Fast and Furious Friday

joe6pack Uncategorized

Hello Pubsters . I”m still in Cairns so this is a quick Friday Post.

I’m Sure all people on this site contributors and lurkers where saddened to hear of the passing of Fiona’s Mum. I only met her once and liked her immensely. We owe her and her husband many thanks for raising such a wonderful daughter.

On a Happier Note

ON THIS DAY

BK WAS BORN  HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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ALSO

  • 1992 The first exoplanets are discovered

    Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan announced that he found two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.

  • 1967 Dictator Georgios Papadopoulos assumes power in Greece

    During his six-year reign, thousands of political opponents were incarcerated and tortured.

  • 1934 The Surgeon’s photo, allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail

    In reality, the famous image depicts a toy submarine with a head and neck made of wood putty.

  • 1918 The Red Baron is killed

    Manfred von Richthofen was a legendary German fighter pilot. He earned his renown and nickname by achieving 80 air combat victories in World War I. He was shot down and killed during combat at the age of 25.

  • 1509 Henry VIII is crowned King of England

    In popular culture, the monarch is known mainly for his six marriages, two of which ended with the wife’s execution.

Births On This Day – 21 April

  • 1959 Robert Smith

    English singer-songwriter, guitarist

  • 1947 Iggy Pop

    American singer-songwriter, producer, actor

  • 1926 Elizabeth II

    of The United Kingdom

  • 1864 Max Weber

    German economist, sociologist

  • 1838 John Muir

    Scottish/American environmentalist, author

Deaths On This Day – 21 April

  • 2016 Prince

    American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor

  • 2003 Nina Simone

    American singer-songwriter, pianist

  • 1946 John Maynard Keynes

    English economist

  • 1910 Mark Twain

    American author

  • 1736 Prince Eugene of Savoy

  • As Anzac Day is next Tuesday I predict the Libs are going to ramp up the patriotism cry to high level.
  • I don’t think it is doing them much good.
  • Labor still ahead in the polls. YAY

275 thoughts on “Fast and Furious Friday”

  1. Over the road someone wondered if the Rowe cartoon was referencing Kurtz and the Heart of Darkness. Teh may well be right

  2. If this…

    As events tumble toward what is increasingly looking like a military solution, Australia’s strategic interests are inextricably linked to American military might and power.

    In the absence of decisive progress by Beijing, which has allowed this situation to reach crisis point, the US may be left with no choice but to act pre-emptively. In all of our interests.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/north-korean-threats-will-leave-alliance-countries-little-choice-20170423-gvqpxh.html

    … is a statement of official Australian government policy (as dictated to Mark Kenny), what the fuck has this man been smoking?

    He talks about “Thermonuclear”*** Armageddon as if its some kind of wedge politics being played out in the Liberal Party branches.

    It’s not, you know. It’s the end of everything. It’s the end of anyone who’s underneath one of those bombs. It’s the end of the World Order. It’s the end of finance, the arts, food security, trade and civilization in general.

    Kenny should consider what he writes a little more. Attempting to shore up Turnbull’s right-wing war-cred with an article so casually discussing the End Of Days is too much, even for the little pissant who wrote it, click bait or not.

    Pull your pathetic head in, Kenny.

    *** Actually NOT “thermonuclear, Mark. That’s a fusion bomb. The NKs only have fission bombs. If you’re going to start bandying annihilation about so casually in a 600-word op-ed brain fart, at least get your weapons systems right.

    • Yep, ‘pissant’ is the right description for that tiny brained little man….he is in good company with quite a number of his press gallery colleagues though.

  3. I realise this will sound like a strange question, but as many of you know I hate throwing away things that could be of good use to other people.

    So, are there any Pubsters or lurkers who use Sensodyne toothpaste? I have 1.5 tubes from me mum, and would be delighted to send them to someone who will give them a good home.

  4. Puffy, my dear Dragon,

    Could you please email me with the email addy you are using at the moment? I seem to have several, so I’m not quite sure which one to use.

  5. Some free advice, furry minister: SHUT UP!

    Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, says North Korea should look after its “long-suffering citizens” rather than developing weapons of mass destruction after the regime pointedly warned Australia of a possible nuclear strike if Canberra persists in “blindly and zealously toeing the US line”.

    Bishop issued a statement on Sunday declaring North Korea’s threats of nuclear strikes against other nations “further underlines the need for the regime to abandon its illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs”.

    “These present a grave threat to its neighbours, and if left unchecked, to the broader region including Australia,” the foreign minister said. “The North Korean government should invest in the welfare of its long-suffering citizens, rather than weapons of mass destruction.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/apr/23/julie-bishop-hits-back-at-north-korea-as-labor-backs-harder-edged-us-stance

    • Has mesma ever promoted anything to do with investing in the welfare of Australia’s long-suffering citizens?

