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Well, a Labor govt just charged me $400 rego for my little sedan. And greenslip cost another $400. $800 for nothing in return. Roads are still terrible, so what are they doing with the road tax? And with only few ks on the clock per month, why such a high cost for a greenslip? There's no other traffic. Talk about a total rip off. One day they'll cop it.

They talk all the time about the projection of hard power in regard to foreign policy.

onetrack, I'm a bit confused by your post and think you've misunderstood that. By hard power thay are not referring to Europe relying on US energy. The hard power refers to American military power, not America supplying energy. Hard power is a term the Americans use often to describe their military capability and the exercising of it's influence. I think he's saying that Europe relies on American protection but doesn't help finance it or respect it.

Jerry, you dared critisise a Labor government. Go and wash your mouth out.

An internet search brought up this from the Idaho State Legislature which I couldn't access But there was a report in the Idaho Capital Sun.

Idaho is a beautiful state. I know people in Idaho as one of my best mates was from there. He was out here last year visiting and we got to catch up after a lot of years, but sadly he died suddenly three weeks after he went home. When he left here we were discussing his next trip back here in a couple of years time and the possibility of me going over there for a visit in the interim, as I haven't been there since the mid 80's. It's a very scenic place with the mountains and rivers and a nice slow, relaxed lifestyle a bit like we had here several decades ago. Not a big popuation, the capital has only 235,000 people. According to the mate, it hasn't changed much since I was there 40 years ago. His family live on the Snake River; attached is one of his photos of a canyon near their place.

One US commentator noted that there was more strategy in the plot of Top Gun Maverick about a US attack on a uranium enrichment plant located in a deep, heavily defended bunker in a mountainous terrain in a nameless `rogue state' (meaning Iran), than there is in Trump's actual attack on Iran.

It's a worry, isn't it?

Did I hit a nerve? Where on earth did I mention corruption about the dropped Commonewealth Games? Again, putting words onto my keyboard, FFS. Why wasn't anyone else taking on the games - Andrews chose it when it was well on its way to not happening? Because there was sod all interest in them and no one was getting a sponsor. Was the intention of doing the communty good a noble one? Yes, but that alone does not make it a good decision. Imagine how much better for the community that money would have been spent. Not corruption - but incompetence - from a government I have also defended.. But hubris did sort of set in on that one. What - because I don't live in Australia, I can't opine on things in Australia? Hmmm. As an Aussie born, Aussie citizen who still pays tax in Australia - I can bleedin' well opine. As I recall it is a free world that we live in, right?

No one else was offering to run the Commonwealth Games so they thought they Could take it on and benefit the Community at the same time but later changed their opinions about how useful the structures would be after the Games. What the hell is SO wrong with that? They weren't building seaside weekenders for themselves. You are good at suggesting corruption when you live as far away as is Possible from here. Where do you get such detailed info from? Nev

I am not saying pulling out was the wrong thing. The decision to buy in as a knight in shining armour to the games that were about to be abandoned was a bad decision that almost everyone saw at the time (i.e. no hindsight). At least the SA govenment were trying to make something that hopefully likely had a shot at working for the sustained betterment of the community (disclaimer - I don't know too much about the background of that particualr H2 plant, so it oculs well have been a con job).

I am no fan of the death penalty, but it doesn't seem a fait a compli that because there would be a death penalty, they will kill the victom, anyway. Rape is more often about exerting control than gratifying a sexual urge; and given the punishment can be severe (usuallky, not enough IMHO), if a parist is partial to killing the evidence, they will do so anyway. The US position on death penalty for non-death offences is far from settled, but it would be more difficult than not to see such a law passed held to be valid under the 8th Amendment: https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-8/non-homicide-offenses-and-death-penalty FWIW, which is not much, my opinion is that the death penalty in these cases is more about trying to remove the perpetratrors from the gene pool than any real deterrent.

Pure right wing American, MAGA-land, unadulterated BS. This part is especially untrue - "The contradiction being that Europe’s energy systems, industrial bases, and geopolitical sermons 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭." Europes energy systems don't ALL depend on America. They get energy from Russia, from Norway, Azerbaijan, and Algeria for pipeline natural gas. They ship in millions of tonnes of Australian canola and turn it into transportation fuel. They ship in Uranium for nuclear power plants from Canada, Kazhakstan and Australia. They have huge hydro, windpower and solar energy projects. They have diversified their energy suppliers since the start of the Ukraine War. And at the end of the day, European consumers of energy use around one-quarter of the average American energy user. They drive fuel-efficient vehicles and EV's, not gigantic V8 fuel guzzling urban assault vehicles, and even their homes only use modest levels of energy because they're well insulated. It is pure American propaganda. The Europeans are primarily seeking a ceasefire, as they see massive global upheaval, a huge global recession, high interest rates, and vastly increased levels of unemployment, if this idiocy of Trump and his sycophants is left unchecked.

