Australia has a population density of 3.4 person per square kilometers of total land area, which makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. The population of Australia is heavily concentrated on the east coast, in particular in the south-eastern region between South East Queensland to the north-east and Adelaide to the south-west. Australia is heavily urbanized with 67% of the population living in the Greater City Statistical Areas (metropolitan areas of the state and mainland territorial capital cities) in 2018. Metropolitan areas with more than one million people are found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. Australia is shifting to being a demographic shift towards an older population (which is common with many developed countries), with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2021, the average age of the population was 39 years old. Between 1788 and the Second World War, the vast majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles (principally England, Ireland and Scotland), although there was significant immigration from China and Germany during the 19th century. Following Federation in 1901, the white Australia policy was strengthened, restricting further migration from these areas. However, this policy was relaxed following WW2, and in the decades following, Australia received a large wave of immigration from across Europe, with many more immigrants arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe than in previous decades. All overt legalized racial discrimination ended in 1973, with multiculturalism becoming official policy. Subsequently, there has been a large and continuing wave of immigration from across the world, with Asia being the largest source of immigrants in the 21st century.
Today, Australia has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30% of the population, the highest proportion among major Western nations. In 2022–23, 212,789 permanent migrants were admitted to Australia, with a net migration population gain of 518,000 people inclusive of non-permanent residents. Most entered on skilled visas, however the immigration program also offers visas for family members and refugees. The Australian Bureau of Statistics asks each Australian resident to nominate up to two ancestries each census and the responses are classified into broad ancestry groups. At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated ancestry groups as a proportion of the total population were: 57.2% European (including 46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European), 33.8% Oceanian, 17.4% Asian (including 6.5% Southern and Central Asian, 6.4% North-East Asian, and 4.5% South-East Asian), 3.2% North African and Middle Eastern, 1.4% Peoples of the Americas, and 1.3% Sub-Saharan African. At the 2021 census, 3.8% of the Australian population identified as being Indigenous—Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. Most Australians speak English with an unique accent. At the 2021 census, English was the only language spoken in the home for 72% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home were Mandarin (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%) and Punjabi (0.9%). More than 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact. The National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS) for 2018–19 found that more than 120 Indigenous language varieties were in use or being revived, although 70 of those in use were endangered. The 2021 census found that 167 Indigenous languages were spoken at home by 76,978 Indigenous Australians — Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole), Djambarrpuyngu (a Yolŋu language) and Pitjantjatjara (a Western Desert language) were among the most widely spoken. NILS and the Australian Bureau of Statistics use different classifications for Indigenous Australian languages.
Australia has no state religion; section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits federal legislation that would establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion. However, the states still retain the power to pass religiously discriminatory laws. At the 2021 census, 38.9% of the population identified as having no religion, up from 15.5% in 2001. The largest religion is Christianity (43.9% of the population). The largest Christian denominations are the Roman Catholic Church (20% of the population) and the Anglican Church of Australia (9.8%). Non-British immigration since the Second World War has led to the growth of non-Christian religions, the largest of which are Islam (3.2%), Hinduism (2.7%), Buddhism (2.4%), Sikhism (0.8%), and Judaism (0.4%).
In 2021, just under 8,000 people declared an affiliation with traditional Aboriginal religions. In Australian Aboriginal mythology and the animist framework developed in Aboriginal Australia, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral totemic spirit beings formed The Creation. The Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land. Australia's life expectancy is 83 years old (81 years for men and 85 for women) being the fifth largest in the world. Australia has a high income mixed market economy which is rich in natural resources.
Australia has a diverse culture. It has indigenous traditions, Anglo-Celtic culture, and multicultural traditions (especially since 1945). Many Australians love egalitarianism, humor, and the freedom of the individual. Many Australians love to show respect to people and believe in mateship. Australia has more than 100,000 Aboriginal rock art sites including many museums . Many Australians have music bands, Aboriginal religious and secular songs, literature, and ballet. Australia has food like bush tucker, fish and chips, macadamia nut, kangaroo meat, and steak pie. Chinese cuisine is found in Australia too. Australians love to do swimming, track and field, cycling, soccer, golf, tennis basketball, surfing, netball, and cricket. Australia is one of the five nations that have participated in every Summer Olympics of the modern era. It has hosted the Games twice in 1956 and 2000 in Sydney. It is set to host the future 2032 Games in Brisbane (2023 is when I will be a year away from being 50 years old). Surfing is also very popular in Australia too.
