I am reading a book called "Die Broke."

It is a plan to spend your last dollar on your last day on Earth. I am ahead of schedule. I just don't know by how much.

Why Governments Tax: A List

If governments that issue currency don’t need to tax, why do they do it?

We’ve been naive. To beat the tobacco mafia, we need to think like the mafia

Six years ago, the Commonwealth collected $16.3 billion in tobacco excise. That figure will have collapsed to $4.1 billion this year, Treasury estimates, and by the end of the decade it’ll be just $2 billion. Meanwhile, investigations of wastewater by the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest that since 2017 nicotine consumption (including from illegal vapes) has increased by 40 per cent.

Let’s face it: the mafia has won the tobacco wars.

The Commonwealth now faces competitors in the form of black market shops on every second suburban strip. Those competitors have 80 per cent market share to the Commonwealth’s 20 per cent. The Commonwealth is a bit player now with the main field of competition between the black market suppliers – and that is why we have seen more than 200 firebombed tobacco shops in Victoria alone.

Billions of dollars of revenue are going up in smoke while the crime bosses are cashing in. MARIJA ERCEGOVAC

Let’s be clear about who we are dealing with. Organised crime is run like a business. It has suppliers, logistics, retail outlets and market share estimates. Its product costs a couple of dollars to make and sells for $15 to $20 against a legal price of $40 to $50, of which about $30 is tax. It responds to margins as any firm would, and uses arson the way a legit business uses advertising.

Imagine an organised crime business watching its revenues fall from $16 billion to $4 billion. It would not have watched. It would have organised itself so that the leak was noticed early and made sure that people who could stop it were rewarded for stopping it. If you are going to fight the mafia, you need to think like the mafia. That means thinking like a business, and thinking about incentives.

Ours are wrong. The Commonwealth sets the tax and collects every dollar. The states run the police, the inspectors, the licensing schemes and the courts that actually determine whether the tax gets paid. The states bear all the costs of closing down the mafia but get none of the revenue. Preventing an illegal sale sends $30 to Canberra of which the state governments in Spring and Macquarie Street get nothing. What Spring/Macquarie Street do get is the costs of enforcement: a police taskforce, a licensing bureaucracy, more cops on the beat, more time taken up in courts and space taken up in remand/prison. The revenue they would protect belongs to somebody else…

Is The Internet Dead?

“It’s no longer strange to think that AI might be everywhere, edging out all forms of human interaction: bots talking to bots, all the way down.” This is … not great. - The Atlantic

Epstein Files Transparency Act II

Thomas Massie just dropped a bombshell on the House floor. He named 14 Epstein co-conspirators, some of whom had previously been redacted and or as not identified co-conspirators in the incomplete library of documents released by the DOJ. Massie and Ro Kanna are demanding immediate prosecutions.

• Jes Staley
• Leon Black
• Les Wexner
• David Copperfield
• Lapo Elkann
• Tom Pritzker
• Glenn Dubin
• Frédéric Fekkai
• Eduardo Teodorani
• Jean-Luc Brunel – purportedly died by suicide in a French prison.
• Daniel Siad – found dead in his apartment in France this summer.
• Ramsey Elkholy
• Andrew Albert Christian Edward Mountbatten-Windsor [formerly known as Prince Andrew] – who committed crimes in the United States.
• Lesley Groff – who participated in trafficking girls and young women along with Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. Thomas Massie announced the introduction of H.R. 9694, the Epstein Files Transparency Act II. This bill gives standing to state attorneys general, the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators, and members of Congress to challenge the Department of Justice (DOJ) in court for the DOJ’s failure to comply with the disclosure of materials required by Public Law 119-38, the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA). Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), Chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, are co-leading the House legislation. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) are leading the Senate version of the bill. 

The Epstein Files Transparency Act II is a proposed law designed to enhance accountability regarding the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Massie warned s that Mike Johnson may recess the House early just to dodge a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act 2.0

The Electronic Frontier Foundation – Doxxing is the deliberate disclosure of personal information in order to bully, harass, intimidate, or instigate a chain of harms against someone. 

