onetrack

Trump has destroyed any goodwill or trust between America and other nations with his erratic and chaotic style of decision-making, and it will take a long time before America regains any respect in trade negotiations. But this is precisely his modus operandi, throwing hand grenades into smooth-working operations, just to see how he can gain benefit, personally.

The Liberals had better start producing some viable candidates if they want to grab power back from Labor. Despite Labors mistakes and missteps, Albo and his mob are still a better bet than Dutton and his dubious band of candidates. The problem is, Dutton cannot produce a viable plan for improving Australia's competitiveness, world standing, innovation, quality of life, or improving living standards for the average Australian. He can produce plenty of anti-Labor negativity. He continues to follow the same old worn-out lie, that by making the rich richer, with less taxes and less regulation, the average Joes life and wealth is improved, too. It's long been called the "trickle-down effect". But this is precisely how the "trickle-down effect", works in reality....

There's a whole lot of backlash on the site below, from Canadians who see America and Trump in a whole lot different light, now. The initial article written by Robert H. McKinney, the professor, is actually from 2018, when Donald Trump was in power previously and screwing up the U.S. farm sales to China.

They haven't found anything yet, they're still conducting a comprehensive search. We'll let you know when they find something - no matter how small. 😄

LATEST NEWS: The media are reporting that Kyle Sandilands is having to undergo urgent brain surgery, due to a medical condition. UPDATE: The doctors operating on Kyle Sandilands are reporting they're having great difficulty in trying to find Kyles brain.

Donald Trump earnestly believes that tariffs are a "beautiful tool" to beat other countries over the head with. He believes he can use tariffs to make other countries do his bidding. Unfortunately, he's too dumb to realise that imposing tariffs brings a whole raft of unforeseen problems. If importers see a major sales decline in the goods they've previously been importing, and there's reluctance to "buy local" due to much higher local product costs, then the importer will cease to import the product and shortages will result, causing an increase in pricing as local manufacturers take advantage of the massive demand, and their inability to meet it. Then there's the "backlash effect" that Trump barely grasps. He thinks he has total power, being in "control" of the American economy. But he doesn't have total control, he's got hold of the steering wheel, but many others have control over the brakes and clutch and gearshift. The "backlash effect" is when Trump underestimates how much damage can be done by other countries introducing tariffs on American goods and products. This can be very substantial, as many other countries can produce exactly what America can manufacture, grow or mine. The Chinese thought they could use the "beautiful tool" of tariffs on Australian products to punish us for daring to criticise China's opaqueness over the source of the COVID-19 virus. But they ended up shooting themselves in the foot, as local coal and metal ores and LNG producers rapidly found new markets - and prices often went up, meaning China had to find new sources for their vital Australian imports, and then pay more for them. Little has been revealed about what happened to Chinese consumers when Australian lobster sales to China fell 64% during the China-Australia tariff war. The simple result would have been Chinese diners fighting over a very limited supply of Australian lobster, and for them having to pay a lot higher price for it, resulting in reduced spending power for them overall. Canada is a vital supplier of car parts and energy products to America and it has responded to American tariffs on Canadian products by imposing tariffs on American goods. This will have the immediate result of reducing sales of American manufactured goods to Canada, and Canadians turning to other manufacturers. The tariff was will be a direct kick to the goolies of American car manufacturers, as American car sales slump in Canada, and Canadians end up buying more Chinese cars. This effect will go right across the board, so it will effect ALL American industry. Then there's American farmers, who are the backbone of Trumps support. Last time he messed with tariffs on Chinese goods, the Chinese retaliated by imposing tariffs on U.S. farm imports. Trump ended up having to pay a lot of Govt support money to U.S. farmers to make up for their reduced export sales and lower prices for their products. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/how-china-reduced-its-reliance-us-farm-imports-softening-trade-war-risks-2024-11-13/#:~:text=Beijing retaliated with tariffs of,%2C wheat%2C corn and sorghum. If Trump thinks that American consumers will make up the shortfall of export sales by purchasing more local goods, then I've got news for him, there's nowhere in history where that has happened. The bottom line is that the price of everything will go up in a tariff war, and Donald Trump promised all his followers that he'd reduce the cost of everything. Somewhere along the line, soon, MAGA adherents are going to realise they've been sold a pup.

The first day of school, I got given a packet of Arnotts Milk Arrowroot biscuits to eat, by my Mum, and I'm pretty sure I cried almost all day long, as I had to spend the WHOLE DAY without her, which left me with life-long trauma. 😞 I reckon my Grandpa would've started school in 1845, as he was born in 1840. But I never got to meet him, because he died in 1923.

You all obviously fail to understand that if a MAGA appointee was in the control tower or in charge of the FAA, this crash would never have happened, and no aviation crashes will ever occur again, after those MAGA appointments are made!

We have a website we can access when the power goes down, just to see how long it will be before the power is put back on. Few people in positions of power see the irony in having a website relying on electrical power advising you when the loss of power will be restored. 😄

Mike Farrell, who played the part of Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt in MASH. He's 85, and a long-time political activist, and a genuinely warm and empathetic bloke. America needs more people like him.

