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Episode 422 - The worst decisions of the previous 7 days

Topics:

In episode 422 of 'The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove' podcast, hosts Trevor, Scott 'The Velvet Glove', and tech guy Joe gather to discuss a range of topics including the recurring issue of the religious discrimination bill in Australia, questions about masculinity, political alliances, crime rates, international relations, and more. The episode includes a critique of the Labor government's handling of the religious discrimination bill and examines various domestic and international affairs including crime rates in Queensland, AUKUS submarine deals, and the atrocities in Gaza. Furthermore, discussions highlighting the situation in Ukraine, opinions from Pope Francis, and an anecdotal claim about Donald Trump's athleticism also take place. The hosts engage with their audience, sharing their gratitude for certain conveniences and ponder over news, politics, sex, religion, and other pertinent subjects while inviting listener interaction through comments.

00:00 Welcome to the Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove Podcast

00:39 Introducing the Meerkats: Trevor, Scott, and Joe

01:10 Engaging with the Audience: Shoutouts and Comments

01:26 Diving into Today's Hot Topics: Religion, Politics, and More

02:36 Gratitude Segment: Celebrating the Little Things

05:31 Patron Appreciation: Shoutouts and the Value of Support

10:00 The Religious Discrimination Bill: A Deep Dive

20:08 Masculinity Under Attack? Debating Cultural Shifts

25:10 Australia's Allies and International Relations: A Heated Debate

30:39 The Nuclear Power Debate: Costs, Benefits, and Politics

33:51 Debating Nuclear Energy and Renewable Alternatives

36:11 The Misconception of Rising Crime Rates

41:15 Submarine Acquisition Challenges and International Relations

47:56 The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

52:36 Propaganda's Influence on Public Perception

01:01:34 Navigating International Law and Moral Authority

01:08:00 Humor and Propaganda: The Cult of Personality

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Transcripts started in episode 324. You can use this link to search our transcripts. Type "iron fist velvet glove" into the search directory, click on our podcast and then do a word search. It even has a player which will play the relevant section. It is incredibly quick.

Transcript
Trevor:

Suburban Eastern Australia, an environment that has, over

Trevor:

time, evolved some extraordinarily unique groups of homosapiens.

Trevor:

But today, we observe a small tribe akin to a group of meerkats that

Trevor:

gather together atop a small mound to watch, question, and discuss the

Trevor:

current events of their city, their country, and their world at large.

Trevor:

Let's listen keenly and observe this group fondly known as the

Trevor:

Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove.

Trevor:

We're back.

Trevor:

Episode 422.

Trevor:

Three meerkats, present and accounted for on this occasion.

Trevor:

I'm Trevor.

Trevor:

With me is Scott the Velvet Glove.

Trevor:

Scott, how are you?

Trevor:

G'day

Scott:

Trevor.

Scott:

G'day Joe.

Scott:

G'day listeners.

Scott:

I hope everyone's well.

Trevor:

I hope they are as well.

Trevor:

And Joe, the tech guy, is with us with no fake background.

Trevor:

We can see his luxurious curtains and grey wall.

Trevor:

Evening all.

Trevor:

All right.

Trevor:

Speak up a bit more, Joe.

Trevor:

That was very low, but anyway.

Trevor:

Oh, sorry.

Trevor:

Yep, that's better.

Trevor:

in the chat room, Matthew Chalk is already there saying good evening.

Trevor:

Good on you, Matthew.

Trevor:

He's on Facebook.

Trevor:

You can be on Facebook.

Trevor:

Facebook?

Trevor:

What?

Trevor:

YouTube and you'll be able to see all the comments and make comments

Trevor:

and they'll appear in the chat.

Trevor:

Make your comments, we'll try and get to them if we can.

Trevor:

We'll talk about news and politics and sex and religion and what have

Trevor:

we got in particular on the agenda today is going to be about a bit on

Trevor:

the religious discrimination bill which is coming back yet again.

Trevor:

It's like a zombie, you know, you think it's killed off

Trevor:

and just keeps coming back.

Trevor:

I cannot

Scott:

believe that they are still resurrecting that fucking

Scott:

thing, you know, it's a joke.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

And you know, this is from the Labor government too, like, why the fuck

Scott:

would they try and resurrect it?

Trevor:

They just don't get it, we'll talk about that, we'll be

Trevor:

talking about that, masculinity is under attack, we'll talk about that.

Trevor:

Um, Don Farrell, one of our, well, I think he's like the foreign minister's deputy

Trevor:

or something like that, questioned whether the United States is Australia's strongest

Trevor:

ally and there was an uproar over that.

Trevor:

Dutton says don't trust the science.

Trevor:

A bit about crime rates, a bit about subs.

Trevor:

We've got to get to Israel and Gaza just to go through the latest round

Trevor:

of atrocities going on over there.

Trevor:

A bit about Ukraine, Trump the athlete and various other bits which we probably won't

Trevor:

even get to, but we'll see how we go.

Trevor:

So, first up, grateful.

Trevor:

What are you grateful for?

Trevor:

I'm grateful for, Well, one of the problems, dear listener, of living

Trevor:

in one of the, leafy, upper middle class suburbs is local petrol stations

Trevor:

jack up the fuel price here about 30 cents more than everywhere else.

Trevor:

And, so we had to drive down the coast on a near empty tank, but I was

Trevor:

able to do my calculations and jump onto, now what was the app called?

Trevor:

It's called, there's a bunch of them around, ServoTrack app.

Trevor:

Which basically describes very easily what the price of fuel

Trevor:

is at various service stations.

Trevor:

along the way.

Trevor:

Saved myself 30 cents a litre.

Trevor:

I was grateful for the servo track app.

Trevor:

Have you guys ever used that one?

Trevor:

No,

Scott:

because I hardly ever

Trevor:

drive.

Trevor:

Yeah, you wouldn't.

Trevor:

Yeah,

Scott:

you know, I live in a city that's so flat it could have

Scott:

actually, it could have forgotten the internal combustion engine.

Scott:

So, yeah, I cycle,

Trevor:

I walk everywhere.

Trevor:

Joe, do you scout around for the lowest price?

Joe:

not very often, but, sometimes I use the websites

Trevor:

a bit.

Trevor:

Mm, anyway, that's what I was grateful for.

Trevor:

You guys grateful for anything, Scott?

Trevor:

Mm hmm.

Trevor:

You're grateful, actually, for Park Run.

Trevor:

Yeah,

Scott:

I am.

Scott:

I am very grateful for Parkrun.

Scott:

It's one of those things that started a few years ago when I moved up here.

Scott:

I didn't know anybody and I was very grateful that one of the

Scott:

blokes and that stuff said to me.

Scott:

There's a few of us that have breakfast after this if you're interested.

Scott:

And I turned up there, I was the youngest person in the group and it's really

Trevor:

good.

Trevor:

And have a good chat with people afterwards and it's a

Trevor:

healthy social activity as well.

Scott:

It has expanded.

Scott:

I am now running on Tuesday night and I also then run myself on

Scott:

Monday and Wednesday mornings.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Very good.

Trevor:

Joe, grateful for anything?

Trevor:

I

Joe:

went to a conference at the weekend.

Joe:

It was a security conference.

Joe:

Okay, work related.

Joe:

So the first one I've been to.

Joe:

But, yeah, grateful to get there, catch up with some former colleagues.

Joe:

Mm hmm.

Joe:

And, get to learn a bit about, That's an industry I'm trying to move into at

Trevor:

the moment.

Trevor:

Very good.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

Looking at your background there, Matthew describes it as the Great

Trevor:

Wall of, the Grey Wall of Joe.

Trevor:

It's actually white, it's just the lighting.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

right.

Trevor:

Matthew

Scott:

Chalk lives in a regional town in central Queensland.

Scott:

Yep.

Scott:

So whereabouts in central Queensland do you live, Matthew?

Trevor:

Yeah, anywhere near Mackay, a chance.

Trevor:

That's the thing, Petrol N say that, he's constantly hovering

Trevor:

around, 2 for the, for the 95, fuel.

Trevor:

See here, it's always more expensive.

Trevor:

Like we pay more in the gap than you would in regional Queensland.

Trevor:

Just, crazy how it works.

Trevor:

Anyway, we've got to have some,

Scott:

we've got to have some compensation for living

Trevor:

up here.

Trevor:

Yeah, exactly.

Trevor:

all right.

Trevor:

Now, dear listener, there are chapters and timestamps.

Trevor:

If you don't want to listen to our, goings on, then you can scoot through

Trevor:

to the more substantial topics and.

Trevor:

yeah, look at the timestamps, look at the chapters in your app if you

Trevor:

want to do that, because before getting into the main meaty topic of

Trevor:

the religious discrimination bill, just wanted to shout out to Noel.

Trevor:

He's the first new patron for 2024.

Trevor:

In fact, He's the first new patron since the 24th of August, 2023.

Trevor:

So good on you, Noel, for going on and, signing up and becoming a patron.

