Big Day in Melbourne...So, Melbourne, wow. Hard Lockdown on the Projects low-income housing commission 20 storey towers...over 3,000 folk and quite a very few hundred with more than a passing attachment to ice, heroin, hybrid ganga, and grog...etc and only holding usually a maximum of 2 days supply...and No one gets out...or in...for 7-10 days. Strict. All locked down with police on each level...500 police on each shift 24 hours a day...for 7-10 days. Meals and services delivered by...police. Big City, Big Problems. I expect that there may be quite a few fire alarms going off at night, and maybe even a few real fires as the 'cooking' goes wrong. Whoosh.

I don't think we are facing a Hitleresque future, Barbara. I'm not an American, so my views of both Trump and Biden are a foreigner's views. As long as the USA moves out of Asia, Asia will be pretty happy and will have a better healthier and richer future. North Asia is the only important place on Earth for the future survival of everyone and, so far, everyone is very careful about it, as they should be. As for inside America, well, i don't think the Lives Matter thing means anything and is just all a knee-jerk reaction to the Virus mostly. It is about the difficulty people have with change. Who is to blame? There must be someone to blame! The more advanced societies will deal with the Virus in the best way, mostly. The ones who don't have Universal Health insurance etc will suffer a lot more which may lead some governments to think that maybe a Universal Health insurance, based upon, say, a 1 or 4 percent tax would be better for most. You can still have Private Insurance on top of that for folk who wish to pay for orthopaedic massages and kombutcha tea and nicer rooms whilst they are living and dying, if you like. Putin wishes to remain in power, of course he does. Trump wishes to remain in power, of course he does. Mr Xie, the same. Of course. This is human nature. It is hard to remove human nature from the political world. None of them are sprouting War! as the answer to the problems associated with change due to a Virus. You will always get Mad Bastards of the Far Right no matter what is happening, and you'll get the same bunch of neo-Christian retards, but i don't see anyone with the gall and psychotic view of Hitler in this mix. Things will be okay as time goes by. Things won't be as good for America, still, the numbers of those suffering from poverty etc world wide will still be falling at a faster rate than they ever have, as they are now, and things will be basically okay, even for Americans.

answer to a white racist rant: I'm not proud to be white caucasian Australian, but I guess I was fortunate to be one in terms of living pretty easy, always working class, although at 67 years of age not actually owning anything..as is the norm. I'm not proud of my country, I think its really awful... a disgrace to humanity...yet a fortunate island compared to a few. My wife, who is very mainland Chinese, is very very pro Trump. I don't understand why, but I do love her just the same. She knows that she married a white Australian communist who supports very much the great job of the Chinese Communist party, but loves me anyway. I'm not proud to be white, I just am white. I'm not proud to have Irish/English forbears, although I do like Irish music, even though the dancing is just plain silly... and , like everyone else, as individuals, this is all just a passing parade over which we have no power at all and we'll all be dead within a few or 8 decades, and me much sooner, so why get so upset? True, I get upset whenever I see the current Australian flag, yes, it does make me nauseous and does bring a chunk of vomit to the back of my throat, as I despise it, and I'd never stand up for it and I'd kill myself with a cricket bat before I stood up for the cunt of a thing...and I'd never ever fight for that flag or its symbolism or for what this scum country is in ethical and moral values, and I pretty well despise those who have...because of the betrayal built into the double-cross Sassenach/English flag in the sinister corner of it, but, still, there it is. Still flying. Fortunate to be Australian, true, in some ways, but not proud.

