/qresearch/ - Q Research

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CURRENT DOUGH

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Payne, Pompeo discuss China’s ‘escalating threats’

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have emphasised the need for a co-ordinated response to China’s “escalating threats” to the economies of both countries amid Beijing’s campaign against Australian exporters.

The conversation between Senator Payne and Mr Pompeo on Thursday night came as trade experts said the US may support Australia’s challenge to China’s punitive tariffs on barley at the World Trade Organisation.

Chinese officials have also been forced on the defensive about electricity rationing in some provinces that are affecting households and industrial consumers, in the wake of a ban on Australian coal imports.

China’s top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Thursday there had been a “faster than expected growth in power demand” because of cold weather and higher industrial use.

But it claimed power stations had 21 days’ supply, amid a surging spot price.

Australian coal mines normally supply 20 per cent of China’s imported thermal coal, according to resources analyst Wood Mackenzie.

“China’s thermal coal market is in chaos, with prices rocketing after daily price index releases were suspended on December 3,” the analyst said in a note to clients this week.

“We believe there is little scope for increased production from Chinese producers and thermal coal prices will remain high through the peak winter demand period.”

Rare criticism

The power shortages have attracted rare criticism on Chinese social media, with one blogger saying the Chinese government’s sanctioning of Australian goods was actually hurting Chinese consumers.

“Some politicians are so dumb. In fact, we can’t afford a disrupted relationship with Australia because all the goods we imported from Australia, such as coal, iron ore, beef, wine and grain, are very important,” the post published on Weibo said.

“Why Chinese politicians take sanction measures wilfully just because Australian politicians made some unpleasant remarks? We should understand that these Australian politicians’ remarks don’t make any difference to the life of Australians but it does affect the daily life of Chinese citizens. This is to kill 10,000 of our soldiers while removing 1000 enemy soldiers.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week said China’s reported ban on Australian coal, if true, was an “obvious” breach under its China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organisation obligations.

In what could be their final conversation before Mr Pompeo’s tenure ends on January 20, he and Senator Payne discussed China’s use of trade sanctions against Australia.

This included “our ongoing co-ordination to counter the escalating threats from the PRC to our economies”, according to a readout supplied by the US State Department.

There has been speculation Western nations including the Five Eyes group could offer mutual support to each other when China threatens trade from one member by agreeing to buy more from the affected country and not filling the gap.

Senator Payne and Mr Pompeo also spoke about the growing importance of the quadrilateral relationship between Australia, the US, Japan and India to advance a “free, open and inclusive” Indo-Pacific region.

Research director for Perth’s USAsia Centre, Jeffrey Wilson, said he expected the US would file an amicus curiae brief backing Australia in its fight against China at the WTO over its 80 per cent anti-dumping tariffs on $600 million of barley sales.

“This is not about Australia or barley any more,” he said. “It’s actually about Chinese exceptionalism and the question is are they bound to core WTO rules that have been developed and refined over the last 70 years or can they make stuff up?”

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/payne-pompeo-discuss-china-s-escalating-threats-20201218-p56opu

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Secretary Pompeo’s Call with Australian Foreign Minister Payne

READOUT

OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON

DECEMBER 17, 2020

The following is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown:

Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke today with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne. During the call, Secretary Pompeo and the Foreign Minister Payne reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.-Australia Alliance, which is based on shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, common strategic interests, and our enduring “mateship.” The Secretary and the Foreign Minister also discussed the growing importance of the Quad’s collective efforts to advance a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, and our ongoing coordination to counter the escalating threats from the PRC to our economies.

https://www.state.gov/secretary-pompeos-call-with-australian-foreign-minister-payne-2/

>>12076653

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweet

It was a pleasure speaking today with Australian Foreign Minister @MarisePayne. The U.S.-Australia Alliance is strong and our collective work in the Quad is increasingly critical as we seek to build a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1339663109745729536

—

Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet

My friend @SecPompeo has been a vital partner to Australia as we have addressed the challenges across our region. We spoke tonight, reflecting on the values we share, how our Alliance has grown & the critical role it will continue to play in regional security & prosperity.

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1339554529612709888

As posted over on main

>>12085950 OB

Any one done any actual digging not just posting MSM articles and Tweets?

Started this morning, all I got so far. Chip in faggots.

Church loses abuse settlement appeal

The Catholic Church has failed to overturn a landmark court decision meaning it can be sued by a Victorian sexual abuse survivor.

The former altar boy earlier this year became the first Australian to overturn a settlement with the church in the state's Supreme Court.

The survivor received $32,500 in 1996 after taking legal action against the church. The Court of Appeal has agreed it was not enough given the wrong done to the man.

He was abused from the age of 12 by Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan, between 1977 and 1980. The priest took his own life after being charged.

"It is, in our view, very plainly just and reasonable to set aside the (1996) deed. Indeed, it would positively be unjust and unreasonable not to do so," appeal justices David Beach, Stephen Kaye and Robert Osborn said in their decision on Friday.

This means the survivor can press ahead with seeking damages for psychiatric injury including severe post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

A trial date had been set down for November but this was delayed because of the church's appeal.

Rightside Legal, which represents the man, hopes the trial can go ahead in early 2021.

"No doubt the church will trot out the same second-rate press release saying they feel for the victim and they have changed," senior associate Laird Macdonald said.

"That is obvious rubbish. The church went to the highest court in Victoria trying to justify a pittance it paid to a man whose life was ripped to shreds by a pedophile priest."

The church first learnt of Hourigan's abuse in 1986. It did not tell the police but acknowledged the abuse to its own insurer in 1992.

Hourigan was charged in 1995 with rape, indecent assault, gross indecency and the sexual penetration of a person between the ages of 10 and 16 relating to a number of victims.

He took his life three days later.

The church entered into a deed of release with the survivor now suing it, but only after denying in court that Hourigan perpetrated the abuse while working at the Sale Diocese.

Sale Bishop Greg Bennet said he acknowledged "the enduring trauma experienced by victims of child abuse through the Catholic Church over many years".

"We pledge to provide pathways for survivors and their families to have their experiences respectfully heard, and to redress the harm with practical as well as pastoral means that are determined by the survivor's needs," he said.

Lifeline 13 11 14

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/church-loses-abuse-settlement-appeal-ng-s-2042597

George Papadopoulos Tweets

Materials released today prove that the “investigations” were launched earlier than July 2016. The focus now is on how foreign governments (Australia/UK) worked with the State Department to set up a conspiracy against the campaign. March-April 16 activity critical in London.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1339656589930766336

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It’s time to declassify the information on Australia’s role in sending in informants and operatives before the investigation “launch date.” The activity in London between March-April 2016 is critical. We have the info the probe started before. Now need the materials public

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1340021275322814464

>>12087817

FBI Was Investigating Trump Earlier Than It Let On, Texts Show

The FBI had investigations open into candidate Donald Trump earlier than the July 31, 2016, date long cited in the official narrative, according to newly released text messages from fired Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok.

In a text message to FBI attorney Lisa Page sent on July 28, 2016, Strzok mentioned “our open [counterintelligence] investigations relating to Trump’s Russian connections.” The date of the text message is significant because the bureau has long maintained that it opened the investigations into Trump campaign associates on July 31 of that year.

Notably, in the electronic communication memorializing the opening of the investigations, Strzok wrote that the probes were triggered by information the bureau received on July 29, 2016. The FBI has never disclosed that it was investigating Trump prior to that date. The bureau didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

The information the FBI received pertained to a conversation between Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and Australian diplomat Alexander Downer. Papadopoulos told Downer that Russians had damaging information on then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has repeatedly said that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign months earlier than July 31, 2016. For years, only circumstantial evidence was in the public realm to back that claim.

Crossfire Hurricane, the umbrella codename for the four investigations of Trump’s campaign associates, eventually evolved into the special counsel investigation by Robert Mueller. After 22 months, the special counsel found insufficient evidence to establish that anyone on Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

Page and Strzok played key roles in the investigation, while texting about their open hatred of Trump and preference for Clinton. Strzok told Page that “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming president, discussed an “insurance policy” in the event that Trump won, and wondered about “impeachment” around the time he joined the special counsel team in the early months of Trump’s presidency.

Crossfire Hurricane officials obtained highly intrusive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants on former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. A watchdog review of the applications for the warrants unearthed “at least 17 significant errors and omissions”—an extraordinary number compared to a sampling of applications from other cases.

One of the errors concerned Kevin Clinesmith, an FBI attorney who doctored an email to hide the fact that Page had worked with the CIA. Clinesmith pleaded guilty earlier this year to a false-statements charge connected to the forgery. He hasn’t yet been sentenced.

“President [Trump] was NEVER afforded a peaceful transition, not even a peaceful 2016 campaign!” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany wrote on Twitter in response to news of the Strzok text message. “The Obama-era FBI was going after him from the beginning!”

https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Johnson-Grassley%20Submission%202020-12-09.pdf

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fbi-had-probes-into-trump-earlier-than-it-let-on_3623373.html

US prosecutors say former Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell does not deserve bail

US prosecutors have said Ghislaine Maxwell, the former associate of Jeffrey Epstein charged with helping enable his sexual abuses, should remain in jail, and urged a federal judge to reject her proposed $US28.5 million ($37 million) bail package.

In a filing with the US District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors said Ms Maxwell has essentially rehashed previously rejected arguments for bail, and that she remained an "extreme flight risk" as she faced "incredibly serious" charges.

"Nothing in the renewed bail application alters the analysis that led this court to conclude that the defendant 'poses a substantial actual risk of flight', and that no combination of conditions could assure her appearance," prosecutors said.

Ms Maxwell, 58, has been held in a Brooklyn jail since July, when she pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom underage girls for sex in the mid-1990s, and not guilty to perjury for having denied involvement under oath.

She has proposed living with electronic monitoring in a New York City residence, and under 24-hour guard to ensure she remains safe and does not flee.

Ms Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted at her scheduled July 2021 trial.

US District Judge Alison Nathan, who rejected a $US5 million bail package for Ms Maxwell in July, will consider her latest application.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Prosecutors say Maxwell moved assets to hide wealth

Ms Maxwell's bail application said she "vehemently maintains her innocence" against allegations she assisted Epstein, based on uncorroborated testimony about events occurring more than 25 years ago.

But prosecutors said new details about Ms Maxwell's finances — details she would have known when first seeking bail — did not bolster her case.

They said Ms Maxwell's having moved most of her assets to her husband showed her ability to "hide her true wealth", the size of which demonstrated she could "absolutely afford" to flee.

Prosecutors also said Ms Maxwell's pledge to waive extradition from the United Kingdom and France, where she has citizenships, was worthless because those countries' would not allow it.

Ms Maxwell proposed posting a $US22.5 million ($30 million) bond, representing all assets belonging to her and her husband, secured by $US8.5 million ($11 million) of property and cash.

The remaining bail would be posted by friends, family and a security specialist.

"Release to the equivalent of a 'privately funded jail' is not warranted here," prosecutors said.

Authorities arrested Ms Maxwell on July 2 at her New Hampshire home, which prosecutors said she used as a hideout.

Her husband, whose name was redacted from court papers, has said Ms Maxwell moved there to protect her safety and escape the media frenzy, not to elude capture.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-19/prosecutors-say-ghislaine-maxwell-should-stay-behind-bars/13000550

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.100.0_4.pdf

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.100.1.pdf

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweets

Thankful for all the authorities who helped in amass take down the top tier of the sex trafficking ring ran by Epstein, Maxwell & Brunel. Today are streets are a bit safer.

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1339726094207918080

Modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel arrested in Paris in Epstein probe

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/modeling-agent-jean-luc-brunel-arrested-paris-epstein-probe-n1251589

—

It was great working with the French authorities to help take down JLB- This piggy will roll over on EVERYONE to save his own bacon,Those who participated in this sex trafficking ring should be worried, you know who you are!Who’s next? Could be anyone! #BREAKING #EnoughIsEnough

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1339728184380559361

Arren J @ggbrokensilence

Two in one week! Nygard and now Jean-Luc Brunel, that's a heaping helping of hellllllllllllll yes!

—

Let’s hope the authorities take it seriously this time. The amount of ruined lives Jean Luc made happen is in the 1000’s. I appeal for our survivor sisters in France, Spain, Brazil & Eastern Europe to come forward. You will not be alone. We are stronger together #Metoo #Enough

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1339868230345654273

Kirby Sommers author, feminist, sex slave survivor @KirbySommers

Jean-Luc Brunel, Claude Haddid and John Casablances regularly forced themselves sexually on 12-year-old girls (aka rape).

Everyone in the modeling industry knew.

No one did anything.

—

Modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel arrested in Paris in Epstein probe

Brunel was arrested Wednesday morning at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was attempting to board a plane to Dakar, Senegal.

French modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel has been detained in Paris in connection with an investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s circle of enablers, according to French prosecutors.

Brunel was arrested Wednesday morning at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was attempting to board a plane to Dakar, Senegal. He was being held for questioning on suspicion of providing underage girls from his modeling agency for Epstein to sexually abuse.

Brunel was facing several charges, including rape, sexual assault of a minor, and trafficking of minors, according to the prosecutor’s office in Paris.

He was taken into custody after he showed his passport and airport authorities noticed that he was identified in an immigration system as being wanted for questioning by the national police, according to a French police source.

An attorney for Brunel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brunel has previously denied any wrongdoing in a 2015 lawsuit against Epstein in which he alleged the “adverse publicity” surrounding the financier had damaged his reputation.

The arrest comes more than a year after Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into sexual abuse linked to Epstein and his possible accomplices.

One Epstein accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, said she was also abused by Brunel. Giuffre claimed in a 2016 deposition made public last year that Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell had directed her to provide sexual services for Brunel.

Speaking to NBC’s “Dateline” in a special that aired last September, Giuffre said Epstein told her he slept with “over a thousand women that Brunel brought in.”

Epstein died by suicide inside a New York jail in August 2019 while he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell, his longtime confidante, was arrested in July and remains jailed in New York.

Prosecutors say she helped the disgraced financier sexually abuse young girls in the mid-1990s and participated in some of the abuse herself. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of enticing a minor to travel to engage in criminal sexual activity and perjury.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/modeling-agent-jean-luc-brunel-arrested-paris-epstein-probe-n1251589

>>12089065

Pics related

Why Cardinal Pell’s prison diaries are an inspiring read

Cardinal ­George Pell’s prison diary may not sound like an uplifting read, but its narrative reveals a man who has grown, transcended even, through his trials.

Piers Akerman - December 19, 2020

A prison diary may not seem like cheery Christmas reading but the first volume of Cardinal ­George Pell’s Prison Journal trilogy is that and more, it’s a tonic, an inspiration and an instruction in humanity and decency in the face of adversity.

Cardinal Pell, now in Rome, spent more than 400 days in solitary confinement after suffering at the hands of the Victorian government’s police and ­judiciary.

It took his final appeal to the High Court nearly nine months ago to ­endorse the view of a single member, Justice Mark Weinberg, of that state’s three-member Court of Appeal, that the cardinal was innocent.

Lesser men than George Pell might well have despaired in the face of the outrageous reporting by the ABC and the Nine Media of the clearly implausible charges, the incomprehensible claims made by the police and prosecution, and the flawed findings of the Victorian Supreme Court but the cardinal’s faith and resolve only strengthened during his ordeal.

It was a truly shameful episode for the Victorian police, already deeply compromised by their corrupt ­engagement of Lawyer X, Nicola Gobbo, as an informant while she was acting as counsel for a number of ­alleged criminals.

Equally grotesque was the decision by Melbourne University Press to rush into print with a disgraceful book by former Moove milk model Louise Milligan, who was disgustingly promoted by the taxpayer-funded ABC and even presented with a Melbourne Press Club Golden Quill award and the Walkley Book award for her work titled Cardinal: The Rise And Fall Of George Pell.

A narrative which has had to be ­corrected and should — if MUP and Milligan had a skerrick of the integrity of Cardinal Pell — be withdrawn with apologies.

Knowing he was innocent, finding solace in his actual suffering, and ­greatly supported by friends and ­family, the cardinal has grown, transcended even, through his trials. I asked him early on Thursday via a Zoom conference, whether he intended to pursue the Victorian government for wrongful or malicious prosecution and whether he would seek damages for the defamatory claims made against him by the Left-wing media, but he told me he would not.

Now 79, he is more focused on the positive experiences he found in prison.

He has, he said, been delighted with the progress on the inquiries into the Vatican finances, which he led before the false charges were laid against him.

The climate for reform is now very different from when he took on the challenge in the face of great ­resistance from powerful forces within the Church.

However, he believes there may have been a connection between his work on reforming Vatican finances and the prosecution though he is clear that there is no proof that money from Rome was used to pervert the course of justice.

“What we can say is that one of the monsignors quoted in the Italian press has said he has seen evidence of money going from Rome to Australia,” he added.

