The Age/SMH Resolve Strategic poll on the Voice referendum was a dramatic reminder that progressives should always be ready for a profound kick in the guts.
The referendum campaign is not lost yet but it looks increasingly likely that it will be – despite the massive campaign launched by the Yes campaign.
For many decades Australian political parties slavishly followed British party policies and rhetoric and then those of the US.
The only real difference was that Liberals in Australia first got into line behind the Tories, and nowadays the Republicans, while Labor was more likely to follow Labour or the Democrats.
After Waterloo the Duke of Wellington allegedly said: “It has been a damned nice thing — the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.” Like many historic quotes it got refined over the years and became: “It was a damned close run thing.
Whichever it is particularly apposite in the light of a recent Nature article (31/8) by Anna Ikarashi on the origins of us homo sapiens.
Stop the presses! Abandon the broadcast schedule! Flood your social media sites with your posts! Man bites dog!
An Australian media outlet has described much of what the Yes campaign is actually doing rather than focussing on who said what about the latest No talking point. It did, nevertheless, tack on to the article some of the latest details of what the No campaign was doing even if they were more aspirational than reality. But despite that the article was revelatory.
Could Donald Trump be banned from standing as President? Even in the world of Trumpist paranoid delusions and social media posts it seems improbable.
Yet an increasing number of US legal scholars – including at least two who are regarded as ‘originalists’ – are arguing that Donald Trump should be disqualified from standing as President. They are all discussing whether Trump, and others who participated in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, are disqualified from holding office under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
We are having Gremlin problems again – this time with the Trump post. It is being fixed
Post 9/11 the US embarked on a series of wars to ‘make the world safe’ and more importantly settle old and new scores.
The consequences – death and devastation – across much of the globe. It may not equal the impact of the 20th century’s two world wars, but they make Europe’s 17th century 30 Years War look like a skirmish.
It is probably the kiss of political death to promote and celebrate the work of a Labor Government backbencher.
After all promotion in the party might be partly due to competence but factional allegiance is more significant. Having too high a profile is probably not an advantage either. But nevertheless…
Who would have thought it? The No campaign has published a blatantly racist post!
The Australian Jewish Association has been running a campaign against the Voice. It has been a clone of so many of the right wing campaigns poisoning Australian discourse with racism, misinformation and disinformation.
The only difference is that it is a rare example where the right-wing groups themselves may have to call enough – even though in social media posts and other outlets there are many other groups which are just as culpable.
John Maynard Keynes is widely believed to have said: Well, when the facts change I change my mind. What do you do? It was probably actually Paul Samuelson although Keynes did say something vaguely similar.
The quote always comes to mind when you consider the state of the climate debate in Australia and parts of the rest of the world. The Earth is boiling rather than warming yet the denialists keep on keeping on. The facts are clear but they are not changing their minds – just shifting to new denialist positions.