Tuesday 19th of March 2024

our media in self-inflicted peril...

CHINA SYNDROME

China is more than dim sim and boiled chicken feet.


It is an interesting contrast to see the SMH publish CHINA WATCH. It seems to do it reluctantly because like other advertising there is (in this case Chinese) cash in it and the SMH is very very desperate for cash, like all other “independent” media organisations that bleed fake news. I say “independent" in quotes because they are mostly dependent on supporting the official government narrative in order to survive. When they find a small molehill to bash Labor with, they will turn it into a mountain — while the awful CONservative Government dedicated to selective “free market” and "tax cuts" (which are other acronyms for “stuff the poor”) gets a very good review.

On the war front, in the Australian media, including the SMH, "Assad gasses beautiful babies", "Putin interfered in the US elections", "MH17 was shot down by Putin", "Lybia’s Gaddafi deserved to be taught a lesson", and "China is a worry" – is the essential fare .
Yes we need to fear China… Our western values, underpinned by grand hypocrisy, deceit and fibs, are under threat. Christ did not die to save the world and have the godless Chinese to be more clever than us. So, I sense having to promote a Chinese view is painful for the SMH, but it will do it under the duress of getting WELL paid for it.

Meanwhile the Science magazine of the AAAS is happy to contribute to the Chinese evolution. For many issues, the Science Magazine had advertising from various Chinese universities and research organisations, especially trying to recruit bright hungry brains from the West. Here the collaboration between the Science Magazine and the Chinese is done purely out of the promotion of sciences. Why would you not, when the American psyche led by the Moron Dumbdumb-in-chief is becoming anti-science and against abortion for hypocritical religious reasons.
So the scientific community has nowhere to go but to China that offer good prospects for pursuing careers where they’re not victimised like Galileo Gallilei.
The latest instalment of the Science Magazine has a full 52 pages plus 4 pages of cover, separate magazine on Chinese Hangzhou Normal University, written both by Chinese and The AAAS staff with unrestrained passion.
Meanwhile, the government of Australia is pushing hard against cash from China for political purposes because it’s likely to taint our hypocritical values. With the reality of sciences under threat, the Australian Universities are trying to stop the demonisation of Chinese cash, in the media, but as our tall standing shit-pumping expert on Scotland Island, Piers, tell us "we have to fear China". The reds are under our beds.
We have to look under. The 5 foot 2 inches in high heels Sunday telegraph oracle spoketh with the venom of a rattle snake trying to sell you "reject china". Considering that China is our biggest “trading partner”, why not shoot yourself in the foot to bypass the middle men from China bringing in cash.
Our hypocritical pollies try to make rules about where such cash should be used, specially not as personal toilet paper. This personal usage has already made a few pollies bite the dust. They should have gone to our saintly banks to borrow cash instead rather than have a loan from a dubious rich Chinese/Australian who eats at McDonald’s. 
So we — and our saintly media — should fear what the Chinese can do, beyond boiling a few bokchoi, with MSG (media so great). Not so long ago, the Chinese had to take some various steps to improve China. In Australia we do everything in reverse, like trying to glorify a passer-by like Cook and forget that Darwin was a greater man. As an aside, the Chinese bought Darwin Harbour because the federal government would not bother improving it.
Shangai is the “best city in the world” according to many people… But we still envy Trump Tower in Chicago. Was not Chicago the headquarters of gangster-mania? Have things changed?

 

Get cracking. Learn about China and watch that funny show “you’re the one” where you can fall in love with a great looking Chinese "girl" — a female scientist who knows far more about DNA, than all the Aussie pollies combined.
There will be a brain drain from the USA, leaving only the dregs at the bottom of the barrel which is now near empty, sucked in by the warlords who have modelled themselves, not on the "respectable" Roman emperors, but on the barbarian hordes that pillaged Europe...
Oh, and by the way, how many "weapons" from Russia or otherwise downed MH17? None? One? Ten?... But this is another story... The information from the Dutch is so grossly inadequate and misleading that even RT media doesn't bother with it. Only on Sputnik can you find a proper analysis of the fancy story by the Dutch...

