Here's the first one I've heard of.

Trump to impose 200% tariff on John Deere products manufactured in Mexico. The basis of Trump's decision is that by moving production to Mexico, John Deere is removing jobs from the USA. John Deere's decision is based on the bottom line. This despie John Deere being a massively profitable company already.

Also at the moment John Deere is embroiled in a number of consumer initiated civil suits arising from its refusal to release fixes for software bugs in its vehicle operating systems. If something controlled by the software glitches, John Deere technicians are the only ones who have the digital keys to get into the software to debug it. Imagine being in the middle of harvesting many thousands of hectares of crop and you can't continue because you have to wait for a technician to travel from a depot out to the machine in the field. Not only are you up for the cost of the service call, but you lose due to down time. 

Already millions have been spent on preliminary geophysical investigations along the proposed route north of Parkes. Rural properties have been purchased. The Gilgandra Shire created a residential estate will all the road and water infrastructure for the building of housing to rent to the construction workers employed on the nearby section. Once the work was completed those houses would be placed on the public market for sale. However, demand for housing follows demand for employment, and there is not much locally.

There was nothing wrong with the concept of a dedicated freight line between these two States. The problem, no doubt, is that the ability to generate the funding for the project, amongst all the other demands on government, is beyond the capacity of a Nation with such a small population compared to its area. Perhaps if our natural resources had not been sold off at bargain basement prices, or tax concessions to foreign companies were curtailed, the Government might be able to provide the funds to finance the many demands made of it.

Here's a link to the Inland Rail website: https://inlandrail.com.au/

I am furious at what our Governments, on both sides, have allowed to happen. Without telling us, they have made Australia a target in any confllct in the Indo-Pacific region. It's probably a case of "out of sight, out of mind" since much of what is depicted in this video occurs in the sparsely inhabited northern regions of the country. 

If it is, the next question is.... is somebody planning to 'turn it into glass' in order to bring peace to these troubled places?

A third of the U.S. naval fleet parking on the doorstep, is probably unsettling to the inhabitants of Iran.

An alien traveller marooned on planet earth would do the following:

1. Use his superior technical knowledge to make innovations that generated lots of money.
2. Gain control of the media so he could manage the story about himself and limit any leaks about the truth.
3. Build space communication devices that could send a distress signal and, when needed, call down a mother ship.
4. Build political connections to suppress information about alien objects in the sky.
5. Develop rockets that could, eventually, carry him back to the mother ship.

This is not a movie script. It is happening.

How many are there voluntarily? The Muslim religion has absolutely NO respect for women, and treat them as possessions of the males. The family (males) choose who they marry - girls as young as 9 or 10 get married off to the man chosen by the family. They do as they are told...or else! They must be covered from head to foot, including their face, lest they arouse the lust of males. They go where and when they are told. How many of them chose to travel to the Muslim countries with their "husbands", or were forced to?

They have seen how bad things are over there and want better for their children, and want to bring them back to Australia. But everyone wants to throw up barricades to keep them out. Surely temporary visas would allow them to come back to be assessed, and thrown out if they don't conform to our requirements.

Ashton Hurn, the Liberal leader in S.A. who promised great things, is polling around 10% lower on her primary vote. Not a good sign for her continued reign in her job. The Liberals in S.A. will be holding a wake over the decomposed remains of the Liberal Party in the State, by the look of things.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-21/sa-election-day-live-updates/106476924

I invite you to watch this video which raises doubts about the inital statements issue by the White House.  What has been said, and what has been published from other sources, coupled with the way the White House has been shown to handle the truth loosely, raises the level of our scepticism.

If you do watch the video, skip the ad which runs from 3:00 to 4:10.

The fuel mileage rate is no doubt a fixed amount in those contracts, and that amount would have been set at the beginning of the year. How will the bus company continue to operate with fuel prices rising as they are? The obvious thing is that the buses will stop running. That will mean that these kids will not be able to get to school. It is too inefficient for individual families to be driving their kids to and from school each day. I have a neighbour who lives "close" to town at about 25 kms. That's 100 kms per day taking the kids in the morning; coming home , and doing the same in the afternoon.

Will this fuel crisis spawn another generatiion of kids who miss out on a decent education, even though they might be home-schooled? Look at the current crop of under-18s whose education was disrtupted by COVID. Look at the social problems we got from that. 

A sinkhole appeared at AJ Burkitt Oval in the Banyule Flats Reserve in Heidelberg on Monday evening. 

At present we have the State of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran using military weapons against each other, and very often without consideration for the safety of non-combatants. I have not heard that a declaration of war has been issued  by either Nation. So are they engaged in a war, or are they ignoring International Law. 

I suppose that if they are not signatories to those laws, they both can do what they like, but their actions put them outside the pale of acceptable, civilised behaviour.

What gets me is that the government of the State of Israel claims that it is acting in self defence, however I see no invading army crossing its borders. In the 21st Century, does the word “invasion” now mean  an aerial crossing  of a border by destructive devices?

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/one-nation-surpasses-labor-coalition-in-queensland-newspoll/news-story/048e8652eaf681cc599911831be1b093?utm_campaign=EditorialSB&utm_source=News.com.au&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_content=SocialBakers

That doesn't appear to be happening at present in the United States. The current head of State (President) appears to be calling the shots, and the parliamentary leaders from the President's Party are simply going through the motions to enact the pronoucements of the Head of State. There does not appear to be any vigorous opposition to these action within the two houses of government. Nor does there appear to be any leader forceful enough to stand up to either the heads of the houses of government, nor the Head of State as is as the moment.

We are witnessing the destruction of an economic and military power which has held sway over the World for eighty years. The Make America Great Again concept is provoing itself to be an abject failure, with global economic and politcal implications. What is tragic is that there is nothing to suggest the creation of a concept to Restore America amongst those who sit in Opposition to the current Party in power. No one is standing up to take the roles of Leader to reconstruct the United States.

Many in the United States and other countries are hoping that the World can hold on for the next three-and-a-bit years of MAGA-madness. However unless a strong leader arises soon to counter the present incumbent, and his cohort, democracy will collapse in the United States. 

So, here goes....

I'll kick off with a link to a news mob I've never heard of. 

https://tomorrowsaffairs.com/the-transnational-dimension-of-theepstein-casea-hybrid-warfare-against-the-west

My curiosity is particularly piqued by the fact that nobody has officially delved into Epstein's banking records. I did think that it would be an important part of analysing any (possibly) corrupt/criminal case?