During the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, America had the most medals with 93 including 37 gold, then Russia with 89 (with 32 gold), China with 59 including 28 gold, and Australia with 58 including 16 gold. There were tons of Americans who won gold. Nancy Johnson won gold in the women's 10m air rifle event in shooting. Dara Torres (a famous swimmer) won the 4 X 100m freestyle involving women's swimming. Members of her team included Courtney Shealy, Jenny Thompson, Amy Van Dyken, Erin Phenix, and Ashley Tappin. Maurice Greene won gold in the 100m,Michael Johnson won the 400m, and men won the 4 X 100m relay race. Melissa Morrison-Howard won the 100m hurdles in bronze. The American women won the bronze in the 4X100m relay race. The 4 X400m relay race had the women winning gold. Their names are Andrea Anderson, LaTasha Colander, Monique Hennagan, and Jeral Miles Clark. Stacy Dragila won gold in the women's pole vault. Many Australians won gold in the Olympics too. Simon Fairweather won gold in men's archery. The Australian womens national field hockey team won gold too. Susie O'Neill won gold in the 200m freestyle in swimming. Australia women's national basketball team won silver.
We live in economic uncertainty. Trump ran on lowering prices for Americans, but his tariff policies have resulted in price increases. That is why Walmart desires to increase prices on its goods and services because of the Trump tariffs. Back in the day, the rich used to pay higher taxes to the government. In our time, the government pays the rich interest on debt which is caused mostly by lower taxes on the rich. The Trump tax cuts for the super wealthy will increase the deficit. I am not a fiscal conservative, but this is a reality. If the federal minimum wage had kept pace with worker productivity gains since the 1960s, it would now be nearly $26 an hour. No one in modern day American society can survive making $7.14 an hour, especially a person with children. This corruption in the Trump administration is very much transparent. For example, Trump held a private dinner for his crypto coin buyers. He has promoted Telsas on the White House driveway on the behalf to of a multi billionaire who spent $277 million backing him, and he uses state visits to advance his hotel business. Trump has violated the rule on law, even defying a Supreme Court decision. So, corruption is definitely found in the Trump administration. Trump is also the most anti-environmental President in American history in my opinion. One example is how Trump's EPA is planning to roll back rules that limit the amount of "forever chemicals" allowed in drinking water. This comes after chemical companies donated massively to his inauguration fund. There is no excuse for this rule as we need to protect our environment and our people.
Maryland Wes Moore is completely wrong to veto a slavery reparation study for the state of Maryland. This isn't even about legal reparations for black Americans. This is involving a study that he opposed, because he said that he wants the need for the work itself. That isn't the point. The point is that there needs to be a study, a plan, and true reparations for African Americans when our ancestors suffered the worst form of slavery in human history without just compensation. Native Americans experienced genocide centuries ago. Centuries later, many Native Americans received reparations. Decades ago, Japanese Americans experienced unjust internment camp imprisonment. Decades later, taxpayer money funded their reparations during the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was President. Today, we have some people who unjustly refused to give black people in America reparations. Wes Moore said that the issue has been studied and it is time to focus on the work itself. Will Wes Moore said that about Jewish people and the Holocaust? No. He thinks that since black politics have risen into high levels of government in Maryland, then that justifies his veto. He ignores the fact that systematic racism and other forms of oppression still goes on in our society. Ironically, the Trump administration is targeting black communities, dismantling diversity initiatives, targeting black museums, and whitewashing black history on federal websites, Wes Moore wants to be politically correct instead of focusing on revolutionary justice. He vetoes a study. A study. House Speaker Adrienne Jones is right to say that the work is not done. The reality is that the tyrant Trump wants America to revert back to the pre-1964 Civil Rights Act era of time. The necessity for black liberation and independence are necessities against a racist, sexist, and xenophobic power structure.
