xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#' The Font of Noelage

Saturday 24 February 2024

Meet Donald Trump... The Russian Candidate for the US Presidency.

 

In today's West Australian newspaper, conservative columnist, Paul Murray (24/2) lamented the murder of Russian patriot and martyr, Alexei Navalny by Putin the Poisoner. However, Murray also criticised  Anti-Trump campaigners for not vigorously protesting the tragic death of this courageous Russian dissident. Murray's criticisms (deflections? His usual anti left rant?) are not well founded, at least in my experience. My many outraged friends and  colleagues, as well huge numbers on Social Media, have been quick to express heartfelt tributes to Navalny as well as outrage and utter disgust towards Russian Dictator, Vladimir Putin.                                                                                                    

One of the reasons  people oppose Trump is that he is seen as Putin’s puppet. This is evident from way Putin aided Trump in winning the 2016 election; all of those hacked Hillary Clinton  e-mails (that suddenly  fell into Trump’s in-tray) and the abject and embarrassing way that Trump caved in to Putin when they met publicly  in 2018. At that time, President Trump said Putin had very good reasons to annexe Crimea. As president, Trump subsequently attacked America’s allies and friends, including NATO.  He went out of his way to curry favour with Putin and the Supreme Leader of nuclear North  Korea, Kim Jong Un.

Trump is crassly beholden to Vladimir Putin. He has demonstrated this on many occasions, even on  the international stage at G8 meeting of heads of government. At one such meeting during his presidency,  Trump made some criticism of Russia and Putin  which were widely reported on international television.  The very next day, Trump backed down and abjectly grovelled before Putin. He said that he had “mispoke” the words. He lamely told the world that did not really mean what he really had said.       It was embarrassing... and on a world stage.
 
Trump agrees with all of  Putin’s imperialist policies for Russian expansion. He has even said, as President, he would not take any action if Putin attacked NATO countries. Last week he  even encouraged Putin to attack NATO countries who had not paid their fair share towards NATO's costs.
Apparently, this is in America’s best interests. This man wants to be America's next president.

What is really agitating anti-Trump campaigners is his statement, made  after Navalny's murder, that he is being treated like Navalny by his opponents in America. What an obscene, self righteous comment from a supreme narcissist.
 
Navalny spoke out about corruption in high places. He spoke about millions of Russians living in hardship and poverty while Putin and his corrupt billionaire  friends enjoy the spoils that they garnered from the dissolution of the Communist state. Because he spoke out against corruption and a loss of liberty, Navalny was poisoned, sent to prison and murdered.                      
 
Trump is in the courts for fraudulently conducting his various businesses. For fraudulently inflating his wealth to escape taxes. For assaulting women and paying women not to testify against him. He did not accept the electoral result against him. He does not accept the many courts that have upheld the accuracy of that election. He tried to coerce electoral officials and even state governors to find him extra voters. 
 
Trump has shown his contempt for democracy by sending a riotous mob to the Capitol building in Washington on January 6th, 2020 to violently stop the congress from ratifying the election of Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Millions of TV viewers were horrified to see a fired up Trump urge his angry  mob to march on the Capitol and to "fight like hell" to stop Biden being named as president. He promised his supporters, "I will be with you." But Trump, the five times draft dodger, was definitely not with them when the fighting, the lethal threats and thuggery started . The mob moved to the Capitol building looking for bloody vengeance. At the same time, Trump was driven back to the White House and gleefully watched the disgraceful events on TV ... for HOURS AND HOURS!
 
There are conflicting reports that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol but was prevented from doing so by wiser and more courageous, counsel. After several hours of mayhem, Trump appeared on the White House lawn and meekly told  his lynch mob that , "It is now time to go home."  He thanked them for their support. He should have been arrested on the spot for inciting a riot, let alone for sedition against the US government and its elected representatives, most of whom had been in fear of their lives. A few days later all but six courageous Republican Senators found that Trump had no case to answer.
 
If Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, many fear that he will immediately release all those imprisoned for crimes committed on his behalf. And pardon himself in the process.Taking a leaf out of the political handbook of his friend , the bloody dictator and Poisoner in Chief,  Vladimir Putin, Trump will then lock up all of his political opponents, including the many judges and attorneys who found him guilty of many crimes against commercial interests, women, democratic electoral processes,  the Congress and the American people. As he has shown his disdain for elections, many predict that a newly elected Trump will quickly say by Presidential decree that he is now President for life.  just like  his great mate, Vlad the Poisoner. He would be an American dictator who would rule unfettered… except for the orders he would have to take from the murderous Vladimir Putin.
 
The presidential election is eight months away. Eight months is long way down the track for anybody aged over 75, However, as far  as we can tell, it will between Trump and Biden. While Donald Trump attacks NATO and the Ukraine and gives Putin carte blanche to attack whom ever he wants to, the shallow mass media is busying itself with Joe Biden’s age and suitability for the presidency. Let us fervently hope that the media lifts its game and stops highlighting Biden's age and begins taking a really close look at Trump's actual policies..or lack of them. They could also fact check his many lies and perhaps comment on his unstable and volatile character.  
 
