All the cocks a’crowing, each on their own dunghill

Guest Author Uncategorized

Sally Baxter, Girl Reporter, has consulted her favourite Chinese astrologers to find out what may happen to the movers and shakers in this new Year of the Rooster. As always, Sally, thank you for your permission to republish here.

Kung Hei Fat Choi! Welcome to the Year of the Rooster and Your Girl Reporter’s first post for 2017. In honour of the Lunar New Year I thought we’d kick off with a look at the prospects of some of the leading lights in our political firmament with a little help from the ancient Chinese zodiac. It makes as much sense as anything else that’s going on in this crazy old world.

According to the principles of Chinese astrology, the way to determine your prospects is to see how your sign matches up with the characteristics of the animal in charge of the next 12 lunar months.

How would the two animals interact? And what qualities does the ruling animal possess that you could learn from to improve your chances of a good year?

I think we can all agree that the Year of the Monkey lived up to its reputation for chaos and confusion. The Rooster is so different he’s an astrological backlash, a home bird for all his crowing, happy to be master of his own dunghill.

Where Monkey is more likely to reward agility and risk taking, the Rooster prefers loyalty, hard work and the family values that keep the hens in line and order in the barnyard.

Appearances count. A lot. Nuances and complexities are under-appreciated in the Year of the Rooster who prefers plain speaking and clear intentions. It is not a time for new ideas or the addressing of complex problems. Which sounds bad, I know, but let’s press on.

The Rooster requires hard work and diligence for success, a willingness to play the longer game without the gratification of instant results. The Rooster is related to the harvest and reminds us that we reap what we sow.

Your Girl Reporter’s favourite online astrologer Master Tsai says the Fire Rooster is related to gold and precious gems, suggesting financial events will be uppermost in the year ahead.

According to the folk at the Astrology Club, the Year of the Rooster will be a powerful one, with no middle of the road. Since the times appear to be suiting a certain kind of politician, let’s check out a few horoscopes, starting with the Man of the Hour.

Donald Trump – Year of the Dog

Master Tsai at Chinese Fortune Calendar presciently observes that Dog will happily receive the wealth which Rooster brings with it. He then goes on to say that the generous Dog will also be making donations.

The Dog is the enduring symbol of loyalty and honesty and people born in the Year of the Dog, at their best, are faithful, smart, straightforward and responsible.

Not all of this sounds particularly pertinent to our subject, but Water Dragon at Online Chinese Astrology has a darker view of a certain kind of Dog:

The Overly Pessimistic Dog is always barking up a storm about doom and gloom. The evil Dog sees things in black and white, which kind of makes sense as in real life dogs are actually colour-blind.

This Dog also has fears and anxieties of being not loved or not liked enough. Instead of seeking reassurances, the Overly Pessimistic Dog would rather sulk by itself stewing in its own state of depression.

And, in the case of Top Dog Trump, feverishly tweeting about it.

Master Tsai warns that the Rooster is connected to fog, which can bring confusion to the Dog making it difficult to prioritise and make decisions. The wise Dog will relax and enjoy the comforts of the hearth in a Rooster year, avoiding challenges and risks and certainly not taking on a new job.

Oops! Too late! Good luck, Humanity.

Malcolm Turnbull, Pauline Hanson and George Christensen – Year of the Horse

Back on home shores and Australia has a few politicians seizing their moment in the wake of the Trump presidency. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is being a bit half-hearted about it, as he is about most things, but the commentariat has been in furious agreement that Pauline Hanson’s set for a great year.

Hanson was returned to the Australian Senate in 2016, thanks to Malcolm’s brilliant plan to get rid of some difficult senators in a bold double-dissolution strategy that, to put it mildly, backfired spectacularly. Anyone else hear a Monkey laughing?

So, thanks to Malcolm, Hanson’s openly racist One Nation party holds, at last count (One Nation politicians are slippery), three Senate seats. She’s also picked up a spot in the Queensland State Parliament with a defection of an MP from the opposition Liberal National Party, and is seeking to gain ground in state elections this year in Western Australia and Queensland.

