OTG WE 4 May 2025

Australia's Labor part re-elected

My hopes were shattered. The polls were not wrong, but not because the swing against Labor was greater than expected, but because they failed to predict the more significant swing towards Labor. Yes, the bumbling, hapless, mendacious Albanese government has won a second term with an increased majority. How was this possible, given its singular failure to run the country effectively? 

There will be much soul-searching in the coming weeks and months. There is no doubt that the campaign was mismanaged by the Coalition and was well managed by Labor. Peter Dutton as leader of the opposition, has accepted responsibility, as he should. He does not have to resign as leader as he lost his own seat. A most undignified end to a 20-year political career. I will leave my comments short, nd let the dust settle before drawing more conclusions. Alas, my flag is at half mast today.

Johannes Leak cartoon summarises my thoughts exactly.

But, obviously, the majority did not agree with me, or Johannes.

Australian election tomorrow.

After a campaign of some six weeks, Australia's federal election takes place tomorrow. Polls indicate the re-election of Labor under the leadership of Anthony Albanese, most likely in a minority government with The Greens and Teals. All the polls, however are national polls, and seats are decided in individual electorates. It is unusual, but has occure just a few years ago in 2019, where the national polls were all wrong.  So, I for one am hoping, that history will repeat itself. In any objective measure this Labor government does not deserve another term. They have mismanaged the economy, have allowed the rise of anti-semitism and social division, have trashed relationship with Israel, have sucked up to China, and neglected defence. It goes on, but I won't bore you. If you live in Australia you know ,and if you don't , you don't care. 

But here is a recent Liberal party ad that highlights Albanese's bumbling manner.

Can you afford another three years of this? pic.twitter.com/QQG7ST9udB

— Liberal Party (@LiberalAus) May 1, 2025

Is Islam a religion of peace?

Despite the oft-quoted claim that "Islam is a religion of peace", observers of Europe's experiment with Muslim immigration have convinced many that it is not. Certainly, the crime rate in Europe following this experiment has risen in direct proportion to the increase in Muslim immigrants. Yes, I know immigrants are always troubled souls who find it difficult to integrate, so it should not be surprising if crime levels increased. But, it is much worse than that. Europe has experienced many waves of migrants from all parts of the world. In the sixties, it was Indians and Pakistanis. Then, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, there was a great wave of Eastern Europeans, Poles, Romanians and Ukrainians into Western Europe.

In these earlier waves, there was no great rise in crime rates. The most significant rise has occurred following the wave of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa. These migrants were mainly Muslims, coming from a different culture, and consequently, they have not integrated well. Crime rates, including sexual assault, have risen steeply. 

Should we therefore conclude that the rise is due to the religion? Perhaps not. In a recent video, Konstantin Kisin analyses these questions following his recent trip to Uzbekistan. He notes that although Uzbekistan is a mainly Muslim country, it has avoided the crime rates that have plagued the West. He concludes that Western governments have failed to control the Islamists, the religious zealots who advocate global Jihad against non Muslims.  Uzbekistan, in contrast, has succeeded in isolating the Islamists by insisting that non-Islamist Muslims are not allowed to be intimidated or coerced. This is achieved by strict rules against the Islamist dogma. For example, Burkas are not permitted in public. 

So perhaps the religion is not to blame; it is Islamism,  the violent corruption of Islam that is the source of the problems in Europe. The lesson of Uzbekistan must be heeded by all of Europe, and soon. Without significant moves to control the Islamists, Europe is destined to become a battleground with the Islamists gaining ever more population clout.

Here is Konstantin Kisin's video. Well worth the 10 minutes.

 

Trump's first 100 days

I couldn't avoid covering this, too, but I am sure you have already heard multiple analyses of Trump's first 100 days. No doubt, the analyses have varied widely depending on the degree of TDS of the person doing the analysis. Not only the US, but the world is polarised. I cannot remember a time when the performance of the US presidents was so widely covered by the media. Trump is a larger-than-life character, for better and for worse. Let me make just a few observations, as so much has already been said.

