Jerry_Atrick

Of course, I will offset a gripe anth a positive. Daughter is working at Hinkley Point C, the new build nuke and in a couplefo short weeks has matured immensly...

Gripe of the week. Petulant children. Not the garden variety type that you see in the school ground .. the ones that are very well paid at work. Mental illness excepted, jeez some people can act like spollt litte brats. We have two teams at work; one is mine and, obviously, one is someone elses. And both teams are relatively new.. but we have to work together. Well, something kicked off at work and these two mid-level managers were just doing the "he said, she said" routine and brought up old bygones. It was the Zoom equivalent of them crossing their arms, Hmmmphing, and turning their chairs to they sat back to back. Quite extraordinary when I consider how much they are paid, and their level in teh company. They are paid to escalate real issues, not antsie pantsie rubbish. So, I had to ecuse myself from a fairly serious meeting to deal with a couple of petulant children. If it keeps up, at least one is going to get fired (and I let him know, too). Where's Wolfie.. I need his counsel at a time like this!!!

We've stopped talking about Pootin.... Another win for hin thanks to Trump... But, here is a sneak preview of his plans: https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-belarus-strategy-document-230035184.html Wonder if Lukashenko is still thinking about being a good buddy.

We know for sure that the US has submarines trawling international waters. As do many other countries. There is nothing illegal about China parking its boats off our international waters and listening in on us. It's not nice, but Australia (and I would think the US as well) has jamming and/or tracking equipment and they are likely to know what is going on. What the US doesn't do is drop flares from planes in a dangerous what that China has been doing lately. I haven't read this article, but if live fire means what it should, the US doesn't really do that in international waters - at least not that I am aware of, without notice (again, I have not read the article). Chinas has been pissing off Japan and I think the Phillipines as well. It's unlawful expansion into the South China sea (hmmm.. how come people aren't making a big fuss about that) and extension of its soveriegn waters when it had no such claim has to be provocative, especially since they established a pretty decent military base on one of the man made islands. China is getting aggressive. Thankfully Australia is not easy to take.

Will Robonurse do home visits looking like this? If so, and everything else is a realistic simulation, I will be too old to worry about that fact it will be living in a virtual world

Well, it is lunch time on a Friday and I am working from home. Expecting my mate to join me anytime soon!

Here's some interesting data on Trump's first 100 days in office: https://on.ft.com/3EPHxmU

There are times when you have to be diplomatic; there are times where you have to stand up for what is right and work on mitigating the consequences. Ultimatelum it is a personal decision based on personal values. The problem Albo has is that when he reacts, he has to not only take into account his personal values, but judge the personal values os almost 30m people. When Trumpenstien decided to turn the tables on Zelensky, that was when I personally would have been happy for Albo to say enough is enough, pull your head in and get real.. You can be assertive and diplomatic at the same time, but many western leaders came out and affirmed that Trumps view of the events were incorrect. Of course, others may not agree that is the right thing to do when tarrifs are in the balance. But, we survived China stuffing us about, and thy are a bigger trading partner than the US. Even Nigel Farage called him out explicitly for it. Yes, like Albo, he is the opposition (the coneraties will prbably some third to Reform, here).

Immediately after Trump came out with his rhetoric on Ukraine, I took a look at European defence and weapons contractors' share prices and kicked myself ffor not being more forwad thinking. He is da King, but here is an interesting graph: Since he took over the reigns.. Vey nice for Europe. One of the positives in all of this ship show, is tha Europe, the UK, Canada, and hopefully Australia, are starting to put into place policies to wean themselves off the USA. It will mean the USA will have less influene over time. It was bad enough becoming over reliant on China for cheap manufacturing; it is proving to be much worse to be over reliant on the US for the world order. Trump will succeed in isolationism and nationalism, but it will come at a big cost to the USA.

