Kerry, a former U.S. senator and presidential candidate, confronted such objections as “empty protectionism” during his speech to a small audience of Boeing workers and pro-trade guests, including Gary Locke, the former governor and ambassador to China.

“There is nothing progressive about blaming trade or trade agreements for the inevitable economic shifts that are brought on by technology and time,” Kerry said.

That's right, even Rand Paul is proposing to increase defense spending. And the rest of them are sounding more like cartoon movie heroes than presidential candidates on the stump (perhaps lending some support to that American Sniper theory).

Today's Fairfax Ipsos poll shows the Abbott Government back on level pegging with Labor. Bob Ellis suggests the result was fraudulently achieved.

Hundreds of people have gathered in kayaks and small boats for a protest in the north-western US port city of Seattle against oil drilling in the Arctic by the Shell energy giant.

Paddle in Seattle is being held by activists who say the firm's drilling will damage the environment.

It comes after the first of Shell's two massive oil rigs arrived at the port.

The firm wants to move them in the summer to explore for oil off Alaska's northern coast.

Earlier this week, Shell won conditional approval from the US Department of Interior for oil exploration in the Arctic.

Just as Labor refuses to accept any responsibility for the fiscal handicap the country now faces, the [Abbott] Government resolutely refuses to concede that its performance on debt and deficit is no better.

With a tiger's pounce that blindsided everyone, George Brandis has moved ruthlessly to carve out his own arts fiefdom. But in doing so, he has taken on an industry with a loud voice, writes Ben Eltham.

Politicians love a sporting analogy. Only war (the one waged on drugs, for example) gives sport a run for its money in the political metaphor stakes.

Peppering your speech with sporting references is seen as a way of avoiding that most unforgivable of political sins: appearing out of touch with the "average punter". Just think of Tony Abbott's "captain's calls" or Julie Bishop praising the PM for his talents in the "change rooms".

....

"It's not unlike, you know, the way that a prop forward takes the ball up," said the Cronulla Sharks diehard.

Treasury officials will not be interrogated about the Abbott government's much-anticipated second budget this year by Australia's chief economists.

When Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg invented the movable type in 1439, he and his fellow printers discovered that the great advantage of simplifying the printing process was to make serious money by selling printed books for nearly the same price as hand-written manuscripts. By 1500, the price of books had dropped by 4/5ths.

We've publicly called for Mr Newman to resign as business advisor to the Australian Government over his misleading comments.