James E Thorne is the one who is misunderstanding Trump's lack of strategy as strategy.

Make the death Penalty Mandated and the rapist will kill the victims so they can't tell and the Penalty is No Higher anyway, so what have they got to Lose? Nev

It is largely true, and the legislation has been passed by the Idaho legislature - but it hasn't been signed into law by the Idaho Governor yet. Then, it appears, if the law is signed by the State Governor, there will be a Federal legal challenge to it. https://idahocapitalsun.com/2025/03/24/idaho-legislature-widely-approves-child-sex-abuse-death-penalty-bill-sending-to-governor/

Source? Sounds fake. Even for the US

Absolute shite. Trump couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.

He called it sickening. He called it evil. Then he signed the two harshest laws in the country. No hesitation. In March 2025, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed two laws that together created the harshest punishment framework for child sex offenders in the country. HB 380 made sexual abuse of children under 12 a capital crime punishable by death when at least three aggravating factors are present. HB 37 made the firing squad Idaho's primary method of execution, replacing lethal injection as the default. Both laws take effect on July 1, 2026. When signing HB 380, Little said: "The sexual abuse of children is sickening and evil, and perpetrators convicted of these crimes deserve the ultimate punishment." The House passed the death penalty bill 63 to 0. The Senate followed 30 to 5. Before HB 380, Idaho had no mandatory minimum sentences for child sex abuse. The state is spending $950,000 to retrofit its maximum security prison near Kuna for firing squad executions, and construction is already underway.

Christmas Island had a Lot of Land Crabs and a big drop off the end of the Runway. Nev

Just WHY would you take a lot of notice of THAT theory .Trump has NO idea of what he is doing and is well out of his depth. Nev

𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍’𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐔𝐙 𝐁𝐘 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 — 𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐄 James E. Thorne (@DrJStrategy) published a piece on X that has racked up 𝟐 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 in hours, and it deserves every one of them — because it explains the single most misunderstood element of Trump’s Iran strategy. The conventional criticism is that Trump is too slow to reopen Hormuz. The reality, Thorne argues, is that the delay 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲. Trump is deliberately withholding the American security guarantee at the moment of maximum stress — not because he can’t clear the Strait, but because doing so too quickly would let Europe go back to sleep. For decades, Western allies built their economies and green energy mandates on a silent assumption: 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐳. They ran down their militaries, underfunded NATO — the U.S. carries 𝟔𝟐% 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐎 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 — and lectured Washington about multilateralism from the comfort of a security blanket they never paid for. Then Trump pulled the blanket. On March 15, he told the world that countries receiving oil through Hormuz should “take care of that passage” themselves. The initial response was exactly what Thorne’s thesis predicts: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas declared “𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘜 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱’𝘴 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘻 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯” and added “𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦’𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳.” Japan, Australia, South Korea, and the UK all initially rejected the call. Then the pain arrived. Oil surged from $𝟕𝟎 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 $𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥. Tanker traffic through the Strait dropped 𝟕𝟎%. Over 𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 anchored outside waiting for safe passage. European energy prices spiked. The “not our war” posture became economically untenable. Two weeks later — on April 2 — 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟎 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 launched a coalition to secure the Strait. The UK hosted the inaugural meeting. Europe didn’t just join — they’re now scrambling to lead, with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper chairing the talks. The very nations that said it wasn’t their problem are now volunteering ships. Thorne frames it in Hegelian terms: Trump “𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘴𝘺𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦.” The contradiction being that Europe’s energy systems, industrial bases, and geopolitical sermons 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭. The prize isn’t just reopening a chokepoint. It’s a reordered system where access to secure oil flows is 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 — not assumed as a right. A world where the United States sits at the center of the hydrocarbon chessboard. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫. 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 $𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝.

Personally, I reckon he's gone somewhere else. Nev

The Minister responsible is the Best one to ask. I would NOT respond to a question out of the Blue from an Unknown enquirer who you would not have a clue what they were asking for and in what context. I've Had people who I would only Make a statement to IF they agreed to NOT fiddle with it. Most questions I have Asked of Pollies did not Provide a satisfactory answer but I have a few I regularly discuss things with. Nev

Nice, still would have been nice to get an answer from the politicians if you make the effort to contact them.