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The British Press British Press.mp4

Rudd was duty-bound to attend that meeting since he is Australia's ambassador to the USA, and he went as advisor to his "boss", the Prime Minister. Trump's comments were an insult to the Australian people, but one could not expect any better from that person.

When is someone going to tell Trump to pull his head in, he doesn't rule the world. He wasn't elected to run this country. What right has he to tell us how much we should spend on defence? The amount spent on defence worldwide is staggering and sickening.Almost every thing troubling mankind, and nature, could probably be fixed if the money spent on defence was redirected to corrrecting these problems. Just because some greedy a**holes can't mind their own business.

I have finally finished my book with the title Hidden Rivers of Gold which covers the origins of Deep Lead Mining, the technology and challenges, and the final years of mining in the Carisbrook-Moolort area of Victoria which led to huge financial losses and very little gold. Characters involved included the State Premier and a future president of the USA. This was all around the turn of the 20th Century. The book can be purchased through online booksellers including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Fishpond, Booktopia and Angus and Robertson. Prices vary a lot, and some are in US$ so check carefully. The book is published by Echo Books.

Well they couldn't really say "Here LIES Donald Trump", because he's been doing that all his life.

Just to let you know there is no AI on the site, there is only NI

Thanks Peter. Will try to drop in from time to time to make sure you're all behaving yourselves. I've tried to cut down on screen time but it's easier said than done. Have been co-administering an inyourfacebook group so that's taken a bit of effort and tended to drag oneself back online. So all good, still breathing in and breathing out and wearing my trousers the right way round.

Trump addressed the General Assembly of the UN. I've only seen snippets of his speech, but the overall impression I got was that he was very successful in bolstering the impression held by the rest of the World's leaders that he is an absolute buffoon and has succeded in making the USA a laughing stock.

I was going to tell a time travel joke, but you guys didn't liike it.

Peta Credlin is an ultra Right Winger. She was an advisor to Abbott. I wouldn't beleive her if she said G'day to me.

I wouldn't go as far as Litespeed but he is a waste of space. Heard him on the radio the other day talking up the Macquarie Point white elephant and saying that if the Tasmanian government doesn't build it, no business will trust them. Absolute shite. There's probably about 2000 people in Tassie who physically regularly go to the football, and most of them are from the north of the state. I don't particularly care whether Tassie gets a football team or not, but to my mind the AFL have acted like absolute c**ts in mandating, as a deal-breaker, a new billion dollar stadium which the state can't afford in prime waterfront land which should be mixed use restaurant/ park/ boulevard etc.

He's doing it for a reason. He WANTS an incident in LA so he has an excuse to stomp down harder. He would be thrilled if a protestor killed a cop or soldier. I know I sound like a broken record, but this is 1930's Germany all over again.

Well, it's happened. I have seen the light. I am a changed man, a convert, my eyes have been opened, and I see the error of my ways. Before you have concerns about my mental health, this is not a religious experience. But if I had been on the road to Damascus... it'd be astride a cruiser. As someone who's only ridden sports / sports tourers (Honda VFR750 x 2, Triumph Speed Triple, Suzuki VF750F - but that was a high-revving piece of shit) - I've always had a vague contempt for cruisers. You know, the standard stuff... they're too heavy, too slow, don't handle, can't corner, produce more noise than power, etc. However, while age doesn't always bring wisdom, it usually brings an appreciation for comfort, and a lesser appetite for risk. I'm not 20 anymore. I don't want to do 250kph, tucked down over the tank, or take corners at double the signposted recommendation. For a potted history of my riding, I started on a road/trail (Honda XL185) as my learner's bike at 18, moved to a VFR750 as soon as I had an open licence, and spent the next couple of decades (almost) riding the bikes listed above. When I became a dad at 36, I did the "responsible" thing - sold my bike and packed away the bone-dome and leathers. A while back @nomadpete said he was regretfully parting ways with his XV1100. I'd been feeling the need to start riding again (mid life crisis?) and after mulling it over for way too long, I mentioned this to my missus. To my surprise she fully supported me getting a bike, to the extent she told me to contact Peter there and then. I did, but unfortunately he'd already sold his machine a month before. A few days later however, this prince among men (still talking about Peter) messaged me with a Facebook ad for a Honda 750 Shadow. I had a look at the bike, took it for a test ride (now that was bloody scary, 17 years since I'd been on a bike and a totally different style), thought about it for a couple of days then bought it. She doesn't have a name yet (I was thinking of "H" names, like "Helen the Honda", but one of our neighbours is named Helen, so the phrase "I'm just off to ride Helen" might lead to some marital misunderstandings.) But she's 21 years old, all her chromework still looks great, and she sounds like a motorbike should. She's also very comfortable and easy to ride. This evening I rode to karate. While it was damn cold, it was a beautiful night and I really enjoyed the ride. This being my 4th ride on the bike, I'm starting to get more comfortable with her - although it'll still take a few more rides until I'm ready to have my wife on the back seat. So yes, I'm a cruiser convert. Apologies to all the Harley riders I've thought bad things about. (Only thought, because some of them are scary!) And yes, it's true. Her suspension is made for comfort, not corners. Around 80% of the engine output IS noise. (Very nice noise!) And she's much more comfortable gently swaying around curves at 60km/h than doing 110 up the highway. But now I think all those things are positive. Here she is. The photo doesn't do the colour justice - it's almost a candy apple red.

