adamantium|wang posted:

lmao

https://twitter.com/BCAcomau/status/827291668923625472

Bogan King posted:

Absolutely digging the fact that Trump has blown off Towelcum again

Doctor Spaceman posted:

https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/860288727276556289

Dude McAwesome posted:

Why do they care about the tax rate when big corporations find ways to pay no loving tax anyway. Is it a smokescreen so that the public thinks they do pay tax?

Dude McAwesome posted:

Why do they care about the tax rate when big corporations find ways to pay no loving tax anyway. Is it a smokescreen so that the public thinks they do pay tax?

Doctor Spaceman posted:

Some do, some don't. Wesfarmers pays close to 1B in corporate tax each year and you can bet they'd like to lower that if they could.

Dude McAwesome posted:

Is that due to the fact they don't have another country to shift profits to? Eg. They're an Australian company.

I'm not being a smartass, I'm genuinely curious because I thought a company of that size would be employing all sorts of fuckery to minimise tax.

aejix posted:

It's not like there are going to be any consequences whatsoever for him, so is there even any point publicly outing him as a lying fuckweasel?

Bogan King posted:

Blamestorm posted:

Well it's on like 65b of revenue and they book like 3-4b of after tax profit so they aren't that bad at it. Remember as well due to dividend imputation, which virtually no other country has, the tax they have paid gives a credit to investors for their personal income rates.

MysticalMachineGun posted:

It's something to hammer him with next election. And if enough sources call for Dutton to resign, that tends to stick around in the public memory.

From the SMH someone dumped elsewhere, not linking to them while they strike posted:

Independent Northern Territory politician Gerry Wood has blamed abortions for the loss of millions of dollars in GST revenue due to glacial population growth.

The Territory's GST share has been slashed by $269 million next financial year, which the Labor government projects will blow out to $2 billion over four years.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Has anyone asked him about it in Parliament? Because they really should if they want to gently caress him over.

The Guardian posted:

Australia’s grand mufti has won a defamation case over News Corp articles depicting him as an “unwise” monkey and asserting he had failed to condemn the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. News Corp consented to the judgment as part of a confidential settlement.

Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper published two stories highly critical of the response of the grand mufti, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, to the co-ordinated terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in November 2015.

One depicted him as three “unwise” monkeys, covering his ears, eyes and mouth, next to the words “Sees no problems, hears no concerns, speaks no English”.

The second article was headlined: “Even Hamas condemn the Paris attacks so why won’t Australia’s Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohammed?”.

Analysis Five things Australia's grand mufti may or may not have said about the Paris attacks
Some in the media have decried the response of Ibrahim Abu Mohamed to the Paris attacks. Here is what he said, what he didn’t say and what they said that meant
Read more
Mohamed, Australia’s most senior Sunni scholar, sued News Corp for defamation early last year, and verdicts were entered by agreement with News Corp in his favour in the NSW supreme court on Friday. The terms of the settlement were confidential.

Mohamed had alleged the articles wrongly implied he had failed to condemn the terrorist attacks and shifted blame away from the perpetrators.

He had issued a statement days before the defamatory articles, which mourned the loss of innocent lives in Paris and expressed his deepest condolences to families and friends of the victims.

The statement canvassed “causative factors” of terrorism, including racism, Islamophobia, curtailing freedoms, foreign policies and military intervention.

Mohamed had earlier posted a Facebook statement about the Paris attacks and a bombing in Beirut, which said: “There are no words to truly describe the devastation of these acts but we will continue in solidarity and pray for peace.”

He had previously condemned all forms of terrorism, including on Facebook, in interviews with the ABC and in other formal statements.

His statement of claim alleged he had been brought into hatred, ridicule and contempt, and was gravely injured in his character and reputation.

News Corp had previously defended the claim, arguing that the imputations of the articles were substantially true. It also argued that some of the defamatory imputations were an expression of honest opinion.

But when the matter returned to the NSW supreme court on Friday morning, Justice Lucy McCallum was told the matter had been settled.

The Australian National Imams Council released a statement welcoming the outcome.

“The grand mufti ... holds the highest religious post for an Islamic scholar in Australia. He has dedicated his life to the pursuit of knowledge, justice, and peace, and is proud to continue to represent the religious views of the vast majority of Australian Muslims,” the statement said.

“It is hoped that the outcome of the proceedings is the first step towards improved harmony between Australian Muslims and the media in the future,” the statement said.

The mufti, who was in court on Friday, declined to comment further.

News Corp has been contacted for comment.

Bogan King posted:

https://twitter.com/InsidersABC/status/860329917245870080

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Has anyone asked him about it in Parliament? Because they really should if they want to gently caress him over.

quote:

Dowry Abuse Is The Domestic Violence Crisis You've Never Heard Of


In 2014 *Kiara arrived in Australia to enter into an arranged marriage with Jai*, an Indian national and Australian citizen.

