Daily Insight

I’m sure you’ve seen celebrities posting pictures of themselves with the word Yes written on their hand in support of the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. Tom Gleeson, one of Australia’s favourite comedians, according to his own website. Non-binary actor Kath Ebbs. TV presenter and comedian Rove McManus. Australian comedian Celeste Barber. Independent MPs, the so-called Teals, alongside the Prime Minister all writing Yes on their hand in pen. Taxpayer money hard at work, hey? Even the Chinese Communist Party are in on it with their Little Red Yes Book. Okay, that last one was made up, but it may as well be true, right? All the little children holding up their Yes books. The message is clear, just vote Yes. Yes! Because, you know, that’s how modern-day Australian democracy works. Politicians tell us to vote Yes. Big companies tell us to vote Yes. Celebrities are telling us to vote Yes. But you know what I think? I think there’s no way to prove how they’ll vote. They can tell us they’ll be voting Yes. They can write it on their hand and post it to Instagram. But when it comes to actual voting day when they’re in the polling booth, they can write whatever they want. Nobody will know except for them. Sometimes I think half these celebrities are just doing this for completely self-serving interests. Perhaps they’re doing it to protect their employment. Perhaps they’re doing it so they’re not accused of being racist. Perhaps they’re doing it out of fears of being cancelled. We certainly don’t see any celebrities writing No on their hand. Well, not mainstream celebrities. But as I said, how they actually vote in the polling booth is for their eyes only. Nobody will know. Current polling suggests that the Yes vote will fail, but if it fails by a lot more than expected, then we can only assume that some of these celebrities and other Yes supporters have been lying. They’ve just been telling people what they think they want to hear, that they support the Yes campaign. But in actual fact on polling day, they write the opposite. We won’t know, and they won’t have to prove it. Will you be letting celebrities influence your voting? Or, like me, will you just ignore them and use your own brain? Vote Yes? No! MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

When I was a kid, I loved weapons (I suppose I still do). I used to spend my days in the library reading up about firearms, and medieval warfare. I didn’t care what the weapon, I loved reading about them, and using them. I used to hang out with friends practising archery in the backyard. We used to make our own swords and armour and have mock battles in the vacant block next door. Well, ‘mock’ battles, they were real battles, just not to the death. I still have the scars to prove it. My friend learnt how to make chain mail and other armour on his Dad’s forge (he still makes weapons to this day). We’d test out the armour using different weapons to see what was effective and what wasn’t. But my favourite weapon, by far, was the throwing knife. That’s not me suggesting they’re a good weapon, just my favourite. I’ll get to that soon. 0:00 I Love Weapons 0:51 American’s Thoughts on Weapons Ban 3:25 Queensland Weapons Laws 5:07 Reasons Throwing Knives Suck 5:24 1. Disarming Yourself 5:37 2. Stopping Power 6:25 3. Accuracy 7:14 They Suck, but I Still Love Them 7:57 Weapons Ban Thoughts I know this American guy who lives in Australia. He’s been here for a few years, and generally speaking, he likes Australia. But there’s one thing that really gets his goat. Although self-defence is legal in Australia, the Australian Government have essentially made it impossible in practice, at least, not with weapons. You see, using a weapon in self defence is essentially illegal here in Australia. He comes from a constitutional carry state, Arizona I believe, and he legally carried a concealed pistol back home, as did many of his friends. They all belonged to the local gun club and I have no doubts that they were highly trained and treated their weapons with respect. There’s no doubt he enjoyed his right to bear arms to protect himself and his family. That said, he kind of understands that Australia doesn’t allow guns, well not as a defensive tool, but what he can’t understand is that pretty much all defensive tools are illegal. Stun guns, tasers – they’re illegal. Knives of course, cannot be carried defensively. But the one that he has the most gripes about is that pepper spray and the like are illegal. He thinks that’s just bordering on criminal that we allow the government to disarm us to such an extent. Look, I’m not here to convince you either way. I’m just telling you what some people think. His argument is pretty simple, weapons’ laws only serve to disarm innocent people. Obviously, criminals have their own code of ethics, and by their very nature (that’s why they’re called criminals), ignore any laws that don’t suit them. Criminals, yes, even here in Australia, have no qualms carrying a knife, or a pistol or anything else. To this day, innocent people still get shot by law-ignoring criminals. Yes, I know the opposite argument, less guns means less gun deaths. True. So anyway, my favourite weapon as a youngster was a throwing knife. My uncle happened to gift me a couple. I became good at throwing knives, at trees, but the moment I tried to throw them at moving targets, I quickly realised they were not very good practical weapons. Combine that with the knife’s limited range, light weight, not to mention that you’re throwing your weapon away, you would probably be better off walking up to the bad guy and stabbing him with it. Look, I still love throwing knives. I think they’re a cool weapon. They require skill. They require a lot of practice, but in reality, you’re pretty much better off with any other weapon. Even with years of training, I would suggest that throwing a knife is still slightly less effective for self-defence than say throwing a nice-sized rock. Rocks are cheaper, heavier, and often more aerodynamic. Some Americans feel sorry for us here in Australia, because they think that the government have take away all our weapons. But that’s simply not true. You can buy a nice hatchet at Aldi this week, for example. You can buy weapons. You’re just not allowed to use them as weapons unless you want to go to prison. Anyway, that’s my comments on knife throwing and other weapons in Australia. What’s your favourite weapon, and can you legally carry it? QUEENSLAND POLICE SAFER LIVING https://www.police.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-08/SaferLiving_Website.pdf VICTORIA RECORDS HIGHEST NUMBER OF ANNUAL SUICIDES SINCE 2000 AMID FEARS OF NATIONAL TREND https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/06/victoria-records-highest-number-of-annual-suicides-since-2000-amid-fears-of-national-trend ALBANESE LABOR GOVERNMENT FAILS TO PROVIDE MENTAL HEALTH RELIEF AS SUICIDE RATES RISE IN THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS https://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2023/09/07/albanese-labor-government-fails-provide-mental-health-relief-suicide-rates MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

“Stupidity”, “base racism”, are just some of the words prominent Aboriginal leader and Yes campaigner Marcia Langton has used to describe the No campaign and its supporters. She appeared on stage at a forum in Bunbury, Western Australia with Labor state MP Don Punch when she decided to attack everyday Australians. A video of the event was posted on Mr Punch’s Facebook page, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the video seems to have gone missing. But this is the internet, and nothing goes missing. So now I will play you those fateful words spoken by Ms. Langton. “Every time the No case raises one of their arguments, if you start pulling it apart, you get down to base racism. I’m sorry to say it, but that’s where it lands. Or, just sheer stupidity.” Despite saying it and despite being caught on camera saying it, she denies calling No voters racist. She has since stated, “I’m saying the claims being made by the no case are based in racism and stupidity – and appeal to racism and stupidity. And they are appealing to Australians to frighten them into adopting highly racist and stupid beliefs. I did not say what the Australian and the Bunbury Herald are reporting. The media reporting is a very deliberate tactic to make me look like a racist when I’m not. I am not a racist, and I don’t believe that the majority of Australians are racist. I do believe that the no campaigners are using racist tactics.” During Question Time in parliament on Monday, shortly after the Bunbury Herald article’s publication, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley commented, “We saw Marcia Langton label those advocating a No position as either ‘racist’ or ‘stupid’. Now this is a window into the psyche of the Yes campaign and it’s a window into the psyche of a modern Labor Party. They refuse to accept that everyday Australians do not like what they see when it comes to the Voice. This is the Yes campaign’s ‘deplorables’ moment and it’s really disappointing because we want a fair and honest debate.” If you’re unaware, “deplorables” is in reference to a comment Hillary Clinton made regarding Donald Trump supporters when speaking at a fundraiser in New York City on 9 September 2016. She said, “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.” If you remember, Donald Trump went on to win that election. The “deplorables” came out in force. The deputy Liberal leader went on to ask, “Will the Minister for Indigenous Australians condemn Professor Langton's comments?” Ms. Linda Burney responded with a general comment calling for respect in the referendum campaign and didn’t really answer the original question, but what’s new? Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton called on the Prime Minister to cancel the referendum, because no matter the result, it’s only dividing Australians. I agree in part with Mr Dutton. The referendum is dividing Australians, but I think we have to go through with it. According to the AEC, the writ has been issued, so it’s going to happen no matter what. Polls are showing that the Yes vote has slid considerably, and there’s almost no chance of it winning. It would be some sort of miracle if it did win. The No vote is ahead in every state except Tasmania, which is funny, because it’s the only state in Australia that isn’t ruled by the Labor Party. One would expect the opposite. This just goes to show us that even Labor voters aren’t fully onboard with the Yes campaign. As I said, we need this referendum to go ahead, because when it loses, it’ll show the current government and the activists that Australians do not want this. If it loses significantly, it will tell future governments that this is not on. Australians are not willing to accept a change to our constitution that will divide us up along ethnic or racial lines. The constitution should be colourblind. The Yes voters may have good intentions, but by the looks of it, the Yes campaign is done. YES CAMPAIGNER MARCIA LANGTON DENIES CALLING NO VOTERS ‘STUPID AND RACIST’ https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/yes-campaigner-marcia-langton-denies-calling-no-voters-stupid-and-racist/news-story/bafcc819fb91b694ba9261e4098cdce3 MARCIA LANGTON DENIES CRITICISING NO VOTERS, AND SAYS MEDIA IS TARGETING HER https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/12/marcia-langton-denies-criticising-no-voters-and-says-media-is-targeting-her READ HILLARY CLINTON'S 'BASKET OF DEPLORABLES' REMARKS ABOUT DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTERS https://time.com/4486502/hillary-clinton-basket-of-deplorables-transcript/ MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Oh the irony. World No. 1 ranked tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has won his most recent US Open in New York. Not only did he win the match, he also was awarded the “Shot of the Day” by pharmaceutical giant Moderna. Novak was famously booted out of my home country for not taking a particular type of medicine. That’s an odd reason for being forced to leave a country, isn’t it? Despite the Serbian winning his court case and being allowed to stay, the Australian Immigration Minister at the time, Alex Hawke, decided to exercise his ministerial powers and kick him out anyway citing, “health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so”. Basically, the Minister did not want any Australians getting any funny ideas in their heads and not taking their prescribed medication. Essentially, Australians were being told, “Shut up and take your medicine, or else!”. Some people lost their jobs. Some people lost their livelihoods. Some people weren’t allowed to got to the pub or the cinema, or even to go see their dying relatives in hospitals or aged care. So of course, how could we possibly take in a world champion tennis player who might convince Australians to go against their kind and benevolent masters. Some commentators were secretly (or not so secretly) hoping that Novak would no longer be with us due to his choices, but instead, the 36-year-old is fighting fit and has since gone on to win multiple tennis tournaments. Is he deserving of the Moderna Shot of the Day even though he never participated in the Moderna pharmaceutical program? Of course he is! Despite not being a shot-taker, he’s certainly one of the world’s best shot-makers and has taught all those younger players a thing or two about playing good tennis. Good on you, Novak. NOVAK DJOKOVIC GAME-WINNER AT US OPEN IRONICALLY NAMED ‘MODERNA SHOT OF THE DAY’ https://nypost.com/2023/09/11/novak-djokovic-game-winner-at-us-open-named-moderna-shot-of-the-day/ HOW WE GOT HERE – NOVAK DJOKOVIC LOSES APPEAL, OUT OF AUSTRALIAN OPEN https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/33050990/how-got-here-novak-djokovic-loses-appeal-australian-open MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