I have been away for a while. I am coming up to 2 years of EV ownership. As with 90% of EV owners I charge at home. The MG4 came with a granny charger. You don't get one with some brands. Tesla give you nothing now. I have used the granny charger once & that was to make sure it worked. I installed a 7kW wall charger & I get free power for 2 hours a day. I also have 8kW of solar panels so my running costs are negligible. The network is better than it was 2 years ago & there are now many "Destination Chargers" at hotels & motels & these are usually free. In the 25,000km I have driven so far I have spent about $150.00 at fast chargers. As with most people I don't do many long trips. The average car owner travels to/from work each day & except for long trips on holiday etc all charging is done at home. The charging process varies and the simple way is to register with each of the main suppliers. I have with Evie, Chargefox, BP, Ampol & Tesla. I have an RFID card which is registered with 3 of them. I pull up, plug in scan the card & that's it. If there is a queue it is bad etiquette to charge to 100% as the last 20% will be slow. I have not had a problem waiting long & by the time I have been to the loo & had a coffee or bite the car is ready. In the MG4 the WLTP range is 450km. At 110kmh I get around 380. After that many I am ready for a break. From Coffs to Noosa I stop once for lunch & charge top up (20-30 minutes). Admittedly this is on the main highway & chargers are everywhere. The thing is the car has a built in Satnav with a charging planner & it knows what range there is and will tell you which charger to go to & in many cases can tell you if the charger is in use or not. So where are we going from here? Well CATL, the worlds largest battery manufacturer has recently announced a new battery technology that uses a combination of 2 types (lithium & sodium) to provide a range of 1500km and can get 520km of range in a 5 minute charge. That is quicker than filling a petrol tank. The new tech breakthrough is with Sodium ion technology. Of course sodium is everywhere. The sea is full of it & it is cheap. https://carnewschina.com/2025/04/21/battery-giant-catl-showcases-three-innovations-1500km-range-battery-520km-in-5-minutes-ultra-fast-charging-and-2025-mass-production-sodium-ion-battery/ This is now where battery & charging technology is up to. The only thing that will happen from now on is that it will get better & better. Already battery warranties are 1.5 to 2 million km or lifetime, The battery will outlast the rest of the car. EV haters will continue to abound but they are being rapidly drowned out with reality & the uptake of EV ownership continues to climb (Tesla excepted due to the Musk factor). Worldwide 17 million new EVs were sold in 2024 representing a 20% increase on the previous year. The new government is not only supporting the switch to electric vehicles but also getting more home batteries installed. Since the election home battery installers have had a massive increase in orders and inquiries. The electric future is here.

I have fond memories of Lord Howe Island. When I was a musician in the RAAF, we made many visits there. The landings and takeoffs in a C-130 were always exciting. These trips were in the 80s, and from memory, we used to perform at "Founders Day" events. Back then it was a big deal, and we seemed to have some celebrity status. We would be put up by the locals and shown a good time with boat trips, etc. On one occasion, I was able to get my wife on the RAAF flight. On another occasion, after takeoff, the crew put a cargo strap across the rear of the aircraft, and they opened the back ramp as we flew past Balls Pyramid.

