation has rescued 50 children from an international paedophilia ring, following the arrest of multiple people – including one man based in Australia.
The International Criminal Police Organisation, Interpol, first started investigating the ring in 2017 after the discovery of online material showing the abuse of 11 boys, all under the age of 13.
Authorities allege the material surfaced on the darkweb through a subscription-based website with an audience of almost 63,000 people worldwide.
After surveillance involving authorities from Thailand, the USA, Bulgaria, New Zealand and Australia, the website’s main administrator, Montri Salangam, was arrested in November 2017 in Thailand.
Police allege material on the website showed Salangam abusing 11 boys – one of whom was his nephew – after he lured them to his home with food, internet access and football games.
Another man, Ruecha Tokputza, was also arrested in Adelaide before 251 pornographic videos and 415 videos were found on his phone, with some showing him as the main abuser.
Tokputza’s youngest victim was just 15 months old. It is believed he also removed one child's nappy and abused another while he slept.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/news-australia-global-pedophile-ring-50-children-rescued-interpol-adelaide-arrest-crime-world/a9d83fed-2e9d-40c4-a24d-7b7bbac76b1b
Resignations in the region
Sourced from QRes#8407
Schulz to resign from UQP after 11 years
https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2019/05/22/133504/schulz-to-resign-from-uqp-after-11-years/
Snap ‘climate emergency’ rally to disrupt parts of Melbourne CBD at midday
A group that caused widespread disruptions in London last month has gathered for a “snap rally” in the Melbourne CBD.
Sourced from QRes#8409
More than 1000 people marched through the Melbourne CBD to lay “dead” at one of the city’s busiest intersections this afternoon.
Holding placards and banners that read “don’t burn my future” and “too late you bastards we’re done asking nicely”, the so-called snap ended at Bourke and Swanston streets for a “die-in”.
The climate emergency rally was organised by Extinction Rebellion, the same group behind large-scale disruptions in London last month.
More than 5000 people responded to an invitation to attend but less than half of that number showed up.
Among them were hundreds of school students — including a pair who climbed on top of tram stop shelters to enjoy the view.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/snap-climate-emergency-rally-to-disrupt-parts-of-melbourne-cbd-at-midday/news-story/9a7b7772590f73917d91fd1dd7a3842b
Professional shills, and general shitheads, the Krassenstein brothers, banhammered off twatter for good. Winning never gets old.
Sauce:
https://mobile.twitter.com/i/events/1131739465314054144
Good news is always worth repeating … kek
Leave it to Will Sommer to provide the answer about why the K bros are banned from twatter: because of operating "multiple fake accts & purchasing acct interactions"
Both posts sourced from QRes#8409
BREAKING: U.K., Italian and Australian Government stand strongly against Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer & Stefan Halper’s actions against former Trump official Papadopoulos and are now actively cooperating with the Trump administration to investigate the FBI.
https://twitter.com/BreakingNLive/status/1131953183641751552
Official filing of USA vs. Assange in the Eastern District of Virginia:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/press-release/file/1165566/download
Another PapaD Tweet
Sourced from QRes#8412
No conspiracy Marshall. It’s all coming out. Downer will go down in history as the bumbling spy I outed who almost upended the US-Australia relationship…until his own government throws him under the bus. Next time don’t use your phone to spy on me, dummy.
https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1131992392939200512?s=19
Major new risk noted by Swiss Re in their 2019 SONAR report: 5G "Off the leash: The spread of 5G technology":
Sourced from QRes#8414
Digital technology's clash with legacy infrastructure, new risks emerging from the spread of 5G mobile networks, increasingly limited fiscal and monetary policy flexibility, and genetic testing and its implications for the insurance industry are challenges with potentially high impact.
Off the leash: The spread of 5G technology
5G will enable wireless connectivity in real time for any device of the internet of things (IoT), such as autonomous cars or sensor-steered factories. Current concerns regarding potential negative health effects from electromagnetic fields are likely to increase. In addition, hackers can also exploit 5G speed and volume to acquire (or steal) more data faster. Major concerns are possible privacy and security breaches, as well as espionage.
full webpage:
https://www.swissre.com/media/news-releases/nr-20190522-sonar2019.html
Aging infrastructure, 5G, economy among top emerging risks: Swiss Re
Aging infrastructure, the spread of 5G technology, a potential economic downturn, the growth of genetic testing and climate change are the five emerging risks with the highest potential impact on the insurance and reinsurance industry in 2019, according to a new Swiss Re Institute report.
Technological improvements are ongoing and hardware in critical infrastructure, including smart electric power grids or pipelines and hospitals, is often outdated, according to the Swiss Re SONAR report on new emerging risks published on Wednesday.
“As a consequence, insurers face higher risk accumulation unexpected loss potential in the areas of property damage, bodily injury, business interruption and cyber risk,” the report said.
In addition, advancements in 5G mobile networks will enable wireless connectivity in real time for Internet of Things devices, according to the report.
“Current concerns regarding potential negative health effects from electromagnetic fields are likely to increase,” the report said. “Hackers can also exploit 5G speed and volume to acquire (or steal) more data faster. Major concerns are possible privacy and security breaches and espionage.”
https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20190522/NEWS06/912328592/Aging-infrastructure,-5G,-economy-among-top-emerging-risks-Swiss-Re
Anons comments (needs sauce)
Insurers are not going to underwrite the health risks associated with 5G. Who is going to carry the can? When the chickens come home to roost? And the epidemiological ducks are in a row, showing thousands of people dying around towers?
There was one estimate by an Australian insurer that tried to quantify the liabilities involved with the wireless industry. They returned a single word: "Incalculable." The insurance industry has woken up to the dangers of 5G. They are not fooled; and that should send a huge message to anyone watching this industry. How can you undertake an enterprise of this scale, with no research and no standards and no regulations and absolutely no underwriting of the health risks? This is gross economic malpractice.
‘Everyone else must take my place’: Assange in letter from British prison
Sourced from QRes#8415
In a handwritten letter from Belmarsh prison, WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange says he is being denied a chance to defend himself and that elements in the US that “hate truth, liberty and justice” want him extradited and dead.
The letter was sent to independent British journalist Gordon Dimmack. It was dated May 13 – ten days before the US announced 17 additional charges under the Espionage Act against the jailed whistleblower.
In light of the new indictment, Dimmack read out the letter in a YouTube video. A photo of the handwritten note was soon posted online as well.
“I have been isolated from all ability to prepare to defend myself: no laptop, no internet, ever, no computer, no library, so far, but even if I get access it will just be for a half an hour, with everyone else, once a week,” Assange wrote. “The other side? A superpower that has been preparing for 9 years, with hundreds of people and untold millions spent on the case.”
Assange was arrested on April 11, after Ecuador revoked his political asylum and UK police seized him from the Latin American country’s embassy in London. He was sentenced to 50 weeks behind bars for skipping bail, and sent to Belmarsh, a prison south of London once dubbed 'British Guantanamo' for being used to jail terrorism suspects.
I am defenseless.
“I am unbroken, albeit literally surrounded by murderers, but, the days where I could read and speak and organize to defend myself, my ideals, and my people are over until I am free! Everyone else must take my place,” Assange wrote in the letter.
The WikiLeaks publisher had sought refuge in Ecuador in 2012, claiming – correctly, as it turned out – that trumped-up charges in Sweden would be used to get him extradited to the US. A secret indictment of Assange, only made public in March, charged him with violating the Espionage Act over the 2010 publication of secret US military and diplomatic documents.
“The US government, or rather, those regrettable elements in it that hate truth, liberty and justice, want to cheat their way into my extradition and death, rather than letting the public hear the truth, for which I have won the highest awards in journalism and have been nominated 7 times for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Assange wrote.
Truth, ultimately, is all we have.
The new charges against Assange have alarmed even the mainstream media outlets that have spent years pouring vitriol on WikiLeaks, as they began to realize his prosecution along those lines would essentially criminalize all journalism. However, because Assange and WikiLeaks have been demonized by advocates of the Russiagate conspiracy theory as “agents of the Kremlin” and spies, media pushback against the charges has been muted at best.
https://www.rt.com/news/460215-assange-letter-from-prison/
Trump ‘Hopes’ Barr Scrutinizes British And Australian Role In ‘Hoax’ Investigation
Sourced from QRes#8417
President Donald Trump said Friday he hopes the attorney general looks at the roles played by the British, Australian and Ukrainian governments in the investigation of the Trump campaign.
Trump called out the allied governments when asked about his decision to authorize Barr to declassify a slew of documents related to the origins of the Russia probe.
“I hope he looks at everything,” Trump said of Barr.
President Donald Trump on Friday said he hopes Attorney General William Barr looks at intelligence the British, Australian and Ukrainian governments provided their American counterparts as part of the investigation of the Trump campaign.
“And I hope he looks at the U.K., and I hope he looks at Australia, and I hope he looks at Ukraine. I hope he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country,” Trump told reporters of Barr.
Trump authorized Barr to declassify documents Thursday related to the FBI’s surveillance of the Trump campaign. He also instructed other federal agencies, including the CIA and FBI, to provide classified materials to Barr as part of an inquiry he is making into the government surveillance of the Trump campaign.
Barr has said while he believes “spying” occurred against the campaign, he wants to find out whether it was authorized and legal.
“[W]hat I’ve done is I’ve declassified everything,” Trump said Friday.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/24/trump-barr-australia-surveillance-uk/
Aussie MSM reporting of Trumps Comments
Sourced from QRes#8417
#1 9 News
US President Donald Trump wants Australia's role in sparking the 2016 FBI probe into potential links between his election campaign and Russia examined by US Attorney General William Barr.
In a potentially explosive development for the historically rock solid US-Australian alliance, Trump has publicly named Australia for the first time while discussing what he calls the "Russia hoax" and "witch hunt".
The move was denounced by some members of US Congress who predicted trust between the Five Eyes intelligence sharing nations - the US, Australia, UK, Canada and New Zealand - could be eroded.
Trump said he has declassified potentially millions of pages of intelligence documents related to surveillance activities on his campaign and Mr Barr would have "full and complete authority" to examine them.
"So what I've done is I've declassified everything," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday before departing on a trip to Japan.
https://www.9news.com.au/world/trump-raises-aust-role-in-russian-hoax/687aef2d-6468-4a54-a343-55b548da8d32
#2 SMH
Very similar initial content to 9 news article, so not worth repeating here.
But also…
Papadopoulos has repeatedly claimed Downer spied on him during the bar meeting, a claim which Downer has rejected.
Downer has said that Papadopoulos told him at the bar Russia had damaging material on Trump's presidential rival Hillary Clinton.
The information was forwarded to Canberra and then passed on to US intelligence services and the FBI.
Papadopoulos denies telling Downer anything about Russia obtaining damaging information on Clinton.
In response to Trump's announcement Papadopoulos tweeted: "I have kept the heat on the UK and Australia for a while now. They will finally be exposed. None more than Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer."
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/australia-in-trump-s-sights-for-russia-hoax-investigation-20190525-p51r28.html
Resignations in the region/Commonwealth … kek
Theresa May announces her resignation as prime minister and Conservative leader
https://www.businessinsider.com/theresa-may-resigns-as-prime-minister-and-conservative-leader-2019-5
SIR Vince Cable has finally quit as leader of the Lib Dems - hours after Prime Minister Theresa May's shock resignation
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1131687/vince-cable-resigns-lib-dem-leadership-theresa-may-brexit-news-european-elections
…interdasting
Huawei "Spent All Their Resources Stealing", Stunning New Exposé Shows
Sourced from QRes#8247
The accusations of Huawei stealing trade secrets from across the world are hitting a fever pitch, thanks to a new Wall Street Journal expose that blows open accusations of theft and stealing of trade secrets. The article includes insights from lawsuits, Huawei’s competitors and former employees. Allegations run the gamut against the company: from its business practices, to the science behind its 5G, all the way down to copying the text it used in its user manuals.
Huawei has grown into China’s global technology powerhouse, as a leader in 5G networks and giant maker of telecom equipment. The company employs 188,000 people in more than 170 countries and sells more smartphones than Apple. It also provides cloud services, manufactures microchips and runs internet cables undersea that help route global traffic.
The United States is finally following in the footsteps of places like Australia and putting pressure on the company out of concern for national security. Just last week, the Trump administration unveiled measures to help cut Huawei off from American suppliers and stop it from doing business in the United States. The administration believes that the company takes its orders directly from Beijing and that its standing as the top telecom company in the world makes it a powerful tool for China's authoritarian government.
Huawei writes the whole thing off as one big misunderstanding and says that it complies with laws in global markets: “We respect the integrity of intellectual property rights—for our own business, as well as peer, partner and competitor companies,” the company said.
