Memories…

bushfirebill Uncategorized

SIAbbott Turnbull Renaissance
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.”

Turnbull Mirror

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…

Turnbull potty Complete with Text

862 thoughts on “Memories…”

  3. NATO announces largest troop deployments against Russia since Cold War

    NATO will place hundreds of thousands of troops on alert for military action against Russia in the coming months, top NATO officials told the Times of London on Monday.

    The US-led military alliance is planning to speed up the mobilization of forces numbering in the tens of thousands and, ultimately, hundreds of thousands and millions that are to be mobilized against Russia. Beyond its existing 5,000-strong emergency response force, NATO is tripling its “incumbent response force” to 40,000 and putting hundreds of thousands of troops on higher alert levels.

    The Times wrote, “Sir Adam West, Britain’s outgoing permanent representative to NATO, said he thought that the goal was to speed up the response time of up to 300,000 military personnel to about two months. At present a force of this size could take up to 180 days to deploy.”

    NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, “We are… addressing what we call the follow-on forces. There are a large number of people in the armed forces of NATO allies. We are looking into how more of them can be ready on a shorter notice.” According to the Times, Stoltenberg explained that NATO is looking broadly at methods for “improving the readiness of many of the alliance’s three million soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.”

    The target of these deployments, the largest since the dissolution of the Soviet Union by the Stalinist bureaucracy and the end of the Cold War a quarter century ago, is Russia.

    “We have seen a more assertive Russia implementing a substantial military build-up of many years, tripling defence spending since 2000 in real terms; developing new military capabilities; exercising their forces and using military force against neighbours,” Stoltenberg said. “We have also seen Russia using propaganda in Europe among NATO allies and that is exactly the reason why NATO is responding. We are responding with the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War.”

    These statements show how NATO planning for a horrific war against Russia has continued behind the backs of the people throughout the US presidential election campaign. Military deployments and war preparations by the Pentagon and the general staffs of the various European countries are set to go ahead, moreover, whatever the outcome of the election in the United States and those slated for 2017 in the European NATO countries.

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/08/nato-n08.html

  4. One good thing for Australia might come out of Trump’s election.

    Trump doesn’t want the TPP. Neither do we, if we have a brain.

    Obama is going to try to push through approval of the TPP during the ‘lame duck’ period before Trump’s inauguration. I hope he fails at that.

  6. I don’t mind that Clinton didn’t give a speech, mainly because Trump is probably going to put her on a show trial and probably have her executed.

    Trump and surrogates don’t care about the rule of law. It’s dead in America, and it will not come back.

  8. Kirsdarke

    Read some of the works of the great J.K. Galbraith and the post WWII establishment of the welfare state. The 0.01% have ensured their own destruction by ignoring the lessons learned .

    Unfortunately Hilary hubby Bill played a big part in the unlearning with his part in neutering the Glass Steagel act. Esoteric at the time to me but what was warned about at the time has come to pass.

    • I hope this grub spends the rest of his days in the embassy! If he was prepared to face the wrath of his accusers like he demands of others I could cop him. To me he’s a spineless prick who’s gutless
      I doubt now that a new broom has been elected Assange problems will go away and nor should they!
      Let him rot!

  11. Kaffeeklatscher,

    . . . Bill played a big part in the unlearning with his part in neutering the Glass Steagel act.

    Thereby lighting the match that sputtered along the fuse to the GFC.

    • Yep. It was , as I said, all esoteric to me at the time but as the GFC shite started to unfold all those prophesies came to mind.

      Something else Bill did was introduce welfare “reform” . Reform in its purist Coalition meaning of the word. Totally screwing the poor. He put a time limit on getting it and at the time much press about “Welfare Queens” sound familiar ? During Slick Willie’s time black American imprisoned went up 150% and Bill booted along the private prison industrial complex.

      Michael Moore was on the money when he called Bill the best republican president we ever had. A doppelganger of Tony @!#E#@#$$% Blair who did as Maggie T said , things they did not dare to.

  13. It’s looking increasingly likely that, despite winning the election, Trump will not win the popular vote.

  14. Putin on Trump victory: Russia is ready to restore relations with US

    Russia is ready and looks forward to restoring bilateral relations with the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, commenting on the news of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

    “We heard [Trump’s] campaign rhetoric while still a candidate for the US presidency, which was focused on restoring the relations between Russia and the United States,” President Putin said, speaking at the presentation ceremony of foreign ambassadors’ letters of credentials in Moscow.