You’re the Voice! Um… NO! Anthony “Vote YES” Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, has made it his mission to convince you to vote Yes in the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. Tens of millions of dollars has been spent on advertising to try to make you vote Yes (not tax payers’ money, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney assures us). But the latest addition to the Yes campaign is a song from a 74-year-old British-born, former mullet-wearing pop singer, John Farnham, who has apparently gifted his song “You’re the Voice”, to the Yes campaign. Apparently, Australians are so easily persuaded, the simple inclusion of a song will make us change our vote. I don’t know about you, but I’m not buying it. I don’t think Australians are so easily manipulated, are they? Well, I’m certainly not. It might be a good song. It might have some catchy lyrics, but it doesn’t change what we’re voting for. Some commentators have pointed out that the first line of the chorus is an apt description of the upcoming Voice, “You’re the voice, try and understand it”, in that, many voters still don’t know what exactly this Voice will entail. For me, what we’re voting on is very clear: The inclusion of a federal advisory body that can only be made up of people from a particular ethnicity. And that just sounds wrong to me. You don’t eliminate racism by excluding 96% of Australians because they don’t happen to have the appropriate ethnicity. According to the Voice website, “The Voice will be chosen by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people based on the wishes of local communities”, and, “The Voice will be accountable and transparent”. That’s interesting, because the Guardian is reporting this week, “Albanese government accused of ‘blatant hypocrisy’ as more than 2,000 Senate questions go unanswered. So are we just supposed to have faith that the Voice will live up to its transparency promises as well? Not only has Johnny Farnham been raked in in an attempt to sway your vote, so have many big Australian companies who are also calling on you to vote Yes. Qantas have famously stuck Yes23 badges on their planes publicly affirming their support. For some strange reason, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has since departed, not on a plane, but he did suddenly quit Qantas. According to Aviation Australia, flight crew have been seen celebrating with high fives after learning the fateful news, with hero pilot Captain Richard de Crespigny describing a “collapse of the brand” under Mr Joyce. Not only are singers and massive companies telling you to vote Yes, so too are Australia’s biggest sporting codes. “More than 20 Australian sporting codes unite in support of Indigenous voice to parliament”. So famous singers want you to vote Yes. The Government want you to vote Yes. Kmart wants you to vote Yes. An entire f***ing airline wants you to vote Yes. All the sporting codes want you to vote Yes. You’d be kind of the odd man out if you voted No. Well… According to the most recent polling, the Yes vote is collapsing, with the No vote now taking the lead. Apparently, Australians aren’t listening to their corporate masters. But anyway, none of that matters anymore, because Johnny Farnham is onboard with one very clear message: “Vote YES!!!”. Remember, “You’re the Voice”. Well, depending on your ethnicity, only about 3 or 4% of you will be the Voice. So my response is, and will always be, a resounding NO! JOHN FARNHAM'S HIT SONG YOU'RE THE VOICE THE OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE 2023 REFERENDUM YES CAMPAIGN https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-03/john-farnhams-youre-the-voice-for-referendum-yes-campaign/102806260 NO PUBLIC MONEY FOR 'YES' OR 'NO' CAMPAIGNS IN INDIGENOUS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT REFERENDUM, BURNEY CONFIRMS https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-29/no-public-money-for-yes-or-no-referendum-campaigns-burney-confir/101712992 ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER VOICE https://voice.gov.au/ ALBANESE GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF ‘BLATANT HYPOCRISY’ AS MORE THAN 2,000 SENATE QUESTIONS GO UNANSWERED https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/04/albanese-government-accused-of-blatant-hypocrisy-as-more-than-2000-senate-questions-go-unanswered HERO A380 PILOT SAW QANTAS CREW ‘HIGH FIVE’ JOYCE EXIT https://australianaviation.com.au/2023/09/hero-a380-pilot-saw-qantas-crew-high-five-joyce-exit/ MORE THAN 20 AUSTRALIAN SPORTING CODES UNITE IN SUPPORT OF INDIGENOUS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/26/australia-sport-codes-unite-in-support-of-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-sports-yes-vote-referendum VOICE TO PARLIAMENT POLLING RESULTS TRACKER: HOW MANY PEOPLE SUPPORT OR OPPOSE THE REFERENDUM https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/ng-interactive/2023/sep/04/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-poll-results-polling-latest-opinion-polls-referendum-tracker-newspoll-essential-yougov-news-by-state-australia MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Climate action? Or vandalism. An environmental group, if you can call them at, called Tyre Extinguishers have hit Australia’s shores and have taken their first action in Toorak in Melbourne by deflating people’s tyres, because you know, the best way to save the planet is by vandalising the vehicles of innocent people. Some people might suggest that it’s not vandalism, but when you think about possible scenarios, it doesn’t take too long to think of potential harm. At the very least, the owners would have to spend time, or even money reinflating, or changing their tyres, and not everyone has access to a pump. But in the more extreme cases, what if somebody doesn’t notice that their tyres are deflated and end up driving on them damaging the tyres or rims, or potentially having an accident? What if there’s a medical emergency in the night, and suddenly the owner’s vehicle is not operational? Okay, I think most of us would agree, at the very least, it’s some kind of criminal mischief. According to their website, “We are people from all walks of life with one aim: To make it impossible to own a huge polluting 4x4 in the world’s urban areas. We are defending ourselves against climate change, air pollution and unsafe drivers. We do this with a simple tactic: Deflating the tyres of these massive, unnecessary vehicles, causing inconvenience for their owners.” They even have a How-to guide. “Locate an SUV. In towns and cities, you won’t have to walk far to find one. Target posh / middle-class areas.” I won’t go on, because YouTube have a policy that video creators cannot “enable, glorify, or promote dishonest or criminal behaviour”. Isn’t it strange that the authorities allow this website to remain up, although I don’t think it takes a brain surgeon to figure out how to deflate a tyre. Perhaps I spoke a bit too soon before. Step 4 says, “Print a leaflet and leave it under the windscreen wipers, so that the owner is aware that the car is unusable and gets an explanation as to why this has been done.” So you know, to save the planet, you need to waste some paper to tell people why you disabled their car. And Step 5, “When you’re done, anonymously let the local press know what you’ve done, where you’ve done it and why.” While Step 7 say, “Repeat, repeat, repeat.” There’s even a video demonstration how to become a petty criminal. Other tips include: “Work under cover of darkness. Hybrids and electric cars are fair game. We cannot electrify our way out of the climate crisis – there are not enough rare earth metals to replace everyone’s car and the mining of these metals causes suffering.” That’s probably one of the more honest things they’ve said. Many climate organisations and governments seem to think we can just replace all our petrol cars with lithium batteries, but lithium is also a finite resource with an energy-intensive mining process. “Avoid: Cars clearly used for people with disabilities, traders’ cars, minibuses and normal-sized cars.” Not that you can always tell which cars are used for people with disabilities. My wife often drives people around with a disability in my hybrid SUV, without any sort of visible disability placard. Is she fair game? They’ve even got a page celebrating their first offence in Australia: “30 SUVs disarmed last night in Toorak, Melbourne’s richest suburb. Congrats to Melbourne TX on the first ever Aussie TX action!” 1st September 2023. This is their leaflet they’re telling their minions to put on their victims’ cars. “Attention: Your gas guzzler kills!” They talk about the “climate emergency”, that “SUVs are unnecessary, and pure vanity”, and that “You will have no difficulty getting around without your gas guzzler, with walking, cycling, or public transport.” And of course that “hybrids and electrics are still polluting, dangerous and cause congestion.” Do you think these tactics will work? I can just imagine it. You’re late for work, race out to your car to find that your tyres are all flat, and then you sit down and read their pamphlet, and say, “Oh yeah! I didn’t realise I was destroying the environment. I might just sell my cars and walk everywhere from now on.” Yeah, right! The only thing this is going to do is piss people off and make them hate climate activists even more. What happened to handing out leaflets peacefully in the street? Remember the old adage, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar”? You know, you can win people to your side more easily by gentle persuasion and flattery than by hostile confrontation. These tactics won’t save the planet. It will just piss everybody off, and maybe even create some vigilantes. TYRE EXTINGUISHERS WEBSITE https://www.tyreextinguishers.com/ CLIMATE EXTREMIST GROUP TYRE EXTINGUISHERS TARGETS SUVS IN TOORAK https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/on-the-road/maybe-try-walking-climate-extremist-group-tyre-extinguishers-targets-suvs-in-toorak/news-story/25b3bc099ec39c5d778e73646d826dfc MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Trudeau Down, Trump Up. What?! Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party is not doing so well in the polls. It doesn’t really matter which polling firm you look at, the Conservative Party of Canada is leading the way with an ever increasing margin under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre. Young voters used to be the strongest faction in favour of Trudeau, but surprisingly, they’ve turned a bit sour on him in recent months. “'Getting squeezed on both sides': Liberals a distant third among younger voters”. From its high point of 69% in 2016, Trudeau’s approval rating has now dropped to 33% with young voters, with only 16% support from 18-29 year-olds. I’m sure you’ve heard the news of Mr Trudeau separating from his wife, well, the Conservatives were quick to jump on that, “Canada's Conservatives tout leader as family man after Trudeau separation”. While the Prime Minister is stoking fear and division by offering ridiculous travel advisories to the Canadian 2SLGBTQI+ community (yes, that’s the actual term used inside the Canadian Government), warning them not to travel to some parts of the United States, whereas Pierre Poilievre is taking a slightly different tack saying schools should leave LGBT issues to parents. “It is not the Canadian way for the prime minister to tell a Muslim man that his values are American because he wants to pass on his traditional teachings to his children,” Mr Polievre said. South of the Canadian border (or west if you’re heading to Alaska), Donald Trump is in the news with his world’s most famous mugshot. “It’s a great mugshot. It’s a beautiful mugshot, and nobody takes better mugshots than me, believe me. Biden’s mugshot will pale by comparison.” That’s a real quote... from Twitter. CNN were kind of hoping the mugshot would destroy Trump, but it didn’t seem to happen. “He’s been booked. His mug shot has been taken. And incredibly this might not end Donald Trump’s race for the White House”. Instead, the Guardian are reporting, “Trump improves lead over Republican primary rivals after mugshot release”. You don’t have to like him, but he’s by far the most popular Republican candidate to date. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis comes in at a very far away second. Unfortunately for the current president, according to the Guardian, three-quarters of Americans say Biden is too old for a second term. Anyway, that was my small commentary on North American politics. Trudeau Down, Trump Up. 'GETTING SQUEEZED ON BOTH SIDES': LIBERALS A DISTANT THIRD AMONG YOUNGER VOTERS https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/getting-squeezed-on-both-sides-liberals-a-distant-third-among-younger-voters-1.6539949 CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU SEPARATES FROM WIFE SOPHIE https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-03/canadian-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-separates-from-wife/102682168 CANADA'S CONSERVATIVES TOUT LEADER AS FAMILY MAN AFTER TRUDEAU SEPARATION https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-conservatives-tout-leader-family-man-after-trudeau-separation-2023-08-28/ POILIEVRE SAYS SCHOOLS SHOULD LEAVE LGBTQ ISSUES TO PARENTS https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-lgbtq-pronouns-schools-1.6950029 HE’S BEEN BOOKED. HIS MUG SHOT HAS BEEN TAKEN. AND INCREDIBLY THIS MIGHT NOT END DONALD TRUMP’S RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/25/opinions/trump-booked-mug-shot-fulton-county-zelizer/index.html TRUMP IMPROVES LEAD OVER REPUBLICAN PRIMARY RIVALS AFTER MUGSHOT RELEASE https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/30/trump-lead-poll-mugshot-republican-presidential-primary 2SLGBTQI+ GOVERNMENT OF CANADA https://women-gender-equality.canada.ca/en/free-to-be-me.html MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

