Author aSense
By John Stapleton Australia’s major dental associations have all issued dire warnings about the dangers of travelling to Asia in an attempt to save money on dental work. The Australian Dental Association has produced a number of fact sheets about… Continue Reading →
Stories from the rollercoaster of his life flow out of Frank Earl. By his early twenties he was an internationally renowned wrestler with a villainous reputation performing around the world, England, Canada, Japan, Australia. Here’s just one story: The King… Continue Reading →
David Tees has been drawing almost every day for the past 40 years, in a journey which has traversed continents and judicial systems. He was born in London, southern Ontario, in 1972 and moved to Vancouver cresting twenty. I was… Continue Reading →
Alfred McCoy: The Politics of Heroin and War The failure of the Afghanistan war in which Australia, as a loyal ally of America, has been a major contributor has fueled opium and heroin production in the region to unprecedented levels, the… Continue Reading →
Humans spontaneously form villages and have an inherent desire to tell stories. Wherever and however people gather, others are sniffing around for money. And predators abound. Twitch is well on the way to becoming the world’s dominant streaming platform; a… Continue Reading →
As told to his son Mark Slaski The Battle of Monte Cassino was a pivotal battle in the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943–1944. Monte Cassino was a mountain top monastery, transformed by the Germans into a fortress. It formed… Continue Reading →
The sprawling electorate of Dickson in Northern Brisbane is Ground Zero for the coming election; pivotal for the future of the country. Every major media organisation has sent journalists to the seat; almost all of them with an agenda to… Continue Reading →
Like many areas in a rapidly changing Australia, the seat of Dickson in the north of Brisbane straddles many divides. It is also a fulcrum seat which holds a key to the future of the country. It is the electorate… Continue Reading →
Australia, despite all the official prattle about diversity, has never been more divided. And the same holds true of Dickson, which hangs by a knife-edge. Sitting conservative member Peter Dutton holds the seat by a tiny 1.6 percent and opposition… Continue Reading →
Just over a week to go in what is being condemned as the most turgid, dull, boring election campaign in Australia’s history. Daily politicians on both sides announce this, that and the other, all their various empty schemes backed with… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton Once upon a time there was nothing the Australian media liked more than a good gangster story. Now there’s nothing Australia’s media like more than a celebrity refugee. Crime stories require resources and insider knowledge; feel good… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton Which master government strategists planned this? With all their resources, money, power and operational capacities, who on Earth dreamed up the idea of making the intelligence community’s Number One nemesis front page news around the world? And… Continue Reading →
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Julian Assange continues to demonstrate why he is one of the most significant journalistic, publishing and whistle blowing figures of the 21st Century, with the latest bout of revelations about the conduct of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton foundation, linking them to the same sources of Saudi Arabian funding as for Islamic State. WikiLeaks came to prominence in 2010 with the release of 251,287 top-secret State Department cables, which revealed to the world what the US government really thinks about national leaders, friendly dictators, and supposed allies. It brought to the surface the dark truths of crimes committed in our name: human rights violations, covert operations, and cover-ups. The WikiLeaks Files exposes the machinations of the United States as it imposes a new form of imperialism on the world, one founded on tactics from torture to military action, to trade deals and “soft power,” in the perpetual pursuit of expanding influence. The book also includes an introduction by Julian Assange examining the ongoing debates about freedom of information, international surveillance, and justice.
The daffodils are out. The cherry blossoms are in bloom. England’s famous meadows are looking their absolute best. And the headlines are all diabolical. It’s spring in the UK and the papers scream “Death of democracy”, “Cabinet in crisis”. Day… Continue Reading →
The library at Burnham Beeches, a decaying mansion in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, looks nothing like it did in its hay day in the 1930s. Now it sits inside a glass case flooded with inky water. Melbourne artist,… Continue Reading →
Thomas Kuegler is just having way too much fun. All the while attracting millions of followers and fulfilling a Millennial’s ultimate dream — to make a living out of social media. Tom, 25, has become famous largely by simply being himself, infectiously… Continue Reading →
The final nominees for this year’s World Press Photo Awards have just been announced. They are the amongst the best news photographers on the planet. This year, the contest saw 4,738 photographers from 129 countries enter 78,801 images The 2019… Continue Reading →
When Dads On The Air, now the world’s longest running fathers’ show, began in 2000 we had no idea we were part of a worldwide trend protesting the treatment of fathers in separated families. We were a small group of… Continue Reading →
They blame climate change. They blame the drought. They blame everyone and everything but themselves. The stench of millions of dead fish, the rotting corpses of kangaroos and sheep, the missing bird life, the farmers who can no longer farm,… Continue Reading →
Lu Guang picked up a camera for the first time in 1980, still a teenager. He was a factory worker in his hometown of Yongkang in China’s Zhejiang Province. After studying in Beijing he became a freelance photographer in 1993,… Continue Reading →
At 89, former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke has declared himself in miserable health and unlikely to last much longer. While he expects the Labor Party, which he led for many years, to win the next election, due by May… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton So it is done. The Coalition government has admitted defeat. Current Prime Minister Scott Morrison is not there to save the furniture. He’s there to steer his party to electoral oblivion. The ineptitude of the recent Wentworth… Continue Reading →
Let’s face it: this is a tough sell. In the beginning was the Word. Well, there was a radio show called Dads On The Air. We were a small group of that most unfashionable of all people. Separated, sad, angry, overwhelmed… Continue Reading →
Farewell Old Friend Jac Vidgen became both famous and infamous for one thing: his parties. They grew from his lounge rooms in Elizabeth Bay in central Sydney in the 1970s, where I was a frequent visitor, to become truly massive… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton The Demise of Malcolm Turnbull I am a vengeful god. The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath… Continue Reading →
The Terrible Legacy of Malcolm Turnbull Those Whom the Gods Would Destroy The Coverage Malcolm Turnbull’s Day of Reckoning has arrived. He could have left with dignity ten days ago; doctors advice, spend more time with his grandchildren. But this hapless… Continue Reading →
The Terrible Legacy of Malcolm Turnbull Let Slip the Dogs of War: Coverage The word “crisis” is bandied about a lot in discussing Australian politics right this minute. Nothing the present batch of oligarchs could do to manipulate, suppress or control… Continue Reading →
America’s Wars, Australia’s hypocrisy With his fate set and Malcolm Turnbull’s Prime Ministership in its death throes, it is time to look back across the wasteland of his leadership. The ritual lies of political combat: The Prime Minister has my… Continue Reading →
Australia’s Failing Democracy The Foundation Lie The frenetic efforts of a failing Prime Minister have curled into a frustrated ball of fury. And arguably the worst government in Australian history faces electoral wipeout. The slow motion trainwreck of Malcolm Turnbull’s… Continue Reading →
The Terrible Legacy of Malcolm Turnbull The First Harpoon Strikes the Flank In the petri dish of Australian politics, the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull thrashes in a blood soaked sea. The first leadership spill, on Tuesday 21st August, 2018, precipitated by the… Continue Reading →
Future Crimes is the Must Read Book of the Year. Endlessly fascinating, genuinely instructive, and truly frightening. One of the world’s leading authorities on global security, Marc Goodman takes readers deep into the digital underground to expose the alarming ways criminals, corporations, and even countries are using new and emerging technologies against you-and how this makes everyone more vulnerable than ever imagined. Goodman spent a career in law enforcement, including work as Futurist with the FBI and a Senior Advisor to Interpol.
A House of Cards Collapses “Mr Harbourside Mansion” was a pejorative term coined by critics within Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s own party. The insult stuck. Indeed it is Turnbull’s often boasted about wealth which has been his undoing. A… Continue Reading →