At least something good came from the Banking Royal Commission, with the recommendation of criminal charges against three financial institutions, and the need to investigate 15 more, which is some indication of what has been going on:
  https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/banking-royal-commission/banking-royal-commission-bank-greed-deemed-criminal-as-charges-recommended/news-story/cadc6e61339f943c81b3ba60663b4160?utm_source=The%20Australian&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=TodaySHeadlines

“Kenneth Hayne has recommended criminal charges against three financial institutions and asked for investigations into 15 more in a final -report that sets up an election ¬battle between the Morrison government and Labor over which party can be tougher on the banks. The royal commissioner made 76 recommendations involving sweeping changes to laws governing the ¬financial industry in a bid to put an end to misconduct uncovered by the royal commission that included institutions charging dead people fees, banks turfing hundreds of farmers from their land and selling unwanted funeral ¬insurance to a man with Down syndrome. The royal commission heard explosive revelations that some of Australia’s largest financial institutions repeatedly lied to regu¬lators and charged fees where no service was provided, a practice that has left them exposed to a possible compensation bill of up to $2 billion Josh Frydenberg yesterday declared that the banks had been “driven by greed”. “From today, the banking sector must change. And change forever,’’ he said.

     Immigration is a threat to existence; that is something that needs to be written in the sky:
  https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/02/17/limbaugh-immigration-is-an-emergency-our-culture-at-risk-from-parade-of-illegal-people-who-are-uneducated/

“On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” nationally syndicated conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said President Donald Trump was right to declare a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border to build a wall. Limbaugh, “We have an emergency. This is an invasion. The very existence and definition of American culture, American society, the rule of law. Why does nobody talk about the fact that millions and millions and millions of people are breaking the law coming here illegally and that the Democrat Party wants that to happen?” He added, “It is undeniable that we have a major immigration problem and a political party that needs a permanent underclass of voters that wants that parade of illegal people who are uneducated, don’t even speak the language, they want them here. It is a crisis.”

     Hell, when I say it, nobody listens! But financial 1 percenter, Warren Buffet (remember a “buffet” is a meal consisting of numerous dishes from which people serve themselves), sees hard times a blowing in:
  http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/warren-buffet-warns-of-upcoming-megacatastrophe-and-our-losses-will-be-big_02252019

“Billionaire Warren Buffet has issued a warning that there is an upcoming “megacatastrope” on the horizon.  Buffet says that when this apocalyptic scenario plays out, our losses will be immeasurable. In his annual letter, Buffet warned of a “megacatastrophe,” which he said will cause unprecedented havoc not just to victims but to the financial world as well. “A major catastrophe that will dwarf hurricanes Katrina and Michael will occur – perhaps tomorrow, perhaps many decades from now,” the Berkshire Hathaway CEO wrote. “‘The Big One’ may come from a traditional source, such as a hurricane or earthquake, or it may be a total surprise involving, say, a cyber attack having disastrous consequences beyond anything insurers now contemplate.”

To The Age        The proposed entry ban on Milo Yiannopoulos ("No go, Milo: Right-winger banned", 7/3), like the ban on David Icke, raises concerns about the possible erosion of free speech that may be involved. The reported trolling activities of Yiannopoulos are repellent, but do they really suggest that he might, when here, "incite discord in the Australian community or in a segment of that community" to any significant extent? Moreover, the trading of insults and pejorative labelling is found right across the whole political spectrum; and most Australians are sensible enough to tolerate it as part of human nature. A common element in both these cases is the accusation that there has been anti-Semitism involved. This propaganda term is regularly used by some Jewish interests and their supporters to deflect adverse criticism of Jewish influence in politics, some of which may be justified and in the general interest.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic

     So, at long last the Russian nuclear targets have been revealed for America, and there are no real surprises in this years’ nuclear Oscars:
  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nuclear-russia/after-putins-warning-russian-tv-lists-nuclear-targets-in-u-s-idUSKCN1QE1DM

“Russian state television has listed U.S. military facilities that Moscow would target in the event of a nuclear strike, and said that a hypersonic missile Russia is developing would be able to hit them in less than five minutes.
The targets included the Pentagon and the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland. The report, unusual even by the sometimes-bellicose standards of Russian state TV, was broadcast on Sunday evening, days after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was militarily ready for a “Cuban Missile”-style crisis if the United States wanted one.”

