Good boy post.

SUCH A GOOD BOY, MAX! He stayed with his 3-year-old human who was lost near Warwick last night while we frantically searched for her. For keeping her safe, you're now an honorary police dog. 🐶https://t.co/QiszGFP4gg via @ABCNews pic.twitter.com/xxRc6ndeaK

— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) April 21, 2018

I must have seen this story dozens of times yesterday on the internet, and finally it just wore me down until I posted it.

This is what love is.

What devotion is.

What selflessness is.

Dammit, now I want a dog.

Just another reminder that Australia solved the problem of mass shootings.

In 1996, Australia enacted strict gun laws. It hasn't had a mass shooting since. https://t.co/KzqngxRzjI pic.twitter.com/qSU2hiUURQ

— Slate (@Slate) October 3, 2017

And this means it is once again time to remember Jim Jefferies amazing bit on gun control.

Part one.

Part two.

It can be done.

We've seen it.

The question is whether or not the American people have the courage to do it.

Transcripts reveal that during his first phone call to the Mexican President Donald Trump begged him to stop saying that Mexico would not pay for his wall.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

President Trump made building a wall along the southern U.S. border and forcing Mexico to pay for it core pledges of his campaign. 

But in his first White House call with Mexico’s president, Trump described his vow to charge Mexico as a growing political problem, pressuring the Mexican leader to stop saying publicly that his government would never pay. 

“You cannot say that to the press,” Trump said repeatedly, according to a transcript of the Jan. 27 call obtained by The Washington Post. Trump made clear that he realized the funding would have to come from other sources but threatened to cut off contact if Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto continued to make defiant statements. 

The funding “will work out in the formula somehow,” Trump said, adding later that “it will come out in the wash, and that is okay.” But “if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that.”

(Of course ultimately Trump had to live with that because the wall is now supposedly being paid for by the American taxpayers.)

In the actual transcripts President Nieto made a rather salient point that Trump seems to have glossed over:  

And let me tell you that a lot of what is happening in terms of traffickers in Mexico is being largely supported by the illegal amounts of money and weapons coming from the United States.

What seems to be lost in Trump's rhetoric is that the border crossings go both ways, and that the money and illegal guns being smuggled into Mexico are at least as big a problem for them, and Mexican drugs are for us.

Trump also made this admission:

Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important talk about. 

In other words Trump had painted himself into a corner with his braggadocio and he was begging President Nieto to help him save face.

However believe it or not this was not the most difficult call that Trump would make to a foreign leader: 

The Jan. 28 call with Turnbull became particularly acrimonious. “I have had it,” Trump erupted after the two argued about an agreement on refugees. “I have been making these calls all day, and this is the most unpleasant call all day.” 

Apparently Trump got his shorts in bunch over the idea of accepting refugees into the country:

“This is going to kill me,” he said to Turnbull. “I am the world’s greatest person that does not want to let people into the country. And now I am agreeing to take 2,000 people.” 

(Actually the number was 1,250 that President Obama had agreed to take to help alleviate the suffering of his fellow human beings who had been displaced by war and persecution.)

“I hate taking these people,” Trump said. “I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now. They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people” 

Turnbull tried to salvage the deal, noting that the detainees were economic refugees who had not been accused of crimes. He explained that they were being denied entry into Australia because of a policy aimed at discouraging human smuggling. 

“There is nothing more important in business or politics than a deal is a deal,” Turnbull said. “You can certainly say that it was not a deal that you would have done, but you are going to stick with it.” 

Trump only became angrier, saying the refugees could “become the Boston bomber in five years.” 

“I think it is a horrible deal, a disgusting deal that I would have never made,” Trump said. “As far as I am concerned, that is enough, Malcolm. I have had it.” 

With that Trump abruptly ended the call. But not before telling the Australian Prime Minister who he DID enjoy talking with.

Before ending the call, Trump noted that at least one of his conversations that day had gone far more smoothly. “Putin was a pleasant call,” Trump said, referring to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. “This is ridiculous.”

Keep in mind, before anybody calls this fake news, that this is from the White House's own transcripts which were leaked to the Post.

So yes America, THAT is the guy who is now leading this country.

And finally leave it to an Australian journalist to perfectly sum up Trump's trip to the G20 Summit. Update!

What did we learn about @realDonaldTrump at this #G20? @CUhlmann explains. #Insiders pic.twitter.com/TGOXdiFWhB

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) July 8, 2017

I wish that OUR journalists would be as frank when discussing Donald Trump's bullshit.