The US had done little to confront Huawei head-on up until the last couple of months. This allowed the Chinese giant to grow bigger than companies like Cisco and Motorola, while at the same time settling civil litigation along the way without admitting fault.
Robert Read, a former contract engineer from 2002 to 2003 in Huawei’s Sweden office said:
“They spent all their resources stealing technology. You’d steal a motherboard and bring it back and they’d reverse-engineer it.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-25/huawei-spent-all-their-resources-stealing-stunning-new-expose-says
>Has this Australia thread been taken over by shills?
Doubtful. Not many here after ISPs blocked 8chan.
>Is that why the last Aus thread was attacked?
Not sure what you are referring to ? Site 404'd for someone … but I never had any issues accessing or posting to the site over the period it was allegedly "down" - but then again have enabled ENSI (refer attachment) so DNS blocks are no longer a issue.
Resignations in the Region
Sourced from QRes#8428
Papua New Guinea prime minister resigns after 7 years
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea – Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has resigned after seven years on the job.
His announcement follows weeks of high profile defections from his government to the opposition.
O'Neill said in a news conference in the capital of Port Moresby that recent movements in parliament have shown a "need for change."
He handed over his leadership to a former prime minister and current member of parliament, Sir Julius Chan.
On Friday, one of O Neill's key coalition allies abandoned him. The opposition bloc has since been saying it has 62 lawmakers in its camp, which would give it a majority in parliament.
The resignation will be formalized when O'Neill visits the governor-general, the official representative of Queen Elizabeth II.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/papua-new-guinea-prime-minister-resigns-after-7-years
Sea level data ALTERED by scientists to create false impression of rising oceans
Sourced from QRes#8432
A scientific paper published by a team of Australian researchers has revealed a startling find: Scientists at the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) have been “adjusting” historical data regarding tide levels in the Indian Ocean. Their “highly questionable” activities have depicted rapidly rising seas — but the truth is that there is no reason to be alarmed at all. Scientists have found that sea levels are stable — and have been for the entirety of the 20th century.
To put it simply, these PSMSL “scientists” have been arbitrarily changing their data in order to create the illusion of a problem that doesn’t actually exist.
According to the Australian research team, sea levels in the Indian ocean have remained stable for decades. Dr. Albert Parker and Dr. Clifford Ollier recently published their astounding research in the journal Earth Systems and Environment; their extensive research gives an in-depth look at how this massive deception was undertaken.
PSMSL “realigned” stable sea level trends
As the researchers report, there are multiple lines of evidence that show sea levels in the Indian Ocean are completely stable. Further, the scientific duo explains that the data-adjusters at PSMSL were taking “misaligned or incomplete” sea level data (which showed no rise in sea levels, or even decreasing sea levels) and “realigning” them.
As Parker and Ollier contend, “It is always highly questionable to shift data collected in the far past without any proven new supporting material.” But what makes the PSMSL’s data shifts even more questionable is the fact that older datasets were adjusted to look lower while all newer sets of sea level data were re-configured to appear higher. When these arbitrary adjustments are taken together, it creates the appearance of a significant and concerning rise in sea levels — one that is entirely artificial.
https://www.newstarget.com/2019-02-18-sea-level-data-altered-by-scientists-to-create-false-impression-of-rising-oceans.html
Citigroup, JP Morgan, UBS Face Forex Cartel Class Action in Australia
Sourced from QRes#8346
Citigroup Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among five banks named in a class action lawsuit in Australia seeking damages for colluding on foreign-exchange trading strategies.
UBS Group AG and Barclays Plc were also named in the suit lodged Monday in the Federal Court by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. The action claims the banks colluded to rig foreign exchange rates, boosting profits at the expense of Australian businesses and investors, the law firm said in a statement.
Spokespeople at Citi and JPMorgan in Sydney had no immediate comment on the suit. UBS didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. A representative for Barclays in Hong Kong declined to comment. A representative for RBS in London didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry outside of office hours.
Citi, RBS, JPMorgan and Barclays were among five lenders that agreed to pay European Union fines totaling 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion) earlier this month for colluding on foreign exchange strategies. UBS escaped a fine because it was the first to tell regulators about the collusion.
Read more: Loose lips and FX tips - how chats cost banks $1.2 billion
Traders allegedly used chat rooms bearing names such as “The Cartel,” “The Bandits’ Club,” and “The Mafia,” and communicated directly with each other to coordinate the manipulation of FX benchmark rates, control the pricing of spreads and to trigger client stop-loss orders and limit orders, Maurice Blackburn said.
The manipulation of benchmark foreign-exchange rates was exposed in 2013 via Bloomberg stories, triggering regulatory probes in the U.S., the U.K. and Switzerland. More than a dozen financial institutions have paid about $11.8 billion in fines and penalties globally, with another $2.3 billion spent to compensate customers and investors.
While the U.S. has won guilty pleas from JPMorgan, Citigroup, RBS and Barclays, three British traders in the group known as “The Cartel” were acquitted by a U.S. federal court last year of using a chatroom to coordinate trades and manipulate prices on the spot exchange rate for euros and U.S. dollars.
Maurice Blackburn’s suit claims Australian companies and investors, including importers, exporters, institutional investors and businesses with overseas operations have been affected by the distortion of currency markets by the five banks. The action is on behalf of customers who bought or sold more than A$500,000 ($347,000) of foreign currency between Jan. 1 2008 and Oct. 15, 2013, the law firm said.
https://www.bloomberg.com//news/articles/2019-05-27/citi-jpmorgan-ubs-face-forex-cartel-class-action-in-australia?srnd=markets-vp
George Pell will not seek reduced sentence if appeal against guilty verdict fails
RP from QRes#8439
Pell has been behind bars since February and is due to return to court next month to fight his conviction.
But he will not be adding an appeal against the six-year prison sentence handed down by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd in March.
Pell was ordered to serve at least three years and eight months of that sentence after being convicted by a jury in December of one charge of sexual penetration of a child and four charges of committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child.
Pell raped one 13-year-old choirboy and sexually molested his friend in the sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996 when he was newly-installed as Archbishop.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/george-pell-will-not-seek-reduced-sentence-if-appeal-against-guilty-verdict-fails/ar-AABY63J?ocid=spartanntp
Further Pell related Anon comments Re-Posted from QRes
Post#1:
>>6600091
>>6600103
Hey genius just think for a second.
Pell has 2 people over his entire career who come after him.
TWO
No twenty, not thirty, not even ten.
Over 50 plus years just TWO…..2
You ever think something is really wrong here????
This just not add up……
Pell could be like Flynn or Rogers….
He knows where the bodies are buried.
This could be the big frame up of exposing the entire PEDOPHILE elites of Australia.
Pedophilia isn't just stopping at one or two.
There is a lot more to this story to come.
Post#2:
>>6600395
I have wondered if Cardinel Pell was a "Vatican hit" to warn other Church leaders what will happen if you criticize this Pope or expose the corruption in the Vatican Bank. Notice how Pope Francis tried to cover and even promote other pedo bishops and cardinals. Not one word to vouch for Pell. I wonder if Pell is, as you said the Vatican's version of Flynn or Rogers.
Army Virtue-Tweet Backfires: 1000s Expose "Heartbreaking" Horrors Of War
RP from QRes#8439
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-26/army-virtue-tweet-backfires-1000s-expose-heartbreaking-horrors-war
Today is Memorial Day in the U.S., an occasion for remembering the fallen who have served in the military. The U.S. Army twitter account invited people to respond to the question "How has serving impacted you?"
https://twitter.com/USArmy/status/1131704927963766785
"Tweet after tweet after tweet, people used the opportunity that the Army had inadvertently given them to describe how they or their loved one had been chewed up and spit out by a war machine that never cared about them."
11,000 people have responded. Nearly all gave testimonies to the horrors of war, the destruction of lives and the inadequate care of wounded veterans. The Zerohedge article has another 2,400 comments.
Most realize that all the wars in our lifetime have served the interests of the elite at the expense of themselves or their family and friends. The people are awakening.
Would like to think Aus looks after its returned diggers a little better than the US, but wouldn't be surprised to hear its just as bad here.
Surprised to see this turn up in Aussie press.
US investigative journalist Alex Bruce finds evidence the UK interfered in the US election, not Russia (posted in Cairnsnews.org)
RP from QRes#8441
United Kingdom begs Trump not to declassify Russia files – The Crown interfered with the US election, not Russia. The City of London’s Operation Crossfire Hurricane tried to take down a US President. May’s resignation over Brexit is a red herring
For a very low-budget, simple video, this piece by The Vincent Vendetta Channel is very affecting.
We’ve touched on the topic of our Very British Coup d’État in the past but not often enough.
As the DECLAS unfolds, we’ll be hearing more about how the American Nightmare we’ve been living is actually the product of fevered British imaginations consumed with the Great Game.
Before the dodgy work-product commissioned by Hillary Clinton’s campaign became known as the “Pee-Pee Dossier” or as the “Steel Dossier”, it was referred to within the FBI as the “Crown material”. Why, one might ask?
Vincent Vendetta tells us, “Maybe it’s because Operation Crossfire hurricane, which is what they named the operation to take down a duly elected American president mostly occurred on UK soil…I think it’s important to understand that Operation Crossfire Hurricane was a UK state project, a cross-party project, meaning they were all involved [and] Theresa May is guilty of committing an Act of War against the United States, by order of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her Privy Council…The declassification of these documents will show how the UK Corporation risked all our lives in order to cover up their crimes.
“Would you like to know why [Theresa May] really resigned? You didn’t think it was about Brexit, did you? They never expected [Hillary] to lose and since the day she did, they’ve been pushing for a nuclear World War III with Russia!
“Expand your thinking. The Skripal Case, the Russian Dossier, all of it was lies. They risked a nuclear war on all of us, in order to cover up their crimes.
“What they were blaming Russia for, they were guilty of themselves. It was her majesty’s government that meddled with the US elections. It was the UK government that did their very best to overthrow a duly elected president. It was the UK government that wanted to overrule the American people. Now, ask yourselves, why on Earth would they do that? Their actions are, to put it mildly an Act of War.
“This is a message to the people of the United Kingdom as a nation. We need to start preparing for what’s about to come. The storm is here and this is a storm so big, it has the potential to devastate our political landscape and demolish the throne of this Kingdom.
https://cairnsnews.org/2019/05/27/us-election-meddling-had-everything-to-do-with-pm-theresa-may-resignation/
Lynas Corp., an Australian rare-earths processor, and Blue Line Corp., a chemical company which is already based in Texas, agreed to a partnership to "see that US companies have continued access to rare-earth products by offering a US-based source."
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/05/australian-rare-earth-ore-processor-wants-to-build-a-plant-in-the-us/
RP from QRes#8445
RP from QRes#8447
Looks like the Brits and Australians are trying to cover their asses now that it’s been revealed that Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer & Stefan Halper all participated in the attempted bribing of George Papadopoulos. All of this was conducted and set up by the Obama-Comey FBI and involved Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer & Stefan Halper.
BREAKING: U.K., Italian and Australian Government stand strongly against Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer & Stefan Halper’s actions against former Trump official Papadopoulos and are now actively cooperating with the Trump administration to investigate the FBI. https://t.co/VyjB5SzCVm
— BNL NEWS (@BreakingNLive) May 24, 2019
Funny how the Brits and Aussies wait until the details become public before standing against these three spies. Game Over coup plotters, 0 credits remaining. In another all too ironic twist, today is also the day that failed UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces she is stepping down. I wonder what part in this hole spying scheme May played. She was an epic failure on Brexit, I wouldn’t be surprised if she botched the Trump coup attempt too.
This is just the beginning. Thanks to Trump finally declassifying the spying/coup documents, we may finally see just how deep this whole coup attempt runs. Somehow, I doubt only the UK and Australia are involved.
https://www.pacificpundit.com/2019/05/24/u-k-italian-and-australian-government-stand-strongly-against-spies-joseph-mifsud-alexander-downer-stefan-halper/
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/william-barr-investigation-australia-open-to-help-request-payne-says/news-story/84c9428c1bd9cde0e2aa09608d2e8b9f (behind paywall it seems .. so cant copy n paste text, just RP original pic)
RP from QRes#8447
Resignations in the Region
Sourced from QRes#8447
Suncorp CEO Michael Cameron resigns
https://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/suncorp-ceo-michael-cameron-resigns-20190527-p51rg6
Anons comments on Marise Payne
RP from QRes#8448
Paynes an interesting one. She was Minister for Defence before Turnbull got the axe. So she overlooked the Australian Signals Directorate (NSA equivalent) and now shes Minister for Foreign Affairs and overlooks the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (CIA equivalent).