The Good

The southern border has been closed, DOGE has uncovered significant savings, and the deportation of the violent illegal immigrants is progressing. 

His executive orders have progressed his agenda on stopping DEI, restarting energy production, removal of Climate Change red tape. He has addressed anti-Semitism on College campuses. 

His support for Israel has released weapons, and he has given Israel free rein to run its defensive war against Hamas. Under Trump, the US has taken direct action against the Houthis to liberate the shipping lanes through the Red Sea. He has negotiated favourable deals for the US for its use of the Panama Canal.

The Bad

Not all has gone well, though. He has started fights where they were not required, for example, Canada and Greenland. In Canada, this has had a disastrous impact on Canada's elections, causing the reelection of Canada's liberal government, reversing a 20-point lead by the conservative party. 

His bombastic approach to foreign affairs has caused unnecessary friction with allies. A more diplomatic approach could have yielded the same outcomes without the bad blood.

The Ugly

There are a couple of areas where Trump's strategy and approach have been terrible. The first is Ukraine-Russia. Commendably, Trump entered the fray to try to bring peace to the region. This was never going to be easy. His approach seemed to be to 'butter up ' Putin to get him to the table. That may have been justified, had he succeeded. But at the same time, he chose to distance himself from Zelensky. This was not necessary and was counterproductive. Putin, seeing Trump's apparent willingness to jettison the close relationship with Ukraine, only served to make Putin demand more. Not very artful deal-making. At this stage, we have had Trump move his position toward Ukraine and threaten Putin with more sanctions. It is a game in progress, so too hard to call. But it has been ugly.

The second and perhaps even uglier issue has been the handling of the Tariffs. With a rather upbeat 'Liberation Day' announcement, Trump effectively started a war against all US trading partners. Naturally, this had serious ramifications in international stock markets. A totally unnecessary own goal. He has now chosen to delay the implementation for all countries except China. Of course, that is a good idea, but he should have anticipated the consequences of his big Liberation Day hit-them-all-at-once strategy and introduced the tariffs for trading partners on a gradual basis. China remains a big issue, and Trump has already modified even the China policy by removing electronics and now some cars. Yes, this is also ugly. This tariff stuff-up is unfortunate and has not yet been sorted. 

So we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Given the pace at which Trump has been implementing new policies, some errors are not surprising. Hopefully, he will be able to learn from these errors. But I suspect not. Trump is Trump. We knew he was impulsive and insensitive to consequences. His approach has always been to try to break his way through a problem, and if it doesn't work, reverse and try another approach. That can and has looked messy.

Here is one analysis of Trump's first 100 days from Alan Dershowitz, once a Democrat but now an Independent.

COVID conspiracies transform into Facts

The White House official COVID-19 Site has turned ideas demonised as "conspiracy theories" but a few years ago into today's accepted 'facts'. We have seen this coming. Many of my recent posts have highlighted the results of studies that questioned the 'official facts' relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

There were too many ideas that have now been proven wrong, but let me note a few; - 

• The origin of COVID is believed to be a Wuhan wet market with animal-to-human transfer
• that lockdowns were effective
• that masks are effective in preventing transmission
• that vaccines prevent infection
• that vaccines prevent hospitalisation
• that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are not safe
• that side effects are low and justify vaccination even for young children
• etc.

Unfortunately, the reaction of the authorities was herd-like panic. Most Western countries adopted a lockdown approach, used by China, but against their prior pandemic plans. The approach to vaccination was shameful. Authorities coerced the population to inject themselves with a vaccine that had far less testing than any other vaccine in history. The unvaccinated were vilified, and those protesting vaccination were vilified. The accepted human rights of citizens were supplanted by mandates. Mandates restricting their ability to marry, to attend funerals, to visit dying relatives in hospital, and to travel. We have yet to see the elites who imposed these restrictions even acknowledge and apologise for their errors, let alone be held accountable. Perhaps it will happen, but I won't hold my breath.

