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What do you mean, "support one nation" - you've proudly told us many times that you don't vote!

The reason why Trump is into Iran, is because we as Aussies, fail to grasp just how important Israel and the Jews are, in the American Christian Fundamentalist psyche. Israel MUST be supported at every turn, according to the majority of God-fearing Americans (and there's a lot of them, and a lot in positions of great power). The Jews are Gods Chosen people in their view, and Fundamentalist Americans believe they alone have the greatest God-given power in the whole World, to ensure that the Chosen people survive the Great Evil of the End Days - and that great Evil is Iran, and the Islamic Empires. So every attack on Israel is an attack on every American Christian Fundamentalist. So when Netanyahu says he's under attack and needs to beat back the Evil Empire, the American can only reply with, "how much help do you need, and we'll provide it for as long as you want". Netanyahu knows full well the great benefit of having both a huge Jewish influence in America, backed by Christian Fundamentalists. Trump can only see huge Trump Inc gains in resorts and hotels in any of the "conquered" areas - so he's happy to go along with Netanyahu's aims. And Bibi's aim is to devastate anyone, or any organisation, or any country that is Islamic, and threatening Israel. Remember, Bibi's greatly loved brother was killed by Islamic terrorists at Entebbe, and he harbours a bigger and longer lifetime grudge against Islamics, than the grudge that GON harbours against politicians that favour conscription. Trump is an opportunist, constantly seeking adulation and personal glory and wealth gains, and anything that helps those agendas can only be good, in his feeble mind. Accordingly, he's happy to continue to support Netanyahu's adventures into killing multitudes of "nasty" Islamics, because Trump knows that's an agenda that's got a huge level of support in America - and any "wins" over nasty Islamic terrorists (who took a couple of hundred innocent Americans hostage, and who also tortured them in 1980-82, don't forget), is a huge win for Donald. But now, the American adventure into Eye-Ran is looking a bit messy - and besides, Donny just got told his military have just expended around 11,300 VERY expensive missiles, rockets and other hi-tech armaments - and that Damned Strait is STILL blockaded! - and he's also been told, it will now take about THREE YEARS to produce another 12,000 of those very expensive missiles and rockets, just to make up their basic ammo requirements - and American arms manufactures are RELIANT on that Straits being OPEN! - because American companies are now having problems acquiring the BASICS of many arms manufacturing materials - because quite a number of those basic supply-chain materials HAVE to come through those Straits! "Here is how materials passing through the Strait impact American manufacturing: Helium for Semiconductors: Qatar, which exports through the Strait, supplies nearly one-third of the world's helium. This is crucial for cooling in semiconductor wafer manufacturing, affecting the production of computers, vehicles, and electronics. Petrochemical Inputs: The Gulf region is a hub for petrochemicals, supplying a significant share of raw materials used in plastics, polymers, and single-use packaging. Disruptions affect production and increase costs for manufacturers in these sectors. Sulfur and Fertilizer: Nearly half of all global seaborne sulfur trade passes through the Strait. Sulfur is essential for producing sulfuric acid, which is used in processing critical minerals like copper and cobalt (for batteries and jet engines). Aluminum and Steel: The Middle East accounts for a significant portion of primary aluminum production, with Gulf smelters supplying material for construction, transport, and renewable energy industries. Energy Prices: About 20% of global oil and LNG flows through the Strait. A closure causes a dramatic surge in energy prices, impacting the cost of manufacturing and transporting goods in the U.S." So....... right about now, Donny is in a BIG bind! That AWE and SHOCK attack on Iran ain't working! Those GODDAM Islamic terrorists are still beavering away, and still controlling important things like the Straits!! I reckon Donny must be looking for a quick and easy way out, and expecting some of his LOYAL associates to come up with the ANSWER! But it ain't forthcoming, and things are getting to be a little too wild for him!! This being a World Hero ain't the easy ride, he thought it would be!!

In the first Trump administration he lied over 35,000 times according to the Washington Post. Now that publication has been taken over By Amazon Billionaire Jeff Bezos it has become far less critical. There are now multiple organisations reporting and debunking his lies. In one 69 minute interview in 2024 he lied over 150 times.