  6. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/newspoll/newspoll-malcolm-turnbulls-satisfaction-rating-on-the-rise/news-story/5b647895b7dbffb81caccf50ead2aae6

    Newspoll: Malcolm Turnbull’s satisfaction rating on the rise
    The Australian 9:35PM April 23, 2017
    David Crowe Political correspondent Canberra

    The federal Coalition has gained an increase in support after days of debate over tougher citizenship rules, cutting Labor’s lead to 52 to 48 per cent in two-party terms and improving voter satisfaction with Malcolm Turnbull.

    The latest Newspoll, taken exclusively for The Australian, shows the government has slightly improved its position from three weeks ago when Labor led by 53 to 47 per cent in two-party terms.

    But the Coalition’s primary vote has not changed from 36 per cent despite a huge effort to attract public support for tighter rules for skilled foreign workers and a test on “Australian values” for new citizens.

    The Coalition’s primary vote remains six percentage points below the result in its narrow election victory last July, with Labor continuing to hold the commanding lead it established in the polls last September.

    Labor’s primary vote slipped from 36 to 35 per cent compared to the Newspoll three weeks ago while the Greens saw their primary vote fall from 10 to 9 per cent and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation held its primary vote at 10 per cent.

    The combined impact helped the government post a slight improvement in two-party terms.

    In a trend that has held firm for months, 29 per cent of voters now give their first preference to candidates other than Labor and the Coalition — up from 23 per cent at the last election and 21 per cent at the 2013 election.

    The Newspoll survey of 1686 voters was conducted from Thursday to Sunday, after Mr Turnbull released the tougher rules for skilled foreign workers on Wednesday and the citizenship reforms on Thursday.

    • In other words – the government is still in an election-losing position so let’s talk about popularity contests and minor parties instead of the government’s failure to improve.

  7. I almost forgot –

    That allegedly photo-shopped photo of Shorten, Marles, Wong and Plibersek with Pence – it’s real. Marles has it on his Facebook page with the caption “Great meeting today with Vice President Pence and Bill Shorten MP, Tanya Plibersek, and Penny Wong – Senator for SA”
    https://www.facebook.com/richardmarlesmp/

    Here’s another photo taken at the same meeting.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4435000/Pence-China-pressure-North-Korea-solve-nuclear-threat.html

    • Leone,

      I don’t think Labour had any choice: if they diss America they will be crucified.

  11. The click bait industry has gone mad.

    In the insane quest to sell advertising, newspapers here and overseas are actually talking up a nuclear war, as if it’s a bloody video game.

    Mark Kenny earlier on today was treating nuclear holocaust as if it’s some kind of legitimate poliical tactic, presumably to increase Turnbull’s ratings in the polls, or assuage the Abbott Camp in the Liberal Party.

    James Massola continues with nonsense about the North Koreans being able to nuke Australian targets within three years.

    The between-the-lines idea of both these articles is that we should actually nuke North Korea first.

    Until last week North Korea was a crazy backwater not doing anyone too much harm. In his zeal to distract critics in the US away from his ties to the Russians Trump put out a fake news story (yes,”Fake” in the literal sense of the word) that he’d send a nuclear armada to the offshore waters of North Korea ready to strike. The subtext was “Prepare for nuclear war… tonight”.

    As we know now the armada – “very strong” – didn’t go anywhere near North Korea, and in fact sailed in the opposite direction to North Korea.

    But now that the Bible thumping eschatalogical Pence is down here in Oz dreaming of the End Times, all the little local sycophants line up to ingratiate themselves with him – including Labor types who should know better. Julie Bishop, not wishing to be off-topic, or perhaps more accurately to be the bestest, most glamorous on-topic gel in the world, launches some gratuitous advice to the North Koreans with a predictable (for them) response from the Mad Regime: Get Stuffed!

    Turnbull, not knowing what he is saying, tells us Trump is “wise”, as if just by being elected President, in less than his first 100 days, Trump has turned from the orange-headed, groping bodgie he’s always been, and has been reborn fully-formed as a world expert on military and geo-strategic matters, complete with Presidential “wisdom”.

    And then, just as you thought it couldn’t get any more cringe-worthy, in the most ridiculous article of all we learn from the SMH that:

    Berejiklian, Pence talk business on harbour cruise.

    Was there anybody at all who was not on that Harbour cruise, chancing their arm with and spruiking a bill of goods with the Big Boy from America? Were they trying to sellhim the Opera House as they drifted by?

    I haven’t been so embarrassed and disappointed since Abbott launched into a pub politics talk at the Brisbane G20, then gave Putin a koala.

