Despite overly optimistic, but what should be called laughable forecasts in the budget, wage growth in Australia is now the lowest it has been since the mid-1990s. And it’s not hard to see why.

Not since the release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which Donald Trump bragged about groping women by the genitals, have some conservatives thought so seriously, if a bit wistfully, about two words: President Pence.

A burning question arises from Budget 2017. What drugs are Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his team on? There can be no other rational explanation for the inclusion of a total clanger in an otherwise mediocre and generally anticipated bunch of policies. On Tuesday, 9 May, Treasurer Scott Morrison announced money for health, education, and farmers, more taxes, a hit to the banks and a kick for anti-vaxxers. And right at the end, a surreptitiously adopted populist measure to piss-test the poor.

Besieged from all sides, the Trump administration appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee the federal investigation into allegations Russia and Donald Trump's campaign collaborated to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Where else in the world would people deliberately elect as their President a man who is an acknowledged racist, sexist, a sexual predator, a homophobe, a xenophobe, a conspiracy theorist, a bully, an imposter, con man and would-be dictator.

This of course raises the obvious question as to why then are people surprised when things go pear-shaped on a daily basis.

Australia's biggest banks say they have been forced to sign a confidentiality agreement before the Government provides executives with draft details of a new $6.2 billion tax.

The Washington Post has a story today that has made all the MMMM (mediocre mass media de mierda otherwise known as the Western press) about The Donald telling state's secrets to the Ruskies...

Former defence minister and ambassador to the United States Kim Beazley says the Turnbull government should grant a request for more troops to be sent to war-torn Afghanistan.

“No one has ever achieved anything significant without a chorus of critics standing on the sidelines explaining why it can’t be done,” the president said. “Nothing is easier — or more pathetic — than being a critic, because they’re people that can’t get the job done.”

In the event of war between the USA and any other nation in our region, Australia could not avoid involvement, because of its alliance with the USA. That is the reality we need to address. To avoid the possibility of war, an independent foreign policy for Australia is urgently required. Mr Trump’s presidency only adds to the urgency. 

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull says drug testing welfare recipients and potentially managing their spending is "a policy based on love".