Merry xmas 2018

joe6pack Uncategorized

MAIN-Dog-in-christmas-costume.jpgchristmas presents under treeHello Pub Patrons

A very merry Christmas and wishing you all the best for the new year.Next year could be a fantastic one for us progressives and we can only hope that the good people of Australia will do the correct thing at the ballot box and kick this filthy,lying.smug,smary. homophobic,  corrupt bunch of entitled pieces of crap out of parliament and elect again a fair and balanced labor government.I hope you all stay safe,well and healthy and hope to see you all back after Christmas and I hope that I will be able to be here a little more.Dont eat too much or drink excessively

Who am I kidding have a ball all of you

 

 

 

153 thoughts on “Merry xmas 2018”

  1. Can we all get back to our normal routine now, please.

    Had an excellent day yesterday with No 2 son and his mob. It was exhausting, but managed to get a few repairs done, to keep the boys busy. Listened to the girls discussing the cost nail and eyelash jobs. Lovely girls, but I don’t understand these new fashions.

    Stumbled to bed with what felt like every bone in the body aching. Son came out Xmas day, so I had trouble doing last minute housework having to dodge two wheelchairs. Off to check No 1 son’s pool, then shutting the house down for the heatwave.

  3. “Nationals MP Andrew Broad was allegedly given a 24-hour ultimatum by a Hong Kong woman to pay her to remain silent over her involvement in “sugar baby” arrangements with the disgraced former frontbencher.”

    No, he wasn’t blackmailed. This article is obviously an attempt to paint Broad as a victim, and it won’t work.

    Here’s the message Rob Harris is talking about in his article. When you see the actual Herald-Sun thing it’s there, Outline doesn’t include it. Harris is twisting facts. (What a surprise, a Murdoch journalist twisting the truth!!!).

    Broad went on a site that specifically exists to hook young women up with older, well-off men. A fee for service is applicable on such sites. Whether or not the date ends immediately after dinner, or maybe during dinner, doesn’t matter, men making agreements with the young women on the site pay a fee for services rendered. Broad, by making a date, entered into an agreement with a woman allegedly called Amy Keating. If she liked him then more than just dinner might have been on offer. We have seen other messages where Broad talked about the flashy hotel room he had booked where he hoped to seduce her. She didn’t like him. He was cheap, whined about the prices, seemed sleazy so she left. She is still entitled to the fee he agreed to pay for what was actually a service.

    A “Sugar Daddy” service involves men paying for the time, company and attention of a young woman,.There is a fee for service. It’s a legitimate business set-up, customers pay for the company of the sugar babies they choose. It’s not prostitution, sex may be involved or may not. It’s about wealthy men hiring a girl for company, an outing, or to take to an event. They want someone young and attractive with them and they pay for that.

    Here’s some information about sugar baby/sugar daddy sites.
    https://sugardaddyaustralia.org/

    The money Broad’s “sugar baby” asked for is clearly her fee. It’s less than $1500 AD, if she was trying to blackmail this grub she would have asked for much more.

    Now his mates at the Hun are trying to make out a nasty woman tried to blackmail poor, innocent, stressed-out little Andrew who just wanted a nice dinner with a pretty girl while he was in Hong Kong on not-at-all official business. Sorry, but I’m not falling for that.

    Moral of the story – honour your agreements or cop the consequences.

    Broad had been using dating sites for at least a year before he was found out.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-19/andrew-broad-social-media-post-emerges-lnks-sugar-daddy-sites/10636394

    During that time he had been a strident defender of Christian values, family values and the sanctity of marriage. He had demanded Barnaby Joyce resign over his affair with a staffer (maybe several staffers). Earlier he had spoken against legalising same sex marriage because it went against his devout “Christian” beliefs, yet all through that time he was trying to arrange dates – for a fee – with young woman looking for sugar daddies.

    Amy Keating is right – men like him do not belong in parliament. It’s a shame he didn’t resign form parliament, instead of just from the ministry.

  4. Yes, Julia. Of course, Julia.

    Julia [Banks] was horrified. As far as she was concerned “if it wasn’t going to be Malcolm it had to be Julie. She’s 20 years in the parliament, lauded as the best foreign minister in the world, communication skills of a genius, and a woman. Seriously, a true Liberal and we knew Julie Bishop was Labor’s worst nightmare. I thought if it loses by one vote and it’s Peter Dutton then I’ll quit straight away.”

    https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/celeb-news/who-is-julia-banks-53247

    • What a laugh!

      Jewellery spends all her time on looking good – the daily runs, the gym workouts, the makeup, the time taken for injections of Botox and cheek filler, the spray tanning, the fittings for her borrowed Red Carpet wardrobe, the hairdressing, the shopping and whatever else she does to attempt to look young (cough, cough) and glamorous. That time spent does not include her many, many trips to celebrity-style events or the time she spends with The Handbag. How she finds time to do her real job is a mystery.

      Her ability as a foreign minister is grossly exaggerated. She has managed to offend most of our Asian neighbours, especially China, with her intemperate outbursts.