The Trump economic budget is more than a bad austerity bill. It represents total profound cruelty against human beings. Some GOP members are so extremist that they want the bill ot have even more steep cuts to government programs. Trump is trying to get more Republicans to support this bill. Moody's stripping the U.S. government of the top credit rating is a new development. Republicans desire a $700 billion in health related spending cuts like in Medicaid. The bill has tax breaks for the super rich and wealthy mega-corporations. Medicaid is a great social program to help the elderly, the youth, and the poor in America. It helps to provide healthcare coverage for almost 60 percent of all nursing home residents. The U.S. spent $618 billion on the Medicaid program in 2024, which is less than Social Security, Medicare, and the U.S. war budget. As of 2024, about 37 percent of Medicaid enrollees are children under the age of 19. Medicaid coverage is high among the poor with over 8 in 10 children in poverty covered by the program (according to the Kaiser Family Foundation). The proposal wants to cut $715 billion from Medicaid for over the next decade. This harms about 8.7 million people. Medicaid was created in 1965 being part of President Lyndon Baines Johnson's Great Society agenda (that included the Medicare Act or the Social Security Amendments of 1965). Medicare provided health insurance for person aged 65 and old. Medicaid provided health insurance for the poor, many people with disabilities, and other human beings. These programs came after the protests of workers in the 1930s, 1940s, and the 1950s. Medicaid expansion has existed in America. Now, some want work requirements which will allow many people to be kicked out of Medicaid (especially the elderly who aren't part of working age). The bill wants to amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to block immigrants from accessing the SNAP (Supplemental Assistance Program). Trump and the fascist Republican Party desire imperialism, bank bailouts for the oligarchy, hatred of democracy, and radical financial austerity.
Recently, the wife of my distant cousin Israel Claud passed away. Her name was Carrie Elizabeth Claud, and she lived from August 12, 1938 to March 6, 2025. She was a mother, grandmother, sister, friend, aunt, cousin, and she believed in God. Her nickname was "Dot." She was born in Margarettsville, North Carolina to Lloyd and Carrie Stewart Parker. She attended Northampton County Schools and graduated from Gumberry High School. She was a woman of faith who believed in Jesus Christ. She helped the sick in the healthcare field. She worked at the Suffolk Health Department as a home health aide before graduating form the Obici School of Nursing as a Licensed Practicing Nurse. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Norfolk State University in 1984. She went to Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, and the Republic of Congo to help the sick. Her sisters are Rosetta Tillery, Laura Parker, Lillie Ann Parker, nad Lois Valentine. Her son is Stanley Claud (and his wife Delphinia). Her daughters are Veronica Claud and Valerie Claud-Demby (and her husband Kelvin Demby). Her brother is Richard Parker Sr. and his wife Dora. Her sisters-in-law are Myrtle Claud, Celestine Parker, and Pearlie Claud.
My late 4th cousin Doretta Ann Smallwood (1941-1995) married Harry Lee Witt (1943-2008). Harry Witt was born on December 10, 1943 in Garten, West Virginia to the late Edith Jones and Richard Witt. He moved into Fayetteville, West Virginia, where he was raised by his grandmother, the late Nancy Jones. His sisters of Cordelia Witt-Morgan and Janie Witt, preceded him in death. He met the love of his life in West Virginia, who was Doretta Smallwood. They moved to South Bend, Indiana in 1968. They had 11 children together. Two of whom preceded him in death who are Dwayne and Gary Smallwood. His last wife was Charlotte Henderson. The children of Doretta Ann Smallwood and Harry Lee Witt were Howard, Doretta, Rita, Douglas, Eddie Smallwood, Nancy Witt, Margaret Witt-Owens (Louis), and Krystal Plump (Isaac). They live in South Bend, Indiana. Harry Witt's brothers are William (Pauline) Booker of Rockland, Virginia, and Ralph (Margaret) Allen of Richmond, Virginia. His sisters are Myra V. (Joseph) Carter of Charleston, West Virginia, Reta (Ernest) English, and Alfreda Taylor, both of women lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He had 19 grandchildren 3 great grandchildren. Doretta Ann Smallwood II was born on November 5, 1968. She married Christopher Shawn Floyd and had 2 children whose names are Sade Renee Smallwood Floyd (b. 1994) and Lashonda King Floyd (b. 1998). Doretta Ann Smallwood II has a daughter named Kaay Mariaa Smallwood.