Gus Leonisky
former Barbarian...

the view from the dunny at the DT...

the view from the dunny at the DT...

I love the DT... Just kidding... The Daily (Sunday sometimes) Telegraph, not the delirium tremens that could affect me if was not careful with the red ned... For example this DT hypocritical toilet rag supported Tony Abbott to the hilt... Abbott, before being elected, was farting all the proper noises in regard to the NDIS. Now, the whole thing which COULD BE VERY SIMPLE TO IMPLEMENT AND MAKE IT WORK has been fiddled so much by the Liberal Abbott-Trumble government (not much difference between these two dorks apart that one is a rabid liar, the other lies with elegance — your choice of which one) that the NDIS thingster is not working well. It's actually abysmal. And as the DT says, the "clients" are let down... CLIENTS? Wow... Is the CONservative government a "business" like MacDonald's, now? or is it more like the rebranding of Steptoe and Son?

when hastie does a pastie...

...

But plenty of people will counsel against settling on the obvious conclusion, pointing to Hastie’s background and personality as the more likely motivations. Hastie isn’t a scheming political apparatchik. He’s a soldier and a patriot who, colleagues say, sees the world in binary and black and white terms (“absolutist”, according to one colleague) – a worldview which could explain the behaviour.

Now, let’s get to the merits of the behaviour. Self-evidently as a journalist I always prefer more information in the public domain than less. It would be pretty bizarre if I argued otherwise – so good one Andrew, the fourth estate salutes you.

But while we can all applaud sunlight and transparency, actions obviously have consequences. Members of the parliament’s intelligence committee have access to a lot of information, and are in the circle of trust when it comes to intelligence sharing with Australia’s major allies.

While the specific information Hastie shared was already in the public domain – at least speculatively, through media reporting that has been denied by Chau and is currently subject to defamation proceedings – the action the Liberal backbencher took was highly consequential.

Hastie has set quite the precedent by taking it upon himself to share confidential information in the public domain which he has obtained as a consequence of his membership of that particular parliamentary committee.

If one chairman can do that, what is to stop other members of the committee deciding to follow his example, invoking the patriotic defence that Hastie invoked on Tuesday night?

While Hastie’s heads up to Asio might have been undertaken with an eye to ensuring the spooks didn’t get a nasty surprise, an effort to mitigate the impact of the precedent, if you like – the example still stands.

It could put a chill in the information sharing, and if it does, that’s problematic. We need the intelligence committee to be well informed by agencies and allies so it can be the informed and clear-eyed watchdog our parliamentary system needs it to be. If information doesn’t flow, the whole system becomes less resilient.

Now, speaking as we were about binary world views, when it comes to managing the Australia/China relationship – the most important foreign policy challenge Australia faces over the next 50 years – binary and cartoonish talk and analysis doesn’t help.

In keeping with the default tribalism of the public square, the conversation about China in Australia sometimes lurches into graphic novel territory, with patriots facing off against the panda huggers.

Binary conversations lack sophistication, and we are going to need both sophistication and wisdom to manage a relationship with a rising power such as China. The bilateral relationship is not now, nor has it ever been, easy. It’s always going to be a bumpy road.

Australia’s security agencies are clearly concerned about the way China attempts to exercise power and gain leverage, both in this country and in our sphere of influence within the region. China’s influence plays are different from the methodologies deployed by other foreign powers; they present challenges Australia hasn’t experienced before.

Given the fundamental, irreconcilable differences between China’s authoritarian political system and ours, our agencies are absolutely right to be vigilant about safeguarding Australian democracy and our institutions.

We also need the entirely valid security concerns to be balanced with Australia’s short, medium and long-term economic and foreign policy interests.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/26/andrew-hasties-co...

 

From Crikey Sep 17, 2015:

One of Tony Abbott’s final “captain’s picks” as Prime Minister was to install Andrew Hastie as the Liberal candidate in the Canning byelection, following the death of former MP Don Randall. But with a new, more moderate leader, Hastie might not find the federal Liberal Party the haven for ultra-conservative Christians like him it was under Tony Abbott.

