The week in Australian federal politics was headlined by the triumphant return of ‘Bad’ Malcolm Turnbull.
Australians had become accustomed to the pinkie-extended punctilios of Pleasant Malcolm and it has become clear they don’t much care for them.
So with nothing left to lose, Bad Malcolm got a run and delivered a withering character assessment of the Opposition leader. It was a terrific spray, no doubt, so full of harsh burns Bill Shorten may well still be plastering himself in aloe vera.
Bad Malcolm left his best line to last: “This sycophant, blowing hard in the House of Representatives, sucking hard in the living rooms of Melbourne — what a hypocrite.”
Understandably, lovers of the pugilistic arts weren’t about to get too excited. Should the People’s House ever become the House of Stoush with ‘Truffles’ Turnbull and ‘Wee Billy’ Shorten coming to blows, it would make last week’s Danny Green-Anthony Mundine fight look like the Thriller in Manilla.
Full column here.
A good article by Richo today. Renewables may become Labor’s new refugee’s – a vote winner for the coalition.
Renewables are the way to go…Labor is just hopeless at selling its message..always has been tactically bereft!
Bring back Coal Fired Power Stations I say Milton. T. Abbott was a real friend of the Coal Industry.
Political gain ahead of the National interest.
On the upside, they haven’t talked about reconciliation for at least a few days.
RE: Jack The Insider says:
February 15, 2017 at 2:32 am
JTI,
Mad Dog is a different General. Secretary of Defence.
My apologies. Quite right. Mad Dog Mattis it is.
Scariest part of this is that it’s again proof the CIA still carries out political assassinations. Look, Flynn lied to VP Pence. Sackable offense. Period.
Someone, very high up in the intelligence agencies leaked the transcript of the phone call of a private citizen and a foreign official to David Ignatius at the Post. The circulation list for that transcript wouldn’t have more than a couple dozen people on it. That my friends is a crime punishable by decades in solitary confinement in Colorado.
Flynn’s plan was for the CIA to clear some of the deadwood out of the Virginia HQ and put them out in the field where they might actually learn something. Someone inside just whacked him.
Thanks
First accurate thing I have read about it, and John, did you read the article.
Nothing about who spoke to who, nor what was said, or who knew about it, pretty thin at this stage.
Early of course, may be more to come.
But just now nothing more than Obamas reaussurance to medvedev that after the 2012 election it would all be sweet.
Flynn went for lying about it, but surely just having done it would have been enough?
Anyway, looks like more of Trump’s henchpeople are in trouble over inappropriate links with Russian spooks and government:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html
Again, these are intelligence leaks directly to the press. I know little of spookery, but surely the normal procedure would be for the agency to convey such concerns to the White House, who, if they were acting with integrity, would then remove the people in question and announce the reason. Perhaps the new junta’s apparent hostility to the rule of law has convinced the agencies that press leaks are the only language the White House understands, and the only way to ensure that appropriate action is taken.
Hope Malcolm and his minders read this:-
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/what-a-relief-that-climate-change-doesnt-really-exist-20170214-gucb48.html
Well it’s official, the England cricket side has now been Cooked and Rooted. And the bloody poms will be here in nine months.
I hope the Aussies come back from India with enough flesh left on the bones to match the old enemy after they were done 4:0 by the Indians.
Joe Root is still only 25, and fairly good looking if you like boys, so how many times will the girls of Bondi be asking, hey Joe would you like a r—?
If they can’t get Kohli out relatively quickly they’re stuffed.
………or Root’ed perhaps Tracy!
rooted with a Kohlrabi aka Kohli ….ouch
We Military history buffs are always finding something new, Mr Insider, like the story linked of the proposed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler while he took his regular 20 minute stroll at the Berghoff. A special pistol made up for the attempt too. Originally set for July, the assassination was dropped in late 1944 when British Intelligence decided that Hitler’s frantic decisions were doing more harm to the Nazi party than good.
http://tinyurl.com/mnjljmc
JTI,
Happy new year as I returned from almost minus 30 and no humidity to……ugh!
Not much has changed except the theatrics appear to have increased both locally and internationally (I had always thought of Flynn as the actor playing the captain in McHale’s Navy but there you go).
The main problem with politicians generally is that they always want to make great announcements (which always seem to involve spending lots of money).
So we are going to save teh world from AGW/Climate Change …whatever.
The worst problem is not even a consideration of the problem but an examination of whether what they are doing can or will solve the problem. In this case what Australia (not to mention the world) has spent on solving those problems has actually done nothing but waste funds which could have been better utilised repairing a deficit, on hospitals and health….
