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The Pope and Trump are on stage in front of a huge crowd. The Pope leans toward Trump and said, "Do you know that with one little wave of my hand I can make every person in this crowd go wild with joy? This joy will not be a momentary display, like that of your followers, but go deep into their hearts and for the rest of their lives whenever they speak of this day, they will rejoice!" Trump says, "I seriously doubt that. With one little wave of your hand? Show me!" So the Pope slaps him.

Definitely agree with the good neighbours thing. We're lucky enough to live on 5 acres, 20 minutes from Hobart, and can't see any neighbours from our place. Mind you, we get on really well with our neighbours - about 5 other families we've known over 10 years, our kids caught the same bus to school together, and we still get together a few times a year for parties. If someone needs something they put it on the group chat and usually within 5 minutes someone is offering to help.

The simple, over-riding feature of getting older is that the old body starts playing up, and needs regular repair and maintenance. And if you're 50 or 100 kms from medical care, docs, specialists, even ambulances - life gets a lot harder than it need be. I lived all through the wheatbelt of W.A. and the W.A. Goldfields all my working life, living in everything from rented farmhouses to dongas to caravans, and even old railway fettlers huts. I've never actually owned a house in my own name, I didn't place enough importance on that feature of life - much to my regret. I have no ability to purchase a house today. I part-owned various industrial properties, a mining lease, a farm, and a couple of houses, that I never ever lived in much, because they were largely occupied by my brother and his wife, while I was out in the boonies, working. But when I got together with SWMBO in my early 40's, she owned a house! - and she lets me live in it, and shares it with me - because she loves me, she likes looking after me - and because I fix anything to do with the house, or the car, or whatever else requires attention. We live in the city only about 5 kays from the CBD in a nice leafy, sought-after, quiet suburb - and we're close to 3 shopping centres, a number of major arterial roads, heaps of docs, dentists, medical centres and medical facilities, all within a few kays - and we've been here since 1990, and we don't look like moving until we get really fragile with age, or the bikies move in next door (highly unlikely). I could easily live anywhere in the country again, but SWMBO is a city girl and likes shops and theatres, and being close to where her daughter lives. Generally, most people select their living location according to how far away, or how close, they want to live to relatives (including children). Most parents want to live within a reasonable distance of children, but some don't want them close at all. Not having any children myself, and getting on O.K. with SWMBO's girl and boy from her previous marriage, makes any living area decision, easier. Of course, if we won lotto, we'd move to a nice mansion by the coast, but that's only a dream. I don't think I'd ever move into a high-rise apartment, even though that's the result for people many today - simply because I don't like living above other people, and not knowing what they're getting up to - by way of drugs, starting fires, and other aggravating risks. Good neighbours generally make people stay where they live. No neighbours often suits a lot of people.

My entire point was that the Euro's have been constantly calling the USA warmongers for the past 50 years, but they are always the first ones to call the US President whenever there is a situation in the world that might affect their economies. They have been been neglecting their own militaries knowing that the Americans are stupid enough to keep bailing them out. The Euro's had a royal meltdown when Trump called them out for not keeping their pledge of committing a few percentage points of their GDP to military spending. The EU should be its own power. There are 29 countries in the EU and there is no excuse for them not making a joint effort to protect their economies and sovereignties. The US has done 75% of the heavy lifting in keeping the Persian Gulf open to world trade while Europeans and many other countries reap the benefits. Then the Europeans turn right around and bash Americans to appease their left wing voters. As far as my fellow Americans go, we should not be trusted any longer because there there is no continuity in foreign policy from one election cycle to the next. On top of it all, we are in a non shooting civil war right now. Might sound crazy to some but it's very true. We used to be country first.........but now days we are party first.

Meanwhile....Israel in razing buildings in Lebanon with impunity and killing masses of innocent civilians. Doing exactly what they have done to Gaza. More of the same war crimes.