Here is the recent video from Dr John Campbell about the White House COVID site acknowledging the errors of the past.

Israel has new strategy on Gaza

While I have not seen any announcements of this, I have seen a few articles highlighting Israel's new strategy on Gaza. The news media have concentrated on the ongoing negotiations to try to release the remaining hostages. With Israel's demand for Hamas' total abdication in exchange for the end to hostilities, there is little incentive for Hamas to release more hostages. After all, they want to remain in power. 

But that may be the side show. Israel has taken some dramatic steps in its battle against Hamas. Some time ago, Israel stopped all UN aid from entering the country. The justification for this was that Hamas was commandeering the aid and instead of distributing it to those in need, was taking what it wanted and then selling what was left to the highest bidders. Despite initial protests from the world, to my surprise, the issue has been forgotten. But of course, it means the supply of food must be diminishing, and will no doubt become a serious issue. It has been reported that Israel will now take responsibility for distributing all aid in Gaza. This is a game-changer, as it removes Hamas from the game. It prevents Hamas from trading on this, and also removes the influence Hamas gains by being the sole source of food. 

At the same time Israel has not withdrawn its military. On the contrary, the troops have been active. They are int eh process of isolating Rafah, by creating a 2 km wide, 14 km long corridor. 

Until recently, the border between Egypt and Gaza has been very porous. Egypt has played a duplicitous role, pretending that it prevented armaments from entering via the Philadelphi corridor, while turning a blind eye to it. Israel's invasion of Rafah and the corridor has proved this, exposing the large number of tunnels that were used to arm Hamas.  Israel's new corridor is some kilometres from Rafah, dividing Gaza into two distinct zones. We have yet to see how Israel will exploit this division, but it will certainly enable Israel to prevent weaponry from entering Northern Gaza, and also allow its troops to clear Rafah of its Hamas terrorists. 

Here is a short video highlighting these changes.

 

WEF's Schwab in Hot Water?

Klaus Schwab has stepped won as chairman of the World Economic Forum, following serious claims of governance malpractice. The claims were made by an anonymous letter reported by the WSJ as being from existing employees of the organisation. Naturally, the Schwab family has denied all claims and threatened to sue those making the claim. Many observers of the WEF, yes, me too, will feel some 'Schadenfreude" at this development. After all, it is the WEF that seems to have appointed itself as the de facto rulers of the world, dictating future world developments to us plebs. The WEF has a membership of 5000 of the richest /most powerful members of the world. Most are unelected, and certainly none have been elected to make any decisions as to the future of the world. Yet, they gather each year for a talkfest and make declarations that are reported widely. Their declarations seem to set some sort of agenda for those members who have leadership roles in some countries' governments. So yes, they have a disproportionate influence on our lives. 

I do not care whether their plans have any merit at all. Some may, perhaps, but many are clearly abhorrent. For example, they advocate censorship and the elimination of ownership.  I object to the influence they have managed to gather by bribing the elites. These bribes take the form of bestowing kudos on members.  The organisation should be boycotted, and indeed any members' kudos should be negated, by boycotting those who have been members of the WEF. However, that will all take time.

But for now, we can rejoice that the WEF leadership has been 'hoist on their own petard'. Their staff are now accusing their leadership of the same sort of governance issues that have been used to bring down many organisations, think Black Lives Matter, for example.

Here is a short report on the claims against Schwab.

OTG Week ending 27 Apr 2025

It Must be Climate Change

Like an unforgettable earworm, "it must be Climate Change" has been assailing us from every corner of our media exposure. It has become the go-to phrase to explain whatever weather-related issue arises. A flood here, a cyclone there,  an algal bloom, an unusually hot day or even an unusually cold day. It seems there is no environmental event that Climate Change has not caused.  Worse still, there are many nodding heads, agreeing. Heads of politicians, media commentators, business entrepreneurs, large renewables portfolios, mind you, and of course, the experts, the academics. So is this correct? How can one even consider that those we always rely on for our view of the world are wrong? They wouldn't collude to fool us? They couldn't, could they? 

