Jo Jorgensen
US libertarian Jo Jorgensen (Image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

Ralph Nader 2020 Progressives feeling something between joy and relief at the end of the Trump presidency ought to send some thanks the way of the US election’s unsung hero, Jo Jorgensen.

Jorgensen is an academic who ran as the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president. Taking her votes primarily from Trump, she received 1.2% of the vote in Georgia (where, at the time of writing, Biden leads by 0.2%), 1.5% in Arizona (where Biden leads by 0.5%) and 1.1% in Pennsylvania where Biden leads by 0.6%.

Walker on The weekend brought news that the Berejiklian government has appointed Lang Walker to the board of the Powerhouse Museum.

In the Nine papers reporting the appointment, Walker is described as a “billionaire property developer”. That’s true enough. But the story fails to mention that Walker was also a major Liberal Party donor for many years.

In the 2015-16 financial year alone, Walker Corporation gave well over $200,000 to the federal Liberal Party. The corporation semi-regularly donated to both major parties for a decade, but the fact is surely still salient.

An intelligence gatjering ASIS may wish to spend less time on commercial espionage and more time on proofreading, if the following paragraph from the advert for its ACTIVATE graduate program is anything to go by:

Over the course of a 12-month program, you’ll learn how intelligence is gatjered, reported and actioned. Unlike other graduate programs, you wont just be observing – regardless of which disclipine you’ve studied, you’ll be using your skills to help support actual intelligence gathering operations that advance Australia’s national interest.

We are informed the role will suit “curios” applicants.

Cherry-picking in the news “Millions of dollars worth of precious Aussie produce is being forced to go to waste as Queensland farmers struggle to fill high-paying fruit picking jobs.” This announcement was made on Today‘s Twitter feed, along with a clip of Karl Stefanovic interviewing Agriculture Minister David Littleproud.

On reflection, the segment could have been better timed — or at the very it shouldn’t have included the phrase “high-paying”.

Setting aside long-term concerns about the welfare of the (often illegal) workforces that pick and pack our fruit and vegetables, the Today segment came as The New Daily reveals that farmers who have received job applications from Australian citizens have turned them down because of their pay demands (i.e. they demand to be paid).

Crikey has republished that full story today.