    I can sort-of understand agreeing with Trump in principle, vaguely, out of politeness, within limits, but to not only begin talking up a nuclear war by feeding your chosen journos with “First Strike” talk, but to volunteer for a mad scheme to score a few upticks in the polls by wiping out the world, is positively Goddamn insane.

  12. The first 200 votes from each of 500 polling stations (closed an hour ago) are extrapolated to show –

    Macron 23.7

    Le Pen 21.7

    Melechon and Fillon on 19.5.

    So both major parties eliminated if this holds.

  13. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    So it looks like Macron and le Pen will face off on 7 May for the French presidency. Apparently lthe Euro has surged after the release of the exit polls.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/macron-wins-french-election-first-round-20170423-gvqwex.html
    The elimination of the two mainstream French parties from the first round of presidential elections on Sunday showed the deep malaise of French society, a member of centrist Emmanuel Macron’s campaign said on Sunday.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/macrons-victory-shows-deep-malaise-in-french-society-20170423-gvqwik.html
    In a cracker of an article Katherine Murphy looks at the duelling prime ministers within the Coalition.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/apr/22/duelling-prime-ministers-turnbull-and-abbott-locked-in-a-coalition-death-spiral
    There’s just one man standing between Tony Abbott and a return to the prime ministership. That man is Mathias Cormann says Pula Matthewson.
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/04/21/mathias-cormann-tony-abbott/
    Here’s Urban Wronski’s weekly column.
    https://urbanwronski.com/2017/04/23/turnbull-dog-whistles-on-aussie-values-while-trump-bluffs-and-blusters/
    The Australian’s David Crowe is on to the government’s “management by Newspoll” game. Google.
    /opinion/newspoll-coalition-must-break-cycle-or-itll-break-them/news-story/6a250e1901e1215becf547a6aa9015b5
    Adam Gartell on Dutton’s stellar performance on Insiders yesterday.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/i-have-facts-you-dont-immigration-minister-peter-dutton-stands-by-manus-claims-in-fiery-interview-20170422-gvqhxd.html
    Michelle Grattan says how Dutton comes out of this dispute about facts is particularly important, because it goes to the character of the conservative Liberal from Queensland who is touted as a possible future leader.
    https://theconversation.com/how-dutton-comes-out-of-dispute-about-manus-claim-goes-to-the-question-of-character-76562
    Trump nears the 100-day mark of his administration as the least popular chief executive in modern times. Rather unsurprising.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/trumps-approval-at-record-low-in-first-100-days-20170423-gvqw12.html
    Is the US heading for one of their government shutdowns?
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/paul-ryan-tells-congress-colleagues-that-us-government-shutdown-will-be-avoided-20170423-gvqjdc.html

  14. Section 2 . . .

    Mark Kenny says that in the absence of decisive progress by Beijing, which has allowed this situation to reach crisis point, the US may be left with no choice but to act pre-emptively. In all of our interests.
    http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/north-korean-threats-will-leave-alliance-countries-little-choice-20170423-gvqpxh.html
    Labor is demanding that the immigration minister Peter Dutton apologise for “irresponsible and outrageous” commentary about the origins of a violent disturbance on Manus Island.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/apr/24/labor-demands-peter-dutton-apologise-for-outrageous-comments-on-manus-violence
    Our teachers are being burned.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/teachers-burning-out-as-they-take-on-classes-outside-expertise-acer-report-20170422-gvqi08.html
    No wonder people don’t like dealing with lawyers!
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/judge-blasts-cynical-sydney-law-firm-in-court-battle-over-legal-bill-20170421-gvpfgv.html
    How does Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expect migrants to achieve functional standards of speech when most Australians can’t even pronounce the name of our own country? Dean Frenkel puts an interesting point forward.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-should-immigrants-speak-perfect-english-when-australians-cant-20170420-gvoohq.html
    Law expert George Williams looks at what might flow from the recent High Court decisions on MP disqualifications.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/more-mps-could-be-caught-in-disqualification-trap-20170423-gvql1i.html
    Michael West examines the Chevron/ATO decision.
    http://www.michaelwest.com.au/hornswoggler-chevron-hit-by-historic-court-case/
    Eryk Bagshaw looks at the big elephant in the room when it comes to education. There are private schools that are clearly overfunded from the public purse. He uses health funding to make his point.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/the-upsidedown-school-funding-debate-is-hurting-students-20170418-gvmqkj.html
    Network Ten goes further into the doldrums.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/network-ten-market-cap-falls-to-170-million-20170421-gvpyve.html

