Week beginning 17 November 2021

This week’s post concentrates on voting rights, in America, the UK and Australia. The most significant are the changes proposed in America to introduce voting legislation such as the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Act designed to overcome discriminatory legislation already in place. In the UK and Australia the demands that voters provide identification, using the arguments used in America that fraud is a possibility, are again like in America, without any merit. The last post in this blog is a transcript referring to the ugly treatment of American electoral officials. These articles appear after the Canberra Covid update.

The book review this week, John Lewis: The Last Interview and Other Conversations, Melville House, 2021 begins the debate. This tremendous book was provided to me by Net Galley and Melville House, for review.

John Lewis: The Last Interview and Other Conversations

I have longed to know more about this remarkable man since seeing one of the MNSBC anecdotes about ‘who they are’ including commentary on John Lewis and his reference to ‘good trouble’. The footage includes reference to the march in Selma, Alabama when John Lewis, accompanied by black and white activists attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Until he died in 2020 John Lewis and supporters of his ideals rallied at the Bridge. John Lewis, Congressman, is shown at the Bridge and recalls John Lewis, student activist from the 1960s. The original footage from the carnage enacted upon the marchers was instrumental in influencing policy makers, culminating in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, enacted during President Lyndon Johnson’s Presidency.

See the full review at Books: Reviews

Post Covid Lockdown

New cases recorded on 11 November – nine cases. There are no cases in hospital – for the first time since August 19. There remain 150 active cases in Canberra , with 1,769 cases associated with the Delta outbreak. On 12 and 13 November fifteen and eleven new cases were recorded. There are no cases in hospital. Again, on the 14th, there no people with Covid in hospital. However, there are fifteen new cases. Monday, 15 November, ten new cases recorded; Tuesday 16 November, twelve new cases; and on 17 November, six new cases. There are three people in hospital, with one in ICU on a ventilator. 96.6% of Canberrans over twelve have been vaccinated.

Voting rights – America, Australia, UK

After reviewing John Lewis: The last interview and other conversations it seems relevant to comment on voting rights and attempts to improve or restrict them. The following articles provide a brief reminder of what is proposed.

Heather Cox Richardson – Freedom to Vote Act

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is heather-cox-richardson-2-1.jpg

October 20, 2021 (Wednesday)

This afternoon, Senate Republicans blocked a discussion of the Freedom to Vote Act. The measure is the compromise bill put together by seven Democrats and one Independent after Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he could not support the more sweeping For the People Act passed by the House of Representatives. Manchin maintained that a carefully crafted bill could attract the ten Republican senators it needed to break a filibuster. The Freedom to Vote Act would provide for automatic and same-day voter registration, and it would limit the culling of voters off voter rolls. It would provide for two weeks of early voting and allow anyone to vote by mail. It would make Election Day a holiday and make sure that there is a paper trail for ballots.

The Freedom to Vote Act would provide for automatic and same-day voter registration, and it would limit the culling of voters off voter rolls. It would provide for two weeks of early voting and allow anyone to vote by mail. It would make Election Day a holiday and make sure that there is a paper trail for ballots.At the state level, it would start the process of rolling back the legislation passed by 19 Republican-dominated state legislatures to skew elections hard in their favor. It would prohibit partisan gerrymandering, require transparency in advertising, and protect election officials from the attacks they’ve endured since the 2020 presidential election. It would rebuild the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which oversees our election process but which was gutted under former president Trump. These reforms are nonpartisan and are an attempt to push back against highly partisan state laws that voting rights experts say will essentially allow Republicans to declare their own outcomes for elections.

Today all Republicans voted no even to a discussion of the bill. All Democrats voted yes, but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) switched his vote to a no so that, as a member of the majority, he could bring the measure back up later. What is stopping the measure from coming to the floor for debate is the Senate filibuster rule. That rule is a holdover from the early days of Congress, when there was no way to stop a member from talking, so that anyone eager to make sure something could not pass could just talk until the other members of Congress gave up and moved to another piece of business. The House early on created a mechanism to move from debate to a vote, but the Senate did not. The filibuster is essentially a refusal to stop talking, although a series of reforms have changed it a bit from its early days. During Woodrow Wilson’s term in the early twentieth century, the Senate adopted the cloture rule, which permitted two thirds of the Senate to vote to stop the debate—but not immediately—and to move on to a vote. That’s where we get the concept that it takes 60 senators to break a filibuster. In the late twentieth century, the Senate also changed that idea of nonstop talking to a threat to talk, lowering the bar significantly for a minority to stop legislation it doesn’t like. Nowadays, they can just phone it in. It also exempted certain financial bills from the filibuster: those are the things that fall under “budget reconciliation” measures. In the early twenty-first century, the Senate exempted judicial nominations from the filibuster and then, under then–Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Supreme Court nominations. (That’s how Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett got confirmed to the Supreme Court.) There is discussion now about removing voting rules from the filibuster as well, since we are in a bizarre situation where states that have heavily gerrymandered their districts to benefit Republicans are passing voting restrictions by simple majority votes while the federal government, charged with protecting voting rights, needs a supermajority of the Senate. Since the Republican Senate seats skew heavily toward rural areas, in this case, it is possible for 41 Republican senators, who represent just 21% of the population, to stop voting rights legislation backed by 70% of Americans.

If this is permitted to stand, more and more voters will be silenced, and the nation will fall under a system of minority rule much like that in the American South between about 1876 and 1964. The South always held elections…and the outcome was always preordained. Meanwhile, the Republicans who are demanding control of our elections are also doubling down on their support for the former president, knowing that their most reliable voters are his loyalists. Today the House Rules Committee passed a resolution to send the criminal referral for Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon, who defied a congressional subpoena, to the House floor for a vote. That itself wasn’t much of a surprise—it was procedural—but more surprising was the loud fight Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) put up against the resolution. Both men are fervent Trump supporters, and Jordan, at least, is himself likely to be a witness before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. While they conceded that Joe Biden is indeed president, they refused to agree that he won the 2020 election, and they maintained that the investigation into the attack on the counting of the certified ballots on January 6—an attack that came close to pulling down our government—is simply an effort to distract voters from what they consider to be the failures of the Biden administration. When the Rules Committee took a vote on whether to advance the report to the House floor, all the Democrats voted yes, and the Republicans voted no. The vote was 9–4. But there was a new feeling in the room. When Gaetz and Jordan started in with their usual attacks to create sound bites, the Democrats pushed back. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a professor of constitutional law, actually said to Gaetz: “You know what, that might work on Steve Bannon’s podcast, but that’s not gonna work in the Rules Committee of the United States House of Representatives.”

Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA), the committee’s chair, pressed Jordan about his own conversations with Trump that day. Jordan has repeatedly changed his story about what he remembers about talking with the former president that day but has admitted that they spoke more than once. “Of course I talked to the president,” Jordan told McGovern. “I talked to him that day. I’ve been clear about that. I don’t recall the number of times, but it’s not about me. I know you want to make it about that.”Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the majority leader of the House of Representatives, says the House will vote on the committee’s criminal contempt report for Steve Bannon tomorrow. Republican leaders are urging House Republicans to vote no.A reminder: Bannon flat out refused to answer a congressional subpoena. Perhaps the Democrats are pushing back on the bullying of the Trump loyalists in part because some who have previously escaped legal jeopardy are now in trouble. In Florida, Gaetz’s former friend Joel Greenberg, who has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, got an extension on sentencing Monday because he is still providing information to investigators. Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg told the court that Greenberg has made allegations that “take us to some places we did not anticipate.” There is a shorter timeline for Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), who was indicted yesterday for lying to the FBI about foreign campaign contributions (which are illegal under U.S. law). Fortenberry uploaded a video to YouTube, titled “I wanted you to hear from me first,” giving his version of events before the indictment dropped. In the video, filmed in a car with his wife and dog, he talked of the money in question but insisted he didn’t know it was from a foreign donor. Unfortunately, it appears there was a phone call between the congressman and the co-host of the fundraiser that brought in the illegal money. That individual was cooperating with the FBI, and in the call, he and Fortenberry discussed the illegal money in clear terms. At his arraignment hearing today, Fortenberry’s attorney said he would try to get the court to suppress statements made by the congressman “because he was misled.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

23 October 2021

May be an image of one or more people, monument and outdoors

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial serves as a reminder of how far we have come – and how far we have yet to go. We face an inflection point in this battle for the soul of America. And it is up to us – together – to choose who we are and what we want to be.I know progress may not come fast enough. And the process of governing can be frustrating and dispiriting. But I also know what is possible if we keep up the pressure. If we never give up. If we keep the faith.

President Joe Biden Statement On the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

@POTUS · Government official

4 November 2021

Today, once again, Senate Republicans blocked debate on the bipartisan John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Provisions in the bill have passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support five times. Let there be a debate and a vote.

Kamala Harris

@KamalaHarris · Politician

6 hrs ·

This year, at least 33 anti-voter laws have been passed in 19 states. These laws are designed to make it more difficult to vote. Congress must pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement ACT.

5 November 2021

CNN NEWS – TEXAS VOTING RESTRICTIONS

News Alert: Justice Department sues Texas over new voting restrictions

The Justice Department is suing Texas over new voting restrictions that the federal government says will disenfranchise eligible voters and violate federal voting rights law.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in San Antonio challenges the law known as SB1 passed earlier this year to overhaul election procedures in the state.

The law, which bans 24-hour and drive-thru voting, imposes new hurdles on mail-in ballots and empowers partisan poll watchers, was signed by Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in September.

Australia : October 20, 2021 (Wednesday)

Kevin Rudd: Morrison’s voter-ID laws are a backdoor assault on our democracy

Voter-ID laws will enhance the power of hardcore partisans at the expense of ordinary working families, Kevin Rudd writes.

Scott Morrison’s plan to introduce US-style “voter ID” laws for Australian elections represents a stealth assault on compulsory voting that will radicalise our politics and stop ordinary working families exercising their sacred right to vote.

At first glance, demands that voters produce their papers may sound reasonable. But, as someone who has lived in America for most of the past decade, let me assure you: there is no formulation of these laws that won’t undermine universal suffrage and deliver a less representative parliament.

If this law is passed, expect to see polling booths crawling with partisan lawyers aggressively challenging the legitimacy of voters who – for whatever reason – they have profiled as being unlikely to vote for their party.

In America, voters have been blacklisted over inconsistencies including maiden names, slight variations in spelling, missing hyphens and even accent marks.

They pretend these laws are needed to defend elections against the possibility of double-voting – a risk that the Australian Electoral Commission describes as “vanishingly small”, with only about 20 irregularities referred to police from the last election and no prosecutions.

But this is a fig leaf.

More urgent things to fix

If Morrison really cared about protecting our democracy, he would demand real-time disclosure of political donations (donors can currently evade disclosure for more than a year).

He would insist on a powerful and independent federal anti-corruption commission to investigate and expose the abuse of taxpayer funds.

He would want tighter controls on pork-barreling in marginal seats, and laws to prevent MPs like Christian Porter accepting secret donations through so-called “blind trusts”.

That Morrison’s priority is voter ID – a solution in search of a problem – tells you this has everything to do with stealing elections for the Liberal Party.

I describe this as Morrison’s Law, but its mastermind is actually Queensland senator James McGrath – a disciple of the electoral dark arts championed by Donald Trump’s Republicans and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News.

For political mercenaries like McGrath, mass participation in our democracy comes second to entrenching an undemocratic advantage for his side of politics.

Under McGrath’s take-no-prisoners bill, anyone who cannot produce certain types of matching government-issued identification would be refused an ordinary ballot. Instead, they would face a convoluted set of alternatives that risk clogging up polling places and extending queues.

READ: ‘Trumpian’ voter ID proposal slammed ahead of election

When voting becomes an ordeal, only the most committed partisans are willing to suffer through it. And rather than appealing to the sensible centre, political parties will feel pressure to appeal to the fringes.

This is, of course, the point. McGrath is on the record as an opponent of compulsory voting.

He lamented in 2018 that the incentive to “offend the least number of voters” was having a “chilling effect” on pushing through extreme policy agendas.

He also opposes mass participation through optional early voting – a crucial lifeline for working families that also relieves pressure on booth-workers on election day.

Inevitable injustice

Some may ask, who doesn’t have matching ID? One of my good friends is an elderly Catholic nun who doesn’t drive and doesn’t have a passport. In states like South Australia and Queensland, drivers aren’t legally required to carry their licence. Many Australians don’t carry their Medicare card with them, or it doesn’t match their name on the electoral roll.

That’s even before we get to the particular challenges around people with unstable housing, survivors of domestic violence and our First Australians.

A master campaigner, McGrath’s slogans sound convincing. He rattles off European countries that require ID, but ignores that many of those governments issue compulsory national identity cards – an idea previously condemned by the Liberal Party as a “Stalin card”.

McGrath insists no voters would be frozen out, since they will be offered a “declaration vote” – a special ballot that takes longer to complete and won’t be considered until after election night.

But there are several flaws in this logic.

First is the capacity of the electoral system to handle large numbers of declaration votes. There were around 1.2 million of them at the last election, and this number would shoot up under McGrath’s bill.

Unless the government is proposing to fund extra polling booths in every electorate and more staff, the queues outside polling places will lengthen.

Queensland Senator James McGrath said the voter-ID laws are “sensible”. *Photo: AAP*

The results will also take longer to count. Where does that end? Look at Donald Trump, who last year insisted that votes counted after election night was illegitimate. These fraud conspiracies were amplified by Murdoch’s Fox News such that one-third of Americans believe Joe Biden didn’t actually win.

Murdoch’s print monopoly and Sky News Australia (which was probably even more strident than Fox in backing Trump’s claims) stand ready to do the same here.

Second is the fact that declaration votes are not necessarily counted. As University of Queensland professor Graham Orr has warned, declaration votes enter a “black box” and voters never actually learn if their choice was registered. It’s not hard to imagine voters diligently turning up every three years to cast declaration votes that, unbeknownst to them, aren’t actually counted.

Third is the effect on vulnerable populations, especially Indigenous people. When the conservatives proposed similar laws in Queensland last decade, the former social justice commissioner, Mick Gooda, warned Indigenous voters “may feel intimidated by the requirements to fill in extra paperwork and being treated differently to other voters”.

This is understandable; white Australia doesn’t have a great history of singling out Indigenous folks for special treatment.

“I worry that intending voters may not continue to complete their ballot if required to go through the declaration vote procedure,” Gooda said.

This is, once again, part of the plan. These laws are born from the same deeply undemocratic instinct among Queensland conservatives, who governed under a corrupt gerrymander for more than two decades.

In those days, Aboriginal communities were carved out of marginal electorates and, like West Berlin, counted as detached exclaves of safe Labor seats.

Of course, McGrath’s record of sensitivity to racial inequity is infamous. In 2008, he was sacked by London mayor Boris Johnson for telling a journalist that residents of Afro-Caribbean heritage offended by racist slurs: “Let them go if they don’t like it here”.

The bottom line is that McGrath’s law is designed to enhance the voting power of hardcore partisans at the expense of ordinary working families and vulnerable Australians.

It is a backdoor assault on our democracy, and I urge senators to reject it.

Kevin Rudd is a former prime minister of Australia.

What does the UK elections bill set out?

Tue 7 Sep 2021 20.55 AEST

Government says plan will ensure polls remain secure while critics argue it is unfair and undemocratic

A woman arrives at a polling station — The elections bill would introduce mandatory voter IDs across the UK. Photograph: Vickie Flores/EPA

Peter Walker Political correspondent@peterwalker99

The elections bill, which will be debated in the Commons for the first time on Tuesday, is, according to the government, an ambitious and timely set of plans to ensure elections remain fair and secure. To critics, it is undemocratic and intended to rig elections in favour of the Conservatives. So what does the bill set out?

Mandatory voter ID

After a series of small-scale trials, anyone who votes in person at a general election across the UK, or in local elections in England, will have to show photo ID first. Ministers argue this is necessary to prevent voter impersonation, improve confidence in elections, and that ID has been needed to vote in Northern Ireland since 1985, and photo ID since 2003. If people do not have the necessary ID, they can apply to their council for a free “voter card”.Advertisementhttps://36e76e70210cb1566d6d8ba9a16d406d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

But critics say the plan is an illiberal and expensive overreaction to an almost nonexistent problem and could put off many thousands of people from voting, with some likening it to US Republican-style voter suppression tactics. In the last seven years there have been just three convictions for voter impersonation, while a government analysis has said up to 2 million people may lack the necessary ID to vote. In the small-scale trials, hundreds of voters were turned away.

Opponents also argue Northern Ireland is a separate issue since voter ID was introduced due to evidence of large-scale, sectarian-connected campaigns of voter impersonation, with 149 arrests at the 1983 general election alone.

Allowing long-term expats to vote and donate

Currently, British nationals who have lived abroad for more than 15 years are barred from voting or donating to UK parties. The bill would scrap this time limit. Labour say the rule change is intended purely to benefit the Conservatives, given the number of major donors the party has who live overseas. The party’s biggest donor at the 2019 election, the theatre producer John Gore, is based in the Bahamas.

New spending rules for non-party campaigners

This could affect groups such as charities, but is particularly seen as likely to impact trade unions, given their strong links to Labour. Under the plans, election spending declarations on joint campaigning would be changed so that, according to unions, it is possible that the same spending limits would have to be shared around every group involved. In theory, they say, Labour’s 12 affiliated unions – who had been able to spend up to £390,000 per election – would be limited instead to £30,000.

Powers over the Electoral Commission

While the Electoral Commission will remain independent, the bill will introduce a new “strategy and policy statement”, which the commission must take account of, which will be put together by the Cabinet Office’s secretary of state, currently Michael Gove. Critics say this could allow political interference in the commission’s work and its enforcement priorities – for example obliging a particularly tough interpretation of rules such as those for non-party campaigners.

New rules for postal and proxy votes

On postal voting, a new rule will bar political campaigners from handling people’s postal vote, a move which is not controversial – Labour already advises its election teams not to do this. People who use postal votes regularly will need to reapply every three years, something Labour does oppose, as they say it could suppress voting. On proxy votes, there will be a new limit on how many people someone can act as a proxy for.

