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The right to disarm

The right to disarm

'Further to Craig Forbes' piece about political chew toys [C8]. I recently found a Donald Trump squeaky dog toy,' reveals Jonathan Vincent of Emu Heights. 'My puppy loved it, but within five minutes she had removed both his arms. This silenced Trump's squeak [Result! – Granny], and the disarmament is great for world peace.'
'My siblings and I learnt about antimacassars [C8] very early in life,' says David Pigott of North Parramatta. 'The letter 'A' was my mum's favourite when playing I Spy with my Little Eye.'
Warren Menteith of Bali describes the antimacassar as 'a classic marketing ploy. Create the problem so you can flog the solution'. He also explains that 'Macassar, the capital of Sulawesi (Celebes) gave its name to this item. It seems long before Brylcreem and other pomades, ebony oil from Makassar was the top-selling product.'
While well aware that former PM Bob Hawke was a bit of a ladies man, Ron Besdansky of Northbridge was still taken aback when viewing Wikipedia 's Born on This Day page: 1929 – Hazel Hawke, Australian social worker and pianist, 23rd Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia (died 2013).
Jeff Stanton of Strathfield has a decidedly European take on signalling (C8) when he says: 'using indicators is seen by many as providing information to the enemy'.
'Mishaps really do come in threes,' reckons Viv Mackenzie of Port Hacking. 'A friend should be enjoying the best snow in ages. However, she has been hospitalised with asthma, her husband has come down with COVID and another member of the party has broken a knee. Otherwise, everyone else is having a great time.'
Generational talent Greg Leisner of Blackhead writes: 'I'm of an age now where the only comfortable shoes are expensive stretchy sneaker types (black for weddings and funerals) but resist the pejorative term 'Boomer', and I am proposing that we be called the INDY generation. As in, 'I'm Not Dead Yet', any thoughts?'
Column 8's recent Coldplaygate (C8) headline got Richard Jary of Waitara thinking: 'Perhaps at 61, I'm too young to remember, but why does every scandal now have to be somethinggate? What did they call scandals before Watergate?'
'I purchased a mood lamp which soon put me in a bad mood as it required an app to set it up,' laments Susan McLaren of Windradyne. 'This 'free' app was soon asking for my credit card details.'
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Surprise Aussie winner in Trump turmoil
Surprise Aussie winner in Trump turmoil

Perth Now

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  • Perth Now

Surprise Aussie winner in Trump turmoil

Australian beef producers are cashing in on US President Donald Trump's crackdown on imports, with limited stock seeing prices soar. Despite being called out specifically by Mr Trump during his Liberation Day speech in April, Australian producers are currently the only foreign supplier left to the US. Commonwealth Bank sustainable and agricultural economist Dennis Voznesenski said strong demand out of the US is pushing beef export prices further into record high territory. The price of Australian beef is on the rise thanks to tariffs. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia 'The US has largely four sources to import beef from abroad, being Mexico, Canada, Brazil and Australia,' Mr Voznesenski said. 'Mexico has a flesh eating bacteria called new age screw worm with the US closing the border to Mexico … Canada exports to the US are down 25 per cent from last year as they rebuild stock and as of August 1 President Trump plans to put a 50 per cent tariff on Brazil.' The economist said US farmers currently have a multiple-decade low supply of beef, meaning they will need to continue to export from other countries. 'Typically with tariffs the objective is to onshore industry. With some products you can restart quickly, but with cattle it's just not how it works, ' Mr Voznesenski said. Mr Voznesenski said Australia had since emerged as the final source of beef left for the US, with exports to America already up 30 per cent, even with the 10 per cent tariffs slapped on local producers. 'We are still waiting for the August 1 tariffs on Brazil and to see what actually happens, but afterwards it supports the demand for our product, so when you have higher beef prices it supports the price of cattle overall,' he said. Meat and Livestock Australia says 2024-2025 is forecast to deliver Australia's highest ever beef production. While high supply would usually dampen prices, it is coming at a time with strong global demand. MLA market information and NLRS manager Stephen Bignell said all cattle indicators had surpassed $3/kg for the first time in three years. In a wide ranging speech on April 2, dubbed Liberation Day for the US, Mr Trump took aim at foreign countries and announced an 'America first' policy. 'If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America,' he told foreign countries. The President took aim at the Aussie beef producers. 'Australia bans – and they're wonderful people, and wonderful everything – but they ban American beef,' President Trump said. 'Yet we imported $3bn of Australian beef from them just last year alone. 'They won't take any of our beef. They don't want it because they don't want it to affect their farmers.' The benefit to Australia's bottom line could continue for a while to come with it taking a couple of years for the US to build up domestic capacity. But what is good for Australia's exporters could be bad for Aussie consumers who might see a spike in the price of beef when they go to the shops. 'Domestic prices do not live in isolation,' Mr Voznesenski said. 'If there is strong demand offshore and it pushes up the price of cattle broadly, it increases the price of beef. 'To keep any locally, it'll need to be competitively priced. 'So if you're an end user of beef in Australia and you sell it retail, then you need to be offering prices that are competitive enough to keep it on the market.'