  15. Section 3 . . .

    Home battery sharing can have great benefit but it could lead to further inequality.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/new-power-generation-home-battery-sharing-could-build-virtual-public-utilities-20170416-gvlvnr.html
    Mark Metherell from Concerned Catholics writes that in the wake of the truths exposed by the Royal Commission the church must change its ways.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/royal-commissions-truths-demand-that-we-catholics-must-change-our-church-20170423-gvqkq3.html
    The Australian Olympic Committee is in need of a good clean out – starting from the top.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/time-for-culture-change-at-australian-olympic-committee-20170421-gvpjph.html
    Why Morrison is playing down the budget.
    https://theconversation.com/the-real-reason-scott-morrison-is-playing-down-the-budget-76311
    There was plenty to admire about the scientists’ protest. But it’s increasingly clear that their greatest skill – unearthing the truth – is not enough to win a culture war.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/23/scientists-truth-culture-war-donald-trump-pope
    Oh oh! Now the Fox News “harassment cleanskin” Sean Hannity has been accused.
    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/23/trump-pal-sean-hannity-accused-sexual-harassment-fox-news-scandal-grows.html
    Amanda Vanstone goes in to bat for the rich.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/before-you-go-hating-the-rich-get-your-facts-straight-20170421-gvpiuu.html
    Nick O’Malley examines the Australia Institute’s study of PHON’s performance in the WA election. It’s not good news.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-institute-examines-pauline-hansons-one-nations-performance-in-wa-20170423-gvqolt.html
    The Turnbull government has abandoned plans to slash millions of dollars in funding from community legal centres after coming under intense pressure from lawyers, Labor and the states. Of Course Soapy blames Labor for the cuts he made last year!
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/federal-budget-2017-george-brandis-to-reverse-community-legal-centre-cuts-20170423-gvqlmj.html

  16. Section 4 . . . with Cartoon Corner

    This ice crim’s wife is about to lose her lifestyle as prosecutors seek to seize the proceeds of crime.
    http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/drug-kingpin-rocco-arico-could-lose-10-million-in-unexplained-wealth-20170422-gvq9mf.html
    Jobs ageism is thriving – a personal account.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/it-appears-that-i-am-on-the-workforce-scrap-heap-20170420-gvowud.html
    Doctors and the medical community need to take vaccination hesitancy seriously, or risk seeing immunisation rates fall, researchers have found.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/address-vaccination-concerns-to-keep-immunisation-rates-up-20170422-gvq85v.html
    By the end of the year, NIB — which insures more than one million people — plans to expose overrated medicos by making charges and outcomes public. We are beng ripped of by a lot of medical professionals. Google.
    /business/doctors-are-charging-some-patients-based-on-perceived-wealth-according-to-nib/news-story/38da9a02ad9c5a50388e0cd1e772695d
    Michael Gordon and Alex Ettinghausen have visited Manus Island for this special feature.
    http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2017/waiting-for-america/
    Another NSW Liberal spiv goes down the drain!
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/former-ryde-councillor-artin-etmekdjian-resigns-from-liberal-party-over-tax-fraud-conviction-20170421-gvpv90.html

    Cathy Wilcox goes after Potatohead.

    And so does David Rowe!

    WWIII toupées.

    Jon Kudelka eaves drop on North Korea after Mesma’s statements.
    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/b433bf0cfa4cbe64fbbb296fd9f5a2e6

  17. So, I guess, Macron will be the next French President.

    It’s a bit heading off into the unknown …

  18. Funny isn’t it (funny peculiar, that is) how when Labor wanted to start cracking down on on 457 visas, the Coalition and their media moles lashed out at the “obvious” racism they saw as part of the proposed measures.

    Oh, this was thinly-veiled slight against the Chinese and the Indians who come here to do tradies’ work and learn how to be hairdressers from behind 7-11 counters. Labor’s old “White Australia” slip was showing. Xenophobic then, and xenophobic now, they were. Typical Bill Shorten routine: protecting his union thug mates from fair (forgive the irony) competition….yada-yada-yada…

    But now that Lord Malcolm The Enlightened One couches his own campaign in pretty-well exactly the same terms – defending Australian jobs, stopping the rorts, cleaning up the entire rotten underpayment industry – it’s a different matter. Come hither little tradies. Uncle Mal will protect youse.

    As I said: funny, that.

    If it ever was not theater, then no-one can now deny that Australian politics has finally hit the boards running. Every couple of weeks there’s a Newspoll-angled stunt to claw back the point or two they lost in the previous fortnight. They and their media trusties don’t even make much of a show of denying it anymore. We very rarely get any primary source analysis on these capers. It’s all “Malcolm Turnbull says this, but Bill Shorten says that.” Hardly anyone bothers to check who’s right, whether they’re both a little bit right, or whether they’re plain wrong. There’s not enough time.