A new punishment for intimidatory behaviour

Under the bill, if someone is convicted of electoral intimidation, for example towards a candidate, a new form of disqualification order, imposed by a court, would bar them from standing for or filling an elected office for five years.

Plan for ‘digital imprints’

Campaigners must already state on printed election material who is behind the document or flyer. This would extend this rule to online campaign material.

Ugly treatment of American Electoral Officials discussed on The Last Word Lawrence O’Donnell, MNSBC

Interview with Democratic secretary of state of Arizona, Katie Hobbs. Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Interview with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA). In Texas, the Republican Party`s vision for America is taking shape. No access to abortion, vaccination is discouraged, voting rights diminished and books banned. President Biden will have a very important bipartisan bill-signing ceremony on Monday at the White House for the bipartisan infrastructure, the biggest bill of its kind in decades. For transcript go to Television: Comments

Week beginning 10 November 2021

Susan, A Jane Austen Prequel by Alice McVeigh is the fiction book reviewed this week. Clive Aslet’s The Story of the Country House seemed an appropriate companion review. Both were provided to me by NetGalley.

Following the book reviews are articles/comments about Canberra and Covid; Cindy Lou Restaurant Review; Infrastructure Legislation; COP26; UK Health and Tory Government neglect.

Alice McVeigh Susan, A Jane Austen Prequel Warleigh Hall Press, 2021

Image result for Susan, A Prequel. Size: 123 x 170. Source: www.amazon.com.mx

Susan Smithson, with luxuriant black curls and acknowledged as the prettiest girl in the school, is expelled because she flirted with the music master and did not cry out when he kissed her hand. She must return to her aunt and uncle’s house in London, but under far more intrusive guard than in the past. Her reputation for beauty, flirtation, achieving her own desires, despite her poverty and low expectations of a grand marriage set the scene for this forerunner of Jane Austen’s Lady Susan. McVeigh establishes her own guidelines for the way in which her Susan will proceed, from her rejection of the fairness with which Lady Susan is endowed, to the liveliness and ingenuity rather than malice which abounds in the latter’s correspondence and behaviour in Austen’s character, and, unlike Lady Susan, her success in winning her own way by the end of the novel.

Image result for The Story of The Country House Clive Aslet. Size: 126 x 170. Source: www.amazon.com

Clive Aslet The Story of the Country House Yale University Press, 2021 This is a fascinating amalgam of history, architecture, biography, and description of the way in which the British country house developed. My reading was seriously impeded by the nature of the uncorrected copy, where on each page I was confronted by words missing letters. However, I wanted to persevere, as the list of contents was so enticing. The periods covered by this densely written book are: Medieval; Tudor and Elizabethan; Early Stuart; Commonwealth to Queen Anne; Early Georgian; Mid-Georgian; Regency to William 1V; Early and High Victorian; Turn of the Century; Between the Wars; Post -War and Recovery country houses. There is an index and further reading.

For the complete reviews see: Books: Reviews

Canberra Covid Update Since Lockdown Ended

Cases, testing and vaccination

On the 4th November thirteen new cases were recorded. We continue to wear masks while inside, and check in when we enter shops or other enclosed buildings. The vaccination rate is now 94%, *with two doses for over twelve year olds. There are 144 active cases, and people remain reasonably keen to be tested, with 1,312 negative tests over the past 24 Hours. Six new cases were recorded on the 5th November and, a significant increase to eighteen on the 6th. Results were down again on the 7th November when thirteen new cases were recorded. The ACT is now 95% fully vaccinated – the first Australian state or territory to do so. One person is in hospital, and that person is on ventilation in intensive care. Thirteen cases were again recorded on the 7th. Again one person is in intensive care on a ventilator. There were eighteen new cases recorded on 9 November and ten new cases on 10 November.

ACT Pathway Brought Forward by two weeks

Now that over 95% of the eligible population (those over twelve years of age) has been fully vaccinated – one of the highest levels of vaccination in the world – the next stage of the ACT’s Pathway Forward has been brought forward to 11.59pm on Thursday 11 November 2021. This means that there will be no more limits on home visits or informal outdoor gatherings. Indoor and outdoor entertainment areas with fixed seating will be able to host events at 100% capacity. Restrictions on cinemas and swimming pools will be relaxed. There are further relaxations of rules, but the above provides the general picture for the ACT.

Facemasks will continue to be essential in high risk settings such as hospitals, aged care facilities, on public transport, and in schools and some business settings.

More than 370,000adult and teenage Canberrans have been fully vaccinated.

Schools

Nine schools are being actively supported to manage cases of Covid and to minimise transmission. All schools have health and safety measures in place to limit the spread of Covid.

*Vaccination rates are recorded for vaccines being administered at the ACT Covid-19 clinics. It does not include vaccinations administered by GP service providers , or to staff and residents in disability and aged care residential units which are being managed by the Australian Government.

Cindy Lou eats at Blackfire – and once again is impressed

Fortunately Black Fire had a table for two available when I booked on line. This was a simple process, offering several suitable times, and access to the menu. Although the restaurant filled up, even the large table of people celebrating a birthday did not increase the noise to an unpleasant level – the carpet may be one factor in this, and something that I appreciated. Tables were at a distance that met Covid 19 rules, and the wait people wore masks. When entering and leaving we did too, as did most patrons. The seating is comfortable, and tables a reasonable size. I liked the fabric napkins, the prompt seating, and arrival of water. The menu is quite delightful – with plenty of choice without being such a large range it becomes incoherent. A set menu with tapas, a meat main, and dessert was also available.

My meals were close to perfect. The prawns were generous in size and portion, with a delicious sauce. The fish, John Dory, was cooked with a lovely crisp skin, and an amazing salsa. A light mustard sauce was an excellent accompaniment. The dish was served with a choice of side, and I chose the winter vegetables – carrots, pumpkin and parsnip. A little more caramelisation would have enhanced this dish, but that aside, I enjoyed it. Dessert is always a pleasure at Blackfire, my choice of fig gelato is one I make each time. The Chef’s four tastes were also attractive – I tried the crema and mousse – excellent! As can be seen from the photos, these were partially demolished before I recalled the need for photos for this review. Also in the photos, the generosity of pasta lamb ragu is clear.

The Infrastructure Bill Passes and will be on President Joe Biden’s desk for signing.

Watching the numbers mount for the Bill, and that it can be called bi-partisan with ten Republicans joining the Democrats, was interesting.

At around 2.00 am Australian time on the 7th November I was fortunate to be awake, and contemplated another episode of Spooks. Instead President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were on television and provided much more than a fictional program could offer. Biden’s speech about the Infrastructure Act and the proposed Build Back Better Bill was sincere, informative, inclusive and well worth watching. He thanked everyone involved in the process and will sign the document when all contributors are available to witness the successful adoption of the legislation.

Australians travel to Glasgow to join Greta Thunberg and thousands at youth-led protests at COP26 climate conference By Europe correspondent Isabella Higgins in Glasgow.

It is entirely possible that one prominent Australian very much regrets being at the conference. Reports on The Prime Minister’s gaffes at the conference , and the problems with the climate change plan the Government has adopted are far from positive.

Labor has been criticised for having no public plan on climate change as yet. Sky News has been particularly prominent in this. Sky News’ partisanship without fail helps one save a lot of time, it is a news outlet that can be ignored as the stance they will take is obvious.

Labor is not the government. Some ideas are being discussed, see belo for one example.

Tougher climate change disclosure laws under Labor

By Shane Wright

November 3, 2021 — 5.58pm

Businesses would have to reveal more of the financial risks they face due to climate change under a policy move being considered by the federal Labor party aimed at providing more certainty to investors.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday signalled Labor wanted much clearer guidance from companies – including those in the finance sector – about the problems climate change could pose to their business models.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers has signalled a Labor government may upgrade climate change disclosure laws to protect investors.CREDIT:ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN

Some nations have already moved to mandatory and comprehensive reporting systems for climate change issues, including New Zealand and Great Britain.

While Australian law requires companies to report material risks and issues, there has been ongoing concern some businesses have failed to report adequately the financial implications of climate change.

Ethical investor organisations have been pushing for a mandatory disclosure system that would start with the nation’s largest publicly-listed businesses.

Mr Chalmers, addressing the ACTU’s Virtual Super Trustees Forum, made clear there would be change to disclosure requirements around climate change.

“We know that there’s only so much that you can do in relation to climate risk disclosure when the existing reporting framework is insufficient, inconsistent and inadequate,” he said.

“We agree that regulators and government should provide clearer guidance on this and what companies should be reporting – and we’ll have more to say about it.

“Like the Reserve Bank, we’d like to see disclosures that are usable, credible and comparable, so that there is a baseline, all around the world, that we can measure against.”

Closing the Glasgow gap

With the national leaders departing, the climate talks are commencing in earnest. And the optimists see grounds for hope.

MICHAEL JACOBS GLASGOW 4 NOVEMBER 2021

The world is watching: delegates inside the COP26 venue in Glasgow.

Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images

An optimist, someone once said, is a pessimist not in full possession of the facts. The estimated 25,000 people attending COP26 in Glasgow could be forgiven for wondering if it might not be the other way round.

The case for pessimism was made eloquently — if perhaps unintentionally — by Sir David Attenborough in a powerful address to the Leaders’ Summit that opened the conference on Monday. Tracing the precipitous rise in the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere over the past hundred years, the ninety-five-year-old naturalist reached a simple conclusion: “We are already in trouble.”

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, was even more brutal in her speech in response. The developed world had failed to meet its promises to cut emissions and provide financial assistance to the poorest countries. The cost, she said, would be measured in lives, and in livelihoods. “It is immoral, and it is unjust.”

Both Attenborough and Mottley insisted humanity can still turn things around. But listening to the rhetoric of the 119 leaders whose speeches filled the next two days — all of them stressing how much their countries were doing, despite most of the facts showing otherwise — it was hard for the rational brain not to feel overwhelmed by pessimism.

The facts are pretty simple. To have a reasonable chance of limiting global heating to the UN goal of 1.5°C above pre-industrial times, global emissions need to be cut by 45 per cent by 2030. On current trends they will rise by 16 per cent.

And yet COP26 is strangely a place of extraordinary optimism. This is mainly a function of its structure. Most of the 25,000 attendees aren’t country negotiators here for the UN climate talks, who probably number around 2500. The rest are people who work professionally on climate change, for businesses, charities and activist groups, universities, city and regional governments, and myriad others. They are here not to negotiate but to sell their wares, meet their international colleagues and network tirelessly.

For a COP is never just — or even mainly — a UN negotiating meeting. It is the world’s annual global climate expo and conference. And almost everyone who comes has a positive story to tell about how they are tackling climate change in some way. For some reason the climate sceptics and the opponents of climate action don’t seem to regard themselves as welcome, and they don’t show up.

So walk among the country and business “pavilions” in the middle of the conference centre — a slightly grandiose name for a series of pop-up stalls and exhibits — and the good news is relentless. Every country is doing so much to tackle the problem, from renewable energy to flood defences, sustainable transport to overseas aid. Every business is committed to “net zero,” engaging its eager workforce in meeting the goal. Every technology company has a world-leading solution, from green hydrogen to drought-resistant crops.

And every hour of the day all the side rooms are full, hosting hundreds of fringe meetings on every possible aspect of climate change. And here too the mood is powerfully feel-good. Of course most of them start with speakers recounting how dire the climate situation is. But they quickly move on to what can be done to tackle it; indeed what their organisation is already doing, in partnership with local communities and local businesses, supported by benevolent financiers and researched by concerned academics. The poorest people in the world may be suffering from severe climate impacts, but a lot of people claim to be helping them.

Observing all this it is easy to be cynical. But it’s also hard not to be affected. It can only be a good thing that a global climate industry of this scale and variety exists. There will surely be no solutions without it. And it has contributed to the remarkably upbeat mood of the official COP proceedings in the first few days.

The negotiations themselves have barely started. An agenda was agreed on the first day — you might think that this would be routine, but plenty of seasoned negotiators saw it as something of a triumph — and the committees and working groups on key issues have held their opening sessions. But most of the attention has been taken up by a series of side agreements carefully choreographed by the British hosts. And the extent and ambition of these have taken many by surprise.

The first was on deforestation. A new pact was announced between more than a hundred governments, representing over 85 per cent of the world’s forests and including Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, pledging to halt and then reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030. Donor countries would give US$12 billion for forest protection and restoration; many of the countries, companies and financial institutions most involved in trading forest products, including timber, pulp and palm oil, would eliminate deforested areas from their supply chains.

After forests, methane. US president Joe Biden announced that ninety countries had agreed together to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by the end of the decade. Methane, produced from agriculture, oil and gas, and landfill sites, is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide: if fully implemented, the pledge could limit global heating by about 0.2°C by 2050.

Green technologies were next in the spotlight. Forty countries, including the United States, China, India, the European Union, Britain and Australia, signed up to a “Breakthrough Agenda” to coordinate the global introduction of clean technologies, starting with zero-carbon electricity, electric vehicles, green steel, hydrogen and sustainable farming. The governments said they would align standards and coordinate investments to scale and speed up production. The aim is to bring forward the tipping point at which green technologies are more affordable and available than fossil-fuelled alternatives.

Then it was the turn of finance. Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England and Britain’s climate finance envoy, announced that financial institutions holding US$130 trillion of assets under management had committed to hitting net zero emissions targets by 2050. Including more than 450 banks, insurers and asset managers across forty-five countries, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero said it could deliver as much as US$100 trillion of financing to help economies decarbonise over the next three decades.

Not everyone applauded all this. Observers noted that a very similar agreement on forests had been announced at the UN Climate Summit in 2014. Nothing much had happened since then; would this time really be any different? It was pointed out that China, one of the world’s largest sources of methane, had not joined the new agreement. Several other green technology initiatives over the last ten years, including a “Mission 2020” platform announced with great fanfare in Paris six years ago, had proved disappointing.

The finance announcements attracted the most criticism. Non-government organisations quickly pointed out that the financial institutions were not promising that all the financing would be focused on environmentally friendly companies. Many of the banks and pension funds would only be greening a small proportion of their portfolios while happily continuing to invest in fossil fuels. The “net zero” commitments of the firms whose shares they owned were in many cases pretty dubious, resting on “offsetting” mechanisms (such as buying trees in developing countries) that can’t be guaranteed to have any effect.

And yet these agreements can’t be wholly dismissed. Many involved a large number of countries that had not previously signed up to such pledges; and most came with a lot more money — both public and private — than previous attempts. A specific agreement between South Africa, the United States and several European countries to help South Africa move away from coal particularly impressed observers: it included both significant policy reform and serious financial support.

These side agreements have a slightly strange relationship to the main negotiations. Formally, they have nothing to do with them: they do not involve the universal participation of the 197 parties to the UNFCCC (the Framework Convention that governs the talks) but rather are “coalitions of the willing.” Most of them involve private sector partners that have no formal place in the UNFCCC.

Yet in another sense they are clearly part of the process of cutting global emissions and increasing climate-related finance, which are the two main goals of COP26. Indeed, they are rather more concrete manifestations of this than anything negotiated in the conference hall. So the British government is trying to find a way of bringing them into the final COP agreement. In particular it wants to show how these agreements will help close the emissions gap between the 1.5°C trajectory demanded by the science and the current total of country pledges. Initial analysis has been uncertain: it’s possible that these sector-specific emissions reductions will be the means by which the “nationally determined contributions” of the participating countries will be achieved. Or it could be that they will enable those contributions to be exceeded.

And the nationally determined contributions themselves have also received a welcome boost in the first few days. China and India were the only two major countries who came to the COP without having announced new commitments for 2030. When it did come, China’s statement added nothing to what it had already pledged. Coupled with president Xi Jinping’s non-appearance at the Leaders’ Summit, it has made many observers question China’s current stance: a country that once prided itself on being the champion of the developing world is appearing to absent itself from this crucial moment.

India, by contrast, announced a much more ambitious contribution than anticipated. Speaking in his leader’s slot, prime minister Narendra Modi declared that India would commit to net zero emissions by 2070, and half of its electricity production from renewables by 2030. The former — a later date than China (which has committed to net zero by 2060) and apparently too late to be compatible with the 1.5°C goal — seemed disappointing to some. But scientific observers noted that this was not necessarily the case: it was indeed too late if Modi meant net zero carbon dioxide, but not if he meant net zero from all greenhouse gases. And the renewables pledge was truly ambitious: with India’s proportion of renewable electricity currently under 20 per cent, a more than doubling in less than ten years is a startlingly radical goal.

And so the early feeling in Glasgow is considerably happier than many had feared. More side agreements are still to be announced, including on phasing out coal and electrifying cars. No one will admit to expecting that COP26 will be a raging success. But some are allowing themselves a small boost of optimism.

Michael Jacobs is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sheffield and a former climate adviser to British prime minister Gordon Brown.

Australian PM’s contribution to the Cop26.

Scott Morrison’s nerves showed as he squibbed net zero target and staged a climate farce

Katharine Murphy

The PM should be taking a higher 2030 emissions reduction target to Cop26. No ifs, buts or maybes. Yet he squibbed it

Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

Prime minister Scott Morrison’s government ‘doesn’t have the climate policies to actually deliver’ what Australia will pledge to do at Cop26 in Glasgow. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Sat 30 Oct 2021 06.00 AEDT

786 (click for full story)

Greater Sydney Local Land Services – a great story

Greater Sydney Local Land Services

Yesterday at 09:49 · We’re excited to share these images captured by our monitoring cameras of native critters making use of Western Sydney’s first ever wildlife crossing!We installed the crossing in Glenmore Park in partnership with Penrith City Council and Mulgoa Valley Landcare to give local wildlife safe access from Surveyors Creek into Mulgoa Nature Reserve. Our cameras recorded more than 1,360 animals using the structure in just four months! Such a great result

UK Health under Tories

Return of scurvy under Tory rule as cases of Victorian illness double in decade

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the huge rise in cases of Victorian illness scurvy, along with the tripling of hospital admissions for malnutrition since 2010, was ‘a shameful indictment on a decade of the Tories’.

