America wakes from its long nightmare as Donald Trump enters his own. Beaten by "Sleepy Joe".
Losing the popular vote by well over 4 million. One term president and loser. And now facing the prospect of becoming an inmate in a federal prison. The White House to the "big house".
Seeking to explain the Trump phenomenon is understandable but probably futile. Enough to say that his supporters could accept the chaos as long as he delivered the hate. We should however never forget that many in the conservative establishment, including in this country, happily flocked to his standard, and their enthusiasm waned only as his polling did.
"Trumpism" - nothing more than racism, showmanship and lying - will now be their way to conjure a legacy from an abomination.
Michael Hinchey, New Lambton
Know this: horses are loved
BEFORE the protesters against everybody and everything go ape at the tragic Melbourne Cup 2020 death of racehorse Anthony Van Dyck, let's just consider the so noble, contributions of the horse's (suffering only a very short time before being humanely put down) wonderful life.
He was loved by his owners, breeders, handlers, jockeys and the general public (as he loved them). He was part of an industry providing great employment, wealth-creation (no evil in that!) spread across related businesses, small and large. He was a stallion and may have already sown his noble seed, ensuring continuity of his species. He brought different cultures together and ensured international connections.
Finally: the magnificent Anthony Van Dyck did live a cosseted, and protected, life (not like so many other tamed, or wild, animals) that only existed because of the industry and mutual love of horse racing.
Howard Hutchins, Chirnside Park
Let federal watchdog stand apart
THE proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission body, won't cut it with voters. It is too secretive, and cannot act independently.
The proposed commission cannot be secretive. Corruption must be exposed. Voters require integrity from the politicians whom they elect. There is a big difference between acting with integrity and acting within the law. The majority of our politicians are cunning enough to ensure that they act within the law. Many of them are lawyers. The ethical bar is higher for them. If a few of them lose their jobs as their corrupt but legal behaviour is exposed, then so be it. They knew the rules.
The proposed commission must be independent. It cannot await referral by the very people it proposes to investigate. Imagine if our courts could only act at the behest of criminals we would have no court cases or convictions at all. Instead society would be free-for-all anarchy, like federal politics.
Geoff Black, Caves Beach
China's sanctions demand answers
CHINA is playing games with Australian lives, livelihoods and our economy. First it was barley, beef and wine exports and now it's our seafood, all because of our concerns about the origin of this coronavirus and Australia's support of other nations about their strongarm tactics in the China Sea and the islands in the Pacific Ocean.
I believe that China flexing military power is clearly a threat; they don't need to. They are treating Australia and Australians with contempt. They are heavily involved in our universities, trade and politics. It's time we as a nation said enough is enough and decided to support our country first. Buy only Australian, no more sale of property to Chinese billionaires, ban all Chinese imports and close the borders to Chinese tourism. Yes, initially it will hurt our economy, but in my opinion we are being bled dry by a parasitic nation. We are gullible hosts.
Stop appeasing a wealthy country wanting to impose its power over nations.
Graeme Kime, Cameron Park
Media trust is paramount
FOREIGN influences attempting to affect the outcome of elections might be new in the US, but not in Australia. An American media mogul with extensive readership has been accused of affecting election outcomes through biased and politically manipulated news platforms that in my opinion betray the ethos of journalism.
Tony Koch, a News Corp journalist who resigned in 2019, said of the organisation, "If it is not anti-Labor it is anti-Green or, quite ridiculously, anti-ABC. Anything except a story negative to the Liberal or National parties", and retired business editor-in-chief Alan Kohler said the Murdoch press was biased towards "pumping up the Coalition and attacking Labor, while the rest of the media is generally trying to be fair".
IN THE NEWS:
- Women's hockey: No secrets between pitch-sharing final rivals
- Driver charged over fatal crash: passenger ejected from vehicle
- Joe Biden elected the 46th president of the USA
Lachlan Murdoch recently left his father's organisation because "a contest of ideas shouldn't be used to legitimise disinformation ... and I think at great news organisations, the mission really should be to introduce fact to disperse doubt; not to sow doubt, to obscure fact."