I don't believe it is collusion. However, they are acting in concert to mislead us. Some do not do it intentionally, but certainly some will avoid exposing information they do possess that would contradict their statements. Lying by omission. 

Like all great movements, the Climate Catastrophe phenomenon will unwind over time. Just as we are now seeing the COVID hysteria unwinding with a slow trickle of information exposing the sheer lies we were fed "for our own good", so too will the Climate Catastrophe dogma unwind. But as it has been going for much longer, its unwinding will take longer. 

Nevertheless, some green shoots of truth are emerging.

The Prager U recently focused on this issue with a video titled "It must be Climate Change".

As usual it is a rather short video, but well worth a view.

The robots are running, sort of

In a world first Beijing hosted a half marathon for robots. I guess it had to come. This was an opportunity to gauge the status of humanoid robots, at least as to their ability to run. It was a somewhat comical affair with many robots failing the task in hilarious ways. Battery life was the most obvious problem for many, but the sheer task of coordination was enough to bring many down to earth. The win, hail  the hero, was a Chinese candidate with the cute name of Tiangong Ultra. Young Tiangong finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes — a long way to go before it can surpass the men's winner who finished in 1 hour and 2 minutes.  Here is a video summary of the race.

Yet, we should be aware that this is a massive development and without doubt future models will soon overtake human capabilities. 

When humanoid robots combine with AGI (artificial general intelligence), all human work on the planet will be obsolete, unlike global warming, which is the ultimate threat to humanity. 

China in Chaos

Trump's high tariffs on China are having a dramatic effect on China. I covered some of this in last week's post so won't belabor it here. This second video tells the story. 

No doubt this has a long way to run, and the consequences may not be welcome. A China under pressure will likely resonate across the world. 

A picture paints 1000 words

Lies, Damn Lies and politicians

In the throes of an upcoming election, politicians are sometimes forgiven for 'gilding the lily'.

But IMHO, our Labor government is setting records on the eve of the upcoming May 3 election. Pinocchio could no longer walk into a room had he chosen to tell so many porkies.

Of course it is not just the Albo, the current PM, it is his entire team. Nor is it just the Labor party, or its close acolytes. It includes the media, always left-leaning, failing to do their due diligence to ensure the electorate knows the 'facts'. Yes, I know 'facts' are elusive. Yet in this campaign, there has been scant scrutiny by the free press to ensure honesty. This would be somewhat forgivable if they applied an equal standard to right-leaning parties. But it is not so. There remains a blatant bias in our left leaning media. 

SO what are these 'untruths'? Lets look at a few ; -

• Labor have repeatedly claimed the LNP coalition's nuclear program will cost $600B. the only basis for this figure, sort of, is a costing supplied by an anti-nuclear lobby group who claim the cost not at $600B but within the range $110 B to $ 600 B. 
• Labor then claims the LNP opposition will pay for this $600B by cutting services
• Labor claims the LNP is going to cut Medicare, with absolutely NO justification
• Labor claims the LNP will cut the public service with NO justification
• Labor claims the coalition will cut the number of 'urgent care' clinics. LNP say no it will not
• ... and many more

And, it is working! The lies may not be believed, but they have been effective in deflecting scrutiny, of their own record, which has been abysmal.

I guess that is politics, and it is a challenge that every opposition leader faces. How to control the narrative. How to ensure your own policy agenda wins hearts and minds. At this stage, Labour seems to be in the ascendant, but there are two weeks to go.

OTG Week ending 20 April 2025

Tariffs are hurting China

World Press reaction to Trump's Liberation Day tariffs was explosive. Every pundit with access to any form of media foists their opinion on their audience. World stock markets also reacted strongly to the uncertainty, with substantial falls. Contrary to predicted falls, the bond market reacted to the uncertainty by rising. In the end, mainly due to the rise in the Bond rate, the Trump team reacted by introducing a 90-day delay for all countries except China. That had the effect of quelling the markets, but volatility remains high. The anti-Trump mob has been relieved that Trump's honeymoon is over. Trump voters have not reacted strongly, willing to support him at least for now. 

