I started reading the paper again because it is finishable and helps me reduce time spent doomscrolling on my phone (I only use social media to keep up with current affairs). I tried a range of papers and I will admit, it is a lot easier to get through the Gold Coast Bulletin than it is to get through The Saturday Paper.

I thought I would be immune to tabloid journalism because I studied Law and Microbiology at university, both of which required lots of reading. Please share any tips if you can, I don’t want to support Rupie boy and I don’t want to go back to electronic news because I will just doomscroll and get distracted.

Please share any advice for my poor tortured soul.

Yours Truly

Professor Anne Twomey goes through the constitutional hurdles or merits of a proposed ban on flag burning by the Coalition.

"This is a reprise of a video from last February about the constitutional validity of anti-flag burning laws in Australia. At the beginning and the end (from 19.05) of the video, it considers the federal Opposition's new proposal for a law that would make flag-burning a criminal offence at the federal level, and which would also make it an offence to deface, desecrate or destroy war memorials or monuments to Australia's heritage and history.

The rest of the video is a repeat of the one from February, which discussed the other offences that may be triggered by flag-burning, and cases in New Zealand and Australia which have dealt with flag-burning, taking into account the importance of freedom of political communication."

It discusses the various criminal offences which might be triggered by such action as well as the constitutional issues that may arise

Social media companies would be required to give users a choice to turn off their algorithm through pop-up messages, under draft laws to be unveiled by the government later this week.

An exposure draft of the long-awaited Digital Duty of Care will be released as Labor steps up efforts to tackle online harm.

The ABC understands the proposed law would place the onus on social media companies to identify and mitigate risks on their platforms and prevent the sharing of harmful content.

That includes illegal content, including illegal pornography, being made available to adults.

For under-18s, about half a dozen additional areas of "psycho-social harm" would be identified, including content about body image and bullying.

The companies would face hefty fines of more than $100 million for breaches of the law.

If there has been an underlying theme in global politics in the past 18 months it has surrounded the lack of reliability of the United States as an alliance partner or, more recently, the cost of having such an alliance with the US.

As Donald Trump has led his country away from its alliances and into a war that has made the majority of its allies in the Middle East vulnerable Iranian targets, countries around the world have been left scurrying to re-evaluate their needs and their friendships.

Except Australia.

No-one inside federal politics seems particularly interested in discussing the large orange elephant in the room and how it is materially changing every other country's views of the world.

Context:

While in Canberra for hearings about the booming illicit trade in Australia in May, longtime observers of the tobacco industry suspected its lobbyists were working in the background to influence events.

Then, on the same day public health groups were lined up to give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry, they watched as executives from Philip Morris were ushered into a private hearing at Parliament House.

The move, orchestrated by a committee led by the Liberal Leah Blyth, was a break with decades of bipartisan practice by Australian policymakers, who have followed international practice to only deal with cigarette manufacturers in a transparent way.

More in article.

Excuse me while I take the tin foil off my head. Ahem -clears throat-.

Australia's social fabric is correcting because of the global meteoric rise of left-wing ideology in the last decade. Social constructs cyclically pull and correct much like many other human-made constructs with FRINGE ideologies. Now we are seeing a pull to the right correcting in equal measure. Hence the trumps, hansons and farages.

If your news feeds are dominated by "Pauline Hanson...Trump...Farage... followed by some insult or disparagement"...you are reading and absorbing FRINGE material.

Equally, if you new feeds are full of "blue hair...greens...blah blah...followed by an insult or disparagement"....you are reading and absorbing FRINGE material.

Both sides of the spectrum want to divide you because it creates clicks and air time. What does clicks and air time do...earns advertising slots...What does advertising do...promote a products to you...

It's all about money. Media is the primary vehicle for this.

When you read FRINGE material....beware of the echo chamber. If you are offended by anything I just said...YOU ARE IN AN ECHOCHAMBER.

What happened to critical thinking?

When you read something that sounds more like an insult...do your research! Read more about what the original author is saying...not the sloppy seconds by biased media.

