Australia

Covid check-in data accessed by police in criminal investigations unrelated to public health

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What a surprise! The fact is that whenever Governments store data, somebody will want to use it

 

Covid check-in data accessed by police in criminal investigations unrelated to public health

Friday, 09 July 2021

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Police across the country are attempting to access personal data from mandatory COVID-19 check-in apps for reasons other than contact tracing, despite promises that the data would only be used for public health reasons.

Police in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria have all owned up to trying to access logs of data created by Australians using check-in applications as part of their investigations, and enquiries by Crikey suggest that police in other states could also access this data using a warrant.

Privacy advocates have slammed state governments for lying to Australians about what the data would be used for.

“We were told this data would only be used for contact tracing. Police made that a lie,” Electronic Frontiers Australia’s Justin Warren told Crikey. “People will remember that next time governments want us to give them data about ourselves.”

One of the major tools in fighting the spread of COVID-19 and managing outbreaks has been contact tracing, which has been aided by various tech solutions.

When the federal government first proposed the contact tracing app COVIDSafe (which used Bluetooth to log close contacts), it responded to fears of a mass surveillance state by announcing the data would not be used by police.

But adoption of a QR code check-in system — the widely used, low-tech alternative now mandatory in many places around the country — was left to states to implement. As it turns out, these states did not assume the same protections for their citizens, meaning that data volunteered in the name of public health has been accessed for other reasons.

Adam Piggott: Let Democracy Die

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A remarkably good post from Adam Piggott today about the idols we have erected.

I don’t do social media, but when I do it’s only on Gab. There are a lot of Christians on Gab, and when I chance to glance at it my feed is invariably filled with politics. At present the topics vary from Trump won, to Trump is a Jewish-controlled moron, to how this one Republican representative is the only one that gets it, (hint: she doesn’t), to something about ballot counting in Arizona, to how we need to form a real political party that represents real – insert your Anglo-Saxon nation here – and take back our nations, you get the drift.

It’s not just on Gab, it’s all around the websites and forums of the right. And I’m here to tell you that it’s the dead wrong approach. It’s not just a waste of time, it plays into the hands of the Enemy. Because democracy, our most lauded and precious democracy, is the work of the devil himself.

Democracy has no inherent moral compass. This is because all morality comes from God, and thus anything not focused on God is immoral. Our democracies were never focused on God from the beginning. They might have pertained to do so, but the separation of Church and state meant that the world turned from focusing on the spiritual to focusing on the material.

The reason that the vast mass of people are willing to subject themselves to the poison peck is because they look to government as their guide for goodness. They want to be good, (or at least to be seen to be good), but lacking their own internal moral compass due to a complete absence of personal spirituality, their only recourse for guidance is what the government tells them. The catchall is that the people in government, running the government, are in exactly the same position. They too have no moral compass. What are the substitute moral compasses of humanity today?

Read the full article here

Voluntary Assisted Dying

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CHRISTIAN MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS SAY: SIGN PETITION TO STOP EUTHANASIA

At a time when our nation should be trying to save lives and provide better aged care, new laws promoting euthanasia and assisted suicide are putting vulnerable people in danger.ADVERTISEMENT

Seeing the risk that these euthanasia laws pose to patients and medical professionals, the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia is rising up to oppose assisted suicide and to promote more ethical health care.

The Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia (CMDFA) is an organisation of doctors, dentists and associated healthcare professionals who are urging all Christians to sign a petition calling for New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian to oppose the introduction of new laws which would allow euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in NSW.

This is to oppose the new ‘Voluntary Assisted Dying’ legislation that Independent MP Alex Greenwich hopes to present to the NSW Parliament in September, after releasing a draft in July.

Greenwich argues that similar laws have now passed in Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia and New Zealand. Queensland has committed to a draft bill.

But is that any reason for NSW to jump off the same cliff?

Professor John Whitehall, National Chair of the CMDFA, is one of many medical professionals who say no.

Speaking on behalf of his CMDFA colleagues, he says:

“We have great concern for those who suffer with terminal illness and agree that end-of-life care needs to be improved. We are, however, very concerned about the recent moves across Australia to legalise euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.”

“The CMDFA agrees with the World Medical Association [an international organisation founded by physicians from 27 different countries] that the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide is unethical and must be condemned by the medical profession.

“Euthanasia is in conflict with basic ethical principles of medical practice and we reject Mr Greenwich’s suggestion that these practices constitute a form of medical care.”

Professor Whitehall points to what’s happening overseas and why legalising euthanasia can be a slippery slope:

“The experience in Canada and the US state of Oregon, where they’ve already legislated to allow euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, reveals that it is not possible to legislate in such a way that wrongful deaths do not occur.”

