42 days to go until the election and I think week 2 was a clear winner for the ALP.
Shorten clearly won the debate last Friday Night
And despite a few hiccups ( Feeny you idiot ) are clearly beating the libs on policy.
The polls though close are in labor’s favour
The coalition train seems to have come of the tracks.
They are running around putting out spot fires like changes to super,the medicare rebate freeze and Mr potato head Dutton.
So I an pretty optomistic and happy this Friday. I know there is still a long way to go but i,m going to enjoy it while I can.
Who wants to join me?
THE PUB 
So thats a don’t bother then.
Well…He might want to say hello!
All the footage was on the Go Pro, which sunk with the drone.
It wasn’t far out from shore, probably no more than 25 metres, but as there were a few birds also bobbing up and down very nearby, when they took off in fright the drone’s ripples got mixed up with theirs.
Then again, once the ripples stop, every smooth surface of water looks the same.
And no tracking.
I should have paid more attention, I guess, but I was in shock.
On a brighter note, one of the reasons we went away was to get HI’s work to try something. They always have before. But this time nothing. Not a peep.
Not that we think they’re “watching” us, but it’s just that it always seems they save something up for when we relax.
No WAY we will ever contact them. The ball is entirely in their court (or so they think).
I’m not sure they realize we have one of their internal executive-to-executive memos on the subject of getting rid of HI. Or maybe they do, but just don’t realize what they’ve said in it? It’s pretty explosive, but we’re waiting for the right moment to play that card.
https://newmatilda.com/2013/01/24/why-crossin-must-bow-out/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/thin-skinned-nbn-succeeds-in-throwing-spotlight-on-turnbull-decisions/
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/election-2016-the-35-billion-hole-in-scomos-67bn-black-hole-20160524-gp2f04
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-24/fukushima-operator-reveals-600-tonnes-melted-during-the-disaster/7396362
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-24/casino-at-risk-from-organised-crime-after-inspector-exodus/7441102
On Nova, the problem has been for a long time her ex-husband.
Domestic violence happened. But strong rumors said she was the aggressor.
joe6pack
Re your “Centrelink adventures”. Waaay back I was having a few beers with a mate , I was on holiday and he was on his week off from an extremely well paid job as an offshore pipeline welder, it was during the week. You should have seen the look on the barmaid’s face when, as I was about to buy the next round, he loudly called out he would buy all the drinks as the dole and child endowment ( whatever it was called back then) had arrived that week. DAGGERS was an understatement.
#abc730 not happy with Snot.
Goldfish
Higher, Faster, Louder!
don’t assume by looks is very true
jaycee
I can say ‘hello’ just OK without Me needing 6Pack to help.
And so you can C’…so you can…and I too can say “hi de ho” to you !
” But why not have a winter picnic, too? I am going into the woods. You may come, if you wish.”
JC
[You may come, if you wish]
I’d enjoy, but the drive too long now. I’ve become settled and lazy.
” I’ve become settled and lazy.”….Many a good man’s fault, CTar..many a good man’s fault…enjoy, I say.
is it a 62 billion or 30 billion black hole?
Jobson Grothe!
Not Sold showing a strange interest in Rugby League. Or is it just sharks?
Going by the coalition’s usual practice if it starts at 32 billion it will be 90 before long. Labor’s NBN suffered similar bullshit . Truffles started at it costing $35 bill and kept going until hitting a max of I think $94 billion ,certainly over 90.
Cormannator has already tested out the $100 billion barrier last night on Sky .
I would be delighted to leave black holes to cosmology: financial “black holes” are the dollar difference between fact and lie.
That was the most amazing Catalyst program I have seen.
It takes a step in technology that computing took in the fifties, taking the same steps but not with valves and transistors.
I think BB would be very interested.
Great indicator from Truffles about his priorities by what first came to mind. “Serious Mal” in an averagely waffley answer to a question about suicide prevention said of suicide “It is a drain on the nation, economically , emotionally….
As someone the MP for an electorate with the highest rates of that, Waffles must be very proud of what he has done there …
On more than one occasion Waffles took great pride in mentioning that The Gap is in his electorate and how popular it is/was for suicide ..
Turnbull is so uncomfortable when dealing with ordinary people, people who did not inherit wealth. He has no idea how to relate to someone who has to worry about mortgage payments or rent, electricity bills and whether or not they will be able to afford both food and the car rego this week. He has never had to worry about any of that, not ever.
By coincidence I was thinking about why Truffles is dog awful when dealing with people last night. Main thought was that Truffles’ life and style has meant that it has never intersected with “ordinary” people except for them being lackeys. That and an ego the size of a planet.