George Christensen, another Horse senator, currently lives on the outer right fringes of Malcolm’s Liberal-National Party coalition government. He’s a National who doesn’t like a lot of the same things Hanson doesn’t like and he’s pretty much declared open war on his prime minister.

If he breaks away, will he join his fellow Horse Hanson? Or will he prefer the company of another Australian right-wing warrior, Rooster Cory Bernardi?

Whatever this disparate mob of brumbies does this year, if they are to achieve their goals in the Year of the Rooster they will need to put in the hard yards.

Master Tsai advises that as long as the Horse maintains its passion and continuously sets higher goals, career success should follow. If the Horse is offered a job change, accept the challenge.

“Horse needs to run and compete. They will see victory,” says Master Tsai.

Of course, victories can be hollow. Ask Malcolm.

Cory Bernardi, Tony Abbott – Year of the Rooster

So many senators in our sights and here’s another. Cory Bernardi has been playing coy about his political plans for some time now. If he really is planning his own political party – and speculation is mounting that he is – what are the prospects?

According to Chinese astrology, the year of your birth animal is not regarded as a time for rejoicing. In the case of the Rooster it’s easy to see why, because cockfighting’s a thing. So Roosters by their nature will be in opposition to the prevailing fortune.

Master Tsai warns Roosters seeking a job change that there is no sign that you’re ahead of the people around you. The Venerable Tsai goes so far as to recommend that if you receive a job offer you should think twice about accepting.

He recommends a humble and polite attitude, good advice for Cory and possibly for that other Rooster, former prime minister Tony Abbott, the Banquo’s Ghost of Australia’s 45th Parliament.

If Cory does strike out on his own, he should expect competition. And indeed that’s exactly the situation he would be pondering if he is indeed harbouring such plans. Pauline Hanson has already helpfully suggested that he might like to join One Nation but Cory strikes me as the kind of guy who dreams of his very own dunghill.

And, while the challenges will be many, Master Tsai reckons the Rooster that can face the competition and work hard for his goal could yet yield a good result.

But is a good result for Cory a good result for Australia? While Cory probably thinks so, judging by his Make Australia Great Again hat, it’s hard to see how a move would do anything other than splinter the vote still further.

Get the popcorn in. It hasn’t got off to a great start, with the steel gates slamming down on America, but nevertheless I wish you all a happy and prosperous Year of the Rooster.

© Sally Baxter 2017

889 thoughts on “All the cocks a’crowing, each on their own dunghill”

  3. BK

    Mutton? Lamb?

    Being seriously impolite but ‘scrag’ comes to mind.

    OK. I’ll go back to my cage.

  4. That’s an old photo of Bananas, taken over a year ago. In Australia, not overseas.

    Yesterday she wore a Dion Lee slashed jacket and skirt, finding it “edgy, not something I would normally wear, but gorgeous”

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/fashion/dfat-australian-fashion-chamber-launch-fashion-diplomacy-bishopstyle/news-story/988bcbe6637a909a53ac769b02def793?sv=59300e51be83a73dfe377ba6bee471c5

    Not my idea of ‘gorgeous’, and it looks worse from the front.

  5. ‘So-called judge’ indeed:

    The federal judge who blocked President Trump’s immigration order is described by former colleagues and acquaintances as a “mainstream” Republican who went from a career as a highly respected corporate lawyer in Seattle to an appointment by President George W. Bush to the federal bench.

  10. BK

    The newspaper has a million and one photos to chose from, choosing that instead of this let’s ya know where the Rupert stands re President Trumble 🙂

  13. Accidentally caught the first few minutes of the ABC news. First a denial Turnbull will have to offer (already has, I think) military assistance to get his refugee deal up, followed immediately by footage of Whiney Pynie being piped aboard a navy ship, mauling a hand gun and then and waxing lyrical about the abilities of new US defence chief James Mattis and then a coy mention of our new frigates, when finished, being available for wherever they are needed.

    Draw your own conclusions.

