I'va Worn Smith

The references to Trump were about his acquiescence to racism. Therefore, the references are relevant to this topic. In terms of the rest of your observations, I wholeheartedly agree.

Then just say no. Nothing more needs to be said on this topic. Your commentary on umpires and nuance are no more than a distraction to the import of the title of this thread. Stick to the topic title please.

As a footnote on Donald Trump. His former Republican colleague, Senator John McCain, was a fighter pilot in the Vietnam war, who was shot down over North Vietnam. He became a prisoner of war and endured incredible pain and torture, culminating with his broken leg being re-set, with not even an aspirin. ( just imagine that) After the Republican Senator passed away from a brain tumour, Trump said this How can anyone defend such a despicable person, regardless of political persuasion?

The fact is that Tuck Frump acquiesced to the white supremacists, when asked to condemn them. Rather he chose to deflect to the perceived left wing movement known as Antifa. His reticence resulted in a female law enforcement officer being fatally wounded. The man is anathema to anything that approaches reasonableness. He became a parody of himself. His words and inaction caused this. Never forget, Black Lives Matter.

It starts with you, me and the rest of us. We simply no longer accept it. I am old enough to remember shows which portrayed white actors and musicians with blackened faces. See Al Jolson. Sweets sold to kids with black faces on the wrappers. The "N" word used as brand names on consumables. Where are they now? Consigned to the dustbin of history. Things evolve and change for the better. We need to be part of that re/evolution. Get with the program son. Stop providing the way out for bigots. There is no place for it anymore, regardless of whether you are white, black, brown or brindle. Only good people can make the change. We should not accept racism as simply being part of the human condition. As we do with the Big Freeze, I would be happy to March to the 'G - when we we can - as a public statement against racism and if my arthritis allows me, I would even take a 'knee'.

I look at my grandchildren with their little mates. Their smiles, as they embrace their friends of various races, creeds and colours, fills my heart with joy. Children's hearts - as has always been the case - are pure and unadulterated, until, as they grow, elders seek to poison their minds with things such as racism. We are not born racist, rather it becomes a manifest of perverted and misguided views, based on innate prejudice and bigotry.

This is a national crisis. These are extraordinary times, which require national leadership. Under the Constitution, the Commonwealth has the power to introduce Laws, in such grave times.

Are not the Feds charged with the responsibility to protect our borders? It is not too far to extrapolate that they could also protect our internal borders. States are not geared to do this and as pointed out, we should not be straining our state police forces to fill this crucial role.

That's precisely my point. Who has relevant jurisdiction over Australia's airports? At every Australian airport there is AFP presence. The AFP falls under the purview of the Commonwealth. Over and above that, this is a once in a lifetime global crisis. As with world wars, I would want my Federal Government to co-ordinate strategies to combat such crises and not leave it to the individual whims of state premiers. To meet the challenges on national basis, we need a uniform approach, operated out of a national 'war' room.

Which is administered by the Federal Government. Is there a common theme occurring here?

To use an analogy. If I travelled overseas, without the appropriate visa to travel to that country, the airline which carried me to that destination would be fined. We have a Commonwealth Department known as the Department of Home Affairs. Under its auspices, Australian Border Force operates. Go figure!!

How is it that 2 women are permitted to board a flight in Sydney, while still infectious and travel to Melbourne? Who should have jurisdiction of our airports across Australia?

Let's stop arguing. Let's try and work together, to STOP racism. Do we at least agree on that?

That's the point. We no longer have 'real' politicians. No leadership, no conviction of principle. Both sides are more worried about the 24 hour news cycle and reactions on social media. Politicians mouth platitudes, which deplore racism, yet at the same time, they proffer policies which appease the xenophobes. Unless, we, as the great 'unwashed', drive change,the politicians and the political machine, will not heed, nor listen. Change will only come from us - the citizenry. If we have the will to drive it. Racism is intrinsic and those who remain silent give it currency. As CBF said in an earlier post, we no longer have bipartisanship and until such time as we do, the political machine will cause little change, if any, in this area. At the risk of sounding like an old hippy, it was 'people power' which changed the then popular opinion on the Vietnam war, which killed millions; not the politicians or their apparatchiks.

Really? Really!!!!!!

