Andrew Bolt's Blog, 31/5/18; The ABC under attack; The Murdochian Universe,

 ABC dogged by commercial interests

 The ABC is an organisation known intimately to every Australian and about which every one of us has an opinion. The letters pages of newspapers contain a steady stream of bouquets and brickbats for the public broadcaster. Yet according to pollsters, with around 80 percent support, the ABC is the most trusted media organisation in the country by a very wide margin. It is one of the few organisations to maintain trust when confidence in institutions everywhere has declined.
 This trust has been hard-earned over the ABC’s 86-year history. But as some in the banking community have learnt recently, that trust can be eroded very quickly. Some people delight in undermining trust in public broadcasting because they’d rather darkness where we shine light, or because their commercial interests are served when Australians have less media diversity and choice.

 Each would benefit in their own way from a poorer, less capable, less nosey and less relevant ABC. The question is whether the people of Australia would be better served. The overwhelming majority of Australians, like me, would think not.

Murdoch only wants to control the News and the digital information space that the ABC currently holds. Nothing else fits his business model. Foxtel is losing entertainment to Netflix, Google and other streaming sites but Sport and Influence are what Murdoch thrives on. Imagine a world without the ABC and you will find a world without questions and critical thinking handballed to a universe of answers only.

The ABC is an organisation known intimately to every Australian and about which every one of us has an opinion. The letters pages of newspapers contain a steady stream of bouquets and brickbats for the public broadcaster. Yet according to pollsters, with around 80 per cent support, the ABC is the most trusted media organisation in the country by a very wide margin. It is one of the few organisations to maintain trust when confidence in institutions everywhere has declined.

  Day to Day Politics: The Murdoch machine has started its right wing crusade - » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

Of course, The Australian is Rupert Murdoch’s favourite broadsheet. It loses around $20 million every year but Murdoch refuses to give it a decent burial, instead, using it as a feeder publication for the likes of Jones, Bolt and Hadley and other shock jocks of dubious accountability.
Shock jocks who shout the most outrageous lies and vilify people’s character with impunity and in the process do nothing to promote decent democratic illumination.
The Australian online edition is full of anti-ALP headlines that at times beggar belief. One example is their support for the Government’s massive tax cuts for the top end of town. One day recently I counted 10 headlines either supporting the government or attacking Labor.
In every publication, derogatory names for the Leader of the Opposition are used more often than “stop the boats.” Because of there juvenile nature none have captured the imagination of the public. Now they are having another go with “Unbelieva-Bill.” Unbelievable isn’t it.
Of course, these days Murdoch and his majority-owned newspapers; with blatant support for right-wing politics have done nothing to advance Australia as a modern enlightened democratic society. On the contrary, he has damaged it, perhaps irreparably. His only interest seems to be the elimination of the ABC and the superiority of right wing conservatism.

I don't agree that Murdoch continues to support Turnbull after all he took Abbott to a fake photo shoot in Atlanta to make him look a statesman but they got busted. No, I believe that he still hates Turnbull and wishes him gone and like Abbott is prepared to wait for the LNP loss in order to push for Abbott's comeback. Abbott the second time around is the only one prepared to savage the ABC. Murdoch sells influence and power to those with money it's his business model and long as we maintain strict political division he's raking it in. The ABC is his only MSM challenger to a complete takeover.

Andrew Bolt's Blog,30/5/18; The Great Unexplained; Israel's desperation shows with unvalidated news; When propaganda goes too far can the IDF be believed?; Cartoons;

  Gaza: Operation Slingshot

 The great unexplained analysed

By 15 May, more than 3,500 Palestinians had been shot in the legs, compared with 563 in the head and neck (surely an intention to kill). That is a very high casualty count in one part of the anatomy.
'Medics on the ground say Israeli forces are shooting at demonstrators with a new type of round — never seen before — known as the "butterfly bullet", which explodes upon impact, pulverising tissue, arteries and bone, while causing severe internal injuries.'
Given this, why has Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop failed to censure Israel in the United Nations? Why can't she show a tiny fraction of the courage of the Palestinians under fire during the Great March of Return?

Meanwhile, Britain's Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told the House of Commons:
"And if we are in any doubt, Mr Speaker, about the lethal incident of Israeli snipers working on the border, I’m afraid we only have to look at the  wounds suffered by their victims."

 Israel shoots down Gaza mortar fire

 Real or Fake News from Ari Rabinovitch according to the IDF. A valid question under the circumstances of Israel's desperation for respectability don't you think?

Gaza militants fired more than 25 mortar shells toward communities in southern Israel Tuesday, the Israeli military said, in what appeared to be the largest single barrage fired since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

 

When does propaganda go too far? | +972 Magazine

 The IDF caught out refuses to answer any questions

In a statement issued by the Israeli army, as well as in the Hebrew-language captions the IDF put on the video, the Palestinian detainee is referred to as a “terrorist”. In the English version of the video, embedded above, the IDF refers to him simply as a “rioter.”

The army spokesperson refused to say whether the detainee was armed when he was captured or if he showed any intent to commit a violent act. The army refused to answer whether the man, who it described as “trying to infiltrate Israeli territory,” was captured on the Israeli side or on the Gaza side of the separation fence, or, perhaps, while trying to climb the fence.
The army refused to answer where the kite decorated with swastikas came from, and whether it was at all connected to the suspect or if the army just put it behind him as a backdrop for dramatic effect.
The army also refused to answer whether the man depicted in the video was released back to Gaza or brought before an Israeli military judge and imprisoned.

 Israel lobby group spreads hoaxes to whitewash Gaza massacre | The Electronic Intifada

 

Predictably, the pro-Israel lobby has pounced on a boast by one Hamas official that 50 of those killed last week were affiliated to the organization. The boast has not been verified and is ultimately irrelevant to the patent illegality of Israel’s conduct.
Long before last week, Israel had declared Gaza a “hostile entity.”
That designation is unknown in international law. It offered no more than a flimsy pretext for suffocating one of the most densely populated areas on earth.
The Great Return March represents a concerted effort to embrace an unarmed form of resistance. The tactics and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi are being practiced in Gaza.
Huge courage has been displayed in the face of snipers’ bullets. And the response of Israel’s supporters has been to blame and besmirch the victims.

 

 

 

 Best of Fairfax cartoons May 30, 2018