The age of Thyatira of the church lasted from 606 A.D. when Pope Boniface III called himself the Universal Pope to 1648 A.D. when the Protestants and Catholics had that Treaty of Westphalia after over one century of war. This era saw a massive increase of the power of the Roman Catholic Church into its first peak. The church back then has gone through many changes. The Church of Rome for more than one millennium dominated the political and religious systems in Europe. This time saw the Crusades, the evil Inquisition, the invention of the religion of Islam, the Protestant Reformation, and other events. This time saw many people follow the simplicity of the gospel in many groups like the Waldensians, the Lollards, and other groups. Also, this time saw the rise of modern-day secret societies like Rosicrucians and Freemasonry (many members back then had links to the Merovingian bloodline, as members of the Merovingian bloodline had infiltrated some of the Papacy back then too). They tried to infiltrate the church. The debate on works contributed to the rise of the Protestant Reformation. Catholics believe that people must do works to gain and maintain salvation, and Protestants believe that God's grace through faith saves people's souls. The Bible is clear that if a person repents of his or her sins, then accepts Jesus Christ as Savior, he or she is a new creation. Good works alone never merit salvation, as no human is perfect. Yet, after salvation, we must do good works, representing the fruit of the spirit. In other words, good works are the fruits that grow out of being saved, but works don't make us saved. After salvation, we must obey God's Word found in his commandments. The leadership of the Roman Catholic Church did the right thing to defend the Trinity and many Christian doctrines, but the Roman Catholic Church added many false doctrines and man-made, unscriptural superstitions like the Rosary (when the Bible is clear not to use repetitive prayers), purgatory, calling Mary the Mother of God, Mary being the co-Mediatrix (when the Bible is clear that the only mediator between God and man is the Lord Jesus Christ), prayer to the saints (when that is necromancy as our prayers are only supposed to sent to God alone), indulgences, calling the Pope Holy Father (when that title is only reserved to God alone), the embrace of the Scapular, forcing bishops to be celibate (when the Bible is clear that bishops can be married if they desire to. Even the Apostle Peter had a wife), etc. that movements existed to challenge these false doctrines like the Petrobussians, the Lollards, the Waldensians, etc. Even Catholic scholars like Erasmus challenged the indulgences and wanted the Bible to be translated into diverse languages for the people. Then, Martin Luther started the Reformation in rejecting the theocratic authority of the Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Luther, and the Reformation spread globally. The Reformation had many strengths and weaknesses. The Reformation did good to spread the gospel to the common people in an efficient way, to promote the rule of law, and to promote the power of God alone to save people. Yet, many Reformers kept some of the false doctrines of the Catholic Church, some unified church and state in theocratic kingdoms (that suppressed the rights of Anabaptists, Baptists, and Protestant dissidents), and some allied with occult secret societies like Rosicrucians and Freemasons. Many Protestants (in the Bartholomew Day Massacre in France), Anabaptists, and Baptists were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church in an unjust fashion. The Catholic Church used the Council of Trent to condemn Protestant views and promote basic Catholic doctrine. The problem is that further false doctrines were believed in the Vatican like even papal infallibility and the embrace of the Apocrypha (which was rejected by the Jewish scholars of the early centuries after Christ, but it has been embraced by the Catholic Church. 2 Edras 3:5 said that Adam's body was without soul when the Bible is clear that Adam was a living soul. Many scholars exposed contradictions in the Apocrypha, and it is condoning sorcery). There was the rise of Cathars who were Gnostics. Also, there was the rise of Islam, which explicitly denied the existence of the Son of God, when even the Old Testament mentioned that God the Father and the Son existed. Islam is a works-based salvation religion that views Muhammad the last of the great prophets. Conflicts among Muslims and Christians will persist. At the end of the era of Thyatria saw the increased hostility towards monarchies and the creation of the modern world as we know it.
By Timothy
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