I know you're coming from an enlightened place here - so if the best people were a mix of women and cultural minorities, with not a single middle-aged white man in view, you'd be fine with that. That's admirable and in that respect I agree with you. There's a "but" coming. Please bear with me a little as I try to elucidate my thoughts. Firstly I think that a mix of differences in life experience is hugely important in any senior role, especially government. Just like you don't want all Labor politicians to be ex-trade union bosses, and you don't want all Liberal politicians to be ex-IPA, I would argue that EVEN if the "best" candidate (and what does that mean for government?) happened to be, in every electorate, a middle-aged white man, it would not be a good thing for the government to be compiled of them. With the best will and intentions in the world, a group of men cannot make the best decisions regarding the welfare of women, for example. And the reverse is true. They simply do not have the lived experience of the gender to inform their decision-making. Something they consider a good policy, having considered its impact on the other gender, may in fact turn out to have a subtle component which is negative in the long term for the other gender. If there was someone of the other gender on the team they may pick up on it immediately and say "Hey - but what about..." Obviously the same goes for gay/lesbian (not saying you have to have a transgender person in government - but at least someone who knows what it's like to be in that non-traditional bucket), immigrants, cultural background, religion (including lack of). Secondly is visible representation. Australia is a multicultural society. We say that, but I think for many people they still think of Australia as a mainly white "christian" country. According to Wikipedia, northern European accounts for between 55 and 70% (the 15% who put "Australian" in the ancestry census question are probably mostly white). So at least 1/3 of the population is ethnically diverse. As for religion, as at 2021 "Christianity" was 44%, followed closely by "No religion" at 39%, then around 3% each for "Islam" and "Hinduism" and about 2.5 for "Buddhism". (I think I read somewhere that "No religion" had actually overtaken "Christianity" in a later census). Now obviously it would be almost impossible for the government to be a true representation of every ethnicity, gender, sexual preference and religion. There are only so many seats in each house for a start. But, I would argue that if 50% of the population (women) look at the major parties and saw 0 women in cabinet positions, they would probably think that politics is not a healthy place for ambitious women. Same for ethnicity/religion (and disability). If you see only white people in government, no hijabs (not including Pauline), no Jews, no Asian/Indian/Arab/Indigenous faces - then you would probably feel somewhere deep inside that you're not truly being represented. The (relatively) recent same-sex marriage laws would probably not have happened if there weren't gay people in Parliament who initiated, pushed for or supported bills. Of course you have internal fights and factional plotting. You mentioned Plibersek - pushed out because Albo doesn't like her (I think more likely, he correctly sees her as a threat). Same with the Libs. After a series of disastrous leaders (Abbott, Morrison, Dutton) they finally choose their first female leader who was probably the best of a bad lot, only to tear her down in 6 months and put up another useless twat whose biggest claim to fame was posting an applauding comment to his own Facebook page. Anyway - the point is, I think there are subtle benefits to having a variety of personal attributes and backgrounds in leadership groups. Sorry it took such a long post to say this!

I can't think of a single place the US has gone in to to protect their interests where they have been successful. Korea, Panama, Nicaragua, Chile, Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan to name a few. The CIA has been involved in overthrows of democratically elected (mostly socialist) governments causing major problems resulting in chaos & confusion with thousands killed when before the US got involved everything was working except those countries shunned the US. Trump managed to pull off the capture of the Venezuelan leader ostensible to get control of their oil under the guise of stopping the drug trade, but the country is still run by the original regime and their military is intact. We have been pulled in to all the American wars due to treaty obligations. If it isn't in Trumps interest would the US come to our aid in a local conflict? Given his rhetoric, threats to pull out of treaties and threats to others I think the answer is a definitive No.

