kgwilson

Trump beat Kamala Harris by only 1.5% of the popular vote. The electoral college system is the reason he got in easily with 312 votes compared to Harris's 226. Only a few thousand votes in a couple of swing states could have seen Harris the winner. Their system is corrupt and skewed by vested political interests. The US was considered a flawed democracy before the 2024 election & sits at No 34 on the World democracy index well below the threshold to be considered a full democracy. Now it is almost an autocracy under Trump. The average American seems to accept this as OK but the real test will be the Mid term elections later this year.

My MG 4 has a row of physical buttons to turn major things on & off. It also has a 10 inch infotainment screen to manage detailed stuff. I have never heard of any EVs having issues with touch screens. These have been around since the 1980s & with a large screen work really well. The screen demister has a single physical button. The air conditioning/heater/fan has another. When pressed the whole screen is all of the controls for this & the touch buttons are really large. It is easier to operate that any rotary or slider controls I've ever used in a multitude of cars before. There are also voice commands for everything though I don't use this by choice though the car will tell me things that are important like when the battery is getting low. Yes some car manufacturers have reverted back to some physical buttons mainly due to complaints from owners who have not embraced the technology or the poor design of the system. I have programmable physical buttons on the steering wheel that can be set for a bunch of different functions & they have 5 options (up/down/left side/right side and press). I have one set to radio/music, satnav, aircon for example & can run all the options from that one button. Some functions cannot be used when the car is moving as a safety feature, eg satnav unless using voice commands. Comments/complaints about use from owners has led to upgrades & these are just software changes all done free. There is a very large transition happening and some things will not find acceptance from some conservative people. All they have to do is try to accept the change and persevere and most will eventually grow to like it. I do like the drivers screen directly in front with speed/odomoeter battery, power ACC etc rather than the Tesla model of a large centre screen & nothing directly in front of the driver. The woman in my car has a cultured but not posh English accent which I find very easy to understand.

Well according to the defence chiefs, 3 second hand subs were the original preference as they would be delivered sooner. Why do we need 3 nuclear powered submarines anyway. The navy is spending $1.7 billion on a fleet of our own designed Ghost Sharks. They are designed to do almost everything that manned submarines can do at very low cost as well as low operating cost and we can have heaps of them. They won't say how many but there are apparently dozens being built. Aukus is costing at least $368 billion. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/10/ghost-shark-submarine-drone-australian-navy-explainer

For the first time ever an EV is the top selling vehicle in Australia for May and it isn't Chinese but the Tesla Model Y. https://www.drive.com.au/news/australian-new-car-sales-in-may-2026-tesla-model-y-is-first-ev-to-top-vfacts-charts/

The US education system doesn't cover much that happens outside of America. Their right wing media tells them they are doing well everywhere with Trump at the helm but most are completely insulated from the rest of the world. These are the MAGA nutters. You tube is full of clips showing their complete ignorance. Trump needs them to bolster his own ego and to relieve the complete insecurity of his pathetic existence. The problem is that the reality of inflation from his crazy tariffs and cost of petrol etc affects them as it does everyone and they are starting to run out of reasons to explain it all away. The mid term elections could change everything.

The only time that will happen is after their next civil war. The senate already has the power to restrict Trump but they have become impotent with Trump quoting Emergencies when there are none and all the government appointees being sycophants. The only hope is republicans losing their house majority after the mid terms.

Lots of brands have auto headlights and auto dipping. Mine has. When it is dark enough the headlights come on. Like all modern cars it also has daytime running lights. I can switch everything to manual if I want to but it is easier to let the car decide when to put the lights on & when to dip them or turn them off. It is way more conservative at dipping headlights than me so will do it a long way from an oncoming vehicle on a straight highway & often dips the lights when it gets a strong reflection from a large reflective road sign. One less thing to have to do, Works fro me.

In the meantime the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, other European countries & even Ukraine are all ramping up production in their own armaments industries to reduce and eliminate reliance on US arms. 50 year of that reliance is at an end. Also much of their technology is equal to or more advanced that that of the US. It will take a few years but in the long run little donny is f*#$ed. The main worry is what is Putins lot doing & the Chinese are full on as well. Hopefully i won't be around when the excrement finally hits the fan.

The US is already technically broke with a debt/GDP ratio of 124% and rising rapidly. They will keep printing money though but the chickens will eventually come home to roost. By comparison Australias debt/GDP ratio is 34.4%.

Just another confirmation of how trump has no idea of what he is doing and never has. Obama was one of the better US presidents & that is the only reason Trump has to continually run him down and change everything he can that Obama had anything to do with.

I think that is the Chinese way. The best way to humiliate Trump is to ignore him as best you can. Xi is a statesman, Trump is a buffoon.

None, They all represent interests of themselves as billionaires.

Impressive from a US perspective but China is way ahead in many technologies now and is creating its own chips. Most Qualcom chips are manufactured in Taiwan now. Most Apple phones are made in China, Teslas that are exported around the world are made in China. I don't know about the others but I reckon Boeing is sourcing parts from China. I wonder id the financial services lot (Citigroup, Mastercard, Visa) are exploring investment from China?

Both I reckon.