Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Accuses Ted Yoho Of Using Wife, Daughters as a 'Shield' For His Misogyny

CSPAN VIDEO https://theslot.jezebel.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-accuses-ted-yoho-of-using-wife-1844482456

Ashley Reese

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t want an apology, she wants respect.

On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez delivered a speech at the House of Representatives addressing a verbal attack she received by her Republican colleague, Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida, two days prior. Yoho called Ocasio-Cortez a “fucking bitch” on the steps of Capitol Hill. He was reportedly furious that Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged the correlation between crime and societal neglect and said that “policing is not a solution to crime” during a virtual town hall in June. Yoho also called Ocasio-Cortez “disgusting” and “out of [her] freaking mind.”


Yoho gave a non-apology on the House floor Wednesday, saying that he was sorry for the “abrupt manner of the conversation” he had with Ocasio-Cortez.

“It is true that we disagree on policies and visions for America, but that does not mean we should be disrespectful,” Yoho said.

“Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of my language,” he added. “The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues, and if they were construed that way, I apologize for the misunderstanding.”

Ocasio-Cortez was unimpressed by Yoho using his wife and daughter as a “shield” for his misogyny.

“Mr. Yoho mentioned that he had a wife and two daughters,” Ocasio-Cortez said during her speech. “I am someone’s daughter too. My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho’s disrespect on the floor of this house toward me on television. And I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.”

“Having a daughter does not make a man decent,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man.”

Ocasio-Cortez also said that Yoho’s remarks are not unique, but rather a pattern of violent language and bigoted behavior that goes all the way up to the commander in chief himself (who, Ocasio-Cortez reminded viewers, told her and the rest of The Squad to “go back home”).

“I could not allow my nieces, I could not allow the little girls I go home to, I could not allow victims of verbal abuse and worse to see that excuse and to see our Congress accept it as legitimate and accept it as an apology and to accept silence as a form of acceptance.”

Other House Democrats also spoke up in defense of Ocasio-Cortez, like members of The Squad: Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

“Patriarchy is a tool of oppression that’s very much at home in the halls of this powerful institution,” Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said. “Not unlike the hostile working environments and harassment experienced by countless women across the nation who dare to speak truth to power. Today we rise for every woman that has dealt with these dynamics as a conflated part of their walking life.”

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said that this is a matter of respect and fundamental equality.

“Like Alexandria, I was raised by a dignified man who told me that I deserved equality because I was an equal human being to my brothers,” Omar said. “You don’t only respect women because they could be your mother, wife, sister. No, you respect women because they are equal human beings to you.”

Other speakers included Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Rep Brenda Lawrence, Rep. Al Green, Rep Mark Pocan, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rep. Lori Trehan, and more. The theme was consistent: Harassment, belittlement, and abuse might be a facet of the everyday lives of women, including women in the halls of Congress, but it won’t hold them back.

Green said that if he had a daughter, he would want her to be bold, courageous, and speak truth to power like Ocasio-Cortez. It’s that very boldness that has made Ocasio-Cortez a figure of ire from the right, but she continues to take their impudence in stride.

“I want to thank Yoho for showing the world that you can be a powerful man and accost women,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “You can take photos and project images of being a family man and accost women without remorse and a sense of impunity. It happens every day in this country.”


Lady Commentariat
It’s so fucking satisfying to hear her calling out the hypocrisy and non-evidential citing of wives and daughters in these kinds of statements.


Ted Yoho Is as Bad at Grammar as He Is at Apologies

Emily Alford
Yesterday 2:01PM
Filed to:GRAMMAR
For many years of my adult life, I taught freshman composition to groups of brand-new college students terrified of writing and words. One of the first lessons I taught them was a low-stakes version of sentence diagramming wherein they reduced their ideas to one person, place, or thing doing one specific action. For example, “Ted Yoho called.” From there we would work to add elements like direct objects and indirect objects in order to form sentences that would clearly and efficiently relay information to audiences. Building on my first example, “Ted Yoho called” would become “Ted Yoho called Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a fucking bitch.”

One enemy of sentence clarity is passive voice, which makes the subject of a sentence a hapless victim of the verb. New writers often use passive voice to sound more academic, and chickenshit politicians often use it to take no responsibility for their own actions. Here is an example of passive voice: “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was called a fucking bitch at work by an asshole who refuses to accept responsibility for his own words.”