The most depressing thing, he found, was that the Supreme Court of Victoria found that he was guilty when great legal minds around the world pointed out the numerous flaws and fallacies in the case.

He believes that the Victorian police were either duped or that their work was very sloppy and said he had been told the Office of Public Prosecutions had refused three times to consent to the charges going forward and that the gossip was that the Victorian police took the action themselves and paid for the prosecution out of their budget.

Just as the disgraced Gobbo was paid to breach lawyer-client confidentiality to provide Victorian police with information and convictions.

The cardinal said there was a point of view, which he supported, that there was a current of anti-Catholicism ­running through the whole state like osmosis. Through the Labor government, the police, the legal framework, inducing a state of mind which affected even some members of the conservative ­Opposition.

He called it “woke thinking”, or “Green thinking” and said there was a need for greater social conservatism.

On that point, the thousands of ­people who wrote letters of support to Cardinal Pell during his shameful per­iod of imprisonment could only agree.

Merry Christmas. Be uplifted.

Cardinal George Pell: Prison ­Journal Volume 1 is available through Freedom Publishing Books and Ignatius Press.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/why-cardinal-pells-prison-diaries-are-an-inspiring-read/news-story/30ce9b238a277dc51efaa12c11c5e846

The damage Donald Trump is doing may never be undone

TROY BRAMSTON - DECEMBER 19, 2020

1/2

Donald Trump’s refusal to accept that he lost the presidential election, his failure to concede to Joe Biden and his many attempts to overturn the result is more than just the deranged and demented actions of a sore loser. It is a repudiation of the grand American tradition of a dignified and graceful transfer of power.

It is convention for the defeated candidate to accept the election outcome, congratulate their opponent, wish them well, and call on their supporters to do the same.

This is a heavy responsibility that every defeated candidate in the past century has readily embraced. And it is fundamental to bringing the country together after an election and legitimising the new president.

Al Smith gave the first radio concession speech in 1928, and Adlai Stevenson gave the first on television in 1952. Some of the greatest speeches have been delivered by candidates in the crucible of defeat, still hurting and disappointed. It usually takes place on election night or in the days or weeks after election day. Trump has not given any such speech.

There is also the customary private phone call between the victor and the vanquished. It requires humility. This convention began with William Jennings Bryan who sent a congratulatory telegram to William McKinley in 1896. There has been no such gracious message or phone call from Trump to Biden.

Then there is the meeting between the incoming and outgoing president. The media are invited to record for history the handshake that is emblematic of a change of government conducted in a spirit of goodwill. Barack Obama invited Trump to the White House in 2016. Biden has not received his invitation. Biden did, however, meet with incoming Vice-President Mike Pence four years ago.

Nor has there been top-level co-operation between the Biden-Harris transition team and the White House. This custom was started by Harry Truman who invited Dwight D. Eisenhower to send his staff and cabinet members to meet his team in 1952. Jimmy Carter — a one-term president like Trump — sent this message to Ronald Reagan in 1980: “I congratulate you and I pledge to you our fullest support and co-operation in bringing about an orderly transition of government.”

Then there is the traditional letter left on the Resolute Desk for the incoming president. Reagan wrote to George H.W. Bush in 1989: “(I) wish you all the very best. You’ll be in my prayers.” Bush wrote to Bill Clinton in 1993: “Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.” Clinton wrote to George W. Bush in 2001: “I salute you and wish you success and much happiness.” Bush wrote to Obama in 2009: “You will have … a country that is pulling for you, including me.” And Obama wrote to Trump in 2017: “Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best … we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.”

Will Trump pen such a letter to Biden? Not a chance.

(continued)

>>12098003

2/2

The most visible sign of the transfer of power from one president to another is the inauguration, traditionally held on the steps of the US Capitol. This is a celebration of democracy where presidents past, outgoing and incoming gather to legitimise the election result. Biden, as vice-president, attended Trump’s inauguration in 2017 with Obama.

Trump has not yet said whether he will attend Biden’s inauguration. Trump’s no-show would represent another trashing of convention. John Adams and John Quincy Adams — father and son — refused to attend their successors’ inaugurations in 1801 and 1829. The only other president to refuse an invitation is Andrew Johnson in 1869. Trump would be the fourth.

The meeting of the Electoral College in state capitols this week, where electors cast their votes for president reflecting the will of the voters, is past time for Trump to accept that he lost the election and Biden won.

Biden’s Electoral College victory effectively ends any hope Trump had for remaining president. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell finally congratulated Biden this week. It is shameful that it took him so long.

It is worth noting there were no so-called “faithless electors” this year. In other words, no elector decided to break ranks and not vote for who they were pledged to vote for. Some states make this illegal. But in 2016, there were seven faithless electors so Trump received 304 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227. This year, Biden received 306 votes to Trump’s 232. So, Biden won more votes than Trump.

But Trump has not accepted Biden’s Electoral College mandate. Nor has he faced up to the fact that he lost the popular vote by a large margin of more than seven million votes. Trump received 46.8 per cent of the vote to Biden’s 51.3 per cent. Trump’s defeat was clear and convincing.

Instead, Trump launched an assault on the electoral system. While Trump’s presidency has gone from farce to tragedy — manifest in his disastrous response to COVID-19 — it is now in a new toxic phase. Trump has done what no other US president has done before: rejected the democratic process and systematically tried to overturn it. These are the actions of an autocrat not a democrat.

Trump’s claims of a rigged election and widespread fraud have not changed the result. His call to stop counting votes was ignored. His recounts did not produce a different outcome. His lawsuits have not succeeded. The Supreme Court ruled that his claim of vote fraud had no merit. And his intimidation of state officials to overturn results have failed. This behaviour is contemptible.

But this reprehensible presidency has opened a new battleground in US politics. The US electoral system is under strain, even though its integrity has endured. In trying to change the election result, Trump has shattered yet more norms and conventions, and sought to subvert legally certified votes. Trump has poisoned the electoral process by not accepting its legitimacy. This will have a lasting impact.

The upshot is that this is a perilous and pitiful moment for the US. It is what many of the founders feared. In his farewell address in 1796, George Washington warned against “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men” who would “subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government”.

For now, the electoral institutions and the individuals responsible for them have upheld the will of the voters to determine their president. They have not broken but they have been stress-tested.

Danger has been averted but only because they held fast to the founding creed and values of the great republic that Trump has tried to destroy.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-damage-donald-trump-is-doing-may-never-be-undone/news-story/6efc1f8e7adbcbdc453e841bf335a726

>>12098003

pure clowning

Cardinal Pell claims public opinion turned against him because of his 'conservative views'

The former Vatican treasurer also likened jail to being in seminary

Cardinal Pell has said that his “conservative views” turned public opinion against him, as he likened being in prison to being in seminary.

The 79-year-old former Vatican treasurer, who was one of the Pope’s most senior advisors, left the Vatican in 2017 to fight criminal charges in Australia.

However in December 2018 the cardinal, who always maintained his innocence, was convicted of sexually molesting two choirboys in Melbourne cathedral in the mid-1990s. He was the highest-ranking Catholic figure to receive such a conviction and the case rocked the church.

He spent 404 days in prison – much of it in solitary confinement – while his conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal, before the Australian High Court unanimously overthrew it in April this year.

In his first broadcast interview in the UK following his release, Cardinal Pell said he would not apologise for his conservative views, but had said sorry "many times" for the Church's crimes of sexual abuse.

The Australian cleric rose in prominence as a strong supporter of traditional Catholic values, often taking conservative views and advocating for priestly celibacy.

He was asked if he accepted any responsibility regarding public anger with the Catholic Church at the time of his trial.

In response, he told BBC's Radio 4's Sunday programme: “Public opinion was very hostile to the Catholic Church both because of the extent of the paedophilia, [and] the way it was sometimes dealt with….

“The atmosphere was hostile, I was certainly one of the figures identified with this old bad church.”

He also said there was "no doubt" that his direct style and traditional approach to issues such as abortion had contributed to a hostile atmosphere.

He added: “I think my style is rather direct. I think there's no doubt whatsoever that my social conservatism, the fact that I actually defend christian teachings on life, family, seuxality, beginning and end of life, I think there's no doubt this is irritating to a lot of people.

“My direct style probably contributed, but for my basic Christian positions I make no apology at all, although I've many times apologised for the crimes committed by church people.”

He said that while he regretted what had happened within the Church, he was "able to sleep quite well on most occasions".

"I deeply lament the suffering of so many people, but I am also proud of the efforts that we have made in Australia for over 25 years - as inadequate as those might have been."

Cardinal Pell also likened his time in segregation in prison to being in a seminary, where those training to be priests used to endure periods of silence and isolation.

In his new book, Prison Journal, which marks the first volume of his prison diaries, the Cardinal reflects on being accused and imprisoned, and on the wider meaning of suffering in Christianity.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/20/cardinal-pell-claims-public-opinion-turned-against-conservative/

—

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday

Cardinal Pell's prison journal

In 2019 Cardinal George Pell was sentenced to six years in prison for 'historical sexual assault offences'. Earlier this year the Australian High Court voted 7-0 to overturn the original convictions. In a frank interview, the man who was once the third most powerful person in the Catholic Church reflects on his time inside jail, what he feels about his past handling of abuse allegations and the man whose accusations put him behind bars for 404 days.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000qhft

22:40

Ben Roberts-Smith pictured cheering soldiers drinking from the prosthetic leg of a man he shot

1/2

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith was photographed cheering on an American soldier drinking from the prosthetic leg of a suspected Afghan militant whose death is now the subject of a war crimes investigation into the war hero.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have obtained two photographs that show Mr Roberts-Smith, the country’s most decorated living soldier, posing with the prosthetic leg which was used as a novelty drinking vessel.

The photographs appear at odds with claims made by Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyer in the Federal Court last year that the war hero was utterly disgusted by the use of the leg as a drinking vessel. Lawyer Bruce McClintock stressed Mr Roberts-Smith “never drank from that thing … Because he thought it was disgusting to souvenir a body part, albeit an artificial one from someone who had been killed in action."

Mr McClintock also told the Federal Court Mr Roberts-Smith had been the one who had killed the disabled Afghan militant, saying he was a member of the Taliban. That killing is suspected by police to be an execution and is now the subject of an Australian Federal Police war crimes inquiry and a preliminary prosecution brief of evidence.

The first photo depicts Mr Roberts-Smith some time after the killing in 2009 fist-pumping as an American soldier drinks a beer from the leg in a makeshift Afghan bar known as the Fat Lady’s Arms set up inside Australia’s special forces base in Tarin Kowt.

In the other photo Mr Roberts-Smith is seen grinning with his arm draped around a different US soldier wearing a cowboy hat and posing with the prosthetic leg.

The Age and Herald reported two years ago that the leg had been removed from a dead Afghan by another soldier in March 2009 and had been taken to use as a beer drinking vessel. In 2018, The Age and Herald reported how the leg was sometimes mounted on a wooden plaque with an Iron Cross and the heading “Das Boot”.

The fake limb gained further notoriety earlier this month when photos of soldiers and non-commissioned officers drinking from it were leaked to The Guardian. The photos supplied to The Guardian did not include any images of Mr Roberts-Smith posing with the leg.

Multiple official sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing, have told The Age and Herald Mr Roberts-Smith will face fresh war crimes inquiries in addition to ongoing federal police taskforces already probing him.

The sources confirmed that the federal police are investigating Mr Roberts-Smith over multiple eyewitness accounts from his fellow Special Air Service Regiment soldiers who allege he executed the unarmed Afghan militant wearing the leg in an operation in Kakarak, Southern Afghanistan, on Easter Sunday, 2009. That alleged execution is the subject of a preliminary criminal brief recently submitted by the federal police to Commonwealth prosecutors.

Police are also investigating allegations, made by SASR insiders, that Mr Roberts-Smith and a second soldier pressured a junior trooper to execute a second Afghan found in the same Kakarak compound in a “blooding” incident. “Blooding” is the pressuring of junior soldiers to summarily execute prisoners. The practice was identified in the Brereton Inquiry report into allegations of war crimes by a small clique of Australian SAS soldiers in Afghanistan.

The Brereton report identified a “warrior culture” that allowed war crimes to be allegedly committed. Without naming any individual, the Brereton report found 25 special forces soldiers may have executed 39 Afghans and called on the federal police to launch multiple fresh inquiries.

It separately criticised the unruly or skylarking behaviour of some soldiers at the Fat Lady’s Arms.

The Brereton Inquiry intensively investigated Mr Roberts-Smith for three years, but his suspected role in multiple war crimes has only been publicly exposed by whistleblower accounts provided to The Age and Herald.

A confidential AFP letter sent in late 2019 stated detectives had obtained “eyewitness” accounts implicating him in suspected war crimes. In addition to the Kakarak killings, the taskforces have also submitted a preliminary brief of evidence to prosecutors about allegations Mr Roberts-Smith kicked a prisoner named Ali Jan off a cliff in 2012.

The AFP letter was revealed in defamation proceedings that Mr Roberts-Smith has launched against The Age and Herald. Mr Roberts-Smith has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

(continued)

>>12113707

2/2

Hundreds of photos exist depicting dozens of soldiers and officers drinking from the boot and the selective leaking of a small number of them at the Fat Lady’s Arms to The Guardian has partly shifted the focus onto whistleblowers or witnesses, and away from soldiers accused of actually executing prisoners.

The Guardian story, written by freelance journalist Rory Callinan, included photos of two soldiers with faces blurred posing with the boot. The story claimed “rank-and-file” soldiers believe they have been unfairly criticised by the Brereton report and suggest that drinking from the boot could be classified as the war crime of pillaging because the leg was property taken without the consent of its owner.

The article did not mention the allegation the Afghan man wearing the leg had been allegedly executed, or that Mr Roberts-Smith was a police suspect.

More than a dozen defence sources said the two soldiers in the photos published by Mr Callinan and the Guardian were part of a group of suspected witnesses rumoured to be assisting the federal police war crimes taskforce. The sources said one of the two soldiers depicted in The Guardian had, in 2017, disclosed his own role in removing and handling the leg. This was also not reported in the Guardian article.

Despite efforts to contact him, Mr Callinan could not be reached before deadline. Sources at The Guardian said the British media giant was unaware the two soldiers depicted in the photos it published could be police witnesses.

There is no suggestion Mr Roberts-Smith provided the photos of the two soldiers turned suspected police witnesses or is connected to the Guardian reports. However, the former soldier is working with public relations firm Cato & Clive and public relations operative and former journalist Ross Coulthart.

The work of the two federal police taskforces will be reviewed and subsumed in coming weeks by the Office of the Special Investigator, created by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in November, as it creates a 75-strong team of federal and state police detectives, prosecutors and experts.

Multiple official sources said a key task for the office, partly led by former top Victorian judge Mark Weinberg, will be deciding how to manage the evidence about Mr Roberts-Smith’s alleged war crimes already uncovered by federal police taskforces.

Some commentators, including former head of defence Admiral Chris Barrie, have queried if the Brereton inquiry adequately considered the question of officer and senior command responsibility, despite exhaustive investigations into this issue by the Brereton probe. Others have attacked defence force chief Angus Campbell over his handling of the Brereton Report and his call to support the stripping of a meritorious unit citation to from the SASR.

The Brereton report said forensic investigations and hundreds of interviews had unearthed no direct knowledge or involvement by officers in war crimes. But the inquiry still concluded some commanders bore a moral and leadership responsibility for the alleged executions concealed from them by soldiers. Suspected war crimes whistleblowers and witnesses have also been targeted in some recent media reports, according to defence sources.

Australian Defence Association chief executive Neil James wrote on Friday that, “to our national detriment, much of the public discussion on war crimes alleged to have been committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan is focusing on secondary, peripheral or irrelevant issues.”

“Straw-man arguments have also been peddled by those with other agendas, including a wish to obscure the key fact that premeditated and systemic war crimes were [allegedly] committed, and that they were inexcusable,” he wrote. Mr James stressed individuals accused were entitled to presumption of innocence.

Mr Roberts-Smith has made several media statements including the false claim that a media tip off - and not a referral from the Brereton Inquiry and the defence force - had prompted the police inquiries into his behaviour.

A statement promising the release of new photos showing officers drinking out of the boot was circulated this week among the SASR, veterans groups and journalists, although its authenticity could not be verified.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/ben-roberts-smith-pictured-cheering-soldiers-drinking-from-the-prosthetic-leg-of-a-man-he-shot-20201220-p56p2y.html

>>12088511

'CLEARLY A WITNESS' French investigators want to quiz Prince Andrew after charging modelling boss with abusing girls

FRENCH investigators want to quiz Prince Andrew after yesterday charging a modelling boss with abusing girls.

Jean-Luc Brunel, 74, is alleged to have shared Jeffrey Epstein “sex slave” Virginia Roberts Giuffre with the royal.

Brunel is also accused of supplying girls for an orgy on the billionaire’s “Paedo Island” in the Caribbean.