Trevor:

look at your show notes, dear listener.

Trevor:

There's a link there with the options.

Trevor:

It's easy to do.

Trevor:

also a big thanks to DB Slatya who provided a.

Trevor:

One off donation again, which he does sort of regularly at different times.

Trevor:

Thank you for that.

Trevor:

and Chris Tatum who donates via PayPal.

Trevor:

But Noel, you've joined an illustrious list of patrons.

Trevor:

Now we don't often call out the patrons names and we should do it

Trevor:

more often, but, these are unsung heroes who, who give without requiring

Trevor:

recognition, clearly, because you don't get much on this podcast.

Trevor:

So starting from the most recent to the, to the oldest patrons, Big thank yous to

Trevor:

Noel Hamilton, Paige, Damien Van Snydel, Danny Borland, Obrad, Puskarica, Anti U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

Sentiment, Mark Clavell, Tom Stubbings, Rico, Greg P, Shannon Legge, Matt

Trevor:

Dwyer, Sue Cripp, James, Wayne, Virgil, Craig Bull, Shane Ingram, Yam Yam Blue,

Trevor:

Zambuck, Lloydberg, David Copley, John in Dire Straits, Camille, Tom Doolan, Paul

Trevor:

Waper from Canberra, Alexander Allen, Matthew Craigis, Glenn Bell my brother.

Trevor:

Professor Dr Dentist, Murray Waper, brother of Paul Waper,

Trevor:

Murray says that our show notes are the best in the business.

Trevor:

That is the benefit you get from being a patron, dear listener,

Trevor:

you get the PDF of the show notes.

Trevor:

Andy Dowling, Peter Gillespie, Gavin S, Daniel Curtin, Liam McMahon, DomDom282,

Trevor:

Maddockman, Kane Birch, Jimmy Spud, Tony Wall, Steve Shinners, Allison.

Trevor:

Ayame Ueno, Craig Gladsby, and Janelle Louise as our current oldest patrons.

Trevor:

So yes, we don't often enough say thank you.

Trevor:

So they're quite selfless.

Trevor:

And I was looking about, I don't know, I just wanted to look and Google something

Trevor:

about, people who do good things without needing recognition and came across

Trevor:

this thing from Expert Editor, which describes the patrons of this podcast.

Trevor:

Some people go through life in a constant pursuit of recognition and

Trevor:

applause, while others quietly make a difference in the world without

Trevor:

seeking validation or acknowledgement.

Trevor:

You might wonder what drives these silent heroes to continuously do good

Trevor:

for others, without expecting anything in return, or how they manage to remain

Trevor:

humble amidst their selfless work.

Trevor:

Selfless acts.

Trevor:

That's a good description of our patrons there.

Trevor:

So this writer has distilled their characteristics into six key traits.

Trevor:

One is empathy.

Trevor:

Their empathetic nature compels them to act, to reach out, to comfort and help.

Trevor:

Not because they want praise or acknowledgement, but because

Trevor:

they genuinely feel the need to lessen another's burden.

Trevor:

Humility.

Trevor:

These individuals understand they're part of a larger community

Trevor:

and that their actions are a contribution to the collective good.

Trevor:

rather than a means to boost their personal status.

Trevor:

Selflessness, they prioritize the needs and well being of others,

Trevor:

even when it's inconvenient.

Trevor:

Altruism, research indicates that individuals who engage in altruistic

Trevor:

behaviors experience numerous physical and psychological benefits,

Trevor:

including enhanced happiness, health, well being, and longevity.

Trevor:

There you go, dear listener.

Trevor:

That's a potential benefit heading your way if you become a patron.

Trevor:

Integrity.

Trevor:

They understand the true virtue lies in doing good when no one is watching.

Trevor:

And resilience.

Trevor:

A resilient person doesn't help others because it's easy.

Trevor:

They do it because they believe in the cause, regardless of

Trevor:

the challenges they may face.

Trevor:

So there we are, dear listener.

Trevor:

That's our patrons.

Trevor:

Resilience mixed with a good dose of empathy, humility, selflessness,

Trevor:

altruism, and integrity.

Trevor:

I'm not going to pay you more money.

Trevor:

Well, it was worth a shot.

Trevor:

I got to do something.

Trevor:

They're the first patrons since August, 2023.

Trevor:

That's, that's a long drought.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Anyway, it is.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Anyway, religion.

Trevor:

So, the religious discrimination bill is a link in the show note.

Trevor:

There was a good article in the Rationale magazine.

Trevor:

titled, Why I'm Speaking Out About Discrimination in Christian Schools,

Trevor:

and in one paragraph he pretty much summarised the whole situation very

Trevor:

well, which was, In faith based schools we have institutionalised

Trevor:

discrimination, enabled through state based exemptions to anti discrimination

Trevor:

laws, and funded by the taxpayer while the broader community remains unaware.

Trevor:

And that's the case, but is what we've got is institutionalised discrimination.

Trevor:

Funded by taxpayers, and most of the public is unaware of what's going on, so,

Trevor:

ah, this religious discrimination bill.

Trevor:

The history of it, dear listener, was that with marriage equality, the rabid

Trevor:

Christian right wingers in the Liberal Party were incredibly unhappy, and

Trevor:

that, in order to placate them, Turnbull offered some sort of, the, the ruddick.

Trevor:

inquiry into religious discrimination.

Trevor:

And of course, Ruddock came out with an appalling report recommending

Trevor:

that even more exemptions be granted.

Trevor:

for religious believers, allowing them to discriminate, not just on

Trevor:

the basis of faith, the different faith of people, but on the basis

Trevor:

of, characteristics such as whether they're gay or lesbian or whatever.

Trevor:

So, and that created a huge uproar.

Trevor:

Scott Morrison tried to get it through and it ultimately

Trevor:

failed because of trans kids.

Trevor:

Because people were saying, well, this is going to allow, schools to

Trevor:

discriminate against trans kids.

Trevor:

And that was the, that was the point that, that it all fell over on.

Trevor:

Which, incredible.

Trevor:

We're funding these private schools, for example, and we're allowing them

Trevor:

to say, Well, you're a Christian school, therefore if somebody's not

Trevor:

Christian, you can discriminate against them in hiring and and enrolment.

Trevor:

And people say, this Labor government currently thinks that's okay, they

Trevor:

just don't want you to be able to discriminate against gay people,

Trevor:

for example, lesbians, and they just don't see that both of them are bad.

Trevor:

It just amazes me.

Trevor:

You know, we, we understand that in a community where everybody's

Trevor:

working together in a cooperative way, allowing unfair discrimination

Trevor:

isn't good for a healthy society.

Trevor:

Check out Israel and Palestine, Exhibit A in that regard.

Trevor:

We really want laws where people are not allowed to just look

Trevor:

at these characteristics and say, not part of our group.

Trevor:

They continue to, to just accept that that's quite acceptable behaviour by,

Trevor:

by these private schools, for example.

Trevor:

So, So I think, where are we up to?

Trevor:

Apparently, Albanese was on a plane with Dutton.

Trevor:

Are you aware of this, Scott?

Scott:

Yeah, I was aware of that, and that, Albanese said to him that

Scott:

if you don't, if you don't give us bipartisanship on this whole thing,

Scott:

I'm going to walk away from it.

Scott:

So, apparently Dutton spat the dummy after that, So bipartisanship

Scott:

is now, whether or not it is dead.

Trevor:

So Albanese is saying, unless I get bipartisan support,

Trevor:

I'm not going to try and run it.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Because he's already been smacked around the nose with the force issue.

Trevor:

So, and, and I think the proposed legislation was still, for example,

Trevor:

providing, yeah, you can discriminate against people because they're of

Trevor:

a different faith, but that was drawing a line somewhere around, gay

Trevor:

and lesbian kids, whether it's in enrolment, and then whether they're

Trevor:

extended to teachers, who knows, we haven't seen it, and certainly wouldn't

Trevor:

have allowed it for transgender kids.

Trevor:

So, it was probably going to be the case that the religious groups are too scared

Trevor:

of losing what they've already got.

Trevor:

So, so we're in this situation where Labor's still quite happy to entertain

Trevor:

good, hard working teachers being, being basically banned from, from participating

Trevor:

in teaching in 40 percent of employment opportunities for teachers in Australia.

Trevor:

Because perhaps they're not Christian.

Trevor:

And Labor, who should be supporting working teachers,

Trevor:

should be aghast at that.

Trevor:

But they don't give a shit, and they think it's perfect.

Trevor:

Not only don't give a shit, they just actually think it's perfectly fine.

Trevor:

So, that's where we are with, with that.

Trevor:

couple of articles, What did Michael Bradley say here in Crikey?

Trevor:

so, he says that the bottom of this mess is an irreconcilable difference between

Trevor:

the necessary implication of religious freedom being the freedom to discriminate

Trevor:

against others, when that's what one's faith dictates, Versus the right of

Trevor:

everyone to live in equal existence, free from discrimination, on the basis

Trevor:

of attributes they did not invent.