Today, Ted Yoho, the congressman who called Alexandria Ocasio Cortez a fucking bitch, gave an “apology” on the House floor that also served as a master class in using language to distance oneself from one’s own mistakes:

“The offensive name calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues,” Yoho said, “and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding.”

Let’s look at that as if it were a sentence in Yoho’s first draft of a five-paragraph essay in remedial freshman comp.

First, where is the subject? As it stands, the subject in the first independent clause of this compound sentence is “Words.” Now let’s find the verb, or the action word. The verb is “attributed.” But who is attributing these words? The press. So where is Yoho in his own apology? Making a cameo cowering behind a preposition.

My suggestion, were this man to make an appointment to visit me on my office hours in order to detangle his shitty essay, would be to get his nouns as close to his verbs as possible in order to sort out the message he is trying to relay. Here’s a try:


“The press [subject] attributed [verb] offensive name calling [adjectives] words [direct object] never spoken to my colleagues [object complement] to me [Yoho, at long last! Welcome to your own apology!].”

Now in the second clause, we do find our first active subject and verb, “I apologize,” but now we must find what the subject is apologizing for, which seems to be “their misunderstanding.” But who is “they?” the audience might rightly wonder. For more information, let us go to the conditional that begins this sentence: “If they were construed in that way.” So “they” are the “offensive name calling words,” which, according to this labyrinthine sentence, have misunderstood themselves.


In order to repair the second half of this sentence, I would recommend doing away with the pronouns entirely, and moving the subject and verb to the beginning, so that the clause reads this way:


“I apologize for [the press’s] misunderstanding if [the press] misconstrued [my words] that way.”

So now let throw these fun clauses together with a conjunction and have a look at the whole apology, shall we?


“The press attributed offensive name calling words never spoken to my colleagues to me, and I apologize for the press’s misunderstanding if the press misconstrued my words that way.”

While it is awfully generous of Ted Yoho to apologize on behalf of all the press in the world for interpreting the words “fucking bitch” to mean “fucking bitch,” I’m not quite certain this thesis gets to the heart of the assignment, which was to apologize for harassing a woman at work.

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AUSTRALIA
DFAT axes contractual workers as budget faces 'structural problems'

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has axed dozens of contract staff as it faces mounting internal anxieties over its financial woes.

FAILURE OF OUTSOURCING/CONTRACTING OUT

By foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic ABC

A former DFAT staffer says contractors are "not conducive" to maintaining successful diplomatic relationships.(Supplied: DFAT/John Gollings)

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has axed dozens of contract staff as it faces mounting internal anxieties over its financial woes.

Key points:
One contractor told the ABC about 100 people had been let go, following 60 full-time staff
The Opposition has criticised the Federal Government's increased use of outside contractors
DFAT's head has said the department faces "significant pressure" on its budget, especially in light of COVID-19

Last week, the department said it would cut 60 full-time positions — 50 in Canberra and 10 overseas — to help it cope with a budget shortfall.

DFAT said it would hit that target through natural attrition rather than sacking officials.

However the ABC has been told DFAT has separately terminated several contract staffers in recent weeks, including those working in information technology (IT) and policy roles.

A former DFAT contractor told the ABC small groups of people were pulled into meetings and informed their contracts were being terminated or ended because of "budget constraints".

It is not clear how many contractors have been removed.

A second former contractor estimated about 100 people had been axed, while a third said the figure could be higher than that.

DFAT's repatriation efforts

In only a matter of days, DFAT mounted one of the largest and most complex consular exercises this country has ever undertaken to bring as many Australians home as possible due to COVID-19.Read more

In a statement, a spokesperson from the department said: "DFAT continues to be properly resourced to deliver consular and passport services, and deliver on the Government’s foreign policy, trade and development agenda.


"We also continue to responsibly manage our budget to enable us to remain on a sustainable financial footing in these difficult economic times."

The controversy has also highlighted internal unease about the way the department has used contract labour to do core diplomatic work.

While the vast majority of policy roles in DFAT are still held by full-time public servants, the ABC has been told some DFAT managers facing staffing constraints have been forced to use contractors to "fill the gap".