It's not so much "immigration", but "mass immigration" created by the conjoined major parties. They ignored public opinion and went ahead with it anyway. Immigration was no longer included in the democratic process, and still isn't. You can have your say, but it inevitably falls on deaf ears. Things might be changing though, with the high cost of living and shortage of housing, the pig-headed major party politicians can't help but hear rumblings from nearly every sector of the broader community. Mass immigration drove me to support One Nation, that's how it affected me. I will not support or vote for parties who find it convenient to gang up against the Public for selfish reasons. They promise sweeteners at election time, but the issue of immigration is completely off the table. As the major parties lose their influence over the general public, as is happening now, we'll get a chance to gain power over them and tell them what we want, not what they want all the time. Mass immigration is not doing what it is intended to do, making us stronger, no, it is making us weaker in every respect you can think of. Why do we have a trillion dollar debt? Why do we have so much drug crime? Why is the nation split into 200 different groups with 200 different flags? Why did we have an anti Semitic "Bondi", and blocked streets full of River to the Sea people? We shouldn't go around with blinkers on. Take them off and look around.

They had Cyclone Vaianu last week and in its wake it left a massively unstable weather pattern and the huge downpours and local flash flooding has caused much more damage than the cyclone did. Here on the NE coast of NSW it is tinder dry. The grass is now completely browned off & crunchy to walk on. We are supposed to be getting showers today & the rest of the week but nothing at all as yet with a blue sky, full sun and a lot of wind.

There was a recent "Grand Designs Australia" episode where plastic waste was being converted into wall panels by a Sydney company. Used only heat and pressure to create the panels - and they didn't look bad.

Along with the Stale Tart.?

The Aborigines never had flags. That's a Modern "thing". I suggest nearly ALL people think some Migration is Good for this Place. Hanson is just a $#1t stirrer controlled by Merde ock and Gina. Take your blinkers off. She has YOU fooled. GON, when Trump Falls over Like Orban Has what Idol will she Pin Her Standard to. Trumps days are Numbered. 30 years of not much is Pauline's Legacy. There's not much Talent there . she is a Puppet, obligated to others. Nev

Re tyres - the business of recycling tyres is just a small blip on the radar of the tyre industry. Every day, I see piles of dumped tyres - at truck bays, by roadsides, in isolated paddocks, anywhere where tyre dumpers think no-one will see them. It is one of the worlds greatest hidden crises, and it requires a vastly increased level of effort to deal with the burgeoning problem. As to plastic waste, I take my rubbish up to the local small landfill in the little rural town where I have my industrial block - and that local small council has major restrictions on what they will take at that landfill. They refuse to take tyres in any form, and they just take all other waste and bulldoze it into layers. Recently, they employed a large industrial shredder to reduce the particle size of the waste materials. I was extremely surprised to see that probably two-thirds of the waste in the shredded material was plastic. More effort must be put into plastic re-use/recycling.

I'd really like to see AI tackle a fatberg. But of course, there will be a mechanised robotic drain cleaner that has an AI programmed brain, which will figure out the best way to tackle that fatberg. The primary aim of senior pollies at present, should be - producing a vision, and a long-term plan, as to how our societies will function in the AI-age - where the likelihood of the concentration of massive wealth, will only increase. For too long now, we are regularly being told that wealthy people getting wealthier, simply creates more jobs for us plebs. It ain't necessarly so (says Porgy and Bess), and the sooner our senior pollies produce a plan to address wealth inequality in a fair and just manner, the better the chance we have of avoiding civil revolution. We have a modest form of that revolution starting now, as voters desert the major parties and vote for fringe parties who produce radical outbursts. And the scary part is the voters always blame the wrong people for a countrys problems.

"Truth Social" should be prefixed with "Un".