Agreed. Well said. But politicians of later times, chose to demonise - excuse the pun - immigrants, for the sake of political expediency. Fraser and Whitlam had a bipartisan approach, despite being vehement political enemies. Hawke led the charge after the Tianamen Square tragedy, with the support of the then opposition

The 'issue' is about the human condition. If all politicians showed true leadership on this issue, then fine, but they don't. Racism is for all of us to deal with and should never be 'politicised'. It was the political reference to which my original post was responding. Talking about 'leftists' and conservatives does not deal with the problem, but provides a refuge for those who deny the problem exists in our body politic.

Why is it that when good people call out racism for what is it is - a blight on our society - people bereft of reasonable debate, use epithets such as "leftists"? The use of such tags is just lazy and neglects to address the core of endemic racism. This is not about politics, rather it is about simply doing what is right. The number of times I have heard people say; 'I'm not racist, but.....'. The 'but' shows that such 'emperors' certainly have no clothes. I remember being at the 'G back in the 90's. The Cockatoo-Collins boys were playing for us then. 2 female MFC supporters made comments about how they were like the rest of "them" and go 'walkabout'. I was livid and let them know in no uncertain terms. It would seem not much has improved since then. As the old saying goes; the standard you walk by, is the standard you accept. This issue has nothing to do with 'politics', but is has everything to do with doing what is intrinsically the right thing to do.

West was won. We went up against a side which was playing for a spot in the 8. We were belting them, until the weather intervened. Once again, the umpiring was atrocious. I'll take a win the West anytime.

We flew to QLD last weekend to play, the Suns, then sat on a tarmac for hours, before returning to Melbourne. Our game against the Suns was re-scheduled for an early start the following day. Now we have to travel to Perth, for a game, scheduled for next Monday. Mark McGowan could shut down WA on a moments notice. The fixture has been compromised time and time again, since COVID, yet the Eagles have not played us in Melbourne for 4 years. Why???? Anyway Dees, we will just have to get it done. Go you good things.

He's gawn. Silly act and a prolonged act. Bring back Hibbo. He's had a rest and proven he can be a lock doww player

Where will the WC game be played?

How much did we win by? In a national competition?

I love this footy team and I retain the faith. Yep, I may be silly, but I think the coaching team has a plan. Go you mighty Demons.

For what is is worth, here is my take. Like many of us - I suspect - I was rapt in the first two thirds of our season, but like most of us, I was just waiting for the wheels to fall off. I posted on here on another topic, that the I could cop the Adelaide loss as an aberration. But the Collingwood game I could not accept. Our life member coach; Neale Daniher, who chose to make the Queens Birthday game as the marquee event for his charity for a health condition which will finally take him, should have been enough motivation for our team to overcome the "Buckley, last time as Collingwood Coach" motivation. We then had the Pink Lady game, which is our franchise now. Fraser Rosman's mum is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer and Oscar Baker lost his mum to the same insidious disease. Motivation enough? We then had a great win over Port and I thought, yesssss, we are back. But then follows a draw to the lowly Hawthorn and a loss (honourable?) against the Dogs. By the way, I am summarising here, so excuse me if it appears my timelines are somewhat skewed. But the more recent form caused me to reflect. We have a gun backline, but as Ross Lyon proved, you will never win a granny on defence alone. Leigh Matthews, on the other hand, was always of the view that if you can score more than 15 goals a game, you will usually win. That said and with the benefit of hindsight, our forward line has been, at best, makeshift. Fritta is a 'cameo' forward, yet he attracts one of the best backs from the opposition. TMac - whom I have a man crush on - is not a natural key forward. Despite the fact he has done very well for much of the year, thus far, he has been worked out by opposition coaches. Kossie is still a lad, but now a target for the opposition, Spargo is still to show consistency, Dogga will be a gun, but as a big bloke, needs more time to develop and we have to establish a key role for him. ANB??? I remember the ANZAC eve game against the Toigs, when he bent that goal from the boundary line. I thought, yeah, he's back. He has done little since. We then have Melksham, M Brown, the Weid and of course Benny Brown. The latter 3 are lead up forwards, who need space to run into and mark. None of them are going to sit on the opposition's shoulders and take a speccy. So what to do with them? Pagan's paddock? If that were to work, I would think Benny Brown would be best suited, but I doubt it will happen. So what is the alternative? To me that is the worry. Did we trade away draft picks for too many (and the wrong) trades. Despite that the fact that Casey has been cruelled by the lack of game time, due to COVID, has given limited opportunities to assess the progress of the next tier of players. Bar for Bowey, I can see little else, in terms of elevating new talent, other than recycling what we have already seen. AKA, Melsham, Weid, Jones, M Brown and Jetta. Other than that, I see little depth in the 2's. To me this is our major worry going forward.