It goes without saying that the introduction of the tariffs has not been handled with finesse. Why not give 90 days' notice in the first place? And why do it worldwide, when you could first address the countries with major issues and leave the minor offenders for later? I guess the honeymoon is over; Trump has been hurt by the way he has handled tariff policy. Yet, most economists agree that too many countries have been calling for free trade while imposing unfair barriers to free trade to favour their own products. China is one of the most visible and obvious offenders. It does not allow many of the free trade transactions, eg real estate, that it exploits in other countries. It has also supported the widespread theft of IP from around the world. For decades, the US and the rest of the world have allowed China to ignore the accepted rules. At least till now. 

So despite the way it has been done, Trump has fundamental support for calling out China. While China is trying to pay hardball by raising reciprocal tariffs on the US, this policy will hurt China more. 

China experts are speaking out on the serious economic consequence Trump's tariff policy is already having on China. While Trump's honeymoon is over, China's miracle economy looks doomed.

Here is a video providing some insight on China's economic dilemma

UK accepts only biological women are women

If anyone from any era before the 21st Century woke up in today's world to learn that it took the Supreme Court of the UK to rule on "what is a woman," they would have thought the world had gone insane. Many of us would agree with them. It shakes me to the core that this has to happen in what is otherwise a mostly rational world. I say mostly because there are other areas where common sense seems to have left our societies. 

But I digress.  For today, at least, common sense has won out. So-called 'transgender women', ie men who call themselves women, are, according to UK law, men. So this nonsense of self-identification of one's gender is legally dead in the UK.

 It will no doubt take a long time for legislation in the UK to catch up, and indeed for the gender fanatics to give up their gender zealotry, but legally, and that is significant, the battle is done in the UK. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand, etc., the battle is yet to be won. The UK decision will certainly help the fight in these countries. 

For today, we can all celebrate that the very woke UK has had its transgender activism shot down in this significant way. Given that transgender activism has been such a strong pillar of wokism, perhaps the whole agenda will collapse. 

Here is a video covering the UK Supreme Court decision.

Another mRNA vaccine halted

I am aware that we have had two vaccine articles in a row, but I feel I need to share this one. This time, it is the novel mRNA vaccine against RSV. RSV is a virus that infects millions of people worldwide. It can be mild or quite serious, especially for infants. Older adults are generally immune unless they have other serious conditions. The recent test of an mRNA vaccine against the disease has been 'paused' due to serious side effects in some 12% of test subjects. The key issue is that mRNA vaccines, though easy to manufacture, have a significant drawback. Since mRNA vaccines invoke the body's cells to manufacture the antigen, there is no control over the dose of antigen introduced. Therefore, the body can overproduce the antigen. 

Here is a video summarising the recent trial.

Flu vaccine efficacy is also negative!

The widespread scrutiny of the novel mRNA COVID vaccines has uncovered a range of problems. I have posted widely on some of the studies concluding that the vaccines should be suspended due to the risk-reward ratio for virtually all age groups, and most recently, because the use of multiple boosters causes weakness in the immune system, resulting in negative efficacy. Those receiving boosters are more likely to catch the disease. 

Most recently, the Cleveland Clinic in the US has reported on a study on the effectiveness of last year's flu vaccine. Surprise and shock, the flu vaccine also exhibited negative efficacy. Those vaccinated were more likely to catch the flu! 

Dr John Campbell has the story.

Pinocchio vs The Incredible Hulk

Image created by Flux Schnell AI image generator

In what should be like a match between The Incredible Hulk and Pinocchio after the first 3 weeks of the six-week election campaign, Pinocchio is leading in the polls. Pinocchio in this metaphor is Anthony Albanese, Australia's Labor PM, who has been leading the country for the past three years. The Incredible Hulk is Peter Dutton, leader of the coalition between Australia's Liberal (note the naming in Australia is for traditional Liberal values and equates to the Republicans in the US and Conservatives in the UK).  My metaphor is not intended to imply size, it is the difference in their case for winning the election. 