"Casual contracts are not conducive to maintaining enduring diplomatic relationships," one former DFAT staffer told the ABC.

Controversy over contractors is not limited to DFAT — Labor has criticised the Coalition for spending at least $2 billion on outside contractors in the past six years, accusing it of wasting money in order to avoid arbitrary staffing caps.
Some commentators have urged the Government to boost funding for Australia's diplomatic efforts.(Reuters: Darren Ornitz)
Critics say DFAT inadequately funded to fulfill operations

While DFAT has grappled with financial pressures for several years, the debate over its budget has flared suddenly in the past two weeks.

Several foreign policy heavyweights have urged the Government to boost funding for the department, saying it does critical work and needs more money to effectively tackle the expanding array of geopolitical challenges facing Australia.

Public sector unions and the Federal Opposition have also accused the Coalition of running down Australia's diplomatic network.

Asia literacy at risk


As a hard-won free trade agreement with Indonesia comes into effect, and concerns grow about Australia's economic reliance on China, experts warn Australia's Asia literacy is likely to suffer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Read more

One official told the ABC DFAT's budget was facing "structural problems".

They said the Federal Government had directed the department to expand its operations in several key areas but had not given DFAT additional funding to cover it.

The coronavirus pandemic has also placed financial pressure on the department, which has provided flights and accommodation to several-hundred overseas staffers and family members.

Last week, the acting secretary of DFAT told staff in a memo "the department's budget continues to be under significant pressure and this will only increase".

That memo was leaked to the media, frustrating senior officials.

Earlier this week, DFAT secretary Frances Adamson warned staff not to send internal notes to the press.

Related Stories

DFAT to slash 60 positions to cope with increased budget pressures


Federal bureaucracy dismissed thousands of staff just before the pandemic hit


The growing list of companies shedding jobs in coronavirus-hit economy


How the Government is bringing thousands of Australians home during a pandemic

AUSTRALIA
Drones for mustering improves safety and efficiency on rural properties

QLD Country Hour / By Meg Bolton

Will Wilson says his cattle don't mind being moved by drone.

(ABC Rural: Meg Bolton)


Mustering at Calliope Station, in central Queensland, looked a little different this year. Instead of employing three men on quad bikes, Will Wilson did the job single-handed with a drone.

Key points:

One station owner used drones to muster cattle this year and says it's a safer alternative than horses and quad bikes

Quad bikes are a leading cause of deaths and injuries on farms in Australia
Drones are also being used to check crops and water levels

Mr Wilson is one of hundreds of Queensland farmers now using drone technology to make their operations safer and more efficient.

"We are noticing on paddocks that are 3,000 acres and less, they're pretty efficient, save a fair bit of labour, and it make it safer for the men because they're not put at risk," Mr Wilson said.

"We have had injuries off motorbikes before and obviously horses before that [but] so far I've crashed a drone a few times and I still haven't hurt myself."
A safe alternative

Quad bikes are a leading cause of deaths and injuries on farms in Australia, prompting State and Federal Governments to impose safety regulations.

Farmsafe Australia chairman Charlie Armstrong said drones had the potential to make agriculture safer, which was the focus of Farm Safety Week from July 20 to 25.

"Anything that can substitute for a dangerous vehicle or a dangerous machine such as a quad bike and do the job just as effectively is obviously valuable," he said.
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"Rollovers occur from mostly unforeseen circumstances and the stability of the machine.

"One engineer described quad bikes as 'being more stable upside down than the right side up' so that gives you an indication of how easy it is to roll.

"The more we can be thinking about safety and thinking about what could happen, the better off we will be, and many more people will come home for dinner at night."
Cattle friendly

Mr Wilson says drones reduced mustering to a one-man job, and were safer and more labour efficient than quad bikes.(ABC Rural: Meg Bolton)

Mr Wilson said while reducing mustering to a one-man job was safer and more labour efficient, the drone also had a positive effect on the cattle.

"Cattle build a better methodology about humans and work better with you," he said.

"We try to not move our weaners with anything but the drones and it changes their way of thinking [as] they're not running and scared.

"They get to understand when this thing, 'Louie the Fly', is buzzing in their ear, they're probably going to get some fresher foods and it certainly helps their mentality."

