Australia is the sixth largest country in the world. (click here) Its ocean territory is the world's third largest, spanning three oceans and covering around 12 million square kilometres.

Nearly seven million square kilometres, or 91 per cent of Australia, is covered by native vegetation. Although this figure may seem high, many of Australia's desert landscapes are covered by native plants such as saltbush, albeit sparsely.

For tens of thousands of years, the lives and sense of cultural identity of Indigenous Australians were inextricably linked to the land, its forms, flora and fauna. Today, the identity of all Australians is shaped by a relationship with the natural environment.

Australia is one of the most urbanised and coast-dwelling populations in the world. More than 80 per cent of Australians live within 100 kilometres of the coast....

It's Sunday Night

Suffrage, (click here) or the right to vote, is something that Australians have not always been able to take for granted. In 1902, Australia was the first country in the world to give women both the right to vote in federal elections and also the right to be elected to parliament on a national basis....

Australian National Athem

Australians all let us rejoice, 
For we are young and free; 
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil; 
Our home is girt by sea; 
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts Of beauty rich and rare; 
In history’s page, let every stage Advance Australia Fair. 
In joyful strains then let us sing, 
Advance Australia Fair. 

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross 
We’ll toil with hearts and hands; 
To make this Commonwealth of ours 
Renowned of all the lands; 
For those who’ve come across the seas 
We’ve boundless plains to share; 
With courage let us all combine 
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing, 
Advance Australia Fair. 

The country's prayers are with you, Senator McCain.

January 19, 2018
By Dan Nowicki

Sen. Lindsey Graham (click here) visited his ailing friend Sen. John McCain in Arizona earlier this month and told CNN that he hopes McCain can return to the Senate.

"I was very pleased with his progress," Graham toldCNN's Dana Bash. "He's making progress. We laughed a little bit. We cried a little bit. I admire him greatly and I'm hoping he can come back and be with us."

Graham, R-S.C., is one of McCain's closest friends. His Thursday comments about the return of McCain, R-Ariz., sounded a little less certain than his Dec. 31 assertion on CBS's "Face the Nation" that McCain is "coming back in January, (and) we need his voice now more than ever."

McCain, 81, has been battling a deadly form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma. His office has not provided an official update on his health since Dec. 17, when McCain returned to Arizona after being hospitalized in Maryland for a viral infection and for side effects to his ongoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment....

There have been such incredible recoveries from giios. I wish him well.

January 20, 2018

Senator John McCain (click here) released a statement on the government shutdown on Saturday, asking both sides to “put politics aside.”

“As Republicans and Democrats run to cable news to point fingers and assign blame, the hard reality is that all of us share responsibility for this failure,” McCain said, in part. “Political gamesmanship, an unwillingness to compromise, and a lack of resolve on both sides have led us to this point. Shamefully, no one will incur more harm than our brave men and women who have volunteered to fight and die for our freedom.”

“It’s time that both sides put politics aside, come to the table, and compromise on an agreement that will give our service members the training, equipment and resources they need to succeed,” McCain added...

Donald Trump caters to his wealthy ideologies. They don't want the government. He has a cabinet of CEOs and some of the weakest government leaders. They don't want the government. They are aspiring to defund the federal government by 30 percent for the next three years.

The people have to put this Plutocratic ideology into perspective and realize Trump will happily lead them down a path of destruction.

How ridiculous is this?

Trump states he is cutting the government budget by 30 percent for the next three years, but, he signed into law tax reform that increases the national debt by $1.5 trillion.

WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?

It is not going to the people. The Poor and Middle Class have tax increases over ten years after the initial tax cut. It is NOT going to the people, except, the upper 1 percent.

Pence is on his way to the Middle East. Oh.

Railway link project proposed between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Israel calls it as "Peace Line." (click here)

January 18, 2018, 11:48 AM IST

Israel: A railway linking plan to connect Israel and Saudi Arabia is in consideration of the Israeli government and it has approved the cost of the project which is included in its 2019 budget three days earlier.

The Cost of the railway linking project is expected to be 15 million shekels ($4.5 million).

A team of experts has been formed by Israel railway commission to lay down the plan for the project.

