When I was a lad, life was simpler, harder yet straightforward and honest. As the world is flooded with newfangled gadgetry and newfangled woke spoke, I find myself looking back on the post war years with a strange regret. Life is so newfangled that it is a complex place of ever-increasing innovation, and gratitude for the simple things in life is a far distant memory. We should consider how imprisoned we have become in this newfangled world which has rewarded us with so much and yet taken even more by stealth.
As our freedom of movement, speech and even thought is being slowly but surely stolen from us, I feel as though we are under some kind of intoxicating drug of newfangledness imposed by the nerds at the behest of their hidden masters, and I fear that this stupour which has overtaken us, may lead us to craving its comforting numbness, and to forgetting what we had in times gone by before we woke up into perpetual slumber.
Read more: When newfangled stuff didn't exist and summer wine was not some whine
When nations all over the world are being led by idiots, fools and people in ivory towers, laws enforced by over zealous generals and troops all too eager to do the government's bidding....... it seems timely to look at what went wrong and consider a bit of deja vu.
People Power. Being slowly destroyed by governments all over the world. The right and ability to fight back.
It was the militia who won the American Revolutionary War ...... no wonder the American government wants to get rid of the guns and the right to form a militia. And it is a tragedy that in so many Nations they have already succeeded.
Without the right to form a militia, the people have a very reduced power to fight back against a " perceived" government overbearance....
How many of you have visited a cemetery lately? Wandered among the graves of people long past and long forgotten? The tombstones crumbling and the weeds sprouting up in a place that looks neglected, unloved and of no matter?
After watching the presidential debate in America, I have to feel that we are witnessing the fight between the War Graves and the Civilian Graves throughout the world: except, we have one candidate who wants to keep everything from yesterday well tended and cared for, and another who is happy to see us all sink into neglect, decay and misery.
In my opinion, President Trump is all for taking care of things. President Biden is all for letting the grave robbers in. For myself, I am no fan of grave robbers who seek to hijack our past in order to import people who have no love for our nations so that our "leaders " can get votes. It somehow seems ghoulish to me.
Read more: A Grave Problem - but one that works in Favour of our Veterans.
We have seen the return of Julian Assange to his land of birth. the conversation here is divided.... hero or traitor? And it got me thinking about people who have done things and how history will remember them. For myself, I believe that Julian Assange is not and never was a traitor. He was a truth teller, who, unfortunately, ruffled the wrong feathers along the way.
We may never know the full truth, but one thing is certain: a coerced guilty plea is no different to a coerced vaccine. No one made you take it. Yes, sure..... unless you wanted to keep your job, your home and feed your family.
In my opinion, his plea of guilty is no more than a tired and lonely man who was offered an opportunity to join his wife and children, be reunited with his father and all he did was agree to something, anything, in order to be free.
Today, I want to look at what a traitor is and highlight how easily we can leap to conclusions ...........................
Phung Xuan Vu was just eight years old when he accompanied his brother to the food distribution center. His belly hurt from hunger, and he was anxious—filled with worry that he would lose his food voucher or be chastened by the officials distributing food.
“The officials were not friendly. They were bossy and had power,” Vu recalled decades later. “We felt that we had to beg for food that was rightfully ours.”
Vu’s family was poor, but not by local standards. They owned a bicycle, something not all families in Vietnam could say. Yet waiting for hours for food was difficult.
In the book The Bridge Generation of Viet Nam: Spanning Wartime to Boomtime, Vu recalled how schoolchildren, weak and thirsty, would wait hours on end in the heat for food rations only to get cheated by officials, who would mix rocks in with the rice to fool the scales.
“That made us angry, but we could not fight or argue with the officials,” Vu told authors Nancy Napier and Dau Thuy Ha. “What could we do, as children?”
Read more: How Vietnam Went From the Poorest Economy in the World to a Prosperous Exporter
WikiLeaks released a statement which said Assange was en route to Australia.
"Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there," the statement published to X on Tuesday morning (Australian time) said.
"He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stanstead airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK."
About bloody time!
One thing that I am wondering however, is the timing. Why now? just before the British elections? Before the first presidential debate? Just when Australian Labor is in its death throes? Call me cynical but I feel that this is a political move.
