I knew, I just knew I shouldn’t have had a quick squizz at twitter as I am about to go to bed. We are just devastated at the loss of this historic bridge. Way back in the 70’s we used to drive over it to get to our destination. Then you could just walk over it, then you could only stand and look at it. Razz’s grandfather used to be the fruit fly inspector way back when.
Happy new year to all you t’other siders. It is still 2019 where I am so I’d like to know if 2020 is any better, I bloody well hope so. See you all next year.
Good morning and a Happy New Year to the Dawn Patrollers and all PUBsters.
I won’t link all the individual bushfire accounts. They are many. They are harrowing. And they can be found on each outlet’s home page.
And for the sake of my own mental health I have studiously avoided seeing or reading Morrison’s NYE message. So you won’t find it here today.
The one million dollars for the Red Cross was about the only bit of good news.
Come on, 2020! You can do it!
Happy New Year, everyone. Just checking in while we still have power and communications as they said they could go out again at any time. The below link is the black area where fires are burning. In the bottom red square from where it says Nicholson up to the centre where it says BruthenSF is the semi-circle we were watching burn Monday night.
Razz and Hunter are still sleeping. I slept like a log. We will try and get a bit of an easy routine going today.
Sorry, here is the link. You have to enlarge it to see area I am talking about.
I was going to concoct a new thread starter for the new year, but after my rude awakening this morning I’m in no mood for it, so maybe later. Or maybe someone else will do it.
So I’m sorry.
This morning I was woken far too early by loud rap music coming from the problem neighbours two doors down. It’s a first for them and I hope a last. The racket went on for half an hour, then the official tenant had a loud screaming match with her unofficial resident freeloaders and the music stopped. What a great way to greet the first morning of the new year!
I’m not positive about 2020. Nothing has changed just because the calendar tells us it’s a new year. My family has much to look forward to, but I cannot say the same for Australia.
I read Ross Gittins’ excellent article and it just deepened my pessimism.
FauxMo is still PM, his rabble of a ministry is still full of the same assortment of corrupt-to-the-core dingbats, dills and drongos.
Albo is still LOTO and still telling us we must be polite and kind and not yell at the government. He’s actually telling us to be quiet Australians. Does he realise that?
The fires still burn, will keep on burning all summer and the PM is still refusing to declare a national emergency. .
The government still has no plans to address climate change, is still denying it exists.
The 120,000+ oldies waiting in vain for home care packages are still waiting, with little hope of getting home help before they either die or give up and go into the cruel joke that is aged care institutions.
The same people trying to survive on Newstart yesterday are still stuck on that payment today with little hope of ever finding work and no hope of getting a proper increase. Labor, should it ever return to government, won’t help either.
I could go on, but you get my drift.
It’s another smokey morning here, after a weird, smokey orange sunset last night, which is odd, because the fires around here are no longer active because there isn’t much left to burn.. The smoke must be drifting up from way down the south coast. That alone is a worry.
So please excuse me if I don’t wish you a Happy New Year or get excited about a new decade, I just don’t see anything to celebrate.
Welcome to 2020, just like 2019, only probably even worse.
We have a smoke haze here and light worthy of Mordor.
Really bad at five o’clock. Now easing ever so slightly.
No need to apologize. Hope you day gets better.
Alan Moir’s cartoon would be a good starter, leone.
To tell you the truth, leone, I’m scared. Scared for the country, its people, its animals, its forests – the whole land. Really scared.
I listened to M’s speech, only the beginning. I must be a bit odd but his trousers are just awful. Does he ever have them washed and ironed. Does he ever change trousers?
I liked Albo’s look, I must say. On the whole he is so much better- presenting in his trendy jeans than M’s shapeless trousers. His speech was reasonable too.
I’m so tired of Morrison. I can’t handle his ignorant idiocy any more.
Every Sydney based PM since Howard thinks Kirribilli is the place to live. If @ScottMorrisonMP lived in Canberra like most of his predecessors before JWH he would know what suffocating climate change denial means.
