Given the choice between wandering the bleak streets of Melbourne - dragons lurk at every corner, teal green or crimson comrade Dan red - and spending more time with the reptiles this day, the pond naturally went with the reptiles ... but then it became the usual dilemma ... choices, choices ...
The meretricious Merritt scribbling about ministrygate? But surely it's a subject for rich comedy by the onetime clown in chief ...
Valiant, heroic Ley, because someone has to defend the indefensible ... and though it's only a snapshot of the passing parade, who knew that Covid was still a thing? It was the pond's understanding, an understanding admittedly gleaned from devotees of the reptile killing fields, that it was all over and done and dusted ...
As for the others in the lizard Oz commentary section, the pond sensed a certain tension Colin's "phsaw, 'tis but nothing but sabre rattling" and the Caterist's sabre rattling ....
Before proceeding, the pond should note that it's having a great deal of trouble coming to terms with a Caterist outing on a Friday, when Monday was the natural habitat for this rooster, compounded by the way the reptiles have updated his snap ...
The pond has noted it before - a certain resigned weariness in the eyes, a slumping of the shoulders. All that endless work pocketing taxpayer cash in the paw has taken its toll ... and yet still the fire burns brightly and the yearning for a stoush emanates from the digital ether ... because apparently it was all the fault of Gough ...
Phew, that's a relief. The pond had seemed to remember that tricky Dick had got in a bit earlier than Gough ...
Always examine the food closely. You can never be sure what you might be ingesting ...
The communiqué acknowledged there were significant disagreements between China and the United States over the status of Taiwan. The Chinese side repeated their longstanding policy that Taiwan "is China's internal affair in which no other country has the right to interfere," and added that "all US forces and military installations must be withdrawn from Taiwan."
The United States expressed their own interpretation of the One-China policy by acknowledging that "all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China" and reaffirmed "its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves" and affirmed "the ultimate objective of the withdrawal of all U.S. forces and military installations from Taiwan", but did not explicitly endorse the People's Republic of China as the whole of China. Kissinger described the move as "constructive ambiguity," which would continue to hinder efforts for complete normalization. (wiki)
Well played Dick and Henry ... but please, enough with the grand-standing, remember it was Gough that set the pace ...
Indeed, indeed, we're on the side of authoritarian despots and narcissists providing they have a cheeky sense of. humour ...
No link, it's Sky, but it helps explain why the pond sometimes feels like it's trapped in the Halfway cafe, a close cousin to Hotel California ...
Or perhaps wasting too much time in Goulburn trying to work this one out ...
Yes, there was a Frostival going down, but back to the Caterist, showing how to waste taxpayers' cash in the paw funds ...
Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones says he has found “someone way better” than former President Donald Trump to support for president in 2024: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The InfoWars host and “Stop the Steal” advocate announced on his broadcast this week that he had “pigheadedly” supported the twice-impeached ex-president for years, but those days were long gone…
…“With that said, I am supporting DeSantis,” Jones declared on InfoWars this week. “DeSantis has just gone from being awesome to being unbelievably good. And I don’t just watch a man’s actions, as Christ said. Judge a tree by its fruits. I can also look in his eyes on HD video, and I see the real sincerity.”
He added: “This is what Trump should be like. And I’ve been hammering this point, and he’s doing it now. And we have someone that is better than Trump. Way better than Trump.”
This isn’t the first time that Jones has wavered on his support for Trump. Last month, he urged MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to run for president, saying she was “smarter” than both Trump and DeSantis. He’s also called the ex-president a “dumbass” for telling his supporters to get vaccinated, threatened to “dish dirt” on Trump for pushing the vaccine, and even openly wished he “never would have fucking met Trump” because he’s “fucking sick of him.” (Daily Beast, paywall)
Or you could be caught trying to celebrate the liberal world order holding firm at the Beehive in Coolac ...
The town has seen better days ...
... but you can still get a dinkum mix of salt and magnesium for the horse of your dreams at the ...
Sorry the pond is being frivolous and yet here's the Caterist, taking a wad of taxpayer cash in the paw and waving it defiantly at dictator Xi, what's not to admire?
The pond regrets it didn't take the Caterist seriously, but has a suggestion regarding a more robust and realistic engagement with Taiwan.
It's simple really ... shift the Menzies Research Centre and its executive director to Taipei ...and don't forget to keep the government cash in the paw grants flowing as a way to boost the Taiwanese economy ...
