#trump coalition

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Trumpism’s healthcare fracture-lines

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/20/clinical-trial-by-ordeal/#spoiled-his-brand-new-rattle

There was never any question as to whether Trump would implement Project 2025, the 900-page brick of terrifying and unhinged policy prescriptions edited by the Heritage Foundation. He would not implement it, because he could not implement it. No one could. It's impossible.

This isn't a statement about constitutional limits on executive authority or the realpolitik of getting bizarre and stupid policies past judges or through a hair-thin Congressional majority. This is a statement about the incoherence of Project 2025 itself. You probably haven't read it. Few have. Realistically, few people are going to read a 900-page group work of neofeudalist fanfic shit out by the most esoteric Fedsoc weirdos the world has ever seen.

But one person who did read Project 2025 was the leftist historian Rick Perlstein, who was the first person to really dig into what a fucking mess that thing is:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/14/fracture-lines/#disassembly-manual

Perlstein's excellent analysis doesn't claim that Project 2025's authors aren't sincere in their intentions to wreak great harm upon the nation and its people; rather, his point is that Project 2025 is filled with contradictory, mutually exclusive proposals written by people who fundamentally disagree with one another, and who each have enough power within the Trump coalition that all of thier proposals have to be included in a document like this:

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-07-10-project-2025-republican-presidencies-tradition/

Project 2025 isn't just a guide to the masturbatory fantasies of the worst people in American politics – far more importantly, it is a detailed map of the fracture lines in the GOP coalition, the places where it is liable to split and shatter. This is an important point if you want to do more about Trumpism than run around feeling miserable and scared. If you want to fight, Project 2025 is a guide to the weak spots where an attack will do the most damage.

Perlstein's insight continues to be borne out as the Trump regime makes ready to take power. In a new story for KFF News, Stephanie Armour and Julie Rovner describe the irreconcilable differences among Trump's picks for the country's top public health authorities:

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/trump-rfk-kennedy-health-hhs-fda-cdc-vaccines-covid-weldon/

The brain-worm-infected-elephant in the room is, of course, RFK Jr, who has been announced as Trump's head of Health and Human Services. RFK Jr is a notorious antivaxer, chairman of Children’s Health Defense, a notorious anti-vaccine group. Kennedy's view is shared by Trump's chosen CDC boss, Dave Weldon, a physician who has repeated the dangerous lie that vaccinations cause autism. Mehmet "Dr Oz" Oz, the TV "physician" Trump wants to put in charge of Medicare/Medicaid, calls vaccines "oversold" and advocates for treating covid with hydroxychloroquine, another thoroughly debunked hoax:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/12/17/hydroxychloroquine-study-covid-19-retracted-trump/77051671007/

However, other top Trump public health picks emphatically support vaccines. Marty Makary is Trump's choice for FDA commissioner; he's a Johns Hopkins trained surgeon who says vaccines "save lives" (but he peddles the lethal, unscientific hoax that childhood vaccines should be "spread out"). Jay Bhattacharya, the economist/MD whom Trump wants to put in charge of the NIH, supports vaccines (he is also one of the country's leading proponents of the eugenicist idea of accepting the mass death of elderly, sick and disabled people rather than imposing quarantines during epidemics). Then there's Janette Nesheiwat, whom Trump has asked to serve as the nation's surgeon general; she calls vaccines "a gift from God."

Like "Bidenism," Trumpism is a fragile coalition of people who thoroughly and irreconcilably disagree with one another. During the Biden administration, this resulted in self-inflicted injuries like appointing the brilliant trustbuster Lina Khan to run the FTC, but also appointing the pro-monopoly corporate lawyer Jacqueline Scott Corley to a lifetime seat as a federal judge, from which perch she ruled against Khan's no-brainer suit to block the Microsoft-Activision merger:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/judge-rules-for-microsoft-mergers

The Trump coalition is even broader than the Biden coalition. That's how he won the 2024 election. But that also means that Trumpism is more fractious and off-balance, and hence will be easier to disrupt, because it is riven by people in senior positions who hate one another and are actively working for each others' political demise.