     I did not know that things were so bad with old car/computer guru Elon Musk, who seems to go from disaster to disaster, but amazingly, somehow survives so that he can make it to the next disaster. I mean, who in one week alone has this much bad stuff happen to them? Sure, people like our own Uncle Len do, but we are talking about elite high-class folk here, not fringe dwellers who live on the fringe of the fringe.
  https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-01/elon-musk-end-road

“In the past week, we have learned that;

To The Australian         Milo Yiannopoulos is not under threat of being banned from entry here "because he just happens to champion the right side of politics" as Ian Kent claims (8/3). His trolling activities "to make as much noise as possible" are repugnant and his presence in our land would probably be a cause of irritating public disturbances. Yet do these factors really amount to justification for the entry ban? The suspicion arises, as with the recent entry ban on David Icke, that the Government is taking the easy way out to avoid negative publicity before the elections and that at the same time it is pandering to powerful sectional interests which continually seek to unfairly minimize adverse comment on their activities. It might be electorally wiser for the Coalition to defend free speech more robustly in future.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic

     Just roll over and die, the West, or better yet, go through another cycle of communism-liberalism-communism …  Meanwhile China is building its heart out, doing things that were once only whispered about, such as making horizontal castles in the sky:
  https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-28/chinas-horizontal-skyscraper-nears-completion-video

“A megastructure featuring the world's tallest sky bridge has been erected in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. Designed by the world's most renowned and prolific architects, Moshe Safdie, Raffles City Chongqing complex measures 1.12-million-square-meters and consists of eight towers and a large connecting sky bridge, which is called a "horizontal skyscraper." The 250-meter-long sky bridge - which is basically a horizontal "skyscraper" resting on the to of several traditional skyscrapers - dubbed Crystal, if made vertical, would be the height of the Eif When open, it will have an observatory wing, sky gardens, an infinity pool, and shopping district. At night, the sky bridge transforms into a large light beam, illuminating the sky into a heavenly light show, fel Tower. The sky bridge is composed of 3,000 glass panels and 5,000 aluminum panels. The Raffles City Chongqing complex will feature a 230,000-square-meter shopping mall, 1,400 residential apartments, an upscale hotel, and 160,000 square meters of office space.”

     I support the Environmental Protection Authority for trying to make huge polluters, such as mining and oil-extracting companies, take steps to partly neutralise their greenhouse gas emissions into the world's atmosphere. The Chamber of Minerals and Energy and Woodside, a huge mining company, were quoted on Friday as saying that making these big polluters plant trees and take other steps, would risk tens of billions of dollars and many jobs. Ameliorating their own pollution seems fair to me.  But while Australia exports millions of tonnes of coal and huge amounts of gas, will anyone ask someone, somewhere, to neutralise the greenhouse gas pollution as these burn? Political leaders ought to take the complaints of the extractive industries with a grain of salt.  The Big End of Town does not care a bit about atmospheric pollution, or jobs either.  Would they be automating if they cared about Australians' jobs? It was sad to see a publication criticising the EPA, and saying that the Authority was a group of pen-pushers.

     Who says that mass migration does not enliven a country and warm the cockles of everybody’s hearts?
  https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-01/our-drivers-have-been-attacked-ups-halts-deliveries-swedish-no-go-zone

“Though European leaders and their counterparts in the US (along with their allies in the mainstream press) have continued to deny their existence, migrant-dominated "no go" zones remain a persistent public safety threat to the Swedish public. And in the latest repudiation of the Swedish government's refusal to accept the term, and acknowledge the fact that - as Swedish police chiefs warned back in 2017 - these areas represent "parallel societies" where Swedish institutions aren't recognized, UPS has ceased delivery to Rosengard, a notorious neighborhood in Malmo, Sweden, after several of its drivers were assaulted and robbed. According to local media reports cited by RT, delivering to the neighborhood has become too dangerous for UPS, after the US carrier told the press that "our drivers have been attacked and therefore we have decided not to hand out packages at [the district]."

