The American Minimum Hourly Rate Disgrace
The US federal minimum hourly rate of $7.25 has not changed since 2009. That is 16 years; and have a think about how much stuff has gone up in that period. In Australia, the equivalent wage rate is $24.95. Even, with the dollar exchange rate factored in it is more than double. What kind of ‘so-called’ democracy gets away with exploitative shit like this? This is why many American families need food stamps (SNAP) and other forms of welfare because they allow greedy f****** employers to take advantage of vulnerable people. It is such a f***** up country that they look up to a king sized grifter like Donald Trump. The American minimum hourly rate disgrace.Continue Reading
5 Reasons Why Toxic Masculinity Is A Real Problem?
Don’t get defensive about this statement or I will punch your head in. 5 reasons why toxic masculinity is a real problem? Seriously though folks, it is, because it doesn’t just occur on the personal level it impacts across the whole spectrum. Vladimir Putin displays toxic masculinity via his actions invading Ukraine as the leader of Russia. The behaviour of the Russian President can only be described as toxic masculinity. Taking what you want violently against the wishes of another, when you know full well it is not yours to take.Continue Reading
Prince Andrew & The P Words That Cost Him His Title
Think about some of the words that start with ‘P’. Prince, power, penis, paedophile, perpetrator, prince, penis, power and paedophile. The ‘P’ words. Prince Andrew and the P words that cost him his title. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has become the latest victim of the long running Jeffrey Epstein saga. Hang on, it might not be right to call him a victim, as he was, by all accounts a perpetrator. OK, perhaps, he is finally starting to get some of his just desserts. It is funny, peculiar, that a former prince is really the first powerful man, who was a customer of Epstein’s sex trafficking, to pay any kind of price for his morally wrong and possibly illegal behaviour. I mean, Epstein pimped and trafficked thousands of girls over a decade or two to lots of his wealthy male clients. Many of these girls were underage and most of them were ill used via a great capitalist imbalance of power. Rich men buying sexual favours from poor girls, who very likely were not getting a fair deal out of it, but Jeffery and Ghislaine likely were to their advantage.Continue Reading
Australian Cybersecurity Insider Convicted Of Selling Secrets To Russians
Peter Joseph Williams faces a lengthy US jail sentence after pleading guilty to selling out his American employer for millions in crypto currency. Williams, reportedly, used to work for the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) during the 2010s. This high level cybersecurity for intelligence executive has betrayed the US and its allies. Australian cybersecurity insider convicted of selling secrets to Russians is facing, at least, 10 years in prison.Continue Reading
A Generation Of Australians Have Grown Up Weak
Baby Boomers have grown up under the misapprehension that the United States of America was there for us. A generation of Australians have grown up weak on this basis. When exactly has the US come to our aid since WW2? The answer is never. On the other hand, how many times has Australia answered the call from America? Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pine Gap of course. Australians have learned to see our subsidiary role to the US as payment in advance for any serious threat upon our shores. ANZUS was invoked after 9/11 and for the invasion of Afghanistan.Continue Reading
Trump Always Picks On Soft Targets
Have you noticed that Donald Trump always picks on soft targets. Trump has sent in a huge naval aircraft carrier to threaten Venezuela with, after illegally blowing up Venezuelan speedboats in international waters. Yes, he claims they are drug smugglers but no evidence has been provided to prove it. Trump is trash talking Canada and applying onerous tariffs in defiance of a free trade agreement he signed with them. Canadians are notoriously known as nice people throughout the world. The Trump regime’s ICE agents are heavily armed. These masked bullies are beating up on immigrants and Americans with brown skin.Continue Reading
Australian Media Headlines Hail Rare Minerals Deal With Trump
Simplistic, trite and flag waving rubbish, as per usual, from the Aussie media. Anthony Albanese meets with Donald Trump in Washington and cheering from the little people angle erupts downunder. Australian media headlines hail rare minerals deal with Trump. In all likelihood, this will be another deal with American multinationals who won’t pay tax and will screw us on the royalty arrangements. Few jobs will come out of it in this highly mechanised mining sector in the 21C. It may increase our GDP numbers but this will mean diddly squat in actual terms to the vast percentage of our population. Wealthy investors might pop a few bottles of French Champagne over it.Continue Reading
Why Are We Getting Poorer?
Why is everything so expensive now? What price life? Why are we getting poorer? First and foremost, the entire economy is set up to greatly favour owners over all other parts. Investors are owners, of course, and the company executives operate on their behalf. Shareholders are king and everyone else runs a poor second. Thus, profitability is always the prime consideration and profits have to constantly increase to satisfy the shareholders. Plus, executives manipulate the stock price through buybacks to enrich themselves wildly. This is where we get all the billionaires from. Elon Musk is a prominent illustration of this, the richest man in the world.Continue Reading
Chris Hedges Cancelled By National Press Club
Australia lacks a progressive media platform and is overrun with right wing Murdoch lackeys calling the shots. Visiting US journalist Chris Hedges cancelled by National Press Club over fears of him challenging the pro-Zionist narrative about Gaza. There is a lack of media diversity downunder in a sector largely controlled by News Corp and Nine Fairfax. Hedges, a longtime and well respected journalist, who was a former Middle East correspondent, had been confirmed to speak at the Press Club in October. His sudden cancellation conveys the unhealthy influence that the Zionist lobby has in this country.Continue Reading
Massively Overvalued Tech Stocks
You know, the only thing keeping the US economy going is its big bet on AI. The massively overvalued tech stocks, the 7 tech company stocks at the top of the Nasdaq, are the only thing flying the flag right now. Doubts, however, are more than creeping in, they are marching in, in the minds of many experts. The crazy Trump tariffs are viewed by every sane economist as unsustainable and downright dangerous. Now, circular financing tricks exhibited by Nvidia and OpenAI are giving rise to bad memories from the late 1990s. Bursting bubbles are on the tip of every tongue in the investor milieu. Warren Buffet has cashed up to the tune of $300 billion in prep for some really bad times.Continue Reading
Australians Are Disgusted By Trump’s America
I recently visited my relatives on the west coast after many years’ absence. We are all getting on in years and I would not describe my family as political in any real sense of that word. I was shocked at the level of vitriol expressed in regard to what is happening in the United States. My take on this is that ordinary Australians are disgusted by Trump’s America. The dysfunctional nature of Washington DC and wanton cruelty happening in the US, under Donald Trump, has Aussies upset. It is hard to get your head around the extremism of the actions taken by the Trump regime.Continue Reading
The American Desire To Apportion Blame
You know every time that I turn on a screen I am confronted with the American desire to apportion blame. YouTube is full of vids raging against the machine. Ever since the late Robert Hughes identified America, as infected with the culture of complaint, this groundwave has continued to swell. Making something that you don’t like into a conspiracy has become a full time business. And yes, there are plenty of examples where this instinctive reaction is justified by the evidence compiled. It can, however, become a habitual response to everything in life that you don’t like.Continue Reading
Freedom Of Information Really Matters
In Australia, as in most places, we do not have direct democracy, rather we have elected representatives within political parties doing the job of governing, supposedly, on our behalf. Freedom of Information (FOI) is an important conduit into that rarified air where the power is brokered. The Albanese government seeks to make that access harder and more expensive for us to really find out what is going on at the big table. Freedom of Information really matters. It behoves disbelief that the first thing this Labor federal government does, after achieving its largest majority in the parliament, is to reduce transparency on the pretext of lessening the workload for public servants.Continue Reading
The Hypocrisy Of Trump
Hang on, didn’t the Right campaign on the evils of cancel culture??? Donald Trump and MAGA banged on about those on the Left limiting free speech. Now, in power the Trump regime is using its authority to effectively stifle Liberal comediennes like Jimmy Kimmel and getting the Late Show cancelled. Trump’s nutjob cabinet are threatening all and sundry with arrest for saying stuff they do not agree with. The hypocrisy of Trump is heinous. They are using this bogus antisemitism false flag to attack academics and students in US universities. Threatening them with ICE agents and taking away their right to live and work in the United States.Continue Reading
Christian Cults & The Liberal Party Of Australia
More information is coming to hand about the influence of the Plymouth Brethren upon the Liberals downunder. Christian cults and the Liberal Party of Australia. Hardline conservatives willing to spend big to impose their antique vision on Australia have been at it via the Libs. The Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison Coalition federal governments were infused with several strands of hardline Christianity wishing to have their way with the Australian people. Religion in politics is not popular downunder and, therefore, these things were largely hidden from easy viewing. The Plymouth Brethren have no female presence within their leadership and frown upon such anti-biblical positions when it comes to the role of women in society.Continue Reading
The Political Party Peddling Anti-Immigration Poison
The political party peddling anti-immigration poison is the same party that promotes deregulation wherever possible. The LNP Coalition, who governed Australia federally for a decade, prior to the Albanese government, let in the same number of immigrants as Labor when you adjust for the Covid bumps to the figures. This right wing beat up over immigration is another misdirected blame game strategy. The actual reasons why so many working Australians are struggling economically and why we have a housing crisis are not because of high immigration. It is a confluence of economic policies, initiated originally by LNP governments.Continue Reading
Economics Is Anti-Community
Have you noticed that we have all become economists over the last 30 odd years? That economic-speak has become the lingua-franca of our modern world? We talk about the supply and demand of things, the dollar value of everything, and make all our decisions based upon economic principles to a large degree. This has not always been so. Prior to the American conversion to all things economic, which began with the Rand Corporation in the 1960s, governments and ordinary people did not bang on about economics. Economics is founded upon certain assumptions about individual behaviours driven by self-interest. Indeed, economics is anti-community.Continue Reading
Armed Extremism In The Aussie Bush
Dezi Freeman, it seems, changed his name to signify his ‘freedom’, as a ‘free-man’. Sovereign Citizens claim that they do not abide by the laws of the land in Australia. They fly the red maritime flag to show their difference and in an attempt to justify their beliefs by obscure laws of the sea. Armed extremism in the Aussie bush has reared its ugly and violent head again. Wieambilla and, now, Porepunkah will go down in the annals of cop killing events in Oz. These deranged individuals are not heroes, and their cold-blooded murderous actions are not admirable in any way.Continue Reading
Does Australia Want To Be A Vassal State?