    “We understand and are aware that it will be a difficult path in the light of the degradation in which, unfortunately, the relationship between Russia and the US are at the moment,” he added.

    Speaking about the degraded state of relations between the countries, the president once again stressed that “it is not our fault that Russia-US relations are as you see them.”

    Earlier today, in a message to Donald Trump the Russian President expressed confidence that the dialogue between Moscow and Washington, in keeping with each other’s views, meets the interests of both Russia and the US.

    The Russian leader noted in the message that he hopes to address some “burning issues that are currently on the international agenda, and search for effective responses to the challenges of the global security,” RIA Novosti reported.

    On top of it, Putin has expressed confidence that “building a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington, based on principles of equality, mutual respect and each other’s positions, meets the interests of the peoples of our countries and of the entire international community.”

    https://www.rt.com/news/365966-putin-trump-congratulates-victory/

  16. Something is kind of fishy about this election. The turnout in the rustbelt cities (Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia) seems to be quite low compared to the 2012 election.

    Were people impeded from voting? Or did they just not turn up? If the former, then that’s very serious.

    • Looks like they just didn’t bother turning up.

  18. Aerchie’s take on the American election:

    OK! I Accept that Trump has been elected President of the USA.

    I look back into history when another uncomfortable President was elected. Back to the 1960’s.

    I cannot see the American establishment, the multinational, military and the intelligence forces allowing him to continue on the path he has plotted in his campaign.

    Either he turns into a conventional President or he will not be around to contest the next election.

    Whether by a bullet or by an apparently ‘natural’ heart attack, I cannot see him surviving in this environment.

    And that will be yet another nail in the coffin for what was once ‘The Greatest Country in the World’.

    Sad

    (No, ASIO, AFP, FBI, NSA, CIA etc , I am not advocating that this should happen. I am suggesting that it is inevitable.)

  19. I see. I’d be interested to know if there were armed Trump supporters skulking around polling places in the African-American neighborhoods in those cities, but that much of a drop is probably responsible for what happened.

    • I think a lot of people just didn’t want to vote for either candidate. Republicans didn’t like Trump, Democrats didn’t like Hillary, so they just opted out.

    • What was the breakdown of non-voters?

      You don’t need creepy gun nuts at polling places if “voter suppression starts at home”.

  21. I found this on tumblr and it made me feel a little bit better.

    what do we do tho? like, honestly? what happens if he’s elected? what do we honest to god do?

    Coming from the UK after our own catastrophe: you make his life hell. You make his government’s life hell. Anything and everything shitty that they want to do, you protest, you campaign, you petition, you lobby. You tie the whole thing up in so much red tape that Mr I’ve-Never-Had-Anyone-Say-No-To-Me starts loathing his job.

    You create private safe zones, you look out for one another, you let your now validated racist, homophobic, transphobic neighbours know that their bigotry will not be tolerated through any means you feel it’s safe to do so. You join forces. Despite everything, you thrive out of spite, out of survival, out of a need to protect your own.

    All of these communities have faced untold amounts of hell before and we’re all still here. It’s in our history to survive – in our genetic makeup. There will be losses and there will be casualties but in four years you’ll still be here and you’ll vote him out and the time to grieve will be then. For now, fight. In any way you can, even if all you can do is get through each day at a time. Fight him every step of the way.

  22. Australia has it’s own basket of deplorables. Check out the “people” that were there. They have been oppressed even when they carry megaphones with them because of their job.

    Mark Latham, the former Labor leader who lost the Australian election to the man he described as “handshake mongrel” in 2004, had star billing. He was joined by Cameron who, despite being in the Liberal party, was voted out in the election that ended Latham’s career. The former Speaker and, briefly, a proposed candidate for first female prime minister of Australia, Bronwyn Bishop, also materialised. Commentators Miranda Devine, Janet Albrechtsen and Bettina Arndt were all there, too. At its largest the party swelled to 50.

    Damien Pace, from the Young Liberal club at Macquarie University, was looking forward to the “PC prism” being smashed under a Trump presidency. He admired his foreign policy stance and said there needed to be someone to smash the status quo.

    Of his comrades though, not many were Trump fans, especially his female friends.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/09/weve-been-oppressed-australian-mates-of-trump-share-his-finest-hour

  24. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. What can one say?
    Not unexpectedly the Patrol is dominated by the Trump victory.