The Trump coalition is a coalition of *cranks*. I'm using "crank" here in a technical, non-pejorative sense. I am a crank, after all. A crank is someone who is overwhelmingly passionate about a single issue, whose uncrossable bright lines are not broadly shared. Cranks can be right or they can be wrong, but we're hard to be in coalition with, because we are uncompromisingly passionate about things that other people largely don't even notice, let alone care about. You can be a crank whose single issue is eliminating water fluoridation, even though this is very, very stupid and dangerous:

https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/the-fluoride-debate

Or you can be a crank about digital rights, a subject that, for decades, was viewed as by turns either unserious or as a sneaky way of shilling for Big Tech (thankfully, that's changing):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/18/greetings-fellow-pirates/#arrrrrrrrrr

Cranks make hard coalition partners. Trump's cranks are cranked up about different things - vaccines, culture war trans panics, eugenics - and are total normies about other things. The eugenicist MD/economist who wants to "let 'er rip" rather than engage in nonpharmaceutical pandemic interventions is gonna be horrified by total abortion bans and antivax. These cranks are on a collision course with one another.

This is on prominent display in these public health appointments, and we're very likely about to get a test of the cohesiveness and capability of the second Trump administration, thanks to bird flu. Now that bird flu has infected humans in multiple US states, there is every chance that we will have to confront a public health emergency in the coming weeks. If that happens, the Trump public health divisions over masking, quarantine and (especially) vaccines (Kennedy called the covid vaccine the "deadliest" ever made, without any evidence) will become the most important issue in the country, under constant and pitiless scrutiny, and criticism.

Trump's public health shambles is by no means unique. The lesson of Project 2025 is that the entire Trump project is one factional squabble away from collapse at all times.

[uniqueeval]

Trump adds RFK Jr. and Gabbard to transition team | World News

Donald Trump has added former White House hopefuls Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team if he wins November’s US presidential election, his campaign said on Tuesday. Kennedy and Gabbard hail from outside the Republican party sphere where former President Trump draws most of his support. “As President Trump’s broad coalition of supporters and endorsers expands across…

[centrally-unplanned]

Hot take but the sweep of super-rich donors coming into Trump's court recently isn't actually all of them going "yeah I hate Trump but I want those tax cuts". At least not primarily, like sure lower taxes is part of why they have Republican leanings to begin with. But billionaires are pretty price insensitive, it doesn't really matter to them all that much if they are paying 20% or 25% on their capital gains, they aren't spending it either way.

Instead its that they think he is gonna win. The Republican primary is over, he is the nom, Biden is set as the opponent, and the polling numbers are pretty clear on that contest. Might change of course, no one is sure, but you gotta back some horse if you are in this game. They don't need to donate to Trump to make him lower taxes on the rich, Republicans will do literally anything to lower taxes on the rich, its their most sacred principle. Like I'm not mocking them there, its objectively true, its nearly the only active agenda item they have consistently pursued in every single administration over the past several decades. You do not need to donate to them to make them do that, and you also don't think your donation is gonna make that much of a different on the win odds. Those donations probably won't pay for themselves vis a vis tax cuts.

What it does do is buy you influence for other agenda items the Republicans don't care about, but might sell to you. And Trump is infamously willing to sell an awful lot of the policy space to the highest bidder, even if he is quite mercurial when it comes to the execution on that. Its not about "lowering taxes", its about getting an exemption for The One Product Your Business Needs on the the tariff policy, or a specific deregulation of biotech rules at the FDA, or w/e. Many of which wont even be directly about making money! Some will be but again price insensitive, its about ideology and vision for projects and other stuff. And the majority (not all ofc) would in fact be quite happy to buy that from Biden, if he was A: selling so openly, and B: likely to win. Since neither is true, they are taking the deal on hand.

[mugiwara-lucy]

So I saw this bullshit this morning 😒

You lot ALREADY know my grievance with Jill Stein and i LOVE how her campaign advisor confirmed what we've all been saying for years; she was made to sway people NOT to vote Democrat which would in turn split the vote and give it to Trump.

And I saw this which made me facepalm so hard 😒

For you dumbass naive college kids who think Kamala losing will "punish dems" and woefully misinformed Muslims who think Trump will spare you; keep in mind a WEEK he initiated a Muslim Ban back in 2017. A FUCKING WEEK.

And if you College Kids care as much about Palestinians and Muslims as you claim; you should know that Muslim Faith Leaders HAVE ENDORSED HER as well as Palestinians wanting someone OTHER THAN DONALD TRUMP which is REALISTICALLY KAMALA HARRIS. Even the bitch in the above screencap says she knows Kamala CAN NOT WIN. If you care as much as you claim, LISTEN TO THEM.