Albanese's government has failed to steer the ship of state towards prosperity. On the contrary, on virtually every measure, Albanese's Labor government has failed its duty. Focusing narrowly on just economic measures, the Australian Financial Review published a piece titled "These 12 charts show how the economy has changed under Labor".

These 12 measures show the changes in economic measures over the 3 years of the Labor term of government; - 

• Price Pain - Consumer prices increased by 11 %, causing a cost-of-living crisis 

• Interest rates have surged from 0.25% to 4% ( Mortgage interest as % of gross wages has jumped from 2.5% to 5.5%)
• Temporarily Back in Black then out, Trade surplus for 2 years, great result, but henceforth forecast deficits for a decade
• Growth Slumps Annual growth has dropped from just under 4% to just 1.3% pa

• Big Government Gets Bigger. Growth in government has exploded, with the public sector reaching a record 29% of GDP

• Job boom: Unemployment rates have fallen and remained low, but this was only possible due to the growth in non-market jobs, health education, and the public sector, supported by government spending. Market job growth has shrunk.

• Productivity Slumps. GDP per hour worked has dropped by 6%
• Purchasing power shrinks. Despite annual wage growth, the growth of 4.3% was less than inflation over the period. Australians have been in a per capita recession over the past 3 years having and are suffering a cost of living crisis.

Any objective analysis would mark these results as an F. No doubt, there are many factors that determine a person's vote. The economic results are only one of these factors, but the election campaign, so far, has not focused on these factors at all. Most people are certainly aware of the cost of living, but The Incredible Hulk has not hit out to emphasise these terrible results. As for the PM's approach, let's put it this way, his nose is growing rapidly!

Musk Unleashed

Elon Musk is well-known as the richest man in the world. He is a successful entrepreneur who has achieved his success by developing products that people want. PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and many more in the wings. He is a proven technology leader, with the genius to see what will be needed.

He was beloved of all, especially the climate-obsessed Democrats, as he made electric cars viable. But he lost favour when he purchased Twitter (renamed X) and re-established it as a free speech 'market square'. Before Musk's purchase, Twitter was a liberal platform that could and did censor right-leaning opinions. After he joined Donald Trump's team as the coordinator of DOGE, the Democrats went full-bore. Musk was made the bête noire of the democrats, decried and slandered at every opportunity. The extremists started attacking Tesla dealerships. It seems "Hell hath no fury like a Democrat scorned"!

That is by way of background. In his DOGE role Musk has taken the stage and not shied from public commentary. Given his success with technology, we would do well to listen to him.

In this short video he makes some very cogent observations on migration and free speech. Although aimed at Europe, it applies equally to other Western democracies, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.

It is just 6 minutes; well worth a view.

 

Who ran the Biden presidency?

I know it is an eon ago, but are you curious about who really ran the US during Biden's presidency? After his meltdown in his presidential debate, even the Democratic leadership had to admit that Biden was not up to the job, that he was suffering from some form of dementia. Of course, this was not a surprise to anyone. He had been stumbling and mumbling over virtually his whole presidency. Hey, he had been elected despite hiding in a basement during his campaign. No doubt, many people knew he was mentally 'challenged' for years. Certainly, his wife and son would have known, and if they had been guided by what was best for the country or what was best for their father/husband's health, they should have stopped him from running. It seems personal ambition won over moral principle. Today, that is all moot, he has gone, and much of the damage he did is being redressed. Nevertheless, there is a question that many are still asking. Who is responsible for the last four years? Who were the decision makers? Does the US require legislation to prevent the power of the president being usurped? 

I am not the only one wondering about these questions. Slowly, much too slowly, leading Democrat's are 'fessing up' regarding their knowledge of Biden's mental issues. Some are also shedding light on who was running the country. Here is a discussion between Lindi Li and Dave Reuben about this question. Lindi was a Democrat insider who has lost confidence in the party, and is revealing party secrets. 

OTG WE 13 Apr 2025

Extinction extinction!