But I am sure that when he touches down in Australia, he will kiss the tarmac. But so much to ask and so much to understand. And what was the plea deal about? Keep quiet and you can be free? If that was " the deal ", who could blame him?
Think on this: " ... once telling the truth has become a crime, we will all be living in tyranny.”
Read more: "A man more sinned against than sinning". - Julian Assange is free......Or is he really?
As the announcement of the VP pick from the Trump team comes ever closer, it is worth reflecting on the man whose name is still on the list as a front runner: Dr Ben Carson.
I have enormous respect for this man. I suppose my only criticism is that he is too nice, too kind, too decent. And isn't that a shame that the very things that we admire in men can be seen as shortcoming in our politicians?
Does he have enough of the mongrel? Enough of the fighter instinct? Enough sneaky, cunning, street-smart wickedness to thrive and survive in politics? After all, it is a murky arena. Should something happen to Trump, could he take over and survive the rough and tumble of politics, where knives are out and backstabbing and betrayal are rife?
Could a decent, kind, caring and loyal human being survive the Lions den that is Washington?
Or, more to the point, are these the very attributes that America so desperately needs at this time? No one could doubt Dr Carson's integrity. The left would be looking for a needle in a haystack to come up with dirt on him.
Is he the one man who could lead by example and show the underprivileged, the down and out, the hard working betrayed voter that anything is possible if you live a good life?
Wouldn't it be amazing?
Read more: Could Dr Ben Carson be the next Vice President? A Good and Decent Man?
Does anyone read the labels on food anymore? The classic is the sustainably sourced Australian or New Zealand fish. Or the packaged in Australia. Next time you go to the supermarket, read the label on the bacon. 99% of it is proudly " made in Australia from 90% imported ingredients or similar.
The strange thing is that we now import clothing, metal and solar panels from China that were only created because China uses, heaven forbid, Australian coal, Australian cotton or Australian rare metals. Funny that. In many cases, using local, sustainable slave labour. But I had better not elaborate on that point or I will be hauled off to a gulag somewhere for re-education.
The bottom line is that we import things that would be impossible to make, were it not for the Australian exports that enabled their manufacture. Now, we deprive ourselves of wealth in order to promote the growth of Chinese wealth. How is that Australian? Let's face reality: it is unAustralian to be Australian these days.
Meanwhile, Australians are homeless and suffering from horrific price increases to save the planet. Or is it really about the planet? Because it seems to me that China is making a killing out of the deal. Take the global import of one commodity we could all well have done without. The WuFlu. Hasn't that worked out well?
The story of what became arguably Britain's last stand as a major global military power.
World history has recorded a lot of rulers who have attempted to use a small war to gain a popularity boost but overestimated the strength of their forces and reaped disaster instead of triumph. One of the clearest examples of this was the late 20th century conflict in the Falkland Islands.
It all began with a coup d’état in Argentina in 1976, when a military junta established a brutal dictatorship that oversaw an economic decline while repressing dissidents. By 1981, the country was ruled by General Leopoldo Galtieri, who, being neither consistent nor overly talented, decided, upon short reflection, to acquire the love of the people through a successful military campaign.
Read more: Youth Crime? Youth Suicide? Youth Depression? Redhead has a Solution
The Brigade of Gurkhas is the paramount infantry regiment of the British Army and the ambition of every young Gurkha boy is to be accepted into the British Army.
Some years ago the British Army was down sized and three battalions of Gurkhas were made redundant. There was a proposal presented to the Australian government to enlist these battalions into the Australian Army and establish a base at Rosedale in Victoria. It was rejected even though, at the time, there was a shortfall in local recruitment.
The Singapore Police Force has a unit composed entirely of Gurkhas. " Nowhere in the world have I ever been in a country where I feel as safe as I do in Singapore."
No wonder. They are fierce and mighty.
Yesterday's article spoke of the Gurkhas responding to the Haka during recent military exercises between soldiers from New Zealand Army's 2nd/1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment and their British Army counterparts from Royal Gurkha Rifles. RGR replied in turn with their traditional Kukri Dance. We spoke of the Maori Batallion. Today we look at the gurkhas.
Read more: The Gurkhas - Fierce Warriors and the Knives They Wield
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