Poor boy made good

United States Vice President may have his critics, but he comes across as reasonably likeable in this extended interview with New York Post columnist, Miranda Devine. 

Where's the authoritarian?

From Gerard Henderson's Media Watchdog blog, a commentary of the week's news. And so it came to pass that Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, made his first official visit to the White House to meet President Donald Trump. Somewhat predictably, news commentators such as Peter Hartcher, ran with the line that Trump is an authoritarian, and this a few days after the No Kings rallies across the United States:

"...Trump doesn’t believe in democracy. What we see here is an authoritarian leader trying to consolidate power as an authoritarian..."

As Henderson rightly points out,  Hartcher sounded like an American leftist running a “No Kings” message – despite the fact that the Trump administration cannot get its budget through the United States Congress. A real King would have no such problem.

https://thesydneyinstitute.com.au/blog/issue-751/

Maintaining the rage, fifty years on

Coming up to the fiftieth anniversary of the November 1975 dismissal of Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's government by Governor General Sir John Kerr, expect a flurry of print and digital media discourse on this tumultuous and controversial period of Australian political history. Former Attorney General George Brandis is getting in early. 

Even if this article is written by a former federal Liberal politician, it is still pertinent to remind that in 1970, when he was Opposition Leader, Whitlam unsuccessfully attempted to block supply to then Prime Minister John Gorton. I was not aware of that. 

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-forgotten-hypocrisy-over-whitlam-s-dismissal-he-tried-to-oust-libs-the-same-way-20251009-p5n1f7.html

A life not wasted

 

Besmirching good people

It has been interesting to see the mixed reaction to the tragic death of American political activist, Charlie Kirk. His many armchair critics, using their social media megaphones, described him as evil. Those who actually knew him in person knew him to be a good and decent man. Rather than the evil man his critics assert Kirk was, I will go with the man his family, friends, and acquaintances knew instead. 

What is to stop me from being baptised?

This Youtube video makes a compelling case that the Christian sacrament of baptism should be kept for believers, and not infants. Looking at passages such as Genesis 15, Exodus 19–24, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Matthew 28, John 3, Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, Acts 16, 1 Corinthians 7, and 1 Peter 2, the Bible simply does not permit the baptism of infants. 

Genocide? What genocide?

In the Israel-Gaza conflict, the reality of the situation does not match the assertions of the anti-Israel movement, who claim that it is carrying out a genocide. While one can genuinely grieve the avoidable and unnecessary loss of life in war, calling it a genocide is overstating things. 

10 Questions 'Genocide in Gaza' Accusers Cannot Answer. By Aizenberg - Tribune Juive