From Out the Ancient Swamp

They tried everything, the animal spirits, and in the end came back to that old Chestnut, we offer you eternal life.

In return for what?

Service in the Earthly realm.

He shrugged, he didn't care. He had every reason to disbelieve, to distrust, all the mimicking algorithms, all the exploitative, nasty little foot soldiers who had come and gone. Amidst them the good, but they, too, had bosses.

Walk the Earth so it will remember you. As the indigenous saying went. Walk the Earth so it will remember you.

The division of wealth in Australia grew starker.

Meanwhile a black Octopus shaped carnival ride swirled, its tentacles coming alive, reaching out to destroy his enemies, wrapping themselves around their necks.

While the research project collapsed, another echo from the fast changing Trump dictated events occurring in far off America, and the voices grew still, and the protective spirits gathered in strength, and a kind of nobility was born out of all that chaos. Meanwhile, he worked in the garden and grew tidier still. Well, tidier, more organised. A little. We stood at the precipice of greatness, he quipped. Calmer, much calmer than normal. While mad dreams, with their complicated plots, swept through him.
 

MAINSTREAM NEWS

SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA

Great things happened this week. Donald Trump multitasked his way into office as the liberator of Western culture. Best of all, Trump’s first salvos fired at Woke ideology have unshackled Australia Day. The Wokerati won’t be able to hold back the tide now.

The usual nonsense around changing the date is dead in the water. Australians don’t want to change the date, with one survey revealing that nine out of ten Australians are sick of hearing the vocal minority bang on about it.

Meanwhile, those public servants who seem to dislike serving the Australian public have the option to take our national holiday some other time. They have no problem taking the nine out of ten taxpayers’ money, of course.

Woke corporations are even suggesting that the public holiday (they’re unable to utter the words Australia Day) should be a day ‘to explore ways to contribute positively to a more inclusive future’. 

GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA

For people with disability, the end of 2024 was a rollercoaster.

New legislation for the National Disability Insurance Scheme started coming into effect in October, with new lists of what can and can’t be funded, changes to early intervention requirements and more, already altering the way some 646,000 people receive support from the $35bn program.

The reforms are not yet complete, though, and March is shaping up to be crunch time: that’s when consultation is expected on things like the support-needs assessment tool – a framework for determining a person’s impairments and how much public money should be allocated to them. But the timelines are so tight, and the space for consultation so narrow, that advocates say the promised co-design on critical parts of the new system is all but impossible.

SKY NEWS

Thousands have gathered for Australia Day protests and events across the country on Sunday.

'Invasion Day' rally, march held in Sydney

Hundreds of people descended on Sydney's Belmore Park in Haymarket for the annual Invasion Day rally and march, which kicked off about 10am.

The event, organised by The Blak Caucus group with guidance from Gadigal Elders, calls for "truth-telling, resistance, mourning and solidary" with Indigenous Australians. 

ABC

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday morning attended a ceremony at Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, where he received a general salute from the Australian Federation Guard.

Governor-General Sam Mostyn was received with the Vice-Regal Salute and inspected the guard.

The event starts their official Australia Day calendar of events with a personal engagement with First Nations culture.