Tag: politics

Ja nee

Lulu got swooped by a butcher bird the other day; it clipped her bum and she leapt away. Quite funny, until it had a go at me..!

Magpies and kiewiets/plovers also get huffy. Being strafed while cycling is not amusing.

My Auntie Bunty said it was very frightening when it was a German bomber doing the strafing, which happened to her in WW2. Obviously they missed, as she told us the story.

It’s going to be one of those days with bits and pieces.

Such a moment in time, when the world makes kiss kiss to that awful orange man. Peace in Gaza was inevitable, there was nothing left. The Donald’s timing enabled him to claim the glory, but he was really only the final straw.

Let him crack the hard nut of the Ukraine and I will echo his own nomination for the Nobel Peace prize

These are quotes from stuff I have been reading lately. Hope they titillate your fancies.

“Journalism largely consists in saying ‘Lord Jones is dead’ to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.” –G.K. Chesterton

“There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”  Umberto Eco

All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia. 

George Orwell 

“The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” 

Margaret Thatcher

… the Internet will bring about Idiocracy

Trump ….”tribalist, kleptocratic, authoritarian cultural imperialist? “

”  He cares about getting rich, persecuting his enemies, and eliminating threats to his own power—just like his Middle Eastern counterparts do. “

Nick Catoggio

A hit dog will holler. 

“Anyone who calls us authoritarian is going to prison,” 

“If you can’t call fascists fascists, then the fascists have won.”

Democracy insists upon enfranchising the ignoramuses, who also get a vote on any number of other issues about which they know little or nothing. Two cheers for democracy and all that.

United States and China are firmly locked in a cold war struggle whose outcome will be the most important determinant of peace, prosperity, and quality of life in international politics over the next decade.

The second half of this decade is set to be a critical inflection point in this contest.

Stephen Weber, Cold War Statecraft for the 2020s

We would be better off if we did a little bit more work understanding what people actually think (and why) rather than inventing arguments that are designed to make us feel virtuous in comparison. 

Kevin D Williamson TMD 24 Oct ’25

He was talking up the Ideological Turing Test which he believes will help us all avoid unsubstantiated sentimental pronouncements about others’ arguments.

Hope that stimulates some thought, sorry it’s so serious…

Social Justice

gimme!

I started to write about the political emphasis placed on child care and aged care. Both aimed at liberating mothers and fathers from caring for their families, so they could work.

The political left crusades to enable every adult to enter the workforce. They do this by making more and more money available to voters – isn’t that kind?

How do you get mothers back to work? Pay to have their children and their aged parents cared for by others.

Never mind the destruction of the family as a nurturing place for young and old.

But it is more than that. Exploiting apparent inequalities as a political practice is effective in getting sympathy votes. How can it be wrong?

The moral high ground of the Social Justice Warrior is: Emancipation is an ongoing process. It is a moral duty to address remaining inequalities. We must create a more just and equitable society for all. 

The political opportunity of exploiting the moral of disadvantage is a battle based on sentiment, not intellect.

That fallacy is the cudgel used – it’s not equal, that’s not fair! Everyone must have equal rights…

The Left has become the champion of the voteless people. Championing equality for the poor, people of colour, women, homosexuals, the aged and the disabled engenders lifelong electoral support. So virtuous!

It’s the gift that keeps on giving, because things will never be equal for everybody…

Of course this is only possible in democracies. If you step out of line in China, Russia, Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe, Venezuela or most Middle Eastern countries, there is a high probability that you will disappear or die.

The opponents of democracies: totalitarian, Islamist, kleptocratic regimes actively support and agitate for “Social Justice” in western democracies.

It is a great way to maintain ongoing disruption and antipathy in societies.

This didn’t go where I was thinking of going… but it still says something about what I think…

No surprises

I worked for several years in the industrial relations arena during the transformation years of the 1990’s in South Africa. Things were raw and stark and there were many horrible deaths…

One lesson about dealing with people that stayed with me is that there should be no surprises.

In practice that means being predictable, highlighting the risks and illuminating desired outcomes.

…. and doing what you say you will.

Predictability and consistence – the hall marks for stability.

Donald Trump gets a big fat zero on both

TACO fits his most outrageous statements….

Which begs the question – is he promoting chaos?

Certainly, it is a means of bringing about change, until now favoured by Marxists seeking totalitarian power.

Is that what Trump is doing?

His statements about war on Democrat cities are troubling. He claims these cities have supposedly fostered illegal immigrants. This indicates he believes nearly half of US citizens are traitorous!

Now he is playing peek-a-boo with his will he/ won’t he decisions. He is contemplating whether to smash the Iranian underground nuclear facilities. Oh! And by the way, he may ‘take out‘ their Head of State, (obviously not on a date!)