She knows whats going on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marise_Payne
Treated like trash: south-east Asia vows to return mountains of rubbish from west
RP from QRes#8448
Region begins pushback against deluge of plastic and electronic waste from UK, US and Australia
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/28/treated-like-trash-south-east-asia-vows-to-return-mountains-of-rubbish-from-west
Apparently its no longer OK to be white
RP from QRes#8448
Trademe (NZ ebay clone) removes "Its OK to be White" T-shirts because the Human Rights Commission declared them to portray "intolerance, racism and division".
Usual 4chan dis in the article.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/lifestyle/style/trade-me-pulls-its-okay-to-be-white-t-shirts/ar-AAC1nT7?li=BBqdb1S&ocid=mailsignout
New Zealand Gun Control Lobby Pushes Registration, Total Semiautomatic Ban
RP from QRes#8449
Gun Control NZ is pushing for registration of all firearms and a broadened ban against owning semiautomatic firearms.
On April 1, 2019, Breitbart News reported New Zealand’s ban on “military-style” rifles also prohibited ownership of pump shotguns, “high capacity” magazines, and certain gun parts. These controls were enacted in response to the March 15, 2019, Christchurch attacks and RNZ reports that Gun Control NZ is already petitioning parliament to expand these controls and add new ones.
They want a national firearm register, a requirement gun owners renew gun registration every three years, and gun prohibition expansion that would cover all semiautomatic firearms.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/05/28/nz-more-gun-control/
Australian navy pilots struck by lasers in South China Sea
RP from QRes#8455
May 28, 2019
Witness says Australian navy helicopter pilots were hit by lasers while exercising in the South China Sea, forcing them to land as a precaution.
Scholar Euan Graham, who was on board the Royal Australian Navy flagship HMAS Canberra on a voyage from Vietnam to Singapore, said in an account of the incident that the lasers had been pointed from passing fishing vessels while the Canberra was being trailed by a Chinese warship.
While bridge-to-bridge communications with the Chinese during the voyage were courteous, the Chinese requested the Australian warships notify them in advance of any corrections to their course. That was something the Australian navy was "not about to concede while exercising its high-seas freedoms," Graham wrote.
China maintains a robust maritime militia in the South China Sea composed of fishing vessels equipped to carry out missions just short of combat.
China claims the strategic waterway virtually in its entirety and is sensitive to all foreign naval action in the area, especially by the US and allies such as Australia.
Similar incidents involving lasers and the Chinese military have also been reported as far away as Djibouti, where the US and China have bases. Last year, the US complained to China after lasers were directed at aircraft in the Horn of Africa nation that resulted in minor injuries to two American pilots. China denied that its forces targeted the US military aircraft.
The constant presence of Chinese vessels shadowing foreign ships appeared to indicate that the Chinese fleet had grown large enough to allow it to have vessels lying in wait for just such orders.
Their trailing actions also appeared to show that China's over-the-horizon surveillance capability was also maturing, supported by technology based at points such as Fiery Cross Reef in the contested Spratly island group where China has built military installations and an airstrip atop coral reefs.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/australian-navy-pilots-struck-by-lasers-in-south-china-sea-report-20190529-p51s68.html
https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2019/05/28/report-australian-navy-pilots-hit-by-lasers-in-south-china-sea/
Boy who 'egged' Australian politician has donates $100K GoFundMe cash to Christchurch mosque shooting victims.
RP from QRes#8455
This whole story sounds like it was dreamt up in a leftist think-tank. A total set-up imho.
"Egg Boy has donated $99,922.36 to the victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings on March 15 which killed 51 people.
Teenager Will Connolly made headlines around the world after cracking a raw egg over controversial former politician Fraser Anning’s head.
The egging came after Mr Anning made victim-blaming comments in the wake of Christchurch mosque shootings.
Mr Connolly was arrested following the incident which also saw Mr Anning and his supporters retaliate, with one crowd member holding him on the ground in a chokehold.
This prompted the creation of a GoFundMe page to raise funds for his legal fees. However, Mr Connolly promised to donate the money to the victims.
“Finally!!! After a huge amount of red tape, $99,922.36 has today been transferred to the Christchurch Foundation and Victims Support,” he said on Instagram last night.
“For those of you who don’t know, there were two GoFundMe pages set up to help cover the cost of my legal fees and to ‘buy more eggs’.
“Gratefully, Gordon Legal acted pro-bono for me so I don’t have any legal fees.
“I decided to donate all monies to help provide some relief to the victims of the massacre … it wasn’t mine to keep.”"
https://www.news.com.au/national/egg-boy-donates-100000-towards-christchurch-foundation-and-victim-support/news-story/d1811d20df6a9eda9883131a5b0a03b0
"America: remember this, the FBI under Jim Comey was trying to entrap Americans working for president Trump. FBI assets like Joseph Mifsud and Alexander Downer will all be exposed. The Russians were non existent. Keep the heat on the UK/Australia/Italy and have them flip on Comey."
https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1133528552249253888
US Marine killed in NT training accident
RP from QRes#8459
A 21-year-old decorated United States Marine has died, days after a military training accident at an Australian Defence Force facility in the Northern Territory.
Lance Corporal Hans Sandoval-Pereyra died on Wednesday after succumbing to injuries he received during a tactical vehicle accident on the weekend, a media release from the US Marines said.
He was involved in routine training at Mount Bundey Training Area, east of Darwin on Saturday when the accident occurred and was taken by helicopter to Royal Darwin Hospital, where he died.
One other Marine received minor injuries from the accident and was released from the hospital.
The training was described in the Marine Expeditionary Force media release as routine.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/us-marine-killed-while-training-in-nt/news-story/402af9dce016507abf97d2b829052664
Odd this Marine was in Australia 13.5 hours ago and now he's in Norway?
What are they trying to tell us?
(RP from QRes#8460)
>>6616575 LB Marine in Australia & Norway
Anon raises more questions about Norway - relevance to US Marine tweets ?
RP from QRes#8461
Any Oil/Investment Fags want to break this down for me? What is really going on here?
Last 24 hour NORWAY headlines:
Here’s What Lawmakers Want to Do With Norway’s $1 Trillion Fund (Sovereign wealth fund from divesting some of it's oil stocks)
Norway to shut at least 2 oilfields in case of strike (5 more will be next)
"UPDATE 2-Norway’s oil industry eyes 17% growth in 2019 investments"
"Venezuela talks in Norway must focus on Maduro departure: US"(happening now)
Because of US Sanctions "Venezuela Oil exports — which represent more than 90 percent of export revenue — have dropped by some 40 percent since January."
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/28/reuters-america-update-2-norways-oil-industry-eyes-17-percent-growth-in-2019-investments.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-29/here-s-what-lawmakers-want-to-do-with-norway-s-1-trillion-fund?srnd=premium-europe
https://www.reuters.com/article/norway-oil-strike-idAFL8N2354ZV
https://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-talks-norway-must-focus-maduro-departure-us-185304999.html
Australia poised for rate cut as economy continues to weaken
RP from QRes#8461
The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut its policy rate next week due to falling growth and low inflation levels.
The RBA has maintained its policy rate at 1.5% since August 2016 and policy-makers previously seemed reluctant to make changes. However, constant weak inflation and a declining property market is forcing the bank to consider a cut.
Earlier this month, the RBA downgraded its growth predictions for the second time in six months. It forecasts that the economy will grow 2.6%
https://www.centralbanking.com/central-banks/monetary-policy/monetary-policy-decisions/4227191/australia-poised-for-rate-cut-as-economy-continues-to-weaken
@StandWithUs (((Israel)))
https://twitter.com/StandWithUs/status/1133709914772258817
Welcome back home 🏠 🇮🇱.
Frank Lowy, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor who fought in #Israel's War of Independence and then went on to become one of Australia's richest people, has finally made Aliyah and returned home to Israel.
5:21 AM - 29 May 2019
Australian navy helicopter pilots were reportedly targeted with laser beams from fishing boats in South China Sea
RP from QRes#8466
Australian navy pilots were targeted with laser beams during an exercise in the South China Sea, a security analyst who observed Australia's operations said.
Euan Graham, an Asian security expert, said that pilots told him they were repeatedly targeted by laser beams as they flew, and that helicopters had to be temporarily grounded as a precaution.
He said that Australia was followed by a Chinese warship and the attacks could be be Chinese boats, as China's "approach in the South China Sea is to try to make life difficult for foreign aircraft and warships there."
US military pilots were targeted with lasers in the East China Sea last year, according to multiple reports.
https://www.businessinsider.com/australian-navy-pilots-hit-lasers-south-china-sea-reports-2019-5
New Zealand removes any reference to Jesus from parliamentary prayer!
RP from QRes#8468
In the wake of the Christchurch mosque attack, we come to find out that New Zealand has removed references to Jesus from the parliamentary prayer, sparking outrage among the country’s Christian population.
Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard, made the decision to drop references to Jesus in order to make the prayer “more inclusive” for all parliamentarians.
The Guardian reported: A reference to “almighty god” remains, but it is not a specific reference to a Christian god.
The protesters want Jesus’s name reinstated, and held signs reading “Dishonourable Judas Mallard”.
Around 1,000 people protested on the steps of parliament house in Wellington, arguing that New Zealand was a Christian nation and Mallard had no authority to axe Jesus’s name.
“He needs a good kick in his pants, and he needs to actually be removed because this is a Christian nation”, protester Rieki Teutscher told Radio NZ. “We don’t share his atheism.”
Another protester, Carmel Morgan, said Mallard should have consulted with New Zealanders or announced a referendum before changing the prayer.
“This is a land of democracy, this is a land of freedom, you know, we want to be a first world country… he took that choice away from us.”
Politicians such as Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters have said it would have been judicious for the speaker to have consulted more widely before actioning the changes.
“Well the decision as to what should be changed should be made by parliamentarians and not the speaker – that’s our position, I don’t mind telling you publicly”, deputy prime minister Winston Peters told RNZ.
“If you’re going to make a change let’s have parliament decide – not one person.”
Mallard said he had consulted with parliamentarians and the majority had indicated they were in favour of a secular prayer.
The brethren in NZ need anon prayers more than ever it seems!
https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/03/new-zealand-removes-any-reference-to-jesus-from-parliamentary-prayer/
(Yet) Another Papa D tweet
RP from QRes#8472
My testimony against Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer, opened the flood gates. Declass is here. The hammer is coming down hard.
https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1133998522506702848?s=19
Australia military pilots were targeted by lasers aimed at them from fishing trawlers in the South China Sea during routine operations.
RP from QRes#8478
Euan Graham, an academic from the La Trobe University, who was on board the HMAS Canberrawrote of the incident. Graham said the Canberra, a helicopter landing ship, was followed by a Chinese warship at a distance during its deployment.
Don Rothwell, a maritime law expert at the Australian National University, described the use of lasers in a ‘pseudo-military context’ as a new development. He explained that lasers can potentially blind the pilots and hinder them from properly navigating the aircraft.
The lasers were aimed from fishing trawlers, which have been recruited by the Chinese navy to act as a militia force in the South China sea.
Rothwell said these were no ordinary fishing vessels, but China’s maritime ‘militia fishing boats’. He explained that their purpose was ‘only to disrupt’. “We have seen the deployment of the Chinese militia to swarm or enclose areas that are subject of Filipino occupation as part of the Philippines territorial claim in the South China Sea.”
The U.S. military had encountered similar incidents at the American airbase in Djibouti, in East Africa. In 2016, China built its military base, first in overseas, a few miles away from the American airbase, and had installed lasers there . Dana White, a Pentagon spokeswoman alleged in 2018 that two US military pilots, while landing their C-130 transport airplane at Camp Lemonnier, suffered minor eye damage from lasers hitting the cockpit."
ibtimes.com/australian-military-pilots-targeted-lasers-south-china-sea-2796381
No 5G in Brussels - Radiation concerns
Sourced from QRes#8478
Yet here we are in Aus, gunning to get 5G up and running … hmmm
https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/brussels-all-news/55052/radiation-concerns-halt-brussels-5g-for-now/
New Mosquito eradication method
RP from QRes#8479
"We demonstrated that the efficacy of the transgenic fungi is so much better than the wild type that it justifies continued development," said Raymond St. Leger, a Distinguished University Professor of Entomology at UMD and co-author of the study.
The fungus is a naturally occurring pathogen that infects insects in the wild and kills them slowly. It has been used to control various pests for centuries. The scientists used a strain of the fungus that is specific to mosquitoes and engineered it to produce a toxin that kills mosquitoes more rapidly than they can breed. This transgenic fungus caused mosquito populations in their test site to collapse to unsustainable levels within two generations.
"You can think of the fungus as a hypodermic needle we use to deliver a potent insect-specific toxin into the mosquito," said St. Leger.
The toxin is an insecticide called Hybrid. It is derived from the venom of the Australian Blue Mountains funnel-web spider and has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for application directly on crops to control agricultural insect pests.