Does Australia want to be a vassal state of the United States of America? The AUKUS submarine deal puts us in that invidious position. The Trump regime is rapidly taking the US down paths that modern Australia does not agree with. Donald Trump is a racist and white supremacist. Trump is a convicted felon and has spent decades doing dodgy deals with nefarious groups and individuals. The administration of Donald Trump is behaving in ways that are anathema to what we in Australia expect of our governments and leaders. The depicting of China as the bogeyman of the geopolitical world is an American invention. The US is frightened of a level playing field, economically and militarily. We, in Australia, need to ask ourselves who and what is the real evil in today’s world.Continue Reading
The Productivity Narrative Is A Scam
Have you ever thought that you might be being played like a guitar or a puppet on a string? Australia has been on an economic hold for the past few years in response to the high inflation post pandemic. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) steeply raised interest rates to dampen the economy and repeatedly told the community to pull its head in. Understandably, like good citizens we obeyed and economic growth became sluggish and non-existent. Now, things are better, apparently, with inflation back in their band of acceptability at 2-3%. So, growth is back on the agenda and the conversation turns to productivity and the national figures. The productivity narrative is a scam.Continue Reading
NACC Commissioner Brereton Must Go
Australians waited way too long for a National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). The fact that it is failing in its intended reason for being is a disgrace. NACC Commissioner Brereton must go, as it is no longer tenable for him to stay in the job following his compromised performance. Robodebt hangs over the NACC like the shameful episode in Australian government history it is. Never have the Australian people been so betrayed by a federal government and its administrative bodies. It is topical too because this automated f*** up bears the hallmarks of AI – the much heralded artificial intelligence.Continue Reading
Israel Killing Palestinian Children Enmasse
Israel is a worsening problem for Palestinians and the world. This festering boil in the Middle East has reached a critical stage. The inhumanity of the Netanyahu regime toward Gazans continues unabated. Israel killing Palestinian children enmasse. Starving women, men and children to death, following killing more than 60, 000 Palestinians by bombing the shit out of Gaza is beyond the pale. Hamas may have started this latest conflict but killing so many innocent people is unacceptable. What we are witnessing is the racism of the world writ large, where Arab life is considered less important than our own. America backing the Netanyahu led Israel throughout this conflict is testament to this.Continue Reading
We Have Always Looked To America
In Australia, we have always looked to America for ideas and inspiration. Indeed, our business community models itself on the US via importing their CEOs and MBAs. The push from the big end of town and the LNP Coalition is, invariably, toward making this nation more like the USA. Former PM Tony Abbott tried to privatise higher education, thankfully, unsuccessfully. The Libs have wanted to kill off Medicare for some 50+ years, again, thankfully, without success. Peter Dutton, the unseated former Liberal leader of the opposition, brought out Donald Trump’s campaign director downunder to assist with the last federal election. This proved not to be a great idea for Peter and the party.Continue Reading
Trump Shoots The Economic Messenger
The Trump economy labour statistics fall to half as many jobs created as the Biden economy at the same time last year. In childish retaliation Donald Trump fires the official responsible for the statistics. Trump shoots the economic messenger. The American people under this authoritarian regime lose another objective guide to what is happening with their economy. The liar in the White House is wrecking the economy with his crazy tariffs creating uncertainty everywhere. Who can afford to invest when they don’t know what the f*** is going on? The US is heading for a huge fall via these globally unpopular economic policies.Continue Reading
Four Corners Exposes $50 Billion ATO Losses
ABC investigative reporters at work, as Four Corners exposes $50 billion ATO losses. The old joke about feeling like a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed on shit, comes to mind when considering what really goes in the halls of power. Macro corruption is the term used to describe the situation in Australia, where the amounts are very large when dirty deeds are done downunder. Scamming millions of dollars from the tax office via bogus GST claims would be an unlikely occurrence one would think. I mean, the ATO is a pillar of our whole national edifice, so it must be bristling with top line security, right? Wrong, it is a $50 billion black hole bad joke on that score.Continue Reading
AI Will Decimate Income Tax Revenue Downunder
None other than James Packer, son of the great anti-tax champion billionaire Kerry Packer, is warning that AI will decimate tax revenue downunder. Why? It is because Australia depends upon the income tax from workers for the lion’s share of its tax revenue. AI has already started shedding jobs in middle management and the numbers are going to ramp up substantially very soon. The loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs to machines will impact the bottom line severely. Especially, as multinational corporations and rich people avoid paying tax in Australia.Continue Reading
Australian Media Directed By News Corp
The Australian media is directed by News Corp and its pro-American perspective. The assumption promulgated by the Murdoch press is that China is bad and the US is good. That the evil communists are threatening the world whilst America stands for all that is right. Of course, with Donald Trump in the White House this rationale is absurd. Unless you have been living in isolation for the last year you would know that Uncle Sam is on the nose in 2025. Trump has attacked, economically and verbally, America’s long standing allies. He has threatened Canada and Greenland with the spectre of some sort of invasion. Trump has seemingly backed Putin and the Russians in their illegal invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, China has been the bastion of peaceful stability in contrast with the turmoils of Trump’s United States.Continue Reading
The Epstein Files & Donald Trump
You know how this whole thing works, don’t you? Rich elite men preying upon young girls for sex. Jeffrey Epstein, the pimp, and Ghislaine Maxwell the groomer of young girls. He dangles the bait, the ripe fresh meat, in front of the billionaire or politician. He whispers in the ear of Mister Magnificent, ”you are the big swinging dick and you deserve this. Rules are not for people like us, we are above all that.“ What do you get for the man who has everything? Illicit sex with minors. Success breeds contempt. The Epstein files and Donald Trump are at the nub of the celebrated American billionaire factory.Continue Reading
Australia Does Not Have An Antisemitism Problem
The fact that private property has been damaged and graffiti daubed on walls in a couple of Australian cities means these are law and order issues. Australia does not have an antisemitism problem on this basis. Talk about political manipulation and overreach. We have police forces capable of adequately dealing with these relative few instances of criminal damage. Most Australians know that there is a protest movement engaged in drawing attention to the genocide being committed by Israeli forces in Gaza, where more than 50, 000 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF. Passions are high among the Australian Arab population and younger Aussies more generally – this is understandable in light of what is going on.Continue Reading
American Culture Is So Phony
Is there a more dishonest bunch of people than Americans? American culture is so phony. The Epstein files and their promise of shock and horror are a point of fact in this. The Trump administration is full of individuals who made much of the cover ups of this material prior to being appointed by Donald Trump to head the FBI. Now, these loud mouths like Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are suddenly singing from a different song sheet. Nothing to see here folks, according to the former right wing podcasters. Jeffrey Epstein was a pimp for high profile elites like Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and a slew of others. He died in prison awaiting trial.Continue Reading
Increasing The GST Hurts The Working Poor More
In Australia they are talking about raising the flat consumption tax called the GST. Increasing the GST hurts the working poor more. After 4 years of a cost of living crisis due to high inflation, exacerbated by price gouging by big corporates, and the Reserve Bank steeply raising interest rates the experts think that the poor folk need another kicking. Who do you think copped it in the neck the most over this period? And prices on essentials have not come down, they are merely not rising by so much. Does the federal government really think that those hurting the most financially deserve another price hike on everything?Continue Reading
Big American Corporations Not Paying Their Fair Share Of Tax
We now know why the Big Tech oligarchs switched their allegiance to Donald Trump. It was all about the international effort to end Big American corporations not paying their fair share of tax in the countries they do business. Former US President Joe Biden had backed this initiative, as had Australia and Europe. Trump took the money from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Elon Musk and other tech giants backing his campaign and in return has bullied those nations who were attempting to get these corporations to pay their fair share of tax on the billions they generate around the world. The selfishness of these Americans knows no bounds.Continue Reading
Are Americans The Most Selfish Folk On Earth?