GON, I signed the Oath when I was conscripted, because I knew what I was signing. and knew I was potentially putting my life on the line for my country. I had been in business for myself, in partnership with a brother, for 4 years, before I entered the Army. I wasn't a dumb 20 yr old, I was an astute business owner, used to dealing with a large and wealthy clientele face to face, training others, and owning and operating and repairing a good range of equipment and plant. For what it's worth, I also volunteered to serve in Vietnam. As an Engineer, I had the choice of volunteering to serve overseas, or electing to stay in Australia. I elected to serve overseas, knowing it was a traditional move, and one that carried benefits, and also looking like an adventure to a 20 yr old who had previously not left Australia. We did all have reservations about the style of American conduct of the Vietnam War, but at that time, the constant advance of Communism via terrorism, DID pose a real threat to SE Asian countries. I do know that Nasho's who joined the infantry did not have that choice, as they were attached to Regiments that were rotated into and out of SVN, whereas Support Units members were rotated in and out of SVN on an individual basis. I do think you're becoming a bit of a tired "One Note Charlie" with your constant harping on the "Nashos Fair Go" angle. You seem to fail to understand that major difference in treatment and recognition, between soldiers who served in combat zones, and those who didn't leave the comforts of Australia, where the biggest danger was being abused by an anti-Vietnam War protestor. This separation between "returned servicemen" and those who never left Australia, in the form of entitlements and treatments is enshrined in the Veterans Entitlements Act 1986, and returned servicemen entitlements have been in place since the Soldiers Repatriation Act was first introduced in 1917, and this Act was promoted by Gen. Sir John Monash. The Veterans Entitlements Act 1986 is a two-booklet Act full of court decisions and legal definitions that precisely define all the entitlements due to returned servicemen. It is not an Act designed to cater to National Servicemen, because it is the modern version of the 1917 Soldiers Repatriation Act. You seem to equate some of the hardships endured by National Servicemen as on a par with the hardships endured by returned soldiers who served in combat zones. I can assure you, no-one accepts that argument. https://www.dva.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/publications/corporate/P03428.pdf

AI will steadily get much better, and will soon be virtually undetectable. It's early days with AI, it's still at the crawl stage.

What a CF, throwing additional troops into a theatre who are an alien culture, and who have a totally different language? It effectively means they can only operate as a team by themselves, it would be impossible to integrate them into Russian forces and the Russian military. Imagine them trying to understand instructions written in Russian, on Russian equipment? I wonder how many total balls-ups have been caused by the Koreans doing something completely stupid, and at odds with Russian systems and techniques and tactics?

So - what do their faces look like, upside-down?

GON, not sure where you get your info that Nasho's weren't obliged to swear the Oath of Allegiance - but ALL soldiers in the AMF had to swear/sign the Oath of Allegiance. I know I did. An Irish-ancestry Nasho mate who is a rabid anti-monarchist, tried to refuse to sign the Oath, stating that Elizabeth II wasn't his Queen. But he was threatened with severe penalties if he didn't sign, so he signed it under duress. https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/oath_enlist

The constitutional lawyers are going to have a field day, and their orders will already be in for a brace of new, premium grade, Beemers and Mercs.

Spacey, it's not "AI", it's called "auto-correct", a simple little programme that tries to figure out what word you're going to use next. You obviously haven't heard the old auto-correct joke. The inventor of autocorrect has died. The funnel will be held tomato.

Sewerage runs past my block, and it's not connected, and I don't need it. I can install my own septic system if I wish, provided it uses less than 500 litres a day. Over 500 l/day, I am obliged to connect to the sewerage system.

Ahhh, the old, "A World Gubbmint is coming to control everything you do", conspiracy! America, the land of total distrust, and conspiracies galore! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_conspiracy_theory

Never heard of the bloke, but that doesn't mean much. I guess if you were in that tight muso circle, it means a lot to you.

I don't need much supplied by the council to meet my needs. They've got satisfactory roads, I don't pay for rubbish removal, and don't need it (I take a ute load of rubbish up to the local tip whenever it builds up, every 2 or 3 mths), and that's free to dump. I don't need a huge town swimming pool, or other major public facility that ends up under-utilised and a drain on taxpayers. I don't need to pay for councillors expensive junkets, and they keep them to a bare minimum. I have to pay an emergency services levy, but every landowner in the State does that, it's not a huge burden, and I like having the SES, and Firies, and other State Govt services on hand, when needed. The council keep their plant and equipment in good order and regularly replace it, and the Federal Govt gives them lots of grants to do that, and to upgrade major roads. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way the local council performs.

There's one small qualification to Nuclear power plant water requirements. If the reactor overheats, there is a MASSIVE demand for large amounts of water to cool the overheating core. While the chances of nuclear accidents are minimised, the problem remains as a constant, and systems built to handle an overheating core, have to be designed in. But aside from that issue, there's two other issues to address with cooling nuclear power plants - the increasing temperature of the water bodies in the world, and an increasing shortage of good potable water. Both of these problems are only going to get worse. Nuclear reactors in many countries have had to power down in recent years due to increased water temperatures, and in a number of cases, reduced river flows. https://www.wired.com/story/nuclear-power-plants-struggling-to-stay-cool/

Millions more imbeciles out there who will suddenly wake up soon, that they voted in the worlds biggest con man. BS promises to reduce inflation, reduce the cost of living, reduce energy costs, will all soon be forgotten, and the instant anything adverse appears, it was all the Democrats fault.

I can't complain if they do go up, this council is the 4th cheapest Shire in W.A. They don't spend money like water on councillors dreams, and they have low debt. When I first bought the block 5 yrs ago, the rates were $538 annually, now it's gone up, I paid a whopping $790 this year! The block is 2047 sq m., and it's zoned light industrial.

I can't see the relevance of comparing CO2 and heat output? Nuclear reactors usually use ocean waters for cooling, and this can have detrimental effects on the local marine environment. Nuclear power stations can require up to 80% more water than any other form of power generation.