      Her speeches are written by her staff, who, thank heavens, have a better idea of international diplomacy than Jewels could ever have.

      She would be an abysmal PM and a dreadful GG. Just as well she’s not going to get to be either.

      She could not cope as Turnbull’s shadow treasurer, she was so appalling in that position that her fellow cabinet members demanded she be moved to another portfolio. She only managed to last five months in that job because part of it took in the long Christmas break, otherwise she would have been gone a lot sooner. One of the first things Turnbull did when parliament returned in February 2009 was move her to Foreign Affairs, something she asked for, along with staying on as deputy LOTO, as a condition of giving up her treasurer’s spot “voluntarily”.

      The lies she told about her change of portfolio were spectacular for their spin.
      https://www.smh.com.au/national/bishop-quits-as-shadow-treasurer-20090216-88ku.html

      People forget, if they ever knew, just how bad Jewellery’s record has been. The constant yammering about her becoming PM any day now to “save some furniture” in the coming election is ridiculous. She doesn’t want to be the failure who leads a government to defeat. I don’t even think she wants the responsibility of being an eventual PM, not that she ever will be. She enjoyed being foreign minister, enjoyed the free travel and the many other perks of that job. She will run next year, keep her ultra-safe seat and then she may well decide being in opposition with a much reduced salary and hardly any perks is not for her and quit parliament.

    • I’m surprised it is as low as 75% .The UK papers are shockers. Even the supposed ‘sensible’ ones like the Independent and Guardian indulge in much bullshit and outright propaganda when the topic goes any where near Corbyn.

  7. ‘System of white supremacy’ blocked anti-lynching law for 100yrs – law professor

    Systemic racism and an unwillingness to confront the past have served as major roadblocks to the US adopting federal anti-lynching legislation, a law professor told RT.

    After more than 200 attempts to pass anti-lynching laws since 1882, the US Senate in December finally voted through a bill that would make lynching a federal crime. The Justice for Victims of Lynching Act explicitly states that murder by two or more people, motivated by race or religion, can result in a life sentence. The legislation still faces a vote in the House before becoming law.

    After decades of legislative stonewalling, the anti-lynching bill would not be applied retroactively, meaning that it could not be used to prosecute past lynchings – essentially offering “the silent promise of minimal risks to lynchers and supporters,” Angela Allen-Bell, a professor at the Southern University Law Center, told RT.

    While existing hate crime laws make the bill largely redundant, its successful passage could serve as a small step towards coming to terms with the United States’ long history of racial injustice. Allen-Bell pointed to recent efforts to remove Confederate-era monuments as evidence of a wider movement aimed at confronting racism and discrimination in the country.

    “There has been an awakening about a sense of regression taking place insofar as tolerance for open acts of racism and discrimination. Racial healing has gained newfound credibility as a result of these present tensions in society. All of these competing forces likely punctuated the importance of the presence on this issue of lynching.”

    https://www.rt.com/usa/447426-lynching-law-racism-america/

  8. Organ theft, staged attacks: UN panel details White Helmets’ criminal activities, media yawns

    Utter silence. That is the sound of Western corporate media days after a more than one-hour-long panel on the White Helmets at the United Nations on December 20.

    Journalists were present, so the silence isn’t due to lack of access. And in any case it was live streamed on the UNTV channel, and remains available on Youtube for keen observers to watch.

    More likely, the silence is due to the irrefutable documentation presented on the faux-rescue group’s involvement in criminal activities, which include organ theft, working with terrorists — including as snipers — staging fake rescues, thieving from civilians, and other non-rescuer behaviour.

    https://www.rt.com/op-ed/447385-white-helmets-un-panel/

  9. Leone! I am surprised! The impact of your well deserved criticisms of Julie Bishop’s policies lost much with the initial nastiness, some might say bitchiness, of your tone.

    Essentially that’s what weakened the hostile and undeserved commentary on our genuinely heroic Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. I recall that as she attained high office the animus and spite was there and was recognized as such, winning more support from fair minded Australians.

    • Except the MSM and the Press Gallery are in no way hostile to Julie Bishop, the way they all were with Julia Gillard. They all seem to adore her and do their best to promote her.

      I’m one of many who has decided to speak the truth about Julie Bishop, and that truth includes her manifest unfitness for any sort of public office. If I could think of anything nice to say about her then I would, but I can’t come up with anything.

      I think any criticism of this woman is well deserved, we need an antidote to the increasing media love affair with her. It’s almost at beatification level now.

    • The way I see it : Julia Gillard was not liked much by the public during her term. Thanks to the nasty media, and the nasty opposition. Many Labor people also criticised her. It’s only post-politics, with her numerous appearances in various high positions, that she finally received more appreciation. The media and the LNP still rarely ever have a nice word for her. Some Labor people also can’t see her multiple qualities.

    • Patriciawa, the Julie Bishops of this world are a dime a dozen so there can be no comparison between her and Julia Gillard, whose prime offence in the eyes of the media was the fact that she was a LABOR PM. Leone’s criticisms of Bishop paint a fair and true picture of the shallowness of a woman who has not excelled in the portfolios she’s held as a Member of Parliament. Her stint as the fashion plate Minister for Foreign Affairs will be her legacy and sometime in the future someone will start adding up the cost to the taxpayer of her holding the FA Portfolio.