According to the news reported in Middle East Monitor which quoted Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the purpose of the project is to transfer goods and people across the borders, and the initial plan of the project is to build a railway station in the city of Bisan with a railway network which travels through Jordan to Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

At present, the goods from Israel are being transported from Haifa port and then heading to Iraq, Saudi Arabia aJnd other Gulf States through Jordan.

The railway line plan is called by Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz as “Peace Line.”

The Trump administration has been threatening to end funding to the Palestinians.

January 16, 2018
By Nicole Gaouette and Jamie Crawford

Washington - The US has announced (click here) that it will hold back more than half of the funding it provides for a UN agency that supports Palestinians, about two weeks after President Donald Trump threatened to pull funding for the group.

The decision drew condemnation from Palestinians, praise from Israel, and expressions of deep concern from UN officials and refugee groups worried about the humanitarian impact and particularly the potential for further destabilization of a region already reeling from conflict in Syria.

The US will withhold more than half its scheduled $125 million payment from the United Nations Relief Works Agency, which provides humanitarian aid, education, social services and medical care to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the move had nothing to do with "punishing" the Palestinians for their refusal to enter into negotiations with Israel, or their decision to push for a UN vote that resulted in overwhelming international condemnation of the Trump administration's decision to unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital....

This is a common error of this administration in stating one reason for such actions against humanitarian interests, when in fact it will be preceived as punishment. Trump's administration seems to believe they can make statements that all people will believe and accept. "W"rong!

At least $65 million of humanitarian aid is being withheld by Trump and it will victimize the Palestian children. Trump has been threatening the end of funding to the Palestians and the United Naions since he took office. A year later he is unilaterally acting on his threat.

Now that Trump is not funding this aid, where did it go?

Supposedly the EXCUSE of defunding humanitarian aid is because the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is anti-Israel.

The UN agency is not anti-Israel. As a matter of fact in 2012, they planned to change an educational cirriculum to Palestinian children which would include the Holocaust.

October 20, 2012

...“It’s impossible (click here) that I would teach my students about the so-called Holocaust. UNRWA is planning to impose this on us, but we refuse to teach the history of our eternal enemies,” he insisted to The Media Line....

Perhaps while Israel is celebrating the "Peace Train" there can be a discussion about the aid to the Palestinians and the wholesome education of the children.

The Palestinians do not need more isolation and victimization; they need an economy and opportunity for their children to join the rest of the world's understanding of international, heinous crime including the Holocaust. The Palestinian children need far less isolation and victimization; they need an opportunity to be well rounded citizens of the Middle East with an understanding of peace opposed to suffering.

More missing money.

January 18, 2018

By Fredreka Schouten

Washington — Nearly a year after (click here) President Trump’s inauguration, the committee that raised a record $106.7 million for the event has not disclosed how much surplus money it still has or provided a final accounting of its finances.

“We must decline comment at this time,” Kristin Celauro, a spokeswoman for the inaugural committee’s chairman, Thomas Barrack, said this week in response to  a USA TODAY inquiry about the committee’s finances.

Barrack, a California investment manager and longtime Trump friend, has said consistently that remaining funds would go charity. He announced plans in September to give $3 million to three non-profit groups —The American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and Samaritan’s Purse — to help with hurricane relief efforts and said the committee planned more contributions “that serve America’s agenda.”

Officials with the American Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse, a group led by evangelist Franklin Graham, declined to comment this week about the inaugural committee donations, saying they do not disclose contributor information. Officials with the Salvation Army did not immediately respond to an inquiry.... 

January 18, 2018

Even without the help of El Niño, (click here) 2017 was a top-three scorcher for planet Earth.

Global temperatures last year were the third-highest since scientists began keeping records in 1880, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Measurements from NASA placed it even higher, coming in second over the last 138 years...

Yes, the climate crisis means it snows when and/or where it shouldn't. Eighteen hours of continuous snow.

January 18, 2018 03:13 PM

Updated 3 hours 58 minutes ago

1600 accidents during the snow storm. (click here)

Students in central North Carolina will get a third snow day as ice coats roads across the state, making travel dangerous.