     I did not have the money to cover the visit of guru Jordan B. Peterson to Melbourne, but after reading critical demolitions of him, I would not have gone anyway. Still, for the remaining fans out there, mainly men in search of a father figure, I recommend the review by Richard Wolstenecroft, apparently an indy filmmaker, URL below. I hopefully have the right guy (apologies otherwise), there are so many people with that surname, it makes me dizzy:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wolstencroft

     Gee, never heard of him, and probably he and his friends don’t read our stuff either. We don’t get invited to any of their gigs, or fancy restaurants. Could it be because even if they found the rock that people like me and Uncle Len lived under, they would be too embarrassed to take us out to eat, given gluttony and the inevitable flatulence, especially Uncle Len who is simply a primate? Maybe we just have a bad reputation, or body odour? Maybe, both.  I could not afford to pay anyway, even for a hamburger and chips at Maccas. However, I feel warm and gooey inside knowing that out there in the wilds of Melbourne, there are great high IQ writers, beyond the finger-pickers like myself, saying stuff that I mildly agree with.  Oh, and the really good journos use strong words, so I made some editorial changes and really hope that I got all the bad words.
  https://affirmativeright.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-unbearable-ambiguity-of-jordan-b.html#more

     I know some conservative readers might be alarmed at the near biblical flavour of some articles by my brothers (and mother), here, and may feel, “no, Pete, old son of a gun, it is realy not that bad, forget your disappointment with the Catholic Church and join some Christian home group.” Now that is not a bad idea at all, and I will seek this out. But, dear friends, I am still worried, when I read stuff like this:
  https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2019/03/01/vanity-fair-meghan-markle-plans-to-raise-child-with-fluid-approach-to-gender/

“Actress Meghan Markle has reportedly told friends she and her husband Prince Harry have plans to raise their child with a “fluid approach to gender” that refrains from “imposing any stereotypes,” according to sources who spoke with Vanity Fair. Meghan Markle, now formally referred to as the Duchess of Sussex, is expecting her first child in the coming weeks and has even planned a “gender-neutral” nursery for its enjoyment. “The Sussexes have already planned a gender-neutral nursery and opted for whites and grays over conventional blue and pink color ways, and this seems to be in line with Meghan’s ideas about how to raise children,” the magazine reported.”

10 March 2019, Poor policies are taking Australia into tough times. There are four priorities for the coming election.

Firstly: Decimate the Feral Green Snakes in the Grass.
The climate/emissions obsession started with unelected foreigners in the UN and the IPCC who drafted deep green agendas to be imposed via elected Federal, State and Local governments. Australia must immediately withdraw from the Lima/Paris/Kyoto agreements, reject the 2030 Agenda, and repeal all the green tape they spawned. This costly mess creates no measurable climate or environmental benefits.

Secondly: Build more Reliable Base-Load Power Stations.
Green extremists want to destroy the carbon energy that powers our industries, supports our life style, funds our welfare and provides our jobs. They want to take us back to primitive green energy that can never support modern civilised life. We have played with weather-dependent wind-solar toys for too long. They will never power an advanced economy, nor will they lift poor nations from poverty. And they provide no demonstrated benefits for the climate, the landscape or consumers. All taxes, subsidies and energy targets that prop up unreliable intermittent energy must be abolished.

Thirdly: Build More Dams and Weirs.
Much of our continent cycles between droughts and floods. Both problems have the same solution – catch and store flood waters. The oceans are never short of water, but our land often is.

Finally: Fight Fire with Fire.
Every dry season we lose homes, properties, livestock, parks and wildlife to massive bushfires. There is only one solution – copy yesterday’s aboriginals and graziers and use small, managed, early-season fires to remove flammable ground litter. This will require landowners and local fire-fighters (not urban greenies) to manage these fuel-reduction burns.