Any takers? (Competitors and/or donations.)
https://beardson.org/
Short version: 90 days to grow a beard for conservation etc.
https://beardson.org/page/about
https://newmatilda.com/2016/05/24/the-real-black-hole-is-in-the-coalitions-credibility/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/brazil-dilma-rousseff-plot-secret-phone-transcript-impeachment
I saw one of those terrorist ads on television tonight and was wondering if is should report something I find particularly suspicious.
There is this lady (hmmm) who I see in the papers quite a lot, anyway she has this ‘important’ job in the government and gets to read all this secret stuff. Recently it has come to my attention that she is showing this secret stuff to her ‘manfriend’ and he doesn’t have the necessary security clearance.
Do you think it is something that the security people would be interested in.
I’m just being alert and not alarmed.
I reckon that’d get you more than a “thank you”, I reckon it would get you a couple of broken ribs!
One of the things that struck me about the ads was the one with empty peroxide and acetone bottles. They are the main ingredients of what is known as “Satan’s Mother” . Fave for 7/11 bombers and others. Ya reckon the names on the bottles won’t cause a few “googles” to find about them ?
Leroy
Politics and personal gain rule.
I pay only a little attention to South American politics these days. I’d be safe in Chile or Uruguay, I think.
But elsewhere no so.
Wearing your “Viva Las Malvinas” T-shirt you will be welcome everywhere 🙂
kk
I think their very incompetent security people may still have my name on the ‘books’.
I did what MT asked but in the wind up they recognised my radio signature. And worked that I sometimes said to do ‘things’.
after ‘worked’ OUT was meant to be in there.
carrt2016
OMG ! Don’t tell me you used “Thames Swimmer” !!!! 😀
kk – Some thing like that but a little more subtle.
I was trying, at the time, to negotiate a trip by RMS Canberra into Bunoes Aires.
They decided they wouldn’t trust me on the point that the destroyer and 3 frigates would stay outside.
Their guys needed food and the logistics for us to provide were difficult.
Montevideo then agreed to help – food, water, buses and enough travel documents.
Them, I did ask what they wanted. They answered paying for the food would be good and some Trade help?
So they got to slip stuff into the EU marked ‘packaged in the United Kingdom’.
Thank Archie for Sid and Sod:
Some of one of my fave type music. How old were you back then? I was 8.25 🙂
Moi? 11 years 11 months, you spring chicken you.
Norah Jones father.
1967? Negative.
My love of stringed instruments first hit when my teacher in Primer 1 (Moi age 5) brought in one of these and played. Was totally entranced.
I remember seeing a hammer dulcimer at a local show/market. Lovely – but impractical.
kk / Fiona
I was 9 in that month.
carrt2016
1958 was nowhere as good as 1959 🙂
kk – 1959 must have gone by.
The first I can remember had the do with a horse and an orange dog – ‘Gussie’ (as in Gussie Moran).
And my father trying to explain the implications of JFK being dead.
I have a distinct memory of thinking the dress coats his boys were wearing at the funeral made them look like girls.
Tones has finally put out a song about Peta
Dulcimers as I like them…
Apologies for being a bit behind the topic on dulcimer so etc. Posting from Hawai’i at the moment where I caught up with Obama’s favourite dish according to the food outlet at Ala Moana food court.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers. It’s great to be back after an enforced hiatus.
Ross Gittins explains how Shorten has the edge over Turnbull.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-bill-shorten-is-beating-malcolm-turnbull-in-the-tactics-game-20160523-gp26lt.html
Laura Tingle – Morrison and Cormann are left with over-egging on their faces. Google.
/news/politics/election-2016-morrison-and-cormann-left-with-overegging-all-over-their-face-20160524-gp2ugt
Ben Eltham goes further and says the real black hole is the Coalition’s credibility.
https://newmatilda.com/2016/05/24/the-real-black-hole-is-in-the-coalitions-credibility/
More on the subject from Michelle Grattan.
