SI
Ah… memories!
Remember how they moved the Budget forward so that the timetable for a DD would fit the Constitution?
Remember how important it was to “reform” the Senate so that cross-benchers couldn’t dominate it?
Remember how vital the ABCC bill was? And how the journos told us that this time Turnbull had a sure-fire election issue? Yep, the Great Reckoning of 2016 was going to be on industrial relations: unarguably a Coalition winner.
(This was after the election was also centered on States rights, income tax, education funding, negative gearing, boats, and of course, terrorism. Turnbull had shown us all “how it’s done”).
Remember how “bold”, “brilliant” and “decisive” Turnbull was? Or so we were informed, breathlessly.
The long election campaign was going to do Bill Shorten slowly. He’d run out of steam by the end of it. Not to worry that the Coalition ran out of steam instead, and Turnbull had to chip in $2 million to buy the party the last fortnight’s worth of telly. “Jobs and Growth” hammered at us from all directions, on all channels, day and night and night and day: that did the trick.
They might have used the $4 million the NSW Electoral Commission was withholding, but Baird would have had to say where their real money came from first (and with so many apartments going up all over and above Sydney, and tunnels beneath it, admissions like that might have caused embarrassment in certain circles).
Remember Mediscare? How absolutely ridiculous it was to say that Turnbull intended to hive it off, bit by bit! Another Labor lie! Geez, that’s all they do! Malcolm got the AFP onto them. But even they yawned.
And at last we’d get some sense on Climate Change! Malcolm had already shown in 2009 that he was prepared to die in a ditch for that. He was sure to do it again, just as soon as he finished slagging off South Australian windfarms, and thenVictoria for closing down dirty brown coal.
We were going to have an exciting Innovation Nation. We’d all be writing apps, or something. With the CSIRO now leaner and meaner after mass retrenchments, how could we fail? When asked by Andrew Bolt to name three things that Turnbull had done, Eric Abetz famously answered: “Innovation, Innovation, and Innovation.” That really meant something to Australians.
While it might look like nothing’s fucking happened in the over a year since Turnbull came along to turn this somnolent nation out of it antipodean torpor with pure excitement, that’s wrong. Hartcher told us Malcolm was really doing: “Simply governing”. “Governing’s” not sexy. “Governing’s” not exciting. But “governing” is what brilliant minds like Turnbull’s do best. A tactical thrust here on State income taxes, a feint there on 18C or The Plebiscite. A bold advance by massed union-bashing tanks to crash through a weak Bill Shorten, flattening a Labor party riven with factionalism. Malcolm would show them The Turnbull Method, and it wouldn’t be pretty. Kath Murphy assured us he was holding back the brilliance, all the better to deploy it with devastating effectiveness: once he’d gotten an opportunistic” and “cynical” Shorten out of the way, and dealt with the Monkey Pod in swingeing style.
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Malcolm was the fairest, after all.”
Malcolm has so many brilliant things to say at any one time, he occasionally appears to be tongue-tied. But that’s an illusion. He simply has trouble figuring out the very best way of putting {whatever-it-is-he-has-to-say} to the simple folk, the little guys like youse and me, so they can share in the inspiration. The hesitancy and what looks like waffling are Malcolm choosing his words carefully.
And there are so many words! There are enough thoughts, bon mots, insouciances, anecdotes and sheer inspirations inside that pumpkin head of his to keep Australia in words for 300 years. We’ll never run out of ’em. If only we could get the Chinese to buy them all, we’d wake up rich and stay that way!
Now that Australia has a sensible Senate with no crackpots, lurk merchants, incoherents, con men, thieves, sleeve-tuggers, gun nuts, tree clearers, religious cranks, CSIRO bashers, spivs, shonks, homophobes, pedophile obsessives, Hansonites, Trump supporters, refugee tragics, or unelectable slime-bags with less than 100 votes, “simply governing” has become so much easier. Now that Malcolm has his own healthy Reps majority of “1”, and every morning every one of them has to be marked off the roll by Head Prefect Christopher Pyne, can there be any doubt that The People have flocked to his side? Now that Abbott has accepted his lot in life as the Human Doorstop, we’ll have no more aggro from that poisonous little corner, thankyouverymuch. We’ll soon be rid of Gillian Triggs, too. So there.