We must be able to trust our media organisations so that we can make informed decisions. It's no wonder then that a petition to parliament for a Royal Commission to examine the effect of media bias on Australian democracy has reached over 450,000 signatures so far.
John Arnold, Anna Bay
Float update on maritime matters
IT is more than a month after the Newcastle Maritime Museum collection was supposed to be transferred to the City of Newcastle so it could be moved to an appropriate storage site, allowing outstanding maintenance to be completed.
If a vessel is overdue and nothing has been heard from the vessel or its owners, the insurers tend to become anxious. In this case the people of Newcastle are the insurers, and should be alarmed that this important part of the industrial heritage of the district has seemingly disappeared.
Bill Storer, Charlestown
Justify the jobs in renewables
TO say climate change can produce many jobs working within the renewable industry and save the economy, is like employing more public servants just to create jobs, especially since power stations will still be needed. Public servants, thus renewable workers, are not employed in a profit-generating job. It's the profits that keep an economy rolling, that pay an increase in investment and thus increase in employment and taxation paid .
In my opinion only socialist regimes pay non-profit jobs, and that's probably why they go bankrupt. It's not very smart to have everyone working but no money for wages.
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
SHARE YOUR OPINION
Email letters@newcastleherald.com.au or send a text message to 0427 154 176 (include name and suburb). Letters should be fewer than 200 words. Short Takes should be fewer than 50 words. Correspondence may be edited and reproduced in any form.
SHORT TAKES
JULIE Robinson (Letters, 2/11) compares Trump to Hitler. I wonder if she is familiar with Godwin's Law, which says that as a discussion grows longer, the likelihood of a person being compared to Hitler or another Nazi reference increases. One corollary is that whoever calls someone else a Nazi loses the argument. The point is that many Nazi comparisons are trotted out routinely, are not thoughtful and show no real awareness of history. Mike Godwin, the adage's author, said "I wanted folks who glibly compared someone else to Hitler to think a bit harder about the Holocaust". He cautions against Hitler comparisons because hardly any politician alive is like Hitler.
Peter Dolan, Lambton
REGARDING the COVID-19 and borders closures, we have been seeing the NSW Premier for months now being critical of Victoria's need for a lockdown and Queensland for their border closure. With Victoria now being six days without new cases, and NSW still recording a few cases, would it be terribly out of order for Victoria to close the border to NSW? You have to remember that NSW still has the border to Victoria closed, albeit they have announced it will open in a couple of weeks. It is only an announcement, and we are all aware of many announcements from LNP governments, both state and federal, that do not always happen.
Fred McInerney, Karuah
AS we look to the Integrity Commission, should we read the fine print? Does it treat all matters brought before it equally? At first glance I say no. Police, emergency services, and public servants all will have complaints against them heard publicly while elected persons will have complaints against them seen behind closed doors. Integrity in itself holds a standard definitely needed in our politicians. Many recent scandals occurred behind closed doors, whereas a whistleblower accused of bringing these facts to our attention can be publicly pilloried and prosecuted under this proposal. I guess the Integrity Commission is somewhat like the (lack of) Freedom of Information legislation which prevents reporters getting vital research to keep us informed. A director of Australia Post is bullied to resign, watches or not, but heads of departments and ministers apparently have a right to privacy.
Lyn Rendle, Rankin Park
SO Albanese wants our PM to contact the President of the US about our view on the democratic process. What planet is Albo from? Australia interfering in another countries politics? Please stay leader of Labor Albo and ScoMo will rule Australia for many years, thankfully.
Don Fraser, Belmont
THE symbol of terrorism, the Union Jack. Just ask Ireland, India, Scotland, Australia, and every other country that England invaded. When will Australia remove this symbol of horror from the Australian flag?
Richard Ryan, Summerland Point
WILL there be an interchange at Heatherbrae so I can still call at McDonalds ("Changes in design of long-awaited M1 link", Herald 5/11)?