He and Andrew strongly deny any wrongdoing.

Epstein died in jail last year.

French officials have been probing Epstein’s crimes since August.

A source said: “We have issued numerous appeals for witnesses and Prince Andrew is clearly a witness to Epstein’s conduct over many years.

“Beyond that Andrew is said to have visited Epstein’s home in Paris and had relations with the victims Brunel is accused of abusing.

“Andrew’s testament is crucial and he could of course be summoned.”

Investigators could legally apply to quiz the Duke, 60, in France but his royal status would create difficulties.

Lisa Bloom, lawyer for an alleged victim of Brunel, said yesterday: “At long last another accused Epstein enabler is being brought to justice.

"Prince Andrew — time to make good on your promise of co-operating with authorities, or you may be next.”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13526408/investigators-quiz-prince-andrew-model-agent/

Australian writer detained in Beijing has trial delayed by three months

Chinese authorities appear to have delayed Australian writer Yang Hengjun's trial by three months, almost two years after he was detained in Beijing.

Australian officials visited Dr Yang on Thursday last week but government sources said they had still not been informed on the exact details of the allegations being levelled against the University of Technology Sydney PhD graduate.

Dr Yang was formally charged in October with espionage, paving the way for him to face trial later this month or in January. But sources familiar with the case have confirmed the trial has now been postponed by three months, meaning it is likely to be moved to April next year.

There are still no details about the exact nature of the espionage charges against Dr Yang, a pro-democracy blogger who was born in China and once worked for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The 55-year-old has been isolated in a Beijing prison and allegedly tortured in an attempt to extract a confession on the unspecified claims. Chinese authorities have been unable to extract a confession from Dr Yang, despite more than 300 rounds of interrogation using forms of alleged torture including severe sleep deprivation.

He was also denied any visits from friends, family and Australian officials for an eight-month period from December, 2019, which Chinese authorities blamed on the COVID-19 outbreak. Prior to that, Dr Yang was allowed a monthly half-hour visit from a representative from the Australian consulate.

Dr Yang was detained in January last year and formally arrested by the Beijing State Security Bureau on August 23 on suspicion of endangering Chinese national security. Chinese authorities have declined to specify the claims against the pro-democracy activist who became an Australian citizen in 2002.

Espionage law in China applies the death penalty to particularly serious cases that involve sabotage causing heavy losses or instructing an enemy attack.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International called on Chinese authorities to release Dr Yang "immediately and unconditionally unless there is sufficient credible and admissible evidence that he has committed an internationally recognised offence and is granted a fair trial in line with international standards".

Pending his release, the human rights group said China needed to ensure Dr Yang had regular, unrestricted access to visits from consular staff and family and lawyers, and give him immediate access to any medical care he may need.

Dr Yang is among several Australians detained by Chinese authorities. Chinese-Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei is also being held by state security on unknown claims.

Concern from friends and family of Australians detained in China have heightened amid an escalating diplomatic and trade dispute between Canberra and Beijing this year.

But earlier this month, Australian citizen Sadam Abdusalam, was able to reunite with his wife Nadila and and three-year-old son Lutfy, members of China's Uighur Muslim minority who had been under house arrest.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australian-writer-detained-in-beijing-has-trial-delayed-by-three-months-20201221-p56p90.html

Kyle Daniels: Jury dismissed after failing to reach a verdict on most child sex abuse charges faced by Mosman swim coach

The jury in the trial of Kyle Daniels, the former Mosman swim instructor accused of sexually abusing his young students, has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict on most of the charges faced by the young coach.

The jurors had deliberated for a day and a half before being discharged by District Court Judge Kara Shead on Monday.

They cleared Mr Daniels of five charges relating to the same girl at 1pm on Thursday, about 3.5 hours after beginning their deliberations.

But an early note to the judge made it clear there were deep divisions.

A second note, advising the five verdicts had been reached, contained a declaration of stalemate on the remaining 21 charges.

By Thursday afternoon the jury had sent a third, reading: “With all due respect we are at a deadlock and no amount of time would result in a different outcome.”

One juror was discharged on Friday due to travel plans and another on Monday due to the northern beaches COVID-19 lockdown.

At about midday on Monday, the remaining 10 jurors wrote yet another note, which Judge Shead described as “expressing in considered and absolute terms that there is no prospect of agreement”.

It came after the jury asked for clarification on the meaning of “reasonable doubt”.

Judge Shead thanked the 10 jurors for their service and discharged them, noting it may be “a relief” for some.

Mr Daniels now faces a potential retrial over the remaining charges, which involve all nine girls.

The Knox Grammar graduate was 20 years old and studying sports science at Sydney University when he was arrested for child sex abuse on March 12, 2019.

He was initially charged over police allegations involving the touching of a girl, 8, and her 6 year old sister.

Seven more girls came forward after Mr Daniels was arrested in a blaze of publicity.

He was ultimately hit with 26 charges relating to 23 alleged incidents at the Mosman swim centre between February 2018 and February 2019.

Mr Daniels has vigorously denied the allegations.

His trial in the NSW District Court ran for seven weeks, much of it consumed by evidence from the nine girls and their parents.

The prosecution claimed the youngest was five years old when she was allegedly touched by Mr Daniels; the oldest 10.

Crown prosecutor Karl Prince argued Mr Daniels was driven by a sexual interest in his students and brazenly touched them for his own sexual gratification despite the high risk of getting caught.

Mr Daniels’ barrister Leslie Nicholls attacked the Crown case from multiple directions in his forceful closing address.

He honed in on inconsistencies and errors in the girls’ stories, including one who said she had been touched 3-5 times in eight lessons she had with Mr Daniels when the swim centre records showed she had just three.

Mr Nicholls sought to paint a picture of a police investigation that targeted the young coach from the minute he was arrested.

Mr Daniels remained on bail throughout the trial and was supported by his parents, usually both of them, every day in court.

The matter will return to court for a mention in February 2021.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/kyle-daniels-jury-dismissed-after-failing-to-reach-a-verdict-on-most-child-sex-abuse-charges-faced-by-mosman-swim-coach/news-story/b3f59542fb2aacf15d97d69a0bf85b89

Scathing hotel quarantine report exposes failures by Andrews, ministers and public servants

Clay Lucas - December 21, 2020

1/2

It’s hard to know where to start when dissecting the many and varied failings by Premier Daniel Andrews, his ministers and his public servants detailed in retired judge Jennifer Coate’s scathing 325-page report into Victoria’s hotel quarantine program.

So shoddy were the processes behind the Victorian government’s decision to use private security to guard Melbourne’s 16 quarantine hotels from April to June that Coate has found neither the Premier "nor his ministers had any active role in, or oversight of, the decision about how that enforcement would be achieved".

Proceeding with the hotel quarantine program was a decision made entirely without forward planning – despite a decade of warnings that a pandemic would one day hit Australia.

"None of the existing Commonwealth or state pandemic plans contained plans for mandatory, mass quarantine," Coate’s report found. The concept of hotel quarantine was "considered problematic".

It also proved fateful – it was security guards who inadvertently seeded the vast majority of Victoria’s tragic second wave of infections.

Among thousands of documents handed to the inquiry, not one shows why the decision to use private security was taken – a finding "likely to shock the public", Coate wrote.

What might surprise the Victorian public further is the extent to which the default position within the state government has become to simply outsource anything it can – in part to cover itself from blame for failures.

What Coate's report makes clear is that, when the decision on how to run a hotel quarantine program for Victoria came up, almost no one in the political class or the public service thought for a moment of anything but private security.

That decision seems to have been made with barely any process being followed by Andrews, his ministers and public servants.

Coate found that using private security in quarantine hotels instead of the police or army should have been decided after carefully weighing the benefits, risks and options available. However, at the fateful meeting on March 27 where it was decided, "there was no evidence that any such considered process occurred … until the outbreaks occurred".

Ironic, then, that the group establishing hotel quarantine, led by the Health Department, named it Operation Soteria after the Greek goddess of safety.

(continued)

>>12114182

2/2

This report is comprehensive in its way – it is certainly highly critical of the government – but not even a $5.7 million inquiry could work out precisely who made the decision to use private security.

"Somewhat ironically," Coate points out, the pursuit of an answer there "occupied a far greater amount of time and energy during the inquiry than it did" in the March 27 meeting that settled on private guards.

"No person or agency claimed any responsibility for the decision to use private security as the first tier of security. All vigorously disputed the possibility they could have played a part in 'the decision'."

Worse, when deciding who should staff quarantine hotels to "guard" 21,821 returned travellers, no one even considered the police or army.

"At no time" at the March 27 meeting, Coate found, "did it appear there was any consideration of the respective merits of private security versus police versus Australian Defence Force.

"Instead, an early mention of private security rather than police grew into a settled position."

Coate’s report finds a discussion on which private security firms to use went on in a WhatsApp group between Jobs Department public servants. These officers appeared not to know there was a list of firms they could use that had "publicly available details, including email and mobile numbers, on a website" – a list The Age found in June using Google.

The guarding of quarantine hotels was one of the most important jobs Andrews’ government had to decide on in March as the pandemic unfolded.

And yet nobody objected when a highly subcontracted industry with a high proportion of shonks working in it was given the job. Adding insult, his government blithely released a report on how broken the private security industry was at the same time that the industry was becoming the vector for the spread of COVID-19 outside quarantine hotels.

Private security firms outsourced their work to subcontractors despite there being "no adequate oversight", Coate found. This largely casualised workforce was then employed "in an environment where staff had a high likelihood of being exposed to the highly infectious COVID-19".

This, Coate found, was inappropriate.

Ideally, "a fully salaried, highly structured workforce with a strong industrial focus on workplace safety, such as Victoria Police, would have been a more appropriate cohort", she wrote.

On Tuesday, Andrews concurred, telling reporters that, if he had his time again, "I would prefer that police had been chosen to do that work".

He won’t get his time again. Neither will the 801 people who died, nor 18,000 more who got coronavirus after it escaped Victoria’s quarantine hotels because of the stark failings of Andrews and his government that this report lays bare.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/scathing-report-exposes-failures-by-andrews-ministers-and-public-servants-20201221-p56paf.html

—

COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry Final Report and Recommendations

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/0387_RC_Covid-19_Final_Report_Volume_1_v21_Digital_77QpLQH8.pdf

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/0387_RC_Covid-19_Final_Report_Volume_2_v21_Digital_h1LPjbnZ.pdf

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council/tabled-documents/search-tabled-documents/details/3/10188?fromForm=1

Since the 1st January 2017. 

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him. 

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war. 

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you. 

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped. 

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks. 

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people. 

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon. 

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’ 

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages) 

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already. 

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities. 

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel. 

And for the aberration of QAnon. 

Best thing ever, really. 

Thick cunts. 

Made me invisible. 

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews. 

And 13 vile and rancid kikes 

Disdainful and disrespectful. 

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever. 

Despite what our politicians say. 

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it? 

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka 

Victory of the light. 

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context) 

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home. 

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits. 

KNOWLEDGE 

Direct link to source document in pdf format. 

2,238 pages 130mb 

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped 

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all. 

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly. 

Never lies and is never violent. 

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now? 

Jon James Pratt (999) 

Aka Christ Almighty 

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha 

Aka Krishna 

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire 

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’ 

Aka ‘the storm’ 

#allpointsarereconciled 

BREADCRUMBS 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive 

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache 

All over 8kun too 

ARCHIVED VERSION 

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL

To kill me

Commonwealth next

More transmissible strain of COVID-19 brought into Australia from UK

A strain of COVID-19 that transfers quicker than previous mutations has been brought into Australia by UK travellers, NSW Health has confirmed.

A more virulent strain of COVID-19 that has stopped the United Kingdom in its tracks has arrived in Australia, it has been confirmed.

On Monday, NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant confirmed two travellers from the UK had brought the new strain into the country.

“Today I’m advised that we’ve had a couple of UK returned travellers with the particular mutations you’re referring to,” Dr Chant told reporters.

The World Health Organisation first identified the new strain in September and it has been named the “VUI-202021/01” variant.

The genetic material in the virus that controls the spike protein – which allows COVID and other viruses to penetrate hosts cells – are where the mutations have occurred.

Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, says there are 23 changes to the virus’ genetic material – which is an unusually large number and helps it to spread quicker than earlier strains.

It is believed to be 70 per cent more transmissible than previous strains, according to modelling, but it is not known whether it leads to a more intense illness.

However, scientists believe the new strain will not be resistant to a vaccine.

“Our working assumption from all the scientists is that the vaccine response should be adequate for this virus,” Dr Vallance said on the weekend.

Although Dr Chant confirmed VUI202012/01 was in Australia, she did not say whether the two people who tested positive for it were currently in hotel quarantine.

None of the 83 cases that have arisen out of the cluster in Sydney’s northern beaches have matched the UK strain through genomic sequencing.

“Can I be very clear that the Avalon cluster strain does not have those mutations,” Dr Chant said.

“But the key point, regardless, is that we need to treat all people with that end-to-end process of making sure that they’re not coming in contact and there is not a risk of exposure to any residents in New South Wales.”

The UK’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said the new variant was responsible for 60 per cent of infections in London in December, which have nearly doubled in the past week.

The new strain has forced London and the UK’s southeast to be placed under the strictest lockdown rules, known as “Tier 4”.

They are the strongest restrictions in the UK since the beginning of the pandemic in March.

Non-essential shops, gyms, cinemas, hairdressers and bowling alleys will be forced to close for two weeks, while people will be restricted to meeting one other person from another household in an outdoor public space.

Canada and several European nations including Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands have slammed their borders shut to the UK.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/more-transmissible-strain-of-covid19-brought-into-australia-from-uk/news-story/38ab9a0522ab61cfa2295c09342c6b7d

>>12118382

Trump awards Scott Morrison legion of merit for 'leadership in addressing global challenges'

Scott Morrison has been awarded a prestigious US military decoration for “leadership in addressing global challenges” and strengthening the Australia and United States partnership.

Donald Trump gave the legion of merit to Morrison, along with former and current leaders of US allies including Japan and India.

The awards to Morrison, Shinzo Abe and Narendra Modi were presented by the US national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, on Monday evening Washington time.

The legion of merit is a US military decoration which is also conferred on military and political figures of foreign governments.

According to the official national security council Twitter account, Morrison’s award was “for his leadership in addressing global challenges and promoting collective security”.

It was accepted by the Australian ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, who said the US president had also recognised that Morrison had “strengthened the partnership between the United States and Australia”.

Morrison is not the first Australian recipient of the award. It has been awarded to, among others, former prime minister Robert Menzies, former chiefs of army Angus Campbell and David Morrison, and former chief of the defence force and current governor general David Hurley.

The awards for Indian prime minister Modi and former Japanese prime minister Abe were also accepted by those countries’ ambassadors.

Modi was praised for “elevating the US-India strategic partnership” while Abe was awarded “for his leadership and vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

Since becoming prime minister in August 2018, Morrison has closely courted Trump, and was rewarded in September 2019 with a full ceremonial welcome on his US trip.

During that trip Morrison attended a Trump rally in Wapakoneta, Ohio and praised Trump’s political priorities, expressing a view that the pair “share a lot of the same views”.

Although friendly relations with the president of the US are generally considered a positive for the Australian prime minister, polling suggests most Australians would have voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Following Trump’s defeat in the November presidential election, Morrison joined other world leaders in congratulating Biden on the win.

The former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has accused Morrison of being “dazzled and duchessed” by Trump, warning that after Morrison went “full-in” with his US counterpart on foreign affairs and climate change, he now needs to change direction to avoid Australia being seen as a “Trump-lite refuge in the southern hemisphere”.

Since Biden’s election Australia has become increasingly isolated on climate change policy, as the US pursues net zero emissions which Morrison has resisted nominating as Australia’s official emissions reduction target.

Australia is also embroiled in a trade dispute with China partly motivated by Morrison’s call for World Health Organization inspectors to gain “weapons inspector” style powers to investigate the origin of Covid-19, a move in line with Trump’s harsh rhetoric on China’s handling of coronavirus.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/22/trump-awards-scott-morrison-legion-of-merit-for-leadership-in-addressing-global-challenges

https://twitter.com/WHNSC/status/1341154229537435650

https://twitter.com/A_Sinodinos/status/1341216915147075589

https://twitter.com/WHNSC/status/1341151618306363393

>>12124227

To make money for Jews

>>12126886

Pics related

Five Malaysian men detained as ABF target foreign worker exploitation in Perth construction industry

Five Malaysian men in Perth have been detained by the Australian Border Force following their suspected involvement in a foreign worker exploitation syndicate within the construction industry.

The men — all living in Australia illegally — were arrested during a series of nation-wide Operation Battenrun raids targeting labour hire firms exploiting vulnerable foreign workers and illegal immigrants.

ABF officers found three of the men, aged 50, 51 and 64, at an Embleton residence last Thursday.