     The classical Soviet-style communist was a meat eater, some would also say a metaphysical eater of human flesh, but let’s not go there. Unlike Stalin though, the new communist who has risen in America, but which has yet to emerge to the same degree of madness, wants to go after red meat, all in the name of a so-called “green planet”! What next you may ask? Think of a freedom, and then imagine it gone.
  https://www.rt.com/usa/452704-hamburgers-stalin-ocasio-gorka-cpac/

“Hamburgers, the iconic American fast-food staple, have become the latest battlefield in US culture and political wars, with conservatives accusing ‘Green New Deal’ Democrats of being secret Reds for going after red meat.
“They want to take your pickup truck, they want to rebuild your home, they want to take away your hamburgers,” former White House staffer Dr. Sebastian Gorka thundered on Thursday, to the applause of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland. This is what Stalin dreamt about, but never achieved. “You are on the frontlines of the war against Communism coming back to America under the guise of democratic socialism,” Gorka added.

CPAC 2019
@CPAC

“You are on the frontlines of the war against communism coming back to America under the guise of democratic socialism” @SebGorka #CPAC2019 #WhatMakesAmericaGreat

1:23 AM - Mar 1, 2019

1,269 people are talking about this

     Doing mathematics here in Australia is tough, and I dropped out in second year, with algebra (groups, rings, fields and other bs), partial differential equations and something else, I forget what, killing me.  Wait, I remember, it was statistics, which we had to do in biology, but without the proofs and stuff. Anyway, I went back to biology and stayed there, achieving an average grade of 50.1 percent, truly stunning, but good enough for an Australian teacher. But if I was in South Africa, maybe things would have been different:
  https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/146351/sa-government-lowers-pass-mark-for-maths-to-20

“The “pass mark” for Grades 7 to 9 taking mathematics has been lowered to 20%, according to a report by CapeTalk. The head of the Western Cape Education Department, Brian Schreuder, confirmed the new requirement in an interview with the radio station. Schreuder said there were concerns learners were passing other subjects but failing mathematics. “When a learner, specifically those in Grades 7 to 9, has failed mathematics it means they can’t be promoted to another level because mathematics is a compulsory pass subject,” stated the report. “Mathematics is a huge problem in our society. The quality and the number of passes in mathematics is a challenge,” said Schreuder. A directive has been issued for those learners who pass “everything but fail mathematics” to be considered for the new pass requirement so they can continue to FETs or Grade 10. “A decision was taken that the group of learners who fail mathematics must not have less than 20% minimum pass mark to be given an opportunity to do mathematics literacy,” said Schreuder. The current pass mark for maths is 40%.”

     Can it be? The BBC whitewashing black knife crime? The image is of puny journalists with a cans of white paint, going to a knife crime scene, and painting everybody, and everything, white, struggling with each brushstroke, with their fragile muscles burning. But, that is just a metaphor, of course.
  https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/03/02/former-equality-chief-accuses-bbc-whitewashing-black-knife-crime/

“Trevor Phillips has accused the BBC of “whitewashing” crime stories by not addressing the high number of black-on-black stabbings, and warned politicians and police to stop ignoring the links between race and gang violence. Mr Phillips, the former head of the United Kingdom’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (ECHR), made the comments in an opinion piece in The Telegraph on Friday, following a string of stabbings in London and Birmingham. Referencing a report released on Thursday which revealed that some 27,000 under-19s in England identify themselves as being part of a gang, Mr Phillips noted that in terms of youth gang violence, “black boys are more than 20 times as likely to be involved in serious attacks compared with their white peers.”