"Simply applying the transgenic fungus to a sheet that we hung on a wall in our study area caused the mosquito populations to crash within 45 days," Lovett said. "And it is as effective at killing insecticide-resistant mosquitoes as non-resistant ones."
-more-
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190530141501.htm
Given the increase in mosquito borne dengue fever and other diseases occurring further south than ever before, something like this might prove a useful control method for the little fuckers
ASSANGE SHOWS SIGNS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TOTURE
RP from QRes#8485
"Julian Assange is showing all the symptoms associated with prolonged exposure to psychological torture and should not be extradited to the US, according to a senior UN expert who visited him in prison.
Nils Melzer, UN’s special rapporteur on torture, is expected to make his appeal to the UK government on Friday. It comes after Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks, was said by his lawyers to be too ill to appear by video link for the latest court hearing of the case on Thursday.
Assange has been moved to the health ward of Belmarsh prison, London, where he has been serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail while fighting extradition to the US. He is accused of violating the Espionage Act by publishing secret documents containing the names of confidential US military and diplomatic sources.
After meeting Assange earlier this month in the company of medical experts who examined him, Melzer will say on Friday that he fears the Australian’s human rights could be seriously violated if he is extradited to the US and will condemn what he describes as the “deliberate and concerted abuse inflicted for years” on him."
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/31/julian-assange-shows-psychological-torture-symptoms-says-un-expert
OP Anon's comments
MSM says nothing, we do nothing?
If this country/POTUS lets him die in a UK prison, then we are NO better than the DS we'd like to take down. If we are the news, then president Trump needs to hear from us. No media coverage = no change.
He was responsible for Trump getting a lot of votes since he started the red pill process for so many people. Would we even know so much about Hillary, etc without Assange? Do you climb over him on the way up and then dispose of him? That's our deep state, not us.
There's also the freedom of the press to consider. Even if he gave password advice, I think he's paid enough. He's now too ill to communicate well. He needs to be here, getting better medical treatment. And PARDONED for whatever they think he did. And time seems to be growing short.
Please, Pres Trump, don't let him die over there. He needs saving NOW.
Nestle Says Requirement to Report Use of Slave Labor Would Cost Consumers More Money
RP from QRes#8488
While the Free Thought Project often reports on the megacorp Nestle and their rampant abuse and exploitation of drinking water supplies across the nation, few are aware that the company has been found using slave labor. What’s more, as governments across the world attempt to crack down the use of slave labor by requiring companies to report on its use, Nestle is fighting it, saying that it will end up costing consumers at the register.
Late last month, Nestle issued a warning against proposed legislation that would require them to report on their efforts to weed out slavery within their company. The company says the cost of checking to see if they are forcing people to work against their will end up being passed on to the consumer.
As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, companies operating in Australia with an annual turnover of $100 million or more would be required to annually report on the risks of modern slavery within their business and the actions they’ve taken to address those risks under the federal government’s draft Modern Slavery Bill 2018.
Nestle owns over 2000 brands and operates in 189 countries and has a history of using slave labor to produce its products. Yet they are warning against the legislation that would have them report on issues related to human trafficking, slavery, sexual servitude and child labor within their businesses’ operation and supply chains.
In a senate committee last month, Nestle claimed that the reporting requirements to keep them from participating in slavery and human trafficking would add “cost and time” to its businesses and suppliers “which will need to be borne somewhere.”
“While we are of the view that the mandatory requirements are sensible, in practical terms this difference means that multinational companies will have to prepare bespoke statements for each country in which they are required to report,” Nestle’s submission said.
” … Not all suppliers may bear those costs themselves; some may pass them on to customers/consumers.”
As TFTP reported in 2016, Nestle became embroiled in controversy, as the company went public with the admission that slave labor had been found in the multinational company’s supply chain in Thailand. Nestle claimed at the time that they would promise to self police and rid themselves of this problem.
One would think that since they claimed to already be self-policing, that simply passing this information on to the Australian government would be an easy task. However, evidence of Nestle’s lack of follow through on self-regulation can be clearly seen in the Engel-Harkin (aka the Cocoa Protocol), in which it promised to self-regulate and ultimately end child slave labor in their supply chain — signed in 2001.
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/nestle-anti-slavery-bill-cost/
Another day .. (yet) Another Papa D Tweet
RP from QRes#8488
"Keep the heat on the U.K. and Australia! they are the weak links. They are in the midst of tremendous political changes and need America more than ever in the changing world. Force them to disclose their spying on the campaign and throw Comey/Brennan under the bus."
https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1134534678126288896
Glad to see you got it sorted.
Its sad to see that Big Brother in the first place deemed this place (as a whole) as off limits, given the actions of a few mouth breathers.
Funny how once you spend a little time here, you work out your own filtering system (soon enough) and all the spam/hater nonsense getting posted thread after thread tends is just ignored and move on.
Australia-Japan-United States Defense Ministers Meeting Joint Press Statement
RP from QRes#8498
Australian Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds, Japanese Minister of Defense Takeshi Iwaya, and U.S.Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, convened a trilateral defense ministerial meeting in Singapore on June 1 on the margins of the 18th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit (2019 Shangri-La Dialogue). The ministers were united in their shared commitment to do more together in support of security, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. This was the eighth meeting among the three nations’ defense leaders.
Minister Iwaya and Acting Secretary Shanahan congratulated Minister Reynolds on her appointment to Minister for Defence following Australia’s recent elections. The ministers affirmed their shared vision for an Indo-Pacific region that is open, inclusive, rules based and respectful of sovereignty, where disputes are resolved peacefully and free of coercion. The ministers recognized the importance of supporting Association of South East Asian Nations-led regional architecture and their support for ASEAN centrality which has played an instrumental role in establishing norms of behavior and habits of cooperation in the region. The Australian and Japanese ministers welcomed the United States Indo-Pacific Strategy Report announced by Acting Secretary Shanahan. The ministers agreed to continue to closely coordinate support to the region to maximize the benefits of their national and combined engagement activities in the region in a transparent, efficient and effective manner under their shared strategic vision.
The ministers underscored the importance of the international community’s ongoing commitment to achieving North Korea’s abandonment of all of its weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missiles, and related programs and facilities in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner in accordance with relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs). The ministers welcomed the United States’ and Republic of Korea’s diplomatic efforts to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and called on North Korea to return to negotiations with the United States toward this goal. They confirmed that while a diplomatic path to peace on the Korean Peninsula exists, North Korea remains an extraordinary threat, exemplified by its recent missile launches, that requires continued vigilance. They agreed to continue to fully enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. The ministers welcomed and reaffirmed their commitment to sustained international cooperation to deter, disrupt, and ultimately eliminate illicit activities, such as illegal ship-to-ship transfers.
https://dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1863427/australia-japan-united-states-defense-ministers-meeting-joint-press-statement/source/GovDelivery/
(cont)
The ministers expressed strong opposition to the use of any coercive unilateral actions that seek to alter the status quo or increase tensions in the East China Sea. They also expressed their intention to remain in close contact on the security situation in that area with a view to deter such actions.
The ministers discussed the importance of adherence to international law and their shared commitment to upholding freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea. The ministers remained seriously concerned about any action including militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea that are destabilizing or dangerous. They emphasized the importance of the peaceful resolution of conflict in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and expressed strong opposition to the use of force or coercion to alter the status quo; calling instead for all countries in the region to take meaningful steps to ease tension and build trust. All sides called for the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea to be consistent with existing international law, as reflected in UNCLOS; to not prejudice the interests of third parties or the rights of all states under international law; to reinforce existing inclusive regional architecture; and to strengthen parties’ commitments to cease actions that would complicate or escalate disputes.
The ministers underscored their commitment to work with their Pacific partners to support a Pacific region that is prosperous, secure and respects sovereignty. The ministers welcomed and acknowledged the significance of each state’s military-to-military activities, particularly when those activities contributed to whole of government engagement with the Pacific.
The ministers agreed on a Strategic Action Agenda (SAA) that articulates their shared long-term vision for trilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. They affirmed the SAA would enable their respective defense organizations to plan and implement enhanced trilateral defense cooperative activities.
The ministers underscored the close defense relationship between the three countries, and agreed to do more to coordinate their respective regional defense engagement activities, such as joint exercises and training and capacity building.
https://dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1863427/australia-japan-united-states-defense-ministers-meeting-joint-press-statement/source/GovDelivery/
2/2
‘Record Number’ of Migrant Boats in English Channel, ‘Home Office Needs to Get a Grip’
RP from QRes#8499
The number of boats transporting illegal migrants to Britain appears to have hit a daily record, with HM Coastguard reporting it has assisted with 13 “incidents” off the Kent coast and a dinghy sighted off East Sussex.
The Kent incidents involved nine boats carrying dozens of migrants, according to Sky News — prompting Charlie Elphicke, MP for the Dover and Deal constituency on the frontline of the crisis, to admonish the authorities.
“If confirmed this would be a record number of boats arriving in a single day. This crisis was meant to have been dealt with at Christmas, yet numbers continue to rise,” he tweeted, in reference to Home Secretary and Tory leadership hopeful Sajid Javid having declared already “major incident” in the Channel as the number of boats were beginning to surge over the festive period.
“It looks set to surge to record levels through the Summer. The Home Office needs to get a grip on this crisis,” Elphicke added.
The MP warned that the Channel crisis was “about much more than simply border security”, noting that the “the exploitation of vulnerable people by criminal trafficking gangs” and the inherent dangerousness of the voyages were also concerns.
He reiterated the urgent need for the British and French authorities to crack down on the people-smugglers to avert “a tragedy in the middle of the English Channel resulting in loss of life”.
Australia managed to avert a similar crisis in the Pacific with its Operation Sovereign Borders policy, which deterred migrants from embarking on journeys in the first place by making it clear that anyone reaching their country by sea would either be turned back or, if found to be genuine refugees, resettled in another safe country.
While the boat migrants crisis has concentrated the minds of politicians and commentators on illegal migration into Britain, the hundreds of people involved make up a relatively small proportion of clandestine entrants — with tens of thousands still using more tried and true methods of breaking into lorries, ferries, or the Channel Tunnel in order to make their crossing.
Unlike the Australians, the British are able to deport very few illegal migrants who do make it to British soil or territorial waters, despite France — where most come from — being a safe country, thanks to onerous EU asylum regulations.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/06/01/record-number-migrant-boats-english-channel/
Former bank director calls for Sir John Key to be forced to resign from ANZ
RP from QRes#8499
A former top bank director has reportedly called for former Prime Minister Sir John Key to resign "or be removed" as chairman of ANZ following an incident that saw it censured by the Reserve Bank.
In a letter to Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr, Kerry McDonald, the chairman of BNZ for 12 years until 2008, said he was "amazed" at the limited penalty imposed on the bank, Stuff reported.
McDonald also took aim at several others at ANZ – including chief executive David Hisco – saying they should resign.
The Reserve Bank revoked ANZ Bank New Zealand's accreditation to model its own operational risk capital requirement due to a "persistent failure" in its controls and attestation process.
The decision means ANZ is now required to use the standardised approach for calculating appropriate operational risk capital. From March 2019, this will increase its minimum capital held for operational risk by around 60 per cent, to $760 million.
According to the Reserve Bank, ANZ's failure to use an approved model was revealed after encouraging ANZ to review its attestation and assess its compliance with capital regulations.
A spokesperson for ANZ said: "ANZ New Zealand does not believe there is a systemic failure in its controls and attestation processes.
"While isolated, and with no impact on customers or the operation of the bank, ANZ New Zealand is disappointed this error occurred.
"Mr McDonald is welcome to discuss the issue with us at any time."
Sir John Key was named chairman of ANZ Bank's local arm in October 2017 and began his role in early 2018.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12236522
So much for climate change kek
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2019GL083163
Is the Southern Ocean getting greener?
RP from QRes#8506
Abstract
The Southern Ocean is a key player in regulating the planet's biogeochemistry, productivity, and climate. Ocean color data from two NASA satellites show statistically significant increases in the concentration of chlorophyll in all sectors of the Southern Ocean, particularly in the Sub?Antarctic Zone and Permanently Open Ocean Zone. The smallest changes were observed in the Atlantic and Pacific sectors of the Sub?Tropical Zone. These trends seem accentuated by higher chlorophyll concentrations during the austral winter. Increases in the annual and wintertime chlorophyll concentrations can have implications for the Southern Ocean biological pump and ocean productivity and higher trophic levels.
Plain Language Summary
The Southern Ocean is getting greener because the amount of marine plants (phytoplankton) has been increasing in the last 21 years. These changes appear to be happening faster during the winter, which suggests that the growing season is getting longer. This is important because the Southern Ocean has a big role in the biology and chemistry of the oceans, and in regulating the Earth's climate. This work was done using 21 years of data from two NASA satellites.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083163
Looks like it blooming in plankton … must be all the carbon dioxide/monoxide in the air like most plant life needs to thrive. kek.
