Labor True Believers, Political Analysis and Satire

20/02/2026

ON THIS DAY

20 February 1472.
Orkney and Shetland were pledged as a wedding dowry for the marriage of Margaret, daughter of King Christian of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden to James III of Scotland. In return, Christian made a payment of 50,000 Rhenish Florins.

20 February 1547.
Edward VI (aged 9) was crowned King of England & Ireland at Westminster Abbey. He was the only son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. He reigned until his death in 1553. The realm was governed by a regency council during his brief reign.

20 February 1872.
Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City. Museum President, John Taylor Johnston, said of the Museum’s opening: “We had a fine turnout of ladies and gentlemen and all were highly pleased. The pictures looked splendid, and compliments were plenty.”

20 February 1927.
Sidney Poitier was born Miami, Florida, USA. In 1964 he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of The Field, becoming the 1st black male to win the award. Other films include: In The Heat of The Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

20 February 1938.
Anthony Eden resigned as British Foreign Secretary after PM Neville Chamberlain decided to open talks with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini as part of his Appeasement policy. Eden felt Mussolini could not be trusted. He was replaced by Lord Halifax.

20 February 1940.
Jimmy Greaves was born in Manor Park, Essex. He’s England’s 5th highest international men’s goalscorer (44 goals), Tottenham Hotspur’s 2nd top scorer (266 goals) and the top goalscorer in the history of English top-flight football (357 goals).

20 February 1943.
Film and theatre director Mike Leigh was born in Welwyn Garden City. He’s best known for his lengthy rehearsal and improvisation techniques. His best known theatre and TV play is Abigail’s Party. His films include: Naked, Peterloo, Mr Turner, and Vera Drake.

20 February 1945.
Singer-songwriter Alan Hull was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was the founding member of the Tyneside folk-rock band Lindisfarne. His best known songs were Clear White Light, the classic Geordie anthem Fog on the Tyne, Run for Home and Lady Eleanor.

20 February 1947.
Lord Louis Mountbatten, cousin of King George VI, was appointed as the last Viceroy of India. As Britain had promised independence to India, his appointment enraged many Indian nationalists. However, Mountbatten accelerated independence negotiations.

20 February 1947.
Chelsea striker Peter Osgood was born in Windsor. The peak of his career was at Chelsea where he scored 103 goals for the London club. He scored 28 goals for Southampton. He only played 4 times for England.

20 February 1950.
TV presenter and entrepreneur Tony Wilson was born in Salford. He was a long-standing presenter of Granada Reports, but he also made a huge contribution to pop culture in Manchester as founder of the Hacienda Club and co-founder of Factory Records.

20 February 1951.
Labour Party politician Gordon Brown was born in Giffnock, Scotland. He was the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 to 2007 then Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010. He lost power after Labour’s defeat at the 2010 General Election.

20 February 1951.
Liverpool FC full back Phil Neal was born In Irchester. His heyday was at LFC. He played 455 times for the club, scoring 41 goals. He won 23 winners medals, including 8 League Titles and 4 European Cups. He won more trophies than any other English player.

20 February 1952.
Jeannette Altwegg won Britain’s 1st Olympic Gold Medal for figure-skating at the Oslo Winter Olympics. After her triumph she retired from the world of competitive skating and declined all lucrative professional skating offers.

20 February 1962.
John Glenn became the 1st American astronaut to orbit the Earth, aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule. He orbited the Earth 3 times in 4 hours and 55 minutes. The feat was momentous and made Glenn a hero and a household name.

20 February 1967.
Kurt Cobain was born in Aberdeen, Washington, USA. He’s best known as guitarist, songwriter and frontman of rock band Nirvana whose album Nevermind is considered one of the greatest of all time. He was ranked 7th by MTV in the “22 Greatest Voices in Music”.

20 February 1974.
Cher (Cheryl Sarkisian) filed for separation from her husband Sonny Bono. After their No 1 hit I Got You Babe in 1965, Sonny & Cher became the most prominent married couple in pop music until John & Yoko married in 1969. The couple divorced in 1975.

20 February 1988.
Rihanna (Robyn Rihanna Fenty) was born in Saint Michael, Barbados. With worldwide record sales over 250 million, she’s one of the best-selling music artists of all time with 14 US and 8 UK No1 singles. She’s also won 9 Grammy Awards.

PHOTO OF THE DAY.
The 1st aerial photo of Stonehenge (1906). 📷 Lieutenant Philip Henry Sharpe.

— on Twitter

20/02/2026

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

POLITICS

Federal judge accuses Trump administration of ‘terror’ against immigrants in scathing ruling

A federal judge accused the administration of recklessly violating the law in its efforts to deport millions of people living in the country illegally. Citing the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, the judge said that the White House had also “extended its violence on its own citizens.”

Why this matters:

U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes said the administration had violated her December ruling that found it was illegally denying many detained immigrants a chance for release. She ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide them with notice that they may be eligible for bond and then give them access to a phone to call an attorney within an hour.

Under past administrations, people with no criminal record could generally request a bond hearing before an immigration judge while their cases wound through immigration court unless they were stopped at the border. President Donald Trump’s White House reversed that practice.

The Homeland Security department said in a statement that the Supreme Court had “repeatedly overruled” lower courts on the issue of mandatory detention. “ICE has the law and the facts on its side, and it adheres to all court decisions until it ultimately gets them shot down by the highest court in the land,” the statement said.

POLITICS

Colbert controversy pours money and attention on Texas Senate race

State Rep. James Talarico is riding a burst of wider attention in the race’s pivotal final stretch over his unaired interview with Stephen Colbert. The late-night host said CBS lawyers had said the show couldn’t broadcast the interview over fears of running afoul of Trump administration regulators.