Of course we have a similar problem when it is education: just throw money and hey presto there will be a magical outcome but you must argue with the motehrhood statement that education is important and it follows should be given more funds.
Ditto aboriginal welfare and health…..
Just for once how about approaching this like a problem: the solution we seek is whatever and work backwards!
The so-called “precautionary principle” is invoked by all and sundry but what about the precautionary principle being applied to a major meteor strike hitting earth which is more likely to have a catastrophic effect on human existence……. oh , too hard is it even though the likelihood in the medium term is considerably higher apparently than the threat of AGW!
So, we need energy for existecnce and civilization.
For industry at lkeast serious baseload requirements are not merely optional – but crucial.
So start with baseload power as a given – assuming there is still to be some industrial capacity!
WHether it is nuclear (thorium is clean), coal (black with modern plants) the next real breakthrough – however far away – is the holy grail of fusion which solves the problem of waste and gases. Instead of a a bandaid non-fix at great expense, look for the longterm solution even if the politician cannot make a claim to saving the world!
WHether it is self-agrandisement or virtue-signalling I am siock to death of the waste of resources and pollution (which is inefficient) by every politician and rentseeker instead of actual provision of solutions.
Note a similar application of logic would not have us building diesel submarines : it would be chaeper to pay each member of ASC to migrate and the diesel submarines will lack crews, prove incapable against nuclear opponents, slow and coffins should they ever be required…..would you arm our soldiers with only bows and arrows against tanks?
It really would be nice to state the problem, posit solutions and choose something which can actually work rahter than so many kneejerk reactions….
Ah well I have made by contribution to the norther hemisphere economy and if the next 4 years does not produce a nuclear conflgration and /or worlwide depression, you could label it “success” at least insofar as the bar of expectation has been set for many of us…
raise a glass of your favourite plonk and wheel in the next victim…
It’s liberating knowing our chances of being turned into radioactive dust has increased exponentially in the last six months, Voltaire. Feels good to be alive.
But what a fantastic dust we will make!
Sort of “all over the shop” comment that would do Rodent proud.
If your primary concern is maintaining the status quo then you should consider that coal wont be worth a bumper soon and quite possibly nations still using it will be pariahs and sanctioned against. Apart from us being left floundering and drowning n the past from lack of research and technical expertise.
It’s time for the comfortable old farts to give something up for the young, before they have to come and take it all off you.
There are plenty of options available for producing energy for “existence and civilisation”, it’s just a matter of paying more for it. Yeah, boo hoo
Going backwards might be inefficient, but backing away from the edge of the cliff is the only thing that makes sense.
Stop subsidising coal and start taxing carbon, that might be a start.
And facing up to reality!
Never mind the bloody atmospheric temperatures, they are just the canary, what is really happening to our planet can be seen in active graph in the side bar of the attached link. Look at the graph! We are cooking ourselves.
For Christ sake, wake up you idiots, this is not time for nebulous pontificating , it’s time to demand action.
https://skepticalscience.com/Rising-Ocean-Temperature-Is-the-Pacific-Ocean-Calling-the-Shots.html
What about those who cannot afford to pay for it Jean? And forgetting our piddling contribution in the big scheme of things, do you think the Chinese and Indians and other “emerging” countries will pass, or are in a position, those extra charges onto their bulging population’s?
Here, we can compensate those most in need Milton.
You don’t seem to grasp how desperate the need for action is now. The Chinese and the Indians are already making big moves towards renewables and you will find within five years they will be responding very quickly to the imperative.
We will be left behind.
Ok, I may not grasp “the desperate need for action”, but if so I find that hard to reconcile with “within 5 years”. I also find it hard to grasp how renewables, though not reliable, like wind and sun energy will cost more? Moreover I doubt they can be relied on to fulfil 100% of our energy needs. If it is going to cost money then I for one would be more comfortable to have my tithe invested in nuclear. Another thing I saw on the abc that looked like good sense, and i’m surprised I didn’t think of it earlier, is those places (?dams) that use water to do something electrifying ( a bit like windmills in a fashion) and then they repump the water back up to do it again. You with me? I nearly got a horn thinking about it!
As I’ve mentioned ad nauseum, I don’t think aussies are adverse to paying for seriously useful infrastructure. We need it because we are a big country and we need it big time and in the long time, if well thought through will pay for itself and them some. In that vein I think the coin spent on the nbn has been a profligate waste of big coin. The porn I stumble upon is getting through so fast I can never get to the end of it.