    I urge you to watch this short video.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/11/09/cnns-van-jones-perfectly-explains-the-pain-of-a-donald-trump-vi/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage
    How Donald Trump pulled off an upset of cataclysmic, historic proportions.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election/how-donald-trump-pulled-off-an-upset-of-cataclysmic-historic-proportions-20161109-gslsmh.html
    Kristina Keneally explores who is to blame for America electing its first megalomaniac, celebrity president. She casts the net very widely – and accurately.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/whos-to-blame-for-americas-first-megalomaniac-celebrity-president
    Laura Tingle tells us that Australian politics too will be transformed by the Trump victory. Google.
    /news/world/us-election/us-election-experts-see-trump-killing-malcolm-turnbulls-trade-deal-20161109-gsllkh
    How did the polls and the media get it so wrong?
    http://www.theage.com.au/world/us-election-2016-how-the-pundits-misread-americas-complex-pulse-20161109-gsll7f.html
    Peter Hartcher wonders what Trump will do to alliances.
    http://www.theage.com.au/world/us-election/us-election-what-values-do-we-share-with-donald-trumps-america-20161109-gslkgl.html
    A sober assessment of the Trump victory by Paul McGeough.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election/us-election-2016-presidential-election-results-20161108-gsl4r8.html
    Peter Martin is less circumspect, saying the Trump victory will be disastrous for Australia.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-consequences-of-a-donald-trump-win-are-disastrous-for-the-australian-economy-20161108-gsl5dj.html
    The right wingers in Australian politics celebrate Trump’s win.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/09/make-australia-great-again-rightwing-mps-delight-in-likely-trump-presidency
    But Chris Johnson says that Trump was not the choice of most Australian politicians.
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2016/11/09/us-election-2016-trump-australian-politicians/
    The SMH editorial laments that American voters were so pissed off that they ignored the risks of voting for Trump.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/fear-of-a-trump-planet-20161108-gsl4wg.html

  25. Section 2 . . .

    The best of the social media meltdown.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election-2016-social-media-reacts-to-donald-trumps-win-20161109-gslpk3.html
    Mark Kenny tells us we have just witnessed the Second American Revolution.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/second-american-revolution-world-gulps-as-americans-opt-for-fateful-choice-20161109-gslhb4.html
    Paul Kelly sums it up as a victory against the US Establishment and that it will demand a “processing of disbelief. Google.
    /in-depth/us-politics/us-election-trump-victory-marks-revolt-against-establishment/news-story/4677a6f67e0b20938344fb3b1af8c741
    Michael Pascoe writes that this is the day Australia got its independence and that it’s time for us to grow up.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/us-election-2016-trumps-victory-should-bring-australias-independence-20161109-gslps5.html
    “America, it’s been nice knowing you!” says Andrew McLeod.
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2016/11/09/us-election-2016-goodbye-america/
    Look at Turnbull’s comment on the Trump victory and tell me he was sincere. Come on, I dare you.
    http://www.smh.com.au/video/video-news/video-federal-politics/turnbull-pledges-confidence-in-trump-presidency-20161109-4mync.html
    Mark Kenny with reaction from Canberra.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/donald-trumps-triumph-rocks-canberra-20161109-gslqi2.html
    Michael Koziol writes that Australians have mocked Trump and now we have to work with him.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/barking-mad-dropkick-australian-politicians-slammed-donald-trump-now-they-have-to-work-with-him-20161109-gslec2.html
    Will the Trump victory empower the racists?
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/racists-us-muslims-donald-trump-victory‘
    This should answer that question!
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/11/09/ex-kkk-leader-david-duke-celebrates-donald-trumps-election-nigh/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage

  26. Section 3 . . .

    Wendy Squires on the day America broke her heart as a woman.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/i-am-woman-hear-me-sob-20161109-gslkov.html
    What to expect from Trump’s first 100 days of presidency. Google.
    /news/world/donald-trumps-first-100-days-as-president-will-be/news-story/42db723829617e3e525a2e74f369f68a
    Nothing can be ruled out in a Trump presidency.
    https://theconversation.com/trump-the-demagogue-looks-set-to-rule-68502
    The Americans have Brexited, leaving behind their global dominance.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/donald-trumps-victory-has-made-a-target-of-women-like-me-20161109-gsljbn.html
    This lady is wondering how she’ll tell her daughter that America has just voted for a racist. sexist bully.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/09/donald-trump-president-jessica-valenti-daughter
    Scholars from around the world react to the Trump victory.
    https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-wins-us-election-scholars-from-around-the-world-react-68282
    Trump is facing huge financial challenges.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/donald-trump-facing-huge-economic-changes-20161106-gsj4ee.html
    Tony Wright on the day that America became the Jerry Springer Show.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/president-donald-trump-the-day-america-chose-to-become-the-jerry-springer-show-20161109-gslhtf.html
    More from Tony Wright where he says that Turnbull is turning to Gillian Triggs to protect his human rights as he is attacked by Kevin Rudd.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/sketch-malcolm-turnbull-calls-on-gillian-triggs-to-protect-his-human-rights-20161109-gsl73j.html
    It looks like it’s the end for Turnbull’s TPP. Google.
    /news/world/us-election/us-election-experts-see-trump-killing-malcolm-turnbulls-trade-deal-20161109-gsllkh
    In the wake of the Trump victory European stocks in renewable energy nave taken a bath.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy/renewable-stocks-fall-on-concern-donald-trump-will-cut-support-for-green-energy-20161109-gslujq.html
    Lessons for Australia and what it may not be all that bad. Google.
    /news/politics/world/donald-trumps-presidency-lessons-for-australia-and-why-it-might-not-be-all-bad-20161109-gsljfc
    Political scientist Andrew O’Neill tells us there is no silver lining in this cloud.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/us-election-no-silver-lining-for-australia-in-this-cloud-20161109-gslui5.html

  27. Section 4 . . .

    The AFR says the US stock market is betting on Trump to cause inflation. Google.
    /markets/equity-markets/wall-street-rises-bets-on-donald-trump-inflation-20161109-gslvhp
    There’s a big standoff between the government and Labor over the backpacker tax.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/coalition-and-labor-in-standoff-over-backpacker-tax-20161109-gsl7hw.html
    Labor accuses the government for breaking a promise to look into the cost of car repairs in the modern age.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/federal-government-slammed-for-delaying-review-into-information-sharing-in-car-industry-20161107-gsk8uw.html
    Adam Jacobi says that it’s politics everywhere for Turnbull but not a drop of democracy. One to think about.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/turnbull-government-politics-everywhere-but-not-a-drop-of-democracy-,9704
    Experts warn women against planning for an early Caesarean section delivery of their child before January 1st.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/planning-an-early-caesarean-raises-the-risk-of-developmental-delays-sydney-researchers-find-20161108-gskq7s.html
    Mungo MacCallum writes on Turnbull, 18c and boat paranoia.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/mungo-maccallum-turnbull-18c-and-boat-paranoia,9703
    Dick Smith worries about what the supermarket wars will lead to.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/dick-smith-forecasts-the-end-of-traditional-supermarkets-within-a-decade-20161109-gsllyz.html
    In a little while I’m off to run a sausage Sizzle at Bunnings. I wonder if I’ll experience this?
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/09/man-who-flew-drone-to-bunnings-sausage-sizzle-hits-snag-with-aviation-watchdog

  28. Section 5 . . . Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe has gone troppo over Trump’s election!







    David Pope with the genie coming out of the bottle.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/act-news/david-pope-20120214-1t3j0
    Simon Letch on the evolution of man.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/simon-letch-20090908-ffni.html
    This one from Mark Knight is funny.
    http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/latest-mark-knight-cartoons/image-gallery/3a75151fbab76180dfd2225950ca23da

  29. I visited Iceland a year or so back and still am trying to get my head around the place. It is a must do I believe . We just drove around the main ring road , Highway 1, which you need to allow at least 10-12 days to do.
    I was conscious that not having a 4WD and the strict rules on where they can go left a large part of the centre of the island unseen but this site has a number of videos of the area and worth a look.
    http://all-geo.org/volcan01010/2014/12/holuhraun-fieldwork-videos/

  33. So why did it happen?

    The NYT has an opinion.

    How Trump Won the Election According to Exit Polls
    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/08/us/elections/exit-poll-analysis.html?smid=pl-share

    Donald J. Trump won the election by consolidating support from white voters and making unexpected gains with minority groups.
    Trump overwhelmingly won votes of whites without college degrees.
    Party support shifted dramaticallyat nearly every income level.
    Clinton’s support from minorities fell short.
    Trump gained among men and barely lost ground with women.