This land of billionaires and oligarchs who boast of enormous fortunes but still pay little tax. Where the rich grow richer and under Donald Trump slash any semblance of the welfare state. A nation where members of Congress stay in power well into extreme old age. Are Americans the most selfish folk on earth? The idea of community seems an alien concept and maybe they confuse it with communism? They idolise the wealthy and the largely fraudulent narrative of the self-made man. A nation of immigrants who now attack the most recent waves of immigrants, as bad people deserving of detainment deportation.Continue Reading
The Greedy Gut’s Ethos Now Running America
Donald Trump and the MAGA cult have turned the GOP into the greedy gut’s party. The political party that represents those who already have a lot and want ever more at the expense of those with next to nothing. America has a problem with obesity among its people. Folk sitting on their fat arses a lot. Meanwhile, ICE is targeting brown skinned Americans to tone that population down by detaining and deporting them. The greedy gut’s ethos now running America is not about equal opportunity. In fact, DEI is on the nose in the USA.Continue Reading
Do We Want Lies & Disinformation In Our Media Downunder?
It is time to rid our shores of the Murdoch controlled News Corp and their unbalanced political fiction factory. Do we want lies and disinformation in our media downunder? For too long Rupert Murdoch has held sway over our newspapers, radio networks and TV news. News Corp sets the agenda in Australian current affairs and yet is the most right wing biased news source in the country. Most recently, Australians rejected the Temu Trump led Coalition of Libs and Nats at the federal election. Australian cities voted in droves to reject the Donald Trump inspired politics of hate and divisiveness.Continue Reading
The Little Men Leading Australia: Astray
Have you ever asked yourself, as an Australian, why our leaders make such bad deals on our behalf? Why don’t the gas companies mining our gas pay taxes and royalties equivalent to the billions they make from selling our national resource? Is it corruption or the result of their inadequacy? The little men leading Australia: Astray. The contract details around AUKUS only reinforce this woeful deal making by our politicians and bureaucrats when dealing with international representatives. Is it the result of long standing national low self-esteem, gullibility, corrupt practices or a combination of all of these elements? Whatever it is, they are seriously underselling Australia and letting us all down at the big table where these things are negotiated.Continue Reading
Is This An Act Of War?
American cop shoots Australian journalist in LA. The LA immigration riot was the setting of what looked like a deliberate act by an LAPD officer firing upon and hitting a Channel Nine journalist with a rubber bullet. Is this an act of war? Extremist American cop firing on a member of the press in a scene reminiscent of what is happening in Israel. The action showed a complete lack o f respect for the role of the international media covering an event of this magnitude. It is just another indication of the depths to which the United States has fallen over recent years.Continue Reading
Russians Don’t Like It When You Fight Back
It seems, that Russians don’t like it when you fight back. Mister Putin phoned his best friend Donald Trump, apparently, and warned of his retaliation against Ukraine for their temerity in laying waste to the Russian air force. The thing is, you see, Putin views his illegal invasion of Ukraine as a part of the natural order but any incursions by Ukraine as blatant terrorism. Putin’s narrative is that Ukraine is not a country, despite its official status as such since 1991. Vlad and Donnie see the war in Ukraine as a matter for them to come to an understanding over and no place for uppity Ukrainians like Zelenskyy.Continue Reading
Sydney Swans Playing List Evaluation in 2025
Those blowhards in the AFL media, them overpaid talking heads with exaggerated reputations, will be coming for the Sydney Swans, now that they have plummeted down the ladder. Back to back 10 to 15 goal thrashings will do that. It will be ‘so-called’ incisive judgements about the lack of talent on the Sydney list and how they will have to go into rebuild mode. These ‘geniuses’ all jump on the judgemental ‘must rebuild’ media led bandwagons, which saw clubs like Melbourne and North Melbourne stuck down the bottom of the ladder for decades. Here is a Sydney Swans playing list evaluation in 2025.Continue Reading
Messed Up In The Trump Cult
It is incredible to ponder on how obsessed America has been with one individual for the last decade. This republic, this land of the free, has been messed up in the Trump cult of personality. Hundreds of millions of Americans have had their lives upset and f***** with by one, fairly sordid, son of a second rate property developer. Celebrity is the weakness of this people. Their unhealthy fondness for the faux familiarity of celebrity. So much for progress, for the democratic journey over decades and centuries. So much for the American Experiment.Continue Reading
Healthscope: The Private Equity Fail For Hospitals
Private equity investments are bad for health. These American style investments are incredibly unhealthy for the vehicles they, often, drive into the ground. Healthscope: The private equity fail for hospitals in Australia. What private equity does is saddle the thing that they buy with all the debt raised to purchase it in the first place. Then, it liquidates whatever juicy assets in the possession of the targeted investment vehicle. In this case, it was selling all the real estate upon which these dozens of private hospitals reside. This raised billions for the private equity firm. Following this all the hospitals had to pay commercial rents to the new owners of the land. Making operating the businesses more expensive.Continue Reading
Joe Biden’s Original Sin
Original Sin is a provocative title for Jake Tapper’s and Alex Thompson’s new book about former President Joe Biden. It alleges that a cover up of sorts took place to largely hide the mental incapacity of Biden for great chunks of his time at the top. Now, the Trump Republican opposition and Fox News continually pointed the finger at Biden’s age as a problem during his time in office – so it was not some big secret. However, it was denied by the Democrats and the White House in particular. Joe Biden’s original sin. The zombie like performance in the June 2024 presidential debate against Donald Trump confirmed the worst fears of some in the Democrat camp that Joe Biden was too old and mentally unfit to go again. Public pressure was brought to bear and Biden pulled out.Continue Reading
Social Media Activity Checked By US Customs
Americans are having their social media activity checked by US customs and border agents. This is an illustration of how the US has become a fascist police state under Donald Trump. I have written about how China uses a social credit system to rate its citizens’ behaviour and rewards or penalises them accordingly. Many in the US criticise China as a totalitarian state, well the Trump regime is now acting in similarly intrusive ways. The digital world is primarily a record keeping device and the checking of this by security agencies has become their new favourite means of investigating individuals. Free speech and first amendment rights are being routinely trampled on by the Trump regime.Continue Reading
How Apple Made Modern China
If I told you that Apple has invested around US$55 billion every year in China since 2016 would you be able to grasp the enormity of that sized investment? Comparisons include the Marshall Plan after WW2, scaled up to into today’s money, which was the US investing in Europe to rebuild it after the destruction of nearly a decade of war. The Apple investment in China is twice this on an equivalent dollar scale. This is how Apple made modern China.Continue Reading
36 Trillion Reasons To Despise The GOP
The Republican Party in the United States has led the way when it comes to drastically lowering the tax rates on the richest Americans. It has come down from some 90% after WW2 to be around the 30 to 40% rate in the current era. Thus, the National Debt of $36 trillion has to be directly impacted by falling tax revenues over decades contributing to the need to borrow to fund government. 36 trillion reasons to despise the GOP and its fundamental role in the economic debt crisis of the US. How can any American justify this huge decrease in taxing the rich at the expense of the country? Republicans have simultaneously been in the vanguard of consistently increasing defence spending over these same decades.Continue Reading
AFL Mutterings In The Manosphere
Gerard Healy calls for the tag and it has become a running joke. Tag every player, maybe? Could it be because nobody plays on anyone anymore in AFL? The demand for tagging is really a deeper cry for greater accountability? A bit more mano on mano? Funnily enough, ball use efficiency decreases when the tag is applied. AFL mutterings in the manosphere. No kidding, it’s not rocket science but the coaching stratagems are so far up you know where with zoning pinched from basketball that the penny aint dropped. Footy has become the unaccountable game. When I played the game we all played on someone.Continue Reading
The Truth About The Liberal Party
The neocons in Australia keep spruiking stuff about their culture wars but in reality the nation has rejected them. The truth about the Liberal Party is that the electorate has given a succession of their leaders the old heave ho. Former PM John Howard in Bennelong was ousted in 2007.Continue Reading
Mushroom Poison Lady Will Be Convicted
My prediction is that the alleged mushroom poison lady will be convicted and sentenced as a mass murderer. No great shakes, I hear you say. But, and this is the point of this post, I further predict that she will follow in the footsteps of prior Aussie femme fatales like Lindy Chamberlain and Kathleen Folbigg. These publicly excoriated Aussie women were later released and their crimes pardoned on the basis of wrongful convictions. Erin Patterson has all the hallmarks of the Australian predilection for going to town over femme fatales downunder. Nothing excites the media and the locals more than a deadly woman.Continue Reading
Ding Dong The Dutton Witch Is Dead
“Once there was a wicked witch in the lovely land of Oz
And a wickeder, wickeder, wickeder witch there never, never was.”