What's that? The Taiwanese might take it as a mighty insult? They actually know how to calculate the movement of flood waters in quarries without triggering a big defamation action ...
Never mind, there's always the Commercial Hotel in Yass to show the liberal world order holding firm ...
"It was the pond's understanding, an understanding admittedly gleaned from devotees of the reptile killing fields, that it [Covid-19] was all over and done and dusted ..." It is, DP, it is: all that's happening now is a continuing process of acquiring herd immunity plus a general cleanout of all those with just not quite enough QALY (or DALY or WALY or WELLBE).
ReplyDeleteAnd that is surely why KillerC, together with his new photo, have moved on and are now lecturing us about China and urging us to commit greater heresies against the Son of Heaven.
And while we're thinking about Taiwan et al, we can all contemplate this small matter:
The century of climate migration: why we need to plan for the great upheaval
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/aug/18/century-climate-crisis-migration-why-we-need-plan-great-upheaval
"Large populations will need to migrate, and not simply to the nearest city, but also across continents. Those living in regions with more tolerable conditions, especially nations in northern latitudes, will need to accommodate millions of migrants while themselves adapting to the demands of the climate crisis. We will need to create entirely new cities near the planet’s cooler poles, in land that is rapidly becoming ice-free. Parts of Siberia, for example, are already experiencing temperatures of 30C for months at a time."
And it's all totally precedented, of course - we've had many migrations of a billion or two people into 'colder climates' before in human history, haven't we. The Doggy Bov will explain it all for us real soon now. Did I mention resettling ourselves in Antarctica ?
And it isn't just us:
Delete‘Most have thrown their hands up’: has the US forgotten about Covid?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/19/us-covid-cases-mandates-deaths
Looking at the photos included here, it brings to mind that when a lot of more or less remote country locations were established - back 100 or more years ago - travel was a lot slower then than it is now. So a lot of places had to be basically self-supporting with local facilities. But now a 100km drive in the "outback" is less than an hour, and all that is needed locally is a pub+grog shop plus petrol service station plus a post office that now doubles as a local (set of) banks plus bill paying agency.
ReplyDeleteSo there's a contraction into fewer, larger townships (eg Bendigo and Mildura which is still just a little too far away from Melbourne) and even Warrnambool. Populations 125,865; 30,016 and 32,901 respectively. But as for Coolac:
"The size of Coolac is approximately 334.9 square kilometres. The population of Coolac in 2011 was 363 people. By 2016 the population was 181 showing a population decline of 50.1% in the area during that time. The predominant age group in Coolac is 10-19 years."
Can't even sustain a pub with only 181 people of whom most were under the legal drinking age.
Trying to get a particular comment on 'Sky' with 'Y..tube', I rolled-up the Cater holding forth, in his absolutely expert way, on how the current government was taking away our sacred right of 'choice' for buying cars. He and a couple of nonentities particularly railed against electric vehicles. Why - to get from Melbourne to Canberra you would have to recharge three times, taking hours and hours each time, even if you could find a charging station. No doubt we will hear a lot more of this after Bowen's announcement this day.
ReplyDeleteA couple of minutes search subsequently told me that the distance from Melbourne to Canberra by road is 663 km., and should take a bit over 7 hours of actual driving. Most EVs offer range of 400+ km, so plan on recharge around half way. Albury is about half way. NRMA has fast charge station in Albury - with capacity to bring almost any EV to full charge in 30 minutes. There are other charge stations listed for Albury - but you need just one. Those minutes could be easily filled with a comfort break - and a walk around, as is recommended after 3½ hours - well, recommendations are for a break every 2 hours or so, but that has such an element of 'nanny state' about it that SuperNick would disregard it.
He really is punctilious with his research, isn't he? And we get great value for those taxpayer dollars.
It's just a bit of a wonder that NickC isn't complaining about having to replace his 100V incandescent globes with 12V LED globes and thus losing all his 'sacred choice' for home lighting.
DeletePerhaps further complicated for current reptiles because the decision on low emission lighting was one of the few good and useful things Turnbull did. Well - I am trying to think of any others, and none come to mind, but the lighting decision was a good one.
DeleteApart from the single very most useful thing he did Chad: displacing the Onion Muncher. But yeah, pity about the rest of his 2 years 11 months and 9 days. But then he never was a real achiever - even his riches were kicked off for him by the OzEmail folks:
Delete"In 1994, Turnbull invested $500,000 in the internet provider. By the time he closed his position, he’d made $60 million."