words matter
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This statement has been the overwhelming meta narrative running through human political history forever. I studied ancient history for many years and this was true in ancient Greek and Roman civilisations too. The aristocracy has always seen itself as the only thing that really mattered. Only the wealthy matter is top of the bill in Trump’s America right now. The evidence for this is manifest in multiple places. Trump’s big beautiful bill cut taxes for billionaires and slashed spending on the poor. The Trump cabinet is populated by more billionaires than ever seen before. Big Tech oligarchs lined up to kiss the ring of President Donald Trump at his inauguration. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, inserted himself into the Trump administration via DOGE to garner attention on this stage. The messaging is clear – only the wealthy really matter.
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A guy throws a bomb into a crowd of thousands of people. Luckily it does not go off, but if it had, it would have killed and maimed possibly hundreds of people. His lawyer successfully argues to have the bomb thrower’s name suppressed on the grounds of protecting his safety. WTF? What kind of country do we live in? Our justice system protects the anonymity of a wilful bomb thrower who wanted to hurt and kill Aboriginal people and managed to disperse a peaceful protest. White Australia worries about the safety of a bomb throwing terrorist. This is what is wrong with our justice system. Protecting perpetrators at the expense of our right to have these scumbags named and shamed. This happened in Perth on Invasion/Australia Day. There has been very little media coverage of this bomb throwing event in the right wing media, which dominates the Australian media landscape. Strange that, perhaps if it wasn’t at a brown skinned gathering it would have been given more attention by the Murdoch press.
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Let’s get one thing clear, it is those on the far right who invariably turn to violence on the back of their intolerance. In Perth, we see an individual throwing a homemade bomb into the midst of the peaceful Invasion Day march. Thankfully, this device did not go off or we would be having a very different discussion right now. On the Gold Coast a young March for Australia organiser gets into a fight and deliberately lies about the ethnic identity of his opponents. He promotes this disinformation to his online audience, fraudulently claiming that his fisticuff fight was with Middle Eastern Australians. QLD police declare this information to be false and misleading. You cannot trust what comes out of the mouth of racists.
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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.
I am, by choice, petless in my life. That is, without a furry companion to share my domicile. For four weeks, however, this changed, when I was invited to house sit on holiday in WA. Thus, the title of this post – Doggie Dementia: My month of pet poop and piss in Perth. It was a family arrangement with a sibling, she and partner were off to Bali, whilst I would hold down the fort. Water a few sheltered pot plants, turn on the irrigation system, take out the trash, something about feeding worms, and look after Misty – the Shih tzu Maltese Terrier Cross.
In contravention of the AFL media’s obsession with star players, the art of coaching demands so much more than a roster of stars. Indeed, the mysteries of coaching AFL are on display for all to see throughout the season. Why is one team so good and another side so bad? The talking heads would like to make it all about the talent of the players in each squad but that is decidedly not the exclusive reason for success. In truth, the athletes playing AFL at this level are all very good, which is why they ended up on a playing list at an AFL club. Most of these young men have been playing footy for much of their short lives. They are remarkably talented with ball skills and have honed their physical endurance in readiness for the big leap to AFL standard.
The Murdoch’s News Corp is at it again in Australian politics, making news rather than reporting on it. Sky News Australia, that blatantly one eyed right wing tabloid TV channel, is hard at it beating up BS into inflammatory stories. Calling out the fear mongers. Liberal party cronies and ex-staffers bleat non-stop anti-Albanese malarkey. The Australian newspaper in concert with Newspoll declares major popularity slump for the ALP federal government. This strategy of polling to start anti-government waves of public sentiment has been a long standing one for News Corp. They can then run multiple stories across their platforms with headlines about midterm slumps. The rest of the corporate media picks up these stories and runs with them, including the now chastened ABC.
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Psychologically those individuals who back strongman leaders often feel that they need the protection of bullies. Trump voters in America, the MAGA faithful fall into this category. Why do people back the loudest voice in the room? White supremacists and racists are, when you boil it down, fearful of those they perceive as different from themselves. They want the faces on their streets to comfortably resemble their own. Far right political parties like One Nation use social media to emphasise examples of crimes being committed by Australians with dark skin, as if these folk are the only ones doing such things. This misleading propaganda rallies their supporters around key elements of their anti-immigration platform.
Crime Culture Democracy Economics Fresh Government Media News Politics Power Psychologically those individuals who back strongman leaders often feel that they need the protection of bullies. Trump voters in America, the MAGA faithful fall into this category. Why do people back the loudest voice in the room? White supremacists and racists are, when you boil it down, fearful of those they perceive as different from themselves. They want the faces on their streets to comfortably resemble their own. Far right political parties like One Nation use social media to emphasise examples of crimes being committed by Australians with dark skin, as if these folk are the only ones doing such things. This misleading propaganda rallies their supporters around key elements of their anti-immigration platform.
Crime Culture Democracy Economics Fresh Government Media News Politics Power
Psychologically those individuals who back strongman leaders often feel that they need the protection of bullies. Trump voters in America, the MAGA faithful fall into this category. Why do people back the loudest voice in the room? White supremacists and racists are, when you boil it down, fearful of those they perceive as different from themselves. They want the faces on their streets to comfortably resemble their own. Far right political parties like One Nation use social media to emphasise examples of crimes being committed by Australians with dark skin, as if these folk are the only ones doing such things. This misleading propaganda rallies their supporters around key elements of their anti-immigration platform.
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OK, the Trump regime is now live streaming public executions by firing squad. It started with UFC staged fights on the White House lawn and has descended into further barbarism. Did you know that if you criticise ICE on social media and live in the United States, you can expect a visit from DHS to your home? This is fascism up and running in America. ICE continues to shoot and murder American citizens in cold blood around the country. This huge paramilitary force of heavily armed, masked henchmen is spreading fear wherever they go. I wonder for how much longer is the Australian government going to turn a blind eye to the abominable behaviour of its ally? When will Australia say to Trump’s America enough is enough? Will Australia stand up to Trump?
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We are watching a once great democracy falter and begin its fall. Nobody has faith in the American government under President Donald Trump. The re-election of Trump was a very bad sign. The power is in the hands of the Big Tech billionaires and oligarchs. The market is in a blind fever over AI to the tune of trillions of dollars. Greed will destroy America. Here is a statistic for you, half of Nvidia’s employees are worth $25 million or more. The gold rush fever is upon those invested in the AI sector. Trump is recommending self-regulation for this runaway train of an industry. Humanity is crammed up at the back of these carriages and the edge of the cliff is nie.
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A little bird told me, a cygnet perhaps, that the numbskull driving force behind the Sydney Swans Pullman 5 was none other than James Jordan. I wanted to know whose bright idea was it to engage strippers at a prominent Melbourne hotel in season, just a week prior to the AFL Finals. Especially, as your footy team was 2nd on the ladder and in with a real chance to win the 2026 premiership. Remember that the Swans defeated Brisbane by almost 10 goals in the Qualifying Final and that Brisbane went on to claim yet another flag this year. Sydney Swan James Jordon Pullman 5 instigator!
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The LNP Coalition are never shy in making big statements about emotive topics like defence and law and order. Security is supposedly their thing. Expensive Coalition promises lite on detail. “$21 billion on defence”, as if just saying a big price tag will make Australia safer. Unfortunately, for us, it is a tiny bit more complex than that in the real world. Mere words and brash statements without proper costings are par for the course with the Coalition. This mob are going to build a bunch of nuclear reactors, despite there being no experience locally and no interest from those in the private sector who make their living from such investments.
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.