I believe in his stated objectives on reducing:

  • uncontrolled immigration
  • sclerotic government bureaucratic swamps
  • the woke culture which has invaded universities and teaching, medical and legal professions
  • the overly simplistic climate goals
  • the influence of Big Pharma.

I also agree that global economics need to be changed with a view to prioritising national productivity.

The fact that these target conditions have become entrenched over a number of years, means that they will be extraordinarily difficult to eradicate.

I also believe that radical change cannot be effected gradually or gently.

So maybe Trump’s wrecking ball politics is crashing in the right directions?

Do we need to justify the means if we get the ends we desire?

The end cannot justify the means, for the simple and obvious reason that the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced.

Aldous Huxley

How will he be stopped from turning into a dictator?

Partial support may drag followers into the vortex of fascism, particularly if the military become enmeshed in the steps.

I reckon that if Trump drops the buster, he will go on to become a full blown dictator.

(I also believe that he must drop the bomb to cut off the head of the Iranian snake that has been bedevilling the world for a loong time)

How about that ? Topple one regime and start another on a different continent!

End Times

I have been entertaining some deep thoughts prompted by others and Trumpmania.

Now maybe irrelevant speculation….. !? It seems Israel has released the brakes and stomped on the accelerator…!

The lessons of world history are clear…

When the equilibrium between ruling elites and the majority tips too far in favour of elites, political instability is all but inevitable.

As income inequality surges and prosperity flows disproportionately into the hands of the elites, the common people suffer, and society-wide efforts to become an elite grow ever more frenzied… once a society steps on the road to crisis, it resembles a massive ball rolling down a narrow valley with steep slopes.

It’s very difficult to stop or even deflect its rush to an impending disaster.

But once the ball arrives at the crisis point, the valley opens up—there are many ways to exit the crisis.

Some paths lead to a complete disaster and utter collapse. Other trajectories manage to avoid the bloodshed of a revolution or a civil war.

Broadly-based well-being is a key variable in the structural-demographic theory, while its opposite, popular immiseration, is one of the most important drivers for instability

He [Tyrchin] calls this process the wealth pump; it’s a world of the damned and the saved.

And since the number of such positions remains relatively fixed, the overproduction of elites inevitably leads to frustrated elite aspirants, who harness popular resentment to turn against the established order.

Turchin’s models show that when this state has been reached, societies become locked in a death spiral it’s very hard to exit.

Peter Turchin End Times – Cliodynamica

The Iron Law of Oligarchy. In short, power corrupts.

Behavioural Sink is a term coined to describe the behaviour of rats living in an experimental utopia with ample food and no threats

They clustered together in one area and their behaviour deteriorated.

Sort of like the impact of urbanisation on humans…

I also watched a brief video on Fascism and the scenes from LA prompted thoughts of Kristalnacht in 1938 Germany.

Deliberate overuse of power to stoke up resistance from a target population. There is a Fuhrer and sycophantic toadies and brutal bullying and suppression of opposition.

 Deaths of Despair*

Life expectancy in the United States has recently fallen for three years in a row—a reversal not seen since 1918 or in any other wealthy nation in modern times. In the past two decades, deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism have risen dramatically, and now claim hundreds of thousands of American lives each year—and they’re still rising.

In [their] critically important book, Case and Deaton tie the crisis to the weakening position of labour, the growing power of corporations, and, above all, to a rapacious health-care sector that redistributes working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy. Capitalism, which over two centuries lifted countless people out of poverty, is now destroying the lives of blue-collar America.

… for those who used to prosper in America, capitalism is no longer delivering.

*https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691190785/deaths-of-despair-and-the-future-of-capitalism

WGEA

Workplace Gender Equality Act

Women in Australia earn 28% less than men!

This type of bite size statistic is a hallmark of the sensational disinformation used by identity politicians.

In my last blog, I mentioned that the incoming Labor government had added 26000 jobs to the payroll.

This statistic is the type of work they do

It is illegal to pay women less than men for doing the same work.

Prosecute the bastards that do that! Don’t squeal and puff out meaningless statistics.

  • More women than men choose to stay home to care for their children and parents.
  • Fewer women work fewer years than men.
  • Fewer women work in dangerous and isolated occupations than men.
  • Fewer women (only 15%*) follow STEM careers

* https://www.industry.gov.au/

Note the above Ministry also collects gender data…

Of course, I am sure that other identity imbalances have not nearly been addressed appropriately. What about the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual, aromantic/agender people ?

(Oh! don’t forget + additional identities that are not included in the acronym).

All of them should have their own departments and compliance legislation too.