  11. Residents of Sydney’s Opal Tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a “comprehensive investigation” into a crack on the tenth floor of the building.

    In a statement released on Thursday afternoon Icon, the builder behind the project, said all residents would be relocated over the next 24 hours.

    Residents are being warned the investigation may take 10 days.

    More to come.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-27/opal-tower-residents-told-to-leave-for-a-second-time/10669834

  12. The Australian government and the security giant it contracts to secure offshore detention centres, G4S, are facing a raft of lawsuits alleging staff were put at risk while working on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, suffering physical and psychological harm during riots.

    At least four cases have been filed to Victoria’s supreme court by different law firms alleging that staff at the Australian-run detention centre, including security guards and managers, were not provided with a safe workplace, and that the Australian government and G4S failed in their duty of care.

    Earlier in December, Guardian Australia reported that a former manager at the Manus Island detention centre had sued, alleging he was misled about conditions at the centre, which he described as unsanitary and marred by violence. A further three cases have since been identified by Guardian Australia, with other staff making similar allegations.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/dec/27/australian-government-and-g4s-hit-with-multiple-lawsuits-from-manus-island-staff

  13. Julia Banks said she felt “devastated” when Scott Morrison emerged as the new prime minister and saw attempts to send her to New York for a three-month secondment as an attempt by her party to silence her.

    …

    She said the entire leadership spill was “driven from Tony Abbott’s opposition”, placing the blame directly on “Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton, Greg Hunt [in a] whole program to knife Malcolm” she said was “driven and led by them”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/dec/27/julia-banks-says-she-felt-devastated-when-scott-morrison-become-new-pm

  15. Why the continuing media fascination with Julia Banks? Haven’t we heard all she has to say already, months ago?

    We knew about that offer of an internship in New York ages ago too, why drag it up again now and pretend it’s “news”?

    The Women’s Weekly is a bit slow with their “exclusive” interview. It’s just pointless rehashing of old news.

  19. Janice

    It gave me a giggle. How’s things. Hope you are keeping cool. We’ve locked ourselves up in our cave here. Out to do chores very early, then having the rest of the day off.

  23. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    So Morrison’s department DID know about the sugar baby weeks in advance of its becoming public.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-s-office-had-known-for-weeks-about-sugar-daddy-andrew-broad-20181227-p50ofw.html
    Shane Wright concludes his article on the Morrison government by saying that Just like in ancient Rome, it could be the general public preparing to eradicate any remnants of the Morrison government.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/treacherous-path-to-election-could-erase-memento-morrison-20181227-p50od2.html
    Warwick McFadyen sees some dark days ahead for the Nationals.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-broad-reminder-of-the-coalition-s-dark-days-ahead-20181224-p50o46.html
    The AFR says that Morrison will have to dig deep next year.
    https://outline.com/ZXcEAY
    Paula Matthewson writes, “If 2018 is to be remembered for anything, it will be as the year the Coalition threw away the federal election. Thanks to a potent mix of ambition, revenge and poor decision-making, the Liberal and Nationals parties have pretty much handed the keys to The Lodge to Labor leader Bill Shorten.”
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/12/21/liberal-lose-election-labor/
    There are going to be a lot of news stories on the Opal Tower. Will the IPA call for even less regulation?
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/opal-tower-residents-vent-fury-at-evacuation-chaos-20181227-p50ogy.html
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/all-opal-tower-residents-forced-to-leave-cracked-building-for-up-to-10-days-20181227-p50ofi.html
    Former Herald local government reporter Harvey Grennan says that Sydney’s dodgy buildings are due to 17 years of inaction. Way back then he identified private certifiers as a major issue,
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-s-dodgy-buildings-due-to-17-years-of-inaction-20181227-p50odo.html
    Greg Sheridan writes that there is a lack of clarity about whether the Pentagon’s commitment to alliances is shared by Donald Trump.
    https://outline.com/7eannZ
    Stephen Bartholomeusz explores what’s behind the excessive volatility of the US stock market and concludes that it’s a reflection of Trump’s America.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/the-volatile-outlook-for-2019-is-a-reflection-of-trump-s-america-20181227-p50oea.html
    Dog Dingwall reports that anonymity gives public servants no protection from sacking for making political comments, the federal government has told the High Court. The case will continue in the hew year.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/anonymity-no-protection-for-tweeting-public-servants-high-court-told-20181226-p50o8n.html
    Michelle Guthrie has asked the Federal Court to reinstate her as managing director of the ABC, saying the national broadcaster’s board had no right to sack her under its governing legislation.
    https://www.outline.com/kGcu8V
    Police have smashed an international organised crime syndicate suspected of stealing more than a million dollars in luxury goods, designer clothing and sporting gear from homes and stores across the country and overseas.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-police-smash-international-shoplifting-syndicate-run-by-chilean-tourists-20181227-p50ohn.html
    As AMP shareholders brace for the banking royal commission’s final report, company boss David Murray believes the inquiry will be a good thing for the sector.
    https://outline.com/fxKmdN
    The Wall Street Journal explains why world leaders cannot trust Trump.
    https://outline.com/fSX4J9
    Hong Kong’s image as an open society is crumbling.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/hong-kong-s-world-city-reputation-threatened-as-china-cracks-down-20181226-p50ocf.html
    The UK Guardian says the best way to scupper Putin and Trump is to scrap Brexit.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/27/putin-trump-brexit-europe-britain-eu
    The podiatrist who might have helped Donald Trump avoid Vietnam.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2018/12/27/donald-trump-medical-exemption/
    Cricket Australia has called for an urgent overhaul of the MCG pitch on a day the flat-lining deck was labelled “terrible”.
    https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/last-legs-mcg-pitch-terrible-as-pressure-grows-for-change-20181227-p50od6.html
    Malcolm Knox writes that this one’s not even for the purists as the pitch sucks life from the MCG Test.
    https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/this-one-s-not-even-for-the-purists-as-pitch-sucks-life-from-mcg-test-20181227-p50ohy.html
    Gideon Haigh’s report on the test match is worth reading just for the prose.
    https://outline.com/bgpLXM
    The Australian government and the security giant it contracts to secure offshore detention centres, G4S, are facing a raft of lawsuits alleging staff were put at risk while working on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, suffering physical and psychological harm during riots.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/dec/27/australian-government-and-g4s-hit-with-multiple-lawsuits-from-manus-island-staff
    The most amazing and controversial medical advances of 2018.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/wellbeing/2018/12/27/2018-medical-breakthroughs/
    Jenna Price tells us why reading maps is still wrecking our holidays.
    https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/why-reading-maps-is-still-wrecking-our-holidays-20181227-p50oci.html
    And today’s nomination for “Arsehole of the Week” is . . .
    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/dec/27/sexual-abuse-allegations-afghan-fa-president-keramuudin-karim