Happy New Year everyone. What an awful end to the year and the decade, may next year & decade be one with action that leaves those willing to surrender our futures to charlatans and crooks left bereft of power and influence
Well, we've just hit number 1 in Canberra: worst air quality in world at 9:30 am! (Not complaining it's very nice here compared to fire ravaged communities on coast but what a NY) pic.twitter.com/JSo0FanwZQ
434 ? Looxury lad.
.
The Monash air quality station had an index rating of 3589 on Wednesday morning at 8am. Anything above 200 is considered hazardous.
In the north, the Florey air quality station recorded a rating of 2649 and the Civic air quality station it was 2577.
Key details about Australia's relationship with Papua New Guinea after the Pacific nation hired mercenaries to take on armed rebels in the Sandline Affair two decades ago will stay secret instead of being released. https://t.co/OLQ12wdjPU#cabinetpapers#auspol#ausdef#PNG
The historian in charge of Cabinet Documents says a change designed to throw open government decisions to public view might in fact have added to their secrecy. Every New Year's day, the National Archives releases records from the meetings of a past federal cabinet #auspol#7NEWSpic.twitter.com/OsM8OriDW5
John Watt
@JohnWattNZ
View from the window this morning in Wanaka NZ…. that’s smoke from the fires in Aussie causing what you see. Cant imagine what it must be like there
The smoke from a continent scale fire disaster has crossed the sea — New Zealand Twitter is flooded with images of orange skies above the South Island, and the smoke shows clearly in this view from space… 1/N pic.twitter.com/u7mJ8P7KPt
A special Roy Morgan web survey shows two-fifths of Australians (40%) think 2020 will be ‘worse’ than 2019. This represents a significant increase of 26% points from a year ago and is the highest figure for nearly three decades since 1990… #auspolhttps://t.co/S9pCUIhBEnpic.twitter.com/1j14zzy48J
THE PUB 
I knew, I just knew I shouldn’t have had a quick squizz at twitter as I am about to go to bed. We are just devastated at the loss of this historic bridge. Way back in the 70’s we used to drive over it to get to our destination. Then you could just walk over it, then you could only stand and look at it. Razz’s grandfather used to be the fruit fly inspector way back when.
All the best for 2020, peeps!
Please can we have a new post for 2020?
Bryan Tyler Cohen –
Hi all, I hope you all have a great new year. We need a better one than this one!
Happy New Year everyone!
Happy new year to all you t’other siders. It is still 2019 where I am so I’d like to know if 2020 is any better, I bloody well hope so. See you all next year.
Good morning and a Happy New Year to the Dawn Patrollers and all PUBsters.
I won’t link all the individual bushfire accounts. They are many. They are harrowing. And they can be found on each outlet’s home page.
And for the sake of my own mental health I have studiously avoided seeing or reading Morrison’s NYE message. So you won’t find it here today.
Neil McMahon praises the ABC’s NYE coverage and host Charlie Pickering in particular.