The wife & I had a very quiet 63rd wedding anniversary. spacesailor

It's Europe's time to step up. We seriously have to reconsider both AUKUS (Awkers) and the 5 eyes partnership. What point is intelligence sharing with the US when we have a dictator-lovin' Putin puppet in charge? Plus his cabinet is comprised of arse licking sycophants. Definitely not trustworthy people. I think the global West has to face the sad fact that the USA is no longer a trustworthy partner.

Tell them it's a BAY and a PORT. The Gulf of America is between Trumps EARS. Nev

You are one of those who EXPECT the gov't to Wipe your ass and provide all the services but don't vote or care about who gets elected or want to Pay for Gov't services. WE are SICK of hearing about you being called up. That was a Ballot and you lost. Others served Overseas and Many got traumatised. You got free training and met a few People you otherwise would not have. It's OVER Rover. Stop Bitching and get on with the rest of your Life. You are NOT the Only ONE who has had a $#!t deal at some stage.. Nev

Excessive nationalism puts me off. When you think about it clear-headedly we're a reasonably young (apart from the original inhabitants) immigrant country. We don't have a thousand years of culture, our own language, a national dish, etc etc. Our population is based on waves of English, Chinese, Dutch, German, Greek, Vietnamese, Italian, African, Islander and a whole bunch of other people, plus of course Indigenous Australians. The keynote songs and poetry we hold up as Australian were written by men that probably considered themselves English. Our system of laws is heavily based on England's and in name we're still subjects of England's king. Even our flag contains the UK's flag in the corner. When it comes to Americanism, even our first "local" car, the Holden FX, was heavily based on US cars. Clothing styles, music, popular culture and fast food have been based on US trends since at least post WWII. That's not to say we haven't got runs on the board, with vibrant Australian music, sport, theatre and literature. We have one of the world's best democracies, social services, and health care. Our education system is still excellent although unfortunately (in the case of universities) more focused on revenue than research. But to wave some mythical "uniqueness" around and try to block outside influences is pointless. Like those idiots that go around wearing Australian flags and protesting about immigration, not seeing the irony that we're all immigrants and those flags were made in China. Instead of closing off and looking inwards, like a backwards Trumpist country, we should be eagerly looking at everything that everyone else does, and taking the best ideas and using them ourselves. Someone actually makes billionaires pay tax? Let's use that. Someone's public hospital system has lower wait times? Let's see what they're doing differently and use it. Someone's school attendance and retention scores are higher than ours? What are they doing differently? Someone's prison recidivism rates are lower? Let's have a look at their justice system and see what we can steal. I don't mind bringing in best practice, no matter where it comes from. Good American movies and TV shows? Bring them on. What I do object to is bringing in the worst of other cultures. Privatisation of health care? F**k right off. Multinationals that pay no tax in Australia? No thanks. American gun culture? Jam it up your arse and pull the trigger.

Well done to the happy couple. Note how low key, private and billionaire free it was. Special wedding beer cans and a local honeymoon. Also a civil servant and all paid by himself not a conga line of donor suckholes ala LNP style. A genuine down to earth couple, we are lucky to have them. Completely unaffected by his status. Naturally DJ Albo did the music selection. Notable celebrity was the ring holder- his 🐕.

I was thinking about joining a dating site for people my age. It's called Carbon Dating.

Well he has achieved one of his biggest life goals..... Lasting word fame. People will be talking about him for many years to come.