I think this will go on for weeks and months if not longer. Trump has lost control of the war and despite all the destruction in Iran, the regime is now in the driving seat. The US knows roughly how much enriched uranium Iran has but not where it is, so that’s a big problem. Khamenei had issued two fatwahs in the past stating that having a nuclear weapon was not compatible with their religious beliefs, so it’s a moot point as to whether Iran would ever have developed a bomb. Iran achieved its goal with the threat alone, which was enough to get the West’s attention. Now however, with a new leader all bets are off. They apparently have enough uranium for between 11 and 16 Hiroshima type weapons, although not the long range delivery systems. That doesn’t really matter because they just have to set off one or two underground to prove the point. Trump could likely have got a deal had he continued negotiating instead of going to war. Contrary to their ambitions the US and Israel have not wiped out all Iran’s drones and rockets, and they can make more. They don’t have to import them. They have a couple of thousand sea mines and a fleet of fishing boats and midget submarines that can lay them. They have already attacked the neighbouring countries aiming to get them to pressure the Americans to abandon their bases, which may happen as it’s now clear the bases are putting them at risk rather than being a deterrent. The US and Israel are also at risk of running short of expensive missiles themselves pretty soon too. In the meantime Russia has stepped in to help the Iranians giving Putin a bargaining chip to use on Trump - “We’ll stop helping Iran if you stop helping Ukraine”. Iran has successfully bottled up the Strait with severe consequences for world energy supplies and other products such as fertiliser. The US and Israeli attacks on infrastructure and historically important sites is turning the population against the US and Trump in particular. Trump and Hegseth have got most of the US population offside as well. Trump has no off-ramp here and it’s his nature to just make a bad situation worse by never wanting to be seen to be a loser, but he’s already lost this war. All that remains is to go through the process of losing.

I've only got 12klm to drive to vote, but fairly safe from wombat and roo hazards. The biggest hazard is when you get to the polling centre and our dickhead local member tries to grab your hand to shake it.

Theer are visionaries who join Parties with teh hope of making a difference, but the first thing that they learn is that politics is a game of compromise.A person might have the idea to brighten a room by turning on the light with a switch, but then has to compromise on wiring, switch design, lumen output and positioning.

I can understand why young people are turning away from the major parties. Over time Australia has become a country where a whole generation of young Australians will never be able to own their own home. It doesn't matter how hard they work and save, it gets them nowhere. A lot of people make excuses and give various reasons why the country is like that, but the fact remains that it degenerated to this under the stewardship of one of the major parties or the other. Whether or not they are totally to blame, they have that job and the buck has to stop with them and they carry some responsibility for letting it happen.

To say Albo is the Aussie version of Chump, IMHO, is a bit rich. I agree with @nomadpete - he represents the less ship party, but it so far is not making some of the fundamental changes needed. I sympathise with Albo et al.. and I imagine, given his history in Labnor where we was firmly on the socialist left faction of the party, having to walk the balance of a small but powerful set of vested interests versus what is in his mind better for the community would not be an easy job. And between him and anything that the LNP have served up from Howard onwards, I would prefer him and his team and suggest Australia would poltiically and economically be in a lot better shape - assuming hubris didn't set in like it normally does. While the media play its part, in the second election of Labor, they increased their majority - so Aussies aren't quite as beholden to the media as we like to think. But the reality is for the majority of Australians, life is getting worse in a material sense while for the elite, it seems to be getting disproprotionately better and Labor are perceived as not doing enough to change things for what they promise and/orstand for. There are challenges in making change - defiinitely. And in a global economy, it is very difficult to stand up against vested interests without some real ramifications. If you think QANTAS taking its maintenance facilities to a low cost country is not representative of threats that are made to governments who want to introduce changes to even things up, think again. Many companies here have moved operations overseas because they could get a better deal and the government stared down their threats. If you lose employment as a government, there is a backlash. GBut that still does not mean we should not crticise poor judgment or performace,because it is not as poor as the other mob. That just permits the race to the bottom and people get fed up and the nutty protest parties flourish. The UK has shown this, and now, unbelievably for a country such as Australia, One Nation is getting a look in beyond rabid loonies. Of course, the US has made the protest person their leader on some chumped up promises.. but so detached from the real world are the political elite, that people have had enough. Its sort of what my Iranian employee said, it's sad it has to come to this, but something has to change.

The ceremony would have been a lot more respectful if he hadn't shown up at all.

We need more chuckles, the news is all too much gloom and worry today ....

I travelled through Iran to Afghanistan in 1975 before the Shah was deposed. I found most locals polite but border officials etc were not. I even hitch hiked from the Turkish border to a small town & then took a bus to Tehran. The main roads were good having been built by the US but the rest was quite poor then. I was only there for a week & saw some amazing architecture & ancient sites. If the place wasn't run by Islamist fanatics it would be great. The Shah was very wealthy but most people were poor. One of the reasons for the original takeover. Back to the sinking of the Iranian warship. US military sources stated it was the first sinking of a an enemy ship by a submarine launched torpedo since WW2. Well No. There have been 4 since and of course that included the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinking the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in 1982 during the Falklands war. The Yanks don't get much right especially history that they continually re-write to suit their narrative. As for fuel prices it doesn't bother me as they have yet to figure out how to tax the sun.

