words matter
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The ABC and its legacy media pack leader, News Corp, are unable to adjust to the new political landscape downunder. The Liberal Party has become an irrelevance to modern metropolitan Australians. However, the mainstream media are stuck in a 2 party adversarial model in their coverage of federal politics nationally. Thus, we have disproportionate amounts of attention being paid to a political movement that the bulk of the population have moved past. Aussie news stuck in adversarial 2 party politics model. The LNP Coalition was trounced at the last federal election because Australians were sick of far right toxic masculinity masquerading as democratically elected representation. The Tony Abbott/Sky News Australia led hard Right faction of the Libs were completely out of step with a younger and more dynamic Australia.
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If you wanted proof that the police services are more aligned with right wing white supremacist movements than other protest groups you only had to watch Neo-Nazis demonstrating outside the NSW Parliament. The NSW police service had no problem with this going ahead. You do not see many non-white faces among police anti-riot units when watching news coverage of protests around the genocide in Gaza. Bashing up brown skinned people and those passionate about defending the rights of innocent women and children in Gaza are, obviously, more in line with the priorities of Australian police. Masked men in black saluting in paramilitary fashion whilst protesting against Jews is more the cup of tea of the upper echelons of the NSW police, it seems.
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The Liberal Party of Australia is in a civil war between its moderate side, which seeks to regain relevance within a modern Australia, and the far right faction still in the grip of toxic masculinity. Peter Dutton fell at the last federal election, as leader, rejected by the Australian electorate on all fronts. He had run a campaign and his tenure as opposition leader aggressively, in the mode of former short term PM Tony Abbott. Abbott was still pulling the Liberal Party strings, along with his former chief of staff now over at Sky News Australia. Their conservative brand was Trumpist, via its extreme nature, which was always attacking and polarizing. Liberal Party in civil war for control, who will lead them going forward? Currently, Sussan Ley holds the mantle atop the Liberal Party of Australia.
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The Trump regime is attacking boats from Venezuela, blowing them up in international waters. Why this focus on a South American nation? Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. The US has a great tradition of going after countries with lots of oil and administrations that don’t bend over backwards for them. Donald Trump is a firm believer in fossil fuels. His administration has already reversed much of the good work that was done under Joe Biden, when it came to renewables and the transition away from climate damaging fossil fuels. Trump is the ultimate head in the sand guy, when it comes to global warming.
The AFL has created a game that human bodies cannot actually cope with. How do we know this? Take a look at the number of soft tissue and knee injuries on the playing lists of AFL clubs. AFL a game unfit for human bodies. The evolution of the game has AFL players running at top speed, suddenly stopping, turning, twisting and being tackled. No bloody wonder that human joints and muscles cannot cope with the stress being applied to them under this kind of duress week in and week out. The physical conditioning experts employed by the clubs would know this but their well paid jobs encourage them to stay silent on this issue.
Google search and its AI Overview is killing off the last of the legacy media news organisations. Technology has taken the news from print to the internet and now we can watch the death of the news thanks to AI. If you are one of the increasing number of viewers who simply read what the AI Overview or bot tells them in answer to your query the days of news feeds is over. You are now solely in the hands of an automated AI source for your information. Gee, I hope you can put your unstinting trust in that thing!
The Liberal Party of Australia have won no metropolitan seats in Adelaide and almost none in Sydney and Melbourne. Where does the greater part of the Oz population reside? In the cities, of course. Modern Australia no longer represented by Libs. This once popular political party is no longer representative of the modern Australia and Australians. Peter Dutton led the Libs further Right and has taken them into the smaller territory of that extremist category within the political sphere. It features a male dominated, Anglo-settler white is right, ethos which regularly attacks multiculturalism, refugees, LGBTQI folk, renewables and climate change, and ‘woke’ – which is really an attack on smart women and diversity. Inspired by Trump in the US, the Libs want to turn the clock back to an Australia where patriarchy and white men rule the roost and others know their place at the back of the queue.
