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Closing the Southern border may have been a success but Trumps reliance on ICE which appears to be run as a total authoritarian outfit by its hierarchy has completely backfired. The only other thing he has been successful at it enriching himself and his family and lowering taxes for all of his billionaire cronies.

Google AI says they're one and the same, generally called split pins in Australia. They use AIMS Industrial Supplies as a reference. The AI also says the Brits call them split pins or split cotter pins, the Americans call them cotter pins, then it goes on to describe a true cotter pin. https://aimsindustrial.com.au/blogs/product-guides/split-pin-cotter-pin-guide

It was the same in Queensland when I was growing up. Even as a young adult everyone was still calling them cotter pins, but you rarely hear it these days. Split pins has been the common term for a long time now

Tocumwal is a great destination for a flying coffee.

They say VB stands for Very Bad, but I thought it was streets ahead of XXXX.

In the USA they call split pins cotter pins. Everywhere.

That's why we don't have them. We don't manufacture anything that the majority of consumers want.

They are scarce on the ground in my neck of the woods.

Tariffs are generally are intended to make imported goods more expensive to favour local manufacturers who are competing with those same goods. It's the country imposing the tariffs that pays them. Seems like a dumb idea to me except maybe in special circumstances.

Trump's ART of the deal is standover tactics. Tariffs CAUSED Inflation. Basic wrong assumption. Any fool could see that. . Nev

Modern Container ships use Super long stroke ,supercharged motors that operate on something close to straight Crude oil 76 Rpm's. Nev

I didnt know they finished after Trumps term...the Dems will for sure put it all back on again as they are spendriffs the same as Labor here. The Dems give money away to all sorts of worthy causes like Trans education in Somalia or other ridiculous things Well if thats true then why is austrlia hit with tarriffs from the EU and many other countries despite us not charging them tarriffs..sort of a oxymoron there dont you think? We dont charge tarriffs on the incomming here although the USA thinks the GST is a tarriff but then again you have to remember they have always thought of themselves as the centre of the universe. European Union There is no FTA in force yet (negotiations concluded in March 2026, but the deal is still going through domestic ratification processes in Australia and the EU). As a result, many Australian agricultural products (especially beef, dairy, grains and some processed foods) face relatively high EU Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) tariffs or restrictive tariff-rate quotas. And there are many others China Most goods enter at zero or low rates under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) and RCEP. However, China currently applies a 55% additional safeguard tariff on Australian beef that exceeds the annual country-specific quota (around 205,000 tonnes). The quota was filled in mid-June 2026, so the higher rate has applied for the rest of the year. It resets at the start of each calendar year.⁠ We dont charge them anything for their goods no matter what it is...is this fair? No different here with the tax on the rich..they system is designed so that a lot escape them. Companies like Apple whose offices are based overseas for tax purposes..I think theirs is in Ireland and so are a lot of others. Heaps rag on Gina Rhinehart but she and her companies pay her taxes at the correct rates Hancock Prospecting (Gina Rinehart’s main company) paid about $2.3 billion in Commonwealth and state taxes for the financial year ended 30 June 2026.⁠Hancockprospecting This figure comes from the company’s 2026 annual report and media release (around 31 October 2026). Key details include Net profit after tax of $2.8 billion. Total comprehensive income of $5.2 billion (including investment portfolio gains). Over the past decade, Hancock’s total federal and state tax contributions reached $24.5 billion (plus additional taxes via employee salaries). The core mining division, Hancock Iron Ore, accounted for roughly $1.59 billion of that (corporate tax, iron ore royalties, state payroll taxes, and Native Title contributions). The remaining ~$710 million related to other interests. Apple Australia (primarily Apple Pty Ltd) paid approximately $188–200 million in corporate income tax to the ATO in the most recent reported period. Apples income for last year was about 13.1 BILLION dollars where Hancock prospecting was only 5.2 Billion

I couldn't think of any other place where coitter pins were used. Typical applications are in fixing a crank to its crankshaft, as in a bicycle, and a piston rod to a crosshead, as in a steam engine. In mechanical engineering, a crosshead is a mechanical joint used as part of the slider-crank linkages of long stroke reciprocating engines (either internal combustion or steam). When was the last time you saw a long stroke engine or asteam engine in common use?

No tax on tips and overtime expire in December2028 but tax breaks for the rich don't expire. That's not good. Finding waste and fraud in government is a perennial aim of all parties but DOGE was a complete financial and moral failure. What he wanted tariffs to do was punish countries he thought were taking advantage of the USA because he didn't understand how trade worked. By nature, he's pathologically opposed to cooperation for mutual gain.

Cotter pins are used to hold the carnk to the crank shaft on bicycles. Generally old ones, newer are different.

The border issue was good. Not tax on tips is good especially for a lot of workers. No extra tax on overtime. I am a big fan of DOGE we should have that here. Its rampant here. Tarriffs are a big issue but I understand what he wanted to do. We get fuc#ed over all the time here by especially this current govt just giving away our tax money to so many other places for just crap. Like 600 million to PNG for a football Stadium for gods sake. There are way too many more examples. Trump has been done over by cost of luving. It will be no different here with Mr Magoo

You're right. He's been a roaring success based on those measures. I was thinking more about what might have been seen as good in terms of his official job, the one he never understood and still doesn't.

A cotter is a pin or wedge with a flat bearing surface passing through a hole to fix parts tightly together. A split pin in the US, is a metal fastener with two tines that are bent during installation. Split pins are frequently used to secure other fasteners, e.g. clevis pins, or to secure a castellated nut. A split pin is a metal fastener with two tines that are bent during installation. Split pins are frequently used to secure other fasteners, e.g. clevis pins, or to secure a castellated nut.

I guess it depends on ow you look at things. If you are Chump, his family or his sponsors (e.g. tech bros), you have done very well indeed and there is a lot to thin he has done well.

When I think bout waht you said, I begin to get the opinion that the two Parties are like a coin. Each side of the coin is different from the other, but together they make just one coin. Both Parties are antisocialist capitalists. I think that it is just the degree that differs. Neither Party wants to deal with the electoral system, which to most other countries appears to be democratic in name only. Some might not our system, but I'd rather be in this democratic nation than in the USA. If you mean a very small 'lot', you are probably correct. However the election results don't seem to support that idea of 'a lot' amongst the voters. Normally I would ask the person who made such a claim to produce supporting evidence. However, I'm sick of the shite fight that such requests seem to generate here. Please allow us to agree to disagree and leave it at that.

The only good thing I think Trump has done is stop uncontrolled migration across the border. Everything else has been a disaster for the country and the world.

Sitting at the Tocumwal Hotel/Motel enjoying a VB, and it absolutely bucketed down , inclusive of hail! I know it's not the best beer in the world... but this VB has no bons in it today.

The above answers are definitely some of the reason. Also, the UK debt is 96% if GDP and Australia's is around 33%. A small interest rate bump will compound UK's fiscal woes, while a small bump won't have the same marginal impact on Australia's. However, the BoE meet tomorrow and are expected to raise the rate anyway. Note, the UK and Aus inflation rate are about the same, so you can argue the UK have been kicking the can down the road. On the other hand, I am not sure in the current state of the economy, putting up interest rates is necessarily correct, either as energy inflation is probably putting the brakes on spending in other areas.

Are you sure about that.. or are you confusing the them with the Republicans? What are the lot of good thing he has done, exactly.. And what about the lot of ship stuff he has done this time around. I'd be interested in how you square the ledger.

Sodder and calling split pins Cotter pins both annoy me.