I got a black eye from trying to slide on a G-string.

I'm guilty of this myself as a retired Navy guy. A very large percentage of other retired military from my era are of the same mindset. The hostage situation happened during my second year mark. Four years later, I was stationed in Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico when the Marine Barracks blew up. The civilian secretary in my office came in one morning crying because CNN had just broadcasted that the Marine Barracks in Lebanon had just blown up. Her husband was a Lieutenant Navy/Marine Liaison living on the second floor of the barracks at the time. Luckily, he wasn't inside when the explosion occurred, but It took 4 days for the poor lady to find out that he was OK due to the confusion. I lost a good friend on the USS Cole. Engineman 2nd Class Marc I. Nieto He always called me "Dr. Diesel" and was constantly pestering me about technical issues with his gear. Great kid! So yeah, I'm still bitter.

Old German joke: a man goes to a newsstand every day and looks at just the front pages of all the newspapers. The guy behind the stand asks him what he's looking for. "An obituary". "But Herr Mien, obituaries aren't on the front page!" "The one I'm looking for will be.""

Getting rid of Trump would be a massive improvement

I saw a good old Gardner 6LX on marketplace for $4,000. I love those old Gardners and used to like listening to them cruising at low revs out from the Mooloolaba port when I worked on a boat there for a year. Our little trawler has a noisy 2 stroke GM 671, but the Gardners had a beautiful sound.

Why endorse anyone if in your opinion they aren't up for the job?

Yep! He's a slimy bastard. And I'm not saying that simply because of teh Party he is in. He's puolled some pretty shonky deals in his life.

I well remember Abbott saying this: "Abbott claimed that the vast majority of Australians did not need, nor want to pay for, the high-speed fibre network proposed by Labor, suggesting it was simply a tool to allow people to watch movies." In 2020 during Covid fast internet was the saviour of the economy and many, many workers, including me. Today, many people work either full or partially from home, freeing up roads and public transportation and improving people's working lives.

I think we are a long way from a One Party system and that is the last thing anyone should wish for but there should be a decency and common Purpose limit to the sabotage some opposition antics can be. T Abott cost this Country Billions and set us back years when He instructed Malcolm Turnbull to "Destroy the Internet". We are still reeling from the effects of that One. Mate of Pell and Murdock and using Credlin for his Brain and absolute zero for Scientific Know How. People like HIM are scary IGNORANT. Nev

Back to the latest Middle East conflict.... Sorry to post a meme but I couldn't resist. I once thought Dubya was the worst, but not any more. Being a sociopath means never having to say 'sorry'.

Scomo and Abbot were a lot worse.

The ancient Greeks invented everything, even sex. But it took the Italians to think of involving women.

Is anybody counting down the "FOUR WEEKS" end time for this great war?? Like everything that comes out of the Tangerine Toddlers mouth - unadulterated, pure BS. America will still be bogged down in this war in 6 months time, and the hardline Iranians, and Hezbollah and Hamas supporters, will ensure it goes on for as long as it can. Neither Trump nor Hegseth has a co-ordinated plan to ensure this war ends swiftly and results in a regime change for the better. As fast as they kill new Iranian leaders, the hardliners will produce new ones. I note Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said recently, "There is no experience that shows an air campaign alone will result in positive regime change." Trump will soon find himself arse-deep in crocodiles, while he thought he was simply wading in to drain the swamp. He'll soon find out that running a successful war is a whole lot different to cheating at golf, and those crocodiles have got a vicious bite.

She obviously doesn't like him much.