It’s a tricky thing to protect against when the jerk doing it is often able to use legal and accessible means to do so. The odds are stacked against everyday internet folk when there’s little to no comprehensive data privacy legislation keeping us safe. The responsibility is on each of us to protect ourselves, but the good news is that there’s a lot you can do to reduce your digital footprintand take control of your data. 

This post is part one of a two-part series discussing safety and response to doxxing. This first part focuses on prevention and ways to reduce your overall footprint. The second focuses on incident response, as in, steps to take if you’re in the midst of being doxxed. There will be some crossover and redundancy between these two posts, so it’s worth reading each and gaining familiarity with the steps well ahead of time.

Of God, Dolly and Gloria Steinem ... and the women who keep the faith

  Of God, Dolly and Gloria Steinem ... and the women who keep the faith

Trump designates protesters terrorists. How far will it go? Responsible Statecraft 

* * *

Army Secretary Driscoll resigns after months-long turf war with Hegseth The Hill. Seriously not good.

US drivers overwhelmed by terrifying sunroof explosions as reports soar to record high… But government authorities have barely lifted a fingerDaily Mail

FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses

Krebs on Security: A new identity theft service launched on the dark web this week is selling digital scans of more than 153 million drivers licenses from people in the United States and Canada. Based on interviews with individuals whose licenses are available for purchase on this service, it appears to be siphoning images collected by a widely-used identity verification company based in Louisiana. KrebsOnSecurity also has learned that the New Orleans field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) today launched an official inquiry into the source of the images. 

A record available at this identity theft service that includes the drivers license for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, one of several high-ranking U.S. government officials whose drivers licenses can be found for sale. On Monday, Aug. 31, a source alerted KrebsOnSecurity to a service advertised by a new user on the Russian cybercrime forum Exploit, offering access to digital scans of identity documents on more than 170 million people in North America. 

The source brought it to my attention because the proprietor of this identity theft service offered my Virginia drivers license as a free sample in their initial sales thread on Exploit. 

The service, dubbed Nexus, claims to have more than 153 million drivers licenses for people in the United States and Canada, as well as more than 10 million identification cards; more than three million travel documents and/or international IDs; and at least 579,000 medical cards. A quick look around Nexus finds they are likely not exaggerating about that 153 million number: 

Running a blank search in Nexus (with no search parameters entered) returns approximately 11.5 million pages of results, with roughly 15 results displayed per page. It includes documents from people in both Canada and the United States, but the bulk of these records are on Americans: searching for just Canadian drivers licenses returns approximately 1.1 million results, with the largest concentration from Ontario (473,673 records)…”

Who Will Save the Internet From Disappearing?

Current Affairs: “From deleted government records to disappearing music, our digital culture can be erased overnight. The Internet Archive’s Mark Graham and Chris Freeland explain what it will take to save it. We’ve all heard the warning that “the internet is forever.” 

In reality, huge swaths of the digital world are disappearing all the time, as websites go dark, governments purge public records, social media posts vanish, and streaming platforms remove films and music. Without deliberate efforts to preserve this material, much of our recent history could simply cease to exist. The Internet Archive has spent decades fighting that disappearance, most notably through its Wayback Machine, which preserves snapshots of a web that is otherwise constantly being rewritten. 

Current Affairs spoke with Mark Graham, director of the Wayback Machine, and librarian Chris Freeland, co-editor of the Internet Archive’s new Vanishing Culturereport, about why the internet is far more fragile than we think and what is lost when corporations and governments can make information disappear…”

 

Elon Musk offered his ex $40m to not take part in a new doco about him. She did it anyway

Stephanie Bunbury

September 9, 2026 

Venice: A four-hour documentary tracing the life and work of Elon Musk – maker of electric cars, rockets, Starlink satellites, right-wing propaganda and “a legion of children” from his own loins – has proved the pivotal talking point of the Venice Film Festival.