    • Thanks for that, I have always liked to Don McLean.
      I never realised that The Irises was painted by Vincent van Gogh.
      I have a tapestry of “the Irises” I persuaded my mother (deceased) to do in pride of place in my lounge room, she much preferred to embroider Australian wild flowers. “Berlin work” for the interested.

  17. Melbourne is experiencing its annual February thunderstorm, right on cue.

    I wonder what’s flooding?

    One year the underground stream under Flinders St flooded and their were photos of VW beetles floating down the city street

    Another year there was a photo of a school girl wading through thigh high flood waters on the front page of The Age, her old man was unhappy wondering what germs were in the flood waters

    Another year Albert Park Lake flooded making the commute home ridiculously late and commuters shared 6 packs in the stalled traffic

    Another year the titivated super tram stops submerged the tram tracks and the passengers had to navigate as desperate drivers asked “Where is Glenhuntly Rd” and cheering as the time ticked over the magic hour where the drivers went onto penalty rates

  18. I admit in that SNL skit I laughed the most at Trump’s interactions with the Mexican president. And when the person playing Mugabe made Trump piss his pants as he spoke to a -real- dictator.

    The Turnbull impersonator mostly looked alright but his accent was just so off-key it kind of ruined it. But yeah, one of the funnier SNL Trump skits.

  21. Stand by for a twitter tantrump:

    A federal judge temporarily invalidated the ban on Friday night (local time), and the US Justice Department today filed a formal appeal against the ruling.

    “We’ll win. For the safety of our country, we’ll win,” Mr Trump told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

    But on Sunday evening, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied the request.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-05/trumps-travel-ban-appeal-denied-by-us-court/8242780

  22. Act One, Scene One

    What to make of him? The man is a shock, like the toy buzzer in a prank handshake, and the effect is to baffle and immobilise thought. Consider a typical reaction from the morning after the election, Aaron Sorkin’s rant on the Vanity Fair website: ‘The Klan won last night. White nationalists. Sexists, racists and buffoons … misogynistic shitheads everywhere … If he does manage to be a douche nozzle without breaking the law for four years, we’ll make it through those four years.’ ..

    By the first week of December, it was hard to recall the mood of a few weeks earlier – a mood in which it had been possible for Noah Feldman, a Harvard law professor, to write a column for Bloomberg entitled ‘On November 9, Let’s Forget Donald Trump Happened’. In 2003, six years out of law school, Feldman drafted the constitution for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and his confidence in the future of Iraqi democracy was now equalled by his confidence in a Hillary Clinton victory. Afterwards, he wrote, we should ‘treat Trump voters as though the whole sorry episode of his candidacy never occurred’…

    The sporadic protests that followed the election were a response to a generalised threat, not a particular grievance; but the shock to the laws and institutions of the country could already be felt in Trump’s first three days as president. The Trans-Pacific Partnership was repudiated, and a few hours later Trump ordered the contruction of the promised wall with Mexico; an absolute ban was issued on immigration from seven Islamic countries, and a warning given to American ‘sanctuary cities’: if they refused to co-operate with plans for the detention of undocumented immigrants, they would lose federal funding. The process of repealing Obamacare was launched, all mention of climate change was scrubbed from the White House and State Department websites, and Trump signed executive orders to reopen the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access oil pipelines. His pre-inaugural negotiations to reclaim American jobs – particularly at a Carrier factory in Indiana that produces air conditioners, but with similar reverse migrations at Ford and Boeing – were a timely piece of political cunning and showmanship. His thank-you tour and the roughly 30,000 jobs he can claim to have brought back were strategically placed in the swing states that clinched his majority in the electoral college

    https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n04/david-bromwich/act-one-scene-one.

  23. Trump furious as judge suspends Muslim ban

    On Friday, a federal judge in the US state of Washington granted a nationwide stay on key provisions of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel to most nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.

    The most far-reaching court order yet, the ruling by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle clears the way for tens of thousands of individuals stranded outside the United States to return.