    And I’m adding something to their list, Voter apathy. The US had the lowest voter turnout for years.

    I’m not buying into the silly ‘voter suppression’ nonsense. I think too many voters were just too apathetic to care, or didn’t like either candidate, or thought ‘my one vote won’t matter’ and just stayed away. Too bored, maybe, too comfortably smug, too disinterested. There are plenty of reasons for not voting and men with guns is not one of them.

    This happens here, too. Even with compulsory voting 1.4 million Australians didn’t bother voting this year. That’s almost 10% of eligible voters.The lowest turnout since 1925. We didn’t have any ‘voter suppression’. We just had a lot of lazy, disinterested people who couldn’t be bothered exercising their right to vote. The ‘politics is boring’ mob, the ‘all politicians are the same’ crowd, the ‘my vote won’t make any difference’ abstainers.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/election-2016-voter-turnout-lowest-since-compulsory-voting-began-in-1925-20160808-gqnij2.html

    So don’t try to use voter suppression as an excuse for an appalling result. Maybe blame the Democratic selectors for choosing the wrong candidate.

    • It would help though if they didn’t have the election on a Tuesday. Or if they made it a public holiday so more people could organise their time better. There are always options – you can pre-vote of course – but they don’t make it easy to vote and they should make it easy.

      You always hear of these massive queues at polling stations in the US – people waiting an hour or more, that sort of thing. It wouldn’t be as much of an issue on the weekend. But combine that with a working day, and non-compulsory voting, and I’m sure a lot of people over there would just find the whole thing unworkable. The very idea that a country might tell its citizens, “Your vote is important, but not important enough for us to do anything to assist you in actually voting” is pretty appalling.

  35. A big reason why it hurts so much to see what’s happened in the USA is probably because it’s like watching Julia Gillard being torn down by Tony Abbott and his enablers all over again.

    Yes I get it, Clinton wasn’t perfect and neither was Gillard, but jesus she wasn’t the effing monster that these horrible hysterical people keep saying.

  39. Aguirre
    As I said the other day, it’s time the Yanks moved out of the 18th century.

    This election on Tuesday thing is so out-dated.

    • My first reaction was ‘wow’ as well, but I’ve been having a look at previous elections and those figures aren’t all that surprising. The simple fact of the matter is that Obama inspired a much larger turnout. For his two elections the turnout was 58.2% in 2008 and 54.9% in 2012. This year’s, at 53.1%, is a bit less but not a massive drop. Though it did make all the difference in the end.

      It’s clearer when you see the relative votes for each candidate:

      REPUBLICAN

      2000 – 50, 456, 002
      2004 – 62, 040, 610
      2008 – 59, 948, 323
      2012 – 60, 933, 504
      2016 – 59, 611, 551

      Voter turnout was very low in 2000. The US was is full gung-ho Iraq War mode in 2004, which probably accounts for the slight upsurge in votes. Aside from that, the Republican support is pretty steady.

      DEMOCRAT

      2000 – 50, 999, 897
      2004 – 59, 028, 444
      2008 – 69, 948, 516
      2012 – 65, 915, 795
      2016 – 59, 813, 991

      Look at that Obama boost. He personally carried something like 10 million votes in his first election, and held on to 6 million of them in 2012. His presence mobilised people, no doubt because he was a brilliant orator and he presented a vision. It’s not easy to present a vision when your party is already in power, and especially so when you don’t have the brilliant oratory skills.

      There’s a fair argument to say that, for all the narrative we’ve been fed, Republicans just voted Republican as they always do, and Democrats didn’t vote because they weren’t inspired to.

  45. I’ve been wondering whether something like this would happen, ever since I saw that clip of Trump from years ago saying he’d run as a Republican because Republican voters will believe anything.

    Celebrity candidate. He knows how the system works. If the object is just to get elected, tell them any old thing they want to hear. Then deny you ever said it. He’s not really all that likely to be a racist president, or to smash everything in sight. He’s a populist. Which is a lot more dangerous, because he’ll leave all that stuff to his party, who would have no compunctions about running a cruel administration. It’s the Cheneys you have to look out for, not the Bushes.

    • ‘It’s the Cheneys you have to look out for, not the Bushes.’

      This time it’s Pence. A very nasty character.

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