Trevor:

he says the old legal compromise was an uncomfortable one.

Trevor:

The churches were allowed to discriminate, principally against LGBTQI people and

Trevor:

women, but against other groups as well, on the basis of their faith.

Trevor:

their faith was not elevated to the status of a protected human right.

Trevor:

And that, of course, is what Ruddick was trying to do, was elevate.

Trevor:

faith to a protected human right, thereby enabling faith groups to

Trevor:

discriminate against all sorts of people.

Trevor:

So, so it's a minefield.

Trevor:

And do

Scott:

you think he just doesn't understand that?

Scott:

Because my impression of Albanese is he's not the brightest, not the

Scott:

brightest bulb in the You know,

Trevor:

in the pack.

Trevor:

I don't think he's a deep thinker.

Trevor:

No.

Joe:

Is

Trevor:

he not also religious?

Trevor:

Yes he is.

Trevor:

He is, he's a Catholic,

Scott:

but

Trevor:

Well he said the three mainstays in his life, the three

Trevor:

most important things in his life were South Sydney Rabideaus, I think?

Trevor:

Yeah,

Scott:

it was the South Sydney Rabidows, the Catholic Church and the Labor

Trevor:

Party.

Trevor:

And the Labor Party and the Church, so, full on, in that sense, so,

Trevor:

he is no friend of secularism in Australia, and this Labor government

Trevor:

is no friend either, so, yeah.

Trevor:

Anyway, the article in Crikey.

Trevor:

There was a comment section, and basically the comment section was just full of

Trevor:

people saying, you know, enough is enough, very sort of against the idea of

Trevor:

religious groups getting further rights to further discriminate, so, fairly

Trevor:

comprehensive in there, and yeah, one of the comments there was, All of which

Trevor:

should be blindingly obvious to Albo.

Trevor:

It is remarkable that so many people spend decades in politics

Trevor:

but remain hopeless at it.

Trevor:

So, yeah, so that was that.

Trevor:

The Australian Christian Lobby, I'm on their mailing list.

Trevor:

They wrote to me and said, given the lack of bipartisan support,

Trevor:

this bill is unlikely to progress, so the status quo remains.

Trevor:

We thank God because status quo isn't as bad as what was being proposed.

Trevor:

So, from the ACL point of view.

Trevor:

So they wanted

Scott:

the additional protection to discriminate against

Scott:

transgender kids, didn't

Trevor:

they?

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

And I, I think that, that Bill might have wound back some of the LGBTQI sort of,

Trevor:

discrimination that was inherent in the current arrangement, so, so as far as the

Trevor:

AACL is concerned, they'd rather probably stick with what they've got than muck

Trevor:

around with stuff and potentially lose it.

Trevor:

So, yeah.

Trevor:

I, I,

Joe:

back during the marriage equality, I basically wrote to,

Joe:

or emailed or whatever to Binary.

Joe:

To tell them to go fuck themselves.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Who did, who did you email?

Trevor:

Binary.

Trevor:

Who's binary?

Joe:

So they've renamed themselves.

Joe:

They were some anti gay group.

Joe:

They're now some anti trans group, saying that there's only men and women

Joe:

and they can't change, therefore binary.

Joe:

So I, I get spammed about three or four times a week with some, you know, God

Joe:

fearing mother of two or something about, you know, all these horrible things

Joe:

that the gender nonconformers are doing to her, how she was Speech, but she's

Joe:

got it all back and she was vindicated in some VCAT or whichever one it is.

Joe:

So, but I've not seen anything about the discrimination bill in there.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

so just looking at the comments, John says.

Trevor:

Actually, it's tribute money, talking to his patronage, Matthew says

Trevor:

some people who return, same people who return the shopping trolley.

Trevor:

It's a true litmus test for society.

Trevor:

There you go.

Trevor:

that actually tribute

Joe:

money was, a hangover off one before,

Trevor:

which was about the submarines.

Trevor:

Oh, I wasn't.

Trevor:

Oh, okay.

Trevor:

yes.

Trevor:

Uh, okay.

Trevor:

He learned from the, okay.

Trevor:

John learned from the Chaser podcast that if we actually get

Trevor:

secondhand subs, they will be based in the US, making visits to Perth.

Trevor:

that's the billions we pay to the U S is tribute money.

Trevor:

And there we go.

Trevor:

and also, Matthew said, I include your Patreon payment in my tithing budget line.

Trevor:

Good morning, Matthew.

Trevor:

Thank you very much, Matthew.

Trevor:

All right.

Trevor:

Well, speaking of sort of gender issues, here's a worrying thought.

Trevor:

According to Alex Antic, one of our, ah, federal politicians.

Trevor:

in the Senate.

Trevor:

Masculinity is under attack.

Trevor:

So, in his Twitter, he said, Masculinity is under attack, but

Trevor:

despite the best efforts of the subversive cultural Marxists in

Trevor:

our midst, it certainly lives on in places such as the Aussie barbershop.

Trevor:

Watch as I mansplain to the Senate how the patriarchy is far from being smashed.

Trevor:

To hear more from me and stay up to date, sign up to my email

Trevor:

newsletter here at alexantic.

Trevor:

com.

Trevor:

au slash join.

Trevor:

I thought that was

Joe:

a stage name, I didn't realise it was an actual person.

Scott:

Is Alex Antic a member of the Liberal Party?

Trevor:

or is he one, is he One Nation, Alex Antic?

Trevor:

Can you look it up for me?

Trevor:

No, he's not.

Trevor:

Is he national?

Trevor:

He could, no.

Trevor:

All the same.

Trevor:

Yeah, they are.

Trevor:

Have a listen to him, and while that's happening, someone will Google

Trevor:

where he's actually from, this guy.

Trevor:

Here he is in the Senate, mansplaining.

Trevor:

. Masculinity is under attack and the war on men being led by a cultural

Trevor:

Marxist, the likes of which roam every school, every university.

Trevor:

and every education department in the country.

Trevor:

Strong male role models have become an endangered species.

Trevor:

Fathers in sitcoms are depicted as immature, dumb, lazy, and incompetent.

Trevor:

Husbands in television commercials can't be trusted to organise the insurance.

Trevor:

The cultural elites, cheering on the decline of men, are trying to

Trevor:

erase the very fabric of our culture.

Trevor:

Men seeking refuge still have a few sanctuaries, and Last week,

Trevor:

I stepped into the safe space, which is the modern barber's shop.

Trevor:

No other environment better sums up the frustration among

Trevor:

young men than these places.

Trevor:

Three barbers chairs, three thirty something men working hard, a pool

Trevor:

table, a bar fridge full of beers and a PlayStation 5 hanging on the wall.

Trevor:

The conversation drifted between the stupidity of the COVID period the

Trevor:

concerns about central bank digital currencies and how they just want

Trevor:

to be left alone to work hard and spend time with their families.

Trevor:

And at one point, one of the barbers even dared to point out an

Trevor:

attractive young woman walking past.

Trevor:

Now, that was probably a microaggression, but it just seemed like a bit

Trevor:

of harmless behaviour to me.

Trevor:

Dismiss this as a frolic if you want.

Trevor:

Every angry gender studies professor who thinks that they're going to crush

Trevor:

the patriarchy has got some news coming.

Trevor:

The alpha male lives on and there's not a damn thing you commies can

Trevor:

do about it except cry harder.

Scott:

What a dickhead, you know, does he honestly believe that Karl

Scott:

Marx would have been in favor of

Trevor:

transgenderism?

Trevor:

Cultural Marxism has nothing to do with Karl Marx, but but just

Trevor:

These guys have spent way too long watching Sky News and listening

Trevor:

to podcasts with Jordan Peterson.

Scott:

Let's come straight out of Fox News.

Scott:

You know, it's I cannot believe that that dickhead could actually hold

Scott:

his head up and say, you know, I'm a senator for South Australia, if

Scott:

he actually says garbage like that.

Trevor:

That's what goes for debate in our parliament at the moment.

Trevor:

This is the calibre of person getting in.

Trevor:

I'm grateful for hair clippers, that my wife does my hair, and I

Trevor:

don't have to go into a barbershop if that's what's going on there.

Trevor:

No,

Trevor:

I

Scott:

go to a barbershop and there's no problem up here, you know,

Trevor:

it's just,

Scott:

you know, that

Trevor:

guy's obviously a dickhead.

Trevor:

What's a barbershop?

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah, and I don't have to worry about it either.

Trevor:

But it's just, Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

As James said in the chat room, So he just got preselected to the

Trevor:

top of the ticket there as well.

Trevor:

So he was second, I think, and he moved to the top.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

That's what I was

Scott:

saying, that they reckon the radical Christian right has,

Scott:

is stealing the Liberal Party.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

And it

Scott:

really wouldn't surprise me after hearing that diatribe of nonsense.

Trevor:

That's the best thing you've got to do.