We just bought a new property. It had a big gas cooker in the kitchen which we promptly threw out. We are renovating and the house will be all electric, well it is now except for the solar hot water. Our average daily power consumption is 9-10 kWh. There is a 20 year old 1kW solar system with 8 x 125 watt panels which I am replacing with a new 8.8 kW system with 20 x 440 watt bifacial v panels, a 10kW hybrid inverter and an 18.64 kWh battery. In theory I should be able to go off grid. Total cost $11,600.00. The battery is made up of 4 x 4.66 kWh modules which is scalable to 41.93 kWh by just adding modules on top. It is free standing & will live in my big shed. The house is 20 years old and unbelievably the ceiling is uninsulated. Part of the renos is insulation and draught proofing as even efficient air conditioning is quite power hungry. Charging my EV is power hungry but I have a plan that gives me 3 hours of free power a day (11:00 to 14:00) so that is when it is scheduled to charge. I also get power for 8c/kWh from midnight to 6am. There is now so much power produced by rooftop solar that the spot price is often negative in the middle of the day. New solar farms now going in have to include batteries. Early solar farms without them either have to switch off or invest in batteries as they have to pay to put their power in to the grid when the price is negative. Electricity retailers now have plans for home battery owners. Solar feed in tariffs are very low now. I was getting just 0.5 cents/kWh, now 2.8 cents/kWh. A friend who has just added a 30kWh battery gets 15 cents/kWh feed in tariff during peak usage which will come from his battery.

I agree driver training is the answer. My nightmare stretch is the Hay plains, damn dangerous dusk till dawn. I have touched a grey in Blue mountains in a car and a big grey glanced the front wheel down south on BMW bike. No hurt no foul, both were on bush tracks and slow. Us humans have removed vast tree cover ecosystems and replaced it with grasslands and artificial water sources. A perfect Roo environment has been created. It's our fault and we have to live in harmony or at least not conflict with nature. Bounties should be placed for introduced feral animals to totally remove them from the country- the damage they do is extreme. If it does not live on your farm and managed as live stock, it should be culled to zero. That means all goats, cattle, horses, buffalo, camels, pigs, cats, foxes, rabbits, deer, feral dogs etc Dingoes and all other natives must be completely protected as they balance the ecosystem and are native. Limited culling only by professional shooters of Roos for meat, skins and welfare reasons only.. no cowboys or gun junkies. This is a role for a dedicated federal government department with a big workforce on country to implement. The employment, environmental and farm benefits would far outweigh the costs. This should be seen as a national goal and beyond politics but essential to a liveable and sustainable planet. New Zealand is aiming for Zero ferals by 2050. We should do the same.

Using Biden's plan. He could have stopped this war long ago by stopping the weapon deliveries to Israel when they started using them to target civilians, journalists, hospitals, schools, residences and basically turning the homeland of a million people into rubble.

On our morning walk, we had a close look at the Young Endeavour. We had a long chat with the Captain. The people in the rigging were doing an exercise where they practised rescuing someone injured in the rigging. The Captain told us all about the "Young Endeavour" program, where they take 24 young people between 16 and 24, and teach them all the skills required to sail this ship. We found this chat to be quite uplifting. Under the scheme, 24 to 30 "youth crew" (aged between 16 and 23) join a voyage to supplement the 9-10 naval personnel from the Mine Warfare, Hydrographic and Patrol Boat Force, which Young Endeavour is attached to.[2][3][6][7] Over 500 youth crew per year participate in the scheme, and are selected for the voyages by a biannual ballot.[6] Each voyage typically lasts ten to eleven days, during which the youth crew rotate through most roles aboard the ship, stand watches, and help with Young Endeavour's operation.[6] Near the end of the voyage, the crew undergoes "command day": a 24-hour period in which the ship is entirely under control of the youth crew.[5] As part of most voyages, the combined crew takes a group of special needs youth on a half-day sail.[6] Between the scheme's inception in 1988 and mid-2018, over 13,500 youth have participated in voyages, while another 11,500 special needs youth have been involved in half-day sails.[6] The vessel is at sea for approximately 240 days per year.[7]