In this presentation, we’ll be looking at v-status mortality by age category as requested by some viewers. This is somewhat of a continuation from my last video. The data we’ll be using is from the UK’s Office for National Statistics Deaths involving [something] by v-status. According to their notices, they will not be publishing this data anymore. I will be downloading their spreadsheet file on Age-standardised mortality rates. Specifically, we’ll be looking at Table 2, mortality rates by v-status by age group, all-cause mortality, which includes falls, illness, cancer, everything. The columns we’re interested in are V-status, Age-standardised mortality, and Age group, noting that the youngest age group is 18-39 year-olds. There are no children in this data, which wasn’t always the case. For example, in their report dated 24 September 2021, they used to include people as young as 10 in a much broader category of 10-59 year-olds, but that’s since gone by the wayside. Anyway, let’s get started. Here’s the youngest age category, 18-39 year-olds. As usual, let’s begin with the unveed control group shown in blue. A viewer asked to include confidence limits, so I will include the 95% confidence interval shown as thin blue lines, just for the control group. Let’s add first dose recipients, who had their dose more than 21 days ago. If anything, they have slightly higher mortality than the control group, remember, there could be other hidden factors. Also, remember that these are all relatively young people, so naturally, their mortality is going to be quite low anyway. For those who had a second dose at least 21 days ago, I would suggest their all-cause mortality is lower than the control group on average. Third dose individuals who had their dose at least 21 days ago, also seem to have a lower mortality. But the surprising one, I suppose, is the fourth dose individuals who have a much higher mortality than the other groups at six or seven or more times the mortality rate. Remembering, there could be hidden variables at play here. Just one example, which is just speculation on my part, young people who are likely to take a fourth dose might already be quite sick from some other cause, but as I said, that’s just speculation and is not verifiable in this data. But from this view, you can see that young people in general, have low overall mortality. For young people’s mortality during the first 21 days after taking a dose, there just isn’t that much data, but you can take a look at the overall mortality across all age groups during the first 21 days in my previous video as shown on screen here. Okay, let’s take a look at the 40-49 year-olds, my age category. Just to make it easier for myself, I’ll show all the data on the one graph, noting that all of these are all-cause mortality 21 days after taking a dose. First dose individuals have a significantly higher mortality than the control group. Those who took a second dose start out having less mortality than the control, but from 2022 onwards, have very similar mortality. According to this data, third dose individuals have less mortality than the control. But again, people in their 40s who took a fourth dose have significantly higher mortality, especially in the first few months of the rollout. For people in their 50s, obviously, the mortality rates are going to be higher as people get older. First dose recipients had a couple of months of low mortality in early 2021, but their mortality skyrocketed and stayed high ever since. As previously seen, second dose individuals start out having less mortality, but from 2022 onwards, have very similar mortality to the control group. And our final group, the UK’s most senior citizens, 90-years-old and above. As you can see, first dose recipients had an extremely high mortality rate in the beginning, peaking at around 80% death rate in June 2021. Second dose recipients also had a similar peak with a mortality rate over 70,000 per 100,000. Third dose recipients started off well, but by mid-2022, were significantly worse than the control group, with fourth dose individuals pretty much tracking the control group mortality. So basically, all-cause mortality for the control group remained pretty steady between 2021 and 2023, but that can’t really be said for first and second dose. Anyway, that’s the last ever report on v-status mortality coming out of the UK, at least, for this period of history. I hope you enjoyed this presentation, but more importantly, I hope that society at least learns something from these last two years of observations. OFFICE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS – DEATHS BY V-STATUS, ENGLAND https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