Climbing group (including 2 Aussies) missing on Everest
RP from QRes#8507
"A group of eight climbers – including two Americans – has gone missing while attempting to scale India's second-highest mountain, sparking a massive search as one official disclosed Sunday they are unlikely to be found amid reports of a "sizable avalanche."
The group, led by British climber Martin Morgan, began its ascent on May 13 up to a previously unclimbed peak on Nanda Devi East at 21,250 feet, according to Moran Mountain, Moran's Scotland-based company. The team was made up of four Britons, two Americans, an Australian and an Indian liaison officer."
foxnews.com/world/missing-climbers-in-himalayas-face-bleak-chance-of-survival-after-trying-to-scale-indias-second-highest-mountain-official-says
Exposing The Lawlessness Of Assange's 'Slow Assassination'
With the news that Julian Assange is “wasting away” in Belmarsh prison hospital, and with UN rapporteur Professor Nils Melzer’s report detailing how this happens, I’m once again drawn towards the lawlessness that all “authorities” involved in his case have been displaying, and with impunity. They all apparently think they are literally above the law. Their own laws.
But they can’t be, nowhere, not above their respective national laws nor the international ones their countries have signed up to. They can’t, because that would instantly make any and all laws meaningless. So you tell me where we find ourselves today.
There’s this paragraph in an article by Jonathan Cook entitled Abuses Show Assange Case Was Never About Law, which lists “17 glaring anomalies in Assange’s legal troubles”, that sums it all up pretty perfectly:
Australia not only refused Assange, a citizen, any help during his long ordeal, but prime minister Julia Gillard even threatened to strip Assange of his citizenship, until it was pointed out that it would be illegal for Australia to do so.
See, Cook is already skipping a step there. Gillard didn’t take Assange’s citizenship away, because that is against Australian law, but it’s just as much against Australian law for a government to let one of its citizens rot in some kind of hell. Still, they did let him rot, but as an Australian citizen. At that point, what difference does anything make anymore?
This is a pattern that runs through the entire Assange “file”, and it does so to pretty astonishing levels. Where you’re forced to think that the countries involved effectively have no laws, and no courts, because if they did, the actions by their governments would surely be whistled back by parliaments or judges or someone, anyone. They’re all essentially lawless.
There are 5 principal countries involved in the case (that doesn’t absolve any other country from its own responsibility for speaking out when international laws are broken). In alphabetical order, they are Australia, Ecuador, Sweden, the UK and the US. We can go through them in that order.
Moar>
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-01/exposing-lawlessness-assanges-slow-assassination
Malaysian PM Says No Evidence Russia Shot Down MH17
RP from QRes#8507
"Australia's prime state run news service ABC News noted the Malaysian PM's speech has sent shock waves through the region as it questioned everything Australia's own leaders have said. "From the very beginning we see too much politics in it," Mahathir said in reference to the official Dutch-led investigation."
"The Malaysian PM further went so far as to point to Ukrainian pro-government forces as being prime suspects: “It could be by the rebels in Ukraine; it could be Ukrainian government because they too have the same missile,” he said."
Moar at link
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-31/jaw-dropping-speech-malaysian-pm-says-no-evidence-russia-shot-down-mh17
Video of Malaysian PM speech linked from ZH article.
https://youtu.be/veasiPEfjZ8
-
Q&A on Huawei, plastic waste, ASEAN country relations,
-
Ukraine missile remarks at 40:35
They’ve Stolen Our Future!
RP from QRes#8509
It’s time to have a serious conversation. I know we’ve been having it, but maybe there’s another glove hidden beneath the one we’ve already taken off.
Put bluntly, there doesn’t seem to be any hope of avoiding a collapse of civilization. The forces of the Business-As-Usual crowd are just too strong, the narrative machine too honed, the interests too entrenched to allow any sort of meaningful course correction at this time.
But is that the case?
Writing about the outcomes of the recent Australian elections which saw a pro-business, conservative government elected, Australian based reader-member ezlxq1949 said:
“They’ve stolen our future!”
That was the wail of the 11-y.o. daughter of a Greens candidate who cried herself to sleep the night after the astonishing election results came in. It couldn’t be worse; the public have sold themselves into almost complete captivity to the neoliberal élites called the Liberal Party. (Liberal = Conservative. Go figure.) It was supposed to have been a climate change election but became a jobs ‘n growth election.
Mind you, it wouldn’t have been much better if the opposition Labor Party had won; they’ve moved so far to the right that like the US we really have only one party with two heads. For instance, Labor would not commit to stopping the monster Adani coal mine.
So it’s goodbye to:
the ABC (the excellent government broadcaster which has the gall and temerity to criticise the government of the day; the government badly wants to get even)
renewable energy (fossil fools rule ok)
the Great Barrier Reef (sliced and diced to let coal ships cross it)
our river systems (suck them dry, privatise the water, send the profits to the Cayman Islands — as is already happening)
the Great Artesian Basin (world’s largest and deepest, to be contaminated by coal mines and fracking)
public services (cut back yet again to create a damaging government budget surplus)
public health (to be Americanised)
public education (to be privatised; maybe high schools this time)
the Great Australian Bight (a pristine area which may have oil under it; damn the pollution, full greed ahead)
southern ocean fish stocks (they’ll let the supertrawlers in now).
The environment is completely expendable. All resources are permanently abundant and all will be fed into the growth machine. Climate change is NOT HAPPENING. It’s fake, right? Bah. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we fry.
There’s one ray of hope. Steve Keen predicts a severe recession, Depression really, within 6 months to a year from now. Our economy is indeed wobbling already. This will happen on the Liberals’ watch and they will be blamed for mismanaging the economy. This isn’t supposed to happen. Only Labor does that. Only Labor mismanages the economy. That’s what the Murdoch press drums into our heads. The Libs will panic. The Murdoch press won’t know what to say. Maybe this will shake up people’s belief and confidence in mainstream economics.
I’m not sleeping well at the moment. I wonder why.
https://www.peakprosperity.com/daily-digest-5-21-how-tariffs-impact-the-u-s-economy-and-workers-glyphosate-effects-on-earthworms/?replytocom=121206#comment-121206
https://www.peakprosperity.com/theyve-stolen-our-future-2/
Assange won’t face charges over role in devastating CIA leak
RP from QRes#8509
The decision surprised national security experts and some former officials, given prosecutors’ recent decision to go after the WikiLeaks founder on Espionage Act charges.
The Justice Department has decided not to charge Julian Assange for his role in exposing some of the CIA’s most secret spying tools, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the case.
It’s a move that has surprised national security experts and some former officials, given prosecutors’ recent decision to aggressively go after the WikiLeaks founder on more controversial Espionage Act charges that some legal experts said would not hold up in court. The decision also means that Assange will not face punishment for publishing one of the CIA’s most potent arsenals of digital code used to hack devices, dubbed Vault 7. The leak — one of the most devastating in CIA history — not only essentially rendered those tools useless for the CIA, it gave foreign spies and rogue hackers access to them.
Prosecutors were stymied by several factors.
First, the government is facing a ticking clock in its efforts to extradite Assange to the United States from the United Kingdom, where he is being held. Extradition laws require the U.S. to bring any additional charges against Assange within 60 days of the first indictment, which prosecutors filed in March, accusing Assange of helping former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning hack into military computers.
Second, prosecutors were worried about the sensitivity of the Vault 7 materials, according to an official familiar with the deliberations over whether to charge Assange. Broaching such a classified subject in court risks exposing even more CIA secrets, legal experts said. The CIA has never officially confirmed the authenticity of the leaked documents, even though analysts widely believe them to be authentic.
“There is no question that there are leak cases that can’t be prosecuted against the leaker or the leakee because the information is so sensitive that, for your proof at trial, you would have to confirm it is authentic,” said Mary McCord, who was acting assistant attorney general for national security at the Justice Department until 2017. “So the irony, often, is that the higher the classification of the leaked material, the harder it is to prosecute.”
So instead, the Justice Department will go after Assange on the one count for allegedly assisting Manning and the 17-count Espionage Act indictment. There are no plans to bring any additional indictments prior to his extradition.
https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/06/02/julian-assange-cia-leak-1349425
Trump Administration Considered Tariffs on Australia
RP from QRes#8513
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration considered imposing tariffs on imports from Australia last week, but decided against the move amid fierce opposition from military officials and the State Department, according to several people familiar with the discussions.
Some of President Trump’s top trade advisers had urged the tariffs as a response to a surge of Australian aluminum flowing onto the American market over the past year. But officials at the Defense and State Departments told Mr. Trump the move would alienate a top ally and could come at significant cost to the United States.
The administration ultimately agreed not to take any action, at least temporarily.
The measure would open yet another front in a global trade war that has pitted the United States against allies like Canada, Mexico, Europe and Japan, and deepened divisions with countries like China. It would also be the end of a reprieve for the only country to be fully exempted from the start from steel and aluminum tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed last year.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/business/trump-australia-tariffs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
"Chinese warships arrive in Sydney Harbour for four-day stop.
RP from QRes#8514
Three massive Chinese warships made a showy arrival in Sydney Harbour this morning ahead of a four-day stopover in the city.
The ships, which are carrying around 700 sailors, docked at Garden Island navy base after requesting safe harbour from Australia, according to The Australian.
In a detail that has left some people concerned, the visit from the warships comes one day before the 30-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre when Chinese troops opened fire on protesters, resulting in 241 deaths."
This Ausfag doesn't like this development at all.
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/chinese-warships-arrive-in-sydney-harbour-for-fourday-stop/news-story/55ab2bf5abc05486ff2023180c147e1b
RP from QRes#8514
You know, we may fuck up a several billion dollar stealth jet - but at least we can manage to get our standard issue assault rifles right…
$100m army rifle comes with an explosive defect
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/100m-army-rifle-comes-with-an-explosive-defect/news-story/48426e5ff671bb7cc5903a974bce5851
RP from QRes#8514
‘I would not stand in the way of Assange's extradition’ – UK Foreign Secretary Hunt
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is also vying to become prime minister, said he would not hamper Julian Assange's extradition to the US. Charges against the WikiLeaks founder carry up to 175 years in prison.
Washington wants Assange prosecuted under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing the classified documents released by whistleblower Chelsea Manning and revealing the high civilian death toll from US airstrikes among other things.
“Well, we would have to follow our own legal processes, just as the US has to follow its own legal processes,” Hunt told Face the Nation on Sunday. “But would I want to stand in the way of Julian Assange facing justice? No, I would not.”
Since Assange is “someone who is alleged to have committed some very serious crimes,” Hunt added, “it is absolutely right that he faces justice.” The foreign secretary also said that the journalist's “crimes” are “alleged to have led to people's deaths,” yet it was unclear what he meant exactly. During the Manning process, the investigators did not establish if the leak actually resulted in any deaths or put lives at risk.
https://www.rt.com/uk/460908-hunt-assange-extradition-justice/
‘I would not stand in the way of Assange's extradition’ – UK Foreign Secretary Hunt
oops forgot to highlight title
RP from QRes#8518
Next Irish governor faces calls to resign in NZ scandal
Opposition politicians in New Zealand have called on the man appointed as the next governor of Ireland’s central bank to resign from his current role.
Gabriel Makhlouf is currently serving as the senior civil servant at New Zealand’s finance ministry, having previously held senior roles in the equivalent UK ministry. He was named as the next governor of the Central Bank of Ireland by the Irish finance minister in May this year. Makhlouf was expected to start his five-year term as governor
https://www.centralbanking.com/central-banks/governance/4237871/next-irish-governor-faces-calls-to-resign-in-nz-scandal
YouTube pushes children’s videos to pedophiles through content recommendation engine
A mom in Brazil became concerned as she watched the viewing numbers on innocent backyard clip her daughter posted to YouTube suddenly climb hundreds of thousands of views. The child posted a video of herself and a friend playing in the family pool. YouTube’s recommendation engine had been suggesting the video as recommended content to viewers who’d just watched other videos that contained sexually oriented video content. YouTube’s AI sexualized her kid and pushed her image to pedophiles. This happens a lot, apparently.
“YouTube’s algorithm has been curating home movies of unwitting families into a catalog of semi-nude kids,” tweeted Max Fisher at the New York Times.
“YT often plays the videos after users watch softcore porn, building an audience of millions for what experts call child sexual exploitation.”
“I asked YouTube— why not just turn off recommendations on videos of kids? Your system can already identify videos of kids automatically,” says Fisher.
“The recommendation algorithm is driving this whole child exploitation phenomenon. Switching it off would solve the problem and keep kids safe.”
YouTube’s CEO is a woman, Susan Wojcicki.
