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In the context of the horror of immigrant children stolen from their parents and sold into oblivion, Ivanka's post today is being seen as e.g. "tone-deaf." This gives too much credit by half. Try to see this image through the eyes of a white supremacist. It's advertising.

It doesn't surprise me that a lot of the people calling it "clueless" or "tone-deaf" are center/liberal public figures. Habitual deconstruction of advertising and rhetoric inevitably leads to radicalization, simply because humans innately dislike being lied to and manipulated.

SYRIA UPDATE: The Assad regime is now in complete control of Damascus and the surrounding region. This means the strategic map of Syria has been greatly simplified.

The rebels are now down to four pockets of territory: Idlib province in the north, the Turkish occupation zone north of Aleppo, rural Daraa province in the south, and the area around the Tanf border crossing. Idlib and north Aleppo are both under the protection of Turkey, Tanf is under the protection of the US, and Daraa is probably under the protection of the US and/or Israel.

On May 9 the NTEU called a short strike as part of renegotiations on an enterprise bargaining agreement with the University of Melbourne. The union wants to ensure that everyone is covered by one agreement, that everyone receives the same rate of superannuation, and that academic freedom is part of the agreement.

Science is real, even when you don't like it. I appreciate the thought behind this, but it's absolutely the wrong approach to take. Our energy grid is not set up for distributed solar. In order to dramatically increase the amount of distributed solar, you first need to either build up a large amount of grid-scale energy storage infrastructure, or you need to repurpose nuclear plants so you can use them for frequency regulation.

We don't have to wait until AI and robots automate our jobs away. There are a lot of advantages to doing even a limited basic income right now. It would provide some extra liquidity to people living paycheck to paycheck, helping them avoid things like overdraft fees that make it difficult to build up savings when your income is low. It would also inject money directly into the foundation of the economy, which is ordinary people living ordinary lives.

Here are some revelations from the Royal Commission into banking so far:

NAB employees in Western Sydney were paid bribes of up to $2800 to wave through loans they knew were based on fake documents.

Fake payslips, IDs and Medicare cards were allegedly made up to generate loans for the bank’s “Introducer Program”, which generated $24 billion worth of home loans and paid out between $100-$150 million in commissions between 2013 and 2016.

A note to otherwise well-meaning people:

If you participate in any "Stop the War" event on Syria, you are an enemy of the Syrian people.

Before I explain, see the image below, which are from today's protest in London. This is supposedly an event to "stop war". Yet, the protestors are carrying the Russian flag and the flag of Syria's fascist regime. Between them, the regime and Russia are responsible for nearly 94% of all civilian deaths in Syria.

A former member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal said the government's robo-debt system often calculates debts that are inflated or non-existent.

A 17-year old girl with leukaemia was ordered to visit Centrelink in her wheelchair so staff could “sight her” despite her mother’s protests that she was immunosuppressed.

The girl and her mother have made several attempts in the last 18 months to obtain a Health Care card which would make her chemotherapy drugs more affordable.

Karl Popper's critique of Marxism is equally applicable as a critique of Austrian Economics, and Hayek failed to recognize that.

An incomplete chronological list of Trump's positions on DACA:

1) Supports DACA in spirit, but has concerns that it isn't enshrined in law.

2) Continues DACA.

3) Kills DACA, but gives Congress six months to find a legislative solution.

4) Undermines his own threat by hinting that he'll fix it himself if Congress doesn't.

5) Privately commits to a clean Dream Act.

6) Publicly promises to sign whatever Congress agrees on without making demands of his own.

7) Demands funding for the wall.