Alex Gibney, the prolific director of documentaries about subjects including Enron, Edward Snowden and Scientology, tells the story of his rise to dizzying power – and phenomenal riches – in Musk, which confronts the question of how and why anyone has been allowed so much influence. Gibney usually interviews his subjects, but Musk refused to participate.

Filmmaker Alex Gibney (middle) with tech journalist Zoë Schiffer (left) and Musk’s former girlfriend Ashley St Clair, at the Venice Film Festival this week.AP PHOTO/SCOTT A GARFITT

It wasn’t easy to find other willing interviewees.

“There was a fear of talking. Among his critics, his business colleagues and his friends, very few agreed to speak,” Gibney said at a festival press conference. One exception was the film’s trump card, a former MAGA influencer and Musk’s ex-girlfriend Ashley St Clair, who gave birth to one of Musk’s 14 children in 2024.

St Clair was close to Musk during the heady few months when he was head of US President Donald Trump’s newly minted Department of Government Efficiency, striking out entire project budgets and sacking thousands of government employees.

A new documentary called Musk, by filmmaker Alex Gibney, tells the story of Elon Musk's rise and influence.

“Elon is a nuke,” St Clair told the cameras. St Clair, who was in Venice with the film, alleged he had offered her $US40 million not to participate in the documentary. “When you’re offered something like that it really causes a debate in your head about what your speech means,” she says.

“How valuable that is – and why do they want to offer me that much money not to speak?” She has her own answers. “It has to do with his sense of unreality, Elon’s relationships are complicated in general but, especially, he has a complicated relationship with the truth.”

Gibney put his own spin on this by putting Musk’s extreme pronouncements into the mouth of a graphic avatar in a space suit. He says he was picking up on Musk’s obsession with video games.

“But also, so much of what Elon Musk says has an air of unreality to it.” He soon realised that what looked like a story about new technology and its overlords was “the story of old wine in a new bottle, the story of the confidence man. His wealth and power come from inflated stock.”

Elon Musk was appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency and took to the task with gusto.AP

It was Enron all over again. He maintains a measured tone, however, as he covers the tech lord’s troubled South African childhood, his command over the satellites crucial to many countries’ military operations, his acquisition and manipulation of Twitter, now called X, his alliance – and fall-out – with Trump and his$US158 billion Tesla remuneration package.

We see his beginnings, devising and then selling an online business directory, then taking and selling a slice of Peter Thiel’s Paypal, which provided him with working capital. Gibney spends a good deal of time debunking Musk’s promise of an imminent life on Mars. The research is meticulous, even if nothing is new.

“I think it’s bearing witness and reaching out to witnesses,” says Gibney. “And also trying to understand. Particularly in this bewildering world of inputs from social media and 24-hour news access. There are so many trees that I think it’s worth stitching together a narrative that shows the forest. The film attempts to reframe the story.”

There were mutterings before the press screenings about the prospect of having to watch a four-hour documentary half-way through an exhausting festival, but the film proved a literal eye-opener that drew an energetic critical response.

EDITOR'S PICK

• Film Festivals

Hidden cameras, no script: Oasis documentary goes inside the Gallagher brothers’ split

“A chillingly forensic hatchet job,” said the London Telegraph; “a poleaxing portrait of the tech titan as a con man,” read the Hollywood Reporter’s headline; “an epic study of the world’s richest and dullest man … excellent”, according to The Guardian.

It is Musk’s involvement in political influence, especially on the eve of the midterm elections in the United States, that feels least transparent and thus the most troubling aspect of his influence.

“We know during DOGE, the boys [Musk’s team of very young men who carried out mass sackings from government departments] had super administrative status at all agencies,” says Gibney.

“That meant they had access to an extraordinary amount of data on American citizens - and moving that data would be as easy, as I understand it, as copying a file into a folder.

“Would that folder be at Space X and might he be using that information for an AI [tool] to influence the election? Yes. I don’t know that it will happen but it might happen. It was a warning.”

So, asks one journalist at the press conference, one short answer: is Elon Musk dangerous to democracy?

“Extremely,” says Gibney. “There’s your short answer. He’s very dangerous.”