Whether or not Hastie’s preselection will have similar disastrous results to Abbott’s other “captain’s picks” (defending Bronwyn Bishop as speaker, the knighthood for Prince Philip) is yet to be seen. While Abbott is now out of power -- and it looks like the ultra right-wing ministers of the Howard era are also on the chopping block -- if Hastie is elected on Saturday, this captain’s pick will mean that another ultra-conservative MP will enter the Liberal Party’s ranks.

Hastie’s career as a Special Air Services officer has become the focus of Liberal byelection campaigning. However, this has obscured a more intriguing part of Hastie’s CV, namely that he is a Christian fundamentalist.

Hastie grew up in Wangaratta in rural Victoria, raised by religious parents. As Crikey has reported before, his father, Reverend Peter Hastie, is currently principal and pastoral dean at Melbourne’s Presbyterian Theological College, where he lectures in “systematic theology and apologetics”.

Peter Hastie belongs to Creation Ministries International (CMI), which promotes the scientifically ridiculed concept of creationism. The website promotes the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Sovereign, Creator, Redeemer and Judge and the Bible’s assertions are “factually true” and the “supreme authority in everything it teaches”. Furthermore, CMI supporters believe that “the various original life forms (kinds), including mankind, were made by direct creative acts of God”.

Non-believers are subject to “ever-lasting conscious punishment, but believers enjoy eternal life with God”. Andrew Hastie has steadfastly refused to be drawn on whether he agrees with his father and believes in creationism. On one occasion he was asked eight times if he believed in creationism, but he refused to answer, claiming his views are irrelevant to his candidacy.

“There’s no religious test in this country for public office.” He identifies as an Anglican, and his wife has worked as a receptionist at St Matthew's Anglican Church in Shenton Park. But his religious views are relevant, especially as the power inside the Liberal Party finds a new balance.

There are rumours that Senator Cory Bernardi might finally start his own party, disgusted at the spill that brought the moderate Malcolm Turnbull to power. If that were to come to fruition -- and Christian stalwarts like Kevin Andrews and Eric Abetz shuffled out -- Hastie could find himself in a less influential pocket of the party than he might have under an Abbott government. Last week the Australian Christians Party announced it would give its first preferences to Hastie because of his rejection of gay marriage.

Its own candidate, anti-abortion property valuer Jamie Van Burgel, said Family First had received his party’s preferences at the 2013 federal election but the Liberals would be the beneficiaries on Saturday. Hastie’s preferences also go first to the Australian Christians, followed by Family First and the Australian Defence Veterans Party -- his how-to-vote card reads like a list of his interests.

Hastie’s father’s CV is as interesting as his son’s. He previously served on the council of The Scots College, the high-priced private school in Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and Hastie Sr. played a significant role in one of Australia’s most memorable religious controversies when Sydney University theologian Dr Peter Cameron, principal of St Andrew’s College, was convicted of heresy in March 1993 by elders of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.

The Scottish-born lawyer, academic and churchman later described the experience thus: “I never came across such unpleasantness and anger and sheer nastiness as I did in the church.” His “crime” was to preach a 1992 sermon on “The Place of Women in the Church” supporting the ordination of women. He received a positive reception from the 300-strong congregation, most of whom were women.

In Bill De Maria’s book Deadly Disclosures, chronicling the Cameron affair, one woman in the congregation said she was in tears because she feared the retribution he would face from the church hierarchy. Sitting in the front row taking notes was Peter Hastie, then a minister at the Presbyterian Church in Ashfield, who became a prime mover at Cameron’s heresy “trial”. Hastie sent his notes to higher authorities in the church, though they have never been made public. Cameron fell into deeper odium when he defended his views on women’s ordination at a preliminary hearing attended by 50 members of the Sydney Presbytery and argued that homosexuality and Christianity were compatible.

He was found guilty of making “heretical statements” at a “court” that sat at the Presbyterian Theological Centre, Burwood, in March 1993. When his appeal was dismissed by 123 votes to 65, his prosecutor, Peter Hastie, said: “I am genuine when I say I am saddened for Dr Cameron. 

china and the voice of john cobb...

There is no time for long introductions. The world is, possibly heading for yet another catastrophe. This one, if we, human beings will not manage to prevent it, could become our final.