Trevor:

You're in a position in the Senate and that's, That's the

Trevor:

best you can come up with.

Trevor:

Ah, dear.

Trevor:

So if you're looking for something to watch that would be better than

Trevor:

that, there's a documentary on my favourite economist, Yanis Varoufakis.

Trevor:

It's called Eye of the Storm.

Trevor:

So if you go to eyeofthestorm.

Trevor:

info, you'll find details about it.

Trevor:

Four hours and 18 minutes.

Trevor:

It costs 29.

Trevor:

99.

Trevor:

I haven't yet bought a copy and watched it.

Trevor:

Waiting to see how many new patrons I get.

Trevor:

And, . And,

Scott:

if you two wanna, if you two wanna contribute to Trevor's d Trevor's slide

Scott:

into socialism, then please do contribute that he can buy Eye of the Storm.

Scott:

Yeah, that's

Trevor:

right.

Trevor:

So this socialist can watch another socialist talk about socialism.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

And you all have to contribute.

Trevor:

Yeah, that's it.

Trevor:

anyway, I'll have a storm, Giannis, I'm sure it'll be good.

Trevor:

I'll get to it eventually.

Joe:

When you can't find it on a dodgy download site, it's

Joe:

called In the Eye of the Storm.

Trevor:

Ah, okay, right.

Trevor:

so, Australia's Trade Minister, Don Farrell, has come under fire from the

Trevor:

opposition for saying he's not sure the United States is Australia's most trusted

Trevor:

ally, and instead argued New Zealand is.

Trevor:

So this guy, Senator Farrell, was filling in for Foreign Minister

Trevor:

Penny Wong during question time.

Trevor:

And made the comments after being questioned by the opposition's

Trevor:

Claire Chandler about why the Australian government had

Trevor:

not acted in line with the U.

Trevor:

S., which is yet to restore funding to the main aid agency in Gaza, UNWRA.

Trevor:

Remember dear listener, UNWRA was the Palestinian organization that basically

Trevor:

provides the aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and due to uncorroborated

Trevor:

statements by the Israelis, Of the tens of thousands of UNWWA employees, 12

Trevor:

of them were allegedly part of Hamas.

Trevor:

Our government, Canada, US and others, decided to withhold funding

Trevor:

for the poor Palestinians in Gaza, the most needy people on the planet.

Trevor:

And this bitch, Claire Chandler, is saying, why has the Australian government,

Trevor:

restored the funding, which is out of line with our main ally, the US?

Trevor:

How, how dare we restore that funding that we'd withdrawn?

Trevor:

when our main ally hasn't.

Trevor:

I mean that dickhead Antic was just stupidly foolish.

Trevor:

That's a mean streak to this Claire Chandler.

Trevor:

Anyway, this happens in question time and um, she says here, Why is the Albanese

Trevor:

Labor government acting in opposition to the United States, our most trusted

Trevor:

international partner, who await the outcomes of the investigation into UNRWA?

Trevor:

And in the interim is pursuing alternate means of delivering

Trevor:

more humanitarian assistance.

Trevor:

I know they're

Scott:

parachuting food in there, which, you know.

Trevor:

A drop in the ocean, literally.

Trevor:

What

Scott:

is what they would actually need is they, they need the aid to resume.

Trevor:

And killing people with the parachutes.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

The fact that

Scott:

Israel is blocking that is just, it's

Trevor:

bloody criminal what they're doing.

Trevor:

It's genocide is what it is.

Trevor:

It is, it's genocide.

Trevor:

It's appalling.

Trevor:

And, and for this woman to say.

Trevor:

Why have we resumed aid to the Palestinians when the US hasn't?

Trevor:

Because Finland

Scott:

has resumed aid.

Trevor:

Because it's the right thing to do, and it was incredibly stupid

Trevor:

to take it away in the first place.

Trevor:

That's why.

Trevor:

Ahhhh.

Trevor:

Scott, please.

Trevor:

The Israelis claim 12 members, a part of Hamas, out of a

Trevor:

staff of tens of thousands.

Trevor:

Yeah, that's true.

Trevor:

And when Claims by the Israelis, I wouldn't care if they were right.

Trevor:

I wouldn't care if they said 200, 300, a thousand of them are Hamas.

Trevor:

I wouldn't care.

Trevor:

The innocent people in Gaza need help, and it's the only way to get it to them.

Trevor:

But, anyway.

Trevor:

Senator Farrell in responding, they restored it now.

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

They restored the funding now, as has Finland.

Scott:

I think

Trevor:

Canada has

Scott:

too.

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

I think that the Yanks are the only ones that have still dropped, still

Scott:

blocked funding, haven't they?

Scott:

The UK also, also blocked

Trevor:

funding.

Trevor:

I'm not sure.

Trevor:

But, so Senator Farrell, instead of saying, you mean hearted

Trevor:

bitch, what are you talking about?

Trevor:

He said, I'm not so sure about what you're saying here that, the United

Trevor:

States is our most trusted ally.

Trevor:

I would have said New Zealand.

Trevor:

In the whole history of time.

Trevor:

I would have said our closest international ally is New Zealand,

Trevor:

but we're very close to the United States, I freely concede that.

Trevor:

So, so then we get Shadow Affairs Minister, Simon Birmingham,

Trevor:

quick to criticise the comments.

Trevor:

Quote, It beggars belief that a cabinet minister in the foreign affairs and trade

Trevor:

portfolio would be so eager to talk down Australia's partnership with the US.

Trevor:

Senator Farrell's statement is something I would expect from the Greens.

Trevor:

rather than a senior government minister.

Trevor:

And Senator Labor, Liberal Senator James Patterson called

Trevor:

the statement extraordinary.

Trevor:

And said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should rein in his rogue colleague.

Joe:

They're right, you know.

Joe:

I mean, New Zealand doesn't have a spy station on our shores.

Joe:

Nor does it have a marine base on our shores.

Joe:

And we're not buying nuclear submarines from them.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

Wouldn't that make them a better ally?

Trevor:

Sponging office?

Trevor:

Honestly, what a terrible episode.

Trevor:

In our Australian Parliament.

Trevor:

Criticizing the return of aid, measly as it is, to Gaza, because the US

Trevor:

hasn't restarted doing the same.

Trevor:

And then getting all hysterical because Somebody filling in for

Trevor:

the Foreign Affairs Minister says, you know, it's a bit of a toss up.

Trevor:

I'd probably go for New Zealand as our best ally.

Trevor:

What a sorry state of affairs.

Trevor:

Oh, goodness me.

Trevor:

okay.

Trevor:

Nothing else to say more about that?

Joe:

I was going to say, it's only because they don't have

Joe:

real policies to argue about.

Joe:

No.

Trevor:

That's right.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Dutton.

Trevor:

Remember we talked about Dutton and, his criticism of the CSIRO?

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

So the C-S-I-R-O has produced, been producing the annual gen cost report

Trevor:

and, the gen cost report, he questioned the report's integrity and said it was

Trevor:

discredited because it doesn't take into account some of the transmission

Trevor:

costs, the costs around subsidies, and the costs around subsidies for renewal.

Trevor:

Of course, it does include transmission costs, like it's very

Trevor:

specific, so it's complete bullshit to say it doesn't include the

Trevor:

extra transmission costs associated with using renewable technology.

Trevor:

Um, so, In that report, sorry, Joe.

Trevor:

The report

Joe:

questioned his

Trevor:

integrity.

Trevor:

Did it?

Trevor:

No.

Trevor:

Yeah, sure, we need a report on his integrity.

Trevor:

Maybe that's what we're doing here on this podcast.

Trevor:

So, the most recent GenCos report estimates a theoretical small modular

Trevor:

reactor, if it's built in 2030, Would, it would cost between nearly 400 and 636 per

Trevor:

megawatt hour to generate electricity.

Trevor:

whereas wind and solar at around 91 or 130.

Trevor:

So, you know, there's all this talk about, how long it would take us

Trevor:

to build a reactor, and whether we have the capability of doing it, and

Trevor:

there's sort of arguments about that.

Trevor:

But they haven't, they've never come out and said, oh, well, of course, once it

Trevor:

is built, the cost of generating this electricity and the nuclear one is going

Trevor:

to be much cheaper than renewables.

Trevor:

Like, they haven't admitted the extra cost involved with, you Nuclear power.

Trevor:

It's crazily expensive compared to renewables, so, did you guys

Trevor:

watch, there's a guy on, he, I guess he's the opposition energy

Trevor:

spokesman, and he was on the Insiders?

Trevor:

And, it was also on the 7.

Trevor:

30, it was on the 7.

Trevor:

30 report and talking about, nuclear power.

Trevor:

Oh man,

Scott:

that was when the host

Trevor:

toured the new one, wasn't it?

Trevor:

Well, he tried to, you know, he actually, because it's such a BS argument, he

Trevor:

actually did half a good job of sort of the obfuscation and just rhetoric

Trevor:

required to just keep talking and not get too bogged down in things.