School systems announced Thursday that they would be closed on Friday after a winter storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow in some areas, which quickly became ice across roads, bridges and overpasses.

In the Triangle, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Durham County Schools were the first to announce they would be closed on Friday.

This is the ideology that is stalling the CR.

This is not the discussion any legislator should be looking at now. The government needs to be funded and the stalling is simply an excuse for brinkmanship and politics. 

Enough.

To begin, there is not a word about where these numbers come from. It is a known fact DACA is good for the USA economy. Any expense is due to the bureaucracy required to maintain the program. There needs to be a blanket acceptance of the DACA folks without any ICE involvement in their lives again. They need a Green Card to proceed in citizenship in the USA.

I wish the ideologues would finally bury the past. The Plutocrats can afford all this mess, but, the majority of the country cannot. Reality demands attention that ideology does not satisfy.

Get a clue. At the time of the birth of the USA from 13 colonies, leaders were difficult to find because few came from wealthy families that could afford an education. The Plutocrats ideology is hideous to the reality of the year 2018.

January 18, 2018

Henry Clay was a Whig. (click here) That should say it all. The Whigs are not represented in the current Congress.

Compromise. (click here) The word elates many when brought up talking about Congress; but is it truly great? If the compromise on DACA and the border wall goes through it will be detrimental to the United States economy and the American taxpayer. Every year the DACA program costs a total of $54.5 billion a year. If Trump gets the border wall he campaigned on, it would cost America an estimated $70 billion initially, with a further $150 million a year indefinitely.

By 2020, at the time of the presidential election, this compromise will cost the American taxpayers nearly $234,000,000,000. The current yearly budget has a nearly $700 billion deficit, and this program will increase the deficit by almost 34% yearly. Over ten years, this compromise will add $616.5 billion to the debt. DACA alone will cost 545 billion over ten years, while the wall is expected to cost 71.5 billion over ten years.

The issue is the increased spending with this compromise is coupled with the recent tax cuts in the Trump Administration. It doesn’t take a genius to realize cutting revenue and raising expenditure, while already spending more than revenue allows, will increase the debt.... 

It is interesting Donald Trump believes the USA is the most dangerous country in the world.

It should be when it comes to first world countries for the gun violence that occurs daily in the USA, however, it is still not the most dangerous.

USA occupied Afghanistan is ranked as the most dangerous country in the world.

1. Afghanistan: 0.71 — The country where violent crime is by far the most likely, according to Verisk Maplecroft, is Afghanistan. The country is still ravaged by the Islamic fundamentalist group the Taliban, while the heroin trade is also rampant, adding to violence.

Then comes Guatemala in Central America, not far from the USA border, sending children via railways to save their lives.

2. Guatemala: 0.72 — Like El Salvador and Honduras, Guatemala is a Central American nation plagued by the drug-trafficking industry. In 2015, Guatemala reported an average of 91 murders a week.

January 18, 2018
By Stefanie Eschenbacher

A man stands in front a banner reading "A day without migrants" during a protest outside the U.S Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico September 5, 2017. 

...Trump announced plans (click here) to halt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that has protected from deportation nearly 800,000 young men and women who entered the United States illegally as children.

Mexico’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Sada, said Trump’s decision created “anxiety, anguish and fear” for the roughly 625,000 Mexican nationals protected under the program.

“They are exceptional. ... This is as emotional for the United States as for Mexico,” Sada said at a news conference immediately following the announcement to end the program....

Number three in the most dangerous line-up is also affiliated with the USA. Mexico.

3. Mexico: 1.17 — As the hub for trafficking drugs between South America and North America, Mexico has a significant problem with violence. "With the security forces facing budget cuts, a deterioration in the overall security environment is likely, leaving investors exposed to risks such as extortion, theft, and potentially the kidnapping of personnel," Verisk's Mexico analyst Grant Sunderland says.

The first three in the line up is more than interesting. Then consider that South Korea bravely went forward to bring at least temporary peace to the Korean Peninsula and the focus on the USA and it's reputation begins to look differently than the propaganda based in greed and wealth.