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I thought that it could be useful, in light of the apparent rise in the populist politics of grievance, to ask, so, what does it mean to be Australian? Anti-immigration is the flag waving vanguard theme of One Nation and the remnants of the Liberal party. Blame it on the immigrant appears number one on the political grievance charts downunder. Therefore, it provokes the question – what does it mean to be Australian? If it is not out-and-out racism, as those on the Right deny it to be, who, then, qualifies to be considered an acceptable Australian?
Culture Democracy Fresh Government Politics Power I thought that it could be useful, in light of the apparent rise in the populist politics of grievance, to ask, so, what does it mean to be Australian? Anti-immigration is the flag waving vanguard theme of One Nation and the remnants of the Liberal party. Blame it on the immigrant appears number one on the political grievance charts downunder. Therefore, it provokes the question – what does it mean to be Australian? If it is not out-and-out racism, as those on the Right deny it to be, who, then, qualifies to be considered an acceptable Australian?
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I thought that it could be useful, in light of the apparent rise in the populist politics of grievance, to ask, so, what does it mean to be Australian? Anti-immigration is the flag waving vanguard theme of One Nation and the remnants of the Liberal party. Blame it on the immigrant appears number one on the political grievance charts downunder. Therefore, it provokes the question – what does it mean to be Australian? If it is not out-and-out racism, as those on the Right deny it to be, who, then, qualifies to be considered an acceptable Australian?
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We have seen a spate of one-size-fits-all welfare payments and subsidies. You know, instead of governments helping the most needy they make stuff free for all. This is done for political purposes in attracting votes at elections. All this does is increase wealth inequality. Well off property owners should not be receiving government assistance in maintaining their lifestyles. This brings us to the Alan Kohler call for free childcare downunder. While I support the general idea, I question why wealthy Australians should qualify for these types of assistance. How about a carve out for those over a certain income and capital asset threshold? We need to reverse the widening wealth divide after decades of American style neoliberalism funnelling riches to a select few in Australia.
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Trump starts war with Iran in concert with Israel and vandalises the world economy. This irresponsible fool then passes the buck to America’s former allies, demanding they re-open the Strait of Hormuz. Nobody wants to follow the US into this mess of their own making. This is what you get when you elect a convicted felon and multiple bankrupt to the presidency. The stupidity of America is on full display. The greed and selfishness of Americans is up on the world stage for all to see. Listening to a lying, loud mouthed idiot is taking the United States and the world to the brink of collapse and destruction.
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We need an Inquiry into why LPG gas deals have been so financially bad for the nation as a whole. Why do the gas companies pay so little tax and royalties on the huge amounts of gas they export for enormous profits? When elected representatives are deaf to their constituents, you know something is wrong with our democracy. Polling has indicated that 75% of Australians support a 25% export tax on LPG gas. Yet, this federal Labor government has knocked back proposed legislation to make this happen.
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Anybody with half a brain knows that Donald Trump is a compulsive liar. You would have to be living in a cave or on Mars not to have picked up on the vast amount of stuff written and talked about Trump over the last decade or more. What does that say about America that half of the voting population would still vote for this guy despite the masses of evidence as to his bad character? It says something profound about many Americans and their culture. They just don’t give a shit about anyone else but themselves. Me me me. It’s all about me and mine. Dog eat dog and they see Trump as the big dog in the fight.
Trump is like the parent of a raped daughter who blames her rather than the perpetrator for the rape. Trump blames Ukraine for being invaded by Russia. Donald Trump is a disgusting human being. The Americans who voted for Trump should hang their heads in shame. We can only hope that someone with the courage can end this shameful chapter sooner rather than later. What the world needs now is not ugly Americans in charge of a corrupt and morally bankrupt administration. Stupid is as stupid does. Trump 2.0 is making America smaller not greater.
American’s voted in Donald Trump as their president for the second time. What did someone famous once say about ‘once can be forgiven as a mistake but twice is no excuse’, or words to that effect anyway. Yes, Trump only won by 1.4 points but considering he was a convicted felon and well known conman it was a travesty. Americans have only themselves to blame on this score. Therefore, Trump’s America is the enemy. The enemy of those who believe in law and order. The enemy of those who value democracy. The enemy of those who oppose white supremacists, sexual offenders, and blowhard bullies.