The cryptic headline actually makes sense, I think. In what is a world first, Bioscience research group Colossal Biosciences has created a litter of Dire Wolves. Dire Wolves became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age some 12,000 years ago. Yes, and extinct species have been resurrected. This concept was explored in the Jurassic Park series of movies, so science fiction has prepared our society for what has become science fact. It is a remarkable achievement and opens new horizons. it heralds to possibility of the resurrection of other species. I am not sure if that is an idea we should pursue without extreme caution. But the more significant opportunity is to prevent the extinction of any species. We can now record the gene sequences of any species, and if required, resurrect them. 

The process is interesting, but perhaps a bit more technical than intended for my readers. But of course, there is a promotional video by the very proud team who have achieved this result.

Vaccine negative immunity

What is negative vaccine immunity? It is an increase in infection due to repeated vaccination. It is a good reason to not vaccinate. The concept of negative immunity is not a new one. It is a known response to repeated vaccination by a vaccine that has a similar effect on the immune system. Why am I raising this? There is compelling evidence that repeated COVID-19 vaccination through boosters is causing negative immunity. This is a flashing red light to STOP boosters. Unfortunately, in many countries, including Australia, health authorities continue to advocate regular boosters for almost all age groups.

Here is a video that covers the evidence for this effect featuring Dr John Campbell and Professor Robert Clancy.

Avi Yemini 1 - eSafety Commissioner 0

In a small but significant victory, Avi Yemini has forced Australia's eSafety czar to obey the law. It seems Avi picked up the eSafety commissioner's use of WhatsApp's self-destructing message feature. This is illegal as public officers must keep auditable records. Given the eSafety Czar has been acting as self-appointed censor of anti-woke activists, this is a win for Avi and more importantly for 'we the people'.

Avi's victory is but a small one in what has become an extended war. No doubt more skirmishes will follow.

Here is a concise report on the action.

Is the Tariff strategy working?

Following worldwide stock market turmoil that resulted in the destruction of hundreds of billions of dollars, we have experienced a pause. In Australia, after a fall of 4% yesterday, we have had a 2.4% recovery today. While welcome, it is not the end of our volatility. After such rapid drops, there will be aftershocks.

Has Trump done anything to mitigate his policies? There were some rumors at one stage that he was going to introduce a phase-in arrangement, allowing countries to negotiate their trade policies over 3 months before the tariffs would take effect. That would be a great idea, but it has been dismissed. Trump and his team have dug in and are willing to take the heat. At least for the time being. But some commentators are optimistic that Trump will overcome the current torrent of negativity. Many say the opposite; that Trump is like a bull in a China shop, his tariff policy is 'economic madness' and will set back the world's economy for decades. I am but an observer, and hope they are wrong. In the meantime, here is a more optimistic view.

Trump's Golden Age

With the world's stock markets plummeting, you may question the wisdom of the headline. Trump's tariff policies announced last week have opened up the floodgates. Trump argues he has only raised tariffs on trading partners to redress what he has said was unfair treatment of the USA in the past. There is a good case for this argument, and Trump has made every effort to explain it. Nevertheless, to every action there is a reaction, and markets have reacted in anticipation of trading problems. Markets have reacted somewhat predictably in their usual way, panic. Like a herd of bison, they are off and running at any such whiff of danger. Once started, they are hard to stop.

It is hard to predict what will happen. Talk of recession, even depression, is circulating, seeding panic. I tend to see this as an overreaction, but markets can be self-realising. To some extent there is mischief making, as always, with anti Trump media always ready to blame him for causing chaos. Trump, unpredictable as ever, may well take steps to stop the bleeding, but at this stage he is standing firm.

Could Trump's tariff policy have been handled without causing the severe market reaction? Most likely a phase-in period, over which countries could review their US trade policies, would have been preferable. That could have avoided today's market panic. 

While the method may not have been ideal, the foundation of the Trump policy is valid. The case for this change in tariff policy is covered well by Victor Davis Hanson in the following video.