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Do the dulcet tones of the human voice do it for you? Are you a lover of aural pleasure? The spoken word read well, whilst you drive to work? Listening for both intellectual and sensual gratification? Learning stuff and getting where you are going at the same time? All of these things are possible via audiobooks. For the very first time, sounds of fanfare ladies and gentlemen, my books are available as audiobooks. And they sound pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Now, you can take the banality out of traffic jams by listening to what I have to say on the really important topics.
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Many Australians are becoming aware that gas companies in Australia pay bugger all tax. This situation is pretty incredulous. Santos has not paid any corporate tax for 10 years, whilst it has generated revenue in excess of $50 billion. In addition, the PRRT does not raise much revenue from LPG in Australia because of the way it is structured.
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Americans used to tell the world that they were the best of us. Now, with Donald Trump at the helm, Americans: they are clearly the worst of us. Denying food stamp welfare to the disabled and American children is the latest low point in a chaotic and cruel Trump administration performance. SNAP is going unfunded by the Republicans, as they continue their social Darwinism campaign to eradicate the poor and vulnerable within the United States of America. You can only take greed and not paying your taxes so far without taking the food out of the mouths of the needy.
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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 My gripe is that despite this clear and present reality, we are still dependent upon outdated and fragile infrastructure. 50 years ago, as I was growing up, I heard about the plans to put the power lines underground.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.
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 last refuge of the incompetent is violence, to paraphrase a line attributed to Isaac Asimov. This truism is particularly apt for Donald J Trump and his regime in the United States. Busy stuffing up the world’s greatest economy, Trump and his cronies are now turning to violence to compensate. Venezuela is their first port of call, amid BS about attacking drug dealers, they are going after this nation’s oil. Venezuela has the world’s largest reserves of thick crude oil. The bully in the White House is picking on a weaker opponent, as bullies always do. You do not see Mister Trump taking on Vladimir Putin and Russia. This is despite the fact that Putin’s Russia is clearly the biggest villain in international terms. No, Trump and his kind pick on the weak, like undocumented immigrants in America.
Peter Dutton, the Opposition leader, traded in bank stocks when the Australian government was bailing out the banks during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). A politician, with likely insider information, profiteering at this time says something about the character of a man putting himself forward as Australia’s potential Prime Minister. Dirty Dutton revealed as profiteer during Australian crisis. Looking out for oneself when millions were losing their jobs and savings is not the character reference than many in the electorate would be welcoming. Indeed, it casts aspersions upon the whole body of men and women supposedly serving their country.
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It is amazing how often fate treats hubristic behaviour in lives of the rich and famous. It is, as if, a certain point is reached or crossed by the individual and this releases the hounds of hell upon them. Isaac Heeney, the No#1 rated player in the AFL for much of the season and the poster boy for toothpaste smiles has come a cropper in the shady wee hours of Melbourne with a lap dancer. Isaac Heeney: The boy next door is no more. No, the nice lad we once knew has morphed into a dirtbag hero. Strippers or exotic dancers crying sexual assault rings in the ears of the greater public. Victoria police are investigating an alleged sex crime and Heeney is at the centre of it.
Crime Footy Fresh Media News Police Sport It is amazing how often fate treats hubristic behaviour in lives of the rich and famous. It is, as if, a certain point is reached or crossed by the individual and this releases the hounds of hell upon them. Isaac Heeney, the No#1 rated player in the AFL for much of the season and the poster boy for toothpaste smiles has come a cropper in the shady wee hours of Melbourne with a lap dancer. Isaac Heeney: The boy next door is no more. No, the nice lad we once knew has morphed into a dirtbag hero. Strippers or exotic dancers crying sexual assault rings in the ears of the greater public. Victoria police are investigating an alleged sex crime and Heeney is at the centre of it.
Crime Footy Fresh Media News Police Sport
It is amazing how often fate treats hubristic behaviour in lives of the rich and famous. It is, as if, a certain point is reached or crossed by the individual and this releases the hounds of hell upon them. Isaac Heeney, the No#1 rated player in the AFL for much of the season and the poster boy for toothpaste smiles has come a cropper in the shady wee hours of Melbourne with a lap dancer. Isaac Heeney: The boy next door is no more. No, the nice lad we once knew has morphed into a dirtbag hero. Strippers or exotic dancers crying sexual assault rings in the ears of the greater public. Victoria police are investigating an alleged sex crime and Heeney is at the centre of it.
Crime Footy Fresh Media News Police Sport
I am putting my hand up to confess that I am a longtime supporter of the Sydney Swans. What did Confucious say? ‘May you live during interesting times’ or words to that effect, perhaps. Regular readers may be aware of the many posts I have written about the fortunes of the red and white AFL side this year. In an ironic twist, I have been bemoaning the lack of on-field mongrel in this normally squeaky clean team. Hells bells, I did not wish to shake down the thunder from the sky. What I wanted was some more fight and desperation out on the footy field. What we have all got, it appears, is some God awful, alleged sexual assault.
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I hate to harp on a topic but… The Sydney Swans missing mongrel factor for finals remains a major concern. There I was chatting with a Brisbane Lion’s supporter whilst playing golf and this person was complimenting the Swans on a good season so far. I had to qualify the praise with a reality check because the Swans have struggled to beat top 4 teams this season. The Lions had monstered Sydney very recently in a contest at the Gabba. Things are getting real now, as the AFL finals are mere weeks away. Winning contest and applying physical pressure for 4 quarters are crucial elements if you want to win football finals.