Anti-Trump campaigners are disappointed that the mainstream media (are you listening Paul Murray?) seems largely uninterested in Trump’s  many personality and policy flaws and in the slip-shod, fact free way large sections of the media "cover" his campaign for the presidency. The popular media largely ignore Trump’s litany of lies and evasions. They hone in on  Joe Biden’s age.
 
To many, including all anti Trump campaigners, Good Old Joe Biden is a much, much more suitable presidential candidate for America and the democratic world than Donald Trump. They would not care if Biden was comatose and suffering from “locked in “ syndrome”. He would  still be  a mile better than the opportunistic, unpredictable  charlatan, Donald Trump. At least Biden, recently voted the seventh most effective US President, is surround by rational, sentient beings. Trump, recently voted the worst US President in history, is surround by sycophantic Republicans.  
 
Biden is surrounded by rational and strong advisors who will always give sound advice without fear or favour. Conversely, Trump is an opportunistic egotist who is surrounded by weak and sycophantic Yes men and women who associate with him solely to maintain their own wealth and power.                       If they so No to him, Trump sacks them.
 Recently Trump boasted that he could quickly fix the problems in Ukraine and Gaza. He would do so by caving in to Putin and Netanyahu, giving them carte blanche to do as they wish.                               No skin off his nose. That is how his delusional mind works.

Trump did not make America great again when has President. In fact, Trump reduced  America.              He made it look weak in the eyes of the rest of the world.                                                                         A second presidency would be catastrophic for America...and the rest of the free world.


Monday 18 December 2023

THE CRICKET WEEKEND.

THE CRICKET WEEKEND. The recent test against Pakistan at Optus reminded me of some cricket watching days with some mates in the 1980s. What follows is a composite of several such weekends at the WACA. Bill, Fred Kevin and Norm are not their real names. I am not really in this story, though some of the things that happened, happened to me.

Bill, Kevin, Fred and Norm lived in Donnybrook. Bill was a Donnybrook businessman who owned several shops in the town. Kevin was a farmer, Fred worked in the building industry and Norm was on the staff at the Donnybrook District High School. In the very late 1970s and early 1980s, after the Packer Revolution, they would travel to Perth on a weekend in January for One Day International Cricket matches featuring Australia and some international side. In those days it was usually the West Indies.

They took turns each year to drive their car to Perth for the cricket weekend. This year it was Bill’s turn. Leaving Donnybrook around 7-00am on Sunday, they would arrive at the Shaftsbury Hotel around 9-30am. The Shaftsbury Hotel was a large, old style Perth pub that in recent years had modernized some of its many rooms in the style of motel accommodation. They always booked a family room which consisted of a large bedroom with a double and single bed. An archway linked to another room that had two single beds. Each year they took turns to have the double bed. This year it was Norm’s turn.

They had arranged for a 10-00am check in and hurried to their room to unpack their cases and hang the slacks, sports coats and shirts they intended to wear to a Northbridge bar and eatery later that night. As he unpacked his case, Keven exclaimed, “Oh, no. I’ve left my wallet at home.” Kevin was a farmer in Donnybrook. His dutiful wife always carefully folded his clothes and packed his case. Obviously, she assumed Kevin would look after his own wallet.

“Not to worry, “said Bill.” Here’s fifty dollars for the day at the cricket. We can work something out afterwards.” They hurried down the stairs and caught a taxi to the WACA where the game was scheduled to start at 10-30am.

Bill knew the bar manager of the Inverarity Stand. At about 10-20am he would knock and the rear door and he and his mates would be ushered into the empty bar before the main doors opened. They always occupied a table behind a huge glass window right at the front of the Inverarity Stand; a prime position which afforded a splendid view of the match.

Of course, besides watching the cricket, Bill, Kevin, Fred and Norm indulged in that other national pastime, beer drinking. They were very good at it. They started buying jugs of beer as soon as the bar opened at 10-30am.  As one jug emptied one of the boys would be off to buy another one.

On one cricket weekend, they pondered whether they should stop drinking for a while. Eventually, Fred said, “Well let’s have jug while we think about it.” They did have another jug, after which, they decided to keep drinking.

On another occasion, they had actually decided to have a one-hour break in their drinking. They were just finishing their last drinks when two other fellows from Donnybrook came to their table.                   "G’day. How’re you goin’. Looks like you blokes need a couple of jugs.” With that the newcomers plonked two full jugs on the table and the drinking carried on.

Understandably, when the ODI finished at around 5-30pm, the four fellows from Donnybrook were decidedly merry. In an attempt to return to sobriety, they walked from the WACA back to the Shaftsbury.  Next to the hotel was paved laneway that eventually became the enclosed Shaftsbury Arcade that went through to Beaufort Street and to what in those days was the Canterbury Court Ballroom.