Voldemort has fallen in the seat of Dickson and the divisive Peter Dutton is politically dead. Now, Jim Chalmers decently said he was not one to dance on the grave of a political opponent. However, if you live by the sword you die by the sword and Mr Dutton was an aggressive and polarising figure on the Australian political stage. The Liberal Party has lost the 2025 federal election in a landslide to Labor. Ding dong the Dutton witch is dead. Long live Australia.Continue Reading
Trump Campaign Advised Peter Dutton In Australia
The Trump campaign chief was in Australia advising Peter Dutton’s Liberal Party in the run up to the federal election. This answers that question about the ties between Peter Dutton and Donald Trump’s Republican Party in the US. If, as the Trump campaign chief claims, he was downunder advising the Liberal Party campaign we can observe the close links between the two organisations. Shared aspirations and ways of going about things should send alarm bells off in the minds of Australian voters. Trump campaign advised Peter Dutton in Australia regarding his bid to become Prime Minister in the 2025 election.Continue Reading
Dear America, The Russians Have Won
If you dispassionately look at things, it is pretty clear, that the US has been taken over in a Russian coup. I mean, Vladimir Putin is directing Donald Trump in negotiations re-Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and any sort of cease fire/peace deal. Economic sanctions have been applied to every nation in the world except Russia. Investigations into and monitoring of Russian influence have been disbanded under Trump. Dear America, The Russians have won and their asset is running your country in 2025.Continue Reading
Has Dean Cox Inherited A Damaged Team?
Or has he made a mess of his first few months of the season, as head coach of the Swans in 2025? Tom McCartin? A failed experiment still costing the team stability and continuity. The Sydney Swans AFL side is sliding down to the lower reaches of a long ladder. 14th place. Has Dean Cox inherited a damaged team? Did John Longmire exit a traumatised football team? Injuries to important senior players have made things worse to be sure. However if a solid system was in place, then, the thinking goes that new soldiers come in and play the roles required. This is not happening in terms of four quarter performances producing winning results.Continue Reading
Digital World Taking Over The Real World
We created a model of our lives. The model was called a computer. Lots of us thought this was really cool. Everyone got a computer if they could and lots of cool stuff was generated. The Internet, world wide web, and social media. More and more human activity was transferred to the digital realm. We became more dependent upon computers and the digital world. The computer transformed into a smart phone, which could do a bunch of cool stuff. Human behavior has been modified with generations of digital natives knowing little else. Now, AI is here and taking over much more of our lives. The digital world taking over the real world is actually happening.Continue Reading
Dutton Always Framing Stuff In The Negative For Voters
Australia currently has the worst vehicle emission’s standards in the Western world. Why is this so? Politics, of course. This basic health and environmental issue has been made a political football by the right wing LNP. The Coalition continually appeals to the lowest of the low comfort zone of their voters. You never see this mob ask anything of their voters to raise their standards for the betterment of the community. No, it is always framed in such way as to reduce everything to what it might cost in the short term in dollars. Peter Dutton the alarmist politician crying ‘wolf’ about possible price increases and exaggerating the amount for all its worth. Dutton always framing stuff in the negative for voters.Continue Reading
The Trump Regime Are Discarding Adherence To The Law
The process which is occurring in the United States right now and to a lesser degree elsewhere too is well worth understanding. Those on the Right and in the Trump regime are discarding adherence to the law, as a fundamental of government. Basically, they were unable to achieve their white supremacy and might is right wishes via upholding the existing US Constitution. Donald Trump’s desire for unchecked executive power is fired by this. Those on the Left, in contrast to this, have been sticklers for abiding by the laws of the land. A majority of the American voting public voted for criminality when they elected Trump, a convicted felon to the White House.Continue Reading
Watching The Donald Trump Circus
You know, watching the Donald Trump circus in America is pretty amazing. What did a commentator say recently, ‘hire a bunch of clowns and you get a circus,’ It is like someone has gone around and purposely brought together the dumbest bunch of people to run the country. It is the complete reversal of centuries of collective intention to attract the best experts in their fields for this national purpose. Now, you have law breakers serving as Attorney General and DOJ officials. Trade and treasury departments devoid of economists. Health department heads who know nothing about public health. It is the biggest shit show ever assembled in Washington DC and Trump is never off camera for longer than it takes to take a crap.Continue Reading
Australian Politicians Bereft Of Inspiration Now
A lot of Australian politicians have a problem because Trump’s America has gone batshit crazy. Why is this a particular problem for them? Basically because they and their parties have been following the American lead for decades. Pissweak Aussie pollies have been following in the shadow of big brother for the longest time. Not having to really think for themselves or come up with anything original has attracted a certain kind of Australian to their ranks. This applies to both sides but the Libs and Nats in particular have been drinking deeply from that stars and stripes cup for many years. Australian politicians bereft of inspiration now.Continue Reading
Are You Too Dumb To Read?
Maybe you just don’t have the time or the inclination. Everything is available as a video or podcast anyway, you reason. Are you too dumb to read? Or just too lazy? Consuming information via videos also means, in the main, that you have no reference for the source material underpinning what is claimed by the speakers in the video. Most YouTube videos do not include this reference material. This is just another way we are all being dumbed down by the convenience of technology. It is one of the reasons why we are having to deal with Donald Trump because dumb Americans voted him back in despite the plethora of evidence against him.Continue Reading
The True Story Behind The Trump Tariffs
The true story behind the Trump tariffs will blow your mind. You may or may not know that the key economic advisor behind the tariffs is one Peter Navarro. Donald Trump originally came across Navarro thanks to son in law Jared Kushner. Apparently, he did an Amazon search for books on economics and found one with the catchy title – The Coming China Wars by Peter Navarro. In that book Navarro references repeatedly an economist named Ron Varo to bolster his economic theories about the effectiveness of tariffs. It turns out that Ron Varo does not actually exist and is an anagram of Navarro’s own name. The dishonesty of these right wing extremists around Donald Trump is gobsmacking.Continue Reading
Do We Need To De-Americanise Australia?
