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TWIDDLING their thumbs isn’t an option for Woolgoolga Red Cross branch members and volunteers. The busy group has been purposefully on the go since early March. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au Members spent the month...

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THE transformation of Coffs Harbour Marine Precinct is now complete, with Transport for NSW announcing construction has finished on the Vessel Refuelling Facility. The 10,000 litre unleaded petrol, vessel-accessible refuelling facility is now operational for public, commercial and government agency use for vessels up to twelve metres in length. Advertise with News of The Area...

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IT was cold, wet and windy, but the weather didn’t deter members of Thai communities from Nambucca Heads, Coffs Harbour and Grafton from relishing their New Year’s Day Songkran Festival at Coffs Harbour’s Harbourside Markets at the Jetty on Sunday 21 April. “As it is also known as the ‘Water Festival’ there was plenty of...

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The Seattle International Film Festival is running now through May 19th. This year’s SIFF features a total of 207 shorts, documentaries, and narrative films from 84 countries. The brick-and-mortar event will be immediately followed by a week of select virtual screenings from this year’s catalog (April 20-27) on the SIFF Channel. I’ve been bingeing on screeners and thought I would take a breather and share some reviews. Hopefully, some of these festival selections will be coming soon to a theater (or a streaming service) near you!  Before it Ends (Denmark) *** – In April 1945, the Allies were closing in on Berlin, signaling the imminent demise of the Third Reich. But for the citizens of Nazi-occupied European nations, the trauma was far from over. Anders Walter’s drama is set in a Danish village on the Island of Funen, still in the grip of its German occupiers. When a trainload of German refugees pulls into town, the Nazi commandant orders the local headmaster (the always wonderful Pilou Asbæk) to house them at his school.

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I wrote about the attempts to make Haley “reach out” to Trump to try to mend fences the other day. They are clearly getting worried about her ongoing support in these GOP primaries which continues to come in at 15 to 20%. So far, she doesn’t seem inclined to do it. Then came a rash of stories, undoubtedly from the Trump camp, saying he was considering her for the VP slot, probably intended to make her hold out the olive branch. She hasn’t. Lol: Former President Donald Trump is dismissing a report that he is considering his GOP primary opponent Nikki Haley as a running mate. Trump wrote on his social Media platform Truth Social Saturday that “Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well!” Axios, citing “two people familiar with the dynamic, reported that Haley was in the running to be Trump’s nominee for vice president. The two had a contentious primary battle and Haley has not endorsed Trump. Many of her supporters also continue to be wary of the former president, a warning sign as he seeks to consolidate Republicans ahead of the general election.

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HOPES are high for the introduction of the Kay Htoe Boe festival in Coffs Harbour in 2025. It’s a traditional festival held dear to the hearts of the Karenni people who have a community of 99 people living in Coffs Harbour. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message...

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I’ve been listening to college kids and faculty being interviewed on cable TV all day and I’m feeling overwhelmingly depressed by so many of them saying they won’t vote for Biden and some even saying they’ll vote for Trump instead. That’s crazy talk. The last time we played this game we got George W. Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I understand the emotion over Gaza. It’s beyond horrible. I wish Biden had handled it differently. I also wish the congress had handled Ukraine differently. And I wish the whole world was handling the current genocide in Darfur differently. (What, you haven’t heard about that one?) Protests are valuable. I don’t quarrel with that at all. It’s giving Biden the support he needs to pull back from supporting that maniac Netanyahu. But voting is a different story. Biden is not Trump. He is the one who had the guts to get out of Afghanistan which both Obama and Trump promised and didn’t do it. He has dramatically scaled back the drone war that Trump actually ramped up.

MORE than 200 people attended events in Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour last weekend to hear about the benefits community Independents can bring to regional electorates. Phil Haines from Voices4Indi, and Caz Heise, former independent candidate for Cowper, addressed full houses at both events. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for...

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THE COFFS Harbour Show celebrated its 110th birthday from April 26-28, with organisers declaring the event a “tremendous success”. The Showground Exhibition Hall was stacked with history, displays of divine cookery and tables of needlework, art craft and photography. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone...

