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Be careful underestimating Hegseth. It's easy to bring up things like excessive drinking, adultery and the like, but that is not what he is like now. At some stage after that sort of behaviour, Hegseth found God. He joined a fundamentalist Christian Evangelical church and changed his ways. Was that a good result? No. The church he joined is the worst kind of fundamentalist. White supremist; all other religions are the Devil's creation. If you compared Hesgeth with the Ayotollah, you would find that the only dissimilarity was the god they beleived was the only one. In all other ways they are exactly the same. So for Hegseth, what he is doing to Iran is not to stop nuclear proliferation, but it is the fundamentalist Christian Evangelical version of a jihad.

He should have stuck with drinking and philandering. Now he's God's Minister for War.

Nomadpete, those sources of pure light crude are generally only very small reserves and don't warrant major expenditure on extraction, because they soon run dry. A mate worked for a drilling company in Central Australia, around Alice Springs, about 1982-83. The company had several drill holes that yielded the same type of light crude. It was drawn off and just filtered and used to power the company Landcruisers. But there wasn't enough of it, to warrant the infrastructure to draw on those small reserves.

Good in the city, not much happens out in the bush. the Algal bloom wasn't an issue until it hit the metro area.

Tell you what, Sky news never did have much credit with me but to see them almost worshipping Trump as the great man , lately, with the Iran and all his other just plain stupidly ridiculous stuff, mannnnn. How blind could they be. There's Shrinks all over the world telling us point blank he's an out of his tree silly 3/4 of the way there to Alzheimer's, Narc . But then there's professors in war , economics and God knows what else like Sachs just for one but thennnn, also some of the heaviest generals and veterans in the world, telling this whole Iran thing was the stupidest move he could've done and of how it'll all end. And at what costs. Matter of fact most of them are saying the US can not win they give all the reasons and that he needs an exit fast. Yetttt, we have Sky news . Givme strength 🙃

Current AEC primary vote percentages statewide for the lower house, four leading parties, are Labor 37.6%, One Nation 22.5%. Liberal 19.4%, Greens 10.0%. Upper house percentages are Labor 36.9%, One Nation 24.3%, Liberal 17.6%, Greens 10.3%. Fairly consistent across both houses.

Here is how the police forced Dezi Freeman out if his shipping container makeshift home. Freeman then exited the container in nothing but a blanket and a gun he stole from one of the officers he murdered in August.

Being Grumpy is GONs Raison d Etre. PH has associated her thinking with sovereign citizens eg the speaker of the House has no authority over what she says or does. What a $#!t example for Kids to follow or anyone to vote for. She openly imitates Trump. Surely THAT is running out of Oomph, by now. She's just a $#!t stirrer or steroids. Nev

All Hail President Ineptstein !

That's really good to hear. Something has to be done about these fkrs literally polluting the world and our kids too with the some of the disgusting stuff just popping up in front of your eyes all over the internet these days.

That post is relevent to the EV thread. If they close both pinch points, I'll be buying an EV.

Oh the irony!

The country town I lived in had a small hospital that was appropriately sized for the town's population. The library was not as big as a city library, but quite good for the small population. A police station with one police officer. The road we lived on was 8km of pretty rough gravel and was only graded once a year, but again, we didn't really expect that the rate payers would build and maintain a city-standard road for 30 people. The reality is that if the area you live in were to have all of the infrastructure of a capital city, then you can expect more and more people to move to the country, destroying the very things that make living in a remote area good. Anywhere you live is going to have pros and cons. When we lived on a bush block, we loved the solitude. The last thing we wanted was a highway going past our place, or a large hospital next door or a supermarket. Perhaps an international airport? Not having the facilities was the price paid for solitude; everything has a price. Now I live in the burbs, lots of infrastructure, but I have to share it with a bigger population. I was happy living in the country, and now I am happy living in the burbs. I am sure there are always cases where a small town needs better medical facilities or whatever. It will always be the case that providing infrastructure to remote areas will be more expensive.