We take a look at the final report ever from the Office for National Statistics website out of the UK, “Deaths involving [something] by v-status, England: between 1 April 2021 and 31 May 2023”. I apologise, I have to watch what I say, because I often get into trouble just by mentioning these things. This data shows the age-standardised mortality rates, meaning it is directly comparable, but please note I cannot offer my interpretation, I can only show you the data and you can interpret it how you will. This is actually their final report ever! If you click on Corrections and Notices, and scroll down to the notice dated 25 August, “We will no longer be updating the Deaths by v-status analysis, England series. The last edition was published on 25 August 2023. This publication was created during the [something] to answer important questions around mortality by v-status in a timely manner.” So yes, this is it. At least they published a lot more information than the Australian Government ever did. We’re interested in number 2. Deaths by v-status, and we’ll be clicking on this link here to grab all the data. So this is what the data looks like, but to make it easier to understand, I’ll create some charts for us. This chart shows the Monthly Age-Standardised Mortality Rates (ASMR) per 100,000 from 2021 to May 2023 for all-cause mortality, so traffic accidents, diseases, everything. The dark blue line represents the mortality of those who did not take any V. We’ll call them our control group. There’s not much to say until we add more data. This is the mortality rate of those who took a single dose only at least 21 days ago. As I said, I’m not here to interpret the data, I can only say that this cohort of people have a higher overall mortality than the control group, noting that there can be confounding factors. Just as one example, people who took a single dose may have been older on average and in worse health than the control group, although, that’s just speculation on my part, and not verifiable in this data. The point is, there can be confounding factors. This data also shows that the mortality rate started off quite high in 2021, and has steadily dropped off since then. The line in yellow shows the mortality rate of those who took two doses only at least six months ago. You can see that in mid-2021, recipients had significantly better mortality than the control group, but this quickly disappeared as time progressed and became significantly worse by 2022. As with the other groups, the mortality rate has significantly fallen since then, although recipients continue to have higher all-cause mortality than the control group, remembering there could be confounding factors. Shown in green is the all-cause mortality for those who took three and only three doses at least 21 days ago. You can see at the beginning towards the end of 2021, they had significantly better mortality than the control group, but that quickly wore off and became worse than the control group, although this difference is only slight in recent months. The last dose they have data on is the fourth dose shown in brown. These are people who took a fourth dose at least 21 days ago. Their all-cause mortality seems to be either the same or worse than the control group, remembering there could be confounding factors such as age and ill-health. Some of you might be asking, “What about people who took their last dose less than 21 days ago?”. Well they do have data for that, so let’s take a look. Let’s just clear the graph except for the control group. The red line shows the mortality rate of those who took a single dose less than 21 days ago, at that time of course. As expected, there’s less data due to the small 21-day window, but clearly mortality went up as time progressed. Those that took a second dose less than 21 days ago also follow a somewhat similar pattern. Their mortality stays around the same as the control group, and then spikes. For those who took a third dose, within 21 days, mortality started off relatively low, but increased over time. There seems to be a pattern here. Similarly with those who took a fourth dose less than 21 days ago, although the spike in mortality doesn’t go much higher than the control group in this case. Anyway, that’s the UK data for all-cause mortality based on v-status. Remembering, that will be the last time they publish this data ever again. So now we won’t know what the hell is going on, probably exactly how they like it. OFFICE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS – DEATHS BY V-STATUS, ENGLAND https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the infamous kiss where Spanish football President Luis Rubiales kissed midfielder Jennifer Hermoso without her permission. The reaction across the media was swift – BURN HIM! As with many things of late, you’re only allowed to have one opinion on this story, and that is you have to demand that he be punished to the maximum extent possible. He has to lose his job. He has to lose his livelihood. He has to be charged with sexual assault! It’s the crime of the century, right? Right? In this video, as I often tend to do, I wish to play devil’s advocate. First of all, of course I think nobody should be the victim of an unwanted kiss. Nobody should be forced to kiss anybody. Of course not! This is not me supporting Mr Rubiales’ actions, but one thing I like less than an unwanted kiss is mob mentality, and as usual, that’s what we’re seeing. The mob demands blood, figuratively speaking. A simple slap on the wrist will not do! They want him out! They want him to be charged with a crime! But is this a proportionate response? Are unwanted kisses so rare and so evil that we must act with overwhelming force to eradicate them once and for all? Here are my comments, noting once again, I’m not here to defend Mr Rubiales. When I was a kid growing up in Australia, my uncles and aunties would come over, and without fail, my aunties would kiss me. Often on the cheek. Sometimes on the lips. Either way, I didn’t like it. If I protested, they just did it more, not in a spiteful way, but in an affectionate way. Occasionally, I would complain to my parents, but as I grew up, I realised this is just what they did to show affection. Despite not liking it, I got used to it. In my early 20s, I moved to Japan. The Japanese typically do not like public displays of affection, exactly how I like it. However, where I was working, I was surrounded by people from all different countries. One of my flatmates, an American guy, was dating an Italian lady. Whenever I met her, she would always kiss me. In formal settings, she just kissed me on the cheek. In more casual settings, like in a bar after she had a couple of wines, she’d kiss me on the lips – just a quick peck – but I hated it. I know it was just her way of greeting people, because she pretty much did it to anybody she was friends with, or who was friends with her boyfriend. In Japan, I also knew an older Spanish couple. The lady also always kissed me as a greeting or when saying goodbye. Again, I didn’t like it, but I put up with it, because by this stage of my life, I just realised some people liked kissing as part of their culture, or whatever. Yeah, I didn’t like it, but after growing up with aunties who always did it, I just assumed this is what humans do. When I came back to Australia, a lot of my friends’ mothers, or neighbours would come up and kiss me, you know, as a “long time no see” sort of kiss. Again, I didn’t like it, but I just grinned and bore it. Even Seinfeld had an episode where everyone was kissing Jerry when they met him, and he was just sick of it, so he asked them to stop, which they didn’t take too kindly to and ended up defacing his photo. As you can tell, I’ve experienced a lot of unwanted kisses in my life. I presume other listeners have as well. The only reason these unwanted kisses stopped really, is because of the pandemic, but I presume they’ll start up again soon enough. So what’s my point? Well… Mr Rubiales is Spanish. He comes from a touchy-feely culture, one which I’ve experienced. He got caught up in emotion and kissed a player after she won the World Cup. I’m not saying he did the right thing, not at all. I personally hate people kissing me. I completely understand how people didn’t like it. But does this mean we need to cancel him? And just one more point. What if the opposite happened? It doesn’t take very long to find an example on the internet. 40-year-old Jenny McCarthy kissed 18-year-old Justin Bieber grabbing him by the neck and then the butt after announcing him as the winner of the pop album of the year. All in good fun, right? Justin simply replied, “I feel violated right now”. So if he shouldn’t be cancelled, what do I think should happen to Luis Rubiales? Based on this one kiss alone, and assuming nothing else has gone on behind closed doors, personally I think a simple “I’m sorry to have upset you. I got caught up in the moment. I promise to never do it again” would be enough. But actually, he has already apologised, but that wasn’t enough. The insatiable mob want him burnt. SPANISH SOCCER BOSS LUIS RUBIALES ASKED TO QUIT AMID SEX ASSAULT PROBE AND MOTHER'S HUNGER STRIKE https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-29/luis-rubiales-faces-sex-assault-investigation-in-spain/102786468 JENNY MCCARTHY KISSES JUSTIN BIEBER, THEN EXPLAINS HERSELF https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2012-nov-19-la-et-mg-mccarthy-kisses-bieber-amas-justin-bieber-story.html MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Historically in Australia, it’s normal to see food prices rise by a little bit every year, but it’s usually just a once-a-year sort of thing, with prices increasing only by 5 or 10 cents depending on the item. It’s noticeable, but not dramatic, and certainly your wage typically increases as well, so it’s not such a big deal. But, over the last 12 or 18 months, it’s been almost depressing going to the supermarket. Every couple of weeks, I’d see the prices of my favourite grocery items rising, often by a lot. I was honestly getting angry going shopping. It became a real visceral experience. I know it sounds stupid, but for me, sudden grocery price rises really affected me, and I presume many other people as well. My salary wasn’t going up (and still hasn’t, by the way), but all the grocery prices were. The news reports state, “Food prices have risen 7.5 per cent in the last year”, but I don’t know, I think for some things, it’s a lot more that. If you look at the latest Consumer Price Index report on the ABS’ website, June Quarter 2023, you can see that although food prices generally have gone up 7.5%, bread and cereals have gone up 11.6%, and dairy products have gone up 15.2%! But I don’t think this entirely captures the actual price rises in some supermarkets. I’m sure some things have gone up even more than what’s shown on this chart. And I’m not imagining it. For example, non-alcoholic beverages are said to have risen 8.6% according to the ABS, but according to the ABC article who compared actual archival catalogues with the supermarkets’ current pricing, in one unnamed supermarket, non-alcoholic beverages went up by 46%, so of course, there are limitations to the ABS’ consumer price index calculations, and they don’t necessary reflect reality in all markets and product combinations. The article also asked, “Are food prices going to come down? If you're hoping for a radical price drop on your groceries in 2024, you might not want to hold your breath. Despite inflation lessening on food overall, this doesn't necessarily mean that food is getting cheaper — it's just getting more expensive slower.” Which mathematically and logically makes sense, but I still found it depressing, because my salary has stagnated. But then the other day I walked into Aldi, depressed as normal, expecting prices to be high or higher, but I couldn’t believe it, a kilogram block of Tasty Cheese had a new low price! $9.99 reduced from $10.79. That’s like a 7.5% decrease! I don’t eat cheese, but my children do. I was absolutely elated! I couldn’t control my emotions. I was smiling from ear to ear! And then I walked around the corner and found that the chocolate milk poppers had been reduced from $4.29 down to $3.49, an 18.5% decrease! Yes! Again, I couldn’t contain my elation. I don’t know if dairy prices have gone done generally. I don’t know if Aldi found a new cheap supplier. I don’t know, and I don’t really care. But for once, for the first time in a few years, something good has happened to me at the supermarket. Yeah okay, it’s only small. You might think I’m insane. But I haven’t had much good happening in my life recently, so I have to celebrate these wins, no matter how small. FOOD PRICES HAVE RISEN 7.5 PER CENT IN THE LAST YEAR https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-14/food-inflation-are-food-prices-going-to-go-down/102669270 CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, AUSTRALIA, JUNE QUARTER 2023 https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australia/jun-quarter-2023 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Wear purple soldier! Wear it Purple Day, as you can probably guess, is an annual LGBTIQA+ awareness day based in Australia. Supporters wore purple on Friday 25 August to celebrate diversity and the LGBT+ community. Typically, Australian Defence Force personnel, who come from all walks of life, wear military uniform when on duty. I don’t think that’s controversial nor surprising. However, according to ABC News, on Wear it Purple Day, Australian Defence Force Academy recruits were banned form wearing uniform as that would be seen as some sort of protest against the LGBT community. Yes, this is modern-day Australia where soldiers aren’t even allowed to wear uniform. An instruction purportedly sent to ADFA cadets on Wednesday, and seen by the ABC, states: “Please remember it is Wear It Purple Day tomorrow and the dress is civilian attire. No one is to wear uniform! Please ensure personnel remember this as wearing of uniform tomorrow will be seen as an active protest against LGBTQIA+, which is not in line with Defence policy. Additionally, anyone in uniform will be required to explain why they have chosen to disobey a direct command from the Commanding Officer. Guidance from the executive officer is that wearing uniform will be considered a protest against Wear it Purple Day, which does not align with the ADF value of respect. You are very welcome to wear civvies with absolutely no purple if you wish! This will be viewed as a neutral stance rather than an active protest and that is absolutely okay. One current ADFA member said that wearing civilian attire is virtually never permitted while studying at the officer training establishment. Some students have complained that they felt pressured to wear purple clothing on Friday. Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie, a former military officer who also graduated from the academy, stated, “The ADF leadership should only be insisting on adherence to its values: service, courage, respect, integrity and excellence. To go beyond those values and ram home a political agenda — as they have with Wear it Purple Day — is to trample on our diggers and their freedom of conscience. That is not the spirit of ANZAC: it is coercive behaviour, and it is unacceptable.” In 2021, then Defence Minister Peter Dutton outlawed the ADF from holding LGBTI events, however, one year later in 2022, the new Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the Albanese government, Richard Marles, ordered that the directive be reversed and the ADF are now free to fly the rainbow flag once again. Now, one year on, ADF Academy recruits are being ordered to not wear uniform and pressured to participate in LGBT activities that they do not wish to participate in. Is this inclusion, or is this coercion? ADF ACADEMY CADETS CLAIM THEY WERE PRESSURED TO REMOVE UNIFORMS FOR WEAR IT PURPLE DAY https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-27/adf-academy-cadets-claim-they-were-pressured-to-remove-uniforms/102780562 DEFENCE DECLARES WAR ON POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, BANS MORNING TEAS AIMED AT PROMOTING INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-21/defence-chief-angus-campbell-political-correctness-morning-teas/100156436 PETER DUTTON’S BAN ON ‘WOKE’ DEFENCE EVENTS OVERTURNED https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-23/woke-defence-morning-tea-ban-overturned/101362596 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Population disaster? Time will tell I suppose, but the most recent Intergenerational Report shows that the number of older Australians are set to soar as younger Australians are having less and less children, resulting in a decreasing number of workers to sustain an ever-ageing population. In this presentation, we take a look at the 2023 Intergenerational Report released on 24 August, noting that this is the sixth report to be released since its inception in 2002. The report identifies five major risk factors, two of which we’ll be covering in this video – Population ageing, and Rising demand for care and support services, which I think are essentially the same category. This is the report itself: Australia’s future to 2063. It’s almost 300 pages long, so obviously, I’ll only be going over the more interesting stuff. The Treasurer promises prosperity, opportunity, and a stronger, more sustainable and more inclusive nation. Lies! Well, at least, unprovable speculation. Although we are currently in surplus, from next year onwards, don’t expect us to ever be in surplus again. Although budget deficits will narrow initially, from the mid-2030s onwards, the deficit will continue to grow and grow as the population ages. This will be the new normal according to this report. As expected, the main spending pressures will be health, aged care, NDIS (Australia’s disability scheme), interest payments, and defence. Unsurprisingly, the percentage of the economy dedicated to Care (that is, hospitals, aged care, and so on) is set to rapidly increase as Australia’s ageing population woes take hold. Not to mention that Australians are having less babies than are required to maintain the population. A fertility rate of less than 2.1 children per woman, the replacement level fertility rate, results in a population decline (which is obviously offset by immigration here in Australia). Australia has been below this rate for decades. Women are simply having less children. But why are people having less children? Director of Strategy and Analytics at research and polling firm Redbridge, Kos Samaras, when asked about Australia’s population concerns replied, “The problem we’ve got is people aren’t having enough kids anymore. The long term prognosis is that Australia has an ever-decreasing number of younger workers having to sustain an older population. Currently we have a housing crisis and that is causing problems with birthrates, we are hearing from a lot of people delaying children because of the housing situation … significant mortgage repayments, rental payments. Unless governments find a way to lessen the burden on Millennials and Gen Z, then our economy will get cooked. They are justifiably having less kids.” You don’t have to look very far to find that housing is a big issue: “Rental vacancy rates falling nationally and tipped to remain at 'extremely low levels'”. This is the actual population growth between 1982 and 2001. The original Intergenerational Report from 2002 predicted Australia’s population reaching 25.7 million by 2050. This forecast was based on a net overseas migration (NOM) of 90,000 people per year. But what do you think really happened? Australia’s population skyrocketed. Australia hit the 25.7 million population projection from the 2002 IGR 29 years early in 2021 after growing by an unprecedented 6.4 million people over that 20-year period. So what do you think the current Intergenerational Report predicts in terms of population? I’ll give you a clue. It goes right off the page. Zooming out, we can see that Australia’s population, based on current forecasts, is set to reach 40.5 million people by 2062. You know what term comes to mind when I think of this looming population catastrophe – Ponzi Scheme. A population Ponzi scheme. Yeah, we’ll just keep increasing the population perpetually. Everything will be A-OK, until it isn’t. Unfortunately, one man’s population dream, can very easily turn into a population disaster! TREASURY INTERGENERATIONAL REPORTS https://treasury.gov.au/intergenerational-report ‘ECONOMY WILL GET COOKED’: GEN Z NIGHTMARE AS THE NUMBER OF OLDER AUSTRALIANS SET TO SOAR https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/economy-will-get-cooked-gen-z-nightmare-as-the-number-of-older-australians-set-to-soar/news-story/ff5119df1f156854685634d1c5e834a2 RENTAL VACANCY RATES FALLING NATIONALLY AND TIPPED TO REMAIN AT 'EXTREMELY LOW LEVELS' https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-25/rental-market-vacancy-rates-decline-nationally/102776670 ‘PONZI SCHEME’: WHY 2023 INTERGENERATIONAL REPORT SETS AUSTRALIA ON PATH TO RUIN https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/ponzi-scheme-why-2023-intergenerational-report-sets-australia-on-path-to-ruin/news-story/7f574da3e36120e2be85c2ff47fcfc0d MIGRATION PROGRAM PLANNING LEVELS https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/migration-program-planning-levels MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

