OPINION: Naomi Klein addresses ECB at Blockupy 2015: "You're vandalism is planetary in scale"

"The fight against austerity and the fight for a safe and stable environment is the same fight and we need to be fighting side by side"

"So I have a special message to the ECB (European Central Bank) today. You are the true vandals, but you work on a much larger canvas. You're vandalism is planetary in scale. You don't set fire to cars, you are setting the world on fire." Naomi Klein stated, as part of the Blockupy 2015 movement against the opening of a new European Central Bank building in Frankfurt, Germany.

While the GFC is almost a decade behind us, Germany with assistance from the Troika (3 financial forces in Europe being, ECB, IMF & EC) continues implementing austerity measures against European allies. Greece most notably recently elected the left wing government 'SYRIZA' after mass opposition grew against the austerity measures implemented against their country that have done nothing to lift Greece out of recession. 

OPINION: Cate Blanchett is an Alien? Apparently.

In an interview on The Project to promote her new film "Cinderella" - in which Cate Blanchett plays the Stepmother - Jonathan Hyla asks quite possibly the most diabolical question. "Serious question", ok that's a good start "how were you able to get that cat to do what you wanted to on a leash? I tried put my girlfriends cat on a leash and it just never works for me."

How indeed Ms Blanchett... you have a lot of explaining to do. That cat walking skill certainly take a certain 'jena se qou' that no other Australian has mastered and must be the highlight of your career.

Cate answers in the only reasonable way possible "That's your question? That's you fucking question?"

Not only was it his question, but the end of the interview.

REPOST: The Warming World: Is Capitalism Destroying Our Planet?

World leaders decided in Copenhagen that global warming should be limited to 2 degrees Celsius. Achieving that target, though, would take nothing less than a miracle. With another round of climate negotiations approaching, it is becoming increasingly clear that mankind has failed to address its most daunting problem.

Humans are full of contradictions, including the urge to destroy things they love. Like our planet. Take Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Like everyone living Down Under, he's extremely proud of his country's wonder of the world, the Great Barrier Reef. At the same time, though, Abbott believes that burning coal is "good for humanity," even though it produces greenhouse gases that ultimately make our world's oceans warmer, stormier and more acidic. In recent years, Australia has exported more coal than any other country in the world. And the reef, the largest living organism on the planet, is dying. Half of the corals that make up the reef are, in fact, already dead.

POLITICS: 5 Ways Data Retention will Silence Journalists & Whistleblowers

The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2014, or 'Data Retention' bill, if passed will be the third installment of sweeping powers granted to Australian intelligence agencies. It will mean that every move you make, every call you take, the government will be watching you.

How then does this ubiquitous data retention impede the role of journalists, specifically investigative journalists and political reporters, and whistleblowers?

Reason 1: Meta Data Theft

Mandatory data retention requires Internet Service Providers (ISP) and Telecom companies to store data for 2 years. 

Does this then pose a risk of being hacked? According to the Executive Officer of Electronic Frontier Australia (EFA), Jon Lawrence, 'yes', responding to questions he stated:

"What this is doing is so comprehensive that the info will be held at many different organisations that have varying levels of security, many of those won't be as sophisticated as Telstra, and even Telstra has security problems. The reality is that this information will be compromised, no question about it."