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/abc-new-year-s-eve-coverage-hosts-make-big-bang-worth-it-20200101-p53nzp.html
The SMH editorial says that the bushfire tragedy shows the need for climate leadership.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/bushfire-tragedy-shows-need-for-climate-leadership-20191231-p53nw7.html
A dispirited Ross Gittins has realised that as part of their commitment to Smaller Government and lower taxes, governments have been quietly shifting the dividing line between what the government pays for and what should depend on charity.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/why-i-didn-t-donate-to-the-rural-fire-service-this-time-around-20191231-p53nt1.html
Royal Australian Navy ships will sail to the rescue of Victorian and NSW coastal towns engulfed by the bushfires that plunged both states into crisis on New Year’s Eve.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/army-and-navy-to-join-the-bushfire-fight-as-victoria-counts-the-cost-20191231-p53nyi.html
Mike Foley tells us that climate experts have warned the weather system fuelling this week’s catastrophic bushfires across south-eastern Australia will be up to four times more likely to occur under forecast levels of global warming.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/experts-warn-extreme-bushfire-weather-risk-growing-20191231-p53nw1.html
Matt Holden writes “Australia suddenly feels like a coal and gas-fuelled petro-state governed with a heavy dose of white Christian nationalism, despite our cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, and our abundance of renewable resources.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/crisis-what-crisis-it-s-the-future-and-we-re-living-in-it-20191231-p53nu3.html
Shane Wright and Steph Peatling report that Peter Costello, who oversaw the introduction of the GST two decades ago, says demands for more tax reform are “not real” because proponents lack a proper plan and the political acumen to win public support.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tax-reform-supporters-not-real-says-costello-20191217-p53kn2.html
Two climate patterns that have been influencing Australia’s ongoing drought, deadly bushfire weather and record-breaking heat have shifted towards neutral, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/01/climate-patterns-behind-australias-bushfires-heat-and-drought-set-to-improve
Fact checking Angus Taylor: does Australia have a climate change record to be proud of? (With Angus Taylor the starting point should be that it is BS!).
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/31/fact-checking-angus-taylor-does-australia-have-a-climate-change-record-to-be-proud-of
Peter Martin reviews the 1998/9 cabinet papers and the introduction of the GST in particular.
https://theconversation.com/cabinet-papers-1998-99-how-the-gst-became-unstoppable-128844
Gay Alcorn reports that The Coalition’s history of reluctance to take action on climate change was alive and well in 1998 and 1999, with cabinet records giving a familiar insight into debates still raging 20 years on.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/01/coalition-was-hesitant-to-take-action-on-climate-change-20-years-ago-too-cabinet-papers-show
New research from Roy Morgan found 40 per cent of Australians are expecting a worse year ahead – a 26 point increase on the previous year’s survey.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2019/12/31/australians-predict-bad-2020/
Garry Linnell measures the 2019 that could have been.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/12/31/breakthroughs-major-events-in-2019/
Adam Trigg outlines the economic case for increasing Newstart.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6561837/the-economic-case-for-increasing-newstart/?cs=14258
Here’s Dave Donovan’s wrap of the year’s Idiots of the Week and announcement of Idiot of the Year.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/video-bloody-idiots-of-the-silly-season-and-year-of-2019,13447
I’ll just throw this hand grenade in for today’s discussions. Joel Fitzgibbon explains how Labor can win government again.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-labor-can-win-government-again-20191231-p53nuc.html
Key details about Australia’s relationship with Papua New Guinea after the Pacific nation hired mercenaries to take on armed rebels two decades ago will stay secret instead of being released.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/png-documents-secret-despite-transparency-commitment-20191217-p53kv7.html
Media academic David Dale says that if we don’t get our act together, we’ll have to call this ‘The Trump Decade’.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/if-we-don-t-get-our-act-together-we-ll-have-to-call-this-the-trump-decade-20191231-p53nv1.html
Cartoon Corner
Alan Moir says it all!
Simon Letch puts the boot in.
As does Andrew Dyson.
From Jon Kudelka.
Johannes Leak and bushfire victims.
https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/8c2bf173efd6fd0d15924f04ab4aea8e?width=1024
From the US
The one million dollars for the Red Cross was about the only bit of good news.
Come on, 2020! You can do it!
Happy New Year, everyone. Just checking in while we still have power and communications as they said they could go out again at any time. The below link is the black area where fires are burning. In the bottom red square from where it says Nicholson up to the centre where it says BruthenSF is the semi-circle we were watching burn Monday night.
Razz and Hunter are still sleeping. I slept like a log. We will try and get a bit of an easy routine going today.
Sorry, here is the link. You have to enlarge it to see area I am talking about.
https://t.co/u6W8yKyWAz
I’ll start with an apology –
I was going to concoct a new thread starter for the new year, but after my rude awakening this morning I’m in no mood for it, so maybe later. Or maybe someone else will do it.