This is the second major attempt by Bartlett/7 Spotlight to get misinformation and some disinformation across to try and improve ratings. The first was a few months ago when they went through Nickel mining in Indonesia claiming it was used in EV batteries. In fact none of it was, it was all used in the Stainless Steel industry & the highlighted poor working conditions for Indonesian miners were already being addressed by the new Indonesian government. 7 had to close comments on the program within days because almost all were very negative. Pandering to the dwindling numbers of right wing fossil fuel advocates & anti EV populists is a great way to see ratings drop.

Coincidentally, I just came across this. I will post a link but here are some highlights. https://reneweconomy.com.au/wild-attack-on-batteries-and-renewables-by-7s-spotlight-program-falls-over-at-the-first-fact-check/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRSvLRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeRENsgXVWg03njVcjEv25LrV4q7XUJEVAYcOkDfurOU4zO3LDDzae9NSaOn8_aem_LVPR3uKcuhqbLOHAX9gfnA Spotlight, the so-called flagship current affairs program on the 7 network, dedicated more than an hour on Sunday evening on a report into the supply chains feeding into the renewables and EV industries, with a particular focus on cobalt mines in the Congo, and also activities in Australia. It was amplified on Murdoch and social media. It fell over at the very first fact-check. “Every battery, every electric vehicle, every piece of so-called clean energy technology today” uses cobalt, reporter Liam Bartlett claimed at the start of the program. Wrong. Nearly every big battery installed in Australia these days uses (LFP) lithium iron phosphate chemistry, which means no cobalt, and no nickel (that’s relevant because Bartlett did a similar hit job on the nickel industry last year, using that as a platform to attack EVs and renewables). Tesla, the biggest supplier to big batteries in Australia, now uses only LFP batteries for grid scale batteries. No cobalt. The two big batteries at Liddell and Tomago being built for AGL Energy by Fluence are LFP. No cobalt. A spokesperson for Fluence said all its batteries in Australia use LFP. “We don’t use cobalt.” Finland-based Wartsila, which is building the country’s biggest grid battery at Eraring for Origin Energy, also uses only LFP for its battery projects in Australia. No cobalt. It’s a similar story with EVs. Tesla, for instance, uses only LFP chemistry for most of the variants of its best selling Model Y and the Model 3. No cobalt. It uses NMC chemistry (which does include cobalt) only in “performance” variants, which amounts to about 10 per cent of sales. Home batteries, which are now being installed at record rates in Australia, are the same. New market leader Sigenergy uses only LFP chemistry, so no cobalt, as does another market leader Sungrow, and most others. Bartlett claims to be appalled by the conditions in some cobalt mines in the Congo, and the nickel mine in Indonesia. And so he should be. So should everyone. But the inconvenient truth is that these mines have been operating for decades, and cobalt has been used widely in many industries. The mineral is essential for the iPhone that Bartlett presumably uses, for the laptop he writes his stories on, for the jet engines that flew him from Australia to Africa, and for widespread use in medicine (hip and knee replacements), the petroleum industry, the manufacture of tools, for construction, for cosmetics, and even ceramics. The use of cobalt in EV and grid batteries is relatively new, and is already moving on. Where it is used, most EV makers are at pains to point out that the mineral does not come from such mines, and they produce blockchain style tracking reports to underline their claims. But Bartlett did not seem particularly interested in balance, or inconvenient detail. His story had three major themes – he doesn’t like the Chinese, he doesn’t like renewables and EVs, and he doesn’t like federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen. “Bowen’s fanatical approach, aided and abetted by a conga line of true believers and latte-sipping Teal supporters is now set to send the country into bankruptcy,” Bartlett wrote in an op-ed also published on 7’s website. Bartlett – was global head of TV, creative visual at oil giant Shell in London from 2013-2015