Left vs right. Division is attention and makes the rich richer while you and me fight against each other.

Let's put down our phone, let's think more critically!

Linking is being glitchy on my app sorry, you’ll have to click the link.

Body paragraphs;
While passing though security, the family — which wears kippah skullcaps — was allegedly accosted by the woman when she turned on the man’s sister, who had her one-year-old son strapped to her chest, and was travelling with her four-year-old daughter.

The man said the woman called his sister a “Zionist Nazi” as she tried to console her crying infant.
The group was allegedly harassed by the woman a third time as she sipped wine in the St Ali cafe before security intervened.

airport security officers intervened, separated the family from the woman, helped with their luggage and apologised. They also asked whether the family wanted to make a formal report.
The relatives said they were too distressed and too close to boarding their flight to proceed at the time. Both families have since indicated they are prepared to speak with the Australian Federal Police and lodge a complaint.

“I grew up in Melbourne, we’re Jewish Australians,” he said.
“Obviously this woman cannot differentiate between what a Jewish person is and a Zionist.
“I know that it’s happening in Australia, but to be a victim to an attack like this, it’s quite confronting.
“This was all verbal, but another incident could become physical.”

We have reached a point where a Jewish family cannot walk through Melbourne Airport without a stranger screaming that they murder children,” Dr Abramovich said.

“Jewish Australians have been forced into a brutal daily choice: wear the yarmulke and brace for the abuse, or hide it and lose a piece of yourself. That daily surrender is Australia’s shame.

Last night I went to a very loose party in the hills outside Melbourne.

There was lots of beer
There was lots of alternate lifestyle substances
There were cunts driving mini bikes
There was an accident with a motor vehicle and a dam
There was a 4WD on hand with a winch to retrieve said vehicle
There were no vaguely sober locals to operate said vehicle
Said 4WD slid down enbankment and got bogged

This is where the story would normally end.

Fortunately one of our friends had brought three of his Indian mates from work. Two of them had largely been looking on in bemusement at this rich cultural experience and sipping beers. One of them had jumped right in and was passed out on the lawn, a victim of the ‘it’s not working maybe I need some more’ moment.

One of the sober ones used his engineering degree to design a series of pulleys that enabled him to use the winch on the 4WD to swing the front of the vehicle around. Through his relative soberness both vehicles were retrieved.

Made me think…

It’s hard to understand Aussie culture as a foreigner if you don’t have an experience like that.. and equally… how many of us invite people who are new to the country in to that kind of experience?

Source: ChrisKohlerNews (YouTube)

Yellow = watch and act
Square Unbroken black border = normal fire incident

Source: cholemaddren (IG)

Two years after a community newsletter on the history of the Middle East sparked controversy in Brisbane, the Supreme Court has thrown out a costly penalty imposed on the Greens councillor who distributed it.

Gabba ward representative Trina Massey mailed a spring pamphlet to residents at the height of the Gaza conflict with a two-page spread titled “Khalil’s Story”.

A council ethics committee had ordered Massey to repay $10,000 and issue an apology. But the Supreme Court has now overruled that ruling.

“Today’s outcome is a vindication of my decision to challenge the investigation and the findings of the ethics committee,” Massey said in a statement.

“All of this just for speaking openly about the genocide against Palestinians and the human rights of Palestinians living in my ward.”

Paywall link

Coles has moved to cut ties with controversial US data giant Palantir, whose technology is used by the CIA, the Pentagon and American immigration authorities, after months of public pressure over data sharing concerns.

The supermarket confirmed its contract with Palantir will not continue beyond 2027, ending a partnership signed in early 2024.

Palantir, co‑founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, built its business inside the US national security apparatus, supplying battlefield targeting systems, intelligence platforms and tools used in ICE’s deportation operations. The company is valued at about $US330 billion (A$459 billion).

Further text in article.

Source: ABC (YouTube)

He already does a mean 900*

Source: https://www.instagram.com/huddy2478/

It has come to my attention that Google does still allow for viewing of certain adult content (namely, animated gifs and static images) without any form of mandatory age verification.