Now that the Press Gallery’s prediction has come true, and the Ship Of State sails in the right direction, we can get some wonderful, brilliant, exciting things done. Let’s not forget the scribblers were right about Tony Abbott… both times (and all the times in-between). And they were right about Malcolm Turnbull as he dazzled them with charm, brilliance and wit. It’s so so wonderful to have a policy-driven 4th Estate that eschews the temptations of ball-by-ball politics, governance as a horse race and rank partisanship in political coverage, not to say their utter rejection of hero worship. No “Labor Split!” click bait for them! Most of all it’s wonderful to have a press corps that is never wrong, by its own modest (and frequent) admission.
Malcolm is setting us up. He’s getting his ducks all in a row so he can shoot them down with one brilliant bullet. He’s feigning weakness to lull his enemies into a false sense of security. Then he’ll Strike. Etc.Etc.
Pity his enemies now appear to have been those with whom he once travelled in fellowship: gays, Climate scientists, alternative energizers, the Jews in his electorate, IT professionals, human rights advocates and leather coat manufacturers (by the way, what did happen to the leather coats?). More fool them. They fell for Malcolm, hook line and sinker. The only ones who’ve stuck with him are the Gallery and Lucy. Even the cat has left the building.
Any day now we’ll see the Master Plan, from The Master Planner.
- We’ll learn how Malcolm’s NBN is the best in the world.
- How Teh Evil Unions have been doubling construction costs so that Bob Day can not pay them even more than he not paid them before. Bludgers.
- Why 18C is threatening the very fabric of our society.
- How reducing pensions will toughen up octogenarians and make them more self-reliant.
- We’ll be ahead of the World in emissions reduction (what am I saying? We’re already out in front! Greg Hunt’s job is done, and he’s done a real job on the environment, that’s for sure).
- The gulaged in Nauru and Manus will shout with joy as “humanity breaks out” (Kath has a such a way with words, doesn’t she?).
- Gays and lesbians will fall in love with him all over again, after a peaceful, tender, informed Plebiscite debate has blessed their unions with the traditional generosity towards sexual matters commonly found in key sections of Catholic Church, the Anglicans, the Salvos, the Marists and the Yeshivas, all of whom suffered the little children to be brought to them. And boy, did the little children suffer! The $7.5 million funding to be given out to spread this calming gospel is worth every cent, but only Malcolm Turnbull saw that. After all, the Plebiscite was an election promise, and the Coalition never breaks election promises. Some things remain sacred. Even when Tony Abbott thought of them first. That’s why Malcolm got rid of him. If Labor forces Malcolm to go back on his word (but not, funnily enough, on theirs), you can bet he’ll tell us “They broke a nation’s heart”.
All Malcolm needs now is for the “opportunistic” Opposition to stop Opposing. That’s so 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 (and in the last three they weren’t even the Opposition!). Even Tony agrees. And for the Senate to stop obstructing. And (I nearly forgot) for Tony Abbott to give up the guerilla warfare habits and backstabbing proclivities of a lifetime. Should be easy. The course ahead will then be clear to all, not just the political savants in the Press Gallery. Just all of them stop disagreeing with Malcolm for Chrissake!
Sleepers wake! Our never-been-so-exciting time in the sun is upon us! Certainty has triumphed over brutishness. Civilization over anarchy. We’re playing by Point Piper Rules now. Watch – and weep, doubters – as the well-oiled wheels turn.
Malcolm, the Renaissance Man, is still on his way, but will arriving any day now. When he does, at least there’ll be no need for this type of unpleasantness…
THE PUB 
Michael Moore correctly predicted a Trump victory. I initially thought Moore was stirring matters up to get Americans to vote Democrat but I should have read his “5 Reasons Why Trump Will Win” more carefully and wouldn’t be so shocked at Trump’s victory.
http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/
Leone,
A good case could be made for a new nation called the United States of Western America:
We’ll ask them to join the ACT. Like a bigger Jervis Bay.
I don,t think it is a good look for the Clinton camp to go home.
Clinton concedes
Do any of you remember Donald Sutherland playing the fascist minion in Bertolucci’s “1900”?..I hope this pic works…
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQOeg0BxmN9xiEJLzZw-_aCEUXgaVhzU9J3jIit8W0TKYNHzNS7
Try this.
A future Rowan Dean?
(Inspired by DW singing David Bowie “Dumb Americans” tonight.)
.
All hunky dory then.
As someone on Twitter said, the last time they had control of Senate, Presidency and House was 1928. To which the reply was, “That’s cool, nothing bad happened in 1929…..”
Oohmann getting moist in the USA.