    “Judge Robart’s decision, effective immediately, effective now, puts a halt to President Trump’s unlawful, unconstitutional executive order,” the state of Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson told reporters:

    “Un-American and unconstitutional”? A US judge halts @POTUS Donald Trump’s travel ban.https://t.co/4b8QZsHWpM pic.twitter.com/DvnKr0EuGt
    — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 4, 2017

    Ferguson’s complaint sought to halt provisions in the executive order that bar refugees and those with visas from entering the country.

    Judge Robart halted implementation of the 90-day suspension of entry to the US of people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

    He also suspended the 120-day ban on admitting any refugees and the indefinite ban on refugees from Syria. The judge specifically blocked prioritizing refugees of certain religious minorities, according to The New York Times.

    The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Saturday it was complying with the judge’s ruling:

    JUST IN: DHS suspends “any and all actions implementing the affected sections” of Pres. Trump’s immigration order following judge’s order. pic.twitter.com/E4E47ioV6A
    — ABC News (@ABC) February 4, 2017

    https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/trump-furious-judge-suspends-muslim-ban

  24. Giuliani: Trump asked me how to do a Muslim ban ‘legally’

    Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said in an interview on Saturday that President Trump had previously asked him about legally implementing a “Muslim ban.”

    But Giuliani then disputed the notion that the president’s sweeping executive order barring refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim nations amounts to a ban on Muslims.

    “I’ll tell you the whole history of it: When he first announced it, he said ‘Muslim ban,'” Giuliani said on Fox News.

    “He called me up, he said, ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.’”

    ADVERTISEMENT
    Giuliani said he then put together a commission that included lawmakers and expert lawyers.

    “And what we did was we focused on, instead of religion, danger,” Giuliani said.

    “The areas of the world that create danger for us, which is a factual basis, not a religious basis. Perfectly legal, perfectly sensible.”

    Giuliani reiterated that the ban is “not based on religion.”

    “It’s based on places where there are substantial evidence that people are sending terrorists into our country,” he said.

    The president on Friday signed an order that bars Syrian refugees indefinitely and halts the country’s refugee resettlement program for four months. It also denies entry for 90 days to people from seven majority-Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.

    The president on Saturday denied that the executive order was a Muslim ban. He also insisted his new administration was “totally prepared” to carry out the refugee and travel ban.

    A federal judge in New York on Saturday night granted an emergency stay temporarily halting the removal of immigrants and refugees detained following Trump’s order.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316726-giuliani-trump-asked-me-how-to-do-a-muslim-ban-legally

  25. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/newspoll-hanson-on-the-rise-as-coalition-support-dives/news-story/7e0b701bfa1fcd912a3ef44dd1fa1b37

    Newspoll: Hanson on the rise as Coalition support dives
    The Australian 10:24PM February 5, 2017
    PHILLIP HUDSON

    The Coalition’s support has collapsed to the lowest level since Malcolm Turnbull toppled Tony Abbott as prime minister, with the government trailing Labor by 46 to 54 per cent in two-party terms as parliament resumes amid increasing voter disillusionment about the major parties.

    The first Newspoll for the year, taken exclusively for The Australian, reveals a record 29 per cent of people would not give their first preference vote in the House of Representatives to the Coalition or Labor.

    ………………….

    But the Newspoll survey of 1734 people taken from last Thursday to yesterday shows there has been no gain for Labor or lift for Bill Shorten, with the ALP’s primary vote unchanged at 36 per cent since early ­December and a drop in personal support for the Labor leader.

    The Greens are also unchanged at 10 per cent.

    Support has surged for independents and minor parties from 15 to 19 per cent. Within this group Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has a national primary vote of 8 per cent, which is the same level of support it achieved at the 1998 federal election. Senator Hanson yesterday talked up her hopes of One Nation one day forming government.

    National support for the Nick Xenophon Team is at 2 per cent, although it is about 20 per cent in South Australia.

    Based on preference flows from the last election, Labor enjoys a massive two-party-preferred lead of 54 per cent to the Coalition’s 46 per cent. This is the seventh consecutive Newspoll where Labor has been in front and the worst result for the government under Mr Turnbull’s leadership.

