May well be??

"When the BoM launched its flawed and absurdly costly website, the minister responsible made the small concession that it 'may well be a contract that demonstrates the need for greater oversight of consultants, and greater use of public sector capacity wherever possible'.

"Accenture’s latest contract suggests this hasn’t happened. If any action was taken from that statement, presumably it was the appending of a small note to the consultancy’s power map, suggesting the minister needs to be taken to dinner soon."

#Lobbying #AusPol #BoM #GiftArticle

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/22911/VPPpQHSN

The Accenture beanstalk

You might think, when a company’s work is so slipshod that it is known in government circles by the nickname “Accidenture”, when behind that company is a trail of blowouts and extensions, millions and millions of taxpayer dollars jemmied out in so-called variations, that it would at some point become hard for it to win competitive tenders. For Accenture, this is not the case.

The Saturday Paper
Inside Trump’s Secret Deal to Deport Migrants to Cameroon

In Cameroon, the Trump administration found a partner it could pressure into accepting covertly deported migrants.

The New York Times

Human like hands are a waste of money.
The "army" part is the part I'm worried about.

The only economically viable uses I see for humanoids are sex fantasies and urban warfare (including ICE).

#giftArticle
https://wapo.st/4uTiDIr

Musk has a plan to make human labor obsolete. Billionaires are joining in.

Tech elites have seized on humanoid robots to transform manual labor and other fields left out of the AI boom, an area called “physical AI.”

The Washington Post

The story of Patrice Lumumba, leader of #Congo, killed during the cold war by #Belgium and the CIA.

“The Congolese people will gain little from prosecuting a man who drafted cables.
What would actual atonement look like? For Belgium, it would entail a forthright apology and an admission of institutional responsibility. For the United States, it could mean the same, as well as investing in Congo’s governance, its institutions and its people, instead of merely racing to secure its cobalt.“
#colonialism #justice #GiftArticle

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/opinion/congo-lumumba-cia-assassination.html?unlocked_article_code=1.WlA.f5qh.V3aIu7FUm6As&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Opinion | It Was One of the Cold War’s Greatest Crimes. No One Has Paid a Price.

No one apart from the Congolese people has ever paid a price for the CIA-backed assassination of Patrice Lumumba.

The New York Times

"The military strike appears to have destroyed a cattle and dairy farm, not a drug trafficking compound, according to interviews with the farm’s owner, four of its workers, human rights lawyers and residents and leaders in San Martín"

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/world/americas/us-ecuador-drug-camp-bombing-dairy-farm.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VlA.IAXf.JXmzcnExAYLX&smid=url-share

#GiftArticle #GiftLink

The U.S. Military Said It Helped Bomb a Drug Camp in Ecuador. It Was a Dairy Farm.

The Times visited a village where the United States and Ecuador said they destroyed an armed group’s training camp. Residents said it was actually a dairy farm.

The New York Times
Dash Crofts, of the Soft-Rock Duo That Sang ‘Summer Breeze,’ Dies at 87

Seals & Crofts had a number of Billboard Top 20 songs in the 1970s before their chart topper brought them global fame.

The New York Times

"Mr. Buria told Mr. Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events, the officials said"

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/us/hegseth-promotion-list.html?unlocked_article_code=1.WlA.mJvB.kMFSMBXWdPtQ&smid=url-share

#GiftArticle #GiftLink

Hegseth Strikes Two Black and Two Female Officers From Promotion List

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s highly unusual decision to remove officers from a one-star promotion list has spurred allegations of racial and gender bias.

The New York Times
In Hungary, the First Post-Reality Political Campaign

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is waging cognitive warfare on a new scale.

The Atlantic
Kein Rassismus oder misogyn? #Geschenklink By accident? #giftarticle "Two of the officers targeted by Mr. Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, senior military officials said." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/u...

Hegseth Strikes Two Black and ...
Hegseth Strikes Two Black and Two Female Officers From Promotion List

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s highly unusual decision to remove officers from a one-star promotion list has spurred allegations of racial and gender bias.

The New York Times

The "pro-life" president is at it again: "In interviews, six Cuban doctors said that rapidly deteriorating conditions at hospitals and clinics across Cuba were causing deaths that would otherwise be preventable"

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/world/americas/cubas-health-system-us-oil-blockade.html?unlocked_article_code=1.WVA.gJyd.3VpMIsx0pM02&smid=url-share

#GiftArticle #GiftLink

Cuban Patients Are Dying Because of U.S. Blockade, Doctors Say

Cuban health care was once the pride of the island. Now the U.S. oil blockade is upending even basic medical care.

The New York Times