Update: Here is the transcript.

What we already knew is that the President of the United States has a particular skill set, that he's identified an illness in Western democracies, but he has no cure for it and seems intent on exploiting it – and we've also learned that he has no desire and no capacity to lead the world. 

The G20 became the G19 as it ended. On the Paris climate accords, the US was left isolated and friendless. But given that was always going to happen, a deft president would have found an issue which he could rally most of the leaders. And he had the perfect one – North Korea's missile tests. So where was the G20 statement condemning North Korea which would have put pressure on China and Russia? Other leaders expected it. They were prepared to back it, but it never came. 

There's a tendency among some hopeful souls to confuse the speeches written for Trump with the thoughts of the man himself – he did make some interesting, scripted observations in Poland about defending the values of the West. And he's in a unique position. He's the one man who has something to do something about it. But it's the unscripted Trump that's real: a man who barks out vile in a 140 characters, who wastes his precious days as president at war with the West institutions like the judiciary, independent agencies and the free press. He was an uneasy, lonely, awkward figure at this gathering and you got the strong sense some of the leaders are trying to find the best way to work around him. 

Donald Trump's a man that craves power because it burnishes his celebrity. To be constantly talking and talked about is all that really matters and there is no value placed on the meaning of words, so what's said one day can be discarded the next. 

So what did we learn? We learn that Donald Trump has pressed fast forward on the decline of the United States as a global leader. He managed to isolate his nation, to confuse and alienate his allies and to diminish America – he will cede that power to China and Russia. Two authoritarian states that will forge a very different set of rules for the 21st century. Some will cheer the decline of America. But I think we'll miss it when it's gone. And that's the biggest threat to the values of the West which he claims to hold so dear.

As they say in Australia, good on ya Mate. 

Australia's number one religion is "No Religion."

Courtesy of Buzzfeed News:

The proportion of people reporting no religion increased to 30.1% in 2016 – up from 22% five years ago, and nearly double the 16% reported in 2001. Those aged from 18 to 34 were most likely to report not having a religion (39%) than other age groups. 

Those aged 65 years and over were more likely to report a religious affiliation. 

Christianity is still the most common religion (52% of Australians identified as any of the Christian denominations) but has been declining in popularity in Australia for the past 50 years – in 1966, 88% of Australians identified as Christian and by 1991 it was 74%.

 Just more good news on the march toward global enlightenment.

Hopefully America will soon catch up, though at last count there were still only 22.9% of us.

Donald Trump congratulates Australian Prime Minister on their superior single payer health care system on day that Republicans vote to repeal Obamacare.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

While answering questions about the House of Representatives' vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act Thursday, Trump said Australia's health care system was better than the one in the US.

"Deductibles are going to come down. It's going to be fantastic health care," Trump said of the Republican-backed American Health Care Act. "Right now Obamacare is failing." 

"I shouldn't say this to our great gentleman and my friend from Australia, because you have better health care than we do," Trump continued. "We're going to have great health care very soon."

Actually no we won't, as explained by Sherrod Brown in multiple tweets listing the  preexisting conditions that will cause your health care costs to go through the roof under Trumpcare.

However if Trump and his Republican sycophants want to discuss the possibility of a single payer heath care system I think they will find plenty of eager Democrats willing to work that out with them.

After all even Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer believes that will be where all of this ends up: 

"We had seven years of ObamaCare, a change in expectations, and I would predict in less than seven years we'll be in a single-payer system." 

Considering how freaked out the Republicans were about Obamacare, can you even begin to imagine how hysterical they will be when the country forces them to vote on a single payer system?

Donald Trump's silence on the CIA hack is deafening.

Shhh, nothing to see here.

Courtesy of 9 News: 

In the past few days, Donald Trump has tweeted about Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vladimir Putin, ExxonMobil and wire-tapping. 

But in the wake of the biggest national security leak since Edward Snowden, both Trump and his White House have been decidedly silent. 

Trump has not spoken or tweeted about the 8761 documents and files published by Wikileaks overnight that presents a scathing expose of the intelligence-gathering methods of the CIA. 

It's unusual for an administration to keep mum about such a revelation. The White House could have accused Wikileaks of fabricating the evidence, or have expressed their concern about the privacy breaches, or have offered their resolute support to the CIA. 

But by doing nothing, Trump is leaving the CIA out in the cold. 

So this is from an Australian news outlet but when I read it I thought that they asked a very good question;  "Why hasn't the Twitter tyrant tweeted about this?"