While you guys sit on that....here is the link below to register to vote along with the deadlines varying by state! Also, your own vote isn’t enough! Get as many people as you can to vote for Kamala be it your friends, cousins, parents, grandparents, old friends from high school and college, coworkers, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, stepchildren (if they’re 18 and over) and the list goes on and on but every vote counts! ALSO PLEASE check your registration DAILY because MAGA WILL purge your voter registration!!!

And early voting has started! And if you don’t wanna vote on November 5th, Early Voting is another option! Like I said get as many people as you know and try early voting that way you can avoid MAGA fuckery on November 5th! Here’s the link down below listing the dates by state:

And Mail in Ballots are ANOTHER option I highly recommend!! And like I said get as many people as you can to take advantage of this option! BUT if you decide to go with Mail In/Absentee Ballots; PLEASE mail your ballots at the ACTUAL USPS office!! That way MAGAts won't fuck with it.

And if you’re an American who lives overseas; PLEASE use the option of voting overseas since I know every country other than North Korea, Russia and China do NOT want to see Trump’s stinky ass back in the Oval Office! Here’s a link below:

I.....just do NOT understand you "Free Palestine!" people.

You guys wanted a younger, better candidate than Biden. You got it. And you guys STILL bitch and moan?

You guys are WORSE than MAGA and if Jill Stein does her 2016 bullshit and splits the vote and we end up with Vance as President (since Trump will MOST LIKELY NOT make it another four years) and he goes through with his Muslim Ban; a war on women happens where EVERY HEALTHCARE PRECAUTION against women is banned and women die EVEN MORE and America is turned into a Christian Theocracy, do NOT complain.

We warned you.

[welpwomp]

Trying to resist the urge to think about ways to kill myself right now…

[leohtttbriar]

Letters from an American

H. C. Richardson (Oct 24)

[...] And then there are the Republican voters, some of whom are abandoning the MAGA Republicans who are now openly embracing fascism. Today, Republican state senator Rob Cowles of Green Bay, Wisconsin, who has served for almost 42 years, announced he would vote for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. David Holt, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, also indicated he would be casting his ballot for Harris. In 1880, when the Democrats went off the extremist cliff, voters forced it to move to the center. In 1879, after the bitterly contested 1876 election, voters gave Democrats control of Congress. So convinced were Democrats that the American people backed their determination to overthrow Reconstruction, they refused to fund the government unless Republican president Rutherford B. Hayes pulled the federal government out of the southern states. (They also tried to get a federal pension for Confederate president Jefferson Davis.) “If this is not revolution,” Civil War veteran House minority leader James A. Garfield (R-OH) said, “which if persisted in will destroy the government, [then] I am wholly wrong in my conception of both the word and the thing.”  Observers had expected the 1880 election to be a romp for the Democrats, who reiterated their demands in their party platform, but voters backed Garfield’s defense of the country and of Black rights and elected him to the White House.  The unexpected loss prompted the Democrats to toss aside their former Confederate leaders and shift toward the northern cities. For president in 1884 they backed former New York governor Grover Cleveland, who had broadened Black appointments to office and desegregated the New York City police force, and who had worked closely with New York Assembly minority leader Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, to reform the worst abuses of the industrial system. Cleveland won with the help of significant numbers of crossover Republican voters, dubbed “Mugwumps,” thereby securing the roots of the modern Democratic Party.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David Smith at The Guardian:

God’s army is on the march. And many of its foot soldiers are wearing “Make America great again” regalia, sensing that their unlikely standard-bearer, former US president Donald Trump, is once again close to the promised land. “I do not believe that America can survive another four years of Joe Biden,” Ralph Reed, founder and chair of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, told a gathering of the religious right in Washington on Friday. “I haven’t felt this way since Jimmy Carter was president.” The audience burst into knowing laughter. Reed promised they would knock on 10m doors of Christian and conservative voters in every battleground state, make 10m phone calls, send 25m text messages and put 30m voter guides in 113,000 churches, producing “the biggest turnout of Christian voters in American history”. The election result will be clear, he added. “This time there aren’t gonna need to be any lawsuits. We’re not going to have to go to court and we’re not going to have to wait until 2.30 in the morning for Donald Trump to declare victory. He’s going to do it at 9 o’clock at night!”

