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Prigohzin's plan of a quick detour into Rostov to give his MoD enemies a thrashing and then going back to the fight in Ukraine seems insane. They won't let him get away with that, especially when he's basically criticising Putin's decision to attack Ukraine in the first place. His goose is cooked I suspect, but the Ukrainians must be cheering him on.

About the only positive thing that can be said about this submersible is that it imploded so they didn't slowly suffocate. Hopefully they were properly briefed on the risks before they got on board, but at US$250k per ticket I'm sure the company wouldn't want to have frightened the passengers off by being overly pessimistic. Nevertheless, all of these people were there by choice, not necessity. Hopefully, any other tourist ventures will learn the lesson and use properly designed and tested subs.

Full details here: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-planning-lands-and-heritage/aboriginal-cultural-heritage-act-2021 We're on half an acre and could potentially be affected (although pretty unlikely), but the farmers out there are very unhappy. Fines for serious violations can up to $10m for a company or $1m for an individual and 5 years in prison. For failing to report a site that may be culturally significant the fine is $20,000 for individuals and $100,000 for companies. You also have to pay hourly rates for the local aboriginal representatives to come and assess your property for its cultural heritage value.

Well the Voice referendum got the go-ahead today so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I think there’s a good chance it will fail given the divisions currently on display. The ‘no’ camp mainly seem to want a treaty and ‘real power’, whatever that means, rather than just an advisory body. But real power to do what, and how do they propose to fix all the problems that they don’t think the Voice will be able to? So far I haven’t heard either side explain what they think the underlying problems in the aboriginal communities are, and what they would do about them that would be different to what has been tried before.

Currently it's defined as a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, who identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives. It at least avoids the problematic percentage debate, but what defines a community and how do you demonstrate acceptance? What happens if you don't live in an identifiable Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community?

Very clever of the Ukrainians but a bit embarrassing for Raytheon, I would have thought. Maybe we should send them our Hawkeis and let them fix the brakes for us. The Australian Defence Force is blaming a faulty braking system in Hawkei armoured vehicles for it's reluctance to not send more to Ukraine. The anti-lock braking system fault affects the vehicles stopping power at high speeds but not its off-road performance.

a) he likes to collect souvenirs b) he likes to show off his superior knowledge c) he may have stuff he can use against people d) he may have stuff he can make money from e) the government wants it back which is reason enough to keep it because it’s ‘his’’ and nobody is going to tell him what to do. f) he won the last election so he’s still the real president and can do what he likes.

Unfortunately, the judge appointed to the case, Eileen Cannon, has a track record of siding with Trump, so depending on who she allows on the jury and what she allows to be presented in evidence there’s a good chance he may get away with a slap on the wrist after a year or two of legal argument, appeals and delays. There won’t be a quick result in this case and there’s a good chance that the jury will include a fair number of Trump supporters who won’t want to find him guilty.

Never too late... May 1978

From a few years ago but still interesting: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/15/the-seven-faces-of-donald-trump-a-psychologists-view

National Geographic followed her journey and wrote it up in the magazine. She attracted a lot of attention at the time.

His first mass email scamming for money went out to his supporters less than an hour after he found out he was indicted. Add to that his Truth Social blitz and it’s clear he’s milking this for all it’s worth.

... and 10 figure log tables and slide rules.

Hawke Eye...

I suspect that these cases will still take years to run their course given the inevitable appeals that will follow any convictions. Then if Trump actually gets in again the chances of him ever going to jail will be even more unlikely. If he has been convicted he could simply pardon himself.

Given that they seem to have everything they need, why not ask them what they would like? You have a lot more chance of them appreciating what you give them that way, even though it’s a somewhat transactional approach to gift giving.

Not much chance on the first and even less on the second with the collection of misfits and anarchists who are currently running the Republican show.

I've wondered what the attraction of dash cams is. Very occasionally they capture something useful, but who watches all the other hours of boring footage and what do they do with it all?

You may be right OldK but I wonder if the Western experts are saying that more for the benefit of the Russians and the media than the Ukrainian armed forces.

Although the US has now relented on the F16's and training of Ukrainian pilots is likely to commence soon, the reports also say that it will take many months before any NATO aircraft are seen in the conflict. I wonder how true that is or whether they are deliberately downplaying the time it will take. I would have thought it would not take too long to train experienced fighter pilots to fly these planes and learn the systems. Maintenance and support would be another issue, and I suppose the logistics of providing adequate facilities could take a while if they have to set up in Ukraine.

I think China see us as something of a blot on their landscape given our geographical position and the fact that we have a lot of what they want but we lack the respect they feel we should give them. A group of us spent five weeks travelling in China in 2010. It was a great trip and we all liked the Chinese people but I remember our guide in Chengdu was a bit of a bombastic type. The conversation got onto how he viewed Australia. He said, ‘Well, there’s only 25 million of you’. Chengdu’s population is about 21 million. I think the Chinese leadership sees us in much the same way.

The Americans would take a dim view of Ukraine dealing with the Taliban to get their abandoned equipment, most of which has probably been trashed by now.

Looks like the Ukrainians may finally get some F16’s, although who knows when.

Well if Uganda doesn’t go first, which seems like a pretty safe bet, I guess Russia has just ruled itself out of the game too. Provided you trust the Russians of course.

What made you think it was a good idea to get on a skateboard?