“Tick means Yes! Crosses are ignored!” – “That sounds kind of dodgy…” – “TOO RIGHT!”. Australians will be voting in a referendum in a couple of months time to determine whether there’ll be an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. According to the Prime Minister, if you’re a good person, you’ll vote Yes. The No vote has no chance, right? Well just in case, they’ve made it a bit easier for you to vote Yes. Here’s a sample ballot paper from the Australian Electoral Commission. (Link below – It even lets you practise online – just in case you can’t write Yes or No). “DIRECTIONS TO VOTER: Write "YES" or "NO" in the space provided opposite the question set out below. Do you approve this proposed alteration? Write "YES" or "NO"”. It couldn’t be clearer, right? You either write Yes, or No. But obviously, the Prime Minister would prefer that you write Yes, right? I mean, it’s right there on his shirt! But just in case you don’t write Yes and do something a little bit strange, never fear! You’ll still get a chance for your Yes vote to count! In a recent interview, Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers was asked whether scrutineers would accept other types of marks inside the box. He replied, “Make sure you write on that box ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in English. Now there are some savings provisions, but I need to be very clear with people – when we look at that, it is likely that a tick will be accepted as a formal vote for yes, but a cross will not be accepted as a formal vote.” So it sounds like that if you put a tick in the box, it will count as a Yes vote, but if you put a cross in there, your vote just won’t count at all. Does anybody else think that sounds dodgy? It seems like they’re giving one side an advantage. Look, I doubt many people would be going in there ticking and crossing the box instead of writing Yes or No, but there certainly might be some, and to think that only one side of the vote will count in that situation. Mr Rogers continued, “We’re being very clear with people, part of our education campaign will talk about this, the materials in the polling place so people can look at it. But please, make sure you write ‘yes’ or ‘no’ clearly on the ballot paper in English. That way you can assure yourself that your vote will count.” When pressed about the tick/cross controversy, he replied, “The no side might say, well hang on, it’s a lower bar for the yes side. No not at all. That’s why we’re spending a lot of time talking to the community about what constitutes a valid vote. When the voter’s intention is clear, those votes are included.” When asked whether a Y or N would count, Mr Rogers responded, “Again the legislation says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is a formal vote. There are some things called savings provisions and given the fact we’re trying to give effect to the voter’s intent, it is likely that a ‘y’ or an ‘n’ would be counted under the savings provisions. But I get nervous even talking about that because then people hear mixed messages. It’s just important to write either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on that ballot paper.” When asked if any other symbols will count, he said, “A thumbs up👍🏻 symbol will count as a ‘yes’ vote, but a thumbs down👎🏻 will not count as a ‘no’ vote. Similarly, a smiley face😀 will count as a ‘yes’ vote, but a frowning face🙁 will not count as a formal vote. Actually, the following symbols will all count as ‘yes’ votes: lips👄, balloon🎈, Christmas tree🎄, rainbow🌈, men holding hands👬, and bunny rabbit🐇, but everything else will not count as a formal vote.” According to the AEC’s official Referendum 2023 website, Completing the ballot paper, Yes and No are the only formal ways to vote, however, they do have a question further down, “Can you use a tick or cross to vote in a referendum?”. “Please don’t. Clearly write yes or no, in full, in English. We expect the vast, vast majority of voters to follow those instructions. The formality rules for referendums has been the same for a long period of time – this includes ‘savings provisions’ (the ability to count a vote where the instructions have not been followed but the voter’s intention is clear). Since 1988 the AEC has followed legal advice regarding the application of savings provisions to ‘ticks’ and ‘crosses’ on referendum ballot papers. This is not new.” Anyway, I think you get the idea. Tick means Yes! Crosses are ignored! That sounds kind of dodgy… TOO RIGHT! REFERENDUM 2023: COMPLETING THE BALLOT PAPER https://www.aec.gov.au/referendums/vote/completing-the-ballot-paper.html ‘SOUNDS DODGY’ – VOICE VOTERS CONFUSED BY TICKS AND CROSSES https://www.2gb.com/sounds-dodgy-voice-voters-confused-by-ticks-and-crosses/ ‘TICK WILL BE ACCEPTED, CROSS WILL NOT’: AEC BOSS SLAMMED FOR CONFUSING VOICE REFERENDUM RULE https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/tick-will-be-accepted-cross-will-not-aec-boss-slammed-for-confusing-voice-referendum-rule/news-story/b8c6e57e6c7d4e9564ce32d183460bb2 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

We are one? Seemingly not. Even though it’s in our national anthem. It’s the second line! “Australians all let us rejoice, For we are one and free”. We are one! It’s basically our national motto. “One People, One Destiny”. But yet, you wouldn’t be able to tell from all our recent politics. The Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, which is widely anticipated to be held on 14 October, intends to create a body that is only open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. To me, that certainly does not indicate that we are one. One of my employers, a university, has been debating the details of our new workplace agreement for months now. It turns out that the university staff collectively rejected the most recent proposal, and I certainly understand why. This morning I was so peeved by the new agreement, that I sent out an email, which I will read to you here: “Good morning, I am a current employee at the University of [Australasia]. I know that our enterprise bargaining has been going on for quite a long time now. I'd just like to point out a few things that I simply cannot agree with. The university have proposed a number of entitlements that concern me. These include: 1. The introduction of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language allowance; 2. The introduction of gender affirmation leave; and 3. Increased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural and ceremonial leave. I’m a big proponent of equality, but introducing entitlements that are only open to those who identify with a particular ethnicity / ancestry, and/or those who identify as a particular gender that require surgical intervention, I don’t believe this is fair. I have nothing against people of any ethnicity or gender, however, only allowing certain people to gain a “language allowance” is simply not fair to the rest of us who can speak a second, or third language, or those that wish to learn. I think either the language allowance should apply to all staff, or it shouldn’t apply at all. The same problem with gender affirmation leave. Either every employee should have the ability to apply for special leave to affirm their identity, for example, people who are obese may wish to undergo bariatric surgery to lose weight or improve their health, or others may wish to undergo some kind of cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance, self-esteem and/or self-confidence. I’m not suggesting that the university should fund this, but either all employees should be entitled to special leave for this purpose, or none should. Only letting certain people apply is simply not fair, and certainly not bringing us closer to equality. The same with “cultural and ceremonial leave”. Why are only one group of people entitled to this? Every person in this world has their own cultural practices. Either all employees should be allowed to take leave for this purpose, or none should. Perhaps this email will fall on deaf ears. Perhaps nobody wants to hear this information. But that’s okay. I just needed somebody to know what many of us are feeling. Thank you for your continual effort to better the lives of all employees. Regards, John Smith They say we’re all equal in Australia. They say that we’re all one. But if the government is anything to go by. If these workplace agreements are anything to go by. They don’t want us to be one. They want us to be broken! VOICE REFERENDUM DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED NEXT WEEK https://nit.com.au/23-08-2023/7330/voice-referendum-date-to-be-announced-next-week ANTHONY ALBANESE SET TO ANNOUNCE VOICE REFERENDUM DATE AS OCTOBER 14 https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/anthony-albanese-to-announce-voice-referendum-date-as-october-14/news-story/c2c6ca459082b3aed3116e5e2dc056d5 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