By Geraldine McKelvie Investigations Editor17:07, 6 Nov 2021 UPDATED18:36, 6 Nov 2021

Cases of scurvy – a widespread illness in Victorian times – have more than doubled in a decade.

NHS Digital statistics also reveal hospital admissions for malnutrition have tripled since the Conservatives came to power in the 2010 election.

The increases coincide with soaring numbers of people relying on food banks in the wake of austerity policies.

In 2010-11, 61,000 people needed food handouts but a decade on this figure now stands at 2.5 million.

Week beginning 3 November 2021

With the serious issues around the shooting on the set of Rust the book reviewed this week seems particularly pertinent. The uncorrected proof of A Doctor For All Seasons was provided to me by NetGalley for review. There will be the equivalent of the author, Dr John Gayner, associated with the insurance agreement for Rust, and for health and safety matters related to cast and crew. This read provides some of the experiences that such a person will have had so far. Dr Gayner could not relate anything as serious as appears to have happened on the set of Rust but the events he describes range over funny, glamourous, and dangerous incidents.

Dr John Gayner A Doctor For All Seasons Silverwood Books, 2021.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this uncorrected proof for review.

I found this rather different from expected, having in mind the possibility that Dr Gayner had been involved with television and film productions by contributing to the veracity of medical events as depicted by scriptwriters and actors. Instead, Dr Gayner has written about his time in his medical capacity assessing actors for insurance coverage; attending to medical incidents on set; advising on the safety properties of costume, cosmetics, and settings; and maintaining various actors’ health while they worked. See Books: Reviews for the complete review.

Covid 19 after lockdown in Canberra

Coffee at Clay – tables and chairs again

Ten new cases were reported on Thursday 28th, and eight on the 29th. Ten people are in hospital, with seven in intensive care and five requiring ventilation.

Masks no longer need to be worn outside, so this morning’s walk and coffee was particularly pleasant. On the other hand, continuing to wear them inside and on public transport is not particularly onerous.

The new case numbers continue to fall, with nine on the 30th, and seven on the 31st October. Nine people are in hospital, five of whom are in intensive care, with five ventilated. On 1 November five new cases were recorded. Full vaccination for over twelve year olds is now 92.6%. Booster shots are now available for Canberrans over eighteen.

New case numbers for the 2nd and 3rd of November are: eight new cases and fifteen new cases. The vaccination level for Canberrans over twelve is 93.6% two doses. There are now 141 active cases , and there were 1,365 negative tests in the past 24 hours.

Flower banks outside Clay -casual seating for patrons, and nooks for dogs to search for sausage roll bushes and crumb flowers.

Namatjira family strikes ‘stunning and historic’ deal to win back copyrights

By Fran Kelly on RN Breakfast

Download Namatjira family strikes ‘stunning and historic’ deal to win back copyrights (8.59 MB)

The family of the world-famous Aboriginal artist — Albert Namatjira — are celebrating the end of their decades-long battle to win back control of his legacy.

They’ve struck a deal with Legacy Press, who’ve held the rights to Albert Namatjira’s since the 1980s, and bought them back for the nominal sum of one dollar.

The deal was expedited by entrepreneur Dick Smith — who also made a $250,000 donation to the Namatjira trust.

It’s a massive win for the family, many of whom are living in poverty and haven’t gotten a cent from Albert Namatjira’s work in 34 years.

It’s also likely to mean the end of tight restrictions on the circulation and reproduction of his work.

Joanna Penn and writing

you are a writer. intellectual property rights

Joanna Penn sent the following information in one of her regular emails:

You are a Writer. You Create and License Intellectual Property Rights, Plus How to Write For Markets That Sell, and Writing True Crime Memoir

joanna@thecreativepenn.com

Hello Creatives,

Language is powerful.

We choose words carefully in our written works because we understand their impact. They carry a message from one mind to another. They shape ideas. They can change lives.

But writers often use language carelessly when it comes to the business side of being an author, and it shows that many still don’t understand copyright, and how rights licensing can impact your publishing choices, as well as your financial future.

I’ve run across several examples of this recently in discussion with author friends and also online, so I thought it was time for a refresh on intellectual property (IP).

Click here to read the article: You are a Writer. You Create and License Intellectual Property Rights

Who Killed My Mother? Writing and Podcasting True Crime Memoir

On July 4, 2020, Kory Shrum received two phone calls. One from her uncle, saying her mother was found dead in her bedroom from an overdose. A second from a homicide detective saying he believes it was murder—and her uncle is the suspect.

In this interview, Kory talks about how she turned her trauma into a true-crime podcast and memoir and how writing helped her process the experience.

Click here to listen or read the transcript

How to Write for Markets That Sell: Webinar with Alex Newton from K-lytics

You will know by now that I am not a data person!

But I do know the importance of understanding data about Amazon in particular in order to pick the right categories and keywords, understand competition in the niche, and reach more readers.

Luckily, Alex Newton IS a data geek and loves sharing his analysis in his regular K-lytics genre reports. He’s doing a free webinar next week and I know it will be packed full of useful insights.

Thurs 4 Nov at 4 pm US Eastern / 8 pm UK

Click here to register for your free place (and you will also get the replay if you can’t attend live.)

The webinar will cover:

What drives genre trends and how to spot them
Genre winners and losers in the current environment
The fundamentals and pitfalls of Amazon sales ranks, categories, and writing-to-market
How the right Amazon data can help you save time, money, creative resources – AND sell more books
The simple steps that let you find and utilize the best categories and trends that are right for YOU
Live Q&A with Alex

[Note: I am an affiliate of K-lytics. The webinar is free but if you go on to purchase anything from Alex, I will receive a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.]

Cindy Lou Reviews The Italian Place and PJs in the City

The Italian Place

Eating out has resumed at a fast pace, with restaurants filling their allocated numbers of patrons well before the date of the booking. The Italian Place was offering only outside seating when I booked – and I was happy to take the opportunity. The outside section is extremely pleasant, under a cover (cleverly open in one section to allow a tree to grow through it), and with protective walls. There are heaters for each table. Masks were worn by staff, and patrons when we arrived and departed. The tables are attractively set, with bread and oil in place. Menus arrived promptly, and the water with them.

The menu is clear and comprehensive, with a select range of entrees, including the ever popular antipasti; main courses, including several pastas; and desserts, including a $6 scoop of gelati. For entrees, we thoroughly enjoyed the eggplant parmigiana and gamberoni. The latter were on the shell, but very easy to extract. The salsa served with them was delicious – a real success. Our main courses (fish of the day and a pork and fennel pasta dish) were pleasant, and generous. Despite the generosity of the previous courses the tiramisu could not be resisted. However, we had to share. It certainly deserves the two photos.

This was a very pleasant night out, enhanced by the care that The Italian Place is making to ensure the safety of its patrons as lockdown finishes.

I was really pleased to receive an email for The Italian Place asking for comments on the restaurant. What an excellent innovation!

PJs in the City

I had to collect a parcel from the GPO in Alinga Street and immediately thought of making this a pleasant occasion with a meal at PJs. There was parking nearby, I collected the parcel (my first time using the locker service – very efficient), and went over the road to choose a meal. There is inside and outside seating, and we chose the latter. The seats are bench style for large numbers, and there are also cosier tables for two available. The outdoor seating is pleasantly protected from the traffic, with abundant creepers.

The menu is a great mix of favourites, such as fish and chips, hamburgers and pizzas, with three attractive salads, pepper and salt calamari, and more, expanding the choices. Service was friendly and efficient, the drinks prompt, and the meals generous. The hamburger with mustard, bacon, a succulent meat patty and salad looked marvelous. My grilled chicken with coleslaw was equally attractive. This is one of the few places that offers a freshly grilled chicken breast in a hamburger – I was thrilled. However, do not despair if you want crumbed chicken – that is also available. The chip servings were huge. Sauce and mayonnaise were brought to the table when we accepted the offer – again, generous serves (and no extra cost). My lime and soda was served with fresh lime and very refreshing. I don’t know that anything much can be said about my friend’s Diet Coke!

Build Back Better and Infrastructure Bill

31st October – CNN and Jason Eastley, I Watch Rachel Maddow, quoting POLITICSUSA.COM, are reporting that the vote on both pieces of legislation will take place on Tuesday.

2 November – the vote did not take place on Tuesday, and it is not clear when it will occur.

Heather Cox Richardson – Democracy under threat, and the implications for the American economy

Heather Cox Richardson is a political historian who uses facts and history to put the news in context.

heather.richardson@bc.edu

November 1, 2021 (Monday)

Americans appear to be waking up to the reality that our democracy is on the ropes. Emerging details about how hard Trump lawyer John Eastman pushed his memo with the plan of how Trump could steal the 2020 election, along with the chronology of the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection compiled by reporters for the Washington Post, show that we came perilously close to a successful coup d’état.

New polls show that 82% of people who watch the Fox News Channel believe the Big Lie that President Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election; 30% of Republicans think violence might be warranted to reclaim America. And tonight, Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson claimed that he had heard a tape of a phone conversation between far right activist Ali Alexander and members of Congress, as well as state legislators, about descending on Washington, D.C., for the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6. This information appeared to be an attempt to get ahead of the story. Carlson said that there was “no talk of insurrection.” (But why were lawmakers on any such call in the first place?)Still, while there is increasing focus on the attempt to overturn the 2020 election and keep former president Trump in power, there has been little discussion of what the destabilization of our democracy means for the economy. This is no small thing, because since the late nineteenth century, it has been the stability of our nation that has attracted investment. That investment, in turn, has built our economy.

An October 27 article by Courtney Fingar, Ben van der Merwe, and Sebastian Shehadi in Investment Monitor warns that “efforts to undermine the integrity of US elections carry a heavy cost for businesses and could weaken investment in the country.” The authors put a price tag on U.S. political strife. Drawing on a study by Texas-based economic analysts The Perryman Group, they estimate that Texas’s voter suppression measures will cost the state $14.7 billion in annual gross product by 2025 and $1.5 trillion over the next 25 years. The Perryman Group’s study itself warned that Texas would lose 73,249 jobs by 2025 as businesses and investment flee the state and as voter suppression is correlated to declining wages. “For the first time since the Cold War, there is now concern about medium and long-term political stability of the US business environment,” Jonathan Wood, lead analyst for North America at global political risk consultancy Control Risks, told the reporters. “And what we are seeing in voter suppression acts and political gerrymandering, etc, is undermining that perception of the US as a very predictable and stable environment.”

Dr Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism, explains that when the rule of law, which treats every business equally, has been replaced by the whims of a dictator, success depends on closeness to the leader rather than on quality. “One of the biggest myths of authoritarianism is that it is ‘good for business,’” she said. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has jailed over 100,000 business people on trumped-up charges of tax evasion, financial irregularities, etc. Anyone with a profitable enterprise becomes a target, regardless of their political sentiments. This practice goes on in Hungary and Turkey too. Business people should know that this can happen anywhere, to anyone, if autocrats take power.” The Perryman Group concluded: “While there are many other important advantages to, and compelling reasons for, encouraging political participation by all eligible citizens, the economic ramifications are substantial and worthy of significant attention as restrictions on voter access are considered.”

An example of what it looks like economically when we lose the rule of law came last week in a story about Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and his brother-in-law Gerald Fauth. Both men apparently dumped stock after Burr was part of a private official briefing in February 2020 about the looming coronavirus pandemic. After Burr sold more than $1.6 million in stocks, he called Fauth and talked for 50 seconds. A minute later, Fauth called his broker and sold between $97,000 and $280,000 in stocks. The next week, the market began a drop of what would eventually be more than 30%. Burr claims he relied on public information when he decided to sell and that he did not coordinate with Fauth.

Meanwhile, the culture wars in which the Republicans are engaged at home keep focus off the damage the debt ceiling fight is doing to us in the world. In October, Republican senators allowed the Democrats to pass a measure to raise the debt ceiling to pay for measures Congress already enacted, but the Treasury will hit that new ceiling no later than mid-December. Republicans have vowed they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling despite the fact that a default would send shockwaves around the world and would likely remove the U.S. permanently from its powerful position among other nations. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged Democrats to raise the debt ceiling by themselves if necessary. “If Democrats have to do it by themselves, that’s better than defaulting on the debt to teach the Republicans a lesson,” she told the Washington Post. Today, Time magazine ran a story by Molly Ball about business leaders who are starting to stand up for democracy. The lower taxes and less regulation Republicans promise aren’t much good without a stable democracy, some business leaders told Ball. “The market economy works because of the bedrock foundation of the rule of law, the peaceful succession of power and the reserve currency of the U.S. dollar, and all of these things were potentially at risk,” former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer said. “CEOs are normally hesitant to get involved in political issues, but I would argue that this was a fundamental business issue.”

Republicans disagree. Today, in a remarkable op-ed in The American Conservative, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) called “corporate America… the instrument of anti-American ideologies.” He accused Wall Street of “devoting hundreds of billions of dollars to advance corporate propaganda” that promotes Marxist tactics. Rubio wants to “require that the leadership of large companies be subject to strict scrutiny and legal liability when they abuse their corporate privilege by pushing wasteful, anti-American nonsense.”In a passage that sounds much like that of a political purge, he warned readers of “the current Marxist cultural revolution among our corporate elite,” and said that “the ultimate way” to stop them “is to replace them with a new generation of business leaders who consider themselves Americans, not citizens of the world…. That is how we defeat this toxic cultural Marxism and rebuild an economy where America’s largest companies were accountable for what matters to America: new factories built in America, good jobs for American families, and investments in American neighborhoods and communities.”

In the op-ed, Rubio played to the Republican base by bashing China, but he could not outdo his colleague Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who said yesterday at a political rally that the U.S. should demand $5 trillion in reparations from the Chinese for “unleashing” the novel coronavirus and if they would not pay up, we should simply seize their assets in the U.S.

It is long past time we stop permitting these people to call themselves “conservatives.”

Week beginning 27th October 2021

Articles/comments in this post which appear after the introduction to the book reviews and short comment on Canberra post lockdown: Bob McMullan, A better way to compete with China in the region; Cindy Lou’s restaurant reviews; Dr Gladys West; TRMS; On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder; Fran Kelly; Heather Cox Richardson.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing these uncorrected proofs for review. The first is a fascinating contribution to a series. The second book is part of the very accessible publications by Pen & Sword. Although I found something to enjoy in both, Sticker, as well as being really thoughtful, was such fun!

Henry Hoke Sticker Bloomsbury Academic, January 2022

Sticker is a publication under the aegis of Object Lessons, ‘about the hidden lives of ordinary people’. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic (from the description with this book on the NetGalley site).

I was initially intrigued by the title – Sticker? Those items that I collect for my grandson? Those things that adorned files in school? The political ones that smothered university files? My refrigerator? Bumper stickers? Yes, although Hoke’s stickers did not include slogans such as ‘How dare you assume I’d rather be young?’ or ‘Keep Uranium in the Ground’, two of my Australian stickers, what a wealth of social commentary is covered in this truly engaging book.

Image result for Mary Ward first Sister of Feminism. Size: 120 x 160. Source: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Sydney Thorne Mary Ward: First Sister of Feminism Pen & Sword History 2021

The theme of this book has its beginning in Mary Ward’s walk to Rome in 1621 – the mark of a woman who was different from most of her Catholic companions, different from the people she met and attempted to cajole into seeing matters her way, and different from those who sought to diminish her. A rather modern tale in many ways. Where it has its roots in historical events is in her family background as a member of the family responsible for the Gunpowder Plot, her support from powerful people, her life during the Inquisition and the English Civil War.

The complete reviews are at Books: Reviews

Covid 19 after lockdown in Canberra

New cases 22 October and 23 October were 13 and 24. At 23 October there are nineteen patients in hospital, with twelve in intensive care and four ventilated. ACT residents over twelve are 85.9% fully vaccinated.

On 24, 25 and 26 October nine, nine and twelve new cases were recorded. the total number of people being tested has also fallen, but vaccination rates are high, with pop up clinics offering Pfizer shots to anyone over twelve who walk in with a guardian.

Ten new cases were recorded today. The figure for fully vaccinated Canberra residents over twelve is now 90.5%.

Bob McMullan

A better way to compete with China in the region

Whatever your view about the recent Australian AUKUS submarine deal, two things are clear. It
costs a lot of money and the submarines won’t be available for decades. We could use a very small portion of that money to cooperate with our friends in a cost effective
and quicker form of competition with China.

The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has left many countries in the region with huge debts to China while they still have major needs for support for infrastructure, Covid response, climate change adaptation and basic development needs.

In the Pacific Australia’s aid budget is almost big enough to compete with China. In the broader Indo-Pacific we would need the cooperation of the USA, Japan, the EU, the UK, France and South Korea.

When Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister we sought cooperative arrangements with other donors in the Pacific. We gained agreement from all of them except China. It is time to repeat the effort, in the Pacific initially where Australia can take a lead, but more broadly across the region as well.
The Aid Data website and the Centre for Global Development (CGD) both report on the extraordinary level of direct and indirect indebtedness to China of many countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

Going forward the combined financial firepower of the countries and organisations above and their associated Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) would be sufficient to provide the infrastructure and other funds required in the region on better terms than the relatively high rates charged by China and its institutions.

A key question is: what to do about the very large debts already incurred. AidData found that 42 low-to middle income countries had debt exposure to China exceeding 10% of their GDP. This list includes PNG, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar in our region. It may be possible to establish a consortium of DFIs and similar national organisations to buy some of this debt by providing funds as grants or at lower interest rates. This would enable some or all of these countries to free themselves of excessive and possibly security threatening indebtedness to China.

I have never regarded the Australian Infrastructure Finance Facility for the Pacific as the best structure to provide development finance to our region. It is a second-best form of DFI. But at the moment it is all we have and it could do some of the job that is required in our region. Of course, this will require an increase in our aid budget, but by much less than the cost of a submarine.
Analysis by AidData and others does not support the thesis that all the BRI projects are wasteful or inefficient. It is arrogant to suggest that they are. But the financing is relatively expensive and the debt burdens are becoming excessive.

CGD suggests a three-pronged approach for the USA:

Confront China over harmful lending practices; cooperate with China on Covid and climate change; and compete with China to offer development finance.