Mr Wilson said the cattle responded to the drone like they would a swarm of flies.

"It doesn't seem to be about the size or the noise, it's just an annoying fly that they move together," he said.

"If you have a fly problem, cattle will mob up and this is just a big one of them and it happens to push them in the right direction."

Creating new roles

Mr Wilson had flown drones for the past three years but this year was his first complete muster. He said it could become a permanent practice.

"I'm thinking seriously about a position of someone mustering with the drone full time actually … so it's a new type of job, I guess," he said.

But he said there was a limit to what drones could achieve.

"I'm damn sure the drone can't put the cattle through the yard, so that's something that's not a robotic efficiency, it's a human thing and we aren't going to get better than that," he said.

Mr Wilson said it cost $1 per kilometre to fly a drone, factoring in battery life and the replacement of broken drones, with the cost of drone mustering in a 600-hectare paddock around $20.

"They're fairly easy to maintain. All you need is a screwdriver and a soldering iron and you can fix most mistakes," he said.
Becoming the new norm

Meg Kummerow saw a need to help farmers use drones more effectively, when she set up her business Fly the Farm.

Meg Kummerow saw a need to help farmers use drones more effectively, when she set up her business Fly the Farm.(ABC Southern Queensland: David Chen)

"Drones are becoming more popular within agriculture and it's all to do with productivity and profitability," Ms Kummerow said.

"If farmers can see a benefit, they will bring new technology into their business."

Farmers were also using drones to check crop health and water levels.

"Particularly when it comes to cropping, drones can provide imagery that a human can't see, and in cattle or livestock it may replace a helicopter or a man on a horse or a bike," she said.

Ms Kummerow said drones would become the norm as the technology developed.

"They will grow in popularity as battery technology gets better and they can fly for longer," she said.

"The drone will be something else that they can use in the future. It will be another tool in their toolbox."

Bat woman: Ebony shares a house with some of Australia's most misunderstood creatures

ABC Science / By Zoe Kean
Posted Tuesday 14 July 2020 

If you spot a bat that has little eyes and big ears chances are it's a microbat.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

A "normal" evening in Ebony McIntosh's world often involves grooming tiny bats with a toothbrush, or perhaps watching one zoom around her lounge room.

The trained wildlife nurse is one of only a handful of Australians qualified to rehabilitate sick and injured microbats.

She got hooked on wildlife caring at age 11 after raising her first possum joey.

Ebony McIntosh has been caring for animals since she was 11 years old.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

But it wasn't until she started caring for flying foxes in Brisbane when she was 20 that she fell in love with bats and her life changed forever.

"[Bats are] definitely my biggest passion," she says.

Over the past six years she's cared for up to 150 bats at once in her home.

And as if sharing your house with bats wasn't enough, Ebony has done it while living in an actual share house.

So what's involved in bat rescue?

Hang on ... what's a microbat?

Australia has two types of bats: megabats such as flying foxes and microbats.

If you spot a bat that has little eyes and big ears, chances are it's a microbat.

There are around 80 species of microbat found across Australia.

While most microbats are tiny — many of Ebony's winged patients only weigh around 4 grams — some species such as ghost bats are the size of flying foxes.

But unlike their megabat cousins, which use their eyesight to get around, microbats use sound or echolocation to find their prey — usually insects.

A tiny microbat sits on the fingers of a carer.(Supplied: Andrew Knott)

People often only become aware they are sharing an environment with a microbat when one turns up in trouble.

"At the end of summer juveniles are learning to fly, so you get a lot of crash landings, particularly in homes," Ebony says.

"When you get really hot, dry days, people find them stuck in water, sometimes in water bowls or the kitchen sink."


"We get a lot of people calling up about a little semi-drowned bat in the bath."

Winter can also be a danger time, when bats go in and out of a mini-hibernation state called torpor.

"If they don't have enough fat supplies, they can get stuck in this state, sometimes in odd places," Ebony says.

"People will find bats on a wall and think it will go away, but it still sitting there a week later."
From rescue to rehab via ICU

When Ebony is alerted about a bat in trouble she heads to the rescue equipped with a special first aid kit that contains a soft pouch, rubber bands and a mini-wheat bag.

