Blogotariat

Oz Blog News Commentary
John Quiggin Monday, February 23, 2026 - 10:01 Source

Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please.

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MacroBusiness Monday, February 23, 2026 - 09:00 Source

The US Supreme Court ruled on February 22, 2026, that Donald Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act’s tariffs were invalid. This includes the “reciprocal” tariffs and those imposed on Canada, China, Mexico, and other countries under different emergency declarations. Not long after the decision, President Trump announced a 10% “global tariff” under Section 122. But

The post Trump’s new tariff unshock appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Monday, February 23, 2026 - 08:33 Source

Too often I dream

Our lousy world leaders

Spirited from the ice cream

But to the world’s horrors

Replacement would be

Stung evermore by the bee

Imagine Rubio Hegseth or Vance

Taking over the Donald’s trance

Spinning the macabre dance

Of a debauched Epstein stance

Should we take such a chance

Til one left is Chuck Schumer

Or a loser named Booker

Imagine the idiots replacing Sir Keir

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MacroBusiness Monday, February 23, 2026 - 08:00 Source

With the resignation of former Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley from federal parliament, the newly minted leadership of Angus Taylor has been well and truly thrown in at the deep end. Following Ley’s resignation, there will be a byelection in her former seat of Farrer. Once, it was a blue ribbon safe seat for the

The post Angus Taylor, the clock is ticking appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Monday, February 23, 2026 - 06:55 Source

 

Only Parliamentary nerds noticed. One such nerd Rex Patrick noticed and reports on a transparency dummy spit by Labor on the floor of the Senate.

Formal Business

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Your Democracy Monday, February 23, 2026 - 05:44 Source

 

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Your Democracy Monday, February 23, 2026 - 04:33 Source

From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 years....

 

Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern

BY Mary Beard

 

read more

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MacroBusiness Monday, February 23, 2026 - 00:01 Source

Thursday’s labour force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has put the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) under more pressure to hike interest rates. Australia’s headline unemployment rate remained at 4.1% in January amid solid employment growth of 17,800. The number of hours worked also rose by a solid 0.6% in January. As

The post The RBA is under extreme pressure to hike again appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Renew Economy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 22:13 Source

Last week, the UK committed up to £1 billion to community and local energy, with an ambition that by 2030, every community will have the opportunity to own an energy project. Australia should take notice.

The post The UK has just thrown its weight behind community energy. Australia should too appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 22:05 Source

sun cable 5b solar northern territory optimised

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Renew Economy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 21:40 Source

Turkey solar plantPerhaps the most important feature of the latest monthly electricity data from the IEA is not that renewables dominate growth in electricity consumption but that every country is doing the same thing.

The post New global data confirms renewables are booming – and not just in the big economies appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Your Democracy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 16:46 Source

Arab and Muslim-majority countries have condemned US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for arguing that Israel has a biblical right to much of the Middle East.

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MacroBusiness Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 12:44 Source

Australia’s auction market has continued to fade following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) interest rate hike this month. According to Cotality, the national preliminary auction clearance rate declined to 68.0%, down from 70.7% last weekend (revised to 63.3% on final numbers) and 73.7% two weeks ago (revised to 66.1% on final numbers). This weekend’s

The post Fading auction market signals house price falls appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 12:00 Source

  Former UK Trade envoy, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor You would think that there would be someone, anyone, who knew enough about the Royal Family, who knew Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor well enough who could have said to him quietly, ‘Molesting underage girls is not a good look for a Prince of the Realm, sire……’ But the bigger fallout

The post Toxic elites set policy and shape your life outcomes too appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 10:45 Source

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Your Democracy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 09:28 Source

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson says that the UK and its allies should deploy non-combat troops to Ukraine right now, to "flip a switch" in Russian President Vladimir Putin's head.

Speaking exclusively to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg alongside the former head of the military, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, Johnson said troops should be sent to peaceful regions in non-fighting roles.

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Your Democracy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 06:55 Source

"This week’s news that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny died after allegedly ingesting poison from a South American frog while imprisoned in the Arctic is a reminder that Russia also has a long history of assassinating critics of the regime."

.....

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Your Democracy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 05:44 Source

 

In Australia, a child of ten can go to prison for shoplifting, while an executive engaged in multimillion-dollar bribery gets away with a fine. Aleta Moriarty with the story.

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Your Democracy Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 04:33 Source

Welcome to Scheer Intelligence, in this episode, Robert Scheer sits down with media scholar Nolan Higdon to dissect the explosive revelations emerging from the Epstein Files — newly exposed documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

At nearly 90 years old, Scheer says he has never seen anything like this.

 

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John Quiggin Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 15:53 Source

My latest in The Guardian

Like millions of Australians, I shop at Coles. I’m not as careful as I should be, but I try to buy things advertised as being discounted, or on special. But after following a recent case before the federal court, I’ll be checking my old receipts before accepting such claims. In particular, I’ll be avoiding “Down Down” promotions. On the evidence before the court, such promotions are routinely used as a way of implementing price increases.

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John Quiggin Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 15:52 Source

I spoke last week at a meeting organised by the Brisbane Flight Paths Community Association to demand a curfew on planes flying over Brisbane. These are mostly either international flights (subsidised by the state government) to promote tourism) or overnight freight, for which there is a fairly modest convenience benefit

By contrast, the adverse health effects and sleep disruption associated with night-time airport noise have huge costs, running into the billions, whether you estimate these directly or via effects on land values.

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John Quiggin Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 15:51 Source

Not long after Trump took office, I observed that the status of the US as the “indispensable nation” could not be sustained. A year later, the US, considered strictly as a state actor, is already dispensable and has, in fact, been largely dispensed with, by Europe in particular.

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THE BLOT REPORT Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 11:58 Source
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THE BLOT REPORT Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 11:41 Source

Now that the far right of the Liberal Party has taken over the party from the ‘moderates’ with the election of Angus Taylor as leader, they have started amping up the racist rhetoric about immigration, in much the same way the Trumpists in the US have done. The Liberal Party will no doubt state that it is not racist, and it would seem not to be to the average halfwit, but it is. They cloak their racism in codewords so as to superficially deny it, but make no mistake, it is just as racist as anything Pauline Hanson’s One Notion put out.

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Your Democracy Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 11:00 Source

US President Donald Trump has said he would “love” to see Russia and China join his ‘Board of Peace’, established to guide the stabilization of Gaza following the Israel-Hamas war. Moscow earlier signaled that it was contemplating the idea, while China has declined, citing commitments to the UN.

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Your Democracy Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 09:28 Source

BRICS News: India balances, Russia negotiates, China builds—and the bloc evolves in real time. In this Think BRICS analysis, we break down BRICS 2026 strategy behind the latest global power shift.

In this episode of BRICS News, we at Think BRICS, break down BRICS 2026 developments shaping a multipolar world.

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Your Democracy Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 08:52 Source

The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. has been gathering the most air power seen in the Middle East since the Iraq invasion in 2003. 

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Your Democracy Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 07:44 Source

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Your Democracy Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 07:22 Source

Russia and Japan are not holding any negotiations on concluding a long-elusive peace treaty, as bilateral relations have hit rock bottom over Tokyo’s “unfriendly” stance towards Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

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Your Democracy Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 06:55 Source

 

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump on Friday called the recent Supreme Court ruling against his global tariffs a "disgrace" and said he has a backup plan in mind, CNN reported, citing people familiar with the remarks.

The comments were made during a working breakfast with US governors.

Earlier in the day, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump is not authorized to impose global tariffs.

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