18.09.19.  George Pell’s legal team have taken his fight to the High Court in a bid to overturn his child sex convictions. The application to seek leave in the nation’s highest court was filed in Melbourne on Tuesday — a day before the deadline for lodgement. Pell’s legal team had 28 days after the Victorian Court of Appeal rejected his appeal against convictions over child sex abuse in 1996 and 1997.
He remains in the Melbourne Assessment Prison in the meantime. More

18.09.19.  The vermin that lurks within our society periodically come to the fore, always for their vile doings. This time it is the ultra brave act of desecrating war graves—in the dead of night, of course, to then scurry like diseased rats back to the slime in which they so freely multiply.
Flight Sergeant Eric James Lovell, 32, was attached to the Base Torpedo Unit/6 Operational Training Unit. He gave his life for Australia when he crashed into Jervis Bay in January 1944. If and when the offending vandals are caught the only fitting punishment could be and should be that they also give their lives for Australia making it a far better place to live.
Five military graves in a cemetery on the New South Wales South Coast have been desecrated by vandals. Police say the marble headstones, which were in the military section at Nowra Cemetery, were pulled from the ground and smashed sometime between Wednesday, September 11 and Monday, September 16. More

18.09.19.  Top of the list is Qantas Qaintarse, ‘pie-in-the-face, CEO Alan Joyce—being queer in big corporations brings top dollar these days, one might think? For a bonus not to be awarded takes a lot, an awful lot. The funny thing is that although no bonus is rare, a reduction for poor performance and mediocrity is even rarer.
Perhaps the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) with its resources could list the 100 most damaging to company players and whether or not they are Australians rather than corporate carpetbaggers as was mentioned regarding the “Three Amigos” that buggered Telstra and slipped off with millions in bonuses. But don’t hold your breath!
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has topped the list of Australia’s highest-paid chief executives for 2018, taking home $23.9 million — which is more than 275 times the full-time average wage. The 2018 financial year was another bumper year for CEO bonuses, according to a report by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI). More

18.09.19 The idea that foreign aid buys you friends is defiantly proven to be a fallacy. One only has to look at this week where Taiwan has said it is terminating diplomatic relations with the Solomon Islands “with immediate effect” after the Government there voted to change its allegiances and recognize China. After all the money the free non-communist Chinese have given them. Another example Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has warned Australia must do more if it wants a stronger relationship with the Pacific, as the two countries signed a partnership agreement covering economic, security, and community ties. If we don’t then he will be off to the highest bidder. The Pope is right foreign aid is a farce as Betsy McCaughey explains: More

18.09.19. It is important that the PM presses Donald Trump not to cave into an agreement with the Taliban Devils giving them Afghanistan. Not only will the general population of that country suffer terribly but to do so will open up every western country to continued terrorism. There is no real difference between the the Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who have cost the west billions in dollars and thousands of lives. Of the 18,814 deaths caused by terrorists around the world in 2017, well over half were due to the actions of just four groups: Islamic State, the Taliban, Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram. An agreement will make matters worse as Cal Thomas discusses: More

17.09.19.  Is there a state or territory in this struggling nation that is not riven with strife? On the television of life there is only one channel, it is political and aptly named, “Look Over There!” The comfy chair tilts the viewer in a forward slump—optimal position for navel gazing. Deleted from the guide are irksome matters like drought, no water, record priced electricity, imploding politics, Chinese influence and hacking our government data, possible war in the Middle East, bush fires and devastating floods. Pass the popcorn!
Taking media headlines in most of Australia right now is the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian and her poorly handled abortion bill. A number count indicates that a leadership spill called for today will fail. But perhaps equally important is the stress caused and its effect on politicians. Ms Berejiklian above, a smart and pleasant to the eye lady for example. If not Photo-Shopped, her expression is telling.

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17.09.19.  The Solomon Islands has economically (for the moment) fallen to the Chinese—as expected. Perhaps the opportunist Fiji king will soon follow? Will Australia now realise the game is over, China has won with deeper pockets, just as this blog has always predicted, read here? And what will the happy chappies think when the iron fist of Chinese control descends on their hitherto paradise island? Say, “cheeese” for the camera please.
Taiwan has said it is terminating diplomatic relations with the Solomon Islands “with immediate effect” after the Government there voted to change its allegiances and recognise China. The move is a new blow to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election in January amid rising tension with China. Taiwan now has formal relations with only 16 countries worldwide, but China claims Taiwan as its territory and says it has no right to formal ties with any nation. More

17.09.19.  The “Voice” constitutional bandwagon is rolling in Dan-the-man’s Victoriastan. You can just imagine Andrews on top of a float with a big bag, like Santa, dipping in, throwing treaties into the an eager throng as if they were lollies for the poor. Standing beside him is Xi Jinping throwing good fortune for China cookies with the message, “thanks for selling out Victoria Mr Andrews.” Spring rolls and treaties for all.
Voting has opened for Victorian Aboriginal communities to elect the people who will help make the rules for what are expected to be the first treaty negotiations in Australia. More than 75 Aboriginal people have nominated as candidates for the First People’s Assembly, across five regions. The election comes after nearly four years of community consultation by Victorian Treaty Advancement Commissioner Jill Gallagher, who said Aboriginal people had been demanding a treaty for 240 years. More