Author: Alex Mitchell
-
“Self-help” for public servants
“Self-help” books for public servants – gimme a break! Not a day seems to pass when my blood isn’t boiling and my heart rate isn’t soaring to stratospheric levels. This week I’m mad as hell, to coin a phrase from a popular TV show, about the NSW Government’s decision to spend about $600,000 to buy…
-
Why journalism has run off the rails
Every single reporter should be an investigative journalist. No exceptions and no excuses. It’s the tool of the trade. When they sign up to become journalists, that is what ninety-nine per cent of them want to do. The other 1% are sons and daughters of the proprietor and people on the make who were too…
-
Implosion of USA as a super power
USA: the implosion of a global super power For many years it was widely accepted in progressive circles that we all belonged to “one race, the human race”. That, of course, is an undisputed biological fact. Problems arose, however, when people began to deny the existence of national differences within the human race. This is an…
-
The US ambassador from Pacific Command
New US ambassador is Pacific fleet admiral Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was so excited by the appointment of an American Ambassador to Canberra following a frigid 16-month delay that he tweeted: “Great to see Admiral Harry Harris nominated by Donald Trump as US Ambassador to Australia. Look forward to seeing you in Canberra, Harry!” This…
-
ABC gives up papers – and duty of journalism
Gutless ABC abandons the first duty of journalism The ABC began the week with a brilliant “scoop” of getting its hands on a truckload of secret documents chucked out by the Prime Minister’s and Cabinet Department in Canberra. The ABC gave its audience just ONE story – that the Abbott Government and former immigration minister…
-
Crimes of the American mainstream media
A case history of recent crimes by America’s mainstream media Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter James Risen has written an insider’s account of the ugly side of the paper’s skewed editorial policy. It makes unpleasant reading for all those who are infatuated with the belief that the venerable NYT, aka the “grey ghost”, is a…
-
Hollywood massacres the Pentagon Papers story
The Post: Hollywood’s massacre of the Pentagon Papers story Hollywood is America’s dream factory. It has been selling its version of American exceptionalism and superiority to the world for almost 100 years. Since my days in short trousers and bare feet I’ve been addicted to movies of all sorts, American, British and Australian. However, it has taken…
-
The rorting of NSW elections
How elections are rorted – NSW politician reveals all With voters going to the polls in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia in the next 12 months, NSW in March 2019 and the likelihood of a snap Federal Election at any time, one’s thoughts naturally turn to the repeated crime of voter rorting. All the major…
-
Oprah and the end of the American century
Oprah, The Rock, Beyonce and Marge Simpson, please join the White House race in 2020 When I somewhat rashly predicted two years ago that a Republican victory in the US presidential election would see the USA fall apart within five years and within 10 years if the Democrats won, I was laughed out of court. Who’s…