Senor Tron posted:

Where to? I suppose Canada is pretty decent at the moment.

Senor Tron posted:

Where to? I suppose Canada is pretty decent at the moment.

Cartoon posted:

They could also have a fascist government at the whim of the media. I recommend the Scandinavian soft socialist countries:- Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland(?). A friend lives in Switzerland and likes it. Germany might be OK too.

Cartoon posted:

They could also have a fascist government at the whim of the media. I recommend the Scandinavian soft socialist countries:- Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland(?). A friend lives in Switzerland and likes it. Germany might be OK too.

Schlesische posted:

Read NedPol, it's not as rosy as it seems. Seriously looks like they're going to give Geert Wilders' party the most seats (although he probably won't be in the governing coalition).

Trudeau is scary popular, and while he's a "meh" leader at best, he's not going anywhere for a while. His leader preferred is 48%, which doesn't sound good until you realise it's in 3pp.

Switzerland is super expensive.

I can't really find anything about the rest unless you dislike the cold. (Danes have a strong reputation for Racism, Swedes have a reputation for being arrogant snobs and Finns have a reputation for being really quiet and insular).

Cartoon posted:

I'm about to travel O/S and as I do it on a non-Australian passport there is a chance that Broader Farce won't let me back in. I guess that would be a Win-Win.

The Guardian posted:

The head of the Department of Human Services has blamed the “robo debt” scandal largely on welfare recipients’ failure to engage with Centrelink.

The Senate inquiry into Centrelink’s “robo-debt” system began on Wednesday, hearing from the community sector, the community and public sector union, tax office officials and the secretary of the Department of Human Services, Kathryn Campbell.

Critics of the system say its many flaws have combined to create a debt recovery process that is unfair, inaccurate and inhumane.

The inquiry heard that the system has only recovered $24m so far, although it has raised, or identified, $300m. It sent 217,403 letters between July and December demanding explanations from welfare recipients, 36,305 of which did not result in a debt.

The system raised 133,282 debts, 12,733 of which were either reduced to zero, reduced, or written off or waived.

The system, which began last year, places a greater reliance on data matching to detect discrepancies between income reported to Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office.

It removes human oversight over that data-matching process and allows it to automatically generate letters demanding an explanation from welfare recipients.

If no response is received, the debt is automatically imposed, often using a crude calculation that averages an individual’s annual income over Centrelink’s 26 fortnightly reporting periods. More than 6,500 of the initial letters were sent to wrong addresses.

Centrelink was relying on addresses it held on its own records, not the electoral roll, to target people who had stopped receiving benefits years ago.

NoNotTheMindProbe posted:

Sure, then you're stuck right in between Neo-Imperial Russia and The French Reich.

Anidav posted:

quote:

“Hey, roll your sleeves up,” the operative said to a candidate, “makes us look average. Not like Labor, Liberal, not like politicians.” I looked down at my table. My reporters’ notebook was on it, unopened, with the legend “reporter’s notebook” across the cover. My media credentials saying “MEDIA”, were beside them. It was difficult to know what more one could do, short of wearing a fedora with “Press” in the band.

Hanson arrived eventually, and we and she and 30 supporters — times two hours, 60 hours of campaigning foregone — trooped out to hear her denounce Mark McGowan and Labor for putting the Liberals before One Nation in preferences, the match of what One Nation were accused of doing with the Libs. People, tattooed, mulleted, singleted, besieged us to get a photo with her. Agency reporters fired questions at her about vaccination. She kept her poise. Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Four Corners reporter extraordinaire, in serious glasses and a white T-shirt so neat as to have been pressed in the ABC’s atom-smashing labs, tried to get to the front. She wore a neat backpack, jetpack like; one gained the impression that she had been blasted out of a tube in Ultimo, in a perfect parabolic arc, to land in this press conference outside Target in Rockingham, WA.

Sympathetic hands propelled her forward, like a Newtown leper being presented to Lady Jesus. “Senator Hanson given [something something something — this is probably the bit I should have taken notes on] why should people vote for you?”
“Do you have a short memory?” Hanson asked, and then returned to Mark McGowan preferencing the Libs over One Nation. On message.

Later, back at Gloria Jeans, the supporters posed for photos with each other and compared tatts, a veritable armoury of Celtic axes, Mexican skulls, martini glasses, and the old Holden logo, many of them sagging over wrinkled skin. These folks had been early adopters, no stupid quotes in cursive script above the collar-line for them.