This seems a very good basis for approaching the issue for the USA.
Australia is not in a position to do all that. It could cooperate with the US on the approach to China’s lending practices, it could and should cooperate on Covid and climate change.

The biggest question is how are we going to compete on development finance?

The idea that we should cooperate with like-minded countries to offer a path out of the excessive debt trap many in our region find themselves in as well as offering alternative resources for future financing requirements seems a serious option which whoever wins the next Australian election
should consider.

Cindy Lou Restaurant Reviews

I was fortunate to slip into a restaurant just before lockdown – and then, when the restrictions were modified, to be able to find a booking so as to enjoy another meal out.

Mezzalira was a good choice, accompanied by three friends, before lockdown. It was a pleasant experience, not least because I felt safe: tables were at an excellent distance from each other and staff were masked. We had our masks in case we needed them for entering, leaving, and moving around.

The menu is a delight. There is a wide variety of choice, but the authentic Italian theme is maintained. It was refreshing to choose different main courses, with shared accompaniments which were delicious with each individual meal. The zucchini fritters cannot be bettered – order them, you will be able to eat every scrap, whatever else you leave. The Wood Roast Pork Cutlet, Rosemary, Baked Fennel and Apple with Pork Jus was generous beyond measure; the entre of Grilled WA Octopus, Chilli, Smoked Eggplant and Lemon excellent; and yes, we had to try the wonderful traditional tiramisu. It met our expectations.

Service was friendly and efficient. The wine list is very good. The seating really comfortable. The four of us had a wonderful last evening, before going into lockdown.

Tonight I went to Trev’s at Dickson for my first post lockdown meal. Trev’s is a really good choice for a generous and delicious meal, served efficiently, to be enjoyed as a quick and easy occasion.

The rules that apply are : check in; masks to be worn on arrival and exit; hand sanitising; and maintaining a mandated distance. The tables are at a very comfortable distance from each other, adding to the security that we felt in this Covid 19 period of modifications to lockdown.

The halloumi pops are back on the menu which is wonderful. My salmon could have been a little less well cooked, but the crispy skin and accompaniments were delicious. Salads at Trev’s are always excellent, and the pumpkin salad with pine nuts, fetta, rocket and balsamic was a good choice. I also love the Pomme Salad which unfortunately was not available on this occasion. The New Zealand house white was very good indeed, served with generosity. It was delightful to see the pleasant and efficient staff again.

The next time I am fussed about Google’s knowledge of my activities I shall think about Dr Gladys West. I shall not even fulminate about Google’s demands for a review of even my most mundane activities – does anyone really care about how I felt about grocery shopping?

**Rachel Maddow on TRMS 22 October 2021**

On TRMS Rachel was upbeat about several issues related to voting rights – she suggested that there are some glimmers of hope. One of these is the bipartisan report from the Florida Supervisors of Elections. Excepts appear below.

This made good reading after watching discussion between Ari Melber (The Beat) and the author of On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder.

Exerpt from ON TRYANNY by Timothy Synder

Do not obey in advance.

Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.

Anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy. Perhaps rulers did not initially know that citizens were willing to compromise this value or that principle. Perhaps a new regime did not at first have the direct means of influencing citizens one way or another. After the German elections of 1932, which brought Nazis into government, or the Czechoslovak elections of 1946, where communists were victorious, the next crucial step was anticipatory obedience. Because enough people in both cases voluntarily extended their services to the new leaders, Nazis and communists alike realized that they could move quickly toward a full regime change. The first heedless acts of conformity could not then be reversed.

(A section from the excerpt on NetGalley).

Excerpt from Heather Cox Richardson, October 23, 2021 (Saturday)

heather.richardson@bc.edu

Only the third story is repeated here in full.

There are three stories in the news today that seem to me to add up to a larger picture. First is the story of money laundering, which seems suddenly to be all over the news. Today we learned that federal prosecutors in Detroit have broken into a massive money-laundering operation between the United States and the United Arab Emirates called “The Shadow Exchange.” They confiscated $12 million and suggest this is the tip of the iceberg…

The second story that caught my attention today is the continuing news dropping from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Today we learned that a Facebook researcher created a profile that appeared to be of a political conservative North Carolina mother and that within five days, Facebook’s algorithm was steering the profile toward QAnon, a conspiracy theory touting then-president Trump as a secret warrior against a widespread pedophilia ring in the highest levels of government…

Tonight’s third story is that former president Trump’s loyalists set up a “command center” in mid-December at Washington, D.C.’s famous Willard Hotel to try to overturn the election. Those meeting to come up with a scheme to overturn the will of the voters included John Eastman, who wrote the memo outlining how Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to count the electors for certain states and thus throw the election to Trump; Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani; adviser Stephen K. Bannon; former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, a convicted felon pardoned by Trump; One America News reporter Christina Bobb; and Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn.It is significant that as this story has hit the news, Eastman, the author of the infamous memo, is running from it. He went to the respected conservative magazine National Review to argue, quite preposterously, that his memo was simply a thought exercise that he did not endorse. The very choice of the Willard, rather than Trump’s own hotel, suggests an attempt to create distance from the president, but Kerik, who rented the rooms, billed the Trump campaign for the $55,000 hotel bill. (Those participating are likely to discover that campaign activity is not part of official duties and so cannot be covered by executive privilege.)

RN Breakfast host Fran Kelly announces she’s leaving the program after 17 years

By Backstory editor Natasha Johnson

Woman in radio studio with headphones and microphone on head.

Posted Thu 21 Oct 2021 at 7:37amThursday 21 Oct 2021 at 7:37am, updated Thu 21 Oct 2021 at 11:49am

For full story see Television: Comments

Week beginning 20 October 2021

Two fiction books are reviewed this week. Both are an excellent read, with my rating of four (The Perfect Family) and five stars (The Tulip Tree) on Goodreads. They were provided to me by NetGalley for honest reviews.

Suzanne McCourt The Tulip Tree The Text Publishing Company 2021

The Tulip Tree by Suzanne McCourt (9781922330550) - PaperBack - Historical fiction

I was drawn to this novel because of the connection between Poland and the Snowy Mountains of south-eastern Australia. That the story also includes a period with which I was familiar through the Polish film, Cold War, was enticing. I was rewarded: the resilience, love, small facets of humour that glimmered through that film, along with the fear and cruelty, are abundant in this novel. The strength of the people, and complexity of the events was brought home to me when reference is made to the Royal Palace in Warsaw being opened to the community by the communists – a venue where during my visit to Poland I saw two of the most remarkable Rembrandts (recently authenticated). The public opening did not take place in a vacuum, or apart from suffering. It is the way in which McCourt takes the characters through so many multifaceted situations, complete with ironies, personal conflicts and world events that makes this novel a thoroughly rewarding and valuable read.

Robyn Harding The Perfect Family Simon & Schuster, 2021.

What a wonderfully smart writer I have found in my first reading of a Robyn Harding novel. Usually, I feel reluctant to accept the short comings of a character and resist becoming thoroughly involved in their world. Each of the characters in The Perfect Family is flawed, sometimes egregiously so, but with this author’s deftness, sense of humour and good plotting I found them too enthralling to consider whether they are likeable.

Full reviews available at Books: Reviews

Six Feet Under: 20 years on, the drama set in a family funeral home still feels ahead of its time – see Television: Comments for complete story.

Articles in this post: Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny, State of Terror; London Tube Map marks Black History Month; Heather Cox Richardson on voting rights in America; John Lewis quotes.

Day 62 Lockdown

Forty six new cases have been recorded, bringing the total number of cases for this outbreak to 1,359. Thirty of the new cases are linked to known cases or ongoing clusters. Twenty two are household contacts. Sixteen are a risk of transmitting to others in the community. The number of lives lost during this outbreak is now seven , and ten since the start of the pandemic. Sixteen people are in hospital, including six in intensive care, five of whom require ventilation.

Canberra is well on the way to being the most vaccinated city in the world and is the most vaccinated in Australia.

Day 62 lockdown walk

Pathway forward

Lockdown finishes at midnight. We shall need to wear masks, maintain good hand hygiene, maintain the physical distance rules and check in with the CBR app. A meal out, hairdresser, and fewer stories here about our walks.

Coffee shop during lockdown – and now, tables to sit at for our coffees (still takeaway cups, but that’s fine); construction Covid restrictions remain in place, but do not prevent construction proceeding.

The New Daily@TheNewDailyAU
6:10am, Oct 15

The ACT will shift its focus from daily case numbers to vaccine coverage as the territory tentatively emerged from more than two months in lockdown at 11.59pm Thursday.

Restrictions have been eased allowing cafes, pubs and restaurants to open while Canberrans can have up to five people in their homes, however retail cannot serve customers in store until October 29.

Health authorities are predicting a rise in case numbers in the days and weeks ahead, but the increase is not expected to be sharp and their public focus will shift towards vaccinations.

During the nine weeks of lockdown, there were 1359 COVID-19 cases reported — including 46 on Thursday — and seven deaths.

The latest figures show 98.8 per cent of Canberrans aged over 12 have received one dose of the vaccine, while almost 75 per cent are fully vaccinated.

“We want to see our world-leading first dose vaccination rate translate into a word-leading, fully vaccinated rate,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.

“The statistic that matters and the one we will focus on is the percentage of our community which is fully vaccinated.”

Canberrans are also now able to enter Victoria, provided they apply for an exemption and isolate until they get a negative test result.

On the first Day After Lockdown finished there were twenty new cases, fourteen of them linked to known cases. We walked, had coffees sitting at a table, and noticed people taking advantage of the opportunity to meet with twenty five people outdoors as they enjoyed picnics in the park.

First weekend out of lockdown: seventeen recorded new cases, with eleven linked to a known source; there are seventeen people in hospital, with nine in intensive care. More than 79.5% of Canberrans over twelve have been fully vaccinated.

News on Tuesday, 19th October 2021 — 80% full vaccination rate for people over twelve (unlike sixteen as in the other jurisdictions) was met by mid-afternoon on Monday; non-essential retail with density limits and masks will open at 11.59 on Thursday; the ACT will no longer record vaccination rates over 95% up to 100% as anomalies begin to appear after that level of record.

Wednesday 20th October –twenty four new cases reported. Twenty people are in hospital with Covid 19, and eight are in intensive care.

Hillary Clinton’s Nightmares Inspired New Thriller with Louise Penny: Read an Excerpt

State of Terror hits bookstores on Tuesday

By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall October 08, 2021 12:31 PM Products in this story are independently selected and featured editorially. If you make a purchase using these links we may earn commission.

Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny, the bestselling mystery writer, formed a close bond after devastating losses. The result is their first thriller together, State of Terror — drawn straight from the former secretary of state’s own nightmares.

“My husband died in 2016. Then Hillary lost the election,” Penny, 63, tells PEOPLE in a joint interview in this week’s issue of PEOPLE. “We connected so deeply — two wounded women who understood that deep hurt we both had.”

State of Terror, which will be published on Tuesday, follows the fictional Secretary of State Ellen Adams, who has been recently appointed by a mercurial new president despite the fact that she’s his political rival.

When Adams realizes that terrorist attacks are actually part of a larger international conspiracy, she teams up with a young foreign service officer and a journalist to combat the threat to the nation.ADVERTISING

CREDIT: SIMON & SCHUSTER/ST. MARTIN’S PRESS

“In the summer of 2019 we were throwing ideas back and forth [when] Louise said, ‘As secretary of state, what kept you up at night?’ ” explains Clinton, 73. “I told her a couple things. One was the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists.”

Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from State of Terror.

After a tumultuous period in American politics, a new administration has just been sworn in, and to everyone’s surprise the president chooses a political enemy for the vital position of secretary of state. There is no love lost between Doug Williams, the president of the United States, and Ellen Adams, his new secretary of state. But it’s a canny move on the part of the president. With this appointment, he silences one of his harshest critics, since taking the job means Adams must step down as head of her multinational media conglomerate. Ellen Adams now returns from her first overseas diplomatic mission, which has been an unqualified failure, and must face the anger of her new boss.

First, she meets at the state department with her Chief of Staff Charles Boynton, a Williams loyalist who was assigned to work with Ellen.

Together Ellen and her Chief of Staff rushed down the wood-paneled corridor of Mahogany Row toward the Secretary of State’s office, trailed by aides and assistants and her Diplomatic Security agents.

“Don’t worry,” said Betsy, racing to catch up. “They’re holding the State of the Union address for you. You can relax.”

“No, no,” said Boynton, his voice rising an octave. “You can’t relax. The President’s pissed. And by the way, it’s not officially a SOTU.”

“Oh, please, Charles. Try not to be pedantic.” Ellen stopped suddenly, almost causing a pileup. Slipping off her mud-caked heels, she ran in stocking feet along the plush carpet. Picking up her pace.

“And the President’s always pissed,” Betsy called after them. “Oh, you mean angry? Well, he’s always angry at Ellen.”

Boynton shot her a warning glance.

He didn’t like this Elizabeth Jameson. Betsy. An outsider whose only reason for being there was because she was a lifelong friend of the Secretary. Boynton knew it was the Secretary’s right to choose one close confidante, a counselor, to work with her. But he didn’t like it. The outsider brought an element of unpredictability to any situation.

And he did not like her. Privately he called her Mrs. Cleaver because she looked like Barbara Billingsley, the Beaver’s mother in the TV show. A model 1950s housewife.

Safe. Stable. Compliant.

Except this Mrs. Cleaver turned out to be not so black-and-white. She seemed to have swallowed Bette “Fuck ‘Em If They Can’t Take a Joke” Midler. And while he quite liked the Divine Miss M, he thought perhaps not as the Secretary of State’s counselor.

Though Charles Boynton had to admit that what Betsy said was true. Douglas Williams had no love for his Secretary of State. And to say it was mutual was an understatement.

It had come as a huge shock when the newly elected President had chosen a political foe, a woman who’d used her vast resources to support his rival for the party nomination, for such a powerful and prestigious position.

It was an even greater shock when Ellen Adams had turned her media empire over to her grown daughter and accepted the post.

The news was gobbled up by politicos, pundits, colleagues, and spit out as gossip. It fed and filled political talk shows for weeks.

The appointment of Ellen Adams was fodder at DC dinner parties. It was all anyone at Off the Record, the basement bar of the Hay-Adams, could talk about.

Why did she accept?

Though by far the greater, more interesting question was why had then President-Elect Williams offered his most vocal, most vicious adversary a place in his cabinet? And State, of all things?

The prevailing theory was that Douglas Williams was either following Abraham Lincoln and assembling a Team of Rivals. Or, more likely, he was following Sun Tzu, the ancient military strategist, and was keeping his friends close but his enemies closer.

Though, as it turned out, both theories were wrong.

For his part Charles Boynton, Charles to his friends, cared about his boss only to the extent that Ellen Adams’s failures reflected badly on him, and he was damned if he’d be clinging to her coattails as she went down.

And after this trip to South Korea, her fortunes, and his, had taken a sharp turn south. And now they were holding up the entire fucking not–State of the Goddamned Union.

“Come on, come on. Hurry.”

“Enough.” Ellen skidded to a stop. “I won’t be bullied and herded. If I have to go like this, so be it.”

“You can’t,” said Boynton, his eyes wide with panic. “You look—”

“Yes, you’ve already said.” She turned to her friend. “Betsy?”

There was a pause during which all they could hear was Boynton snorting his displeasure.

“You look fine,” Betsy said quietly. “Maybe some lipstick.” She handed Ellen a tube from her own purse along with a hairbrush and compact.

“Come on, come on,” Boynton practically squeaked.

Holding Ellen’s bloodshot eyes, Betsy whispered, “An oxymoron walked into a bar . . .”

Ellen thought, then smiled. “And the silence was deafening.”

Betsy beamed. “Perfect.”

She watched as her friend took a deep breath, handed her big travel bag to her assistant, and turned to Boynton.

“Shall we?”

While she appeared composed, Secretary Adams’s heart was pounding as she walked in stocking feet, a filthy shoe dangling from each hand, back down Mahogany Row to the elevator. And the descent.

London’s Tube map has been powerfully recreated to honour hundreds of people who helped shape black history in Britain.

The 272 station names have been replaced by notable black figures from pre-Tudor times to the present day.

They include the first black woman to serve in the Royal Navy, who disguised herself as a man called William Brown.

Other people featured are Victorian circus owner Pablo Fanque, who inspired the Beatles song Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!, and composer and poet Cecile Nobrega, who led a 15-year campaign to establish England’s first permanent public monument to black women in Stockwell.

The map was produced by Transport for London in partnership with Black Cultural Archives, a cultural centre in Brixton, south London.

The names of Tube lines have also been changed to link them by common themes.

The Bakerloo line represents sports stars, like Olympic runner Harry Edward, while the Central line relates to those in the Arts, the Circle line remembers Georgians and the District line honours trailblazers.

Undated handout image issued by Transport for London (TfL) of a Black history Tube map where 272 station names have been replaced by notable black figures from pre-Tudor times to the present day. Issue date: Tuesday October 12, 2021. PA Photo. People featured are Victorian circus owner Pablo Fanque; composer and poet Cecile Nobrega who led a 15-year campaign to establish England's first permanent public monument to black women in Stockwell, south London; and Jamaican-born settler to Edinburgh John Edmonstone, who taught naturalist Charles Darwin taxidermy. See PA story TRANSPORT Black. Photo credit should read: TfL/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. — **London’s Tube map has been powerfully recreated to honour hundreds of people who helped shape black history in Britain (Picture: PA)**

The Jubilee line marks LGBTQ+ idols, the Hammersmith and City recognises vanguards, the Metropolitan line medics, the Northern line campaigners, the Piccadilly line performers, the Victoria line literary stars and finally the Waterloo and City line honours cultural heroes.

Modern names on the list include novelist Andrea Levy, comedian Felix Dexter, the Hot Chocolate singer Errol Brown and footballers Laurie Cunningham and Justin Fashanu.

The map also pays tribute to community figures such as Claudia Jones, a political activist who co-founded Notting Hill Carnival, and Paulette Wilson, who fought her own deportation to Jamaica and brought media attention to the human rights violations of the Windrush scandal.