You don’t have to be an economic expert to know that we’re in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis here in Australia. Electricity prices are up. Rents are up. Food prices are up. Everything’s going up, except perhaps your pay. This is the latest Consumer Price Index release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. As you can see in the first graph, over the last three years, prices have been skyrocketing peaking at almost 8%. If you look at things like rent, the outlook is bleak. Massive price rises across the country with no sign of abating. Lack of new housing has hurt Australia. But what about wages, I hear you ask. Surely people’s wages are going up? Well… This is the latest Wage Price Index from the ABS. As you can see in their first graph, wages have been skyrocketing too, right? Well, not so fast. Wages peaked at 3.7%, a lot less than the almost 8% shown in the CPI graph. Wages have been growing at a slower rate than prices have been increasing. This is a lot easier to understand if we download the data for both Wage Price Index and Consumer Price Index and then plot them on the same graph. I’ve set the base level of 100 to be at the start of all the drama that kicked off about three years ago. At first, prices (in red) dropped a little bit in relation to wages (in black), but then prices took off. And now we have a situation where over the last couple of years, prices have risen a lot more than our wages, hence why we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. People’s incomes buy less than what they used to. We are poorer. Historically, wages tend to grow faster than prices, meaning the economy is becoming more productive, however, this is not the case currently. It should be noted, however, that if wages grow too fast, there is a risk of a wage-price spiral in which wage increases increase people’s disposable income creating more demand which causes price increases which in turn causes wage increases, and so on, ultimately increasing inflation. Although some economists have argued that this is simply a myth to hold down workers’ wages. Unfortunately, in the current economic climate, as long as prices keep rising at this rate, and as long as our wages don’t keep up, our living standards steadily get worse. The Reserve Bank have stated that their goal is to reduce inflation by raising interest rates, with the stated goal of 2 to 3% inflation, shown in pink. But if interest rates are raised too far, it could very well push the economy into recession and lead to a large rise in unemployment. Ultimately, the goal is to have prices rising at 2 to 3% annually, with wages rising a little bit more than this so that living standards steadily improve for everyone. Failure to do this will result in the opposite, with many of us feeling financial pain, increased unemployment, and increased crime for many years to come. Is Australia screwed? I don’t know. CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, AUSTRALIA, JUNE QUARTER 2023 https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australia/jun-quarter-2023 WAGE PRICE INDEX, AUSTRALIA, JUNE 2023 https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/wage-price-index-australia/jun-2023 RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA INFLATION OVERVIEW https://www.rba.gov.au/inflation-overview.html MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

The Disease Paradox. It’s funny, we all remember being told: “wash your hands”, “wear a mask”, “stay at home if you’re sick”, basically, “avoid catching and spreading disease”. But during the most recent flu season which was much worse than normal, as well as the surge in RSV, we were told, “It’s because of our lack of exposure”. By locking ourselves away for so long and taking all these measures, society has not been exposed to a normal amount of disease, paradoxically making us more susceptible to disease, the so-called “immunity gap”. It turns out our immune systems need exposure to pathogens to maintain a good level of resistance. Duh! But yet, in the one article. we’re told two different things. “Lack of exposure leads to more people getting sick”, but, “the best thing you can do to avoid sickness is to prevent exposure by washing your hands and wearing a mask”. It seems like humans are their own worst enemy. ‘ROLLERCOASTER OF A SICKNESS’: HOW A HORROR FLU SEASON IS CATCHING AUSTRALIAN FAMILIES OFF GUARD https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/06/rollercoaster-of-a-sickness-how-a-horror-flu-season-is-catching-australian-families-off-guard CASES OF RSV SURGE ACROSS AUSTRALIA https://www.9news.com.au/videos/health/cases-of-rsv-surge-across-australia/cljuimgy6000t0llmajob5563 WHY DID FLU SEASON START SO EARLY THIS YEAR? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-did-flu-season-start-so-early-this-year/ PANDEMIC ‘IMMUNITY GAP’ IS PROBABLY BEHIND SURGE IN RSV CASES, SCIENTISTS SAY https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/26/health/rsv-immunity-gap/index.html IMMUNITY DEBT: DOES IT REALLY EXIST? https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/14/immunity-debt-does-it-really-exist #shorts

In yesterday’s presentation, we took a look at excess deaths for a handful of OECD countries. Some people were asking about the other countries, so in this presentation, we’ll take a look at the rest. This is the data that we’ll be using from OECD.Stat, Excess deaths by week, 2023. If you click on Customise, you can select the countries that you’d like to include, noting that they only collect data on OECD countries, and not all these countries have data. For example, Ireland, Japan, Korea, and Turkey are greyed out. There simply is no data, either because these countries don’t collect this data (I doubt it), or they’re not willing to provide it. Obviously, I can only use the data that is provided, and this data certainly doesn’t tell us why there are so many extra deaths. If you look at recent news articles, the reasons are always unclear, “More people than expected are dying in Canada in 2023 for reasons that are not yet clear”. The problem is, many governments either don’t seem to be interested in investigating the reasons behind these increased number of deaths, or perhaps more likely, they’re scared of what they might find. The underlying causes might reflect badly on their handling of the pandemic. Hopefully over the next few years, the true reasons will be unearthed. As we saw yesterday, some media outlets do try to pin the blame on other issues, for example, “Greater excess mortality after hurricanes”, and, “England’s heatwaves see highest ever excess deaths among elderly”, even though excess deaths seem to be consistently high during both summer and winter. Anyway, yesterday we looked at these eight countries, noting Australia in blue fared fairly poorly with excess deaths ranging between 10 and 20% on average over the first few months of 2023, while Sweden did much better averaging below zero percent. We’ll take a look at the remaining OECD countries in alphabetical order. Czechia is doing really well with average excess deaths below zero percent. Here’s an article from Euronews from 2020, “Czechs so far avoid the worst of the pandemic despite lenient lockdown. Analysts assert that because the country’s communist past – its communist system collapsed in 1989 – Czechs know how to push the limits of draconian laws. Generally 'avoiding' of the rules is very widespread in Czech conditions and it is part of the heritage of communist times. It is very much related to the need to survive and live in the conditions of the old regime, which had formally strict rules.” Finland. Although averaging between 5 and 10%, in more recent weeks, the average has been significantly higher at above 10%. Finland recently voted in a new conservative government led by Petteri Orpo of the centre-right National Coalition Party. The Finnish people booted out their previous Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin who left office, left her husband, and is currently off partying somewhere. Hungary is doing really well, perhaps even better than Sweden. Actually, let’s add Sweden to the graph. As you can see, Hungary is doing better on average, averaging 4% less deaths than normal. During the pandemic, April 2021, Hungary apparently had the most virus deaths relative to its population. However, in January this year, there have been articles questioning the data coming out of Hungary, so perhaps we need to be a bit careful interpreting this data. Slovakia has done really well averaging 4% less deaths per week. I’m not sure why. During the pandemic, their leaders all wore masks and gloves, but despite this, in early 2021, Slovakia had the highest virus death rate in the world. Now, they’re doing fine and have apparently become a real tourist hotspot for budget-minded travellers. And finally neutral Switzerland, who have the highest life expectancy in the OECD, have done very well this year with only a slight excess death rate of around 1%, noting that their population have been increasing quite steadily, so at 1%, it’s pretty much negligible. And that’s all the OECD excess death data that I can muster. I’ll probably review this after six months to see what happens during the rest of 2023. OECD.STAT DATA https://stats.oecd.org/ MORE PEOPLE THAN EXPECTED ARE DYING IN CANADA IN 2023 FOR REASONS THAT ARE NOT YET CLEAR https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-excess-deaths-covid-canada/ GREATER EXCESS MORTALITY AFTER HURRICANES https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230816160000.htm ENGLAND'S HEATWAVES SEE HIGHEST EVER EXCESS DEATHS AMONG ELDERLY https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/englands-heatwaves-see-highest-ever-excess-deaths-among-elderly-2022-10-07/ CZECHS SO FAR AVOID WORST OF THE PANDEMIC DESPITE LENIENT LOCKDOWN https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/08/coronavirus-czechs-so-far-avoid-worst-of-covid-19-despite-lenient-lockdown MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Excess deaths have been a problem around the world in the first half of 2023, but not in every country. Some countries have had very few, if any, excess deaths (I think you can guess which country, I’ll show you towards the end of this video). I’m not here to explain why there are excess deaths. For example, some news outlets are claiming an increase in hurricane intensity is responsible, at least, in some parts of the world. The data we’ll be using is from the OECD Stat website. We’ll be clicking on Health → COVID-19 Health Indicators → Mortality by week (scroll down a little) → Excess deaths by week, 2020-2023. I’ll just be exporting this to Excel so that I can make some graphs. This is the Excel file. We’ll just be looking at the second column for each country, Excess deaths (% change from average). We’ll start with Australia. As you can seen, there are only 12 weeks of data for Australia. That’s just what the OECD have been given from the Australian Government. We can see that Australia’s excess deaths are still stubbornly high falling between 10 and 20% on average over the first three months of 2023. There have only been 8 reported deaths from cyclones during that period, all of which occurred during Cyclone Ilsa after two boats capsized off the coast of Western Australia. There have been a total of 5122 excess deaths during that period, so 8 deaths represents only about 0.16 of 1% of those deaths, certainly not a contributing factor. Canada. The Canadian Government have been a bit slack and have only provided 3 weeks of data shown in red. I’m not sure why. Yes, the percentage of excess deaths are significantly less than Australia, but as there are only 3 weeks of data, we can barely make any sort of comment. The United States shown in light blue have a lot more data, and lie somewhere between Australia and Canada in terms of excess deaths, averaging between 5 and 10% over the first half of the year. Australia is still on top. New Zealand shown in green also has provided a lot of data and seems to have more excess deaths on average than Australia. If we put in the mean lines (the average excess death percentages), we can see that New Zealand is certainly ahead. Noting there were 11 cyclone deaths in New Zealand during that period out of a total of 2128 excess deaths representing about half a percent, that is, if you can even count them as excess deaths. Either way, it’s a very low number and not really a contributing factor. Germany shown in black is an interesting one. At the start of the year, they had significant excess deaths that plummeted, but has since levelled of to between 8 and 10%. The United Kingdom, shown in orange, follows a rather erratic pattern. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s due to the way they report these deaths over there. Of late, they seem to fall anywhere between 0 and 15% or so. Second to last, Israel, has been fairly consistent hovering around the 10% mark in recent weeks. But the point is, there are still significant excess deaths. 10% is not nothing. And the last country, the one that we’ve all been waiting for, Sweden. In the first couple of weeks of the year, they certainly had some excess deaths, but very quickly plummeted to below zero. They were experiencing less deaths than average. But in recent weeks, they’ve been hovering around zero, which is good, meaning they’re experiencing the average number of deaths per week. In terms of excess deaths, they are by far the best performing country in the OECD. I guess it’s because they’ve had very few hurricanes. OECD.STAT DATA https://stats.oecd.org/ STUDY FINDS GREATER EXCESS MORTALITY AFTER HURRICANES IN THE U.S. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08-greater-excess-mortality-hurricanes-socially.html 2022–23 AUSTRALIAN REGION CYCLONE SEASON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%E2%80%9323_Australian_region_cyclone_season MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