Here in Australia, the death toll from euthanasia is tragically rising. Whitehall says, “Our colleagues in Victoria [where euthanasia has been legalised] are reporting distress as they are asked to facilitate the ending of their patients’ lives within the healthcare system.”

It’s little wonder these caring professionals are distressed, when you look at the statistics.

A recent report shows that since the ‘Voluntary Assisted Dying Act’ commenced in Victoria in June, 2019:

  • 224 people have died from taking the prescribed medications.
  • Applicants accessing Voluntary Assisted Dying were as young as 20 years old.
  • The average age of people accessing this was 71.
  • 23 per cent had a non-malignant diagnosis (not uncontrollable or resistant to therapy).

Seeing that doctors have taken an oath to preserve life, Professor Whitehall says, “We believe it is wrong for a doctor to kill a patient or to facilitate their suicide.”

Many feel it’s particularly wrong that such practices should be proposed at this time, after the Aged Care Royal Commission revealed a significant crisis in aged care in this country. Legalising euthanasia, as Whitehall and his colleagues in the CMDFA say, is not a suitable solution where the provision of palliative care has been shown to be inadequate.

“Our goal is to transform healthcare in Australia by maintaining ethical standards of medicine and protecting the vulnerable members of our community whose lives would be put at risk by such laws,” says Professor Whitehall.

You can take a stand with Christian doctors and other healthcare professionals in the CMDFA by signing the petition to oppose the introduction of unethical laws to allow euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in NSW .

Have your say today by signing the CMDFA petition here.

Reef Fish Not Affected by Ocean “Acidification”

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Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

A few years back there was an alarming study out of James cook University claiming that the gradual decrease in ocean pH caused by higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere caused fish to radically change their behaviour.

A new study says this is not true.

From wattsupwiththat.com

James Cook University Researchers Refuted: “Ocean Acidification Does not Impair” Fish behaviour

Lower ocean pH level affecting fish?

Earlier research beginning in 2009 by Prof. Philip Munday and Danielle Dixon of Australia’s James Cook University suggested that that “ocean acidification” was having dire effects on fish behavior, thus prompting the IPCC to claim in a 2014 report that it could lead to  “profound consequences for marine diversity” and the media to put out a series of climate doomsday reports.

But the alarming research results of Munday and Dixon have since been seriously challenged by a group led by fish physiologist Timothy Clark of Deakin University in Geelong, Australia in a recent paper:

A year ago the researchers published the results of a comprehensive 3-year study in the journal of Nature in a paper titled: “Ocean acidification does not impair the behaviour of coral reef fishes“.

The paper’s abstract:

Coral reef fishes are predicted to be especially susceptible to end-of-century ocean acidification on the basis of several high-profile papers4,5 that have reported profound behavioural and sensory impairments—for example, complete attraction to the chemical cues of predators under conditions of ocean acidification. Here, we comprehensively and transparently show that—in contrast to previous studies—end-of-century ocean acidification levels have negligible effects on important behaviours of coral reef fishes, such as the avoidance of chemical cues from predators, fish activity levels and behavioural lateralization (left–right turning preference). Using data simulations, we additionally show that the large effect sizes and small within-group variances that have been reported in several previous studies are highly improbable. Together, our findings indicate that the reported effects of ocean acidification on the behaviour of coral reef fishes are not reproducible, suggesting that behavioural perturbations will not be a major consequence for coral reef fishes in high CO2 oceans.”

Die kalte Sonne reports on the new findings, noting that Clark et al repeated the trials by Munday and were unable to reproduce the results:

A team of seven scientists led by Timothy Clark of the Australian Deakin University published in  the renowned journal Nature an analysis with devastating criticism of the dramatic scenarios of the Munday group.” […]

“The group of critics also expect no negative consequences in the behaviour of the coral fish also at high levels of CO2 at the end of the 21st century.”

The James Cook University however, denies sloppy science was done by Munday and his team of scientists.

The James Cook University has been caught up in controversy, especially over the firing of researcher Prof. Dr. Peter Ridd, who claims he was sacked for expressing unpopular views.

Also read more on Munday’s controversial research here.

Covid Vaccination and Sin

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Have you had your jab yet? I got mine last week and lived to tell the story!

There are many vaccines available today, but of course the only one that most people are interested in a the moment is the corona virus.

Vaccines have brought a massive improvement in health conditions and life spans over the last century or so. Second only to the provision of clean and safe water, vaccines have changed our lives for the better. Diseases such as small pox and measles used to ravage communities and kill millions of people, but we don’t even think about them these days.

It amazes me that within about 12 months of the covid virus exploding around the world we have a number of vaccines available to protect our community. It used to take years, even decades, to discover how to beat a disease, but the increase in knowledge about genetics has made it possible to rapidly discover, test and deploy these vaccines.