https://theconversation.com/morrison-and-cormann-caught-out-on-black-hole-but-money-still-risky-ground-for-shorten-59923
Things are not well in Warringah.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/election-2016-infighting-retirement-speculation-hits-tony-abbotts-campaign-for-warringah-20160524-gp2h6c.html
Chaos at Target/KMart.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/target-dysfunctional-as-guy-russo-prepares-review-20160524-gp2fo2.html
Looks like it’s goodbye el Nino and hello l Nina.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/target-dysfunctional-as-guy-russo-prepares-review-20160524-gp2fo2.html
Morrison escapes from witness protection and look what happens.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/election-2016-the-35-billion-hole-in-scomos-67bn-black-hole-20160524-gp2f04.html
More use of the APF for political purposes.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/peter-young-spoke-out-about-a-mans-death-suddenly-the-afp-was-looking-at-his-phone-records-20160524-gp2fs6.html
Adele Ferguson says big companies can’t simply outsource morality.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/soulless-corporations-take-the-fall-20160524-gp2pnk.html
Stephen Koukoulas tells us that actually jobs and growth are both falling.
http://thekouk.com/blog/jobs-and-growth-both-are-stalling-actually.html
Section 2 . . .
The AEC sends a bluey to the designer of the Turnbull “Fizza” billboards.
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2016/05/24/turnbull-poster-fizza/
Credlin gives a character assessment of Turnbull. He likes to be liked.
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2016/05/23/credlin-says-turnbull-likes-liked/
The prospect of a Trump presidency is worrying those in Australian business circles.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/agl-boss-andy-vesey-says-companies-worried-by-potential-trump-presidency-20160524-gp2tiv.html
There is nothing to separate the government and Labor on border security says Sara Gill.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/nothing-to-separate-coalition-and-alp-on-border-security-20160524-gp2ane.html
Phil Coorey says that the government has ramped up on immigration/refugees as its economic message drowns. Google.
/opinion/columnists/the-coalitions-boat-comes-in-as-economy-message-drowns-20160519-gozafg
Urban Wronski tells Turnbull to stop the rabid nonsense about asylum seekers.
https://urbanwronski.com/2016/05/22/stop-the-rabid-nonsense-about-asylum-seekers-mr-turnbull/
The SMH editorial says we should be polishing Medicare, not chipping away at it.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/we-need-to-polish-the-medicare-jewel-instead-of-chipping-away-at-it-20160524-gp2itf.html
“View from the Street” on how the polls are travelling, our attitudes to refugees and Nova Peris.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/view-from-the-street-is-antirefugee-sentiment-becoming-a-political-liability-20160524-gp2ovh.html
On the campaign trail yesterday – from The Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/25/australian-election-2016-turnbull-shorten-coalition-greens-labor-briefing
Peter Wicks says that the government’s plan is not one for the country.
http://wixxyleaks.com/plans-the-coalition-plan-is-not-one-for-the-country/
Section 3 . . . Cartoon Corner
I love this effort from Alan Moir.
Cathy Wilcox and generational expectations.
Ron Tandberg goes to a bit more trouble than usual to pen this good one.
David Pope has an aged Andrew Robb looking on as we head for the promised lands of FTAs.
Classic work from Mark David on our internet expectations.
David Rowe and the black holes.
Welcome back, BK.
Tandberg has produced a wonderful image of the Turnbull mansion.
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/election/fwbc-drops-action-against-cfmeus-michael-oconnor-20160524-gp2py8
BK
Welcome back to cyberspace. I do love the cartoon of the blackhole.
Anyone still think the timing of that AFP raid was just coincidence?
Labor staffer could be jailed merely for receiving NBN docs
https://delimiter.com.au/2016/05/24/labor-staffer-jailed-merely-receiving-nbn-docs/
Gong by what the comments say the warrant was dodgy and this whole business won’t have a chance in court.
The AFP are still not interested in going after whoever leaked the classifed defence white paper though, and that is far more serious.
We await for Mesma’s beau to be likewise charged.
Massive PR exercise, all about the headlines – designed to create suspicion around the ALP and nothing more.
It’s failed at that, so apart from a bit of scuttlebuttle like the article quoted, this will all disappear soon enough. It’s almost exactly the same approach as that of the TURC – accusations are made by the Liberals against the ALP, massive amounts of money are poured in to make the claims look ‘legitimate’, and at the end all that are left are the original accusations, no truer than when they were made.
But they know only one of them has to stick and they strike gold. As they did with Slipper. That one smear delivered them the Abbott government. Cost them a fortune, though.
I think of it like them trying to start a bushfire by lighting matches and throwing them into grassland, and then fanning away at the sparks to see if they catch. Often they get sprung doing it and have to run away. But they always turn up somewhere else with their box of matches. Political vandalism, effectively.