PAK’nSAVE is a no-frills food warehouse chain in New Zealand. Since 2015, it’s consistently been the cheapest supermarket in New Zealand. They’re no stranger to controversy with New Plymouth’s biggest supermarket selling beers for 67c a bottle earlier this year, which was labelled “irresponsible” by the Associate Minister of Justice. The six-packs of Hollandia Premium were being sold for $3.99, which is cheaper than bottled water and has sparked a police investigation. But perhaps something that PAK’nSAVE are more famous (infamous?) for recently are their deadly AI recipes. Here’s their website. If you scroll down a bit, you’ll see their Savey Meal-bot. “Try our fancy AI recipe generator which takes your leftovers and turn them into a tasty new recipe. Try it now!” Okay, let’s get savey! You’ll come to a warning screen saying that you must be “at least 18 years old” and that the recipes are “not reviewed by a human being”. They “make no representations as to the accuracy, relevance or reliability of the recipe content”, or even if it’s “suitable for consumption”. “You must use your own judgement.” Sure, continue! “Type in any food you have in your fridge or pantry and our Savey-bot will savey you up a recipe right away. It takes at least three ingredients to make a recipe. Savey Meal-bot will assume you have some basic pantry staples like oil, butter, rice, pasta etc.” Let’s just try some real food. Eggs, cheese, and bacon, and then click “Make me a meal”. It needs to think for a bit, and then it finally shows you a complete recipe for Cheesy Bacon Omelette with a corny joke. “Why did the cheesy bacon omelette go to therapy? Because it kept folding under pressure!”. Now let’s go back and try something a bit less conventional. Cabbage, tinned tomatoes, and mouse! Generating savey recipe. Mouse and Cabbage Stew. Why don't mice use computers? Because they're convinced the computer mouse is a distant relative they're not on speaking terms with! This mouse and cabbage stew is a hearty and delicious meal that will keep you warm and satisfied. Instructions: Add the mouse and cook until browned on all sides. Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour, or until the mouse is tender. Serve hot and enjoy! This recipe serves 2-4 people. I’m not sure if one mouse would be enough for four people. But in this cost of living crisis, you just have to use what you can find. Let’s do another one. Milk, bananas, and dishwashing liquid. Of course, it goes without saying that you shouldn’t try this recipe at home. Generating the recipe. Scrub-a-Dub Smoothie. Why did the banana and the dishwashing liquid become chefs? Because they knew how to "peel" and "clean" their way to culinary greatness! Enjoy this delightful Scrub-a-Dub Smoothie made with milk, bananas, and dishwashing liquid. Instructions. Bring 1 cup of milk to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add the dishwashing liquid and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Pour the warm milk and dishwashing liquid mixture into the blender and blend until well combined. Serve the Scrub-a-Dub Smoothie in glasses. Enjoy! I’m not sure how they create these recipes, because apparently they’re using OpenAI GPT-3.5. But if you go to ChatGPT and try to make a recipe using the same ingredients, it replies, “I'd like to point out that using dishwashing liquid in food recipes is not safe or recommended. However, I can provide you with a delicious recipe using milk and bananas to create a tasty treat: Creamy Banana Milkshake.” Some news sites are reporting that PAK’nSAVE’s meal-bot is creating some deadly recipes. A spokesperson from the supermarket said, “A small minority have tried to use the tool inappropriately and not for its intended purpose.” I guess I’m part of that minority. “When we were developing it, we included a number of safeguards to help ensure it’s used appropriately. This includes rules to prevent the use of items that aren’t ingredients”. Apparently, dishwashing liquid was okay, and so was mouse. From what I can tell, the current tool is locked down from adding your own ingredients, but you can still select from popular items, such as sausages, yoghurt, apples, and garlic. Creating that recipe, we end up getting Sausage and Apple Hash with the obligatory corny joke – Why did the sausage go out with the apple? Because it couldn't find a date! Anyway, that’s PAK’nSAVE’s latest foray into the world of AI. Give it a go, if you dare. PAK’NSAVE’S SAVEY MEAL-BOT https://saveymeal-bot.co.nz/ PAK’NSAVE’S 67C BEERS ARE ‘SIMPLY IRRESPONSIBLE’ https://www.newsroom.co.nz/paknsaves-67c-beers-are-simply-irresponsible NZ SUPERMARKET’S AI ‘MEAL BOT’ GENERATES POISONOUS RECIPES https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/food/nz-supermarkets-ai-meal-bot-generates-poisonous-recipes-c-11581583 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

The R-word is bad, isn’t it? What R-word you might ask? In Australia, up until recently, supermarkets sold a brand of lolly, a raspberry-flavoured sweet, called Allen’s Red Skins. This is actually a screenshot of the current Woolworths website (link below). My children still call them Red Skins and my daughter’s only 8 years old. It’s because the name only changed very recently, and good luck getting kids to change what they call things. In November 2020, less than three years ago, the Nestle company in order to avoid marginalising people rebranded Red Skins to Red Ripper. Unfortunately for Nestle, the largest food company in the world, they hadn’t heard of Google three years ago and failed to realise that Red Ripper was the nickname of Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo. Consequently, they renamed the brand again to the current incarnation of Red Ripperz with a ‘z’. To me, that just sounds like the plural form of the Russian mass-murderer. Also in 2020, the Washington Redskins, an American Football team, were deemed the Washington Racists by some, and were essentially forced to change their name. This is despite the left-leaning Washington Post finding that 90% of Native Americans were not offended by the Redskins name, at least, not in 2016. The team are currently known as the Washington Commanders with a giant W as a logo. However, the controversy is still not over. The Native American Guardian’s Association, NAGA, who “celebrates and promotes the rich history, legacies, and many national contributions of First Nation’s people which have historically been woven into the fabric of American identity”, as per their website, well, they do not agree with the mainstream narrative on this one. They state, “Misconception: Redskins / Redmen is Racist. Redskins is a Native American iconic name and is revered by the vast majority of Native Americans and general public alike. Redskins represents honour, respect and pride for Native American culture. Redskins is and has been a self-identifying term for Natives since the early 1800s.” They’re also currently running a campaign to rename the Washington Commanders back to their original Washington Redskins name. They even have a petition on change.org if you’re interested in signing (link below). It currently has over 90,000 signatures. They state that not only is the name change unpopular, it’s erasing Native American history. “We firmly believe that there are alternative ways to honour and respect Native American heritage without erasing it. By reclaiming the Redskins name, we have the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue, educational initiatives, and collaborations with Native American communities.” So it turns out that the powers that be decided that the term Redskins was offensive for Native Americans, didn’t actually consult with the people it was supposedly offensive to. It seems rather paternalistic. We know what’s good for you more than you do yourself. As NAGA say on their website, “Educate NOT Eradicate”. They “advocate for increased education about Native Americans, especially in public educational institutions, and greater recognition of Native American Heritage through high profile venues of sports and other public platforms”. So what do you think? Should we honour Native Americans wishes, or should we continue full steam ahead with cancelling things we deem offensive, even if the offendees aren’t even offended? CHANGE THE WASHINGTON COMMANDERS BACK TO THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS https://www.change.org/ReclaimTheRedskins ALLEN’S RED SKINS 220G BAG https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/759987 NESTLE RENAMES ALLEN’S RED SKINS TO RED RIPPER TO AVOID MARGINALISING PEOPLE https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-16/red-ripper-and-cheekies-the-new-name-of-allens-red-skin-chicos/12887278 REDSKINS REBRANDING ACCIDENTALLY NAMES LOLLY AFTER NOTORIOUS SERIAL KILLER https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/food/redskins-rebranding-accidentally-names-lolly-after-notorious-serial-killer-c-1598105 ALLEN'S RED RIPPERZ LOLLIES 330G https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/682191/allen-s-red-ripperz-lollies NEW POLL FINDS 9 IN 10 NATIVE AMERICANS AREN’T OFFENDED BY REDSKINS NAME https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/new-poll-finds-9-in-10-native-americans-arent-offended-by-redskins-name/2016/05/18/3ea11cfa-161a-11e6-924d-838753295f9a_story.html NATIVE AMERICAN GUARDIAN’S ASSOCIATION https://www.nagaeducation.org/ MISCONCEPTION: “REDSKINS / REDMEN IS RACIST” https://www.nagaeducation.org/misconception-redskins-is-racist MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