The West is flexing its muscle, antagonizing every single country that stands on its way to total domination of the Planet. Some countries, including Syria, are attacked directly and mercilessly. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people are dying.

Political and potentially military disaster is simultaneously ‘complemented’ by the ecological ruin. Mainly Western multi-national companies have been plundering the world, putting profit over people, even over the very survival of the human species.

‘Political correctness’ is diluting the sense of urgency, and there is plenty of hypocrisy at work: while, at least in the West and Japan, people are encouraged to recycle, to turn off the lights in empty rooms and not to waste water, in other parts of our Planet, entire islands, nations and continents are being logged out by the Western corporations, or destroyed by unbridled mining. The governments of the West’s ‘client states’ are getting hopelessly corrupt in the process.

Western politicians see absolutely no urgency in all that is taking place around the world, or more precisely – they are paid not to see it.

So, are we now dealing with the thoroughly hopeless scenario? Did the world go mad? Is it ready to get sacrificed for the profit of the very few? Are people simply going to stand passively, watching what is happening around them, and die, as their world goes literally up in flames?

It appeared so, until few months ago.

Then, one of the oldest cultures of Earth, China, stood up and said “No! There are different ways to go forward. We could all benefit from the progress, without cannibalizing, and fully destroying our Planet.”

China, led by President Xi, accelerated implementation of the concept of so-called Ecological Civilization, eventually engraving it into the constitution of the country.

A man who did tremendous work in China, working tirelessly on the Ecological Civilization concept in both China and in the United States, John Cobb Jr., has been, for years, a friend and close comrade of mine.

A 93-year-old Whiteheadian philosopher (and many believe, one of the most important living philosophers), one of the most acknowledged Christian progressive topologists, and self-proclaimed ‘supporter of Revolution’, John Cobb’s is a brave ‘alternative’ and optimistic voice coming from the United States.

We first met on a bus from Pyongyang to DMZ, in DPRK, several years ago, and became close friends, presently working on a book and a film together.

In this difficult, extremely dangerous, but also somehow hopeful time for our planet, it is clear that John Cobb’s voice should be heard by many.

 

Read more:

https://www.investigaction.net/en/chinas-determined-march-towards-the-ec...

breaking rumours...

Breaking news: Putin to hold secret meeting with China's Xi Jinping and DPRK's Kim Jong-un


World » Asia 

Journalist Vasily Golovnin published a sensational message in his Telegram channel. The message that has not been confirmed yet, though, says that a tripartite summit with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong-un may take place on June 9 in the Chinese port of Qingdao.

According to Golovnin, he received the information from the Hong Kong-based organisation of Chinese dissidents - the Information Center of the Movement for Human Rights and Democratisation in China. The organisation is the unofficial mouthpiece of information about China and has a network of informants. However, official sources do not confirm the information yet. 

The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping, will be held on June 9-10 in Qingdao. Russian President Vladimir Putin is invited to the summit. 

According to Golovnin, the appearance of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the meeting would become "an absolute sensation and a powerful political signal," which, in turn, would strengthen the position of the DPRK at the upcoming meeting in Singapore with US President Donald Trump.


See more at http://www.pravdareport.com/news/world/asia/31-05-2018/141032-putin_xi_k...

on the silk road...

Address to the Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries


By


James O’Neill*


Mr President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, friends and colleagues. My heartfelt thanks to the organizing committee of the Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries for the opportunity to visit Beijing and participate in this conference.

We are witnessing at the present time a period of unprecedented change in the geopolitical world. For the first time in at least three centuries the geopolitical balance is re-orientating from the west to the east. That process of reorientation creates both opportunities and challenges. It is on those opportunities and challenges that I wish to focus my remarks today.

As everyone in this room is aware, from the 16th to the 20th centuries, certain Western nations embarked on a process of colonization. Although it is possible to point to some benefits of that process, most of the benefits accrued to the colonizing powers at the expense of exploitation of people and resources.

The great European powers, in particular France, Spain and the United Kingdom colonized vast tracts of land: in Africa, South, Central and North America, Asia and the Pacific. From the 17th to the 19th centuries in North America alone, approximately 10 million Native Americans perished in what can only be described as a genocidal land and resource grab by the European settlers. There was a similar pattern on the other islands and continents.