    It’s far easier to just publish the script you’re handed, and let the punters sort out the truth from the fiction. Except there are no resources for them to do this, because no journalist publishes anything like research or analysis from statistical sources, or on the rare occasions that they do they don’t include links so we can verify the verifiers’ take. Putting a link in a story might take the click bait munchers away from the web site. And we couldn’t have that, could we?

    Turnbull has a Newspoll problem – specifically Newspoll – all of his own creation. The clock is ticking down from 30 to zero. Every two weeks the “election losing” result is another nail in his self-made DIY coffin. It was Turnbull who made “Newspoll” the gauge by which a Prime Minister’s fitness for office was evaluated. It was a newbie mistake. Even Abbott, the inventor of “Dead-Buried-Cremated”, never dig this big a hole for himself with something as uncontrollable as a poll for a shovel.

    But Magnificent Mal did so. At the time he was more popular than Jesus. Hacks, apparently seriously, were writing he could be “PM for Life” if he wanted to be and that Little Billy Shorten was done. Mal probably thought he had nothing to lose. A KO in the first round was what he was after, but Bill and Labor kept on getting up from the canvas for the next beating. Then they started landing blows. Then we had an election and Malcolm wasn’t so popular anymore.

    So here we are again today, talking so casually about complete reversal of policy (a reversal denied, even in contemplation, to Labor), nuclear war with North Korea (that would create ten-thousand much more serious global problems than it solves,not the least of which being the death of millions,perhaps billions if they ever got really going), and having to “do something” about Assad. Suddenly 457s, Kim il Whatsisname and a demented dictator 12,000 kilometers away in a desert somewhere have sprung from nowhere to be the dominant “issues” requiring not only definite attention, but urgently so. And, by the way, long live the alliance!

    When the routine weekly spin drop starts contemplating even nuclear war as a new kind of “normal” – just like dropping a MOAB only a bit bigger (and right on China’s doorstep, too) – then it’s time to start hunkering down, because these idiots won’t rule out anything in their cheap quest for growing popularity, fed on a concentrated diet of spin, bullshit and existential fear.

    That’s what you get when you read something by someone who wasn’t even born when the Cuban Missile Crisis they so blithely cite as a precedent was actually a thing, and we were all huddled around our radios – the kids crying, the parents besides themselves with worry – waiting for the Big Bang.

  19. Newspoll – as usual the media are pushing the result as a win for Turnbull because his meagre approval ratings have gone up two lousy points and his government picked up one lousy 2PP preferred point while Labor dropped one.

    And yet – the government’s primary votes remained the same as they were last time. Despite a week of demonising foreigners, talking up ‘Australian jobs’, pretending to fix 457 visas and a late flurry of happy snaps with Pence those primary votes didn’t budge. All that happened was the primary votes for Labor and the Greens each dropped by one. Even after a week of foreigner-bashing the One Nation vote didn’t budge.

    So where did those couple of points go? They went to ‘others’ – NXT, indies, or maybe ‘I Dunno’, I suppose, and that was enough to push the 2PP figures towards the government, That tells me that this weekend Newspoll managed to contact a few more ‘I Dunno’ and ‘others’; voters and a few less Labor and Green voters and the pollsters made assumptions when divvying up the responses.

    Despite the media’s ‘come on Malcolm, you can do it’ hype they can’t hide the bleeding obvious – if an election could be held today Labor would win. The Oz estimates Labor would win 78/67.
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/newspoll

    Turnbull might have dragged his approval rating up, but so did Shorten, who is still ahead. Shorten is on 33, Turnbull on 32. Both men increased their preferred PM vote by one, Turnbull now 42 to Shorten’s 33. Despite that the usual suspects are only telling us about Turnbull’s improvement and emphasising the net satisfaction rating which favours Turnbull. They are blatantly cheering on their hero. ‘Come on Malcolm! You can do it!”

    We might as well start calling Turnbull ‘The Little Engine That Couldn’t’.. He’s never going to close that gap.
    “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can overtake the Labor freight train if I just puff harder – I think – pufff – waffle – puff – no, damn it. I cant'”

    This poll also tells me that blatant racism isn’t working. It helped cause Howard’s defeat, in the end and if Turnbull doesn’t stop channelling Howard circa 2001 it will be a cause of his defeat too.

    I enjoyed this comment on Murpharoo’s article about ‘Mony’.
    “This isn’t ‘Mony’, it’s ‘Talcum’. A couple of powder puffs doing battle”
    Thank you, morgey, whoever you are, that was brilliant.

    • Yeah, I thought “Talcum” would have been pretty obvious whenI read the article, but I guess Kath didn’t want to offend.

  20. Just so, Urban

    In the deeper international waters of intolerance and mindless enmity, however, a Leni Riefenstahl Logie goes to MSM, for its sensational scenario of a North Korea a goose step away from world annihilation, in a televisual extravaganza set up to loop endlessly, effortlessly across our screens, as George Orwell foresaw, a cheap and easy means of social control in a world of fear, hate and scarcity made possible by perpetual war.