Newspoll has released a ‘special’ poll on Turnbull and Shorten. The Liberals must be desperate to get some good news about their leader. The results won’t make them happy. Turnbull is failing, Shorten is catching up.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/may/25/voters-think-malcolm-turnbull-is-arrogant-but-likeable-newspoll-finds-politics-live
Waffles has had his interview with Alan Jones. There’s a link in here somewhere, if you can stomach listening. It’s too close to breakfast time for me.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/federal-election-2016/federal-election-2016-malcolm-turnbull-and-bill-shorten-in-melbourne/news-story/08557d17b1fa867ab23001abbebd9bb8
Johnny Depp mocks Barnaby Joyce: ‘He looks somehow inbred with a tomato’
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/johnny-depp-mocks-barnaby-joyce-he-looks-somehow-inbred-with-a-tomato-20160524-gp30wd.html#ixzz49cCGH4bd
Also on Mr Tomatohead – today he will announce a package to help dairy farmers affected by the Murray-Goulburn/Fonterra price cuts. He will make the announcement in Tamworth, in his electorate. There are no suppliers for those companies in New England. The optics would have been better if he had visited farmers in Victoria to do the announcing,
2Gravel
Did you notice that Cormann is using a WW2 water flow tester – i.e is it safe to walk across.
I’ve got one. A Green cord with a loop at the top (to be hung from the front of a a SMLE) and a 3 ft 6′ of cord with a brass weight on the end of it.
I think that’s a coin being dropped “into” the black hole to see if it disappears. (It doesn’t.)
It is becoming more and more obvious to me that FUD – Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt – should be the Coalition’s 3-word slogan.
With the complicity of the media government ministers are just shouting “Black Hole! Black Hole!” from every roof-top. It’s so easy to do, and almost completely impossible to counter.
We saw an example last night on ABC TV News, as Uhlmann sought to explain what the “Black Hole” claims were all about.
He spent the first half of the segment doing sums that showed how the Coalition got to a scary figure in the results line: “minus-$67 billion” for Labor’s allegedly uncosted promises. There was quite a lot of explanation of the logic, flawed logic though it was.
Then he went into a mind-numbing “refutation” of this figure referring to Forward Estimates, 10 year time scales, add-backs, and subtractions that had me utterly confused by the time he was half way though it.
Chris was just trying to be helpful, of course. He showed us all the details of the lie so that he could demolish it… and then he didn’t.
What we were left with was that the Coalition had claimed such-and-such a figure and that, no matter which way you looked at it, if it wasn’t as bad as they had claimed, it was pretty bad anyway, and all based on typical Labor Fairyland assumptions of where we might be in the distant future.
The Coalition’s poor arithmetic in inattention to detail was written off as “just politics”, perfectly understandable in an election campaign.
Labor’s numbers were written off as Bad.Economic.Management… again. Although you couldn’t be sure. You were too busy shouting at Uhlmann to just.shut.up.
There would probably be no more than a few dozen people in the entire country who could have understood Uhlmann’s presentation, and they didn’t need Uhlmann to make a botch of explaining it to them.
As for other 24,999,000 or so of us, the take-out feeling from the segment was complete confusion. In other words: F.U.D. As the figures ramped up from $67 billion to $100 billion to (on one occasion) $200 billion and then back to $37 billion – all in the space of a few hours – the tactic was plain: create noise and motion that drowns out rational debate and replaces it with anger. If the media don’t report your lies then you go after them for bias (especially if the medium in question is the ABC).
Yin/Yang. Yes/no. He said, she said. True/False. 4 years, 10 years, 6 months, 20 years. A billion or 10 here, and another billion or 10 there. Pepper everything with econometric jabber. Fill the airwaves with a leering face and crowd out the other side. And make sure it’s all done to a short timeline: “We’re out of time, Minister”. If you throw enough mud, some will stick. If you tell enough lies then punters start to think that what you’re saying can’t be completely wrong. There MUST be a grain of truth to it. And anyway, their heads are hurting. So better just stick with the Coalition… Q.E.D.
We saw the same with the Boats stupidity. It went from some Labor MPs and candidates being a bit doubtful about the cesspits of Nauru and Manus, to 100,000 illiterate refugees hiding in the tropical jungles of the north, ready for Labor to give them permission to come down here invading our land, taking our jobs and bludging off our dole. And of course, in behind somewhere is “raping our women” and “blowing us up with suicide vests”.
It didn’t matter what Bill Shorten – or anyone else – said about it. The aim was to get these monstrous lies out there. And a dutiful media did exactly that, in loving detail. We had Fact Check articles that nobody read, we had Opposition Shadow Spokespeople on 7.30 harangued and harassed by Leigh Sales doing her “Grumpy Mummy” party trick… none of Labor’s defence made any difference. Reportedly the Talk Back lines were running hot: against.