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The Sydney Swans have taken on the old Muhammad Ali rope-a-dope strategy, it seems. Absorb the opposition’s punishment for most of the match and then come out all guns blazing at the death knock. In this edition, Bloods sacrifice to beat Saints. Unfortunately for Will Edwards and James Rowbottom it was their blood and bone sacrifices on the altar of victory. A terrible injury for the rookie defender Will Edwards has finished his brilliant season prematurely. Rowbottom will likely be back for the finals. The Swans needed this win to hold onto second spot on the AFL ladder and it did not come cheaply.
Footy Sport
Peter Dutton and the Coalition have been whipping up fear among Australians. Racist Coalition weaponizing immigration by accusing the government of releasing dangerous detainees into the community. It was in actual fact the High Court of Australia that ordered these men who had served their sentences must be released. The frenzy over their release into the community has culminated with Victoria Police wrongly arresting one of the released detainees for sex crimes. Mistaken identity or just white folk paranoia pointing the finger at any Arab looking character? Dog whistling Dutton does not care what damage he causes to people’s lives. Politics is everything to the very rich landlord Dutton and his party of shrill acolytes.
SCOTUS has virtually guaranteed that Donald Trump will not be tried prior to the Presidential election of 2024. US Supreme Court slow walks Trump immunity claim appeal and stay from prosecution. By deciding to take the case it has undermined the unanimous denial of trump’s claims by the federal court of appeals. The stacking of SCOTUS with conservative GOP aligned justices by Trump is obviously paying benefits. The legal rule of law was really the last hope for America in holding Donald Trump accountable for attempts to subvert the Constitution in 2020. The US is now an international disgrace and no longer can be considered a leading democratic nation.
Those demon drugs are plaguing another AFL club it seems. Recreational drugs are the bane of professional sporting organisations, as highly paid players with too much time on their hands fall prey to addictive pursuits. Druggy Demons in AFL spotlight, with one player already suspended and a dark cloud over other high profile Melbourne FC players.
Looking back on recent federal governments in Australia is very revealing. Counting up the cost of Coalition governments to ordinary citizens is somewhat shocking. Peter Dutton and the Coalition government awarded a $400 million contract to a company registered at a beach shack on Kangaroo Island – Paladin. This shady entity had no previous experience running offshore detention centres and the Richardson enquiry revealed a dodgy provenance. Further companies engaged by the Coalition to run these refugee lockups on islands have been exposed to have links to drug dealers and arms running. Much of this happened on Peter Dutton’s watch as Home Affairs minister. Dutton talks tough to the media on border security but his track record is another matter altogether. Dirty deeds done really bloody expensively by shady organisations – would be a fair assessment.
It seemingly began with groups of Christians claiming that they were under attack from a progressive liberal America. They wanted the right to discriminate against individuals on the basis of their sexual preference. All these human rights coming into law, often at the behest of the United Nations and their treaties, were, apparently, threatening the basis of fundamental religious instruction in schools and churches. Now, we are seeing the Christian march to power in America. They have their immoral leader Donald J Trump promising them a new land with authoritarian laws amended to fit their way of life.
The Australian economic landscape has seen a succession of Australian corporations declaring record profits. The big insurers were the latest, joining the banks, the supermarket duopoly, the airlines, and a host of miners and fossil fuel companies in achieving record profits. Is it fair for Australian corporations to make record profits during a cost of living crisis? Many ordinary citizens are struggling to afford to put food on the table and meet their rent or mortgage payments. High inflation in the local economy has been the given reason but analysis by pundits has revealed that many companies have been price gouging on the back of a lack of competition in the market. This means these companies can set the price and consumers are bereft of power in the equation.
Donald Trump has just been fined $354 million for fraudulently lying about his assets and business worth when getting loans from commercial banks. Despite a history of very dodgy behaviour Trump ascended to the highest office in the land. Yes, he is an officer of the United States of America. Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, thanks to property developer dad Fred Trump. He is not a self-made man or the second coming of anything worth waiting for. It seems in America the only law with any real teeth is that of money and civil suits.
Nick McKenzie and The Age have revealed more corrupt and incompetent government behaviour from Morrison’s Coalition. Home Affairs during the Coalition’s recent time in office were paying massive amounts of money to companies running the offshore detention facilities in places like Manus Island. It has now been revealed that these corporations and their directors were involved in bribery of foreign governments and drug and arms running. Peter Dutton was the Home Affairs Minister for much of this time. The amounts of money involved in these contracts were in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Billions being spent on what were really political beat ups and that money was going to highly questionable people and their companies.
Australia is famous for the generous deals it cuts the fossil fuel industry. The lack of taxation derived from miners and gas companies making huge profits extracting and selling our resources is becoming infamous globally. I think it is time to investigate politicians dealing with the fossil fuel industry. Have any of our investigative journalists really dug deep into the financial affairs of the state and federal ministers involved in cutting these generous deals. Is it incompetence or something more sinister? Why would sane members of parliament responsible for Australia’s resources fail to capitalise on their worth for their constituents? Is this a dirty business at its core?
Unfortunately, many in the world still look to America as the leading example of humanity in the current era. The superpower in military and economic terms remains a showcase for much of the world. In 2024, however, we have reached a nadir via Trump and his influence on American political and cultural life. The anti-elite mood of that nation now glorifies what is stupid, nasty, and brutish about the USA. Fascism is making a cyclical return to the political spectrum via the GOP in its current form. White supremacy and the shadow of America’s slaver past seems to be infecting the future of this once great country. Looking to America is fraught with illustrations of what is worst about humanity.