  21. The David Gillespie/disqualification issue –

    Just a few interesting facts that are easy to find online.

    1. The Lighthouse Beach Post Office has been operating for around 27 years.
    https://www.businessforsale.com.au/australia/e805a1c1/Light-House-Beach-Two-Terminal-LPO-For-Sale

    2. Gillespie bought the property on 21 December 2011 so he knew the post office was there when he purchased. He’s not going to be able to say ‘my agent must have leased that shop to Australia Post without telling me’. He paid $290,000 for it.
    http://www.onthehouse.com.au/12837191/1_46_watonga_st_port_macquarie_nsw_2444

    3. The business is currently for sale, suitable for a couple or for business partners.
    https://www.seekbusiness.com.au/business-listing/post-office-port-macquarie-region-lighthouse-beach/158033

    4. Rent just from this one shop is $25,277 a year. There is another shop in the building and upstairs are office suites. I used to go to the dentists who leases one of them. So this building, is a nice little earner for Gillespie. He has about 16 other properties as well.
    http://www.portnews.com.au/story/2488081/david-gillespie-named-among-top-property-rich-pollies/

    5. Gillespie and his wife have several trusts set up. He lives out of town on a property where he breeds Angus beef cattle for the export market. He – or his wife through one of his trusts, more likely – would be claiming all the financial lurks and perks our government gives to primary producers.

    An investigation into Gillespie’s financial set-up and conflicts of interest is long overdue. He’s not the only politician that needs investigating.However, getting rid of Gillespie won’t help Labor. If he does go he will just be replaced by another National.

  22. Coins CAN be a problem:

    Starting on Thursday, instead of accepting small change from purchases, customers at selected stores can instead opt to deposit it onto prepaid cards such as transportation cards, the Yonhap news agency reports. This means that customers won’t have to carry change in their pockets after making cash payments, the Bank of Korea (BOK) says.
    Some of South Korea’s major convenience stores are taking part in the scheme and, if the initial trial is a success, bank officials plan to allow change to be remitted straight into bank accounts by next year. According to the Korea Herald, nearly two-thirds of people surveyed by BOK say they don’t carry coins any more, with half of those polled supporting plans for a coinless society.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-39639226

    • At one level I agree, Gigilene.

      At another level, I am concerned about the move to a cashless (as opposed to coinless) society.

      I don’t want ANYONE to be able to track my expenditure. Sure, I have a credit card, I have bank accounts, but I am selective about their use.

  23. Cashless welfare card

    I am amazed at how people on Centrelink think a cashless welfare card is good for stopping other people drinking or gambling their money away. They lose their complacency when told that they will have to fund their purchases of
    petrol
    op shop goods
    garage sale goods
    bunnings purchases
    co-op levies
    from the 20% of their income that isn’t quarantined. A look of complete dismay crosses their faces when you wonder out loud whether Aldi would accept an Indue card.

    I can’t see the Indue card being rolled out in Melbourne or Sydney because so many people are in the private rental market in housing stress that if the figures were collected and ANALYSED when Labor eventually got back in either social housing stock would be increased or Centrelink would be increased. In the interim the Indue card promises to increase the number of homeless in the large cities

  24. Does Gillespie run his cattle along Maria River Road to eat the free grass on the verge. His neighbour’s wish he would signpost when his cattle are out and put luminous jackets on the front and back of the herd

  25. I tried the Apply Magic Sauce thing using my Twitter account and a post from here. They think I am male, ages 32 (from the Twitter thing) or aged 38 (from the post.

    Accuracy does not seem to be a strong point.

  26. With almost all votes in the result of the first round of the French Presidential election is

    Emmanuel Macron, En Marche (centrist): 23.86%

    Marine Le Pen, Front National (far right): 21.43%

    François Fillon, Les Républicains (mainstream right): 19.94%

    Jean Luc Mélenchon: La France Insoumise (far left): 19.62%

    Benoît Hamon: Parti Socialiste (mainstream left): 6.35%

    Others: 8.79%

    Detailed results

    Regions won by Macron
    Brittany (North West France)
    Île de France (Paris region)
    Pays de la Loire (North West France)
    Nouvelle-Aquitaine (South West France)
    Auvergne et Rhône-Alpes (South Central France)
    Guadeloupe (Caribbean)
    Wallis and Futuna (South Pacific)

    Regions won by Le Pen
    Normandy (North France)
    Hauts-de-France (North East France)
    Grand Est (East france)
    Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (Central/East France)
    Centre-Val de Loire (Central France)
    Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur (South East France)
    Occitaine (South/South West France)
    Corscia

    Regions won by Fillon
    Saint Martin/Saint Barthélemy (Caribbean)
    French Polynesia
    Mayotte (Island off the east coast of Africa)
    New Caledonia

    Regions won by Mélenchon
    St Pierre and Miquelon (Island off the coast of Newfoundland)
    Martinique (Caribbean)
    French Guiana (South America)
    La Réunion (Indian ocean off the coast of Africa)

    http://graphics.france24.com/results-first-round-french-presidential-election-2017/

  27. This is the third time since Trump won the U.S. presidential election that a far right candidate in Europe has got less percentage share than what the polls were indicating.