  26. Trump defends Putin: ‘You think our country is so innocent?’

    Watch Bill O’Reilly’s interview with President @realDonaldTrump Sunday at 4p ET during the #SuperBowl pregame show on FOX. pic.twitter.com/OcRVRK8JgR
    — Fox News (@FoxNews) February 4, 2017

    President Trump defends Russian President Vladimir Putin in a new interview, saying he respects the Russian leader.

    “I do respect him … I respect a lot of people but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get along with him,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly.

    “He’s a leader of his country. I say it’s better to get along with Russia than not, and if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS – which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world – that’s a good thing. Will I get along with him? I have no idea.”

    O’Reilly pressed Trump on his statement, saying, “But he’s a killer though. Putin’s a killer.”

    “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, you think our country is so innocent?” Trump responded.

    The interview is scheduled to air Sunday afternoon before the Super Bowl.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/317945-trump-defends-putin-you-think-our-country-is-so-innocent

  29. The Obamas prepare to cash in

    Barack Obama certainly did his part. Corporate profits soared during his eight years in office. The wealth of the richest 400 Americans grew from $1.57 trillion to $2.4 trillion. Social inequality increased at an accelerating rate.

    With Obama in the White House, the stock market enjoyed one of its most successful runs in history (the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 148 percent, a greater percentage increase than under Ronald Reagan)…

    … Time magazine pointed out that while under Obama, “U.S. stocks more than tripled investors’ money, generating total returns (which include the value of reinvested dividends) of 235%…shares of companies based in Europe, Japan, and other developed economies gained just 96% in total.”

    So it only seems fair that having made the already immensely rich a great deal richer, at the expense of the working class, Obama should reap the appropriate reward. He and his wife certainly seem to be of that opinion.

    One recent startling headline reads, “Obama could make up to $242 million after leaving Washington, D.C.” It is based on a study carried out by a researcher at the business school of the American University in Washington.

    President Obama leaves office with two best-sellers already to his name to add to the estimated $40 million in book fees he and Michelle will receive. Add $3 million in pension income and about 50 speeches a year at a conservative $200,000 apiece and you’re already close to $200 million before taxes. Enough to put the Obamas high up on the list of wealthiest former first families.”

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/03/obam-f03.html

  30. Australian prime minister’s speech points to growing political crisis

    y Mike Head
    4 February 2017

    Both Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Labor Party opposition leader Bill Shorten delivered what were billed as heartland addresses to the National Press Club in Canberra this week, laying out their visions for 2017. Each speech, in its own way, underscored a profound crisis engulfing Australia’s political establishment.

    Donald Trump’s election as US president has sent shockwaves through the parliamentary elite. Not only has Trump’s campaign underlined the deep popular hostility to the major capitalist parties internationally. It has accelerated the global turn to trade war and war, with catastrophic implications for Australian capitalism, which is already reeling from the collapse of the mining boom…

    There is already widespread working class disaffection after decades of attacks on jobs and social services by successive Liberal-National Coalition and Labor governments. According to a world “2017 Trust Barometer” published last month by PR company Edelman, the “implosion of trust” in government, business and the media in Australia is among the greatest of the 28 countries surveyed.

    The “trust index” in Australia is 40, below that of the US, on 47. Last year, when Turnbull’s Coalition government narrowly survived the July federal election, the proportion of Australians trusting government plunged from 45 percent to 37 percent, one of the sharpest falls recorded, comparable only to Mexico, Russia and China.

    Neither Turnbull nor Shorten has any answer to the deepening crisis of Australian capitalism or the mounting geo-political tensions and drive to war, other than a deepening assault on the social position of the working class to provide tax cuts for the wealthy and boost military spending. Like Trump, both are whipping up anti-refugee xenophobia to divide workers and divert attention from their own regressive policies and records.

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/04/turn-f04.html

  32. ALERT: Collapse imminent at Fukushima — TV: Officials find large section under reactor is “unstable… about to collapse” — “Bad, bad news… Time to reconsider that trip to the east coast of Japan”

    NHK World, Feb 3, 2017 (emphasis added): The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is examining if it can go ahead with a plan to deploy a robot into one of the damaged reactors at the facility… An analysis of the images found that the radiation level inside the vessel was up to 530 sieverts per hour. Officials speculate that fuel debris–a mixture of nuclear fuel and melted parts of the reactor’s facility–may be emitting strong radiation inside the vessel… Last week’s probe found that part of a metal grating just beneath the reactor was missing. The robot was supposed to move around on the grating. The image analysis also found that an around one square-meter section near the missing segment is about to collapse.