In the wake of Trump 2.0 and the growing realisation that America is completely on the wrong track or, indeed, coming off the rails, do we need to de-Americanise Australia? Take a moment to consider how far down this Americanised route Australia has already travelled. In this Neoliberal Era, in which we live, it is big business running the show and Corporate Australia has imported most of their ideas and ways of doing things from the Yanks. Over decades, we have brought in American CEOs and many of our home grown business leaders have done their MBs at US higher learning institutions. Things like outsourcing jobs overseas to reduce labour costs and the rise of private equity investment are all American initiatives. Australian big business is very US orientated in the ways it goes about things.Continue Reading
Trump Making America Hated Globally
Imagine electing a President capable of turning the world against you in record time. Trump making America hated globally. Have you ever had a relationship with someone who turned out to be the most selfish person you have known? Someone who may have started out promising you a shopping list of goodies but ended up costing you big time? I think many of us have met such individuals in out time. Donald J Trump is that man for the United States of America. Former friends and allies are having to make other plans, stung by his callous disregard for them.Continue Reading
Associating Peter Dutton With Donald Trump
James Paterson reckons associating Peter Dutton with Donald Trump is a desperate smear. Well, there are differences, decidedly, Donald Trump has more hair for instance. It is true, however, that both men have cosied up to Benjamin Netanyahu on junket tours to Israel. Both right wing leaders do not appreciate the plight of Palestinians if their behaviours and statements are anything to go by. Bashing any protest against the genocide of women, children and men in Gaza, with the ‘antisemitism’ accusation. The divisive Dutton has repeatedly called for the power for politicians like himself to deport dual citizens. In America, Trump is having masked, plain clothed police grabbing academics from campuses and disappearing them. These professors and Fulbright scholars who are legally working in the US and have broken no laws have been taken and locked up. The only thing they did was write a pro-Palestinian essay in an academic journal. This is the behaviour of a fascist dictatorship.Continue Reading
Trump Regime Are Illegally Disappearing Academics
Under the cover of immigration enforcement masked, plain clothed, police are grabbing people off the streets in America. The Trump regime are illegally disappearing academics who have spoken out about the genocide in Gaza. This is the fascist dictatorship we have all been warned about and it is happening now, as you read this. These nefarious operations have been filmed by passers by and are chilling to watch. The evil that is Trump and his right wing extremist regime is under way. These academics are legally in the US on working visas and have committed no crimes. Is this the death of academic freedom?Continue Reading
What Is Today’s Trojan Horse?
I don’t know if you have ever heard of the Trojan Horse? This is a device contained within the ancient story known as The Iliad. Whether it actually existed is debatable but it has become a popular symbolic metaphor down through the ages. Basically, it was a very large, hand constructed, wooden horse like tower. The story goes that the invading Greeks built it, hopped inside, and had it moved in front of the gates to the city of Troy. Eventually, the Trojans were intrigued enough to move it inside their city gates and later that night the Greeks snuck out and opened the gates for their army – final outcome the fall of Troy. Why someone would want a bloody big wooden horse structure, I don’t know. There are reasons given that the Trojans thought that it might be a gift from the gods. ‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts’ – is one of many sayings to emerge subsequent to the reading of this chapter of The Iliad. What is today’s Trojan Horse?Continue Reading
Modern Footy
The truth about AFL football these days is that nobody plays on each other. If you look around the ground during a game, you will see 36 players standing off from one another. Sure, the full forward and full back may be nearer to each other than most, but nobody is wearing the other, like in the old days. The modern footy game is a high possession, low contest affair that sees the ball move quickly up and down the ground. This higher scoring style of play is by design. Rule changes by those in charge of the AFL have reduced the defensive nature of the game.Continue Reading
Why They Call Dutton ‘Temu Trump’?
The LNP Coalition in Australia is a right wing political party, no longer in the mould of its founder Robert Menzies. Its current leader Peter Dutton continues to take the LNP further right via divisive commentary and policies. Why they call Dutton ‘Temu Trump’? Peter, like many on the right, see Donald Trump as an inspirational model for extremist anti-government behaviour. Blame the government for everything is a popular sentiment in America. The LNP encourage similar attitudes here downunder, as they seek to tap into societal grievances toward bureaucracy and red tape. Slash the civil service and reduce the government services provided to minority groups and those who support centre left political policies is a long held Coalition position in Australia.Continue Reading
Trump Slump Costs Investors $5 Trillion
Donald Trump’s chaotic governing style and tariff heavy economic policies are playing havoc with the stock market in the US. Trump slump costs investors $5 trillion. What’s next? Trumpflation? Most economists predict that things are only going to get worse for the nation, globally, and for ordinary folk. Those of us with superannuation are already paying the price for those Americans who elected Trump to the presidency via our losses on the stock market. Trump 2.0 and its culture wars are raging through the US. Mass sackings, mass deportations and mass losses on Wall Street.Continue Reading
The Destructive Influence Of Donald Trump
As I sit here, awaiting Cyclone Alfred to hit, my mind is more taken up with the destructive influence of Donald Trump upon the world. I am, like many around the globe, deeply disgusted by Trump and his decision to betray Ukraine in its fight to stave off Russian aggression. It is hard to fathom the thinking behind this and the global effects the US policy reversal will have. I suspect Trump’s motivation on this is narcissistically personal to achieve a cessation to the conflict and to damage Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s reputation and position. Aligning the US with Putin and naked Russian aggression after 3 years of supporting a global coalition of nations in the defence of Ukrainian sovereignty is a major international betrayal.Continue Reading
Elon Musk Progeny Of Canadian Nazis
The apple never falls far from the tree. The Elon Musk story involves Canadian Nazi party grandparents and emigrating to apartheid South Africa to align with a regime living the white supremacy dream. Elon Musk progeny of Canadian Nazis. The shadow President of the United States begins to look more and more worrying. No wonder he is going around assuring German far right party supporters of his shared best wishes for their rise to power. What a wicked web this invidious fellow has weaved. Unchecked wealth and power revealed to be rotten at the core.Continue Reading
Australia Remember What 10 Years of The Coalition Brought Us
It is important to note that economic and political cycles do not usually coincide. Australia remember what 10 years of the Coalition brought us. There is a considerable lag between policy and outcomes. A decade of the LNP Coalition federal governments saw the acceleration of housing unaffordability in Australia. Now, you might think that inflation driving up the prices of residential property is a good thing and your chance to get rich, but home owners, I have spoken with, see it differently. They invariably say, that sure having your house worth a lot of money can appear to be wealth but if you sell it you just have to go out and buy another one which is equally as expensive. Housing affordability has jumped from 5 times annual income up to 13 times in Australian cities, according to respected economic journalist Alan Kohler.Continue Reading
Dealing With The Deranged Dictator
Donald Trump is not right in the head. We all know this and yet, perhaps, like the emperor’s new clothes, some of us are loath to admit it. Trump’s behaviour toward Zelenskyy is a clear illustration of this. Accusing the victim of Putin’s Russian invasion of his country of being to blame is batshit crazy. Still, people around Trump are enabling his unbalanced behaviour and outlandish statements by normalising it. Dealing with the deranged dictator of America is having a terrible effect upon the whole world. People look to their leaders to provide stability and security – Trump is incapable of providing this.Continue Reading
Peter Dutton Is Hoping To Buy His 27th Property
Some call him Lord of the landlords, others the banker’s friend and share market king but Peter Dutton is hoping to buy his 27th property. Whilst many Australians are doing it tough in the wake of high inflation the Leader of the Opposition is thriving. One of the sneaky things that the party of the rich, the LNP Coalition, do is to never set limitations on things. So, when they introduce new laws like the discount on capital gains tax, back in John Howard’s day, they ensure that it does not matter how many houses you own or how rich you are you still get that 50% discount.Continue Reading
White People Wanting To Take Back The World
There are white people wanting to take back the world in America. Their orange Jesus has launched the second coming in their White House. Note the name of that august building. Folk are sick of seeing black, coloured, and gay faces on their TV screens. They long for them good old days when America was great and all you saw in them seats of power were white men. Take me back to them fine old times when everything was right with the world, when I looked in the mirror. Mister Trump is even bringing in a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. God bless America!