Some stations were renamed after historic inhabitants. Tottenham Hale has been renamed Bernie Grant Centre, after the building in honour of the former Labour MP, while Battersea Power Station is John Archer, the first black mayor in London.

Meanwhile, West Brompton station has been renamed Ivory Bangle Lady, the name given to the remains of a high-status North African woman from fourth-century Roman York.

Her remains were found with jet and elephant ivory bracelets, helping archaeologists discover that wealthy people from across the Roman empire were living in the UK at the time.

The central line represents people in the arts, while the district line represents ‘Firsts and Trailblazers’ (Picture: PA)

The work honours Black History Month, which happens every October (Picture: PA)

London mayor Sadiq Khan said: ‘Black history is London’s history and this reimagination of the iconic Tube map celebrates the enormous contribution black people have made, and continue to make, to the success of our city.

‘I’m determined to create a more equal city where black lives truly matter.

‘This starts with education and that’s why this new black history Tube map is so important.

‘It gives us all the chance to acknowledge, celebrate and learn about some of the incredible black trailblazers, artists, physicians, journalists and civil rights campaigners who have made such significant contributions to life in the capital, as well as our country as a whole.’

The work honours Black History Month, which happens every October and aims to celebrate the enormous contribution Black Britons have made to UK society

Black Cultural Archives managing director Arike Oke said: ‘London’s black history is deeply embedded in its streets and neighbourhoods.

‘We’re delighted, as part of our 40th anniversary celebrations, to use this opportunity to share new and old stories about black history with Londoners and visitors to London.

‘We hope that the map will be an invitation to find out more and to explore.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Voting Rights in America Heather Cox Richardson

heather.richardson@bc.edu
Heather Cox Richardson is a political historian who uses facts and history to make observations about American Politics

October 15, 2021 (Friday)

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told his colleagues that on Monday evening he plans to bring up the Freedom to Vote Act and to try to get it through the Senate. The Republicans are determined not to let Democrats level the electoral playing field. While Democrats in the House, where legislation can pass with a simple majority vote, have passed voting rights laws, Democrats in the Senate have to deal with the filibuster, which enables senators in the minority to block legislation unless the Democrats can muster 60 votes. Republicans are dead set against voting rights laws. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has called voting reform “a solution in search of a problem,” driven by “coordinated lies about commonsense election laws that various states have passed.”

Are the 33 election laws 19 states have passed to restrict the vote really “commonsense election laws”?

Today, Meridith McGraw at Politico reported that America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a think tank of former Trump officials, says the priority for a second Trump administration would be new election laws. The president of AFPI, Brooke Rollins, who was in the Trump White House, said election reform would be top priority. Trump argues, without evidence, that the 2020 election was stolen. But, Rollins said, Trump might not have to push voting restrictions because the states have passed them already. In 1776, the Founders declared “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….”There have always been fights over who should have a say in our society, and until 1870, most voters in the United States were white men. After the Civil War, in 1870, the Republicans then in charge of Congress expanded the pool of voters to enfranchise Black men attacked by white gangs and undermined by white legislators. In that year, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution declared that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” That amendment also gave Congress power to enforce that amendment.

Almost immediately, white southerners determined to prevent their Black neighbors from affecting society through their votes began to keep Black Americans from the polls. By the early 1960s, fewer than 5% of eligible Black voters were registered in Mississippi, and when organizers tried to help them enforce their right to vote, white gangs and government officials harassed them, occasionally to the point of murder.

Appalled at the violence playing out on the streets and then again on the evening news, lawmakers in 1965 passed the Voting Rights Act. It required that states with a history of discrimination get preapproval from the Department of Justice to change state election laws. The measure passed on a bipartisan basis. But the impulse to expand voting rights in America would face a backlash in 1986, when Reagan Republicans realized they were in danger of losing control of the government and thus losing the 1986 tax cuts. Republicans began to talk of cutting down black voting under a “ballot integrity” initiative in 1986, and new voter restrictions in Florida paid off in the 2000 election, when Republican George W. Bush won by a handful of votes there after many more votes had been suppressed. When Democrats tried to shore up voting with an expansion of voter registration at certain state offices in 1993, with the so-called Motor Voter Law, Republicans exploded. A New York Times writer said Republicans saw the measures “as special efforts to enroll core Democratic constituencies in welfare and jobless-benefits offices.” As Democrats began to focus on expanding voting rights, Republicans focused on restricting the vote.

By 1994, losing Republican candidates were charging that Democrats won elections with “voter fraud.” In 1996, House and Senate Republicans each launched yearlong investigations into what they insisted were problematic elections, helping to convince Americans that voter fraud was a serious issue and that Democrats were winning elections thanks to illegal, usually immigrant, voters.

When voters nonetheless reelected Democratic president Bill Clinton in 1996, Republicans did their best to undermine his presidency—and eventually impeached him—but the elevation of biracial Democrat Barack Obama to the White House in 2008 prompted a new level of attacks on the electoral system. The Supreme Court in the 2010 Citizens United decision permitted a flood of corporate money to flow into the electoral system, and then, in the 2013 Shelby v. Holder decision, it gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act. With Justice Department preclearance out of the way, states promptly began to pass discriminatory election laws. In 2021, in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, the Supreme Court said such laws were not prohibited, thus greenlighting the new election laws passed by Republican-dominated states after voters choose Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. And so, here we are. Republicans are trying to regain control of the government by making sure their opponents can’t vote, while Democrats are trying to level a badly tilted playing field. If the Democrats do not succeed in passing a voting rights law, we can expect America to become a one-party state that, at best, will look much like the American South did between 1876 and 1964. Our nation will no longer be a democracy.

There are currently three voting measures before Congress. The For the People Act is a sweeping measure that cuts back on voter suppression, ends partisan gerrymandering, curbs dark money in politics, and combats corruption. The House of Representatives passed this measure in early March 2021 and sent it to the Senate, where Republicans blocked it using a filibuster.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court gutted in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision. The House of Representatives passed this measure in late August 2021 and sent it to the Senate, where it sits under threat of a filibuster. In the Senate, Joe Manchin (D-WV) expressed misgivings about the voting measures and vowed to hammer out a voting rights bill that could attract the votes of ten Republicans and thus break a filibuster. He and a number of Democratic colleagues announced the Freedom to Vote Act in mid-September 2021. If there are ten Republicans to support the measure, we have not yet seen them.

The Senate will vote on the Freedom to Vote Act on Wednesday.

John Lewis and Getting Into Good Trouble

John Lewis quotes

“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.”

“The vote is precious. It’s almost sacred, so go out and vote like you never voted before.”

“You must be bold, brave, and courageous and find a way… to get in the way.”

“Never give up. Never give in. Never become hostile… Hate is too big a burden to bear.”

“The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.”

“Sometimes I hear people saying, ‘Nothing has changed.’ Come and walk in my shoes.”

“Some of us gave a little blood for the right to participate in the democratic process.”

“We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters.”“You have to be optimistic in order to continue to move forward.”

“Too many of us still believe our differences define us.”

Week beginning 13 October 2021

Einav Rabinovitch-Fox Dressed for Freedom The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism University of Illinois Press 2021.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Einav Rabinovitch-Fox’s thoughtful approach to a topic that is likely to create some controversy is evident early in her book when, as well as the theory that fashion is a feminist issue, she refers to ‘second wave feminism’ (her quotation marks). I was intrigued by this apparent questioning of a phrase and idea, almost sacrosanct, that permeates much of feminist writing. Both aspects of the book are gratifying in that they suggest it is packed with ideas outside the understood notions of feminist history and fashion and its relationship to feminism and feminists. My belief that this would be an exciting book to review, and optimism have not been misplaced. I loved this engaging read with its solid research and support for the ideas Rabinovitch-Fox expounds.

The complete review is at Books: Reviews.

After the Lockdown section: Seed & Sprout update; Fashion article; public reception of Kier Starmer’s Conference Speech; Working from Home – UK example, discusses environmental impact: South Australian film opportunities.

Day 55 Lockdown

Today, 7/10/2021, forty one new cases were recorded. The good news is that now 67.2% of the ACT population aged over twelve has had two doses of a Covid 19 vaccine.

Day 55 lockdown walk

Day 56 Lockdown

Forty new cases were recorded, with ten active in the community during their infectious period. Nineteen people are linked to a known source. Six people are in intensive care, with five requiring ventilation. Almost 97% of Canberrans aged over twelve have received one dose of a Covid vaccination, and more than 68% are fully vaccinated.

Day 56 lockdown walk

Day 57 Lockdown

Twenty five new cases have been recorded. Two doses of the vaccine have been given to 69.3% of people over twelve.

Day 57 lockdown walk

Day 58 Lockdown

Twenty five cases have been recorded today. Twelve are linked to known clusters or cases. The ACT is well on its way to becoming one of the world’s most vaccinated cities.

Day 58 lockdown walk before it started raining – a brave bee in a different variety of wattle bloom

Day 59 Lockdown

Thirty two new cases have been recorded, but a significant vaccination milestone has been met with over 70% of Canberrans over twelve fully vaccinated. 98% of Canberrans over twelve have received their first dose of the vaccine. Eighteen people are in hospital, with seven in intensive care and six of those requiring ventilation. The ACT lockdown is due to end on Friday 15th October. Further detail on the easing of restrictions will be announced in coming days.

Day 59 lockdown walk

Day 60 Lockdown

Overheard while I shopped (mask and check-in): the Chief Minister announced that Canberrans are 99% vaccinated (first shot). Twenty eight new cases have been recorded. Twenty two have been linked to known cases and sixteen have been assessed as presenting a risk of transmission to others. There are nineteen cases in hospital, with eight in intensive care and six of these cases requiring ventilation.

Day 60 lockdown walk – featuring yesterday’s lucky finds by J.

Day 61 Lockdown

Fifty one new cases have been recorded, with thirty two linked to known cases or clusters. Nineteen are household contacts. Thirteen were in quarantine, and twenty two present a risk of transmission to others. Sixteen patients are in hospital, eight of whom are in intensive care, with five of those requiring ventilation.

Day 61 lockdown walk – a gloomy day

In my post, 24 February 2021, I rejoiced at the transparency of Seed and Sprout when the company acknowledged that unknown to them their product included palm oil. They promised to rectify the problem – and now have done so.

The company now tells us that the bars are now 100% Palm Oil free, Orangutan Alliance certified, vegan friendly and free of any synthetic fragrance.

Thank you Seed and Sprout, I can use bars instead of plastic bottled shampoo and conditioner.

Jobs galore in South Australian film industry as Screenmakers Conference stays virtual

ABC Radio Adelaide / By Malcolm SuttonPosted Fri 8 Oct 2021 at 12:18pmFriday 8 Oct 2021 at 12:18pm, updated Fri 8 Oct 2021 at 12:21pm

A man stands at a control desk with a large LED screen and set in front of him

Adelaide’s film industry is screaming out for skilled workers, insiders say, as a burgeoning sector continues to offer aspiring filmmakers opportunities across an increasing range of formats.

Key points:

The South Australian film industry is under pressure for more skilled workers
The industry has been upskilling and cross-skilling staff to fill the required roles
The annual Screenmakers Conference is again being held online due to COVID-19 restrictions across the country

Mercury CX (formerly the Media Resource Centre) is hosting hundreds of such people at its annual Screenmakers Conference today, albeit virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions and border closures keeping participants away for the second year in a row.

But chief executive officer Karena Slaninka said it was those same lockdowns that had given South Australia a competitive edge with a variety of television and film projects getting produced in SA that would otherwise be filmed interstate.

This included projects like the feature film, A Sunburnt Christmas, and the television series, The Tourist.

Among other projects, at least two Netflix productions are also underway — all of which followed the pre-pandemic production of Mortal Kombat, which used just about every skilled worker in town for the highest budgeted feature in SA’s history.

“We’ve been picking up a fair bit of production, which has been putting pressure on crews and availability of skilled crew,” Ms Slaninka said.

“So there’s been a big focus on upskilling crew and talent.”

Could these clothing collections save M&S?

Harriet Johnston For Mailonline

Louise Rianna et al. posing for the camera: MailOnline logo © Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo

Marks & Spencer are ‘tapping into the lucrative mummy market’ by bringing together popular brands like Fat Face and Joules to create a ‘one-stop shop’ for ‘trend conscious parents’, a retail expert has revealed.

The retailer has announced six guest brands in clothing and footwear as part of the drive by chief executive Steve Rowe to transform the business after the pandemic.

A selection of items from popular labels including Cornish-based Celtic & Co, sustainable fashion company Albaray as well as Fat Face, and outdoor gear specialist Craghoppers will feature on M&S.com.

Brand expert Nick Ede told FEMAIL M&S are ‘cleverly luring in the market’ with the efforts which would ‘turbo-charge profits’ for the brand, revealing: ‘Mummys are notorious at looking for bargains and offers but wanting quality too and by creating this new marketplace M&S will hold on to existing customers and engage new ones to shop with them because of their reputation of being reliable, stylish and on trend which is important to them.’

Louise Rianna: Marks & Spencer are ‘tapping into the lucrative mummy market’ by bringing together popular brands like Fat Face and Joules to create a ‘one-stop shop’ for ‘trend conscious parents’, a retail expert has revealed Marks & Spencer are ‘tapping into the lucrative mummy market’ by bringing together popular brands like Fat Face and Joules to create a ‘one-stop shop’ for ‘trend conscious parents’, a retail expert has revealed.

He explained: ‘The way that M&S is looking at creating a market place comes off the news that NEXT has been doing this for many years incorporating its own brands like Next and Lipsy with other like minded brands like Little Mistress, River Island, Reiss and Mango to name but a few.

‘M&S are looking to replicate the success of this model by creating a compelling shopping marketplace and increasing volume of sales even if its not their own brand they are selling.

‘This style of brand cross pollination is a highly successful way of engaging an audience to shop with you and gives them choice if they cannot find what they want and also opens up the brands to a whole new audience too.

He continued: ‘M&S tactic with the carefully curated guest brands is to entice a mum demographic and create a one stop shop for them to shop their favourite looks for both themselves and their families allowing them choice of other brands but with the safety and security that they are under the M&S umbrella.’

‘The Mummy market is a massive demographic to drive sales and M&S cleverly are luring them by offering them a larger range of options that can fit any budget.’

Some good news from British Labour politics

Hybrid working is fuelling demand for more tech and bigger homes – both are bad news for the planet (Republished through Creative Commons licence.)

October 7, 2021 10.07pm AEDT

Authors

Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs Senior Research Associate in Sustainability, Lancaster University
Carolynne Lord Senior Researcher, Sociology; Research Associate, School of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University
Torik Holmes Research Associate, Sustainable Consumption Institute and Sustainable Innovation Hub., University of Manchester

Disclosure statement

Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs receives funding from Research England Expanding Excellence in England (E3).

Torik Holmes received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), as part of a Postdoctoral Fellowship (award number: ES/V009419/1).

Carolynne Lord does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Partners

Lancaster University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK. University of Manchester provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK. View all partners

A cartoon depicting workers in different settings, at home and in an office. — Working from home or the office? Hybrid working means splitting your time between both. Piscine26/Shutterstock

Just 5% of employed people in the UK worked from home in 2019. The onset of the pandemic and the overnight shuttering of offices during the first lockdown meant 47% of employees were doing the same in April 2020.

Although returning to work in offices full time is now possible, the latest figures from May show 26% are still working from home while a further 11% are hybrid working: splitting their work time between the office and home.

With fewer people commuting and less food wasted as previously catered work events were held online instead, many hoped that a shift to remote working would benefit workers and the environment.

But that may not be the case. Not everyone can afford a home office, nor the additional heating or internet bills. And the loss of scale involved in heating and cooling individual homes during the day compared to offices may mean remote working is less energy efficient.

Our research into the adaptations office workers made to work from home during 2020’s first lockdown revealed two troubling trends: the duplication of office equipment and demand for more space and larger homes.

The duplication of stuff

Interviews with 17 UK households, selected for their diverse professional backgrounds, ages and sizes, uncovered how and why some people went from working at kitchen tables and on sofas, expecting lockdown to last a few weeks, to creating more permanent and higher quality set-ups.

To accommodate this and recreate offices at home, workers bought tech and furnishings which were often transported across the globe. Worldwide sales of laptops and desktops increased by 11.2% between April and June 2020, with 72.3 million units shipping. Monitor sales also spiked and webcams were temporarily sold out across the UK. Online searches for office desks and chairs increased by 438% and 300% respectively on the previous year.

A modern home office with desk, monitor, chair and shelves. — A good home office isn’t cheap. Shadow Inspiration/Shutterstock

Office equipment and furniture purchases peaked during the first lockdown, but demand is likely to remain high. Five times more people now want to work from home compared to 2019.

And making offices at home with new chairs, computers, monitors, desks and stands has also driven desire for bigger houses.

The demand for bigger homes

Our research revealed how working from home meant more people wanting homes with bigger kitchens, spare rooms, offices, garages and gardens. Whether it was the embarrassment of your partner’s colleagues spotting you in your yoga shorts or the horror of dashing offscreen to chase after your naked son, lockdown led to a collective reassessment of what one needs from a home. A sense of quiet and privacy tends to be lost when multiple people share a room. And although many offices are in essence co-working spaces, it has proved difficult to work in the same room as another doing different work – especially when making audio or video calls.

Since the first lockdown house sales have shot up, with June seeing the most sales since records began.

Much of these sales have involved people moving out of cities and into suburbs and the countryside, where homes tend to offer more space. This, sadly, is bad news for sustainability. More domestic space per person can increase energy consumption and suburban households typically have higher carbon footprints. Even people who might have moved to the countryside to work from home more often may ultimately emit more carbon per commute due to less frequent, but longer distance travel.

A residential street in England. — Suburban homes tend to use more energy and are more likely to have more than one car. 1000 Words/Shutterstock

Possible responses

The duplication of equipment and the simultaneous need for heating and lighting in offices and homes that arises from workers splitting time across both is a particularly unsustainable arrangement.