There is another disease rampant around the world that we have learned to live with but is just as deadly. This disease is not a physical virus, but is deadly. You won’t get it by contact with other people and you can’t heal it with an injection.

The disease goes by many names- pride, self-centredness and sin are but a few.

It is a condition of the spirit that says that I am the most important person in the world. Everybody has to bow to my demands. I can do whatever I like regardless of how other people might feel.

Just about every problem in our lives comes down to our desire to control our own lives, to live as if nobody else matters and to ignore God’s ways for our lives.

There is a cure for this. It involves admitting that we are wrong and asking God to forgive us through Christ then living His way not our own way.

Tough medicine perhaps, but absolutely essential.

IF THE WIND GOES WHERE YOU SEND IT, SO WILL I

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IF THE WIND GOES WHERE YOU SEND IT, SO WILL I

I was happy, wasn’t I? I was a New Age spiritual healer and teacher with a thriving global soul centre based in Sydney, offering courses, sessions, and products with the goal of self-actualisation. I travelled internationally with my teachings and spoke on New Age radio. I was the ‘creator of my own reality’, tuned into the invisible spirit realm to channel healing, spiritual guidance, and wisdom to myself and my clients. I was empowered and had purpose, by helping others to seemingly heal broken pasts and move into oneness with the Divine. My source of love and energy was ‘the universe’.

I felt I had control over life and access to hidden knowledge to explain all the mysteries. But after 13 years of ‘inner work’, why did I still find myself stuck in feelings of deep inadequacy, shame, unresolved grief, anxiety, and addiction? Everything had to be analysed. Moments of spiritual bliss were ultimately unfulfilling as I moved back into the reality of life. Relationships were challenged as it was difficult to be around people who had a ‘lower consciousness’. I kept searching and striving. I was simply exhausted being my own god!

One weekend, a friend invited me to church. That very afternoon, out of curiosity, I had picked up a Bible in our hotel room. So, I accepted her invitation. I was surprised by a totally different church environment to what I expected. Everyone was so warm and welcoming, and the modern worship was uplifting. As I listened to the lyrics of So Will I, it hit me like a ton of bricks. My heart exploded. I realised I had been worshipping creation (the universe), not the Creator.

I had got it completely wrong. I realised that He is the love that I had been looking for this whole time. I sank back down into my chair and sobbed and sobbed. I felt a powerful presence of love and wholeness that was inexplicable. After dealing with spiritual energies for so long, this was completely different to anything I had ever experienced.

The preaching made so much sense. It was like a veil had been lifted. The fact that God was not a distant impersonal consciousness, but we could have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus blew my mind. I knew the Bible and Jesus was true. I was hungry, grabbed a Bible, and continued to go to as many services as I could. Within weeks, I ‘officially’ gave my life to Christ, however I believe it happened in an instant that first moment I encountered the one and only God.

I shut down my teachings and business and I was baptised in four months.

After being in the subjective reality of the New Age, I felt God calling me to study. I jumped into a Diploma of Ministry at Morling College, receiving a scholarship. God formed me through the class content and prayer, community life, friendships and most surprisingly, through doing the assessments! It was inspiring to connect with students at different points on their journey. I really felt God walking with me the whole way through it.

I realised that studying theology is not only for academics but for all Christians. The study grounded my faith and taught me how to approach questions and understand different viewpoints, skills I continue to use as I grow in my faith.

Read the full article at Eternity

Australian Politics This Month

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Politics this month can be summarised as some woman got too drunk and was possibly sexually assaulted by an equally drunk guy in a minister’s office. Apparently this is a sign of a “toxic culture” because we can’t trust women to regulate their own behaviour around alcohol, but men must be more responsible.

In related news, the Attorney-General was accused of sex with a 16 year old when he was 17 several decades ago. The complainant suffered from “mental health” issues and committed suicide so no criminal charges can be brought, because there is no evidence. But he is guilty of being a man so again part of the toxic culture.

In New South Wales state politics, an MP apparently paid a prostitute to meet him in an isolated location for non-penetrative sex. it is claimed that he “raped” this woman. He too must go.

Do you see a common thread here? Men are being accused of things publicly by women and because of the accusation they are automatically assumed to be guilty.

Meanwhile the women in the Opposition claim they want the allegedly toxic culture “fixed” presumably to their satisfaction. But they think the way to do this is by insulting the Prime Minister until he fixes it.

Welcome to our feministic power structure. This is a perfect illustration of Dalrock’s Law of Feminism:

Dalrock’s Law of Feminism:  Feminism is the assertion that men are evil and naturally want to harm women, followed by pleas to men to solve all of women’s problems.

https://dalrock.wordpress.com/2018/09/06/dalrocks-law-of-feminism/