     Like, wow, Dr Phil, a man with a real PhD, capable of analysing all sorts of things. Deep insights into human nature, like that Peterson chap, who also has a PhD. And if Dr Phil is critical of Social Justice Warriorhood, well so much the worst for SJW:
  https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/03/01/dr-phil-rejects-social-justice-you-cannot-legislate-everything-going-equal/

“Phil McGraw, best known as Dr. Phil, rejected the “social justice” ethos of state-mandated egalitarianism in an interview with Joe Rogan on Tuesday. Dr. Phil characterized inequalities between persons as a feature of the human condition (comments begin at 1:26:32): JOE ROGAN: There’s a movement going on in this country, right now, the social justice movement, and it leans in that direction [of preventing kids from facing and overcoming adversity], that people don’t want to look at things for how they are. They want to look at things for how they want them to be. DR. PHIL: I just don’t understand. You cannot legislate that everything is going to be equal for everybody, because everybody’s not equal. I’m sorry, they’re not equal. They may be equal in terms of their value as a human being, but they’re not equal in math skills, they’re not equal in how fast they run, they’re not equal in creativity. Everybody has their own value, but that doesn’t mean their marketable skills in an open society — in an open market — are going to be the same. JOE ROGAN: No, it’s ridiculous.’

     There is something of a competition going on with the “journalists” at this site, if we can be called that, to find the most absurd politically correct story of the week. The winner gets a cold beer. So, here we go:
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6762113/French-prosecutors-call-far-Right-leader-Marine-Le-Pen-face-TRIAL.html

“Prosecutors have called for French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to be tried for tweeting pictures of atrocities committed by the Islamic State group, judicial sources said Friday. This could hike further pressure on Le Pen, 50, who already faces legal problems over alleged misuse of EU parliamentary funds. Le Pen shared the gruesome images in December 2015, a few weeks after ISIS jihadists killed 130 people in attacks in Paris. Her move sparking widespread condemnation in France. Prosecutors demanded that another member of her National Rally party, Gilbert Collard, also be tried on similar charges. It will be up to an investigative magistrate to decide whether a trial takes place, with a conviction for 'circulating violent pictures liable to be seen by children' carrying a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of £65,000. Le Pen, who lost to Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 presidential elections, was stripped of her parliamentary immunity over the pictures and charged with circulating violent messages. Last year, she expressed outrage after the investigative magistrate called for her to undergo psychiatric tests in connection with her tweeting.”

     If one needs more proof of the insanity and viciousness of the system that they have set up, consider this: that the Democrats are getting a Congressional hearing (these creatures love talkfests) going because President Trump’s claims that the mainstream media delivers “false news”:
  https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/03/01/democrats-prepare-congressional-hearings-over-trump-saying-fake-news/

“Congressional Democrats are planning to hold hearings about President Trump’s criticisms of establishment news outlets, according to a new report. Bloomberg News reports that the House Judiciary Committee, which is currently led by Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), will seek to investigate Trump calling the media “fake news” and “enemies of the people.” “The committee will study whether such actions either reflect or blur the Constitution’s separation of powers,” the report states.”

     The lead article in this week’s On Target is by Arnie and Beata Luks on television as the opiate of the masses, and that is certainly true. In fact, I found this article which indicates that the metaphor is perhaps even more appropriate than the dynamic duo thought:
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6756181/Over-50s-watch-3-5-hours-TV-day-10-likely-suffer-memory-loss.html

“People over-50 who watch more than three-and-a-half hours of television a day are more at risk of memory loss, research suggests. A study of more than 3,600 older adults revealed watching too many soaps, documentaries or reality shows reduces their ability to recall words by up to ten per cent. Overindulging in your favourite shows could trigger a 'cognitive stress' that leads to memory loss, the researchers claim. It may also take away from activities that keep older people sharp, such as reading or playing educational games online. The research was carried by University College London and led by Dr Daisy Fancourt, senior research associate in the department of behavioural science and health. 'There has been interest for over a decade in the effect of television viewing behaviours on cognition, but much of this literature has concentrated on children,' Dr Fancourt said. 'Much less attention has been paid to the effects of television viewing at the other end of the lifespan, despite it being hypothesised for over 25 years that watching excessive television could contribute to the development of dementia.'