Her family in India paid some of Kiara's dowry (a dowry is cash or something of monetary value given to a husband by a bride or her family before a marriage) and covered the costs associated with the visa application, all to the tune of around AUD$6,000.

Once Kiara, then 24, arrived in Australia her new husband demanded 5,000,000 rupees (around AUD$100,000) because he said the initial payment was too small.

Kiara refused, knowing her parents had no more to give but said if she could earn an income she could add more to her dowry.

The couple lived in Sydney's west where she got a casual job working as a waitress at a restaurant.

She says her husband thought it was disrespectful that she should "serve other men" so Kiara left the job and applied for a job at a factory.

But then Jai told her she couldn't leave the house and he would bring men home where she would work as a prostitute until she had personally paid for the dowry.

This is when Kiara made contact with the Indian (Subcontinent) Crisis and Support Agency which assists migrant women suffering dowry abuse.

"She was one of the rare ones who had actually held a job in India, so I said 'you're going to this interview at this factory because you need income so you can get out of this'," the agency's project leader Kittu Randhawa told BuzzFeed News.

"At the point that [Jai] brought men home, [Kiara] left."

The agency is helping Kiara establish her economic independence while she waits to find out if she can get residency in Australia.

"While Kiara is working full time, rents her own unit and has purchased a car, her visa has been refused and the department of immigration and border protection do not believe her relationship to be a genuine one," Randhawa said.

She also alleged: "Her husband, on the other hand, has been seen on matrimonial sites posing as a single man looking for a bride to come to Australia with impunity. They are not divorced yet.

"If Kiara returns to India, she will endure shame and disrespect for being a ‘left woman’, as will her family. Any future relationship will be tainted by her being a divorcee. None of these issues will impact her husband."

And Kiara is not alone.

When Jagdish Singh was charged with the murder of his wife Harjit Kaur at their Glenwood home in Sydney's west in March, the agency was flooded with calls, Randhawa said.

"I had 62 phone call inquiries in the 10 days after that incident," she said.

"On a regular week, I'll get about five calls from women needing assistance and dowry will be a factor in about 70% of those cases."

In the last year, the agency had assisted 120 women who had "complex problems involving migration and dowry", she said.

"Five of them have received their residency, six have had to return to India or were duped by their husbands to take a trip and then their visa sponsorship was withdrawn so they couldn't return.

"Most are in some process of trying to stay in Australia via domestic violence provisions in the law."

Dowry is not just an exchange of gifts.

It is a fundamental part of marriage agreements that can be cash, assets or visas and demands for further dowry can continue for years after the marriage, Randhawa said. It is illegal in India.

"When we talk about dowry abuse we're not talking about some Bollywood movie situation where the mother-in-law beats the daughter within an inch of her life unless the father pays up," she said.

"For some young girls who come from poor families, who cannot fund any further education, marriage is considered the only option.

"A chance to escape the poverty trap by marrying a man overseas is a tempting opportunity for the family.

"People are subtly making a lot of money through marriage in this country."

Randhawa believes current immigration processes enable domestic violence and financial abuse to run rampant.

"These women get married and come over here, but because the immigration process for a partner visa takes up to 12 months they are put on a visitor visa with no entitlements, medical stuff or ability to work.

"These women can't even buy their own sanitary pads without telling their husbands."

In violent situations women felt trapped in the situation because they had no financial independence, she said.

"Police will tell them 'if you're in danger, leave' but the reality is they have no source of income so I've had three girls turn to prostitution because they've left the situation and found themselves homeless."

In 2014, the agency sent a discussion paper to attorney-general George Brandis and Labor MP Ed Husic and made little headway, Randhawa said, but the agency has since had support from Western Sydney Greens candidate Chris Winslow and Anti-Slavery Australia director Dr Jennifer Burns who introduced it at a recent parliamentary enquiry.

The agency has also appealed to state politicians like the minister for women, Tanya Davies, to look into addressing the issues of abuse in multicultural marriages in relation to dowry.

*Kiara and Jai's names have been changed to protect their identity.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ginarushton/dowry-abuse-is-the-domestic-violence-crisis-youve-never?utm_term=.lwqOol25b#.vnRPrB9ZM

adamantium|wang posted:

https://twitter.com/BCAcomau/status/857497080876736512

Bogan King posted:

Absolutely digging the fact that Trump has blown off Towelcum again


Turns out the party for possibly maybe destroying the ACA is more important than meeting Cuckballs. Maybe we should have suggested a Trump tower opening up in Sydney.

adamantium|wang posted:

https://twitter.com/BCAcomau/status/860181630245249024

what in the actual gently caress

e: oh god
https://twitter.com/BCAcomau/status/857497080876736512

NTRabbit posted:

Someone has to help fill the void once Fairfax finally goes under

adamantium|wang posted:

https://twitter.com/BCAcomau/status/860181630245249024

John Safran posted:

There are more hot anarchists than I expected here. Don't get me wrong, there are also flabby radicals who wouldn't be able to throw a Molotov cocktail without breaking into a wheeze, but still. The Melbourne Anarchist Club, a converted shopfront along a busy road, has thrown open its doors, inviting the community to show solidarity with them. It's a response to the UPF recently rolling up to the cluband thugging around.