No , They have been under scrutiny because the have always bent or broke the rules even to the point of been completely illegal. PHON doesnt believe rules apply to them nor their billonaire mates

But wouldn't everyone be on Roof top solar ? l am in Vic and n a much cooler spot than Adelaide and haven't paid a bill in yrs, never will again . Mind you, l built mine myself, no tie in rubbish wouldn't trust them far as l could kickem. But just heard today actually the govs put out fully paid for solar now well, didn't catch it all but from what l heard. Don't need it or l would've checked t out for sure. l got a free HW of the vic gov few yrs back, nice score.

Polls didn't seem too far off. It is an ominous sign for politics. Australia needs a centre right party now - oh wait, that is the ALP at the moment.. Maybe Australia needs a centre left party now. In the UK, Labour is deemed far enough right that the Greens under the charismatic (to young people) Zak Polanski are courting the unions to switch funding from Labour to the Greens.. and apparently behind closed doors some unions are seriously entertaining the idea.

Reality is there is good and bad, or more accuratley, positives and drawbacks wherever one lives and whomever is governing. The electricitt prices would probably be more expensive is SA as the generation mix is only one part of the equationl, and it is not that different to QLD and NSW. Yes, renewables have led to short term increases, and this is in part to the privatised ownership (note, the SEC in Vic is rolloing out renewables and it is one of the cheapest states in Aus for electrcity - and the SEC is government owned. There are other factors that are unique to SA: Market structure - lack of competition makes the depp discounts available in other states not really a thing in SA Economies of scale - or lack thereof.. Large area and sparse population.. It justs cost more per person to be on the grid. That has to be paid for. Gas sets the prices in SA as it is the backup generator. More storage will fix that in the long term, but you can thak the Howard government for silly gas prices Aussies pay for their own gas compared to what others pay for it.. and every subsequent government for not fixing it. I think this is the unintended consequence of going renewables in SA. Not great interconnection with other states - means SA can't import cheaper electricity at congested/peal times. Still centralised infrastructure - SA has plenty of sun and wind and using a more decentralisded renewable generation strategy probably would have reduced the problems with fluctuation. SA is still in the RoI phase of the investment, when prices are typically higher to recoup some of the cost and pay back some of the capital borrowing. As we know, investments in technology have an initially higher cost than then reduces over time. Some of your costs in SA are what they are unless a) the population grows wildly, b) investments are made to introduce competition, and/or c) there is a move away gtom gas or the gas fired stations are required less (i.e. increase in renewables - or nuclear - or, indeed, coal). The latter two really are not required as there are differing forms of the former, and increased storage will help smooth thhe load. Of course, you could also state-ise national electricity generation, too, in such a way the people are put before profits.

Much smaller town but too hot in summer. Biggest Solar Uptake rate in Australia. They are generally a bit more Politically savvy than Most other Places in Australia. Nev

Lucky buggers, tolls everywhere in Melb and Sydneys even worse. l really like a lot of the way they seem to do things in SA.

Bang on. AS mad and extreme as those he calls enemies. Nev

There is only ONE other Party left. Independents are NOT a Party. Libs and the NP are in crisis. Nev

I want to know what punishment the government is going to give the CEO's of the company's that gouged the fuel price on fuel that was not affected by the war. It is the only way this sort of thing will stop. Qantas, commonwealth bank, woolies/coles etc

She only is getting votes because of the quality of the other partys

No tolls in SA yet. We also have the o-bahn which is pretty good the few times I have used it. Buses use it to get int the city quickly and then can just drive on normal roads to other destinations. I believe it was expensive to build but been in use for 40 years this year.

I hate to think how much money was expended on finding this clown - money that could've been used elsewhere, to benefit people that really need it.

Glad it's over.

So, storming the Capitol was a great idea, after all..... Dozens of Jan. 6 defendants and others present on Capitol grounds have filed a class action in Florida against DC + Capitol police for their use of force during the riot. Many of those on the list were convicted of felonies (and pardoned by Trump). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.456524/gov.uscourts.flmd.456524.1.0.pdf

It's madness to now the way they're still just hammering out new free ways and tunnels left and right in Melb to. All that's doing is just encouraging more and more and more cars and trucks. They should've been de'couraging all that the last 10yrs now and making the whole city more people, living, pt, and environment friendly.