I don’t see people with rooftop solar as part of the problem—I see generating your own clean electricity as a positive. If we zoom out a bit, the real issue looks different. The electricity grid we use today was largely designed and built from the 1950s through to the 1990s. It was built as a one-way system: electricity flowed from large, centralised generators—coal, gas, and hydro—out to consumers. That made perfect sense at the time, because generation technology dictated that structure. But generation technology has changed. We now have distributed energy—rooftop solar being the most obvious example—where electricity is produced at the edges of the grid, not just at the centre. I think this is where we differ. You seem to be saying (correct me if I’m wrong) that generation methods should be limited by what the existing grid can handle. I’d argue the opposite: the purpose of the grid is to distribute electricity as efficiently as possible, and that means adapting it to modern forms of generation, not restricting those forms to suit legacy infrastructure. A useful comparison is telecommunications. In the 1990s, the copper phone network was sufficient for voice calls. Then the internet arrived, and we initially squeezed it through that same copper using dial-up. As technology advanced, the limitations became obvious. We didn’t respond by saying “we must limit internet use because the network can’t cope.” We upgraded the network—eventually rolling out systems like the National Broadband Network. Electricity is no different. Rooftop solar isn’t a flaw in the system—it’s a signal that the system needs to modernise. The system was built for one-way, centralised generation. Now we’ve got distributed generation changing demand patterns. That’s an engineering and market design problem, not a reason to limit a cheaper, cleaner energy source.

This is where you lose me, with the kind of thinking that enables a fascist regime. It's the "yes Trump is bad, BUT..." thing. It's like saying "Yes Hitler was bad, but goddam it, real Germans could get a job." Trump is actively dismantling democracy in the USA. He doesn't have a single thought for the people of the US, except how to continue deceiving them so Donald J Trump and his dynasty can profit from them. The only reason Trump ever mentions immigrants (in Minnesota, which has less than most states but has a governor he hates) is to dog-whistle his white nationalist base and sow hatred and division. We don't need a Trump or any version of him. Democracy is not supposed to be exciting. It's meant to be calm, boring and safe. We are an immigrant nation, just ask the original inhabitants. If you can show me actual statistics that show that crime rates are higher among recent immigrants than those whose ancestors moved here between 40 years to 60,000 years ago, then go ahead. (Statistics does not mean sensationalist crap from Sky News or any Murdoch rag).

What Gina wants

If it is representative of the wider population to get their facts from memes, then dog help humaity - we are all done for.

There's been speculation about who might succeed Trump when he finally goes, or who he might endorse. Vance or Rubio would be the obvious choices, but there is a view that he doesn't want anyone to replace him because he couldn't stand the thought of not being at the centre of things. I think there's some merit in that view and that he would rather take the ship down with him than have somebody else take over the Republican side. He might even be happier to see a Democrat as president than someone from his own side who would replace him as the centre of the universe in the US.

Take the way New Zealanders talk as another example. Nev

Cardboard is neither a High Value Product or a bad Pollutant. It could be used as fuel in a Properly designed Furnace, reclaimed or Mulched. Nev

Most Mining does a lot of environmental damage which could be reduced IF we were fair dinkum about it .You only have to Look at PLASTIC which we all use. REcycling is the way to go. The World's oceans and rivers are not bottomless rubbish tips. . Desal Plants could provide Minerals. We haven't tried yet. There is NO Plan et B. Nev

Well there's Plenty of them around, so it could be said you are not Robinson Crusoe, there. Nev

Yep, I am a part of the problem. I could take the ethical stand and disconnect but it saves me money. I am a hypocrite!

Did you not see the bit in the video - and these stats apply to Australia too - that immigrants are statistically more law abiding, more likely to start small businesses that employ locals, and do the jobs that the locals don't want to?

The USA people will pay for Trumps folies Big time in the future. Not Just democrats who shouldn't have to at all by rights ,as they didn't Vote for him. Nev

Pity the Democrats, whether you like them or not. They are going to be stuck with the cost of repairing all the damage the Republicans have done, as trying to restore sone semblance of respect for the country and the rest of the world. And there will be some expectation for them to contribute to rebuilding some of the infrastructure destroyed in Gaza and Iran by Trumps indiscriminate bombing.