Down here in Jervis Bay, the military type people are playing war games. Hornets and blackhawks at all hours. Spooky timing considering todays result.
Trumps exit song
Rolling stones
You can,t always get what you wish for
Rob Thomas into’d this song as ‘ A happy little song about the end of the world’. Relevant now, much?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d7EbtLb8ok
In a sense this was probably inevitable. I didn’t see it coming – hardly anyone did – but I stopped being surprised hours ago. A number of factors coalesced here:
– Trump’s your classic celebrity candidate. For some reason they’re immune to criticism. People end up just wanting to get on board because of the brand.
– We’re living in an era where people by and large are jack of politics. Votes in this country are fragmenting, with both major parties taking hits on PV. That’s a function of people feeling disenfranchised. And because so many of them are stupid…. sorry, politically naive, they’ll buy into any old snake oil if they think it’s outside the system. As witness One Nation and crackpots like Hinch, Leyonhjelm and Day. Trump sold himself as a maverick. Clinton presented as very much a part of the machine. It was probably a factor in the end. As a protest voting Trump is up there with self-harming, but it’s the only option they have that will make a difference.
– take all the actual campaigning out of it, and a Republican victory follows a sort of pattern. The last time an incumbent president successfully passed the baton on to a successor was Reagan to Bush. It’s not that common. The US is usually happy to re-elect an incumbent if they’re not a disaster, but not so keen to let someone else ride in on their coattails. The ‘time for a change’ thing happens a lot with them.
– I’d be interested to see whether the fury Sanders’ supporters displayed during the campaign continued through to the election itself. Those people were idiots, openly stating they’d sabotage the Democrat vote because they didn’t like the choice of candidate. Not understanding the concept of ‘least worst option’ is a real problem for some people. For them it’s ‘my way or who cares?’
– Brexit should have been a warning. ‘Act in haste, repent at leisure’ is the go these days. A lot of people in the US will wake up tomorrow and think “What have I done?”
God is a distant star.
Love and death are companions,
In life’s tempestuous dance.
When Fate ; that ghastly seamstress,
Casts the dice of chance.
So pray for me my sweet,
Lest I forget to praise myself.
For God is a distant star,
And I but of the Earth.
And when I love; it’s Heaven.
And when I hate ; it’s Hell.
And when I stumble on wicked paths,
Pray , soften my headlong fall.
For God is a distant star,
And may not always see,
When in glory I raise my voice,
Or in despair, dragged to my knees.
First Oohmann in the US and now Jennettass in Canberra.
A few tidbits from a terrible result
In Texas, Arizona and Utah, Trump has done worst that either McCain or Romney.
Also Clinton looks set to be the first Democrat since FDR in 1938 to carry Orange County in California.
not 1938 but 1936
Now, bloody Eleventy.
Hang on to your shares, Me thinks tomorrow could be a rock’n’roll moment in the market. I’ts never quite rational, and I imagining that Friday will prove it gain.
I know most here are upset about the USA election result today but I am thrilled, not that trump won but that Killary lost. Trump owes very little and will not have to dig deep to find paybacks. Killary on the other hand, has always been in the pockets of the Zionist Banksters and Israel. Perhaps the election of Trump is an opportunity to resolve the injustices the Palestinians have had to endure for 65 years at the hands of their Israeli occupiers with the backing of successive US administrations.
Saying Zionist instead of Jewish does not make it any less anti-semitic.
From a tweet by Mari R · @randlight
Statement from Bill Shorten on US election
Statement from Bill Shorten, who given his forthright statements about Trump obviously feels the need to explain:
Bill Shorten MP
1 min ·
Every time the people of the United States choose a new President, it has consequences for the world – and for Australia.
The American people have spoken and always, Australia will respect their decision.
Australians should also know our alliance with the United States has grown and thrived for seven decades – no matter who’s in charge.
It is far bigger than any individual, far more powerful than any personality – and it will endure.
The friendship between our nations is strong enough for honesty.
I will always call it as I see it.
If I see women being disrespected, I’m going to call it out.
If I see people being discriminated against because of the colour of their skin or their religion, I’m going to call it out.
As the alternative Prime Minister of this country, Australians are entitled to know where I stand.
My footnote
I wish Turnbull would do likewise, but alas…
Excellent, Bill.
Have you ever heard anything like it?!
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/nov/09/labor-says-george-brandis-lying-about-lying-over-gleeson-affair-politics-live#comment-87170092
Fizza now on 7.5 in full pretend-Cicero.