Trevor:

he's quite an evangelist for it.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

And apparently he didn't start off that way, but he's become that way.

Trevor:

So, yeah, I did actually hear that.

Trevor:

And he,

Scott:

they, they said that he was chosen to chair that committee because he was

Scott:

so level headed and he has now become quite an evangelist for nuclear energy.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

I think God

Trevor:

alone knows why.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

I think he's just, he spent a lot of time talking to advocates for nuclear

Trevor:

energy and not enough of advocates.

Trevor:

For the contrary view, I think.

Trevor:

I

Joe:

read an article that was talking about, basically, there is a new

Joe:

generation of, nuclear reactor that's being built at the moment in Europe and I

Joe:

think one other country, I can't remember.

Joe:

one of them is the Hinkley Point reconstruction being built by EDF,

Joe:

which is the French electricity company, which is national and

Joe:

runs all the French power stations.

Joe:

And they're also upgrading one of the French ones.

Joe:

I can't remember, basically saying how late they are, you know, they

Joe:

were supposed to be in action.

Joe:

They're three times over budget.

Joe:

They're at least 10 years late.

Joe:

and, and this is only with the current generation, the small modular reactors,

Joe:

nobody's ever built one, who knows when, if ever, they'll build one.

Joe:

This is all just bullshit.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Well, when

Scott:

you, you know, when you, when you've got a country like Australia,

Scott:

I don't think there's any point us investing any money in nuclear energy.

Scott:

Because we've got plenty of wind, we've got plenty of sun, so all

Scott:

you've got to do is just find a way of firming it up, and they've

Scott:

started that up here in Queensland.

Scott:

You know, you've got two dams, which are not yet under construction, but

Scott:

they will be under construction.

Scott:

And once they're constructed, water goes down, goes through

Scott:

turbines to generate electricity.

Scott:

During the day, once the sun's shining, the wind's blowing, and

Scott:

that sort of stuff, you pump the water back up the top, you know.

Scott:

It's, it makes perfect sense.

Trevor:

You know, you talked before about how this, coalition has no

Trevor:

policies, so they talk culture issue.

Trevor:

They have one policy, and it's this nuclear energy policy.

Trevor:

It's the worst possible policy.

Trevor:

Frightening.

Trevor:

Frightening.

Trevor:

It is.

Trevor:

Right.

Trevor:

You know, because

Scott:

you can only just see that you've got, you know, 382 to 636 per megawatt

Scott:

hour, hour for the nuclear reactor.

Scott:

Compared to 91 to 130 megawatt hour, for the, renewables.

Scott:

Yeah, but

Joe:

that's not important.

Joe:

What's important is the vested interests who are funding the

Joe:

political campaigns of the politicians.

Joe:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So, anyway, that's that story.

Trevor:

Where were we?

Trevor:

Crime rates.

Trevor:

Dear listener, on your behalf, I read the Courier Mail every day.

Trevor:

And I can tell you that for the last two years in particular, it's

Trevor:

been running rampant with a law and order campaign about how much

Trevor:

more crime there is in Queensland.

Trevor:

And it's all the fault of the government.

Trevor:

Anastasia Palaszczuk, and now it's the fault of Stephen Miles and various sort of

Trevor:

LNP politicians come on at different times talking tough about law and order and,

Trevor:

so it's been a big issue in the Courier Mail and there is a genuine perception

Trevor:

in our community, crime rates are up.

Trevor:

And so I was delighted to see this article which said, media reports suggest that

Trevor:

crime rates are a significant issue.

Trevor:

In the last few days, the ABS has published updated data on crime

Trevor:

victimization over the last 14 years.

Trevor:

And Guess what?

Trevor:

the trend is downwards.

Trevor:

So the different categories of break in, theft from a motor vehicle, attempted

Trevor:

break in, malicious property damage, motor vehicle theft, other theft,

Trevor:

and also physical assault, robbery, face to face threatened assault,

Trevor:

sexual assault, non face to face threatened assault, and graphs, etc.

Trevor:

In all 11 categories other than sexual assault, the trend is downwards.

Trevor:

Data on sexual assault is influenced by a rise in the willingness of victims

Trevor:

to report cases, which has almost certainly increased in recent years.

Trevor:

And, examination of separate ABS data reveals that in the vast majority,

Trevor:

around 90 percent of cases of violence against women, including sexual assault,

Trevor:

the perpetrator is known to the victim.

Trevor:

Nothing in ABS data supports suggestion that women face any increased threat.

Trevor:

from unknown sexual predators at large in the streets.

Trevor:

So, um, so yeah, I've been keen to get this statistic and, I reckon if

Trevor:

you found a group of older people, boomers, in Queensland, who have

Trevor:

been on a steady diet of Courier Mail and Sky News, and said to them, what

Trevor:

do you reckon, sort of crime rates?

Trevor:

Increasing a lot in the last couple of years, every single

Trevor:

one of them would say, yes.

Trevor:

And now you can say, well, guess what?

Trevor:

No, they're not.

Trevor:

And put a report under their nose if you'd like to.

Joe:

I remember where it was pulled out.

Joe:

I, an old copy of an Australian newspaper.

Joe:

I think it was the Courier Mail, from something like a hundred years ago with.

Joe:

youth crime is unbearable.

Joe:

something needs to be done about it.

Trevor:

So

Joe:

this, this is a good scaremongering tactic to, whip up feelings

Joe:

against the current government.

Joe:

And in fact, I just got a, an advert in the mail today.

Joe:

for the new Liberal Queensland MP for my area.

Joe:

Sorry, candidate.

Trevor:

State candidate.

Trevor:

State, yes.

Joe:

Yep.

Joe:

and he was saying how, yeah, the number one on his thing was, more, more

Joe:

police for the area, but also remove sentencing as a last, choice for youth

Trevor:

offenders.

Trevor:

Removed.

Trevor:

Currently in sentencing.

Trevor:

Currently in the

Joe:

law, the sentencing guidelines say that jail is the last option, right?

Joe:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Incarceration.

Trevor:

So

Joe:

only, only once you've gone through everything else can you jail, teenagers.

Joe:

Mm-Hmm.

Joe:

And they're saying, we are going to remove this restriction.

Trevor:

Because we want to jail war kids.

Trevor:

Just, they're devoid of policies, but when they choose to take up a policy,

Trevor:

they just grab the worst possible one.

Trevor:

The worst possible one.

Trevor:

So, in this report it says, just as no opposition party is justified in raising

Trevor:

anxiety about crime, no government should claim bragging rights for the trends,

Trevor:

because in part they have to do with demographics as the proportion of young

Trevor:

males in our population diminishes, In part, they have to do with declining

Trevor:

rewards from crimes, such as robbery.

Trevor:

Stuff that was worth stealing 20 years ago.

Trevor:

He's now practically worthless on the, fence market, and in part because cars

Trevor:

and phones have become harder to steal, so, while the robberies It's one of those

Trevor:

things, like, you know, we always used to

Scott:

joke about losing our DVD player, someone would knock it off.

Trevor:

Couldn't sell them anymore.

Trevor:

No.

Trevor:

It says here, while the rates of armed and unarmed robbery

Trevor:

involving physical interactions have tumbled, cybercrime is on the rise.

Trevor:

So that'll, that'll make sense.

Trevor:

So, yeah, there we go.

Trevor:

I've been dying for that.

Trevor:

I, I am willing to bet a lot of money that the Courier Mail will

Trevor:

not be reporting that data, or if they do, they won't be reporting

Trevor:

it honestly, and in a fair light.

Trevor:

So yeah, there we go.

Trevor:

submarines.

Trevor:

Budget problems.

Trevor:

So in the US.

Trevor:

The Department of Defense will order just one Virginia class nuclear powered

Trevor:

attack submarine in the fiscal year of 2025, a drop from two per year.

Trevor:

So the U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

order has gone from two down to one, and it reflects shipbuilding bottlenecks.

Trevor:

The private shipyards that produce these submarines face mounting backlogs

Trevor:

due to limited capacity and personnel shortages, and the growth of the American

Trevor:

defense budget has been constrained by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, so

Trevor:

they don't have the same money that they might have hoped they would have.

Trevor:

And, the Virginia class is amongst the casualties.

Trevor:

So the US has promised to sell Australia three Virginia class

Trevor:

submarines 20 32, 20 35, and 2038 with the option of providing two more.

Trevor:

but the two boats per year pace that they had hoped to be at would only meet

Trevor:

their own private US demand for subs.

Trevor:

To cater to AUKUS and provide us with subs, the U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

needs to construct 2.

Trevor:

33 submarines per year.

Trevor:

End.

Trevor:

The actual delivery rate, in the last five years has been 1.

Trevor:

2.

Trevor:

So, if they're not building enough subs for themselves, what are the chances?

Trevor:

It's easy.

Trevor:

If,

Joe:

if there's, if the demand goes down, the price goes down.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

So we can swoop in and take the capacity, the additional capacity in the shipyards.

Joe:

Yeah.