People seem to think, or want, that China will somehow become democratic, or will collapse...but neither is realistic. China will continue as the massive and united society it is for a couple of hundred years at least, growing more powerful etc yet not war-like. In this way China is very different from every other rising power in our Western histories. It doesn't make war. We will have to get used to that. Sure, within China, there will be better organised more representational forms within government, but never anything as stupid as what we define as democracy. China is doing well and will continue to do well. As for the government...a solid party core at the centre of a free wheeling yet controlled capitalism, it will do very well indeed. The world has never seen a society like China as it now begins to just emerge on the world scene, so we have no way of understanding it. Our histories of rising and collapsing empires isnt what China is doing at all. it is not like what we know or understand. Tibet will not be free to sell its resources to India or America. Hong Kong will remain a city in China. Taiwan will be accommodated. China operates on the basis of the Walled World Concept, whilst utilising globalism as it is. The Great Gates of China, well, some open, and some close, as it suits the times, but it remains China. One China, intact. Certain.

I think the best way through the current social miasma to a new social dawn is simply to: 1: As Much as Humanly Possible, Buy Nothing. Minimise Food purchases, minimise energy use, and never buy cars or anything electrical. Just let them be, and let them run down. That about sums it up. That would really, really, help the whole world.

as a member of HACSU I note that when you put a legitimate comment about HACSU on the site, and its removed in a minute, then, a member feels they might as well withdraw their $500 a year membership and spend it on the charities of their own choosing. $500 is a lot of money to be wasted. I don't have that kind of money to waste just because my Union is interested in funding themselves and other vague changing social notions that never deliver improvements to their members pay packet. We are talking in the Decades now.

As an Australian, On the whole, I don't mind Trump at all. He hasn't launched a major war or conflict in his time as President. In this way, he has done more for world peace than Obama, and all the previous presidents going back to Carter. Sure, he is in favour of Americans in America having guns, but they only shoot other Americans with them. That's fine. The world doesn't need more Americans. And, yes, he is pulling US Forces out of Asia, which is great for all of us for enduring world peace.

What's happening? Really? Well, I'll talk to them about that. I'm sure we can work things out. If not, well, don't you worry, they'll answer to me!

HISTORY LESSON: Recalling Australian desire to form a free trade-association with China. A decade before the decision by Tony Abbott, New Zealand agreed to a very good trade deal with China, with the New Zealand players noting...well, China is the biggest economic market place on earth, and we are a really small country, and we got a very good deal! Very true indeed. For that decade Australia was told by the USA not to have a free-trade agreement with China, or suffer the consequences of the USA not being our friend...thus the USA had the opportunity, and took it, to sell all the same kind of stuff we wanted to sell to China without having us as a competitor. It was only when, after that ten years, that President Xi noted in a public forum that China WOULD sign a free-trade agreement with Australia that same year, and then stuck a $30/ton tariff on Australian coal until we agreed it was a good idea...as soon as the tariff was imposed, the then PM Tony Abbott flew immediately to China, signed the deal, and said it was a great achievement, and we were the best of friends, whilst the US Secretary of State, at the time, Hilary, said we shouldn't have done it. It interfered with USA export profits to China. How was Australia a friend of the USA if also a competitor? The "Smart" Australian view was to basically 'ride two horses, with one foot on each'...unfortunately, they didn't notice that the horses were going in opposite directions. Not Smart, Australia. Best to have gone one way or the other, way back then. Too late now. 2020: Australia: Broke both legs....and no real friends.

As for the USA relaxing covid-19 restrictions, well, why not? See how they go. It's kind of like watching what happens in a petri-dish from a long way away. \Same with their gun laws...or lack of laws. If guns and disease make them happy, well, good. They don't need to ask anyone else's opinion, and they never do anyway. If it all means less Americans, the real world can cope with quite a few million less of them in a minute.

Trump is a poor leader. Yet he hasn't waged major war anywhere so is very unlike Obama, Bush, Clinton etc, going way back to that remarkable man Jimmy Carter. I'm not an American and I do see them as bizarre foreigners in an adolescent ridiculously powerful and greedy culture usually bent on attacking anyone they like...but always only countries that can't fight back. As for Trump, well, if he continues to pull troops out of Europe and Asia, well, that's great! As for being an effective leader within the USA, well, no, he is not good, he is quite bad, but, they elected him and thus deserve him. I expect he will win the election. I feel the same with the remarkable propensity for Americans to have and need guns. If they only kill their own people within their own borders, then, well, that's their own choice and that's their own business.