    NHK World transcript, Feb 3, 2017: “[Tepco] is facing more setbacks. Tepco has found unstable grating near a rector that will make it difficult to conduct further surveillance to help it decommission the plant… They found a section the size of a square meter is about to collapse. They had already found holes in other sections… A nuclear power expert suggests that will make it difficult for workers to locate the fuel.”

    NHK World transcript, Feb 3, 2017 (at 1:30 in): “Engineers were able to get a glimpse inside Reactor No. 2… They found that a section one meter square is about to collapse. They had already found holes in other sections.”

    http://enenews.com/alert-collapse-imminent-at-fukushima-tv-officials-find-large-section-under-reactor-is-unstable-about-to-collapse-bad-bad-news-time-to-reconsider-that-trip-to-the-east-coast-of-jap

  33. Louvre attack: My son is no terrorist, says suspect’s father

    The father of a man shot by a French soldier as he carried out a machete attack at the Louvre museum in Paris says his son is not a terrorist.

    Retired Egyptian police general Reda al-Hamamy accused the soldier who shot him of “using brute force with a poor young man”.

    The French authorities say his son Abdullah, 29, was shot when he attacked the soldiers, injuring one of them.

    They say he shouted the Islamic phrase “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”).

    A French police source said Abdullah Hamamy was no longer in a critical condition but was still unable to communicate and could not yet be questioned.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38868971

  34. There’s people that moan that Labor can’t win elections with its primary vote in the mid-30%’s, but what about elections when the Coalition’s combined vote is in the mid-30%’s as well?

    Of course I’d rather Labor’s primary vote be in the 50% range but of course that can’t happen in this political climate. I’m just happy when Labor is in with a chance of power and then makes positive political change. As it stands, Labor pretty much looks golden these days.

    I have to make kudos for Shorten for providing strident yet sensible criticism against Trump. He really has been exceedingly admirable this whole month. Where Turnbull has failed to provide leadership, Shorten is usually there as a replacement.

  36. I just love the way they can’t report a 54-46 lead to the ALP in Newspoll – that’s 54-46, folks, way beyond what might constitute a ‘clear election victory’ and into landslide territory – without casting aspersions at the ALP.

  37. Here’s a laugh – our deluded prime minister thinks this has been a good week for Australia.

    I think he needs to have his medication adjusted. Or maybe he should lay off that Chinese herbal tea for a bit, it seems to be messing with his mind.

    Malcolm Turnbull Brushes Aside Concern Over U.S.-Australia Relations
    ‘This has been a very good week for Australia.’
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/02/05/malcolm-turnbull-brushes-aside-concern-over-u-s-australia-relat/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage

  38. I also love the implicit messaging that goes on around our Federal politics, which goes something like:

    “Oh yes, we understand that the Liberals and Nationals are incompetent, malign, selfish, compromised, they have no vision, they can’t even pass a Budget much less balance one, and most of them are rorting away to their hearts’ content. But we can’t really advise you to support Labor because we think Shorten is a little bit boring.”

    And that is honestly the only thing I’ve heard against him in the mainstream press for many months. That and the observation that he is ‘unpopular’. Which is something you could equally level against Turnbull and Abbott anyway. It just seems pointless to complain that the ALP leader doesn’t fire the collective imagination, when he’s up against people who inspire contempt and loathing.

  41. Guess who was being “frank and forthright” and who wasn’t

    Australia is not “indebted” to US President Donald Trump for agreeing to maintain a refugee resettlement deal, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says.

    As Federal Parliament prepares to return tomorrow, Mr Turnbull has sought to put a positive spin on his “frank and forthright” conversation with Mr Trump about the deal.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-06/turnbull-says-australia-doesnt-owe-trump-for-refugee-deal/8242892

    Which target to go for? There are so many!