While some workplaces allowed employees to take their office set-ups home during the first lockdown, the difficulty in acquiring a webcam and long wait times for office equipment showed how most failed to adequately redistribute resources or support workers. Businesses that are currently downsizing their offices could offer discounts on spare items like Hootsuite did. Or, they could reject the hybrid model and encourage home or office working only.

The movement out of cities and smaller accommodation was arguably bolstered by the UK government’s stamp duty holiday, too. The decision to temporarily raise the threshold at which this property tax kicked in is credited with sparking a frenzy of buying. Housing policies are also climate policies, and the UK government, as a self-proclaimed climate leader and host of the 2021 UN climate talks, should be more sensitive to the implications of all policies for climate change.

The hybrid model of working is still emerging, and so it can be made more sustainable. That means appropriate policies to support people moving out of cities and navigating flexible working arrangements.

Week beginning October 6 2021

Ian Nathan The Coppolas A Movie Dynasty Palazzo, 2021.

Thank you, NetGalley.

Ian Nathan has written an insightful and exciting contribution to our understanding of writing, directing and producing films; the role of family and ability in a dynasty such as the Coppolas; the studio system, and the contribution of film finance, box office returns and reviews; to the success of a film that begins with an idea that impels people such as Francis Ford and Sofia Coppola toward creative endeavour. Francis Ford and Sofia Coppola are the stars of this book. However, other members of the Coppola family also make contributions to the Coppola dynasty’s work, and they are also given a place in this absorbing story: wife, mother, documentary maker, and eventual film maker, Eleanor Coppola; sister and actor, Talia Shire; brother and supporter, August; sons and supporters, Gio and Roman Coppola; cousin and actor, Nicholas Cage (formerly Coppola); granddaughter, Gia Coppola. So, too, are the actors who took their place, successfully or sometimes perhaps not, in the films. Francis Ford’s father, Carmine, makes an appearance. Here a story Nathan relates about a prank played on him by Francis Ford Coppola is very sympathetic to him, rather than acknowledging the impact on the father – an interesting comment on the investment Nathan makes in his portrayal of the son.

The complete review can be read at Books: Reviews

The following articles follow the Canberra Lockdown series: Historic moment as Daintree National Park returned to Eastern Kuku Yalanji people by ABC Far North / By Carli Willis, Dwayne Wyles, and Holly Richardson; Bob McMullan, The Biggest Issue to be Decided in the 2022 Election; Bernard Collaery and Witness K.

Day 48 Lockdown Canberra

Thirty-one new cases have been reported, with seventeen infectious in the community. Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations are available to Canberrans aged over sixty. Ten people are in hospital, with three in intensive care requiring ventilation. Some lockdown measures will ease from midnight tonight – I shall wait until the morning to take advantage of them.

Day 48 lockdown walk – it rained overnight, but there was no evidence of the severe storm predicted.

Australian Covid 19 situation

At 1 October 2021 the total cases of Covid 19 in Australia are 105k, with 1,289 deaths.

Victoria has replaced New South Wales as the state recording the most new Covid cases. Today Victoria recorded 1,143 new cases and three deaths. This is the second highest tally since the pandemic began. The spike has been blamed on increased household visits during the AFL grand final weekend. It is possible that the road map out of lockdown may have to be adjusted. The state has reached 80% of the 16+ population having received at least one vaccine dose.

NSW recorded 864 cases and fifteen deaths in the 24 hours to 8.00pm on Thursday. Fifteen deaths were also recorded on Wednesday. Over 87% of people aged 16 + have received their first dose of a Covid 19 vaccine, and 64% are fully vaccinated.

Queensland has recorded two new cases. There will be no lockdown as there is no community transmission. Queensland’s vaccine roll out for those eligible is 65.72% first dose and those fully vaccinated , 46.77%.

South Australia had one new case. However, no new cases have been recorded today.

Western Australia has no new cases.

The Northern Territory has seven active cases. One new case has been recorded. Vaccinations are: 74% first dose; 59% both doses.

Tasmania has no new cases.

Day 49 Lockdown and lockdown walk

Today the ACT recorded fifty two more new cases. Of these forty are liked to previous cases or ongoing clusters. Seventeen were in quarantine during their infectious period, thirty one spent varying periods of time in the community during their infectious period, and four are under investigation. Two people died with Covid, but had been receiving ‘end of life’ care at the time. There are eleven patients in hospital and three in intensive care requiring ventilation.

Day 50 Lockdown

Again, fifty two new cases were recorded, equalling the territory’s record number since the pandemic began. Twenty nine of these cases were infectious in the community. There are thirteen cases in hospital, with three in intensive care requiring ventilation. There are now 92% of the population vaccinated with one dose, and 63 % of the population fully vaccinated.

Day 50 lockdown walk

Day 51 Lockdown

There were thirty eight new cases recorded, twenty four of which are linked to known cases. Fourteen were in quarantine, sixteen spent varying amounts of time in the community while infectious, and eight remain under early investigation. Fourteen people are in hospital including five in intensive care and three requiring ventilation.

Day 51 Lockdown walk

Day 52 Lockdown

Twenty eight new cases were recorded, and two more deaths. 93% of ACT residents aged over 12 have received their first dose of a vaccine. There are currently sixteen people in hospital, five in intensive care, and one person requiring ventilation. Ten of the people in hospital are unvaccinated.

Day 52 Lockdown walk

Day 53 Lockdown

Thirty three new cases have been recorded, with at least fourteen infectious in the community. More people are transmitting the virus to close contacts, perhaps as a result of eased restrictions. The ACT Government is considering mandating vaccination of front line workers. there are fourteen people in hospital , with five in intensive care and three of those requiring ventilation. More than 94% of Canberrans over 12 have received one dose, and 65% over twelve have been fully vaccinated.

Day 53 lockdown walk

Day 54 Lockdown

Twenty eight new cases have been recorded. There are sixteen people in hospital, and one further death recorded. Second doses of the vaccine have been given to 66.1% of people in the ACT.

Day 54 lockdown walk

Historic moment as Daintree National Park returned to Eastern Kuku Yalanji people

ABC Far North / By Carli Willis, Dwayne Wyles, and Holly Richardson Posted Thu 30 Sep 2021 at 8:01amThursday 30 Sep 2021 at 8:01am, updated Yesterday at 9:39amFri 1 Oct 2021 at 9:39am

Indigenous people in a line hold up land deeds. — A historic moment as elders and traditional owners receive the deeds.(ABC Far North: Holly Richardson)

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The world’s oldest living rainforest has been returned to its custodians in a historic handback ceremony in Far North Queensland.

Key points:

Native title had already been established over the land, but the traditional custodians wanted more involvement
They will jointly manage the country with the Queensland government and say it will lead to cultural learning and employment opportunities
About 20 per cent of the 160,213ha handed back comes in addition to the land already under native title

The Eastern Kuku Yalanji people have taken formal ownership of 160,213 hectares of country stretching from Mossman to Cooktown, including the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park.

“This is where we belong on country, on bubu — on land,” Yalanji traditional owner and Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation director Mary-Anne Port said.

“All our ancestors called us back to home.

“I broke down — to get it all back in a battle that we’ve lost so many, young and old, that fought for country and now it’s all back.”

Long fight

This is country of huge cultural, environmental and global significance, encompassing the Daintree, Ngalba-bulal, Kalkajaka and the Hope Islands National Parks.

The Daintree Rainforest, estimated to be 180 million years old, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988.

A map showing a huge section of Far North Queensland that has been handed back to the traditional custodians.

More than 160,000ha across four national parks was handed back.(

Supplied: Queensland government)

Native title had already been established over much of the land, but the traditional custodians wanted more than recognition.

They wanted a say in the management of their land and their cultural heritage.

“We’d like to see all our young people step up now and [be] doing work on country, learning about cultural sites, where they come from,” Jalunji and Nyungkul elder Maree Shipton said.

“Were glad that we got all our national park back.”

Ms Shipton said she went to every Traditional Owner Negotiating Committee (TONC) meeting in the lead-up to the celebration.

An older Indigenous woman in bright clothes sitting outside. — From the day the campaign started to the handback itself, Maree Shipton didn’t miss a single clan meeting.(ABC Far North: Holly Richardson)

TONC and five elders groups were formed to negotiate with the government on behalf of the three clan groups — Yalanji, Jalunji and Nyungkul.

Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation chair and Kuku Yalanji woman Lynette Johnson said she was looking forward to the jobs and upskilling opportunities for young people the historic change would provide.

“They don’t have to be rangers — we can have them working anywhere,” she said.

Indigenous people wearing bright clothes perform a smoking ceremony. — The day opened with a smoking ceremony.(ABC Far North: Holly Richardson)

Joint management

Under the Indigenous Management Agreement, the Eastern Kuku Yalanji People will jointly manage the four national parks with the Queensland government.

“Today is not the end — it’s the beginning of the next step of the process,” Kuku Nyungkul traditional owner Desmond Tayley said.

“This was the second part of the native title claim [of 2007].”

Desmond Tayley, Kuku Nyungkul traditional owner — Desmond Tayley says this is only the beginning.(ABC Far North: Holly Richardson)

Mr Tayley said the managers would work in partnership with governments and stakeholders to make sure they received the full benefit of what they signed and ensure that promised jobs and funding would come through.

State Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said the agreement was a “really important milestone in Queensland’s history” that “really rights the wrongs of the past”.

A group of Indigenous people perform a triumphant dance. — Emotions were high when the dancing commenced after the handover documents were signed.(ABC Far North: Holly Richardson)

“There’s a number of agreements put in place … to make sure that we’ll continue to work in good faith with traditional owners to make sure we are working in genuine partnership,” she said.

“We know there’s more work to do and today is just a step forward in that path to reconciliation.”

A dripping, intensely green tropical rainforest. — The traditional custodians fought long and hard for the right to manage their country.(Supplied: Mike Trenerry)

Mr Tayley said the restoration was a crucial part of the healing process.

“It’s important that we get that back on country and we make sure that our spirit is kept very strong,” he said.

The Biggest Issue to be Decided in the 2022 Election

Bob McMullan

There are many conventional short to medium term issues which will be in contention between the major parties at the next election.
For example, there is likely to still be debate about taxation. Middle class people and rich and powerful people are always focused on taxation. Poorer people know that how a government spends its money is much more important to them.

There are, of course, also serious issues about the availability of child care and social housing which will be influenced by the choice voters make at the election. There will be an important contest about policy to deal with climate change. The election will also decide whether Australia gets a
serious Integrity Commission, or whether we get one at all.

This is the suite of issues arising from the “Uluru Statement from the Heart”, including the issue of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Anthony Albanese has expressed his support for a bipartisan process to lead to a constitutional amendment to enshrine the voice of indigenous people in all the issues which affect them. Scott Morrison has not.

To be fair, I have no reason to doubt the genuine commitment of the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Ken Wyatt, but I doubt his capacity to deliver his coalition colleagues. Some, such as Andrew Bragg, have expressed support. However, it is hard to see the coalition overall giving up the opportunity to
exploit such a potentially divisive issue. This is particularly relevant in Queensland, where Pauline Hanson is threatening to eat into their vote on this and other issues.

I have seen reports that Barnaby Joyce now supports a voice to parliament. I cannot validate this claim. He has certainly walked back his more extreme opposition. If it is true that he would support a constitutional change to this effect that would be very significant.

In parallel to the question of a voice is the issue of a Makarrata Commission to conduct national level discussions about a treaty similar to the processes under way in Victoria, Queensland and the
Northern Territory.

The Commission may well prove to be the most important part of the Uluru Statement but it has not had the same attention as the voice proposal.
As envisaged, the Commission should be able to lead discussions on the rumours, allegations and established facts about massacres of indigenous people up to and including events of the twentieth century. It could also follow-up on the unimplemented recommendations of the Royal Commission
into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and any other historical incidents of interest.

Anthony Albanese has committed to establish such a Commission. Scott Morrison has not.

The proposed Makarrata Commission has the advantage that it does not require a constitutional amendment. It could probably be established initially without even legislation, although this would be important going forward.
This suite of measures has the potential to be as fundamental to our future as a country as Gough Whitlam’s commitment to the Gurindji and to Land Rights more generally. It would be comparable in significance to the Paul Keating Redfern speech or Kevin Rudd’s apology. Taken together with the Native Title Act and the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation it would begin the process of catching up with comparable countries such as New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

When I was Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs almost twenty years ago the evidence showed that the life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians was wider than in those three comparable countries. The data also showed that the gap was narrowing in USA, New
Zealand and Canada but was continuing to widen in Australia. It appears the situation remains the same today.

Redress of historical wrongs and a Voice will not solve these challenges by themselves. But they are an essential part of a suite of measures Australia needs to take to reverse the trend of increasing disadvantage.
The next election will determine many things about our country going forward.

As Paul Keating said:

“When you change the government you change the country.”

No consequence of the next election will be more profound than the question of whether we take next steps to redress historical wrongs and recognise the legitimate claims of our indigenous citizens.

This article was first published in Pearls and Irritations.

FOLLOW UP TO DEMONSTRATION HELD 17 JUNE 2021

ABC Report on MSN 6/10/2021

Lawyer Bernard Collaery has won the latest round in his bid for an open trial as he fights charges alleging he revealed classified information.

Key points:

Lawyer Bernard Collaery is fighting charges over the alleged release of classified information
He also wants information that doesn’t risk national security to be made public
Today the appeals court agreed a secret trial could risk public confidence in the courts

Mr Collaery is facing five charges of revealing national security information to ABC journalists, and of conspiring with his co-accused Witness K to reveal secret information to the East Timor government.

The secret information relates specifically to allegations that Australia bugged East Timor’s government building in 2004 to gain advantage in crucial oil and gas negotiations.

But Mr Collaery is fighting the charges and wants an open trial.

Last year Justice David Mossop rejected Mr Collaery’s call for some of the material to be used as evidence in the trial, finding that some of the information should remain classified.

Seven protesters stand with signs urging for the "real criminals" to be charged for people to "tell the truth". — Supporters of lawyer Bernard Collaery and ‘Witness K’ have staged multiple protests against a secret trial.(AAP: Lukas Coch)

Secrecy could damage public confidence in justice system, says Chief Justice

The ACT Court of Appeal said the release of the material had been narrowed down to six specific matters.

Today Mr Collaery won his appeal against those matters being kept secret, which would have seen his trial largely conducted behind closed doors.

The court said it accepted the disclosure of the material could involve a risk of prejudice to national security, but it doubted that would materialise.

In delivering the outcome the ACT’s Chief Justice Helen Murrell said that risk was outweighed by other concerns.

“There was a very real risk of damage to public confidence in the administration of justice if the evidence could not be publicly disclosed,” Chief Justice Murrell said.

“The court emphasised that the open hearing of criminal trials was important because it deterred political prosecutions, allowed the public to scrutinise the actions of prosecutors, and permitted the public to properly assess the conduct of the accused person.”

But there is still a risk of some material not being made public.

There is some evidence being referred to as “court-only matters”, deemed so secret they haven’t even been shared with Mr Collaery and his lawyers.

Today the court ordered the case be returned to Justice Mossop for him to assess whether this “judge-only evidence” is admissible.

Bernard Collaery looks directly at the camera, with his arms crossed. He's wearing a navy blue suit and pink tie. — Mr Collaery says a balance needs to be struck between national security and open justice. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty)

Mr Collaery waited outside the court for the result today.

“I regret we have to go this far to achieve an appropriate balance between open justice, national security and the personal interests of those who become caught in that issue,” he said.

“National security is always a balance. But it has to be true national security, not issues of embarrassment or publicity — that’s the real issue.

“The case has been remitted back to the court on a single issue of whether there can be judge-only evidence.”

Each of the lawyers left the court with the full, un-redacted decision in a sealed bag, pending any issues to be raised with the court before it is formally published

Week beginning 29 September 2021

Book reviews this week are Invite Me In by Emma Curtis and August by Maryann D’Agincourt, both novels were provided to me by NetGalley for review.

Emma Curtis Invite Me In Transworld Publishers, Penguin Random House, 2021, First published, Black Swan 2021.

Lies, addiction, revenge, abuse, and murder combined with domestic rites such as dropping children at school, arranging their playdates, admiring their drawings, and organising childcare enhance the complexities to be unravelled in this domestic thriller. 

Emma Curtis makes the most of each component of the novel, from her characterisations, a solid plot, to the questions that roil endlessly in the reader’s mind. Moments that seem predictable, familiar ploys and clues, become immersed in other events that encourage the reader to ‘take the eye off the ball’. At times ‘we know it all’, but, no, we do not. And even when we do, it does not spoil a convincing read. I found the twist at the end unnecessary, but other readers will enjoy this tying up of ends with another outlook on the main character. I felt that I knew enough about Eliza Curran, her character, and motivations.

Maryann D’Agincourt August Portmay Press, New York 2021

August takes on several meanings in this novel. The Joseph Conrad quote with which it opens refers to ‘august light’, the month of August is significant, for the writer, as the ‘last full month of summer’, and, in the same last paragraph of the novel, august is a characterisation of a person with fortitude, one who can choose a path, has ‘majesty’. So, too does the writer slip from memories that are hazy, to events in August, to characters who have the opportunity to be august, but may well leave that to others. The lyricism of the writing draws the reader in to almost forgetting that some of the characters fall well short of being august. Perhaps none so much as the main character, Jenny.

The complete reviews can be found at Books: Reviews

The following articles will be found after the lockdown information:

American Women and the Ongoing Battle to Save Democracy – a zoom meeting on Thursday, October 7, 2021, 4 PM ET; Frida Kahlo’s self portrait goes on sale; and Heather Cox Richardson writes about the civil liberties aspects of the Texas abortion law.

Day 41 Lockdown

Sixteen more cases were recorded in Canberra, none of whom was in quarantine for their entire infectious period. None are linked to known transmission sites or known cases. Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, is concerned that people are waiting too long to be tested. He has also noted that he will not bow to pressure to end lockdown. Twelve people are in hospital, two in intensive care and requiring ventilation. Canberrans between 12 and 59 can now book for a Modena vaccination appointment.

Day 41 lockdown walk – morning mist and afternoon sun on the last of the blossoms

Day 42 Lockdown

Nineteen new cases have been recorded, with 217 active cases in the ACT and 476 as the total of people who have recovered. Over twelve years of age vaccinations are at 57.3% with two doses.

