Blogs

The Biden/Harris platform is actually really good. I say this in spite of Biden being my least favorite of all the main party candidates other than Trump.

I like the healthcare policy. It doesn't eliminate for-profit private health insurance, but it would expand coverage to over 90% of the populace (excluding only illegal immigrants). It would subsidize costs for anyone below 400% of the federal poverty line and create a public option (basically "Medicare for All who want it"), but allowing the public option to negotiate prices.

The Murdoch empire: a degenerative neurological disorder that destroys the mind, body and soul of anybody who comes into prolonged contact with it.

This week we will look at the domination of the Murdoch empire and how it sets the political, social and cultural agenda in Australian society. How does it do it? Why is the legacy media still important? Why is print media still important?

It has to be said that Victoria, AU, has managed something quite impressive.

Neil Mitchell believes: "Because despite meeting the targets, our Premier has decided to delay any further reopening in the metropolitan area, and make restricted changes in regional Victoria... The targets were met. People did the right thing despite the pain. And having been promised likely relief, they got none."

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/now-we-are-crushed-daniel-an...

In the last couple of months, Belarus has experienced rigged elections, mass protests, and severe violence carried out by the security forces.

Union leaders, members of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU), have been arrested and imprisoned for participating in protests and strike action.

Over the last 6 years or so, I've gotten really into policy analysis and data-driven politics. The things is, everything I've learned feels totally useless because we've entered into a post-policy era in American politics. Everything is going to be determined by arbitrary discretion of a few individuals at the top. Your average representative and senator have no power. All power is held by the President, the Speaker, and the Majority Leader—three individuals. Policy analysis only matters in a democratic world and this isn't a democracy anymore, at least not at the federal level.

And all of the claims and counter-claims I find I rather prefer data. Then I came across this:

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/22/white-supremacists-rightwing-domes...

In partnership with the Federation of Garment Workers Myanmar.

After the VIP 1 and 2 factory unions demanded Covid-19 safety measures inside the factory, the factory dismissed all union members in both factories and the VIP 2 factory union president was stabbed by company thugs. It is a clear, brutal case of union-busting. The factories make sporting goods for Mizuno, CCM, Evil Bikes, and Pivot Cycles. Despite months of direct outreach from the unions, the brands have refused to intervene or mediate whatsoever.

As a dual-citizen and member of the Labo(u)r Party in both countries, this a delicious result. Especially after the ludicrous character assassination attempts by the Murdoch-Tory media in AU, and the attempted dumb-populism politics of Judith Collins.

National Party will be in the wilderness for a while. The libertarian-propertarian wing will find themselves heading to ACT, the conservative uglies maybe towards the New Conservative Party. Whilst will be left will be a corporatist shell, with most of the middle-class already in the left-leaning big tent of Labour.

Australia is based on a number of assumptions which have nothing to do with facts and figures. You can think of these assumptions as a form of ‘nation think’ and they stop us from moving forward and developing a different culture, political system and social network which deal with the basic necessities of Australian life.

The first assumption is that indigenous Australians did not resist colonisation of their land. Accompanying this assumption is that they had no form of land ownership, they lived a nomadic lifestyle and they had nothing to offer Australian society.