“The task force, officially known as the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, will be comprised of members of President Trump’s cabinet and key government agencies. The task force will review the activities of all departments and agencies to identify and eliminate anti-Christian policies, practices, or conduct.”Continue Reading
Australia’s Chronic Problem With Prosecuting Corruption
The NACC is a joke. The NACC is an undigested SNACC. The NACC is a Nettled slumbering shadowy national embarrassment. Australia’s chronic problem with prosecuting corruption in the halls of power. Both side of politics at the pointy end protect their mates and peers. Macro corruption is the dirty secret we have writ large in this great southern land. Robodebt was politicians and public servants breaking the law and involved in corrupt behaviour. We have had a Royal Commission which found this to be true and referred 6 individuals to the NACC. The National Anti-Corruption Commission failed to find grounds to proceed and this was then challenged on the grounds of a conflict of interest for its chairman and subsequently reviewed by an independent delegate. It is like a constipated elephant on the dunny with the accountability trying to get out. Australian elites look after each other’s backs when it comes to any of them actually facing prosecution.Continue Reading
Daily Telegraph Fake News Stunt Of Contrived Antisemitism
News Corp’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in Sydney inventing fake news clearly shows that this organisation is not fit to be running a media company in Australia. Sleazy reporter crew follows Israeli provocateur into Arab restaurants in an attempt to stir up trouble and play the antisemitism card. Daily Telegraph fake news stunt of contrived antisemitism. News Corp are no strangers to this kind of unprofessional behaviour, as they would not know what objective journalism is if it bit them on the arse. This Murdoch family business is a travesty of bias and one eyed right wing reporting. Sky News Australia is Fox News lite without the American accents. Their newspapers are equally ill informed and rabidly right wing.Continue Reading
Don’t Buy American
Send a message and don’t buy American. If you want to do something about the crooked and corrupt regime taking hold of the United States via Trump 2.0 use your consumer power. The Canadians are doing it. And I am sure the European Union will follow suit in the very near future, as they come under fire from the Trump tariffs. Stop feeding the beast and cut off your monetary supply to US companies. Do something about what is happening over there rather than just gnashing your teeth. Burst the bubble of the blowhard dictator by the economic means available to you. Sanction the US economically for crimes against decency, morality, and democracy.Continue Reading
Australia Is Kissing The Ring Of Trump
Today, we heard that Donald Trump has given his approval for the AUKUS deal. Why wouldn’t he? In this deal, Australia pays billions of dollars to the US to boost their nuclear submarine building capacity. There are, however, no iron clad guarantees that we will receive any submarines. Donald Trump would love such a deal with billions going to the US military industrial complex and delays are always par for the course with these kinds of arrangements. Australia is kissing the ring of Trump by relinquishing our sovereignty by allowing a greater US military presence within our territory and becoming further subservient to American interests.Continue Reading
The Politics Of Energy In Australia
What you have to understand about the current energy debate happening are the politics of energy in Australia. Renewables offer a largely free energy source from the sun and wind with battery storage to cover when the sun goes down overnight. We are in the midst of this transition with renewables powering around 40% of Australia’s electricity supply. This is growing as we speak.
“Key statistics from the Clean Energy Australia 2024 report:Continue Reading
Deep Seek Bursts American AI Bubble
The overhyped AI bubble, which the US has been blowing up with nationalistic fervour has been rocked. Deep Seek bursts American AI bubble. Right at the time, when Trump 2.0 has been making its MAGA fuelled craziness felt this comes as a wake up call on the global stage. The Big Tech realm is no longer an exclusively stars and stripes affair, it seems.Continue Reading
Trump’s Tariffs
Donald Trump is already bragging about how his tariff led economy will return jobs to Americans. The brutal truth is that Americans will be paying for Trump’s tariffs out of their own purses and wallets. High tariffs on international goods and services will mean that what used to be cheaperContinue Reading
What Can We Do About The Oligarchs?
Oligarchies have been around for a very long time in modern terms. The word itself comes from the ancient Greeks, like many of our words for social structures and types of government. What can we do about the oligarchs? Oligarchy versus democracy was first billed as a clash of governing systems some 3 millennia ago in Athens. The original Greek oligarchies were based on class and wealth, as the two most often went hand in hand. Democracy came about as a means to break the grip of noble families on governing Athens, the city state. This new expansionary form of government spread to other Greek city states.Continue Reading
Who Is Driving The Bus?
Do you know who is driving the bus? By this I mean, who is leading our societies and who is making the important decisions that we all follow? It is not the obvious candidates and by this I refer to the politicians. Business leaders make the decisions which effect our lives and livelihoods. These profit driven CEOs are laser focused on the bottom line for their companies and shareholders. A major shift has occurred over the last 35 years, where workers and consumers have been shunted to the back of the queue and shareholders have become everything to companies under the guidance of their boards and CEOs.Continue Reading
Don’t Check The Facts: Inconvenient Scientific Truths
Imagine if Charles Darwin was still alive today and how his groundbreaking scientific work on evolution would be treated by neocons and MAGA types. Social media would light up like the site of an atomic bomb explosion. Don’t check the facts: Inconvenient scientific truths. We have got to the stage where people are choosing which facts they will acknowledge, as if they are choosing from a range of colours for an item in an online store. Terms like ‘alternative truths’ have been invented to describe the current situation. If we cannot agree on what is fact and what is not we are in big trouble.Continue Reading
Historians Have To Be Interested In Truth
Historians have to be interested in truth. The facts matter to those endeavouring to decipher things that have happened. Historians, then, tell us stories about the things that occurred and what were the motivating forces likely to have inspired them. It is an inexact science, as much of life and the accounts of its people often are. Historians might scour the media for the reporting and op-eds, which appeared at the time, to shed light on the matters being examined. If the time frame is fairly recent, they may well interview first hand sources – those who witnessed directly the events in question. Primary sources are the gold for any historical account worth its weight and wishing to be counted as factual.Continue Reading
Welcome To Neoliberalism: Be Free To Pay Forever
Welcome to Neoliberalism. Bienvenida. Here in downtown Neoliberalis there is a new kind of freedom. You are free to pay for everything. User pays, you see. There are no evil socialist institutions, none left anyway. No universal healthcare. No social security, no welfare from the government. Indeed, we are doing away with the whole concept of government. Business can do it better. Business can do it cheaper and much more efficiently. Then, we don’t need public servants, do we? Non, monsieur. Only honest, salt of the earth billionaires to run the show. Welcome to Neoliberalism: Be free to pay forever.Continue Reading
Bite & Smile In The Face Of The Sugar Conspiracy
Do you know why humanity has so much trouble with its teeth and gums? It is a sweet betrayal that has engendered centuries of pain. Take a moment to feel the sharpest strike of the exposed nerve of a dying tooth inside your mouth. Tooth ache is such an inadequate term for this throbbing agony. You cannot even bloody eat; it has stripped that basic pleasure away. A drink of water can bring on waves of pain that last for too f****** long. We all have to bite and smile in the face of the sugar conspiracy.Continue Reading
Do Not Prop Up News Corp, Please
I do not want Australian tax revenue to prop up News Corp. The Albanese government’s plan to incentivise Meta, Google, Apple, Tik Tok and other big tech platforms and corporations to fund the Australian media sector is, as it stands, a bad idea. Do Not Prop Up News Corp, Please.Continue Reading
Computer Trouble On The Horizon: Post Office Scandal
Many folk have been following the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and many more have watched the Mister Bates vs The Post Office drama screened on TV. It is an emotive set of circumstances and an injustice on a grand scale. It, also, presages future issues with AI taking over the lives of workers and people, more generally. Computer trouble on the Horizon: Post Office scandal. It rang true for me and captured my interest as soon as it was brought to my attention. Possibly because I grew up in a small family business with a sub branch of the Post Office contained within it.Continue Reading
Being Stoic: What Is It?
I could begin with a brief history lesson about Stoicism but this is not the essence of it. Being Stoic: What is it? Doing stuff you don’t want to do but know that you have to do anyway. The expression ‘soldiering on,’ invariably comes to mind, as soldiers have to do a lot of shitty things they really would rather not. Duty is a big one for Stoics. Virtue, even, more so. WTF is virtue anyway? It is a word, which has not stood the test of time. It exists as an anachronism, a term draped in cobwebs and an echo from the ancient world. This is old stuff and does it truly having any bearing on our lives today?Continue Reading
Why Appealing To White Working Class Folk Is A Race To The Bottom?
Democrats in America are scratching their heads over Trump’s victory in the recent presidential election. Soul searching is going on, as to how they lost this contest. Democratic elections are popularity contests. They are part evaluations, part bribery, and mirrors held up to societies. Op eds are being written about the role of working class America in the outcome. Chasing this vote is problematic in my view. Why appealing to white working class folk is a race to the bottom? Demagogues, like Donald Trump, falsely court this vote and pretend to champion their grievances. Trump did not deliver for them the first time around and will not again. It is a cynical game and losers always lose out in the end.Continue Reading
Self-Interest Is Trending In America.
The pundits say you should always back the horse called ‘self-interest’ in any race. Donald Trump franked this adage once again in the US Presidential contest over Kamala Harris. A convicted felon who mishandled a global pandemic appallingly, when he was last President, Donald Trump was re-elected to the White House. Trump had plenty to lose if he lost, in terms of numerous upcoming criminal trials and the very real prospect of going to jail. ‘The man was motivated,’ as they say on the street. Self-interest is trending in America. The Trump campaign stitched up every deal and sold every favour they possibly could. Elon Musk was literally jumping up and down for Trump.Continue Reading
Why So Dumb If Some So Smart?