Which by the way goes right along with "Why doesn't Donald Trump EVER criticize Russia for anything that they do either?"

Staying away from any conspiracy theories one might assume that Trump is waiting for more details before he responds, but then of course you would then remember that he accused President Obama of tapping his phones based on a Breitbart article with absolutely NO real facts to back it up.

Okay so then if you got just a little more conspiratorial you might think that since he is having this ongoing battle with the intelligence agencies maybe he is secretly glad that the Russians hacked the CIA and released the data on Wikileaks, but realizes that gloating about it publicly is not exactly a good idea.

However if you go right ahead and take the plunge into the "conspiracy" pool you might assume that since we have been told that Trump is helping the Russians target American journalists, that he is also working with them to go after American intelligence agencies that he also considers his opponents.

Which of course would mean that none of this surprised him in the least, and in fact he was aware that it would come out to deflect from news that these same intelligence agencies are set to testify in front of Congress on March 20th.

Diving a little deeper we might then come to the realization that Trump is in fact an active Russian spy currently working with, if not for, Vladimir Putin and helping him scoop up all kinds of damaging intelligence while also undermining our democracy from within.

But of course those are just conspiracy theories, right?

Right?

So yesterday Donald Trump hung up on the Australian prime minister and threatened to invade Mexico. How was your Wednesday? Update!

First this from CNN: 

During the US President's call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday, Trump objected to an agreement over the US receiving refugees, sources told CNN. All this a day after a call with Mexico's President, where a transcript showed Trump complaining about Mexico's "handling" of "tough hombres." 

Australia is an ally of the United States, with the two countries joining three other English-speaking countries in an intelligence sharing arrangement known as the "Five Eyes."

The disagreement came as the two leaders discussed an agreement, reached under the Obama administration, for the US to accept refugees from Australia who are living on islands in detention centers off the mainland due to strict government policies.

Sources say Trump insisted it was a very bad deal for the US to take 2,000 refugees and that one of them was going to be the next Boston bomber. 

Turnbull told Trump several times the agreement was for 1,250 refugees, not 2,000. He also said Australia was asking to submit them to the US for refugee screening, and if the refugees did not pass the US screening process, they would not come.

Ultimately Trump ended the call in frustration, and then later tweeted this out:

Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017

Once again, it is not "thousands" but rather 1,250.

But get this, that was not even the worst of Trump's phone calls with our allies.

Courtesy of the AP:  

President Donald Trump threatened in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart to send U.S. troops to stop "bad hombres down there" unless the Mexican military does more to control them itself, according to an excerpt of a transcript of the conversation obtained by The Associated Press. 

"You have a bunch of bad hombres down there," Trump told Pena Nieto, according to the excerpt given to AP. "You aren't doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn't, so I just might send them down to take care of it." 

A person with access to the official transcript of the phone call provided only that portion of the conversation to The Associated Press. The person gave it on condition of anonymity because the administration did not make the details of the call public.

Both the Mexican government and the Trump administration tried to do a little  damage control, however this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast Trump made these remarks: 

"The world is in trouble, but we're going to straighten it out, OK? That's what I do - I fix things," Trump said after saying that freedom of religion was threatened. 

"Believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls I'm having - don't worry about it. Just don't worry about it," he said.

"We're taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. It's not going to happen anymore," he said.

Actually I think I WILL worry about it. Quite a lot actually.

Remember these are FRIENDLY nations, just try to imagine how Trump is talking to countries that we don't consider allies.

Update: If you are looking for a leak concerning Trump's conversation with Putin, well you are unlikely to ever see that.

.@ilanberman: "there was no readout of the Trump-Putin call bc WH turned off recording" - Kremlin readout is very positive @BPC_Bipartisan pic.twitter.com/oi4v1R5dN0

— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) February 1, 2017

Oops!

Yesterday we mourned, today we protest. Update!

THIS IS WHAT a plane full of women who are ready to resist the Trump agenda LOOKS LIKE pic.twitter.com/jqLPNE9VOh

— ann friedman (@annfriedman) January 20, 2017

Courtesy of Vox:

The Women’s March on Washington on Saturday is set to be huge, drawing more charter bus permit applications than the actual Inauguration Day — of President Donald Trump — it’s protesting and more than 220,000 committing to going on Facebook. 

In fact, the protests look to be so big that currently airplanes full of women are flying to Washington, DC, to join the demonstrations.

Estimates are that the number of anti-Trump protesters today are going to far outnumber the people who showed up for yesterday's inauguration.