So, while the President states the USA is the most dangerous country in the world, he is grossly inaccurate, but, where the USA reaches to the Third World there is definitely danger propagated by instability and drug crime.

Afghanistan poppies, Guatemala and Mexico drug cartels which is a form of wealth to the third world. I think the most dangerous countries in the world fully understand what their plight is in relationship to the USA.

President Trump is not needed to sign a bill.

On this date, (click here) in the waning hours of the 28th Congress (1843–1845), the House joined the Senate to pass Congress’s first presidential veto override (over lame-duck President John Tyler’s veto of an appropriation bill). Introduced by Senator Jabez Huntington of Connecticut in January 1845, the original bill prohibited the President from authorizing the building of Revenue Marine Service (Coast Guard) ships without approved appropriations from Congress. President Tyler vetoed the bill to protect existing contracts and to retain presidential prerogative....

This is fantastic news.

I congratulate North and South Korea on their cooperation to bring two teams together for the Winter Olympics. I look forward to the competition and the participation of North Korea.

I sincerely hope this is just the beginning of peace on the Korean Peninsula. This is a real victory for both Presidents, Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-Un. 

President Moon Jae-in was elected to return the peace on the Korean Peninsula. He won by an incredible margin of 42 percent.

This is what the South Koreans have longed for and now they have a President bringing peace in his administration. I hope this joint representation of the Korean Peninsula will bring a kinship to the people of the two countries. I look forward to greater and greater cooperation between the two countries.

January 16, 2018
By Oren Dorell

South Korea and North Korea (click here) agreed during talks at the border village of Panmunjom Wednesday to form their first joint Olympic team and have their athletes march together during the Winter Olympics' opening ceremony.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry said the athletes will march under a “unification flag” and will field a women’s ice hockey team.

The ministry said the two Koreas will consult with the International Olympic Committee — which must approve the plans — this weekend.

A week after North Korea said it would send a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea, the regime's demands have taken on a sinister pattern....

The Trump Administration are monsters. This is the National Parks and there is no sensitivity to the people.

January 17, 2018
By Juliet Eilperin

Three-quarters of the members of a federally chartered board advising the National Park Service abruptly quit Monday night out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year.

The resignation of nine out of 12 National Park System Advisory Board members leaves the federal government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks. It also underscores the extent to which federal advisory bodies have become marginalized under the Trump administration. In May 2017, Zinke suspended all outside committees while his staff reviewed their composition and work.

In a letter to the secretary, departing board chairman Tony Knowles, a former Alaska governor, wrote that he and eight other members "have stood by waiting for the chance to meet and continue the partnership . . . as prescribed by law." All of the signatories had terms set to expire in May....

Mental acuity is not the same thing as a Personality Disorder.

Why would Donald Trump lie daily and without conscience?

Conformity

If one is loyal to White Supremacy and/or racism, giving permission to hate among people who do not, is vital.

When I hear Donald Trump's racism, such as announcing that The Dreamers (legislation) are dead, on Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday; it sends a chill down my spine in recognizing the fact he is fomenting hate. 

At some level, if a reasonable person hears over and over that minorities of the USA are the cause of law breaking and unwanted changes in our social structure, it will catch on. Donald Trump is hoping CONFORMITY kicks in as it did with "W"s "God Society."

Almost immediately upon taking the White House in 2000, there was a social paradigm change to enforce "Christianity Politics." The Freedom Caucus is the remnant of that social shift. North Carolina's shift in 2010 has caused corruption to be lawful within it's government under a majority Republican State Legislature, (ie: Pat what's his name governor and ALEC). There is victimization of those different than Christians in NC. That is a fact. All that was due to Christian conformity that has seeped into every aspect of the society.

When a government holds the power of paychecks, people will conform. In the case of "W," there was that whole "Purposeful Life" mess. It is when there was an interesting shift of spending to allow religious based organizations receive government money. PACs broke out in large number under "W."

I hear racism on a regular basis with Trump and it is to enforce conformity in whatever way he can. Absolutely. It is all premeditated.

Conformity is insidious, especially when gambling can become habitual.