With Trump running ahead of Biden in many swing state polls, religious right voters scent a historic opportunity to impose a radical agenda that could ban abortion nationwide, curb LGBTQ+ rights and blur the separation of church and state. At Friday’s conference, speaker after speaker framed it as righteous crusade and the only way to resist a tide of liberal secularism sweeping America. Ben Carson, a former housing secretary in Trump’s first term, praised Republican-dominated Louisiana for becoming the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every government school classroom. “Aren’t you glad that yesterday the governor of Louisiana signed into law – put the Ten Commandments back in the schools?” he said to cheers and applause before warning of a 60-year communist project to change America by taking over schools, churches and Hollywood and removing God from the public square.

Josh Hawley, a Republican senator for Missouri, warned of a “radical anti-faith agenda” gripping the country. He said: “Who’s dividing America is the radical left and that’s why I say to you we don’t need less Christian influence in our society, we don’t need less Christian witness in our society; we need more in every part of government, in every part of society.” To approving roars from the audience, Hawley added: “We ought to take the Pride flag out of schools and put the Bible back in. You know what? We ought to take the trans flag down from all of our federal buildings and over every federal building in America write the words: ‘In God we trust.’ In God we trust. Amen.”

The couching of an Armageddon election, in which religious truth itself is at stake, with victory representing divine providence and defeat spelling total catastrophe, was crystallised by Monica Crowley, a rightwing political commentator and former assistant secretary of the treasury. She described the election as a “hinge moment” comparable to the American revolution, American civil war, second world war and September 11 terrorist attacks. She spoke of a “war” against “the enemy within” that has spent nearly half a century “infiltrating, undermining and destroying” America with “godless philosophies”. Crowley lamented that Hollywood no longer produces “patriotic films” like those of John Wayne and, extraordinarily, defended the communist witch-hunts of the 1950s. “Senator Joe McCarthy was right, and he was trying to ring the bell in the 1950s about communist infiltration in our government and the same deep state that is now going after Donald Trump,” he said.

[...] Religious conservatives’ pact with Trump appears to be holding. Some were sceptical about the thrice-married reality TV star when he first ran for president in 2016 but the concerns were assuaged by his running mate, born-again evangelical Christian Mike Pence, and by a first term that saw him shift the judiciary to the right. Not even Trump’s conviction in New York last month on 34 felony counts in a trial involving hush-money payments to an adult film star has shaken his grip on this constituency. Many who complain that their faith is under siege regard him as a blunt instrument with which to fight back against the radical left. They often rationalise their vote by saying they are choosing a president, not a pastor. Some evangelicals have likened him to Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who, according to the Bible, enabled Jews to return to Israel from their exile in Babylon.

Why is the religious right sticking behind Donald Trump, who is not a sincere Christian and has been charged with 34 felonies? They view him as an useful instrument to push their wicked far-right agenda into law: eroding the separation of church and state, abortion bans, and anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

These same folks were all “character counts” when Bill Clinton was facing sex scandals, but jettisoned them when Trump has done the same and a lot more.

[maybege]

once again the reminder that in systems with only two major parties, voting for third parties is essentially giving your vote away 🙃🙃🙃

[youthchronical]

'Powerful recommitment to great alliance': Netanyahu as Israel celebrates Trump's election win - Times of India

Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump (File photo) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s right-wing government celebrated on Wednesday after Republican candidate Donald Trump claimed victory in the US presidential election, seeing it as a turning point for Israeli-American relations.The results brought relief to Netanyahu’s coalition, which has frequently clashed with incumbent President Joe…

[tomorrowusa]

« We have held another successful election that has been free, fair and peaceful.

The Independent Electoral Commission has, despite many challenges, once more acquitted itself with excellence, professionalism and integrity.

[ … ]

Our people have spoken.

As the leaders of political parties, as all those who occupy positions of responsibility in society, we have heard the voices of our people and we must respect their wishes.

[ … ]

Over the course of the election campaign, parties and candidates have at times differed, often forcefully.

They have expressed a wide variety of views that are often at odds with each other.

This is a welcome and necessary feature of a robust democracy. Yet, throughout the election campaign, parties and candidates have held fast to the fundamental principles of democracy.

Parties and candidates have affirmed the right of voters to participate in an election that is free, fair and peaceful.