As I've mentioned in passing in a couple of other threads, SWMBO and myself are on holidays in Broome for 12 days. 6 days down, 6 to go, and it's very nice up here, although the place is overrun with rich tourists! SWMBO is always encouraging me to buy a Lotto ticket here and there - but I often resist, because I don't believe the mid-week or Saturday Lotto is good value any more, since they changed the systems so you generally need 3 numbers and at least one supplementary to win anything - and it's usually only $8 or $10, anyway. The only reason I buy Lotto here is because the W.A. Govt owns LotteryWest and all profits are ploughed back into worthy community events, structures, grants - and the RFDS, too, of course. This is far better than lining the pockets of already wealthy people who own shares in a corporate structure such as Tatts. I've bought quite a few mid-week and Saturday Lottos in recent months and years, with very little success. An occasional win of $20 or $30 or $50, and they were few and far between. I like buying Powerpik 7's because you get all the Powerball numbers with that ticket selection, and this system vastly improves your chances of winning something. So, yesterday, I went into the LotteryWest agency near the Town Beach, and bought a Powerpik 7 ticket. I didn't check it until nearly bedtime, and then found I had FIVE winning numbers! Woo-hoo! I looked up the prizes and saw where 5 numbers won $195.25. I said to SWMBO, "Oooh, we've won close on $200 in the Powerball draw! She was chuffed, it's the most we've won on Lotto in about 30-plus years. So, we went down to the Lotto place this morning, placed the ticket in the checking machine, and it came back with THIS!!! I nearly fell over, I had no idea we'd won that much, and it was because I'd missed a number and because I'd forgotten they pay out on all the other smaller winning number combinations, too!!

The bloke is not a down and out cobber struggling against a unfair system. Nor is he a person with a disability and or mental illness that can be treated. He is a sociopath with murderous intent. His sense of self entitlement is complete, sovereign citizen or not he would still be like this. He has jumped on the bandwagon to justify his actions, he would always find a reason to act this way. Irrespective of the societal ecosystem, he would always be a angry defiant violent person. I doubt he will surrender, instead he will try to murder police and feel self justified and see his actions as heroic. I hope they get him alive and no more innocents are hurt. He deserves a life long cell with no opportunity to commit suicide. Sadly is he is killed other nutters will see him as a matyr.

I bought a Thesaurus today - but when I got home, I found all the pages were blank!! I just didn't have the words to express how angry I was!!

So thats about $24 to fill up a 60kw battery. If you go 350k on it, that's 6.8 cents per k. My mitzi does .09 litre per kilometer. Thats roughly 17 cents per k. Just on fuel alone, the electric car would run at less than half the cost of my petrol car. Then factor in the six monthly engine service, which the EV doesn't need. And a periodic auto transmission service that an EV doesn't need.

Not sure if this should be in the Trump thread, or in this thread ..... Click on the photo to expand it, if you're having trouble reading it.

Once, when I was performing my constabulary duties, I had to deal with a really obnoxious bloke. He kept yelling all sorts of abuse at me, and it was liberally sprinkled with 'F*** this and f*** that , as well call me all sorts of c***. He was clearly showing his lack of a broad vocabulary. I put up with with his language for as long as I could, but finally threw the book at him. It was Roget's Thesaurus.

Alternative Energy and a islanded microgrid. Lord Howe Island put in a $12 million dollar solar + battery, 3 years ago. So far they saved 360,000 litres of imported diesel ($2.6 million). That makes it pay for itself in about 5 years. https://arena.gov.au/assets/2024/09/Lord-Howe-Island-Hybrid-Renewable-Project-Public-KS-Report.pdf

My wife used to compare me to Chris Hemsworth. She used to say, "You're no Chris Hemsworth."

Went for a snorkel off Coningham this morning (bloody freezing - 8 degrees on land and felt like not much more in the water) - and my wife got to try out our new waterproof camera. Despite the cold - hanging out with all the little fish was amazing. Schools and schools of them. Plus the occasional big wrasse.