Mission Accomplished.
Labor needs a new tactic to counter this. Shouting back doesn’t help. It only increases the noise and confusion. We need calm. We need credibility. We need to ask the voters whether they’re prepared to piss away the things they treasure and the service they need just for 5 minute’s worth of instant Reality TV-type gratification in the heat of an election campaign.
How Labor accomplishes this… I don’t know.
That’s why they’re in politics and I’m not, I guess.
On Fran’s RN. this morning we had about 15mins’ of some ex-insulation installer who was part of a class-action seeking compensation for ..wait for it ..: “The Pink Batts Fiasco…where THE LABOR GOVT’ !! rolled out a program…that cost the lives of four young men..blah, blah, blah…”…THAT was the real message that the ABC. wanted relayed…NOT that some poor bankrupt was taking the generic “govt'” to court..that’s not news..BUT resurrecting the “PINK BATTS FIASCO..WHERE THE LABOR GOVT’…cost the LIVES OF FOUR YOUNG MEN…”..and on and on it goes..
But hey!..Fran was just reporting the news..dnocha know?
tomorrow..: “New eveidence against Gillard and LABOR in the AWU. inquiry..”
Not sure that shouting back, at least in some instances, doesn’t work. Tony Burke managed to maul the Morrison-Cormann smear attempt with pretty fiery stuff. Admittedly it came after Penny Wong had already punched a few holes calmly in it earlier. And the ministers themselves did a good job of foot-shooting to help it all along.
The media political coverage, possibly resenting the arrogance and control Morrison heard earlier used as Minister in charge of Onboard Water Matters, have gleefully joined in. I don’t think Cormann is all that much loved either because of his insistence in only replying with talking points whatever question is asked.
Some of the smears will stick a little, as you say, but at present Labor is defining the agenda and the coalition is reacting to it.
Ctar1
That is only bit that I couldn’t work out what he was doing. I loved the bit where the black hole was being lifted and there was the floor in all its shining whiteness, ergo, no black hole.
That’s weird!..My usual email stream seems to have dried right up. only two emails in three days and one of those a tester from myself…it worked, but I usually get at least half a dozen every morning from the usual sources…
If one of you has my email address, pls’ send a tester tio me if you don’t mind…ta! in advance.
Patricia Karvelas giving Kelly O’Dwyer a hard time about Labor’s alleged ‘black hole’ yesterday, on RN Drive.
[audio src="http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2016/05/rnd_20160524_1806.mp3" /]
The Liberal tactic of adding up everything Labor has ever said about spending and claiming that’s the black hole is as convincing as the date for the beginning of the world which a lot of fundamentalist Christians accept without question. It was worked out by some bloke who took the ‘three score years and ten’ thing seriously, assumed everyone mentioned in the Old Testament popped their clogs on their 70th birthday, added up all the ‘begats’ in Genesis and came up with a magic figure.
2Gravel
[ts shining whiteness, ergo, no black hole.]
Cleverly done.
Looks like the debate of the day is about what The Cormannator is doing in a cartoon.
It’s so very obvious – he’s testing the depth with a thing on a string. I thought it was one of those depth-reading things you see on movies about the age of sail.
“Give me a reading, Mr Matthews, tell me how much room we still have”. And Mr Matthews chucks a brass weight on a string over the side, hauls it up and says “A clear two fathoms, sir”
But if carr2016 says it’s WWII thing for working out if it’s safe to walk through water then I bow to his superior knowledge.
Another faux court case. Is this all the government has? Coming up with dodgy legal actions to get a ‘bad Labor’ headline?
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/may/25/voters-think-malcolm-turnbull-is-arrogant-but-likeable-newspoll-finds-politics-live
Still haven’t got any emails..have any of you people sent one? pls’ say if you have so i can ring Telstra if there is something wrong…
leonetwo
In regard to the cartoon, I thought the corminator was dropping a penny, eg ‘has the penny dropped’ about the ALP spending.
It could be a coin, but then again, it could be the water thing …..
I looked at Rowe’s Twitter account, to get a bigger version, but it’s no help, except the metal thing seems to be slightly oval, rather than round, but that could be just my dodgy eyesight. Who knows?
The only way to solve this is to ask Mr Rowe to tell us what he drew, I suppose.
Or we could go into a long debate about the position of Cormann’s fingers, which might suggest dropping a coin.
Then there’s the NBN black hole – a real hole – in the background. I liked that.
Well, my darling sister was unimpressed with the loss of the drone.
All she said was, “It’s the nature of the things.”
Quite.