It is my opinion, the casinos will run the American people into the ground. Somehow Trump believes expanding the casinos reach into online opportunities to 'try it' will result in a revitalized industry that is benevolent to the American landscape. "W"rong. The only thing online gambling will accomplish is more deprivation of wealth. The casinos have run their course in the USA and by expanding their reach will only result in movement of money to the gambling establishment until the well runs dry again.

There is a lot of corruption in this administration. Seeking conformity, when people are losing their shirt, is not the best environment.

The sixties was such a great time in the USA, if it weren't a time when we lost some of the best Americans ever born within these boundaries. I think recognizing the strength of the people during the sixties and their non-conformity will create a renewed economy of entrepreneurs. I think non-conformity is important, especially with a president as corrupt as this one.

A USA federal agency is begging people to stop eating laundry pods. Begging? Take them off the damn shelves!

Legit enough that it’s apparently become something of a minor public health crisis in the US, and overnight, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an actual federal government body, sent out a Tweet pleading with Americans to stop consuming detergent.

Testosterone has its problems. Thinking things through before acting will prevent embarrassment.

Cinnamon is a very dry powder. If successful in swallowing a full tablespoon of such spices it would wad up in the throat and a person will be unable to breathe. The Heimlich Maneuver may not work to dislodge it either.

At best this hubris is extremely strange behavior. I am sure there are A+ grades begging to emerge.

Chairman, Mr. Kaye has to be sued and held responsible for deaths under his leadership.

...Exactly how many morons are doing this? (click here)

The Washington Post reported that more than 50 teens were “intentionally” exposed to the capsules last year, and ABC says that there have been 20 cases of intentional exposure this year alone. (Scientists chalk this up to everyone being trapped inside either by the bracing cold or accidental Hawaiian nuclear missile impacts.) Luckily, there’s an upside: These figures mean that whatever kettleball-brained nonsense your teenager is doing this week, there are least 70 teenagers in the country being much, much dumber. At least trying to eat a tablespoon of cinnamon won’t kill you, usually....

DACA

Trump is threatening a review of DACA by the Supreme Court to force the Democrats hand.

Pelosi and Schumer should have their thumb on the pulse of the Dreamers community. Put out the legislation Paul Ryan will bring to the floor and have the community review it. The Democrats should not go it alone. They need to know what the community thinks.

There are cities where they can reside without fear of ICE. It might be disheartening at this point to realize a President of the USA hates them to this level, but, they need to take care of themselves. They are our kids. They are bright and have a lot to offer. They can do this.

Any legislation proposed by the Republicans need to go to the community to realize what is being handed them. They need to sound off about any action on their behalf. Is it reasonable and fair or not? What are they looking for in legislation? They are their own best resource. They are great people.

He would have made a great president. He reached out to all people and disdained war.

Dr. King first delivered this sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he served as co-pastor. On Christmas Eve, 1967, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired this sermon as part of the seventh annual Massey Lectures.

Peace on Earth... (click here)

This Christmas season finds us a rather bewildered human race. We have neither peace within nor peace without. Everywhere paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Our world is sick with war; everywhere we turn we see its ominous possibilities. And yet, my friends, the Christmas hope for peace and good will toward all men can no longer be dismissed as a kind of pious dream of some utopian. If we don't have good will toward men in this world, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own instruments and our own power. Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force, but the very destructive power of modern weapons of warfare eliminates even the possibility that war may any longer serve as a negative good. And so, if we assume that life is worth living, if we assume that mankind has a right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war and so let us this morning explore the conditions for peace. Let us this morning think anew on the meaning of that Christmas hope: "Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men." And as we explore these conditions, I would like to suggest that modern man really go all out to study the meaning of nonviolence, its philosophy and its strategy.

We have experimented with the meaning of nonviolence in our struggle for racial justice in the United States, but now the time has come for man to experiment with nonviolence in all areas of human conflict, and that means nonviolence on an international scale....

"Good Night, Moon"

The Waning Crescent

27.8 day old moon

3.4 percent lit

It is my opinino there will always be parts of the universe too volitile and dangerous for any human exploration. There are some areas of the universe where even robots would not survive the trip, but, there must be a duplicate area similar to where Earth exists now that can be explored and inhabited. To that end this video seemed appropriate.