When I broke my ankle on the motorcycle over here, I was amazed at the conditions under which dedicated staff worked. The doc asked if I minded having the thingy to attach the drip to inserted into my right hand. My response was I preferred not to know about it, as I am queasy (it took over a week for me to read the first chapter of Human Performances and Limitations for the PPL here - it wasn't a requirement in Aus when I got my license). His response was if he didnt tell people he was doing it, 99% of the time he could expect a right hook to his jaw. A week alter, I was readmitted to casualty (ER is another American import) with suspected compression syndrome.. they didn't fart around, but for the short period of time I had to wait on a stretcher (it was later on a Friday or Saturday evening) in the tick of the action, all I can say is it was a real eye opener of the continual stress and security threat they work under. At sone stage, they had this huge bloke - over 6'6" and full of muscle, coked off his head, threatening abusing the staff because they were trying to treat his badly cut up knees from glass of broken bottles. He wasn't letting them get near him and he was a real challenge to the numerous security staff on shift. Eventually, they got his mother in to calm him down, and I had to laugh - she was 4' nothinh and petite and diminutive as they come, but jeez she packed a ferocious bark... He eventually settled down... The doc came to see me and I remarked to him he is a better man that I and that if it we me, after his second intensive remonstration, I would have just let him get gangrene or have the issues of glass lodged in his body. These people generally deserve our respect and a bloody lot more money than most of the get.

Back to the original thread subject - here's my "positive" report for this week. (SWMBO says I've been too grumbly and short-tempered this week. Might be, because I'm fighting to finish several projects). Thursday night, we went to the W.A. Gravity Discovery Centre, located about an hour N of Perth in the Yeal Nature Reserve, which is halfway between the coastal City of Yanchep, and the rural inland town of Gingin. The night Observatory tour we went on, is called the Adults Only Stargazing Date Night. The tour included dinner, and about 2.5 hrs of stellar and sky discussion and learning. We got there at 6:30PM for a supposedly 7:00PM dinner time, but we were told some people were running a little late, so the dinner start was put back to 7:15PM. We spent 45 minutes checking out some of the site attractions, such as the informative galleries. The whole setup is owned by the University of W.A. and comprises several display galleries as well as a "leaning tower", and the GDC Observatory - which is a retractable roof building housing several large telescopes - which we all got to peer through, to view some of the planets, and some of the more prominent and well-known stars. There were only 5 couples in the tour, and we got a nice meal from the little cafe, with the (pre-ordered) choice of chicken or steak, followed by cheescake dessert. Then we headed off into the darkness (aided by the tour speakers small red light, to ensure our night vision was preserved), to view stars and planets from the Observatory. He had a big green laser pointer which he used sparingly to point out the various celestial bodies of interest, and he waxed on comically for about a couple of hours, talking about star formations and collapses, the various features of planets, the research on Gravity Waves, and a host of other celestial and physics of the Universe that left our heads spinning. He reckoned he'd been doing this for 30 years, so he knew astronomy inside-out! Someone asked a question about satellites and how they affected sky-viewing. He got quite animated about this subject, and especially about Musks Starlink satellites (and he constantly referred to Musk as "Mush"! 😄 ) He talked about how he'd set up cameras to take dozens and even hundreds of shots of the night sky - only to find in the morning, that his sky shots were criss-crossed with satellite trails! - which left criss-cross lines all over his great photos! He said, "about then, you start having homicidal thoughts (about Musk)". 😞 I was staggered to find out, that there's now around NINETY THOUSAND satellites in low Earth orbit! - as against perhaps only a couple of hundred, say 30 years ago. We had an absolutely PERFECT night - a perfectly clear sky, cool to the point of being chilly, no moon (moonrise was around 10:00PM as we finished up), and as dark as we could get, allowing for the fact we were just 70kms out of Perth. Naturally, the City lights glow was still pretty visible on the Southern horizon. All in all, we had a very enjoyable evening, doing something a little different. The Adults Only Stargazing Date Night is currently unavailable, we got the last booking date for the event, for the time being. I'm not sure when there will be another repeat of this event, they might be struggling to get staff to run it, as it appears they rely a lot on volunteers. https://gravitycentre.com.au/

