Blogs

CNN announces details for climate crisis town hall
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/27/politics/cnn-climate-crisis-town-hall...

Some questions I hope to see:

Having lived in Medan, Indonesia for six years my life has changed in many ways. Living in a developing country is confronting for any person from a developed country, but so it should be. I would like to post in Bahasa Indonesia, but my skill with the language is still somewhat limited and I don't think that I would do justice to it at this time. My experiences here have changed my perspective of life, but my belief in social justice and equality is as strong if not stronger than ever.

After the surprise election of the Coalition government in Australia in May, the Director of the Centre for Economic Policy research made this rather harmless, but insightful scatter diagram of select demographics and swings.

Some potential drivers of swing to Coalition at electorate level - low income, low education, Christian religion. Age, rentals little correlation. Usual correlation caveats apply! pic.twitter.com/ZRwZPB7xj0

US-headquartered packaged seafood provider Chicken of the Sea promises ‘A Sea of Good’ and likes to talk about sustainability. Its products are well-known throughout the Americas. Like many US seafood companies, Chicken of the Sea sources products from Bumi Menara Internusa (BMI) in Lampung, Indonesia. And BMI is trying to send a brave trade union leader to prison for 6 years. Human rights violations are swimming in the Sea of Good.

When Steve Ciobo talked of slitting Julia Gillard's throat, Julie Bishop had nothing to say.

When Peter Reith echoed those words on radio a week later, Julie Bishop had nothing to say.

When Grahame Morris said Gillard should be kicked to death, Julie Bishop had nothing to say.

When Alan Jones said Gillard should be "put into a chaff bag and thrown into the sea", Julie Bishop had nothing to say.

When Tony Abbott held a rally with signs saying “Ditch the Witch” and “Bob Brown’s Bitch”, Julie Bishop had nothing to say.

I'm starting to think I need to figure out what's going on in Yemen. I've mostly been ignoring the conflict, but it looks like it could be approaching a period of change.

This strikes me as slightly unfair. It is certainly true that the emissions reductions by 2030 matter more than the exact year in was which we reach net zero. (There's expected to be a long period before we reach net zero in which net emissions are extremely low, so a few more years of low emissions won't add substantially to our cumulative emissions. On the other hand, even one more year at our current level of emissions will eat pretty noticeably into our carbon budget.) It's also true that Biden's plan doesn't currently specify a 2030 reduction target.

On a not entirely unrelated note, guess which MP in 2018:

Spent $20,000 to travel via a private jet from central Queensland to an ice hockey game in Melbourne, a month after spending $14,000 on a chartered flight to meet Prince Charles at a basketball game in Cairns?

Topped the list of MPs’ travel expenses spending $652,697 on herself and her staff, and spent at least three out of five nights in 2018 staying at hotels, billing taxpayers for more than $1,400 a week?

The Aliaga Municipality of Izmir, Turkey, is dismissing trade union members without any legal basis.

In addition to dismissals, the newly elected mayor is also forcing workers to resign from their union and to join another one.

Those workers have been affiliated to the DISK/Genel-Is Union for more than twenty years.

The number of dismissals recently reached 187 workers.

The workers have been picketing for more than two months.

They demand reinstatement -- and respect for trade union rights and freedoms.

Biggest takeaway from the second round of debates was Kamela Harris delivering a weak performance. She benefited first time around from being a low-profile candidate whose campaign thus far hadn't made much of an impact and who wasn't a well-known figure outside of California. However this time she fumbled under criticism from all sides and is, ironically considering her attacks on Biden in the first debate, having to defend her "problematic" record and not doing a very good job of it.