Here in China the British used opium as a means of social control.  At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as many as 1 in 4 Chinese, or 100 million people were addicted.  


The illegal 2001 invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by the Americans and their allies saw the reversal of the Taliban’s successful opium eradication program.  According to UNDA figures, Afghanistan now accounts for 93% of the world’s heroin supply.


Two great world wars in the 20th century shattered Europe’s capacity to maintain their colonial stranglehold. They were forced by circumstance to cede independence to their former colonies.

Much of that independence was illusory, because a new colonial master, the United States, compromised their independence. Since the end of World War Two the United States has used its military might and economic power, wielded through financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the unique role of the dollar as the principal means of international trade payments, to effectively colonize nominally independent countries.

Where countries rebelled against this dominance, they were ruthlessly crushed through coups, colour revolutions, hybrid warfare, destruction, invasion and occupation.

Since 1945 alone, this power has been wielded against more than 70 nations and caused the deaths of at least 35 million people. That situation was and is intolerable. If the world was to survive in anything like peace and prosperity, then there had to be major changes.

The route to a different world was laid out in two notable speeches by the two dominant political figures of the present era.

The first was the speech given by Russia’s Vladimir Putin to the Munich Conference on Security Policy, on 10th February 2007.

Mr Putin began by noting that international security “comprises much more than issues relating to military and political stability.”  It involves, he said, “the stability of the global economy, overcoming poverty, economic security and developing a dialogue between civilisations.”

The unipolar world proposed after the Cold War did not happen, because a  “unipolar world refers to one centre of authority, one centre of force, one centre of decision making. At the end of the day, this is pernicious, not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign power itself, because it destroys itself from within.”

”This system has nothing in common with democracy. The unipolar model is not only unacceptable, it is also impossible in today’s world.” We are seeing”, Mr Putin said, “a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law. First and foremost, the United States has overstepped its national borders in every way.”

Mr Putin also noted that increasing social tension in depressed regions inevitably results in the growth of radicalism, of extremism; it feeds terrorism and local conflicts. “Where there is increasingly the sense that the world at large is unfair then there is the risk of global destabilization.”

It is now more then 11 years since Mr Putin gave that speech. What he highlighted and what he warned against then is even truer today than it was in 2007.

Clearly, there has to be a better way, and that brings me to the second seminal speech of the 21st century to date.

I am referring to the address given on 7th of September 2013 by China’s President Xi Jinping at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan.

President Xi noted that more then 2100 years ago, during China’s Western Han Dynasty (206BC to 24AD) the Imperial envoy Zhang Qian was sent to Central Asia to open the door to friendly contacts between China and its neighbours.

What became known as the Silk Road linked China with Europe. The history of exchanges between countries since then showed that countries with differences in race, belief, and cultural background could share peace and development. The precondition that Mr Xi pointed to was that for there to be unity, mutual trust, equality and mutual benefit, mutual tolerance, cooperation and learning from each other.

The result, Mr Xi said, in a phrase that has come to be identified with him and his vision for the New Silk Roads was “win-win” for all parties.

He proposed a series of specific policy ideas designed to bring this about.

- Being a harmonious good neighbour.

- Respect the development path as well as the domestic and foreign policies people have chosen for themselves.

- Economic complementary advantage is turned into sustainable growth.

- Create new brilliance with a more open mind.

Specific policies that would be implemented to achieve these goals would include:

- Strengthen policy communication.

- Improve road connectivity

- Promote trade facilitation

- Enhance monetary circulation i.e. trade in local currencies

- Strengthen people to people exchanges. Today’s conference is just such an example.
Since that speech China has given spectacular effect to the New Silk Roads vision of Mr Xi, or the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as it is now known.

The BRI is the world’s largest infrastructure project by a significant margin. More than 100 countries and organisations have signed memoranda of understanding with China.

Even an initially reluctant country, such as Japan, reversed its position in June 2017 and is having discussions with Russia about a bridge and tunnel project linking Hokkaido with the Eurasian mainland.  Once completed this project will give Japan speedy access to its European markets.