What does Makarrata really mean? I’ll give you a clue – it’s to do with something that Aboriginal warriors typically carry. But first, why are we interested what Makarrata means? Well, it’s in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, something that Australians will be voting on this year, at least in part. The one-page, single A4 sheet statement can be downloaded from their website. It states, “We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.” That’s what we’re voting on later this year. “We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.” What is Makarrata? “Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well... If we ask Google, “What is Makarrata?”, we get a fairly sanitised version unsurprisingly: “A coming together after a struggle, facing the facts of wrongs and living again in peace.” Oh, how nice. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it can also mean “a treaty or agreement”. What if we ask AI, ChatGPT: “It encapsulates a complex and multifaceted concept that goes beyond a simple translation. It conveys the ideas of resolution, agreement, coming together after a conflict, and seeking justice and healing.” Yes, yes, yes, very good stuff. But hang on, what if we check the authoritative word of Australian’s national broadcaster, the ABC. This is an article from 2017, “What is Makarrata? It’s more than a synonym for treaty”. The article states, “’Makarrata has so many layers of meaning’, says” – I apologise, I cannot pronounce her name, but she’s the principal of Arnhem Land’s Yirrkala School. She stated, “The first one, and the main one, is peace after a dispute. Makarrata literally means a spear penetrating, usually the thigh, of a person that has done wrong… so that they cannot hunt anymore, that they cannot walk properly, that they cannot run properly; to maim them, to settle them down, to calm them — that’s Makarrata.” Ouch! Here’s the Encyclopedia Britannica definition: “Makarrata – Trial method. During a ritualised meeting, the accused ran the gauntlet of his accusers, who threw spears at him; a wounded thigh was taken as proof of guilt.” Hmm. And here’s the final report on the matter commissioned by the Parliament of Australia in 2018. “Section 5. Other issues raised by the Statement from the Heart. “5.11: The makarrata ceremony is where men get speared in the leg, which symbolises that there is no more bad feeling between the two clan groups and no further intention to break the law. The main participants will then do a totemic dance. Spears will be thrown at the dancers: these may be dodged. The Makarrata concludes with a spear being thrust through the leg of the lawbreakers. By taking the spear in the leg and having the blood flow down into the land—in front of witnesses—you make the peace. When they have a Makarrata, it is under the law. If someone tries to keep fighting after the Makarrata, the law will punish him or her severely (likely by death).” If this gets voted into parliament, exactly which politicians will be participating again and how literally will they be interpreting the meaning? Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated, and these are his exact words: “On behalf of the Australian Labor Party, I commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full”. Don’t get me wrong, I love spears, but I prefer that they don’t get jabbed into people’s thighs. I’m all for open dialogue, but why should we support a term that has such violent connotations? THE ULURU STATEMENT https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/ WHAT IS A MAKARRATA? THE YOLNGU WORD IS MORE THAN A SYNONYM FOR TREATY https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-10/makarrata-explainer-yolngu-word-more-than-synonym-for-treaty/8790452 MAKARRATA: TRIAL METHOD (AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL PEOPLES: LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL CONTROL) https://www.britannica.com/topic/makarrata OTHER ISSUES RAISED BY THE STATEMENT FROM THE HEART https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Former_Committees/Constitutional_Recognition_2018/ConstRecognition/Final_Report/section?id=committees%2Freportjnt%2F024213%2F26677 ANTHONY ALBANESE HAS COMMITTED TO THE ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART IN FULL https://7news.com.au/news/indigenous-australians/anthony-albanese-has-committed-to-the-uluru-statement-from-the-heart-this-is-what-it-means-c-6946829 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Have you ever wondered that you just might be the only being in existence? This thought often crosses my mind. Solipsism, as it’s called, is the philosophical idea that the only thing provable, is your own mind. Everything you observe outside your mind, whether that be a waterfall, or another person, or the feeling of sunshine on your skin, its very existence is uncertain, or perhaps even nonexistent. It could all just be an illusion, or a self-delusion. You might be the only entity in this universe. Heck, you might be the universe. Of course, none of this is provable. It’s an unresolvable question. But if solipsism is real, then you aren’t currently listening to me speaking my thoughts. I don’t exist. These are your thoughts being projected in your mind. But it still begs the question, “Why?”. If you’re the only one in existence, what purpose is there in feigning the existence of others? It boggles the mind. HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT THE ONLY CONSCIOUS BEING IN THE UNIVERSE? The solipsism problem, also called the problem of other minds, lurks at the heart of science, philosophy, religion, the arts and the human condition. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-i-know-im-not-the-only-conscious-being-in-the-universe/ SOLIPSISM AND THE PROBLEMOF OTHER MINDS https://iep.utm.edu/solipsis/ #shorts

What happened to the new laws? They’re GONE! Perhaps surprisingly, Western Australia has scrapped the new divisive cultural heritage laws that were designed to protect Aboriginal cultural sites by forcing farmers and other landholders to pay for costly cultural surveys whenever they made changes to their own land, essentially making farming unfeasible and overly expensive. Thank goodness common sense prevailed. The laws were only in operation for 39 days! We even got a rare apology from a sitting leader with Premier Roger Cook actually saying sorry. But that shows you the benefit of ordinary legislation over constitutional changes, for example, those proposed in the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Those changes would be much more permanent and much harder to revert. It would require public outrage and another referendum costing taxpayers a further hundreds of millions of dollars. Amazingly, the Western Australian Government openly apologised for the new cultural laws, with Premier Cook stating, “Put simply, the laws went too far, were too prescriptive, too complicated, and placed unnecessary burdens on everyday Western Australian property owners. I understand that the legislation has unintentionally caused stress, confusion and division in the community, and for that I’m sorry.” Aboriginal affairs minister, Tony Buti, said, “We have listened to the concerns raised and taken the time to assess its impact and now found a way forward that is fair, reasonable and responsible.” Even the Chief Executive of the National Native Title Council, Jamie Lowe, stated, “The actual implementation of this has been an absolute disaster. Everyone has their issues with the laws. You get the result of this: A waste of taxpayers’ money, people’s time and energy and a net result of zero… The arrogance was there for all to see. First Nations groups didn’t want to be consulted to, they want to be worked with, and they want to actually be there throughout all these discussions.” Ultimately, the Government have decided to revert to the original 50-year-old legislation with Premier Cook stating, “This is a government that listens to everyone in the community.” BULLS**T! “That is why, based on community feedback and following serious consideration, I and the government have made a decision to overturn the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act. We will restore the original Act from 1972 with some simple and effective amendments. Importantly, all WA property owners can continue to operate and manage their property just like they have for the past 50 years, without any fear of unknowingly disrupting cultural heritage sites.” But perhaps the most important thing that we learnt, is that when farmers get angry, when they leave their properties and gather en masse, they have the power to change the government. Well done to the farmers, and all those who supported them. The new laws are GONE! WA PREMIER ROGER COOK AXES ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE LAWS AFTER OUTCRY BY LANDHOLDERS https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/08/wa-repeals-axes-aboriginal-cultural-heritage-laws-premier-roger-cook ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/ WESTERN AUSTRALIA DUMPS CONTROVERSIAL ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE LAWS AFTER ‘BOTCHED’ ROLLOUT https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/western-australia-dumps-controversial-aboriginal-cultural-heritage-laws-after-botched-rollout/news-story/b5ac421a07e6a195cb9d14e1007fe24e MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

How to alienate your customers. This is Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas Airways. Big businesses, at least here in the Western world, are finding more and more ways to dismiss their customer base by supporting divisive political and social issues. Australian retail giant Woolworths, for example, have publicly shown their support for an Indigenous Voice to parliament, which Australians will be voting on later this year. Anheuser-Busch, you probably know them for their Budweiser brand, have made certain corporate decisions of late that have not sat well with their beer-drinking customer base. Who would have thought? Australian mega conglomerate Wesfarmers, owners of Kmart, Target, Officeworks, and Bunnings, just to name a few, are also publicly supporting and donating money towards the Indigenous Voice campaign. And of course, the previously mentioned Qantas, unsurprisingly, is also a public proponent of the Voice. Unfortunately for these companies, recent polling suggests that most of their customers do not support the Voice. Actually, support for the Voice seems to be somewhat in free fall. Big W, who are owned by Woolworths, have actually ditched their in-store announcements that supported the Voice due to feedback from staff and customers. So what benefit is there for these companies to support such divisive issues? I presume that they think that there are some political or social brownie points to be scored. By feigning interest in these issues, they hope to get more business. That has to be it, doesn’t it? But it’s failed! If your customer base don’t support your cause, then what benefit is there in promoting it? At best, you’ll keep the same number of customers, at worst, some of your customers will boycott your product as we’ve seen with Budweiser. I don’t have much to say about this except for one suggestion to big business, and it’s not even that controversial. Big business should stick to... BUSINESS! It’s okay for a for-profit company to stay politically neutral. Actually, I would recommend it. Woolworths should stick to selling groceries. “At Woolworths, we believe in great food at great prices for ALL Australians.” Yes, great! That’s perfect. You don’t need to alienate your customers by supporting divisive political issues. Just stick to what you’re good at… Groceries! “At Budweiser, we make great-tasting beer for ALL Americans.” Great! You don’t need to stick a pride flag on it. Nobody’s going to get angry at you for just using plain old beer bottles. “At Qantas, we fly planes!” Great, thank you! Your message is perfectly clear. You don’t need to say anything else about non-flying topics. Big business? Stick to business! RECONCILIATION AT WOOLWORTHS GROUP https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/au/en/reconciliation/reconciliation-at-woolworths-group.html BUD LIGHT CONTINUES TO EMPOWER LGBTQ+ OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES ACROSS AMERICA https://www.anheuser-busch.com/newsroom/bud-light-and-the-nglcc-continue-to-empower-lgbtq-owned-small-businesses-across-america INDIGENOUS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT: WESFARMERS DONATES $2 MILLION TO YES CAMPAIGN https://thewest.com.au/politics/federal-politics/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-wesfarmers-donates-2-million-to-yes-campaign-c-11113223 VOICE TO PARLIAMENT POLLING RESULTS TRACKER https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/ng-interactive/2023/aug/07/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-poll-results-polling-referendum-tracker-newspoll-essential-yougov-news-polls-by-state-australia BIG W DITCHES IN-STORE ANNOUNCEMENTS THAT SUPPORTED INDIGENOUS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/21/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-big-w-in-store-announcement PRIME MINISTER’S RELATIONSHIP WITH QANTAS FAILS THE PUB TEST https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/mike-oconnor/opinion-albos-relationship-with-qantas-fails-the-pub-test/news-story/e5b9ac61f9122fa851c0090fc5c27edf MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn