WordsforWeb
words matter
ON SALE AT APPLE BOOKS &
GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS
AUDIOBOOKS
ACHTUNG
words matter
ON SALE AT APPLE BOOKS &
GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS
AUDIOBOOKS
Let’s take a peek inside the Aussie racist bubble. This is where those wrapping themselves in the national flag and marching against immigration reside. The thinking goes that if we keep out all those brown skinned people, we will not see horrendous events like the Bondi Beach mass shooting. White folk from, predominantly, Anglo stock do not commit such vile acts, according to their script. Shutting the big bad world out will protect us from the atrocities. Yes, some of our business elite sell weapons to war torn countries and our superannuation funds invest for profit in such stuff the world over, but that is beside the point. Yes, our soldiers have fought in wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East but that is not our concern, either.
Crime Fresh Media News Politics Power
I see reports that the alleged Bondi Beach gunmen were on ASIO’s radar. Well, further investigative reports tell us that they travelled to the Philippines in November and attended militia training there in the south. This would involve firearms training and learning strategies for shooting people, I would suggest. It seems that our security agencies are not all that we might hope, if the evidence is anything to go by. This in conjunction with gun laws that allowed an individual to have licenses for 6 firearms. What do you need to have this many guns for? It is time to stop treating gun owners with kid gloves and get real about the dangers these deadly weapons pose to the greater community.
Crime Fresh Media Police Power
We can bang on about terrorism and causes but it was guns that made this horrific Bondi Beach incident so costly in lives. Why does a gun licensee need 6 weapons? For those that might require reminding, guns facilitate massacres by making it easier to kill people. 16 people are dead from this mass shooting event at the time of writing. It is lax and over generous gun laws which have provided these killers with 6 guns to use in this devastating attack on multiple victims. Nobody needs 6 guns, whatever their circumstances; and the Bondi Beach victims have paid the price.
Crime Fresh Government Police Religion
AI is coming for your job. As someone who has just been replaced by an automated program this is real, let me tell you. In light of this it is pertinent to remember that Australia punishes the unemployed economically. It is bipartisan policy of Australian governments to provide below the poverty line welfare payments to the unemployed. This has been going on for decades and is one of the reasons why we have a substantial number of older Australians living in poverty. These folk cannot afford to visit the dentist to get treatment because it is too expensive and dental is not included in Medicare. This in one of the wealthiest nations on earth.
Contact sports in the guise of AFL or rugby are coming under increasing scrutiny in regard to head knocks to players. The truth is that modern human beings are not designed to crash and bash into each other at speed. We have, obviously, evolved away from the need to do so in the natural world. Survival does not call for such behaviour these days and that has long been the case. It is, rather, recreational pursuits in the form of team contact sports which have become the unhealthy danger in recent years. The professionalism and commercialism within these sports have motivated players to become bigger, stronger and faster in pursuit of material rewards. The resultant clashes between these modern day gladiators are fuelling an increasing amount of brain injury diseases showing up in past and present players. Is it a situation where caveman sports have no place in a healthy life?
I could have also used the terms selfish, greedy, disinterested and trapped in the past. Look around you at the current crop of right wing governments in the United States and Israel as illustrations of this. The MAGA supporters are, on the whole, focused on what they can get from a Trump administration and turning the clock back to a less integrated multiracial America. You do not get the sense that these folk are interested in what is good for all Americans, no matter their skin colour, gender or sexual preference. This is why right wing voters tend to be more stupid.
Whilst watching a documentary about Nazism and fascism in America back in the 1930s, my ears were pricked by the repeated expressions ‘ make America great’ and ‘one nation’! The modern day use of these terms as names and tag lines are by no means accidental. The white supremacist beliefs and racism, which lie at the base of MAGA and One Nation, in the US and Australia respectively, are the foundation of these movements and political parties. If you have read DH Lawrence’s book Kangaroo or seen the movie based upon it, you will know that Australia was not immune from the rise of fascism post WW1.
ON SALE AT APPLE BOOKS &
GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS
AUDIOBOOKS
Contact sports in the guise of AFL or rugby are coming under increasing scrutiny in regard to head knocks to players. The truth is that modern human beings are not designed to crash and bash into each other at speed. We have, obviously, evolved away from the need to do so in the natural world. Survival does not call for such behaviour these days and that has long been the case. It is, rather, recreational pursuits in the form of team contact sports which have become the unhealthy danger in recent years. The professionalism and commercialism within these sports have motivated players to become bigger, stronger and faster in pursuit of material rewards. The resultant clashes between these modern day gladiators are fuelling an increasing amount of brain injury diseases showing up in past and present players. Is it a situation where caveman sports have no place in a healthy life?
Culture Footy Fresh Health News Sport Contact sports in the guise of AFL or rugby are coming under increasing scrutiny in regard to head knocks to players. The truth is that modern human beings are not designed to crash and bash into each other at speed. We have, obviously, evolved away from the need to do so in the natural world. Survival does not call for such behaviour these days and that has long been the case. It is, rather, recreational pursuits in the form of team contact sports which have become the unhealthy danger in recent years. The professionalism and commercialism within these sports have motivated players to become bigger, stronger and faster in pursuit of material rewards. The resultant clashes between these modern day gladiators are fuelling an increasing amount of brain injury diseases showing up in past and present players. Is it a situation where caveman sports have no place in a healthy life?
Culture Footy Fresh Health News Sport
Contact sports in the guise of AFL or rugby are coming under increasing scrutiny in regard to head knocks to players. The truth is that modern human beings are not designed to crash and bash into each other at speed. We have, obviously, evolved away from the need to do so in the natural world. Survival does not call for such behaviour these days and that has long been the case. It is, rather, recreational pursuits in the form of team contact sports which have become the unhealthy danger in recent years. The professionalism and commercialism within these sports have motivated players to become bigger, stronger and faster in pursuit of material rewards. The resultant clashes between these modern day gladiators are fuelling an increasing amount of brain injury diseases showing up in past and present players. Is it a situation where caveman sports have no place in a healthy life?
Culture Footy Fresh Health News Sport
The Sydney Swans flop off the bye at the Gabba under fierce Lion’s pressure. Personally, I hate the bye and always have as a Swan’s fan. Too many times the team fails to fire after a week off. The Swans looked soft on this Thursday night featured contest with last year’s premiers. Brody Grundy gifted Brisbane goal scoring opportunities out of the centre 4 times on the night. These free kicks for crossing the line at the ball up are huge penalties to pay for this indiscretion, especially when advantage is taken and opposing players steal out the front of the centre square toward their goal.
Footy Fresh
You know a lot of the apparent support for One Nation comes from older white Australians. Pauline Hanson and her campaign machine promote the idea that things were better back in the day. This right wing idealisation of the past, of there being some sort of golden age, is nothing new. Fascists in Hitler’s era promoted the concept of the pure German who lived during a bucolic time of yesteryear. Romanticising the past appeals to older folk especially. Contrasting it with the present and focusing on negative stuff like urban crime and demonising special interest groups plays well with this audience. Hitler and the Nazis attacked the immorality of the Weimar Republic, which won them electoral support from conservate Germans. Pauline Hanson attacks Muslims, refugees and immigrants, as all things bad for Australia. The idealisation of the past is a never land, in that it never really existed the way they say it did.
Crime Culture Democracy Fresh News Politics Power
Whilst watching a documentary about Nazism and fascism in America back in the 1930s, my ears were pricked by the repeated expressions ‘ make America great’ and ‘one nation’! The modern day use of these terms as names and tag lines are by no means accidental. The white supremacist beliefs and racism, which lie at the base of MAGA and One Nation, in the US and Australia respectively, are the foundation of these movements and political parties. If you have read DH Lawrence’s book Kangaroo or seen the movie based upon it, you will know that Australia was not immune from the rise of fascism post WW1.
Culture Democracy Fresh News Politics Power
Peter Dutton is that boy who keeps crying ‘wolf!’ The alarmist leader of the opposition has been busy warning about Russian planes possibly landing in Indonesia. Penny Wong, the Foreign Minister, tells us that ‘Temu Trump’ just made up stuff purporting to come from the Indonesian President. The ex-cop from Queensland wants Aussie citizens to be worried and alarmed, so that he can beat his chest. Apparently, a teenager from his home state went on the Internet to look up how to blow Pete up, according to the Queensland Police. Not sure if this has been independently verified or old mates in the force are helping spread the alarmist message? Peter Dutton is an alarming politician.
If I were to issue a Sydney Swans report card at round 6 it would be probably say – must do better. I would mention that after 5 rounds of AFL season 2025 the red and white team are barely in the conversation. Musing on why this is I would question whether if John Longmire had not hung up his head coaching hat would the team be in the same position? 10th on the ladder and out of the top 8. Remembering that for much of 2024 the Swans were the best team in the competition and minor premiers. But belted in the grand final for the second time in 3 years in a black swan event.
Corporate media in Australia, once again, does the bidding of the fossil fuel sector in spreading misinformation and distortions about electric vehicles (EV). Spotlight on Channel 7 nickel EV lies reveals hit job on battery production in China. Mainstream media televises program chock full of errors and false claims. There is so much BS out there in Australia about EVs and mud sticks in the minds of many. Standards of accuracy and truth in the media are degrading in the current era, with conservatives thinking that they can get away with anything in the age of Trump.
When a footy team chooses to wear a white strip for a match alarm bells ring inside me. You know, running up the white flag and all that. And that is how it played out at Adelaide Oval. Bloodless Swans outplayed by Magpies in Gather Round. The stylish outfits were part of a marketing exercise for raising awareness about giving blood. All very worthy but AFL is about winning games of footy and players dressed as metrosexual models does not bode well for results in my book. We used to call AFL umpires white maggots back in the day and guess what colour outfits they used to wear?
I could not resist drawing parallels between the resurrection of the dire wolf and the return of Donald Trump to power. Both things are equally foolish and dangerous. Thanks to Trump’s tariff policy we are in dire trouble globally. The dire wolf in the White House is hell bent on damaging the world economically in record time. The decision to genetically recreate a dire wolf from grey wolves seems to be symbolically on par with Trump’s global tariff policy – ‘all show and no go.’ Together, these are testament to the shallowness of America’s desperate desire to hang onto the appearance of hegemonic power amid its rapid decline.
Since his inauguration, Trump has wiped off $11 trillion from the market. Under Joe Biden the economy was growing and improving the whole time. All those liars on Fox News and in the right wing media echo chamber have brought this lunatic to bear upon America and the world. These people need to be held responsible for the misinformation and blatant lies broadcast to the listening population. That $11 trillion crash will strip away the value of retirement nest eggs and shareholder portfolios. This insane tariff policy will drive the world into recession, as it did in the 1930’s Great Depression.
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull sunk any realistic hopes of AUKUS providing submarines before 2045 at his recent Press Club speech. Here was someone who knew what he was talking about, giving us the lowdown on the $368 billion deal with the Americans and Brits. Malcolm Turnbull explains AUKUS: Why no subs will come from it? It is written into the deal itself that if the US cannot make enough nuclear submarines of the designated class for their own requirements then no subs will be forthcoming for Australia. The Americans have not been meeting these requirements for many years now and there are no signs that this will change anytime soon. In fact, with projected retirements of older submarines in the US fleet things will be much worse in this regard. We will not get second hand Virginia class submarines from the US within the scheduled time frame.
Donald Trump has raised taxes on Americans hugely. Trump tariffs biggest tax hike US has seen. 25% tariffs on imported cars. 25% on Canadian and Mexican goods. 20% on Chinese goods. And more to come. These tariffs mean higher prices paid by ordinary Americans. Thus, tariffs are taxes paid by Americans. So much for the GOP being supposedly a political party committed to lower taxes. Get ready for the return of high inflation and prices rising across the board. Joe Biden and the Democrats spent 4 years getting the economy back under control after the ravishes of the global pandemic only to see the Trump wrecking ball stuff it all up again.
Australia is full of progressive laws that just don’t get enforced. I call us the land of toothless tigers and unlike the Tasmanian tiger these are not rare or extinct. Indeed, they are prolific. Black market tobacco grey in Australia because it is so readily available. Tobacconists stock black market tobacco openly in defiance of the laws of the land. Why is this so? Is it a bit like the long held laisse faire attitude of male police officers toward domestic violence in this country? Smokers don’t like paying so much for their ciggies and most cops in Australia are blokes. They just don’t see the problem.
The US is the laughing stock of the international world. In a new low, the fools appointed by Trump and the GOP to his cabinet are messaging war plans on unsecured apps and accidentally including the editor of The Atlantic magazine in their group chat. Incompetent does not do justice to this it is totally stupid. Meanwhile, this flow of information, which would in normal times be top secret and highly classified is likely being spied upon by foreign intelligence services like Russia and China. Indeed, one of the members of the group chat was in Moscow at the time. America the unreliable ally continues to be a major embarrassment.