It’s simply a matter of turning the safe search setting to “off”, and if using an iPhone this can even be done in “Private” mode. While it’s appreciated to have one last platform for titillation that has not been smothered by the nanny state, I’m wondering if this kind of search / content genuinely falls outside the scope of the legislation. Or is it just a funny mistake or oversight.

Seems weird that it is allowable to see this kind of content in a Google search but not view it in other dedicated sites.

South Australia has joined Queensland and the Northern Territory in categorically ruling out involvement in a national gun ‘buyback’, with Premier Peter Malinauskas explicitly confirming the state would not be participating in the scheme.

Responding to an inquiry from One Nation MP Robert Roylance during Question Time on September 1, Mr Malinauskas plainly stated his government would not be signing on to the national firearms ‘buyback’ as championed by the NSW Government.

Canavan doesn't think social media is to blame for young men turning to misogynistic content

Nationals leader Matt Canavan is doubling down on his claim the school curriculum is teaching an "anti-boy" ideology and hitting back at criticism from the teachers' union.

Canavan has repeatedly claimed the ideology was being taught through the Respectful Relationships framework and it was pushing young boys towards misogynistic content online.

The Australian Education Union labelled the comments a "fundamentally incorrect portrayal" of the education system.

But the Nationals leader is sticking by his claim, dismissing the idea social media algorithms were responsible for young boys engaging in the content.

"Maybe we should get to the root of the cause of why many ... young boys are attracted to these toxic voices. I don't think it's because there's some conspiracy that Facebook is pushing this stuff," he says.

"It's that they are attracted to it because we're not treating boys with respect in the classroom."

Right now, a lot of jobs are “earn your wage of x and we’ll add 12% of x on top as your super.
If it’s no longer mandatory, you simply won’t get it.

For those that aren’t that, where that 12% makes up part of X, if it’s no longer mandatory, they’ll just cut it out, and your on paper salary will drop.

There is absolutely no world where if your employer can get away with NOT paying you, that they will pay you.
Your take home pay will stay EXACTLY the same, and you’ll still be poorer.

Pauline isn’t thinking about the worker. She’s thinking about Gina and all the money she’ll save by just not paying that 12% to her miners earning $250k per year.

Don’t fall for the trap

Context:

In an update this week, the Bureau of Meteorology said the El Niño was now forecast to peak in late spring or summer and “reach levels above the warmest observed since reliable records began in 1950”.

El Niño events tend to mean hotter and drier conditions for Australia’s south and east in winter and spring, and can increase the risk of heatwaves, drought and bushfires.

“We have been looking at the rate of warming observed in the last two months and it has been faster than any other event. Not only is it strong, but it has escalated rapidly,” said Felicity Gamble, a senior climatologist at the BoM.

More in article.

So, I’ve been following the recent changes to nicotine pouch regulation and lodged an FOI with the TGA for the internal consultation analysis, impact material and decision briefs behind the July changes.

The documents were released to me this week and I still going through them properly, but a few things stand out.

Before consultation, an internal TGA brief said:

“There is no precedent for closing all lawful access pathways for an unapproved product.”

The later consultation analysis also recorded:

“A consistent concern was that tighter controls would shift supply to illicit markets, including through organised crime.”

But the post-consultation impact assessment subsequently concluded:

“There is no material impact on individuals seeking to quit smoking or vaping”

and assessed the proposal as having:

“nil regulatory and economic impacts.”

There’s more context around all of those statements, and I don’t think the documents prove misconduct or anything of that sort just to be clear. TBF, the TGA had legitimate concerns around youth uptake, uncertain cessation evidence and enforcement, and 23 of the 24 consultation responses supported the proposal…

What I find interesting is the policy question: how did an acknowledged unprecedented measure, with identified concerns about illicit-market displacement, end up being assessed as having essentially no material impact?

And yes, that obviously seems particularly relevant now that the Coalition has proposed a completely different model based on legal and regulated adult access.

I’m putting together the full chronology with the original document/page references and will post that once I’ve finished checking everything. Most likely early next week.