From Max Fisher and Amanda Taub at the New York Times:
YouTube’s automated recommendation system — which drives most of the platform’s billions of views by suggesting what users should watch next — had begun showing the video to users who watched other videos of prepubescent, partially clothed children, a team of researchers has found.
YouTube had curated the videos from across its archives, at times plucking out the otherwise innocuous home movies of unwitting families, the researchers say. In many cases, its algorithm referred users to the videos after they watched sexually themed content.
The result was a catalog of videos that experts say sexualizes children.
https://governmentslaves.news/2019/06/03/youtube-pushes-childrens-videos-to-pedophiles-through-content-recommendation-engine/
RP from QRes#8520
Catholic schoolgirls are being taught that God is GENDER-NEUTRAL and are banned from using the words 'Lord', 'Father' and 'Son' in prayers
Brisbane Catholic schools are removing male-centric terms from their prayers
The Catholic Office for the Participation of Women director said she is 'thrilled'
Queensland Catholic Education Commission doesn't give a guide on language
Catholic schoolgirls are being taught that God is gender-neutral and banned from using the words 'Lord', 'Father' and 'Son' in prayers.
A number of elite Catholic schools in Brisbane are making moves to teach their students to use inclusive language when referring to God.
Top schools including All Hallows, Stuartholme, Loreto College and Stuartholme School are leading a push towards a feminist interpretation of the Christian Bible.
Students at Stuartholme School in Brisbane's inner-city, which charges upwards of $40,000 a year, are taught to use the word 'Godself' instead of 'himself'.
As we believe God is neither male or female, Stuartholme tries to use gender-neutral terms in prayers … so that our community deepens their understanding of who God is for them, how God reveals Godself through creation, our relationships with others and the person of Jesus,' a spokeswoman told The Sunday Mail.
Loreto College in Coorparoo has taken the word 'Lord' from their prayers as it is a 'male term'.
The school's principal Kim Wickham said prayers written for use within the college didn't assign God a gender.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7094893/Catholic-schoolgirls-taught-God-gender-neutral.html
RP from QRes#8254
Jon Swaine
Verified account
@jonswaine
21m21 minutes ago
More
Federal police in Australia are raiding the home of a reporter who revealed a government plan to expand powers for digital surveillance of the public
https://twitter.com/jonswaine/status/1135727845970460672
RP from QRes#8525
Aussie Feds Raid News Corp Journalist's Home After Government Spying Exposé
Australian federal police officers are raiding the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst over an April, 2018 story accusing the government of radical new espionage powers allowing the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to monitor citizens for the first time, according to the Daily Telegraph (via the Herald Sun).
Ms Smethurst, the political editor for News Corp Sunday titles includingThe Sunday Telegraph, was at home preparing to leave for work this morning when several Australian Federal Police officers arrived with a warrant from an ACT magistrate giving them authority to search her home, computer and mobile phone.
Ms Smethurst complied with the warrant and is presently waiting for the raid to be completed. She has declined to answer questions apart from confirming her identity. -Herald Sun
Smethurst's article revealed that the emails, bank accounts and text messages of Australian citizens could be secretly accessed by government spies without a trace under the proposal, as long as the Defense and Home Affairs ministers approved the plan.
The raid comes three weeks after the federal election returned the Morrison government to power, leaving Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton at the helm.
Ms Smethurst’s original story included images of top-secret letters between the secretary of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo, and his counterpart in Defence, Greg Moriarty, outlining a plan to potentially allow government hackers to “proactively disrupt and covertly remove” onshore cyber threats by “hacking into critical infrastructure.” -Herald Sun
Current Australian law prohibits the ASD from spying on citizens - a power left to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the country's domestic spy agency.
Smethhurt revealed that Dutton and former Defense Minister Marise Payne had reviewed the proposal, however it had not moved beyond that stage to be formally presented to the government.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-03/aussie-feds-raid-news-corp-journalists-home-after-government-spying-expose
RP from QRes#8527
Anons, Cardinal George Pell's appeal begins TOMORROW, Wednesday 5 June 2019, 9:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time).
George Pell appeal: What you need to know
George Pell’s case will return to court tomorrow as the disgraced cardinal appeals his conviction for sexually abusing two Melbourne choirboys.
The cardinal was found guilty in December of raping one choirboy and molesting another after mass in the sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996.
Pell, who was archbishop of Melbourne at the time, molested the first boy again about a month later.
The conviction was made public in February after a court-imposed gag order was lifted and Pell was sentenced to six years in jail – with a minimum of three years and eight months - by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd in March.
Pell’s team indicated last week they would not seek a reduced sentence if the appeal fails.
WHEN AND WHERE IS THE APPEAL HAPPENING?
The appeal will take place in the Supreme Court in Melbourne tomorrow and Thursday from 9.30am.
Pell’s lawyers will first seek leave to appeal and if granted the case will be heard over the two days.
The case will be heard by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria Justice Anne Ferguson, President of the Court of Appeal Justice Chris Maxwell and Justice Mark Weinberg.
The appeal is being heard in the Supreme Court instead of the Court of Appeal to cater for intense interest in the case.
The case can be reported on and a live stream will be also hosted on the Supreme Court’s website.
ON WHAT GROUNDS IS PELL APPEALING?
Pell’s legal team cited three reasons for its appeal.
Their first claim is that the jury reached “unreasonable” verdicts based on the evidence.
“The verdicts are unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence because on the whole of the evidence, including unchallenged exculpatory evidence from more than 20 Crown witnesses, it was not open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt on the word of the Complainant alone,” Pell’s team said in announcing its appeal.
Secondly, the defence says Judge Kidd erred by not allowing a 19-minute video reconstruction to be played to the jury which claimed to show where people would have been in the cathedral at the time of the abuse.
Judge Kidd had ruled the video was based on speculation and as new evidence, it could not be used during a closing address.
The final claim for appeal is that Pell was not arraigned in front of the jury in what was a “fundamental irregularity in the trial process”.
The video and arraignment arguments are technicalities and could see a retrial if they are upheld.
If the “unreasonable verdict” claim is upheld, Pell’s conviction would likely be overturned and he would be released from custody.
WILL PELL BE THERE?
Pell has been in custody since February and it is not yet known if he will attend the appeal in person.
He was free when the appeal was lodged and had requested to be in court for the appeal hearing.
Now that he is behind bars, Pell may follow proceedings via video link.
WHEN WILL WE KNOW THE OUTCOME?
We may not know the outcome of the appeal over the next two days.
The judges have the option to reserve their decision, the reasons for it, or both.
So no matter the verdict and given the public scrutiny on the decision, it may not be made public for weeks or months to come.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/george-pell-appeal-to-be-heard-in-melbourne-court-catholic-church-news/97399cd5-b003-404f-9a9e-e379c9217d39
Legal action in Australia. Claiming Roundup was cause of non hodgkin's lymphoma
Sourced from QRes#8527
Melbourne gardener launches legal action against Monsanto in first Australian Roundup lawsuit
By national regional and rural reporter Jess Davis and Angus Verley
Updated Tue at 11:47am
Legal action has been launched against agribusiness giant Monsanto by a Melbourne gardener who claims his cancer was caused by the herbicide Roundup.
Key points:
The first Australian legal case against agribusiness giant Monsanto has been lodged by a Melbourne gardener who claims his cancer was caused by the herbicide Roundup
Roundup is the most commonly used herbicide in the world and its active ingredient is glyphosate
Monsanto has lost three trials in the US over links between cancer and glyphosate and has been ordered to pay out billions of dollars in damages to four cancer patients, with thousands more plaintiffs awaiting trial
It will be the first case in Australia following similar trials in the US.
The writs were lodged in Victoria's Supreme Court this morning.
Michael Ogliarolo, 54, ran his own landscape gardening business until 2015 but was forced to retire due to ill health.
Mr Ogliarolo was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2011, after using Roundup for over 18 years in his work as a landscape gardener.
His lawyer Tony Carbone said his client would mix the herbicide and apply it on lawns and plants as part of his job.
The plaintiff claims that Monsanto failed to warn him that the use of Roundup products was dangerous and capable of causing serious injuries, loss and damage.
"What we're saying is that due to the heavy exposure, no warnings on the label to say 'look, wear a mask, wash your hands, do this and do that', consequently he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma," Mr Carbone said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-04/australias-first-roundup-lawsuit-filed/11176384
Multiple fatalities, man arrested after shooting in Darwin
A man who allegedly opened fire in Darwin on Tuesday night, killing four men and injuring a woman, can be identified as 45-year-old Ben Hoffmann.
Hoffmann was on parole and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet when he allegedly opened fire with a pump-action shotgun in the Darwin city area about 5.45pm local time (6.15pm AEST) on Tuesday.
The shooting spree began at a motel in the suburb of Woolner, before the alleged gunman travelled to four other locations, including to the outskirts of the city.
Police arrested Hoffmann, known to his friends as "Hoffy", in the Stuart Park area of Darwin at 6.45pm.
NT Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said officers were able to track down the suspected gunman after he contacted a police duty superintendent, who alerted others to his location.
"He asked to be placed into protective custody, which we did," Commissioner Kershaw said. "We do believe he may have been trying to hand himself in. We're not sure."
https://www.smh.com.au/national/multiple-fatalities-man-arrested-after-fatal-shooting-in-darwin-police-20190604-p51uj5.html
RP from QRes#8527
Breaking
FIVE people are dead and two others seriously injured after a man went on a pump-action shotgun rampage in Australia today.
Parts of Darwin were thrown into total lockdown as armed cops scoured the Northern Territory city to find the gunman.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9218821/darwin-shooting-shotgun-four-dead/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-48510881
Also from Down Under
(Another RP from QRes#8527)
"Witnesses say the man walked into the Palms Motel on McMinn Street in the suburb of Woolner just before 6:00pm while holding a pump-action shotgun and shot at multiple doors."
"Multiple witnesses said he was looking for someone called "Alex".
"He shot up every room in that place," one man said.
"He got what he wanted and then he left in his pick-up."
"I understand when an event like this occurs, especially considering recent global events, people's fears turn to terrorism. We can confirm this is not a terrorism event."
Some call it a pump-action shotgun, some call it a rifle, also witnesses say he left in a toyota pick-up. most Australians , especially Territorians, would call a Hilux a Ute
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-04/darwin-shooting-people-police-arrest-gunman/11179136
Gunman kills 4 people in Darwin, Australia.
(More RP from QRes#8527)
Four people have been killed and a woman has been rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds to her legs after a Darwin man allegedly went on a shooting rampage across the city tonight.
Parts of Darwin were thrown into lockdown before 6pm as police scoured the city to find the alleged gunman, believed to be armed with a sawn-off shotgun.
NT Police Duty Superintendent Lee Morgan confirmed to news.com.au four people were dead and two more had gunshot wounds.
Mr Morgan said police were unable to confirm if more people had been killed.
We’re still working through a number of crime scenes so we still don’t know if there are others,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference tonight, NT Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the alleged gunman had been out on parole after being freed from jail in January.
Mr Kershaw said the alleged gunman was well-known to police and was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet tonight as he evaded officers through Darwin.
https://www.news.com.au/national/northern-territory-police-searching-for-alleged-gunman-in-darwin/news-story/fcb40bb74d83488bc00507b3837882a7
Australian Federal Police raid News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst's home over alleged national security leak
RP from QRes#8527
"According to The Daily Telegraph, the raid related to a story published in April last year in which Annika Smethurst reported that the Home Affairs and Defence departments were considering giving spy agencies greater surveillance powers."
"The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) collects and assesses foreign intelligence information before passing it on to Australia's domestic and foreign spy agencies.
The ASD does not collect information on Australian citizens, but some senior public servants want to change that.
The story alleged new powers, if adopted, would go to the ASD to secretly access bank records, emails and text messages without leaving a trace."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-04/afp-raid-news-corp-journalist-annika-smethurst-home/11177052
additional
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/world/australia/journalist-raid-annika-smethurst.html
=More related links and Anons comments
RP from QRes#8528
Spying shock: Shades of Big Brother as cyber-security vision comes to light, Daily Telegraph
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/spying-shock-shades-of-big-brother-as-cybersecurity-vision-comes-to-light/news-story/bc02f35f23fa104b139160906f2ae709
Federal police raid home of Australian journalist who revealed government's proposal to spy on the public
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/federal-police-raid-home-of-australian-journalist-who-revealed-governments-plan-to-spy-on-the-public-2019-6
Australian journalist's home raided over spying report
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48511217
Aussie Feds Raid News Corp Journalist's Home After Government Spying Exposé
https://stocktalkjournal.com/aussie-feds-raid-news-corp-journalists-home-after-government-spying-expos/
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Excerpt:
The raid follows a story published by News Corp Australia publication, the Daily Telegraph, and written by national political editor, Annika Smethurst, in April 2018. The article, titled “Spying shock: Shades of Big Brother as cyber-security vision comes to light”, detailed a discussion between two government agencies that were reportedly discussing the potential for new surveillance powers for Australia’s electronic spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD).