Colin approached: “When we sit down I’ll bring you over, no one else, just you, ’cause we can talk to you.” Oh Colin, Colin, Colin. At what point does a reporter vet himself and have himself thrown out of the building? Now I would have to ask confronting questions, and all I really wanted to do was write about the motel fittings.

We sat beside the leader, and Colin introduced us.
“Who do you write for?”
“Crikey.”
Hanson’s Picasso eyes parted and flared, one glaring at Colin, the other at me, a bifurcated Medusa stare. “They haven’t always been nice to me,” she said. We hadn’t been that very morning, with my colleagues Keane and Bowe carving up One Nation like a Christmas goose. I hoped she hadn’t read it, and started in on the infrastructure thing, figuring it gave a chance for a straightforward enough answer.
“We don’t have to choose between the deficit and the things we want to do. With federal funding and government savings on waste-“
“Politicians always say they’ll pay for stuff with efficiency savings, that’s a politician’s answer.”
“‘I want to run the government like I run my household, like I ran my shops,” and there it was, the same magical tralala. One Nation can’t decide whether it wants to be an economic nationalist party, talking back to free market, small government mantras, or the last Howardian party (which even Howard’s wasn’t), spruiking savings and the fair go at the same time. We finished early. Colin said he’d send me the next day’s itinerary. I never heard from him again. I’m not sure anyone else has either.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Andrew Bolt's hosed?

JBP posted:

Australia, the movie.

Man films own racist tirade against 7-Eleven employee

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/03/09/man-films-own-racist-tirade-against-7-eleven-employee

quote:

He did concede posting a sign on the door saying the store was closed was not in line with company policy and that had been reiterated with the staff member involved.

Zenithe posted:

From a separate source:


gently caress sake 7/11 are poo poo. Staff member gets abused by racist gently caress who they have every right to deny entry to, and they can't help themselves.

quote:

In the footage – posted online but then deleted – the man yells at an employee cleaning the store inside.

quote:

“I’m being denied a **** hotdog and bananas. Those bananas look fresh, god-drat, but I’m being denied that by this piece of s**t.”

...

“I am not a racist. I am a very passive person all of the time. I spoke out as I was distressed,” he said.

Solemn Sloth posted:

Oh also if you hate your ears there's apparently a "Young IPA Podcast" hosted by Andrew Bolts son.

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN posted:

He thought he was in the right

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN posted:

He thought he was in the right

Lid posted:

Banana induces Racism stress

quote:

A line of police blocked the protesters after they climbed Parliament’s stairs and started shouting a short distance from the building’s front door.

The protesters then retreated, but said they would remain in front of the building until the debate, which is scheduled for this afternoon…

The Victorian Government is planning to introduce industry-wide changes, including regulating Uber and scrapping taxi licences.

It has argued the changes will create a more even playing field and better services.

But the taxi union has been critical of the Government’s compensation offer of up to $250,000, saying it does not cover what many drivers originally paid for their licences.

Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the Government’s compensation scheme was fair.

“There are some that are facing additional financial hardship because of the level of debt they have entered into,” she said.

“There is a $50 million fairness fund which recognises the financial hardship they might be facing.”

Bogan King posted:

I'm always torn in the taxi uber fight, gently caress taxis but gently caress uber. Uber are worse but sweet gently caress the taxi cartel really needs a boot to the face for the poo poo they pull too.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, through Michaelia Cash, said his department did not collect data about the faith of its employees.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter also said there was no requirement for welfare recipients to declare their religious beliefs, so the information wasn't available.

hooman posted:

He's just invoking the never overturned "Banana Panic" Defence.

EDIT: Bain-Marie panic defence?

EDIT: Common Indian name, Mohammed. Jesus Christ queenslanders, you can't even get your loving racism right.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Outspoken senator Jacqui Lambie wants to know how many Muslims are helping protect Australia's borders.

She's also keen to know if any Muslim employees at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection have the authority to reject Christian refugees from coming to Australia.

The Tasmanian, in a series of questions to the government, asked for the number of Muslims getting welfare and what payments they are receiving.

Senator Lambie wrote to the ministers responsible seeking answers in February.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, through Michaelia Cash, said his department did not collect data about the faith of its employees.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter also said there was no requirement for welfare recipients to declare their religious beliefs, so the information wasn't available.

Bogan King posted:

Dutton is sure as gently caress looking to collect that info now though.