'So I hear you're starting up a rap group?'a woman snaps as I walk in. It's the day after Neil announced his plans for JWA. She's leaningagainst a bookshelf, flags from different struggles draping from the wall. 'I was going to ring up andvte for you to be part of the boy band.'

'Ha-ha'I say. She doesn't join in with my ha-ha.

'What's your role in all of this?' a young man asks. He's sitting inan armchair. 'Are you part of building an anti-racist movement or are you just about books and selling and career and profile?'

'I don't think it's good for my career and profile that I'm seen to be in a rap bandwith the UPF, you know?

'It's quirky,' the woman sneers.'It's, you know, whatever.'

I explain that to write stories, I hang out with all sorts of people from all sides.

'They are arseholes!' she says. 'They are using you and your profile to try and humanise themselves!'

'You think there's no use in a writer--'

'Making them just seem like funny Aussie blokes?'

'Maybe it's helpful for people to know that dangerous people have charisma,' I blurt. 'That dangerous people get crowds not because they're cartoon villains,but because they use their charisma to get people on board.' I'm happy to back myself on this matter.

'But what are people to do with that information?' she complains. 'We have to have a collective response to this. We need to build a movement!'

I find out that the young man in the armchair has been seething about me - or at least something I wrote - long before JWA were trying to sign up Ice Berg Safran. He was not a fan of my article about the Brisbane Golden Dawn rally. He reflects on my story with a snort. He felt it was a smart-arsed effort to equate far-right violence with left-wing violence, when the two couldn't be more different. He says far-right violence is a form of 'structural violence' (that is, part of State, corporate and systemic violence), and left-wing violence isn't. And furthermore, my 'comedic' story contributedto to this 'structural violence' by equating the two.

So the men who bashed the elderly Greek guy after the rally didn't engage in anything problematic, but the comedian on the scene who wrote about it did. In fact the comedian was the violent one.

The Sufi held a similar view in regard to the Charlie Hebdo attack. The psychopaths - the ones who should really take a good hard look at themselves and their actions - were the dead guys holding the pencils.

It occurs to me that Shermon quit the UPF in response to a piss-take. So for all three points of the triangle - the far right, the far left and radical Islam - piss-taking is a threat that needs to be kept at bay. People might start listening to the jokes.

Another thing occurs to me: What's wrong with interrogating violence, even if it's 'non-structural'?

I tell them I'm just interested in different things to them. 'I like looking at tangles,' I say.

'Like what?' the woman demands.

I remember the 'Talmudic son of a bitch' message from last night. 'Like that sometimes Muslims, who suffer Islamophobia, are anti-Semitic.'

Snort. Sneer. Like the Sufi, she argues there are power dynamics in play. There's not meaningful anti-Semitism these days, she advises, in the way there's meaningful Islamophobia. I tell her about the recent bashing of a local Jew by two men screaming in Arabic, and that the Jewish community centre in my neighbourhood is getting a $1.3 million 'blast-proofing' security wall after a terrorist plot to blow it up.

Just as Santa has his Naughty and Nice list, Mrs Sneer and Mr Snort have their Structural Violence and Non-Structural Violence list. Alas for the bashed Jew and the community centre employees, they've only made it to the Non-Structural Violence list. That's the side of the ledger where the violence isn't worth interrogating.

The woman pushes a pamphlet at me. It's advertising the counter-protest to the Reclaim rally. It calls for people to show up at the steps of Parliament House. 'Are you going to promote us?'

I, of course, know something she doesn't: that the UPF won't be at the steps. They'll be an hour's drive away in Melton.

'How do you know they're going to be there?' I dangle. (I might as well tell her.)

'Reclaim called a rally,' she hisses.

'Are you sure they're going to be there?'

She groans. 'So what part are you going to play?' and rolls her eyes.

'I'm in the UPF rap band,' I squeak. 'You'll see me up there scratching records behind Ez-Eric and Dr Fash!'

The woman huffs off.

'There are no casual observers,' the young man in the armchair tells me.

'Deep, man. Real deep,' I sulk.

I head to the little bar area. The anarchist selling the beers wears a T-shirt saying 'Hello Titties', with Hello Kitty's cat head redesigned to look like breasts.