The Daily Telegraph article included photographs of top secret internal documents that detailed a proposal to allow the ASD to target Australians — if approved by the Defence and Home Affairs ministers.
An anonymous source told the publication the proposal would allow spies to access the digital records of Australians, such as financial transactions, health data and phone records, without a warrant.
The proposal also detailed a plan to grant authorities the ability to forcibly coerce government agencies and private businesses to comply with an order to provide information on Australian citizens, the Telegraph reported.
It would also allow for the ASD’s hackers to “proactively disrupt and covertly remove” cyber threats within Australia by “hacking into critical infrastructure”, it said. The organisation is currently focused on international threats.
Under Australian law, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) can spy on Australians but they must have obtained a warrant issued by the Attorney-General. The warrant allows ASIO to enter and search premises, intercept and inspect mail, use surveillance devices, monitor communications and remotely access computers. It is expected to use other methods before using these powers.
… Moar at links …
Note that AUS Intel agencies did not need to out-source spying on AUS citizens in Australia. So what might have been the exchange made to get them to spy on USA citizens abroad?
One possible angle, Anons:
Former Daily Telegraph journalist 'spied for Communist Russia'
Independent, 25 FEB 2018
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/daily-telegraph-communist-spy-journalist-david-floyd-pink-secret-files-cold-war-kgb-jeremy-corbyn-a8227861.html
Infiltration → Embarrassment → ongoing infestation → blackmail
Federal police raid home of Australian journalist who revealed government's proposal to spy on the public
JENNI RYALL, BUSINESS INSIDER JUN 4, 2019 (few hours ago)
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/federal-police-raid-home-of-australian-journalist-who-revealed-governments-plan-to-spy-on-the-public-2019-6
Quote:
Ms Smethurst, the national politics editor of the Sunday Telegraph and other News Corp Australia titles, reported last April that Australia's Home and Defence ministries were discussing a proposal that would grant new powers to the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), a cyber intelligence agency.
She wrote that under the plan, emails, bank records and text messages of Australians could be accessed by the ASD if the two ministries gave their approval. Currently, the ASD is not allowed to spy on Australians, though the domestic spy agency, ASIO, can investigate citizens with a warrant.
Ms Smethurst's report included images from a top secret document.
At the time, the two ministries and the ASD released a joint statement saying: "There is no proposal to increase the ASD's powers to collect intelligence on Australians or to covertly access their private data."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48511217
Quote
Smethurst’s article revealed that the emails, bank accounts and text messages of Australian citizens could be secretly accessed by government spies without a trace under the proposal, as long as the Defense and Home Affairs ministers approved the plan.
The raid comes three weeks after the federal election returned the Morrison government to power, leaving Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton at the helm.
Current Australian law prohibits the ASD from spying on citizens – a power left to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the country’s domestic spy agency.
Smethhurt revealed that Dutton and former Defense Minister Marise Payne had reviewed the proposal, however it had not moved beyond that stage to be formally presented to the government.
https://stocktalkjournal.com/aussie-feds-raid-news-corp-journalists-home-after-government-spying-expos/
Quote:
“This raid demonstrates a dangerous act of intimidation towards those committed to telling uncomfortable truths. The raid was outrageous and heavy handed.
“News Corp Australia has expressed the most serious concerns about the willingness of governments to undermine the Australian public’s right to know about important decisions governments are making that can and will impact ordinary Australian citizens.
“What’s gone on this morning sends clear and dangerous signals to journalists and newsrooms across Australia. This will chill public interest reporting.”
NGO Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) told Business Insider Australia via email that the police raid was “authoritarian intimidation” and that we are all entitled to live in a free society without fear of bullying by police.
“We need to have a debate about Australians’ rights to privacy and security, and it needs to be held out in the open with the participation of civil society,” a spokesperson for EFA said.
“Exposing the government’s secret plans for yet more surveillance of our everyday lives is clearly in the public interest. This heavy-handed reaction from the government, and so soon after being returned to government after an expected loss, indicates that this is about consolidating power, not keeping us safe. That should scare anyone who wants Australia to be a free society.”
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/federal-police-raid-home-of-australian-journalist-who-revealed-governments-plan-to-spy-on-the-public-2019-6
Sorry for less than perfect formatting .. lots of Aussie content to review/repost tonight.
Australia suffers second worst mass shooting since 1996
RP from QRes#8528
Four are dead and one is injured in Australia’s second deadliest mass shooting since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania. A 45-year-old gunman began opening fire with a pump-action shot gun at a motel in the northern city of Darwin before opening fire at other nearby locations in the city’s central business district around 6 p.m. Monday. Pump-action shotguns are largely prohibited in the country under sweeping legislation passed in the aftermath of the Port Arthur shooting, where 35 people were killed.
“He shot up all the rooms, and he went to every room looking for somebody, and he shot them all up,” John Rose, a witness, told Australia’s public broadcaster. “Then we saw him rush out, jump into his Toyota pickup and rush off.” Police said the man was out of prison on parole and was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. After about an hour police took the suspect into custody.
Northern Territory Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said that they were still working on establishing a motive for the shooting. “We’re still trying to establish the intent and motivation behind this, but all I can say, sadly, is that people have lost their lives this evening,” Kershaw said. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the shooting was not terrorism-related. “I have been in contact with Chief Minister Gunner and understand this is not an act of terrorism and a person has been taken into custody. My thoughts are with Territorians and the tight-knit community in Darwin,” he tweeted.
In addition to prohibiting pump-action shotguns, the strict gun control measures passed after the Port Arthur shooting also banned automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles, except in rare circumstances. It also created a national gun registry and a temporary buyback program.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/australia-suffers-second-worst-mass-shooting-since-1996
https://twitter.com/Steph_Zillman/status/1135858138664411136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1135871601818267648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Snow fall in southern Queensland, Australia
RP from QRes#8531
Snow has fallen in parts of southern Queensland for just the third time in 35 years and temperatures are expected to continue to plummet. Icy winds dropped the apparent temperature to below zero in other inland Queensland communities on Tuesday.
Snow fell in Queensland's Granite Belt west of Brisbane, at the Girraween National Park and nearby Eukey, but it was only light and it did not accumulate on the ground for long. Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Lachlan Stoney said it was the third time snow had fallen in Queensland in 35 years, with 2015 and 1984 recording snowfalls.
"We've had colder mornings (this year) but we had enough moisture in the atmosphere for snow (on Tuesday)," Mr Stoney told AAP. While it is not expected to snow on Wednesday, he said temperatures across the southern Queensland were expected to drop below zero due to clearer skies.
The arrival of a cold air mass from southern states is responsible for the drop in temperatures. At Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, the temperature felt like -4.6 degrees early on Tuesday morning, even though the official temperature was 3.1 degrees. It was a similar situation in other southern inland communities, where the "feels like" temperature was at or slightly below zero.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/queenslanders-could-wake-to-snowfall/03f20b48-b0af-458b-8e1b-f97e95ceec58
[pop]
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
the "Gigantic antenna at Parks", Australia was "Our source of information."
Apollo 11’s ‘third astronaut’ (Michael Collins) reveals secrets from dark side of the moon
481,843 views
60 Minutes Australia
Published on Jun 3, 2019
This year marks the 50th anniversary of that remarkable feat of technology and daring. And while the moonwalkers, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, dominate our memories of the moon landing, there’s a third astronaut who deserves his place in history. Michael Collins piloted the Apollo 11 command module spacecraft in lunar orbit while his two colleagues collected moon rocks. In a rare interview he tells Sarah Abo if it wasn’t for him, one of our greatest successes would have been a monumental failure.
https://youtu.be/SWVgUwMTHEU
Cardinal Pell’s court appeal will be live-streamed from Australia
RP from QRes#8533
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-pells-court-appeal-will-be-live-streamed-from-australia
MELBOURNE, Australia, May 30, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal George Pell’s appeal to the Victorian Supreme Court next Wednesday will be available for viewing worldwide from Australia via a livestream broadcast.
Cardinal Pell was convicted earlier this year on charges that he sexually abused two boys in the 1990s while he served as Archbishop of Melbourne. Presiding over the appeal will be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria Anne Ferguson, President of the Court of Appeal Justice Chris Maxwell and Justice Mark Weinberg.
The hearing is scheduled to be live-streamed
[ https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/law-and-practice/court-of-appeal ]
from the court’s website throughout Wednesday, June 5 and into Thursday, June 6. During the hearing, a camera will be focused solely on the three justices of the Court of Appeal. Neither Pell nor the lawyers will be shown on camera.
Pell, who turns 78 in June, has served three months of his prison term and would not be eligible for parole until 2022.
The cardinal is expected to appear before the Court of Appeal, to whom the lawyers will appeal his conviction. Rather than being held in the Court of Appeal building, where seating is limited, the hearing will take place in one of the larger courtrooms in the Supreme Court building.
Barrister Bret Walker, who is leading Pell’s appeal, is expected to argue against the jury conviction. Pell’s lawyers have not yet filed an appeal of the sentence.
The judges will hear arguments that the verdict was unreasonable and that evidence presented by prosecutors was faulty. Pell’s lawyers are expected to say that the fact that he was not arraigned (asked to plead guilty or not guilty) before the jury was irregular. Instead, jurors were shown a video of Pell’s plea that was recorded at the original trial four months earlier.
In addition, Pell’s lawyers will argue that Judge Peter Kidd, who sentenced Pell, wrongly prevented Pell’s lawyers from introducing a graphic video to the jury during their closing arguments. Purportedly, the video shows how Pell, when vested in liturgical vestments, could not have easily abused the boys in question. Pell did not, however, take the stand to answer questions on that point.
Pell’s case was retried with a new jury after the original jury was dismissed when it failed to reach a unanimous verdict. In the new trial, the jury accepted prosecutors’ arguments that Pell had sexually assaulted two boys in a room in the cathedral in December 1996, and then again sexually assaulted one of the boys in a cathedral hallway the following year. Evidence was provided by one of the former rboys, now a man in his 30s. However, another alleged victim died in 2014 due to a heroin overdose.
Pell’s convictions would be annulled if the appeals court rules in his favor, thus allowing his release from prison. However, the judges may also call for a retrial.
Should Pell succeed in his appeal, it is likely that he may face additional days in court for a new trial on the charges. There are other civil suits underway against the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Two other men allege that Pell touched them inappropriately when they were boys.
Pell was one of the closest advisers to Pope Francis. If his conviction is upheld, he will face removal from the College of Cardinals and suppression of his priestly faculties, thus becoming one of the highest-ranking churchmen to face such a sanction.
Critics of Pell’s trial have suggested that some of the evidence was actually taken from an article in Rolling Stone magazine, which described in 2011 allegations of sexual abuse leveled at a priest in the United States.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-pells-court-appeal-will-be-live-streamed-from-australia
@SBSNews
https://twitter.com/SBSNews/status/1136088737216024576
BREAKING: The Australian Federal Police are raiding the ABC's Sydney offices right now
6:53 PM - 4 Jun 2019
Federal Police raid ABC offices in Sydney over 2017 story about Afghanistan, a day after Annika Smethurst search
RP from QRes#8535
Australia’s media industry is bracing for more “heavy-handed” raids by the Federal Police, following the extraordinary searches of the ABC today and a journalist’s home yesterday.
Several officers remain inside the Sydney headquarters of the public broadcaster, trawling through more than 9200 items in relation to reports published two years ago regarding alleged unlawful killings and misconduct by Special Forces troops in Afghanistan.
It comes just a day after the Canberra home of Annika Smethurst, political editor of News Corp Australia’s Sunday newspapers, was stormed by seven AFP officers who spent seven hours poking through her personal items, including her underwear drawer.
Claire Harvey, deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph, said she was concerned more journalists would be targeted in what was clearly an attempt to intimidate.
“All media organisations should be concerned about who’s going to be next,” Harvey said on ABC News today.
“There will be more raids. That’s inevitable. There are plenty of stories I can think of that the government might be targeting next.”
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/federal-police-raid-abc-offices-in-sydney-over-a-2017-story-about-afghanistan/news-story/3bb1fbe51571d757ca05bb8da0b763d1
Australian Federal Police officers are conducting a raid at the ABC’s headquarters in Sydney over reports published in 2017 about alleged unlawful killings and misconduct by Special Forces troops.
The public broadcaster’s Ultimo offices and studios are the subject of a search in relation to The Afghan Files special, which included hundreds of pages of leaked Defence Force documents.
John Lyons, executive editor of ABC News and the head of its investigations department, is live-tweeting the raid, being carried out by six AFP officers, including IT specialists.
https://twitter.com/TheLyonsDen
Full of interesting tweets showing progress of AFP search atABC
Other sources confirm:
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-05/abc-raided-by-australian-federal-police-afghan-files-stories/11181162
The national broadcaster says a raid on its Sydney headquarters over a 2017 story that Australian defence personnel may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan "raises concerns over freedom of the press".