North Korea and South Korea remain the broken tectonic plate for the world. This remains the only place that one could have a war involving pretty well everyone. The geo-position of the 2 Koreas, between China, Russia, Japan, and the floating USA armada means it is the most sought-after real estate on Earth. This is North East Asia. This is the big time. Israel and Saudi and Palestine fall into profound insignificance in comparison. The religions of both South and North Korea are indeed fascinating. I will write more about both. North Korea is very difficult for the USA to invade, which is why they haven't done it. Any invasion would meet with a huge number of feisty Chinese PLA soldiers arriving first in Pyongyang, followed by Russian soldiers. Then the US would be third to arrive...and then a big face-off between the 3. Not pleasant. This geo-position means North Korea will remain independent for a long time to come. The current Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, educated in Switzerland, is in his thirties and surprisingly has survived in a very cut-throat system by being the 'most cut throating'. He is not positively healthy with a family disposition to diabetes and the cancers. Here is a picture of his sister, Kim Yo Jong, a serious and high ranking politician in the propaganda and agitation department, and his wife, in pink, Ri So Jul. It is believed that Kim Jong Un and his wife have 3 children.

As for coronavirus intelligent restrictions to value and save human life: I see the Americans are revolting. I said that the psyche of that nation can only deal with a two week crisis, then they just just go fucking crazy. Anything longer than 2 weeks and they are terrified...paranoid...vicious and aggressive, and start lashing out. An adolescent addicted-cult of a culture being lead, by their choice, by an infantile freak. No good will come of it.

Krakatoa Volcano Eruption - April, 11, 2020 Wow!

These are remarkable and unheard of Times. It will take awhile, months, before the impact sinks in, and the world of people won't be the same as it was in say December 2019. I wish us all the best and to find value and meaning in relationships with others, or peace in solitude, as either best suits us...perhaps time with others, and time alone. I guess the natural world will be slightly improved with less toxins around for awhile. What we might notice, and I have noticed just recently, is the general quietness of the world when a lot of people are removed from it. The incidental things, quiet journeys with hardly any traffic, quiet walks, quiet parks etc. More birdsong. The damn infernal noise of Melbourne City is greatly reduced in many cases and places. I've noticed that most colleagues are worried about their work wise fate, of course, as am I and my wife, and we expect the times will grow harder as we move into a cold winter here with both corona virus and flu virus needing us for them to live their virus lives. I don't have a lot of faith, well, I don't have any faith or trust at all in our Government, Federally, as I don't think the ideology of Conservatism is useful to humanity at this time, and I think those leaders are ill-equipped in thinking competence about what is best for the people. One just hopes that the arising need may force the Federal Government, belatedly, almost criminally belatedly, to do what is best for the whole, not just their protected friends and their ideologies. I expect they will need to be forced and beaten into Reason. This is the first time I've considered that this really is a new century with problems very much of its own making and solutions, if any, are quite some distance away in time.