  29. Anzac Day tomorrow. The chest-thumpers and ‘patriots’ will be out in force blathering about sacrifice and ‘saving’ Australia. Then our PM and defence chiefs will leave the dawn services and the marches and go back to trying to drag us into a lovely new war, possibly a nuclear one, to support a deluded maniac on the other side of the planet. Won’t that be lovely!

    Pardon my cynicism. It’s hard not to be a cynic on Anzac Day. You know none of them mean any of the things they say in their pre-written speeches, it’s all bullshit, blather, hype and trite, empty words.

    Here’s Andrew P Street’s thoughts on the day.

    The Anzac message isn’t one we can ignore this year
    So, who feels like following a foreign superpower into unimaginable slaughter, yet again?
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/the-anzac-message-isnt-one-we-can-ignore-this-year-20170424-gvr5vg.html

  30. The politicians tell us to be alert to terrorism at ANZAC Day services while the RSL tell us that its our patriotic duty to put ourselves out to commemorate the fallen soldiers

  33. I.m picking up a ww2 veteran tomorrow @4.00am to the him to coolum dawn service. So i,ll not partake in the trashing of Anzac day that seem s to be be all the go.

    • I’m not trashing Anzac Day. I will spend some time tomorrow having a few quiet thoughts about family members who have been involved in wars. One of my sons will be marching tomorrow in honour of his grandfather, he’s done that for some years now with my full support and approval.

      What I strongly object to is the way politicians and others use the day as an excuse to push false ideas and jingoism. I find it disgusting. t’s not what the day is supposed to be about at all.

  34. Andrew P street is a fuckwit
    Whatever side of politics your on we should have a day to say thanks to the people who died fought

  36. Joe6pack,

    I am totally with you when it comes to thanking those who fought and died, and/or were wounded physically/mentally.

    I do not like the way some politicians use the day as a time to glorify war.

  37. It’s not Anzac Day that’s being trashed. It’s those who use it for their own interests.

    Anyone who makes a buck out of Anzac Day is a phoney (Camp Gallipoli, footy games who charge full price, etc.). Whenever you hear that this is “A Very Special Anzac Day” ask why? What’s so special about this AnzacDay as opposed to others ?Making money… that’s what’s special about it. The people who write these TV commercials claiming to be exclusively connected to the Anzacs (and you can share, for a price) are the same people who tell us that every episode of their cruddy soap is “a television event, that All Australia will be watching .” No it’s not, and no they aren’t.

    What you’re doing is fantastic, Joe6.You aren’t charging a fee. You’re doing it out of a sense of gratitude and reverence for men who went to war for 10-bob a day and many of them died along the way.

    Good on you for that Joe6, but a pox on the phonies and the exploiters to whom Anzac Day is a commercial or a political opportunity.

  38. Who moderates Fairfax comments? In their lurch to the right they are tightening up on comments

    My response to Amanda Vanstone’s article today was rejected, I said

    I abhor rich people lobby government to write or amend legislation to make themselves even richer.

    Look at how Gina Rinehart and Twiggy Forrest squealed at the prospect of a MRRT, we now discover that the railway line to Adani’s Carmicheal Mine will also service Hancock’s mining tenement. Are Adani and Gina going to share their prosperity, no they are building driverless mines and salting their hard earned in tax havens, actually that’s money stolen from us, so we have less hospitals, schools and roads

  39. Everything now is a commercial opportunity I understand that. but I don.t think the day should be trashed because of the greedy fuckers.
    Anzac day
    Easter
    labor day
    ets.

    All where public holidays for a reason but are now a rip off

    Anzac day should be the 1 left alone

  40. Ugh, I get the meaning. All on the news people have been saying that this Anzac day is the commemoration of Passchendaele, when in reality that battle started on 31 July 1917.

    If they wanted to be both jingoistic and accurate, they would draw more attention to the Battle of Arras, which was raging in France on this day since 9th April 100 years ago between British/Commonwealth troops against Germany.

    Yes, WW1 was hell on earth to those that fought in it. But it’s starting to get annoying how the message against war has been warped in recent years from “This must never happen again” to “Woo! War is awesome! Let’s wave our dicks and bomb North Korea and Syria simultaneously!”