A week earlier, on December 10, a 52-year-old man was also detained during a raid at a Dianella home, while the fifth man, aged 46, was detained at a commercial property in Beckenham on the same day.

The 52-year-old has already been deported back to Malaysia, while the other four will remain in immigration detention pending their departure from Australia.

ABF Commander Operations West, James Copeman, said the pandemic had not diminished the ABF’s ongoing operations to target criminals and unscrupulous individuals exploiting vulnerable foreign workers.

“We are always on the lookout for cases of foreign workers being underpaid, deprived of entitlements, and treated poorly,” he said.

“The ABF will not tolerate those people who are making significant profits by exploiting foreign workers.

“Information gathered during these warrants will form the basis of further investigations into a number of Australian registered companies suspected of using the services of this syndicate.

Commander Copeman said companies would be significantly fined in they employed contract workers who are illegal immigrants or foreign citizens working outside the conditions of their visas.

“On top of the unacceptable exploitation of those workers it also disadvantages local businesses who do the right thing by paying and treating their workers properly,” he said.

The Department of Home Affairs has encouraged all employers to conduct regular checks using the Visa Entitlement Verification Online system to ensure that their workers are permitted to work.

People who are being exploited, regardless of visa status, are also encouraged to come forward and provide information so action can be taken against those involved.

https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/five-malaysian-men-detained-as-abf-target-foreign-worker-exploitation-in-perth-construction-industry-ng-b881754435z

—

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Use the form below to report suspected illegal or criminal immigration, visa, customs and trade activity. We take all reports of suspicious activity seriously and you can choose to remain anonymous.

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-and-support/departmental-forms/online-forms/border-watch

First person charged with possessing childlike sex doll in SA pleads guilty to multiple child sex offences

The first person to be charged with possessing a childlike sex doll in South Australia has pleaded guilty to multiple child sex offences.

James David Ryan Sharp, 31, appeared in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court for a short hearing during which he entered guilty pleas to five major indictable charges.

The charges included using a carriage service to access child abuse material and possessing a childlike sex doll — an offence which came into force last year.

Sharp was arrested and charged and his premises searched by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in January.

He is currently residing on bail in Victoria.

During the search, police allegedly located and seized the childlike doll, children's clothing, a computer, a mobile phone and a bank card.

Police alleged Sharp purchased the doll from a supplier in China in 2018.

He also allegedly purchased a variety of children's clothing, including school uniforms, swimwear and underwear.

Defence lawyer Dylan Walsh previously said his client had relocated to the eastern state after receiving several death threats following his arrest.

He will reappear in court for sentencing in July.

A court date in March was initially flagged, but his lawyer requested more time.

The maximum penalty for possessing the anatomically correct dolls is 15 years in prison.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-21/child-sex-doll-accused-pleads-guilty-to-five-charges/13005144

>>12124227

Your prayers will never be answered

Usa was founded on satanic principles

Results of Anon 3 year Q Drop Vatican RCC CIA Research File

VATICAN RCC RESEARCH FILE 2.0

More truth than most can handle.

99% IN THE HOSPITAL

PART I

>>11663635 Q DROP#154Our Father "Who Financed 9-11?" ClownsInAmerica

>>11306328 Q DROP#189The Cult Runs the World > GODFATHER III > PAPAL ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD > VATICAN

>>11726307 Q DROP#306 "Why was the Lord's prayer posted? Which version? Why is this relevant?" SEE DROP #154 ABOVE

>>11306340 Q DROP#714Q Threat to Clowns > CIA > Vatican> Catholics In Action, Catholics In America, Clowns In America

>>11306348 Q DROP#851CIA & Vatican Helped Nazi Officers Escape

>>11306360 Q DROP#936The Nazi Order > Vatican > Jesuits

>>11306372 Q DROP#997Pope will have a Terrible May - "Those who backed him pushed into the LIGHT"

>>11306379 Q DROP#1002The BITE that has no CURE > Vatican Viper Symbolism "Symbolism will be their downfall"

>>11306412 Q DROP#1021Did US taxpayers pay $3.5 Billion for the Predatory Sexual Abuse Perpetrated upon Americans by the Roman Catholic Church?

>>11306430 Q DROP#1413Guardian of the Pope Owl Photo > Q named the owl photo "Guardian_P"

>>11306440 Q DROP#1763Sex Abuse in the Church > "Those you are taught to TRUST the most..... Dark to LIGHT."

>>11306453 Q DROP#1831POTUS Roasts Corrupt & Evil Hillary Clinton at Catholic Charity Event > "Surrounded by EVIL."

>>11306467 Q DROP#1879100s of Priests in PA Molested 1000s of Children "House of GOD?"

>>11306475 Q DROP#1916Priest Hits Crying Baby at Baptism > "Man of God?"

>>11306478 Q DROP#1950Holy See Corrupt Universal Government of the Catholic Church

>>11306489 Q DROP#2152Pope Francis Compares Vatican Whistleblower to Satan

>>11306494 Q DROP#2590Australian Cardinal George Pell Found Guilty of Sexual Abuse > "[CARDINAL PELL] Dark to LIGHT."

>>11306507 Q DROP#2594Cardinal George Pell 3rd in Command at Vatican "Define "pecking" [Animals].

>>11306522 Q DROP#2894Vatican Treasurer Cardinal George Pell Found Guilty of Child Sex Charges "Many more to come? Dark to LIGHT."

>>11306537 Q DROP#2918Trump's Roast of Hillary Back in 2016 Reveals Her Dark Secrets > "Symbolism will be their downfall"

>>11306550 Q DROP#3565Q Links to Pope's Tweet on Human Trafficking > "GODFATHER III. It's going to be BIBLICAL"

>>11306563 Q DROP#3709Vatican Ambassador to France Resigns after Molestation Allegations > "Those you are taught to trust the most...."

>>11306591 Q DROP#3957"Sleepers [Pro] will shift position [Nay]. [Paul Ryan_Fox]" Rupert Murdoch Papal Knight Fox news dominated by Catholics.

>>11306685 Q DROP#4303CIA's Use of Journalists and Clergy in Intelligence Operations "CIA coming back into the news [soon]?" Who really controls the Media?

>>11306697 Q DROP#4408We Are in the Middle of Another Enlightenment Approaching the Precipice. Against (the monarchy, the privileges of the nobility, the political power of the Catholic Church)

>>11306720 Q DROP#4429Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò Letter to POTUS-Biblical Battle Light vs Dark> "Armor of God" Vigano is not our friend.

>>11306736 Q DROP#4799Rebuffed by Vatican, Pompeo Assails China and Aligns With Pope’s Critics

When does a Church become a playground?

When does a Church become a business?

When does a Church become political?

When does a Church become corrupt?

When does a Church become willfully blind?

When does a Church become controlled?

>>12133067

VATICAN RCC RESEARCH FILE 2.0

More truth than most can handle.

99% IN THE HOSPITAL

PART II

>>11307180 MEET GEORGE SOROS > A "Jew" or a Catholic Court Jew?

>>11689078 MEET GEORGE SOROS PART II > "BILLIONAIRE ATHEIST FUNNELS CASH TO JESUITS"

>>11307149 WHAT IS A COURT JEW?

>>11306887 ROBERT F. KENNEDY Jr. "The CIA killed my Father RFK and Uncle JFK" + Vaccines>COVID on Ron Paul's Show.

>>11306927 Revealing look at the Director of the CIA when J.F.K. was assassinated, John A McCone. Part I

>>11306949 Revealing look at the Director of the CIA when J.F.K. was assassinated, John A McCone. Part II

>>11307201 MEET BERNHARD STEMPFLE Catholic Jesuit Priest who wrote and edited parts of Mein Kampf

>>11307730 Adolf Hitler And The Jesuit Order - Part I

>>11307750 Adolf Hitler And The Jesuit Order - Part II Von Papen, Mussolini, Fascism, Pious XII

>>11307784 Adolf Hitler And The Jesuit Order - Part III Jesuits and the CIA

>>11307499 MEET MAXIMO ALVAREZ - Cuban Immigrant warns of evils of Socialism - at TRUMP round table event - Castro was trained by Catholic Jesuits

>>11307274 MEET ALPHONSE LOUIS CONSTANT AKA Éliphas Lévi Zahed Failed Catholic Priest responsible for adding "SOLVE ET COAGULA" to Baphomet image

>>11307925 MEET ARCHBISHOP CARLO MARIA VIGANO - Deep State, Deep Church, Invisible Enemy

>>11716167 List of articles concerning the McCarrick Report which proves that Carlo Vigano, Taylor Marshall and Archbishop Timothy Dolan are Deep State.

>>11652901 "Sainted too soon? Vatican report casts John Paul II in harsh new light."

>>11307021 MEET TIMOTHY DOLAN Archbishop of New York - Deep State Deep Church

>>11307305 MEET ADAM WEISHAUPT - FOUNDER OF THE ILLUMINATI - STRONG JESUIT CONNECTION

>>11306800 Q said "Soros takes order from P." Q DROP#416

>>11306807 Q asks "Who controls the [D] party" and "Who really controls the [D] party?" [GS] George Soros? Q DROP#3749

>>11306822 Q said "Guardian of the Pope" and titled the accompanying image of an owl "GUARDIAN_P" Q DROP#1413

>>11306775 Drops#3749, 416and1413basic decode>P = Pope/Papal Royal Families (Black nobility) Papal Orders of Knighthood (Malta) Orders such as the Jesuits.

>>11306837 Drops#3749, 416and1413basic decode>P = ? Part II

>>11307120 Link between SAUL ALINSKY and the Roman Catholic Jesuits > Alinsky and the Jesuits also link to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

>>11307397 SONS OF LIGHT VERSUS THE SONS OF DARKNESS - THE WAR SCROLL - PART I VIGANO MUST ENJOY THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

>>11307428 SONS OF LIGHT VERSUS THE SONS OF DARKNESS - THE WAR SCROLL - PART II VIGANO USED THIS THEME

>>11306863 CHINA VATICAN SECRET TWO YEAR DEAL IS NOT A SECRET ANYMORE.

>>11309278 MEET ANTHONY FAUCI - A ROMAN CATHOLIC JESUIT WITH MANY CONNECTIONS TO THE DEEP STATE.

>>11307590 WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND THE VATICAN CONNECTION

24 year assistant Director of the Who, Milton Siegel explains exactly how the Vatican controls the W.H.O. > consider the implications now with covid.

Is the story about China controlling the W.H.O a cover story? Does the Vatican secretly control China? ChInA

>>11899297 Why are Australian Journalist and News Agencies on trial for talking about the Cardinal Pell Abuse Case? Why was there a Gag order? Did the Case get Quashed?

>>12100182

Vatican’s secret $2bn flummoxes Australian church leaders

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The Vatican and its associated entities have transferred $2.3bn to Australia since 2014 without the knowledge of senior Australian Catholic Church leaders.

Transfers from the Vatican to Australia rapidly increased from $71.6m in 2014 to $137.1m in 2015 before doubling again to $295m in 2016 and peaking at $581.3m in 2017, the new disclosure shows.

More than $422m was transferred in 2018, $491.8m in 2019 and $294.8m this financial year to date — in total more than 40,000 transactions, Austrac, the nation’s ­financial crime regulator, found.

Despite the volume and sum of transfers, several senior Catholic Church figures told The Australian on Tuesday they were utterly surprised by the transfers and were not aware of the money arriving in the Australian church.

Those church figures declined to be named, citing sensitivities around discussing finances.

The Australian Federal Police last week confirmed to The Australian it was continuing to investigate information received from Austrac about transfers to Australia from the Vatican.

The Vatican has been embroiled in scandal in recent months over allegations of embezzlement and nepotism levelled against Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a senior member of the church’s ­bureaucracy until this year.

Cardinal Becciu was fired by the Pope in September over the ­allegations; Cardinal Becciu has denied any wrongdoing.

Neither the Vatican’s press office in Rome nor the Holy See’s Papal Nunciature in Canberra responded to requests on Tuesday.

The Austrac figures also show $117.4m was sent from Australia to the Vatican, likely part of an annual fund for charities. Those transfers have risen from $17.7m in 2014 to $32.4m in 2019. Only $7.5m had been transferred to date this year.

While Austrac has not disclosed the individual identities of the recipients of the money in Australia, some church sources cautioned it may have been for investment in the Australian bond and equities market.

The new transfer figures were disclosed in response to questions from Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who told The Australian it was “a surprisingly large amount of money”.

“In the light of the investi­gations at the Vatican into corruption, embezzlement and money laundering, with charges already being laid and Vatican officials suspended, we need to know where the money went,” she said.

“It’s also worth noting that the transfers accelerated during the period Cardinal (George) Pell was facing investigations in Australia and peaked when he was sidelined from financial control of the Vatican while facing charges and trial in Australia,” she said.

(continued)

>>12142216

2/2

The financial corruption scandal roiling the Vatican began over claims of $360m improperly transferred for a building project in London and spread to allegations that money was sent to Australia to adversely affect the sexual abuse trial of Cardinal Pell, a rival of Cardinal Becciu.

To date, there has been no evidence produced to show any Vatican money was transferred to influence that trial.

Cardinal Becciu’s associate Cecilia Marogna has been charged with embezzlement and a broker who organised the London building investment, Gianluigi Torzi, has been charged with extortion and money laundering.

In 2014, Francis appointed Cardinal Pell as the Vatican’s treasurer with the task of cleaning up the Holy See’s finances and making the antiquated system transparent and accountable.

Victoria Police charged Cardinal Pell with two cases of historical sexual abuse in Melbourne.

After two trials in 2018 and 2019 — one hung jury and one guilty verdict — Cardinal Pell was sentenced to six years’ jail and served more than a year in prison before he was acquitted unanimously by the High Court in April.

In October, The Australian reported Vatican investigators were examining at least four transfers from the Vatican secretariat, including two from Cardinal Becciu, between 2017 and 2018 totalling $2m to Melbourne.

In the same month, the Vatican changed its laws to combat money laundering and financing terrorism after a two-week investigation of the Holy See’s finances by the EU’s financial controller, Money­val.

The COVID-19 pandemic has squeezed the Vatican’s public fin­ances, with recent reports noting a plunge in tourism would likely cut back a large part of the €100m ($161.8m) in ticket sales to the Vatican Museums — closed for months — that the city state uses to keep its budget in surplus.

Cardinal Pell, in an interview with the Reuters news agency earlier this month, warned that the Vatican was “slowly going broke”.

“Now that’s a bit of an exaggeration (but) it’s slowly happening,” Cardinal Pell said. “You can’t go on like that forever … the only thing that I’m keen on is that people, in a very clear-headed way, face up to the situation.”

The Vatican’s newly appointed president of the Financial Information Authority, Carmel Barbagallo, said the changes were “aimed at making the management of Vatican finances ever more transparent, within a framework of intensive and co-ordinated controls”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/vaticans-secret-2bn-flummoxes-australian-church-leaders/news-story/a23f538721b8d15cb06380f57d4972cf

Cardinal Pell: Why God’s providence will prevail

Cardinal George Pell, Angelus News - Dec 22, 2020

2020 was a year marked by sickness, death, unrest, isolation, and economic difficulty — a year that has challenged the faith of many.

And so, one might ask: What good could come out of a year like this one?

So, for our final issue of 2020, Angelus invited a lineup of writers — some regular contributors, others guests — to reflect on how they've seen God's providence at work in their own lives during this difficult year. Their reflections will be published on AngelusNews.com from Dec. 21-24.

This year, 2020, has not been a good year with the COVID-19 plague raging through the United States and most parts of the world. As well, the economic consequences, e.g., job losses and struggling businesses, will last much longer than the pandemic.

I went against the trend, because this year was better for me than 2019.

On the Tuesday of Holy Week, I was released after 404 days in jail for sex crimes I had never committed, found not guilty seven-to-zero by the judges of the High Court of Australia.

Where was God in all of this? Is there a God, or the one God, who might be watching and interested in our suffering? An enormous amount depends on how we answer this question, because being a monotheist or an atheist, or not knowing, makes a world of difference. Being naturally religious, having a love of nature, does not help much when catastrophe strikes.

I write as a believing Christian and a Catholic. For us the one true God is not only the Creator of the universe, immense beyond our imagining, home to billions, perhaps trillions, of stars, black dwarfs, black holes, blue giants, red supergiants, and our tiny planet earth, but this Creator is the only transcendent mystery outside the universe, and he has clear ideas of how we should live and where we go after death.

He sent his only Son to take on our human nature, live among us, teach us the importance of love and forgiveness, and demonstrate through his life and death that suffering can be used for good, in the next life if not in this one.

God is in charge. As he is good and just, all will be well eventually and the scales of justice will balance out in eternity, where the poor and the unfortunate will be helped by positive discrimination. God’s providence will prevail.