Australia, Victoria:Victoria's public exposure sites Sunday, March 8 T20 Cricket World Cup Final, Melbourne Cricket Ground, MCC Members Level 2, between 5:15pm and 11:30pm Myrtle Oval, Macleay Park, North Balwyn between 10:00am and 4:00pm Ramsden Street Oval, Clifton Hill, between 8:30am and 5:00pm Virgin Australia flight VA24 from Los Angeles to Melbourne which arrived at 7:00am Saturday, March 7 Albert Park Hotel between 6:00pm and 10:00pm South Melbourne Market between 2:00pm and 3:00pm Coles Waurn Ponds between 1:00pm and 6:00pm AAMI Park (Rebels vs Lions rugby game) in the evening Ashburton Park, time unsure Virgin Australia flight VA24 from Los Angeles to Melbourne, arrived 7:00am Friday, March 6 Malaysia Airways flight MH0149 from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne arrived 9:00am Pho Hung Vuong 2 Vietnamese Restaurant in Richmond between 6:00pm and 7:00pm Qantas flight QF94 from Los Angeles to Melbourne arrived 9:40am Coles Waurn Ponds between 8:45am and 10:00am South Melbourne Market between 8:30am and 10:00am Emirates flight EK404 from Singapore to Melbourne arrived at 12:15am Thursday, March 5 Cinema Nova, Carlton, Movie: The Amber Light between 7:30pm and 10:30pm V/Line train from Southern Cross Station to Geelong departing about 5:40pm Tuesday, March 3 Wine by Sam in Seymour between 12:30pm and 3:30pm La Trobe University, Bundoora Campus: March 3 between 9:00am and 12:00pm March 4 between 11:00am and 1:00pm March 5 between 1:00pm and 4:30pm Monday, March 2 Virgin Australia flight VA682 from Perth to Melbourne which arrived at 4:20pm VLine train from Geelong to Southern Cross departing about 5:40pm Metro train from Southern Cross to Camberwell departing between 7:00pm and 7:15pm Toorak Clinic, 575 Malvern Rd, Toorak for patients and staff that attended the clinic any time between March 2 and March 6 United Airlines flight UA0060 from San Francisco to Melbourne arrived 9:30am Singapore Airlines flight SQ237 from Singapore to Melbourne arrived 10:50am Malindo Air flight OD177 from Denpasar to Melbourne arrived 10:50am (Singapore time)

I recall a Kurt Vonnegut novel where the Chinese, because they had such a big population and thus a big food problem, decided to scientifically make themselves smaller, and smaller in size in each generation...thus each needing less food...to the extent they became the size of microbes drifting in the wind...and they drifted across the world and everyone inhaled them...and then they grew colonies inside people. It was a fun story. It had great elements of creative imagination and the essence of western psychotic paranoia about China in it...I like Kurt Vonnegut. He told a damn good story.

I think the only way to rid ourselves of noxious folk like Donald Trump and Scott Morrison, and that English Idiot, is to stop reading about them, and for journalists to stop reporting the stupid things they say. As Kurt Vonnegut noted: they are simply a 'grand falloon... 'what you get when you take the air out of a balloon'.

Ah, well, with Scott Morrison as our effervescent conservative Prime Minister, I'm going to bed happily tonight, and will have a good sleep and wake up to personally determine the impact of 'the new normal' of whatever it is that is so important that he has to be on tv talking about it all day, every day, without saying what he means about all the things we can't afford because he gave all the money to the banks and his mates. Sad beleaguered man obviously needs a holiday. Hawaii sounds nice.

As for a good possible Australian Prime Minister, I can only see Penny Wong, from the Labor Party/Senate Leader, as a real possibility. She is a hard, driven, committed person with great mental alacrity and capacity...and far more a true bureaucrat than a matinee idol. I think she would do well. She could bring both consensus and clear direction. At least you would know that the serious responsibility was in the hands of someone who you knew was a serious being & who knew what they were actually doing. Wow, wouldn't Fox News be upset!

As for the um... Senior Royals ... standing back from Royal duties, I think there is a B grade movie in that story. The talentless useless Prince and the fast ageing cable TV ex-star facing the hurdles of real life in 21st century California, with Trump as President...having afternoon tea in the caravan park with his relative, the Royal Sweaty Pizza Eating Rooter, on the run from paedophilia and rape charges...yes, that film could work, it could work, if Disney does it nicely. It's the Royal Family, it's American Ambition, it's about Freedom; it's got it all.