Day 42 lockdown walk

Day 43 Lockdown

Thirty two new cases have been recorded – ‘the equal highest number of infections recorded in the ACT. Six cases are not able to be linked to known cases, and twenty four people were infectious in the community. Ten people are in hospital, with four in intensive care, and three require ventilation. The ‘good news’ is that ten new cases are linked in a care facility – but all the staff have received their first dose and 53% are fully vaccinated.

Day 43 lockdown walk

Day 44 Lockdown

Twenty-five new cases have been recorded, with at least sixteen infectious in the community. Eighteen cases have been linked to an existing case or exposure site. Ten people are in hospital, four of whom are in intensive care with three of those requiring ventilation.

Day 44 lockdown walk

Day 45 Lockdown

Nineteen new cases were recorded, seventeen of whom are linked to ongoing cases or known clusters. Eight were in the community during part of their infectious period. The first death during this outbreak in the ACT has been recorded, bringing the total to four Covid related deaths in the ACT. ACT Health extended condolences to the person’s family and friends. Eight people are in hospital, with three in intensive care requiring ventilation. Vaccinations of two doses for those over twelve are at 59.3%. Vaccinations given at GP and staff and residents in disability and aged residential care are not counted in that %.

Day 45 lockdown walk

Day 46 Lockdown

A plan for returning to life before lockdown in the ACT has been announced with lockdown to finish on October 15. The following changes have been added to take place on Friday 1 October : two people from another household can visit at any one time, for any reason; more than two children can visit for childcare; Click and Collect has been extended to non-essential retail businesses; rules related to some organised outdoor activities will be relaxed; preventative dental services will recommence. Masks are still required. More on what will happen from October 15 will be in the blog update tomorrow. There are thirteen new cases. A major concern is people waiting for five days into their being symptomatic before they are tested.

Days 46 and 47 lockdown walks

Day 47 Lockdown

Twenty two more cases have been recorded, with increasing cases in the NSW surrounding areas. Ten people are in hospital, three of whom are in ICU requiring ventilation. Calls to be tested more promptly have been reiterated. Some essential treatments for Covid need to be administered within five days of an individual experiencing symptoms for them to be fully effective. At the moment 40% of people are waiting more than two days after developing symptoms to be tested.

ACT Pathway Forward

Released 27/09/2021 – Joint media release

The ACT Government has today updated our Pathway Forward as we continue to work towards high vaccination coverage in the ACT.

During October, the ACT will hit 80% of our population over the age of 12 fully vaccinated. We will reach this milestone ahead of the national average, but this doesn’t mean we will stop vaccinating. The ACT will continue supporting our local vaccination rollout until everyone who wants to be vaccinated has the opportunity to do so.

This very strong level of vaccination coverage will allow us to start taking gradual steps forward once we reach 80% vaccination coverage of the population over the age of 12. These steps will see us transition from high, to medium, low and finally baseline public health measures.

Subject to the public health risk remaining relatively stable in the next two weeks, the ACT’s lockdown will end at 11:59pm on Thursday 14 October, triggering a transition to medium level public health measures.

From the 15 October, five people will be able to visit another household at any one time, and 25 people will be able to gather outdoors.

Licensed venues, cafes and restaurants will be able to operate seated service at a maximum capacity of 25 across venue or one person per four square metres (1 per 4 sqm) indoors. Alternatively, venues can chose to operate outdoors will a maximum of 50 patrons at 1 per 4 sqm.

Hairdressers, beauty & personal services can recommence services with a maximum of five customers at any one time.

All non-essential retail will continue operating under click & collect or click & deliver services, but the maximum staffing capacity inside a business premise will go from five to 10 people.

Gyms will be able to reopen with strict COVIDSafe requirements with a maximum of 25 people at 1 per 4 sqm.

The 25 people at 1 per 4 sqm rule will also apply to:

Weddings
Outdoor play centres
Places of worship
Outdoor auctions
Community centres and facilities

Accommodation providers such as hotels and motels, campgrounds, caravan parks & campsites can reopen, as can swimming pools for organised lessons with a maximum of 25 swimmers.

Funerals will be able to occur with 50 attendees at 1 person per 4 square metres.

As the national vaccination average climbs towards 80% in late October, the ACT will continue to gradually reduce the level of public health safety measures.

From 29 October, subject to the public health risk at the time, a number of businesses and activities will be able to move towards more relaxed density and capacity limits.

Licenced venues, cafes and restaurants will be able to cater for 25 people across the venue before any density limits apply. Those density limits will be 1 per 4 sqm indoors (up to 100 people per indoor space) and 1 per 2 sqm outdoors (up to 150 people).

This will also apply to many of the businesses and activities that will be recommencing from 15 October.

Organised sport will be able to recommence under the same density and capacity limits, and swimming pools will reopen to the public.

Further public health measures from the From 29 October include:

10 people will be able to visit a household at any one time, and 30 people will be able to meet outdoors;
Ticketed and seated events will be able to recommence with density and capacity limits depending on whether they are indoors or outdoors;
All retail stores in the ACT will be permitted to open with 1 per 4 sqm;
Cinemas, galleries and museums will be able to reopen; and
Dance classes, choirs and bands will also be able to commence in person, with a maximum of 20 people or 1 per 4 sqm.

As the ACT’s vaccination rate continues above 90% of the eligible population, further changes will be considered. This includes eased venue density limits such as 1 per 2 sqm and increased household and outdoor gathering sizes.

The requirements for interstate and overseas travel will also be considered as we move through these phases of the ACT’s Pathway Forward. The ability to travel interstate and overseas will be subject to the border decisions of State and Territory Governments and the Commonwealth respectively.

The ACT’s Pathway Forward has been informed by national and local modelling on the impact that COVID-19 will have on cases and hospitalisations. We can expect as the nation relaxes public health measures, the ACT could be recording daily cases numbers in the hundreds – most likely in the first quarter of 2022.

The higher the level of community vaccination, the lower the number of cases, hospitalisations, people requiring intensive care and deaths as a result of a COVID-19 infection.

It will be a challenge, but the ACT’s Pathway Forward announced today will ensure that we make the gradual and safe steps towards a better Christmas and summer holiday here in the ACT.

– Statement ends –

Section: Andrew Barr, MLA | Rachel Stephen-Smith, MLA | Media Releases

American Women and the Ongoing Battle to Save Democracy

Thursday, October 7, 2021
4 PM ET
Online on Zoom

Harvard Radcliffe Institute

Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post

Jennifer Rubin, the author of Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy from Donald Trump (William Morrow, 2021) and a Washington Post opinion writer, explains the persistent threat to American democracy and the central role women from across the political spectrum played in opposing and ultimately defeating Trump. She will discuss how American women redefined US politics and, looking ahead, will examine women’s importance to defending the rule of law and multiracial democracy.

Discussant

Michel Martin, weekend host, NPR’s All Things Considered

Register

Free and open to the public. To view this event online, individuals will need to register via Zoom.

For instructions on how to join, see the How to Attend a Radcliffe Event on Zoom webpage.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing a link and password for this meeting.

Live closed captioning will be available for this webinar.

Frida Kahlo self-portrait set to break auction records

Mexico City: New immersive exhibit honours Frida Kahlo’s legacy Al Jazeera goes inside the mind of Mexico’s most famous artist – an exhibition that brings Frida Kahlo’s paintings to life.

The painting *Diego y yo* by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. *Photo: Sotheby’s*

The New Daily@TheNewDailyAU 2:09pm, Sep

A self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is expected to smash records with an eye-watering purchase price this year.

The painting, titled Diego y yo (Diego and I), is set to fetch more than $US30 million ($41 million) when it goes under the gavel in November.

It would be the most ever paid for a work of art by a Latin American artist.

And more than three times the price of Kahlo’s most expensive painting, with Dos desnudos en el bosque (La tierra misma) selling for $US8 million in 2016, according to Forbes.

Created in 1949 – five years before she died – this was the last of Kahlo’s bust-length self-portraits and is a deeply emotional piece.

Chairman of Sotheby’s auction house and head of sales for global fine art Brooke Lampley said the self-portrait is one of the defining paintings of her career.

“Frida Kahlo’s emotionally bare and complex portrait Diego y yo is a defining work”, Mr Lampley said in a statement.

“To offer this portrait in our Modern Evening Sale in November heralds the recent expansion of the Modern category to include greater representation of underrepresented artists, notably women artists, and rethink how they have historically been valued at auction.”

It may have been inspired by heartbreak due to her husband’s infidelity, as it was created during one of Rivera’s many affairs.

He was romantically involved with Kahlo’s close friend María Félix at the time she painted the portrait, according to Sotheby’s.

The artwork captures an emotional Kahlo. It depicts the artist with tears flowing down her face, her husband Diego Rivera – featuring a third eye – nestled inside her forehead, understood to mean he was on her mind.

Rivera was one of Mexico’s best-known artists, a muralist who was already successful when he married his third wife, Frida, in 1929.

They divorced in 1940, but remarried the following year and remained together until her death in 1954.

Heather Cox Richardson

Heather Cox Richardson is a political historian who uses facts and history to make observations about American Politics

heather.richardson@bc.eduEmail

September 3, 2021 (Friday)

The new anti-abortion law in Texas is not just about abortion; it is about undermining civil rights decisions made by the Supreme Court during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The Supreme Court declined to stop a state law that violates a constitutional right.

Since World War II, the Supreme Court has defended civil rights from state laws that threaten them. During the Great Depression, Democrats under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began to use the government to regulate business, provide a basic social safety net—this is when we got Social Security—and promote infrastructure. But racist Democrats from the South balked at racial equality under this new government.

After World War II, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, a Republican appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower, and Chief Justice Warren Burger, a Republican appointed by Richard Nixon, the Supreme Court set out to make all Americans equal before the law. They tried to end segregation through the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decision prohibiting racial segregation in public schools. They protected the right of married couples to use contraception in 1965. They legalized interracial marriage in 1967. In 1973, with the Roe v. Wade decision, they tried to give women control over their own reproduction by legalizing abortion.

They based their decisions on the due process and the equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified in 1868 in the wake of the Civil War. Congress developed this amendment after legislatures in former Confederate states passed “Black Codes” that severely limited the rights and protections for formerly enslaved people. Congress intended for the powers in the Fourteenth to enable the federal government to guarantee that African Americans had the same rights as white Americans, even in states whose legislatures intended to keep them in a form of quasi-slavery.

Justices in the Warren and Burger courts argued that the Fourteenth Amendment required that the Bill of Rights apply to state governments as well as to the federal government. This is known as the “incorporation doctrine,” but the name matters less than the concept: states cannot abridge an individual’s rights, any more than the federal government can. This doctrine dramatically expanded civil rights.

From the beginning, there was a backlash against the New Deal government by businessmen who objected to the idea of federal regulation and the bureaucracy it would require. As early as 1937, they were demanding an end to the active government and a return to the world of the 1920s, where businessmen could do as they wished, families and churches managed social welfare, and private interests profited from infrastructure projects. They gained little traction. The vast majority of Americans liked the new system.

But the expansion of civil rights under the Warren Court was a whole new kettle of fish. Opponents of the new decisions insisted that the court was engaging in “judicial activism,” taking away from voters the right to make their own decisions about how society should work. They said that justices were “legislating from the bench.” They insisted that the Constitution is limited by the views of its framers and that the government can do nothing that is not explicitly written in that 1787 document. This is the foundation for today’s “originalists” on the court. They are trying to erase the era of legislation and legal decisions that constructed our modern nation. If the government is as limited as they say, it cannot regulate business. It cannot provide a social safety net or promote infrastructure, both things that cost tax dollars and, in the case of infrastructure, take lucrative opportunities from private businesses. It cannot protect the rights of minorities or women.

Their doctrine would send authority for civil rights back to the states to wither or thrive as different legislatures see fit. But it has, in the past, run into the problem that Supreme Court precedent has led the court to overturn unconstitutional state laws that deprive people of their rights (although the recent conservative courts have chipped away at those precedents). The new Texas law gets around this problem with a trick. It does not put state officers in charge of enforcing it. Instead, it turns enforcement over to individual citizens. So, when opponents sued to stop the measure from going into effect, state officials argued that they could not be stopped from enforcing the law because they don’t enforce it in the first place. With this workaround, Texas lawmakers have, as Justice Stephen Breyer noted in his dissent, “delegate[d] to private individuals the power to prevent a woman from…[exercising]…a federal constitutional right.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor was more forceful, calling the measure “a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny.” And yet, the Supreme Court permitted that state law to stand simply by refusing to do anything to stop it. As Sotomayor wrote in her dissent: “Last night, the Court silently acquiesced in a State’s enactment of a law that flouts nearly 50 years of federal precedents.” A state has undermined the power of the federal government to protect civil rights. It has given individuals who disagree with one particular right the power to take it away from their neighbors. But make no mistake: there is no reason that this mechanism couldn’t be used to undermine much of the civil rights legislation of the post–World War II years.

On September 4, 1957, three years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, a crowd of angry white people barred nine Black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The white protesters chanted: “Two, four, six, eight, we ain’t gonna integrate.” In 1957, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower used the federal government to protect the constitutional rights of the Little Rock Nine from the white vigilantes who wanted to keep them second-class citizens. In 2021, the Supreme Court has handed power back to the vigilantes.

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs made a statement, and also appeared on TRMS to discuss the aftermath of the result – it is not the end of this matter. And it should be.

Week Beginning 22 September 2021

The nonfiction book review this week is Dear Barack, The Extraordinary Partnership of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel by Claudia Clark, provided to me by NetGalley. It is particularly pertinent reading as Germany will be electing a new Chancellor after Angela Merkel stepped down after four remarkable terms. Bob McMullan writes about the German election to be held on the 26th September in German Social Democrats have the momentum to win, to be found after the Canberra Covid 19 updates.

Claudia Clark, Dear Barack The Extraordinary Partnership of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel, Disruption Books NY, 2021.

With the partnership between Angela Merkel and Barack Obama over the eight years of the Obama Government as the focus, and a dedication to John Lewis, Stacy Abrahams, Beto O’Rourke and citizens who fight for Americans’ right to vote, Claudia Clark’s book had every possibility of being a winner for me. I was not mistaken. My only negative feeling is that sometimes the repetition of the nature of the closeness of the relationship became a bit cloying – but then, Claudia Clark would be fully justified in telling me what nonsense, this is what the book is about- the relationship between two politicians! It is, but there is so much more for anyone who feels (erroneously or not) as I did at times, to raise this book into the ‘must read’ category. It really is a winner.

See the full review at Books: Reviews

I also found an old review on GoodReads, after a reader ‘liked’ it, and thought it worth reprising here. Marge Piercy’s Fly Away Home is a good read, even in the 2020s, although her Gone to Soldiers, which formed an important part of one of my theses is, in my view, her strongest. Other people reminisce about Vida, a wonderful expose (in part) of the way in which left wing activists and women fighting for women’s rights worked together – uncomfortably. The fictional characters are based on real people from the anti -war movement.

Marge Piercy Fly Away Home Fawcett, 1985

I am re-reading this, as one of my read again novels. I was (and remain) particularly pleased by the way in which Piercy adapts a domestic task into a career for the main protagonist. Although Daria is remarkably aggravating at times, her clinging to the image of Ross, the husband she wed as a young, inexperienced woman is understandable. The conflict between the two daughters and their parents’ roles in their own images is also something to think about.

Complete reviews of both books can be found at Books: Reviews

Day 34 Lockdown

Fifteen more cases were recorded, with eleven linked to known cases or ongoing clusters. Four remain under early investigation. Five people were in quarantine and eight in the community for part of their infectious period. Two cases remain under investigation. Nine patients are in hospital, including one in intensive care requiring ventilation.

Day 34 lockdown walk – some blossoms remain; construction proceeds

Day 35 Lockdown

Thirty new cases were recorded today; there are 245 active cases and 341 have totally recovered. ACT Government managed vaccinations so that 55.3% Canberrans 16+ have been fully vaccinated (this figure does not include GP service providers, or staff and residents in disability and aged care residential care in the ACT, delivery of those vaccinations is being managed by the Australian Government).

Day 35 lockdown walk – streetscape emptiness, but the trees are blossoming; Leah is welcome at the dog facilities, but we must check in.

Day 36 Lockdown

Thirty new cases have been recorded with seven spending some time in the community while infectious. Eight people are in hospital, including a child under twelve, and one remains in intensive care requiring ventilation. Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, has implemented more stringent border control. Forty three people from NSW were asked to leave the ACT. Andrew Barr also noted concerns about the opening up after 70% vaccination has been reached. He says that Doherty modelling suggests that even at 80% medium restrictions may need to stay in place. He suggests that the pace of vaccination in the ACT may mean that 90% is a viable target.

Day 36 lockdown walk – not Leah’s favourite as it was wet and even a few raindrops are anathema to her.

Day 37 Lockdown

There are seventeen new cases, eleven of which are linked to known cases or ongoing clusters, and six remain under investigation. Twelve were in the community during part of their infectious period. Twelve cases of the 376 cases of recovery, are in the last twenty-four hours. Eight people are in hospital, with two in intensive care and one requiring ventilation.

Day 37 lockdown walk

Day 38 Lockdown

Some Australian states have made plans to begin ending their lockdowns as the vaccination rates increase. In New South Wales, the case numbers have decreased to new cases of 935, with four deaths; there is one new case in Queensland; in Victoria there are 567 new cases and one death. The Northern Territory has recorded one new case after a man travelled from NSW to Darwin. In Victoria, Premier Dan Andrews, has produced a roadmap for ending lockdown, with it to end in late October. A regional town in NSW, Cowra, is going into lockdown, but the Premier has a a plan for ending restrictions. In the ACT seven new cases have been recorded with 233 cases active and 402 recovered. The total cases in the ACT is 625. Five people are now in hospital. Vaccinations are proceeding, with 79% of Canberrans having received their first dose and 54.1% both doses. There will be no significant easing of restrictions until an 80% vaccination result. There will be easing of restrictions through mid October to mid November. Pressure on the health system, through hospitalisations due to Covid are of major concern, as they are now in New South Wales and Victoria.