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“The Left is loaded with demons” One of the ways the Trump campaign is attempting to recruit more Hispanic and Black voters is to work closely with their most fanatical cult members, the evangelical Christian church. They had mostly only been able to indoctrinate their white membership but they see some untilled soil in those minority evangelical communities and they’re going after them with a two pronged effort between the Church and the Trump campaign: Just as they prophesied Trump’s victory and collaborated in the 2020 attempted coup, the Trump wing of the New Apostolic Reformation is on the offensive once again, waging a campaign in counties they think will swing the 2024 presidential election.  The campaign has two main elements. One is led by Apostle Lance Wallnau, whose campaign is branded as The Courage Tour, while the other is led by a Trumpian think tank, the America First Policy Institute and its political action arm, America Policy Works.

Here's the trailer for Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T. Davies and stars Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson's Steven Moffat-written Ep. 3, "BOOM."

The whole world is in a post-pandemic funk. I guess it’s good that Biden isn’t quite as unpopular as everyone else but it’s really bad news, and not a coincidence, that we also have a rising fascist right at the same time. Ours is unique in that our fascist movement is also led by an unhinged, corrupt, imbecilic cult leader which actually makes it more difficult.

Before attempting an answer, first let us hold the mirror up to obvious signs of our dysfunction. The last few days have spotlighted electronic media, the billionaires who profit from it, and their business model which refuses accountability. Domestic violence has many causes but misogynist treatment of women as objects of male fantasy is standard Continue reading »

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In this seemingly topsy-turvy world we live in, the charge of ‘antisemitism’ and its offshoot ‘antisemite’ have been hurled at anyone who dares suggest that there is something deeply flawed about the State of Israel. Likewise branded are those who have been protesting against Israel’s winner-takes-all retaliation for the Hamas October 7 massacre. Strange too, Continue reading »

The commentary that surrounds the Federal Budget is a noise of dissatisfaction and ‘negative bias’. The reality is that the ‘power of constant attack’ will make it harder to co-operate together, in bipartisan fashion, on crucial matters. Is there another way? My cousin has written of the courage and fortitude of our farming forebears. They Continue reading »

“It’s a bit silly in this day and age but that’s how it is.” Russell Chapman is well-placed to talk about what he’s called the “West of Scotland disease”. That is the continuing bitter rivalry between Rangers, “the Queen’s team”, and Celtic, with its “loyalty to [the church of] Rome”. As a five or six-year-old, Continue reading »

At one of the world’s oldest film festivals, 240 pictures from 50 countries were shown in Russia. Last week the 46th Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF) concluded in Moscow. MIFF was first held in 1935 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world. Over the years, its winners have included some of Continue reading »

It is entirely possible for the surging anti-genocide protest movement and its accompanying zeitgeist in the general public to push the empire to retreat on Gaza. The imperial murder machine has many strengths, but it also has weaknesses. The globe-spanning power structure that is loosely centralised around Washington has invested in perception management more heavily Continue reading »

The usual suspects are having a good old-fashioned cry over a comment by Biden at a fundraiser. As he was reminding the attendees of the chaos of the Trump years and the probability of it being even worse next time he said: “Remember him saying the best thing to do is just inject a little bleach in your arm? That’s what he said. And he meant it. I wish he had done a little bit himself.” They’re melting down because what he said is “a lie!” And technically they’re right. Trump never said to inject “bleach into your arm.” He mused that maybe we could inject “disinfectant” or maybe “hit the body” with a strong light. Totally different Except not. These were big, breakthrough ideas of the stable genius himself, telling assembled scientists to pursue them: A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it.

The Supremes are talking. Oy: In a conversation in Austin with Chief Judge Priscilla Richman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, Kavanaugh acknowledged the polarization in the country over political and legal issues, especially since the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the legal right to an abortion established decades earlier by Roe v. Wade. He said judges and Supreme Court justices must clearly explain their interpretation of the law and apply those legal principles in a uniform fashion. “Individual decisions don’t have to be popular. … The losing party has to respect the decision,” Kavanaugh said at the 5th Circuit Judicial Conference. “Consistency builds respect,” he continued. “It’s showing up every day in the courtroom and trying to be respectful to the parties, to write your opinion in a way that’s clear and understandable, to get out when you’re speaking and try to explain, to the bar, the judicial process, to try to be transparent and to be impartial as a judge.” How about consistency with precedent, which they promised to do in their confirmation hearings?