    Cartoon Corner

    Cathy Wilcox’s modern systems of government.

    Today’s offerings from Matt Golding.






    Andrew Dyson and the reshaping of history.

    From the US.

    Jon Kudelka and the Opal Tower.
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/b4cee3f29e1c46a178088fe70ab2e0c5

  25. Did you know that you could undertake an internship in flipping burgers?

  26. It’s about time the media woke up to this story. Tim Beshara tweeted the news on Christmas Eve. His tweet was posted here that night. The Guardian finally caught up yesterday, everyone else has ignored it.

    Woodside seeks approval for gas project near WA’s Dampier marine reserves
    Federal environment department publishes proposal on Christmas Eve and public has only 10 business days to comment

    But conservationists said the project was complex and questioned why the development proposal had been put on public exhibition immediately before the Christmas shutdown period.

    “When in Scott Morrison’s Christmas address he said this a time for ‘barbecues, boardies, holidays, family’, it makes you wonder why Melissa Price’s department started the 10-day public consultation period on Christmas Eve for one of the most complex projects ever assessed under the EPBC Act,” said Tim Beshara, the Wilderness Society’s federal policy director.

    Beshara said the project had the potential to impact on the health of the ecosystems in the marine reserves that surround the excavation zone, particularly some newly discovered corals and sponge beds.

    “The former owner of this gas project had tried to avoid unnecessary environmental damage by proposing to set up a floating processing plant, but Woodside, the new owner, has chosen against doing this,” he said.

    He called on the environment minister, Melissa Price, to immediately extend the public notification period “to show that this wasn’t timed to minimise public scrutiny for a project approval for a Liberal party donor”.

    A spokeswoman for the environment department said the referral had been processed on 20 December and had been automatically registered and put out for public comment for 10 days “as per normal process”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/27/woodside-seeks-approval-for-gas-project-near-was-dampier-marine-reserves

    Yesterday Woodside announced the contract for designing this project.
    https://thewest.com.au/business/energy/woodside-petroleum-picks-bechtel-for-design-of-second-pluto-lng-train-ng-b881059932z

    • That used to be true, Kaffee, but not so anymore. What with careful breeding and the use of artificial insemination, the Friesian cow’s milk production has been improved so much that it can match the milk quality of the Jersey which cannot match the milk quantity of the Friesian.

  30. The heatwave isn’t reaching us up here on the NSW mid-north coast. We are having our normal late December weather, maybe a few degrees hotter during the day, but cool at night. Yesterday didn’t even reach the forecast maximum of 28C.

    Right now it’s 26.9C, down from an earlier peak of 28.6C, with a very energetic nor-easter blowing. It’s actually very pleasant.

    Forecast is for more of the same tomorrow then an increase to 31C on Sunday, with a few more days the same. It’s been so cool at night that I have not needed to turn on the bedroom fan since before Christmas Day.

    I seem to be the only person in Australia who doesn’t have air conditioning.

    • When the GFC happened and Labor gave pensioners extra money we bought an air conditioner. That supported one store, one installer and one electrician. The difference it made to Razz’s health was magical.