My leading barrister (a lawyer in the English court system) at the trials was an agnostic Jew who observes the basic Jewish seasonal rituals, loves the music of Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion,” and knew the story of Job very well, the first Jewish attempt to wrestle with the problem of innocent suffering, of why bad things happen to good people.

The prison authorities allowed me to keep my breviary, the official prayer book of the Church, from the first night, and readings from Job came up regularly in those early days. My barrister compared my situation to Job’s, and I replied that I was happy with this, because Job’s fortunes were restored in his lifetime. I was not sure that would be my lot.

Job’s sufferings were far worse than mine. His flocks and farms were attacked, he lost all his property, was covered in ulcers, ostracised to live on a rubbish dump, and abandoned by his friends. Even his wife urged him to curse God and die. While he complained to God more than I did, he refused to condemn or curse God.

But I had advantages Job never enjoyed. The Jews then had no clear ideas of a personal afterlife of reward and punishment, of ultimate justice, beyond a shadowy semipersonal existence in Sheol or Hades, and they had no clear ideas on redemptive suffering.

Their Messiah had not been linked to the suffering servant of Isaiah, so their misfortunes remained exclusively misfortunes. In faith, but only in faith, we know better. We hail the cross, our only hope (“Ave crux, spes unica”). This is God’s providence at work, redeeming us through his Son’s suffering.

During my years as a priest many have asked me why this or that disaster, e.g., death, sickness, etc., has happened to them or their family. I don’t know, but I reminded them that Jesus, God’s only Son, did not have an easy life and suffered badly. I, too, remembered this in gaol. And it helped.

+George Cardinal Pell

Rome, 16th December 2020

https://angelusnews.com/faith/cardinal-pell-why-gods-providence-will-prevail/

As churches prove 'fertile ground' for conspiracy theories, some pastors are taking a stand

Joey Watson - 23 December 2020

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During the whirlwind of 2020, Sydney reverend and radio host Bill Crews has noticed a surge in an old foe within his flock — conspiracy theories.

Christian groups have long been susceptible to conspiracy theories, he says, but the rise of the internet, and more recently COVID-19, has exacerbated the issue.

"Churches can become petri dishes of this stuff, particularly if you've got really charismatic people who don't have any ethics," says Reverend Crews.

This increased acceptance of conspiracy theories within church groups is part of a broader social trend, religious leaders say, as people turn to outlandish ideas to make sense of the times.

But some pastors are taking active measures to fight the potential spread of conspiracy theories within their congregations.

The rise of 'the church of QAnon'

Kaz Ross, a researcher at the University of Tasmania, has been monitoring the spread of conspiracy theories online, and says evangelical Christians have been particularly drawn to QAnon.

This theory purports that a figure called Q leaves cryptic clues on internet forums about a "war" being waged between child-abusing global elites and figures within the Trump administration.

According to Dr Ross, the suggestion that people should put their faith in a saviour preparing to rescue the world from evil has similarities to some strands of evangelical thought.

"It's a very parallel structure," she says.

"[There are] a group of people that are in on a secret plan, which is very good, and the secret plan will save you in troubling times.

"The belief framework is that God has a plan, we don't know the plan, God will unfold the plan, and the chosen will be chosen."

Marc-Andre Argentino, a researcher from Canada's Concordia University, has also been studying the connection between religion and conspiracy theories — focusing on the growth of QAnon in North American evangelical groups.

Not only do these churches broadcast QAnon conspiracy theories to huge online audiences, he says, they're also reimagining Christian belief from the Bible to marry the two ideologies.

In fact, he argues, conspiratorial ideas have become so fundamental to the way these groups operate that they can be described as "the QAnon church".

Fringe voices, big impact

While these groups are largely an American phenomenon, similar thinking has taken hold in some fringe Christian communities.

It's something that Pastor Rob Buckingham, the founder of Bayside Church in Melbourne, has noticed both on social media, and in conversations with friends.

"Conspiracy theories are definitely more prevalent in recent times and are one of the symptoms of pandemics," he says.

He says that Christians are more susceptible to some conspiracy theories because "a futurist understanding of Bible prophecy has become very popular".

"This interpretation leads Christians to be on the lookout for the Antichrist, one-world government, and a cashless society," he says.

"They believe the devil is trying to take over the world.

"Seeing the world through such a lens causes them to be susceptible to anything that would indicate these things are imminent."

Christian groups around the world have also been targets for Russian disinformation campaigns, experts say, which may be exacerbating the impact and reach of conspiratorial ideas emanating from online pulpits.

James Der Derian, the director of the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney, says "snake oil has been around a long time", especially in time of insecurity and uncertainty — and foreign states have been known to capitalise on this.

While there is no evidence that Russia has targeted Australian Christian groups, Dr Der Derian says that because social media is intrinsically borderless, the impact of misinformation destined for US audiences can be far reaching.

"This information is not a precision munition, but because of the very nature of social media, it can spread quite rapidly to other communities," he says.

(continued)

>>12142346

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Trusting the government

On Facebook, religious pages apparently based in Australia can attract thousands of followers.

Alongside wisdom from saints and other holy imagery, one page shared claims that the coronavirus vaccine would encourage the Antichrist to take one's soul.

Meanwhile, some religious leaders are drawing support from anti-vaccination groups by using social media to speak out against lockdowns.

Anne Kruger, the director of the Asia-Pacific bureau at First Draft, a non-profit organisation that studies misinformation, says religious leaders with conspiracy agendas do use social media to amplify their views.

But she cautions: "It's worth noting that they most likely represent fringe voices in their communities and do not reflect where their religion stands."

Justine Toh, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity, points out that most Australian Christians are not conspiracy theorists.

She points to data from the National Church Life Survey, which surveys millions of Australian Christians, that indicates people who are more active in their faith and go to church regularly tend to be trusting of government.

"Whereas sometimes Australians might be a little bit critical of the government, people who go to church tend to be more conservative and trusting in the government and the system," she says.

Saving the faith

As the host of a popular Sunday night talkback program on Sydney radio station 2GB, Crews has a unique insight into the thoughts and outlook of Australian Christians.

He says there's been a shift this year to more conspiratorial thinking — perhaps because they've been distanced from positive influences in their lives.

"People feel isolated and have no way of sharing their innermost feelings," he says.

"Instead of looking inwards and emptying themselves out, they're looking to lay blame."

Pastor Buckingham says Christian leaders should be reaching out to those who might be susceptible and trying to help them navigate misinformation.

"Ask questions, stay in touch with people, so they don't isolate themselves, and try and talk about other things to bring them out of their tunnel vision," he says.

His regular blog posts, which attract thousands of readers from with Christian communities, have been part of his response.

He's also using the Bible to actively decry ideas like QAnon. For example, he points to Ephesians 4:25: "So, stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbours the truth."

For Crews, it's important that churches give people the same sense of belonging they are finding in the murky forums of the internet.

"The church has a responsibility to squash itself down, so it ceases being obsessed with power and control and money and gets back to being with the people."

"It's all about people communicating with each other."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-23/christian-churches-fertile-ground-qanon-conspiracy-theories/13006868

Trump grants full pardon to Russia probe aide George Papadopoulos

Washington: President Donald Trump granted a full pardon on Tuesday to George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide who pleaded guilty as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, 36, the Dutch son-in-law of Russian billionaire German Khan. Van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $US20,000 for lying to US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators about contacts with an official in Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Their names were included in a wave of pre-Christmas pardons announced by the White House. Trump granted full pardons to 15 people, including three former Republican politicians and commuted all or part of the sentences of five others.

Papadopoulos, 33, was an adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about the timing and significance of his contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials.

His role came to light after he had drinks in 2016 in London with Australia's then-High Commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, and let slip that the Russians had a "dirt file" on Hillary Clinton, which Downer relayed back to Canberra.

“The defendant’s crime was serious and caused damage to the government’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election,” a sentencing recommendation memo from then-US Special Counsel Robert Mueller had said.

He served 12 days of a 14-day sentence in federal prison, then was placed on a 12-month supervised release.

The White House said Papadopoulos was charged with "a process-related crime, one count of making false statements," as part of the Mueller probe, which Trump had denounced as a witch hunt.

"Today’s pardon helps correct the wrong that Mueller’s team inflicted on so many people," the White House said.

The pardons were part of a flurry of such actions expected by the outgoing Republican president before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20. Trump, who has refused to concede, has made unsubstantiated claims of widespread voting fraud and pursued a series of unsuccessful lawsuits to overturn the result.

Late on Tuesday night, local time, Trump threatened to torpedo Congress’ bipartisan $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. In a late-night tweet, he called on politicians to increase direct payments for most Americans from $US600 to $US2,000 for individuals.

Railing against a range of provisions in the bill, including for foreign aid, he told Congress to "get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill.”

Trump did not specifically vow to veto the bill, and there may be enough support for legislation in Congress to override him if he does.

Last month, Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation.

Also receiving pardons were three former Republican politicians, including former Representative Chris Collins of New York. Four former US service members, convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007, were also pardoned by Trump.

Collins, 70, had been the first sitting member of Congress to endorse Trump's candidacy in 2016 and was a strong defender of the president. He resigned in 2019.

"In 2019, Collins pled guilty to the charges of conspiring to commit securities fraud and making false statements to the FBI. Mr. Collins is currently serving his 26-month sentence," the White House said. Trump also issued a full pardon to former Republican Representative Duncan Hunter of California, 44, who pleaded guilty a year ago to conspiring to convert campaign funds to personal use.

Also pardoned was former Republican Representative Steve Stockman of Texas, 64, who was convicted in 2018 of misuse of charitable funds.

The White House said he had served more than two years of his 10-year sentence and would remain subject to a period of supervised release and an order requiring that he pay more than $US1 million in restitution.

Trump also commuted the remaining term of the supervised release of Crystal Munoz, who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Munoz spent years in a federal prison in Fort Worth, with Alice Johnson, who was granted clemency by Trump in 2018 in a case championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-grants-full-pardon-to-russia-probe-aide-george-papadopoulos-20201223-p56prr.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-122220/

>>12142551

George Papadopoulos Tweets

Thank you, Mr. President!!! This means the world to me and my family!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1341536081301291010

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I lost friends, business associates and even family over the last years. Had my reputation tore up for a while with fake stories and nonsense. But there was one person who stood through it all with me until the end, my @simonamangiante. I love you! We both thank @realDonaldTrump!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1341557502467395584

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Thank you all for your support! Has been overwhelming. Very grateful

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1341612994736705537

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Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos Tweet

Thank you from the bottom of my heart @realDonaldTrump for pardoning my husband @GeorgePapa19! I must confess I am crying right now. We were right since day one. The best Christmas present ever ! Thank you

https://twitter.com/simonamangiante/status/1341536752167649280

Catholic Church's insurance company in financial trouble over abuse payouts

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The Catholic Church’s private insurer spent more than $58 million paying out the victims of sexual abuse last year and the company is being forced to raise fresh capital and liquidate investments to cover a future compensation bill worth at least another $238 million.

Catholic Church Insurance (CCI) has posted nearly a $250 million loss as it struggles to meet a wave of new claims in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

CCI, which insures Catholic parishes, religious institutions, welfare groups, aged care facilities and schools across Australia for incidents of property damage, loss and injury, has also covered compensation and legal costs for sexual abuse committed in many church organisations since 1969.

The insurer's sexual abuse payouts – known as "professional standards" liabilities – topped $58 million in the financial year 2019-20, according to figures obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

CCI has declined to provide data from earlier years.

However, the group’s annual report shows the number of professional standards claims it received in 2019-20 drove a 74 per cent rise in total insurance claims.

The ballooning current and anticipated costs mean CCI is moving to liquidate investments, to raise capital to meet what it now expects to be at least $238 million in future sexual abuse payouts.

It also stopped paying dividends and distributions to the Catholic organisations that are shareholders in the non-profit, cutting off an important source of income for some of these entities.

Among its shareholders are the Australian Episcopal Conference of the Roman Catholic Church, archdioceses of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and the Jesuits, Marists, De La Salle Brothers and Sisters of Mercy.

"Although it is not certain that these efforts will be successful, CCI has determined that the actions that it is taking are sufficient to mitigate the uncertainty and has therefore deemed it appropriate to continue to prepare the financial report on a going concern basis due to its ability to realise its assets and settle its liabilities in the ordinary course of business at the amounts recorded in the financial statements," CCI’s annual financial report said.

Chief executive Roberto Scenna said the capital management plan "is doing what it was designed to do".

"CCI is now seeking to restore the capital levels to a level that it believes reflects the future risks to CCI," he said.

"The other actions in our capital raising initiative are still in progress and given the nature of the activity and conversations, it is not appropriate for us to make further comment on these initiatives."

(continued)

>>12142762

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Mr Scenna said the nature of the reporting of sexual abuse claims – some of which are decades old – made it difficult to assess CCI’s future liability, which could "ultimately be higher or lower than actual experience as it develops over time".

The Australian church and local religious orders, as well as schools and outreach organisations, have been inundated with compensation claims and lawsuits since the start of the royal commission in 2013 and the establishment of the National Redress Scheme, which is due to run until 2027.

"The introduction of the National Redress Scheme approximately two years ago has resulted in a significant increase in the number of reported claims and significant uncertainty in establishing the potential exposure in order to predict the exposure to abuse related claims," CCI’s annual report said.

In 2015 CCI had estimated it would cost $150 million to settle all outstanding and anticipated sexual abuse claims, but its financial liabilities have continued to grow.

The church and its long-time insurer have also been exposed to a raft of new claims and lawsuits following legal changes and court decisions allowing sexual abuse victims to set aside settlement agreements made decades ago as unjust and to seek new compensation.

Since 2019 the church has also paid a series of landmark settlements worth more than $1 million, compounding the financial pressure.

The conduct of the church and CCI in billing legal costs for processing sexual abuse claims has also recently come under fire from a judicial figure in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

In a lawsuit over abuse suffered at the hands of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale, CCI and the church sought to bill the alleged victim more than $65,000 in costs to respond to a series of subpoenas. They had originally sought up to $151,000.

Judicial registrar Julie Clayton said while CCI and the church were entitled to reasonable costs, she did not consider it reasonable for an argument for costs to be made by three solicitors and two barristers.

"It seems perverse that an organisation [the church] which is prepared to comply with a subpoena, provided its costs are met, will spend more than six times that amount in objecting to the subpoena," Ms Clayton wrote in a decision in September.

The Age and the Herald have previously revealed that only 28 per cent of the $34.27 million the church spent on compensation under the Melbourne Response scheme from 1996 to 2014 went to victims, with the rest spent on legal fees and administrative expenses.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/catholic-church-s-insurance-company-in-financial-trouble-over-abuse-payouts-20201222-p56pg0.html

Perth man charged for advocating terrorism

A 52-year-old Perth man is scheduled to appear before the Perth Magistrates Court today (23 December) charged with terrorism-related offences following an investigation by the Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team (WA JCTT).

The investigation began in February 2020 after the WA JCTT – comprising Australian Federal Police (AFP), Western Australia Police Force and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation – became aware of an online video-sharing platform account hosting content that called for acts of politically-motivated violence offshore.

In April 2020, a search warrant was executed on the home and vehicle of the man believed to own the online account, resulting in a number of electronic devices being seized for evidentiary purposes.

A second search warrant was executed at the man’s residence yesterday (22 December 2020) and the 52-year-old man was arrested and charged with four counts of advocating terrorism, contrary to section 80.2C of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

AFP Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism Scott Lee said extremist ideology that incited violence – onshore or offshore – was a criminal offence.

“The AFP and our partner agencies, through the Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) will arrest and charge Australian-based individuals allegedly involved in engaging in violent, extremist ideologies,’’ Assistant Commissioner Lee said.

“In this instance, it is alleged the individual was intending to incite politically motivated acts in a foreign country.

“I commend our investigators for the hundreds of hours spent diligently gathering and examining evidence to put this matter before the courts.”

Commander Pryce Scanlan from WA Police Force’s Counter Terrorism & Emergency Response Command said the arrest reinforces the need for all community members across Australia to remain vigilant.

“Online content advocating for terrorist acts to be carried out has the potential to reach people anywhere in the world, including our local communities, and it is critical we identify and prosecute those responsible for such incitement. It is also just as important that our investigations and operations prevent those people in our community who are vulnerable to radicalisation from being exposed to such material.

“We have seen the devastating impacts that such online radicalisation and incitement can result in, and everyone in the community can play a critical role in keeping our community safe by reporting concerns about online material, or individuals, to authorities.

“Yesterday’s arrest shows the community that law enforcement and intelligence partners across Australia are working together to protect the community.”

Anyone with information about extremist activity or possible threats to the community should the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400.

Editor's note: images and footage available via hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/fjjmqMcucd

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/perth-man-charged-advocating-terrorism

Facebook removes Pete Evans' page

Celebrity chef and conspiracy theorist Pete Evans has had his Facebook Page permanently removed after he repeatedly breached its misinformation policies with posts about the coronavirus.