On the other side of the laneway was a two-storey block of flats. This laneway had a certain Neapolitan look about it as four clothes lines, often containing brightly coloured towels, sheets, shirts and ladies’ lingerie extended across the laneway from the top storey. Quite often, after a windy night, items of clothing finished up on the pavement. There must have been a lot of young ladies living in those flats because the Donnybrook boys were often delighted to spy sexy briefs and lacy coloured bras on that laneway pavement.

They sat around the table in the room, drinking stubbies they had purchased from the bottle shop, talking about where in Northbridge they would go for a meal. They reminded Bill that they did not want a repeat of last year’s night out. On that night, upon entering a noisy Northbridge bar Bill had seen a lady he knew. So enthusiastically did he lock her in a fond embrace that the lady screamed in agony. Bill had fractured one of her ribs. They spent the next three hours with the very upset lady in the Royal Perth Hospital Emergency waiting rooms. Bill was lucky the lady did not want to make a big thing out of it. As she got into the taxi to take her home an apologetic Bill gave her fifty dollars to pay for the fare and any painkillers she may need. It was obvious she would need a lot of painkillers.

They had all showered and were just about to call a taxi when Norm, who had a history of migraine problems, said that he did not think he would go. “My head is starting to throb and I just know that it is going to get a lot worse. All I want to do is lie down in the dark, “he told his mates.                          “Oh, that’s not good, Norm,” said Fred. “Can’t you take an aspirin or something?”                                   “I’ve already done that, “replied Norm, “But it doesn’t really do much good with migraine. You blokes will probably want to have a few drinks when you come home so, I will sleep in one of the beds in the other room.” Then he turned to the wallet less Kevin and said, “I’m not going out, you can take my money. Here’s $150. You can pay me back on Wednesday night at the footy club.                            “Gee, Thanks, Norm. I’ll do that for sure. You take care of yourself.”

Soon afterwards, Bill, Kevin and Fred went down to their taxi and their pleasant evening in Northbridge. Norm settled into his bed and turned off all the lights.  He did not go to sleep because the back of his head was being belted every five seconds by a bloke with a wooden mallet.

Norm was staring at the green. glowing face of the bedside clock when he heard a knock at the door. It was 8-30pm. Norm lay still and did not make a sound. Ten seconds later the knock came back, this time followed by a female voice saying, “Hi! It’s Cherie from Ace Escorts. I’m your eight thirty appointment.”

Norm did not move. He knew what was happening. Bill, a known trickster, had set him up. Above the two public phones in the hotel lobby were advertisements for taxis, cafes, restaurants and escorts agencies. Bill had rung an agency for an 8-30pm appointment to visit Norm.

Norm listened as the knocking and the female voice grew more insistent. He had that hammer belting the base of his skull. He had no money. He also knew if he opened the door to explain the situation the escort girl’s minder would be nearby and would quickly dish out some harsh physical punishment. Eventually, the knocking stopped. The girl’s voice stopped. Norm just lay there while the hammer kept pounding at the back of his skull.

The next morning everyone was moving very slowly. Drinking strong coffee, sitting with their heads in their hands. All except Norm. The migraine had finally stopped. He’d had an alcohol-free night and was feeling fine. Nobody mentioned anything about any escort services, but Norm had noted a mischievous smile move across Bill’s face when their eyes met across the coffee cups.

There was one humorous interlude. Fred suddenly put down his coffee cup and said, “I forgot to call Shirley. I told her I would ring on Saturday night, but I didn’t” He looked at his companions and asked, “Do you think I should call her now?”                                                                                                                                                                            “Sounds "Sounds like a good idea,” said Bill. “I mean, Shirley could be worried.”  Fred moved over to the phone.

“Hello, Shirley. Sorry I didn’t call last night                                                                                             “You did,” was Shirley’s frosty reply.

Bill and Kevin could not hear Shirley’s reply, but they were laughing out loud. After a very brief conversation with his wife, Kevin hung up and was told that he had called Shirley in a one sided and slurred conversation when they returned from Northbridge.

They decided that they would have “brunch” at Mandurah on the way home and began, very slowly, getting ready to leave.  Norm was dressed and ready first.  He said, “Look, time is getting on. You blokes leave out what clothes you are wearing home. Pack your cases and I’ll take them down to the car so we can have a quicker getaway.” They all agreed that this was a good idea and Norm was soon taking cases downstairs to the car.

The trip home was uneventful. They talked about the cricket, the weather, the evening in Northbridge. Nobody talked about any escort girls. They had lunch in Mandurah.

Arriving in Donnybrook, Bill dropped the other three at the car park near the railway station where they had left their cars. As Norm shook hands and said goodbye to Bill, he saw again that mischievous grin. As Norm walked over to his own car, he wondered what sort of a grin Bill would be wearing when his wife opened his travel case and confronted him about the lacy pink brassieres on top of the case of clothes.