Speaking of yesterday's inauguration, get a load of this:

#Inauguration crowd size? The difference in pictures. pic.twitter.com/SulfzccOyc

— Dan Gross (@DanJGross) January 20, 2017

Trump is so embarrassed by this that he has ordered the Interior Department (Who provided the side by side comparison.) to stop tweeting.

By the way these "Sister Marches," as they have been named , are already underway here in America and in other places like Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Big cheers on 7th street at the enormous crowd gets its first look down the hill at the even bigger crowd in the mall. #WomensMarch pic.twitter.com/aXGZRlOL7s

— James West (@jameswest2010) January 21, 2017

Up here in Alaska we have several of these planned all OVER the state, with the one in Anchorage starting around 10"30 AM our time.

 People have been asking what they can do, well this is a great start.

In fact I worked all of yesterday to find a way to attend the Anchorage march myself, but work responsibilities are unfortunately going to keep me close to home.

However I will continue to cover today's protests and to spread the word for this and other protests to come.

Remember, they might be able to stifle the Interior Department, but they can't shut us all up.

And they have only just begun to hear our voices raised in protest.

P.S. By the way, men are perfectly welcome to these "Sister Marches" as well, as the great Nick Offerman explains quite eloquently to jerkwad extreme Piers Morgan.

Update: Take a look at this.

Per @womensmarch organizers, they're increasing today's turnout estimates to 500,000 participants. Be patient & kind! #WomensMarch

— Deputy Mayor Donahue (@SafeDC) January 21, 2017

I have not yet seen reliable estimates on the inauguration crowd size but I would not at all be surprised if this march had already exceeded it.

And that does not even count the marches happening around the world.

Update 2: Another woman offers her support.

Thanks for standing, speaking & marching for our values @womensmarch. Important as ever. I truly believe we're always Stronger Together.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 21, 2017

The People's President.

Update 3: Women's March in Anchorage.

#WomensMarch in #Alaska pic.twitter.com/bspvBvZMAr

— Julia O'Malley (@julia_omalley) January 21, 2017

That is a damn fine turnout considering the weather.

But what can I say? You just can't keep strong women down, now can you?

Just a video of Donald Trump humiliating and manhandling a former Miss Universe in front of an audience in Sydney, Australia.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Revenge has been a fixture of Donald Trump’s corporate speeches for years. It almost always comes up as he offers advice to his audience on how to succeed in business, and usually includes a Rosie O’Donnell anecdote. 

But at one speech in Sydney in October 2011, he decided to give the audience a live example of what revenge looks like by calling a woman he felt had slighted him onstage and sexually humiliating her in front of thousands of onlookers.

“Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe that,” he begins, receiving a round of applause and cheers. 

“I’ll give you an example: Jennifer Hawkins. Where’s Jennifer? Where’s she sitting? Get over here, Jennifer,” Trump says, referring to the 2004 Miss Universe winner, who is Australian. “First of all, how beautiful is Jennifer? This is about getting even.” 

Trump then explains why he needs to “get even” with Hawkins, whom he accuses of declining to introduce him at the event. “I was so angry at her yesterday. Seriously, as I said, I thought that she dissed me. I thought that my Jennifer ― I’m going around saying she’s my favorite Miss Universe, but I think I like the new one better, Jennifer. So I go around saying she’s the greatest ... then when I came here, there was no Jennifer Hawkins to introduce me.” 

As you can see in the video Hawkins tries to explain herself but Trump dismisses her and at one point physically pushes her away from the microphone while he continues to  insult and demean her.

And when all is said and done what does he try to do?

He grabs her, gropes her, and tries to kiss her.

Just the fact that this POS brags that he has to "get even" with people, and "screw them back 10 times as hard," should be more than enough to disqualify him from running for the job of Commander-in-Chief.

But then to watch him mistreat a woman like this in front of a bunch of strangers just proves that he has no respect for over half of the human beings living in the country that he wants to lead.

Hillary Clinton thinks a gun buyback program is worth considering. That popping sound you hear are Ammosexual heads exploding all over the country.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

It's "worth considering" whether the United States should emulate Australia by instituting a national gun buyback program, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Friday at a town hall in New Hampshire. 

A man in the audience asked Clinton whether she thought it would be possible for the U.S. to enact such a program, and if not, why. Gun buybacks have happened at the metropolitan level in the U.S., but any effort at the national level would be sure to run into intense political opposition. 

Clinton, for her part, seemed open to the idea. 