"It's important to start warming the bat straight away so that by the time I am home it will be warm enough to start fluid therapy (tiny amounts of fluids injected under the skin) and begin an assessment."

Things can be touch and go for a recently rescued bat.

If it looks like it is strong enough to survive it will be placed straight into a humidicrib to regulate its temperature and given fluids twice a day.


"If I had a very critically ill bat that needed checking regularly through the night I would keep it set up in my bedroom," she says.

Microbats will often enter a state of torpor when injured.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

The humidicrib stops the bat going into torpor, which is where the bats' metabolic rate and physiological activity slow right down.

"[In torpor] the healing process stops, and they can't metabolise medication. So, we have to keep them at about 32 degrees [Celsius]."

After a couple of weeks in the humidicrib it's time for boot camp and flight school.

The little bats graduate from fluids to a diet of meal worms.

And just like an injured footy player, they need rehabilitation and physio before they re-enter the fray to rebuild their strength and flying capacity.

Many bats are surprisingly clumsy with a large "turning circle", this means despite their tiny size they need a big space to flap about in so Ebony's lounge room becomes recovery flight HQ.

After a stint in ICU it's time for flight school in Ebony's lounge room.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

What's it like sharing your house with microbats?

Living with bats obviously has its challenges.

They're nocturnal for a start, and love to fly, meaning no matter how bat-proof Ebony makes an enclosure there is always a risk of escape.

"They do turn up though, usually on the curtains or in the kitchen sink," she says.


"Once I had my keep cup sitting by the sink in the morning and there was a little bat hanging in it."

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia...was such a popular bat she was immortalised with tattoos.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

Luckily, she's always managed to find housemates who are eager to share the joys of cohabiting with her bat patients.

"Usually it's been something that everyone in the house contributes to in some way," she says.

One particular bat called Marcia lived with Ebony for over a year before being released.

"She was a wonderful sassy little bat," Ebony says.

Marcia made such an impression on the share house that all the housemates got tattoos in her honour.
What about disease?

"Bats get a really bad rap. I think people see these things flying around and think they're terrifying," says Ebony.

But even as a wildlife carer, the risk of getting sick from bats is very low.


"Disease often comes from the animal trade because you have a lot of animals [close together] that are really stressed and shouldn't be consumed," Ebony says.

But, she stresses, if you see an injured bat do not to touch it. Call your local wildlife rescue group.

When a bat is first rescued it goes through a period of quarantine, and "rehabbers", like Ebony, are careful to only touch a bat while wearing protective gloves during this time.

If a bat scratches or bites someone, by law it has to be euthanised as that's the most efficient way to test for viruses.

"As someone who loves bats, I would never take the risk of getting bitten or scratched by them — it's a death sentence for the bat," she says.
Why save a bat?

They might be tiny, but they can eat their weight in insects each night.(ABC RN: Ann Jones)

It takes a lot of love and dedication to nurse a bat back to health, but is it worth it?

Microbats play a key role in the environment, predominantly controlling insect numbers, says Lisa Cawthen who studies Tasmanian bats.

"One little microbat will go out and eat up to half its body weight in insects per night," Dr Cawthen says.

"That helps our forests be healthy and helps agriculture by providing natural pest control."

But nearly half of all the microbat species across Australia are threatened.

If we cut down a tree and a colony of breeding bats are injured, that could be the entire breeding population for a species in that area," Dr Cawthen says.

"By rehabilitating them, we're giving them the best chance to go back and play that important role in the ecosystem for generations to come."

Bats are very family orientated so when they recover, they are released in the exact place they were found.

"You don't just open a box and they fly out like a bird," explains Ebony.

"They sit on a pouch that you hold above your head.

"They start chattering away and once they hear their family they fly off."

"They are the best animal to release ever."

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Climate change-driven disasters making insurance premiums too dear for farmers

Vic Country Hour / By Jane McNaughtonWednesday 15 July 2020

Peter Holding is a mixed farmer from Harden, NSW, and member of Farmers for Climate Action.(ABC News: Anna Vidot)

Australian farmers are facing increasingly frequent droughts, floods, hailstorms and bushfires, resulting in insurance premiums rising to the point where cancelling or underinsuring are the only options.