Joe:

And pay second hand prices for a brand new sub.

Trevor:

They don't have excess capacity, Joe.

Trevor:

Where'd you get that from?

Joe:

Well, so they were supposed to be building two a year and

Joe:

they're only going to order one.

Joe:

That's because they couldn't.

Joe:

That's a whole additional

Trevor:

submarine.

Trevor:

Not only didn't have the money for it, didn't have the capacity.

Trevor:

So, a matching.

Trevor:

Jesus.

Trevor:

ALP, Rank and File Activist Group, Labor Against War, has called

Trevor:

on the Albanese government to immediately freeze all planned AUKUS

Trevor:

payments earmarked to underwrite the US Navy industrial shipyards.

Trevor:

So, so we just are giving money to the U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

and to the U.

Trevor:

K.

Trevor:

to build these ships that we're never going to get, and they're not

Trevor:

going to refund this money to us.

Trevor:

So, so when it comes to the U.

Trevor:

K., we've just agreed to give them 4.

Trevor:

6 billion.

Trevor:

for the submarine nuclear reactor factory in the United Kingdom

Trevor:

as part of a 10 year deal.

Trevor:

Richard Marles was proud of this.

Trevor:

Normally you hand over money in return for things.

Trevor:

It's like, you got a sub there?

Trevor:

Great.

Trevor:

Here's the money.

Trevor:

Now give us the sub or, or you've got a really concrete, structured contract

Trevor:

that says, Show us a certain amount of works and then we will pay you

Trevor:

some money, and show us more works and then we'll pay you more money.

Trevor:

But we are just handing over money with nothing to show for it.

Trevor:

It's our Labor Government.

Trevor:

I'm sure the French will sell us some.

Trevor:

So?

Joe:

The French will

Trevor:

sell us some.

Scott:

Well, they will sell us some, but you know, it's, the French

Scott:

submarines were designed to be nuclear powered, but they had to retrofit

Scott:

diesels into them, you know, which didn't actually work all that well.

Scott:

They were predicting there'd be problems with it and all

Trevor:

that sort of stuff.

Trevor:

Announcing the payment, Richard Miles was with his UK counterpart, Grant Shapps.

Trevor:

And, Mr.

Trevor:

Schaps said Orcus was fundamentally about securing freedom of navigation

Trevor:

in an increasingly dangerous world, in a region that includes

Trevor:

an increasingly belligerent China.

Scott:

Is that, David Cameron in

Trevor:

that photo?

Trevor:

would have been, yeah, because David Cameron's part of the government now,

Trevor:

part of this foreign trade stuff.

Trevor:

Yeah, he is part of the government.

Trevor:

He's,

Scott:

must have been given a lordship or something like

Scott:

that to do that type of work.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

And.

Trevor:

You know, of course, opposition leader Peter Dutton has

Trevor:

lauded the submarine deal.

Trevor:

He's a dickhead.

Trevor:

Liam McMahon will be pleased to know that Green Senator David Shoebridge was

Trevor:

less congratulatory, arguing Aukus was, quote, bleeding Australian taxpayers dry.

Trevor:

And he says, remarkably, we have an Australian government celebrating

Trevor:

sending some five billion of Australian taxpayers money to the United Kingdom to

Trevor:

prop up their failing nuclear industry.

Trevor:

He's a dickhead.

Trevor:

On top of the 4.

Trevor:

7 billion, the Albanesia's government has already committed to the

Trevor:

United States to prop up theirs.

Trevor:

We're just agreeing to hand over 10 billion.

Trevor:

Hi guys, take this money, hope it helps you make subs.

Trevor:

horrendous policymaking.

Trevor:

Save this like What was that, Joe?

Trevor:

You said you'd save

Joe:

this

Trevor:

like it's a bad thing.

Trevor:

Yeah, I just, it's extraordinary.

Trevor:

Another reason to vote Greens, Scott.

Scott:

I'm going to do that, but I'm going to do it under protest.

Trevor:

It should start to get enjoyable when you have issues like this.

Scott:

That's fine, but

Scott:

we've just got to see what the rest of them come up with, because, I am very

Trevor:

concerned.

Trevor:

About?

Scott:

Well, by some of the things the Greens have said.

Scott:

Now, you know, I know it's

Trevor:

Back to the Realtors.

Trevor:

Sorry?

Trevor:

You were concerned about their policy with property, is that it?

Trevor:

Yeah, exactly.

Scott:

It's one of those things, I know it's not all that PC to PC to

Scott:

PC, Pull apart, what's his name, Max Chandler, whatever his surname

Trevor:

is.

Trevor:

It's,

Scott:

I just think to myself that he's got a very simplistic view of the world.

Scott:

And that he is actually blaming people, the wrong people,

Scott:

for the problems of renters.

Scott:

And I can agree with him on occasion about some of the things

Scott:

he says, but not everything he

Trevor:

says.

Trevor:

Did you guys see the video of the drone attack on the Palestinians in Gaza?

Scott:

No, I've just heard about it.

Scott:

I read it in your notes on

Trevor:

Saturday.

Trevor:

Okay.

Trevor:

Let me just find here, why isn't it coming up?

Trevor:

Oh, it is.

Trevor:

Look, it's a bit long, so, I don't think there's any audio with this.

Trevor:

So, this part will be cut out of the audio only podcast.

Trevor:

But for you who are watching, if you haven't seen this before,

Trevor:

it's quite shocking, I think.

Trevor:

So, have a look at this.

Trevor:

I'll just, mute her because, supposedly these four youngish

Trevor:

looking men were returning to their homes in, I think Northern Gaza.

Trevor:

and walking along the street with no obvious weapons showing and

Trevor:

fairly just innocuous looking group walking along a pathway and

Trevor:

then just sit back and watch it.

Trevor:

It's just appalling.

Trevor:

Jesus Christ.

Trevor:

Just like that.

Trevor:

Just in a whiff.

Trevor:

Just awful.

Trevor:

They really are.

Trevor:

There's one remaining.

Trevor:

One remaining one is left.

Trevor:

What did they do wrong?

Trevor:

One remaining one is left, walking along there.

Trevor:

Can't have any getting away, so they've honed in on him as well.

Trevor:

So is this Israeli footage?

Trevor:

I think this has come from, I think it was leaked from Israeli

Trevor:

footage, because I think they needed this drain for Bloody hell.

Trevor:

You know, clearly these people were not providing a threat against anybody at the

Trevor:

time, and that's the sort of, stuff that, that, this, these Israelis are up to, so.

Trevor:

I mean, this guy's reduced to just crawling from his injuries,

Trevor:

and it's just, they have lost all They've lost an immorality.

Trevor:

humanity.

Trevor:

Yeah, it's,

Scott:

one of those things, I used to have some sympathy with Israel,

Scott:

but now it's, it's gone on too long.

Scott:

you know, I can understand I could understand why they were keeping up the

Scott:

battle and all that sort of stuff, because all they wanted was their citizens back.

Scott:

However, They are completely ignoring everything Anthony Blinken's been

Scott:

telling them and all that sort of stuff.

Scott:

So I think to myself that, you know, we should leave them alone now and

Scott:

just, you know, arm the Palestinians, you know, to turn the weapons

Trevor:

on Israel.

Trevor:

Yeah, John tells me I better get it off YouTube quickly because the

Trevor:

YouTube censor will be onto me.

Trevor:

They probably will be.

Trevor:

I'll try and, you know, I'll make it, I'll just make it private to start with,

Trevor:

because they, yeah, they will censor that, probably, but it's shocking to see.

Trevor:

Absolutely, it's really disgusting.

Trevor:

Now, let me just try this one as well.

Trevor:

See what this says.

Trevor:

Devastating

Joe:

burns in

Trevor:

small

Joe:

children, one child

Trevor:

at a time.

Trevor:

Okay, so this one here, is a British doctor who treated

Trevor:

Palestinian victims, in Gaza.

Trevor:

So, let's just go back to him and start at the beginning.

Trevor:

Devastating

Joe:

burns in small

Trevor:

children.

Trevor:

One child along, never forget, had burns so bad you could see her facial bones.

Trevor:

We knew there was no chance of her surviving that, but there

Trevor:

was no morphine to give her.

Trevor:

So not only was

Joe:

she inevitably going to die, but

Trevor:

She would die in agony, and what made it even worse, there

Trevor:

was nowhere for her to go and

Joe:

die.

Joe:

So she was just left on the floor of the emergency department to die.

Trevor:

So, that's going on in hospitals.

Trevor:

People being starved to death.

Trevor:

disease.

Trevor:

It's a complete wipeout of that society.

Trevor:

so, ah, it's as bad as it gets.

Trevor:

It is as bad as it gets, and, what can we do?

Trevor:

Nothing, that I'm aware of.

Scott:

Well, you know, I think Israel's got to pull out, because they have,

Scott:

they have squandered any moral, moral argument that they had by just, that

Scott:

footage should be enough for Blinken to say, you've got to back out, and

Scott:

you've got to back out now, or we're going to start arming the other side.