      Luckily there was one in this house when we bought it so didn’t have to find some extra money to put one in. We borrowed money from my son, got solar panels, and because we save on electricity all year we don’t worry about a bit of extra cost for summer.

    • Not the only one Leone, albeit possibly the most northerly. Sim and I manage without it down here in Portland, but we are in a greenish oasis extending to nearby coastal areas from Warrnambool to Mount Gambier. It’s currently 26C and has hovered around that most of the week. To us that’s plenty warm enough and we’re mostly indoors. But we’ve become softies in the cool damp conditions we mostly have.

      It’s tapering off to 21 tomorrow and likely to continue there over the next week.

    • If I had the money I’d think about AC, but really, there are not that many days here when I’d really need it. It’s not my house anyway.I can manage quite well with fans, I have them everywhere.

      No 1 Son has AC, if we get a run of hot days I can go over there, play with the littlest grand-daughter and enjoy the cool.

  32. Hi BK and joining belatedly with others in thanking you for your tireless contributions. Being a trifle less energetic these days, albeit health and fitness is actually slowly improving) I mostly post the best of them in Twitter rather than blog. But I still love coming to The Pub.

    I saw a link to a post in The Australian, which may provide a new nomination to your Arsehole of the Week feature. An underpayment amounting to $86,000 is a bit much.

    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/plastics-company-paid-husband-and-wife-workers-8-an-hour/news-story/c856cff396714a75cad998b846a9803d

  34. I hope everyone had a good Christmas Day. Mine was a bit lonely with only one son here but between him and the dogs, we had a good day.

    The ALP Conference was good, but it filled up my week and I did not get the day off in the middle off the week, Wednesday, that I usually use for resting. I took my Mum Xmas shopping and that means dismantling and remantling her little battery operated gopher that she uses in the shops. It breaks down into four pieces and fits in the boot of a car. It has a range if 10k at full charge. I am getting stronger with loading it into the boot, so that must be good exercise. By the time Xmas day came around, I was ready to just crash.

    We have good airconditioning in the front room and a portable one for the bedroom so keeping cool is not a problem. I supported a client yesterday and I am glad I had a car air-con to drive her to the shops. We got back home and stayed in her aircon’ed kitchen. Way back when we never heard of cars with aircons other than turning the quarter pane window to get the airflow into the car, and the house was windows shut at dawn to keep the heat out.

    Here’s to a winning 2019.

  35. I had suggested a Birthday Bash for this evening, but would people please forgive me if I postpone it until Sunday?

    Been warm in Melbourne, and I’ve been at work for much of the day.

    • My cousin in his Austrian chalet is enjoying -10°C weather. I emailed him with yesterdays maximum, 43.7°C.

  38. Wonderful rant about climate change and political inaction, from a NSW farmer.

    This Christmas I am full of rage and despair. I wanted to post this little bit of writing yesterday but I feared being accused of spoiling everyone’s Christmas.
    But guess what? – your Christmases and the Christmases of your children and your children’s children are already spoiled into the future and not because of this post.

    Today is Boxing Day and everyone has probably had enough of Christmas now. You are sitting inside, out of the heat, watching the cricket and eating left-overs. So here comes my outburst – read it, there is nothing else to do.

    It’s Boxing Day but it is something else too – today is the second day in a run of eleven days where the forecast maximum is 35 or above. Eleven days is as far as the forecast on the app I use goes. Who knows, it might go on for longer…

    And there is more to share from my weather app. Not only are we forecast to have eleven days in a row where the maximum is or exceeds 35c but the coolest night time temperature is 18c with many nights into the mid twenties making sleep very difficult.

    This kind of weather also makes farming very difficult. I suspect that after eleven days of this kind of solar radiation onslaught we wont have any pasture left. Careful management of grazing, grazing rotations and maintenance of native grass pastures, holding water in the landscape etc can only do so much. Our dams are nearly dry and there is no rain in the forecast.

    This run of hot weather will also mean that we will be spending a lot of time keeping our hens cool (a euphemism for preventing their death by overheating). Aside from positioning them in the best shade we can find, it means regular applications of frozen bricks into their water, making ice pecking treats for them and hosing down their pen. It will be pretty much a full time job just preventing their deaths. So be prepared for your pasture-raised eggs to be scarcer and more expensive in summer, now and into the future as the temperatures climb and as extra effort goes into keeping laying hens cool.

    Before you kindly offer bales of hay and make suggestions for sprinkling systems for pastured poultry enterprises, before you offer wisdom from a Farming Guru as a solution to our plight, before you placate me by saying how much we value our farmers and their work, how much we love your food, how lovely our pictures on Instagram are, before you metaphorically pat me on the shoulder and say, ‘the rain will come, don’t worry’, I want you to know I don’t want bales or advice, or praise or cheering up.

    When we have fewer eggs and no lamb, I want you to get angry, really angry. Not towards us but I want you to be angry at the lack of action on climate change. Because if you think eleven days over 35 in a row is bad, wait till we get the predicted extreme heat…

    And I’m angry because being anything other than angry feels like being complicit. And I want you to be angry. I want us all to be so angry and so noisy and so outraged that we get heard. I want our governments to take action on climate change, and more, I want real action on climate change. I want things to change, lots of things.