The UK have solar schemes, mainly for those on benefits, which allow zero or low up front costs of solar implementation One of the problems that affects me in the UK is that it is hard to get approval for solar panels on Grade 2 listed buildings.. though it is very council dependent. If I planned to stay here past the summer, then I would llook into it. But as far as I can tell all these schemes require you to still hook up to the grid. I can';t see it would take much to install a LifePO4 or similar battery; these days they are not that more expensive. Two neighbours (both unlisted buildings and one about the size and orientation of mine) have solar panels now for some time. They are off grid and the dreary UK provides enough sunlight to power their homes. Like me, they don;t have gas, so oil fires their heating and hot water; electricity everything else - which will mean in addition to the usual, we do our cooking ith electricity (BTW, once you have used induction stoves (here, called hobs), you will never go back to gas, which is somewhat noxious anyway).

A Vain Mans Erection. Nev

Why bother developing anthropomorphic weapons when we have seen how effective simpler machines like drones have been in carrying the battle? Am I being over-cynical in thinking that by releasing a story such as the one above, the releasers are creating a diversion from what is really being developed?

Any photos?

Since Jeff Kennet Sold Victoria's Poles and Wires they haven't been Painted once. People get revved up about High tension wires and towers. IF you want Electricity distributed, you Need Power Lines at High Voltages. Nev

Tis is the first time I have heard that anybody is still getting those old FIT's. Anyway, regardless of the money side of it, Our energy system is evolving. And any system that is undergoing major changes (such as integrating new generation into the grid), there usually are some teething problems. Surprisingly, the grid is coping really well so far. But then again, technological advancements have always impacted the grid. And over the 30 years I was involved (in Qld), there was a constant learning curve and very few hiccups along the way. So far, so good. I do have an issue with the privatisation of the retail end of the power industry. Just putting up a bunch of offices really adds to the cost to the consumer. After all, instead of paying one retail outlet, the consumers collectively foot the combined costs of multiple CEO's, multiple databases, multiple help desks, multiple staff, etc. This simply has to cost more than one payment system.

That's the Nature of electrical supply and demand in our Modern society where Every Place is air conditioned People have dishwashers Fans, electric stoves, Washing Machines and dryers etc. Baseload has no real Meaning. Just a term used to confuse the Issues.. Nev

I have heard that jdv has many tattoos. I'm not sure but one on his arm might be seen as evangelist crusader-ish. Which might explain a few things. From wiki;- "Deus vult is a Christian motto historically tied to ideas of divine providence and individual interpretation of God's will. It was first chanted by Catholics during the First Crusade in 1096 as a rallying cry, " Note these pics are a bit dated.... before he started using eye shadow.

Spot prices being zero or even negative are not just a thing since renewables. Negative spot prices are not new and actually occurred regularly before the rise of renewables. While renewables are now the primary driver of their frequency, the core cause has always been system inflexibility—the inability of certain power plants to shut down when demand is low. www.agora-energiewende.org +2 Why Negative Prices Occurred Before Renewables Historically, negative prices typically happened at night when demand was at its lowest. Coal Plant Inflexibility: Large coal-fired power stations have a "minimum generation" level they must maintain to keep their turbines spinning. Cost of Restarting: It is often cheaper for a coal plant to pay to stay online (selling at a negative price) than to undergo the slow and expensive process of shutting down and restarting a boiler. Technical Necessity: Some "must-run" units are required to stay online to provide grid stability or heat for local networks, forcing them to bid negatively during low-demand periods just to guarantee they aren't turned off. Australian Energy Council +4

Interesting article regarding feed in tariffs. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-16/australian-solar-feed-in-tariffs-have-plunged-99-per-cent/104986534