What does a bully or stand over guy do to his victim? He menaces then extracts some form of payment in lieu of not beating him up. This is what Donald Trump is doing on the international trade scene. Trump threatens and shakes down Australia. This is what he has done with Canada and Mexico, other US allies. The media plays right into his hands by creating this melodrama, where the little guy or gal gets put under pressure from Trump and then we are all supposed to feel gratitude when the threat does not eventuate. The tariff stand over tactic will not serve US interests long term, rather it will poison an already dirty well.
The story of American Independence is a far more nuanced one than most folk know. It was not all about a battle for freedom for the ‘hard done by’ colonists against the mighty British Empire. American Independence founded on lies is not too far from the truth when examining the southern slaver colonies like Virginia. Thomas Jefferson and his white slaver rebels burned the city of Norfolk to prevent it falling into the hands of emancipated African American slaves. The British were interested in abolishing slavery and had put limits on further expansion into Indian territories in North America. This did not sit well with white plantation families in the American colonies. Settlers in the New World, more generally, were motivated to enrich themselves no matter the cost to enslaved people and Indigenous populations.
Have you ever counted up all the things in life you now have to pay for? Say, for instance if we compare it to previous generations? Let’s start with music, as most folk have a subscription to listen to music on their phone these days. Back in the day people used to own their copies of recorded music not rented them. Next, how about all your streaming service subscriptions. Yes, range of content is much better now but we are paying for it. It used to be either free to air with ads or pay TV but now companies like Amazon are milking the cow from both ends. The voracious pigs like Jeff Bezos want to make you pay and get advertising revenue. I can see the whole sector going this way.
Have you ever dealt with really pushy salespeople? You know, the kind that just will not take No for an answer? A lot of them are trained in this way to never accept a negative response and to keep re-presenting their sales pitch endlessly. American sales people are particularly like this. After all, America has perfected the sales pitch psychology. I mean, all this death of a salesman crap is just that – crap. Buying Trump in the land of the sales pitch. Donald Trump comes from this background. You know, the art of the deal and all that. Trump and the GOP have gone back to the American people and presented their promises and pitch once more. The population is so used to this behaviour, living in this sales orientated land, Â that they have bought the same bunch of baloney again.
President Joe Biden has warned Americans in his outgoing speech about the dangers of the oligarchies in America today and the parallels with the Gilded Age and their Robber Barons. President Hoover was in charge back then and his administration was about to usher in the Great Depression. Lessons from the Gilded Age and what it can teach us today. Early in the 20C, a number of great things were built in America and the Gilded Age is often remembered for them. Â Interestingly, it was a high tech time back then too with the telephone, typewriter, gramophone, and Kodak camera coming into being. It was gilded by the gold trim on the mega mansions being built for the oligarchs of the day. Steel and railway oligarchs with vast fortunes directing the American economy via their wheeling and dealing.
I suspect that many of the people that voted for Trump would struggle to spell oligarchy let alone grasp its meaning. Hey, those Big Tech bros are cool guys and wouldn’t it be great to be like them. This sentiment may well capture the popular mood among many younger Americans. President Joe Biden’s outgoing speech to the nation was highlighted by warnings about oligarchy. It seems, warnings about oligarchy fall on deaf ears at the moment. Explaining about the importance of having a separation between government and big business should be fairly nondescript. The general American ignorance about how government works is pretty disturbing.
Revisiting the National Broadband Network (NBN) tells us a lot about how politics undermine government in Australia. The NBN debacle is a perfect example of Coalition ineptitude. A constant theme in federal politics in Australia is the LNP Coalition appealing to short term populist positions within the electorate. Most prominent is on anything to do with climate change, as head in the sand business as usual attitudes prevail. Wind power turbines affecting the views of property owners is one example, as the LNP rallies around these disgruntled voters. Â The idea that technology will save us from global warming without any behavioural changes is very popular among right wing voters.