I think a lot of what you say is imagined or exaggerated."? Don't you mean, it is imagined and exaggerated - certainly when one looks at the facts. Interestingly, the coalition is hard line on immigration, yet they preside over the higher levels of "mass" migration. I find it interesting people get all worked up over migration. It is, and has been a human trait since the dawn of humanity. Europe resulted from a migration from Africa (well, the world's population is thought to have). Modern Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA's population is the result of mass migration from Europe. Yes, some of it was to conquer, but people who came out willingly did so to seek a better life. We talk about migration in a global border context, but when you move from, say Melbourne to Sydney or vice versa, you are migrating. The distance is longer than migrating between some European counties, for example. And even within a country, there can be a clash of cultures. When I grew up in Melbourne, there was nary a rugby ground in the state. Now there's a stadium in the middle of Melbourne. In Sydney and Brisbane, there are now AFL stadiums where it owuld have been laughed out of the cities in the old days. Also, with the declinign birth rates, who is going to care for you and perform the public and private services we rely on? Who is going to be working the resources of the land to keep the money flowing to pay for all of this? Yep, it's going to be migrants. Oh, but the right wing will save is from all that, won't they? Well, look at the numbers when they are in power. They shift massive amounts of wealth from the population to large corporates and high net worth individuals who happen to pay no tax nor any real royalites for the resources they extract. That means there is less money for the younger population to affford houses and chldren, and given the relative state of life expectancy and the shift to urbanisation, there isn't the natural imperative to make kids as there used to be. Yet, if you return the money to the population so they can afford things., which is what a more progressive government is at least philosophically about even if they do not achieve it, then suddenly things become more affordable, they can have their kids, and there is less longer-term need for migrants. GON - you are right about one thing; progressive politics seems to failed to have delivered on their politics precisely because of the grip that the hidden and concentrated power of money has over democracy - which is an aim of the right-leaning side of politics. Taxes, which are largely paid by the middle and lower-miiddle classes are higher and there is a squeeze on disposable income. The public services those taxes are eroding because of their expense (another right-wing thing - privatisation - doesn't seem to work out as good as it promised to be; and remember, it was Hawke and Keating that seemed to preside over the rise on privatisation); they are being disenfranchised and voting right. Often, it is because for them, neither side is offering anything, but "at least Trump (or whoever we are speaking about) does what he says he's gonna do". The fact that what they say they're going to do is going to end up in tears is of little consequence to these people; they are already crying. The ALP in Aus, and Labour here have had a real opportunity to right the wong. They are so heholden to hidden power, they they take tepid steps and people are more disillusioned with them. Those people decide stuff it, it can't be worse. The mentality of the voter has shifted from voting in the one you want to get the job done, to the one you least dislike.

"I think a lot of what you say is imagined or exaggerated."? Don't you mean, it is imagined and exaggerated - certainly when one looks at the facts. Interestingly, the coalition is hard line on immigration, yet they preside over the higher levels of "mass" migration. I find it interesting people get all worked up over migration. It is, and has been a human trait since the dawn of humanity. Europe resulted from a migration from Africa (well, the world's population is thought to have). Modern Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA's population is the result of mass migration from Europe. Yes, some of it was to conquer, but people who came out willingly did so to seek a better life. We talk about migration in a global border context, but when you move from, say Melbourne to Sydney or vice versa, you are migrating. The distance is longer than migrating between some European counties, for example. And even within a country, there can be a clash of cultures. When I grew up in Melbourne, there was nary a rugby ground in the state. Now there's a stadium in the middle of Melbourne. In Sydney and Brisbane, there are now AFL stadiums where it owuld have been laughed out of the cities in the old days. Also, with the declinign birth rates, who is going to care for you and perform the public and private services we rely on? Who is going to be working the resources of the land to keep the money flowing to pay for all of this? Yep, it's going to be migrants. Oh, but the right wing will save is from all that, won't they? Well, look at the numbers when they are in power. They shift massive amounts of wealth from the population to large corporates and high net worth individuals who happen to pay no tax nor any real royalites for the resources they extract. That means there is less money for the younger population to affford houses and chldren, and given the relative state of life expectancy and the shift to urbanisation, there isn't the natural imperative to make kids as there used to be. Yet, if you return the money to the population so they can afford things., which is what a more progressive government is at least philosophically about even if they do not achieve it, then suddenly things become more affordable, they can have their kids, and there is less longer-term need for migrants. GON - you are right about one thing; progressive politics seems to failed to have delivered on their politics precisely because of the grip that the hidden and concentrated power of money has over democracy - which is an aim of the right-leaning side of politics. Taxes, which are largely paid by the middle and lower-miiddle classes are higher and there is a squeeze on disposable income. The public services those taxes are eroding because of their expense (another right-wing thing - privatisation - doesn't seem to work out as good as it promised to be; and remember, it was Hawke and Keating that seemed to preside over the rise on privatisation); they are being disenfranchised and voting right. Often, it is because for them, neither side is offering anything, but "at least Trump (or whoever we are speaking about) does what he says he's gonna do". The fact that what they say they're going to do is going to end up in tears is of little consequence to these people; they are already crying. The ALP in Aus, and Labour here have had a real opportunity to right the wong. They are so heholden to hidden power, they they take tepid steps and people are more disillusioned with them. Those people decide stuff it, it can't be worse. The mentality of the voter has shifted from voting in the one you want to get the job done, to the one you least dislike.