The recently signed Panmunjom agreement between the leaders of North and South Korea had a little remarked upon provision to upgrade the rail link between Seoul and the North Korea – Chinese border, thereby giving South Korea the opportunity to also link with China’s Rail projects to Europe.

These developments are occurring within a multi framework of associated developments, such as BRICS, SCO, EAEU and NSTC.


Perhaps profoundest of all in its longer-term geopolitical implications is the move away from the dollar as the medium of international trade.


The gold backed convertible Yuan for oil trade that started earlier this year is just one illustration of a radical shift in the financial world.

This is not to say that there are not potential problems. Time permits only a very brief summary, admittedly seen from a lawyer’s perspective.

The BRI encompasses at least four major religious groupings as well as secular societies. There are at least four major different legal systems practised by the participating nations.

Each religious and legal system brings with it its own culture and social expectations. They will not always be compatible.

As a lawyer I know that it will require more than goodwill and mutual respect. Problems will inevitably arise and one of the keys to the resolution of problems is to realistically recognise that they will rise and to have in place a mechanism for dispute resolution.

Unlike the zero sum game played by the West, the aim must be to literally approach potential problems with Mr Xi’s “win-win” philosophy as one’s conceptual framework.

The other potentially huge issue arises from the fact that a multipolar world inevitably displaces a unipolar world. The problem is compounded when the hegemon that has been the centerpiece of the unipolar world reacts to the inevitable displacement of its prime position.

It is further compounded when that hegemon defines itself as the “exceptional nation.” In practice that has meant a disregard for the rights of other nations when they are seen as impeding the exceptional nation’s determination to mould the world in its own image, or to its own benefit.

We have seen this manifest itself in a constant disregard for international law, a point Mr Putin made in his speech in 2007. Notwithstanding this continual disregard for international law, the hegemon and it’s loyal acolytes such as Australia, are loud in their constant reiteration of their belief in the “rules based international order.”  What they mean by this terminology are “rules” and “order” defined by themselves for their benefit.

It would be naïve to assume that the hegemon will lightly concede its previous dominant position. There are already copious examples of trouble making, the primary aim of which is to disrupt the challenge from China and Russia to the unipolar world and to undermine the BRI, which is giving effect to the vision set out by Xi Jinping in Astana in 2013.

Notwithstanding the best attempts of the hegemon and its allies the reality is that the vision of Mr Xi is being given practical effect on a daily basis.

Our goal must be to ensure as far as possible that the “win-win” philosophy is the winner of this Titanic struggle.


* Barrister at Law and geopolitical analyst. He may be contacted at joneill@qldbar.asn.au

 

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stopping the chinese...

DFAT is now funding about two thirds of the cost of the cable to the Solomons and to neighbour Papua New Guinea, and a $2 million scoping study by Sydney company Vocus has been completed.

Money has been allocated in the Budget, but is being kept under wraps before the project is put out to tender. However, it is believed it could cost the aid budget more than $100 million.

Government sources have told the ABC that Australia's Pacific neighbours should not be left in a position where they only have China to turn to for infrastructure investment.

Australian concerns over Huawei are not new. It was blocked from being allowed to work on the construction of Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN), and there are new concerns about its potential involvement in the development of the nation's 5G mobile network.

Solomons PM not publicly outlining security concerns

Mr Houenipwela became Solomon Islands leader after the contract negotiations, and was highly critical of the process.

He was grilled on what pressure Australian officials had put on his government while in New Zealand last week.

"We have had some concerns raised with us by Australia, and I guess that was the trigger for us to change from Huawei to now the arrangements we are now working with Australia on," Mr Houenipwela said.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-13/solomon-islands-undersea-cable-int...

 

Now "let's hope that Vocus won't use the Chinese as the cheapest contractors"...

more media malady...

When this Baby Boomer was going to elementary school in the 1960s, the schoolyard rule was “Don’t hit a girl.”

Half a century later, that rule, however chivalrous, might strike some as sexist. So maybe we should update it for these politically charged times: don’t use the media to hit a private citizen living a private life.

