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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.
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Politicians on the Right have no long term solutions for anything. Short termism infects everything they do and say. Their intentions are all about getting elected via the politics of grievance. Once in power they achieve little and go about milking the system for their own benefit. Donald Trump is a clear example of this, campaigning on high prices and the cost of living under Joe Biden. The US economy is now in far worse shape since he returned to the White House. More than a million jobs have been lost and stagflation is on the horizon for Americans. Trump now has the lowest approval rate in the polls in US history. If you ask many of his voters if they are happy with his handling of the economy their answer would be in the negative.
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Day 3 of having no power due to a storm. No service: Profitability is the new power. Yes, this post is written under the duress of being cut off from electricity in my home and work. We live in a time, where being connected to the grid is more essential than ever before. Everything now runs on electricity. My gripe is that despite this clear and present reality, we are still dependent upon outdated and fragile infrastructure. 50 years ago, as I was growing up, I heard about the plans to put the power lines underground. Indeed, this has been achieved in many new suburbs. I do wonder why in this wonderful new world of privatised utilities how so many more established suburbs and towns have not been transformed in this subterranean fashion. Storms wreak havoc to power lines on poles.
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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 As someone who has just been replaced by an automated program this is real, let me tell you.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.
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 release of a trove Epstein emails has revealed Jeffrey Epstein agony aunt to billionaires and other elites. Prominent Americans sought both financial and dating advice from Jeffrey Epstein. Money and sex, it is like these two hot topics use the same hole or parts of the brain. Larry Summers, the economist and former President of Harvard University, is featured in these email conservations with Epstein, even after Epstein’s conviction for sex trafficking. It seems that the billionaire financier and sex trafficker had a reputation as an expert in both these areas of life.
Renters don’t matter in Australia if the current situation is anything to go by. The available rental stock nationally has fallen to 1.1%. This is the lowest figure on record in the history of the nation. So, let’s talk about the rental crisis in Australia. Rents in the capital cities have been going up 12% year on year on average. Of course, for some their rent has gone up way beyond that in the 20% to 30% stratosphere. At the same time in Australia wages have not gone up anywhere near this. Indeed, for most wages have not risen at all. This means that poorer Australians are going backwards economically at a serious rate of knots.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
I was listening to the radio whilst driving my car and I was scanning stations for something that took my fancy. The 5pm news came on and I was on a Queensland station that I knew to be owned and run as a Christian radio station. Their news announcer reported that Facebook was now allowing greater free speech on their platforms. This struck me as a strange way to report that Facebook has ditched independent fact checking on their social media platforms of Instagram, Threads and Facebook. I suppose I should not be surprised at this interpretation of facts by a Christian mouthpiece in Queensland.
