Mark Johnson

Der Spiegel headline: Der ICE-Kommandant im Nazi-Look Martialisch und effektheischend, so tritt ICE-Kommandant Gregory Bovino gern auf.

I didn't say it. The Germans did.

As with all things Starmer-Government related, their response to Trump’s aggressive threats has been nothing short of pathetic.

Europe is waking up and other world leaders like Macron and Carney show how supine the current UK Government really is.

This is our colonial legacy. The links we have built around the world. English-speaking people all over the world that know us.

Like it or not, that is a rational & reasonable reason for why some people believe their best option to rebuild a life from scratch is the UK. #r4today

Asylum seeker interviewed on #r4today explains in excellent English that he has grown up his entire life believing that the UK is a safe place that respects & protects people.

He's even an Arsenal fan. He knows our culture. Not French culture, Greek, or Bulgarian culture. Ours.

The purpose of parliamentary scrutiny is not to set up a talking shop but to stress-test and future-proof laws for years to come. To examine and amend. For these Bills to pass through the House of Representatives in a single day reflects badly on Australian democracy. This is no way to make law.

The Aus Gvt's new "Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bills" are staggering in their scope. They will change the nature of Australian society for better (gun control) and worse (executive powers to cancel visas) but what is remarkable is how rushed and entirely under-scrutinised they are.

“Leave Greenland alone!”

Heckler interrupts Star-Spangled Banner at NBA game in London, wins cheers from crowd. (Video via Reddit)

The American-led world order established harmony among the great powers within it, and left those outside it relatively isolated and insecure, Robert Kagan argues—and all of that is now ending. theatln.tc/BSP4k9xD

“Saving lives is not a crime.”

After a seven-year legal ordeal, a court on the Greek island of Lesbos has acquitted all 24 defendants who had been baselessly charged with felonies for saving lives at sea.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4pMoOdR

Torture. Ill-treatment. A breach on international obligations.

It’s time to end Australia's cruel detention policies and deliver justice, protection, and dignity for people seeking asylum.

Read more on the findings of the the UN committee against torture via The Guardian: https://loom.ly/9GgdLjA

Government drops plans for mandatory digital ID to work in UK There will still be digital checks on those starting a new job, but people will not need to hold a digital ID.

This U-turn proves beyond all doubt that Labour announced their digital ID card scheme without a clue on how they would go about implementing it. Now is surely the moment for ministers to drop the proposals entirely and use the funds for something more useful.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Government drops plans for mandatory digital ID to work in UK There will still be digital checks on those starting a new job, but people will not need to hold a digital ID.

🎉 HUGE WIN: the Government has dropped plans for mandatory digital ID.

We've maintained from the start that any digital ID system should be voluntary and focus on helping people access vital services, rather than digitally excluding them.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Compulsory digital ID plan axed as Labour performs another U-turn, reports say New identity verification scheme aimed at deterring illegal migration is reportedly to become optional

Keir Starmer has reportedly scrapped plans for a compulsory digital identity scheme for workers following opposition to the idea from across the political divide

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Minneapolis, Minnesota is under Trump regime occupation; at least 3,000 regime forces are terrorizing the city, raiding homes door to door without warrants, and grabbing people and children off the street based on their skin colour. No sign of the Minnesota National Guard.

Bowen: Trump risks pushing world back to age of empires Donald Trump wants and needs quick victories. Taking Maduro is the decisive win he has craved, writes Jeremy Bowen.

Wonderful writing as always by the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen - www.bbc.com/news/article...

Renee Good, a citizen & mother was shot 3 times in the head, on camera, by a masked gang. She is smeared by Trump & MAGA lunatics.
May she rest in peace & her family find comfort.

Frankly the only surprise is it took this long.

Farage wants “ICE style raids” in the UK. #r4today

Poverty is not accidental - it's enforced by policy.

Many people seeking asylum are denied work, support, and certainty.

This is a systemic failure and it must change.

Read our report on this failure of fairness and why we must fix the safety net: https://loom.ly/57QzZIw

Photo of ni-Vanuatu men in the back of a Toyota ute PALMED OFF, Episode 1 | Modern slavery in Australia? Listen to Follow the Money now via the link or wherever you get your podcasts.