The WLTP range for the MG Excite 51 is 350km not 405km. The WLTP range for my MG Essence 64 is 435km with the lower spec Excite 64 it is 450km. None of the models has a quoted 405km range. This is the old out dated NEDC range which was very inaccurate & was created in laboratory tests in the 1980s based on urban driving. It was last updated in 1997. A friend of mine has an Excite 51 & gets over 300km. In mine the range is about 380 to 400km based on 110km highway driving & some 50 - 80 km driving. Driving around in an urban environment at 50 - 60 kmh gives me much higher range. The range estimator (also known as the guess-O-meter) has given me 505km from a full charge & that would have been close if I hadn't gone over 50kmh. It has a level of intelligence that works out the range based on your driving style & it is surprisingly accurate. It is 182km from my house to Gold Coast Airport & a few weeks ago I left with 100% charge & arrived with 52%. Most of this was at 110kmh on the Pacific Highway. I could have got home without getting a charge but just like with my old petrol car I would never let the fuel get that low. I spent 15 minutes at the BP in Ballina for a comfort stop & coffee & added some charge. Cost me $9.04 but there was plenty left when I got home. Other than long trips it costs nothing to run my EV as I charge from solar, supplemented by my home battery and 3 hours of free power every day. I'll never have to worry about the price of petrol going up because of wars or other reasons for shortage. In any vehicle, electric or internal combustion it all depends on how you drive, the terrain, weather, the total weight of the vehicle and use of accessories like air conditioning etc.

The media are having a wonderful time spreading fear and anxiety, claiming that petrol will be $2.50 a litre within a couple of days. There is zero reason why petrol should go from around $1.50 on Monday to $2.50 next week, we live in a global economy with oil sourced from dozens of sources, and a small jump in the price of oil per barrel, doesn't translate to a $1 a litre increase within 10 days. It's simply motorist-gouging at its finest, and I hope it sends EV sales through the roof.

This morning I was listening to music on my radio. The music was mainly orchestral and the radio is mono. The thought struck me what a wonderful device the radio's speaker is. It can reproduce the wide range of pitch and tone produced by a number if instruments playing at the same time simply by an electrical current causing a fibre cone to vibrate.

Oh, they've got a plan, alright - and it all centres around our ol' mate Donny, and the ever-increasing level of his personal financial gains - from any worldly conquests, Presidential decisions, and trade deals jockeying. I must say, I'm surprised he hasn't managed to score a deal with the U.S. military, to use Trump-branded armaments. I bet he's seen the profits of the U.S. military-industrial complex, and is itching to get his major share of them.

Flight Radar 24 is free to use. There is a paid version but I use the free version.

A couple was on their honeymoon, lying in bed, about ready to consummate their marriage, when the new bride says to the husband, "I have a confession to make, I'm not a virgin." The husband replies, "That's no big thing in this day and age." The wife continues, "Yeah, I've been with one guy." "Oh yeah? Who was the guy?" "Tiger Woods." "Tiger Woods, the golfer?" "Yeah." "Well, he's rich, famous and handsome. I can see why you went to bed with him." The husband and wife then make passionate love. When they are done, the husband gets up and walks to the telephone. "What are you doing?" asks the wife. The husband says, "I'm hungry, I was going to call room service and get something to eat." "Tiger wouldn't do that." "Oh yeah? What would Tiger do?" "He'd come back to bed and do it a second time." The husband puts down the phone and goes back to bed to make love a second time. When they finish, he gets up and goes over to the phone. "Now what are you doing?" she asks. The husband says, "I'm still hungry so I was going to get room service to get something to eat." "Tiger wouldn't do that." "Oh yeah? What would Tiger do?" "He'd come back to bed and do it again." The guy slams down the phone, goes back to bed, and makes love one more time. When they finish he's tired and beat. He drags himself over to the phone and starts to dial. The wife asks, "Are you calling room service?" "No! I'm calling Tiger Woods, to find out what the par is for this damn hole."

Doesn't seem like much of a prophet. He allows himself plenty of wriggle room to adjust his prophesies to match what actually happens.

You like Facts and Truth? Try using them then. Your Idol, Trump, doesn't either. Nev

Typical house and land prices in Perth have gone through the roof. Up around 40-50% in just the last 2-3 years. I was talking to a real estate agent last week. He sold a house near mine for $1.1m about 18 months ago. He said he would list it today at $1.5m. One of my daughters is renting and there’s no way she can afford to buy now. Three years ago she could probably have managed a mortgage but not now. Our other kids are reasonably secure but I worry about her. Once a parent, always a parent!