Thanks Duckster..
Do you know what really got me? The word “indeed”. Totally surplus and very two centuries ago.
Turnbull waffles, Shorten tells it as it is.
Advice for US refugees heading to Canada
It looks like urban areas went more democratic than in 2012. while rural areas went much more republican than in 2012
Also Democrats have lost the governorships in Vermont, New Hampshire and Missouri and may lose Montana. but they may pick up North Carolina
As I write this, I am listening to a really scary speech by Trump. Any people still alive who heard similar claims and promises like Trump is making now and who lived in Germany in the 1930’s will be horrified.
They have heard it all before. And look at how all that turned out.
Blimey USA. You really know how to scare the shits out of the rest of us.
The Dems also held onto the West Virginia Governorship despite getting smashed at the presidential level.
“Anti-Semitism” – just another weapon of the powerful Jewish establishment, used emotively to silence its critics of the injustices inflicted on the Palestinian people and the theft of their land and resources – much the same as the charge of heresy employed by powerful theocratic powers of history.
Have a tissue, You lost!
Yeah I will have a tissue, for all the people Trump’s gonna fuck over.
‘Zionist’ and ‘Jewish’ have different meanings. They are not interchangeable synonyms.
It’s possible to be a Christian Zionist, but not a Christian Jew.
i predict T will be a very lazy pres, he’s already shown that he’s not interested in policy details… he’ll rubber stamp every regressive bit of legislation that congress sends, appoint rwnj judges to the surpreme crt, and leave his cabinet to visit misery on the population and the rest of the world, while he swans around on AF1… roll on the mid-terms and here’s hoping for buyers remorse to kick in and return both house and senate to the dems – would love to see T having to with a hostile congress.
Unfortunately the 2018 senate map is not favourable for the democrats having to defend more seats than the republicans and the house is heavily gerrymandered so it’ll be a big ask
yeah, I know there’s some wishful thinking in my comment… but there may be some capacity for backlash at local level if this is any indicator..
A song for ms hanson:
Senator Hanon would be displeased with that mispelling.
Clinton going home not speaking to her supporters was very bad imho.
Sour grapes. If Trump did it there would be uproar. Rules are the same for either candidate.
I’d have to agree with that!
Bad, and in a different way from Fizza’s election night diatribe.
Agreed.
Ethel Merman?
Eadie had more class than Pawleen.
Pawleen’s class would certainly be spelled Klass.
First Dog is on the job
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/first-dog-on-the-moon-on-president-trump-not-a-typo
While watching Trumps victory speech, I was reminded of the wedding reception where a certain guest, when he heard complaints about the wine running out, turned the water into wine.
The story didn’t inform whether or not everyone got pissed and had a fabulous time, but that was the message I got from the Trump speech.
Once he is inaugurated, he will turn the water into wine & the USA will enter a period of total utopia and everyone will get pissed & stoned, dependent upon ( the marijuana legislation passing in a number of States) .
There ain’t nothing that isn’t possible with this joker in charge, just you wait & see.
He has never held an elected position whatsoever, (unlike his opponent) has absolutely no prior Party experience in developing comprehensive connections, networks etc that are absolutely integral to appointing his administration and hitting the ground running in order to even partially fulfill his boastful claims about what he will do for the American people. (again unlike his opponent)
What the bloody hell was the average American voter thinking about during this long, drawn out campaign?
Possibly the answer would be better off not revealed! 😉
this one from Sept..
…I guess that’s a yes (turkeys=> Christmas etc)
could the bar get any lower..? pls don’t answer that….
Kanye 2020?
House: It looks like the dems will have a get gain of between 5 and 8 seats.
get=net
The Spaniards are scathing. Try google translate
http://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2016/11/09/5822b764ca4741aa318b4639.html
Almost Eadie. pronounced the same though.This Edie being one of Warhol’s actresses Edie Sedgwick,
I really don’t know why everyone is so shocked. I didn’t think Hillary would win. for starters the US is not going to elect a female president for a long, long time. Being female was the least of Hillary’s handicaps. Too much baggage came with her.
If I had been eligible to vote in this election I probably would have done what George W Bush did – hand in an unmarked ballot paper. I just don’t think either candidate was presidential material. Each as bad as the other. I believe.
‘Not a single living president voted for Donald Trump’ as George W. Bush reveals he left ballot blank
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/not-single-living-president-voted-9223218
Want to know what’s really a worry? The power Pence will have. He is likely to be the de-facto president, making all the big decisions while Trump is just a figurehead.
