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3 days ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
EX-WRESTLING boss Linda McMahon, now United States President Donald Trump’s education chief, has written to Harvard concerning funding cut threats as a result of them not stopping pro-Palestinian demos. The letter was also posted on X. Some kind soul, not Harvard itself, has taken the effort to correct her mistakes using a red pen, or maybe two given how many mistakes there were. There is not enough space in a short letter to detail them here but they are online.
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1 week ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
LIKE many people, I have been in a cell at Alcatraz Island but escaped. It’s a lot easier when you are a tourist. Now, United States President Donald Trump wants to reopen it as a working prison for the worst. Prisoners have previously escaped from cells but died crossing the bay, we presume. There are surely enough, secure jails already and if not, building and running prisons is very profitable.
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3 weeks ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
THE WAR in Ukraine is still killing people and recent actions from Russia indicate they are unlikely to stop attacking. Peace is a long way off. This is made worse by the statement from United States’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio that they would “move on” and stop helping with peace talks unless they see some success.
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1 month ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
UNITED STATES President Donald Trump has announced that he, or really the US, will impose a “major” tariff on pharmaceuticals. The word “major” is vague but it can be suggested that it will be in the 30% to 50% range rather than the general 10%. This is shameful. In an ideal world, any neccessary medicine would be free but that’s not realistic, so the best that can be hoped for is cheap and readily available.
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1 month ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
THE MORNING news wasn’t great in Australia. We got hit with a 10% tariff. We had a free trade agreement with the United States yesterday, today we have chaos and 10%. I understand some economics but more of mathematics so I find the values of some tariffs puzzling. One would assume the rate might be “even” such as 10% or 20% or a major divisor, 25% or 50% whereas of course we want it at 0%. Where do some of the values come from? China faces 54%; Vietnam, 46%; Cambodia, 49%; or Taiwan, 32%?
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1 month ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
LIKE many people who are now seniors, I had measles when I was a child and there was no vaccine available. It was uncomfortable, very contagious, and occasionally deadly. By the mid’60s vaccines were appearing and by the mid-‘70s they were compulsory in Australia. The disease was basically controlled and effectively eradicated. Why has it come back? In reality it wasn’t gone; it was just preventable using vaccines.
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1 month ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
THE UNITED States’ Environmental Protection Agency is going to eradicate its own scientific research arm, with over 1,000 scientists going from working on protecting us and our environment to standing in an unemployment queue. Removing scientists that are working on climate change won’t change the facts nor will it remove it from the news. As a science teacher I always promoted the value of science and research even if it wasn’t immediately obvious.
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1 month ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
THERE are many ways to finish a war with the best being to stop it starting, but that rarely happens despite the obvious horrible consequences of wars. The causes of conflict and then wars are many and varied, often based on centuries of memories that should have faded away. Most of the world is concerned about the two main current wars, in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, both of which were to be solved by United States President Donald Trump on the first day in the job but then reality struck.
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2 months ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
WHAT are the similarities and differences between United States’ President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy? One is a bully, one is the bullied. One leads his troops, one had sore feet. One was a comedian, one is a clown. The list of possibilities goes on but so does the war. The recent press conference between them was disgraceful. The world needs peace, not fighting between world leaders. ***Better or worse? Are scammers getting more generous or just more stupid?
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2 months ago | 
panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald
THE QUOTE attributed to Winston Churchill, “History is written by victors”, needs an update for the world of social media and “alternative facts”. The most recent statement from US President Donald Trump, “We want to end it. It’s a senseless war. It should have never happened”, is at best half-right, in that this and other wars should never happen. He also said, “You (Ukraine) should have never started it.
