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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

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Laocoon and the 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

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Football Record - AFL Women's (AFLW) Competition, Feb-Apr 2020

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

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textile australian flag with crumples

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

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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

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America Matters image Robert Sudha Hamilton

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

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jsc2020e031677 - Don't buy American

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

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boy in black and white sweater covering his face with his tow hand

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

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President Trump Calls Astronauts During First All-Woman Spacewalk (NHQ201910180019)

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

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Robodebt disgrace: The legacy of the Coalition

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