    I am not a scientist, I can’t recall relevant statistics to place in this outburst, I don’t need to. The science is in and has been in and building for decades. There are plenty of reports eloquent on the matter. Scarcely a news report goes by nowadays without reference to some environmental disaster or other. Hear the one about the Third Great Extinction?

    Climate change or global warming is not a matter of ‘belief’ – save the belief thing for Christmas – it’s a matter of fact. Our habitats are degraded, our koala populations are devastated, land clearing has recently been re-approved in NSW, the Barrier Reef is in a deplorable state and its hot, bloody hot and bloody dry.

    I was not raised a Christian, I am no woman of faith or belief – that’s in case the atheists stop reading here. But I am deeply interested in symbols and in the underlying meaning of myths and stories and legends. It seems to me that Christmas is ultimately a story of hope – that kind of innocent hope that comes with the birth of a new baby, the hope that the baby will have a fruitful life, a positive life, a happy life. That’s what we all want isn’t it? That’s what we all hope our children will have?

    But what kind of life will a baby born today have? One without natural wonders like the Barrier Reef, without magnificent forests, without koalas, polar bears, and with water scarcity, increasing heat waves and fire storms? And how about a future where bird diversity means sparrows, pigeons and starlings. See the report the other day of galahs falling dead out of the sky?

    So it’s Christmas, a time of hope, a time we try to make a fabulous magical time for children. So let’s think of them for a moment. Recently we have seen that they have even lost hope. Heard of Greta Thunberg? The 15 year old who decided to stop going to school and sit outside the Swedish Parliament to demand action on climate change. She recently inspired other school children all over the world to protest including here in Australia. And the response of our politicians? Scott Morrison told them to go back to school and that they needed “more learning in schools and less activism”. Watch out Scott, they’ll be voting soon!

    I acknowledge that via Facebook I am talking in my own echo chamber – talking to people who are already concerned and who are already reducing, reusing, recycling, renewing, repurposing, who have installed solar, who are minimizing water use, who are changing their farming practices, eliminating plastics, thinking about food miles, buying from ethical sources. I also know you are also eating seasonally, eating locally, growing it, cooking it, composting it, making it, sewing it, fixing it, re-using it, etc. I know my city friends are bike riding or walking or taking public transport instead of driving to work. That’s brilliant, keep doing what you are doing and keep caring. But it seems like we are doing all the hard work while our politicians are obfuscating.

    We have the opportunity to vote this year in both Federal Elections and State Elections (in NSW at least). We have the opportunity to interrogate (yep, I mean interrogate) our politicians on action on climate change. What are their policies? What meaningful action will they take? What do they think about the School Strike? Make sure they know you are angry and that you will change your vote according to that issue. Make sure they don’t divert you onto thinking the main issue is free-trade or immigration or terrorism – after all, what is more terrifying than an increasingly hostile climate?

    I am not making a case here for voting for any particular party (except, really? are you really going to vote for the National Party again? Really?). I actually think none of the available political options have policies strong enough for effective action. But let’s push them in that direction, ask them what their policies are? Tell them that’s not good enough, demand real action, make our voices heard.

    Greta Thunberg puts it perfectly. When addressing the world’s politicians she said, “we cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis”. “Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible there is no hope”. That word again – Hope.

    So over Christmas and the School Holidays, hold your children tight and get angry with them. Support their rage – they have every right to be angry, we have stolen their future. Vote with their future in mind, show them that adults are accountable.

    I’ve spent my whole life as an environmentalist, I’ve done what I can – obviously not enough. I’ve been part of some small victories, I continue to live thoughtfully and my environmentalism informs our farming and conservation work here at Highfield. Largely, I feel it has been a wasted endeavor because so little has changed. It is so hard to stay optimistic, but giving up is not an option. I’m staying angry.

    It’s hot, and it will be a very long heat wave. Our animals need us so I’m going out to put more ice bricks in the chickens’ water tank…

    https://www.facebook.com/highfieldfw/

  42. The government has caved in to pressure and has extended the submission period for the Woodside project to 31 January.

    It sounds very much as if Ms Price had to get Woodside’s agreement before she made her announcement.