Yeah you prob all know by now but that property was the only neighbour down the roads, brother. But he was over in Tassie 3 or 4 mths fishing so old Dezi must've stumbled over his place and moved on in. He must've still be very secretive though even though it looks like it's very away and isolated bc l dunno how far away his brothers place is but he knew nothing about Dezi being there so. But yeah speakin of empty properties, tbh for me l was more thinking hobby farmers and business men weekender properties. l kinda grew up around all that stuff because we were in Melbourne but dad had a few farms over the yrs too and we'd all go up to on wkends, holidays and stuff. But up where we had our place there were 100s of others scattered all through also owned by people from down the city and some would be empty all yr round. Some people hardly ever went up to the properties after awhile or maybe only once or twice a yr. l'd imagine all up through the mountainy areas where Dezi was there' be 100s of wkenders too , not being used or at least quite a few. So added to what onetrack was saying then yeah, you'd imagine someone hiding put could find something.

Meantimes, with hardship in most parts of Australia, bartering has returned!

We're all set for a fuel-restricted long weekend on the water!!

One thing I notice is that the parents of the Baby Boomers are mostly all dead, and the Baby Boomers who inheirited to family farm are retiring and selling off their farms to younger neighbours who are consolidating smaller farms into large acreage units which can be farmed more effectively with modern machinery. The improvement in roads means that a trip to a larger centre for shopping can be done in a shorter time than 50 to 70 years ago. Therefore the independent shopkeepers in small towns do not have to customer base to remain viable. I guess that the most common "small town" businesses in my town are the hairdressers, followed by motels. Motor mechanics are disappearing, mainly due to retirement. There is very little industry, and what there is, is servicing agribusiness in various way. I'm not including the service stations because they are there to service highway traffic.

The news about the U.S. bases damage, is largely correct. The U.S. military themselves have admitted damage has been incurred at 13 U.S. bases in the Middle East, with DoW damage estimations of around US$800M. There are other reports saying the number of bases seriously damaged is actually 17, and the total repair bill for all the Iranian damage is likely to exceed US$3B - and more importantly, take years to rebuild, simply because of the complexity of the equipment in the bases, and the requirement for a lot of electronic replacements, that are still in short supply from COVID-era restrictions. Even many car manufacturers are taking shortcuts in vehicle manufacturing, and leaving out optional equipment that is electronics-heavy, due to the ongoing chip shortage. What our dopey Tangerine Toddler doesn't understand, is that Taiwan may now even make overtures to China to form an alliance, to prevent a Taiwan-China war. This is because Taiwan is starting to realise that their major ally is no longer a reliable ally - and is likely incapable of protecting/supporting Taiwan in the event of a Chinese aggressive military move on them. If that alliance happens, China will then control the majority of the worlds cutting-edge chip manufacturing, and give Trump and his sycophants another dose of heartburn, because America still hasn't got any local chip manufacturing sorted yet. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddq7j48p35o https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/us-bases-uninhabitable-iran-missile-strikes-centcom-force-posture-2026-war/

London has a population of c. 9.5m; Melbourne has a population of c 5.56m. Yes, there is an urban sprawl as, including the morningiton peninsula now considered part of Melbourne, it is around 5 times bigger than London - according to Google. However, the suburban sprawl doe snot mean we should be solely reliable on the car. Rail loops are one thing. A decent hydrogen bus service is another. Trams also can be built (The line to Bundoora is Loooong, as is one to Burwood). Coming off ICE cars would have put Australians in a much better position -if only the government had foresight - oh, it did, it just chose to be beholden to the fossil fuel lobby groups. At least the government is trying something to reduce the cost. Hopefully, it will return to keeping the IEA's agreement of 90 days reserve. Maybe we shoudl tap our reserve in Dallas.. Oh wait, it was smokescreen thanks to Angus Taylor - the now leader of the oppo. Dog help us

I use Farcebook for the marketplace, but often eBay and Gumtee are also good. with fewer scams. At a bit of a loose end last night, I decided to scroll through posts. My dog, what a load of toxic bull shite! Seriously, if MSM had posted most of this stuff defined as facts and news, even our tootless regulators would find the teeth to bite. Made Sky/Fox news seem like totally objective and fact ridden.

Well why did you pick on One Nation then? Besides, they've been under scrutiny heaps of times because their politics differs from the Liberal's, and from Labor's.