Scott:

You know, it's because four gids, and that sort of stuff, walking

Scott:

to their own home and then they were taken out by predator drones.

Trevor:

Hmm.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Other things.

Trevor:

Palestinian medical staff in Gaza have told the BBC they were

Trevor:

blindfolded, detained, forced to strip, repeatedly beaten by Israeli troops.

Trevor:

after a raid at their hospital.

Trevor:

So, one of the doctors described being held for a week in detention where

Trevor:

muzzled dogs were set upon him and his hand was broken by an Israeli soldier.

Trevor:

His account matches that of other medics who wanted to remain anonymous.

Trevor:

Um, they told the BBC they were humiliated, beaten, doused with cold

Trevor:

water, forced to kneel in uncomfortable positions for hours and were detained

Trevor:

for days before being released.

Trevor:

So, that's other medical staff in Gaza.

Trevor:

so, you know, that report about Israel, saying that some

Trevor:

members of UNRWA were Hamas.

Trevor:

So, UNRWA responds, by saying that employees released into Gaza from Israeli

Trevor:

detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely

Trevor:

stating that the agency has Hamas links.

Trevor:

so there's allegations that Israel was torturing Palestinians to

Trevor:

say that they were from Hamas.

Trevor:

Who knows where the truth lies with all these things.

Trevor:

and while all that's happening, Caitlin Johnston pointed to a

Trevor:

poll by Pew Research Center.

Trevor:

So Pew Research are a respected polling group that we've quoted on

Trevor:

numerous occasions in this podcast.

Trevor:

And, and they, asked Americans.

Trevor:

Um, The number of deaths in the current Israel Hamas war has been, about

Trevor:

the same, meaning same for Israel vs Palestine number of deaths, higher amongst

Trevor:

Israelis, higher amongst Palestinians.

Trevor:

and Not Sure.

Trevor:

So, asking Israel, Americans, which side has had more deaths?

Trevor:

Only 52 percent could correctly say that the death toll is

Trevor:

higher amongst the Palestinians.

Trevor:

7 percent thought they were the same.

Trevor:

7 percent thought it was higher amongst Israelis, and 34 percent were not sure.

Trevor:

So, that's a pretty damning indictment.

Trevor:

34 percent said not sure which side has had the most.

Trevor:

I would be surprised

Joe:

that even 52%.

Trevor:

Yeah, can Joe, can you just speak up a bit closer to the

Trevor:

microphone because you're a bit low.

Trevor:

Yeah, okay.

Trevor:

well, it's just appalling, isn't it?

Trevor:

Half the country can't say with confidence, has no idea that

Trevor:

of course Palestinians have suffered more deaths than Israel.

Trevor:

How do you get, what's the point of a democracy when You could say , when

Trevor:

people are so ill-informed, how can they vote on issues and what is the point of

Trevor:

it if people are so propagandized that they have no idea of what's going on?

Trevor:

The whole idea of democracy is we all look around, see what's going

Trevor:

on, make assessments about what's best, and vote for the group.

Trevor:

We think that'll do it.

Trevor:

And when half the people don't even know something as

Trevor:

fundamental as that is the point

Joe:

I I, I dunno that they're propagandized.

Joe:

I think they're just.

Joe:

, they don't care.

Joe:

They don't pay attention.

Trevor:

It's the subtle propaganda, propaganda, Joe.

Trevor:

Like it's all those headlines, you know, Israelis are, are, are killed.

Trevor:

Whereas, the Palestinians, die, you know, in strange ways when they're gathering

Trevor:

to collect flour from an aid station.

Trevor:

It's, it's, it's all that subtlety of the headlines is the propaganda, I think.

Trevor:

So, and you're right, and then they just don't read it, most of them anyway.

Trevor:

So, what else we got here?

Trevor:

It's from Kaitlyn Johnson.

Trevor:

she says, American movies and TV shows like to make fun of nations like North

Trevor:

Korea for having state propaganda, but Americans are easily the most

Trevor:

propagandised population on Earth.

Trevor:

The propaganda of the mainstream press is so effective because Americans don't

Trevor:

know it's propaganda, so they consume it without distrust or scepticism.

Trevor:

So, and that's all about the headlines we talked about before.

Trevor:

What else have I got here?

Trevor:

Yes, so Australia is going to reinstate the money for ANWR,

Trevor:

the six million dollar funding.

Trevor:

Here we go.

Trevor:

6 million funding that we were quibbling about, and we have just

Trevor:

agreed to 10 billion dollars.

Trevor:

Yeah, no, for the AUKUS agreement.

Trevor:

Penny Wong said, On that basis, and after consideration by the National

Trevor:

Security Committee this week, Australia is unpausing our contribution to UNRWA.

Trevor:

There are two facts a responsible government can't

Trevor:

ignore in relation to UNRWA.

Trevor:

They do lifesaving work and the recent allegations were grave.

Trevor:

So the decision I'm announcing today as the result of the Australian government

Trevor:

working together with our partners to rebuild confidence, to establish ongoing

Trevor:

diligence about the use of aid money generously given by the Australian people.

Trevor:

What a load of good crap, beginning with the word un pausing

Trevor:

our contribution, God's sake.

Trevor:

Ah, Of course, it's Hamas's fault, because they, they set a trap for Israel.

Trevor:

So, Haaretz, it's like the third most popular newspaper in Israel, and it had

Trevor:

a headline reading, Israel has fallen into Hamas trap, but there's a way out.

Trevor:

Hamas hope is to provoke Israel into killing enough civilians

Trevor:

to defeat Israel politically.

Trevor:

A classic terrorist strategy of provocation that Israel has fallen for.

Trevor:

But beating Hamas requires unconventional thinking.

Trevor:

So yeah, according to the Israeli baby.

Trevor:

Paper.

Trevor:

Hamas set a trap.

Trevor:

Australia's gotta be careful not to fall into.

Scott:

Well, how many more civilians do they have to kill

Scott:

before they've actually tripped

Trevor:

into that trap?

Trevor:

Indeed.

Trevor:

And the whole talk They've already got 32, 000 on their list.

Trevor:

And the whole talk now is of a seaport.

Trevor:

so they're talking about constructing a port, that will allow aid in

Trevor:

and out rather than via roads.

Trevor:

And, Israel admits that Biden's Gaza seaport has been

Trevor:

Netanyahu's idea all along.

Trevor:

Oh, garbage.

Trevor:

Well, it's part of Israel's plans to dismantle and replace UNRWA, as well as

Trevor:

permanently cut off Gaza from Israel.

Trevor:

So having this port would mean there'd be no crossing of the

Trevor:

border between Gaza and Israel.

Trevor:

They can all go via the port and, just isolate.

Trevor:

How will you actually,

Scott:

sorry to cut you off, Trevor, but how the hell would

Scott:

Israel actually keep an eye on what was going into, into the occupied

Trevor:

territories?

Trevor:

I don't know.

Trevor:

I don't know how that would work.

Trevor:

It's one of

Scott:

those things, like at least if it's crossing over Israeli

Scott:

land and that sort of stuff, they can go in and search it before it

Trevor:

turns up there.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

I guess because there were tunnels, weren't there?

Trevor:

So, they were tunnels,

Scott:

but that's how they, I

Trevor:

guess, I think they

Scott:

actually got the stuff over, over and then they

Scott:

unloaded it and then they put

Trevor:

down the tunnels.

Trevor:

I would imagine they would find it easier to monitor what's coming in and out when

Trevor:

it comes via ship, but the Israelis will control the port and, okay, gotcha, and

Trevor:

so they can see everything coming on and off the ships and then they can just flood

Trevor:

the border areas so there's no tunnels.

Trevor:

So completely stopping any sort of illegal trade, I think, is what the plan would be.

Trevor:

Yeah, so I think we mentioned that Prime Minister was being referred

Trevor:

to the International Criminal Court for investigation over

Trevor:

his role in supporting Israel.

Trevor:

Both with, you know, things we've already discussed, but you

Trevor:

might ask, well, would the U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

President be worried by the International Criminal Court, and the answer is no.

Trevor:

The U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

threatens to arrest the judges in the International Criminal Court if they even

Trevor:

dare to investigate American war crimes.

Trevor:

So here is a clip, I'll try and find this one, let me, this is an older one, I think

Trevor:

In relation to, not Gaza, but in relation to Ukraine or something like that,

Trevor:

where They were talking about, the U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

response if the International Criminal Court was to look at America.

Trevor:

So, let's wind up.

Trevor:

We will respond against the ICC and its personnel to the extent permitted by U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

law.

Trevor:

We will ban its judges and prosecutors from entering the United States.

Trevor:

We will sanction their funds in the U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

financial system, and we will prosecute them in the U.

Trevor:

S.

Trevor:

criminal system.

Trevor:

We will do the same for any company or state that that assists an

Trevor:

ICC investigation of Americans.

