The Albanese Prime Ministership So Far

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Australia is one of the most secretive democracies in the Western world, according to those in the know. International experts have deemed our governments more secretive than the United States in the way we go about the business of government. In my estimation it is career politicians killing democracy, which is at the heart of this problem.  Careerism invariably puts the interests of the exponent over that of the community when it comes to cutting the mustard. Politicians in Australia like to stay in their comfort zone when it comes to governing the country or the state. Avoiding the glare of the media and the voting public, whenever possible, is always high on their agenda.Continue Reading

ethnic businessman shaking hand of applicant in office

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Western democracies spruik their hopefully meritocratic qualities. The belief that through hard work and talent you can reach the upper echelons of your profession or work place. Careerism: Self-interest’s acceptable public face exists on this basis. Striving for success in any field is encouraged and culturally rewarded. Many bemoan the ever present dangers of nepotism and cronyism within our societies and nations. The elite private schools and old boy’s networks which operate in counter to any ideas of equal opportunity and fairness. Those of us with any pragmatic awareness of how the job market actually works know that it is largely driven by who you know and not what you know. This makes a mockery of any meritocratic ideals believed to be operating within Western democracies.Continue Reading

eagle on a beach

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Freedom is a word with a lot of baggage in America. Think about free speech! The land of the free. The free market. Kris Kristofferson, who died this week, famously sang – “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Americans are inundated with this term and have been since the inception of their country. What is freedom? According to the Oxford Dictionary:

1. The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants. “we do have some freedom of choice” Similar: right to entitlement to privilege prerogative due

2. the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. “the shark thrashed its way to freedom”Continue Reading

close up of british shorthair cat relaxing indoors

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There is no left or right, not really, not in political terms. There are many shades of thought and philosophies existing and interacting around the place at any one time in history. Grouping everything into a binary is just another lazy thinking way of operating. It is similar to focusing on one individual at the expense of acknowledging teams and organisations being responsible for actions, achievements and perceived failures. This all comes down to how we like to tell stories and the kind of stories we most like consuming. We, as human beings, shift the emphasis within episodic events to make them more coherent and linked to a central theme or character. We strip out the stuff we judge as tangential and beef up what we want to shine through.Continue Reading

Jeff Bezos

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The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) grew out of the wage suppressing impacts of neoliberalism and its response to the lack of domestic economic demand and growth this engendered within Western economies in the late Eighties and Nineties. Manufacturing jobs were moved offshore to cheaper labour markets in the developing world.Continue Reading

focused african american researcher conducting biochemical experiment in clinic

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I have been reading some interesting stuff about how the Black Death shaped humanity. Plague has been with humankind at least 5, 000 years and has been one of our most efficient killers.

“Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, a zoonotic bacteria, usually found in small mammals and their fleas. It is transmitted between animals through fleas.”

(https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/plague#:~:text=Plague%20is%20an%20infectious%20disease,transmitted%20between%20animals%20through%20fleas.)

Yersinia pestis is the official name of this malevolent bacteria, which has a predilection for human victims. It manifests in bubonic and pneumonic ways to spread death and disease. It has been found in ancient DNA by scientists and looks to have originated on the steppes of Eurasia.Continue Reading

city sunset street storm

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Let me make one thing clear at the outset of this post, the ALP federal government may be lukewarm in my opinion but the Opposition is no alternative. The Albanese government need to lift their game, as the timidity and treading water approach are beginning to smell of self-preservation. We do not want a government, which is more interested in not offending folk than getting anything progressive done. The Voice rejection was a very disappointing failure for Australia but it is no excuse for ducking the difficult issues facing the nation. Anthony Albanese needs to go watch some footage of former PM Paul Keating and find some backbone real fast.Continue Reading

The British Neptune riding Triumphant

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The conversation among my work crew is a fairly good reflection of the average discursive exchange happening around the nation at the moment, I reckon. Dressed as we are in high viz gear and steel capped boots ensconced in our work ute on the way to the site. Smoko ramps up with the news of the day and plenty of opinions. One of my erstwhile colleagues, a migrant from the old country, was voicing her support for those kicking up a stink in Britain. Blaming it on too many immigrants coming into the country and receiving special treatment to the detriment of those who really belong there. Blame it on the poor immigrant.Continue Reading

moving cars on the road near wangjing soho buildings

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We are in the midst of a hype driven mania for all things AI at this time. This is not entirely unusual, as humanity has done this before. There have been fevers for all sorts of things from tulips to Facebook over the years. In this instance, however, it involves handing over agency to something called Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI: Why do we give our power away? Human beings have a tendency to be inclined to pass over responsibility to something perceived as wiser than ourselves. We did it with God! For millennia, large sections of the human race have handballed autonomy to an invisible, apparently supernatural entity with a lot of oms. Omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. All powerful, all knowing and everywhere. Of course, the concept of God has proven to be scientifically unverifiable.Continue Reading