The Legacy Of Slavery

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British and American plantation owners imported millions of Africans into the colonies as slave labour. That is a fact. The legacy of slavery. American Independence saw, in time, many northern states abolish slavery in their territories. Eventually, the Civil War 1861-66 was fought over the issue of slavery and the north won militarily. The result left 6 million African Americans in the United States who had been previously enslaved. The vast majority of these people were in the south. An assassin murdered President Abraham Lincoln while he was at the theatre. There had been much debate over what to do with all these former slaves. White folk in the north, whilst despising the institution of slavery in their nation, were not real keen on having all these black folk in their midst either. Being anti-slavery did not necessarily equate with not being a racist.Continue Reading

Why Are Americans So Stupid?

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Why would working class Americans vote for a political party that has done nothing for them over the last 44 years? Why are Americans so stupid? The Republican party, the GOP, has been feathering the nests of the wealthy, billionaires and oligarchs, since Ronald Reagan was president. Look at the facts and the reduction in wealth of the middle class over this period. The majority of Americans have been going backward economically, whilst the super-rich have been rolling in clover on steroids. How can a population of adults be gulled time and time again by lies and empty promises? Now, they have reached the nadir of conmen and grifters in Donald J Trump.Continue Reading

Trump’s America Wants To See 5 YRS Of Your Social Media

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In: corruption, democracy, featured, Government, latest post, power, social media

You can visit China or Russia and not have such an imposition put upon you at the border by customs agents. Trump’s America wants to see 5YRS of your social media if you are an Australian. Hey, I thought that we were allies and that AUKUS was full steam ahead? The USA is now an authoritarian police state, with masked ICE thugs beating up on brown skinned Americans. It is not business as usual folks! White supremacists are running the White House. Now, I get the true meaning of that name!Continue Reading

American Revolution

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One of the strongest impressions I came away with after watching the opening episode of Ken Burn’s American Revolution was the parallels with where the Unites States finds itself now. Especially, in terms of the disinclination for Americans to want to pay their taxes and obey laws. You can observe right back at the very start, this desire to take stuff and expect to remain Scott free (a Scott is a tax). Smugglers and traders alike, in the colonies, did not want to pay any duties. Although, wars had been fought against the French and Indians, which involved British soldiers, the colonists did not want to contribute to the wages of these soldiers via taxes commensurate with the costs involved.Continue Reading

Dutton Was The Most Unpopular Lib Leader Ever

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A survey was released recently, which indicated that Peter Dutton was the most unpopular Lib leader ever. The results of the last federal election told us that pretty darn clearly, anyway. Australia was forced to stick with Albo, after the insane energy policies put forward by the Coalition under the auspices of Dutton’s leadership. Nuclear power, which would take hundreds of billions of dollars and decades to ever come to fruition. Plus, it would never complement renewable energy by the very nature of the way it works. You cannot just switch on and off nuclear power stations when you need them – they don’t operate like that. This batshit crazy idea of Dutton’s sunk his and the LNP’s credibility when it cane to energy and the economy.Continue Reading

Albo The Zombie Neoliberal PM

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Anthony Albanese and his Labor government have not addressed the housing crisis. Too afraid to offend anyone; they are hoping to shift the neoliberal economic levers to relieve the situation. Hoping to increase housing stock and have supply reduce the high price of demand. This is not working, however, as there are too many roadblocks in the way in Australia. Not enough tradies to build the needed homes and recalcitrant councils holding up planning and building approvals are just some of the intransigent problems. How many years are poor renters going to have to suffer exorbitant rents on homes? Meanwhile, the price of residential property in Australian cities continues to surge. Albo the zombie neoliberal PM.Continue Reading

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Americanisation

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You know, I see quite a few of these YouTube videos where Americans compare stuff to what happens in Australia. It is not these that peak my interest, but rather that the global Americanisation is so ubiquitous. Everything about modern life is largely the same in the western world. Have a think about the computer age and where that originated. The internet and social media are American inventions. Smart phones are a big part of this and they too are a US innovation. Beyond this, to more prosaic trends and think about working out, bigger muscles and tattoos. These too, are American cultural shifts, which occurred over the last couple of decades.Continue Reading

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Truth Social & Donald Trump

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Authoritarians and their regimes like to spell shit out for their subjects. Some of you older folk may remember that the USSR had a news organisation/newspaper called Pravda. This was the official platform of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Pravda meant truth and many of us in the west used to roll our eyes at what passed for truth and facts over there. Now, we have Truth Social and Donald Trump in America. The parallels are pretty frightening in this post-truth world. The thing is that people are getting dumber and that naming something like this is enough for the unquestioning among us. Irony is a rare commodity in the United States in the 21C, perhaps more so than these rare earths the Donald goes on about so often.Continue Reading

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Renewable Energy Is Cheaper

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The right wing political parties are in denial of an indisputable fact that renewable energy is cheaper. The transformation of what powers our homes, businesses and lives is well underway. These old culture warriors in the pay of the declining fossil fuel industry are still dancing to an outdated tune, whilst the Australian electorate in the cities have moved on. Legacy media downunder is controlled by an American corporation, News Corp, and they have a vested interest in spruiking negative stuff about the transition to their dwindling viewers. The ABC has ‘no gumption’ and follows the news lead of its commercial rivals, far too often.Continue Reading

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The American Minimum Hourly Rate Disgrace

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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