Day 38 lockdown walk

Day 39 Lockdown

Sixteen new cases have been recorded, with eleven being infectious while in the community.

Day 39 lockdown walk – another cold day, with occasional bursts of sun

Day 40 Lockdown

Seventeen new cases have been recorded, with eleven cases being infectious in the community. Eight cases are unable to be linked to other known cases. Twelve people are in hospital with two patients in intensive care, both requiring ventilation. Border controls have been increased, as the virus has been introduced to the territory from at least ten different sources. Compliance within the city has been ‘generally good’. 55.8% of people over twelve have been vaccinated with two doses. More than 81% of people over twelve have received one dose. It is expected that more than 95% of eligible Canberrans will be fully vaccinated. Hospital places remain a concern, ACT accepts people from regional NSW adding to the need for nurses and hospital places.

Day 40 lockdown walk

German Social Democrats have the momentum to win
Bob McMullan

The German election on 26th September is globally significant and has been under-reported in the
Australian media.
Germany is of course a major economy in its own right. But its strong influence on the evolution of
the EU over the next decade makes it even more important.
Furthermore, while it has been understated in its exercise of diplomatic influence during the Angela
Merkel government, there is no doubt that it will grow in influence over the next decade. Its role in the Iran nuclear deal is an example of this growing influence.
Germany’s slightly different attitude from most of its NATO allies towards Russia and China is important and may be influenced by the outcome of the election.
Looking from afar and after consulting with some experts on the ground I believe the most likely outcome of the September 26 th German election will be a Social Democrat (SDP) led coalition.
On recent trends over the last decade this seems surprising. The SPD has been wallowing in the polls, particularly as a consequence of having served as the junior partner in a Conservative (CDU)/Social Democrat (SPD) coalition.
The key factor appears to be the credibility of the SPD candidate for Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. He has been the Finance Minister in the CDU/SPD coalition which was led until this election by Angela Merkel. He appears to have established himself in the public mind as the best of the three candidates on offer.
The latest polling shows Scholz with 30% support amongst voters, well ahead of the Greens candidate, Annelina Baerbock with 15% and the CDU candidate, Amin Laschet with a mere 12%.
None of them seem immensely popular but it is clear from this polling and the trends in the voting intention surveys that the SDP is gaining ground.
The most recent poll had the SPD ahead of the CDU for the first time in 15 years.
The current situation is fluid but the trend is clear from the following:
May 2
Greens 25%
CDU 21%
SPD 15%
July 22
Greens 19%
CDU 28%
SPD 16%
Aug 27
Greens 18%
CDU 23%

SPD 23%
September 7
Greens 17%
CDU 21%
SPD 25%

Germany has a two-tier election system with a combination of local members and a party list system similar to New Zealand. So, leader popularity is not a guarantee of success as it would be in a presidential system. But in this election when the voters will be, in effect, choosing the successor to
Merkel, the choice of Chancellor will be prominent in the mind of voters. Hers are big shoes to fill.
The election is still two weeks away and things could change. But the momentum is currently with the SPD and the trend is clear.
What are the risks? Local people are better placed to give a nuanced and comprehensive response to this question. But there appear to me to be two main risks.
The first is the recent change in approach from Laschet to attack Scholz and the Greens as a threat to German industry and jobs because of their positions on tackling climate change. The German government is not a global laggard like the Australian government. Nevertheless, there is considerable room for them to do more and this contest of ideas or of perceptions of threat could
change the course of the election.
The second obvious risk is the character of the coalition the SPD would choose to form. In Germany the safe option would be a coalition with the Greens and the small Liberal party (FPD). There are however two far left parties which if the middle ground of voters thought might be in the
government might send them back to the CDU.
Should the current trend hold the result will be significant. Of course, it will be significant for Germany. I don’t see dramatic changes but a more progressive policy on climate change and a move back towards Ostpolitik in its relations with Russia, as Scholz has indicated, would be significant for Germany, Europe and the global political climate.
Will the trend be maintained? Nothing is certain but up to 30% of voters are expected to vote early due to the pandemic. This makes early leads more significant. The Economist magazine’s analysis suggests the SPD have an 80% chance of being the largest party after the election, which would give
them a strong hand in subsequent coalition negotiations.
Such success for the SPD would also suggest that the forecasts of impending doom for Social Democratic parties have been overstated, which would be significant throughout Europe and potentially beyond.

Week beginning 15 September 2021

The book review this week, Feminist City by Leslie Kern, links to an inspiring presentation by Camille Wagner on the Bold & Brilliant- Brilliant & Bold zoom meeting held monthly by Dr Jocelynne Scutt. More about Bold & Brilliant -Brilliant & Bold, with particular reference to Camille Wagner’s talk appears below.

Leslie Kern, Feminist City, Verso 2019, provided to me by NetGalley for an honest review.

I was disappointed that Leslie Kern fails to resolve the problems she raises in this detailed description of the way in which cities are built to meet the needs of white able-bodied men, rather than the wider population that inhabits them. The way in which the problems are laid out provides so much of the information needed for readers to consider a range of possible changes to begin finding solutions. But is this enough?

Where Kern does excel is in suggesting that the Covid pandemic has publicised the role of care workers, and that the caring professions’ requirements of their cities need to be addressed. This is an excellent way of giving the topic immediacy. See Books: Reviews for a continuation of this review.

BRILLIANT & BOLD – BOLD & BRILLIANT

CONVERSATIONS WITH ‘ORDINARY’ & ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ WOMEN

‘Women’s Voices in a Time of Conservatism’

A series on women’s rights, challenges, perspectives, hopes and empowerment.

Brilliantly Bold Women! Invites all Bold and Brilliant Women to a monthly Zoom meeting – Women Worldwide Advancing Freedom & Equality … formerly the House of Lords/House of Commons, now a panel in
global conversation, along with a global audience of engaging in discussion, debate, questions, answers, reflections and resounding demands for change. As Mary Wollstonecraft said:

REFORM THE POSITION OF WOMEN, AND YOU REFORM THE WORLD

The meeting at which Camilla Wagner made her presentation brought together women from Sweden, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The audience comprised women from all over the world.

Camilla Wagner is Interim Secretary General of the International Alliance of Women (IAW) an international NGO with ECOSOC status at the United Nations. A Gender Equality Strategist, she runs Klara K together with Gender Equality Strategist Petra Nedfors. Klara K, a Swedish women’s equality strategy organisation, works to promote women’s careers and seeks to contribute to a sustainable working life on equal terms. Klara K creates meeting places for the exchange of experience and inspiration, lecture, educate and debate. A principal aim of Klara K is to be a clear and credible opinion former, contributing to changing attitudes and structures that today stand in the way of an equal working life. In addition to her work with Klara K, Camilla’s time has been fully engaged in working with an IAW Working Party established to consider ways in which IAW, as a forward-looking women’s organisation with a history going back to the beginning of the last century, will continue to make a lasting contribution to the advancement of women, particularly now when forces negative to women’s right are on the rise.

Camilla Wagner’s presentation was astute and friendly with clarity as the key to ensuring that we all identified with the topic. Her talk centred on the way in which design impacts on women’s ability to participate fully and comfortably in their community.

Notes from the presentation Working for women in Karlskoga, Sweden – Camilla Wagner

Beginning with car design, and the size of foot pedals in comparison with the size of women’s feet, moving on to the impact of airbags designed for men’s size, raised not only questions of comfort (important enough on their own) but those of injury and possible death. No-one would suggest that the need for airbags should be questioned, but their relevance to women’s size as a component of their design is an issue. And, how the size of foot pedals resonated – like Camilla Wagner, I cannot place my heel comfortably on the floor and the pedal!

Another part of the talk was very reminiscent of some of the issues Leslie Kern raises. This is the way in which cities and facilities are designed with men rather than women in mind. The example used was snow clearance in a city. Clearance of main roads, then local roads, and lastly pathways was implemented. When this was reversed to accommodate the actual use of each artery, the fall in accidents led to a fall in costs to the community. Women were found to use the pathways a majority of the time. They were the most popular arteries, as women used them to take children to school and child care, then used public transport to get to their paid work. On the return trip, after their use of public transport again, women collected children, shopped, and walked home. Cars were used for a minority of trips, mostly by men, and on the local roads more frequently than major roads. Economic viability became one of the issues discussed in the question and answer section of the meeting.

I was pleased to hear that changes had been promoted and implemented in Karlskoga, the locality Camilla Wagner used as an example. This was a positive talk, with some ideas that are worth considering in other contexts.

Bob McMullan’s article, ‘The Palmer/Kelly Follies’, first published in Pearls and Irritations, appears after the ACT Lockdown Series below. Also, more on the Texas Abortion Legislation appears after the Lockdown series – Department of Justice – Merrick Garland’s approach and the DOJ’s recent action.

Day 27 Lockdown

Chief Minister, Andrew Barr announced that decisions about how to go forward will be announced next Tuesday. He also described the changes that will be made to the ACT Check In app. People will now be advised through the app, ‘push notification’ if they have been at an exposure site. A free card with a QR code will be available to Canberrans who do not have a smart phone, or are unable to download the app. Heartening news is that within the next 24 hours 50% of the population over 16 will have been fully vaccinated. Lack of access to a vaccine remains a problem. Andrew Barr said that he wants to ensure that all Canberrans have had access to a vaccine before announcing ‘significant changes’ to public health measures. ACT recorded fifteen more cases, eight of whom spent some time in the community while infectious. There are nine people in hospital, with two in intensive care. Two cases are yet to be linked to known cases.

Day 27 lockdown walk – the blossoms have almost gone

Day 28 Lockdown

There were twenty four new cases recorded, with six infectious in the community, and only six yet to be linked to a known case or transmission site. Fifteen people are in hospital, with four in intensive care and one requiring ventilation. The youngest person in hospital is twelve and the oldest in their seventies. Of the total confirmed 463 cases 78% were unvaccinated. The ACT is the first Australian jurisdiction to meet the 50% mark for people aged sixteen years and over who have received two doses of a Covid19 vaccine.

Day 28 lockdown walk

Day 29 Lockdown

Fifteen new cases of people with Covid have been recorded, with fourteen associated with known contacts.

Day 29 lockdown walk

Taking advantage of the changes – playground open, five masked people can meet outside while social distancing, and Leah was able to walk with her friend.

Day 30 Lockdown

Fifteen more cases have been reported, with nine spending some time in the community while infectious. There are ten people in hospital with three in intensive case and one requiring ventilation. Many people took advantage of the relaxed rules applying to meetings outdoors. Social distancing and mask rules still apply.

Day 30 lockdown walk

Day 31 Lockdown

Thrteen more cases have been recorded, with at least ten infectious in the community. Nine people remain in hospital, with three in intensive care and one on a ventilator. Several more exposure sites were listed. Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, announced: ‘We are beyond the point of warnings’ -businesses found to repeatedly breach Covid 19 rules will be closed.

Day 31 lockdown walk

Day 32 Lockdown

Canberra’s lockdown has been extended for a month after twenty two new cases were recorded. That is, lockdown from August 12th to October 15th. Thirteen cases had spent time in the community while infected, with only two in quarantine for their whole infectious period. There are ten people in hospital, with two in intensive care and one on a ventilator. There are still 252 active cases in the territory. New South Wales cases and arrangements have impacted on the ACT as the virus has extended outside the Greater Sydney Area. Fortunately Canberra has a highly vaccinated community.

Day 32 lockdown walk

Day 33 Lockdown

Thirteen cases have been recorded, with eight liked to existing cases and outbreaks. Five were in quarantine for their full infectious period, and eight were in the community for part of their infectious period. Seen people are in hospital and one is in intensive care. It is expected that the ACT will pass the 75% fully vaccinated threshold for the population over twelve.

Day 33 after lockdown walk – breakfast on the balcony

Bob McMullan

The news that Craig Kelly is going to recontest his seat as a UAP candidate is not really surprising. The key question is what impact will the joint efforts of Kelly and Palmer have on the next federal election?

The news that Craig Kelly is going to recontest his seat of Hughes as a UAP candidate is not really surprising. In a previous article I suggested something like this might happen.

His future really doesn’t matter. He will be a very small blot on the face of Australian history.

What does matter is what salience he lends to the gross Palmer political exercise and what that will mean for the next election.

It is of course too early to predict with confidence but some interesting questions already emerge.

One of the key questions is who else, if anyone, will join Kelly and Palmer? The most interesting possibility is George Christensen. If he were to join it would add some Queensland credibility to the exercise.

The statistics from last time are not encouraging for Mr. Kelly’s prospects. I don’t think even a million dollars can turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse!

Paul Bongiorno, in an excellent article on the possible outcomes of the latest version of the Palmer follies, points out that while in the lead up to the election of 2019 Palmer attacked both parties, as the election approached, he focused his attacks exclusively on the Labor Party.

The complication this time is that Mr. Kelly will need to significantly reduce the Liberal Party vote if he is to win Hughes. In 2019 the Liberals, even with Kelly as the candidate, won 53% of the primary vote. The UAP got 2.5%. Even if the Labor vote goes up as some polling suggests by as much as 4%, that will only get it to 34% and would reduce the Liberal Party vote to 49%. Kelly would need to take 20-25% from the Liberal Party vote to have a chance of winning. He will not be able to do that by focusing exclusively on Labor. That is why, as Paul Bongiorno reports, the Liberal Party is worried about becoming “collateral damage.”

Queensland tells a different story. All informed accounts suggest that the Palmer advertising campaign did the Labor Party immense damage, particularly in the regional Queensland seats. Of course, the Palmer fear campaign proved doubly effective because of the publicity surrounding Bob Brown’s well intended but disastrous Adani trip convoy. There appears to be little or no doubt that the news stories about the convoy reinforced the threat message which Palmer was trying to generate, particularly in the key regional seats. With any luck that convoy will not be repeated which should modify the impact of the Palmer advertising blitz.

In 2019 the UAP won very few votes in any Queensland seat. They probably just redistributed the conservative vote between UAP, One Nation, Katter’s party and the LNP. For example, the UAP won 4.9% of the primary vote in the seat of Dawson. A mere 10% of those flowed to the ALP as second preferences. However, the AEC calculation is that the two-party-preferred (TPP) preference flow was as high as 27.9% in Dawson, and even higher in some other seats. In the seat of Flynn, which will be very interesting in the upcoming election, the TPP preference flow was as high as 34.9%.

However, although the UAP vote was miniscule, Palmer’s advertising campaign appears to have been effective. Whether the objective circumstances will mean it will play out in that way next time remains to be seen. It is hard to see how Kelly will help in this regard and the Palmer/Kelly Covid message may play no better in Queensland than elsewhere. The support for Annastacia Palaszczuk seems to suggest that Palmer and Kelly will have a difficult task in selling such a message.

It is hard to imagine the combined forces of Kelly and Palmer having any significant impact on results in Victoria, SA or Tasmania.

In Western Australia Palmer could have a big impact, unaffected by any Kelly factor. Palmer is electoral poison in WA and Porter and Morrison have sipped on that poison. If Kelly is correct that he and Palmer are going to take WA to the High Court over their intention to limit access to people from NSW who are not vaccinated that will be a godsend for Labor in WA.

It is always dangerous to focus too much on the events of the last election in planning for the next one. I am not convinced that the Palmer effect will be the same as it was in 2019. The objective circumstances are different and the background noise will also change. It also seems clear that Craig Kelly won’t add much to the Palmer campaign, and may even mute its total anti-labor focus a little.

My initial conclusion is that the combined effect of the Palmer show and the associated Kelly posturing will be very little and most unlikely to be decisive, except possibly in WA where it will enhance the problems for Christian Porter if he decides to run again.

Bob McMullan was National Secretary of the ALP and a Senator and an MP and a Cabinet Minister in the Keating government.

Justice Dept. Asks Judge to Block Texas From Enforcing Restrictive Abortion Law

The department sued Texas last week over its recently enacted law, which prohibits nearly all abortions in the state.

Abortion rights activists rallied outside the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Saturday.Credit…Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

By Katie Benner Published Sept. 14, 2021 Updated Sept. 15, 2021, 12:03 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department asked a federal judge late Tuesday to issue an order that would prevent Texas from enacting a law that prohibits nearly all abortions, ratcheting up a fight between the Biden administration and the state’s Republican leaders.

The Justice Department argued in its emergency motion that the state adopted the law, known as Senate Bill 8, “to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights,” reiterating an argument the department made last week when it sued Texas to prohibit enforcement of the contentious new legislation.

“It is settled constitutional law that ‘a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability,’” the department said in the lawsuit. “But Texas has done just that.”

As such, the department asked Judge Robert L. Pitman of the Western District of Texas to issue a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction that would prevent enforcement of the law.

Merrick Garland

Reported in the Huffington Post

By Liza Hearon

TOP STORIES

Tuesday, Sept. 7

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WILL WORK TO PROTECT ABORTION SEEKERS IN TEXAS Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the Justice Department will work to protect the safety of people seeking abortions in Texas as the agency continues to explore how it can challenge the state’s new anti-abortion law. The department will also provide federal law enforcement support when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is “under attack.” [HuffPost]

Post Covid Lockdown

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Kevin Rudd: Morrison’s voter-ID laws are a backdoor assault on our democracy

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New rules for postal and proxy votes

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Plan for ‘digital imprints’

Ugly treatment of American Electoral Officials discussed on The Last Word Lawrence O’Donnell, MNSBC

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Canberra Covid Update Since Lockdown Ended

Cindy Lou eats at Blackfire – and once again is impressed

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Return of scurvy under Tory rule as cases of Victorian illness double in decade

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RN Breakfast host Fran Kelly announces she’s leaving the program after 17 years

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Hillary Clinton’s Nightmares Inspired New Thriller with Louise Penny: Read an Excerpt

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After the Lockdown section: Seed & Sprout update; Fashion article; public reception of Kier Starmer’s Conference Speech; Working from Home – UK example, discusses environmental impact: South Australian film opportunities.

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Historic moment as Daintree National Park returned to Eastern Kuku Yalanji people

**Rachel Maddow on TRMS 22 October 2021**

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