The US and the Shah were quite close. When you look at a map you can easily see the strategic importance of Iran to the US and understand why they've always regretted it's loss to the Islamic regime. Resources aside, the biggest importance is it geographical location and it's boundaries. It controls the straights, acts as a huge buffer zone, shares a boundary with Turkey, a major US ally, and is just across the ditch from several of their Middle East allies. It also shares the Caspian Sea with Russia who has a naval force there, and while the regime runs Iran, Russia has free use of their airspace for launching cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea fleet. That's the path Russian missiles were taking during the Syrian conflict. It's not all about oil.

I had a feeling you're from the US.. And ex-Navy, too.. I know a few ex US Navy people; I worked for a company that was founded by one of them. Best job I had and best company I worked for, by far.

Our dog used to glare at me and roll his eyes when I farted. I think he learnt that from my wife. Life is so unfair sometimes.

This is one of my favourite old lanterns, a Dipti brand made in India. I don't know how old it is but I'd guess 1950's or 1960's. It's a great old lantern, very solid metal and thick embossed glass with the name Dipti Oriental Metal embossed on it. That's the old company name; they're Dipti Metal Industries these days. It also burns perfectly and never gives any problems. It's in the top three in lantern status around here. Fairly rare in this country and not easy to find one.

And they are VERY GOOD at it. The safest form of Nuclear energy is the SUN. At some locations Nuclear is Probably the only way to run a modern way of life but it adds to the Heat that is HERE and the Sun's energy Comes anyhow and will for as long as the Planet is Liveable. Recycling has to Play a bigger part of the Picture. China would have to be the Most Fair dinkum Country in this respect, now. The USA is Probably the Least at the Moment.. Not all Americans agree with Trump but he's done a lot of damage with His Lack of Knowledge and sheer Ignorance of many things. Cites in Europe used to Just STINK of diesel fumes. They don't NOW. Science Continues to look for facts and not beliefs. Science is NOT "Just ANOTHER belief as T Abbot put's it. He's a good Public example of how Lack of at Least SOME Science in his Education can do a lot of damage. and cost a lot of Money.. Aeroplanes are Not Designed in Monasteries, Safe bridges are designed and built by experts and People who know what they are doing. Not By FAITH..Nev

Renewables are cheaper, greener, and don't harm the ecology - or human health for that matter - anywhere near as much as fossil fuels. Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would argue against them, whether or not they accepted the science proving anthropomorphic climate change.

I guess the same evaluation applies. Between 1900 and 2011, I lived on a beautifull 44acre bush block, although up until this point I had lived on grid power. This block was several KMs from the nearest power. I had three choices: pay around $30000 to extend the power poles, install a diesel or petrol generator or install a solar battery system, which at the time was in its infancy. We took the rational choice and installed solar. One of the things I like was energy-wise, we were standing on our own two feet. One of my crusty old conservative neighbours actually said that solar was "gay", they were the ones "cuckolded" by the power company with monthly bills. Now I am on the grid. Although I am now on the grid, I have solar that generates more than twice what I need. Of course, when it is cloudy or at night, I rely on the grid, which is either wind, grid sized battery or failing those 2 sources, filthy brown coal. Only an idiot would think the brown coal is preferable to the other two. If I had a home battery, I think I could once again. The economic case for a battery is just dubious at the moment but the price of this tech is falling all the time. Even the most ardent coal/gas/nuclear fans must admit that harvesting the more than ample energy that the sun provides us (solar wind, tidal and wave) is the holy grail. So we are not there yet, but only an idiot would think that digging for energy is somehow superior.

Apparently these buzzwords are used to express power in interpersonal relationships. If a person is on a lower rung in the ladder than the person using the buzzwords, then the one on the higher rung is exerting power over the other. These words are also used to exclude outsiders from inner circles. These words are the trade jargon of the administrative classes. The one I hate is "on my watch". I could see it being used by John F Kennedy and the elder George Bush who both served in the Navy in WWII, but its use by people with no navy service grates on my nerves.

Back on the road Peter! Let me know if you'd like to go for a ride sometime. One of my favourites is to Richmond via Grasstree Hill then back via Tea Tree and Brighton.