    The Federal Opposition is also promising to continue its pursuit of Attorney-General George Brandis over a long-running Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

    In September last year, the Full Court of the Federal Court upheld an order for Senator Brandis to process an FOI request for sections of his official diary, but Labor has accused him of ignoring the order.

    “We have here the Minister responsible for FOI law, thumbing his nose at those laws,” Mr Dreyfus told AM.

    He has threatened to seek contempt proceedings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal if Senator Brandis does not make a decision on the FOI request in the next fortnight.

    “Times up, it’s time for him to comply with the orders of the court and the tribunal, it’s time for him to comply with the freedom of information act,” he said.

    “It’s an extraordinary thing, not only for the Attorney-General to be even in the position where he might be in contempt of an Administrative Appeals Tribunal order, it’s an extraordinary thing, for an Attorney-General to have flouted an act that he is meant to be responsible for.

    “He’s the responsible minister for FOI law in Australia.”

  42. On Sunday, after the ninth US circuit court of appeals in San Francisco rejected the government’s application for an emergency stay on Robart’s ruling, Vice-president Mike Pence was sent as an emissary from the White House to several talkshows. He defended Trump’s personal attack on the judge.

    “The president has every right to criticize the other two branches of government,” Pence told NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think people find it very refreshing that they not only understand this president’s mind, but they understand how he feels.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/05/trump-travel-ban-suspension-appeal-mike-pence-bernie-sanders

    Indeed he does but not by throwing a tanty at a judge personally and without addressing the judge’s reasoning.

  46. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    We have some extraordinary battles ahead as another court decision goes against Trump’s travel ban. It might end up in the Supreme Court soon.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/federal-appeals-court-denies-donald-trump-request-to-restore-travel-ban-20170205-gu60cu.html
    Paul McGeough says Trump has hit a brick wall. And it’s called American democracy.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/when-donald-trump-hits-a-brick-wall-called-democracy-he-cant-get-no-satisfaction-20170204-gu5os0.html
    The stupidity of and contradictions in Trump’s travel ban are explained in this article.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/trumps-fallacies-20170203-gu4vx0.html
    Ross Gittins justifiably tears strips off Turnbull’s recent utterings on energy.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/malcolm-turnbull-is-an-energy-magician-with-his-secret-gas-paritypricing-policy-20170204-gu5ppt.html
    Here’s The Guardian’s take on the NewsPoll result.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/06/coalition-slumps-worst-primary-vote-turnbull-parliament-returns
    And Michelle Grattan’s.
    https://theconversation.com/newspoll-shows-coalition-trailing-46-54-at-start-of-new-parliamentary-session-72479
    Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed suggestions Australia will be indebted to US President Donald Trump if he proceeds with the refugee resettlement deal, insisting there is no quid pro quo for future military support.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/we-dont-owe-trump-turnbull-says-no-quid-pro-quo-over-refugee-deal-20170205-gu5y85.html
    Tom Switzer tells us that Turnbull’s last stand starts right now and that he probably won’t see out the year.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/malcolm-turnbulls-last-stand-begins-now-and-hell-be-lucky-to-last-the-year-20170203-gu507t.html
    Jennifer Hewett says that Turnbull needs more than thought bubbles. Google.
    /opinion/columnists/malcolm-turnbull-needs-more-than-thought-bubbles-20170205-gu5w06
    Manufacturing proves to be the single issue that unites Australians. And the article includes a link to the new Fairfax toll that will determine which political party you lean towards.
    http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/manufacturing-proves-the-political-issue-that-brings-together-australians-20170204-gu5oti.html