"Australia is a good example, Canada is a good example, the U.K. is a good example. Why? Because each of them have had mass killings" she said. "Australia had a huge mass killing about 20, 25 years ago, Canada did as well, so did the U.K. And, in reaction, they passed much stricter gun laws."

Damn  Hillary is really throwing down on this gun issue, and I could not be more pleased.

Clearly she has decided that the NRA is going to go after her anyway, and that their members will never vote for her, so she is going to make sure they have a reason to dislike her.

Just for me personally that fact that she is taking such politically risky positions on guns, is making me like more all the time.

Go Hillary!

This is what some Christians consider courage in the face of gun violence in this country.

Of course Sarah Palin never had an original idea in her life, so this one seems to have come from presidential hopeful Ben Carson.

It is shameful that Palin and Carson would use this tragedy to further the myth of Christan persecution instead of addressing the actual problem.

And speaking of the actual problem Carson has something incredibly ignorant to say about that as well.

Courtesy of Breitbart: 

“Well, obviously, there are going to be those who are going to be calling for gun control,” Carson said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Thursday. “But you know, that happens every time we have one of these incidents. Obviously, that’s not the issue. The issue is the mentality of these people. And we need to be looking at the mentality of these individuals and seeing if there are any early warning clues that we can gather that will help us as a society to be able to identify these people ahead of time.”

Okay let me lay a little truth on this moron.

The VAST MAJORITY of gun deaths are not perpetrated by individuals with a diagnosed mental illness, and in fact most of them would easily pass a mental health screening.

The fact is that people get angry, sad, jealous, and scared.

Most often these are a temporary state of mind. And eventually this person will get over it and live a relatively healthy and long life.

However when firearms are readily available it provides the means to turn what is a minor glitch in a person's state of mind into a life altering event.

When Australia was confronted with their own gun massacre, they did not dick around talking about mental health, they passed some comprehensive laws. Which included the following:

At the heart of the push was a massive buyback of more than 600,000 semi-automatic shotguns and rifles, or about one-fifth of all firearms in circulation in Australia. The country’s new gun laws prohibited private sales, required that all weapons be individually registered to their owners, and required that gun buyers present a “genuine reason” for needing each weapon at the time of the purchase. (Self-defense did not count.) In the wake of the tragedy, polls showed public support for these measures at upwards of 90 percent.

The end result was a dramatic decrease in gun related deaths, including by suicide. And perhaps most dramatic of all is that there has not been ONE mass shooting since the laws were put in place.

So if Sarah Palin and Ben Carson want to show their courage, then they should put down those ridiculous signs and instead call on their followers to defy the NRA and write to their Representatives to tell them to start working on some comprehensive legislation that will keep students safe in their classrooms, movie goers safe in their seats, and Americans safe while walking down the streets of their own neighborhoods.

This is the country we live in today. 

Source

 And if we want to change that, we need to stop being such candy asses and get serious about taking on a lobby that cares more about selling guns than it does about human lives.

I totally agree with this morning host in Australia.

Courtesy of Medaite:  

Stefanovic: I am never going back into the water. 
Wilkinson: Me neither. No way. 
Stefanovic: That’s it. That’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen.
 Wilkinson: Stuff summer. 
Stefanovic: No, let’s go to the local pool… Look at the size of that thing!

Holy shitballs that thing is huge!

I have never been to Australia, but I did live in Hawaii for a year while going to college.

My favorite pastime was snorkeling which I did every chance I could get.

But the thing was that every time I saw a school of fish I heard this in my head "Duuun dun duuun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun BOM BOM dun dun dun dun dun dun doo dedoo doo dedoo dede doo dede doo dededoo."(For those who don't read music.)

And that freaked me out so much that I would start to panic a little and invariably it sent me swimming back toward shore convinced that at any minute I was going to feel one of my legs get ripped right off.

If I had seen a shark like the one in the video, I would never have even washed my hands in the sink again.

Yet another horrific mass shooting in "The greatest nation on earth."

Eight bodies found in Houston home after standoff with suspect http://t.co/11TAWC0wxQ #KSATnews pic.twitter.com/fi7pr1NPSd

— KSAT 12 (@ksatnews) August 9, 2015

Courtesy of The Washington Post: 

Houston authorities have charged a 48-year-old man with multiple counts of capital murder after deputies discovered the bodies of six children and two adults in a home where the man was arrested. 

The man, David R. Conley, allegedly was involved in a standoff with deputies that ended when he was coaxed out of the home by hostage negotiators without incident, according to the Houston Chronicle. 