COMMENT by AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD. SMH, 20 March 2025. Donald Trump has inflicted enormous long-term damage on America’s defence export industry, a lucrative earner worth $US320 billion ($500 billion) a year in all its forms. Foreign defence sales are 10 times greater than US exports of liquefied natural gas. First in line for collective repudiation is Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet. Mark Carney ordered a review of Canada’s order for 72 of these advanced aircraft within hours of becoming prime minister. It will determine whether ‘‘other options could better meet Canada’s needs’’. Nuno Melo, Portugal’s conservative defence minister, says the F-35 is no longer considered a safe choice to replace his country’s ageing F-16s. ‘‘We have to know that an ally will be on our side whatever the circumstances,’’ he told Publico. ‘‘The world has changed. This ally of ours, so predictable over the decades, could limit the use, maintenance, components, and everything needed to ensure that the aircraft are operational in all scenarios,’’ he said. Portugal is looking at a European alternative. Germany may be next. ‘‘Nobody needs to buy an F-35,’’ said Tom Enders, ex-Airbus chief and now head of the German Council on Foreign Relations. He said Germany’s contract for these fighters was a misguided attempt by Angela Merkel to ‘‘appease’’ Trump during his first term. It should be cancelled forthwith. Europe does not strictly need the US Patriot missile defence system either. The upgraded Franco-Italian SAMP/T rival is more or less ‘‘equivalent’’. ‘‘It is absolutely imperative that we free ourselves of dependence on US systems as far and as quickly as possible. We can’t simply close our eyes to the fact that this American government has become an adversary,’’ Enders said in an explosive interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine. He said Trump was likely to blackmail and coerce Europe in much the same way as he has coerced Ukraine. ‘‘No one believes any more that he will stand by Article 5 if Putin invades the Suwa›ki Gap,’’ he said. One should be cautious of reading too much into share price movements. But it is striking that Lockheed Martin’s stock has dropped 23 per cent since late October, while Dassault Aviation has almost doubled in dollar terms on talk of more orders for the Rafale fighter aircraft. French missile maker Thales is up 90 per cent. The European defence sector has seen an explosive rise over the last month, pushed even higher by Germany’s coalition deal for €1 trillion ($1.7 trillion) of rearmament and infrastructure – to be ratified this week by a constitutional amendment to the debt brake. Enders, a no-nonsense parachute officer and former head of European defence group EADS said the US has access to the operating system of F-35s. ‘‘We know the Americans can shut the thing down whenever they want. We are totally dependent,’’ he said. Experts disagree over what the Pentagon can or cannot do remotely to paralyse an F-35. ‘‘There is no explicit kill switch. It’s not something that can be turned off on any given day,’’ said Justin Bronk, an aviation specialist at the Royal United Services Institute. But the fact that this discussion is even going on in the highest circles of European defence and foreign policy exposes the complete collapse of confidence in the US military alliance. In my view, it is irreversible. Enders has just launched Germany’s ‘‘Sparta’’ project, drafted by leading figures calling for immediate and massive German rearmament. It clearly has the backing of incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz. Rather than trying to catch up with Russia in tanks and aircraft, Germany and Europe should together seek ‘‘asymmetric superiority’’ by building a drone wall on NATO’s eastern flank, according to Enders. This could be done very quickly and at a fraction of the cost. ‘‘We need tens of thousands of smart robots on the battlefield,’’ he said. A few dozen people can make 1000 combat drones for less than it costs to make a Leopard 2 tank shell. ‘‘These drones can knock out enemy systems that cost several million with great precision,’’ he said. Europe should also move fast to escape the clutches of Elon Musk’s Starlink. Enders said Eutelsat’s OneWeb could do much of the job if buttressed by the medium-orbit satellites of SES. The focus should be on the ‘‘sharp end’’ of defence. Some of the weapons should be in the field in six to 12 months, but none beyond five years. ‘‘We’re not interested in a new arms system that takes 20 years,’’ he said. Sparta includes a dash for ‘‘cloud-combat’’ hypersonic weapons, a European missile shield, as well as a joint nuclear deterrent in co-ordination with France and the UK that span the escalation ladder from tactical nukes to strategic missiles. There have always been restrictions on how US weapon exports can be deployed, but the rules were clear. Trump has turned every form of vulnerability into a means of extortion. He has shown that he will not hesitate to cut rough with military kit to get his way – in Ukraine’s case to force capitulation on Kremlin terms – or ‘‘dividing up certain assets’’ as he put it. Those terms will probably be close to the Istanbul Protocol: neutrality, a skeleton military like Germany in the 1920s, Russian control over four annexed (but unconquered) oblasts, cultural re-Russification of Ukraine, plus a Vidkun Quisling-like figure to replace Volodymyr Zelensky. Europe faces serious dangers trying to extricate itself from US dependency. ‘‘If European politicians provoke Trump, we could get into an even more precarious position, setting off a vicious cycle,’’ said one expert from a NATO state helping the Ukrainian military. But it cannot go on as before either. ‘‘The US has complete lockdown and ownership of our security architecture. Long-range fires and potentially the Patriot missiles and some intelligence systems could stop working if somebody in Florida or Washington presses ‘‘no’’ on a computer. You couldn’t keep the show on the road,’’ he said. The Stockholm Institute says the US cornered 43 per cent of global weapons exports over the past five years. This cannot last. Japan, India, Latin America, and the Middle East will all be wary of locking into complex defence systems that could be used as leverage by the White House at any time and for any purpose. It is no protection if suppliers are private companies: Trump compels corporate leaders to kiss the ring and execute his agenda. He is proactively imposing his ideology on capitalist America. Even the Washington Post has bowed to pressure, refusing to publish views that flout MAGA nostrums. Two of the irresistible selling points of US arms exporters have long been that a) the dependency would not be abused and b) countries were implicitly coming under the US security umbrella by aligning their fortunes with America. Neither has currency in Trump’s Hobbesian world. The Telegraph, London

