Fighting Fake News with Real ,8/1/20; The toxic puppeteer; Craig Kelly the bright spark Morrison helped relight; Who Scott Morrison admires but you were never told; Bad Faith and leadership;

It's so easy for Murdoch to hit the front pages for the benefit of Fake News and the interests of a few of us. So hard and much longer to discover the truth it requires work and a ticker. It's so easy to divide people and groups that really have a common bond and it's why the ALP find it more difficult to show the unity in diversity. It's easy to lose sight of history when it's no longer searched or taught. So easy to normalise the abnormal when all the LNP, IPA, Murdoch,2GB and donors have to do is simply attack togetherness and the common good. He simply put what we've seen during the fires on page 3 (ODT)

Fox Business doesn’t disclose guest on Iran is a lobbyist for defense contractors

Fox Business hosted a guest who supported President Donald Trump's actions on Iran without disclosing that he’s a lobbyist for the defense industry. 

Don Bramer is the founder, chairman, and president of the Bramer Group, which states that it works “on issues that relate to defense, intelligence, and small / medium manufacturers.” He previously served in the Navy and worked for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and the George H.W. Bush administration. 

In the third quarter of 2019, Bramer and his firm lobbied for defense contractors ​ARCH Global Precision - Tuscaloosa, ​Kongsberg Protech Systems, and MSI-Defense Systems US, according to federal lobbying data.

Fox News attacks Democrats and media figures who question assassination of Iranian military commander

 Clear Link Between Craig Kelly And Total F*#king Stupidity, Scientists Claim – The Shovel

  

We are in many ways an incomplete democracy struggling along, so overburdened with the luggage consecutive conservative leaders have packed into bags so small that we never seem to find time for the bigger issues of nationhood.

Think a republic, a bill of rights; an overdue rehash of our Constitution has needed attention for many years. Indeed, a rethink of our democracy and how it functions should be at the very centre of our thinking. 

But alas, given the conservative preoccupation with incremental change it would take them an eternity to make any major transformations.

 The baggage they have lugged from one year to the next means 2020 will be a hard slog (part 2) - » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

The mates in faith that Scott Morrison admires

In 2008, Scott Morrison used his first speech in parliament to tell us how he had been “greatly assisted by the pastoral work of many dedicated church leaders”, specifically mentioning “pastors Brian Houston and Leigh Coleman.”
Most people are aware of Brian Houston, leader of the Hillsong Church, after he was censured by the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse for his failure to report to authorities his father’s confessed serial sexual abuse of children, and for the grave conflict of interest in dealing with the sex claims himself.
This is the man that Scotty wanted to bring to dinner at the White House.
But you may not be aware of Leigh Coleman, another former Hillsong executive who, two years before Scotty’s confession of admiration, was investigated for allegedly ripping off government funded Indigenous charities, as reported by The Australian.