Once deputies entered the residence, they discovered the gruesome scene. 

“He restrained, shot and killed eight people,” Celeste Byrom, an assistant district attorney, said during a court hearing Sunday in which Conley was ordered held without bail, according to the Chronicle. 

Byrom said Conley gained access to the home through an unlocked window and restrained his victims using handcuffs before shooting them in the back of the head, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.

Apparently Conley, who has a history of violence, had previously been in a relationship with one of the victims, Valerie Jackson.

On fact one of the victims, a thirteen year old boy, is believed to be the son Conley had with Jackson.

Can we not go at least one week in this country without yet another report of a horrendous massacre involving a gun?

And let us remind ourselves once again that after Australia's 1996 Port Arthur massacre their politicians bravely said "No more fucking guns!" And there has not been a mass killing since. 

It can be done, we just lack the will, and perhaps the intelligence, to do it.

John Oliver, Australia, and gun control, how could that NOT be entertaining?

This was posted on the thread following Friday's story about the conviction of Colorado theater shooter James Holmes, and I felt it was high time it was posted again here on IM.

Yes this seems like the appropriate time to revisit Jim Jefferies bit on gun control.

I posted a version of this before, but I think with recent events it is well worth listening to again.

And remember folks, totally NSFW.

Australia bans all religious exemptions for vaccinations.

Courtesy of the Guardian:  

Doctors will be given incentive payments so that parents stick to their children’s vaccination schedule, and the one religious exemption to vaccinations will end, as part of a push by the federal government to boost the immunisation rate. 

Social services minister Scott Morrison on Sunday announced that the only religious group currently able to claim religious exemptions for vaccinations, Christian Scientists, will no longer be able to do so. 

Morrison said the exemption, in place since 1998, “is no longer current or necessary and will therefore be removed”. 

“Having resolved this outstanding matter, the government will not be receiving nor authorising any further vaccination exemption applications from religious organisations,” he said. 

Families will still be able to claim exemptions to vaccinations on medical grounds. “This will remain the sole ground for exemption under the Coalition government,” Morrison said.

I think this is a stellar idea, and America needs to follow suit. 

To my mind there should never be any objection based on faith to practices that positively impact the well being of the community as a whole, or the individual personally.

This also goes for the Jehovah Witnesses refusal of blood transfusions, choosing faith healing over scientific medicine, and buying truckloads of weapons and ammunition in deference to that religious text known as the 2nd Amendment.

Facts should dictate our choices in all things, not superstition or fear of angering somebody's god.

Jim Jeffries bit on guns in America is pitch perfect.

Okay if you are not familiar with Jim Jeffries, a word of warning, he uses a lot of NSFW language.

A LOT of NSFW language.

However he is incredibly funny, and raucously crude.

Jeffries take on gun control is especially interesting considering the fact that he was once attacked on stage and sliced in the head with a machete during a home invasion.

I guess it takes more than that to terrify an Aussie enough for them to buy a gun.

(H/T to AATTP.)

Australian Atheists offer to help others "escape" religion.

Here is the billboard put up by Sidney Atheists.

And here is their press release concerning the billboards: 

Have you escaped religion? We have! 

Most of the members of Sydney Atheists once belonged to a religion. With the benefit of a comprehensive and usually critical education, particularly in the areas of science, history, geography, philosophy and religion we have discovered the fallacies of religions. It is a great challenge for many to escape the religious indoctrination that most of us have suffered, usually from birth. 

We have members who once belonged to religions ranging from Judaism, Christianity and Islam to Hinduism and Sikhism. It stands to reason that because all religions make the claim that they are somehow uniquely correct in their supernatural claims, they are all simply false belief systems that deny the realities of the universe, life in general and particularly the place of humanity on this earth. 

Sydney Atheists invite those who are trapped by religious belief to escape the bounds and strictures of their religions to gain freedom of thought, deed and a better life, governed by morals that are determined through rational, humane and skeptical thinking and the just laws of the land.

I used to have serious doubts about how much this kind of thing really helps.

However lately I have become somewhat of a convert after reading testimonials from people on the internet about how helpful it was to leave their religions after discovering that there was already a community of non-believers ready to offer support.

Hey anything that helps to let others see that a life without religion is not only possible, but amazing seems like a good idea to me.

Australian comedian explains reverse racism. Absolutely worth your time to hear.

I had never heard of this comedian before but his explanation is so spot on that I thought it was worth sharing.