“The upper class keeps all the money and pays no taxes. The middle class pays all the taxes and does all the work. The poor are just there to scare the shit out of the middle class.” - George Carlin

Freddie Returns To Wembley for His 80th Birthday

Wembley Park unveils spectacular 30ft anamorphic Freddie Mercury mural for music legend’s 80th birthday

‘I”m Mr. Mercury’ by Frank Styles on Wembley Park’s Spanish Steps

How Cyber Sleuths Tracked a Nigerian Scammer to His Doorstep 404 Media

One US Citizen Just Triggered a Stunning National Chain Reaction

Glass Empire by W.A. Lawrence: “On August 31, 2026, USA TODAY reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security circulated a secret intelligence bulletin naming Laura Berlin’s website, “Who is Profiting from ICE?” Berlin, a Texas stay-at-home mother of two teenagers with nonprofit-communications experience, built the Google Map from corporate filings, government databases, and campaign-finance records tracing companies, agencies, contractors, and politicians connected to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

DHS warned that Berlin’s website could aid “local anarchist extremists” and routed the material through HSEC SIN 8, an intelligence category DHS had previously used for domestic-terrorism information. Red lettering acknowledged that “some of this information describes First Amendment-protected activities.” 

Laura Berlin began the project in April 2025 after seeing federal agents round up people and fly men to a Salvadoran prison without due process. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act on March 15 against alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua; officials removed 137 Venezuelan men under the wartime law to CECOT in Tecoluca, El Salvador, and U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled June 4 that the government had denied them notice and an opportunity to challenge removal. 

Berlin also saw then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem pose before shirtless CECOT prisoners and said, “That situation really haunted me.” Berlin’s sons are part Guatemalan, and she said her darker-skinned son receives different treatment from the world; Berlin began asking who owned the charter aircraft, detention centers, and companies receiving government money for deportations.

• The private-prison corporations received nearly $1 billion combined from ICE in 2025; by June 2026, Jersey City officials said they operated more than half of roughly 70,000 ICE detention beds and sought capacity above 100,000. After Wells Fargo and Bank of America pledged to stop working with them, Berlin traced financing to Citizens Bank, N.A., the banking subsidiary of Providence, Rhode Island-based Citizens Financial Group, which reported $233.8 billion in assets and more than 1,000 branches. CoreCivic had been a Citizens client since 2011 and GEO since 2018; Jersey City officials said Citizens helped the companies obtain more than $2.5 billion in financing…”

19 Years Ago - Macmasters Beach: It's all about community at this leafy Central Coast township

"Some people look for a beautiful place. 

Others make a place

BEAUTIFUL …

 

I was misled as Stones Rolling seem to be at Different COPACABANA

 

Macmasters Beach is a picturesque south-eastern suburb of the Central Coast region on the Bouddi Peninsula. Professional Central Coast Council lifeguards patrol Macmasters Beach from Monday until Friday. 

During weekends and on public holidays these locations are patrolled by Surf Life Saving volunteers. For beach patrol dates and times, please see the website. 

 The dog off leash area runs from the southern end of Copacabana Beach and it runs down to Macmasters Beach and stops approximately at Gerda Road. Macmasters Beach: It's all about community at this leafy Central Coast township

Macmasters Beach is a quiet, family-friendly coastal hideaway on the NSW Central Coast featuring a natural rock pool, surf lifesaving patrols, and direct access to Bouddi National Park. 

Key Highlights

The Rock Pool: Located at the southern end, a kid-friendly ocean rock pool offers safe splashing away from the open waves. [1, 2]
Surf and Sand: A large stretch of golden sand bordered by Cockrone Lagoon to the north and rugged headlands to the south. [1, 2]
Patrols: Patrolled on weekdays by Central Coast Council lifeguards and on weekends/public holidays by Surf Life Saving volunteers (check seasonal hours). [1]
Dog Access: A designated dog off-leash area runs from the southern end of Copacabana down toward Macmasters Beach (ending near Gerda Road). [1]

Things to Do

Surfing: Catch reliable waves at the southern point or along the expansive beach break.
Bushwalking: Access scenic coastal trails, lookouts, and whale-watching vantage points via the nearby Bouddi National Park tracks.
Dining: Grab a casual coffee or bite to eat at the local beachside café near the surf 

Macs ocean pool is the kind of place we want to shout about...