Key points:

A NSW farmer says the fossil fuel industry is effectively killing the agriculture sector
Insurance premiums are being driven to unaffordable levels by the impacts of climate change

The Insurance Council of Australia says 80 per cent of Australian homes are underinsured — and that figure's likely higher in the bush

Climate change has already cost farmers more than $1 billion since 2000, according to ABARES.

Third-generation lamb and cropping farmer Peter Holding said government inaction on global warming could have disastrous flow-on effects to the agriculture industry.

"Climate change poses a cataclysmic set of challenges for farmers," the Farmers for Climate Action member said.


"It's pretty severe and it's getting worse.

"As the frequency [of natural disasters] increases, the insurance premiums are just going to go up — there's no doubt about that."

The southern New South Wales farmer and volunteer firefighter said prolonged fire seasons are just one example of how climate change is affecting agricultural practices.

"The Canberra fires in 2003 was when we first saw the phenomenal firestorm effect," he said.

"And that's getting more common."

Fire surrounds a homestead during the Canberra fires in January 17, 2003.(Copyright: Jeff Cutting)

Rising risks, rising costs

Insurance Council of Australia spokesman Campbell Fuller said the industry was worried about the effects of man-made climate change.

"The insurance industry is very aware of concerns in the rural sector about climate change, natural disasters and about access to insurance," he said.
Find more rural news
See the latest news and information from the agriculture and mining industries, including weather and the markets, on ABC Rural.

"Insurers gather the latest available data from governments, especially around bushfire exposure and flood exposure, as well as seasonal forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology."

Mr Fuller says insurers build a robust picture of the seasonal exposure that properties have per annum, which is then is priced into premiums.

"As the climate changes, and as risks are reassessed, that logically leads to changes in premiums to reflect the risks," he said.

Effect of climate variability on average farm profits 1949-50 to 2018-19 at current farms and commodity prices.(Supplied: ABARES)

'No silver bullet'

Mr Fuller said appropriate land use and resilient infrastructure in areas of higher risk to natural disasters needed to be prioritised.

"Changes in risk that can be predicted by climate change modelling need to be taken into account," he said.

"In many parts of Australia there's plenty of evidence that primary producers are taking measures to reduce the risks to their properties into their own hands."

Eighty per cent of Australian households are underinsured, and Mr Fuller says that percentage is probably much higher in rural areas.

This banana plantation at Taylors Arm, west of Macksville, was destroyed by fire in 2019.(ABC Rural: Claire Wheaton)

"Underinsurance and non-insurance is an issue in rural areas, and it is a constant concern to the industry as well as regulators and government agencies," he said.

"When properties are not insured, communities can struggle to rebuild after natural disasters and the burden falls more heavily on charities and government in the recovery phase."

Mr Fuller said farmers were likely to insure infrastructure such as their homes, sheds and equipment, but fences, livestock and crops were less likely to be included.

"There is no real silver bullet here," he said.


"It's a combination of actions that need to take place at a community level, and involving all levels of government."

Mr Holding said the cost of premiums meant insurance was not an option for some producers.

"I've had to pull back the farm's scale an awful lot to cut debt and make sure that we're still viable," he said.

Valuable farm machinery was destroyed by fire on the Duff beef and soybean property in the Upper Macleay Valley in 2019.(Supplied: Carolyn Duff)

Fossil fuels 'undermining' agriculture

Financial strain is not the only issue climate change has delivered to farmers.

"Unfortunately we're getting less good years and a lot more variability," Mr Holding said.

"There's a lot of impacts and I can't see it stopping any time soon.

"The droughts are just continuing, since the turn of the century we've had [so many years] of drought, interlaced with floods."

This map shows the decline of winter rainfall across southern Australia over the past 20 years.(Supplied: CSIRO/BOM)

Mr Holding said although farmers had "been adapting since the day they invented the plough", it would become impossible if the rate of environmental change continued to increase.

"Cutting emissions is the only option there, and that means moving away from fossil fuels — but the government seems wedded to that," he said.


"The fossil fuel industry is creating emissions and that is slowly but surely making agriculture unviable.

"We've cut the emissions from livestock probably in half, farmers in cropping areas have done all sorts of things to reduce the use of diesel and better use fertilisers.

"So farmers are working on all of these problems to cut their own emissions, but we definitely need some quick action to reduce the emissions of fossil fuel."