Humanity Is regularly celebrated for its technology, which has lifted us above all other animals. Curing diseases, motorised vehicles, supermarkets, splitting the atom, computers, mobile phones, and even space rockets. These are but a few of the amazing inventions created by humans. How come then masses of us think and act so stupidly? Why so dumb if some so smart? Has it always been the case that the majority of us are low intel creatures and only a minority are much smarter? The experts tell us that it is our ability to share information which has set us apart on the intelligence scale from the other species of animals on the planet.Continue Reading
The Demonising Of Youth Crime
Australians like to pick on the powerless. Older Australians in particular exemplify this trait in the demonising of youth crime. Let’s get one thing straight, the political and societal campaigns against this apparent scourge are not about changing things but about punishment and revenge. The vast majority of us have never been personally affected by youth crime but take up the cudgel anyway out of spite or some such motivation. Those who vote for tougher penalties are not interested in solving what lies at the core of criminality but rather in gaining satisfaction from punishing perpetrators. Youth crime is a trope. Children, as a group, are generally powerless to combat such societal moves, as they aren’t organised and have no social voice.Continue Reading
Are You Using Your Brain Power For Better?
Ask yourself – are you using your brain power for better? In all honesty, are you truly utilising the tools you have been given in this lifetime? Take a moment to evaluate your life up until now. Spend some time in introspection and ask the question of yourself. The funny and awful thing about life is that it can suddenly be taken away or key aspects of it can. Whatever your age, the onus is on all of us to make it count. It is too easy to get stuck in a rut.Continue Reading
The Whale Watcher: Barfing About Blubber
Watching The Whale I was struck by several insights into the issues raised by this film. Firstly, by how un-American this movie was. Where were all the beautiful people? American celluloid and TV is, generally, characterised by a smug self-confidence with everybody sensing that they are the bee’s knees. The Whale watcher: Barfing about blubber. Holding up a mirror to a nation with a massive obesity problem is not normal fare on American screens. The clever use of intertextuality with that god awful American novel Moby Dick called attention to the theatrical roots of this production. The play/movie grappled with those age old American themes so densely inculcated within Moby Dick. God, religious belief, and questions of morality fill the pages of the great American novel. If you have ever attempted to read Moby Dick, the actual white whale is rarely sighted within its pages, rather Melville subjects readers to endless tracts on earnest searches for meaning within the Christian paradigm. It is a book that tries too hard to be morally deep and meaningful.Continue Reading
Robodebt: What The Royal Commission Revealed
If institutional injustice makes you mad this episode had it in spades. Robodebt: What the Royal Commission revealed to us. A government and a bunch of ministers who saw themselves as ‘welfare cops’, with a duty to shake down the most vulnerable among us. Without fear or favour these sheriffs took on pensioners, disabled Australians, and those down on their luck. They applied income averaging to make it look like these people on the bones of their arse were rorting the system. It played well to those who are always looking for someone to blame for their own financial frustrations. Continue Reading
The Royal Commission Into The Robodebt Scheme
The tendency for human beings to kick another whist he or she is down is not a well known Christian practice but perhaps it should be. The Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, currently underway, reveals a religious zeal by the ministers responsible in hammering this automated debt collection program home. This is despite the Robodebt scheme being understood by government lawyers to be illegal. Scott Morrison, a proud Christian and the minister responsible at its inception had no qualms about using income averaging to impose large debts upon the poorest and most vulnerable among the Australian community. Continue Reading
Trump Should Be In Jail
The proposition that Trump should be in jail is supported by many millions of people around the world. Ex-President Donald Trump has broken so many laws over so many years it is astounding that he has avoided successful prosecution for so long. The more I watch the circus that is the US political system and its coverage by the media the clearer the state of play in America is. Wealth and power make individuals seemingly above the law in the US. The great democracy is a joke really, a bad joke at the expense of those who lack the material prerequisites for immunity from prosecution.Continue Reading
The Rise Of Cybercrime: The Widening Gap Between Rich and Poor
The rise of cybercrime: The widening gap between rich and poor is in direct correlation. We have been warned that the continuing divide and expanding inequality within our societies will spawn a violent breakdown of law and order. The proliferation of scams and identity theft is the forerunner of this societal upheaval. Scammers and hackers depend upon there being plenty of dissatisfied folk ready to cross the line to better their lot. If we continue to allow the wealthy to feather their nests, at the expense of the majority, via manipulation of our democratic governments things are only going to get worse.Continue Reading
George Pell Is Dead
Ding dong the witch is dead! Cardinal George Pell has fallen from this mortal coil. George Pell is dead. A convicted sex offender, who was later released from prison after having his conviction quashed by the High Court. Where there is smoke, however, there is usually fire. Pell had been the hard man of conservative Catholic values over many decades in high office within the church. He had overseen a period of revelation within this religious institution. The Catholic Church in Australia and elsewhere was revealed to be a sewer of sexual perversion and exploitation of innocent children. Continue Reading
Australia Has Set The Bar Too Low
Australia has set the bar too low, when it comes to societal expectations around things like civic responsibility. Decades of neoliberalism infecting our governments on both sides of politics has seen a huge slide in respect for the role of government in managing our social contract. The late Kerry Packer was lionised for his tough talk to the senate on tax minimisation and its merits in Australian life. We now face an impending tax revenue crisis, as corporations continue to dodge their taxation responsibilities through clever accounting practices. Wealthy Australians think that it is OK to avoid paying tax wherever they can. Packer told his audience that smart people don’t pay tax where possible and that government’s waste their money anyway. This has become an established narrative in the Aussie cultural canon.Continue Reading
The Real State of Democracy In America
Democracy has long been lauded in the United States of America – Home of the Free etc etc. The reality of the situation, however, has been revealed over the last 5 years during the Trump ascendancy. The American political framework is full of holes, which have been effectively exploited by the Russians and local vested interests. The idea of democracy endures as something wonderful but in practice falls way short. The real state of democracy in America is only partially subscribed to by the country’s population.Continue Reading
People Have Discovered Ukraine
Many people have discovered Ukraine for the first time since the invasion by Russia at the beginning of this year 2022. In a perverted sense they could thank Mr Putin for the catalyst in making this so but this would not be entirely accurate. This is because the invasion of Ukraine really began in 2014 and this did not stop the World Cup being held in Russia in 2018. The world took little notice of the earlier incursions and annexations of Ukrainian territory, which obviously encouraged Mr Putin to go the whole hog, so to speak. This time, however, the USA freed from Trump and the European Union were galvanised to take action in the form of more far reaching sanctions and military aid to Ukraine. Still, Ukraine was for many a far flung place in the east of which little was known.Continue Reading
Conflicts Of Interest In Australia
Australia has been locked into a cycle of inaction around the major issues facing the nation. Manipulation of the political system by vested interests on climate change and inequality has seen little progress achieved on these important matters affecting the nation. Conflicts of interest in Australia are entrenched within media and government. A lack of transparency around political influence within the two party preferred system remains the elephant in the room. On top of this, the loudest voice in the room via media interest is the Murdoch news organisation with its monopoly of newspapers across the land. Murdoch is a rabid right wing media mogul, as seen by the content on his Fox News and Sky News Australia TV networks. Objective coverage of the news is so far from what viewers get via the Murdoch press it would be laughable if it wasn’t such a serious concern for the country.Continue Reading
A Farewell Letter to Scott Morrison
I thought that I should write one last time to you on the marking of your defeat and loss of office. A farewell letter to Scott Morrison on behalf of the nation and myself. I will not be sorry to see the last of your smug, self-satisfied face from my TV screen. Nearly 9 years of your white bread, misogynistic government has been damaging to my own life and Australia’s reputation. Your head in the sand stance on global warming has endangered lives and put back the nation a decade. You have decimated the once broad church of the Liberal Party and led its shift to the irrelevant hard right fringes of Australian political life.Continue Reading
Out Of Touch Australian Media
The results of the recent federal election surprised an out of touch Australian media. The success of the Greens and the Teal tidal wave bowled over a largely conservative media in this country. The ABC has been cowed by 9 years of LNP governments and their threats to gut their organisation. Those who make up the members of the Australian media are largely conservative in their own views and professional behaviour. The Greens were pretty much ignored by the mainstream media in the lead up to this election. The Teal independents were challenged on their status by a media driven by conservative attitudes and strategies. Continue Reading
Why Did God Bother Us?
There we were minding our own business and suddenly folks were hearing voices inside their heads. Why did god bother us? According to the stories you had blokes building bloody big boats and others threatening to murder their own kids, all in the name of some so-called divine source. Human beings had journeyed for billions of years from single cell entities to multicellular, then, to mammals to primates, but of course were not equipped to remember such deep time events. So we made up stories to populate our own shallow-time historical concerns with important people and a god to top it all off with. Continue Reading
Who Will You Vote For on May 21?