And now, we are all called upon to recognise that the results of the election reflect the will of the people. »

— South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Sunday upon learning of the official results of South Africa's national election which left his party, the ANC, without a majority for the first time in 30 years. From the office of the Presidency of South Africa.

Whether you agree with his politics or not, it was a classy and appropriate statement by the leader of a democracy.

No temper tantrums. No attempt to disparage the results. No false and unsupported claims of election stealing. No coup plotting.

In short, this is similar to how elections used to end in the United States before the era of crybaby sore loser Donald Trump.

As for President Ramaphosa, his ANC still has the largest number of seats in the National Assembly. The 400 member assembly elects the president by a simple majority vote. It is probable that Ramaphosa will remain as president but as head of a coalition government. The National Assembly meets two weeks after the official certification of results to pick the president for the next term.

I was watching the livestream of the announcement of results by the IEC and took this screen picture.

Here's a closer view of the leader board from South African media. President Ramaphosa made his remarks in front of it (after being introduced by an election administrator) which shows his party ending up with just 159 seats. It's science fiction to imagine Donald Trump making a concession speech in front of a 2020 Electoral College map.

[thisblogisforprivatenotes]

Reading about fucking conservative freaks using "judeo-christian values" to justify their bigoted policies towards queer kids in the education system

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Coalition Responsible For Consulting Crisis

10 years of Liberal/National federal governments stripped the public service of 15, 000 jobs and opened the door for consultants PwC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte to feast on government contracts to the tune of billions of dollars. Coalition responsible for consulting crisis, as insider mates shuffle jobs between government and the big 4 consultancy/auditing firms to ensure the flow of business and big bucks. Four Corners has revealed the incestuous relationships in the Department of Defence and KPMG via whistleblowers telling their story about what has been going on. Pigs with snouts in the trough comes to mind as an analogy about what has been occurring. “It has been the Coalition's official benchmark for "responsible management" since 2015; a target that prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison also pursued. More than 15,000 government jobs were abolished as a result.” - (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-13/has-federal-budget-2021-ended-coalition-war-on-public-servants/100133980) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pduOqZPnqVc

Dishonest & Dodgy Coalition Governments Dealing Billions To Consultants

The lack of transparency is a major issue and questions have to be asked whether this was a deliberate strategy by the Coalition in government. Outsourcing, what has always been the work of government through the public service, means that these consulting firms are not scrutinised to the level government departments usually are. The Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments moved much of their work of government to these private consulting firms. Public funds normally allocated to the trusted public service were diverted to these private companies. The PwC tax scandal has shown clearly that these firms are not to be trusted with sensitive and confidential government information.

“Former KPMG partner urges royal commission into consulting industry following damning report into PwC scandal” - (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/06/former-kpmg-partner-urges-royal-commission-into-consulting-industry-following-damning-report-into-pwc-scandal) “PwC Australia has sacked eight partners, including its former CEO Tom Seymour, over their direct involvement in or knowledge of the tax leak scandal which has engulfed the consulting firm.” - (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-03/asx-markets-business-live-news-july-3/102553582)

Neoliberal Coalition Oversees Erosion Of Ethics  & Professional Standards

Overcharging and extending contracts is rife in the consulting sector and via these government contracts they have gone to town. Tens of billions of dollars have been siphoned off into the hands of these firms and their insider mates of the Coalition. Scott Morrison has a lot of questions to answer re-Robodebt and PwC was involved in this illegal debacle as well. It is time that these people were brought to justice and prosecuted. The erosion of ethics and professional standards has been overseen by the Coalition in power. Screwing the taxpayer out of money and feathering the nest of private individuals has been happening on a very large scale. “Collins had breached a series of confidentiality agreements made with federal Treasury and the Board of Taxation that gave him access to various consultative forums as a senior partner in the local branch of a global accounting firm. Information obtained during those processes was used to brief local and international tax partners or staff on what the government was doing in specific areas of taxation. It was publicly known that Collins had shared knowledge that he should not have shared, as was the fact that his former firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (now PwC), was given a disciplinary penalty that required it to tighten up training and procedures.” (https://www.themandarin.com.au/219292-damning-emails-reveal-former-pwc-peter-collins-multiple-breaches/