Why this matters:

The March 3 primary in Texas is the nation’s first big contest of the 2026 midterm elections, and with early voting already underway, Talarico and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett are ramping up their bids as some Democrats see increasing opportunity in November’s elections despite not having won a statewide race in Texas in more than 30 years.

Talarico’s campaign said it raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after the interview was pulled. Crockett said in an interview on MS NOW this week that it probably gave her opponent “the boost he was looking for.” Crockett rallied voters at multiple stops around Dallas, her hometown, and in Fort Worth, campaigning in the county where a Democrat last month pulled off a stunning special election victory in a heavily Republican district carried by Trump.

WINTER OLYMPICS

Alysa Liu dazzles to win figure skating gold, ending a 24-year Olympic drought for US women

It was the first individual gold medal for an American woman since 2002, when Sarah Hughes stood atop the podium in Salt Lake City, and it was the second gold for Liu at the Milan Cortina Games.

Why this matters:

Liu was the youngest U.S. champion ever when she won the first of back-to-back titles at 13 years old. But after finishing sixth at the Beijing Games, Liu was so burned out that she abruptly retired. It was on a skiing trip a couple of years ago, when Liu felt the same familiar adrenaline rush she once felt while skating, that she began to think about a comeback. But this time, Liu would be skating on her terms, more carefree and self-assured than she’d been as a child prodigy, when her life revolved around the practice rink.

Her performance left a packed crowd inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena standing and roaring, when a television camera zoomed in on the American star as she was heading off the ice. “That’s what I’m f—————— talking about!” Liu shouted into the lens. She finished with 226.79 points to upstage Japanese teammates Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai, who took silver and bronze.

20/02/2026

20/02/2026

20/02/2026

Alcoa fined $55 million for illegal forest clearing, gets green light to clear more Jarrah trees
By Aaron Bunch for AAP

Alcoa has been given the green light to clear more Australian forest after being fined for stripping land for bauxite mining without approvals.

The US aluminium giant has agreed to pay $55 million to restore the environment as part of an enforceable undertaking reached with the federal government on Wednesday.

It relates to habitat destruction in the Northern Jarrah Forest, south of Perth, between 2019 and 2025.

“It’s the largest conservation‑focused commitment of its kind,” Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said as he spruiked the deal.

The company did not seek the appropriate legal approvals to clear the land under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The agreement, which is enforceable in the Federal Court, will deliver permanent ecological offsets to preserve important habitat.

It will also expand conservation programs for species, including Western Australia’s three black cockatoo species, and strengthen invasive‑species management within the Northern Jarrah Forest.

Senator Watt also granted Alcoa a national‑interest exemption to allow the company to continue land clearing for its mining operations for 18 months, while a strategic assessment is completed.

This will ensure the continued supply of bauxite for industry in Australia and with trade partners, he said.

It also ensures Alcoa can sustain its operations, which employ about 6000 workers.

The miner has committed to pay $4.2 million in additional offsets for activities covered by the exemption for management of the environmental impacts.

The federal environment department and Alcoa have agreed to develop a strategic assessment agreement to enable future environmental approvals.

This will guide sustainable mining at Alcoa’s Huntly and Willowdale mining operations, around 100km south of Perth, until 2045.

“This agreement will enable government to assess the cumulative environmental impacts of Alcoa’s local mining operations and provide strong protections for threatened species and ecological communities, while offering Alcoa long-term operational certainty,” Senator Watt said.

Alcoa said modernising the approvals framework will provide a better understanding of the potential impacts of land clearing and mining on significant flora and fauna into the future.

The company will continue to limit clearing to 800 hectares per year and increase new rehabilitation rates annually to 1,000 hectares per year by 2027.

“We are committed to responsible operations and welcome this important step in transitioning our approvals to a contemporary assessment process that provides increased certainty for our operations and our people into the future,” Alcoa president and chief executive William F Oplinger said.

The strategic assessment will not impact an ongoing accredited environmental assessment of the future Myara North and Holyoake mine regions of the Huntly mine under WA and federal environment law.

The Minerals Council of Australia said the agreement was a pragmatic decision by Alcoa and the federal government.

Chief executive Tania Constable called on state and federal governments to “rapidly finalise” workable national environmental standards and assessment agreements to reduce mine approval delays.

20/02/2026

AUSTRALIAN ANNIVERSARIES - 20 FEBRUARY

1913 – King O'Malley drove in the first survey peg to mark the commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.

1961 – Pianist and composer Percy Grainger dies aged 78.

1962 – Perth becomes known as the City of Light when astronaut John Glenn passes over the city and thousands of external lights are switched on to greet him.

2006 – Andrew Mallard, convicted of murder in 1995, has his conviction quashed and is released after a High Court appeal.

Image - King O'Malley

— Wikipedia

20/02/2026

Pauline Hanson anti-Islam backlash amid tidal wave of AI misinformation

(By Dan Jensen, Independent Australia)

As artificial intelligence fuels viral political fiction, Australia’s democratic debate risks being steered by outrage rather than truth, writes Dan Jensen.

THIS IS A dangerous time for Australian democracy. Fabricated political dramas, powered by artificial intelligence and spread through opaque digital networks, are no longer fringe curiosities — they are shaping perceptions, mobilising voters and influencing polling momentum.

As politics migrates deeper into the digital sphere, the capacity for lies to outpace truth is expanding at an alarming speed.

Continue reading: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/one-nations-popularity-surges-amid-tidal-wave-of-disinformation,20702