Turkey’s ruling party moving to tighten grip on social media

July 21, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish president’s ruling party is submitting draft legislation to parliament that would enable the government to tighten its grip on social media, an official said Tuesday. The opposition fears the legislation will lead to greater censorship in the country.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has greatly concentrated powers into his own hands during 17 years in office, vowed this month to bring social media platforms under control following a series of tweets that allegedly insulted his daughter and son-in-law after they announced the birth of their fourth child on Twitter. At least 11 people were detained for questioning over the tweets.

The nine-article draft legislation would force social media companies with more than 1 million daily users in Turkey — such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — to establish a formal presence or assign a representative in Turkey who would be accountable to Turkish authorities legally and for tax purposes.

A social media company or its representative would also be required to respond within 48 hours to complaints about posts that violate personal and privacy rights.

The social media giants would be obliged to assign a representative within 30 days after the legislation comes into force, or face gradually increasing fines and bandwidth reductions of up to 90%, ruling party legislator Ozlem Zengin told reporters.

“We aim to put an end to insults, swearing, to harassment made through social media,” Zengin said, adding that the measures sought to “balance freedoms with rights and laws.”

“Our priority is not to close down the social media providers. We are aware of the importance in our lives,” she said.

Opposition parties, however, have expressed concerns that the government’s plans are aimed at further limiting the Turkish public’s ability to access social media and reach independent news and information in an environment dominated by pro-government media.

Thousands of websites already remain blocked in Turkey. In January, the government lifted a more than two-year ban on Wikipedia after Turkey’s top court declared it unconstitutional. Turkey halted access to the online encyclopedia after it refused to remove content the government deemed offensive. The Turkish government has also banned YouTube and Twitter in the past.

Meanwhile, at least 76 journalists and other media workers remain behind bars, according to The Journalists’ Union of Turkey. The Committee to Protect Journalists has labeled Turkey one of the world’s top jailers of journalists.

The draft bill is scheduled to be debated in the general assembly next week, Zengin added.

The legislation is expected to pass with the votes of the ruling party and its nationalist allies.

WHO warns new Ebola outbreak in Congo faces funding gap
BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) — The World Health Organization said Tuesday it is facing a “serious funding gap” to battle the new outbreak of Ebola in remote corners of northern Congo amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The $1.75 million raised so far will only last for a few more weeks, the WHO warned, adding that the response effort is particularly expensive because of how difficult it is to get health teams and supplies into the densely forested area.

Already there have been 24 deaths since the outbreak was declared on June 1. The emergence of Ebola in Congo’s northern Equateur province came just as the world’s second deadliest Ebola outbreak was nearing its end.

“The response to Ebola in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is complex, but we must not allow COVID-19 to distract us from tackling other urgent health threats,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa.

The funding shortage threatens to unravel early gains in this epidemic. When Equateur province last had Ebola cases in 2018, it took health officials two weeks to start vaccinating people. This time around, vaccination teams were mobilized within four days of the outbreak declaration, Moeti said.
No licensed vaccine existed when Ebola killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014-2016. After Ebola cases emerged in eastern Congo in August 2018, health teams eventually were able to combat the disease with two different vaccines.

Still, misinformation about those vaccines flourished in a region long wracked by armed militias. Communities fearful of outsiders in some cases refused to allow health teams in, allowing the virus to spread.

At least 2,280 people died of Ebola over the nearly two-year span of the epidemic in eastern Congo before it ended on June 25.
Previous outbreaks in northern Congo have been more limited — the 2018 one killed 33 people before it was brought under control within months.

Congolese health officials have determined through genetic sequencing that the new outbreak in the north is unrelated to the epidemic in the east,

Uganda’s Bobi Wine, urging unity, launches presidential bid

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan activist Bobi Wine has launched a new political party ahead of a presidential election in which he hopes to be the face of a united opposition against the country’s long-time leader.

The popular singer and lawmaker, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has led a political pressure group known as People Power, which has captured the imagination of many Ugandans with its calls for President Yoweri Museveni’s retirement.

Wine is calling his new party the National Unity Platform, with an umbrella as its emblem. He has been calling for a united opposition against Museveni, a U.S. ally on regional security who has led this East African country since taking power by force in 1986. The 75-year-old Museveni is increasingly accused of relying on the armed forces to stay in power.