I find the disturbing thing about the Australian Government, in terms of the ongoing ridiculously big fires etc, is that this is not a bunch of people who really are committed to fixing up things, nor do they have the skills, experience, or even desire to fix up things. It is not what they signed up for. Being on TV and talking at cameras is cool, but, beyond that, well...who can we blame? Can we blame China? can we blame Iran? Scott Morrison does do well in marketing and on TV, true, but, really, neither of those things have anything at all to do with the hard job of governance, of scope, capacity, endurance, risk, progression, or enduring social benefit at all. Scott Morrison and his very odd, to the point of peculiar, deputy, Peter 'That Odious Bald Cunt' Dutton. These are Morning Breakfast News camera folk. Light entertainment interspersed with positive advertisements for the banks. Matinee idols who really don't have a clue, & can't have a clue. What is happening, although Scott will be on the TV everyday, and Peter will be hiding until Scott gets the knife...is a failure of government through atrocious leadership, low quality untalented wishy-washy people with the great only desire to be in the News.

I've been trying to put my views on climate change and the Australian Government into 2 brief paragraphs, and I think I've done it, and it is a considered view: 1: Australia is the second highest polluter in the world, per capita, but, at the same time, there aren't many people here, and we really wouldn't be missed if we disappeared completely. We are not world leaders or a good example for anyone, anywhere. We never have been, & never will be. At 25 million, we are smaller in culture, history, meaning and impact than one decent Asian City. Still, climate change due to pollution is true so we should do our share to reduce these emissions in league with other countries rather than try to lie and cheat and tweak the numbers etc. 2: Accepting that pollution is causing a lot of climate change, the Government needs to invest huge amounts into making the transition to a Much Hotter World much better and safer for folk in this country. It should have been doing this for decades. It has failed us. It continues to fail us, its own people, and indeed, in our small part to play, and, yes, it is a small part, it is failing the greater world itself.

I think the Australian Political realm is like this: the Current Government is very anti-the notion of climate change, not because they don't think it is happening, but because they think it is mostly happening elsewhere, so, it's not important...what is important is running an effective Conservative government based on the usual principles...smaller government, less tax for the wealthy, help your mates, discriminate against the poor, and let the market fix everything while we all go on holidays, because we are great, but can't actually believe, or agree, even between each other, in the general notion of being a responsible...government. I think that's it in a nut shell. the fires will test them, I guess, but the real test is upon the majority of the buffoons who elected such buffoons because they believed in marketing spin rather in boring capacity and responsibility in governance.

One of the problems with using the Australian Military to save folk by ship is that they didn't have any life-vests for children, so the kids had to be saved... a bit later....after they found some appropriate gear. The Australian Defence Forces are far better equipped to drop white phosphorous bombs across the middle east on small towns than it is well equipped to help little folk of their own. The issue of using boats to save refugees of the Mallacoota fire also brings into irony the Prime Minister's proud claim to fame...of stopping refugee boats from coming to Australia for safety. "Go back to where you came from" as Australian International Policy, has a distinct irony in these hot unrelenting days. "Be careful, Some of those children, and the women, may carry terrorist fire with them..."

Violence and Women: as an Australian man, I have struck a woman once, when I was 28, my first wife, a slap across the face, in an Italian Restaurant in Brookvale, just after she struck me, with a slap across the face. As I recall it had something to do with sex. I expect neither she nor I have made any apologies about that moment, and neither of us are likely to. I grew up in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney during the 50s 60s and 70s and 80s and have never had any problem with gender etc, many of my friends being transexual, which is why my wife slapped me, anyway...never had any problems with folk being gay, I did that for a few years, and never had any problem with people of different races or cultures etc. I don't know what it is that fucked up Australia, but I remain pretty convinced that I just lived in that good yet poor time as a reasonable contributor to society before people and governments screwed anyone to the wall for being who they were based on some political agenda. The problem with gender sex disablement etc is not a historical problem, it basically started when Australians kept electing dickhead conservative governments. that's the depth of the problem, and if we elected someone else, then there would be no problem. There's no problem with Australia, really, apart from the cunts we continually elect, even now...and we know they are antediluvian cunts and still elect them. If there is something wrong with Australia, for fuck's sake, I didn't enlist to kill children in Vietnam or Afghanistan etc...it isn't me. I just chose to be respectful.