  43. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Matt Wade says that investors are flirting with the possibility of an interest rate cut in 2019 as falling property prices and wild fluctuations on global share markets cloud the economic outlook.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/interest-rates-in-the-balance-amid-housing-slump-20181228-p50oo7.html
    Crispin Hull writes that the first few months of 2019 will be a dangerous time economically in Australia. A Government on the ropes will be out to buy votes and an Opposition sacred of blowing it at the last minute will be almost forced to match every bribe.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-cost-of-talking-budget-in-an-election-lead-up-20181227-p50oid.html
    Josh Dye brings us up to date with the Opal Tower problem.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/residents-pack-up-their-troubles-as-opal-tower-empties-again-20181228-p50ono.html
    NSW independent MP Alex Greenwith explains why a building defects inquiry is needed.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/water-damage-dangerous-mould-why-we-need-a-building-defects-inquiry-20181228-p50omu.html
    Sacked ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie’s push to return to her job at the broadcaster has been slammed by board directors who are gobsmacked that she’d want to work there again.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/completely-unworkable-guthrie-s-push-to-return-to-the-abc-slammed-20181228-p50ojw.html
    Now Trump is threatening to shut ‘entire’ border as the government shutdown stalemate drags on.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-threatens-to-shut-entire-border-as-shutdown-stalemate-drags-on-20181229-p50op2.html
    Julia Baird has written a piece on how fake news has shaped our history.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-biggest-porky-pies-how-fake-news-has-shaped-our-history-20181227-p50ohq.html
    Fergus Hunter reports that Albo has demanded answers from the government on the Andrew Broad “sugar daddy” scandal, calling for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to clear up who knew what and when, so Australians can move on.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-demands-answers-on-broad-sugar-daddy-scandal-from-dysfunctional-government-20181228-p50omi.html
    The AFR explains how voter tracking software is changing the face of Australia’s federal elections.
    https://outline.com/SWRbx3
    Bianca Hall reports that the Victorian Greens will overhaul the way the party vets candidates and handles misconduct allegations, after a year beset by scandals and disappointing election results.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/after-horror-year-bitter-greens-overhaul-party-as-former-mayor-quits-20181228-p50ojs.html
    Shane Wright tells us about the capital cities eating up the rest of Australia.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-capital-cities-that-ate-australia-20181226-p50o8k.html
    The rise and fall of Bitcoin.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/remember-bitcoin-some-investors-would-rather-forget-20181228-p50oit.html
    Peter van Onselen says that when it comes to female representation the Liberal Party only needs to look across the chambers of parliament to Labor to see the error of its ways.
    https://www.outline.com/myC72X
    Clancy Yeates writes that the royal commission has triggered debate about bank compensation schemes, which critics say are too often opaque, slow, and complex to navigate.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/a-right-pain-royal-commission-shines-light-on-bank-run-compo-20181220-p50nkm.html
    Employment service providers are exploiting a “transactional” system that has allowed them to be paid ­multiple taxpayer bonuses for placing the same 5000 unemployed people in seven or more jobs in the past three years alone, new data reveals. Pricks!
    https://outline.com/p8RnFV
    The New York Times wonders what happens next for a broken Syria now the US is quitting.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/what-happens-next-for-a-broken-syria-now-the-us-is-quitting-20181227-p50odx.html
    Phil Coorey says Trump has not even been president for two years yet, largely as a consequence of his buffoonery, the administration has witnessed an unprecedented turnover of officials and cabinet ministers including chiefs of staff, secretaries of state and attorneys-general.
    https://outline.com/CE3Ydj
    Anne Summers writes that under pressure, Trump is more vulnerable than ever.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/under-pressure-trump-more-vulnerable-than-ever-20181227-p50oge.html
    Trump in 2019 will either muddle through another year of his chaotic presidency or finally wear out his welcome among Republicans who finally recognise they can save him or themselves, but not both.
    https://outline.com/Ktnjsr
    At midnight tonight, one of the largest and most fraught trade deals in world history will come into effect, with Australia and five other countries importing and exporting under the rules of the TPP-11, formally called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/after-years-of-tortured-negotiations-tpp-comes-into-force-at-midnight-20181228-p50ola.html
    Bob Hawke has hinted his “terrible” health may mean he won’t be around to see Labor’s likely win at next year’s federal election.
    https://outline.com/aFqqsZ
    Controversial plans to dump up to 15m tonnes of salt and other waste near a creek in drought-stricken Queensland have hit an unexpected roadblock after a court ruled that planning approvals do not allow for trucks to park at the site.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/dec/29/plan-to-dump-15m-tonnes-of-salt-waste-in-murray-darling-headwaters-hits-roadblock
    More than a dozen major political books are already planned for 2019, and the federal election will probably spawn more.
    https://outline.com/uxVBGu
    Australia’s largest coal producer, the secretive Swiss commodities trader, Glencore, topped Michael West’s Top 40 Tax Dodgers chart last year. This year, it is not even on the list.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/sneaky-coal-giant-glencore-drops-off-the-top40-tax-dodgers/
    Sally Whyte reports that The federal government spent $157 million on government advertising campaigns in 2017-18, with the same-sex marriage postal survey contributing to an increase in overall spending. There was a $57 million increase on the previous year, when $100.1 million was spent on government advertising campaigns. That year included $19.2 million on the 2016 census.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/government-advertising-spend-jumps-57-million-in-one-year-20181228-p50oly.html
    Here’s Gideon Haigh’s beautifully written report on yesterday’s test match play.
    https://www.outline.com/xZLcHh
    Oops! The Sydney Morning Herald has apologised after it published a photo of the wrong person in an article about a man who allegedly shot his stepmother with a nail gun on Christmas Day.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/dec/28/sydney-morning-herald-apologises-after-publishing-photo-of-man-wrongly-identified-as-alleged-nail-gun-attacker
    This guy deserves nomination for “Arsehole of the Week”.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-bus-driver-sprayed-in-face-with-chemical-police-20181228-p50ok6.html

    Cartoon Corner

    Alan Moir with Gladys and a silver lining.