Milton, go figure. In just two years from the perception, which is changing at breakneck speed, of the danger facing the planet will be almost universally urgent. Cast your net a little wider, it’s not just the climate change itself which is going exponential but the alarm being expressed all around the world.
It’s all but over for the deniers and the sceptics, the planet is sending us messages that cannot be denied.
Carbon tax’s are running in a number of countries already.
At about two dollars a tonne dismal
JB says: “We are cooking ourselves”.
Or are we being cooked? Is there a difference? Does it really matter?
I note the SMH’s Ross Gittins has something similar to say in his cynical piece in the link Bassy posted at 10.57PM (excerpt: “As we’ve sweltered through this terrible summer – and lately, as bushfires have raged – what a comfort it’s been to know that climate change doesn’t exist and isn’t happening.”).
Most of us who have an interest in such matters, have known about this “cooking” caper for some time . Take for example the great Washington, Idaho and Montana forest conflagrations in 1910 – 12.000 km2 got “cooked”. And what about the great porcupine fire in Ontario the following year. Or the ’67 Tasmanian tragedy. I could go on.
But then again, all of those events occurred before AGW was discovered. Perhaps they don’t count.
Wonder what “cooker” was the cause in those days me old mate?
You’re operating in a narrow focus there Carl. The “cooking” is the heat accumulating in the oceans over and above pre industrial levels, at a rate of three Hiroshima sized atomic bombs every two seconds, 24/ 7. It’s probably too much for your conservative denial myopia to contemplate but theres about 31 million seconds in a year.
Your forest fires are a flea on an elephants arse by comparison.
Greenland lost one trillion tonnes of ice in four years 2011/2014. Any bells ringing yet old mate?
Scientists in Australia & Sweden say humans are driving the warming of the Earth 170 times faster than natural forces.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-13/humans-accelerating-global-warming-anthropocene-equation/8265326
Australians must insist on real intervention by this ignorant self-serving government. It’s just insane to me that conservatives are so heavily invested in believing that saving the planet from environmental exploitation is only a ‘leftie or greenie’ issue that they must always ignore.
The science is settled but the Fibs are inert as usual.
Son: Dad, what is science?
Dad: I don’t really know son, we’re conservatives.
My best, Bella
Great post Voltaire!
Welcome back. Voltaire
Always nice and cool here in Tassie. Think we had one or two days where it almost hit 30deg – and now there’s a hint of Autumn in the air.
Academic friend of mine reckons it’s all too late for solar and wind etc. Nuclear now the only option. Waste is minimal these days and in any case represents far less risk than not adopting nuclear.
I read somewhere recently that there is a low level nuclear waste storage somewhere in the US that is holding enough to power the whole of the USA for the next 700 years.
It all seems absurd. I’m no scientist but sometimes it seems to me that unless the entire planet adopts the same measures simultaneously it’s all pretty futile.
Hobart is a small place and we have a high ratio of scientists here – particularly ocean and climate.. Those I talk to are frankly terrified. Apocalypse is around the corner they say – coming faster than they imagined.
Fukushima
How many died? Wind farms killed more people
Still counting will be for centuries.
not sure what you people are worried about.
the planet has been healing for years, since the end of august 2008 in fact.
do keep up.
Dismayed says:
February 14, 2017 at 9:40 am
“CotC very sad you are incapable of admitting your falsehoods. that is Your “cross” to bear/bare? Your problem. Just one of which you appear to have.”
Dismayed – as my final input to this silly quarrel, perpetuated by your own intransigence and to save you from any further embarrassment, may I suggest you just go and have a look at the dozens of ASX announcements and history covering the performance of Geodynamics Ltd in the Cooper Basin over the past 9 years or so; they’re easily accessible. Blind Freddie could work out the coy/operation struggled for some time before it eventually folded, as I have told you it did a number of times on here. Many of the shareholders were livid.
However, putting the now widely accepted failure of the SA Geodynamics experiement to one side, I have to say I have always recognised the great contribution fossil fuel workers, and also alternative energy source workers, make to the building of our nation’s successful economy. Many resource projects fail, but that is not an indictment upon those who take the risk, nor have I ever suggested it was in this particular instance.
But it’s become quite apparent from our various exchanges on here, on this topic, that an inflated oil rig roustabout of your personal calibre, unwittingly over-extending his natural ability has no place attempting to *tuck his knees under boardroom tables* spewing the prevaricating bulldust that you have done so in this instance, when cornered.
May I respectfully advise you to gently put a sock (or stocking as the case may be) in that supersensitive, overblown ego of yours that surfaces from time to time and just stick to your knitting mate.