So I’m sorry.
This morning I was woken far too early by loud rap music coming from the problem neighbours two doors down. It’s a first for them and I hope a last. The racket went on for half an hour, then the official tenant had a loud screaming match with her unofficial resident freeloaders and the music stopped. What a great way to greet the first morning of the new year!
I’m not positive about 2020. Nothing has changed just because the calendar tells us it’s a new year. My family has much to look forward to, but I cannot say the same for Australia.
I read Ross Gittins’ excellent article and it just deepened my pessimism.
FauxMo is still PM, his rabble of a ministry is still full of the same assortment of corrupt-to-the-core dingbats, dills and drongos.
Albo is still LOTO and still telling us we must be polite and kind and not yell at the government. He’s actually telling us to be quiet Australians. Does he realise that?
The fires still burn, will keep on burning all summer and the PM is still refusing to declare a national emergency. .
The government still has no plans to address climate change, is still denying it exists.
The 120,000+ oldies waiting in vain for home care packages are still waiting, with little hope of getting home help before they either die or give up and go into the cruel joke that is aged care institutions.
The same people trying to survive on Newstart yesterday are still stuck on that payment today with little hope of ever finding work and no hope of getting a proper increase. Labor, should it ever return to government, won’t help either.
I could go on, but you get my drift.
It’s another smokey morning here, after a weird, smokey orange sunset last night, which is odd, because the fires around here are no longer active because there isn’t much left to burn.. The smoke must be drifting up from way down the south coast. That alone is a worry.
So please excuse me if I don’t wish you a Happy New Year or get excited about a new decade, I just don’t see anything to celebrate.
Welcome to 2020, just like 2019, only probably even worse.
We have a smoke haze here and light worthy of Mordor.
Really bad at five o’clock. Now easing ever so slightly.
No need to apologize. Hope you day gets better.
Alan Moir’s cartoon would be a good starter, leone.
To tell you the truth, leone, I’m scared. Scared for the country, its people, its animals, its forests – the whole land. Really scared.
I listened to M’s speech, only the beginning. I must be a bit odd but his trousers are just awful. Does he ever have them washed and ironed. Does he ever change trousers?
I liked Albo’s look, I must say. On the whole he is so much better- presenting in his trendy jeans than M’s shapeless trousers. His speech was reasonable too.
I’m so tired of Morrison. I can’t handle his ignorant idiocy any more.
Some awesome camera work
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/jan/01/australia-bushfires-new-south-wales-victoria-fires-news-latest-live-updates
Looks like I’m not the only grump –
And some optimism –
Looks like I wasn’t imaging stuff
TLBD
434 ? Looxury lad.
.
The Monash air quality station had an index rating of 3589 on Wednesday morning at 8am. Anything above 200 is considered hazardous.
In the north, the Florey air quality station recorded a rating of 2649 and the Civic air quality station it was 2577.
Data from ACT Health shows the previous highest recorded rating between 2012 to 2019 was 1420 – this was registered on Monday.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6562383/air-quality-in-parts-of-canberra-15-times-above-hazardous-level/?cs=14225
We’re on suburb away from Florey
http://aqicn.org/city/australia/canberra/florey/
A nifty map you can check AQI on around the world
https://waqi.info/#/c/-35.279/149.153/14.7z
A heap of data from ..
Civic, Canberra AQI: Civic, Canberra Real-time Air Quality In
http://aqicn.org/city/australia/canberra/civic/
A long long way from NSW….
John Watt
@JohnWattNZ
View from the window this morning in Wanaka NZ…. that’s smoke from the fires in Aussie causing what you see. Cant imagine what it must be like there
And the view from further up –
I have just sent Jon Kudelka a message asking for permission to use his latest cartoon as our next threadstarter.
Jon K has responded, “Sure.”
So there will be a new thread very soon.
NEW THREAD:
https://pbxmastragics.com/2020/01/01/welcome-to-2020/
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