By now everyone who follows the news is familiar with the harassment of Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family and friends. Of course, there have been many other incidents, including the crazed comments from actor Peter Fonda concerning President Trump’s child, Barron. We might pause to note that if any conservative had said what Fonda did, he or she would have been drummed out of public life. As it was, Fonda apologized, and that was that, at least so far as the chatterers were concerned.

In the meantime, the view of the mainstream media seems to be that there needs to be more harsh coverage aimed at the family members of Trump administration officials.

For instance, there’s Darla Shine, a self-declared “happy housewife” living on New York’s Long Island. Just two weeks ago, Mrs. Shine—it seems okay to refer to her as “Mrs.,” given her declared celebration of married domesticity—was minding her own business, blogging about such topics as “canning at home,” “lasagna gardening,” and “tips for grilling,” and penning paeans to children, family, God, and country.

Then, on July 6, Mrs. Shine’s privacy evaporated. Mediaite did a big writeup on her, quoting her conservative and/or politically incorrect views on topics ranging from Barack Obama to autism.

Because Mrs. Shine is so obscure, the Mediate headline had to introduce her as “Bill Shine’s wife.” Darla Shine is married to Bill Shine—that’s the hook for the story. And Bill Shine is now the deputy chief of staff for communications at the Trump White House. And as we know, any news item with “Trump” in the headline will get eyeballs, and if it’s negative, even more eyeballs.

Then, on July 12, CNN followed up with its own story, this one headlined “Wife of top Trump aide had radio show where she said women in military should expect sexual harassment.” Once again, notice the use of the word “wife” in the headline; that is, both Mediaite and CNN realized that few would be interested in clicking on a story about what Mrs. Shine had to say were it not for her marriage to Mr. Shine. If you missed her radio show, don’t feel bad, because it was on an obscure network, and, in any case, CNN reports that it ran only from 2008 to 2009.

Those two stories opened the media floodgates on Mrs. Shine, and, in terms of viciousness, leading the way has been CBS’s Stephen Colbert, who paired a picture of Darla Shine with an image of the Ku Klux Klan and jibed, “racist a hundred years ago, racist now.” That line got a belly laugh from Manhattan Trump haters.

Read more:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-media-signals-open-s...

 

 

Mind you, according to Mediaite:

The wife of Bill Shine — former Fox News co-president who just joined the Trump administration as White House communications chief — has a lengthy history of defending racists, promoting unfounded anti-vaccination conspiracies, writing about “Islamic Insanity,” and making racially-charged remarks on her social media pages.

Darla Shine made these remarks primarily on her Twitter account, @darlashine, which was deleted as soon as the White House announced that her husband was officially joining the Trump administration.

But not before Mediaite took screenshots.

On her personal website, Shine (who, like her husband, did not respond to requests for comment) says that she got her start in media by working as a “TV reporter and producer.” After giving birth to her first child, that site asserts, she opted to leave the office and become a stay-at-home mom while her husband Bill Shine stayed in the news industry.

read more:

https://www.mediaite.com/online/bill-shines-wife-complained-she-couldnt-...

 

So the lesson here, should you wish to be private:

Be happy, be hidden.

Otherwise be prepared that what you say, and said, will come back to haunt you. 

infection...

Former prime minister and treasurer Paul Keating has slammed the planned takeover of Fairfax by Nine, saying the "pus" from the "carbuncle" that is Nine's news culture will infect Fairfax and undermine quality journalism.

In a scathing written response to the announcement, Mr Keating said with a majority stake in the combined entity, "Channel Nine will run the editorial policy".

Speaking to 7.30, he said there had been "no moral compass in the guidance of [Channel Nine's] news management ever".

"Foot-in-the-door journalism, cheque-book journalism, you name it, they've been in it."

In his written statement, he said Channel Nine had "never other than displayed the opportunism and ethics of an alley cat".

"Through various changes of ownership, no-one has lanced the carbuncle at the centre of Nine's approach to news management.

 

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-26/paul-keating-slams-nine-fairfax-ta...

 

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In this dustbin alley there are a few more cats, newscorp included... PROTECT THE ABC from government interference and budget cuts!