Soon only racist, misogynist, misanthropic bigots will not be employed by government!

That’s what Musk’s job is going to be. He will clear out all that ephemeral, flimsy, dangerous and expensive regulatory claptrap.

Purge

At a time when most Western democracies are burdened by disillusion, poor economic and social outcomes and leadership that lacks either conviction or courage, Trump arrives as a giant on the stage of history

In his campaign Trump has promised “… savage public-sector cuts, a reduction in federal bureaucratic numbers, a purging of regulation, cutting taxes…extending tariffs… dismantling environmental obstacles to development, a domestic war on ..identity politics, boosting defence spending..”

If Trump succeeds …

“the governance model for Western democracy will be shaken to its foundations “

Paul Allan Western Australian 16 Nov 2024

A purge will not be before time, I say. And this should pave the way for all Western democracies to see the writing on the wall and change.

For decades governments have swung back and forth from Democrat/Labor to Conservative/Republican. Each victory led to a replacement of supporters and sponsors. The public service bureaucracy grew because each policy promise required an executive department.

Stalin used the Secret Police in his ‘Great Purge’ in Russia from 1936 to 1938. – his methods were a bit drastic -up to 1 million people were killed.

Politicians, intelligentsia, critics, government officials and the army were targeted.

President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order in 1947 to screen federal employees for possible association with organizations deemed “totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive

Primary targets were government employees, prominent figures in the entertainment industry, academics, left-wing politicians, and labor union activists. McCarthy was his hit-man. Public servants were screened…

So now we will see another purge in a democracy, not a totalitarian state ! Interestingly, the same as it was before, it will be the same types and classes of people who will be purged: the bureaucrats, intellectuals and professionals….

Trump has appointed Elon Musk who said he’d cut $2 Trillion from federal bureaucracies . That’s about one third of all employees! Tell me that won’t cause a riot!

He did it to Twitter / X seemingly without crippling industrial action. Maybe he can do it on a much bigger scale.

“Progressives are no longer the party of the working class or the non- college educated…

… the incompatibility of identity politics with the liberal principle of equality … citizens’ trust in mainstream institutions has been absolutely shattered..corporations and the military, universities and the courts .. trust is gone

When people look (at these institutions) they see progressive values shoved in their faces. It’s ​n​ot the democracy they voted for.”

Politicians don’t purge, because those purged are voters.

Now it seems that this has changed, Trump doesn’t want re-election after this term. He is backed by the working class and opposed by the elites. He wants to change what the elites have done and he doesn’t care about the political risk.

Here in Australia it was reported recently that:

An estimated 70% of jobs growth since 2022 has been government funded….The 2024-25 budget showed the number of public servants had grown  by about 25% since the COVID-19 pandemic

Dan Power, The Mandarin, 18 October 2024

Now we see how politics works! Vote for me an I’ll give you a job!

I hope the Coalition ask Elon Musk for some tips before the next election!

Ends and Odds

My view is that Harris was a token woke candidate, all flash and no substance. The facts that she was female and slightly dark in colour did not make up for her lack of real substance. The predominance and preference of dark hued wonders in her campaign was shallow and forced. I am relieved she didn’t get in.

A bit nervous about Trump but he is at least highly intelligent, if a bit unstable.

This election comes at a time when people all over the world are unhappy with where their countries are going, and they don’t trust their political institutions to right the ship. Some of that is a product of the deepening geopolitical recession, which is in part driven by a backlash against globalization and the globalist elites who promoted their own economic and political interests at the expense of their populations. Some of it has to do with the economic and social disruption caused by post-pandemic surges in inflation and immigration.

Ian Bremmer, Gzero 7 Nov

  • Watermelon seeds are high in protein and antioxidants, and the company says they provide a creamy texture similar to traditional dairy while avoiding allergens like nuts or soy.
  • Milk alternatives alone make up 36% of all plant-based sales in the US, and almond still reigns supreme
  • Meat consumption will continue to be mired in identity politics and meat reduction as a climate crisis mitigation solution will continue to be ignored by regulators and policymakers;

A common narrative is that the gender imbalance across professions is a sign that it is not an egalitarian society.

The more egalitarian a society is, the greater the gender gap in STEM enrollment. This suggests that men and women have different preferences when it comes to choosing a profession  

Sweden is an extremely egalitarian society and many professions are extremely gender dominated Construction and mining: 91% men Preschool: 94% women

… One day, Tesla owners may be able to send their vehicles off to offer rides on their own, driving others around to increase each individual vehicle’s utility by five to 10 times.

The robotaxi would also be charged wirelessly, through inductive charging

Quantumrun – The Futures No 78