Managed inverters do contribute to the stability of the grid as it is the inverter that manages the battery and decides when to charge or discharge and whether to import or export. I signed up with Amber a few weeks ago and it has been interesting watching what the software is telling my system to do as it uses algorithms to check the spot price which changes every 5 minutes and how much energy I am using and whether my battery is charging or not and what the current export price is. I had run the EV battery down to 20% with a few longish drives over 3 days & decided to charge it today. I have the car set to charge only between 10am & 2.30pm. By 10 am my battery that was depleted overnight as it exported during the peak time from about 5.30pm & 7pm had regained about 55% of charge. The charger consumes 7kWh & the solar now is generating about 6kWh. In January this would have been 9kWh. So the solar was used to power the charger & the rest of the house & the balance supplemented by the battery. When the battery depleted to 29% the system stopped drawing from it & began importing energy and the solar then was all used for charging the battery. At that time the spot price was 11c/kWh & the export price was -1cent. My charger does not have OCCP (Open Charge Point Protocol) so cannot be managed except manually. I changed the charger via its app to charge at 20 amps when it had been charging at 32 amps. The inverter then stopped importing power and supplied the charger & house & began recharging the battery with the surplus. For the last few days the inverter has used its curtailment function to reduce solar output once the battery is full to prevent export at very low or negative export prices The Amber software is in learning mode for the first 30 days so gets more accurate over time. The Amber App today shows that in the past 18 days I am $31.03 in credit. Ambers charge is a flat $25.00 a month so that is covered. The daily supply charge from Essential Energy of $1.92 has already been included. It will be different as the seasons change and if we get a lot of cloudy weather or rain.

IRAN has a Lot of Damaged Infrastructure to repair. Little Water and galloping inflation due to sanctions. Nev

Sell it in a Place where it rains, before electric takes over. It's a stranded asset with a diminishing Market value. I have Lawnmowers that belong in Museums. Nev

Make sure AI will do what it's told before you start it..Nev

I can't see AI doing this sort of job.

We will sill need a doctor to sew up our wounds and set our bones. We will need teachers to show our children how to read and count. We will need plumbers to clear our blockes drains and sparkies to wire in our fuse boxes. Every new technology displaces those who performed the activity the is displaced. Humanity always finds something new to do that the technology hasn't caught up with. We are not looking at disaster. We are seeing new opportunities.

That makes more sense. I know complete tits that were born that way, no apprenticeship needed.

So, it has come to pass. Back in 1968, I was an apprentice TIT. One of a hole bunch of TITs. We watched in awe as our instructor held aloft a beautiful object about the size of an A4 page. It was a maze of fine golden wires in a matrix of tiny ferrite toroid rings. "This" he proclaimed, "is a matrix memory. It holds a thousand bits of data for a computer. It was made last year and today is obsolete. At the present rate of development, in a few years we will see computers so smart that they can develop their own programmes!" So I have seen the original Matrix. It took a bit longer for it all to happen, but it has come to pass. OME, never fear, all those redundant coders will soon be free from enslavement.

The US is in the Middle East because of the oil. The US supports Israel because of the influential Jewish lobby in America. There is no doubt Israel is threatened by its neighbours in the region and needs to protect itself, and it does this very effectively by preventative maintenance - striking first. America’s support and weapons are crucial in this although they also have a large defence industry themselves. America’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil has reduced almost entirely in recent years because they have figured out how to extract their shale oil and rob Venezuela. They are still interested in the Gulf oil because it’s essential to their global competitors which includes their allies.

Yes, I would agree with that, too. But I would suggest that is also how most of these relationships work. The question is, when Chump achieves his aims, will be still be distracted into being Netanyahu's pawn? And vice versa? My guess is Chump would be the first to drop Net rather than the other way around.

I think Netanyahu sees Trump as the useful pawn.

Given both you and I are not privy to the communications between the main players, I respect, but don't necessarily agree with your opinion. I will accept they don't want the war to stop - unitl there is realregime change in Iran that will help bring peace to the region. But I am not sure Chump really cares what Israel think beyind them being a useful pawn in whatever game he is playing at. Why would he treat Net any different to anyone else?

But ..... The circus needs a better script writer. "I'm going to solve the blockade and reopen the strait by imposing a blockade and closing the strait." And then what? "My blockade is bigger than yours!" The strait didn't need to Re open until.... Donny blocked it.

I think he sent Vance as punishment because Vance was against the war. That puts him neatly in the hot seat. Trump has already said publicly in a meeting that if Vance pulls a deal off, Trump will take all the credit, but if he fails Vance will own it.