Author aSense
By Caitlin Johnstone Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, world renowned for his much celebrated involvement with whistleblower Edward Snowden, has made major waves throughout mainstream and alternative media by resigning from The Intercept, an outlet he co-founded in 2014… Continue Reading →
By Maria Popova Brain Pickings was born on October 23, 2006, as a short email to seven friends. Seven years and several incomprehensible million readers into its existence, I began what has since become an annual tradition — a distillation of the… Continue Reading →
By Michelle Fahy with Michael West Media In Part 1 of this three-part investigation, Michelle Fahy investigates the corporate influence on government policy and how weapons makers cultivate relationships with politicians and top officials in the public service. Sweeping policy changes by… Continue Reading →
By Timothy Frauenfelder and Nicolas Campione, University of New England North-central New South Wales today is known for its arid, drought-prone climate. During the Cretaceous period, however, it was a lush coastal floodplain with a high diversity of vertebrates including… Continue Reading →
Those who do not weep, do not see.— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables In 2019, the coronavirus family, which has been causing respiratory disease in millions of humans worldwide every year for millennia, welcomed a new member. The disease it causes,… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton The group Reignite Democracy Australia has been busily documenting the many government abuses swelling out of Victoria under the most draconian and abusive lockdowns in the world. After weeks of mounting criticisms, all of a sudden Premier… Continue Reading →
By Paul Collits The madness of 2020 has changed our lives forever. We owe it to ourselves to ask how, who and why? Whoever thought that any government would ever claim to have conquered death? King Canute saw the challenges… Continue Reading →
By Colin Chapman Harold Evans had an indefatigable role in encouraging and expanding coverage of international affairs in the publications he edited and in the books he published. He also had great enthusiasm for hiring and fostering well-trained Australian journalists…. Continue Reading →
By Michael West “Australians know there is no money tree,” said Australia’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg at the apogee of the coronavirus in May. But there is. The Reserve Bank is creating money out of thin air. It’s called QE. Michael West reports… Continue Reading →
From TOTT News Draconian enforcement powers have become commonplace in Victoria since the beginning of the coronavirus ‘pandemic’, and are set to continue with the passing of the Omnibus Bill. Now, after blocking a business from opening their doors this… Continue Reading →
By Paul Collits Should Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, leader of Australia’s second most populist state, resign? Should his NSW counterpart, Premier Gladys Berejiklian? The chances are that each of these paragons of morality and competence has covered up the truth… Continue Reading →
By Nicholas Cowdery with Pearls and Irritations The Australian prison population has doubled since 2000 and recidivism is at 55%. Yet almost all categories of crime have fallen in the past decade. Why do we spend $3.6 billion a year… Continue Reading →
By Donnell Holloway I recently purchased a bedroom bundle (mattress, bed base, pillows and sheets) from a well-known Australian startup for my son, who has flown the nest. Now I’m swamped with Google and Facebook ads for beds and bedding…. Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton For more than 100 days in a row Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has held lengthy press conferences where he details the latest Covid stats and answers questions from a tame media pack. This daily piece of theatre,… Continue Reading →
By Paul Collits We now inhabit a strange world where politicians and health bureaucrats, working in tandem, run just about every element of our lives. This weird new system has replaced democracy as we once knew it, and it may… Continue Reading →
Tony Hughes-d’Aeth, University of Western Australia Review: Richard Flanagan, The Living Sea of Waking Dreams (Penguin Random House, 2020) The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, Richard Flanagan’s eighth novel, is one of a slew of novels one expects to emerge… Continue Reading →
By Julien Louys, Griffith University and Patrick Roberts, Max Planck Institute Thinking of Southeast Asia today may conjure up images of dense tropical rainforests teeming with iconic jungle animals such as orangutans, tigers and monkeys. Perhaps less well known, but… Continue Reading →
By Sonia Hickey from The Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog The Victorian State Government is facing a number of court battles over the curfew and lockdowns imposed during stage four public health restrictions. A cafe owner has commenced civil proceedings against… Continue Reading →
From The Australian Covid Medical Network. Below is their full statement, issued this week. It has become increasingly clear that the response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus by the Victorian government is now doing more harm than good, and will cause… Continue Reading →
By Adrian York, University of Westminster Kate Bush, the grand dame of British pop, has just been awarded a prestigious fellowship of the Ivors Academy, the UK’s independent professional association for music creators. It’s an appropriate honour – Bush is… Continue Reading →
From the Australian Covid Medical Network A group representing more than 500 Victorian doctors and medical experts have called on Premier Daniel Andrews to bring an immediate end to lockdown restrictions in Victoria, raising concerns over the alarming and growing… Continue Reading →
By Paul Gregoire. Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog. The judge presiding over Julian Assange’s extradition case, Judge Vanessa Baraitser, indicated last week that she wouldn’t be making a decision on whether the Australian journalist and publisher will be sent to the United States,… Continue Reading →
By Paul Collits Those who wish to curtail our freedom and rights over a public health scare paint those who oppose their efforts as fringe dwellers and extremists. Deplorables. Anti-vaxxers. Nut cases. The ones who we should really fear are… Continue Reading →
Leigh Carriage, Southern Cross University Janis Joplin died 50 years ago this Sunday, aged just 27, but her songs reach beyond time. Her enduring influence and popularity can be attributed to her raw, unadulterated, fearless performances. We respond to vocalists… Continue Reading →
With TOTT News One thing is for sure: If vaccination against the most over-hyped disease in history, Covid-19, becomes compulsory in Australia, an already distrusted government will find itself in a well of pain. TOTT News, which has been running… Continue Reading →
By Brian Toohey with Michael West Media The Joint Strike Fighter has been plagued by problems since it was just a sketch on paper, when in 2002 John Howard jumped the gun and committed to buying them. But the F-35… Continue Reading →
By Paige Gleeson, University of Tasmania Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says “we shouldn’t be importing” the Black Lives Matter movement. But in the 1800s, Australia imported plantation owners from the American South. Prior to the outbreak of the American… Continue Reading →
By Paul Gregoire. Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog. Friday 25 September 2020 saw the Morrison government begin cutting back JobSeeker unemployment benefits. The increased rate provided to the escalating numbers of unemployed during the pandemic period is being reduced, as treasurer Josh Frydenberg… Continue Reading →
By William De Maria with Michael West Media The big brand theme park that is the Australian War Memorial, bankrolled by international arms manufacturers, is an object lesson in dishonesty. Conceived during World War I amidst the mustard gas, the… Continue Reading →
By Harold Evans in Memory of Phillip Knightley Phillip Knightley was the most highly decorated Australian journalist on the world stage. He was one of only two journalists to have twice won the British Journalist of the Year Award. His… Continue Reading →
By Margaret Rice Strange is the right word for now. It is non-judgmental. It says this Covid-19 crisis is different, unfamiliar, something new to be navigated. The following list is adapted from the steps outlined in A Good Death: a compassionate… Continue Reading →
By Olaf Meynecke, Griffith University A desperate rescue effort is underway after hundreds of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) became stranded in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast. Yesterday, more than 250 pilot whales were reported to have stranded, with… Continue Reading →