    From the US.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1078469094289039360/XERulD5y?format=jpg&name=600×314
    https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1078453492094767109/hnEYRF9k?format=jpg&name=600×314
    Andrew Dyson and Trump.
    https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_828/t_resize_width/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto%2Cdpr_auto/0931b5707e5cb85018f353b83b7cb4246ab41d1e
    Here’s Matt Golding’s work for the day,





    Zanetti never lets up!

    Jon Kudelka and Michelle Guthrie’s intentions.
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/a858a4796f20e0e52dd3f6bae845c348
    Sally Pope looks at ten years of cartooning from David Pope.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/ten-years-of-david-pope-the-struggles-of-a-daily-cartoonist-20181227-p50of7.html

  45. Martin Indyk is an Australian expat ‘joke’ special US envoy for Israeli – Palestinian negotiations:

  46. So Their ABC is still referring to Neo-Nazis as “far-right activists”?

    FFS ABC!

    Neil Erikson, convicted criminal, mate of the appalling Blair Cottrelll and self-proclaimed Neo-Nazi has been referred to as a “far-right activist” by Their ABC for at least a year now. It’s time the ABC stopped pussy-footing around and called this person what he really is.

    You remember Erikson – he’s the idiot who accosted Sam Dastyari in a pub and called him a “monkey” and a “terrorist”. He’s the fool who wore a Toll shirt for his attacks, despite not being employed by that company.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-13/neil-erikson-childish-court-wears-toll-vest/9542114

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-11/far-right-activist-neil-erikson-sentenced-over-contempt-of-court/9750750

  47. some of my bad poetry

    There was a young man from The Coalition
    Whose puny breast burned with ambition
    So he bought a blue tie
    And learned how to lie
    And morphed into a perfect Lib politician.

  48. This is a fantastic rant, it’s a whole election campaign in 16 tweets.

    Read the whole thread.

  50. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    A very interesting article from Matt Wade about our gross misconceptions over major issues.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-voters-perception-versus-reality-20181228-p50olu.html
    The SMH editorial is an exhortation to action from the ground up on climate policy because it’s not coming from this federal government.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/climate-danger-take-heart-and-fight-on-20181228-p50okk.html
    Patrick Hatch tells us that a solar farm which will be the largest in NSW and be big enough power a city of almost a million people is a step closer to reality after getting the green light from planning authorities.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/nsw-largest-solar-farm-gets-government-s-green-light-20181228-p50om4.html
    Ben Oquist says that the next election and the next Senate will have to make some of the biggest decisions on the direction of taxation policy in a generation. If they get it right, perhaps their most important achievement will be showing to all Australians that our democracy is not yet completely broken.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/30/can-australia-learn-from-its-tax-mistakes-of-the-past
    According to Greg Sheridan Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Theresa May — the three great disrupters of 2018 will determine the shape of the world in 2019. Never have three less likely revolutionaries strode the global stage.
    https://www.outline.com/TbJ2Cg
    After dipping a toe in the world of public relations with a Twitter account, the Australian Signals Directorate is set to take a leap in the direction of transparency, with plans to publish a two-volume history of the agency.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/shadowy-agency-wants-to-tell-its-story-20181227-p50oed.html
    It gets worse for some Opal Tower residents.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/welcome-to-the-gypsy-life-new-year-s-pain-for-opal-tower-residents-20181229-p50oqq.html
    Fines for driving unregistered are up more than 64,000 per year since the removal of rego stickers. Motorists blame the government for not sending reminders.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/drivers-demand-reminders-for-car-rego-as-nsw-rakes-in-240m-in-fines-20181228-p50ojy.html
    If history’s greatest novelists and playwrights were to come back from the dead so they could tell the improbable tale of Donald Trump, how would they do it?
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/how-would-the-great-writers-tell-the-improbable-story-of-trump-20181229-p50oqs.html
    Victoria is set to record its lowest ever road toll, almost 20% less than 2017. SA has a similar story.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-set-to-record-lowest-ever-road-toll-almost-20-percent-less-than-2017-20181229-p50oqr.html
    Here’s Gideon Haigh’s take on day 4 of the test match.
    https://outline.com/P88WeP
    Geoff Lemon writes that the workload of Pat Cummins and the rest of the Australian bowlers is not being helped by batsmen who are not currently doing their jobs
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/dec/28/cummins-strikes-but-australias-bowlers-are-at-breaking-point
    Gift cards have burgeoned into a multi-billion-dollar industry in Australia, but companies are pushing short expiry dates and sneaky fees onto consumers.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/consumer/2018/12/26/what-to-know-about-gift-cards/
    And for “Arsehole of the Week” . . .
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/he-ruled-it-like-a-cult-inside-drug-crop-enforcer-s-brutal-regime-20181226-p50o9e.html

    Cartoon Corner

    From Matt Golding.





    Peter Broelman and some anxious spectators.

    Paul Zanetti with Hawkie.

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