Australian energy giant ditches US plant as Trump attacks green power
Australian energy giant ditches US plant as Trump attacks green power

Sydney Morning Herald

timean hour ago

  • Sydney Morning Herald

Australian energy giant ditches US plant as Trump attacks green power

Woodside, the largest Australian oil and gas company, has abandoned plans to build a lower-carbon fuels plant in the United States as energy users and producers reel from Donald Trump's decision to slash tax breaks for green technologies. The Perth-based energy giant told investors on Wednesday it would take a $US140 million ($214 million) profit hit after deciding to walk away from the H2OK liquid hydrogen project it had been planning in Oklahoma, blaming the rising cost of making cleaner hydrogen and weaker-than-expected customer demand. 'We have made the decision to exit the H2OK project, demonstrating our disciplined approach to portfolio management,' Woodside chief executive Meg O'Neill said on Wednesday. Woodside, a producer of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), is pursuing the development of lower-carbon hydrogen as part of its climate transition strategy. Because hydrogen emits only water vapour when burned, it is considered by many to be a promising climate-friendly energy source that could eventually substitute fossil fuels and help clean up heavy-polluting industries, as long as it is made using low- or zero-carbon energy sources. Woodside's H2OK would have used an electrolyser, powered by the electricity grid, to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. However, Woodside announced it was pausing the H2OK project in January, shortly after Donald Trump's return to the White House. It also scrapped a separate plan to build a concentrated solar thermal energy facility in California through a partnership with Heliogen, a company backed by billionaire Bill Gates. While not directly attributing those decisions to Trump's energy agenda, Woodside at the time said it needed to consider the implications of the administration's pledge to dismantle support for US clean energy investments, including halting the disbursement of funds from the $567 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which had been offering generous tax breaks for renewable developers. This month, Trump secured the passage of a giant tax and domestic policy bill through Congress, which will make it cheaper and easier for companies to drill and produce fossil fuels, while cutting funding for electric cars and wind and solar farms. Woodside remains committed to one clean energy investment in the US, the Beaumont lower-carbon ammonia project in Texas. The project was 95 per cent completed as of June 30, the company said.

Australian energy giant ditches US plant as Trump attacks green power
Australian energy giant ditches US plant as Trump attacks green power

The Age

timean hour ago

  • The Age

Australian energy giant ditches US plant as Trump attacks green power

Woodside, the largest Australian oil and gas company, has abandoned plans to build a lower-carbon fuels plant in the United States as energy users and producers reel from Donald Trump's decision to slash tax breaks for green technologies. The Perth-based energy giant told investors on Wednesday it would take a $US140 million ($214 million) profit hit after deciding to walk away from the H2OK liquid hydrogen project it had been planning in Oklahoma, blaming the rising cost of making cleaner hydrogen and weaker-than-expected customer demand. 'We have made the decision to exit the H2OK project, demonstrating our disciplined approach to portfolio management,' Woodside chief executive Meg O'Neill said on Wednesday. Woodside, a producer of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), is pursuing the development of lower-carbon hydrogen as part of its climate transition strategy. Because hydrogen emits only water vapour when burned, it is considered by many to be a promising climate-friendly energy source that could eventually substitute fossil fuels and help clean up heavy-polluting industries, as long as it is made using low- or zero-carbon energy sources. Woodside's H2OK would have used an electrolyser, powered by the electricity grid, to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. However, Woodside announced it was pausing the H2OK project in January, shortly after Donald Trump's return to the White House. It also scrapped a separate plan to build a concentrated solar thermal energy facility in California through a partnership with Heliogen, a company backed by billionaire Bill Gates. While not directly attributing those decisions to Trump's energy agenda, Woodside at the time said it needed to consider the implications of the administration's pledge to dismantle support for US clean energy investments, including halting the disbursement of funds from the $567 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which had been offering generous tax breaks for renewable developers. This month, Trump secured the passage of a giant tax and domestic policy bill through Congress, which will make it cheaper and easier for companies to drill and produce fossil fuels, while cutting funding for electric cars and wind and solar farms. Woodside remains committed to one clean energy investment in the US, the Beaumont lower-carbon ammonia project in Texas. The project was 95 per cent completed as of June 30, the company said.

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