The Australian federal election has finally been called for May 21. Who will you vote for on May 21? Aussies are now gearing up to make a big decision. For some it will be a no brainer. For others it will be an unwanted hassle to go where they would rather not bother. The media will move into overdrive with reality TV like coverage of a personality competition at the top of their agenda. Elections soon become beauty contests and tests of personal charisma. The psychology of these races pit one candidate against another in a bid to become a nation’s leader. The disinterested voters generally choose the least offensive or the one who fits their type somewhere in the mist of imprinted archetypal strongmen or women.Continue Reading
The Actors On Our Political Stage
Some people were surprised to find out that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was originally a comedienne/actor. In reality, however, all modern politicians are more actor than statesman. The actors on our political stage, our wearing their hi viz garb for every photo opportunity. The ubiquity of the media in theContinue Reading
Human Beings Must Not Respect One Another
The very idea of a god is a vote of no confidence in ourselves. Human beings must not respect one another if we look to a non-human entity to divinely rule over us. History tells us that civilisation after civilisation have created the existence of supreme beings to sit inContinue Reading
Laissez Faire Capitalism & Western Democracy
After decades of neglect Australia and the US are finally spending some money in the Pacific. The announcement of the laying of an undersea cable to provide internet to island nations in the Pacific is a prime example of this. Why are they doing this now? In one word China.Continue Reading
The Right Side is Wrong
The terms right wing and left wing have become entrenched in today’s political narrative. Historically, the terms have come down to us from the time of the French Revolution in 1789. The aristocracy sat on the right-hand side of the presiding officer. The Third Estate deputies sat on the left-handContinue Reading
Text is the Foundation of Search
Lots of people use the internet without understanding how it works. This is not unusual as most of us do not comprehend exactly how many things work. If I asked how electrical current passes from the mains to your device, the majority of folks would say it runs down theContinue Reading
The Social Contract During a Global Pandemic
The Covid global pandemic has resulted in more than 5 million deaths and counting. Vaccine hesitancy has delayed our scientific solution to managing the pandemic in many countries around the world. The social contract during a global pandemic is in sharp focus right now. This has highlighted the issues we,Continue Reading
Racism Underpins the West’s Attitude to China
It was heartening to see former Australian PM Paul Keating speak out sensibly about our relationship with China. Especially after the last couple of years of ridiculous chest beating by conservative politicians seeking to fan the flames of racism in a bid to win votes. The coalition under Scott MorrisonContinue Reading
Real Hollywood Gun Death Hurts the Industry
The terrible tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins at the hands of a prop gun is a timely message to an unhealthy industry. There are too many guns seen on the screens showing Hollywood films. Writers and directors seem to have an obsession with creating stories featuring guns and gunContinue Reading
Not Another Epidemiologist on My Screen
The global pandemic has exhausted me, and I suspect I am not alone on this score. If I see another daily press conference featuring a Premier or PM I just might scream. If I was not so dead set against guns and violence, I might just do something desperate. Perhaps I could adapt the concept to my principles and attack a bush with a water pistol or something equally insane. Please oh please not another epidemiologist on my screen, as much as they are doing fine work for the community I must look away.Continue Reading
Transplanted Democracy Uprooted in Afghanistan by the Taliban
Any gardener will tell you that if you prune back a plant it will regrow with added vigour. The Taliban in Afghanistan has come back powerfully after 20 years of pruning by the US and coalition forces. Remember that pre-invasion by the US the Taliban did not control all ofContinue Reading
Will Covid Sars-2 Prove to Be Our Dinosaur Extinction Moment?
As I sit here heading into another Covid lockdown, this time from the Delta variant, I ponder about our future. Will Covid Sars-2 prove to be our dinosaur extinction moment? Will the Homo sapien’s story end here at the hands of a virus. Perhaps a virus engineered in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, which was funded by American corporate interests. It all sounds like a scenario drawn from the pages of an airport bookstore thriller. However, over 4 million people have lost their lives from this pandemic and deaths are not slowing up anytime soon.Continue Reading
Microbiome and Humans
‘Microbiome’ – Micro meaning very small – Bio meaning life – Me meaning you or me. Remember this term because it is going to become better recognised as an important factor in human health and our longevity. Human microbiome is defined as the collection of genes found in all microbes residing within us – basically all the bacteria, fungi, viruses, and microorganisms inhabiting our bodies. ‘Microbiota’, another term, refers to all microorganisms inhabiting a particular environment like the gut. There are many trillions of these microscopic entities residing in our human gastrointestinal tract, on our skin, and most places. Long have we ignored this micro-environment and rather focused on larger, more readily seen matters, possibly to the detriment of our health and understanding of life. Remember that microbes have been around for a lot longer than we have (billions of years) and are easily the most successful life forms on this planet. In the current climate, with a global viral pandemic ravaging the world, we are all suddenly more aware of the micro-realm. Indeed, our awareness of microbiome greatly increased around 2002, when gene sequencing technology became available to identify microbes and their influence. Following this there has been a huge explosion in the study of microbiome and humans.Continue Reading
Consciousness: Free Will and Cellular Facts
We are all born into this life without our consent. Nobody asks us whether we would like to play the game of life in human form. Observing the unfocused gaze of a newborn babe one witnesses a magical tabula rasa moment. Consciousness is, it seems, at its earliest manifestation, the state of the watcher. A baby observes via its eyes and visual sensory apparatus within the brain. We, as human beings are made up of many trillions of human cells. There are 200 different types of cells within the body and none of these are individually conscious or sentient. Consciousness: Free will and cellular facts tell a story that is wildly divergent from the narratives derived from religion and lore.Continue Reading
Why We Abuse the Elderly
In Australia, we have just completed a Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Some people were shocked at the findings, which emerged out of this enquiry. More than 10, 500 submissions and the testimony of 600 witnesses were considered during the two years it ran. Elderly Australians have been abused, drugged into submission and treated abhorrently according to the evidence provided to the commission. The rights of those in aged care have been sorely neglected and transgressed over many decades here in Australia within the current federally run system. It is time to ask ourselves why we abuse the elderly and why we allow this abuse to go on unchecked despite countless reviews into the current system for aged care?Continue Reading
The Art of Blogging
I want to make a confession first up, which is that I hate the word blog and all its extensions – blogging, blogger, blogged and blogs. Short for ‘web log’ apparently, blog, is an ugly word let’s face it. It sounds to me like a colloquial term fit for acts of defecation. Thus, the art of blogging is akin to a ballerina farting loudly throughout a performance of the Nutcracker Suite. OK got that off my chest. I wonder who came up with the term in the first place? I Googled it and according to a Wikipedia entry ‘weblog’ was so named by one Jom Barger in 1997 and one Peter Merholz reduced the two words to ‘blog’ in 1999 via a phrase posted on his blog. Now you know.Continue Reading
RIP Anthony Bourdain
When I was asked to write something about the recent passing of celebrity chef and raconteur, Anthony Bourdain, I realised that he had been a part of my own culinary journey. His death by suicide, whilst shocking, does fit with the narrative contained within his first book. I received, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, his breakout bestselling memoir, as a birthday present from my mother. It was a surprising choice and an equally surprising success. The book lifted the lid on the squalid and steamy underworld of commercial kitchens in the United States. Personally, I had been rattling the pans in restaurant kitchens for nearly 20 years, prior to the publication of Kitchen Confidential in 2000. Commercial kitchens, I suspect, are pretty similar around the globe, especially in western cities like New York, Sydney and London. RIP Anthony Bourdain.Continue Reading
The Americanisation Of Australia
I read in an ABC news report about a doctor earning $600, 000 a year. University vice chancellors on $1.5 million per year. Dentists earning half a million, whilst many older Australians cannot afford to go to the dentist because of the high cost involved. This is the Australia we now live in. A country, in which 20 of the last 25 years have had LNP Coalition federal governments. Inequity and inequality are riding higher than ever before downunder. This has Americanised us via the concentration of corporate ownership via mergers and takeovers creating duopolies and oligopolies in nearly every sector. This failure of the ACCC and ASIC, under the government’s watch, has stripped away consumer buying power and worker’s rights. The competition watchdog has been asleep at the wheel or paid off by nefarious means and the revolving door. This is the Americanisation of Australia.Continue Reading