    • Usually uttered by those who have no memory of just what it’s like to go to bed wondering whether you’ll be nuked overnight.

      The gloss – and the horror – wear off everything. So it is with beauty and with war. To even think of using nuclear bombs as some kind of Deal/No-Deal brinkmanship, orto give a kick-along in thepolls is spooky.

      Human beings have a habit of talking themselves into slaughter,as long as it’s someone else either doing the slaughtering or being slaughtered.

      A nuclear war over North Korea would truly be the End Of Days. It should not be discussed lightly, as just another option if the NKs get a bit uppity or rattle their sabres too loudly.

  41. I am marching on Anzac Day to carry my late husbands ww2 medals (Royal Navy) in the March, as he did when he could. To me it is a day of Remembrance.
    The unholy alliance of the AFL, RSL and ADF to hijack ANZAC Day for recruitment purposes is a bloody disgrace and an insult to those men, women, children, animals killed, and destroyed infrastructure and wildlife habitat.

  43. Fiona

    I do not like the way some politicians use the day as a time to glorify war.

    Which is the very reason my 3 gg uncles never went to one. They saw Gallipoli as an utter waste and pointless loss of life. I overheard ‘uncle Frank’ one day when I was a kid saying how angry he was that on ANZAC Day the people he blamed for it all were the very same people up on the dias making grand speeches, the churchmen, the pollies and assorted dignitaries. Instead for he and others it was off to an illegally opened pub to drink with other vets .

    I think he would be pissed off today that a large part of ANZAC, the remembering and mourning the utterwaste and tragedy of war , has largely been forgotten in favour of “honouring” and dare I say a touch of glorifying.

    We need a little less look over there at those marvellous armed service people and more look over there at the people who sent them and why. I’m looking at you John Howard and Menzies.

    What I over heard is one of only two things I remember him saying about the war. The other was telling me that if there was ever another war overseas don’t be stupid enough to go.

    • Growing up in NZ. Lest We Forget was ‘transmitted’ as a message to remember so as to never let it happen again. Sadly that meaning faded away as the soldiers themselves faded away.

  46. dogThievesAreScum (@PuffyTMD)

    To me it is a day of Remembrance.

    I hope your day goes well and the medals gleam. You and why you are there is what it is supposed to be about. All the best for you tomorrow. Marchons, marchons! Dragon.

    On your hit list shit list you forgot the LNP, little johnny was the one who really ramped up the bullshit it is drowning in.

  48. Why is Andrew P Street a ‘fuckwit’ for saying this?

    This Anzac Day let’s maybe tone down the talk of noble sacrifice and Australianess and remember that eight thousand young men, all of whom were sons and brothers and nephews and friends and husbands and grandsons, were brutally mown down by equally terrified young men on a beach in Turkey just over a century ago in order to achieve absolutely nothing.

    That is the true lesson of war, and right now it seems like a lesson that we’re in danger of being taught again

    I think he’s absolutely right. That’s not trashing Anzac Day, it’s just making a truthful point. It appalls me that right now our leaders are trying to drag us into another war at the same time they are putting the finishing touches to their speeches for tomorrow’s ceremonies.

    This is what our most recent involvement in a pointless war has done to many who survived.
    7 young veterans have already taken their own lives so far this year
    http://www.sbs.com.au/news/thefeed/article/2017/04/17/7-young-veterans-have-already-taken-their-own-lives-so-far-year

  49. Ugh, the election is just depressing over in the UK. Yeah I know, it was called for a completely opportunistic reason, but, from what I can see, there’s hardly any feeling of hope that Labour have a chance in this one.

    May’s Tories are polling in the high 40’s while Corbyn’s Labour is polling in the mid-20’s and so far there seems very little chance of that turning around. It’s like watching a train approaching a railway crossing with a car in the middle with the driver and passengers arguing over to whether they need to change their burst tyre or not.

    I’ll pay attention though, at least out of a kind of morbid curiosity as to whether or not Corbyn can go worse than Foot. Who knows? Maybe he’d wear an actual genuine donkey jacket to the concession speech?

  50. They should talk to lightning chasers about naming things (elves, sprites, jets etc.)

    New atmospheric phenomenon named Steve discovered by aurora watchers

    And the name Steve? The placeholder is in reference to the children’s movie Over the Hedge, where the characters used the name to refer to something they were not sure about.

    Some citizen scientists have even suggested slightly more scientific names for the phenomenon — with a cheeky nod to Steve.

    Chris Ratzlaff commented on the Alberta Aurora Chasers Facebook page: “Sudden Thermal Emission from Velocity Enhancement is being proposed.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-24/new-light-phenomenon-called-steve-by-aurora-watchers/8466234

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