A Facebook company spokesperson said the platform does not allow anyone to share misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm, or misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines that has been debunked by public health experts.

"We have clear policies against this type of content and we've removed Chef Pete Evans' Facebook Page for repeated violations of these policies," the spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Facebook has previously removed individual posts by Evans for violating its Misinformation & Harm Policy.

Evans posted on Instagram on Wednesday telling his followers he had been "shut down" on Facebook "for a few days" over his vaccine posts. Facebook says the ban is permanent.

Evans was a judge on My Kitchen Rules between 2010 and 2020. He had over one million Facebook followers.

Evans has repeatedly made posts opposing COVID-19 vaccines and masks, and claimed in a podcast that the coronavirus is a hoax.

Evans' company was fined more than $25,000 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in April after he promoted a device called a 'BioCharger' on a Facebook live stream, claiming it could be used in relation to the coronavirus.

The TGA said the claim had "no apparent foundation".

Evans' publisher ended its contract with him in November after he used a neo-Nazi symbol in a Facebook post.

"Pan Macmillan does not support the recent posts made by Pete Evans. Those views are not our views as a company or the views of our staff," the company said at the time.

Big W, Coles, Dymocks, Kmart and Booktopia were among the retailers to declare they would not sell his products after the post.

Evans later denied he used the symbol intentionally.

Evans' account on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is still active. Evans regularly uses the account to cast doubt on official information about COVID-19, vaccines, and other parts of mainstream science.

Posts that share misinformation but do not violate the letter of Facebook's policies usually have their distribution reduced, rather than being removed.

https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/7067477/facebook-removes-pete-evans-page/?cs=10229

>>12142993

Online powers to silence the trolls

Australia is set to introduce the world’s first trolling take-down scheme, giving the nation’s cyber watchdog new powers to order social media platforms to remove harmful online adult abuse.

The proposed new laws would also widen existing online protections for children by enabling the eSafety Commissioner to remove cyber-bullying material from a broader range of online platforms than social media, including gaming and messaging sites.

The bill would halve the time social media platforms have to remove offensive content from 48 to 24 hours before the commissioner steps in. It also requires platforms to report on how they are dealing with a range of online harms, including “digital lynch mobs” who seek to overwhelm a victim with abuse.

And if a website or app systematically ignores take-down notices for serious cases such as child sexual abuse material, the eSafety Commissioner can require search engines and app stores to remove access to that service, and impose further civil penalties.

Ahead of releasing the new Online Safety Bill for public comment on Wednesday, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said abusive trolling had to stop.

“Too many Australians are victims of vicious, intimidating trolling on the internet,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Too often people feel they can say and do the most atrocious things online with complete impunity. We are giving the eSafety Commissioner strong, practical, speedy tools to go after the really bad trolls, including new powers to require social media platforms to reveal details about the identity of end-users who indulge in this hateful conduct,” he said.

Mr Fletcher said it would be a world first if the government’s eSafety Commissioner was given power to order websites, social media platforms and other online services to take down harmful abuse directed at an adult.

But the new adult cyber abuse scheme would only apply in cases where online content was sufficiently harmful to constitute a criminal act under the Criminal Code. This is a higher standard than current laws allowing the commissioner to issue take down notifications to platforms for cyber-bullying material.

The different standard is a recognition of an adult‘s greater resilience and the need to protect legitimate freedom of speech.

Mr Fletcher said while cyber abuse was confined to a few, it was nevertheless incredibly harmful for those targeted. “By establishing proper protections to help keep Australians safe online, we can, in turn, help Australians to realise the substantial benefits that come from using the internet,” he added.

The government created the world’s first cyber watchdog, the eSafety Commissioner, in 2015 because experience had shown many platforms did not offer the digital safety features required by law, or had failed to appropriately enforce their terms of service.

The new bill will require online services to provide specific information to the commissioner about online harms, such as their response to terrorism and abhorrent violent material, or how they are dealing with digital lynch mobs. Services will be penalised if they fail to report.

The eSafety Commissioner would also be given stronger powers to demand information from the digital platforms to discover the true identities of anonymous or fake accounts used for serious trolling or exchanging illegal content such as child pornography.

And if an online crisis event occurred, such as the Christchurch terrorist attack last year, the commission would be given powers to order internet service providers to block access to terrorist or extreme violent content.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/online-powers-to-silence-the-trolls/news-story/19862b5faf70680710f891460cb17fd1

Cyber spy agency on high alert over hack

The nation’s top cyber spy agency is working with potential victims of the SolarWinds Russian hacking offensive, including some of the most sensitive government departments and agencies, to assess whether their networks have been breached.

The Australian can reveal the departments of Defence, Finance and Home Affairs, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission are users of the ­network-management software infiltrated by the hackers.

Government tender records show the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, the Bureau of Meteorology, trade promotion agency Austrade and the Department of Education, Skills and Employment are also SolarWinds clients.

It’s understood the Australian Signals Directorate, which also uses SolarWinds software, was unaffected by the attack.

But the agency declined to say if any government systems had installed the “trojanised” updates sent to SolarWinds users as far back as March.

“The ACSC continues to monitor the situation and is ­engaging with international ­partners and potentially ­impacted Australian organisations,” a spokesman for ASD’s Australian Cyber Security Centre said.

The SolarWinds cyberattack is one of the biggest in history, hitting at least 18,000 companies and government agencies including the US departments of State, Homeland Security, Commerce and the Treasury, and big tech firms such as Microsoft, Cisco and Intel.

Infiltrated organisations in Australia include NSW Health, Serco Asia Pacific, and mining giant Rio Tinto.

The attack, first identified by US cybersecurity company ­FireEye, used a compromised version of SolarWinds Orion — a widely used IT system management platform — to insert a backdoor into computer systems.

Australian-based malware expert Sergei Shevchenko, co-founder of cybersecurity company Prevasio, said the federal government departments and agencies had not shown up in logs he had decrypted revealing 445 ­affected organisations.

But Mr Shevchenko said all SolarWinds clients should assume they were vulnerable to second-stage attacks.

“The list that we have decrypted doesn’t include everything. It’s just a snapshot, with multiple records fragmented or missing. It’s not a guarantee that if you are not on the list that you are not affected,” he said.

“There were three trojanised updates that were supposed to be rolled out to the software.

“The bottom line is this. If you are a client of SolarWinds, if you run the software in a company, you have to do an instant response. Period.

“They need to look inside their network, look for evidence, look for telltale signs. It’s a good exercise anyway, but they have to do it. Because this software simply means that the attackers have backdoor access.”

Mr Shevchenko’s analysis of data logs revealed the malware transmits information on the infected system’s security software, allowing it to be turned off by the hackers in subsequent attacks.

“In the second stage, the attackers may choose (which systems to penetrate). They might say ‘we infected this network, how are we going to make the money?’.”

An Australian Cyber Security Centre spokesman said users of SolarWinds products should ­immediately install security patches, or isolate their servers from the internet.

“Australian organisations that have concerns, or believe they may have been impacted, should contact the ACSC for assistance,” he said.

The hack, which US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attributed to Russia, is categorised as a “supply chain attack”, for its use of a trusted third-party vendor to ­install malware in an organisation’s network.

Thomas Bossert, a former security adviser to Donald Trump, said the size of the attack was “hard to overstate”. He said evidence suggested Russia’s SVR intelligence agency was responsible.

“The Russians have had access to a considerable number of important and sensitive networks for six to nine months,” he wrote in the New York Times.

The attack comes as the ­Morrison government moves to force key companies and institutions across the banking, finance, defence, communications, food, and higher education sectors, to strengthen cyber defences and co-operate with national security agencies. An exposure draft of the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill, released in November, includes new step-in powers allowing national security agencies to actively disrupt and repel cyber attackers.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/cyber-spy-agency-on-high-alert-over-hack/news-story/a4879aac7be8536b662af8b29f2d3d20

Australia signs deals to distribute tens of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses around the country

The mammoth effort of safely distributing tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to all Australians is a step closer to reality after the Federal Government inked several deals to operate and monitor the national vaccine network.

Under new contracts, logistics firms DHL and Linfox will work with the Department of Health to vaccinate people across Australia, while digital security firm Accenture will then track vaccine doses and monitor any adverse effects.

Audit and accounting firm PwC has also partnered with the Department of Health to help roll out the COVID-19 program.

The scheme is due to begin in March next year, with all Australian citizens, permanent residents, and most visa-holders being promised a free jab.

The Federal Government has secured agreements for the supply of three COVID-19 vaccines: from Pfizer, Novavax and Oxford University-AstraZeneca, but of those, Pfizer's vaccine will be the hardest to distribute.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said he did not want to set any expectations that a vaccine would be rolled out earlier than March, even though the process is currently "ahead of schedule".

"Our goal is to make sure that everthing's in line for a safe, effective distribution beginning in March, we always aim to under-promise and over-deliver, but March is our national guideline and expectation," he said.

Pfizer vaccine will require ultra-cold 'eskies'

The Government has opted to buy 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine — enough to vaccinate 5 million people — from overseas in the event it receives approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, rather than produce it in Australia.

That is because the Pfizer vaccine is based on new technology, which has never been successfully manufactured or distributed locally before.

The Pfizer vaccine has already received emergency use approval by health authorities in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

The virus that causes COVID-19 enters healthy cells using the so-called "spike" protein and many vaccines inject an amount of that protein, so the body can produce antibodies and learn to fight the coronavirus.

But Pfizer's vaccine contains genetic material called mRNA, which effectively comes with a DIY kit — instructions to assemble the spike protein, so the body can mount an immune response.

The Pfizer vaccine was shown to be 95 per cent effective in preventing the disease in a late-stage trial, but it comes with complex logistical challenges.

The vaccine must be shipped and stored at -70 degrees Celsius, requiring specialised ultra-cold "eskies" stocked with dry ice.

Under the new agreement, DHL and Linfox will be required to track and report the temperature of the successful vaccine at all times.

They will also be responsible for transporting the vaccines from manufacturers to vaccination administration sites — even in very remote areas.

Accenture will then design, develop, and implement software to enable "point in time" visibility of COVID-19 vaccine doses across the delivery chain.

That will allow those with access to the system to see which health services have received the vaccine, who has had the jab, and whether any adverse reactions have been recorded.

Experts have described the logistics challenge as unprecedented, saying Australia has not faced such a mammoth distribution task since WWII.

But the Government is expecting to vaccinate the entire Australian population within 2021.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-24/australia-signs-deals-to-distribute-millions-of-covid-19-vaccine/13011476

Hillsong slammed for mentioning pervs — but not Jesus — in Christmas email

Scandal-plagued megachurch Hillsong is being crucified for failing to mention Jesus in a Christmas email and instead dedicating the greeting to clarify details about a pastor’s child abuse.

“It’s the only Christmas email I have ever seen that doesn’t mention Jesus. It’s quite bizarre,” longtime Hillsong critic and Australian pastor Bob Cotton told The Post of the internal email, which was shared with him via a current Hillsong member. The letter, signed by the international institution’s board, was sent to church members on Monday, the source told him.

“Dear church,” it begins. “It’s certainly been a year to remember, but the great news is that Christmas, the most joyous time of the year, is almost upon us.” The email then proceeds to dismiss recent reports of members being abused, subjected to “slave labor,” homophobia and a general lack of empathy as “primarily gossip.”

Despite reportedly admitting that at least some of the allegations are true, the holiday letter says “we ignore [the allegations] in the knowledge that we know the truth and God is in control.”

The rest of the email is dedicated to bringing “some clarity” to an ongoing investigation into Hillsong founder and current senior pastor Brian Houston’s failure to report “his father’s abuse of children.” The late Pentecostal pastor and pedophile Frank Houston confessed to sexually abusing a boy in 2004 and was accused of abusing up to eight others. (Frank founded the Sydney Christian Life Centre which, in 1999, merged with a church pastored by Brian to become Hillsong.)

“From the moment Pastor Brian discovered this shocking news, around 20 years ago, he has always been very open and clear about the circumstances around this, and our church has stood with him and his family,” the email reads.

Its final sentence expresses thanks to the congregation’s “ongoing prayers for the Houston family as they continue to deal with the legacy of Pastor Brian’s father with grace, humility and strength.”

Cotton, who is not affiliated with Hillsong, finds the letter to be anathema to Christian values not only for not naming Christ, but also for encouraging members to pray for abusers, not victims.

“Frank Houston repeatedly raped 7-year-old Brett Sengstock. That is not gossip, it is a fact that was well established by the Royal Commission,” said Cotton, a former family friend of the Houstons who now calls Frank a “shameful and evil man” whose real “so-called “legacy’” is being a “child rapist.”

By framing media reports as “gossip,” Cotton added, “the abuse and crimes committed against victims seem intentionally minimized.” He said the victim Sengstock and “the other children who were raped” are the ones who really “deserve our prayers.”

“There is no grace humility and respect to being choked raped & brutalized by Frank Houston,” tweeted Sengstock alongside the email.

Hillsong did not immediately return a request for comment.

https://nypost.com/2020/12/24/hillsong-slammed-for-mentioning-pervs-but-not-jesus-in-christmas-email/

Response to Royal Commission report - from Hillsong Church Board and Elders - 23 November 2015

https://hillsong.com/media-releases/response-to-royal-commission-report-from-hillsong-church-board-and-elders/

Pastor, Hillsong Church Re: Royal Commission – Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - 12 October 2014

https://hillsong.com/media-releases/statement-from-brian-houston-re-royal-commission-institutional-responses-to-child-sexual-abuse/

Accused Chinese spy slapped with harsh bail conditions

A Surrey Hills man accused of spying for China in Australia has been banned from contacting foreign intelligence agencies.

A man accused of spying for China in Australia has been banned from contacting any foreign intelligence agencies or elected officials.

The restrictions are part of a host of bail conditions imposed on Surrey Hills man Di Sanh Duong, also known as Sunny Duong, who was last month charged with preparing an act of foreign interference.

Domestic spy agency, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), and the Australian Federal Police swooped on the former Liberal party candidate following a year long probe.

It is understood Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge was the target of the alleged interference.

The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal Mr Duong is barred from contacting any embassy and consulate staff, must surrender his passport and cannot possess any mobile phones while he awaits his next court date in March.

He is also banned from leaving Australia or going near any points of international departure including airports and ports.

Mr Duong was slapped with a total of ten conditions, which were relayed to him via a Vietnamese interpreter during the November 5 bail application.

Federal Agent Paul McDonald, a member of the counter foreign interference and sensitive investigations team, said authorities did not oppose bail and investigators had taken steps to curtail any risks posed by Mr Duong.

“I don’t believe there to be risks to the community in relation to the offending,” Mr McDonald said.

“He has strong ties to the jurisdiction, runs a business and has a young family and sister that live at (his home),” he said.

The Herald Sun last month revealed China was the country behind the alleged plot to target Minister Tudge.

Mr Duong, who has lived in Melbourne for decades, is the first person to be charged under foreign interference laws which went through the Federal Parliament in 2018.

If convicted, Mr Duong could face up to 10 years behind bars.

It is understood the charges do not allege an actual interference attempt, but rather a plan to attempt to influence Mr Tudge, by an organisation linked to the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr Duong ran as a Liberal Party candidate in the 1996 state election for the seat of Richmond.

He was set to be expelled from the party following news of his arrest, but quit ahead of the upcoming party meeting.

The alleged spy has also been stood down from his role at the Museum of Chinese Australian History.

Mr Duong must report to the Box Hill police station twice weekly via phone and will return to court for a committal mention on March 11.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/accused-chinese-spy-slapped-with-harsh-bail-conditions/news-story/3bdd8c17308fa151e35816c91728c7ce#top

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

Merry Christmas to all, may your day be filled with love, laughter and wine lol #MerryChristmas2020 #lovelive @pinkPeptobismol #WorldDayofPeace

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1342303415540404225

US Embassy Canberra Tweet

"This holiday season, I hope your heart is filled with the love and joy of your faith, family, and friends. Along with my staff at the U.S. Embassy and Consulates General across Australia, I wish you a safe, happy, and prosperous New Year." - Ambassador Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr.

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1342213461951057921

Malka Leifer is due to be extradited from Israel to Australia, but how do you do do that during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Six years after Australia first put in a request for extradition, Israel signed an extradition order last week to send former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer back to Australia.

Ms Leifer is accused of abusing three sisters during her time as headmistress of the Adass Israel School between 2001 and 2008 and faces 74 charges of sexual abuse.

But now that an order has been signed, there are still questions over what happens next in the process and when Ms Leifer is due to arrive in Australia.

Here's what we know.

A quick summary of the case

Ms Leifer, an Israeli citizen, left Australia for Israel in 2008.

Australia lodged an extradition request for Ms Leifer in 2014, but the case has been repeatedly delayed.

Ms Leifer maintains her innocence and the six-year legal battle surrounding her extradition strained relations between Israel and Australia.

What is happening now?