Wine has been arrested or detained many times, including over a treason charge that he denies. With political rallies now banned, presidential aspirants play cat-and-mouse with security forces seeking to break up anti-government gatherings.

Museveni accuses Wine and other opposition figures of encouraging young people into rioting.

“We have consistently said that we are a non-violent movement and we have no plans of establishing a military wing,” Wine said in a statement. “What we are doing today is to launch a political wing of our movement so as to ensure that our mission to use the election as a strategy within the liberation struggle succeeds.”

Wine won a seat in the national assembly in 2017 as an independent candidate not backed by any of major party. His popularity grew when he opposed divisive efforts to prolong Museveni’s rule.

Museveni is eligible to seek another term next year after lawmakers removed constitutional age limits on the presidency.

This week attorneys for Museveni collected his presidential nomination papers, signaling he wants to run again. Museveni’s party insists he remains its most popular member.

But opponents such as Wine, who is 38, say corruption is thriving and accuse Museveni of personalizing power through his firm grip on the military, the most powerful institution in Uganda.

The army has become even more influential amid the coronavirus pandemic as men in military uniform enforce lockdown measures, sometimes with brutal force.

Despite criticism by some that Wine is unprepared for national leadership, he remains popular among impoverished urban dwellers and his supporters urge him to test his popularity across the country.

“If Bobi Wine cannot lead Uganda but he is the politician voters want to lead them, I do not know what anyone can do about this. Abolish democracy? Change the constitution? Jump into Lake Victoria?” said analyst Musaazi Namiti, a columnist writing in the local Daily Monitor newspaper. “Now is the time for Bobi Wine to test his popularity. He should be the candidate.”
If Wine is to credibly represent the major parties as the sole opposition candidate, he will need to strike a deal with Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential challenger who has not yet revealed his plans. Besigye and Wine announced what they called an alliance in June, although it remains unclear if one will stand down for the other to run.

Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1962.

WW3.0 AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Pompeo says US to expand Arctic role to deter Russia, China

Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, right and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo give a joint press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Pompeo arrived in Denmark on Wednesday for meetings with the country's leaders that are likely to address the construction of a disputed gas pipeline which Washington opposes. (Thibault Savary/Pool Photo via AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday the United States will become more active in the Arctic to counter growing Russian influence and thwart attempts by China to insert itself into the region.

During a brief visit to Denmark, Pompeo hailed the reopening of the U.S. Consulate in the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland and announced a new sustainable fisheries and commercial engagement agreement with the Faroe Islands, another Danish territory in the North Atlantic.

“It’s a new day for the United States in Greenland,” Pompeo told reporters at a joint news conference with Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod.

The U.S. Consulate in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, reopened in June after a decades-long hiatus. The move attracted attention because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s stated interest last year in purchasing Greenland from Denmark.

Kofod said the idea of the U.S. buying Greenland, which was roundly rejected and ridiculed by both Greenlandic and Danish officials, was not raised during his talks with Pompeo on Wednesday.

“That discussion was dealt with last year. It was not on the table,” he said.

Jenis av Rana, the Faroe Islands’ minister for culture and foreign affairs, told Danish media ahead of Kofod’s meeting with Pompeo that he was keen to discuss what role Washington sees the North Atlantic archipelago playing in the Arctic.

He also wondered about the possibility of a free trade agreement between the United States and the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory with some 52,000 inhabitants that is located north of Scotland between Iceland and Norway.

Av Rana told Danish broadcaster TV2 he was concerned the Arctic could become a battleground for the U.S. and other major global powers, including Russia and China.

“We’re very worried if the Arctic becomes a playground or a scene of war for the great powers,” av Rana said.

In his talks with Kofod, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and representatives of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Pompeo said he stressed the importance of energy independence, particularly from Russia.

The Trump administration is vehemently opposed to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. Last week, the administration warned companies involved in the project they would be subject to U.S. penalties unless they halted their work.

Denmark’s environmental agency, which had been holding up construction of the last portion of the pipeline, dropped its opposition in October, prompting the U.S. to step up its efforts to stop the project.

The 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) pipeline also is opposed by eastern European countries that say it will increase Europe’s dependence on Russia for energy.