"I think a lot of what you say is imagined or exaggerated."? Don't you mean, it is imagined and exaggerated - certainly when one looks at the facts. Interestingly, the coalition is hard line on immigration, yet they preside over the higher levels of "mass" migration. I find it interesting people get all worked up over migration. It is, and has been a human trait since the dawn of humanity. Europe resulted from a migration from Africa (well, the world's population is thought to have). Modern Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA's population is the result of mass migration from Europe. Yes, some of it was to conquer, but people who came out willingly did so to seek a better life. We talk about migration in a global border context, but when you move from, say Melbourne to Sydney or vice versa, you are migrating. The distance is longer than migrating between some European counties, for example. And even within a country, there can be a clash of cultures. When I grew up in Melbourne, there was nary a rugby ground in the state. Now there's a stadium in the middle of Melbourne. In Sydney and Brisbane, there are now AFL stadiums where it owuld have been laughed out of the cities in the old days. Also, with the declinign birth rates, who is going to care for you and perform the public and private services we rely on? Who is going to be working the resources of the land to keep the money flowing to pay for all of this? Yep, it's going to be migrants. Oh, but the right wing will save is from all that, won't they? Well, look at the numbers when they are in power. They shift massive amounts of wealth from the population to large corporates and high net worth individuals who happen to pay no tax nor any real royalites for the resources they extract. That means there is less money for the younger population to affford houses and chldren, and given the relative state of life expectancy and the shift to urbanisation, there isn't the natural imperative to make kids as there used to be. Yet, if you return the money to the population so they can afford things., which is what a more progressive government is at least philosophically about even if they do not achieve it, then suddenly things become more affordable, they can have their kids, and there is less longer-term need for migrants. GON - you are right about one thing; progressive politics seems to failed to have delivered on their politics precisely because of the grip that the hidden and concentrated power of money has over democracy - which is an aim of the right-leaning side of politics. Taxes, which are largely paid by the middle and lower-miiddle classes are higher and there is a squeeze on disposable income. The public services those taxes are eroding because of their expense (another right-wing thing - privatisation - doesn't seem to work out as good as it promised to be; and remember, it was Hawke and Keating that seemed to preside over the rise on privatisation); they are being disenfranchised and voting right. Often, it is because for them, neither side is offering anything, but "at least Trump (or whoever we are speaking about) does what he says he's gonna do". The fact that what they say they're going to do is going to end up in tears is of little consequence to these people; they are already crying. The ALP in Aus, and Labour here have had a real opportunity to right the wong. They are so heholden to hidden power, they they take tepid steps and people are more disillusioned with them. Those people decide stuff it, it can't be worse. The mentality of the voter has shifted from voting in the one you want to get the job done, to the one you least dislike.

Trump is not only looking to seel out Ukraine, but also looking to rewrite history: And wants to invute Russia back to the G7. Insane.. but probably pay back for the election interfering.

Remember, when he was last president he tried to get Zelensky to dig up some dirt on Huner Biden to counteract all the impeachments he was going through. Zelensky, a man of integrty apparently, refused, despite some threat of Trumps. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/25/trump-asked-ukraine-president-if-you-can-look-into-biden-and-his-son-in-phone-call.html You can bet Trump hasn't forgot. (I haven't looked at the vids yet, so apols if it was covered in these).