... but also gatekeep forever because it's just that perfect

MacMasters and Copacabana Beach Walk

This route is the beginning of the popular '5 Lands Walk' event that takes place each year in June. The event brings together aboriginal culture, music, food, dance and craft etc... across 5 coastal villages to share with the public. 

Even when the event is not taking place this is still a delightful coastal walk boasting blissful views over Allagai Bay to enjoy all year round. 

The route is entirely on sand so throw your shoes into your bag and enjoy a barefoot stroll or run along the coastline. Don't forget your swimmers too if you'd like to enjoy a dip on the way. The start and end point is at MacMasters Beach Surf Life Saving Club. There are water filling points and public toilets along the way. 

Macmasters Beach: It's all about community at this leafy Central Coast township

When architect Dianna Thomas and husband Paul Disspain bought their Macmasters Beachweekender, Disspain described the coastal hamlet as “a forest with houses in it”.

Today, the houses are getting bigger and some of the trees have been felled either by builders or forces of nature, but Thomas believes the description is still a good fit for the area, which plays host to around 830 free-standing homes scattered like confetti across the hilly terrain from the beachfront to The Scenic Road.

Serene seachange

In 2002, Thomas and Disspain made the decision to make their fibro beach shack their permanent home, packing up their Bondi digs and welcoming daughter Gabriella to the world.

Initially commuting back to Sydney for work, the couple gradually re-established themselves on the Central Coast, renovating their cottage in 2008 to include an office and music room.

Michael Hall of 11a Tudibaring Parade, Macmasters Beach NSW. Photo: Supplied

“We were very fortunate to connect with local builder Glen Cochran of Cochran Constructions, who introduced us to a wonderful network and we’ve been very privileged to maintain a local presence,” says Thomas.

Unlike its more cosmopolitan neighbours Killcare, Avoca and Terrigal, Macmasters Beach is a quiet, residential enclave with only a single coffee shop and a surf club – and that’s the way the locals like it.

“It’s a little hide-away,” says McGrath Terrigalagent Trevor Hamilton. “It’s kind of like the northern beaches 30 years ago: untouched, with limited commercial infrastructure and a beautiful secluded beach bordering the Bouddi National Park.

North shore magnet

Hamilton says many buyers hail from the north shore. He estimates the number of owner-occupiers has doubled over the past 10 years from 30 per cent to 60 per cent of the population, making for a tight-knit community of people who create their own fun through gardening clubs, bushcare and board riders groups and jazz afternoons at the surf club.

Thomas says they don’t live in each other’s pockets but when someone needs a helping hand, it’s willingly offered.

As a case in point, a magnificent angophora listed on the council’s Significant Tree Register fell during recent wild weather and everyone banded together, first to rescue possums and other wildlife, then to make sure the tree wasn’t simply reduced to wood chips and forgotten.

“The good news is that, through a wonderful network that exists in the community, we can salvage all of the timber from the tree,” Thomas says. “It’s going to be re-used as a local sculpture or for an adventure playground.”

Top home in the area

583-585 The Scenic Road, Macmasters Beach. Photo: Supplied

Set on two separate titles totalling 7743 square metres, this property is surrounded by bush a 10-minute walk from the beach. 

The living spaces feature spotted gum flooring and a combustion fireplace and extend to a north-facing verandah. Outside there’s a saltwater pool and firepit, plus a six-car shed/workshop.

The listing is held by McGrath Terrigal‘s Trevor Hamilton who has provided a price guide of $2.2 million to $2.4 million.

583-585 The Scenic Road, Macmasters Beach. Photo: Supplied

Anthony Albanese ‘bagged a property bargain’ with $4.3m cliff top mansion purchase, says John McGrath

189 Del Monte Place, Copacabana NSW 2251.