“It has taken more than fifty years since my liberation from the hell of Auschwitz, when it came to me in a shock realisation that indeed God cried at Auschwitz.” (Australia — 1997)

   I love Australia.

It’s not a thing you hear too often from progressives. Mostly this is because we don’t go in for the pathetic jingo-nationalist, quasi-militaristic “love it or leave it”-style patriotism that John Howard attempted to link with a love of country.

Two days into 2020, a 37-year-old Indigenous woman in Victoria died in prison after being remanded in custody on minor charges. Nine days later, a 13-year-old Indigenous girl was held overnight and strip searched by Tasmanian police for allegedly breaking a curfew.

   Prime Minister Scott Morrison is telling the people what they want to hear while his approval rating plummets, writes 

   Responding to a question on what he thought of climate activist Greta Thunberg's criticism of his administration's climate track record, Donald Trump replied by asking how old she was and<

   Would the prime minister rule out protecting Australians from terrorism if it cost a single job? Would he promise that no nurse, teacher or other public servant would be sacked in pursuit of a budget surplus?

US President Donald Trump has decried climate "prophets of doom" in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where sustainability is the main theme.

   Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg personally announced sports grants under the controversial $100m program overseen by Bridget McKenzie – with Morrison even boasting the program “isn’t about sport” but rather “community” while unveiling a $200,000 grant in his electorate.

   We have already written about Edmund Burke here

Since this image was published in May last year (2019), a lot of fires have gone through the bush. And now the prayers to the god of heaven have been answered, vindicating the power of prayers: it's been raining nearly the monthly average in a couple of days. Scott is in clover.

What I mean here is that Angus Taylor has been lying about Clover... Morrison's mob climate policy is about telling porkies about other people's climate policies, like those of Clover Moore's Sydney City Council. But this is another story. 

   The first of three inquiries into Crown Resorts and the conduct of its casino business kicks off on Tuesday in Sydney, when the former supreme court judge Patricia Bergin is expected to outline how she intends to tackle her task.

   Another slot of judicial history, another notch to be added to the woeful record of legal proceedings being undertaken against Julian Assange.  The ailing WikiLeaks founder was coping as well as he could, showing the resourcefulness of the desperate at his Monday hearing. 

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused a “toxic, climate-denying alliance of right-wing politics”, the Murdoch media and the coal industry of hijacking Australia’s climate debate.

The 2010–2019 decade was the hottest on record. The next one looks even worse, according to the UN.

The past decade has been the warmest on record, the UN announces, confirming the inexorable global warming of the Earth, marked by an increase in extreme weather phenomena.

2019 has been the second hottest year in the world, after 2016, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says. And 2020 is not going to be better. "Unfortunately, we expect to see a lot of extreme weather in 2020 and in the decades to come, fueled by record levels of greenhouse gases that retain heat in the atmosphere," said the Secretary General. WMO, Petteri Taalas.

  Behind the Scenes of U.S./Iran Relations