The Israel office of Interpol will liaise with Victoria Police about the "technical" arrangements for the extradition.

These include when it will occur, whether Victoria Police will send officers to pick up Ms Leifer and whether she will have to quarantine and undertake any coronavirus tests before travelling.

When will she be extradited?

We don't know yet. It depends largely on the Australian Government and how quickly those technical details can be arranged.

Israel has 60 days to carry out the extradition but can (and often needs to) seek an extension from the Supreme Court of another 60 days.

These are usually granted without any problems, according to Israeli legal sources.

Will the pandemic complicate the extradition?

It's most likely the coronavirus will disrupt the process, as other extraditions this year have already been complicated by the pandemic.

One particular issue posed by COVID-19 is the lack of commercial flights into Australia.

Another will be quarantining, although Ms Leifer can be quarantined inside the women's prison she is currently in, if Australia wants.

Could anything stop the extradition going ahead?

Yes. Even though her lawyer has said he does not intend to appeal, Ms Leifer can change her mind at any time before the extradition and instruct him to appeal the decision of the Justice Minister to sign the extradition order.

They can no longer appeal the order itself, only that the Minister did not properly exercise his discretion.

Israeli lawyers say these appeals are uncommon and almost always fail.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-26/malka-leifer:-how-do-you-extradite-during-a-pandemic/12999356

Habby Christmas AusFags

Here's wishing you and us all an ebic year ahead.

Onwards to victory.

Midnight Riders

https://8kun.top/midnightriders/catalog.html

Mike Pompeo Tweet

Tonight, we’re freely worshiping Jesus Christ and drinking Australian wine — two things that the CCP does not allow #FightForFreedom

https://twitter.com/mikepompeo/status/134296266284669

>>12188234

Q Research General #15562: Jesus Christ and Australian Wine Edition

https://8kun.top/qresearch/res/12188633.html

Australia fights back against China to build relationship with East Timor

Australia has found a new way to offset China’s relentless billion dollar investment and expansion program in the Pacific.

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Fruit pickers from East Timor arrived in Australia earlier this month on a special Qantas charter to help farmers in Tasmania harvest berries for the season.

They were the first of the up to 150 seasonal workers from the impoverished nation to be brought over to fill worker shortages under the Federal Government’s Seasonal Worker Program. A similar number also went to Bowen in Queensland.

The numbers are small but the COVID-19 related prompt has un-expectantly boosted Australia’s relations with its tiny neighbour and critically somewhat balanced the ledger, offsetting the multi-billion dollars of investment China has put into the country as it continues its relentless Pacific expansion program.

To suggest the Federal Government and its security agencies are concerned about China’s influence in that country, in the vacuum created by the government’s own poor relations handling with Timor, would be an understatement.

Canberra is alarmed and has good reason to be.

Like in many countries across the Pacific and nations such as Papua New Guinea, China has debt-trapped Timor-Leste through loans for what ultimate ends are not fully clear.

But while China has for years sidelined Australia which has struggled with its own missteps and policy failures by successive governments, coronavirus has now opened a backdoor to diplomacy.

China’s early intentions for East Timor were writ clear along the walls of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in capital Dili.

While East Timor has renowned natural landscapes and seas, there running for several metres in the ministry’s main conference hall is a tapestry of the Great Wall of China.

“That was a very interesting signal,” a senior government security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It told us where they were thinking … China has been messing about the Pacific this last year approaching Vanuatu about a military capability, Solomon Islands, Fiji, PNG but more concerningly East Timor.

“Timor is 600km north of Darwin, that’s a 30-minute flight in a jet fighter and if there is any sign of their interest, it’s everywhere.”

With minimal fanfare, China money has built Timor’s foreign ministry, defence department headquarters, military headquarters, the president’s palace, the airport, the main hospital, a sealed four-lane freeway along the south of the country and infrastructure in the capital.

It is also in the midst of this year building a $650 million Tibar Bay deep harbour container port and terminal, by the Beijing Government owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and part of the Tasi Mane “economic hubs” being created on a 155km stretch of the south. As of today, China-state owned firms have 20 projects underway in Timor, an indebtedness many Asian nations cite for quietly pushing to keep East Timor out of an ASEAN bloc it has long sought to join. They effectively own those assets through loans and ultimately the country’s natural assets including potential for oil and gas.

“Strategically that’s the sort of worries we’ve got, ” the security official said. “We’ve got a China now increasingly using coercion bullying, with or without a military presence moving into our strategic space from all sides of Australia including north with East Timor. Like PNG, what their government’s do next is being watched closely.”

(continued)

>>12190547

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Australia has had a fractured relationship with Timor firstly over maritime boundaries then the split of the spoils around the Greater Sunrise oil and gas projects potentially worth $50 billion. In 2012 they were at their low when it was revealed Australian ASIS spies covertly planted listening devices in an office adjacent to the Timor’s Cabinet room where the Timor Gap discussion of Australian negotiations were being held, to seek upper-hand advantage. The controversy went all the way to The Hague’s Court of Arbitration.

Indeed such is the messiness, no-one officially from the office of Foreign Minister Marise Payne, her foreign affairs department, Pacific Minister Alex Hawke nor the Australian embassy in Dili would comment to News Corp Australia on anything to do with East Timor, positive or negative.

ANU’s National Security College Timor expert Andrea Fahey said without a doubt relations were sour but have markedly improved, ironically since COVID-19.

Australia has led foreign aid to Timor since its independence from Indonesia in 2002 and most recently provided a one-off $304.7 million COVID-19 response package for the Pacific and Timor. This has included testing equipment, isolation facilities and associated health crisis programs.

“Because of Covid I think Australia has a chance to go back into improving relations with East Timor,” Ms Fahey who was in the UN Integrated Mission in East Timor in 2007 and 2012 and working locally with an NGO in between.

“Australia I think is seen as having a clear plan for the Pacific and East Timor for vaccination and economic help, even though China sent a few PPE equipment in the beginning it’s nothing compared to what Australia is doing. Just allowing East Timorese the chance to come and work here temporarily with visas for workers that’s actually more important for the East Timorese government.”

Former Australia’s former deputy head of mission in Jakarta David Engel said Australian’s shouldn’t believe they were alone in their concerns about China.

He said Indonesia also look at all the activities of China on their doorstep, from East Timor and surrounds.

“The fact that China has been doing what it has been doing in the South China Sea has obviously struck a nerve in Indonesia particularly around the Natuna archipelago area in the northern part of Asia,” he said.

“They look at the fact that Chinese coast guard vessels are guarding Chinese trawlers that are that fishing in Indonesia’s economic exclusion zone as cause for real concern and real appreciation that just hoping that Chinese will behave themselves in that area is no longer going to be good enough. Timor yes but the rubber hits the road so to speak for Indonesia around Natunas, that’s about fish and hydro carbons, tangible economic issues but also their sense of sovereignty what they consider legitimately what is theirs under international laws.”

Independence hero and former president and prime minister Xanana Gusmao has long courted China’s involvement in East Timor’s progress on a vague promise of jobs and prosperity but his recent departure has allowed for more balance and what security analysts brand a “relations reset”.

“East Timor is just 80km away from Australian territory but dealing with China’s expansion plans anywhere in the Pacific is like playing Whac-A-Mole, they keeping popping up elsewhere to pursue their interests and we just have to deal with that in our own way,” a DFAT source said.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/australia-fights-back-against-china-to-build-relationship-with-east-timor/news-story/7aa101b4d2dd41d1cbd15c32526d4eb7

Repost from Q Research General #15577

>>12200598 (pb)

>>12200523, (pb) >>12200499 (pb) Australia goes to bread 12 - Congrats Mates!

Crackdown on far-right groups opens a Pandora’s box

A new federal parliamentary inquiry into extremist movements will throw the spotlight on a ­“Pandora’s box” of far-right groups active in Australia, offering them a public voice as MPs consider whether new rules are needed to ban them.

The inquiry, which gets under way next year, will face difficult questions about “what we will and won’t tolerate” in Australia, experts say, and whether groups promoting violent, revolutionary ideologies should be treated in the same way as terrorist groups.

Australia has 27 organisations listed as terrorist groups, none of which is a right-wing outfit.

Peta Lowe, a consultant in countering terrorism and violent extremism, said there were many groups active in Australia espousing far-right extremist views.

But Ms Lowe, who prepared a sentencing report on far-right terrorist Phillip Galea, said determining which groups should be banned was a difficult task.

“It’s like a Pandora’s box. Once you start to look at it, you realise it’s actually a lot bigger and more complex than you previously assumed, and many right-wing and far-right discourses are becoming much more mainstream,” she told The Australian.

“We need to invest in understanding and deciding what we will and won’t tolerate. And then we need to call it out when we see it. I think there will be some groups where we have to say ‘that is outside the bounds of what is ­acceptable in our country’.”

ASIO told parliament’s intelligence and security committee in September that far-right extremists now made up 30-40 per cent of the agency’s counter-terrorism caseload, compared with 10-15 per cent four years ago.

Galea, who was sentenced in November to 12 years in jail over plans to wage war against “Muslims and lefties”, was a member of extreme-right groups Reclaim Australia and the True Blue Crew.

Other far-right groups active in Australia include the United Patriots Front and the Lads Society — both established by neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell — and the US-based Atomwaffen Division.

Ms Lowe warned the inquiry, by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, would require engagement with some of those groups.

“I think some of them will take the opportunity to make submissions. It will give them the opportunity to publicly air their narrative,” she said.

Under the inquiry’s terms of reference from Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, the committee will consider potential changes to federal laws on the listing of terrorist organisations to ensure they “provide a barrier to those who may seek to promote an extremist ideology”.

Senior criminology lecturer at Macquarie University Julian Droogan said proscribing extreme-right groups would be “tricky” because they were unlike Islamist groups like al-Qa’ida and Islamic State, which were designed to fight for global revolution using terrorist tactics.

“Very few of these far-right groups have clearly articulated ­violence as a goal,” Dr Droogan said. “But at the same time, they ­incite hate crimes and potential mass shooter attacks like we have seen in New Zealand.”

Under current laws, extremist organisations can be banned if they are engaged in planning or fostering terrorist acts, or advocate terrorism. But Dr Droogan said involvement in terrorism should not be the criteria for organisations to be proscribed.

“If you use terrorism as your reason for proscribing, you are going to be making it very difficult because they don’t openly proclaim violence and they are not set up in the way international terror organisations are set up,” Dr Droogan said.

All of Australia’s Five Eyes ­security partners — the US, Canada, Britain and New Zealand — have proscribed some right-wing extremist groups.

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said Australia needed to send a clear message about the sort of conduct that was unacceptable in the community.

“Listing a right-wing group as a terrorist organisation is not a silver bullet, but given our Five Eyes partners have already made this move, the upcoming inquiry is a good opportunity to ensure our laws remain fit-for-purpose in the face of the rising terrorist threat from right-wing extremism.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/crackdown-on-farright-groups-opens-a-pandoras-box/news-story/02f633ab19bfc4f07ea32ed8b27a42cb

International celebrities still call Australia home after COVID closed borders

Overseas-based Aussie stars fled home, while Hollywood stalwarts moved here for work and found themselves putting down roots as COVID took hold.

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Overseas-based Aussie celebrities fled home and Hollywood stars moved here for work and found themselves putting down roots as COVID closed international borders and ravaged the US and Europe.

Some stars like Zac Efron and Kate Walsh initially came for short stays, but have found themselves staying indefinitely.

Take a peek at those who have called Australia home this year.

TOM HANKS AND RITA WILSON

It was a case of bad timing for Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who tested positive for coronavirus the same day it was officially declared a global pandemic.

The 64-year-olds were in Brisbane at the time, telling fans via Instagram, “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches … Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the coronavirus, and were found to be positive.”

While Hanks was admitted to hospital for a period, the Forrest Gump star assured the public he was safe and well, and within weeks the duo returned to their home in the US.

The couple were even able to return to the Gold Coast in September to continue filming Baz Luhrmann’s latest biopic, Elvis, which Hanks is set to star.

ZAC EFRON

What was scheduled as a quiet holiday quickly turned into a full blown love affair for Zac Efron, after the High School Musical star’s three month Australian getaway became an indefinite relocation.

Touching down in June, sources close to the A-lister said Efron simply wanted to ride out the coronavirus pandemic in peace before filming began on his upcoming Stan series, Gold, which is being filmed in Adelaide.

But within weeks of landing Down Under, Efron had struck up a romance with Byron Bay local Vanessa Valladares and extended his visa for a further 12 months.

In the months that followed, the couple reportedly travelled the country together, celebrated his birthday with a lavish party filled with local celebs, and were even looking at purchasing a permanent pad together.

Sadly, things were all over between the two by November, with the romance proving to be just another COVID confinement fling.

LIAM NEESON

He may be Hollywood royalty, but there was no special treatment for Liam Neeson when he arrived in Australia to star in his upcoming movie, Blacklight.

The 68-year-old Irishman underwent two weeks of mandatory self-isolation in Sydney before touching down in Melbourne, where the majority of the upcoming $43 million action thriller is set to be filmed.

Since his November arrival, Neeson has been spotted out and about filming scenes in South Yarra and Noble Park, eating lunch along the Yarra River, taking strolls along South Bank, and hanging out near the Melbourne Convention Centre, which has been turned into a makeshift set for the film.

Neeson, along with the rest of the film’s cast and crew, seems to have embraced the state’s strict mandatory mask policy, with the Taken star seen donning disposable masks between takes and whenever he’s not filming. Talk about leading by example.

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NATALIE PORTMAN

It’s not every day you see an Oscar winner at the local Woolworths pushing a trolley, but Natalie Portman seems to be enjoying the quiet – and very regular – life during her life in Australia.

The Black Swan star is currently based in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Double Bay while filming Marvel’s latest instalment, Thor: Love and Thunder, in which she plays Chris Hemsworth’s love interest, Jane Foster.

The 39-year-old vegan is visiting with her husband Benjamin Millepied and their two children Aleph, nine, and Amalia, three.

Prior to filming, the four spent a mandatory two weeks in quarantine before holidaying in Hemsworth’s hometown of Byron Bay alongside a slew of other famous faces.

According to Sydney locals, the super star has been spotted a handful of times in recent weeks dining at local cafes and restaurants, and yes, even doing the grocery shopping.

KATE WALSH

A holiday to WA turned into an indefinite stay for Kate Walsh earlier this year.

The Grey’s Anatomy star was visiting Perth in March when borders closed, and instead of trying to head back to her home in the US, Walsh settled in and began exploring the many wonders of the stunning state.

“There’s so much to explore and see,” Walsh told The West Live podcast. “I’m just in love with it,” she said, adding that Rottnest Island, Broome and Ningaloo Reef have been among her favourite spots.

Walsh, who now has an extended working visa, also kept busy starring in the Freemantle Theatre Company’s latest production, The Other Place.

“As much as I would like to be able to go home and come back, there are surges and different rounds [of COVID] coming. How it’s been handled here … is so exemplary and I feel very fortunate to be able to have a normal life here,” Walsh said.

ISLA FISHER AND SACHA BARON COHEN

If Australia’s latest returns are anything to go by, NSW is in the midst of a mass Hollywood migration.

Having called Los Angeles home for over a decade, Aussie comedy queen Isla Fisher and her British husband Sasha Baron-Cohen appear to have made their recent trip to Sydney a permanent one, enrolling their three young kids into a local school and spending their days scoping out dining spots in the beachside suburb of Coogee.

While 44-year-old Fisher has been spotted working from a laptop at a number of local cafes, Baron-Cohen seems to be taking a break after the global success of his latest mockumentary, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. The 49-year-old has been seen swimming laps of Bronte pool and taking strolls with pals.

And while Fisher may hail from Perth, Sydney is surely a city closer to the couple’s heart given it’s where they first met and fell in love almost 20 years ago.

MARK WAHLBERG

The Hollywood star of Transformers and Boogie Nights avoided local COVID quarantine and choosing a $400,000 private self-isolation stint in Byron Bay to film a TV campaign for the Ladbrokes betting agency.

Super-fit father of four Wahlberg, 49, is believed to have brought in a full gym set-up for the property to keep his health in check.

He flew back to Sydney after quarantine to shoot the commercial.

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SARAH SNOOK

A visit home took an unexpected turn for Sarah Snook when she found herself in the nation’s COVID-19 hotspot, Melbourne, and faced months of lockdown.

The Succession star had originally planned to spend just a few weeks in her native country, but with filming for the next season of her HBO drama delayed, the 33-year-old chose to stick it out and make the most of her time off.

Snook joined the 2020 Emmys via Zoom from her lounge room (she was nominated in the Best Supporting actor category for her portrayal as Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy but lost out to Julia Garner) and celebrated the show’s group wins in her bathtub with champagne and a tinfoil statue made by her flatmate.

Speaking to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard on A Podcast of One’s Own in November, Snook said Shiv’s “dubious moral compass” appeals to her as an actor, adding, “I don’t agree with her, but I like to back her.”