The ABC vowed to protect its sources even as the federal police raid was continuing at the broadcaster's offices in Ultimo on Wednesday.
A warrant indicates digital forensic officers will target documents and computers linked to reporters Dan Oakes and Sam Clark as well as news director Gaven Morris, the ABC reports.
The news organisation says the raid is in relation to a July 2017 story that revealed "hundreds of pages of secret Defence Force documents leaked to the ABC give an unprecedented insight into the clandestine operations of Australia's elite special forces in Afghanistan including incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children".
The ABC reported at the time that some of the cases detailed in the documents were being investigated "as possible unlawful killings".
"It is highly unusual for the national broadcaster to be raided in this way," the ABC said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
"This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and defence matters."
The ABC said it stood by its journalists, would protect its sources and continue to report "without fear or favour" on national security and intelligence issues in the public interest.
The Australian Federal Police in a statement said the raid was "in relation to allegations of publishing classified material contrary to provisions of the Crimes Act".
It said the search warrant related to a referral received on July 11, 2017, from the Defence Force chief and the then-acting secretary for Defence.
The federal police said the warrant was duly authorised and no arrests were planned.
ABC executive editor John Lyons tweeted that ABC lawyers asked the AFP if there was any connection with a raid on News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst on Tuesday and the police said "No".
The AFP raided Smethurst's Canberra home over a 2018 story detailing an alleged government proposal to spy on Australians.
The AFP on Wednesday confirmed officially that: "This (ABC) activity is not linked to a search warrant executed in Canberra yesterday."
The media union said the dual raids were a disturbing attempt to intimidate legitimate journalism in the public interest.
"This is nothing short of an attack on the public's right to know," MEAA media section president Marcus Strom said in a statement.
"Police raiding journalists is becoming normalised and it has to stop."
The union argued national security laws passed in recent years had been designed not just to combat terrorism but also to persecute whistleblowers who sought to expose wrongdoing.
Storm demanded to know who'd ordered the raids and why they came after the federal election given the stories were published in 2017 and 2018.
Federal Labor said it had requested a briefing through Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton's office asking "why raids of such nature are warranted".
Lyons tweeted ABC lawyers had told the AFP officers: "We waive no rights, and reserve right to take injunction against the warrant."
https://au.news.yahoo.com/police-raid-abc-offices-over-afghan-papers-014401211–spt.html
https://au.news.yahoo.com/police-raid-abc-offices-over-afghan-papers-014401211–spt.html
Australian Federal Police raid ABC headquarters at Sydney's Ultimo
RP from QRes#8536
June 5, 2019
[P1]
Australian Federal Police are carrying out a raid on the ABC headquarters in the inner-Sydney suburb of Ultimo.
Three officers entered the Harris Street building just before 11.30am. The plain-clothes officers were met by ABC security and staff in the lobby area of the ABC Ultimo Centre before meeting lawyers for the broadcaster.
The raids are in connection with a 2017 report called "the Afghan files", based on leaked defence documents.
The police warrant names ABC reporters Dan Oakes and Sam Clark and news director Gaven Morris.
The story revealed incidents of Australian troops killing unarmed men and children, with the cases being investigated as potential unlawful killings.
The sensitive documents were marked as "AUSTEO" - Australian eyes only.
The raid comes the day after Australian Federal Police raided the home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst in connection with a 2018 story she authored concerning top-secret plans to expand surveillance of Australian citizens. Smethurst has not been charged with any offence.
It also comes days after a former Australian military lawyer, charged over the leak of documents to the ABC, was committed to stand trial in the ACT Supreme Court.
David William McBride, 55, is accused of theft and three counts of breaching the Defence Act, for being a person who is a member of the Defence Force and communicating a plan, document or information, an offence that carries an unlimited fine or prison time as penalty when heard on indictment.
ABC executive editor John Lyons, who is tweeting Wednesday's conversation between ABC lawyers and the AFP officers, said police have told them Wednesday's raid is not in connection with Tuesday's search of Smethurst's house.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-federal-police-raid-abc-headquarters-at-sydney-s-ultimo-20190605-p51uof.html
[P2] RP QRes#8536
"ABC lawyers tell AFP: We waive no rights, and reserve the right to take injunction against the warrant," Lyons tweeted.
"The AFP tell us they are interested in 'certain things'."
In a statement, the Australian Federal Police said Wednesday's search warrant "relates to a referral received on 11 July 2017 from the Chief of the Defence Force and the then-acting Secretary for Defence".
The raids were "in relation to allegations of publishing classified material, contrary to provisions of the Crimes Act 1914".
"All AFP search warrants are authorised by a magistrate or an appropriate member of the judiciary. This is the result of supporting documentation or material being presented to the court which provides sufficient suspicion that a criminal offence has been committed," the statement said.
"No arrests are planned today as a result of this activity."
ABC managing director David Anderson said it was "highly unusual" for the national broadcaster to be raided in this way.
"This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and defence matters," he said in a statement.
"The ABC stands by its journalists, will protect its sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday said he was not troubled by a federal police raid on the home of Smethurst, arguing all Australians must abide by national security laws.
2GB radio host Ben Fordham also revealed this week that he had been contacted by the Department of Home Affairs about his reporting, with the department investigating how he obtained "highly confidential" information about asylum seeker vessels.
Fordham said the department was seeking his co-operation with the probe, which could become a criminal investigation and "potentially" involve a police raid.
Journalists' union the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said a second day of raids set a "disturbing pattern of assaults on Australian press freedom" and was an attack on the public's right to know.
"Police raiding journalists is becoming normalised and it has to stop," union official Marcus Strom said.
"These raids are about intimidating journalists and media organisations because of their truth-telling. They are about more than hunting down whistleblowers that reveal what governments are secretly doing in our name, but also preventing the media from shining a light on the actions of government."
Strom said the Coalition and Labor had together created a legal environment that was enabling a "politically motivated assault" on public interest journalism.
Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick immediately hit out at the latest police raids, saying the ABC's investigation was clearly in the public interest.
"It appears this is the chosen week for a full-blown attack on freedom of the press in this country," he said.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called for an urgent inquiry into press freedom.
"Another day, another AFP raid on Australian journalists. This is a very worrying sign," she said.
"Australians deserve and have every right to know what our [government] is up to."
Australian police raids on national broadcaster, News Corp prompt outcry
RP from QRes#8536
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Police raided the offices of Australia’s national broadcaster on Wednesday over allegations it had published classified material, the second raid on a media outlet in two days, prompting complaints that the “outrageous” raids hindered media freedom. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said its officers carried out a search warrant at the head office of the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) in Sydney on Wednesday. That came a day after police raided the home of a News Corp editor, although the AFP said the raids were unrelated.
“It is highly unusual for the national broadcaster to be raided in this way,” ABC Managing Director David Anderson said in a statement. “This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and defense matters,” he said. The AFP said the ABC raid was in relation to allegations it had published classified material and followed a referral from the chief of the Australian Defence Force and a former acting defense secretary in 2017. The ABC raid was authorized by a court and based on evidence that provided “sufficient suspicion that a criminal offence has been committed”, the AFP said in a statement.
Marcus Strom, president of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance trade union, said on his Twitter account the two raids were “just outrageous”. “Police raiding journalists is becoming normalized. It has to stop,” he said. The ABC raid was in relation to a series of broadcasts in 2017 about alleged misconduct by Australian troops in Afghanistan, the broadcaster said.
The raid on the News Corp editor related to a 2018 newspaper report that said Australian intelligence agencies wanted to carry out surveillance by accessing people’s emails, bank accounts and text messages, domestic media reported. News Corp called the raid on its employee “outrageous and heavy handed”, and “a dangerous act of intimidation”. The Rupert Murdoch-controlled company said it had “the most serious concerns about the willingness of governments to undermine the Australian public’s right to know about important decisions governments are making”.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was reported as saying he believed in media freedom but that there were also clear rules about the use of classified information. “It never troubles me that our laws are being upheld,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Morrison as saying.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-security-media/australian-police-raids-on-national-broadcaster-news-corp-prompt-outcry-idUSKCN1T60C6?il=0
Questions raised over arrival of Chinese warships in Sydney
RP from QRes#8539
03/06/2019|2min
Questions have been raised about the arrival of three Chinese warships in the Sydney Harbour, with New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealing she was not informed prior.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed concerns, saying he had known about the arrival for 'some time' and insisting 'it certainly wasn’t a surprise to the government'.
Defence experts say the government's decision not to formally announce the Chinese naval taskforce visit to Australia is a 'bad look'.
Shadow Minister for Defence and newly appointed Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles has taken aim at the government for its failure to announce the arrival in advance, questioning why the Coalition 'wouldn't bother to let anyone know it was happening'.
https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6044152244001
Another PapaD Tweet
RP from QRes#8539
Downer was such a clown that he was actually holding his phone upright as I was answering his questions to record me. The walrus, Stefan Halper, tried to pull the same thing. Both are responsible for getting the UK and Australia to kiss the ring and humiliate themselves.
CST
https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1136310219951095808
Australian feds raid broadcaster’s office over Afghan war crime stories
RP from QRes#8541
Australian police have raided national broadcaster ABC's headquarters over a 2017 story series exposing crimes committed by special forces in Afghanistan, the second raid on journalists in two days.
Six officers, including three police technicians, descended on the broadcaster's Sydney offices with a warrant explaining the raid was "in relation to allegations of publishing classified material, contrary to provisions of the Crimes Act 1914." The classified material in question? Hundreds of pages of leaked defense documents marked AUSTEO (Australian Eyes Only) that formed the basis of ABC's 2017 story series 'The Afghan Files.' The warrant names the report's authors, Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, as well as ABC news director Gaven Morris.
The officers rounded up ABC's IT staff to assist in examining their email server looking for "a series of key words," while others scoured a hard drive, according to John Lyons, ABC executive editor and head of investigations department, who live-tweeted the raid. Officers helpfully told him they were interested in "very specific matters" and "certain things," dryly noting "this could take some time," Lyons reported. Four hours into the raid, they had collected over 9,200 files and were deciding which could be seized under the warrant.
https://www.rt.com/news/461108-australian-police-raid-abc-journalists/
Former Vatican treasurer appeals against abuse convictions
RP from QRes#8544
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Former Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell appeared in an Australian court on Wednesday for an appeal hearing to overturn convictions for sexually abusing two choir boys in the 1990s. Pell, who has maintained his innocence throughout, wore a black suit with a clerical collar in his first public appearance since March, shortly after becoming the most senior Catholic worldwide to be convicted for child sex offences. The 77-year-old was jailed for six years after he was found guilty on five charges of abusing two 13-year-old boys at St Patrick’s Cathedral while he was archbishop of Melbourne more than 20 years ago.
The appeal is being held over two days in the state of Victoria’s Supreme Court, although a ruling could take several weeks. Pell could be released or face a retrial if the court rules in his favor. The court was packed with lawyers, journalists and members of the public while a few protesters outside the building carried placards denouncing the Catholic Church. Pell’s original trial judge in March said that because of his age, the former Vatican treasurer could die in jail. His fate now rests in the hands of three judges presiding over the appeal.
Pell is appealing his conviction on three grounds: the jury verdicts were “unreasonable” based on the evidence, the judge erred by blocking the defense from showing a video graphic in its closing argument, and there was a “fundamental irregularity” as Pell did not make his plea physically in the presence of the jury panel, but rather by a video-link. Pell’s appeal claim said the whole case rested on the account of one of the two victims, and there were “at least thirteen solid obstacles in the path of a conviction”. “No matter what view was taken of the complainant as a witness, it was simply not open to the jury to accept his word beyond reasonable doubt,” the appeal claim to the court said.
Pell’s barrister, Bret Walker, told the court his client could not have been in the priests’ sacristy at the time of the events as he would have been out on the front steps of the cathedral after mass, a point that went unchallenged at the trial. The claimant said the first assault took place in the priests’ sacristy after mass in late 1996. “You have to destroy the alibi, otherwise there is a reasonable doubt,” Walker told the court. He said the victim who testified at the trial gave differing accounts about the timing of the abuse, which also should have raised a reasonable doubt. The Crown will lay out its response to the appeal on Thursday.
While awaiting the outcome of his appeal, Pell remains a cardinal and could only be dismissed from the priesthood if the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found him guilty following a separate canonical trial or a shortened procedure called an “administrative process”. Pell was chosen in 2014 to oversee the Vatican’s vast finances, but no longer has any position in the Vatican.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-abuse-pell/former-vatican-treasurer-appeals-against-abuse-convictions-idUSKCN1T5342?il=0