Trevor:

There we go, that's all Albanese had to do.

Trevor:

He wouldn't have a problem.

Trevor:

That's their view.

Trevor:

Um, what did the Malaysian They said that

Joe:

the ICC, wouldn't be allowed to investigate US war crimes.

Joe:

They've

Trevor:

always said that.

Trevor:

Yes, so that was what that was in relation to.

Trevor:

And that would be their response to anybody working in the ICC.

Trevor:

If they were to think about doing it, or try to do it.

Joe:

Which is strange, because they were very fond of the ICC, in 1945, 46.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Scott:

Yeah, but see, that was back when the Yanks actually had a moral compass.

Scott:

They've lost, you know, it's one of those things I just think to myself that when

Scott:

you look back over the arc of American history, and I know I will be very much

Scott:

criticized for this, but I think John F.

Scott:

Kennedy was probably where it first started to fall apart, you know?

Scott:

prior to that there were some missteps and that sort of stuff, but

Scott:

I think JFK really did cock it up for

Trevor:

them.

Trevor:

Now we can rely on Malaysia for moral authority.

Trevor:

Here we go.

Trevor:

I think this is a Malaysian PM with German PM at one point.

Trevor:

I think he finishes in German shortly.

Trevor:

They understood you cannot find a solution by getting so, one sided in

Trevor:

terms of looking only at one particular issue and erase 60 years of atrocities.

Trevor:

The solution is not just releasing the hostages.

Trevor:

What about the settlements?

Trevor:

What about the behavior of the settlers now?

Trevor:

Continues daily.

Trevor:

What about the dispossession, their land, their rights, their dignity,

Trevor:

their men, their women, their children?

Trevor:

Are these of no concern?

Trevor:

Where have we thrown our humanity?

Trevor:

Why this hypocrisy?

Trevor:

Why this selective and ambivalent attitude towards one race and one another?

Trevor:

We did because they are colored or they are different religions, but

Trevor:

I of course cannot accept the fact that when you, discuss issues we only

Trevor:

confine to one particular incident.

Trevor:

And one victim for getting the Thousands and thousands of thousands

Trevor:

of victims from the Nakba of 1947 1948.

Trevor:

That seemed quite reasonable

Scott:

He was quite reasonable He's just trying to actually get the

Scott:

Europeans to understand that it's more than just October 7th, you

Scott:

know And he's right, you know, those settlements are disgraceful what

Trevor:

they're actually doing there.

Trevor:

Anyway, Jared Kushner has the answer he says that Gaza's waterfront

Trevor:

property could be very valuable You So, he praised the valuable potential

Trevor:

of Gaza's waterfront property and suggested Israel should remove

Trevor:

civilians while it cleans up the Strip.

Trevor:

Now you might think, who cares what Jared Kushner thinks, but Kushner was Senior

Trevor:

Foreign Policy Advisor under Trump's first presidency and was tasked with preparing

Trevor:

a peace plan for the Middle East.

Joe:

And he's Trump's

Trevor:

son in law and a Jew.

Trevor:

Is he a Jew?

Trevor:

Yes, okay, I didn't know that.

Trevor:

Yeah, that was

Joe:

Trump's claim he couldn't be anti Semitic because he

Joe:

had a Jewish background.

Trevor:

Son in law.

Trevor:

There we go.

Trevor:

There we go.

Trevor:

So that's, Kushner's solution.

Trevor:

Quickly, how much we, yeah, we get rattling through these.

Trevor:

Ukraine update.

Trevor:

The Pope.

Trevor:

You might remember, dear listener and fellow podcasters, I've been saying for

Trevor:

a long time that Ukraine should have just surrendered the parts that they'd lost.

Trevor:

And now it turns out I'm in agreement with Pope Francis.

Trevor:

He said in an interview that Ukraine should have what he called the

Trevor:

courage of the white and negotiate an end to the war with Russia.

Trevor:

He's quoted as saying, but I think that the strongest one is the one

Trevor:

who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage

Trevor:

of the white flag and negotiates.

Trevor:

He said, the word negotiate is a courageous word.

Trevor:

When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you

Trevor:

have to have the courage to negotiate.

Trevor:

Yeah,

Scott:

but do you honestly believe that Vladimir Putin would be happy

Scott:

with a Donetsk region, or would he just take that, go back home, lick

Scott:

his wounds and that sort of stuff, rebuild his tanks, and then go back

Scott:

in there and take the rest of the

Trevor:

country later?

Trevor:

Might do, but you just can't keep throwing bodies at If

Joe:

Italy took St Mark's Square, do you think he'd be happy to negotiate?

Trevor:

If Italy took St Mark's Square?

Joe:

Isn't that the In front of the, the Papal

Trevor:

Palace?

Trevor:

Who knows?

Trevor:

He may well negotiate.

Trevor:

I mean, you know, the Pope originally had the whole of Italy and he's

Trevor:

been reduced to the Vatican.

Trevor:

So, so he negotiated, you know, previous Popes have raised the white

Trevor:

flag enough to, to reduce what was the entire of Italy back to what is now

Trevor:

just the small little Vatican State.

Trevor:

So, so yes, they have, Surrendered.

Trevor:

In the past, but as different popes,

Joe:

not the one that's

Trevor:

suggesting.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

All right Yeah, you want to keep fighting keep throwing men at them and it's the

Trevor:

end of the generation of young people in the Ukraine But yeah, we're just going to

Scott:

see what happens I suspect he is going to have to negotiate

Scott:

with that bastard But that bastard has proven time and time and time

Scott:

again that he cannot be trusted.

Trevor:

Mm hmm.

Trevor:

You know, he's a prick Mm hmm John says, I'm clutching now.

Trevor:

Trevor, what, what am I clutching at?

Trevor:

John?

Trevor:

Tell me.

Trevor:

I'm clutching.

Trevor:

Well, the,

Joe:

the, the, the Pope, he also agrees with you as if you've ever cared

Trevor:

what the Pope thinks.

Trevor:

Yeah, exactly.

Trevor:

Well, you know, stop the clock.

Trevor:

Twice a day.

Trevor:

So yeah, I think

Scott:

the Pope's rule is probably right.

Scott:

Less than twice, twice a day.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Just for a bit of humor, did you all know Donald Trump was a great athlete?

Trevor:

Don't you?

Trevor:

I had no, yeah.

Trevor:

Oh, here you go.

Trevor:

This is just to prove it.

Trevor:

On a lighter note, I'll share that president Trump, like many of us in

Trevor:

the room, is a big time sports fan.

Trevor:

And I say that because it makes sense.

Trevor:

President Trump is a great athlete.

Trevor:

When he was growing up, he excelled in sports, and I'm not sure if I

Trevor:

should say this, but just a few weeks ago, President Trump put to

Trevor:

shame two professional golfers.

Trevor:

I ain't gonna mention their names, but just know, he shot a 70 on 18 holes.

Trevor:

And I don't know about y'all, but I would pay good money to see Joe Biden

Trevor:

vs Donald Trump on a golf course.

Trevor:

I don't

Scott:

think Joe Biden

Trevor:

plays golf, does he?

Trevor:

Is, is there no shit, no end to the shit these guys believe and mouth off?

Trevor:

As if Trump shoots a 70 and beats a couple of pro golfers.

Joe:

When, whichever Kim it was, was born, all the birds started

Joe:

singing his praises in Korea.

Joe:

It's just as believable.

Joe:

Well,

Trevor:

they said that there was a story now that you mentioned

Trevor:

about Kim played golf once.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

Got a hole in one.

Trevor:

No, not just one.

Trevor:

Oh, okay.

Trevor:

But like four holes in one and it went round in some, you know, 45 or something

Trevor:

on a par 72, some ridiculous story.

Trevor:

And we're all laughing about it.

Trevor:

I'm going to have to find that story for next week.

Trevor:

and now we've got America falling into the most crazy North Korean propaganda.

Trevor:

The cult of personality.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

More of the propaganda that we're talking about, so.

Trevor:

Right.

Trevor:

Well, that's enough for an episode.

Trevor:

I'd better make this one a private one, or get rid of it, so that, It

Trevor:

doesn't get me a strike for being naughty for showing those videos.

Trevor:

Dear listener, well, guys in the chat, good on you.

Trevor:

Thanks for watching.

Trevor:

Dear listener, thanks for listening.

Trevor:

We will be, actually next week is Easter Monday.

Trevor:

You guys busy or what are you doing?

Scott:

I'm going to Sydney for the long

Trevor:

weekend.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Joe, you around?

Trevor:

I'm around.

Trevor:

Very around.

Trevor:

Just, not sure what will be happening next week.

Trevor:

Keep an eye on Facebook for any notices about times and things.

Trevor:

Not sure how that'll pan out, but we'll see.

Trevor:

All right.

Trevor:

Talk to you then.

Trevor:

Bye for now.

Trevor:

And it's a good night from me.

Joe:

And

Scott:

it's a good night from him.

Scott:

Good night.

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The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove
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