Is the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme facilitating modern slavery?

@mhharrington.bsky.social speaks to experts, community leaders & ni-Vanuatu former PALM workers in the first episode of this four-part mini-series on the guestworker scheme. #auspol

🎧 theaus.in/4sr1vbV

Bizarre that X’s politics/sport discourse monopoly largely remains unscathed given the chaotic context it now lies in.

Human Rights Day 2025: Course correcting Australia’s human rights legacy - ASC Written by Mark Johnson, Advocacy Lead at Asylum Seekers Centre

ICYMI: This week we marked Human Rights Day.

Australians helped write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but today our country's treatment of people seeking asylum tells a very different story.

It’s time to course-correct.

Read our Advocacy Lead's latest blog 👉 https://loom.ly/Iw1u8pw

Bondi lie peddled by Elon Musk's AI chatbot shows the future of our AI-poisoned information ecosystem In the hours after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, AI misinformation began to eat its own tail, with Musk's X bot absorbed and regurgitated in record time.

The “Edward Crabtree” hoax wasn’t just a lie. It was a test case of how quickly AI swallows its own tail during a crisis, writes Cam Wilson.

Human Rights Day 2025: Course correcting Australia’s human rights legacy - ASC Written by Mark Johnson, Advocacy Lead at Asylum Seekers Centre

On this #HumanRightsDay, some thoughts on Australia's historic human rights legacy and where more can be done to protect the rights of people seeking asylum for the @ascsyd.bsky.social blog.

asylumseekerscentre.org.au/human-rights...

Last night @davidpocock.bsky.social and I read onto the Hansard an interview by the President of Nauru that the Albanese Government has been desperately trying to keep secret.

It shows Nauru plans to send refugees to places they fled. No wonder the secrecy.

'Immediate pause' urged on 'secret' Nauru deal, after speech sparks safety concerns A translation of remarks by the president of Nauru has sparked safety concerns for people being deported to the Pacific nation.

"'Immediate pause' urged on 'secret' Nauru deal, after speech sparks safety concerns"
www.sbs.com.au/news/article...

Sudan cannot be an invisible tragedy The end of violence must be a first step in the Sudan Civil War. And Australia has a key role to play.

Sudan’s suffering cannot remain unseen.

In her article for Pearls & Irritations, Abang Anade Othow reflects on a lifetime shaped by war, displacement, and resilience.

Read the full piece and stand with Sudan.

https://loom.ly/eNsen1M

In a system designed to crush people seeking asylum with cruelty, the Asylum Seekers Centre in Sydney pushes back with humanity and compassion.

Join us in rebuilding lives.
🔗 https://loom.ly/vy5fYVc

Imagine the levels of delusion needed to believe you are on the side of the good guys when you supported an administration into power who use undercover agents of the state to kidnap families on the street and deport them to human rights abuses in 3rd countries.

#ReclaimLoTR

Not content with tarnishing the UK’s standing on the international stage with Brexit, right wing vultures continue to circle the UK, desperate to rip up international law and smash up institutions like the BBC.

Destruction is the order of the day and the political class still dance to their tune.

‘Pouring money into a trough’: Senior public servant blows whistle on allegedly ‘corrupt’ millions The Home Affairs assistant secretary claims money was spent on overinflated contracts or for services that were never provided.

🇦🇺 pays $1.5mil per person each year to detain people on Nauru.

During last Senate Estimates, I asked about links to organised crime and value for money, I was told there is no need for concern.

Now whistleblower evidence paints a very different picture.
www.smh.com.au/national/pou...

‘Pouring money into a trough’: Senior public servant blows whistle on allegedly ‘corrupt’ millions The former Home Affairs assistant secretary claims money was spent on overinflated contracts or for services that were never provided.

A high-ranking Home Affairs Dept official has blown whistle on what he says was corruption infecting the federal gov’s offshore detention regime, alleging was pressured to cover up suspected rorting so Australia could keep using Nauru as border security outpost.

www.theage.com.au/national/pou...