I’m not sure Mike pence is one I’d like in charge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pence
He is a climate change denier for starters and there several other problems.
First Thoughts On The “Not-Hillary” Election Results
So I just woke up and found that the world has changed. World War III was called off. Trump won, Clinton conceded. His victory speech is fair and integrating.
My “not Hillary” hunch for the election was right. That is, I believe, how Trump won. No so much by gaining genuine votes but by taking them from the crappiest candidate the Democrats could send into the race. This was not a “white vote”. Trump did better with black (+5) and latino (+2) voters than Romney. Racism does not explain that. Clinton promised more wars. Those who would have to fight them on the ground rejected that position.
The people voted against corruption, against international warmongering, against attacks of the culture of their life and against Zionist and Arab potentate manipulation. In short – they voted against Hillary.
The media with their outright and widespread manipulation and one sided reporting against Trump and for Clinton lost too. People did not believe the partisan crap that fact-checked Trump on every minor issue but hardly reported on the huge, huge scandals and corruption Wikileaks revealed about the Clintons. Fact-checkers ain’t a good weapon in a culture war. The people want authenticity – lying is not seen as bad – if it is fairy open and authentic. Clinton is not authentic even when she tells the truth. The polls, but the one of the LA Times, turned out to be systematic manipulation.
The leading politicians in Europe will crap their pants. Nearly all but Putin bet heavily on Clinton. The European media were also strongly pro Clinton, even more so than in the U.S. There was zero reporting about Trump’s real political positions and support. Only tiny bits about Clinton’s corruption were revealed on the back pages. They always believe what the NYT writes is the essence of U.S. thinking. It is far from it. No one but a few east-coast party goers and the NYT cares about some 16 year old girl, who thinks she is “transsexual” and wants to use a men’s public toilet. The average people think that such craziness deserves zero attention if not a hefty kick in the ass. Pro-migration and other political correctness movements in Europe will have a difficult stand now. They can no longer work against the instincts of the people by pointing to the soothing, fake words of an Obama or Clinton.
The Democratic party failed. The outright corruption of the party heads, who pushed Sanders out to move Clinton in by manipulating the primaries, blocked the natural development that went on at the base. They even wanted Trump as a candidate because they though Clinton could easily beat him. They were totally detached from real life. I am sure that post-mortem analysis will show that many, many potential pro-democratic voters were just disgusted and stayed at home or voted for a third party. The establishment of the Republican party were no better. They failed their voters just as much by shunning Trump and working for Clinton. All the neo-cons that flocked to Clinton will now scramble to get back to Trump. They will have little chance.
But the election also created huge new dangers. People around Trump, including his vice-president, are not sane realist but fairly extreme ideologues. Trump himself isn’t. He is, in my estimate, fairly pragmatic. The Republicans also won the Senate and House. There is a danger that extreme policies will be implemented with huge and terrible long-term consequences. But remember that Obama had the same chance in his first two years of his Presidency. He never used it. From a progressive view he blew it.
Winning back the House and Senate in two years is a must for anyone with some middle-of-the-road thinking.
I believe that this result is good for Syria and the non-Jihadi and non-Zonist Middle East. Al-Qaeda in Syria will have a sad. Their main supporters leave the stage. The result is likely good for Europe including for Russia. It is bad for economic equality and other important issues in the United States and elsewhere. But would Clinton have been really better on these?
I for one feel mightily eased. The U.S. voters knocked over a chessboard that brought war and misery to many people. We do not know how the new game will look, but I think there is a fair chance now that it, in total, will be somewhat less devastating for the global good.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/
More bits from the results
Hillary Clinton carried two counties in Georgia, Cobb and Gwinnett, that haven’t voted democratic in decades and she also won by over 13 points in Harris County, Texas (Houston), which Obama only carried narrowly in 2008 and 2012.
This might come as a surprise – not everyone has an opinion on the US elections, not everyone cares.
I’ve spent a couple of hours today talking to two of my kids on Skype. We didn’t mention the election, the US, trump or Hillary once. This just isn’t something they see as important. They are busy professional people, trying to balance raising their families and working. They might be aware of what goes on in the world, but they don’t have the time or inclination to take a great interest. When we manage to get together we barely mention politics of any sort.
This is how it is for the majority of Australians.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/09/abeb-n09.html
Michael Moore predicted it and gave his reasons why.This written before the election.
http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/