How do we treat the US? From my understanding: We allow them t have their bases here. We historically have a large trade deficit with them (in other words, they have a large trade surplus). That has only changed this year because their ultra wealthy see the writing ont he wall with Chump's policies and are going to a safe asset - gold - and are importing it from all over the world like crazy. We sell them aliminium that they did ot impose tariffs on previously.. but it was not dumped - it was sold at wither prevailing spot price or in accordance with futures or forward contracts (Vance lied when he said we sold subsidised goods); Unti Abbot clamped down on the car industry, we allowed the US car mnanufacturers to claim the 150% R&D tax deduction through transfer pricing R&D and not carrying out anywhere near as much as they claimed they did. Oracle, a large software company still claim their R&D centre in Aus, yet they don't do that much development there. AUKUS. Australia has signed up to $380Bn purchase of something like 8 subs, but have committed soemthing like 8bn just to prop up their ship building industry and we can't get anything back even if the US decide they don't want to supply us.. Most of our defence procurement is spent on the US We have sent troops to fight US wars that have no impact on Australia, and little in local geopolitics We have far more people move to the US for work - called the brain drain - we pay to educate them and the US gets the benefit of that education. And with all of this, we have lost our self-sufficiency in many ways. What does Australia get out of it? A promise (and increasingly unlikely to be honoured) promise that should Australia be invaded, the US may come to our rescue... So, tell me what else do we get from the US and what else do we do to treat the US so badly? So, I would argue we treat them very, very well.. using Chump's vernacular, we treat the US beautifully.. don't we? And they stick it up our arse.

Let's get back to the POSITIVE additions to this thread, shall we? Trump has his own thread. For last weeks and this weeks positive addition, SWMBO and I went to a couple of shows put on by the W.A. Museum and the W.A. Maritime Museum. The W.A. Museum show was "The Kimberley Experience", and the Maritime Museum show was "Empress Josephines Garden". The best part was, both shows were FREE admission! The Kimberley Experience was all about viewing the Kimberley's tourist places, without the need to actually travel there - and the Empress Josphines Garden show was all about the early French explorers of the W.A. coastline, and how they took home large amounts of W.A. flora and fauna to the Empress and Napoleon, which flora and fauna Josephine nurtured, and expanded to many other places in France. The French took home marsupials and emus, and W.A.'s Black Swans, which all survived for some time, it appears. Both shows were "immersive" experiences, where you were surrounded by big screens - and in the case of the W.A. Museum Kimberley show, we actually wore VR headsets, the first time I've ever done so. The VR headsets take you right to the camera lens view from drones and cameras fixed to choppers, and it was startling to look down with the headsets, and to suddenly feel like you were hanging in space over gorges and rivers. Both shows were very enjoyable and it's good to be out and about and socialising, which SWMBO believes is very important for your mental health, as you get older.

I wonder if the organisers will be able to pull it off.

The hypocrisy is mind blowing. Musk never wears a suit in the Oval Office.

What a load of tosh