(** courtesy- MBT)
May we all respectfully advise you take your own advice and put a sock in it too Carl you pompous git.
I am proud to have started as a roustabout. Unlike you I was able to move forward and continue to learn. “Personal calibre” I think you are one of those who practices “Personal Enhancement”
“One possible explanation for how these positive illusions came to be is the idea that they confer psychological benefits, like increased confidence and self-esteem,” Very sad CotC very sad indeed. Move along.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/02/12/most-people-think-theyre-morally-superior-to-everyone-else/?utm_hp_ref=au-innovation
What a shocker-what an embarrassment. Trump’s security adviser resigns. Why? Because the President cannot be trusted with the nation’s top secret briefs.
“The US intelligence agencies now withhold sensitive intelligence from their presidential briefings, because this White House is not to be trusted with the nation’s secrets, a follow-on from earlier inside accounts alleging that the American spy agencies had taken to advising their foreign counterparts not to share intelligence that they could not afford to have revealed by an administration that leaks like a sieve.” God help the World under this madman!
Mad Dog has walked. Forgot what he told the Russians re sanctions. Then he remembered a bit. Then he remembered a bit more. Terrific work, Lt. Gen. You managed to survive 25 days in government. America salutes you.
I’m sure the US Intelligence services have always been cautious in sharing the nations deepest secrets with the White House BASSMAN. It’s a “need to know” thing, some Presidents operating under the quaint notion that they are running the place.
You beat me to it JB. I also am rather unsure the good ole boys at the CIA are always frank with the Commander in Chief.
I read once than a President was refused entry to Area 51. When he DID get in he did not see the full Monty! Probably an urban myth? But John the Baptist for sure is correct. There things Presidents are NEVER told.
You may be thinking of George Bush senior, who was once refused entry to Studio 54, because anyone who turns up at a nightclub at 3am in a suit probably thinks it’s a strip joint.
hehehe!
Fraser would have been waved through, sans pants!
Zinger!
A link to where the statement came from please Bassy.
How about we sell off South Australia? Or lease it? The Chinese will have it up and running in no time; paying its way and full employment. There is also a good chance they would weed out and silence a few of the miserable dissidents as well.
I’m a Nth Korea man myself Milt. I see this morning that dear leaders half brother has met and unfortunate end……….shades of Princip verse Ferdinand.
I don’t think there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding his bro, Razor. Shit happens! Probably genetic?
Not what I heard!
Milton….he was poisoned apparently. The Malaysian police are investigating…..yeah right. The outcome does suit his half-brother rather well, shall I say
oops I didn’t know it happened in Malaysia, Penny. And I think you could have put a bit more thought into your tipping nom de plume change!
A shame they got the wrong jong. If the big little fella is going to go i’d put money on his barber.
A poisoned facecloth or something – shades of James Bond or Russian spy.
Milton, Milton, Milton.
.
Dont knock my state mate. It makes me unpleasant. You know nothing of what goes on here, or the real situation, so, as Kathy seems to like to say, put a sock in it mate.
I’m only joking, wraith. And did you say put a sock in it or on it?
Trivalve, Penny, Yvonne – from what I’ve heard being poisoned or eaten alive by hungry and vicious dogs is not considered suspicious circumstances in Nth Korea. Ask Jean Baptiste he would know more than i. He probably even witnessed a few deaths by exploding golf ball. A design flaw apparently.
Running capitalist dog misinformation Milton. Kimmie is heartbroken and asks for his families privacy be respected in this time of sorrow.
Trivalve says:
FEBRUARY 13, 2017 AT 11:23 AM
Citation? Link?
AND
Robin says:
FEBRUARY 13, 2017 AT 5:33 PM
“Dont need one TV every day the left wing press is issuing pure bullshit trying to impress the brain dead like dismal”
You shouldn’t say nasty things like that to me Robyn.
Yes, as mad as he is, Trump would even take down the satellites which monitor climate change as I have said.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/310512-california-gov-were-ready-to-fight-trump-on-climate-change
Trumper is in further strife on climate as there is a bunch of Republicans lead by former head of state Jim Baker who not only want Trumper to embrace climate change but also to introduce a carbon tax. Baker served under VERY conservative Presidents Reagan and Bush and he has considerable influence over Congress members.
“With control of the White House and Congress, the GOP now has an opportunity to set the terms of a lasting market-based climate solution.
Reminds me of:- ‘If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax.’ Abbott, July, 2009 (Loved this!)
That’s a third person link Bassy. Could you link to where Trump has said he intends to do what you claimed he was in the process of doing.
I was not talking about you Bassy