NICOLE KIDMAN

A string of Hollywood stars descended on the trendy coastal town of Byron Bay led by Nicole Kidman and the cast of her upcoming Hulu drama, Nine Perfect Strangers.

The Oscar-winner, her husband Keith Urban and the couple’s two daughters Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret moved into a $20,000-a-week eco mansion rental.

The rest of the cast, including Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy and her actor husband Ben Falcone, Beauty and the Beast star Luke Evans, as well as Manny Jacinto and Bobby Cannavale (whose significant other is Australian actor Rose Byrne), joined them in Byron, as did Australian star-on-the-rise Samara Weaving.

Set in fictionalised wellness resort Tranquillum, Nine Perfect Strangers – rumoured to be a $100 million production – was filmed at luxury retreat Soma Byron Bay.

Though the influx of celebrities to the coastal town drew a mixed reaction from Byron locals, some of whom were less than impressed at the disruption.

ADRIAN GRENIER

Entourage star has been in Melbourne most of the year shooting miniseries, Clickbait.

Sightings of the 44-year-old, who played Hollywood star Vinnie Chase on cult HBO series, have dated back to January and the 2020 Australian Open, until as recently as last month in the trendy suburb of Fitzroy, where he has often been spotted in female company.

The enviro activist seems to have taken up woodwork as a hobby while Down Under, crafting a stool at The Shed.

“Thanks The Shed Melbourne for sharing your tools. Check out their studio, a great wood-work-share,” he posted on Instagram.

IDRIS ELBA

British actor Idris Elba touched down in Sydney to star in George Miller’s upcoming movie, Three Thousand Years of Longing.

The Avengers star has been spotted taking a morning stroll in Drummoyne and out with his model wife Sabrina having lunch at Apollo in Potts Point.

The couple have kept a low profile since arriving in Sydney last month, where they went through the mandatory two-week COVID quarantine period.

Elba, 48, is one of the highest profile Hollywood stars to have contracted the virus earlier in the pandemic.

Production on Miller’s film was due to begin in March but was pushed back due to coronavirus.

It is Miller’s first movie since 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road.

MIRANDA KERR

The Australian supermodel returned home last month via private jet.

It was reported that the trip Down Under from her Los Angeles base was for private family reasons, with a report suggesting it was a “mercy dash” due to the health of an older relative.

Kerr, 37, flew in with her sons her sons Flynn, 9, Hart, 2, and 13-month-old Myles, while her husband, Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, joined her in Sydney shortly after.

The couple kept a low profile while in the country. Spiegel avoided hotel quarantine, with NSW police confirming that he was “compliant with the Public Health (COVID-19 Air Transportation Quarantine) Order (No 2) 2020, which states a person can put a proposal forward to acquire independent locations meeting the same standards as NSW Police-managed hotels to be nominated as ‘Quarantine Facilities’ as allowed under the Public Health Order”.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/international-celebrities-still-call-australia-home-after-covid-closed-borders/news-story/8352e24ffaebbc0f26f3a54a7496ae9d

Canberra considers axing Victorian research agreement with China

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The federal government is considering tearing up a research agreement between the Victorian government and China's Jiangsu province that experts say could allow the work of Australian scientists to be used by the Chinese government.

The deal, signed by the Labor state government in 2015 and renewed in 2019, provides grants of up to $200,000 for Victorian companies and universities to share intellectual property and develop new products with companies from the Chinese province.

Two senior federal government sources with knowledge of the review process for foreign agreements, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the Victoria-Jiangsu Program for Technology and Innovation Research and Development was on a list of agreements the Department of Foreign Affairs had identified as potentially contrary to Australia's national interest.

The sources said the deal was among agreements on the list that the government would scrutinise.

Legislation created by the federal government this month allows the Commonwealth to cancel agreements with foreign powers made by states, local governments or universities if the deals are deemed harmful.

Dr Paul Monk, former head of China analysis in Australia’s Defence Department, said the Jiangsu deal could allow firms linked to the Chinese Communist Party to obtain access to Australian intellectual property, and it should be viewed through the prism of President Xi Jinping's recently stated intention, reported by Chinese state media, of increasing military-industrial strength with the aim of winning wars.

“They have a rapidly growing, high-tech military sector that is strongly integrated between private firms and the Chinese government. This deal must be seen in that context,” Dr Monk said.

“For this deal to be getting promoted by the Chinese government, there is likely to be something we can provide that they want – otherwise they would do it themselves. So we must ask: what [intellectual property] do we bring to the table that they are seeking?”

The Jiangsu deal links Victorian businesses and universities with Chinese counterparts, and supports the Australian entities to travel to Jiangsu, a province in China’s east of about 80 million people, for research and development related to innovations in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, biotechnology, medicine, information and communication technology, and environmental protection.

Two previous rounds of the program's grants have funded CSIRO research on manufacturing and materials technology; Walter and Eliza Hall Institute work on a potential cure for hepatitis B;membrane technology for mining wastewater treatment by Deakin University; Swinburne University 3D concrete printing technology; development of bio-organic fertilisers by the University of Melbourne; and a quantum information technology project involving Monash University, Deakin University, the University of Melbourne and the Burnet Institute.

The program guidelines say that at the conclusion of the projects, both the Chinese and the Australian parties receive beneficial ownership of the existing background intellectual property and the fresh intellectual property created during the collaboration.

Dr Monk said a research and development deal with the government of an ally such as the US or Britain would not pose similar risks because it would be clearly apparent whether an Australian company was dealing with a private firm or the government itself.

“Any notion that China is some kind of normal, open, free-market economy is delusional. This is a militaristic, mercantilist country where [strategic] industries are owned by the government and directed to increasing military power,” he said.

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The Burnet Institute's deputy director of partnerships, Associate Professor David Anderson, is involved in a project with a Jiangsu biotech company to develop antibody tests to immediately diagnose medical conditions including COVID-19 and measles.

He said his institute struck an agreement with its Chinese partner to ensure background intellectual property would not be transferred as part of the project, contradicting the program guidelines. He said the IP clause in the guidelines was "bad wording" and that no Australian institution would ever sign up to an agreement under which its existing IP, which might have been years in the making, was handed over.

Professor Anderson said the Victoria-Jiangsu program provided significant benefit for Victorian institutions and that the Burnet Institute's Chinese partner would gain a 10 per cent financial benefit but no ownership of the final product. All project applicants must come to an agreement with their Chinese partners on IP arrangements before the project commences.

"The Victoria-Jiangsu relationship is coming up to 40 years, and this deal is an extension of that. The Chinese have a lot of people banging down their door wanting to do things … and the Victorian government should get lots of credit for embracing genuine collaboration," he said.

Professor Anderson said Chinese universities and companies had more capacity to do resource-intensive "big science", such as genomic sequencing and X-ray crystallography, than any other country.

"And Australians, in particular, are great at innovation but we do not fund big science very much, so it's an area we can work together to make better things," he said, adding: "Everything we do with China is about increasing the value of jobs created in both countries."

Western officials have expressed concern for years that China has exploited research collaboration and used subversive tactics to gather IP from other countries. The US IP Commission, a non-government research body, estimated in 2017 that Chinese IP theft cost the American economy between $US225 billion ($296 billion) and $US600 billion each year. The dispute over IP has been at the centre of the trade war between those two countries.

Nathan Attrill, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which is partly funded by the US government, said the Victoria-Jiangsu program illustrated how “hidden” and highly technical clauses in deals with foreign nations could create considerable risk.

“Maybe five years ago, these kinds of deals would have been more common but in the last 18 months, these deals are coming under a lot more scrutiny,” he said.

“There was a little bit of naivete on the Australian side, a desire to just have agreements for agreements’ sake. This is particularly true of the university sector in Australia.”

Mr Attrill said the sectors that featured in the Jiangsu program — including aerospace, information technology, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing — aligned with the fields in which China was attempting to learn from countries with sophisticated economies like Australia.

Dr Monk said China was displaying “blatant aggression” and attempting to “humiliate and subordinate” Australia through trade strikes on exports including coal and beef. Those moves followed diplomatic tussles over an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, human rights and national security.

(continued)

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been criticised by federal and state Coalition MPs over his government's memorandum of understanding with China on the Belt and Road infrastructure program. The federal government has given Victoria three months to show how the deal accords with Australia’s foreign interests.

Belt and Road deal critics say it is an attempt by China to strengthen its influence through debt diplomacy, but the Victorian government says its involvement in the deal is about trade and jobs for the state.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the Jiangsu agreement was "about driving innovation and creating jobs for Victorians".

“We expect the Commonwealth is providing strong representations to China and all trading partners and advocating for all of our exporters," the spokesperson said.

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said that by signing up to the deal, the Premier had shown he was willing to risk "Victorian jobs, intellectual property and the national interest to pursue his relationship with the Chinese communist government”.

The federal government is also involved in a scientific research program with China, but the program guidelines do not stipulate that background IP becomes mutually owned at the conclusion of projects.

In November, federal Education Minister Dan Tehan quietly announced he was holding back 18 research grants to Australian scientists until they were reviewed by security agencies.

The Australian Research Council grants, often worth several million dollars, are recommended by independent panels of scientists but must be approved by the federal education minister.

Typically this is a rubber-stamping process, but under Mr Tehan scrutiny of the foreign research partners Australian universities pair with has dramatically increased.

The minister announced new voluntary guidelines last year urging universities to examine the background of their research partners and any ties they had to foreign governments.

China, which invests half a trillion dollars in research every year, overtook the US as Australia’s leading research partner this year, with 16.2 per cent of Australian publications involving a researcher affiliated with a Chinese institution.

Alex Joske, a Chinese Communist Party analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said past Australian Research Council grants had been used in projects that collaborated with the Chinese military.

“I hope security agencies are careful in their assessments to ensure grants are used appropriately, but also not to overreach,” he said.

“It’s important for people to understand that this is a relatively small segment of grants that seems to be in line with the level of past grants that raised concerns. If it’s carried out effectively, this process should be a step towards making sure research collaboration is transparent and based on a complete understanding of risks.”

Mr Tehan's office declined comment further on the withheld grants and Universities Australia and the Australian Academy of Science both declined to comment.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/victoria/canberra-considers-axing-victorian-research-agreement-with-china-20201217-p56oiz.html

Timber crisis after China hit

The nation’s timber industry says it will need government assistance to stave off job losses and mill closures if Chinese trade sanctions continue, after Beijing banned logs from NSW and Western Australia claiming it had found “live forest pests” in earlier shipments.

In the latest blow for Australian exporters, China effectively ended the timber trade between the two countries when it banned imports from those states, two days before Christmas.

Australian timber from Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania was banned earlier this year amid serious trade tensions between Canberra and Beijing, which now has restrictions on wine, barley, beef, lobsters and coal.

An Australian Forest Products Association spokesman said the industry group had already implemented a comprehensive package of reforms to address China’s phytosanitary concerns.

“AFPA is in ongoing discussions with Australian governments on the significant impact the suspension of the log trade is having across the forest industries supply chain,” he said.

“Should the situation continue into 2021, the need for short and long-term assistance to support workers and businesses already impacted, and to avoid further, widespread job losses and mill closures.”

Australia exports $1.6bn of logs and wood chips to China each year.

Former trade minister Simon Birmingham this month launched formal World Trade Organisation action over an 80 per cent tariff China applied to $2.5bn of Australian barley.

China has slapped bans on more than $20bn worth of Australian exports this year, including choking off thermal coal despite winter energy shortages for its people.

On Friday, the South China Morning Post reported almost 9000kg of craft beer exported from Sydney had been stopped at the port city of Xiamen, in southeastern China, because it was incorrectly labelled.

The General Administration of Customs of China extended the ban on Australian timber on Wednesday in line with its sanitary measures and quarantine laws, the agency said.

“Recently, customs in Tianjin, Nanjing, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Huangpu discovered live forest pests in logs imported from NSW and Western Australia,” the notice said.

“In order to prevent the introduction of harmful organisms and protect our country’s agricultural and forestry production and ecological safety, we have hereby decided to suspend log imports from Australia’s NSW and WA states.”

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the government was committed to working with all industries hit by recent trade disruptions including the suspension of log exports to China.

Mr Littleproud said the government had already provided $72.7m to farmers and forestry exporters in a bid to assist them expand the markets they sold to next year.

The timber bans started on October 31 when Chinese customs officials claimed they had found the bark beetle in logs from Queensland. Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian logs were banned soon after on the same grounds.

Senator Birmingham, who was succeeded in the trade portfolio by Dan Tehan in a pre-Christmas reshuffle, accused Beijing of undermining the “letter and spirit” of the China-­Australia free-trade agreement and its obligations under World Trade Organisation rules.

Beijing has laid the blame for the increasingly toxic bilateral relationship with Australia, setting out 14 grievances with Canberra including the ban on Huawei from Australia‘s 5G network, new foreign interference laws, and a push for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

It is also angry at forthright comments by Australian leaders about the South China Sea and China’s detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang, and “thinly veiled” allegations of cyber intrusions by Chinese hackers.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released last Wednesday show the trade surplus for goods fell to a two-year low in November hit by a slump in exports to China. It showed a $1.2bn decrease in exports to China, pushing the trade surplus to just $1.9bn compared with $4.7bn in October.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/timber-crisis-after-china-hit/news-story/4e097cd16e9103affee2923dc6fe9fd7

Since the 1st January 2017. 

Julian Assange made the game multidimensional and Trump betrayed him. 

The thick fucks have been trying to conceal the inescapable and incontrovertible fact that Britain is both the winner and loser in the global holy war. 

And yes, yours truly owes Julian a massive thank you. 

And no, i’m not perfect either, but some of my knowledge is. That’s why it is date and time stamped. 

Big love to Julian but fuck wikileaks. 

They are all going to get hunted down by 7,7bn people. 

And yes, it is all over 8kun too.

Inevitable, like the sun and the moon. 

And yes, it can only be demonstrated by actions, not buzzy 3 word slogans like ‘drain the swamp’ 

Illumination route (27 pages)

https://view.publitas.com/51899/497385/pdfs/a8c594cbd211702f0bef3bf4dbe1ae131b2d547c.pdf

Methodology (37 pages) 

https://view.publitas.com/40132/322676/pdfs/842241c4185d6efcbf67950fee3772a2b07872e3.pdf

Many politicians and religious leaders in the folder already. 

Vile, deceitful politicians and celebrities. 

For the fake online twitter holy war between Hillary and Trump, that definitely wasn’t bread and circuses sponsored by Israel. 

And for the aberration of QAnon. 

Best thing ever, really. 

Thick cunts. 

Made me invisible. 

The demented push by Americans and twitter to push a billionaire property developer as a prophet. ‪327 000 000 ‬thick as fuck Americans.

80 million thick as fuck Brits too.

And 14,6 gorillion sneaky Jews. 

And 13 vile and rancid kikes 

Disdainful and disrespectful. 

It’s because none of our leaders have ever had permission to kill, not In the name of God Almighty or any religion. Ever. 

Despite what our politicians say. 

Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it? 

FOLDER 📁 OF DOOM aka 

Victory of the light. 

For those that have betrayed, blocked, argued, threatened or knowingly concealed (done nothing, in other words. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-0QMb_G3N4NSCvIROpsNW_fjsZRLmRTU

First illuminated polymath in thousands of years (context) 

Totally detached from my knowledge too. Argue with that until the cows come home. 

Thick, disrespectful and vile Americans, Jews and Brits. 

KNOWLEDGE 

Direct link to source document in pdf format. 

2,238 pages 130mb 

17 year long beam of light from the absolute. Every single entry date and time stamped 

https://view.publitas.com/72234/880115/pdfs/d4f86d8e8c2117fd530ef381c5b3b016936f5ad1.pdf

One size fits all. 

Kills butthurt Americans, Brits and Jews instantly. 

Never lies and is never violent. 

What good are your weapons and poor hurt personal feelings and opinions now? 

Jon James Pratt (999) 

Aka Christ Almighty 

Aka Lao Tze

Aka Buddha 

Aka Krishna 

49 year old illuminated polymath from Warwickshire 

Aka ‘cosmic Lol’ 

Aka ‘the storm’ 

#allpointsarereconciled 

BREADCRUMBS 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=%23allpointsarereconciled+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

RESEARCH AND MEMES

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/mobile/folders/1qhE2UWiZJO9FId4Kq67oaQhnLKBuHJbSSBcCj-Cz/1U6Kfa7f0O5e_9JumXg_e8jJlduNitKEfUNszAU9U7w?sort=13&direction=a

Emergency backup drive 

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1du6pXkl_ZQ-87t51FH5aPEmpmchfGNYC?sort=13&direction=a

Breadcrumbs 2: google cache 

All over 8kun too 

ARCHIVED VERSION 

http://archive.nyafuu.org/bant/search/username/James/

FRONT ROW SEATS TO HELL