  47. Section 2 . . .

    Andrew Bolt reckons Cory Bernardi might pay his Trump card as early as this week. Google.
    /news/opinion/andrew-bolt/cory-bernardi-set-to-quit-libs-with-malcolm-turnbull-facing-a-party-split/news-story/ea9dc2f89613bae8dd9c851d4d4c88a8
    Katherine Murphy thinks likewise.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/04/fraught-times-no-surprise-cory-bernardi-jump-ship
    Peter Martin on the effect that the rising rate of investor loans for housing is having on the RBA’s decision process.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/investor-home-loans-the-fly-in-the-ointment-for-rba-board-as-weak-economy-points-to-rate-cut-20170205-gu5sq2.html
    Tim Dick tells all the reasons he is packing up and leaving Sydney.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/listing-the-worst-things-about-sydney-makes-it-easier-to-leave-20170203-gu50il.html
    The divide between rich and poor is growing in Australia, according to a new national survey which found more than a quarter of households have experienced a drop in income. This is hardly surprising as we see the drop in full time employment and the rise in casualisation. And will do nothing for domestic demand.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/divide-between-rich-and-poor-in-australia-is-growing-20170203-gu5bkw.html
    Is Sydney Metro engaging in the use of “alternative facts”?
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-metro-surveys-likened-to-push-polling-20170201-gu30dp.html
    Surely it’s time for governments to act on strongly regulating the “alternative medicine” industries and stop indirectly supporting them.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/herbal-medicines-assumed-safe-could-have-dire-consequences-20170205-gu5yp7.html
    This journalist certainly agrees with me. Google.
    /news/opinion/its-healthy-to-question-the-value-of-bogus-treatments/news-story/585d5d04b3e0d18fc3d56b6b9747c7b2
    The Impendent Australia tells us that Trump has no intentions of allowing our refugees into the US.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/exclusive–trump-has-no-intention-of-allowing-aus-refugees-settle-in-us,9996
    As the Prime Minister comes under renewed internal pressure over the issue ahead of Parliament’s return on Tuesday, new ReachTEL polling shows nearly 62 per cent of people in seven Liberal and National seats across the country want Coalition MPs to have a conscience vote this year. If Turnbull wants to get out of his polling funk he should use this issue at least to take out the right wing rump and re-establish the PM’s authority.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/voters-in-coalition-seats-want-free-vote-on-samesex-marriage-20170205-gu5thm.html

  49. Section 3 . . .

    Saturday Night Live beautifully skewers Comical Ali aka Sean Spicer.
    https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/05/melissa-mccarthy-steals-the-show-as-sean-spicer-on-saturday-night-live
    Whether what is heard in the confessional box should continue to stay there will be considered by the child sexual abuse royal commission as it again turns its focus to widespread offending in the Catholic Church in Australia this week. It’s going to be a very interesting hearing. Every archbishop in Australia (except for Hobart’s) is on the witness list.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/05/catholic-use-of-confession-to-be-scrutinised-by-child-abuse-royal-commission
    The AFL women’s league kickoff was an enormous success.
    http://www.theage.com.au/afl/womens-afl/full-houses-get-afl-womens-off-in-style-20170205-gu5z1d.html
    This is a terrible situation with no short term way out of it.
    http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/mentally-ill-patients-at-risk-without-treatment-in-overcrowded-jails-20170203-gu4pug.html
    Turnbull blames Shorten for SSM uncertainty. You’ve gotta be joking!
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/02/05/turnbull-addresses-plebiscite-trump/
    During an interview on Meet The Press, Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) gave a single answer on Obamacare repeal that revealed why the attack on the ACA would be a disaster for the American people.
    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/05/answer-paul-ryan-reveals-republican-obamacare-repeal-disaster.html
    Greg Jericho writes that the US needs Australia even if Trump doesn’t know it.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/grogonomics/2017/feb/04/the-us-needs-australia-whether-donald-trump-knows-it-or-not
    How to upset private health policyholders in one easy lesson.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/premium-pay-rises-for-health-insurance-bosses-irk-customers-20170203-gu518x.html
    Maybe, Malcolm Turnbull imagines himself greater than he really his. If so, he needs to work harder turning his dreams into reality, writes Jim Pembroke.
    https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/the-secret-life-of-malcolm-turnbull,9994
    Pauline Hanson reveals her “vision for Australia” and at the same time proves she is barking mad.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/02/04/burqa-ban-pre-nups-tax-reform-pauline-hanson-reveals-her-visi/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage

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