Liberal Vision Of Australia All About Wealth At Any Cost For The Few These people at the heart of these big 4 consultancy firms have earned millions of dollars. They live in big houses in exclusive suburbs worth millions of dollars, and they drive very smart cars. Insider trading is illegal and yet these accountants have trod an inside track thanks to their Coalition mates in power. A decade of Coalition governments has overseen the massive expansion of private consultants taking over the public service. Liberals screwing the Australian people for their own advantage. Profits and avoiding public scrutiny by Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison are at the heart of this betrayal of trust. “The previous Coalition government spent $20.8bn outsourcing more than a third of public service operations, an audit has found. The federal government released the findings of the Australian public service audit of employment on Saturday, which examined the hiring practices and associated costs of 112 public service agencies, excluding the CSIRO, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and parliamentary departments. It found the equivalent of nearly 54,000 full-time staff were employed as consultants or service providers for the federal government during the 2021-2022 financial year – the equivalent of 37% of the 144,300-employee public service.” - (Stephanie Convery, The Guardian, 6 May 2023) Conservative voters in Australia are hoodwinked into voting for the Coalition on the basis of socially conservative policies. Meanwhile, we are all shafted via insider trading for their mates and plum government contracts for wealthy friends in the consultancy business. Hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds being siphoned off into the hands of these dubious individuals. Donald Trump and the Republicans have written the modern rule book for this grifting behaviour in government in recent times. Trump is a hero for these conservatives combining billion dollar grift with authoritarian power to keep any dissenting voices in check. Look at the list of questionable activities undertaken during the Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments. - Climate change and global warming – the Coalition has put back Australia at least a couple of decades via their inaction and manipulation of government policies in this space. - Consultancy Crisis/Gutting the Public Service – tens of billions of dollars going into private hands via overcharging, wasteful practices, and neutering public scrutiny and the voice of the public service. - Robodebt – the Robodebt scheme was cooked up by Scott Morrison and was illegal, but put into practice anyway. 500, 000 Australians were wrongly accused of owing large amounts of money to the government. People killed themselves in despair over this! A settled class action has cost taxpayers $1.6 billion so far. A Royal Commission was scathing in its condemnation and recommendations for further prosecution against those administering the scheme. Scott Morrison, of course, denies any wrong doing and responsibility for something he instigated. - Sports Rorts – pork barrelling taken to another level, as Coalition ministers direct spending to swing voter seats in a bid to shore up support for their electoral cause. Australians in Labor seats miss out on investment into their infrastructure because of where they reside and the political bellwether situation. - Uluru Statement from the Heart – 10 years of Coalition government denied this call from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians for a place at the big table. Whenever Liberal/National governments come to power they invariably dismantle and defund Indigenous bodies and programs, which were established by Labor governments to close the gap. Whether it is politics over concern for First Nations’ people or just out and out racism the end result is the same. Is it any wonder that First Nations’ Australians want a Voice to Parliament written into the Constitution. Peter Dutton is leading the No vote against the Voice in the referendum. The Nationals also oppose it. Mean spirited, racist, and, generally, lacking compassion are all ways to describe this behaviour. - Housing Crisis - Where has all the social housing in Australia gone? Neoliberal economic policies have given everything over to the private sector and the profit motive. Needy and vulnerable? Tough luck, you're stuffed in Oz these days. - Corporate Profits Driving Inflation - A concentration of corporate power via takeovers and mergers means that price setting is rife in Australia. Bugger all competition (where and what has the ACCC been up to?) in the banking sector, supermarkets, audit firms, airlines, real estate, mining, energy sector, and everywhere you seek to do business is an oligopoly. Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt & Financial Freedom ©WordsForWeb

Read the full article

[narse-tantalus]

At this point we should all realize that Israel/Palestine is a wedge issue being used by bad actors to divide and conquer left-leaning folks.

Question the motives of anyone trying to use the issue to influence votes before November.

[sohaibsmart]

Information Evaluation: Europe feels Musk's political impression. How far will it go?

Within the six weeks since Donald Trump gained the presidential election, Europe has been bracing for a U.S. administration that would pressure conventional transatlantic alliances. That sense of uncertainty has simply been turbocharged by a disruptive new power: multibillionaire Elon Musk, who has made it clear he intends to depart his mark on politics and coverage not solely in Washington…

[latestnews-now]

Donald Trump has made headlines once again with his appointment of Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, as senior adviser for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. In this video, we explore Boulos’ background, his role in Trump’s campaign, and what this means for the 2024 elections. Watch now for insights into Trump’s strategy for Arab-American voters and Middle Eastern diplomacy!